Strange Gentlemen

Chapter 4: 03 Hiding

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They called that horrible man-eating monster "God" and said that he was now "asleep". Does that mean that even if they temporarily hid in that shrine, they would not be discovered by that "God"

Thinking about how her life was hanging by a thread last night, and the fact that "God" could not eat her food, Luo Yu'an suddenly felt a sense of relief and relief.

It's okay. It will be okay.

She kept mumbling to herself, quietly listening to the movements of those people outside. They dispersed into the rooms to look for her, and if they couldn't find her in the room, they would soon think of the gap under the corridor, but she didn't know if she would be seen if she went out now. After hesitating for a long time, she felt that she couldn't delay any longer.

He raised his hand to take off his shoes, which made obvious footsteps when he walked, and quickly looked outside. Except for the back of an old lady, everyone else had entered the room. This was a good opportunity!

Don't see me don't see me don't see me!

She quickly jumped out, her heart pounding, but she didn't make any sound, her eyes only focused on the swaying shrine curtain. She had never moved so quickly and agilely before, and as soon as she stepped onto the corridor at the edge of the shrine, the curtain was already in front of her!

At this time, the old lady turned around, and Luo Yu'an's heart skipped a beat, and she rushed into the curtain. She didn't know if her action had been seen, but she felt that someone might lift the curtain to check in the next second, so she raised her head stiffly and quickly to scan the inside of the shrine to see if there was a place to hide. She saw the area in the center that was wrapped in heavy curtains, and without thinking, she rushed in and hid herself behind the heavy curtains.

The interior floor of the shrine building was a dark, smooth wooden floor that seemed to emit a special, faint fragrance. She sat on the floor, not feeling the coolness of the ground at all, her eyes fixed on the motionless curtain hanging in front of her.

The faint voices outside became very far away. The light coming in also faded inch by inch. Someone was talking quietly outside, but it was not clear.

"It's... late..."

"There's no other way... just wait outside... he'll eventually... come out..."

"Leave first... No matter what... Don't disturb me anymore..."

Hearing the word "leave", Luo Yu'an instantly relaxed a little. Just as she moved her feet, she heard footsteps entering the shrine. She immediately stopped and held her breath. Fortunately, the person who came in had no intention of lifting the curtain. He just bowed and knelt outside the curtain, and then quickly retreated.

Luo Yu'an spent a long time to confirm that they had really all left. She still didn't quite believe that these people had given up looking for her so quickly, but when she thought about it, maybe for them, it was like a mouse running into the yard. Even if they wanted to catch the mouse, they couldn't find it for a while, and they didn't dare to disturb the owner too much just to catch a small mouse.

After all, a mouse couldn't possibly be too harmful to him.

The crisis was temporarily resolved, and Luo Yu'an was instantly overwhelmed by deep fatigue. The fatigue came from not sleeping last night and being nervous all day today. She had not eaten or drunk water during this period. This state made her slow to react, and she only realized now that the "god" was behind her.

Night fell again, and the same faint fragrance from last night floated in the silent air. A red light suddenly lit up behind her. Luo Yu'an instantly remembered everything she saw last night, and the hairs on her back stood on end.

When she rushed in earlier, she was unable to see the situation inside clearly. At this moment, she stared at her own shadow cast by the red light and turned her head inch by inch.

Many terrifying images appeared in my mind uncontrollably, such as finding two white sleeves hanging in front of me when I turned around, and the "god" who had turned into a monster and was staring at me from behind.

However, when I really turned around, nothing terrible happened. The red light was the light of a red candle, which looked like an ordinary candlestick, full of an ancient atmosphere. Even more heavy and gorgeous than this candlestick was the altar in the middle of the curtain...

It could probably be called a shrine. Luo Yu'an didn't know how to describe it. It was similar in style to a shrine, but infinitely more gorgeous. The huge wood with a hint of red in the black was carved with various patterns and designs, forming a three-layer exquisite pavilion. The outermost layer had many incense burners, with traces of burning many incense sticks; the middle layer had many tributes, fruits, snacks, etc.; the innermost layer was like a small separate room, covered with mats, and at this moment, it was hung with dense red lines, and a red cocoon was hung in the middle.

Luo Yu'an forgot his fear for a moment and was stunned by the extremely exquisite work of art in front of him and the atmosphere full of solemnity and mystery.

When she came to her senses, her eyes did not stay on the red cocoon at the innermost part, but lingered on the offerings on the second floor. This was the most instinctive behavior, because at this moment she was really thirsty and hungry, her stomach was burning, and her hands and feet were weak. She had not eaten since yesterday in prison, and now she had not had a drop of water for two days. If she licked her lips, she could taste the blood overflowing from her cracked lips.

She took a few steps forward hesitantly, wanting to get closer to the food on the second floor. She took a few steps forward and looked at the red cocoon nervously, then she knelt down properly, as if she was going to worship Buddha in a temple, and carefully bowed to this "god".

The big red peach was cold in his hand, exuding the unique fragrance of fruit. The snacks were small and exquisite, exuding a sweet fragrance. Luo Yu'an sat by the curtain and ate the food bite by bite, during which time he kept paying attention to whether the red cocoon moved.

She was a timid woman. Before that incident, she was kind and tolerant to everyone. She didn't like to argue with others and was easy to talk to, so she always suffered losses.

The most daring thing she had done in her life, the only thing she had ever argued with someone about, was that murder. But even after killing someone, she was still the timid person she used to be, living an ordinary and struggling life.

After filling her stomach, she finally felt relaxed.

The red candle flames burned quietly, but the number of red candles did not decrease. After getting used to it, Luo Yu'an felt that the red light was not so scary. She stretched her body and walked out. Even if the cocoon did not move, she still did not dare to stay in it.

It was not completely dark outside. The light from the full moon half hidden in the clouds allowed her to see everything in the yard clearly. She had just come here at dusk yesterday and was too nervous to look around. Who would have thought that after all the terrible things had happened, she would be able to quietly observe every corner of the yard.

She suddenly discovered that there was a row of plants planted on one side of the shrine, with red flowers looming among the branches and leaves. They were a dozen single-petal red camellias lined up in a row, and she could smell the faint fragrance of the flowers when she got close. It turned out that the fragrance she had smelled since last night was emitted by these red camellias.

Luo Yu'an lay down on the corridor on this side. She was so tired that she fell asleep as soon as she lay down.

People's dreams are always unpredictable, and people cannot know that they are dreaming when they are dreaming. In her dream, Luo Yu'an forgot that she was in danger and forgot the night of terror. She returned to her home where she had lived for more than 20 years. The house was a decades-old residential building. The balcony on the third floor with pots of small flowers was her home.

Her teenage sister had just finished school, so she helped her pick vegetables and told her what happened at school.

"Sister, when I go out to work and make a lot of money, we can move to another place and build a villa where we can plant flowers and grass in the yard."

"OK."

"Sister, what do you think of me becoming an actor in the future?"

"Sure, Xiaojing is pretty."

My sister smiled, and her beautiful face was full of youthful light.

Later, the brilliant light disappeared. She left a suicide note and jumped off the roof. From then on, the sister who depended on each other for survival was frozen in a black and white photo with a smile on her face.

The dream turned from happiness to despair in the blink of an eye. Luo Yu'an woke up with a chill all over her body and found that it was still dark and she was frozen all over. She also found herself sobbing softly with wet tears on her cheeks. She woke up crying.

It had been a long time since she woke up crying from a dream at night, probably because she had been too tense in the past two days.

The temperature outside was very low, and she shivered as she entered the shrine again. With only a layer of curtain between them, the inside and outside of the shrine seemed to be two different worlds. It was warm as spring inside, and as soon as she entered, she felt like she was being illuminated by the warm sun. Luo Yu'an cast her eyes towards the red candle and found that the temperature in the room seemed to be brought by the strange red candle.

She lay on the warm ground, trying to rest again, but she couldn't fall asleep. She lay just in a position where she could see the red cocoon, which was hanging there without moving. She began to imagine what would come out of it. Generally speaking, a butterfly should appear in the cocoon.

Then she began to think about what she would do in the future. She couldn't hide here forever, nor could she go out. But no matter how she thought about it, she was doomed to die. She couldn't think of any way to survive, and she fell into a state of confusion. The road ahead was uncertain, and she could only live one step at a time.

On the second day of hiding in the shrine, she ate some of the offerings from the second-level shrine.

On the third day, it was still the same.

During this time, the door to the yard was never opened again. She tried to get close to the door and heard slight footsteps outside. There was nothing in the yard that could be climbed, and even if she could climb out, she could predict that there would be people outside the yard, waiting for her to fall into the trap.

She looked at the red cocoon and knew very well that when the "god" came out of the cocoon, her death would be imminent.

But she didn't expect that the god would "break out of the cocoon" so quickly. On the third night, she woke up from her sleep again. In her daze, she saw the red cocoon fell on the mat. A touch of white appeared on the surface of the cocoon wrapped with red silk. It was a white sleeve.

Luo Yu'an woke up with a start and kept his eyes open until dawn. He then saw his long black hair emerging from the silk cocoon.

The gate that had been closed for three days opened, and someone came in with the rising sun. They went straight to the shrine. Luo Yu'an heard the noise and crawled behind the curtain. He saw the two old ladies pulling up the four square curtains outside. They continued to walk in, lifting the hanging curtains layer by layer to let the sunlight penetrate the shrine.

Luo Yu'an was forced to hide in the innermost layer, but it still couldn't hide her figure. Seeing that the last layer of the curtain was about to be opened, Luo Yu'an ran to the red cocoon in a panic. The "god" who had not yet completely broken out of the cocoon revealed most of his body. The cocoon made of red silk threads piled up in the process of spreading, like a quilt piled up beside him, and Luo Yu'an dove in.