Human dimension reduction

Before it was dark, everyone in the machiya hurriedly closed the doors. Hua Zhizi walked up the stairs to her room with a dimly lit oil lamp in her hand. Just as her palm touched her door, there was a slight movement behind her.

"They said you went to an onmyoji."

The voice of a child floats in the air like a spider's thread, which has a creepy effect on such a night.

Huazhizi turned his head slowly, Mingtai stood at the other end, his eyes drooped, as if he was looking at the ground, or at Huazhizi, there was no light in his black pupils, which was blocked by his fatter body compared to his peers. In the small half of the corridor, the eyeballs rolled up from bottom to top are strange and vicious.

"That's right, it's Mr. Abe Seimei, the best great onmyoji in Kyoto." Hua Zhizi looked serene and calm.

Mingtai looked at her directly, with genuine doubts in his expression: "Aren't you afraid?"

The corners of Hua Zhizi's lips curled up slightly, and a radiant beauty appeared on her face: "What do I have to be afraid of?"

Mingtai looked at her carefully, he was shocked to find that Hua Zhizi really didn't seem to be trying to be brave, she was really not afraid of facing the Onmyoji at all, but... how is this possible?

He had to start thinking about Hua Zhizi's confidence with his sluggish and dull brain: "But you killed someone."

Hua Zhizi couldn't help laughing: "Oh...Mingtai, what are you talking about? You can't talk nonsense like this."

"Abe-sama is coming soon, Ming Tai, don't be rude to say such a thing."

After she finished speaking, she opened the door and walked in, leaving Mingtai in the corridor.

The always cowardly and docile sister showed a small edge, which made Mingtai feel uncomfortable all over. He tried to show his authority like his father but was ignored. The unprecedented encounter made him feel at a loss. He stood alone In the corridor, for the first time, there was fear of the future.

And when none of them noticed, the weird new tenant had disappeared at some point.

The cellar door slammed twice, low footsteps squeezed in through the crack of the door, stood on it hesitantly for two seconds, and began to tentatively go down, the buzzing footsteps echoed in the small space, Pushing away one by one, the taiko drums of Huajian Xiaolu in the distance thumped, and when the elegant and solemn music reached here, only a sad and strange sound remained, as if many women were whimpering, long and short Stir together briefly, pumping blood to the extremities.

Hey.

The soles of the shoes stepped on the solid ground, and the visitor walked slowly to the side of the honey vat, dragged the bench for feet, passed the big vat outside, and stopped in front of the big vat inside.

The heavy wooden boards were creaked and pushed away, and the ubiquitous thin rustling sounded again, dense, long, and melodious...

The visitor held the edge of the thick honey vat and poked his head out to peek inside. In the honey vat without light source, he could only smell the overly strong honey aroma. If this smell is tangible, then there must be something in the air. It is already filled with golden and transparent colors, but nothing can be seen in this big vat containing honey, only a trace of fluorescence that is so subtle that it cannot be noticed is refracting, refracting, refracting.

Can't see anything, can't smell anything.

The man stared at the black hole in the tank for a long time, which seemed to have a heavy darkness, and stretched out his hand into it like a ghost.

The viscous and thick liquid impatiently stuck to the fingers, flowed upward along the skin, climbed up, grabbed the wrist bones and forearms, and the wet and slippery honey flowed back into the honey vat along with the gravitational force, while going up weirdly, rustling The sound was approaching, as if it was buzzing against the ear.

Wrapped in the cold and wet liquid, a soft hand lingered up, as if the cold flesh that had lost its bones rubbed against it little by little, and ambiguously climbed up the shoulder, amidst the sound of flowing sticky water, A smiling blue-and-white woman's face slowly floated up from the bottom of the honey, out of the light golden liquid, like a beautiful girl swimming out of the land of incarnation in ukiyo-e, with half-closed eyes open, and rotten lips spit out from her purple lips. And sweet smell.

Swish, swish, swish.

"Ah, ah, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!" The scream was too high to tear the throat, and after a short twitter she lost her voice. It became denser and denser, and the resting insects opened their eyes, and the countless compound eyes turned upwards, constructing a hazy dream like fluorescent light.

The woman who slowly climbed up from the honey vat had an unchanging smile, her eyebrows were slender and gentle, her facial features were delicate, and her long black hair was brighter and smoother than satin, and the honey covering her whole body woven a thin layer of float. Light, the man shook his hands desperately in horror, trying to break free from the woman's hands.

Probably because the honey was very slippery, he didn't even shake his hand, and the woman slid back into the deep big vat.

I don't know if it was his illusion, but the constant smile on the woman's face turned into a malicious stare at that moment.

He quickly withdrew his honey-stained hand, trying to find something to wipe off the liquid on his hand, but when he took a closer look, everything just now was like an illusion.

There is no honey, and no women.

There was nothing on the hand, the wooden board was pushed open a crack, and the honey below was as calm as stagnant water.

...Yes, hallucination?Because he's been thinking about it?

He stared at the dark tank, occasionally a star of cold light flashed inside, hesitantly made a mental construction, and he tremblingly stretched out his hand into the tank again.

The clattering sound of stirring the liquid stopped abruptly after a while, his fingers touched something round, and then slender and flexible icy threads wrapped around his wrist, he raised his hand, a large ball of black and shiny hair wrapped around his fingers , the end is a piece of skin that is a little swollen and white.

...Is it...scalp...

This thought brushed his mind instinctively, he leaned back, forgetting that he was still standing on the bench, rolled down from it, and when he was about to hit the ground heavily, a hand supported his shoulder from behind.

"Be careful, if you kowtow to the head, you might become a Buddha on the spot." The man's voice was soft and seemed to be laughing, but the source of the voice...was a bit strange.

Suddenly, a ball of fire lighted up in the cellar, the light was steady and bright, illuminating the narrow cellar in every detail.

"Ah... still a child." The onmyoji who appeared here silently in a hunting suit put a bat fan against his lips, and smiled with his long and narrow eyes, "If I remember correctly...you are a flower branch Miss Zi mentioned...Mentai?"

The child standing in front of the honey vat looked embarrassed, his whole body seemed to be wet by water, his face was as pale as death, a mess of black hair was wrapped around his right hand, golden honey dripped Tick-tock dripped down the hair on the ground, and there were two wet handprints on the clothes near the shoulders.

There is also a dark-skinned man with a strange face behind Mingtai. He is covered with gold ornaments all over his body, and a red silk is wrapped around his waist. Ancient and solemn totems are painted on his exposed skin, and long lines are drawn at the end of his eyes with gold powder. , he was the one who caught Mingtai at the very moment.

"Teng Snake." The Great Onmyoji softly called Shikigami's name, and the stern-faced Shikigami glanced at the child supported by him, let go of him and walked towards Abe Seimei without saying a word.

There were big beads of sweat on Mingtai's forehead, and the eyeballs under his eyelids rolled left and right. Although he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to escape with a little luck.

"It's not me, it's not me..." He swallowed, and murmured, "It's a flower branch..."

Abe Seimei glanced at him, turned his gaze slightly, moved his lips and uttered a string of syllables that were almost indistinguishable, and threw two small paper figures the size of a palm from his sleeve.

The little paper figurine straightened up in mid-air, holding hands and leaping towards the honey vat in a majestic and majestic manner. Only then did Ming Tai see what was in the huge vat, and his face turned red when he saw it. And green.

There is a thick layer of worms wriggling on the jar full of honey. The fat golden worms are crowded together and piled up next to each other. The huge compound eyes that cover the entire head rotate strangely, and the sharp needle-like mouthparts collide with each other. There was a rustling sound, rolling up and down in the sticky honey.

The little paper man broke through the pile of insects, and quickly climbed up again, their bodies were still clean and white, not stained with honey paste, and they were pulling one hand to pull them out of the tank.

From fingers, wrists, arms to shoulders, like a vine flower sprouting from the ground, a naked woman was pulled out from the huge honey vat bit by bit, she was covered with golden honey , is more impactful than amber condensed works of art, the skin that has been isolated and air-sealed is still full of elasticity and freshness, there is a silent and weird smile at the corner of the mouth, a face is slowly turned around, the facial features are beautiful, half of it His face was covered in wriggling larvae.

This scene was really disgusting and frightening, Mingtai took several steps back, the little paper figurine put the female corpse on the dry ground together, Abe Seimei pulled out a blank piece of paper from his sleeve again with no change in expression, He tore it twice casually, and with a finger, the white paper instantly turned into colorful Tang clothes, which he gently covered the body of the female body.

"A spirit transformed from resentment." Abe Seimei covered his clothes, picked up a fat bug that was still moving, looked carefully, and came to a conclusion.

"Resentment..." Mingtai repeated the word twice, rolled his eyes in panic and did not dare to look at the female corpse on the ground, and said vaguely, "I didn't do it...you should go to Hua Zhizi..."

"But she doesn't seem to say that." The great onmyoji patted his palms with a bat fan, thoughtfully.

"Eh?! Who, who?"

"It was you, Mingtai, who killed Qiaozi. If you did something wrong, how could you blame it on your sister?" Hua Zhizi's voice came faintly. She stood on the steps. how long.

The girl with her hair hanging down her back came down, passed between Mingtai and Abe Seimei, and knelt down beside the female corpse, her tears falling on Abe Seimei's tangled cloak.

"Qiaozi... Qiaozi was pushed down by Mingtai, because her father wanted Qiaozi to marry Lord Jinwu as a concubine to help Mingtai, but Qiaozi didn't want to. She fell in love with a samurai. That day Qiaozi came down to take Honey, I saw her tell Mingtai that she would never marry Lord Jinya, and Mingtai pushed her down while she was bending over."

The girl's voice was low and thin, like a spider's thread that was about to break and was extremely tough, revealing the terrible truth that had been buried for more than a year.

Mingtai's eyes widened suddenly, and the edge of the eyeballs was bloodshot: "Aren't you happy? You clearly said that you can marry Master Jinya instead of Qiaozi, so it doesn't matter if she dies, and you can take it off." took off her clothes and sank her in the vat..."

Hua Zhizi looked at his fierce and terrifying younger brother silently and sadly, and said softly: "At that time, you threatened me and told Dad that the murderer was me if you didn't keep the secret for you. I had no choice but to help you..."

Mingtai stared at her, then suddenly opened her mouth and screamed: "Lie! Lie! You bitch! You deserve to die here like a pretty girl, covered in worms!"

Huazhizi sighed, and turned to the onmyoji at the side: "Lord Abe, Mingtai has been like this since he was a child, and his father doted on him very much, and spoiled him like this... But I didn't expect that besides Qiaozi, there would be so many people because of He died, even Papa..."

Abe Seimei raised an eyebrow: "Miss Hanaeko, although the deaths in the machiya were all caused by the evil bugs that condensed the grievances on Qiaoko, it may not have anything to do with Menta."

"To be precise...Mingtai probably didn't know that there were evil insects condensed on Qiaozi, otherwise he wouldn't have come down to check the corpse so recklessly—speaking of which, why did you suddenly come to see the corpse?"

Hearing this question, Ming Tai opened his mouth: "Because..."

Because in the corridor just now, Hua Zhizi acted as if he didn't mind Qiaozi's death at all, as if... he was sure that the onmyoji would not be able to find out Qiaozi's death, so he wondered what happened, and had no choice but to Why don't you come and check on Qiaozi's body - what if Hua Zhizi did something on it and blamed Qiaozi's death on him?

Empress Dowager Ming realized belatedly that this seemed to be a trap set by Hua Zhizi?

Let the onmyoji bump into him head-on to inspect Qiaozi's body, and put Qiaozi's death on his head...

Abe Seimei laughed: "Also, Ms. Huazhizi has a smell very similar to Qiaozi's. The evil insects may recognize you as their host. What did you take? Ah..."

His eyes fell on the female corpse on the ground, and he nodded to himself: "It's the clothes Qiaozi wore when she died..."

Hua Zhizi's face changed instantly.

The reason why she can face Abe Seimei calmly is that she thinks she is innocent. Mingta is indeed the one who killed Qiaozi. She is only helping Mingtai to deal with the aftermath. The other people who died in the machiya...they are bugs The evil things she committed by wanting to eat people were not instigated by her. At most, she pointed out her father's room for the bugs when they came out for food last night...

She didn't do anything, she just withheld the truth and selectively told the truth.

"What is it out of... jealousy?" Abe Seimei muttered to himself.

Hua Zhizi moved her lips, her forehead hair stuck to her face, her sweaty skin glowed: "I didn't kill anyone, I'm innocent, even Shan Yuan didn't say anything..."

Abe Seimei raised his hand to draw a talisman to expel the resentment from the deceased, and said, "Let's leave the judgment of the crime to the prosecutor. Onmyoji doesn't care about this, um... who is Yamahara?"

With life, the talisman sticks itself on the outer wall of the honey vat, and thin flames emerge on the surface of the talisman. The wriggling worms in the vat close their terrifying compound eyes one after another, and freeze to death in the amber honey. Dying, the over-scented honey aroma gradually turned into the stench of rotting corpses.

"Yanyuan... is..." Hua Zhizi moved her lips, until now she felt a little confused, who is Shanyuan...?He seems to have been open about his life, but many details are very weird...