"Oh?"
Beiquan asked, "What's so strange?"
Zhu Hongcai raised his hand and knocked on the sloping wall beside him.
"As the two of you can see, the people who will live in the 'paper cottage' are all lonely ghosts who have not received incense sacrifices and are so poor."
Beiquan nodded.
Of course he knew the rules of the paper city.
Except for a few exceptions, most of the ghosts who walked through Huangquan Road after death were people who had no major fault in their lifetime and could be reincarnated normally.
But before crossing the Naihe Bridge to drink Mengpo soup and go to the next life, they have to wait in the underworld for a period of time, ranging from a few years to a few decades, and as many as a hundred years, and this paper city is their temporary residence.
As for the paper houses where residents live, the paper carts they ride, and all the daily necessities they use, they all come from the funeral rituals, as well as the incense offerings of relatives, friends, and descendants in the world.
But not all the deceased are worshipped.
Souls who have not enjoyed the incense offerings all year round will become literally "poor ghosts", without even a place to live.
So this building, which is called "paper cottage" by the residents of Zhicheng, came into being.
The homeless ghosts collect scraps of scrap paper to build a "room" in the corner of the building.
Over the years, the "paper cottage" has become more and more tired and built, and it has become the scale that Beiquan and Wei Fuyuan see now.
In a sense, the "paper cottage" is also equivalent to an alternative slum in this city.
As for how many "people" live in this complex and twisted building, even the old residents who have lived here for 100 years can't tell. I'm afraid only the managers of Zhicheng can give a more accurate number.
"But, it shouldn't be."
Zhu Hongzhe pointed to himself.
"Although I'm away from home and I'm not married, there are still many family members alive. If I die, why won't I even have a funeral? And for a whole year, I even eat half a mouthful of incense. No, this is too abnormal!"
Zhu Hongcai is a scholar after all, even if he dies, his mind is still very clear.
At first, he died inexplicably, and when he didn't know the rules of Zhicheng at all, he was really helpless.
But a year is enough for him to be familiar with and understand here.
For example, Zhicheng has a complete management system. Although there is no rising and falling of the sun, the concept of time passing is similar to that of the human world.
For example, there will be ghosts patrolling the city every twelve hours to ensure the security of the city.
For example, offerings from Yangjian will automatically appear in the hands of the residents of Zhicheng, which is safer and more efficient than SF Express.
For example, there are various forms of worship, not sticking to a fixed model. In recent years, the newly dead ghosts have even brought a lot of novel electronic products here.
Generally speaking, the operation of the paper city is fair. Zhu Hongcai conjectures that this is an arrangement made to allow the "residents" to live and work in peace and contentment here, waiting to be reincarnated.
However, although there are many dead ghosts in the paper city, there are very few like him. Although relatives and friends are still in the world, they have not even experienced a single piece of paper money or a single column of fragrance.
Zhu Hongcai knows his family well, so he feels more and more that there must be something strange about this.
During this year, he did not give up collecting intelligence from various channels, in order to find out the truth one day, and then submit the evidence to the ghost police patrolling the city.
It is a pity that Zhu Hongcai is only a scholar after all.
In the case of unequal information, no matter how he guessed, he would never know that he was actually taken away.
Someone used his physical body, falsely used his identity to live another year in the world, and also committed a major case of murder and skinning, killing three people in a row.
Since no one in the world knows that he is actually "dead", Zhu Hongcao will naturally not be able to get the worship and worship of his relatives and friends.
However, Beiquan did not intend to tell the other party everything that happened after his "death".
He just smiled and said:
"I see."
Then Beiquan stood up and was ready to leave.
"I will be responsible for your life here."
Now that he has obtained the information he wants from Zhu Hongzhe, it is natural for him to communicate with each other and to repay him.
Now Zhu Hongcai's body has been taken away. According to the records of the underworld, it is equivalent that the person who should die not only died a year later, but also died twice. This is a big trouble for Zhu Hongcai. .
Not only will he not be able to eat the incense offerings he deserves, but the sins committed by the people who take the home are likely to be planted on him, affecting his reincarnation.
Therefore, what Beiquan promised to be "responsible" was not only Zhu Hong's food, clothing, housing and transportation in Zhicheng, but also to help him settle the impact of "snatching" on him.
Of course, it's not easy to do this, and it will make Beiquan owe a lot of favor.
However, Beiquan has always believed that everything has a cause and effect.
Since Zhu Hongcao has so unreservedly confessed everything he encountered during his lifetime, then as a reward for this "good cause", Beiquan will also definitely fulfill the "reward" he promised.
I wish Hongcao solemnly thank Beiquan.
In fact, he guessed that the two of them "come down" from the world to find him, and there must be more complicated inside stories that have not been mentioned.
But he didn't ask more, just stood up and sent Beiquan and Wei Fuyuan to the window.
Before leaving, Zhu Hongcai also specially warned:
"The time for the ghosts to patrol the city is coming soon, you two must be careful not to be noticed by them."
&&& &&& &&&
After Beiquan and Wei Fuyuan came out of the "paper cottage", they didn't go the same way.
They had been delayed a little longer at "grandmother" and Zhu Hongcao's place. The one-hour time limit was now less than forty minutes.
It's a pity that you can't use Netherfire to take shortcuts in Zhicheng. Even Beiquan can only take Wei Fuyuan and walk on two legs honestly.
The two walked through the densely packed paper houses, avoiding the main road where the traffic flowed through, and chose to drill on the trails with few people, so that even if they ran on the road, they would not attract the attention of passers-by.
Suddenly, however, they heard the sound of bells and wooden drums.
"Bell - bell - jingle - bell -"
"Boom-boom-"
Two instruments, two rhythms.
One is fast, one is slow, one is high and one is low, one is clear and the other is deep. Together, there is a wonderful sense of harmony, which makes people want to stop and listen.
Wei Fuyuan shook his head, but he really stopped.
"Little Wei!"
Beiquan squeezed him hard, moved closer to Wei Fuyuan's ear, and lowered his voice to remind him.
Wei Fuyuan was shocked and suddenly returned to his senses.
In the two seconds he was in a daze, the sound of the bell and the wooden drum was much closer than before, clearly coming towards Beiquan and Wei Fuyuan.
"I ran into a ghost who patrolled the city."
Beiquan grabbed Wei Fuyuan's hand and ran wildly:
"They can recognize the anger of living people, and our disguise is not enough!"
As he ran, he said:
"And there are many of them. If they are discovered, it will be difficult for us to escape!"
Wei Fuyuan: "!!"
It can be judged from Beiquan's much faster-than-usual speech rate and obviously anxious tone that this time is probably really quite troublesome.
He really wanted to ask what should be done now, but he remembered Beiquan's advice firmly and dared not speak easily.
"Bell - bell - jingle - bell -"
"Boom-boom-"
The sound is getting closer.
In the dead paper city, bells and drums can be heard far, far away.
The mixed rhythm of the two seems to carry some kind of magic, and the closer you get, the more you can feel the soul-sucking power.
Wei Fuyuan noticed that all the pedestrians and vehicles on the road stopped and stood motionless, like a mud puppet, uniquely fused with the paper background.
Soon, Wei Fuyuan felt that only Beiquan and him were left in the entire city moving.
"This way!"
Beiquan pulled Wei Fuyuan hard and dragged Wei Fuyuan into an alley.
Strictly speaking, this can't even be called an "alley", it's just a gap between two paper buildings.
In the alley, some paper-wrapped debris, worn-out clothes, broken baskets, and reclining chairs that were broken in two were thrown into the alley, stuffing the already narrow passage to the point where it was impossible for people to pass.
Without saying a word, Beiquan suddenly pushed Wei Fuyuan to the ground, lying down beside him, then stretched out his hand and dragged a basket over the two of them, grabbed a tattered old quilt, and piled it on the In front of the basket.
The light in the alley was originally very dark, and when it was blocked by the sundries, it was suddenly dark enough to barely see.
Wei Fuyuan understood Beiquan's intentions, but he was worried about whether he could really escape.
"Bell - bell - jingle - bell -"
"Boom-boom-"
The bells and drums drew nearer.
Wei Fuyuan finally experienced firsthand what it was like to "drop san" as often said in the Cthulhu worldview.
He felt himself involuntarily being drawn to the monotonous but rhythmic sound, and almost wanted to run towards the source of the sound recklessly.
Bells and drums had no effect on Beiquan, but he knew the power of the ghosts patrolling the city.
So Beiquan firmly pressed Wei Fuyuan to the ground, and at the same time clenched the opponent's hand tightly, as if he wanted to use pain to expel the mental disturbance on his little boyfriend.
There was an endless tambourine duet beside his ears, the weight of Beiquan was pressing on his body, and there was a faint pain in the palm of his hand.
Wei Fuyuan tried his best to stay awake.
Through the gap between the broken bamboo basket and the old quilt, he saw that a large group of people began to pass by the exit of the alley.
Because the light is too dark and the distance is not too close, Wei Fuyuan can't see the appearance of those ghosts at all. He can only judge from the outlines that walk past one by one. I am afraid that there are many strange shapes among them that do not resemble humanoids. s things.
Just when Wei Fuyuan was thinking so vaguely, a figure stopped at the entrance of the alley.
He did not walk into the alley, but his neck suddenly stretched ten times, swinging like a snake in the air.
Then, a head, together with the long neck below, suddenly protruded into the narrow and cramped alley!