Chapter 32 Watching the Movie 2
"Those two haven't come back yet?" someone suddenly asked during lunch.
The man who slept in the next bed to the murdered scholar had not returned since he ran out that morning. One of his friends had also gone out to look for him, but he had not returned either.
These words naturally caused no ripple in Zhao Bowen's ears, but another handsome scholar with a dignified appearance put down his rations and replied, "No, I'll go look for it after I finish eating."
"—Is this the person who buried those two skeletons?" Sikong Zhaixing suddenly asked, as if she had just remembered something.
Because all the characters have the same black hair and long robes, even if there are some slight differences in the modeling, it is difficult to distinguish the different characters at first glance due to their similar clothing and hairstyles.
While others hadn't noticed this yet, Sikong Zhaixing, being extremely sensitive to facial features, spotted the similarity at a glance.
Lu Yusheng nodded, secretly marveling at his observation skills, but then, thinking of his ability to disguise himself, he understood.
As we all know, every story needs a protagonist.
Although the character surnamed Zhao had the most screen time, his personality and behavior were disliked by several people. Now that such a handsome and upright character has appeared, it has immediately aroused a lot of speculation.
"Isn't this scholar with the blue hair ornament the main character?" Zhu Ting said.
"We should arrange for him to find the real culprit." Lu Xiaofeng also looked confident.
Duan Yu concluded, "Let's see what he does next."
The scene continues.
—It wasn't until nightfall that the scholar who had gone out to search for the person returned alone, dragging his snow-soaked body.
Wearing such clothes, even though he was exhausted, he didn't rush to sleep, but instead went to stir the fire.
The cave was very smokey, so they ate their meals over a fire lit in the open space outside the cave.
Fortunately, the fire should not have been out for long, and soon the scattered flames gradually gathered together.
Seeing this, Qi Zhichuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the frustration of not finding anyone in the afternoon seemed to dissipate a bit.
He silently took off his snow-covered coat, then sat quietly by the fire for a while. When he felt some warmth in his body, he got up, extinguished the fire, and followed his memory toward the cave he had chosen during the day.
But halfway there, he suddenly felt something was wrong. The huge valley was completely silent at night. It was already surrounded by mountains and had no wind, and now it was eerily quiet.
Standing before the dark cave entrance, Qi Zhichuan felt a sense of foreboding for some reason.
He gently wiped the cold sweat from his palms with his fingers, calmed himself down, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside.
As soon as he entered, he sensed something was amiss. The cave was clearly shallow during the day, but after walking a few steps, it was still quite empty. If he were really resting here, he should have been able to hear voices after walking only a few steps.
Even when asleep, there should still be breathing or snoring sounds.
Sure enough, when he took two more steps and touched the cave wall, there was still no one there.
He immediately retreated, ran back to the fire, picked up a stick that was not completely extinguished, and managed to rekindle it before returning to the cave by the same route.
With the firelight illuminating the cave, the scene inside became clear, and it was indeed completely empty.
Two of Qi Zhichuan's classmates were in the group. Even if the others abandoned him, those two shouldn't have. Surely they couldn't all have been killed?
Just as he was wondering what was going on, a white object in the corner caught his attention. He quickly walked over and picked it up; it turned out to be a crumpled piece of paper.
He breathed a sigh of relief after reading it quickly; it turned out that everyone had simply changed caves due to an unexpected situation.
So he immediately put away the note and walked toward the location indicated on it.
The onlookers also breathed a sigh of relief. Sikong Zhaixing laughed and said, "I really thought he would see a pile of corpses here."
But his smile vanished the next second, because in the scene, Qi Zhichuan, who had arrived at the new cave, could clearly see the scene inside the cave under the torchlight.
A group of people lay on the ground, and a corpse hung in front of several people, its body bound by ropes and bleeding from its seven orifices.
Qi Zhichuan's breathing almost stopped, but his heart was pounding violently. As his heart raced, the audience watched as he stepped forward and reached out a trembling hand to check the breaths of the others on the ground.
Fortunately, the others seemed to be just asleep and were still alive.
However, seeing this scene, Qi Zhichuan couldn't just fall asleep so easily. He immediately woke everyone up one by one, and for those who were really fast asleep, he could only wake them up with a slap.
Zhao Bowen, who was covering his face, was initially confused, but the burning sensation on his face made him furious almost the instant he regained consciousness. His face turned red and he was about to start cursing.
But when he looked up unintentionally, his eyes met those of the corpse hanging slightly in front of him.
"ah--"
That cry was finally uttered.
Finally, Zhao Bowen hid his trembling hands and, with a fierce but weak voice, ordered people to carry away the unsightly corpse. But then he saw that the annoying Qi Zhichuan was examining the body very carefully.
Before the previous case was solved, another corpse appeared. Even though Zhao Bowen usually disliked Qi Zhichuan, he couldn't help but approach him because of his boldness.
Of the thirteen people who entered the valley, only nine are still standing here.
Two people are missing, and two others have already died tragically. His grudge with Qi Zhichuan is obviously not on the level of life and death. Compared with the unseen danger, it is not worth mentioning.
The people outside the screen watched the man in the painting examine the corpse, and when they heard the other characters discussing the snake-shaped pattern they had seen in the previous cave before going to sleep, they all recalled the smooth scene they had seen inside the cave earlier.
Influenced by Buddhist culture, Duan Yu was more accepting of the concepts of Buddha and demon than others, and immediately made this connection to the subject.
"Could it really be haunted?"
Recalling the Taoist's sealing action at the beginning, Zhu Ting nodded seriously. After watching for a while, he was completely impressed by the master who made the "curtain".
He didn't comment much on the story's direction. With such technical backing, even if the story was utterly terrible, he would still respect and admire it, especially since it was actually so tense, thrilling, and captivating.
Lu Yusheng remained silent, but inwardly he denied it, thinking that the beginning was merely a way to mislead the audience.
Besides...
Not showing "Approaching Science" is already a big restraint. What if you all associate it with me if we show those supernatural videos?
Lu Xiaofeng calmly began his analysis: "This method of causing death, though seemingly bizarre, is not something that ordinary people cannot do."
Among them, Sikong Zhaixing had the most imaginative idea. He laughed and said, "If you ask me, there might be a vicious and ruthless fugitive hiding in the shadows of this valley. He saw these scholars barging in and treated them as toys to torture and kill."
Lu Yusheng couldn't hold back any longer and explained, "The kind of cannibalistic killing that happens indiscriminately is basically only made in foreign films. There must be some grudge or entanglement between people who kill each other."
Inspired by her words, Lu Xiaofeng once again placed his suspicions on the nine surviving people.
As he watched the plot and secretly made his own deductions, he heard Zhu Ting involuntarily praise the magic of the screening, and he couldn't help but echo her sentiment.
"Not at all," Lu Yusheng said modestly in a low voice, "I also found it amazing when I saw you guys flying up from the spot."
"You mean lightness skill? Does no one practice martial arts over there?" Lu Xiaofeng was also somewhat surprised to hear this.
"There are some, but it seems that not many people practice internal energy cultivation. Even if there are, none of them are as graceful and agile as you did before, let alone soaring into the air."
Upon hearing her praise, Lu Xiaofeng was initially proud, but then, remembering something, he humbly replied, "You flatter me, there are still people in this world whose lightness skills surpass mine."
After finishing speaking, seeing the curious look on the other person's face, she intended to keep them in suspense, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Sikong Zhaixing, who had just overheard this, casting a cautious, expectant gaze and quietly perking up her ears.
He immediately replied, "Of course, I'm not talking about you, you little monkey."
Seeing that he was being so disrespectful, Sikong Zhaixing, who had heard the whole thing, was about to get angry, but when she heard the second half of his sentence, she sat down on the stool calmly again.
"In this world, there may be some debate about who is the best in martial arts, but there is no doubt that the best in lightness skill is Chu Liuxiang, the Saint of Thieves."
Lu Yusheng carefully noted down this important person, but when he heard his profession, he glanced sideways and couldn't help but look at the silent Sikong Zhaixing.
Although it wasn't a very respectable job, the thought of another master thief being here, and the fact that he was just a nice person who, aside from teasing Lu Xiaofeng, was very friendly to her, made her stop thinking about it.
Seemingly sensing her slight doubt, Lu Xiaofeng smiled again, but when he spoke again, his tone carried a hint of respect, and he couldn't help but explain, "Although Chu Xiangshuai is a thief, he never kills anyone."
This is truly something to be admired.
"Never killed a single person?" Lu Yusheng was also surprised; the thieves and robbers she knew so far were all so honest and simple.
“As far as I know, there isn’t one.” He answered firmly: “What you should be afraid of is the real evil cult.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yusheng initially breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart tightened again when he heard the word "demonic sect."
I only dare to show you guys light and innocent stuff, but here comes the indiscriminate killing of emotions?
So he couldn't help but ask, "What kind of demonic cult?"
This question was one that even children in the martial arts world knew the answer to, and Sikong Zhaixing immediately answered: "The two largest are the Sun Moon Cult in the East and the Rakshasa Cult in the West."
Lu Yusheng couldn't hold back for a moment; this was slightly different from what Hua Manlou had said earlier.
She voiced her doubts, and Lu Xiaofeng became interested: "Oh? What did he say to you? Harmony in the martial arts world, peace in the Jianghu?"
After he finished speaking, he was about to make a few more sarcastic remarks when he saw Hua Manlou standing to the side, who was looking in his direction with a half-smile after hearing the conversation. He immediately became serious and said, "It's not entirely untrue."
"Although the power of the Demonic Sect should not be underestimated, the Central Plains martial arts world has two giants, Wudang and Shaolin, as well as slightly weaker righteous forces such as the Beggars' Sect, Emei, and the Five Mountains Sword Sect. With the two sides in check, the Demonic Sect also acts very discreetly and rarely travels in the martial arts world unless there is a special mission."
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