The strange story of Huai'an Inn

"Drum madness?" Just hearing the name, Zhu Helan had a bad guess.

Song Mingzi took a few sips of wine, rubbed his face with his hands, "You know, if you told me a year ago that hysteria could be superior to others, I wouldn't believe it even if I was killed... I will find out who the first patient is now. I don’t know. The earliest official record is that on the night of New Year’s Eve, when the curfew was lifted in the capital, and everyone was setting off fireworks to welcome the New Year, a yokan vendor went crazy and killed his family’s wives and children Killed, everyone cut off a piece of meat and made a big pot of yokan to sell to people who eat supper. If a customer hadn't eaten a piece of finger that was not stewed, this matter would not have been discovered...

The person who bought the yokan had a nightmare about three days before the New Year's Eve. After waking up, he couldn't remember what he dreamed of, but he only remembered the sound of drums.But when I woke up the next day, I could hear the drums.He began to be suspicious. He always felt that his wife was having an affair with his neighbors. He suspected that his child was not his own. He suspected that his parents and his wife had joined forces to kill him so that all the money he earned could be given to their favorite elder brother... At first he could tell which was delusional and which was reality, but later he couldn't tell the difference at all.

Strangely, on the second day after he was taken into custody by the government, something happened to his neighbor.This time it was the neighbor's youngest son, only ten years old, who tied up his parents after they fell asleep, and then poured hot oil down their throats.The couple's screams attracted neighbors, and both parents died of intestinal perforation.Neighbors said that the couple loved their children very much and never quarreled without reason.

The child also said that he could hear the sound of drums while sleeping, and it started after he went to play with someone who bought yokan before the Chinese New Year.Moreover, during the interrogation process, the child suddenly began to speak in a language that no one could understand. People from Beijing and China who were proficient in many languages ​​such as the Far South and the South Sea could not understand what he was saying.

Those who had eaten at the yokan stalls also went crazy one after another.This hysteria is like contagious.At the beginning, patients often remember hearing a sound similar to drumming in their dreams, and then they will go crazy within five days. Relatives or neighbors who have more contact will also have symptoms, and the spread is very rapid.

Up to now, the entire capital city has been blocked, and people are not allowed to leave the city unless they get special approval from the government.But before closing the city gate, many people had already run out.How many of these people were infected with dementia without being detected, no one knows. "

Zhu Helan was secretly startled. It seemed that the target of the great witch was not just a few people, not even the emperor... but the entire capital.

I am afraid that it has been secretly deployed as early as a few years ago, this time it is just a reminder.Zhu Helan rubbed the rough lines on the shell in his hand, secretly calculating the spread speed of this so-called insanity.

"If it occurs within five days, it will be difficult to distinguish from Gyeonggi to Zhaoning Road. This madness may have spread."

Song Mingzi nodded, "You're right. A similar case has already occurred in Muqiu, which is the closest to Gyeonggi on Zhaoning Road. Now the imperial court has expedited the transmission of letters to various places, closing the city gates, and relocating those who fled to avoid going crazy. The disease continues to spread.”

Madness...

That Liu'er...isn't it?

Zhu Helan's palms were dripping with cold sweat, and he asked in a low voice, "How did this disease spread? Is it spread through contact, or through some other means? Is it the same kind of witchcraft that the Tiangu Dawu invaded Wusheng's consciousness before?"

"How to surpass others, the imperial physicians in the capital have not yet come to a conclusion. However, although the Wusheng Daoist of the Daluo Sect has been invaded by the Tiangu Dawu before, after the purification treatment by my senior brother in Zilu Mountain these days, he has not recovered. Any symptoms. Although an official of the Beijing Municipal Shipbuilding Department fell ill and is now locked up with his hands and feet tied up, he has not infected the people around him so far. So my brother speculates that these are two different kinds of witches. It is different from insanity, and it will not be contagious." Song Mingzi paused, "But it is only speculation, Tianguren's witchcraft is too strange, as far as we know limited."

Zhu Helan nodded, hesitated for a moment, and briefly told the story of Chongliu being severely injured by Sang Yaqian's drum.

Song Mingzi was so startled that he almost knocked over the jug, "What?! Then...then how do you plan to deal with this matter?"

"Liu'er is very mentally unstable now, but just as Daoist Qi Yao speculates, I suspect that Liu'er is not infected with madness, but just has a traumatized spiritual consciousness. But... just to be on the safe side, I will shut myself off from Liu'er." In the courtyard, Master Liao will help to arrange the three meals a day at the gate of the courtyard, and wait for five days to check. If there is any new news during this period, please pass me a letter."

"What precautions are there in Liangcheng that day?"

"You don't have to worry about that. Where the roots of the pagoda tree are caused, mulberry crows can no longer come in." Zhu Helan mentioned the name of the great witch, and the temperature in his eyes dropped sharply. repay."

............................................................

For five consecutive days, Zhu Helan locked himself and Chongliu in the small courtyard without seeing anyone.When it was time, Master Liao personally placed the food at the gate of the courtyard, and Zhu Helan brought the food box into the house later.

Chongliu's mental condition did not improve, but under Zhu Helan's daily control with charms and tea soup, he barely restrained the deterioration.He still couldn't fall asleep because of the sound of the drums. Up to now, after five days, he has slept for less than four hours in total.

At this moment, Chong Liu was groggy, his mind seemed to be filled with lead, and he curled up at the head of the bed dully.Zhu Helan called him three times in a row, but he didn't seem to hear him.

Zhu Helan sighed, walked to the bed with a hand towel that had just been soaked in hot water and wrung out, sat next to Chong Liu, gently lifted the broken hair on Chong Liu's forehead with one hand, and wiped it carefully with the other. face, and asked softly in his mouth, "Is it hot?"

Chong Liu shook his head.

"The weather outside is nice today, why don't you go to the yard to bask in the sun?" Zhu Helan finished wiping Chong Liu's face and neck, then stood up and went to find two thick robes and cloaks in the suitcase.He pulled Zhong Liu, who was like a puppet, out of bed and stood up, putting coats on his body.

Chong Liu followed him around and was pulled to sit in front of the bronze mirror by him.Zhu Helan carefully combed Chongliu's hair with a comb, and patiently untied every time he encountered a knot.The window was opened a crack, and the winter chill was sent to the face by the yellowish sunlight, and the coldness and warmth were strangely compatible.

"Helan, it seems that you haven't been out of the yard for a long time." Chong Liu asked suddenly.

Zhu Helan didn't tell Chong Liu what Song Mingzi told him, for fear of putting more burden on his spirit, "Well, I want to accompany you."

"Acacia tree all right?"

"It's very good and has grown a lot. When you feel better, I'll take you to see it."

Chong Liu was silent for a while, then asked again, "Who betrayed us...have you found out?"

Zhu Helan didn't answer right away.He gave Chong Liu a good bundle of hair, and stretched out his hand to stroke the back of Chong Liu's neck, "We are safe now."

Chong Liu was dragged out of the room by Zhu Helan.The strange fleshy red flowers in the small courtyard bloomed again, and the fishy and sweet smell wafted in the air.There are no clouds in the sky, and the light blue is like ice that emits cold air, spreading far and wide.

Zhu Helan wrapped him in a thick cloak, asked him to sit down on a recliner, brought a pot of charcoal fire to the side, and heated a pot of tea on the tea stove.Amidst the gurgling sound of boiling water, the two sat quietly in the yard, with only sunlight flowing in between.

"I'm very hungry..." Chong Liu said suddenly.

Zhu Helan immediately sat up and said happily, "There are still buns left in the morning, I'll go get them."

Chong Liu hardly ate much in the past five days, and he had lost three rounds of weight, so he was stuck in his cloak and almost disappeared.Zhu Helan was overjoyed and was about to get up when Chong Liu said, "I don't want to eat..."

"...But didn't you say you were hungry?"

"I don't want to eat buns..."

... Picky eaters?

"Then what do you want to eat? I'll let Master Liao do it." Zhu Helan asked gently.

Chong Liu blinked slowly, and licked his chapped lips with his tongue, "I want to eat meat."

"Okay, what meat? Lamb? Pork?"

Chong Liu shook his head.His gaze was fixed on the swaying, thick flowers.He stood up suddenly, walked to the flowerbed, stretched out his hand and began to dig the soil on the ground.

Zhu Helan watched Chong Liu's movements in amazement, got up and walked nearby, only to find that Chong Liu actually dug out an unusually large, translucent pupa of unknown insects from the soil.It writhed softly in its chrysalis, as if trembling uncomfortably.

When Chong Liu put the thing to his mouth, Zhu Helan slapped the chrysalis off his hand, "Liuer! What are you doing!"

Chong Liu reached out and wanted to pick it up, but Zhu Helan grabbed him and forcibly pulled him up from the ground.

"Liu'er! That's not edible!"

Chong Liu licked his lips unwillingly, "But I want..."

Zhu Helan's brows were about to wrinkle together.He remembered Chong Liu who had just turned into a human form in his memory, sitting on the bed blankly, not even eating porridge... At that time, Mr. Gou Chen seemed to say that he couldn't just eat raw meat...

It seems that eating human food is a "habit" developed after the sixth grade.His instinct might be to devour living things... At this time, his mind was traumatized, and many instinctive habits came out.

Zhu Helan was half distressed and half devastated.He held Chong Liu's hand with both hands, and looked at him seriously, "Liu'er, you are a human being, and humans generally don't eat living things directly."

"It's just a worm, and it's still a pupa." Chong Liu argued seriously, "Master said, you can't eat raw things with spirits, but worms don't have brains, so I'll just eat one..."

"No, that stuff is filthy. You can't eat it anyway in this situation. Come here." He half-forced Chong Liu back on the recliner, poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to him.

At this time, someone knocked on the courtyard door, and Song Mingzi's voice came, "Old Zhu! How is it? It's five days, are you crazy?"

Zhu Helan hurried over, opened the courtyard door, glanced behind him, and then whispered to Song Mingzi, "I'm fine."

Song Mingzi looked at his slightly slovenly appearance, widened his eyes, and said with a smile, "Why do you look... so embarrassed? A certain small running hall is difficult to keep?"

Zhu Helan sighed, and said, "At least now I can be sure that Liu'er has not contracted insanity. Otherwise, I should be ill by now."

Song Mingzi nodded, "Gingji, Zhaoning, and Xingyang roads all erupted, but nothing happened in Tianliang City and Zilu Mountain. It seems that your locust tree really separated this area. But ...The refugees outside Tianliang City are gathering more and more, if they sneak into the city, I don't know if they will bring madness in."

"Is your senior brother back?"

"I came back, but as soon as I came back, I went to the pharmacy to study possible madness-dispelling pills with a few senior brothers. They said that such a large-scale infection should not be witchcraft, but some other sorcery. It is very Probably some kind of curse."

If most of the people in the world are crazy, Dao Qi will be greatly disordered, and this is probably just the first wave of attacks by Tianguren.Immediately afterwards, they will begin to erode and change the more fundamental order, throwing the physical world into complete chaos.If the door is opened again at this time, there will be no power to stop the evil god from invading, infecting this world little by little, and even spreading to the more distant starry sky.

"Sangya's drum." Zhu Helan said thoughtfully, "The focus is on the drum. If the drum can be destroyed, perhaps the catastrophe can be solved."

"But Dawu and his drums haven't even left Tiangu's territory so far. Are we going to send troops by force?" Song Mingzi shook his head, "We don't have enough evidence to prove that this madness is related to him, and... around the capital Many people in the army in Tunza were also infected..."

You can disturb the world without leaving your home... This raven really deserves to be the messenger chosen by the God of Chaos...

Zhu Helan said, "Let me think about it again, you go back first, and I will send you a letter when I have a countermeasure."

After Song Mingzi left, Zhu Helan turned around, only to see Chongliu sitting upright on the low bed, looking at him quietly.

"Madness?" Chong Liu asked.

Zhu Helan hesitated for a moment, not sure whether he should tell Chong Liu what was happening outside.But Chong Liu tilted his head, as if he was listening to something seriously.

"Contagious madness?" Chong Liu said uncertainly, "Did the crow do it?"

For a moment, Zhu Helan felt a chill down his spine.He hasn't spoken yet, what about Chong Liu...

"I can hear it." Chong Liu seemed to be able to read what he was thinking, "If I listen carefully... I can faintly hear it in the gaps between the drums, incomplete, all intermittent... Are you afraid? I was also infected with madness, that's why you locked yourself up with me for five days? Helan, you should have locked me up directly... What if you get infected?"

"Then the two of you will go crazy together." Zhu Helan smiled wryly, and sat beside him, "No matter what, I'm still safe and sound, which shows that you didn't suffer from madness, but was injured by a mulberry."

Chong Liu looked down at his thin and pale hands, "He is forcing me to face up to my mission..."

"I'm going to see the coppersmith tonight and ask him to make something for you to calm the influence of the crow's drum on you. Although it will inevitably be a little more restraint on your body in the future, it is better than the current situation." Zhu Helan held Chong Liu's hand reassuringly, "He won't succeed."

But Chong Liu shook his head lightly, and after a long while, he said confusedly, "Maybe he's right... I really shouldn't keep running away..."