Burning fire

After Liu Jian left, Zhou Qizun stood at the door of the hotel for a long time.

The strange town in the middle of the night is so alienated that it makes people chill.

Zhou Qizun stood alone, smoking most of the pack of cigarettes.Finally, he bent down, picked up the cigarette butts at his feet one by one, piled them in the palm of his hand, and threw them all into the trash can on the side of the road, then turned around and walked into the hotel.

The spring night is too withered, and the wind and the moon refuse to show their face.

The wind is very light and the moon is very dark.

The smell of cigarettes on Zhou Qizun's body was so strong that he looked like a large nicotine stick walking. He passed by the front desk when he entered the door, causing the little girl on duty at the front desk to frown.

Zhou Qizun turned his face away, and smiled at the little girl with two rows of white teeth, and the little girl's brows relaxed again.

Look, as long as people are alive, they are easy to coax if they are placed in front of their eyes.

Zhou Qizun also couldn't figure out the circuit of his own brain, but when people are negative and sad, it is indeed easy to think wildly and make things upside down.

Like now, he actually remembered that Zhou Yi bothered him to smoke when he was a child, and even quarreled with him.He remembered that he was injured and retired in Yunnan, and Lei Dongyang turned pale.

He couldn't coax these two people well at the time, but now that he thinks about it, they were just two afterthoughts, and he couldn't coax them no matter what.

"Human, you still have to learn to behave better." Zhou Qizun said heartily.

——If you don’t behave well, you will regret it.

Perhaps "regret" is also a layer of explanation for "people".

.

Pushing open the door and entering his own room, Zhou Qizun plugged in the electric card and turned on all the lights in the room.

He took off the dirty clothes stained with blood and mud, and looked at his wound with his eyes.

Although the scales on the "snake spirit"'s tail were painful, the wounds were not deep, they were just superficial wounds.

Zhou Qizun frowned, not thinking it was a good thing.

"It seems that the 'female snake spirit' doesn't want my life." Zhou Qizun thought to himself.

More likely - she wanted to control him and make him submissive and obedient.

The purpose should be related to Lei Dongyang.

"Then what does the 'snake spirit' have to do with Dongyang?" Zhou Qizun couldn't figure it out.

A few years ago, when they were still in the special forces, they were all a group of serious old men who played with knives and guns all day long, buried in mud and rain. There will be no mention of demons and goblins either.

As for whether Lei Dongyang believed in ghosts or not, or even had anything to do with those things, Zhou Qizun didn't know the slightest bit.

"It's not over yet." Zhou Qizun clicked his tongue and went into the bathroom frowning.

Since the wounds on his body were not in the way, he had a problem in his heart again, and he didn't bother to deal with the hysterical burrs all over his body, so he simply washed it with the shower, and it was treated as medicine.

After washing, Zhou Qizun came out of the bathroom shirtless, his upper body was still wet and not dried, water beads slid down from his muscles and dripped across the reddened wound.

Zhou Qizun took his mobile phone, sat by the window, and took out the blood jade finger and the evil spirit talisman from his trousers pocket.

Zhou Qizun rubbed the wrench in his hand a few times, waited for the cold jade to be warmed up, and put it on the thumb of his left hand.

Zhou Qizun stared at the Fusha Talisman and studied it again.This spell burned a big hole in the tail of the "female snake spirit".

Zhou Qizun put the evil spirit talisman on the window sill, and sighed slightly.

What happened one after another around him made him helpless, Zhou Qizun had to admit that in that world, he was a weak person, he was helpless, helpless, and had no strength to resist.He can't find any truth, and no one can protect him.

"You are too courageous, you can't chase her!"

Zhou Qizun remembered the only sentence Zhang Jueming said to him just now.

I sifted through everything in my mind. Although Zhang Jueming was not from his career, and although he had hidden many things from him, from the beginning to the end, Zhang Jueming was always saving him and worrying about him.

Zhou Qizun just sat there until the sky outside revealed a scene of pale gray - it was almost dawn.

Zhou Qizun finally took the phone and dialed Zhang Jueming.

"Beep-beep-beep-"

Zhou Qizun held his cell phone and waited until the call automatically hung up.

This time, Zhang Jueming did not answer the call.

Zhou Qizun threw the phone on the bed, rubbed his wrist, and looked down at the purple circle around his wrist.

Both left and right wrists were pinched by Zhang Jueming.How much strength is this?It seems that Zhang Jueming is eager to break his wrist, and he is not willing to let him chase that "female snake spirit".

Zhou Qizun stood up, faced the first dawn, put his hands on the window sill, and did 250 push-ups in one go. He didn't know what he was trying to get angry with.

.

At dawn, when the sun began to shine brightly, Liu Jian came over.

Liu Jian carried a bag with a black briquette on his head and a pair of big bags under his eyes, and pushed open Zhou Qizun's door.

"Let's go." Liu Jian touched his chin.

Zhou Qizun glanced at him: "You can tell from your unshaven appearance that you didn't sleep last night."

"You are different? Who could fall asleep last night?" Liu Jian snorted, "The heart is not that broad yet."

Zhou Qizun smiled lightly, grabbed a piece of bread from the table and threw it at Liu Jian's face: "Eat something."

"Then don't eat this." Liu Jian threw the bread back on the table in disgust, "Let's go, let's have breakfast, and then we will send Dongyang off together."

"Okay." Zhou Qizun nodded, picked up the coat beside the bed to put on.

"You just wear this?" Liu Jian pointed at Zhou Qizun's clothes, "It's still green."

"It's not very good to go to the crematorium." Zhou Qizun stared at his coat and said, "But Dongyang certainly won't care. I traveled light this trip and didn't bring any clothes."

"I know. But it's better to be careful. We're not the only ones in the crematorium. Don't be ashamed." Liu Jian said, throwing the bag in his hand to Zhou Qizun, "I brought you a black coat, wear this."

After speaking, he turned and walked outside the house.

"Okay." Zhou Qizun threw away his green clothes, and followed Liu Jian out while wearing them.

.

Zhou Qizun and Liu Jian had a casual meal on the street, and then went to the crematorium together.

The crematorium is located in a remote location, not far from the icehouse where Lei Dongyang's body was buried.

When Zhou Qizun and Liu Jian got there, the car from the crematorium had already arrived early.

"Sorry for the long wait." Liu Jian got out of the car and pulled the tab of his black coat.

At this moment, Zhou Qizun suddenly felt a daunting sense of reality.All too real: "Ah, it's really going to be cremated. It's about to start."

.

Since early in the morning, there have been many people in the crematorium.

Dead or alive, crying or howling.

Every one is different and every one is the same.Maybe it's an arranged process.The family members first bid farewell around the body, and said a lot of similar words to the body, most of them were in weeping tones, or in a sad and painful tone.

Afterwards, the body is pushed into a blazing furnace, at which point family members are divided into three categories.

One is the aggressive type, who suddenly start crying, and even rush forward, pretending to pull the body out of the boiler. Although they know that it is impossible to pull it out, in fact they seldom actually try to pull it out.

But just rushing like this is like a kind of laissez-faire to emotions, it seems that if you don't rush this, you will owe a debt. ——He didn't want to pull back the body, but someone needed to pull him back from the collapse.

So there is a second type - crying and persuading, while pulling people.

There is also a third type, those who react with as much grief as the first two, perhaps a little more.Because I can't vent.

Knocking out teeth and swallowing blood, they stand behind, watching, or wandering eyes, doing nothing.Let go of your energy and follow your mood silently.

Both Zhou Qizun and Liu Jian are of the third type.

His head ached from the cries around him, Zhou Qizun took one last look at the stove burning Lei Dongyang, turned around and went out.

A few minutes after he came out, Liu Jian followed suit.Liu Jian stood still behind Zhou Qizun: "Can't you stay still?"

"Yeah." Zhou Qizun didn't turn his head, but stretched out his hand, "Give me a cigarette, I'm out of cigarettes."

"I quit smoking. My girlfriend won't let me smoke." Although Liu Jian said so, he still put his hand in his pocket.

"When did you find your girlfriend? Remember to call me when you get married." Zhou Qizun then turned his face to look at Liu Jian, with a smile on his lips.

"Looked for it last year. No need to ask, you are still a bachelor." Liu Jian smacked his lips and took out a small box in his hand.

The small box was long and narrow. When he opened it, there were only two cigarettes lying inside.

"The last two, I've been hiding them for more than three months and I'm not willing to smoke them." Liu Jian handed the cigarettes to Zhou Qizun's eyes, and took out a lighter from the other pocket.

"It's so stupid." Zhou Qizun picked up one and lit it in his mouth, "The cigarette is soggy."

Liu Jian also lit the last rare cigarette: "You don't understand sweet pain, but when you have someone by your side, you will understand."

"I don't need to quit smoking even if there is someone else." Zhou Qizun laughed a little, "You forgot, I like men, and I don't like to serve crooked little girls."

"...Yes." Liu Jian twitched slightly.

Zhou Qizun was in his late thirties and still lacked in morality, so it was conceivable that he was young and frivolous, and he was quite aggressive.

He likes men, but he forgot how he announced it. Anyway, he never shied away from it, and many people in the team knew it.

Liu Jian thought about it, and guessed the reason for the exposure was very simple.

For example, someone asked Zhou Qizun: "What kind of girl do you like?"

Zhou Qizun directly said carelessly: "I don't like women, I like good-looking, white men with sharp tempers."

"It was really young at that time." Liu Jian thought about it, with a look of unbearable expression on his face, "At that time, there were people in our team who were afraid of this, but it was nothing after that."

Carry guns together, endure hardships together, and save lives together.What can surpass the value of life and death?It's not worth it at all.Two different things.

"Hey, by the way, at that time the team was all bachelors, so only Dongyang had a girlfriend?" Zhou Qizun thought suddenly.

"Yeah." Liu Jian laughed, "He is the youngest, but he is the only one who has a partner, and he has been dealt with for this matter."

"Ah, yes, speaking of this, do you remember this thing? I'm going to give it to you." After Liu Jian finished speaking, he untied the pull tab of his clothes and took out something from his inner pocket. "It's the only thing left in Dongyang. the relics below."

He put this thing close to his body in his inner pocket, with a small hand towel, and two paper towels wrapped three times inside and outside. It can be seen that it is a precious thing, at least much more important than the two cigarettes he has kept privately for three months.

Liu Jian spit out a string of smoke rings: "Dog leash."

"Of course I remember." Zhou Qizun quickly took it over, "It's still there."

They were soldiers, and they didn't wear any decorations on their bodies, except Lei Dongyang.Lei Dongyang has a dog leash.

The "dog leash" was made by them privately, but it was actually a red string with a pendant attached to it.

Lei Dongyang hung this pendant around his neck, and also hid it under his pillow. Back then, he almost got into a fight with the captain because of it.

Lei Dongyang said: "This is a token of love from my goddess."

"What year is it, return the goddess, return the token." Zhou Qizun heard this at the time, and commented on this sentence, and rewarded Lei Dongyang with a pair of supercilious eyes by the way.

But Zhou Qizun was very impressed with the pendant, not only because it was so precious to Lei Dongyang, but also because it was very special.

Zhou Qizun remembered that it was a small, crescent-shaped thing that looked like fish scales, and its texture was similar to steel.The main thing is the color, I don't know what kind of material it is, it is not like oil paint, it is a very unique turquoise, very beautiful, and it has a faint luster when it shines.

and many more.

Turquoise... scales?

Zhou Qizun was shocked, and quickly opened the three layers of packaging in Liu Jian's place, his fingers even felt a little numb.

"This thing is also rare, maybe it is really a treasure. Dongyang's body is rotten, and his clothes are useless, but this fish scale pendant is still in good condition."

Liu Jian sighed: "I don't know who his so-called goddess is. He has been missing for four years, and the goddess may have married someone else long ago."

Liu Jian: "You can take it with him and bury it together."

"...Zhou Er, what's the matter?" Liu Jian found that Zhou Qizun's expression was not right.

Zhou Qizun stared at the small turquoise scale in his palm, feeling that it was extremely heavy.

The soot fell off and burned his cuffs, burning a hole in the clothes that Liu Jian lent him, but Zhou Qizun couldn't care.

How tense is his mentality to be considered strong?

— This is the scale!Yesterday's "female snake spirit"!That's her!

Exactly the same scales.

On Zhou Qizun's body, the wound that was cut last night began to itch and ache.