Chapter 49 The Sleeping Curse (13) It wasn't him who drove Xie Tan away, ...
But after taking two steps, Xi Rui felt something was wrong, and a sense of emptiness filled his heart.
He turned around. In the empty corridor, the mirror lay shattered on the floor.
The mirror wasn't his; it must have been set up by the Black Goat. When Xie Tan arrived, he and the sea monster had been chasing each other, and the sea monster had intentionally led him to the mirror.
This is an attempt to kick him out.
This monster was once a human, called a siren. It was only because the art museum was near the sea that the singing sounded like it came from the sea. It didn't have a mermaid tail, but it "swam" very fast and disappeared in a short while.
But as soon as Xie Tan arrived, Xi Rui had an idea. Monsters all liked to flock to him, like bees and butterflies chasing after flowers.
Moreover, Xie Tan's search for this place was definitely not to admire the painting; the siren had indeed given him information separately.
There was an ambush in the mirror, which took him some effort to resolve. In the end, he marked the mirror, and it quietly changed owners, turning the mirror around and allowing him to use it.
He was doing it for the good of the members. It's so dangerous here, and dreams that shouldn't exist in the human world are everywhere.
Tears and laughter are precious; if it's all laughter, what kind of fraudulent organization's welcome party is this?
Doesn't it look creepy?
So once Xi Rui obtained the intelligence, he abandoned his accomplices and safely escorted them back.
That's so thoughtful. If the club had more members, he would definitely be the best club president.
But... even though he was well-prepared and everything happened in the blink of an eye, when he succeeded all at once, something still felt off.
It was too easy. He is very capable, but Xie Tan wasn't on guard at all? How could that be?
Xi Rui received intelligence from his colleagues that the Black Goat's group, under the guise of training, had sent out teams of experienced seniors to track down three locations.
Those old geezers are practically extinct, what's the point of their training? They should just buy a few more good coffins; this bunch of lowlifes will be reduced to ashes sooner or later.
As for Xie Tan, he might be working in cahoots with the "seniors" sent by the Black Goat, one openly and one covertly.
Are they really Black Goat people?
He strolled down the corridor, his mind racing, his hands never idle. A flash of black lightning burned away the white area with two eyes in the Picasso-style painting.
He listened to the screams of the fleeing monster in the painting, and thought, "Hey, the monster's running speed has slowed down."
Singing is its power; if its voice is ruined, its ability will naturally decline.
The singer can no longer sing, poor thing, what's the point of lingering? Let's send him on his way.
They made no mention of who made it unable to sing anymore.
He lost his patience, turned his head without looking back, flicked his finger backward, and the lightning pierced through the glacier in the painting behind him. The white ice surface shattered into pieces in an instant, and cracks spread all over the ice field. Fire broke out in the water, burning from inside the painting to outside, blocking all exits.
The monster hidden under the ice could not come out. It could only let out a final scream in the mist created by the collision of water and fire. It was like singing at the end of its rope. The true feelings overwhelmed all the skills. It sang a high note with a crying voice. It even cracked the note. The crack was just right. It was extremely tragic.
The painting was burned and curled at the edges, and the mist dissipated outside the painting and drifted into the art gallery, just as Xie Tan said, giving it a bit of the feel of a "relic".
The souls of the dead are like the ashes that have fallen into this building, bearing the marks of time, just like her singing voice back then, which once filled the entire bay, prompting people to crane their necks in search of her beautiful voice, and where the sea rippled, there was her graceful figure.
In the town, and in the homes of people who lived nearby before the scenic area was built, you can find one or two old newspapers, revealing photos of young women wearing new hats given by foreign ships.
This is actually the origin of the Art Harbor.
But that's a long time ago, like a fleeting moment. How can people today remember the first wine shop in a deep alley a hundred years ago, whose aroma could travel for miles?
With the opening of the river, there are more wines like this, and even better ones. But having only the title of "first" isn't enough time to hone it.
By becoming a vengeful ghost, he could utter a few decadent verses that no human dared to utter, thus prolonging his life a little longer.
She was famous in the bay, but committed suicide at the height of her fame. What was she after?
According to Xi Rui's investigation, if it was because of the hardships in his early years, with his relatives falling ill and dying, he should have hanged himself back then. How could he have gritted his teeth, held on to his last breath, and persevered until he became successful, so that his family could live in peace, only to suddenly "not be able to bear it" again?
If we say she was troubled by love, she did have several relationships, but to say she was "troubled" is a bit too vulgar for her. She was passionate about art and was not content to sing only in the bay; she wanted to be a renowned and unparalleled singer.
There's something fishy about this death.
But it doesn't matter. He knows that by not driving Xie Tan out and not killing the girl, he can obtain more information, but he won't keep her alive.
His friend had just woken up, and now he was being dragged back into this dream that was no different from being dead. What could he do?
Xi Rui walked out of the art museum and was not able to return to the real world immediately, but he was not surprised. He had guessed that the siren was just a guide in the dream world, and its power was not enough to support the dream that covered the entire town.
It must have borrowed power from the black goat. There is definitely a large shard of mirror in this town, or maybe it's not even a "shard".
After midnight, the air seemed to turn cooler, the darkness of the night lightened, but then stopped at a deep gray, and damp mist enveloped him.
Huh, it's foggy outside too? When did it start?
Xi Rui paused, then looked back at the art museum. The museum was filled with white mist and swirling water vapor, making the paintings impossible to see clearly.
No... there's fog in the town too, just like in the museum, appearing at the same time as when the mirror shattered?
He ran quickly down the path to the seaside. The sea, which was usually eerily calm, was restless, like water about to boil. Waves surged from the bottom up, and the water droplets that were raised floated upwards. Halfway up, they lost their strength and poured into the town.
On the misty water, the outline of a small mountain could be faintly seen, hidden in the shadows among the flowing water.
Xi Rui felt something was wrong, not because of the strange phenomenon, but because... He immediately cast a talisman, but the talisman was burned to ashes by the black fire, while he remained in the same spot.
The young woman knew he had ill intentions, so she naturally wouldn't sing a song to invite him into her home. He used special means to force his way into her dream.
But now he can't get out!
The mirror allows the dreamer to step back into reality, but if it shatters, it will draw in fog, sealing off the dream.
He realized what was happening, and Xie Tan, going with the flow, deliberately walked towards the mirror.
It wasn't that he drove Xie Tan away; it was that he was trapped by Xie Tan!
Water droplets slanted down, splashing onto his face; surprisingly, they weren't as cool as the sea breeze, but rather warm.
It's raining.
Xie Tan wiped the water droplets from his face and looked down. There was no corpse on the ground, only a pool of blood and drag marks.
He closed the window.
He wasn't annoyed; he was just thinking about two things. First, where did the siren's power come from? In the story of the elevator, Zhu Fengliang's inner thoughts were written, saying that the fragments were already struggling to maintain the fairyland of a building, while the siren's song could make the whole town dream and create an "inner world." Who supplied the power, and where did they supply it?
Secondly, the freckled girl reminded us that when it rains, the singing is blocked by the rain and cannot reach the town, so people cannot reach the dream. Then, can the person in the dream come out?
The desperate forget their pain, are captivated by the fulfillment of their desires, and willingly sink into their dreams.
Xi Rui is not like that; like him, he is not from that world.
Will he be able to get out?
Who placed that mirror, Xi Rui or Black Goat?
Xie Tan looked out at the sea. He couldn't tell whether the sea was calm or somewhat restless, but what mattered most was the small hills that were faintly visible in the sea mist.
On a clear day, there's nothing on the sea.
Yesterday, Xue Hong and Lu Jinzhao went out to sea to search for someone, but they haven't returned. He lowered his eyes, pushed open the door to the corridor, and sure enough, the doors and windows next door were open.
Going down to the second floor, the crisscrossing drag marks in the corridor were very familiar to him. Room 201 was locked, but the freckled girl should be sleeping inside. The other two rooms were wide open, and all that could be seen were messes and drag marks, but no bodies.
The stench of corpses mingled with the scent of plants. Xie Tan looked up and saw the human skin monster, which was fully unfolded and spread across the ceiling, slowly being pulled down from a single point, like a raised ghostly hand, holding a handful of fresh corpse flowers, still glistening with dew.
It wasn't anyone's blood that was smeared on both sides of the skin that it was propping up, spreading out like a shy blush.
This time, Xie Tan took the flower, waved his little hand happily, and then wisely withdrew it, trying to crawl away.
"Wait for me downstairs for a bit," Xie Tan said, then walked to the other side of the corridor.
The monster froze for a moment, then, like lifting a carpet, it thrashed around on the ceiling a few times before disappearing downstairs in a flash.
Xie Tan didn't know how they had assigned rooms, but he knew where Chang Mingai stayed when he returned from the dream world. Just as he was about to knock on the door, it was suddenly pushed open.
He stepped back slightly to get a clear look at the room behind Chang Mingai. It looked like a husky had been locked up all day and then returned home. All the things that could be put in the room and could be shaped like "vessels" had been disassembled and were scattered everywhere. Some were empty boxes, while others were human organ specimens.
Half of the wallpaper was torn off, revealing many scattered holes, none of which were large, and inside each hole was a spherical space that had been carved out.
Once the lid was lifted, those noisy sounds that only appeared at midnight could be heard a little during the day, without any obstruction, and even clearer.
The sounds are stored in these empty devices, all of them from previous hotel guests, like a phonograph hidden in the dark, recording the life and death of each ignorant visitor.
In one of the holes, an eyeball rolled around inside the ball, spinning to the front and perfectly sealing the hole, leaving only the pupil exposed as it stared at the two of them.
One of the sounds was lost.
Xie Tan withdrew his gaze and landed on the anxious Chang Mingai.
Chang Mingai almost bumped into someone when she went out. She was startled, but when she saw it was him, who looked like she was looking for him, she grabbed him and pulled him away, saying, "You're finally back. Where...where are you going?"
He's finally back? He was the first person to return to the hotel, which means he's finally come back from his "dream".
Xie Tan: "Let's go to the coffin shop."
Chang Mingai: "You know! I also guessed that Sister Xia was there! Hurry up, hurry up, that blue-haired girl was probably taken there. That's what Sister Xia's message before she went missing meant."
The door across the hall opened, and Sun Enze shrank back nervously in the doorway. In this godforsaken place, it was impossible to sleep well unless one was lulled into a half-dead state by the singing. His eyes were even darker, and he looked like he was floating on air.
Chang Mingai seemed to have almost forgotten about him. She slapped her forehead and instructed him, "You stay here, Enze. There doesn't seem to be a safe place outside. We've seen the strange things happening here, and we can use some of our experience. Besides, we haven't heard from them since they went out to sea. If we go out to look for Sister Xia again, we might not be able to keep an eye on her. If we hear anything, it'll be troublesome..."
Xiao Sun was so timid and incompetent that he didn't seem like someone who could be entrusted with important tasks. Chang Mingai said, "You just do what you think is best. You still have the talisman Xi Rui gave you, right? Just make sure nothing happens to you!"
Xie Tan understood. Xia Wujin should have noticed something amiss with the freckled girl's phone, or combined it with other clues, or gone upstairs to find someone to extract information, and deduced that the blue-haired girl might be in the coffin shop.
The others couldn't be contacted, but Xia Wujin came back with Sun Enze, but didn't take Sun Enze with her. She went alone. Is the young lady that brave?
Xie Tan and Chang Mingai exchanged a glance, and he felt that she had given them a tacit understanding. He then glanced at Sun Enze and immediately understood.
He said that Chang Mingai still had time to give all these instructions, and that the young lady was not going alone.
There are two Sun Enzes.
They weren't there to rescue people; they were there to cooperate and wipe out the entire coffin shop.
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