Chapter 34: The Second Item: Picking Up the Item - Old Sophora Tree
In addition to Chen Li and the other four, there were four other people sitting around the campfire.
Three boys and one girl.
Everyone stared at the new members. Although they didn't say anything, Song Buyu always felt that their expressions were a little subtle.
Nervous, flustered, afraid, uneasy, as if he wanted to tell them something urgently, but after waiting for a while, still no one spoke.
So they were forbidden to talk?
Song Buyu tried to stand up, but there seemed to be a heavy weight on his shoulders.
Even though there was nothing, he was still being pressed down and couldn't stand up.
Everyone sat together in a very uncomfortable kneeling position.
The bonfire in the center was still burning, with flames flickering on the woodpile.
The boy placed his hands on the flames to warm them, and his voice was filled with a chilling chill:
"Who arrived just now?"
He rolled his eyes to the right with difficulty, "Start with you, and continue."
Continue what?
Song Buyu and Yu Qianqian looked at each other silently.
Yu Qianqian shrugged and said, "Don't ask me, I don't know either. Just follow the instructions and act according to the circumstances."
Song Buyu glanced at Chen Li again, trying to send him a secret signal with his eyes.
But this guy never looked at him from beginning to end, and even dozed off near the warm wood flames!
Song Buyu stared at Chen Li in disbelief, using his eyelids to send information to Yu Qianqian, meaning, look at him, how can he sleep!
Yu Qianqian blinked her eyes. "Don't you two know each other? You ask me?"
The big guy who had been following Yu Qianqian looked helpless at this time. Since no one dared to speak easily, he could only scratch his head and signal to wait and see what happens.
"pumpkin."
The man sitting opposite Shen Li actually said a word.
In a clockwise direction, the eyes of the other people instantly focused on the woman next to the man.
The woman hesitated for a few seconds and said a word:
"Lotus."
After the woman finished speaking, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and looked around.
The short man kneeling beside her was so nervous that he swallowed several times.
When it was his turn, he just opened his mouth in vain, as if he hadn't thought it through.
The boy in the center of the campfire stared at him coldly.
He had no patience, and after staring at him for a few seconds, the little man's expression became obviously more flustered.
"Right away, I thought of it right away, please, give me a little more time..."
Except for the bonfire in the center, the rest of the tree hole was pitch black and nothing could be seen.
The firelight illuminated his thin face.
The little man's begging for mercy came to an abrupt end.
He began to struggle on the spot, as if his vital points were locked by an invisible object. He was pinned to the ground and could only wave his hands helplessly.
Others could not empathize with him and could only infer the pain he was suffering by looking at his fingers that were struggling to the point of being almost deformed.
He struggled for only a short while before he began to lose water.
Finally, his cheeks became sunken, his bones were dislocated, and he turned into a mummy in front of everyone's eyes.
The young man looked at the scene indifferently, stood up slowly, broke a piece of his arm and leg bones, and then stepped on his completely collapsed chest.
His bones were too fragile, like the poplar trees exposed to the scorching sun on the Gobi Desert, and were crushed to pieces in just a few steps.
Countless tiny dust particles floated up.
The air was filled with a subtle smell that was not unpleasant.
The boy picked up a few ribs and a broken leg and turned around to throw them into the campfire to "add firewood".
After adding fuel, the flames rose high.
The area illuminated by the campfire spread out a little, but beyond the light, there was still endless darkness.
Yu Qianqian and Song Buyu widened their eyes with horror on their faces.
How could a person just die out of nowhere? If we follow the clockwise order, it will be their turn soon!
The boy didn't say anything. He seemed to be enjoying the warmth brought by the campfire. While warming himself by the fire, he turned his gaze to another person.
Because the death of the short man just now gave the next person enough time to think, when it was the turn of the next man with glasses, he was already confident.
“Pompous.”
It was Song Buyu's turn. He quickly went over the three words in his mind.
Pumpkin, lotus, pomposity.
It was obviously a word chain game, and every word they said rhymed and consisted of two words.
Feeling the boy's gaze on him, Song Buyu hesitated and said a word tentatively:
"Turtle?"
The boy's eyes passed over him and looked at Yu Qianqian.
Although she had already guessed it in her mind before, after Song Buyu's test, Yu Qianqian immediately confirmed the current situation.
When they are playing word chain, the first word must be in the second tone, and the second word must be in the first tone.
“Epiphyllum.”
The big guy next to Yu Qianqian said with a tactful look:
"chrysanthemum."
It's Shen Li's turn.
Song Buyu looked at him nervously. This guy has been dozing off since a while ago. He wouldn't really die here, would he?
Does he know the rules of the game?
Has he thought about what words he's going to say?
He wanted to speak up and help him, but the rules didn't allow it.
He really couldn't help.
And now is not the time to worry about Shen Li.
If this chain of words continues, the number of words they can think of will decrease.
If you can't tell the truth when the time comes, you will be crushed sooner or later and cannot escape the fate of being burned as firewood.
When it was Chen Li's turn, the tree hole suddenly became quiet.
Chen Li was half asleep and half awake when he sensed a hint of malice directed at him, and he instantly became much more sober.
He looked up dazedly, staring at the boy beside the campfire. As usual, he showed no regard for the boy, even ignoring the rules of the game. Suddenly, he said:
"This game is boring. I don't want to play it."
The others gasped.
"?"
How dare he talk like that!
So he didn't see the scene where someone was burned as firewood just now?
By the way, he has been dozing off. Ignorance is bliss.
The young man didn't expect Shen Li to say that.
There was murderous intent in his eyes, and with just one glance, some tiny vines and branches on the ground spread towards Shen Li.
These vines and branches were hiding in the darkness just now, draining the man's blood, turning him into a mummy and turning him into firewood.
Shen Li sat there with a fearless look on his face.
There is a seal in his body, so it is difficult for evil spirits to get close to him and suck his blood.
Although he was slow, he was not stupid and had already sensed the things around him that were ready to make moves.
Shen Li glanced at the bonfire and murmured, "The fire is getting smaller."
He reached out in the darkness and pulled off a piece of vines and dead branches.
He held the vine in his hand, twisting it restlessly like a snake.
Shen Li looked at the vines wrapped around his little finger, and didn't seem surprised why these vines were like this.
In Shen Li's worldview, it is very common for vines to move and suck blood.
Vines are afraid of fire, so he very skillfully brought the vines wrapped around his fingers close to the campfire, then untied them one by one, tore them into several pieces, and threw them into the campfire to add firewood.
After finishing the job, he clapped his hands, dusted off the dirt, and asked the boy calmly, "How many years have you been buried under the locust tree?"
The boy looked like he was in control of the overall situation and had the power of life and death.
When Chen Li suddenly asked this, a completely different look of confusion appeared on his face.
"Ten years or twenty years? I have forgotten."
He was really thinking seriously, but he had spent too many years in darkness, and the vague concept of "time" had been completely shattered.
I have long lost the ability to tell how long a day is or how long a year is.
It can only be summed up in one sentence:
"Anyway, it's been a long, long time."
The first time Chen Li saw him, he was sure that he was the ghost buried under the locust tree.
Over the years, it has become one with the locust tree.
The locust tree turned his body into nutrients, and the yin energy at the bottom of the tree nourished the yin spirit.
The evil spirit could not leave the root system of the locust tree because it was too cold underground, so he watched over the bonfire in the tree hole while helping the locust tree find more nutrients.
Both sides benefit from each other.
"Do you want to leave here? I can help you dig out the bones and get you out of the control of the locust tree."
The boy thought about it and decided to refuse.
"No, I like it here very much. The locust tree will bloom once it absorbs enough nutrients."
Shen Li: "But it's not good to hurt people."
The boy was silent for a moment, "But I like Sophora japonica flowers."
Chen Li ignored the weight on his shoulders, stood up, and looked down at him:
"I've given you the opportunity to choose."
The boy's face melted like candle wax under the scorching heat of the campfire, one of his eyes fell out, and his voice became hoarse.
"I also gave you a chance to escape."
Yu Qianqian on the other side winked at Song Buyu frantically, asking him what was going on? What were they talking about? Was this an encrypted conversation?
Why is he the only one who can stand up?
Song Buyu shrugged his shoulders and said, "If you ask me, who should I ask?"
The boy stood up as well, although his leg closest to the fire began to melt as well.
He picked up the eyeball that had fallen on the ground and put it back into his eye socket.
In his sight, those people who were kneeling on the ground for a long time had ghosts standing on their shoulders who had died under the locust tree like him.
Who said the soul has no weight?
As long as there is enough resentment, it can also blow out the lamps on the shoulders of living people and make them unable to get up.
But Chen Li seems to be very special.
The two evil spirits standing on his shoulders couldn't hold him down at all.
In the previous conversation, Shen Li had already seen through his true identity, so this person should be a tough opponent.
The boy moved his fingers to take the initiative.
In an instant, the vines entwined under everyone's bodies began to move.
First it bound his hands and feet, then spread to his body, and finally wrapped around his face, wrapping him like a green cocoon.
The boy stood in front of the cocoon, admiring his masterpiece, and slowly closed his five open fingers.
The vines on the cocoon became tighter and tighter.
As his fingers continued to exert force, the vines squeezed inwards and instantly shrank into a small ball.
The taut vines were squeezed to the point of breaking and falling to the ground.
There was a pool of liquid on the ground.
The boy walked forward and suddenly realized something was wrong.
“Green.”
Why isn't it blood?
The pool of green liquid on the ground was clearly the juice from the vines.
There were no stumps among the vines.
He is not here.
Then where is he.
"Here."
A voice was very close to him, almost whispering in his ear.
The boy turned back suddenly...
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