Xiao Jing finally squeezed out of the narrow passage that seemed to have no end in sight. As soon as he took a breath, he slapped the dust on his dress and on his arms. Shen Mingde was already waiting for her at the exit of the passage, and scanned the situation left and right with a flashlight. This underground chamber seems to be a warehouse. After exiting the channel, it is divided into two channels, left and right, and forms a "T" shaped structure. These two passages are not as narrow as those at the entrance, and they are piled up with various debris on both sides. If large items such as tables and barrels piled up in the passage can be carried in, there should be a larger entrance in addition to this narrow entrance.

The two of them still walked to the passage with debris piled up on one side in the order of "right first, then left". It's another long passage, with a thick gray net on the piles of miscellaneous items on both sides. Fortunately, there was no fork in the passage, and from a corner to the end, the two of them walked along the passage to the end. It looks like an "end", but it's not, and they don't know either. Because by this time they had been blocked by the collapsed ground. There was a huge hole in their heads. The broken rubble was scattered all over the ground, and the other end of the collapsed ground was firmly attached to the ground above, creating a steep slope. Judging from the traces of collapse and fire, it should be the side of the wing that has been burned down.

The ground is littered with broken bricks and tiles, and if you're not careful, you might trip over the ground. Shen Mingde kicked away the gravel at his feet, cleared a clearing for himself, and looked around with a flashlight. Xiao Jing stood on tiptoe and turned back to leave. She was afraid of tripping over the bricks or having her shoes pierced by the broken tiles. However, just as she turned around and took a step, her left foot happened to step on an arc-shaped object. Shen Mingde beside him immediately hugged her. When Xiao Jing stood firm, Shen Mingde bent down to pick up the object she stepped on. The object was a half-mask, shattered from its forehead to its chin. The mask was blue-faced with fangs, glaring at him, and adorned with a row of tiny human skulls carved on top of his head, which looked terrifying. Shen Mingde flipped half of the mask to the back, only to see that there were still two lines of small characters on the side of the face pasted on the person's face:

"Music and song and dance,

will stay away from me. ”

Could it be some kind of exorcism spell? After reading these two lines, the two were really confused and completely confused. Later, they picked up several fragments of the mask on the ground, but the text on the back was no longer known because they were badly damaged or charred by fire.

Just as they turned around to leave the passage, Shen Mingde's flashlight was suddenly radiated by something in the rubble. He immediately began rummaging through the broken rubble. In a very inconspicuous location, the two of them found a broken picture frame and a small notepad. Shen Mingde wiped off the dust on the cuffs of his shirt, and saw that the photo in the frame was a group photo similar to a family photo. So, he completely smashed the frame on the rubble, poured the broken glass to the ground, and tried to remove the group photo. Xiao Jing looked at the notebook. When I opened it, it didn't seem to record any useful information, but a lot of names:

"Chen Zhichao

Zhang

Zhang Yang (Wang Jiang Chunhong's nephew)

Wei Hongliang

……………………

Sun Xinxin

Zhou Tengfei (Zhao Zhou Fangyi, nephew)

……………………”

When Xiao Jing saw that Zhou Tengfei's name was also on this notebook, she gasped. She immediately showed the list to Shen Mingde. Shen Mingde was also puzzled, and casually flipped through a few more pages of the notebook, only to find that there was nothing on it except for the person's name. Could it be that the person who took this note was conducting the census of Yushugou Village? He couldn't help but wonder in his heart.

There was a crisp click, the frame was opened, and the two photos flew to the ground. Shen Mingde picked up the photo and looked at it carefully. I found out that the "family portrait" I just thought was not a family photo at all. There are men and women in the photo, but most of them are adults, except for a boy who looks younger. On the back of the photo, names are also marked according to where the person is standing. Among them, the surnames Wang and Zhao are the majority, and there are several female names with different surnames, which should be spouses.

Xiao Jing pointed to one of the names and said, "There are twelve people. “

Shen Mingde glanced at the name of the person Xiao Jing pointed to. "Wang Shanwen", the brother of Wang Lu and Wang Qi? The person Zhou Cuifang vowed to marry? Well, this picture is chosen to receive "immortality."

"A group photo of the twelve candidates? Shen Mingde pondered.

The two took out a second photo to look at. There are also twelve people in this picture, but all twelve of them are children. They all look like elementary school students of the same age. They wear shorts, shorts, or skirts and smile brightly in the sun.

Xiao Jing seems to have a new clue. She snatched the photo and first observed it very carefully for a long time, and then pointed to the back row, a tall boy in a blue and white, horizontal striped short-sleeved T-shirt in the middle, as if he had discovered a new continent, and said: "Zhou Tengfei!" It's Zhou Tengfei! “

Shen Mingde took the photo and looked at it carefully. The boy had shaved like a monk's hair, that kind of hippie smile and disdainful expression, and that slender but not thin body did look like Zhou Tengfei. Under Xiao Jing's reminder, Shen Mingde checked the boy's grinning and found that he seemed to be a "toothless man". Xiao Jing told Shen Mingde with certainty that she had seen photos of Zhou Tengfei when he was a child in the past, so he would not admit his mistake.

Shen Mingde nodded and flipped the photo to the back. There is no name on the back of the photo, and there are three large characters written on it - "Sacrificeable".

Xiao Jing packed her photos and notebook in her small bag. Follow Shen Mingde and turn around and walk the same way. Xiao Jing believes that the children in the photo should be the children of Yushugou Village. The Wang family and the Zhao family chose the "sacrifice" from among them. Because at that time, the children were attracted by Lao Yu's story, and under Lao Yu's guidance, many children were able to see the lake. Therefore, these children, including Zhou Tengfei, are qualified as "sacrifices".

Shen Mingde walked ahead. I don't know if he was thinking or angry, he didn't say a word, very silent. Inadvertently, the two of them passed through the narrow passage they had passed down and walked deeper into the left passage where the debris had been piled up. Turn a corner to the left and the pile-up of debris is gone. They seemed to have entered a relatively open space. Not far in front of them, there seemed to be a row of cylindrical objects, and the light of the flashlight could not make out what they were.

At the door, Shen Mingde immediately stopped Xiao Jing and made a "silence" gesture to her. Then, alone, he lowered his body and moved softly towards the objects step by step. This posture looks very similar to the actions of the "thieves" who break through the empty door in the movie. Shen Mingde's right arm was against the wall, and he was holding a mobile phone flashlight in his left hand. Little by little, rubbing in front of you, trying not to make a sound.

Xiao Jing also held her breath and slowly walked to Shen Mingde's side, in the corner next to the door. With her back against the corner, at least she didn't have to risk from behind, and just focused on what was going on in front of her.

Shen Mingde finally moved to the vicinity of those objects. Under the light of the flashlight, the surface of the cylindrical object reflected a faint light. He approached and stood up. I saw that these objects seemed to be water tanks with mouthfuls, but they were a few times larger than the water tanks in ordinary rural homes. The cylinder port is also covered with a round wooden cylinder head. From the gap in the cylinder head, he could barely see anything. He put two fingers on the edge of the cylinder head......

Xiao Jing stood in the corner. Her straight, straight legs made her feel a little stiff. From her position, it seemed that Shen Mingde's figure was already standing in front of those objects, and he hunched his back and didn't know what he was studying. Xiao Jing used a mobile phone flashlight to illuminate in front of her, and her ears kept collecting the movement in the passage outside the door. I don't know if it's a psychological effect or whatever, but she feels as if someone has walked through the upper floors of this chamber. The vibration from the stamping on the floor seemed to shake off some of the dust on the ceiling of the chamber above her head. Xiao Jing gently wiped the dust from her hair with her left hand, and then reached for her back. The back of her hand inadvertently skimmed the wall, and a cold sensation entered her body. The walls are uneven, as if they were made of dirt. The uneven surface of the wall irritated the skin on the back of Xiao Jing's hand. Suddenly, a strange itching sensation came from her wrist, followed by a slight tingling sensation. Could it be bugs? Xiao Jing couldn't stand this torture, and she immediately jumped away from the corner, accompanied by an exclamation.

Shen Mingde exerted force on the two fingers that were holding the cylinder head, and he wanted to slowly push the wooden lid open to see what was in the cylinder. Suddenly, an exclamation struck, and Shen Mingde withdrew his fingers like lightning and collapsed to the ground. By the time he reacted, Xiao Jing had already run to her side. She squatted beside Shen Mingde, whispered in a nervous trembling tone in his ear, "There is something, there is something in the corner." After that, he immediately covered his mouth.

Shen Mingde slowly got up from the ground, but he didn't stand up. Just changed from a sitting position to a squatting position. The two held their flashlights and fired through the space, but found nothing. Shen Mingde plucked up his courage and walked to the corner of the wall where Xiao Jing had just stood. He looked at the wall from top to bottom and slapped it twice hard. Then he raised his mouth, as if to laugh at himself for once again discovering nothing. It seems that there is nothing special in this room, except for the few large vats that I don't know what to do. Simply, Shen Mingde used the lighter he carried with him to light a few candles on the candle shelf that were nailed to the wall.

The candle shadows jumped, and the green smoke drifted. In the silence, the candlelight of twenty-four candles danced in an eerie dance. In this weird atmosphere, Shen Mingde and Xiao Jing stood in front of the row of large water tanks again. Although the candle was not as dimly lit, it basically provided a light source for the two of them, at least without the need for one hand to hold a flashlight.

There were eight of them in the row of large tanks and against the wall in the room. The water tank is about one and a half meters high, about a meter in diameter and has a smooth black paint on the outside. Five of the eight tanks were empty and not covered with wooden lids. The other three water tanks had wooden lids, and one of them had been half-opened by Shen Mingde just now. The two of them stood at the front of the tank and looked inside. I found out that this is really a water tank. It was filled with water, and a film of limescale or dirt was formed on it, and the water reflected the flame of the candle and the figures of the two men. Shen Mingde patted the rim of the cylinder, and planned to leave with some disappointment. At this moment, a string of bubbles suddenly broke the silence of this backwater. At the same time, there was a "gurgling" sound underwater, which was heard in this quiet and silent environment.

Shen Mingde turned around and planned to find something in the debris pile to see what was in the water tank. Before he had gone a few steps away, he noticed that there seemed to be something written in yellow paint on the bottom of the cylinder wall. He immediately turned back and leaned over to take a look. It was a name, and there were names on the walls of the three tanks filled with water, one of which was a person with the surname "Wang" and two people with the surname "Zhao".

Shen Mingde said excitedly to Xiao Jing: "I have found evidence." It is estimated that the tank contains corpses. Gao Zhongchen set fire to the Wang family and the Zhao family, and then hid in this vat. Wait for me and come back right away. “

When Xiao Jing heard that it was a corpse, she felt sick. She's seen a lot of movies and heard about some horrific murders. Some people will build corpses in walls, some will dissect corpses, and there is a novel that says "kill, dissolve". After the killer killed the victim, he placed the body in a container filled with sulfuric acid. A "grunt" interrupted Xiao Jing's conjecture, and she saw a series of bubbles emerging from the depths of the tank again. Immediately after that, one or two bubbles will gradually float up from the depths of the tank, expand and burst on the surface of the water. She couldn't help but get scared, step by step, and gently stepped back. The surface of the water gradually became uncalm, and occasionally a splash spilled out of the tank. Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object collapsing made Xiao Jing turn around quickly like a frightened bird. When she thought that it must have been Shen Mingde's voice when he was looking for some prop, she turned her head in the direction of the water tank like lightning. The water tank has become extremely uncalm at this time. The water in the tank was tumbling as if it had been boiled. Xiao Jing was almost in tears, she stared at the "boiling" water, and didn't dare to turn around. It seemed that as long as she didn't pay attention and turned around, she would be attacked from behind by something that came out of the tank. Xiao Jing didn't dare to turn around, and continued to retreat, but she lost her center of gravity carelessly and leaned back to the past.

Shen Mingde pulled out an old heating pipe about a meter long from the debris pile. This heating pipe is the right length and weight, and it feels very easy to hold in your hand. As soon as he turned to leave, he heard several successive crashing sounds from behind. The sound after the collapse made Shen Mingde's heart tense even more, and he heard a sound like "bang-la-la" in this silent secret room. I sensed that something was wrong in my heart, could it be that Xiao Jing fell into the water tank? Shen Mingde ran towards Xiao Jing's room in one step. As soon as I turned into the storage room where the water tank was placed from the passage where the debris was piled up, I saw the scene of boiling water splashing in the large water tank whose wooden lid had been lifted, and Xiao Jing, who was already stunned, slowly retreated. He quickly rushed behind Xiao Jing, intending to take her out of the room immediately. Xiao Jing suddenly stumbled and fell backwards, just caught by Shen Mingde, who was driven behind her. However, Xiao Jing's fall caught Shen Mingde off guard, he caught Xiao Jing, but his center of gravity was unstable and he really fell to the ground. At the same time, the water in the tank was tumbling, like magma bursting out of the fire. Then, with a loud crash on the shore, something pierced through the water. This shocking scene stunned the two sitting on the ground. Neither the desire to survive nor the instinct to escape seemed to have brought these two men back to reality.

The water splashed, the mist drifted away, and a disgusting hoodoo stood in the water tank more than ten meters away in front of the two of them. It was a human skeleton, but it seemed to be covered in black-brown flesh. It was a dried corpse, but its upper arms were still waving in the air. It was a dry corpse that was still alive, the protruding eyeballs in the sunken eye sockets seemed to be still moving, and the shrunken lips showed broken yellow teeth, which seemed to be still open and closed. Waving hands flared in the air, scratching frantically. Shen swore that he would never have been so frightened in the first half of his life for more than 30 years, not even when he first visited the museum's "Mummy" exhibition as a child. And when he saw the living corpse dance, he decided that he would never create an opportunity for himself to have the experience he had in the rest of his life. Of course, if you survive tonight.

However, this "performance" of living corpses did not last long. The splash of water inadvertently disappeared, the tumbling and boiling water fell silent, and the dancing of the living corpses came to an abrupt halt, like a "fixation spell" or a robot whose power had been cut off. The thing still had its arms held high, its hands grasping something in the air. Its head looked up at the roof of the chamber and froze. It gradually sank to the bottom of the tank, and the right arm seemed to be unable to support it with a "snap", and smashed into the water, splashing again. The left arm, like the head, remains in its original position and continues to sink. This scene made Shen Mingde rush to a sense of sadness, the living corpse was like a man in the water, struggling desperately, calling for help, but was abandoned. Eventually, it was exhausted and sank to the bottom with despair and nostalgia.

The two of them stood up from the ground with each other's arms. Xiao Jing exhaled a mouthful of turbidity. Returning to the atmosphere of dead silence again made her relax a lot. She looked at Shen Mingde and showed a smile like "the rest of my life". She followed behind Shen Mingde, dragging her stiff steps and approaching the water tank containing the living corpse again. Shen Mingde used his mobile phone to take pictures of the water tank, as well as the deformed arm that was still exposed outside the water. After learning that Shen Mingde was fascinated by the strange things he hunted, she really didn't know whether this photo was for evidence or as a souvenir. As the camera "clicked", Xiao Jing felt that a finger seemed to move slightly. She immediately grabbed Shen Mingde's sleeve. At this moment, the slender fingers like chicken claws suddenly flattened, stretched, and grabbed the edge of the cylinder. The two were so frightened that they hurriedly retreated, and Shen Mingde raised the iron rod in his hand. Is that thing going to pull itself out of it by grabbing the rim of the tank? But things didn't go in the most horrific direction. Just a few seconds later, the claw-like hand gradually lost its strength, from strong to soft, and then reluctantly slipped into the water.