Kaleidoscope of Death

Sitting in the hall, Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming listened to a story about the Yu family compound.

In the story, there is the mistress of the Yu family, the young son Yu Caizhe who was used as a sacrifice, and many other plots that they did not guess.

After Yu Caizhe, the young son of the Yu family, offered sacrifices, the continuous heavy rain stopped, as if the river god in the river was really moved by the sacrifice.The people in the small town were overjoyed, and they designated this day as the birthday of the River God like a festival. To celebrate, the streets were hung with red lanterns, and the whole small town was full of joy.

However, this kind of celebration hadn't lasted for a few days before another accident occurred in the city.

People began to die in the small town. The dead people seemed to have been eaten by something, and there were no bones left, only some hair and nails left on the ground.

At first, everyone thought it was a wild beast that had sneaked into the city, but this guess was soon overturned, because there is no wild beast that can eat people so silently.The mystery of death was quickly solved, and the things that ate the people in the city were not alive at all.It was a river kid with swollen cheeks covered in blisters and a mouth full of fangs.

For a moment, everyone was in a panic. No one had seen such things, and no one knew what to do with them.

Just when everyone was about to be overwhelmed by fear, the mistress of the Yu family stepped forward. She said that her son who was used as a sacrifice gave her a dream and told her how to solve the problem.

Just as everyone was about to be happy, they heard the mistress of the Yu family give a solution.She said: "Only an oil lamp made of human oil can stop the kid."

The people in the city fell silent. Although the lamps made of human oil can stop those things, where does the human oil come from...

The hostess was not in a hurry, but just waited quietly.

And soon, her goal was achieved, and some people who couldn't bear the fear began to attack the same kind.

"It's them, it's they who proposed to use children to sacrifice to the river god." Such voices began to appear from the crowd, and they became more and more violent.

In the end, these people who proposed to be used as sacrifices for the young master of the family were regarded as the first batch of victims.

They were killed mercilessly, and the hostess, with a gentle expression, used their bodies to boil oil lamps.

The oil lamps were distributed to the residents, so that no one died at the hands of the imps.

The residents thought that the matter was settled in this way, until the next birthday, the sky began to rain continuously.

The residents panic again, and the hostess tells them the solution.

"We need a new river god." She said, "We need a new river god." With a tap of her red Kodan finger, she touched a child who was still in the mother's arms, and smiled, "Look Look, this lovely child, you are very suitable to be the new river god."

The child's mother showed a look of astonishment, and then cursed angrily, just like the mistress back then.

When the young son of the Yu family was chosen as the god of the river, the hostess also cursed in the same way, but it was of no use. Her child was still snatched away, brought to the river, and thrown into the rushing water.

He was so young that he could only call mother, and was taken away from her like that, and would never come back.

At this time, other people experienced what she had experienced, and the hostess was extremely satisfied. She watched the mother and child separate, watched the child being thrown into the river, watched the pouring rain stop, and looked at the bright lamp in her hand. man oil lamp.

"Huh." With a breath, the hostess lightly blew out the oil lamp, and her smile became brighter.

Although the rain stopped, new little ghosts appeared in the small town.

Human oil lamps began to run short...a vicious circle began.

The whole small town is shrouded in this desperate cycle, and no one can escape until the arrival of outsiders.

"Since they don't know anything, let's use them to make oil lamps." A small voice appeared in the crowd, speaking of the deepest malice in everyone's heart, "Anyway, they don't know anything anyway..."

"That's right, what do you think? How about using them as human oil lamps?" Someone asked tremblingly.

The hostess was wearing a red dress and sitting among the crowd, she said softly, "Okay."

People were ecstatic.

Hundreds of years have passed, and the hostess still maintains her youthful appearance.But no one asked how she got here, and no one dared to doubt whether she was still human, because without her, there would be no oil lamps in the town, and everyone... would have to die.

Therefore, everyone tacitly pretended not to see the hostess's appearance, which seemed to have been dusted by the years, and treated her cautiously, as if they were treating a god who was easily offended.

And the poor outsiders became the sacrifices of this river god sacrifice. Their bodies will turn into lamp oil, emitting a warm light, protecting the people in the whole town from the harm of monsters.

The story ends here, and part of it was completed by Lin Qiushi with other clues.But Mr. Storyteller's story still provides him with a very important background and framework, allowing him to fill the whole story.

There was another gavel, and Mr. Storyteller ended this long story.

"It's getting dark." When Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming realized it, the sky outside had gradually darkened, and the streets became empty, only the red lanterns whirling in the cold wind.

"Let's go, let's go back." Gu Longming shivered, as if he felt a little cold.He whispered, "It's so cold here, in my hometown... I didn't feel too cold..."

Lin Qiushi glanced at him: "Can you not be cold in short-sleeved weather?" With a temperature of [-]-[-] degrees, this man only wears short-sleeved clothes.

Gu Longming said helplessly: "I didn't bring any other clothes, or would I wear a short skirt?"

Lin Qiushi thought to himself that you might as well not wear anything.

The two of them walked slowly back to the courtyard, where people were having dinner.

Compared with the dining room on the first day, the dining room at this time was quite empty. As soon as Lin Qiushi entered, he could feel Yan Shihe's eyes on him.

I am afraid that ordinary people will feel a little guilty when they steal something, but under the guidance of Ruan Nanzhu, Lin Qiushi has no idea how to write the word guilty, so he looked back at each other unceremoniously, and said, "Is there something wrong?"

"It's okay." Yan Shihe smiled, "I'm just worried that you guys came back too late, it's already dark."

Lin Qiushi snorted and said, "Thank you for your concern."

The two found a place to sit down at random and began to eat dinner.

The others left one after another, and Lin Qiushi and Gu Longming also finished their dinner and walked to the residence.

Because of what happened last night, the window paper in the original place was all broken, so they changed the room with a complete window paper.

Lin Qiushi entered the house and lit the oil lamp they had stolen from Yan Shihe.

A flame ignited on the wick, illuminating the whole room. Lin Qiushi stared at the fire light for a while, no one would have thought that the fat boiled from the body of the same kind would emit such a bright light.

After a while, Lin Qiushi took out the family tree they had stolen from Yan Shihe.

Gu Longming sat by the bed: "Do you still want to watch it?" They read it carefully many times during the day.

Lin Qiushi said: "Well, let's take a look again." He always felt that this genealogy is very important.

By the light of the oil lamp, Lin Qiushi turned to the first page. The first page was a photo of the hostess and Yu Caizhe. Only her in this photo had a real and brilliant smile.When Lin Qiushi first saw this family tree, he just felt strange, but now all doubts were solved by the story of the storyteller. She is not a god who saves the small town, but a mother who lost her child.

Lin Qiushi stroked the photo with his fingers for a moment, sighed, and turned to the second page.

However, when he saw the photo on the second page clearly, he held his breath, and his eyes showed a taste of astonishment.

Gu Longming noticed Lin Qiushi's strangeness, and asked, "Lin Lin, what's wrong?"

Lin Qiushi didn't speak, but waved at him.

Gu Longming stood up and walked behind Lin Qiushi. When he saw the changes in the family tree, he couldn't help but widen his eyes: "This... this photo..."

Under the light of the oil lamp, the woman who was holding the child completely changed her countenance. Even the fake smile on her face disappeared, leaving only a gloomy indifference. In the photo at this time, the child was held in her hands. She was holding the child by the neck, as if she was carrying an insignificant chick, without even pretending to be gentle.

The child's body completely softened, his cheeks showed a swollen posture, and he opened his mouth full of fine and dense teeth, trying to bite towards the person around him.

The black-and-white picture added a bit of horror to the photos. Lin Qiushi turned a few pages back, and as expected, he found that almost all the photos in the back were like this.The only difference is that some blood-red bright spots began to appear in the background of the photo. At first glance, it seemed that the photo was not taken well, but when Lin Qiushi looked at the bright spots, he remembered the countless pairs of eyes he saw on the ceiling of the ancestral hall. .

The attitude of the hostess towards these children who were sacrificed as sacrifices was not soft at all. Her eyes were full of resentment and indifference, as if a vengeful ghost was using her own method to torture everyone.

Gu Longming looked at the genealogy and rubbed the goosebumps on his arms vigorously, he said: "I finally know why that Yan Shihe refuses to carry this thing with him."

Anyone who saw it would get their scalps blown up.

Lin Qiushi looked at the photo without speaking.

Gu Longming looked at the pensive Lin Qiushi and said, "Lin Lin, what are you thinking about?"

Lin Qiushi said: "Of course I'm wondering where the key is."

"Do you have any idea?" Gu Longming said, "The Priest of the River God seems to be arriving soon..."

Lin Qiushi said: "A little bit, but not sure."

Gu Longming said: "Well..."

Lin Qiushi said: "These brats obviously don't like the mistress."

"Who would like people who sacrificed them? It would be very kind if they don't come back for revenge." Gu Longming muttered, he obviously didn't like the genealogy in front of him, and looked away from it.

"What did you say?" Lin Qiushi suddenly felt blessed.

"What?" Gu Longming looked confused, "I said... who would like people who sacrificed them..."

Lin Qiushi said: "No, it's the last sentence."

Gu Longming: "Can you not come back for revenge... Wait, what do you mean?" He also understood the meaning of Lin Qiushi's words.

Lin Qiushi clapped his hand on the table and said, "Have you forgotten how the river god sacrifice started?"

Gu Longming: "The child who was thrown into the river turned into a kid and came back to take revenge!"

Lin Qiushi: "That's right, revenge is revenge—" He stood up, "The mistress' child is taking revenge, and the mistress is also taking revenge. Their enemy is already dead, so what about these little devils? The hatred of these little devils is still there No report!"

They are not active perpetrators, but innocent victims.

Those chosen by the hostess were forcibly taken away from their parents and thrown into the rushing river as sacrifices.

The resentment persisted for a long time.

But because of the human oil lamps made by the hostess, they had no way of revenge. Lin Qiushi felt that he had grasped the most critical clue.

Gu Longming said: "You mean, we have to kill the mistress? But don't we know that she is not human?" It is impossible for a thing that can live for hundreds of years to be human.

"That's right, she's not human anymore." Lin Qiushi said softly, "We can't kill her, but those things can."

Gu Longming understood what Lin Qiushi meant: "You want to use little ghosts? But won't this be too dangerous!" Those little ghosts are obviously not easy to manipulate. If you don't use the double-edged sword well, it will hurt yourself.

Lin Qiushi said: "The Priest of the River God is coming, we can't wait any longer." He closed the genealogy tree in front of him, "When that day comes, we may not be able to survive, and if we are lucky, only one will survive—but seven points One of the probability, do you dare to bet?"

Gu Longming really didn't dare to gamble.He looked at Lin Qiushi and smiled wryly: "Well, I will listen to you, after all, you have much more experience than me."

Lin Qiushi nodded, went back to the bed, lay down, and said, "Sleep, or the oil lamp may light up again at night."

Gu Longming groaned, extinguished the oil lamp and lay down next to Lin Qiushi.

Lin Qiushi was sleeping outside, and he could just see the window next to him. At this time, there were shadows on the window paper, and the silhouette on it looked like a tree shadow blown by the wind, but when he looked carefully, he found a tree standing in the shadow. A tall, thin figure.Lin Qiushi was very familiar with this figure, it was the hostess in the yard.Lin Qiushi closed his eyes, and he could think of her standing in the middle of the courtyard in that red dress, quietly looking at the room they were in.

The wind was getting louder and louder, and the whistling sound was like people's wailing. The night was already deep. Lin Qiushi closed his eyes and forced himself into a deep sleep.

Lin Qiushi finally didn't wake up halfway through the night, and fell asleep until the next day, when he was woken up by the sound of Gu Longming getting up.

Lin Qiushi rubbed his eyes, changed his clothes and washed briefly, then hurried to the breakfast place.In fact, he wasn't too hungry, but he just wanted to know if something happened last night.

After arriving at the restaurant and counting the number of people, Lin Qiushi confirmed that there was no accident yesterday.

But he didn't have much appetite, and he drank the porridge in front of him one after another. Gu Longming looked completely opposite to him, holding the bowl in front of him happily, almost burying his face in it.

After eating, Lin Qiushi planned to go to the woman's residence. Although the place was extremely dangerous, he had a detailed plan in mind.

Gu Longming followed Lin Qiushi and asked him what he planned to do there.

"Find a big bag." Lin Qiushi said, "Steal all her lamps."

Gu Longming was startled: "Steal the lamp? Why do you want to steal the lamp?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Have you forgotten what the lamp does?"

Gu Longming came to a sudden: "You mean that the woman didn't die because of the lamp? But if we go in and steal the lamp like this, will we be hacked to death on the spot if we are discovered?"

Lin Qiushi: "...There is such a possibility." He turned his head and looked at Gu Longming, "So this is a multiple-choice question, whether to choose to be gnawed to death by the kid, or to be hacked to death by the mistress."

Gu Longming thought for a while, and compromised: "It's better to hack to death, at least a corpse can be left."

Lin Qiushi: "I might not stay, maybe she turned it into lamp oil."

Gu Longming said: "Then I am willing to give you light, turn it into spring mud to protect flowers..."

Lin Qiushi thought to himself that the poem "friend" is really not used in this way.

The two of them quietly went outside the mistress's yard, Gu Longming raised his head and looked inside: "She doesn't seem to be here."

The door remained open as before.

There was indeed no sound inside, Lin Qiushi said: "You let me outside, I will go in first."

Gu Longming said: "Farewell, let's-"

"No." Lin Qiushi said, "At least if something really happened, there is someone outside to take care of it."

Gu Longming wanted to say something more, but seeing Lin Qiushi's firm attitude, he had no choice but to give up, standing outside the yard and watching Lin Qiushi go in.

As soon as Lin Qiushi arrived in the yard, he quickly locked his target on the room he had entered before. He didn't dare to waste time, so he stuffed the oil lamp into his backpack after entering.Until the backpack was bulging, and the remaining oil lamps on the shelf were thrown directly into the fire with a hot pot not far away.

The oil lamp came into contact with the flame, exuding a strong smell of oil.If you don't know this smell, you may feel nothing, but once you know that it is the smell of human body oil, you will inevitably feel extremely disgusting.

The same is true for Lin Qiushi. He suppressed the feeling of nausea and threw all the oil lamps into the fire.Just when Lin Qiushi threw away the last lamp, a child's cry came from the back room. The cry was so sharp that Lin Qiushi felt his ears hurt.He was about to go to the back room to take a look at the crying thing, but he heard Gu Longming's voice again.

Gu Longming, who was watching the wind at the door, suddenly started swearing, and unceremoniously scolded the quality eighteen company with that northeast accent.

Lin Qiushi instantly understood what Gu Longming meant. He didn't dare to enter the house again, so he turned around and ran with his backpack on his back. He didn't dare to run towards the gate of the yard, but went to a remote place first.

Sure enough, a woman in a red dress appeared at the gate of the yard. She seemed to have heard a child crying from inside the room, her black eyes slowly widened, and an uncontrollable expression appeared on her expressionless face. anger.

Lin Qiushi looked terrified.

The woman's next move was to hang a large lock in the yard as usual, and then turned around to enter the house.

Lin Qiushi knew that he only had one chance, he held his breath, and after the woman entered the house, he ran towards the big lock hanging on the door.

He quickly took out his hairpin, trying to open the iron lock in front of him.

Hurry up, hurry up... Lin Qiushi's forehead was covered with cold sweat, but his hands were steady. He forced himself to calm down, no longer caring about the footsteps behind him, and opened the big lock in front of him wholeheartedly.

With a click, the padlock opened in response, and the woman's footsteps had come behind him. The moment Lin Qiushi opened the door, he felt a strong wind behind him.Gu Longming, who was standing at the door, showed a terrified expression behind him, and he shouted: "Lin Lin - run!!!"

However, it was too late, Lin Qiushi saw a shadow slipping behind him, and then something slammed down on his back—at this moment, he finally understood what that shadow was.It was the long knife in the woman's hand, and the long knife had already been cut on his back, and he felt an extremely powerful force that knocked him flying.

Lin Qiushi fell to the ground.

Gu Longming couldn't help but cursed, and hurried forward and said, "Yu Linlin, Yu Linlin, are you okay!" When he was checking Lin Qiushi, he turned his head to look at the woman, and saw the woman standing in the yard with a distorted face towards them With a smile, it is obvious that Lin Qiushi must be dead.

When she was holding the knife, she seemed unable to leave the courtyard, which made Gu Longming feel a little relieved, but thinking of Lin Qiushi's situation, his heart sank involuntarily.In his opinion, Lin Qiushi who was hacked like this is probably more ominous than good.

However, just when Gu Longming thought that Lin Qiushi was gone, he saw Lin Qiushi coughing heavily several times, got up from the ground with difficulty, and said, "I..."

"Fuck, you're fine!" Gu Longming couldn't help swearing, "Yu Linlin, you're awesome."

Lin Qiushi also thought he was dead. He turned his head, looked behind him, and found that his backpack had been chopped off, revealing the oil lamp he had stuffed behind him—there was a deep cut on the oil lamp, no doubt, It was these lights that helped him block the fatal blow.

He survived successfully!