cooperate
The window-breaking hammer hit the mop handle that I was holding tightly. The huge force pushed my whole body downward and pierced through the stone shell with a sound.
I've seen the tough faces of those people on the platform. They could still move even after being stepped on several times or stabbed with a dagger, so I didn't hold back any strength this time.
Amid the heavy sound of the mop rod breaking through the air, the face that seemed to be trapped to death suddenly screamed, moved violently, and crashed directly into the stone shell under my feet.
My feet suddenly jumped, and I fell on my back without any preparation. I rolled to the side, and I felt the stone shell under the ground humming continuously. A human face swam towards me from below as fast as a fish. At this time, the stone shell cracked with a click, and it hit me again.
The moment the sticky touch came upon us, both the young man and I screamed.
I was frightened by the sudden attack, and he was frightened because he didn't expect me to have my coat stretched out in front of me and holding a cell phone tightly.
The thick coat blocked the man's face and its speed slowed down, then it hit the phone I was holding directly.
The scalding low-quality cell phone was enough to burn the skin off my hand. I was furious at the time, but the young man's face was hit head-on and I fell to the ground and rolled over due to the burn.
I suddenly kicked up and turned over, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Just because of the slip just now, I vaguely touched that face. I can be sure that the whole facial features of the young man were moving.
Damn it, damn it, I was horrified, this thing was too sinister. Judging from the speed at which he jumped out, I'm afraid that the driver Lao Zhao's skin had already cracked, which means that he could have gotten out long ago.
But he held back, allowing the banyan tree outside to gradually petrify into a thicker shell, just waiting for me to let my guard down.
What scares me even more is that, although it was only a moment, I am too familiar with the facial features after they moved. Even if I just touched them in the chaos and darkness, I can be sure. Because I have used them for twenty years, and I have also seen them in my sister's place for more than ten years. That is what I look like.
His face is imitating me, he is trying to become me.
I don't know how he did this, if it has anything to do with the part of me that's missing, or what his purpose is.
However, my recklessness and unwillingness just now undoubtedly accidentally interrupted his transformation.
What would happen if I really weighed the pros and cons, listened to my logic and chose to stay away to protect myself, allowing him to buy enough time and successfully transform under the floor?
When I thought of this, I was so furious that I picked up the mop handle and smashed it on his head.
He dodged very quickly, and I swung the mop handle repeatedly but failed to hit anything real. It only seemed to have grazed it once, and I felt something at the end of the mop handle suddenly shrink.
Here it is!
I shouted, gathering all my strength and swinging hard.
“Zhang!” The young man seemed to have been hit on half his face by me, but he was still able to struggle and jump away, shouting, “Why don’t you save me! You don’t want to live anymore!”
I staggered forward several times due to inertia. When I heard these words, my head suddenly buzzed. I came to my senses abruptly and used my body weight to push the mop handle down again.
The young man's face was extremely agile. I only heard a half-scream of pain before the mop handle slipped and fell outward. Something popped out from the ground and dodged me and ran into the corner.
I gritted my teeth, and with a determined heart, I took three or two steps to chase after him, cursing, "Where are you running to! Explain yourself to me! Who is Zhang going to save you?"
It was completely dark at this time, and the only thing I could rely on to determine the direction was the weak air current caused by Nian Ziqing's escape.
Nian Ziqing also understood this principle, and he paused for a moment, and all the noise disappeared immediately.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, knowing that he was somewhere in the dark, and could pounce on my back at any time when he noticed me.
However, I still had the mop handle in my hand. No matter how bad I was at using cold weapons, the length of the handle was enough for me to smack anything that approached me. No matter how capable Nian Ziqing was now, he would never be able to withstand a blow from me.
Right now, in this confrontation situation, we each have only one chance to take action.
I have an advantage, I told myself, don't panic. The longer it takes, I don't believe that young people can be exposed to the outside world without any cost. In any case, he is more anxious than me.
It was quiet all around.
I blinked hard, thought to myself, and slowly tightened the mop handle in my hand.
At this moment, I felt a slight pain again. It was Nian Ziqing trying to talk to me again.
The sound was very light, moving around me erratically.
He said something that I couldn't understand.
"The Zhang guy must be nearby." Nian Ziqing said sinisterly, "If he doesn't save me as agreed, that's fine. At worst, I'll die with you. He will never have to know how to open the door to the Snow Mountain Underground Palace in his lifetime."
Agreement? What agreement?
Damn it, why are you trying to sow discord with me in such a cheap way at this time?
I suddenly felt a surge of anger, and I gritted my teeth to hold back from cursing, but I still felt cold all over, as if I had been doused with ice water from head to toe.
In my heart, there was an extremely calm and indifferent voice saying that the person Nian Ziqing was talking about could not be anyone else. He was talking about Zhang Tianyi.
A more clear thought is: This time Nian Ziqing did not lie to me.
"Why? Didn't he say that?"
The voice of that face came closer and its accent became more like my own. With every word he spoke, I felt a little colder.
"The road to the snowy mountains is on the map I drew for him. The town is now completely closed, and no one can get close to the underground palace without a guide.
Without the water from the underground palace, how could he save himself? Without access to the underground palace, he would never be able to find the real moving rat, let alone save his family."
"Zhang Tianyi can only cooperate with me... I told him so."
Nian Ziqing's voice became very strange, as if it was his own voice that was being exposed again uncontrollably, full of resentment and unwillingness.
"But why? Why did everything go well, but a young master like you from the Zhang family showed up? That closed loop... that closed loop should have been solved perfectly by me."
He seemed to be completely unable to control himself. He kept mumbling, and his emotions became extremely intense: "Originally, nothing would get out of control! Here, I control the town and the underground palace, and am worshipped like a hero by everyone... I should be the one to be called the advisor."
This statement is also true.
There's no reason, I just know it because a part of me still remains with him.
In this small town, I have witnessed the importance of "identity" time and again. People are bound by definitions and also by their professions.
If he wants to pretend to be me and replace me, I believe he must pay a certain price and become more like me in every way.
For example, he gradually began to lose control of his desire to talk.
My heart suddenly skipped a beat.
I have always been eroded by my identity as a tour guide, but this erosion seems to be deeper than I thought. The desire to talk is not something Xu Ranxing must have, but it is the first sign that I am losing control as a tour guide.
This kind of explanation and confession is difficult to restrain, and gradually, the words will move towards honesty.
No matter who I am that he wants to be, Xu Ranxing, or a tour guide, our conversations will become more and more frank and there will be fewer and fewer secrets.
——So, what was the “arrangement” he inadvertently mentioned?
I know that I am an accident. Starting from the incident at the sentry box, every time I encounter a strange story, it is not in other people's plan. For this, I have always felt lucky.
The Zhang family would not deal with ghost stories without preparation. Looking back now, it was not accidental that Gao Liu and Wild Cat were in the camp. They were the only solution to the ghost stories. With the help of Yan Er, the original ending should be that only Gao Liu and Wild Cat could survive by following the hatching rules.
Looking further ahead, if it weren't for my influence, Xu You might have died of complete distortion, but the sentry box might not have been fully formed, and Zhou Tingmao would not have followed the convoy to join. Then the team going to the camp would follow the rules, and the team leader Zhang Jia would take over the convoy.
My presence means that we have luckily found a better ending together in our cooperation. For them, it means less sacrifice for their partners; for me, it means a reunion with my family, and I will not be robbed of something by fate again without knowing it.
But at this moment, Nian Ziqing's words made me start to think about a question:
What would happen in the valley if I didn't show up?
Without me, with what identity and attitude would Nian Ziqing join the team seemingly unintentionally?
With Nian Ziqing's understanding of banyan trees, more than ten years of operation, the bus that always stays in the valley, the driver Lao Zhao as a backup, and the trump card of fog assimilation...
Just like he said, maybe he could be another hero who saved everyone, and brought everyone to the town through the rules of the tour group.
Then, in that situation, all his crimes would not be exposed. He would not be a prisoner, but the only young man left in the town and the ultimate keeper of the secret.
Without my participation, the comb jellyfish will not retreat, the balance between the goddess and the banyan tree will not be broken, and the balance between the mist and the banyan tree in Nian Ziqing will remain. The mist hidden in the Zhang family will continue to lurk and become a bomb that he can detonate at any time.
Without my participation, he would have already moved the guys in the valley to the town, and could have openly asked everyone to come as soon as possible, and the diluted and dispersed fog would have returned as soon as possible.
Therefore, in his original plan or that of the people behind him, everything was very safe and profitable.
I can almost imagine that if Nian Ziqing stood in the small building on the platform, slowly unveiling the fallacy of the first mural to everyone, revealing the past deeds of the Nian family, all those past tragedies would become the best decoration of his identity, winning him the greatest sympathy, awe and trust.
Such a person who can turn the tide, who has now made a blood oath of alliance with the Zhang family and is the only one who can lead them into the mountains, will definitely be respected and supported with resources.
Just like he said, or the person who should be called "Young Master of the Nian Family" and "Advisor" should be him. He is the only tour guide.
In his eyes, I was the one who ruined everything. It was me who pushed the situation into an irreversible predicament and even turned him into a sinner and clown who could not face the light of day.
But, I'm already here.
With my appearance, all the allies he thought were in his pocket to deceive, control, and threaten became mine.
“……”Some extremely ridiculous emotion suddenly emerged, and I held my coat and the hot cell phone tighter.
This time, it was not the young man’s instigation, but I really had an evil thought on my own.
"You should know that I never lie." I said softly, "The guide will only corrupt me more than a fake like you, and I can't lie."
Nian Ziqing let out a resentful howl after saying the word "fake".
But he still calmed down, and his breathing began to become excited and rapid.
Because I sorted out my thoughts, I began to speak slowly, every word was true: "Didn't you say that the Zhang family's blood oath cannot be violated? Under the blood oath, you can be protected, but unfortunately I stopped you."
"But isn't there someone here who has a higher status than the other Zhang family members?"
"You heard from Xu You or someone else that I was the young master of the Zhang family, right?"
"Then do you know how I survived the first time I was attacked by the ghost story? Xu You told me that it was because of me, because the flesh and blood of the Zhang family was poisonous. He said that thing absorbed too much of my flesh and blood, and it melted into a pool of blood mud."
Nian Ziqing seemed to swallow his saliva: "So, if I succeed in parasitizing you, then, then the result will be..."
"——So," I avoided his question, feeling calmer than ever before. It seemed that I was still smiling and telling the truth, without any falsehood.
"Rather than fighting you to the death in this inexplicable place...why don't I swear a blood oath with you?
It doesn't matter if Zhang Tianyi doesn't keep his promise. In this small town, in front of all the guys, I am the one who replaced you and gained all the appeal.
How about we cooperate instead? "
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