Jiang Chuyan looked at the extremely familiar handwriting on the note, and his mind went blank.
At this moment, even fear became numb and distant. Jiang Chuyan felt that everything was so unreal, as if he was having a long and real nightmare...
"Bang, bang, bang."
At this moment, there was a knock on his door.
Even the most ordinary knock on the door almost scared Jiang Chuyan to death.
"Classmate Jiang, it's time. The wedding procession is almost at the door. You should go downstairs."
Budacuocuo said outside the door.
Jiang Chuyan's heart was pounding. The moment he heard the sound, he stuffed "his" suicide note into the notebook and kicked it under the bed. Almost immediately, with a creak, the door, which he had thought was completely locked, suddenly opened on its own.
Budacuocuo's pale face emerged from the shadows of the corridor.
"Student Jiang."
He called out incoherently.
"Buda, Budacuo…"
Jiang Chuyan swallowed his saliva, mustered up the courage to turn his head and look at Budacuocuo.
The chief of Longzhao Village was staring at him.
It was not until this moment that Jiang Chuyan realized why he had always thought that Budacuocuo looked strange.
Because, Budacuocuo's face was actually the face of a floating corpse that had been soaked in water for a long time and had begun to swell.
You know, after the body decays, the eyeballs of the corpse will bulge slightly due to the air pressure inside the body... or even be pushed out of the eye sockets.
Budacuocuo has such a pair of bulging eyes.
"It's time for you to be put into the coffin. It would be bad if you delay."
"Into the coffin, oh, yes, in the coffin."
Jiang Chuyan stuttered, remembering the customs in Longzhao. When the so-called Dragon God's bride was sent to Luolong Cave, she was not carried in a sedan chair, but in a wedding coffin that was firmly nailed with nails.
Yesterday I heard from Budacuocuo that this is a special folk custom, which indicates that the bride who marries the Dragon God no longer belongs to the secular world and is equivalent to having passed away, so the bride is made to lie in a coffin.
Jiang Chuyan didn't take this custom seriously at the time, but now, when he thought about lying in a coffin soon, the hairs on Jiang Chuyan's back stood up.
"I, I have to go into the coffin..."
"It's not a coffin, it's a wedding coffin." Budacuo explained to Jiang Chuyan patiently.
"It's okay, Jiang, you'll get used to it soon—"
Hearing this, Jiang Chuyan suddenly raised his head and stared at Budacuocuo for a while.
He didn't know if it was because he was being overly sensitive, but in that moment, he felt that there was something profound in Budacuocuo's smile. What did "get used to it" mean? Did Budacuocuo already know something?
Jiang Chuyan couldn't help thinking about these things, and felt that his heart was tightening due to extreme tension.
He had a hunch that if he really obediently got into the coffin and was sent to the Luolong Cave, something very bad would happen... so bad that even though he had no memory of it, his soul would still tremble involuntarily.
"I'll wait for He Yuan. Well, I'll go after He Yuan comes, otherwise I'll be really scared. Besides, He Yuan also said that he will accompany me."
Jiang Chu spoke incoherently to Budacuocuo.
The village chief of Longzhao Village still looked flattering and friendly, but the cold light in his eyes made Jiang Chuyan shudder.
"Oh, you mean him, classmate He Yuan. He's already back and he's waiting for you downstairs." Unexpectedly, as soon as Jiang Chuyan finished speaking, Budacuocuo immediately said with a smile, "After all, he is Xikani. How could he let his Mal go on the road alone? You can rest assured about this..."
The more Jiang Chuyan listened, the more he felt that Budacuocuo's words sounded strange. He hurried to the window, but saw the dense crowds of villagers in front of the building.
Those people stood still, expressionless, and just stared at He Yuan on the platform in silence.
The tall boy was squatting on the terrace of the small building. Beside him was a coffin painted red and outlined in gold. He Yuan, head bowed, carefully painted the final strokes of the Chinese character "喜" (happiness) on the coffin lid with fresh red paint.
The empty coffin looked exactly the same size as Jiang Chuyan.
But...
A coffin isn't just a Lego toy you can put together at random. When was such a beautiful coffin, one that perfectly fits Jiang Chuyan's body, prepared?
Jiang Chuyan supported himself on the windowsill with his hands and almost couldn't stand.
"Ka."
The wooden windowsill made an extremely subtle sound.
The next second, the crowd that had gathered in front of the small building suddenly looked up and looked at Jiang Chuyan.
Jiang Chuyan couldn't move at all.
Then, He Yuan also raised his head and looked towards Jiang Chuyan.
He smiled sweetly at Jiang Chuyan.
"First words!"
He Yuan waved at Jiang Chuyan.
"Am I here yet? You can come down now."
The boy said to Jiang Chuyan.
"…"
Jiang Chuyan was stunned for a moment, and a sense of fear and pain pierced into the deepest part of his soul like a thin steel needle.
If I didn't know anything, I would probably feel a little relieved even if I just looked at He Yuan.
In such a terrifying and treacherous world, there are still people who can support him and share the ups and downs with him.
However, Jiang Chuyan now knows it better than anyone else.
He Yuan...is not a human being at all.
He is a monster.
A monster who has played tricks on himself countless times.
"First words?"
Jiang Chuyan was silent for too long, and He Yuan seemed to feel strange. He tilted his head slightly and looked at his fragile, pale and weak human lover suspiciously.
Seeing this, Jiang Chuyan took a deep breath and forced himself to smile at He Yuan.
He hoped his smile wasn't too forced.
"I'm coming."
He said, his voice a little tense.
Then, he turned around and walked towards the door step by step under the gaze of Budacuocuo.
Even inside the building, Jiang Chuyan could hear the sound of suona and the noise of gongs and drums, although he had seen clearly from the window just now that there was not a single villager in Longzhao holding a musical instrument.
Jiang Chuyan had given up thinking about where the joy he heard came from.
Gradually, gradually, the high-pitched, sharp, and oddly toned joy in my ears gradually turned into the children's songs I had heard in the mountains...
"Ting-ting-dong, ting-ting-dong.
Master Long, marry a bride.
Drink the wine first, then eat the soup.
Covered with red cloth and a long iron lock.
Good bride, with tears in her eyes.
Woohoo, carry me to bed,
Master Long married a good bride..."
*
Why did the Dragon King cover the bride's eyes with a red cloth and lock her ankles with iron chains?
Why did the good bride cry so heart-wrenchingly when Master Long carried her to bed?
Why...
Why does the bride try to hide?
…
*
Jiang Chuyan walked downstairs seemingly calmly.
But just before going downstairs, he suddenly stopped.
The young male college student turned around and smiled at Budacuocuo, forcing out an embarrassed smile.
"Sorry, wait a moment, I think I need to go to the bathroom." Jiang Chuyan said.
Budacuocuo looked at him in astonishment, her lips moving.
"But--"
Jiang Chuyan didn't give him a chance to speak.
"I get nervous and that's what happens. It'll be quite a while before we get to Luolong Cave. I can't possibly pee in my coffin if I don't go to the bathroom."
It seemed as if she had not expected that Jiang Chuyan could say such words so calmly, and Budacuocuo was stunned.
Taking this opportunity, Jiang Chuyan quickly turned around and walked quickly to the extremely simple toilet inside the small building.
Outside the restroom, a row of brightly colored thermoses stood still. Jiang Chuyan forced himself not to look at them, not to wonder what was inside them.
Upon entering the restroom, Jiang Chuyan's first action was to lock the door. Then, he ripped off his heavy, intricately decorated wedding gown. Quickly removing the red gown, Jiang Chuyan was soon left wearing only a fitted white T-shirt and simple shorts. A damp, cold breeze blew gently, and Jiang Chuyan shivered, looking up in the direction of the wind. Near the ceiling of the restroom was a narrow ventilation window.
Without any hesitation, Jiang Chuyan stood up, stepped on the sink, and then climbed up nimbly.
The ventilation window was very small, but Jiang Chuyan was able to get out easily. He was a little worried about the lock on the window, but after climbing up, he found that the lock on the ventilation window had been broken long ago, and now it could be opened with just a push.
The toilet window was right at the back of the building. Almost everyone was gathered on the platform in front of the gate.
Jiang Chuyan carefully looked around, and when he found that no one had noticed him for the time being, he jumped out of the window without looking back. When he landed, the impact caused him to roll on the ground, his shoulders and waist hitting the rocks, but Jiang Chuyan didn't even feel much pain. He knew that he didn't have much time left. As long as he saw the red wedding dress in the bathroom, he would guess that he had escaped, and He Yuan was definitely not the kind of person who would let him leave quietly...
Jiang Chuyan rolled over and got up from the ground, but his hand unconsciously gripped the knife in his palm even tighter.
…
"Good bride, hide and seek.
Gouge out your eyes and lie in the well.
Cut off the head and swing it under the tree.
The heart was dug out and the chest was opened.
…
Everywhere, the soft and thin nursery rhymes were floating in the continuous drizzle outside the small building.
In this ballad that no one knew whether it was an auditory hallucination or a ghost song, Jiang Chuyan was like a wild cat being chased by a dog, and plunged headfirst into the lush and watery bushes in Longzhao Village.
It's hard to say whether this was the right decision.
The advantage of moving forward through the bushes is that he won't leave too many unnecessary footprints on the dirt road, which may delay the time it takes for him to be found.
The downside is that he can only keep his back bent and move forward cautiously.
The thin branches kept whipping his arms and back, soon leaving bloody marks on his body.
Moreover, the rain seemed to be getting heavier.
The soil beneath Jiang Chuyan's feet was becoming slippery and soft. The thick dampness of the bushes, along with a strange, decaying odor, mixed with the peculiar smell of a burning spirit pagoda, weighed heavily on Jiang Chuyan like a soaked blanket.
He began to feel cold.
The feeling of weakness slowly spread, and Jiang Chuyan accidentally stepped into a ball of mud. He lost his balance and fell straight down.
"Hmm."
Jiang Chuyan groaned and frantically tried to get up. Then, he suddenly realized that the hand he was holding onto the ground felt a little strange.
He blinked his eyes, trying to wipe away the blurry mist in front of his eyes. When he looked at his hand, he could just see the face that had already rotted in the mud.
Because of Jiang Chuyan's actions just now, the skin and flesh that had decayed to the point of being as soft as jelly were directly pulled off from the exposed white flesh.
As for the "mud" that Jiang Chuyan stepped on just now, if nothing unexpected happens, it should be its body.
Jiang Chuyan bit his lips, and a trace of blood mixed with rain flowed out from between his lips, wetting his chest.
But it was the only way he wouldn't scream.
Although it was completely rotten, Jiang Chuyan recognized Bai Ke's earrings.
Jiang Chuyan supported himself on the ground with his hands and stared at Bai Ke's body for a long time.
Until he heard the nightmarish suona sound again.
"Master Long... marry a bride..."
"Master Long is marrying a bride today..."
…
In the drizzle, those sounds that should have been cheerful and loud sounded even stranger, and he could hear a faint ringing deep in his ears.
His tinnitus got worse.
The villagers of Longzhao Village were approaching him.
After realizing this, the young human, whose face had turned pale, let out a silent sob in the rain. Then, he slowly knelt on the ground and crawled forward on his knees.
He touched the "mud" several times again.
In the mud were Xu Yuanzhou's cell phone and Liu Tianyu's shoes.
There were far more than three corpses under the lush bushes.
…
Finally Jiang Chuyan saw them.
The three people who had greeted him in the morning were lying in the mud in a mess, their bodies still soft.
Perhaps because the Dragon God was getting married, the people who buried them were not very careful, so most of their bodies were exposed.
Jiang Chuyan slowed down as he crawled past them.
His fear and despair were no longer as overwhelming as they were at the beginning, perhaps because people would indeed become numb under the onslaught of the same emotion.
Originally, Jiang Chuyan just planned to leave quietly, however, when he looked at his companions' overly "fresh" faces, the pain still surged up like a tide.
Liu Tianyu's face was the most exposed, and his expression was so distorted that even his eyes were open.
Jiang Chuyan stopped as he passed him.
"sorry."
Jiang Chuyan said silently to Liu Tianyu.
Then, with trembling lips and holding his breath, he closed Liu Tianyu's eyes and straightened the body.
After doing all this, Jiang Chuyan staggered to his feet and slowly walked towards the exit of Longzhao Village in his memory.
"Snap—"
But at this moment, a slight sound suddenly came from behind him.
Jiang Chuyan's body froze, and he turned around in shock, meeting Liu Tianyu's already cloudy eyes. The corpse had turned its head at some point, staring straight at Jiang Chuyan with those empty eyes.
One of the arms that Jiang Chuyan had placed on both sides of his body was raised and pointed at him stiffly.
Jiang Chuyan was completely unable to move for a while.
It's a fake corpse...
Or some other strange incident?
But after a few seconds, Liu Tianyu's body showed no movement.
Jiang Chuyan sniffed, trembling as he slowly backed away, then turned around.
Just as I was about to continue walking along the road, my eyes suddenly caught sight of a crooked, abandoned building.
etc--
Jiang Chuyan took a quick glance at it first, then suddenly turned his head and stared at the dilapidated house for several seconds.
He suddenly realized that Liu Tianyu's body just now seemed... seemed to have been pointing at the deserted house.
Jiang Chuyan turned around in disbelief to confirm, but the body that was lying in the mud a few seconds ago was now covered by a large area of green grass.
The road he came from also changed into a different appearance in an instant.
Jiang Chuyan's breathing quickened.
He discovered two things. First, in Longzhao Village, not only was time chaotic, but it was very likely that even space was chaotic.
Second, he had been to this deserted house before.
This was exactly where he had picked up the notebook earlier.
*
Jiang Chuyan pushed open the door and slowly walked into the deserted house.
But what he saw made him hesitate for a moment.
The furnishings in the house were so different from what he had seen that night that he even wondered if he had made a mistake.
The furniture in this small building is simple.
There is an old desk by the window on the first floor.
Behind the desk was a narrow bed, and next to the bed was a large wooden wardrobe with double doors.
There were some dull-colored wooden toys on the ground. It was obvious that they were handmade and had been played with very well.
As for the other furnishings, they were simple and old, but they were arranged neatly and the whole house was kept very clean.
It can be seen that the people living here have been taking good care of their living environment, which is completely different from the messy ruins he saw that night.
However, Jiang Chuyan stopped in front of the big wardrobe - he still remembered this wardrobe.
The wardrobe was extremely old at the time and was leaning against a pile of junk with the door open, which was why the luggage bag rolled out of it.
Jiang Chuyan took two deep breaths, stared at the wardrobe for a few seconds, then raised his hand and slowly reached towards the cabinet door.
But at this moment, a female voice that was extremely familiar to him suddenly came from outside the window.
"Yanyan——"
"Yanyan, where on earth have you been hiding?!"
Jiang Chuyan's face suddenly changed, he turned around in disbelief and ran towards the window.
A shadow quickly passed by the window.
He could never mistake that voice, the voice he thought he would never hear again.
That was clearly his mother's voice!
"Mother!"
Even though he knew that this was probably another fantasy presented to him by Longzhao Village, Jiang Chuyan still couldn't help but shout out the window at this moment.
"Yanyan!"
A woman's voice with a hint of crying came from outside the window.
"Yanyan, where the hell are you?!"
Although I couldn't see her, the voice was so real and so close.
Jiang Chuyan stumbled and almost fell, and he crawled out of the door.
"Mom, Mom, I'm here! Mom——"
He shouted.
But the next second, Jiang Chuyan caught a glimpse of his mother's shadow from the window, and she suddenly appeared in the room.
The woman was standing in front of the wardrobe, her hands on her hips, her voice sounding both shocked and angry.
"Jiang Chuyan! I'm warning you, don't play hide-and-seek with your mother anymore. Are you trying to scare me to death? Why have you been acting so strangely lately..."
But when Jiang Chuyan returned to the deserted house, the woman had disappeared again.
But a childish and mischievous voice came from the wooden wardrobe.
"I'm not playing hide-and-seek with Mom, I'm playing with Yuan!"
Jiang Chuyan stood steadily in front of the wardrobe, pressing his temples, and almost fainted.
In a chaotic mind, those extremely vague childhood memories squeezed out bit by bit.
Jiang Chuyan remembered why the furnishings here looked so familiar to him.
Because he lived here when his mother took him back to the village to visit relatives.
And at that time, he seemed to have made a very, very good friend here. Because his health was too poor, he did not make any close friends in Longzhao Village. He spent the entire summer vacation very lonely until he made that friend.
His health improved day by day, and he and his friend were so close that they couldn't wait to spend every day together. However, what puzzled him at that time was that every time he excitedly told his mother about his best "friend", his mother's expression would become strange.
["Yanyan, what are you talking about…"]
"Aren't you and Mom the only ones home today? Who is that little kid you're talking about?"
["Yanyan… Yanyan?"]
"Yanyan, what are you looking at?"
"There's nothing there?"
…
"Okay, Mom, please go away. I've already counted in my mind. Yuan will come looking for me soon. Don't let him catch me—"
From the closet, a familiar childish voice, his own, came out.
Jiang Chuyan stared at the closed wardrobes and could even recall how he had huddled in the wardrobe, covering his face with his hands and mumbling softly.
At that time, I never wondered why my "friends" could still hear me even though I was counting silently in my heart.
*
"No..."
A few seconds later, Jiang Chuyan murmured in a trance.
"Don't play with that kind of thing. Absolutely not!"
The moment he finished speaking, he collapsed and opened the wardrobe.
There were no toddlers huddled in the closet, eagerly waiting to play hide-and-seek.
There was just a whole stack of neatly arranged, identical-looking notebooks.
Each of these books contains his own handwriting.
"That's weird. My records show I booked four tickets, but aren't there five of us? How did I forget to book one?"
It's raining again, and we're stuck in Longzhao, so we can't do anything. Xu Yuanzhou wants to play Truth or Dare... Perhaps to get back at me for breaking up with him today, he's hooking up with Bai Ke. I wasn't surprised, but He Yuan suddenly came over and suggested we try it, which really startled me.
When did I become so familiar with this person? ]
Jiang Chuyan threw this book aside and picked up another one.
It says in there——
[I had a nightmare. In the dream, my childhood sweetheart was Xu Yuanzhou, not He Yuan. I was so scared. When I told him about it, he seemed very nervous. I don't understand why he was so nervous.]
In another notebook, Jiang Chuyan watched himself writing stroke by stroke.
[Who is the extra person in our team? ]
[They all say I'm crazy, but I know it's not us... One of them is not human at all.]
…
They said I should be sacrificed.
Jiang Chuyan's face became paler and paler.
He picked up another notebook, and in this notebook, the fate of "Jiang Chuyan" was no different from before.
Xu Yuanzhou said, "I'm more suitable to be the Dragon God's bride. After all, compared to them, I'm just an orphan without a father or a mother."
[I agreed, and I became the bride of the Dragon God. ]
Jiang Chuyan flipped through the notebooks one by one, and behind the cover of each one, he found a familiar note.
Each piece of paper was a suicide note written by "myself" named Jiang Chuyan in despair.
Although each "Jiang Chuyan" experienced different things, the endings of the notes were almost the same.
[I will go and kill that so-called Dragon God.]
[I hope you can escape from the Dragon Swamp and escape from this world...]
Before he knew it, Jiang Chuyan's face was covered with water marks.
He wiped his face, but he wasn't sure whether it was sweat or tears.
*
"First words..."
Then, Jiang Chuyan heard a familiar voice calling out. He shuddered suddenly and turned his head to look at the door.
He couldn't mistake that voice, the nightmarish voice.
"Chu Yan, where have you been?"
"Chu Yan, please come out quickly..."
It was clearly only He Yuan's voice, but the voice seemed to be getting closer and farther away.
It seemed as if the entire village had turned into He Yuan's incarnation at this moment, constantly calling his name.
The call closest to him is already within reach.
I don't know when, but it started to rain heavily outside.
The sky was dim, like dusk.
Jiang Chuyan hurriedly threw all the notebooks back into the closet.
"Crack—"
There were footsteps on the platform.
Without thinking too much, Jiang Chuyan opened the wardrobe and quickly hid inside.
After closing the cabinet door, darkness instantly enveloped him.
A few seconds later, clear footsteps and He Yuan's call were heard in the room.
"Chu Yan? Are you here?"
"Hey, where on earth have you been..."
…
In the darkness, Jiang Chuyan's heart was beating wildly.
He held his breath and listened attentively to the sounds made by He Yuan moving around the room.
Several times, he even felt that He Yuan was standing in front of the wardrobe.
Maybe He Yuan's hand was already on the handle of the wardrobe door...
The moment this thought flashed through his mind, Jiang Chuyan had to raise his hand and bite the edge of his palm to force the uncontrollable scream deep in his throat.
…
He didn't know why He Yuan suddenly found this place.
Perhaps it was because the traces he left behind were too obvious? Or was it that he had never left his sight? As he fled in panic, the monster silently crept up behind him, slowly and with a smile, peering in?
Jiang Chuyan couldn't help but desperately recall his every move when he came here. The panic and despair almost made his blood freeze.
Suddenly, He Yuan's calling and footsteps stopped.
Jiang Chuyan felt as if his heart had shrunk into a small ball.
what happened?
The old wardrobe door cannot be closed completely, and if you look closely you can see a narrow gap.
Jiang Chuyan didn't dare to lean forward because he was afraid that the change in center of gravity would cause too obvious a noise, so he carefully placed his phone in front of the gap.
Using the camera function of his mobile phone, Jiang Chuyan captured a picture of the figure standing outside the wardrobe door.
...He finally saw the true appearance of "He Yuan".
Tears fell silently from Jiang Chuyan's eyes.
So scary.
So scary, so scary, so scary, so scary, so scary, so scary...
How could it be He Yuan?
How is it possible... that it is a creature that can come into contact with humans?
That was a real nightmare...
…
"Hiss…"
The tall young man's body gradually began to dissolve.
Wet sounds continued to come from all over the room.
That was the subtle noise made by the slender, scaly, deformed body as it circled around the abandoned house, searching for the human bride.
Jiang Chuyan closed his eyes.
After the vision was blocked, the hearing became more acute.
"hiss..."
He clearly heard the sound of He Yuan's scales scraping against the wooden boards of the wardrobe. At this moment, the thing was wrapped around the wardrobe where he was.
Because he was afraid to breathe and felt dizzy, Jiang Chuyan almost fainted.
However, due to extreme fear, Jiang Chuyan's mind was so tense that he could not faint.
He didn't know how long this hellish torture lasted, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours.
However, just before he completely collapsed, the creepy sound suddenly stopped.
…
Jiang Chuyan opened his eyes tremblingly, and through the narrow gap in the wardrobe door, he saw the monster's huge shadow, which had originally expanded, gradually shrinking back.
"Crack—"
Footsteps.
"Crack—"
Then there was another sound of footsteps.
He Yuan's footsteps finally faded away, but even so, Jiang Chuyan still froze in the closet for a long time.
Then, after a long time, the tense and cramped muscles gradually began to relax.
Jiang Chuyan leaned against the bottom of the wardrobe and slumped down dejectedly.
He Yuan didn't seem to notice him.
Thankfully, at least for the moment...
"So you were hiding here?"
A low, smiling voice suddenly rang out.
Jiang Chuyan paused for a long time before he slowly raised his head, just in time to meet the pair of blood-red eyes at the crack of the wardrobe door.