He ran a few steps to the east, turned back with a dark face, and roughly carried the painter on his shoulders, cursing, "This guy is all bones and it hurts his shoulder."
"Damn it, it's too late, let's go to the attic!" Xiangdong rushed in carrying the painter.
The door of the inn opened from the inside, and a middle-aged man came out first, followed by Widow Zhou.
The middle-aged man was dressed in rich clothes and wore a black felt hat. His face and expression were a little blurry, and the ring on his thumb was as red as blood.
An old servant was standing at the bottom of the stairs. When he saw the middle-aged man coming out, he took something out of his arms.
In the small attic across from the inn, looking east, I saw the thing with a strange look on its face.
That is an umbrella.
The old servant opened the umbrella and held it above the middle-aged man's head, moving very cautiously.
Squinting towards the east, the rain has stopped, why bother holding an umbrella
His eyes fell on the umbrella surface, which looked very soft and delicate.
After Widow Zhou saw the master and servant off, she did not return to the inn immediately, but stood there holding a lantern.
I don’t know how long it was, maybe a few dozen seconds or two or three minutes, but Widow Zhou raised her head.
Facing the attic.
He took a half step back eastward into the darkness, his broad shoulders slightly hunched, his muscles tensed, and he lowered his fierce brows, like a black panther ready to pounce.
Widow Zhou did not move, nor did she look away.
She held the white lantern in her hand, illuminating a small area of road in front of her, giving off a chilling feeling that pierced into flesh and blood.
There was something going on. A drop of sweat rolled down Xiangdong's forehead and was about to bury itself in his temples. He raised his hand to wipe it off. Just when his patience was about to reach its limit and he wanted to show up, Widow Zhou turned around and went back to the inn.
He glared at Dong, wondering if that woman had noticed him.
He stretched out his leg and kicked the painter on the ground: "Is he dead or not? Give me some information."
The painter took out the spray from his pocket, sprayed it on himself, and said lightly: "I sprained my ankle."
Xiangdong rolled his eyes: "This is the first time I see a man sprain his ankle."
The painter is silent.
"It's just the second floor, it's just that short, and you sprained your ankle. I'm so impressed." Xiangdong said as he looked across the street. The door of the inn was already closed, and the street was quiet. He scratched his head, "What should we do now?"
"The back door is closed. I can climb in, but you can't. If I take you in, I can't. You choose a place by yourself."
Xiangdong said: "How about I go in first and then open the door for you."
The painter groaned: "It is taboo to open the door at this time. I will go to Yang Erzhu's house."
"It's not far if you take the shortcut." Xiangdong felt in his pocket, but he didn't have any cigarettes or lighters. His Adam's apple as big as a pit rolled, "You limped over there?"
The painter thought for a moment and said, "It won't work. I'll have to trouble Brother Dong to carry me again."
Xiangdong laughed sarcastically: "Then what the fuck was that you just sprayed with a spray?"
He said impatiently: "I don't want to waste my time talking to you. We've made a lot of progress tonight. I have to go find Chen Yang soon. Hurry up and get up by yourself!"
Xiangdong carried the painter to Yang Erzhu's house. The white cat was curled up on the bed, breathing more vigorously and even opening its eyes.
After the painter was settled, the first thing he did was to spray himself all over. After he used up a spray bottle, he took off his disposable gloves, grabbed a few small diamonds from his backpack and put them on the table.
Xiangdong saw what the painter was thinking, and he accepted it without hesitation.
The painter felt relieved. After what happened with Sun Yihang, he was afraid of having anything to do with the tasker.
Especially when it comes to personal relationships, it would be best if it could be resolved with diamonds.
He had nothing else but diamonds.
He climbed over the wall to the east and returned to the inn. He rubbed his nose and there was a scent of something being cooked in the air. There was also this smell in the town, but it was more scattered. He was not sure where it came from. As he was in a hurry, he did not pay much attention to it.
At this time, the space in the yard is small, the smell is a bit strong, and it is also easy to tell the location.
Xiangdong was hungry, so he followed the smell and went to Chen Yang's door. Halfway through knocking, the door opened.
Chen Yang opened the door, and the smell of cooked meat came from behind him. Xiangdong was about to ask him what was cooking in the middle of the night when he saw a face covered with blisters.
Xiangdong had a mild phobia of trying to reach his limit. Under the intense visual impact, he felt a surge of fear in his heart.
"What the hell..."
Xiangdong stepped over the threshold and saw the situation in the room clearly. His growl suddenly got stuck in his throat.
There were four people lying on the ground.
The one with blisters on his face is Old Wu. His eyes are wide open, his mouth is slightly open, and his chest is not moving. He is obviously dead.
The skin and flesh on Qian Han's entire right hand were rotten, and there was not a single good spot on the big-eyed girl's exposed skin, as if it had been boiled. Zhuzhu was not injured, but the clothes of the three were wet, and the ground around them was muddy.
They were all unconscious.
The breathing of the first two was weaker than the last.
Chen Yang's back was against the door and his head was aching. After the rain stopped, he immediately pulled Chao Jian to see the others. The door of every room was locked from the inside, and he kicked them open forcefully.
When it was raining, Chen Yang heard the screams of his three teammates. He was mentally prepared, but when he kicked the door open... the scene in front of him still made him shudder.
Xiangdong grabbed the milk slices on the table and ate three in one go, ignoring Chao Jian's cold eyes. The meaty aroma in his nostrils was then washed away by the milky smell. "Why isn't that Ge Fei here?" Xiangdong realized that the number of people was wrong.
"Missing." Chen Yang pursed his lips. Ge Fei should have left the inn before the rain. The details would only be known after Qian Han, who roomed with him, woke up.
And what about Zhuzhu and Big Eyes Girl? What happened in their rooms? Why was Zhuzhu unharmed but unable to wake up
Xiangdong asked again: "Where are the two women?"
Chen Yang said: "They are fine."
Xiangdong took a look at the way Old Wu died and thought of the dead fish. The more he looked, the more similar it looked. He suppressed his nausea and stepped back to the window, asking Chen Yang what was going on.
Chen Yang’s explanation was very short, and the reality was indeed like that, simple and terrifying.
"It suddenly started raining," Chen Yang said, "and they opened the window."
Xiangdong's face twitched. "Damn, I got boiled just by opening a window. Rain is boiling water? Is it nature's curse?"
Chen Yang said absentmindedly: "Maybe."
"What the hell is this? I knew it was raining, and there were lightning and thunder, and I..." Xiangdong guessed something, stopped talking, and his expression changed again and again.
Chen Yang's expression also changed: "That rain has something to do with you?"
Xiangdong frowned and said, "We'll talk about this later. Let's take the three on the ground to the medicine store first."
"The two doors of the inn have not yet been opened. If you want to go out, you can only climb over the wall." Chen Yang said.
"Then throw them out of the courtyard wall and I'll catch them." Xiangdong cursed twice after saying this, "No, when I came back, I saw white lanterns hanging in the pharmacy. The doctor in the town died."
Chen Yang was not surprised. He sat down next to Chao Jian and looked down at the three people and the corpse on the ground.
When he found them, Chen Yang quickly drew water from the well and watered them thoroughly, doing so for more than ten times without stopping, and then moved them to his place one by one.
This is all Chen Yang can do, he is powerless to do anything else.
"Tell me about the rain." Chen Yang looked straight to the east.
Xiangdong went to his room to get a cigarette and returned. He lit it and took a few deep puffs. His lungs were filled with the smell of nicotine.
"cough!"
Xiangdong coughed due to the choking smell of smoke. He smoked one puff after another with muffled sounds, and soon his entire face was covered with smoke.
Chen Yang determined from Xiangdong's reaction that the rain was related to him and also to something on the second floor of the inn.
Xiangdong seemed to find it difficult to digest that this incident was caused by him, and he was still organizing his words.
Chen Yang did not urge him. He looked at the ground and stretched his hand to the side. He wanted to touch Chao Jian's crutch, but his fingertips felt a touch of warmth.
Not a crutch.
It’s Chao Jian’s little finger.
Chao Jian looked at Chen Yang expressionlessly.
Chen Yang was also looking at him.
The two looked at each other for a few moments, and Chen Yang silently took his hands away and grabbed the crutch next to Chao Jian as if nothing had happened.
Xiangdong glared at the two people on the bed. My heart was in a mess. I had to be fed dog food. Please get out of here.
Seeing Chen Yang looking at him, Xiangdong adjusted his facial expression and told him the cause of the rain.
Chen Yang fell silent. He really didn't expect it to be like this.
Xiangdong didn't expect this either. He squatted down, bit the cigarette between his teeth, and dug his fingernails hard on the back of his head: "I just covered my eyeballs, who knew it would pour boiling water."
Chen Yang asked Xiangdong for a cigarette. He walked to the door and started smoking while standing away from Chao Jian.
Xiangdong got a lot of information from the painter on the second floor.
The most important thing is the two eyeballs at the stairs. After it was covered up, a natural disaster struck the town, and the heads of the two major families hurried to the inn.
Such rain had fallen before, and they knew what this disaster represented.
So they were thrown into disarray.
Chen Yang couldn't help but think of the old woman carrying the bamboo basket. She said that Qi's Inn was doing well and people who came to the town to do business all stayed there.
In fact, logically speaking, the town has restaurants and provides accommodation, so traveling merchants do not have only one choice.
Chen Yang now understood why they only stayed in this inn.
There is something on the second floor.
Xiangdong discovered this secret by accident.
Chen Yang pointed to the small notebook and pen on the table and asked Xiangdong to draw the pattern embedded in the staircase.
Xiangdong said, "There's nothing to draw." He puffed on his cigarette, "Just two eyeballs, not eyes, but eyeballs."
Chen Yang tried to imagine: "Is it from a human or an animal?"
"I can't tell." Xiangdong said, "When the painter and I went upstairs, I felt like there was a pair of eyes watching us."
The cigarette at Chen Yang's fingertips trembled: "Is it the eyeball on the wall?"
Xiangdong said: "Those two eyeballs are facing the aisle."
Chen Yang thought of a possibility, and his scalp instantly went numb: "Eyeballs are alive and can move."
"Yes," Xiangdong licked his lips, "It must have looked downstairs at that time."
Chen Yang returned to the bed unconsciously.
Xiangdong's eyes sparkled: "If your eyeballs are covered, they will be poured into boiling water. What will happen if you dig them out?"
Chen Yang shook his head. He wanted to hear Chao Jian's opinion, but Chao Jian replied, "No."
"… "
Chen Yang had not been chatting with Xiangdong for a while when Old Wu's body disappeared.
Qian Han, Big Eyes Girl and Zhu Zhu were all still asleep.
The big-eyed girl's breath is sometimes there and sometimes not.
Chen Yang was going to look for Widow Zhou, so he said to Chao Jian, "Wait for me in the room."
Chao Jian stood up with the help of crutches.
Seeing that he wanted to follow, Chen Yang followed him.
The yard was silent and deserted, and the night sky was still dark. Chen Yang looked around. Widow Zhou always appeared out of nowhere and suddenly reappeared. He took a deep breath and inhaled a breath of turbid air.
"Xiangdong, do you know which room she lives in?"
Xiangdong was stunned: "I don't know."
Chen Yang didn't know either. He pulled Jian and asked, "What about you?"
Chao Jian said, "Search room by room."
That means he didn't notice either.
Chen Yang searched all the rooms in the backyard, but couldn't find Widow Zhou: "Is she on the second floor?"
"Not on the second floor." Xiang Dong said confidently, "She lives in the backyard."
Chen Yang: “… That’s really weird.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yang's shoulders were grabbed and turned to the side. Chao Jian's impatient voice was heard in his ears: "Go over."
"Isn't that a residence?" Chen Yang asked as he moved closer.
"In that kind of corner, it is most likely used to store firewood." Xiangdong followed behind.
Chen Yang pushed open the small wooden door, held his breath and took a picture with his cell phone.
The next second, his whole body stiffened.
In the small, cold room, a photo frame hung on the wall facing him, containing a black and white photo.
The woman in the photo has pretty and delicate eyebrows and eyes.
"That widow is a ghost!" Xiangdong pushed the door all the way to the innermost part.
Chen Yang felt chilled and his hands holding the phone were shaking. He realized that the woman in the photo, from her bun to the front of her coat, was exactly the same as the ones he had seen in the past few days.
Should have thought of it earlier.
When Chen Yang was in the attic that day and saw her standing on the roadside holding a lantern like a guide, he felt a horrible sense of incongruity.
She must be the one who lights the way for Old Wu.
Chen Yang's heartbeat suddenly stopped. The photo on the population registration form of this town was in black and white. His stopped heartbeat began to beat wildly.
Chen Yang quickly searched for Widow Zhou's registration form on his phone.
Xiangdong turned around and cursed "Fuck". The blue light from the phone screen reflected Chen Yang's face, like a ghost.
It didn't take Chen Yang long to find a one-inch photo of Widow Zhou, which was the same as the one in her portrait.
Xiangdong frowned: "Is everyone in this town dead?"
"I don't know." Chen Yang shook his head.
"The customs in this town are very old-fashioned. A widow living here will definitely be talked about and labeled as a chastity archway." Xiangdong used his not-so-rich brain cells, "That woman is the daughter-in-law of the Qi family. The people in the kitchen dared to roll their eyes at her in front of her, which shows that the Qi family doesn't like her very much."
Chen Yang recalled what the old man with the bamboo basket on his back had said: There is always trouble around a widow.
In fact, he and Chao Jian asked about Widow Zhou, but the townspeople avoided talking about it.
"Her portrait is hung in this musty woodshed, indicating that she died here before she died."
Xiangdong grabbed Chen Yang's arm and said, "So, those people in the kitchen are dead too. Damn it, we eat food made by dead people every day!"
Chen Yang looked at the woman in the portrait, and his gaze unconsciously moved to her slightly curved lips, as if she was about to open her mouth to speak in the next second.
It's so weird.
Chen Yang didn't look again. He called Xiangdong out and closed the door with his cold fingers.
"Gentlemen, what are you doing here?"
A voice suddenly sounded from behind.
It’s Widow Zhou!
A chill ran up Chen Yang's back. He didn't turn around immediately, but tilted his head slightly to take a look. When he found that the woman didn't have long hair covering her face, Chen Yang turned around.
Widow Zhou was holding a lantern, wearing a green jacket and tattered cloth shoes, and her face was pale.
Xiangdong and Chao Jian didn't say anything, so Chen Yang could only do it himself. He pulled the corners of his stiff mouth and said, "Boss lady, we're looking for you..."
Widow Zhou interrupted him: "What's the matter?"
Chen Yang said that three of his friends were burned and needed urgent medical treatment.
Widow Zhou said, "The doctor is dead."
Chen Yang's face was full of anxiety: "Is there anything else..."
"No more. I'm too busy to take care of myself." Widow Zhou interrupted Chen Yang again, "I have some medicine here for burns. You can use it."
Chen Yang hurriedly said: "Thank you."
"No need to thank me. The medicine can only make them live a few more days." Widow Zhou turned her back with the lantern in her hand and walked around the corner step by step.
A soft and faint voice floated in the darkness.
"Living a few more days is also a kind of torture. Life is worse than death. It is better to leave it to fate. It may not be a bad thing to be relieved early."
Chen Yang heard the calmness in those words, and behind that calmness was endless desolation.
"She appointed herself and expected others to be like her." Xiang Dong sneered.
Chen Yang whispered to Chao Jian, who was tapping his cane beside him, "Is she the ghost in the attic?"
"It tastes different." Chao Jian said.
"No." Chen Yang rubbed the back of his neck which was covered with sweat. Many people died in this town, and there were many ghosts, so it was normal that there were no ghosts.
This is a mission world, and the appearance of ghosts is arranged according to rules, and each has its own function.
Widow Zhou brought the medicine, and Chen Yang called Miss Qiao and Xiang Zimu to his room and asked them to help apply the medicine to the big-eyed girl.
The girl with big eyes was seriously injured and had to take off her clothes.
Miss Qiao agreed readily and took on the job of applying medicine to Qian Han without feeling disgusted at all.
Xiang Zimu looked at Chen Yang, his black and white eyes were like a mirror, reflecting his anxiety and solemnity: "Are you going out?"
"Well, let's go to the Stone Valley." Chen Yang briefly talked about some new developments, and Miss Qiao and Xiang Zimu's reactions were indifferent.
His eyes darkened. These two women...
A man who seems to sleep in the town every day, and a man who goes out early and comes back late and is never seen, the type who always acts alone. How much information have they found that they haven't shared with everyone
Chen Yang forced himself to suppress the depression and powerlessness that was rising up in his heart. Fortunately, he had a partner and acquaintances, so he didn't have to fight alone on this mission.
The cold and hard object touched Chen Yang's arm, and he subconsciously grasped it.
Chao Jian let Chen Yang hold the cane tightly. He lowered his eyes to look at him and said calmly, "Let's go."
Chen Yang called Xiangdong, who suddenly turned around and said, "Ms. Xiang, are you going with us?"
Xiang Zimu seemed to have not expected him to say that. He was stunned for a moment before he spoke: "Someone needs to guard this place."
Chen Yang nodded: "Then I'll leave it to you and Miss Qiao." He said seriously, "Ge Fei is missing. If he comes back, you should be careful."
The back door couldn't be opened, so they had to climb over the wall. Xiangdong wanted Chen Yang to go first, so he was going to squat down and let Chao Jian step on his shoulders.
Chen Yang knew his partner's temperament well and rejected Xiangdong's proposal: "You go over, I'll take care of him."
Xiangdong pointed for a long time without saying a word. He played with his cane when he had nothing to do. In fact, Chao Jian, who wanted to play with Chen Yang the most, said, "He is ten centimeters taller than you. He looks skinny and has tendons when he is naked. Can you handle it?"
"Don't worry about it." Chen Yang waved his hand, "Hurry up, that group of people might already be in the Stone Valley."
He spat toward the east and swiftly climbed over the wall.
Chen Yang squatted down by the wall: "Chao Jian, come up and step on me."
No response.
Chen Yang urged: "Hurry up."
The sound of the cane stopped beside me, and the sound of breathing above my head was heavy and agitated.
Chen Yang said, "It's okay, just step on it. The wall is much shorter than the one in the ancestral hall of Laoji Village. I can...hiss, step up with both feet in one breath. Don't dawdle. The more you dawdle, the more I will lose my strength..."
"Stop talking!" Chao Jian stepped on Chen Yang's shoulder, his knuckles turned white and his face was tense to the extreme, as if he was the one bearing the force.
Chen Yang grasped his legs tightly around his shoulders and slowly stood up. His lower body was relatively stable and he didn't stagger much.
"Have you reached the top of the wall?" Chen Yang shouted, panting slightly.
Chao Jian threw his crutches to the other side of the wall. Xiangdong was looking up and was hit directly. The pain made him furious.
"Can you do it?" Sweat rolled down Chen Yang's face.
Chao Jian climbed up the wall with his hands and dug his neatly trimmed nails into it. He did a pull-up on Chen Yang's shoulder and jumped up easily.
Chen Yang felt Chao Jian's physical agility. He thought that when the opponent's left leg was fully healed, they could try their leg skills.
"Come up." Chao Jian shouted from the top of the wall.
Chen Yang ran up the courtyard wall, his pupils gradually enlarging as he saw his slender fingers. He wanted to tell his partner that he didn't need to pull at this height.
However, before he could finish his words, Chen Yang grabbed the hand and was pulled up by a strong force.
Chao Jian and Chen Yang sat face to face on the wall, legs crossed, their hot and moist breaths blending together from time to time.
One has a scent of tobacco, the other has a strong scent of smoke and milk.
Chen Yang only paused for a few seconds before jumping down. He turned his back to Chao Jian on the wall and said, "Come down slowly. Step on my..."
"Turn around." Chao Jian said, "Catch me."
Chen Yang: “…”
"Brother, I'm afraid I can't catch it." Seeing Chao Jian about to jump, he quickly opened his arms.
Xiangdong glared at Chao Jian who was about to jump into Chen Yang's arms. What a fucking fool! Never repeat a single move. He stomped on the crutch on the ground in anger.
I'm leaving now. I won't watch it anymore, okay
The Stone Valley is outside the town, to the southeast.
A little after two o'clock in the morning, Chen Yang, Chao Jian and Xiang Dong searched for their destination based on the two pieces of information.
The town was scalded and scarred by the rain.
Chen Yang thought as he walked, it was raining late at night and everyone in the town was asleep at this time, otherwise who knows how many people would have been scalded to death.
Xiangdong accidentally covered his eyes. The "balance" created by the big family to conceal their selfish desires was broken. Something in the Stone Valley was related to the curse.
The rain stopped and some butterfly effect must have occurred in the town.
Haven’t seen it yet.
Chen Yang's eyes swept across the white lantern in front of a house. He thought of the lantern belonging to Widow Zhou and the few instructions she had given him.
Two of them are: don't go to the second floor of the inn, the merchants have bad tempers, the Zhu family and the Yun family are the two major families in the town, and they don't like outsiders, so it's best not to stay in front of their houses.
Chen Yang knew from the beginning that there were clues hidden in the instructions, but he had been unable to figure it out.
After the rain, clues surfaced.
Widow Zhou is a ghost. For some reason, after her death, she was caught between the transactions between the big families and the merchants, but her position was not firm.
Her exhortation was both a warning and a reminder.
Not allowing them to go to the second floor actually means we hope they will go there.
Chen Yang has evidence to support his thinking.
When it was raining hot water, Widow Zhou, as an insider, must have known that the eyeball at the stairs had been touched.
But when she went up to the second floor, she didn't check every room, and it was obvious that the water had been released.
Chen Yang thought that maybe it was Widow Zhou who helped Xiangdong and the painter deal with that group of people.
"Chen Yang," Xiangdong called out, "What does a Jiazi mean?"
"Sixty years." Chen Yang gathered his scattered thoughts together, "One Jiazi represents sixty years."
"Sixty years ago, a fish with a name also appeared in the town?" He walked eastward and stared around. "Or, if you steal sixty years of life, there will be a mark."
Chen Yang said: "It's possible."
If he remembered correctly, 60 represented a cycle. If sixty years of life were taken away, there would be a mark. Could it be a circle
"Woo woo..."
The sound of a girl crying came from the door of a house in front, and there was a girl lying on the ground.
Chen Yang had just seen a female ghost not long ago, and he was a little scared of women at night: "Xiangdong, you..."
"I'm not going." Xiangdong yelled, and then said irritably, "The one on the ground is ripe."
"Let's go and take a look." Chen Yang hesitated for a while and pulled Chao Jian over.
Xiangdong stared at their backs: "What's so good about this? Haven't those three in the room seen enough?"
The girl at the door had disheveled hair and was crying breathlessly.
Chen Yang didn't get too close, he asked if he needed help.
"Who are you?" The girl seemed unable to see clearly the three men in front of her house.
Chen Yang held up his phone and shone it on himself, Chao Jian, and Xiang Dong: "We are outsiders living in the Qi Family Inn. The one on the ground is you..."
"My brother." The girl cried, "It's my brother, please save him, please—"
She crawled towards Chen Yang, holding onto his trouser legs tightly: "Sir, sir, please save my brother!"
Chen Yang said: "Your brother's condition is not very good, but we are not doctors and cannot save him."
"Wow, what should I do? What should I do?" The girl crawled back and hugged the body on the ground and cried. "It's my fault. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have woken up my brother and asked him to help me collect the clothes. I didn't know the rain was hot. Why is this happening? Brother! Brother! Brother!"
Xiangdong rubbed his face a few times, then strode forward, pressed his palm on the top of the girl's head, and said three words in an inaudible voice: "I'm sorry."
After saying that, he left.
Even though covering his eyes was unintentional, the cause was a curse, and the rain was a punishment caused by a transaction under the stench of human nature, he still said sorry. He has always been reckless and said what he wants.
Chen Yang exhaled: "Let's go."
Hearing the girl calling him "brother" over and over again, Chen Yang thought of his sister. He blurted out to Chao Jian, who was the same age as his sister, "Do you want me to carry you on my back?"
Chao Jian stared at him for a while: "Not now, wait a minute."
Chen Yang: “…”
After walking a short distance, Chen Yang was about to change his hand to hold the phone when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his head.
Something seems to be wrong.
What is it…
Chen Yang turned to look at Chao Jian, and the other also looked down at him.
The moment their eyes met, Chen Yang knew something was wrong.
The girl cried for a long time but didn't blink once!
Chen Yang pulled Chao Jian back, he looked at the girl at the door and called out in a dry voice: "Sister."
"Sir, do you have any way to save my brother?"
The girl smoothed away her messy hair and looked at Chen Yang while sobbing. Her eyes had no eyelids and her eyeballs were completely exposed.