I had been waiting downstairs in Building 6 of Gongnong Village No. 6, and in the blink of an eye, Fat Man and Ma Yibing arrived. I looked at the time and saw that an hour had passed since the thin man called me, not just a blink of an eye as I felt. The hand holding the lighter has become numb from maintaining the same position for a long time, but the lighter in my hand still has the same cold touch as before, and it has not been warmed by my body temperature at all. I don't know if it's the lighter's problem, or the fact that I'm blowing cold air downstairs and my body can't warm up.
The thin man was holding a transparent plastic bag, and by the light of the street lamp, he could clearly see the dark cloth inside. Ma Yibing was carrying an iron bucket and a bottle of cooking oil, a few steps behind the thin man, staring at the plastic bag in the thin man's hand, fully alert.
"Let's go." I moved my fingers and felt a pain.
The skinny man's face was covered with sweat. He turned around and called Ma Yibing to hurry up as if facing a powerful enemy.
Ma Yibing probably still doesn't know why we came here to burn kimonos, and he doesn't have any time to think about it. The kimono that burned and reappeared took all his attention.
As the thin man went upstairs, he told me how they found the kimono.
In fact, it cannot be said to be "found".
They arrived at the drama school and entered the drama club's club office, where they saw kimonos in the room where props and costumes were stored. The kimono hung neatly on the shelf, next to the other clothes in "Big Family", as if no one had touched it.
The thin man bravely checked carefully and found that there were no traces of burning on the kimono, and it was intact. As Chen Xiaoqiu once said, the materials used were exquisite, the craftsmanship was exquisite, and the kimono was well preserved. The kimono looks like a work of art stored in a glass cabinet rather than a costume hanging in a student club.
The thin man asked Ma Yibing to find a plastic bag to put the clothes on. When he started, he was still afraid of what kind of reaction the kimono would have. Who knew that the kimono was just like ordinary clothes? When he pinched his hand, nothing strange happened all the way there.
"By the way, I also asked. Starting from Fan Wen, the drama club has performed the play "Big Family" four times."
I paused slightly, "Four times?"
"Well, that is to say..." The thin man bared his teeth.
In other words, four people may have died before. If Zheng Xiaorui is included, that would be five, which is exactly the same as the number of people I saw under the cherry blossom tree.
But it seems that this shouldn't be the case.
I shook my head.
The three of them went up to the sixth floor.
Ma Yibing shivered and finally remembered to ask a question: "Where are we going?"
The thin man and I didn't answer and just moved forward.
The lights in the corridor here don't work. I don't know if they are broken or haunted. We all thought it was broken and pretended to be calm and turned on the mobile phone lighting.
When the light flickered, Ma Yibing saw Qingye's sign and asked cautiously: "Is there an expert here?"
The thin man and I still didn’t answer him.
The thin man is waiting for me to open the door.
But I stopped before the key was inserted into the lock, and hesitantly knocked on the door twice.
The thin man was shocked, and Ma Yibing was also stunned.
"What are you doing knocking on the door?"
"You run this place?"
The two asked completely different questions and used completely different tones.
The thin man was frightened and Ma Yibing was surprised.
I waited for a while, but no one answered the door, and naturally no one came to open the door for us, so I unlocked it and said, "Well... I'm in."
The thin man was even more scared. He was no longer afraid of the kimono. He hugged the kimono to his chest and shrank like a little girl. "Hey, hey, Brother Qi, what are you doing!"
Squeak—
The door opened, and the sound was slightly louder, maybe because the surroundings were too quiet.
Both of them were shocked.
"Come in." I took a deep breath and entered the office first.
The office was quieter than outside, there was no sound at all. I glanced around and saw no one. I didn't know whether I was disappointed or happy.
Ma Yibing came in directly. The thin man was frightened by my actions and seemed timid than Ma Yibing at the moment.
"Hurry up! Don't delay!" I shouted to the thin man.
The thin man stepped into the office with a generous and righteous expression.
"The door is closed." I said again.
"How about leaving it open?" The thin man discussed with me and pushed the door wider to facilitate his escape later.
"Stop talking nonsense!" I yelled again.
The thin man looked at me suspiciously for a long time, but saw no results.
I walked over directly and closed the door.
The thin man was startled and took two steps away from me.
"Bring the iron bucket and clothes." I extended my hand to the two of them.
Ma Yibing wanted to end this matter quickly, so he cooperated with me very much.
The thin man gave me the kimono.
I poured oil on the kimono and threw it into the iron bucket. The lighter was still in my hand. I didn't know what kind of magical thing it was. I could only pray that it would come in handy and burn the kimono clean, so that I wouldn't be a monster again. After praying, I recited Amitabha Buddha in my heart, and spoke to Kimono to myself, urging it to reach bliss as soon as possible and not to cause harm to the world.
While chanting, I opened the sterling silver lighter, and the flame jumped out. The warm light added a little warmth to this cold and dark space.
When the kimono touched the flames, it burst into flames and turned into a ball of fire, which burned very quickly.
"Is this going to be okay?" Ma Yibing asked us with a dry laugh.
The thin man had a stern look on his face, "How did that Lan Lan get the fever?"
Ma Yibing's smile froze on his face, "Yes...I heard it's a match...just burn..."
"Just burn it like this without leaving any ashes?" the thin man asked again.
Ma Yibing panicked.
It's okay not to think about this kind of thing, but it feels wrong when I think about it.
Kimonos are not paper, even paper contains ashes. How come they burn so easily
"Maybe it's some special material..." Ma Yibing thought for a long time and came up with such a reason.
The thin man was probably going to say something like "the material of ghosts", but as soon as he opened his mouth and made a mouth gesture, the fire ball in the iron barrel had already burned out.
The kimono has several layers on the inside and outside, and it is so big that it doesn’t burn quickly even when oil is poured on it.
Ma Yibing himself didn't believe the nonsense he told about "special materials", but he also didn't believe other "truths" and said eagerly: "After the burning is over, let's go!"
The thin man glared at Ma Yibing, "At least wait a little longer, it will come back again..."
Before I finished speaking, I felt a dark wind blowing past me. I raised my hand suddenly, straightened my arm in a circle, and grabbed it behind me.
Both the thin man and Ma Yibing were frightened by my actions, and the thin man took three steps back, staying far away from me.
I was led sideways by that arm, and I happened to look in the direction where my arm was sticking out. My hand was in a fist-clenching posture, and I should have used strength, but I couldn't feel it at all.
When Shouzi and Ma Yibing were about to ask, something appeared in my clenched fist.
It was a piece of black cloth. The cloth expanded and grew in my hands, turning into clothes. The cherry blossom tree also gradually appeared from the crown to the roots.
The thin man and Ma Yibing gasped frequently.
I couldn't make a sound at all, because I saw that the kimono I was holding by the collar did not hang down like normal clothes, but stood upright in the air, as if inside the clothes...