Zhou Xu was collapsing, and a voice even more broken than him came from beside him: "Ouch—"
He turned his head and saw that the old lady who ate ribs was holding a trash can and vomited more exaggeratedly than anyone else.
Zhou Xu: "?"
The old lady's plastic lunch box fell on the ground, and the food was spilled everywhere.
The rice mixed with broth has distinct grains, soaked in a little sauce, and exudes a rich aroma. Smelling people's index fingers, and a little disgusting.
The chopped pork ribs were oily, crispy and white, and the meatballs bounced a few times and rolled.
Rolled along with the meatballs, and a simple gold ring.
Xia Qiao's lips were pale, and he even avoided jumping.
He was most afraid of the sound - the rolling sound of marbles or metal objects falling on the floor, as clear as rolling in the cochlea.
He often woke up in the middle of the night and would hear it, just above his head, as if a child who didn't sleep was squatting upstairs to play. But there are only guest rooms upstairs in his house, the rooms are empty, and there is no one at all.
The ring rolled around and went back to the old lady's feet.
As if on purpose, she just fell down against her black cloth shoes, making a soft "dang bang" sound.
The old lady shivered while holding the trash can, without raising her head.
The others could not wait to step back three feet, the farther away from that thing, the better, but when they smelled it, they squatted down and looked carefully.
Seeing that he was so calm, Zhou Xu was a little dissatisfied, and also reached out.
The ring was a plain ring with no tricks, but half of it was covered in blood, and the rust-like smell was faintly exuding, and it was a bit rushed.
The half ring face that was not stained with blood was very bright, and under the reflection of the light, the shadow of the human figure was vaguely reflected.
It should have been only Wen Shi and Zhou Xu, but behind the blurred shadows of the two of them there was a face with shoulder-length hair.
The face stretched forward, and the facial features slowly enlarged. From the fuzzy white face and long hair, to the two eyes that can clearly see the holes, the holes are still gurgling with blood.
Zhou Xu was terrified, screamed, and sat on the ground.
He turned sharply back—
But he saw Zhang Biling leaning behind him.
"Fuck, who the fuck are you?!" Zhou Xu asked in horror.
Zhang Biling: "..."
"I'm your mother." Zhang Biling is usually very gentle and polite, but she doesn't seem to be gentle with the bear son, "You are itchy, aren't you?"
Zhou Xu was so frightened by the shock just now that he didn't recover for a long time, seeing how strange his mother thought. He took a few steps back in a panic, and crawled to find someone to hug him.
After shaking for a long time, he realized that he was hugging Xia Qiao.
Xia Qiao shook with him and said, "Why do you seem to be less courageous than me?"
"Bah! Let your mother fart." Zhou Xu spat, and let go of his hands cursingly.
Zhang Biling pointed at him: "Try another swear word?!"
Zhou Xu stuck his neck and didn't say a word, stubborn, but his face was pale, and at first glance, he was frightened by something.
While speaking, the old lady holding the trash can finally raised her head.
She caressed her heart, leaned against the wall, and muttered softly, "It scared me to death, scared me to death... It's okay, it's okay... It must be accidental, not careful... I have to, I have to pick it up and send it away."
Hearing this, everyone was a little puzzled.
The old lady talked for a while before opening her eyes and took out a crumpled handkerchief from her pocket.
She glanced at the ring, so fast that she couldn't see it clearly. Then he turned his face away, fumbled for a moment at his feet, picked up the ring through the handkerchief, and wrapped it tightly, as if he couldn't even look at it.
She stood up, grabbed the sharp hook beside the door, "dangdang" to the ground, and shuffled towards somewhere.
Of course she followed her when she smelled it. As a result, just after taking two steps, I heard a series of footsteps behind.
He looked back and saw that everyone, big and small, had followed, even those who had been trapped for days.
"Aren't you afraid?" he asked.
"The old lady is okay," said the plaid boy. "She seems to have been scared to death herself, not so scary. And... "
And for some reason, he seemed to be suddenly very curious, especially wanting to follow the old lady.
The old lady stopped in a corner.
It was an old straight elevator, the old lady reached out and pressed the key, and the elevator clacked.
The shadows of everyone were printed on the metal door of the elevator, each of which was twisted and deformed, stretched very long, and looked unfamiliar.
Zhou Xu had lingering fears, and felt that everyone was weird, so he couldn't help but look behind him.
Cowards are the most taboo to get together.
Affected by him, Xia Qiao was also suspicious, feeling that everyone else's eyes were dead and staring at the elevator.
Suddenly, the elevator dinged, and the metal door slowly opened.
An old and decadent smell came from inside, Xia Qiao grinned, and his intuition was not very good.
Suddenly, he was bumped on the shoulder.
He turned his head and saw that a few of them in plaid shirts were walking straight towards the elevator, and they were about to follow the old lady in.
Xia Qiao's eyes widened, and before he could react, he heard someone sigh.
The one who sighed was Zhang Biling.
She has been in a lot of cages, of course she knows what's going on. This person didn't want to get into the elevator by himself, but was "pushed" in because the cage owner subconsciously wanted the stranger to disappear.
Anyone can be affected at this moment, it's just a matter of how much.
Even she was in a trance for a moment, and when she came back to her senses, she had already taken two steps forward.
The person in front had already stepped into the elevator, and it was too late when she took out the talisman paper and threw it over.
The next moment, the elevator door will close, and the group of people will be cut in two by the elevator door.
If only there were more powerful people, Zhang Biling said in her heart.
She remembered that she had followed Zhang Lan into the cage and encountered such a situation. Zhang Lan was not affected for even two seconds, and the result was naturally a near miss.
If only she was there.
Zhang Biling hurried to get the talisman paper, although he knew it was too late.
As soon as her fingertips touched the paper, she heard something rubbing her and thrown out, with a strong sound of breaking wind.
She looked up and saw that the group of people were tied together by several long thin white strings, and they were suddenly pulled back a step.
Clang—
The elevator door closed with a metallic rubbing sound, and the sound was astonishingly loud.
Those people suddenly woke up, staring at the elevator door in front of them, unable to speak at all.
The plaid shirt rushed forward, the tip of his nose grazed by the metal door. Soon, he felt liquid running down his nose, dripping, dripping, dripping on the ground.
He lowered his head in horror and saw the strings that bound them, and the blood dripping on the ground.
If the speed of the people who bound them were a little slower, what was now rolling on the ground would not be blood, but their bodies and heads.
"What, what's going on?!"
"Why, why am I standing in front of the elevator?"
The brains of several people were blank, and when they reacted, they were already paralyzed on the ground, unable to stand up.
Zhang Biling clutched the talisman paper she didn't have time to use, turned her head along the long line, and saw a pair of hands first.
Those hands were very good, and the fingers were long and straight. Because of their thinness, the back of the hands would stretch out a clear bone line. The slender and white long entwined between those fingers, as if a thousand jins would not tremble in the grip, there was a tense and chilling feeling.
That should be the hand of the top puppet master.
Zhang Biling remembered the descriptions he had seen in the old books of the Zhang family.
Then she raised her eyes and saw Wen Shi's face.
"You..." Zhang Biling asked softly, "Are you unaffected just now?"
Wen Shi looked up at her, paused and said, "Is it possible?"
"Then, how did you get them back in time?"
"Hurry up." Wen Shi said.
Zhang Biling slowly recovered. At that moment, she almost suspected that this young man was extremely skilled, but then she thought, would someone with an extremely high level follow Shen Qiao? Can't even get a name map
impossible.
After the energy just now, she recalled the moment when she almost had an accident, and felt that the reaction did not seem so fast when she smelled it.
***
The elevator, which almost cut someone down, made a clanging sound and slowly went downstairs.
The group of people outside the door were paralyzed, stunned, and stayed for a while.
Wen Shi lowered his hands to rewind the line, and turned his head to see Xie Wen standing by the railing, looking downstairs somewhere.
Just as he was about to go there, he heard a rough, quack, duck voice ask, "Are you practicing puppetry?"
It's Zhou Xu's trashy snack again.
"No." Wen Shi jumped two words.
Zhou Xu was stunned by him: "No? Then what did you practice?"
When he smelled it, he said saltily, "Flip the flower rope."
Zhou Xu: "…"
Are you poisonous
When he did this, Zhou Xu's curiosity was wiped out, and only his heart was raised: "Can you make a puppet? The kind of living creatures."
none of your business. When I smell it, I don't care about this kind of bear stuff.
As a result, Xia Qiao, who could not see others look down on him, opened his mouth and said, "Of course you can."
Zhou Xu's eyes changed, showing a bit of envy. But it quickly changed back to the state where the nose is not the nose and the eyes are not the eyes: "Really?"
Xia Qiao: "Why are you lying to me?"
Zhou Xu asked again, "Then how many puppets can you have at the same time?"
Xia Qiao opened his mouth, closed it again, and turned to look at Wen Shi. Because he didn't know: "Brother, what do you mean by a few puppets? The more the more powerful?"
"Nonsense!" Zhou Xu said everything with a coquettish appearance, "Normal puppet masters only have one puppet, according to the length of time they exist, to judge whether they are powerful or not, a powerful puppet master can create more than a dozen puppets. Years or even decades. There are also abnormal, especially awesome ones, who can make more than two human-like puppets at the same time. My little uncle can do it, he can have six at the same time."
When smelling: "… "
Here again, after blowing auntie blowing uncle, but unfortunately he doesn't know any of them.
Zhou Xuben hoped to get some envious looks after he finished speaking, but unfortunately the two farts in front of him didn't understand.
Xia Qiao was stunned for a while, and finally reacted: "You said that normal puppet masters are all one puppet, and those who are particularly powerful can make two at the same time. You also asked how many my brother can have? What do you mean?"
Zhou Xu reluctantly felt a little refreshed from his questioning, sniffed and said, "I'll just ask. I didn't say that only my little uncle can do it. As far as I know, there are a few others besides him. , but at present the largest number is him."
Xia Qiao: "What is the present?"
"It's the living inside,"
"There were more before then?"
"Yes." Zhou Xu might not feel ashamed to lose to the ancestors, but he didn't hide it. "The book says that the most powerful puppet master once had 12 puppets at the same time."
Xia Qiao's face was "fuck off". He didn't really understand it, but he still felt the power from Zhou Xu's words.
"But that was the earliest time, it was long lost, and no one can do it now." Zhou Xu emphasized his uncle's bull in disguise.
Xia Qiao was still sighing, and asked, "The most powerful person is not the ancestor, right?"
Zhou Xu's reaction was a bit strange when he heard the three words of Patriarch, between fear, awe, and not wanting to hear it.
He nodded, shook his head again and said, "There is another one, one of the earliest successors, and it is also legendary. It is called Wen Shi."
Xia Qiao: "…Who???"
His throat was split, and he slapped the back of the head when he was smelled.
Zhou Xu glared at him: "Why are you so surprised? Are you sick?"
Xia Qiao turned to look at Wen Shi.
Wen Shi pointed at the few people who almost died and said, "I'm too busy, so I'll take them back and stay there."
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Xie Wen.
Xie Wen seemed to be quite interested in their squeaking debate. He listened to it for a while, and he looked a little dazed, wondering what he was thinking.
He quickly noticed Wen Shi's eyes, but didn't say a word. After watching it for a while, he said, "Do you have a difficult request to look at me like this?"
When smelling: "… "
He had planned to speak, but being disturbed by Xie Wen, he shut up on the spot, turned his head and left.
The elevator on the first floor didn't make a "ding" until then and slowly opened the door.
The old lady walked out with a sharp hook and moved forward a little bit.
There are no lights in the safety aisles of the mall, only green signs, emitting the dimest light. Wen Shi pushed the door in and went down the stairs alone, wanting to go to the first floor to check the situation.
Not long after leaving, I heard another knock on the door.
Xie Wen's voice sounded in the quiet and cramped stairwell, low and pleasant: "What are you doing walking so fast?"
"Why are you following?" Wen Shi grabbed the handrail of the stairs and stopped.
"It's nothing." Xie Wen's voice came closer, "There are fewer people here, so it should be easier for you to speak."
Wen Shi watched the tall figure of the other party come closer, only a step higher than him, and then the gentle and low voice rang again. He said, "Are you hungry again?"