Before leaving that house, Lu Yanli could still smell a sweet and intoxicating aroma.
He walked down the stairs and out of the residential building. Looking back, he saw the black cat standing on the balcony, looking down at him with its green eyes.
The emotions in its eyes were very complicated, totally unlike the look an animal should have.
Cats have nine lives...
Lu Yanli paused, then turned and left.
"Little cat, don't go to the balcony." The old man took the black cat from behind with his hands. The black cat meowed and lay quietly in the old man's arms, enjoying the caress.
"My heart... why is it beating so fast... where did Qingqing go? Why hasn't she come home so late?" The man stroked its smooth fur and muttered to himself.
The sense of crisis in her heart made her more and more restless. She put the cat aside, turned around and hurried into the mysterious little room.
Only she can enter this room. When Qingqing was a child, she came in once out of ignorance and was severely beaten by her. Since then, she has learned her lesson and will never step into this room.
She treated Qingqing as her own daughter, and she felt very sad when she cried, but she had already embarked on this path, and she absolutely could not let the child make the same mistake again!
These restricted areas are not accessible to humans...
The room was very small and extremely dark, but if you looked carefully you could see that it had been cleaned exceptionally cleanly, without a speck of dust. In the middle of the room, against the wall, stood a small shrine, on which was enshrined an extremely terrifying statue of a deity.
At first glance, it looked like nothing special, like a quiet lady. But once you looked into those eyes, your heart would involuntarily feel cold, as if you were looking at something extremely evil. If it wasn't placed on this shrine, no one would think of it as a statue of a god, and they might even think of it as the legendary statue of a ghost.
As soon as she entered the room, she knelt on the cushion, lowered her head, closed her eyes and muttered some words without daring to say more. What she did not notice and did not dare to notice was that with her prayers, the color of the small statue became brighter and brighter red, so red that it seemed like blood could drip out.
Finally the prayer was over, and the old man slowly stood up. It was already very late at this time, and there was no light in the house. The statue in the room became increasingly blurry and unclear, with only the red color becoming more and more conspicuous in the darkness.
With shaking hands, she picked up a match from the incense box under the shrine, and tremblingly placed the match head on the frosted side of the matchbox and rubbed it. A flame lit up, but strangely, the flame went out immediately.
This is… This is…
She immediately struck another match, but to her surprise, this time the flame also went out strangely after lighting for a moment.
No, it won't... Sweat oozed from the old woman's forehead. She immediately lit three matches together. This time she finally lit the incense successfully. She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly inserted the three incense sticks into the incense burner on the shrine.
Bless you... Bless Qingqing to come back safely...
However, in the next instant, the three incense sticks were broken in half!
The strangely twisted statue on the shrine suddenly turned bright red, and a sinister smile seemed to appear at the corner of its mouth. Before anyone could be surprised, the door of the room slammed shut the next moment.
"No… "
"Well, you are still students, right? Contact your family now. You can use any excuse you want, just say you have to go home late tonight. I promise that as long as you finish this game conscientiously, we will send you back safely."
Yinming Road, Nie Yun said to the two girls.
The cat in Wen Qing's hand was already hanging on the tree, swaying gently in the wind, and everyone stood further away from the tree.
After all, in many legends, the appearance of black cats, crows and other creatures is accompanied by ominous signs, and there are even rumors that cats have nine lives, black cats attract evil, etc. Of course, in the eyes of the few people who have been doing tasks for a long time, no matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it dies abnormally, it may bring them bad luck, which does not prevent them from avoiding bad luck.
"What?" When Nie Yun handed over the phone, Wen Qing didn't dare to answer it. It was Shi Yan who took it and put it in her hand. Then she carefully opened the call interface.
"Of course it's true, but I advise you not to say anything you shouldn't say." Shi Yan said softly.
She was able to come this far, so she was definitely not a pushover. The fierceness in her eyes made Wen Qing tremble, and he immediately nodded: "As long as you keep your promise."
Only Chu Xiu felt a little strange about her words.
The tone of her words was not entirely begging, but also had a hint of warning, as if telling them that if they didn't send her back, there would definitely be some terrible consequences.
Why did she say that
The others didn't pay attention. After Wen Qing took the phone, she handed it to Yun Qian first and asked her to tell her family. Under the gaze of several people, she had to turn on the speakerphone to reassure them.
Yun Qian's parents didn't pay much attention to her, so when they heard that she was going to a classmate's house to celebrate her birthday, they didn't take it too seriously.
But when Wen Qing took over, something unexpected happened - no one answered the call.
Wen Qing's face turned pale instantly. Without waiting for anyone to speak, she dialed the number again and again. Her hands were shaking badly and her eyes were full of fear. However, no matter how she dialed the number, the voice from the other end was "The user you dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later..."
How is it possible...
Wen Qing's face turned pale as paper, and he suddenly murmured, "No, I have to go back... I have to go back now!"
"Let me go! I want to go back!"
Nie Yun and Ye Shengke were very close to her and immediately rushed over to grab her. Wen Qing struggled desperately. They thought that two big men could easily restrain her, but to their surprise, Wen Qing struggled with great strength, as if she was risking her life, and she shouted while struggling: "Let me go back! I want to go back!"
With a click, the bullet was loaded.
Chu Xiu raised his hand and put the muzzle of the gun against her forehead.
Wen Qing froze in an instant, tears streaming down her cheeks. She slumped down to her knees, ignoring the two people trying to pull her apart. "Please, I want to go back... I must go back..."
"After midnight, the game is over and you can leave." Chu Xiu said coldly.
He kept the gun in his hand pointed at her forehead, without any mercy.
At this moment, the dark interface of the mobile phone that fell to the ground suddenly lit up and the beeping sound stopped.
"Hello… "
An old man's voice sounded, hoarse and cold.
Wen Qing suddenly heard a heavenly sound. She ignored the gun on her head and rushed over to answer the phone: "Grandma! It's me, Qingqing."
"Qing... Qing..."
The person opposite paused.
Wen Qing didn't notice anything unusual and responded repeatedly. This time, she seemed to have regained her senses. She said, "Grandma, I'm going to Xiaoqian's house to play with my friend Yunqian today. I'll be back later. You can go to bed early."
"...Xia...Xia..."
"… good… "
The words and sentences were drawn out, the sound was cold and hoarse, like the sound of sandpaper. It made people feel very uncomfortable, but Wen Qing was unaware of it and felt relieved.
I'm glad grandma is okay.
After hanging up the phone, Wen Qing stood up and returned the phone.
The surroundings became even colder, and the body of a black kitten hanging on the tree was shaking gently.
"There are still three hours until midnight. Let's go back to the car and wait." Shi Yan suggested.
So the six of them got back into the car together. Fortunately, the vehicle they drove out today was an off-road vehicle, which was relatively large, so there was no pressure to seat six people.
Wen Qing and Yun Qian were arranged to sit in the back seat, their hands tightly clasped together.
With the stranger present, the four of them stopped talking about the mission and started talking about the game. They naturally noticed that Wen Qing was more special among the two girls, so during the conversation, the other three of them asked her questions intentionally or unintentionally.
Only Chu Xiu seemed to be doing nothing while sitting in the passenger seat. However, only he knew that he was using the rearview mirror to observe the people around him.
Everything is normal, nothing unusual.
As time passed, it became increasingly dark outside the window, with only two beams of car lights illuminating the entire road. Unconsciously, even the temperature dropped. As a last resort, Nie Yun turned on the air conditioner in the car, mist gradually formed on the car window, and then he turned on the wipers, using the two black wipers to draw a semicircular arc.
Yun Qian felt bored. She sat in the back seat, blew a breath on the window, and then wrote a random word with her finger.
After she finished writing, she exhaled again. When she heard Shi Yan calling her, she quickly raised her hand to wipe away the mist and turned her head: "Ah? What's wrong?"
She didn't even pay attention to the pale face that flashed by outside the window.
Finally, it was midnight.
The vehicle started up again and slowly drove forward. Finally, it stopped less than fifty meters away from the intersection.
What none of them noticed was that the body of the black cat, which was still hanging on the tree, swayed twice in the wind, and suddenly the rope broke and it fell to the ground!
It was as if someone had cut the rope.
"Now, let's decide who will go first. Remember, every step of the game must be correct. If you make a mistake, it may lead to terrible consequences that no one can bear." Nie Yun said in the car.
As he said this, the temperature in the car dropped further, and a terrifying feeling that could not be described in words filled everyone's heart.
Unexpectedly, it was the most timid Yun Qian who said weakly: "I'll go first. I'll go first, Qingqing, and then you guys let us leave quickly."
"Okay." A voice replied.
Nie Yun and Chu Xiu had no objection and nodded in agreement. Wen Qing insisted on accompanying Yun Qian and was unwilling to wait in the car. Instead, he got off the car and stood by the window. They walked forward step by step, watching Yun Qian shivering.
The air became even colder and her legs were shaking. She didn't know why, but she was the first to agree.
Never mind. If you stick your head out, you’ll get stabbed. If you hide your head, you’ll also get stabbed. The sooner you do it, the better.
It's okay... It's okay...
Yun Qian repeated these words silently and walked slowly forward following her own shadow.
Speaking of which, the weather tonight is not suitable for playing this game. There is no moon, and there are not even a few stars. There are no street lights on this road at night. The shadows of the trees cover the road so much that you can't even see your fingers. If there were no car lights, you wouldn't be able to see even a shadow.
When they were still seven or eight meters away from the intersection, Yun Qian followed the rules they had just told her, forced herself to suppress the fear in her heart, and silently recited her own name.
"Yun Qian." She stepped on the shadow and took a step forward.
"Yun Qian." Another step.
"Yun Qian." Another step.
1, 2, 3… 12, 13.
When she reached the thirteenth step, she was like a frightened bird, her whole body tense. She didn't dare to look at the shadow on the ground. Nothing changed. If she could, she wanted to fly back to the car immediately, but she couldn't.
Those people threatened her with Qingqing.
She had to complete the steps.
Yun Qian didn't dare to make a sound. She stood stiffly where she was and slowly lowered her head.
Just when she got a clear idea of the road surface, she felt as if she was immersed in an ice cellar, and her hands and feet instantly became cold.
She... The shadow under her feet turned into two!
There is still a shadow, whose is it? !
Who is it!
Her breathing became rapid, but she still remembered what those people had told her.
Never, ever make any sound and listen to what the other person says.
Suddenly, a hoarse voice rang in her ears. She couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, old or young. At the same time, an extremely cold breath came from behind her, as if... that thing was pressed against her back!
"Find my..."
What did you find
She didn't dare move.
If she could look back, or if she could see something, she would find that a pale body was pressed against her back.
"Found... found my..."
However, she still didn't hear clearly, and Yun Qian didn't dare to ask. Just after those two sentences were finished, the cold feeling behind her suddenly disappeared, and the shadow on the ground turned into another one. Yun Qian finally couldn't help it, and she covered her mouth and ran back. She also remembered not to make any sound, otherwise, that thing would bring her unbearable consequences.
"What's the result?" Wen Qing hugged the other person and felt her trembling in his arms. He kept shaking his head but dared not say anything.
Yun Qian knew that she must have encountered some supernatural event, and this result made everyone else feel uneasy.
"Let's get in the car first." Shi Yan, who was sitting in the middle, opened the door, and Wen Qing helped Yun Qian get in carefully.
They didn't notice that the shadow under Yun Qian's feet became darker.
"Yun Qian, what did you just see?" Shi Yan asked.
Wen Qing didn't get any results, and neither did Shi Yan. Yun Qian could only shake her head with tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but no sound came out.
She was unable to speak because of the intense fear and psychological suggestion!
"Hey, you..." Before Ye Shengke could finish his words, Yun Qian fainted.
Nie Yun rolled down the car window, and the cool air rushed in, clearing his nervous brain: "Brother Chu, what should we do now? Should we go down?"
"Of course." Before Chu Xiu could say anything, Shi Yan had already spoken firmly. She turned her gaze to Wen Qing and said, "It's your turn."
Wen Qing pursed her lips and nodded: "Don't touch her."
"As long as you complete it seriously, we won't do anything."
Wen Qing held the unconscious Yun Qian's hand again, took out the amulet he had just borrowed from her hand, and walked forward step by step.
The temperature outside the car was even lower, almost like winter. Wen Qing wrapped his school uniform tightly around him and slowly walked to the place where Yun Qian had just walked past.
"Wen Qing, Wen Qing, Wen Qing..."
She followed her own shadow, reciting a sentence with each step she took. When she took the thirteenth step, Wen Qing vaguely heard a cat's meow.