After get off work, Liu Huajian called home and told them that he would be back late so that his wife and children wouldn't have to wait for him for dinner.
He drove to the vicinity of Panjiayuan. The antique market was still crowded in the evening. He didn't know if it was because of the paper butterfly incident or because of something else.
Liu Huajian walked into the antique market, took a look around, and soon saw an old man.
The old man was wearing sunglasses and sitting quietly in the corner, looking a little weird in the shadow of the setting sun.
His skin was unnaturally pale, as if he had applied too much foundation.
Only her cheeks were quite rosy, but that rosiness was unnatural, an overly bright red.
Considering the small hat and long gown and jacket he was wearing, Liu Huajian had a strong feeling that if the old man took off his sunglasses, his eyes would probably be hollow and lifeless, like those of a paper man.
There were tourists coming and going in an endless stream, but no one stopped in front of the stall.
People seemed to ignore the old man.
It shouldn't be.
Liu Huajian had watched the video online and he was sure that, although the makeup was a little different, it was that old man.
How could others not recognize it?
Not to mention, there were some young people who were obviously fans of Lu Ban's movies, who came to look for the old man. They walked past the old man several times without even looking at the corner.
Liu Huajian felt strange.
But he didn't care too much. While it was still light, he quickly walked up to the old man.
"Old man."
Liu Huajian greeted him.
The old man didn't react at first, until Liu Huajian came closer and called out, causing the owner of the next stall to look at him strangely.
The old man finally moved.
His head turned slightly.
It was not a natural twisting of the neck, but more like the rotation of some kind of machine, some man-made object.
"Old man, I heard you are very good at paper cutting."
Seeing this, Liu Huajian said again.
"It's just a little trick."
The old man spoke, his voice was hoarse and dry, like the friction of dry paper.
"I've seen the trailer for 'Jiuliu'. Old sir, are you the descendant of Jiuliu?"
Liu Huajian asked again.
"Haha, these are all things that are not worth mentioning."
The old man laughed.
His smile was also very stiff, as if it was painted on.
The sound of cicadas suddenly rang out, abrupt and noisy.
There shouldn't be summer cicadas in this season. When Liu Huajian thought about this, he found that the surroundings had become much quieter.
"Little brother, the fact that you can see me directly shows that you have been seriously eroded."
The old man suddenly spoke amid the noisy cicadas.
"erosion?"
Liu Huajian didn't understand.
"It's better for ordinary people not to see me. People with severe erosion can see things that ordinary people can't see, and those things will definitely drive people crazy."
The old man smiled and picked up the scissors and paper.
He cut patiently, and although he never lowered his head to look at his hands, the paper was soon cut into a human figure.
"It is a fate that you can meet me. I will give this thing to you. If you carry it with you, it should be able to ward off disasters."
The old man handed the thing to Liu Huajian without any obstruction, just like a person with normal vision.
"What's this?"
Liu Huajian carefully looked at the paper figure in his hand. Although it was made of paper, it had facial features and was lifelike. It was actually somewhat similar to himself. He subconsciously touched his face, then looked at the old man and waved his hand in front of the old man's sunglasses.
"Paper doll substitutes. In the past, Taoist magic would use paper dolls as substitutes to ward off disasters and eliminate misfortunes. But you can't rely on it too much, otherwise you might end up like me."
The old man explained.
"Same as you?"
Liu Huajian didn't understand.
"Okay, it's getting dark, I should go now. Remember to take the paper figurine with you."
The old man waved his hand.
Liu Huajian looked at the paper man again, then raised his head again and found that the stall was empty, as if no one had ever been there.
"???"
Liu Huajian felt a little unbelievable. He found that the sky around him was almost dark. He came to the stall next door and asked the boss who was packing up.
"Boss, where did this old man go?"
Upon hearing Liu Huajian's question, the boss who had just looked at Liu Huajian with strange eyes suddenly frowned.
"It's been empty for several days. There used to be a blind man setting up a stall there. A lot of people came there a while ago, but he hasn't appeared since. Maybe he got sick and went home."
"ah?"
Liu Huajian rubbed his eyes and looked towards the stall.
Suddenly, a chill rose from his spine and goose bumps appeared on the skin on the back of his hands. Liu Huajian hurriedly left Panjiayuan and returned to the car.
Only then did he realize that he was holding the paper figure tightly in his hand.
"Woooooa ...
Liu Huajian threw the paper man away in panic.
Looking at the paper man, he calmed down, picked it up and put it in the glove box of the car.
When starting the car, Liu Huajian broke out in a cold sweat.
"There's no one there, who am I talking to?"
"That old man said I had a disaster. Is that true or false?"
"What the hell am I seeing? Are all the stories in "Nine Streams" about ghosts?"
"No, that was decades ago. Wait, then this old man has lived from decades ago to now?"
His mind was filled with thousands of thoughts.
Suddenly, in front of Liu Huajian, an electric car accelerated for some reason and rushed towards him as if the brake had been stepped on instead of the accelerator.
Liu Huajian had no time to dodge and watched the car about to collide head-on with him.
Bang——
However, the car suddenly skidded when it was about to hit Liu Huajian's car, only glancing past his car and hitting the tree trunk on the isolation belt.
Everything happened in just a moment, and Liu Huajian didn't even have time to react.
His heart started beating wildly at this moment, and a feeling of exhaustion as if he had survived a disaster swept over him.
Liu Huajian saw the driver of the electric car that had been hit and deformed open the door and climbed out, muttering some words of revenge on society such as "You all die" and "Kill you all". Liu Huajian did not dare to open the door.
Liu Huajian only breathed a sigh of relief when someone called the police and the traffic police arrived and subdued the driver who was trying to attack passers-by.
At this moment, he remembered the paper figure that the old man gave him.
Opening the glove box, Liu Huajian took out the paper man, his eyes widened.
The body of the paper man had been broken into two pieces, as if someone had roughly torn it apart, but Liu Huajian clearly remembered that it was still intact when he had just put it in, and it shouldn't have been so damaged.
"Could it be... that what he said is true, and I have really been corrupted by something?"
Liu Huajian thought of the books he had read on his research into the Wasted City, and some basic information about foreign lands that he had discussed with others.
The most important one is that knowledge can bring pollution!