Everyone was holding white lanterns and standing in the open space in the old forest.
There are a total of five old tombs in this open space. One of the old tombs has collapsed, and the tombstones have fallen to the ground. But looking at the traces, it seems that the collapsed old tomb happened recently.
besides.
There is a blue and white bowl in front of the tombstones of these five old tombs, which contains a bowl of white rice. The grains of the white rice are distinct, half-cooked, not rotten, and clean without any dust.
Obviously.
This white rice is a sacrifice prepared for the dead.
But now Yang Jian, Li Yang, Yingying and others have to consider how many bowls of white rice they should take away today.
Because judging from previous speculations, the fifth day of the ancient house is likely to be a ghost feast, and the white rice needed for the fifth day must be taken away today, otherwise there will be no chance to come here again.
Everyone agrees with this statement.
If I really wait until the fifth day for the ghost feast to get the white rice, I'm afraid I will lose my life.
"There is still plenty of time. We still have time to think slowly. There is no rush." Yang Xiaohua comforted everyone at this moment.
The eagle on the side nodded: "There is indeed plenty of time, but it is not worthwhile for us to waste time on this issue. We will go to other places to see later, and we can't keep thinking about a few bowls of rice here.
question."
"Five tombs, five bowls of rice, Li Yang is right, one bowl is definitely not enough, at least two bowls must be taken away." Fan Xing pondered.
Daqiang said: "You can only have more food, not less. If you don't have enough, the fifth day will not be enough to deal with the ghosts in the ancient house. We will be attacked by the evil ghosts in the ancient house again, so we cannot hesitate in this choice."
"Don't forget, if these old tombs get out of control, the risk of us coming here will increase next time. For seven days, I think the funeral must be held on the sixth or seventh day.
That coffin was buried in this old forest, adding a sixth grave here." Eagle reminded again.
If the fifth day is a ghost feast, then the sixth and seventh days must be a funeral.
The burial place is here.
Even shovels are prepared in this open space, which is used for digging graves.
So everyone will have to come here again later.
But this time, the white rice was taken away, which broke the balance here. The funeral road will be full of dangers next time.
"Then take three bowls of rice with you. This quantity is more balanced." Fan Xing looked at Yang Jian: "Captain Yang, what do you think of this proposal?"
Everyone else also took a look at this moment.
Right now, the only one who can make the decision is Yang Jian. Whatever they say is just a suggestion and cannot play a decisive role.
Yang Jian was also thinking, and he thought of something that happened before.
That is, Zhou Deng had taken away a stick of incense in front of the coffin, and when Zhou Deng appeared in the back hall, he said that he had left a stick of incense here.
Now the old tombs in this area have collapsed, and it is suspected that a ghost wearing high heels came out of the old tombs.
So this might be a clue.
A stick of incense in exchange for a bowl of rice?
Incense is for ghosts, and rice is for humans.
"If one stick of incense is exchanged for a bowl of rice, is it possible that I have to go back to the old house to get the other two sticks of incense?" Yang Jian's expression changed.
However, in order to prove this conjecture, he searched among the old collapsed tombs and ignored other people's inquiries.
"Captain, what are you looking for?" Li Yang asked.
"found it."
Yang Jian quickly found a small wooden stick in the yellow soil. Although there was only a little bit left, he could still tell that it was a burnt incense stick.
"Is the incense that Zhou Deng took from the ancient house here?" Everyone's expressions changed when they saw this.
"It turns out that, like this, one stick of incense is exchanged for a bowl of rice, and the three sticks of incense in front of the coffin were prepared at this time." Eagle woke up and said in surprise.
Yang Jian said: "It's not certain yet, but at least it is certain that the food can be taken away after the collapse of this old tomb, and there is no danger. However, the previous incense is suspected to have released a ghost in advance. If
If it's a stick of incense in exchange for a bowl of rice, then that means we have to release two ghosts?"
"Captain, have you forgotten? The remaining two sticks of incense have been extinguished and are no longer burning. What Zhou Deng took away was the incense that burned the next day." Li Yang said.
Yang Jian frowned: "You mean, Zhou Deng's incense injection was advanced? He shouldn't have brought the incense to this place so early?"
"Zhou Deng did what he did on the third day on the second day, which caused an imbalance in the ancient house. The vigil and funeral came together. If according to normal circumstances, we should take away the three items on the third day.
Burn incense and come here in exchange for three bowls of rice, and then prepare for the ghost feast on the fifth day."
"The order was messed up. So I left it here before the incense went out, causing the evil ghost here to lose control and run out."
"It makes sense." Fan Xing, Yingying, Daqiang and others nodded.
None of them are idiots. Although they have different personalities, Li Yang understood the meaning of these words when he said this.
"Do the right thing at the right time. Once things get messed up, danger will come. The way to survive in this ancient house is to abide by order." Yang Jian pondered.
"Go back and get the incense."
He felt that this method was right and turned back the same way without hesitation.
Everyone soon arrived at the back hall of the ancient house.
The door to the back hall is open.
A red coffin board was placed there, which was particularly conspicuous.
There was an incense burner in front of the coffin, with two incense sticks inserted in it, one long and one short. The long one basically didn't burn anything, but the short one was almost burned out.
The two sticks of incense have been extinguished at this moment, and the fragrance no longer wafts out.
"Take it." Yang Jian handed the white lantern to Li Yang, and then strode into the back hall.
All safe.
Because it is now the third day, the ghosts that appeared during the vigil on the second day have no longer appeared, and the remaining danger comes from outside the ancient house.
But as long as the white lantern is not lost, everyone will be safe.
The road back to Yang Jian was very safe.
He took away the remaining two sticks of incense, and then led everyone back the same way, back to the clearing of the old forest again.
Two sticks of incense were placed on the tomb of an old tomb, and then two bowls of white rice were taken away from the tombstone.
Everyone was worried and even observed it for half an hour.
Because if something happens, they will put things back immediately.
"It seems that the judgment is accurate. Three sticks of incense are exchanged for three bowls of rice. This is a deal with the dead. Everything about the arrangement of the ancient house seems to have profound meaning. It is not just a simple funeral."
Yang Jian stared at the tombstones and said, "Let's go, let's go look elsewhere in the rest of the time."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
On the way, Daqiang suddenly asked: "What if the incense runs out during the vigil the next day?"
"Then we can't exchange for white rice. If we burn out a stick of incense, we will lose a bowl of rice. The incense can protect us, but it is an overdraft of safety for the fifth day." Yang Jian said.
fan
Incense."
"But he also brought trouble. If I don't resist the ghost in the lobby the next day, all of you will die." Yang Jian said coldly.
"Leaving Zhou Deng aside, the danger this time did let us know a lot of information and intelligence. We won't be as ignorant as the first day, and we don't know how we died in the end." Eagle said: "But there was really nothing on the second day.
If Yang Jian says that, we will all die in the back hall, so we must think more clearly about our next actions."
"Now that we have taken three bowls of white rice and prepared the things for the ghost feast on the fifth day, how can we survive tomorrow, the fourth day of condolences?" Daqiang asked.
"We have to continue discussing this," Eagle said.
Everyone is still in a heavy mood.
Because the first seven days are getting closer and closer, the dangers encountered in the future will definitely exceed those in the previous few days. Even when the first seven days arrive, dangerous letter delivery tasks will also come.
And now no one knows who this letter is addressed to. They only know that the recipient of the letter will definitely appear in the ancient house.
The extra person, or ghost, who appeared at that time must be the recipient of the letter.
"It's still early now, don't waste time circling around the old house, go take a look at the old forest in front." Yang Jian said, "Take advantage of this time to get a clear idea of what's going on here."
Everyone agreed.
They walked around to the gate of the ancient house, and then walked along a path into the small old forest in front of them.
The route is still the same as when we came here, without any changes.
Yang Jian was walking in front holding a white lantern. He was observing the old forest, feeling vaguely uneasy in his heart.
It seems that this old forest is very dangerous.
But he looked around, but didn't see any dangerous place.
"After leaving the ancient house, the suppression of the ghost eyes disappeared." Yang Jian used his ghost eyes at this moment to peek around.
The darkness in the old forest had no effect on him.
soon.
Everyone reached the end of this old forest.
It is a modern asphalt road, which looks out of place with the appearance of the ancient house. However, you can see the end of this road from left to right. It is hazy in the distance, and everything seems to be shrouded in mist.
The world is only so big and cannot be expanded any further.
"The bus has left." Fan Xing looked at his previous location.
The supernatural bus has long since disappeared, leaving only some blood stains on the ground and some ordinary personal items. It seems that these things can prove that a group of people got off the bus here before and encountered danger.
"The bodies are all gone." Eagle said, "And..."
"And what?" Li Yang asked.
Yingying said: "It's nothing. I just felt that there seemed to be a few more trees on the roadside. It seemed that there were not those trees when I got off the car. Maybe it was an illusion. I was overthinking it."
"If you find nothing, go back." Yang Jian said, "You can't wait for the bus here."
Everyone just wanted to regret it.
At this time, Yang Xiaohua suddenly stopped and her face froze: "Yang Jian, wait a minute, I, I seem to have stepped on something."
"Huh?" Yang Jian looked at Yang Xiaohua's feet.
Yang Xiaohua was wearing a pair of running shoes, but the place where she stood was slightly bulging, as if there was something there.
After carefully moving his feet, he found that what he was stepping on was actually a pale palm.
"A dead hand?" Eagle subconsciously became alert.
Yang Jian then handed the lantern to Li Yang, then walked over and signaled.
Yang Xiaohua nodded, jumped away immediately, and then hid aside.
Yang Jian held a cracked spear and moved Bo's hand.
There was no reaction, and there were no body spots or signs of decay on the hands. Although the color was a little paler, it was still very fresh.
If it is a dead body, it must be one that has been killed not long ago.
He looked along the direction of the arm and found that the palm was extending from the direction of Lao Lin next to him.
"It must be the ghost controller who died here before." Yang Jian said, then squatted down, stretched out his black ghost hand and directly grabbed the cold arm.
Reach out and pull.
A dead body was pulled out from the soil next to him.
There is something familiar about this dead body.
But what makes people feel weird is that there is a piece of yellow paper stuck on the face of this dead body.
The yellow paper was large and almost covered the entire face, but it was incomplete and could not completely cover the face.
"It's Zhou Deng." Fan Xing immediately exclaimed.
He knew Zhou Deng. He and Zhou Deng had already greeted him on the bus. They were both ghost controllers affiliated with the headquarters, so they were relatively familiar with each other. Even now, Zhou Deng had yellow paper stuck on his face to cover his face.
, he can still distinguish it at a glance.
"The clothes and body shape are indeed that of Zhou Deng. He is dead." Yang Jian confirmed. Zhou Deng's body was cold. Although it was not stiff yet, it had no breath of life.
"Wandering around is causing a lot of harm to people. It's normal for him to die." Daqiang took a sip and said, "You have to throw this guy's body far away to avoid getting any bad luck on him."
Eagle said: "Actually, he doesn't know what will happen in the ancient house. He is also trying to survive, but he just chose the wrong method."
He didn't hate Zhou Deng, because he didn't want to harm anyone, he just liked to wander around alone.
Moreover, when Zhou Deng disappeared in the end, he took the initiative to lure the ghost away with a lantern. He did not deliberately cause trouble for everyone.
"Everyone is already dead, so it doesn't matter."
Yang Jian said: "But how could he die here? I remember he was holding a lantern in his hand before he left. According to the current situation, as long as the lantern does not leave his hand, he will not be attacked by ghosts."
"Who knows, anything can happen here." Li Yang shook his head.
Yang Jian didn't speak, just looked at the yellow paper covering Zhou Deng's face, thought for a moment, stretched out his black hand and tore off the yellow paper.
Although the yellow paper is firmly attached to the face, it is not sticky and can be torn off easily.
The yellow paper was torn off.
A strange face was revealed. This face did not belong to Zhou Deng at all.
But the next moment, Zhou Deng opened his eyes suddenly, opened his mouth, and gasped for air, as if he was suffocating.
Everyone was startled and subconsciously took a few steps back.
Yang Jian was holding a cracked spear in his hand, and the long coffin nail was about to fall towards Zhou Deng's forehead.
"Wait, wait a minute." Zhou Deng hurriedly stretched out his hand.
The coffin nail stopped in front of Zhou Deng's forehead.
Another second later, Yang Jian would have penetrated his head and nailed him to the ground.
"Alive?" Yang Jian's expression moved slightly, a little surprised.
"I'm not dead at all, Captain Yang. If you let this thing fall, I'll be dead."
Zhou Deng hurriedly turned over and sat up. He reached out and tore off the human skin mask on his face, and then returned to his original appearance.
"Not dead? It doesn't matter, I can give you a ride." Yang Jian said.
"Captain Yang, we are all colleagues, why should we be so ruthless? I should have nothing to offend Captain Yang." Zhou Deng said with twitching eyelids.
Fan Xing scolded: "You still dare to say that you have not offended Captain Yang in any way. You almost killed us all. If you weren't walking around with a white lantern, how could the ancient house lose its balance? We
The group was almost wiped out yesterday, look at the only people left dead now."
Zhou Deng looked at the others.
It was found that the number of people was indeed pitifully small, almost 60% less than the number of people on the first day.
"I almost died. If I wanted to harm you, how could I harm myself too?" Zhou Deng patted the dust and stood up.
Yang Jian looked at him coldly.
This guy was indeed unintentional, otherwise he wouldn't have been buried here. There must have been an accident along the way.
"Tell me, what's going on with you?" Yang Jian said.
Zhou Deng said: "This is not the place to talk now. Let's leave this forest first."
"Where is your lantern?" asked the eagle.
"Taken away." Zhou Deng said this with a somewhat frightened expression.