Chapter 6 Humanoid Monsters in the Dark
Xie Liang just sat there blankly, as if meditating. Time passed quietly and most of the night had passed.
He looked at the sky above the roof and estimated that it was already one or two o'clock in the morning, and there was still no movement around.
"Is it because the times are wrong that mobile phones cannot be brought into the vortex world?" He said to Xu He in a sleepy voice.
"Well, there were no products like mobile phones in that era." Xu He responded softly.
"No wonder, I found my phone was missing as soon as I came in. I thought I dropped it somewhere, but later I guessed about 70% of it." Xie Liang said while yawning.
Xie Liang was half asleep and half awake when he heard a sharp dragging sound coming from the roof, like the sound of some beast's sharp claws scratching across the tiles.
Something was crawling along the tiles on the roof. A series of clattering sounds were heard, and countless tiles were lifted up and fell to the ground with crisp crashes.
He woke up instantly, and Xu He beside him was nowhere to be seen.
Xie Liang carefully climbed onto the roof along the wooden ladder on the outside, wanting to see what was pulling out the tiles.
He prepared himself mentally so that no matter what he saw next, he would not panic.
After climbing onto the roof, he lowered his body and slowly looked in the direction of the sound.
Under the pale moonlight, there was a ragged human-shaped figure with long nails on its five fingers. It was lying on the eaves with its hands raised above its head, constantly pulling at the tiles to move forward. Its nails scratched on the tiles, making a harsh scratching sound.
Just as Xie Liang was hesitating whether to go up and confront the humanoid object to protect the repaired roof, he noticed that the human-like object changed its direction of movement and climbed towards the roof of the room in the inner hall where the villagers were guarding.
Could it be that something in that room was attracting it? Xie Liang pondered this to himself as he carefully followed behind, trying not to make any noise.
A faint red light shone through the roof, which looked particularly terrifying under the moonlight.
Xie Liang couldn't help but think of the horror movies he had seen before, and felt as if a demon would soon burst out from the roof of that house.
Before long, the "person" climbed onto the rooftop, which was emitting a faint red light. It stretched out its sharp claws and tentatively reached towards the light. Then it moved its entire body towards the glowing tiles.
"Bang!" A loud bang erupted. As the figure approached, four blinding white lights shot out from all sides of the roof. The defenseless humanoids instantly burst into flames, then vanished in a moment.
Xie Liang was shocked: "I haven't even started yet, and you're already setting yourself on fire???"
Xie Liang carefully moved to the place where the humanoid object had just set itself on fire. A faint white light reflected on his face, making him look extremely handsome like a ghost.
At this moment, Xu He suddenly appeared, and Xie Liang made way for him and squatted with him.
Xu He squatted over and said calmly, "I missed one."
Xie Liang repeated doubtfully, "Missed one?"
Xu He said that he had discovered it a long time ago and had dealt with several such human-shaped objects at the entrance of the ancestral hall, but he missed one and let it touch the roof.
Suddenly, Xie Liang caught a glimpse of several faint refracted rays of light. It looked like there was something like a mirror on the side where the humanoid monster had just burned itself.
Xie Liang carefully walked to the roof to check and found four mirrors: "Why are there mirrors here?"
"Did that thing just now burn itself because it hit the mirror?" Xie Liang continued uncertainly, "There must be something attracting it, which is why it keeps coming here."
Xu He did not say anything but just looked at Xie Liang quietly in the moonlight. Xie Liang felt uncomfortable with his gaze and turned his head to avoid his burning gaze.
"Speaking of which, this tile is not an ordinary thing. It can actually bear the weight of a person and will not break even if it falls from such a high place. I wonder what kind of craftsmanship is used to make it." Xie Liang chattered incessantly.
Xie Liang found that Xu He was looking at him in a daze, neither speaking nor moving at all.
The look was the same as the one he had received when he was staying on the ground, and he began to feel uncomfortable.
Until Xie Liang couldn't stand it anymore and stretched out his hand in front of him and shook it: "Brother! What are you looking at? Why do you look absent-minded? Are you possessed?", Xu He's face seemed a little red under the cold moonlight.
Xu He was shaken back to his senses by Xie Liang's hand, and turned his face away as if embarrassed: "It's okay."
Seeing that he was fine, Xie Liang continued to talk to himself, "That villager inside, he was still sleeping peacefully inside despite making such a big commotion on the roof."
After saying that, Xie Liang counted the time since he entered the small world: "Today is already the fourth day, and the roof is a mess again. Perhaps only by figuring out what happened here can we successfully repair the roof, otherwise those things will come back."
Xu He nodded in agreement.
Then, the two climbed down the wooden ladder and walked carefully to the room in the ancestral hall where the villagers were keeping watch.
"The door is bolted from the inside." Xie Liang said in a low voice.
Then, he saw Xu He draw the black sword from his back, as if preparing to break in by force.
"Shh, our mission is to repair the ancestral hall. This sword strike will make such a loud noise that the people inside will be awakened. Let's not wake him up first." Xie Liang said and gestured to Xu He to hand him the sword.
After Xie Liang took the black sword, he inserted the blade into the crack of the door and turned his wrist back and forth.
With a "click" sound, the sound of the horizontal bolt inside being unlocked was heard, and the horizontal bolt connecting the two carved wooden doors was picked up by Xie Liang with his sword and pried open little by little.
The two of them walked into the room with light steps, only to see that it was filled with red lanterns and rows of red candles were lit on all four walls.
There is something like a Buddhist shrine in the middle of the room, with three incense sticks in front of it. However, there is no Buddha statue in the shrine, but a vermilion sandalwood box.
The two of them approached lightly, and the ordinary offerings placed in front of the shrine were covered with incense ash.
Xie Liang reached over the tributes and opened the vermilion sandalwood box. Inside the box was a red velvet cloth, and on top of it lay two exquisite flutes, one large and one small.
"Rustle, rustle", the unique sound of the humanoid object crawling came from the roof again. Xie Liang looked at the snoring villager - good, he was sleeping soundly.
Then, Xie Liang quickly picked up the two flutes on the shrine, put them into his trouser pockets, and walked out with Xu He, all the way along the corridor to the gate of the ancestral hall.
At this moment, several "people" who were originally crawling on the roof changed direction and gathered towards Xie Liang.
"Sure enough, Brother He, they are coming for these two flutes." Xie Liang took out one of the flutes from his pocket and said to Xu He. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw those humanoid objects chasing after him.
"Run!" Xie Liang pulled Xu He and ran into the village, with the humanoid monsters chasing them closely.
They stayed close to the ground, raised their hands above their heads with their palms clasped together, and crawled quickly and serpentinely like snakes.
Xie Liang looked back while running and saw a dozen humanoid monsters not far behind them, getting closer and closer.
He was holding a flute tightly in his hand, and was wondering whether to throw it away. It was not a good idea to keep running like this.
Xu He seemed to see through Xie Liang's thoughts and said, "Don't throw it away. It will be useful if you keep it."
Xie Liang was panting from running: "Is it...useful?"
"Yeah." Xu He responded effortlessly.
"Okay, let's keep it for now." Xie Liang gave up the idea of throwing away the flute and weakly pulled Xu He to run.
The two of them ran around the village, and from time to time a few "people" would catch up with them, so Xu He took out the black sword and dealt with them.
Xie Liang’s physical strength could no longer keep up, and he ran slower and slower, so he simply squatted on the ground and gasped for breath.
Xu He stood in front of Xie Liang, waving the black sword back and forth at those "people". After the heads of those humanoid monsters were cut off by the sword, they fell to the ground and did not move. None of them could do anything but rush to Xie Liang's side.
The sky gradually brightened, and the sun appeared over the distant mountains. Rays of light slowly moved towards the village, dispelling the haze brought by the night.
At this moment, the attack speed of this group of humanoid monsters slowed down, and soon they all moved into the darkness and gradually disappeared from the sight of the two.
Those humanoid monsters killed by Xu He soon turned into blood and merged into the soil underground, leaving only a pool of blood on the ground.
"What's going on with these snake-like people? The villager who is on night watch probably knows something. We have to find a way to ask him." Xie Liang said to Xu He breathlessly.
Xu He nodded, wiped the stains off the sword blade, and took Xie Liang to the courtyard where they lived.
When they arrived, the three people led by Xiao Ha had finished breakfast and were preparing to go to the ancestral hall to flip the tiles.
"Fuck, what the hell happened to you two?" asked the bearded man Li Dong, looking at the filth on Xie Liang and Xu He.
Xie Liang told the three of them what happened last night.
He also said that the three of them would be responsible for rebuilding the ancestral hall today, and he had to clarify things with Xu He so that the renovation of the ancestral hall could proceed smoothly.
"We can't make any more mistakes. Today is already the fourth day, and it will soon be time for the sixth day of prayers." Driver Dai Tian said worriedly.
"Don't get close to places with mirrors. There won't usually be any problem during the day," said Xiao Ha.
"Ah! Yes, there is usually nothing to do during the day. Let's go to the village to inquire about the ancestral hall later." Xie Liang said.
After breakfast, Xie Liang and Xu He began to visit the villagers. After asking questions in most of the village, the villagers either kept silent or said in a panic that they knew nothing.
They knocked on the door of another house, and the person who opened the door was the village woman who brought them food.
"What's the matter?" the village woman asked in a serious tone.
"Ah, it's nothing. It's just that for the remaining two days, can you deliver the lunch directly to the ancestral hall at noon? Otherwise, it will be a waste of time for us to run back and forth, don't you think?" Xie Liang said with a smile.
After listening to this, the village woman nodded, indicating that she understood. She waved her hand to signal Xie Liang and the others to leave quickly, and was about to close the door with both hands.
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