Daomu Biji Volume 8 Chapter 12

Qiu Dekao's people lived at the top of the village, which may be the reason why there were so many of them.  The tall buildings there were very densely distributed, suitable for many people to live in at the same time and look after each other.

I greeted Pan Zi and explained the situation. He followed us as we went around the familiar stream.  The night was very cool and refreshing, the moon shone in the clear water stream, and the sound of insects everywhere reminded me of the situation half a month ago.

After going up, I found that the whole village was almost occupied by Qiu Dekao's people.  Lights were blazing everywhere, big round tables were set up in all the yards, boxes of beer were piled up, and naked foreigners were eating.  Obviously, most of the rooms here had become the kitchen.

Grave robbing can also enliven the economy, and I told myself that an unavailable combatant could enrich a country's soil and water, which was fully reflected here.

Seeing Qiu Dekao coming, several foreigners who could not stand up straight after drinking, picked up the beer and shouted at him, “Boss, comeon! Don'tbetooupset! (Boss, come and drink together, have fun!)"

Qiu Dekao ignored it and went straight around to the back of the house. The atmosphere suddenly changed and I saw a very cold and cheerless building that was very small and seemed to have only one room.  There were two people at the door, faces serious, not a drink in sight, and only a dim incandescent lamp shone on the door of the house.

Qiu Dekao made a gesture to the guards and brought us in.  As soon as I entered, I smelled a pungent scent of medicine.

There was an oil lamp on the ground and with its light, I saw a mass of what looked like flour sacks lying on the straw mat, next to a man wearing glasses who looked like a doctor.

“How is it?”  Qiu Dekao asked him.

He shook his head and I leaned forward for a better look. I took a deep breath—the mass of “things” on the straw mat was unexpectedly a person.

But was this really a person?  I look at this “person” and had a strong feeling of nausea.  All over his body, the whole piece of skin was sunken, and it looked like an orange rotting from the inside. But a closer look revealed all the sunken places, and there seemed to be a bubble of liquid right under his skin. At first glance, the man seemed to have rotted for a long time.

But he was alive.  I looked into his eyes and saw he was looking at me, but he obviously couldn't move.

“How did this happen?” Pan Zi asked.

“I sent seven people down, and he was the only one who came out. He was fine when he came out, but three days later he started to have a high fever, and then he became like this.”  Qiu Dekao was livid. “It was he who brought out the sword. He told me that he had entered the deep part of the stone path. When he met the corpse with the blade, he was separated from the others. They continued to go in and he brought the sword out to me. As a result, those who continued to go deeper never came back. “

“What happened to his body?”

The bespectacled doctor shook his head: “I don't know, I can only say that his body is melting into a strange liquid, starting from the inside.”  He said this and poked the man's arm with a needle. The skin in the depression immediately broke and a black liquid flowed out of it.

“If you want to ask, ask quickly.” Qiu Dekao said, “His time is running out.  You can ask him questions, but he can't answer them. He can only nod and shake his head.”

I approached the man and asked him, “Don't be afraid, after you answer these questions, I may be able to save you. But you must answer me truthfully.  Did you find this sword on a corpse? “

His expression did not change, but he nodded slowly.  I asked again, “Is this person's finger particularly long?”

He looked at me and didn't respond.

I glanced at Qiu Dekao but he didn't respond either. Pan Zi said: “He probably didn't notice the man's hand.  Ask about other characteristics. “

I thought for a moment and asked, “Did that man have a tattoo?”

The man lying on the straw mat still didn't respond, but he continued to look at me. I stared into his eyes, searching for the answer I wanted. Suddenly, I found that his eyes were very strange.

Just a moment ago, I suddenly saw a familiar look that flashed through them.

This person's eyes were extremely desperate. I could understand that under such circumstances, nobody would have bright eyes, but in this despair, I clearly saw a familiarity.

I couldn't grasp this feeling, but I was sure it was very familiar. I had seen it at a certain period of time, and it was very impressive.

Was it Poker-Face?  My heart asked, did he put on a human skin mask again, replace Qiu Dekao's person inside, and switch places?

Certainly not. It couldn't be Poker-Face. His eyes were too distinctive that I was sure I would recognize them instantly.  Moreover, these were Qiu Dekao's people. If Poker-Face knew Qiu Dekao was coming down and also knew this person would be sent down, he would have to make a human skin mask and replace it. If that happened, then Poker-Face would have to have eight legs.

To be on the safe side, I still looked at the man's hand. It was already like a rubber glove filled with liquid, but there was no sign of unusually long fingers.

I was relieved that even if it was a bad Poker-Face, this kind of failure would definitely not come out.  It was even more unlikely to be Fatty. Fatty's eyes can not only indicate yes or no, but also sing “Eighteen Touch."

After careful consideration, I finally came up with the answer.

This was the way Xiao Hua looked at me when I met him before the big mess at the Crescent Hotel.

Xiao Hua thought I was familiar at that time, but he couldn't remember who I was.

I looked at the man, and he also looked at me.  He must be trying very hard to recall. Does he think I look familiar, like how Xiao Hua did at that time?

I suddenly had a bad premonition, as if something terrible was about to happen. I immediately asked quickly, “Answer me, does that person have a tattoo?”

Just after asking, the man suddenly opened his eyes wide and seemed to recognize me, struggling to get up.  His eyes were fixed on me, his chest was heaving, and he kept growling with something that was no longer a human voice.

Everyone was startled and watched him try to get up with a very strange movement. The doctor tried to push him down but failed.  He kept struggling, and several of the sunken places were broken, black pus and blood flowing out.

I was shocked when I watched him stand up and growl at me.

What I saw was a person with an extremely strange posture as his body seemed to melt completely. His two arms were hanging on both sides of his body. The sunken part of his body was broken and black liquid flowed all over.

But I didn't feel scared at all, there was another, more terrible feeling rushing through my whole body.

Suddenly I realized that I had seen a person with this posture before, and I had seen it right in front of me!

The feeling was so strong that I watched the man coming towards me but didn't retreat.  I watched his movements and broke out in a cold sweat. Then I remembered two things.

The first one was the strange photo Brother Chu gave me, where a picture of a strange shadow behind a screen was taken.

The other one was in the second floor window of Agui's house. I also saw a shadow with a very similar posture to this person.

Don't tell me… the two strange shadows were a prototype of such a person?

The man looked at me and shouted as hard as he could, trying to jump at me, but after only two moves he fell to the ground and could no longer move. I looked at him coldly, but couldn't hold on any longer.

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Chapter end