The northern suburbs are a good place, with green water and blooming flowers in the spring. I don’t know which high-ranking families in the city have also enclosed their land here, built villas, pavilions and lofts near the mountains and rivers. Now it’s even more
It has become a good place to play.
But, this was the situation many years ago.
The world is getting worse day by day. After several rounds of natural and man-made disasters, people have no choice but to live a mediocre life. They still have the energy to travel and enjoy. Even the big family from Zhulou has gone through many twists and turns and dispersed.
As a result, the once bright spring scenery turned into a ghost forest in the wilderness, and the big house also decayed with the vegetation.
In the past, there were some homeless beggars who used the broken bricks and tiles to protect themselves from the wind and rain, but these days, all those beggars have disappeared. It is said that the owner of the house who died in vain crawled out of the soil.
Gone to catch food.
The desolation was even more eerie, and the mansion in the northern suburbs was even more deserted.
But today, there are visitors in this deserted suburb.
dusk.
The mats of weeds on the old road wrapped up the four hooves of the horse. The knight on the horse stared silently at the "wreck" in front of him. Most of the house has collapsed, and only the calf-high base of the high walls remains.
Ahead, across the yard filled with weeds, a house collapsed in the dim light, like a dying beast. The door panel was attached to the door frame, swaying slightly in the wind, opening and closing like a beast's kiss.
The knight stirred up the reins, and with a light leap, the horse jumped over the collapsed wall and fell into the courtyard.
The yard was empty, except for weeds, and there was only an old kui tree. The knight dismounted and tied the reins. After lifting his cloak, a bearded face was revealed. It turned out to be the man named Yan. Suddenly, something floated in the air.
On his shoulder, touching down, was a rough and hard wing feather.
He looked up and saw the red eyes of a tree under the dim sky. It turned out that the black leaves on the tree were not leaves, but a large group of red-eyed crows.
This crow doesn't make any noise when it sees people. Instead, it doesn't move. It just stares down with its red eyes. Just one such crow is enough to make people's hair stand on end, and here, the crows occupy the branches.
But the man surnamed Yan did not show the slightest fear. Instead, his solemn expression relaxed a little.
He took a wooden box from the saddle, opened a small movable door on the box, and knocked on the box a few more times.
"Bang, bang, bang."
By chance, such a bird actually came out of the box. It had a head with a pair of red eyes by the small door. After looking around a few times, it fluttered and merged into the crows on the tree.
This bird's name is simple, it's called the red-eyed crow. Although it looks unlucky, it is a strange bird cultivated by Taoism. It has many wonderful functions such as warning, monitoring, and transmitting messages.
Xuanqi from the Zhenfu Division always likes to take one or two of these with him when he goes out on official duties.
As for the Zhenfu Division, it was naturally established by the imperial court. There were twenty-six guards under it, and they were called the "Emperor's Personal Army." They were divided into groups to control all kinds of evil spirits, ghosts, monks, Taoists, and witches all over the world. And because he was dressed in black, he was well known in the world.
If you call me "Xuan Qi", if you don't like it, I will call you "Old Bird".
But now that the imperial court has declined, most of the time it is nothing more than a yamen that mediates the relationship between the world and the court.
However, now, the Dianyamen has solved a major case, caught a "big fish", and stirred up troubles in all directions.
This man surnamed Yan originally belonged to the Longxiang Guards of the Zhenfu Division. According to the previous arrangements from the superiors, he should join the team escorting "Big Fish" with his colleagues in three days.
But a few days ago, the escort team suddenly lost contact with them. It stands to reason that in these years of wars and wars, the loss of information is normal, so Longxiang Guards still carried out the plan step by step.
The man surnamed Yan always felt uneasy, and because of the seriousness of the matter, he simply abandoned his colleagues who were gathering and came to the rescue single-handedly at night. Thanks to the yellow gelding, he was somewhat magical, otherwise he would have been like this day and night.
If he ran down, he would have died long ago.
But now, when I arrived at the end of the field and saw the trees full of red eyes, I guess the other guards must have arrived in time to help.
"Could it be that... I am worrying in vain?"
He straightened his clothes and strode into the door.
"I hope so."
………………
The room was extremely dark.
The thick darkness is like slurry, and it wraps people tightly when they step into the door, without any light.
A thick and cloying strange fragrance filled it, and a creepy malice was hidden in the gloomy darkness.
The man named Yan frowned, walked a few steps further in, then clasped his fists and said loudly:
"Long Xiang Wei Yan Xinglie was ordered to come to our aid."
After waiting for a long time, an old voice came from the depths of the darkness:
"It turns out it was Colonel Yan who was in front of you. It's really rude."
After saying that, the darkness in front of Yan Xinglie retreated to both sides, revealing a bonfire in front of him and a thin old man wrapped in a cloak next to him.
From the old man's tone, he seemed to recognize Yan Xinglie, but Yan Xinglie only thought that the man looked familiar and could not recall any specific information.
The old man smiled and said: "I am Hu Daogong, the deputy commander of Fengtian Guards."
Having said that, it seems to have made some impression.
Yan Dabeard nodded, "I have met you, sir."
Then he took out a document and an iron plate from his arms and said, "Please verify the seal."
When handing over tasks, the seal talisman must be checked. This is the rule in the department. The old man did it himself. He nodded and called:
"Ah Wu."
After a while, the darkness next to him surged like mist, and a man dressed as a secretary of state came out of it, but his face was covered with black gauze. His walking posture was quite weird, his steps were very small, and his knees were not visible as he walked.
bending.
Yan Xinglie turned a blind eye and only handed over the object in his hand.
But when Ah Wu stretched out his hand to pick it up, Yan Xinglie suddenly changed his color. He flipped his wrist and grabbed "Ah Wu"'s arm. Ah Wu roared, and his reaction was not to break away and step back.
He didn't even use his fists or feet. Instead, he stretched out his head as if to bite him.
However, Yan Xinglie grabbed his neck halfway and threw him to the ground. There was a muffled sound and several broken bricks flew up.
Ah Wuyou roared in a low voice and struggled endlessly, but it seemed that his joints were stiff and could not bend like ordinary people. When he struggled, he could only swing like a living fish on the beach, but his movements could shake the bricks underneath him.
The stone shattered, showing that the force was really quite strong.
However, Yan Xinglie's expression remained unchanged, and his hands were as if made of steel, motionless.
Then, with a few heart-wrenching "clicks", Ah Wu's arm was folded behind his back, held down with one hand, and he freed his hand to lift the veil.
Under the veil was a young face, but his complexion was blue and gray. There was a short yellow talisman two fingers wide stuck on his forehead. A ferocious knife wound split his face diagonally, and the rolled flesh was black and yellow, and
Still roaring in his mouth, two fangs poked out of the kiss.
"Zombie!"
as expected!
As early as when he stepped into the door of this room, the reason why Yan Xinglie frowned was not the rich and strange fragrance, but another smell hidden under the fragrance, which was filled with rotten sweetness.
He had served on the battlefield in his early years, and he was no longer familiar with this smell.
And when "Ah Wu" walked in, his weird posture made him even more alert. In recent years, wars have continued, and there are swamps and poisonous miasma in the south, which are most prone to zombies. He carried out this task.
On official duties, I often walk in remote places, and nine out of ten times I will encounter some wandering corpses. Ah Wu's walking posture is clearly that of a new zombie, whose joints, flesh and bones have not yet completely ossified.
He immediately pulled out a yellow talisman and recited hurriedly:
"Urgently summon six soldiers and six armored soldiers to destroy evil and remove obstacles. Let the light shine quickly. Go!"
After finishing speaking, a talisman was thrown.
The tail of the yellow talisman ignited with dazzling flames, setting off a strong wind and spinning rapidly around Yan Xinglie in the room. The bright light tore through the many black barriers.
For a moment, the whole room was filled with light.
………………
But see indoors.
In addition to the old man and Ah Wu, there are thirteen "people" in the same Zhenfusi attire with black veils on their faces. They are either disemboweled or missing arms and legs. After looking at them,
On the contrary, Yan Xinglie's Lao Wupinxiang is the most complete.
And behind these zombies... Yan Xinglie's eyes were cracked, and his hair and beard were all spread out.
But on the edge of the house, corpses were piled all over the ground. Corpses dressed as governors were piled up in the corners of the house like rags.
"Yanzhong Ding gained merit, Jiangling Xu Jianshan, Shuzhong Ba Mazi..."
Yan Xinglie glanced around and found several familiar faces among them, all of whom were well-known players in the guards.
"What a thief!"
Yan Xinglie grabbed the scabbard at his waist and was about to kill someone!
But the old man smiled and said: "Captain, please wait a moment."
"What else do you have to say?"
The old man didn't say anything, but slowly took off his cloak, revealing his thin body.
Seeing this, Yan Xinglie was stunned.
But I saw that the old man's left leg was amputated at knee level, and there was only a brown bone stubble at the wrist of his right hand. His torso was covered with scars. The most terrifying injury was on his left chest, where there was a hole as big as the mouth of a bowl.
You can see the squirming flesh and blood and broken ribs, but the most important heart is missing.
"This is……"
The old man slowly reached into the bonfire, took out a burnt object, and stuffed it into his empty chest.
With this action, the cloying aroma in the room immediately dissipated a lot.
The old man then asked:
"Have Captain Yan ever heard of the art of enduring death?"
At this time, Yan Xinglie still didn't understand. It turned out that the escort team, including the old man, had been wiped out long ago. Yan Xinglie let out a long sigh, and besides being sad and angry, he was even more surprised. This operation had gathered the best soldiers from all the guards.
, how could they all die so silently?
He couldn't help but ask: "Sir, why is this happening?"
"Oh, why is this so?"
The old man shook his head mockingly and began to tell the story of the trip.
"This operation started smoothly. We expected that no matter how rampant the thief was, he would not dare to lift the tiger's beard of our Zhenfu Division..."
"...But a few days ago, we, a group of old gangsters, ruined the way of thieves. Our 100% ability was reduced to 70%, and we couldn't even get a message out. We fought and fled all the way, although we repelled several waves.
I pursued them and killed many thieves, but I also suffered heavy losses."
At this point, the old man stared blankly at the fireworks, his expression finally showing dejection and misery.
"These poor disciples like me have filial piety. Even if they died, they turned into zombies. With the help of my incompetent master, and this death-resistant technique, I was able to persevere until the end."
"If Lieutenant Yan were to come a moment and a half later, I might not be able to hold on any longer."
"but……"
The old man changed the subject.
"The captain also saw it. The thieves are ferocious. All the masters of the three states and nine guards are here. Even the old man is about to die."
"Right now, you are the only one alive in this room, Zhenfu Si Xuanqi, but the job ahead will be very fatal."
He turned to look at Yan Xinglie, his old face in the firelight, serious and heavy.
"Are you going to answer? Or not?"
Yan Xinglie smiled calmly and said:
"Why should you spare your life when you go to work on state affairs?"
"Okay! Okay! Okay!"
The old man laughed loudly.
"Colonel Yan really deserves his reputation, so..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard horses neighing loudly in the courtyard, and the red-eyed crows, who were originally like dead animals, also started making noises in unison.
Yan Xinglie rushed out of the door.
All I saw were crows scattered in all directions, their wings filling the sky
The old man's voice chuckled in the room:
"These thieves are really chasing after me!"
…………
dusk.
"coming."
"get ready!"
The first half of the leader's words were still in his ears, but they turned into a scream.
The enemy "people" wrapped in black energy easily broke through the front line and roared towards them.
In extreme fear, the young rebel soldier stabbed the approaching enemy with a shot. It hit the chest clearly, but it was like a cloud of smoke. However, the knife swung by the opponent directly cut off his head.
On the other side of the battlefield, the generals on horseback watched coldly as the rebels' last vestiges of strength were extinguished by the ghost soldiers commanded by magic.
This majestic city, which was heavily guarded by soldiers, was finally "recaptured" by him without any damage.
"General."
The young lieutenant's throat was rolling, and his eyes were full of desire, just like the other silent soldiers.
Having spent his entire life as a soldier, he naturally knows what the soldiers expect.
So, in the spotlight.
The general ordered:
"Massacre the city!"
………………
That night.
Barren mountains and deep forests, the moon is full in the sky.
Li Changan sat cross-legged on a large bluestone, holding a wine cup high to receive the moonlight.
When the moonlight was gone, the wine was consumed. The Taoist priest took back the cup and frowned.
The originally clear moon wine was suddenly stained with a hint of bright red.
I tried to take a sip, but my mouth was full of iron taste.
"It's turbid."
The Taoist priest shook his head, and poured out the wine without hesitation. Seventy percent of the wine was still in the air, and turned into moonlight. The remaining third third fell among the grass blades, and when the night wind stirred it up, it also scattered a little fluorescent light.
He shook his head and looked up.
In the stretching horizon in the east, the sky is filled with red light.