槐树的影子就像一个活物,随着时间的流逝,慢慢地爬在青石路上.那些挂着的纸人还在风中摇曳,静静地注视着村口发生的一切.村民们四散散去,形成一个松散却无形的包围圈,眼神沉重,仿佛在审视祭坛上的祭品.
沈长安蹲在第十三块暗青石板前,指尖紧紧握着半冷的蝴蝶簪子.簪子的断端并不平,仿佛被一股巨大的力量折断了.属于顾雪的物品出现在这个诡异村子最不祥的位置,强行将无数散落的疑惑扭成一条冰冷的绳索,纠缠在他的心中.
时间在这一刻似乎变得粘稠而缓慢.村民们没有催促,也没有采取任何进一步的行动,只是保持着令人窒息的沉默和观察.这种沉默本身就是一种无声的胁迫.
正当沈长安试图在这冰冷的气氛中寻找突破口,思考下一步行动时,一个瘦弱的身影突然从旁边一座低矮的土坯房的阴影中跳了出来,速度如灰闪电般.
他甚至还没来得及完全站起来,一只冰冷瘦弱的手突然抓住了他的左手腕.
沈长安瞬间震惊和警觉.他的右手下意识地伸向了口袋里的折叠刀——那是他进村前的最后准备.但抓住他的力量并不大,更像是一种急切的,毫无疑问的拉扯.
他转过头,对上了一双死气沉沉的大眼睛.
那是一个女孩,看起来只有十五六岁.她穿着和村民一样的灰蓝色布衣服,被洗成了白色.袖口和裤腿更短,露出她纤细的手腕和脚踝.她的头发干枯发黄,随意地扎在脑后,脸上沾了一点灰尘,嘴唇干裂,看起来有点营养不良.
最引人注目的是,她的眼睛空洞,面无表情,就像一个灵魂被夺走的木偶.
是她吗?沈长安想起了那个资料上提到村里有个哑女,她的名字好像是...顾小曼?
还没来得及问,顾小曼已经抬起了另一只手,伸出了食指.她的指甲又长又尖,呈不健康的蓝白色.她毫不犹豫地用自己锋利的指甲划伤了他刚刚被婚礼糖果纸烧焦的左手掌心!
"嘶!"
沈长安一阵剧痛,差点把她的手甩开.但顾小曼对他手腕的抓握突然加大,像一个铁夹,让他无法挣脱.
她的动作极快,带着近乎疯狂的执着,迅速在他的手掌上刻下了什么东西.指甲划伤皮肤,与之前的红色印记相交,带来灼痛.
然而,真正让沈长安头皮发麻,鲜血几乎流回去的是,从他手掌伤口渗出的鲜血并不是鲜红的,而是一种...粘稠的,像墨水一样的黑色液体!
黑血?!
他的伤口怎么流出黑血?!是因为刚才那奇怪的婚礼糖果包装纸吗?还是这个哑巴女孩出了什么问题?!
恐惧如潮水般涌动,但他强迫自己冷静下来,盯着顾小曼在自己手心上刻下的印记.
这是两次简单的笔触.
第一个是三个水平笔画 - "三".
第二个比较复杂,左笔一右,中间有个"口",下面是一个"石头"——"砖头".
三?砖?
这两个字像两道闪电一样击中了他的心.顾雪在序言中的信中提到了"第三排抽屉",而他刚刚在"第十三块青石砖"的缝隙中发现了顾雪的簪子!
"三"和"砖"...会不会是第三块砖?还是与第三排抽屉有关?
就在他思绪飞速运转的时候,顾小曼已经完成了雕刻,放开了他的手.她依旧面无表情,但沈长安注意到,在她雕刻完的那一刻,她脖子上淡淡的,环形的暗红色印记似乎微微亮起来,就像一块炽热的铁在皮肤下微弱地发光.
那个形状...明明是深深的勒死记!看起来有人用绳子之类的东西勒住了她的脖子,几乎把它嵌入了肉里.
她经历了什么?这个勒死标记是新的还是旧的?
更奇怪的事情发生了.顾小曼微微张开干裂的嘴唇,一声非常微妙却又令人毛骨悚然的"嘶嘶"声从她的喉咙里传出.那声音听起来不像是人类能发出的声音,而更像是...蛇吐舌的声音!
The hissing sound went straight into Shen Changan's eardrum, with an indescribable, cold, inhuman texture.
However, almost at the same time, a clear thought with a certain ethereal echo appeared directly in his mind, as if someone whispered in his ear:
"Follow me."
It was not a voice he heard, but... a thought that was "instilled" directly!
Shen Changan looked at Gu Xiaoman suddenly. She still looked empty and numb, and the hissing sound in her throat stopped, as if everything just now was just his illusion.
But the thought of "follow me" was clear and unquestionable.
At the same time, the originally silent villagers around seemed to have noticed the movement here. Their eyes became sharper, and several people even subconsciously moved forward half a step, and the farm tools in their hands (although they looked ordinary, they were undoubtedly weapons in this environment) were also held tighter.
Can't stay here any longer!
Shen Changan made a judgment instantly. This mute girl Gu Xiaoman is definitely not normal, but the information she conveyed, whether true or false, may be the only clue and variable at the moment.
Without any hesitation, he turned around and grabbed Gu Xiaoman's thin wrist at the moment of the thought. He lowered his voice and said quickly in a volume that only the two of them could hear: "Let's go!"
Gu Xiaoman seemed to have anticipated his reaction. Almost at the same time as he moved, she turned and ran towards a more remote and weedy path on the edge of the village. Her movements were extremely agile, and she didn't look like a thin girl who looked malnourished at all.
Shen Changan followed closely behind. He could feel the restless atmosphere and undisguised malicious eyes of the villagers behind him, but he didn't dare to look back and could only try his best to keep up with Gu Xiaoman's pace.
The two ran one after the other on a narrow path covered with gravel and weeds. The surrounding houses were becoming more and more sparse and dilapidated, and the air was filled with a damp and decayed smell.
Gu Xiaoman was obviously very familiar with the terrain here. After many twists and turns, he soon brought them to a stone mill that seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. The wooden door of the mill room had long been rotten and half-closed, revealing the dark space inside.
She pushed the door open without hesitation and dodged inside. Shen Changan followed immediately and quickly closed the tattered wooden door again, although this did not provide much sense of security.
The interior of the mill room was not large, the light was dim, and the air was filled with a strong smell of mold and dust. The huge stone mill plate lay quietly in the center, covered with cobwebs and thick dust. Some rotten sacks and broken farm tools were piled in the corner.
"Hu... Hu..." Shen Changan leaned against the cold stone wall and panted violently. The previous frantic running and high tension consumed a lot of his physical strength. He listened vigilantly to the movement outside, and there was no sound of pursuers for the time being.
He looked at Gu Xiaoman, who was also panting slightly. In the dim light of the mill room, her empty eyes seemed to appear even deeper. The marks on the neck were not so obvious in the dark.
"You..." Shen Changan was about to ask, but Gu Xiaoman made a gesture to keep quiet.
She listened for a moment, then walked to the innermost corner of the mill, squatted down, and fumbled for something under a pile of rotten sacks.
After a moment, she took out half a piece of black and hard thing and handed it to Shen Changan.
Shen Changan looked closely and it seemed to be... half a steamed bread? It was completely dried, and some green-gray mold could even be seen on the surface.
"This is..." He looked at Gu Xiaomian in confusion. Now is the time to escape, why did she give him this?
Gu Xiaoman didn't say anything, just stared at him with her empty eyes, then pointed at the half steamed bread, then pointed at her mouth, and finally made an "eating" gesture.
Shen Changan frowned. This thing was obviously spoiled and couldn't be eaten at all. But Gu Xiaomian's eyes were extremely persistent, even with a hint of... anxiety?
He hesitated for a moment, then took the half piece of cold, hard steamed bread. It felt heavy and rough. He observed carefully in the dim light coming through the crack in the door.
Suddenly, his fingertips touched a slightly raised area with a different texture in the center of the steamed bread. He had an idea, and used his fingernails to carefully dig at that area.
Dry steamed bread crumbs fell down. Soon, he dug out a small, crumpled paper roll from the center of the steamed bread.
The paper roll was soaked in some kind of sticky, dark red liquid, was half dry, and exuded a faint smell of rust - that was the smell of blood!
Shen Changan's heartbeat accelerated again. He carefully unfolded the bloodstained, wrinkled paper.
The note was small, with the same black, ink-like liquid (was it the same black blood that flowed from the wound on his palm?) written on it in a line of crooked, almost illegible small characters:
"The blood of the seventh Xilang can make the brick seams bloom."
The seventh Xilang?
This title immediately reminded Shen Changan of the tablet information of "the eighth Xilang's bride" in the prologue (although that was the hook of the second volume, the concept of "Xilang" here needs to be laid out in advance). In this village, there seems to be a terrifying sequence of "Xilang" and "bride" that has been passed down from generation to generation?
The blood of "Xilang"... can make the brick seams bloom?
Which brick seam? Is it the thirteenth blue brick at the entrance of the village, where Gu Xue's hairpin is stuck? What does "blooming" mean? Is it some kind of ritual? Or a way to open a hidden entrance?
This line of handwriting was written in blood. Whose blood? Is it Gu Xiaoman's black blood? Or... the blood of the seventh Xilang himself?
Countless questions filled Shen Changan's brain like wildly growing vines.
He looked up at Gu Xiaoman, who was still standing there silently. Her empty eyes seemed to penetrate him and look at an unknown direction outside the mill. The marks on her neck seemed to be clearer in the darkness.
Shen Changan took a deep breath and forced himself to analyze calmly.
The clues were being connected bit by bit:
1. Gu Xue's warning: "Don't believe in rituals", "There is a mirror in the third row of drawers".
2. Weird candy wrapper: matching the pattern of the crack of the thirteenth brick, the number "13", bleeding, burning the palm.
3. The locust tree and paper figures at the entrance of the village: thirteen figures, human skin faces, oil-painted tears, "welcome outsiders".
4. The bell of the ancestral hall: thirteen rings.
5. Villagers and wedding candy: numbness, surveillance, strange sounds in the candy (bone friction sound?).
6. The thirteenth blue brick: dark in color, with Gu Xue's hairpin in the gap.
7. Mute girl Gu Xiaoman: words engraved on the palm ("three", "brick"), black blood, neck marks, snake hissing, mind transmission ("follow me").
8. Bloody note (hidden in steamed bread): The blood of the seventh Xilang can make the brick seam bloom.
"Three", "brick"... If it doesn't refer to the third brick, then "three" will refer to the "third row of drawers" mentioned in Gu Xue's letter? And "brick" still refers to the key thirteenth blue brick at the entrance of the village?
Mirror... blood... blooming... Xilang...
What kind of horrible truth is hidden behind these fragmented information? Who is the seventh Xilang? Where is he? How to get his blood?
And this mysterious mute girl Gu Xiaoman, is she an enemy or a friend? Why does she help herself? The black blood she carved, the marks on her neck, and the way she conveyed information all showed that she was by no means an ordinary victim. She seemed to know a lot of secrets, but what was her motive?
Shen Changan felt like he was trapped in a huge and carefully arranged maze, and every step could trigger a deadly trap. He had to find the mirror as soon as possible, figure out the role of the seventh Xilang's blood, and solve the secret of "blooming brick seams" in order to find the truth of Gu Xue's disappearance, and even... leave this cursed village alive.
He glanced outside, and the sky seemed to be darker. Those silent villagers could find this place at any time.
Time was running out.
He carefully put away the bloody note and half a hairpin, then looked at Gu Xiaoman and signaled with his eyes: What should I do next? Where to find the mirror, or... the seventh Xilang?
Gu Xiaoman seemed to understand what he meant. She did not respond immediately, but listened to the noise outside again, then slowly raised her hand and pointed to the corner deeper in the mill room, which was covered by heavy shadows and full of debris.
Her fingers trembled slightly in the darkness.