The Midnight Owl

Dad, come back, come on.

When the cipher letter was not deciphered, it was just a piece of white paper with several sets of numbers randomly written on it, but when the decipherment was completed, it had a meaning that could be extended endlessly, and the end of that extension was a gloomy darkness.

[My brother and I always played like this when I was young. 】

Both Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai clearly remembered what Chi Yingxue said.

At that time, they really thought it was "playing", because when Chi Yingxue said this, her expression was naturally the same as usual.

But they now know that this is not a game, even if Chi Yingxue wants to put a veil of "play" on this memory so much, inside, it is still a childhood hell.

Every time the father returns to the house, every communication, to the young Chi Yingxue, is the opening of the gate of hell again.

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai remained silent for a long time.

They didn't know what to say or what to say, the obviously turbulent emotions were boiling in the bottom of their hearts like boiling water, but they fell to their mouths, leaving only silence.

The cold wind came in through the crack of the door, blowing the password letter trembling slightly.

Kuang Jinxin took a deep breath and put the letter and nursery rhyme book into his backpack.After getting dressed, she got up and said to Qian Ai, "Let's go."

Before Qian Ai fully recovered from the shock, he asked in a daze, "Where are you going?"

Kuang Jinxin said: "Find the way, find a way to get to the West Wing."

"West Wing? Isn't the badge in the East Wing?" Qian Ai thought he had misremembered, raised his arm while talking, checked the badge manual again, and found that his memory was correct.

"The badge is in the east wing, but Xiaoxue is in the west wing." After Kuang Jinxin finished speaking, seeing Qian Ai looking at him blankly, he realized that he had missed something, and quickly added, "Chi Zhuolin said."

"What else did he say, can you share it with me all at once?" Qian Ai Fu forehead, a password letter for a while, and Chi Yingxue's location for a while, feeling like he missed a world if he didn't go in the Chuhuamen.

Kuang Jinxin: "It's really gone, that's all, I promise."

"Okay." Looking at Kuang Jinxin's sincere eyes, Qian Ai chose to believe.In the current situation, it is really difficult to find the badge and find Chi Yingxue at the same time. The so-called greedy and chewing can't be chewed. If you focus on finding Chi Yingxue, you might be able to meet up with the captain's army in the west wing...

Hey?wait.

Qian Ai found that he seemed to have overlooked a problem. Shouldn't the East and West Wings of the courtyard be together?

He told this to Kuang Jinxin, who obviously didn't think about it at all: "Are we together..."

"Sure." Qian Ai didn't live in a courtyard house, but he watched TV dramas a lot, and immediately gestured with his hand, "For example, this is a courtyard. The main room on the top faces south, the row on the left is the west wing, and the row on the right It’s the East Wing, facing each other across the air, if you pour a basin of footwashing water on this side, if you splash it a little farther away, it will splash on the door curtain over there!”

Without further ado, after clarifying the goal, the two of them immediately left the room, ready to explore the surrounding situation, to see if they could identify the direction of the inner courtyard by distinguishing between east, west, north and south, and then find the right way.

As soon as he went out, Qian Ai was about to use his mobile phone to illuminate, but was stopped by Kuang Jinxin: "There is a moon, so don't waste power."

"It's okay," Qian Ai casually said, "My phone is out of battery, you can use it again."

Kuang Jinxin: "Mine is out of battery."

"..." Qian Ai pressed the flashlight obediently, and further adjusted it to a low-power mode before putting it back in his pocket.

Kuang Jinxin turned around and closed the door gently.

Qian Ai stood at the door, his eyes gradually adapted to the moonlight, and he could see his surroundings clearly.

This is a long and narrow yard, which cannot be called a yard in fact, because from the row of houses behind him and Kuang Jinxin, down the steps, there is a wall soaring to the sky, a row of rooms and a wall, like The two long sides and the two short sides of the rectangle are deep into the darkness, and the end cannot be seen clearly.

What kind of way do you need to find, either go left or right, choose one of the two.

Qian Ai was thinking wildly when he heard Kuang Jinxin call him: "Brother Qian, look quickly."

Hearing this, Qian Ai turned around and found that Kuang Jinxin was facing the door that had just been closed, with his head raised, fixedly looking at a certain point on the door.

Inexplicably, he followed to look, and found two small wooden plaques hanging in the center of the door lintel, one engraved with "East Chamber" and the other with "Heaven".

"This is the East Wing?" Happiness came so suddenly that Qian Ai couldn't bear it. In his life, he had never experienced such a beautiful event of "just looking for a way, and the destination fell from the sky".

Kuang Jinxin was not sure either.

The two looked along a row of rooms. There were four rooms in total. Except for the one they just came out of, the doors of each room were tightly closed, and the hollow panes were lined with frosted glass, making it impossible to see clearly what was going on inside.But without exception, there are two wooden signs hanging on the lintels of these rooms, one is written [East Chamber], and the second sign is combined in order, which is [Heaven] [Earth] [People] [And].

Kuang Jinxin: "It should be."

Qian Ai: "Should."

One came from digging a tunnel, and the other followed Chi Yingxue's father. They didn't dare to distract themselves from observing the surroundings. The two friends returned to the door of [Tian]'s room, and came to a conclusion without being so sure.

"Anyway, there are only four rooms," Qian Ai opened the door that they had just closed, "Look for it!"

They were familiar with this room, from the floor tiles to the sofa, from the tunnel to the closet, in a short while, the two of them searched through everything, even the ceiling was checked carefully with a stool, but nothing was found.

During the whole process, there was no flash of any badge.

For this result, the two little friends were mentally prepared. After all, they stayed in the room for so long and the environment was so dark, so they had already discovered the flash.The reason why I have to search again is just to completely eliminate it with confidence.

The two left the room and closed the door for the second time.

Qian Ai walked to the second [ground] room, and when he reached the door, he realized that Kuang Jinxin hadn't followed. Looking back, he saw his teammates looking at the towering wall under the steps.

"What's wrong?" Qian Ai asked.

Kuang Jinxin was thoughtful: "Brother Qian, didn't you say that the east and west rooms must face each other? Since this is the east room, the other side of the wall..."

"It's the West Wing!" Qian Ai knew what he was thinking, if it was really the West Wing, it meant that Xiaoxue was also behind the wall!

"Then what's going on now? Continue looking for badges, or just push the wall?" Qian Ai was gearing up, eager to try, full of heroic spirit of "all physical work, just say hello".

Kuang Jinxin was taken aback, and quickly said: "Look for the badge first, in case we guess wrong and Chi Yingxue is not there, we will be empty."

"Okay." Qian Ai put down his fist, and looked at the wall reluctantly.

Kuang Jinxin hurriedly walked two steps, came to Qian Ai's side, and faced the door panel of the [ground] room with him, and took his teammates back to the "badge finding mode" by himself.

The door panels were tightly sealed, and there was no sound from inside.

The moonlight penetrates the hollowed-out carvings and shines on the frosted glass, creating a blurred coolness.

"I pushed." Qian Ai gave Kuang Jinxin a wink.

Kuang Jinxin nodded, there may be danger inside, or there may be nothing, but no matter what, he is ready.

Qian Ai pushed lightly, and the door opened.

Qian Ai herself was startled, as if the door was not tightly fitted, but was originally concealed.

As soon as the door was opened, there was a voice floating out from the crack of the door. It was a child's singing, crisp, immature, half-humming and half-singing.

"Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief~~ Gently put it behind the kid~~ Don't tell him, everyone~~"

The door panel kept opening to the side according to the inertia, the gap in the door became wider and wider, and the singing became clearer and clearer.

"Hurry up and catch him~~ hurry up and catch him~~"

The moonlight spilled into the room through the wide open door, reflecting a thin figure squatting in the center of the room.

The room was empty, like a cold box, the figure squatted on the ground, hugged his knees, and hummed softly the song of making games.

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai couldn't see his appearance clearly, it was very strange, as if the moonlight deliberately avoided his face, and was stingy to reflect even the contours of his facial features, they could only vaguely discern that he was a child, and then, no more.

"Throw away, throw away, throw away the handkerchief..." The child who was repeating the game song mechanically, suddenly tilted his head to look at the side. There was nothing beside him, but he was watching intently, and the game song jumped to the back all of a sudden. Cheerful, "Hurry up and grab him, hurry up and grab him~~"

He sang earnestly, watched intently, and even turned his eyes half a circle, as if there was really a child beside him who had been given a handkerchief, and was picking up the handkerchief to happily chase another person.

Toss the handkerchief, at least three or more children can play.

The figure in the middle of the room is only himself.

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai stood at the door, their hearts torn by two completely incompatible emotions, one was panic and the other was panic, they couldn't tell which would prevail.

"Are you Chi Yingxue?" Kuang Jinxin asked softly.

The game song in the house is interrupted.

The child slowly raised his head and looked over, his face was still blurred.

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai couldn't see his appearance clearly, couldn't see his expression clearly, and couldn't even meet his gaze.

The dark clouds and mist had made the moonlight very dark, but it was even darker, my child.

"Clap clap."

He suddenly patted the ground around him twice.

Qian Ai's breathing almost stopped suddenly, she clutched her frantic heartbeat, and looked at Kuang Jinxin inquiringly, her brows were mournful at [-]:[-].

Kuang Jinxin looked at the figure in the room and the ground he photographed, and he probably understood.

2 minute later.

"Throw away, throw away, throw away the handkerchief..." Qian Ai felt ashamed when she sang this song, why did she end up playing with ghosts in nightmares and throw away the handkerchief?He hasn't figured it out until now.

Right now, Kuang Jinxin and Xiao Heiying—let’s call it that, because until they face each other, his face is still hidden in the obscurity, and Qian Ai can’t even look at it carefully. Holding the handkerchief, Ai happily jumped around in circles, humming and circling, and had to think about who to give the handkerchief to.

From the beginning to the end, the little black shadow didn't say a word.

This made Qian Ai even more uncertain. He always felt that the other party might be hiding some killer move. He really gave him the handkerchief. If he was caught up, the consequences would be extremely scary...

Thinking of this, Qian Ai decisively put the handkerchief behind Kuang Jinxin.

The moment Xiao Heiying put down the handkerchief, his body froze for half a second, and then he switched the lyrics and sang "Hurry up and catch him".

Kuang Jinxin felt it when Qian Ai bent over. There was no way, there was a gust of wind blowing from behind, and it was hard not to notice it.

Similarly, he also noticed the moment when the child froze.

For some reason, he felt sour in his heart.

Picking up the handkerchief, he immediately went after Qian Ai. The latter was quite devoted, and he squatted down after running quickly, with a proud face of "I'm good."

The game song starts again.

Kuang Jinxin walked unhurriedly. After going around twice, ignoring Qian Ai's frequent winks, he put the handkerchief behind the child.

After walking half a circle, the child realized that he first turned his head in disbelief, then immediately picked up the handkerchief and excitedly went after Kuang Jinxin.

He obviously couldn't see his face, let alone his expression, but the other party's astonishment, surprise, and all emotional changes seemed to be dispersed in the air, and he could easily feel it with every breath.

"Don't let him catch it—" Seeing that the child's hand was about to touch Kuang Jinxin's clothes, Qian Ai was a little anxious, and couldn't care less about singing any more game songs, and was really worried about his teammates.

Kuang Jinxin is also very devoted, running is really running, without letting water at all, and finally locked the position and squatted down before being caught by the children.

The child was not annoyed, and hummed the song again, and soon put the handkerchief back behind Kuang Jinxin.

Seeing it in Qian Ai's eyes, she felt a complicated feeling of being isolated.

Kuang Jinxin picked up the handkerchief. This time, it was his turn to chase the child.He has tall legs and long legs, stepped over with one step, and grabbed the child's arm!

Slightly cool.

Kuang Jinxin only had time to capture this feeling, and the figure dispersed without warning, like a burst of sand, scattered into fine particles floating in the air.

They can be bathed in moonlight, floating in mid-air, like tiny fireflies.

Suddenly there was a warm light in the room.

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai were stunned, and followed the light source to look.

In the corner, at an unknown time, a candle was lit.

This was the first time they saw light other than the moon and mobile phones after they entered the house.The yellow-red candlelight could not illuminate the room as bright as day, but it was warm for a long time.

……

"Still not." Qian Ai sighed dejectedly, turned around and closed the door of the [East Chamber] [ground].

Except for the floor tiles, there is no need to turn over this empty room, especially with the blessing of candlelight, it is almost unobstructed.

"Don't be discouraged, Brother Qian, think about it from another angle. Fortunately, there are only four rooms. After a while, don't we rule out 50%?" Kuang Jinxin looked at the remaining [people] and [and], "If there are four Ten rooms..."

"No," Qian Ai quickly stopped, "This is the world of consciousness, if Xiaoxue hears your idea and adds a play to us, then there is really no way out."

"..." Kuang Jinxin convinced him of his strange thinking.

"Tell me," Qian Ai looked at the closed door and asked lightly, "Was that Xiaoxue just now?"

Kuang Jinxin shook his head: "I don't know."

The candlelight was still burning, giving the frosted glass a light yellow halo from the inside.

"I hope not," he said quietly.

[East Chamber] In front of [person]'s room door.

Qian Ai touched the door panel, the first time it was raw, the second time it was familiar, and pushed forward with moderate strength.

Like the [ground] house, the door opens easily and without hindrance.

Another empty room.

It was another thin figure whose face could not be seen clearly.

The only difference is that this time, he knelt in the middle of the room, and there was no cheerful song, only his own slaps.

One moment, one moment.

He slapped it extremely hard, as if it wasn't him.

While fanning, repeating over and over again with a crying voice: "I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong..."

His back was straight, but his whole body was shaking.

Not stubbornness, but fear.