In an instant, alarm bells rang in Lin Chu's heart.
Judging from the brushstrokes, the album that Lu Yanli, who used the pseudonym Jiang Bai, took from the library at the beginning, the album that she just took from the dead Yu Huaiyao's body, and the album here should all be from the same person. In other words, the artist of the album is undoubtedly Lu Yanli.
But which Lu Yanli could it be
The album taken from Yu Huaiyao's body was covered in blood and was almost unreadable. She flipped through a few pages at random. Perhaps it was the one that Lu Yanli had taken out and was taken away by Jiang Yu. And now, how could Lu Yanli draw an identical one
No, that's not right...
According to Lu Yanli's memory, if the previous book was really drawn by him, at least if it was drawn by the current him, he would not remember the color wrong. Although the two colors are somewhat similar, they are definitely not the same.
So, he was forging it? And the previous book must not be drawn by him now. Maybe he didn't read it carefully, otherwise he wouldn't make such a low-level mistake.
Moreover, he did not hide anything in front of me. Does he know that Yu Huaiyao is dead
"Yu Huaiyao in this world is dead." Lin Chu said.
She did not mention the album next to Yu Huaiyao, as if it was just a casual question after flipping through it.
"Is the cause of death confirmed?" Lu Yanli paused for a second.
"Axe, one blow to kill." Lin Chu stared at him but did not raise any doubts about the album.
She was speculating about Lu Yanli's suspicion.
Lu Yanli didn't even blink, but his mind started to work rapidly: killing with an axe or a single blow, it really sounds like himself.
Is she testing
"It's not me. I have been here the whole time and never left." Lu Yanli said directly.
He could sense that, although the other party was talking about Yu Huaiyao, he was obviously very concerned about the album he had drawn. Thinking of the fact that Lin Chu had seen the album before, he realized that perhaps there was something wrong with the album.
"My previous album is lost, but I think it is very important, so I decided to redraw it," he said.
Lin Chu did not raise any real doubts, but asked: "Did you find anything?"
“Not yet.”
On the last page of the album, the king, who had fallen into madness, prayed to God. Behind the statue he prostrated before, a huge red shadow appeared. In the shadow, the figures of countless believers in red clothes prostrated before him could be vaguely seen.
In the last frame, the background has changed, and modern influences can be seen in the surrounding buildings. The king is back, standing on the top of the mountain with his arms outstretched, looking intoxicated, apparently enjoying heaven.
Lin Chu discovered that the color of the album was wrong on the last page. She flipped through it again and her eyes fell on the painting supplies on the bookshelf next to her. The paint tubes there had traces of being squeezed.
She had a vague guess in her mind, but was not sure. She remained calm and only invited him to go with her to the entrance of the tunnel in the psychic town to find the faceless woman.
As she expected, Lu Yanli agreed. It was not until she went out that Lu Yanli realized that Lin Chu suddenly had several more companions, and they were vaguely led by her.
"These are all outsiders." It was difficult for Lin Chu to explain her identity, but she didn't intend to hide it completely. She just mentioned it lightly, hinting that she would explain it clearly later.
Lu Yanli didn't mind. He simply greeted the several investigators who had gathered together, and the group immediately set off for the town entrance tunnel.
Unexpectedly, when their vehicle was driving on the small town road, it was suddenly attacked. People from the residential buildings on both sides of the street threw stones at them, including various small electrical appliances and flower pots. Fortunately, the driver was a good driver and dodged some of the attacks, but the attacks were too intensive and a small part of them still hit the car glass, creating cracks.
"You unlucky creatures! Get out of here!"
"All of you, get out! Get away! Go to hell!"
There was a loud curse coming from the building, and soon someone else echoed it, obviously more than one person.
"They regard us as disaster stars." Lin Chu said.
It was normal. Before they entered, the town was peaceful and stable, and there was nothing wrong with it. Now, more than half of the town’s population has died, and it has started to be haunted. Lin Chu herself felt that if she were a resident of the town, she would have driven the people away long ago.
Zhuang Ci urged: "Xiao Gao, drive faster."
The driver Xiao Gao responded and stepped on the accelerator. Just as they were about to pass a corner, the store there exploded without warning. The strong shock wave directly blew open half of the car door. The moment the glass flew, everyone raised their consciousness and covered their eyes.
A bomb was thrown into the car through the shattered windshield.
Lu Yanli, the only one who did not cover his eyes, picked up the bomb almost a second before the explosion and threw it in the opposite direction. But the time was too short, and the bomb exploded before it reached a high altitude.
“Hurry up!!” Lin Chu, who was sitting behind the driver, raised his hand and slapped Xiao Gao on the forehead, almost shouting the order in his ear.
In the rearview mirror, a small fire wave exploding in the air was reflected. Their hearing was very sensitive and they could hear the screams of people in the high-rise buildings on both sides and the sound of glass windows exploding in the residential buildings.
Zhuang Ci and others were discussing who dropped the bomb, while Lu Yanli and Lin Chu looked solemn.
Someone who can use this kind of homemade bomb and deliver it accurately...
Damn it, isn't he dead? Is he not dead? Or is it someone else
"Don't worry about that for now, let's go to the tunnel quickly." No matter who is behind this, since they are trying every means to stop them from going to the tunnel, it means there must be some secret in the tunnel.
Lu Yanli didn't say anything, but stuck his head out to look around. Suddenly, his eyes became as sharp as a hawk spotting its prey. He moved his wrist and threw out a dagger.
“Who is it?!” Lin Chu looked back suddenly, but found nothing.
"He was distracted and didn't see clearly." Lu Yanli retracted his gaze, still feeling a little unwilling.
Time was urgent and he couldn't chase out.
The man in blood-stained clothes, who had not seen his face clearly, had just caught his knife and retreated into the shadows.
It doesn't look like a ghost.
Who is it
Lu Yanli felt heavy in his heart.
He thought he had experienced time travel several times and understood something, but the reality was that the more he knew, the more mysteries he encountered. One after another, he seemed to have no end in sight.
The truth of the world... The strange truth...
Lu Yanli reached out and touched his chest, where there was a scar that he had gouged out during his lifetime. It was now healed, and there were no new marks on his body. The original mark no longer gave off a chill as before.
But he did not feel relieved. His intuition told him that it was useless, everything was in vain, that thing was still looking for him.
After the vehicle left, the red figure emerged from the shadows again. He had a cloth covering his face, with only two holes dug for his eyes, and looked a little thin. He stared at the direction the vehicle left for a while, took out a small red statue from his arms, and also walked in the direction they left.
Thanks to the explosion just now, no one from the residential buildings on both sides stopped him. The surveillance cameras were blown up, and he walked on the street that was almost in ruins, holding the statue tightly in his hand.
"Finally we're here." We passed through dense forests until a small wooden house appeared. Not far away was a tunnel that went through the mountain.
The vehicle stopped at the entrance of the tunnel. It was pitch black inside and no one could see what was inside. Gusts of cold wind blew from inside to outside and fell on the body, giving people goose bumps.
Zhuang Ci looked left and right, feeling a little uneasy.
After her memory was restored, her body was covered with red marks. This was due to an experiment conducted by the research institute. If it was successful, she would be very sensitive to the smell of "that thing".
She felt as if she could sense it.
"Where did you find out she was missing?" Lin Chu looked around, not knowing what she had discovered, and turned to ask Xiao Gao.
Xiao Gao swallowed his saliva: "Just... just after I got out, I turned around and found that she was no longer behind the truck."
"She was there before we entered the tunnel?"
"Yes." Xiao Gao said firmly, but then he lowered his head in frustration, "I originally wanted to go in, but... when I was standing at the entrance of the cave..." He suddenly shuddered, as if he remembered something, and shook his head, his face full of confusion.
That being said, there was only one possibility, that she disappeared in the tunnel for no reason.
Knowing her speed, they would probably find it difficult for her to escape from a moving car quietly.
Therefore, the only possibility is that she was forced to leave for some reason.
"Strange... I seem to..." Xiao Gao opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something. Zhuang Ci noticed that something was wrong with him and walked over quickly: "What's wrong with you?"
The latter's eyes were dazed, and suddenly he opened his eyes in horror, "I remember! I..."
Before he finished speaking, a huge wound suddenly appeared on his shoulder.
Then came the neck, waist, and legs… In just a moment, he was like a doll that had been chopped into several pieces and then put together but finally broke apart under the weight. All the flesh and limbs were scattered, and hot blood gushed out.
"What happened?!" Lin Chu looked at him from the corner of her eyes. She never expected that Xiao Gao would die right before their eyes. She rushed over to check, but found nothing.
"Leave quickly!" Lin Chu made a prompt decision and called everyone to retreat and make adjustments first, temporarily shelving the plan to find the faceless woman.
"Captain, in this way... aren't you really worried that she will lose control?" Zhuang Ci hesitated.
Lin Chu's face was indifferent: "There is already something strange there. Do you think we can get through the strangeness and enter the tunnel unscathed?"
What's more, it was not an ordinary tunnel, but more like a passage into another space.
Just after they left, a man emerged from the forest. He stared at the entrance of the tunnel and was determined to go in.
In that man's room, there is a red statue.
He walked forward slowly, and after a long, long time, he finally came out of the cave, looked around, and a satisfied look appeared in his eyes. Then, he took off the cloth covering his face.
That face was exactly the same as Lu Yanli who was with Lin Chu and others at the moment.
He is also Lu Yanli.
He arrived at a room from decades ago, a room filled with old and gorgeous furniture, with posters of a woman posted everywhere in the room.
In the room, there was a woman putting on makeup. She was very beautiful, exactly like the woman on the poster. Suddenly, she saw a figure in the mirror and turned her head in surprise: "Are you young?"
"Yes, I am." Lu Yanli said.
He looked around the room and expressed his satisfaction: "Very good, you are very pious."
After hearing his praise, the woman was very happy and continued, "One thing is, I have learned that song."
"Very good." Lu Yanli smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes, "You will go to a place with me today."
"Okay, I'll be right there." Hearing that, the woman quickened her pace, put on her makeup quickly, picked up her bag, and stood in front of Lu Yanli, "Do you need a car to go?"
Lu Yanli nodded, and the woman immediately went to prepare. Not long after, everything was ready. Lu Yanli didn't want anyone else to drive, so he acted as the driver himself. Lan Zhiyu sat in the back seat, feeling uneasy about the unknown journey, but also faintly excited.
Unfortunately, Lu Yanli had a cold expression throughout the whole process and didn't even smile. This made Lan Zhiyu, who wanted to ask him if he was going to recruit new followers, unable to speak and could only guess secretly.
Unexpectedly, after a long drive, they stopped in front of a detached house in the city.
"Lin's residence?" Lan Zhiyu muttered in her heart without saying it out loud. Then she saw Lu Yanli got in the car and hurriedly followed.
Lu Yanli was wearing clothes that didn't look too strange in this era, and he didn't know when he put on a mask. He went forward and knocked on the door, and soon someone opened the door for them.
Lu Yanli nodded to the man and said, "Please tell me that the old man is gone."
The doorman who opened the door was a bit old, but in good spirits. He stared at Lu Yanli's mask for a while, then suddenly widened his eyes and said, "So... OK, OK, I'll go right away. Please come in first."
Lu Yanli went in smoothly. He was indifferent to the people and scenery in the courtyard. Lan Zhiyu always felt that he seemed to be looking for something, but she couldn't tell what.
This room was also a bit strange, with various Taoist talismans, array plates and other objects placed inside. Lu Yanli walked in as if he didn't see anything, and soon, a middle-aged man came out to greet him.
"Master, what's wrong with you?" The middle-aged man enthusiastically led him to the seat of honor, which made Lan Zhiyu even more confused. He felt proud and sat down in the living room.
"I'm passing by here, let me take a look." Lu Yanli's voice came from behind the mask. He reached out and picked up the teacup. The middle-aged man took a look at his exposed skin.
After so many years, everyone has grown old, but he is still young.
"The bad luck has been eliminated. From today on, he can go out." Lu Yanli said.
"Really?" The middle-aged man stood up and said, "I'll go call him right away."
Deep inside the Lin residence, in a room, a brother and sister sat together. The sister was not very old, but she had combed her hair like a woman. She said worriedly, "Brother, that teacher is here again."
I heard... many years ago, this sorcerer calculated that her brother would bring bad luck to the entire forest, so he had to be locked up in the cell and could not go out until the time came.
After hearing her words, the boy's face twisted for a moment: "I know."
He doesn't know.
For the past ten years or so, he has wanted to kill the other person.
Just because of a ridiculous prophecy, he was trapped here for eighteen years!