Chapter 31 Paper Man City 28
Two arrows were silently aimed at the ancestral hall, but the people inside were unaware. Madam Zhu was very pleased with herself, waiting to see them laugh. Suddenly, a voice came from mid-air: "Don't listen to her."
Chen Chuan: "Brother Leng!"
Leng Jing, who had woken up at some point, seemed to have understood the situation. His hands were tied, but he was very relieved - this was the least tense time for him in the past ten years, it had been a long time since he last felt this way.
He looked at Jiang Yuelu with encouragement.
Just as Madam Zhu was about to speak, there was a sound from the white silk on the other side. Seeing that Lin Shenyin had also woken up, she thought of the fact that the two of them had always been at odds with each other, and couldn't help but laugh and said, "How can you two decide on the topic alone? You should at least listen to his opinion."
What's more, Lin Shenyin was directly controlled by the master... It would be strange if they could reach an agreement. Thinking of this, she was so happy that she could ignore the pain from the backlash. She raised her body slightly, wanting to see the show clearly.
Lin Shenyin opened his eyes blankly. After a while, he turned his head and asked Leng Jing, "Do you still remember Senior Brother Chen Shijia?"
"Remember."
"Did our family only send me here?"
"And your brother."
Lin Shenyin paused, "What's his name?"
"Lin Tingzhi."
Lin Shenyin turned back and said to herself, "Shenyin, listen. My brother and I are the two most respected children of this generation in the Lin family. Unlike those famous families, the Lin family is not a big family. All the efforts of the whole family are poured into my brother and me."
"The day I entered the wizard academy, I secretly swore that I must bring honor to my family, make a name for myself, and make the gods worshipped by my family stand at the top of all gods... But my brother died ten years ago, and I became half-human, half-ghost, and was used by evil spirits to kill so many wizards."
He shed tears of blood, "I am unworthy of being a wizard. I feel guilty towards my people."
After silently drying his tears, he suddenly began to roar: "Jiang Yuelu——"
"Tell me everything you know, tell me who I am, and shout out my name. My fucking name is Lin Shenyin. What I can hear is the voice of God, not the damn evil spirit! Jiang Yuelu——"
Madam Zhu: “…”
He may not know who you are - she was about to say this, but Jiang Yuelu hummed: "I know."
Mrs. Zhu was stunned: "..."
"The story of the identities of these two people started ten years ago."
"The reason why I have this suspicion is because of the three names torn off from Zuixianlou. I think it should be Leng Jing, Lin Shenyin and his brother Lin Tingzhi. Someone tore it off because they were afraid of being exposed."
"Why not destroy them all? Maybe the ghosts here feel that the past ten years have been too peaceful and they want to have some fun."
"The second suspicion is that the skeleton turned a blind eye to the two wizards' baits. The reason is probably that to Zhang Hu, the two tufts of human hair were no different from the heavy deathly aura around him."
Zhao Xiaoxuan: “…”
"Yes." Jiang Yuelu said calmly: "Leng Jing and Lin Shenyin were the wizards who came here ten years ago. They died ten years ago."
Madam Zhu was so shocked that she crushed a corner of the altar and stood up suddenly. Even so, she couldn't stop Jiang Yuelu's voice from suddenly rising -
"Their true identities are the paper figures you made, aren't they?"
"How hateful..." Madam Zhu gritted her teeth and raised her hand, but was suppressed by the backlash and suffered excruciating pain.
Jiang Yuelu continued speaking calmly.
"Ten years ago, a group of wizards came to Flatiron Town, and you all killed them. Compared to ordinary people, wizards are obviously hard to come by. It's regarded as a forbidden place that everyone fears, and no one dares to come. Or you can devour wizards with profound Taoism every year. Of course, you will choose the latter."
"So you left two people behind. After the last practice of making people, Qin Xue was already able to make paper figures that moved just like ordinary people. In addition, they were fused with the wizard's ghost, so the two paper figures could actually think and move like humans, and could travel freely between the north and south towns. This made you very happy."
"To be safe, you wiped their memories and had them lead wizards into the city. They each demonstrated their abilities and mastery of the examination room to make people trust them, and then made wrong judgments at the critical moment."
"In this way, countless wizards died in confusion over the past ten years. Only after death did they realize that this was far from an ordinary level exam."
"No wizard has ever reached South Town. The people who have gone the furthest are Leng Jing and Lin Shenyin. They were strong enough to reach the last level, but they were not strong enough, so they could only stop here."
"The two men realized that the game was over and made a final effort. They collected the remains of their companions and left a final record. Then, as the record said, the evil spirit was under the red card. They knew it was impossible but still did it. They turned their backs on the academy and the way home, and walked towards an inevitable death."
…
The setting sun was blood-red. Leng Jing raised his head and took one last look.
When they entered the city, they were full of heroic spirit, and everyone was thinking, "I must make some noise here." On those relatively peaceful nights, these young people who met by chance would chat and talk about the current situation, arguing with each other and not being able to rest all night. That kind of night will eventually be left in these ruins under the setting sun, waiting for people to discover it later.
"Lin Shenyin."
The person he called turned around.
The sun's rays could also shine like blood on the city gate. He and Lin Shenyin looked at the city gate with the three characters "Yidou Town" written on it, and the same picture came to their minds - ten young people walked in side by side, laughing and joking.
"Can I get out later?" From this door.
"Yes." Lin Shenyin replied with a short and powerful word.
…
Then I was imprisoned here for ten years and forced to do all kinds of evil things.
Every time when the final battle came, he would wake up briefly, and during that time he made many magical instruments for the dungeon, but he never had the chance to use them. One year, two years, three years... Time passed quickly, and they were still waiting for the wizard who could make it to the final battle.
When that time comes...
He wanted to tell him...
"Thank you." Leng Jing said.
"We have been waiting for this question for too long."
As soon as the words fell, Chen Chuan shouted "Go!" and an arc was drawn in the air. Leng Jing bit the rope on the gold bag with his teeth, mumbled a thank you, and murmured a spell. His bound hands were the first to break free. He threw the dagger to the next door, and a moment later Lin Shenyin also escaped from the paper man's arms. The two landed lightly on the ground, facing Mrs. Zhu with a face full of resentment side by side.
She said hatefully, "Don't forget, you two are not the wizards you were back then."
That was true. They had never beaten her before, and it was even more impossible now. Although she was suffering from the backlash, she still had to put more chips on the table in order to win.
Jiang Yuelu said, "Madam Zhu, I have an irrelevant question, but I don't know whether I should ask it or not."
"I really don't know what you are struggling with. Why do you have so many questions?" Mrs. Zhu sighed and said, "Forget it. You will die soon anyway."
"You are a lady from a wealthy family, why did you marry Master Zhu?"
Mr. Zhu: “…”
I thought it was Jiang Yuelu's plan, but I didn't expect it to be such an unimportant issue.
Mrs. Zhu retorted, "What's wrong with marrying him? Even if he didn't have much money, he was still a handsome scholar back then."
Jiang Yuelu shook her head, "That's not it."
"What I mean is, you are obviously a lady from the south, why would you travel thousands of miles to marry Mr. Zhu from the north?"
Mrs. Zhu was stunned and thought, how did he know?
There was no record of Mrs. Zhu's life on the test paper. Information about this key character seemed to be deliberately not disclosed. But Jiang Yuelu remembered that there was a description of the Zhu couple after they got married. Mrs. Zhu said, "How can it be so cold in the hot September?"
Lord Zhu was very concerned about her and immediately put a coat on her.
This was originally a scene arranged by the designer of the dungeon to exaggerate the deep love between the two couples, but even a powerful designer would not know that someone could memorize the entire test paper in just ten minutes. Remember first, then reason out the inconsistency - Mrs. Zhu seemed to be unaware that the northern climate, located in the plateau valley, would experience a sudden drop in temperature even in summer due to rain. This was her first time in the north.
We can't conclude anything based on this alone.
Until he saw the portrait.
Behind the lady with a slightly protruding belly was a painting table, on which were placed porcelain and fruits.
"You grew up in the south where there are many rivers. In late summer, there are countless water chestnuts."
"Your people must have loved you very much and devoted their efforts to raising you to be a lady of a noble family. Even though you ran off with a poor unknown boy, they still sent you water chestnuts from their hometown after a few years. You already had a child at that time, so you didn't dare to eat too much and only tasted a few pieces. Then you were urged by your husband to sit down... The plate of water chestnuts was placed behind you and was painted into the painting by Master Zhu."
The ancestral hall was silent, with Jiang Yuelu speaking as if no one was around.
"...And then, there was the portrait we have now."
Jiang Yuelu looked at her and said calmly, "Mrs. Zhu, do you still remember the taste of the water chestnuts you tasted that day?"
“Is it fresh?”
"Is it sweet?"
"Do you still remember how you met and how you got to this point?"
The series of questions made Mrs. Zhu unable to speak a complete sentence. Her mind was in a fuzzy mess, and she subconsciously asked, "What does water chestnut taste like?"
The ancestral hall was silent for a moment.
She didn't feel at all that her words were contradictory. How strange - if she admitted that she grew up in the South, how could she not know the taste of water chestnuts?
But she still asked Jiang Yuelu: "What is a water chestnut?"
Because of anxiety, she stopped playing with her pipe and expressed her confusion with a human expression: "… water chestnuts, are they sweet?"
Lord Zhu shouted, "Ningning! Don't fall for their trick!"
She seemed not to hear, immersed in her own thoughts, and said to herself: "After I was born, the first person I saw was my master. She gave me a body and memories. Some memories are integrated into my body, while others are very far away from me. I like to look at those memories, not the resentful and angry ones later. The breath exuded by those memories is long-lasting and very peaceful."
"So that's water chestnut? Every time we eat it, she and I feel very happy... happy?"
The hairpins and pearl hairpins on her head fell to the ground one after another. The black mist lingering in front of her gradually faded. She felt her throat gradually tightening and thought to herself, "Oh no! I can't think about it anymore."
But someone had already placed a mirror in front of her - Leng Jing took it out from his universal pocket.
"Do you want to see yourself now?" Jiang Yuelu asked.
What a tempting wish, she has never looked in the mirror.
The master said that the mirror can connect the Yin and Yang, and can reflect the original form of the vengeful ghost. She has always been afraid of seeing her imperfect self, so she never looks in the mirror. And think about it carefully, in this huge town, she has never seen a complete mirror.
She couldn't help but look.
Just for a moment, just for a moment...
The ghost couldn't resist the temptation and looked inside, only to see a square monster with hands and feet appear on the mottled and dusty mirror. "She" paused, stretched out her hand, and touched the monster in the mirror, "Who is this?"
Jiang Yuelu said: "It's you, madam."
"Me? I am a human. I became a ghost because my soul lingered after I died. Even if you want to take a picture of my past, it should be in human form..."
She said angrily: "How could it be such a weird thing?"
Seeing that she didn't believe him, Jiang Yuelu looked outside the door again, "Madam Zhu, there are countless red cards tied together on that tree, but I can't find Lord Zhu and yours. Why is that? Have you ever thought about it?"
"That's because, because..."
Her train of thought had been completely diverted by someone - this wouldn't work! But...
"Because you died before the massacre. Even if Qin Xue had great magical powers, she couldn't gather the soul of a person who had been dead for several years. Besides, you and Lord Zhu had long been estranged. Even if you died on the night of the massacre, Zhu Xiuyuan might not want you to come back to life."
He looked at his wife, "Then why are you standing here?"
"If you don't live by sharing your life base, then what would you be?"
The heavy drum beat against her chest. She had occasionally pondered this question in the past ten years, but never delved into it. His voice was indifferent, but more terrifying than any demon or ghost. It had the power to bewitch people and made her fall into it - into her own doubts and myths. The questions that she had never delved into before came together at this moment, repeatedly asking her heart, each one was urgent - who am I?
She looked into the mirror and met the eyes of the boxy monster.
“I am that painting.”
The wind in the ancestral hall stagnated.
Because it is a painting, it only has memories after marriage. When Ningning lived in the southern water town, it had not yet been created, so I can only recall that innocent past as a later spectator.
So I don’t know what water chestnuts taste like.
"I envy her so much."
It said hoarsely, "We both have the same appearance, but she had a pampered past and the joy of knowing and falling in love with her husband. She left me with the pain of being betrayed and dying."
"And a life in this dead city with dead people pretending to be human. She left it all to me."
At this point, it laughed, viciously and fragilely: "Pretending to be human... I laugh at them, don't I?" After that, it looked at Jiang Yuelu with its ordinary eyes in the painting, full of resentment to drag him down: "In that case, then you will die with me?"
Tears dripped from the smooth paper, crossing her arms that embraced me across the sea of fog.
The tone was so gentle, "Wizard Jiang... die with me, okay?"
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