They are ghosts!
This thought did not make Kou Dong nervous, but made him faintly relieved. Faced with such a situation, it is more frightening to be a human being than a ghost. He looked up, and as expected, there were no shadows of the beauty snake, vase man, rat man, bear man, singing dog... on the stage.
The stage is pitch black, and the shadows projected on it are not conspicuous. If Kou Dong hadn't noticed the traces and looked carefully, he wouldn't have noticed the subtle difference at all.
The big-headed doll's thin fingers touched him, and the movements were almost gentle.
"You're different from them," he whispered, "you're still a human—"
After saying this sentence, he paused, and the corners of his mouth opened even further.
"That's great, you're still human."
"—How long can you stay in that room as a human?"
The last burst of loud suona sounded from the stage, and this time it was played more passionately than before. The audience in the seats stood up one by one, and it turned out that this was the end song.
Ye Yanzhi kept staring at the stage, and said suddenly, "They're coming down."
Those exhibits stepped off the stage one by one, walking towards Kou Dong who was on the side.
It's easy to say, so many ghosts surround him, but it makes things troublesome. Ye Yanzhi: "Right now, we have to go!"
Kou Dong came here to verify the conjecture that they were ghosts, and now he has indeed not seen a shadow, his thoughts have been confirmed, and he does not plan to stay here for a long time. He took a slight breath, looked at the gap where the big-headed doll was also distracted by the group of people, suddenly got rid of his arm, and ran away.
The big-headed baby was caught off guard, and he broke free from his arms, but he didn't chase after him. Kou Dong ran to the door, and when he turned around, he could still see the other party standing there. Half of his figure was blocked by the screen, and only half was still in view. The half of his figure became more and more strange and distorted, with slender feet standing there like an extremely discordant compasses.
He is still laughing.
Behind him, there are more actors showing their heads, or half, or all of them, all of which are grotesque. They were framed in the small door, until Kou Dong hurried out of the door, still staring at him stubbornly and motionlessly.
Malicious, prying eyes.
"Guess what," said a thin, drawn-out voice.
"He's still there..."
"How many days will you be a human?"
Kou Dong ran out of the vermilion gate of the circus. There are still signboards hanging on both sides of the circus, one with the inscription "Qizai" and the other with the inscription "Qizai". Looking at it now, the two mouths under the two characters of "Zai" are like two bloody mouths. This rich family is those lips. , waiting to devour people into it.
He didn't stay any longer, and hurried forward. When he reached the teahouse, Song Hong and the others were already waiting for him there.
They were both relieved to see him come back unharmed.
"It's okay," Song Hong said, "I'm still worried about what happened to you..."
Fortunately, he was safe and sound.
At this time, the shopkeeper of the teahouse brought a tea tray with a teacup inside. Under the gaze of the three, the shopkeeper naturally picked up the teacup and put it in front of Kou Dong.
"Are you tired?" He asked warmly, "It's cold outside, drink something warm."
The remaining two people: "..."
"You're not here, the storekeeper's attitude towards us has changed," Song Hong said with great distress, "If you want to have a good face, you don't have a good face, and if you want a good voice, you don't have a good voice. I feel like we are going to be kicked out."
It's just scary.
Kou Dong took a sip of his tea, and briefly talked about what he saw and heard in the circus just now, avoiding the part where the big-headed doll wanted to turn him into a rabbit. Song Hong was thoughtful after hearing this, especially when he heard the inference that everyone was a ghost, his hairs almost stood on end, but he unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, fortunately..."
He and Kou Dong thought the same, in this situation, ghosts are far better than humans. People's malice is more likely to scare them.
The little girl didn't quite agree, she shook her head and said, "This still doesn't make sense. For example, how did they do it?"
Song Hong: "Looking at their appearance, they should have been in this circus before they died. So they were cut up by people before they died."
The little girl asked back: "Then they should hate the kidnapper, why would they help the kidnapper to harm other children?"
This sentence made Song Hong also startled. Immediately, he shook his head and murmured, "Could it be that they are kidnappers?"
— But that doesn't make sense either. They have seen kidnappers, such as Triangle Eyes. This group of people is strong and strong, and they are not from the circus.
If the beauty snake is really a kidnapper, there is no need to torture herself like this. After all, this is not a happy business.
The little girl said: "They hate the kidnappers and the townspeople. It's easy to understand. They hate the kidnappers for harming them, and the townspeople come to see them every day and let them perform on the stage, but they don't feel their pain at all... But with other kids, it doesn't make sense."
There is still something odd about it.
Song Hong: "Being an evil ghost, will you not be able to distinguish the person you hate, and make other people suffer the same pain?"
The little girl looked at him: "You also said the same thing."
"..."
Song Hong thought about it carefully, only to feel that the hairs stood on end. That’s right, there were no singing dogs in the circus. If innocent people were to experience the same pain, the little fat man should be made into a beauty snake, a big-headed doll or something else.
Instead of assigning him a role that has never appeared before.
As a result, all the arguments could not be justified. Song Hong frowned more and more, and finally said: "There must be something we haven't discovered."
An extremely important link was missing from their story.
After the three of them discussed, they took the day's salary from the shopkeeper. The salary was actually not much, but the shopkeeper felt sorry for Kou Dong, so he gave him a little more, and even put silver dollars in it.
Kou Dong didn't want it, and asked the other party to exchange it for a string of copper plates.
The two only understood that Kou Dong didn't want to be too prominent, and they didn't question this move.
When the sun was about to set, there were fewer pedestrians on the street, and the familiar carriage stopped at the corner of the alley when they came. Triangle Eye and several men stood guard at the corner of the alley, counting the number of people one by one.
Kou Dong and the others boarded the carriage and found that there was already a person shrunk in the corner.
If you look closely, it's still an old acquaintance.
It's Xiao Yu.
She hid in a corner of the carriage, still shivering a little, apparently the scene during the day had frightened her a lot. A Xue looked at her bowl with her head, and when she sat back again, her expression was still calm and indifferent, and nothing unusual could be seen.
Kou Dong also took a look, and realized that there was a lot of money scattered in the other party's bowl. He was a little surprised. He thought that the girl wouldn't be able to ask for any money after being betrayed, but he didn't expect that the other party could ask for so much.
After a while, other children also got into the car one after another. Some were obviously relieved, some were numb, and most of them were worried and pursed their mouths tightly without saying a word. Triangle Eyes pushed the last child into the carriage, and the four carriages moved forward one after another. Kou Dong calculated the route in his heart and realized that the carriage had circled the town several times.
I'm afraid it's to prevent people from being followed, and also to prevent these money-making beggars from remembering the way to escape.
Kou Dong's sense of direction is not very good, and the triangular-eyed people deliberately detour, even if they want to remember, the memory is blurred and blurred. He hugged his knees and curled himself up, trying not to attract attention.
When the car arrived, they were herded into the house again like a bunch of chicks. This time the personnel changed again. Fortunately, the three of them deliberately gathered in one place and logically entered the same room, which was the same room that Kou Dong and the others entered first. Even Xiao Yu also entered the same room.
Triangle Eyes left in a hurry, and only left a word, saying that he would come back later to collect the money.
This sentence startled all the children in the room, and hurriedly counted the few copper coins in their bowls. Kou Dong looked at what was in his bowl, and asked Song Hong and A Xue how much they had.
The two couldn't figure it out, so they talked to him. Kou Dong wrote it down. Also write down the amount of other people in the house.
Immediately, he counted out a fixed amount and handed it to Ashe.
Ashe was startled, clutching the copper coins, a rare look of confusion appeared on her face.
"What is this for?"
Kou Dong said simply: "The rules are already obvious. The person who asks for the least money will draw the wooden dummy. Since this is the case, why don't everyone divide the points and make an average."
Ashue: "..."
Song Hong: "..."
Song Hong's eyes widened, and he said, "Are you taking the average value? - This is a way!"
They had never thought in this direction before. Since the rules show. The one who gets the least will suffer, and most people want to avoid being the one who does the least. It's just that in this way, it is necessary to compete with each other, for a coin or two, even framed and stolen, in order to escape the fate of entering the circus - in this way, there will be no friends in the house, and all the rest will be competition opponent.
Everyone is fighting alone and besieged on all sides.
Kou Dong's approach provided them with a new idea and opened the door to a new world...
Song Hong looked at Kou Dong again, and said from the bottom of his heart: "Have you passed through Metersbonwe?"
Kou Dong: "... what?"
Song Hong: "Don't take the usual path."
Kou Dong: "..."
After counting the whole house, there are 15 children and 345 copper coins, which can be eliminated. Among them, Kou Dong single-handedly raised the average value of the entire room, and he counted the most.
The children who were assigned copper coins didn't object, after all, Kou Dong basically didn't want them, but everyone gave them more or less. More was better than less, and the kids were grateful to him for that.
Xiao Yu was also among them, and was divided into two copper coins.
She held the copper plate firmly in her hand.
Seeing her like this, Ah Xue looked at her twice more, and then walked closer to her. Xiao Yu was only focused on counting the money in the bowl, but didn't pay attention.
Before the meal, Triangle Eyes came to the house again. He looked around gloomyly, with a rough and hoarse voice, and said, "I'm here to get the money."
Like yesterday, he handed over the money paid by all the children one by one. Kou Dong stared at him closely, and when he found out that each child had handed in twenty-three copper coins, a look of displeasure was evident on his triangular-eyed face.
"What's going on?" he hissed. "It's all the same?"
No one answered him, and everyone in the room kept silent. The triangular-eyed gaze wandered among the children, his expression became more and more terrifying, his chest heaved up and down, obviously angry. But when he was angry, he was angry, but he didn't vent his anger on the people in the room. Kou Dong knew that he had made the right bet,
The person with the fewest draws the wooden dummy. This is indeed a rule set by the system. Triangle Eyes is just an NPC, even though he knew clearly in his heart that someone was playing tricks, there was nothing he could do about it.
As long as there is not the least among them, he can't do anything to those present.
Many children also noticed that the big rock in their hearts was slowly put down, and slowly stood in front of him.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-three.
Still twenty three...
Kou Dong and the others also handed over, and stood silently in the crowd. Fourteen people have already handed in twenty-three copper coins. As long as the last one still has this amount, they will be able to escape this round of wooden men tonight.
The last person standing in front of the triangular eyes was Xiao Yu,
Her expression was a little weird, like panic or excitement, and she picked up the bowl in her hand.
Triangle Eyes put his hand into the bowl and counted them one by one.
"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen..."
The value rose little by little, and Xiao Yu's expression became more and more strange. Her body trembled slightly, and she stared at the bowl without blinking.
Kou Dong looked at her and suddenly felt something was wrong.
… wait.
An almost unbelievable conjecture surged in his mind.
If Xiao Yu deliberately hid the money—
Before he could finish thinking, the inventory of the triangular eyes had come to the end. He poured out the bottom few copper plates from the bowl, pulled them with his fingers, and counted, "Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three..."
"twenty-three."
He put the bowl down, looking increasingly sullen, his nostrils distended with anger. word for word
"Still twenty-three."
"..."
Triangle Eyes slammed the bowl on the ground. The fragments flew, and a child beside him exclaimed.
"Am I easy to coax?" Triangle Eyes sneered, looking at them, "Am I stupid? Huh?"
No one said anything, and in this silence, everyone was silent in unison.
Until another female voice suddenly joined in, almost impatiently saying: "I still have money!"
It's Xiao Yu!
She hastily fumbled inside the tattered clothes on her body, and announced loudly: "I still have money! I... I have more than twenty-three copper coins!"
The whole room was in an uproar!
Kou Dong never thought that such absurd premonition would come true. In order to prevent himself from picking the wooden man, Xiao Yu actually hid the money.
As long as she took out other coins, she was the only person in the room who paid the most money.
In other words, all the remaining people are very likely to be asked to smoke wooden figures!
His blood was a little congealed, and his heart was rarely filled with anger. He didn't speak, just staring at the scene in front of him.
More than a dozen pairs of eyes stared at Xiao Yu deeply. She felt it, and couldn't help shivering because of it, but when she thought of the singing dog she saw on the street, the singing dog that was dragged along the ground and was dying... She still put her hand into the hidden copper plate pocket.
It cannot become like that.
She didn't dare to look at the eyes of other people in the house, so she could only tell herself repeatedly in her heart.
Never become like that...
She is not wrong.
She just wants to protect herself, now that her boyfriend has been made like that, what else can she do
She can only do her best to protect herself!
Almost trembling, she touched her pocket. Fingers groped down the line, slowly groping—
No.
Realizing this, Xiao Yu's heart sank heavily.
No!
Where is her money
Just now, she clearly hid a piece of money and didn't hand it over...
Where is her money?
Where's her money! ! !
Xiao Yu cried out, groping and groping in it in disbelief. No... No matter how you touch it, it's empty, her coins, her coins are gone!
"Who took it!" She stared, and suddenly turned her gaze to other people in the room, "Who took it?... Is it you?"
The child stared at by her was puzzled and shook his head.
Xiao Yu turned his attention to the next person again, viciously, almost screaming loudly, "Is it you!"
Song Hong couldn't stand it, and said coldly: "Calm down. Who would know that you secretly hid the money? You must have lost it yourself."
Xiao Yu could no longer listen to these words. She just hissed and yelled, "Thief! Thief!"
But her words gradually became incomplete, and she slowly fell to the ground, wailing almost desperately. If it is normal, such a little girl crying can arouse people's pity,
But now, no one pities her. Everyone just watched coldly, and no one even stepped forward to help.
Xiao Yu couldn't make a sound, she fell to the ground and trembled. The triangular-eyed face became condensed, and seeing that she couldn't get the last copper coin, his expression was even more disappointed than her.
He picked up the bag without a word and walked towards the door. This also means that the people in this room escaped the fire of the wooden man today.
After he left, the children in the room looked at each other, and finally couldn't help but jump for joy. Kou Dong was also happy in his heart, but he still had some doubts. He didn't think Xiao Yu would accidentally lose such an important copper coin.
At this moment, Ah Xue waved at them, and when she reached the corner, something was poured out of her cuff silently.
The copper color glowing on it brightened Kou Dong's eyes.
A small copper plate lay in the little girl's palm.
While the two boys looked at each other, the little girl calmly clenched her palms and made a final conclusion.
"Look," she said, "I really have the right to speak about the evil in this world."
After falling asleep that night, Kou Dong heard the familiar screams again. Last morning, it was Little Fatty who screamed like this; this morning, it was Xiao Yu.
The circus members who came here were not beauty snakes—the movement was more like landing on all fours, crawling on the ground like a dog.
It's a singing dog.
The little fat man held his girlfriend back with his own hands, ignoring her struggle, and dragged her out little by little. At the door, all the members of the circus were laughing happily. They clapped their hands and watched the scene before them, as if they were watching a beautiful love story.
"so good… "
They said, laughing deeper and deeper.
"—that's a really good story."