Chapter 112: Impermanence One is probably entering the formation
Langang Ginkgo Building, 14th Floor.
Song Yuqu leaned back in his swivel chair, holding an old photo in his hand.
"The Dharma Assembly in Hongfu Village is about to begin, right? If you don't go—" Fang Qing suddenly appeared. He was halfway through his words when he saw Song Yuqu's movements and subconsciously stopped himself. "Sorry, I'll come over later."
"It's okay, I was just daydreaming." Song Yuqu put away the photo and leaned over the table, his chin resting on his crossed hands. His voice was lazy: "Is everything arranged over there?"
"Yes, it's settled." Seeing that she looked okay, Fang Qing asked tentatively, "What about the liquidation team..."
Wen Caishen is dead, and now only Xiao Hei and Wu Caishen are left in the liquidation team office.
Song Yuqu pursed his lips and said, "No, someone will help."
Fang Qing was surprised: "What are you talking about?"
"I've been idle for so long," Song Yuqu's eyes curved, but the smile was not in his eyes, as if he was talking to someone in the air: "That person should also move around."
…
In the room on the second floor of the Zhao Family Mansion, a girl with light brown hair lazily lay on the sofa. Next to the mahogany low cabinet stood a phonograph in the style of the last century. The needle moved, and a nightingale song was played in the old-fashioned accent of the 1930s and 1940s from the gilded speaker.
"You seem to be very happy in the body of the eldest daughter of the Zhao family."
A voice suddenly came from the dark corner behind the heavy curtains.
The girl wasn't surprised at all. She simply turned sideways, closed her eyes, and replied calmly, "Who wouldn't like a beautiful, young body?"
The dark figure was hiding in the corner. If you didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to notice that there was a person standing there.
"Time is running out. You're not going to go back on your promise to me, are you?"
Hearing the other party's calm questioning, the girl laughed out loud: "Can't wait?"
The man said calmly, "I just don't want to get involved in these things anymore."
The girl twirled her hair with her fingers and said meaningfully, "We've already done it. It's not worth quitting halfway. Or, do you still not believe in me?"
“…I don’t dare.”
"Wait, after the Lan Port Dharma Assembly, I will fulfill my promise."
“…”
"Well, I hope so."
The tassels of the window curtains swayed gently, the hazy nightingale song was still floating in the house, but the figure in the corner had disappeared.
-
By the time the ceremony began, the area in front of the Willow Fairy Temple was packed. A three-meter-tall paper figurine of Lady Willow stood upright, its gold-foiled eyes gleaming brightly.
Eight burly men in red robes carried the divine sedan chair. The sedan was unfinished, carved directly from twisted tree roots. Its curtains were tied with hundreds of willow branches. Young men in green robes, wearing willow crowns, walked on either side. They held bronze bells, shaking them with every few steps. Following behind, the women masters followed the tunes of the instruments, humming a simple, ancient melody to summon the immortals.
Meng Caiyun sat in a sedan chair with a huge and heavy mask on her head and a jade plate in her hand, on which were willow leaves that had been plucked and processed. As the team moved forward, she scattered them on both sides. People watching the fun rushed to grab them, and some old people even ordered their children to jump over the fence to pick them up. "Throwing willow coins to dispel nightmares" is the custom of the older generation in Hongfu Village.
This year's Dharma Assembly was particularly lively. There were many cameramen carrying cameras in the crowd, as well as many tourists who came from other places specifically to watch the ceremony, most of whom were young people.
Nowadays, with the rapid development, these old customs are bound to be out of date. It is a good thing that we have an opportunity to promote them vigorously.
Although Meng Caiyun was carried by someone, the design of the sedan chair was really inhumane. She had to pay attention to her balance at all times, and she had to wear a heavy mask while scattering willow coins. After one trip, she felt even more tired than catching ghosts. No wonder the junior sister who was on duty last time shook her head when talking about this job.
Fortunately, the parade only goes around once and will not last forever. When she returns to the temple, she can take off the outfit.
Around the sedan chair, "road-clearing gods" wearing ferocious ghost masks and holding nine-section steel whips are responsible for clearing the way. Every seven steps, the whips crack, and the strings of bells tied to the ends of the whips vibrate in response, symbolizing "keeping away all evil."
In fact, this is not an old custom of worshiping the Willow Fairy. It’s just that the organizer thought the shape was beautiful and “borrowed” it from the parades and rituals held in various places in recent years.
The team moved slowly, and after three hours, they finally returned to Liuxian Temple.
Next comes the temple prayer lyrics. Lady Liu, played by Meng Caiyun, "invites the immortals to possess her body", walks around the willow tree in front of the courtyard three times, and says a few auspicious words, and that's it.
Meng Caiyun immediately collected all his distracting thoughts, straightened his posture nervously, took a few deep breaths, and solemnly faced the willow tree in front of the courtyard, singing the words to invite the immortals along with the temple priest.
Through the narrow, hollow eye holes of the mask, she could glimpse a crescent-shaped sliver of green.
The ceremony proceeded at a leisurely pace, while the crowds of spectators outside the temple continued to pour in like a tide. The air was filled with a clamor, and even if one carefully discerned the gossip, it was impossible to single out a single line. Meng Caiyun was momentarily lost in thought, his words stuck at a certain point, and he felt a sudden numbness on the tip of his tongue, and an inexplicable taste of rust.
What happened? Did you bite your tongue?
Her consciousness was momentarily detached, and she quickly adjusted the mistake in the lyrics, trying to continue to keep up with the rhythm of the temple priest. However, it seemed that there was an invisible barrier between her and her surroundings. No one discovered the source of this abnormality. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do and she became the "abnormal" wrapped in "normality".
Something was out of control.
My fingertips began to go numb, and my fingers spasmed slightly uncontrollably, as if invisible threads were pulling them back and forth. The branches of the willow tree in front of me also began to spread and twist, as if some exaggerated special effects were applied, but no one cared about all this.
The smell of blood in the mouth gradually became pungent, so strong that it was unbearable.
Cold sweat ran down Meng Caiyun's forehead. She clenched her teeth and tried to stay calm.
Touch, smell, vision... something was wrong. Could it be that something was wrong with her body?!
Her heavy breathing echoed clearly through the hollow cavity of the enormous mask. She looked at her hands through the crescent-shaped eye holes. Suddenly, her eyes froze and she turned her palms over. On her forearms, two black tattoos were shortening, becoming thinner, and fading at a speed visible to the naked eye...
It’s not an illusion, the line is really going to disappear!
She frantically felt around her neck. Although she couldn't see the spot at the moment, she felt a strange touch on her palm. She was sure that the same change had occurred on the middle line as well.
Why? !
Although these three black rune lines had long lost their ability to seal the soul, she had become accustomed to the existence of the tattoo over time and regarded it as a talisman. Now that the runes had disappeared, was it a warning from God?
In the crowd, a "path-clearing general" suddenly reached out and lifted the ghost mask on his head. Under the shadow, it was Meng Zhao's face.
He waved to the people around him, and they took off their masks one after another. They were the members of the 13th Detachment of Hecheng, and Bai Heng who had temporarily joined in.
"Captain, are you right? Are there still evil spirits in Liuxian Temple that haven't been eradicated?" The team members looked around nervously: "Should we clear the area?"
Meng Zhao calmly gestured, "First, find a way to keep people outside from coming in. Be careful. There are a lot of people live streaming, so try not to get filmed."
"yes!"
The figures of several operators disappeared in an instant. The crowd was so crowded that the people next to them were completely unaware of it.
Bai Heng grabbed Meng Zhao's wrist and pointed at the ceremony in front of the court, his eyes anxious. "My device is sounding the alarm. What's going on? I tested it with you last time, and there was nothing abnormal. Why is there suddenly an imbalance in the resentment?"
Meng Zhao stared at Meng Caiyun, gritted his teeth and whispered, "Don't panic, let me think about what to do."
Bai Heng stamped his foot and looked down at the red number jumping on the phone screen. He was suddenly stunned: "No, the source of the abnormality is... coming from Sister Meng!"
Meng Zhao's pupils suddenly shrank, and his mind raced in an instant. He pushed aside the crowd blocking his way and was about to rush forward. At the same time, the mask on Meng Caiyun made a sudden "click" sound.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. What's that sound?"
"Oops, the mask is cracked!"
“…”
The crowd of onlookers were talking to each other, and amid the noise, the mask that symbolized Madam Liu suddenly broke into pieces, revealing Meng Caiyun's face underneath the mask.
She stood there blankly, her expression numb and her eyes dull. Her whole body was entangled in an invisible resentment, but she did not fall into chaos.
It was as if... that resentment was assimilated into her body and used for her benefit.
Bai Heng pointed his cell phone camera at Meng Caiyun in disbelief, then moved it away several times. The cursor on the screen framed the other person, flashing a brown-red alarm without fail.
"how so……"
She was suddenly puzzled, muttering to herself as she raised her eyes. Suddenly she found that Meng Caiyun had slightly tilted his head and was staring at her.
Bai Heng felt a chill on the back of his neck and subconsciously put away his phone. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the other party did not take any further action. Then he was stunned again, thinking in his heart with complicated thoughts: I am actually afraid of her?
"Captain! I have already controlled the situation outside. I can't clear the people inside out for the time being. I can only let them get some sleep first." The team members worked together to close the temple door. At this moment, they had already taken off their camouflage, revealing the blue and black uniforms inside.
Meng Zhao nodded: "Okay, I'll go first..."
Before he finished speaking, Meng Caiyun's figure flashed in front of the courtyard, and he quickly went towards the alley behind the main hall.
Meng Zhao was shocked when he saw this, and jumped out from beside the sleeping people lying on the ground and followed.
Liuxian Temple is very small, and the back alley is a dead end, which is only big enough to accommodate a water tank. Now that there is a tap water pipe, no one uses the water tank anymore. The aunt who is in charge of it filled it with soil and planted some flowers.
Meng Zhao ran a few steps before realizing something was wrong. Why had he turned twice in a row? Was this alley really that long?!
He suddenly stopped, and the team members behind him came over one after another. They also noticed the problem and looked around.
"Captain, no signal!" The fat man checked his watch, then turned and raised his chin towards the trainee operator next to him. "Weiwei, can you reach Consultant Bai with your headset?"
"Don't try, I'm right here..." A faint female voice came from behind. Bai Heng supported himself on his knees and gasped, "As we walked forward, the road behind us began to disappear. I kept shouting at you to stop, but no one heard me. If I had known, I, a clerk, would not have come out on this field trip with you."
Meng Zhao frowned: "I'm afraid he has entered the formation."
"Huh?" Bai Heng held Weiwei's shoulders, took a deep breath, and said, "There was no movement at all in the past two days. How could such a large formation suddenly appear overnight?"
The team member next to him hesitated for a moment and speculated, "If the previous equipment detection was correct, there's another possibility. This formation was sealed, and then deliberately unsealed when the ceremony was most crowded... Is it someone trying to 'get revenge on society'?"
There are also many scum and lunatics in Xuanmen, but Zhu Meng punishes them very severely in this regard. Once they are caught, there is almost no possibility of them being released.
At the moment, they were in a long alley with pink walls and black tiles, which was quite ancient, but the end was not visible in front or behind, as if there was always a thin mist blocking the view.
Bai Heng thought for a moment, then turned to look at Meng Zhao: "Have your paper figurine find the exit."
Meng Zhao's face turned pale: "I have been trying since a while ago, but——"
Everyone looked upwards and saw several paper figures trapped in an invisible cover, unable to move upwards, and unable to see the entire view of the place.
Meng Zhao sighed and said, "We have no choice but to keep moving forward. Since the 'formation' didn't attack us right away, it means there's still room for negotiation."
The group reorganized their formation, with Meng Zhao at the front, Fatty at the rear, and Bai Heng in the middle protected by Weiwei and several other operators.
The further we went, the more winding the road became. The walls on both sides gradually changed, and in the distance, the undulating silhouettes of buildings appeared, like the scenery of a small town from a hundred years ago, but the surrounding courtyards were dilapidated, deserted, and gloomy with a ghostly aura.
A moon-shaped door appeared in front of me, with tattered couplets hanging on both sides. I could only make out the words "spring breeze" and "good fortune" from the blurred ink on the left and right.
Meng Zhao squatted down, rubbed his hand on the charred mark at the base of the wall, and sniffed it: "It's incense ash."
Bai Heng took a half step back: "Who would burn paper here?"
She didn't give up and opened her phone again to confirm: "Didn't you see anyone else coming here?"
Meng Zhao was silent for a moment before saying, "I came here with my sister, so she should be in there too."
Bai Heng bit her nails nervously. "That's even more wrong! My map shows six living people. We are already six. Then Sister Meng..."
Meng Zhao clicked his tongue and bit his lower lip, his expression looking as if he was enduring something, and he looked a little gloomy.
Suddenly, a paper man swayed and lay on his shoulder. He brushed it away in annoyance, but a moment later, the paper man trembled and came closer again.
Meng Zhao frowned and was about to take action when he suddenly discovered that there was a string of talismans on the paper man's body.
He reached out and peeled it off. After a moment's hesitation, he tentatively broke the spell that had been cast on the paper figure. The next second, he saw the paper figure open its mouth wide. "Hello? Is that Ah Zhao?"
Meng Zhao was stunned for a moment, then asked happily: "Sister? What's wrong with you?"
The paper figurine floated lightly and stood upright in his palm. His thin paper hand curved into an arc to touch his chin, and he mused, "It's a long story. I guess we're not in the same space right now."
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