August 4th.

When I woke up, I felt even more uncomfortable than the day before. I still can't remember what I dreamed, but it's not hard to imagine it.

——— Reimu's pale face as paper; Sharp daggers across her thin neck; In the darkness of the cellar, the white bone sockets that stared at me were black holes; And the dog next to the white bones.........

To this day, these scenes still appear in front of my eyes, and I refuse to leave them for a long time.

As I listened, I could hear the silent sobs of the little girl coming from the cellar and the wailing of the dog.

In this way, I am glad that I can't remember the scene in my dream.

If, like everyone else, I could remember what happened in my dreams, then every night, I would be afraid to sleep, and I would be tormented by sleepless nights like when I was younger.

In a way, I may be sad about this thought. I used to yearn for the "world in my dreams", but now this thought is long gone——— I can't help but admit that I can no longer yearn for the "world in my dreams", and my heart has long been empty.

Even then, nothing like that had happened, and I am afraid that this change in me was inevitable. This is the fate of those who abandon the world and in turn are abandoned by the world.........

Without further ado, let's get down to business.

Let's talk about the morning of August 4th.

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I still didn't sleep well the night before, and I didn't sleep very deeply. When I woke up in the morning, my whole face was miserable.

When I stood in front of the mirror of the washbasin with sleepy eyes and saw my own appearance, I suspected that it was not my own face.

The eyelids were swollen and seemed to have water in them, and the cheeks were thin, as if a piece of flesh had been cut off. The lips are darkened, and the wrinkles have increased a lot.

It was as if in one night, I was ten years old.

I washed my face slowly, then looked at my aging appearance in my glasses and sighed.

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By the way, I remembered that when I saw Carlo the black dog who had followed me in the corner of the mirror, I was trembling with nervousness.

As I took Carlo and was about to go out, I suddenly heard the sound of water flowing.

On the second floor, directly above my room, it looked like someone was using cold or hot water. I didn't have any doubts at the time.

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About an hour before noon, I walked out of my room and came to the meeting room.

Unexpectedly, there was already a young man sitting there, who was listlessly looking at the overhead board in a daze. It's silence.

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"Ah......... It's early. ”

When Silence saw me, he was overwhelmed to avoid my gaze.

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"Are you in a bit more stable now?"

I walked inside. The young man was embarrassed to look me in the face.

"Yesterday, I'm sorry." He muttered, "I ........."

"Don't think about the past, don't mind too much."

The young man was dejected, and I looked at the top of his head, which was covered with long hair.

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"When you go home this time, forget about what happened here. Time will make you forget everything. ”

"Understood."

He nodded peacefully, picked up a lidless teacup on the table, and drank the rest of the tea in one gulp.

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Looking at Shiruyuki's slightly trembling hands, I imagined in my mind the hideous appearance of the "youkai" he had seen in his hallucination yesterday.

When Shiruyuki put the finished teacup back, he accidentally touched the empty sake jar next to the table. The empty jar that was knocked off rolled to the ground, and the sporadic drinks inside wet the dark floor tiles.

Silence hurriedly got up from the wooden chair and picked up the empty jar.

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"I'm sorry." He apologized to me peacefully.

"It doesn't matter." I said goodbye and walked out of the room.

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When I went to the kitchen to get a cloth, I stopped by the hall and checked the door that had been locked last night and found nothing out of the ordinary.

At this moment, the wind dagger came down from the second floor.

"Early." The wind dagger greeted calmly, but the tired look on his face was clear at a glance. There are faint black circles around his slender eyes, which makes people feel distressed.

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"Silence in the meeting room."

I left the door and said to him, "It looks like I'm in a stable state of mind." Don't worry he'll be like yesterday——— I'm going to pour a cup of tea and drink it? ”

"Okay." As he spoke, the wind dagger groped in his arms, and took out the two keys he had temporarily kept last night, "This, return to you." ”

He handed me the key, "What do you say?" We've really caused you a lot of trouble........."

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"As if nothing had happened. That's what I said to Shiruyuki just now——— don't think about the past. ”

I picked up a key with the fingers of my left hand and walked to the gate again.

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At night, the low air seemed to be gone. The sky gradually returned, the clouds had dispersed, and the sun had risen.

The light shone down and shone on the ground, white and dazzling.

I stretched my waist, raised my hands in the air, took a deep breath, and exhaled the turbid air that had been deposited in my heart.

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Half an hour before noon, Feng Ji came to the meeting room.

He, like the other two, looked very haggard, but he was a more numb person, not to mention the wind dagger, even Silence and An Zheng were not as good.

When they saw me, they cried out that they were hungry and wanted to eat.

"An Zheng is still sleeping?" Feng Ji looked at the light outside the window and called him up. Silence!! ”

Lonely Zhizheng looked out the window absentmindedly, and when he heard Feng Ji's words, he tilted his neck and said, "Strange." I thought the kid was up a long time ago. ”

"Why?"

"Because I heard him wash his face."

"What?"

"I hear the sound of water."

"Really?"

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"When I woke up this morning, I wanted to wash my face and heard the sound of water inside. I called a few times, but he didn't answer. I thought he hadn't heard......... I couldn't help it, just as the wind dagger was up, I went to his side to wash my face. ”

Look at the wind dagger.

The black-eyed young man nodded silently, "So, he should be up." ”

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When I was washing my face, I heard a sound from upstairs, maybe it was the sound of water when he was washing his face?

I had seen Silence in the guest room half an hour ago, and a quarter of an hour before I had been washing my face. In terms of time, the words of silence are credible.

"Will you wash your face and go to sleep again?" The wind said innocently, glaring at the overhead board, "Call him up." Silence!! ”

"Okay, I'll go."

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Silence stood up lazily and walked out of the meeting room.

Feng Ji sat down in his chair, scratched his long hair nonsensically, and squinted at his cousin, who was silent and drinking tea.

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"Wind Dagger!!"

Feng Ji wanted to test the other party's state of mind, "Last night, I thought about it. ”

"What?" The wind dagger asked coldly.

Feng Ji's tone was even more calm: "We always think that one of the four of us killed that woman, and I think this kind of thinking is unacceptable." ”

"I don't know what you mean."

"It's not us that's at fault, it's about the woman. It wasn't murder, it was an accident. Got it? Accidentally!! I have to blame her. Are you right? ”

"Why are you saying such things now?" The wind dagger furrowed his slender eyebrows, and a sneer appeared in his red eyes.

"Anyway, people are dead. Although there is no need to say that she committed suicide, she can't complain about our .........."

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That's when Silence ran into the meeting room.

His expression was faintly in a trance, and he breathed out loudly.

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"It's so weird." He said to us.

"What's going on?" Feng Ji's face was gloomy and his eyes were glaring, "Is it Anzheng?" Still sleeping? ”

"Not really. No. "The door is locked, and no matter how much I shout, no one answers. I went to his room and looked at it, and there was no one in there. ”

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I looked at the sky, it was already noon.

If Silence doesn't talk nonsense, then things will feel strange. How could he be alone inside for so long.........

"Check it out." Feng Dagger stood up and urged Feng Ji, who was stunned there, "Uncle Park, you can also go and have a look, okay?" ”

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Go up from the small staircase, on the right side of the front, and the room inside is Anzheng's room. It is equivalent to the southeast boundary of the dog meat factory, and below is my room on the first floor.

On the opposite side ——— the room on the left side is the room of the wind table. The room of the Silence and the Wind Dagger was outside, separated from the two rooms by a large barrel room.

We rushed into the silent room on the right side of the hallway, by the small staircase, and then went straight to the door of the vat room.

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It was a black wooden door. It is locked from the inside.

The door was closed.

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"Anzheng!!"

The wind dagger knocked on the door and called his name, "Anzheng, are you there?" ”

"Anzheng!!" Feng Ji, who was standing next to him, also shouted, "Hey!!" Anzheng. ”

There was no response.

The wind dagger pushed the door again, but it still couldn't open the door. It's locked inside.

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"Let's go next door." The wind dagger hurried out of the room, and the three of us followed.

In An Zheng's room, there was nothing particularly abnormal. There is one window on the front and one on the left side of the door, both closed.

I checked it myself and found that the sliding windows above these two windows were also tightly closed. The kerosene lamp was still burning, and that was the case when Silence came in just now.

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"Isn't his door locked?" I asked Silence.

He nodded wordlessly.

The wind dagger then ran towards the door of the vat room.

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Like next door, the door of the vat room here is also locked and cannot be opened.

The wind dagger screamed a few more times, but there was still no response inside.

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I stood by, thinking of a way to open the door to the vat room.

It soon became clear that there was only one way ——— smash the door open completely.

At that time, I deliberately checked the door. It was found that the gap between the door and the door frame was very small——— even a slightly larger needle could not necessarily pass through.

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Standing in the room, the vat door is open outward, so it is impossible to remove the entire door panel. The same goes for the vat door in the next room.

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"Just hit it away!!"

Wind Dagger said.

"There's only an iron lock on the door, maybe it will work——— Fengji, you can help me." Uncle Park, you step back. The wind dagger gestured, and together the two of them slammed their shoulders against the door of the vat room.

But the lock inside was stronger than the wind dagger expected, and after three or four hits, there was no movement.

I thought it would be better to go to the kitchen and get a knife or an axe than to hit it like this. I was just about to say that the efforts of the two men have finally borne fruit.

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There was a dull sound.

It was as if the rusty nails on the door had been pulled out, and the door had fallen backwards.

——— Feng dagger covered his right shoulder, looked into the door, and suddenly screamed "ah".

"Ah, Ah, Anzheng ........."

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I already understood what was going on in the vat room.

Whether it's the wind table that walks behind the wind dagger in fear, or the silence that stands in the room and observes the movement, he must also understand what is going on.

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"Anzheng!!"

Feng Ji shouted in a low voice, his voice trembling, "Why are you .........?"

I followed them and walked in. At that time, I deliberately looked at the lock on the door.

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The door lock is very common, it is a common horizontal pin iron lock——— as long as the iron pin is pierced into the iron pin mouth, it can be locked.

The reason why I took a closer look at the lock for any signs of man-made was because I was suspicious of this kind of "secret room" (the door is locked from the inside).

As far as I can see, there are no suspicious traces on either the iron pin or the iron pin.

The same goes for doors and door frames, and there is no doubt about it.

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Also, I checked the door in the next room and found nothing suspicious. In addition, before me, the wind table and the wind dagger that rushed into the big barrel room did not take advantage of my unpreparedness and made any movements on the two doors. I can assert all of this with confidence.

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As for the "airtightness" of this large barrel room, I later did a lot of detailed investigations, which I will not mention here for the time being, and will talk about it later.

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This large vat room is about half the size of the next room, with no windows, dark stone bricks on the floor, and a large wooden barrel on the inside of the left side of the door.

There are also four legs under that big wooden barrel, which is antique. An Zheng was standing in the big wooden barrel.

No, not "standing" there, to be exact, but at least at first, I think that's the case.

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He was dressed in a white cloth robe, his head hung limply, and his arms hung from there.

Wind Dagger and Ann, who rushed into the room first, stood in the center of the narrow room, leaning against each other, looking at their companions who could no longer speak.

I pushed the two of them away, and in desperation, walked over to the big barrel.

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An Zheng didn't "stand" there, because he didn't rely on his feet to support his body.

He is not "standing" there, the whole person is hanging.........

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"He's dead."

Feng looked back at the last one who came in, and let out a mournful silence, saying, "He killed himself." ”

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Ahn is dead.

I pressed my left hand to my heart, trying to calm down as I watched the corpse hanging in front of me.

On An Zheng's throat, it was a black hemp rope as thin as a little finger.

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Behind him, there was a sudden sound in Feng Ji's throat, and he turned around, rushed to the washbasin, pressed his stomach with both hands, and vomited.

The sound and breath he spit out made me feel stuffy in my heart, and I couldn't bear it anymore, so I had to retreat.

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"Uncle Caretaker."

Silence, who had exited the vat room first, called out to me, "There's a letter there." As he spoke, he rushed to the table next to the couch and raised his chin. He held a note in his hand, "It was written by that kid ——— Anzheng." It's a masterpiece. ”

"Really?" I took the paper in half, opened it, and saw that it was a row, white letterhead, "Ah, this ........." I just glanced at it, and I understood, "This is indeed his ........."

I have a vague impression of the words written on it. The square word, at first glance, thought it was engraved. ——— this is exactly the same as the words on the small album I accidentally saw the day before yesterday afternoon:

I can't lie to everybody anymore, I feel like I'm going crazy. Last night, I hurt that woman. I can't be mistaken. Causing a lot of trouble to everyone. Excuse me.

Anzheng

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A brief explanation of what happened after that.

From the very beginning, An Zheng knew that the murderer who killed Lei Mu was none other than himself. He was also very drunk and confused. But An Zheng must remember that it was he who killed Reimu. Yesterday, when everyone discussed this matter, he didn't say it. Because the other three people have vague memories, he also wants to fish in troubled waters. But last night, he was in pain for the mistakes he had made, and he couldn't get rid of it, and finally chose to commit suicide.........

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The above passage is the conclusion reached by the remaining three young people after discussion. Of course they say that, it's all too common.

I also don't want to disagree. As a bystander, I could see the subtle changes in their expressions clearly.

They were saddened by the loss of their companions, but at the same time they were glad that they were not murderers.

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The next thing they had to think about was whether or not to inform the mission about Anzheng. I joined them and consulted with them on what to do.

Unlike Lei Mu a few days ago, Anzheng's affairs will be known sooner or later.

As we all know, the four of them came here together. If you pretend to be smart and don't say a word, it will make people suspicious.

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Rather than that, it is better to burn An Zheng's "absolute book", leave the rest untouched, and then tell the world——— this is the way we finally reached an agreement.

said that An Zheng committed suicide. Although he did not leave a posthumous book, everyone knows why he committed suicide.

——— not long ago, his mother died, and Ahn was becoming depressed and vulnerable. He was hit hard, and when he came here, whenever something happened, he said that he was going to kill himself.

If all of us say so, the people of Chafu will believe it. Moreover, the vat room on site is indeed closed. He died there, and if you think about it, you can only kill yourself.

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That's it.

I took the book, along with the small picture album handed to me by the wind dagger last night, and burned it in the fire in the backyard, and then asked the young men to confess again, making it clear what to say and what not to say, and finally informed the Shili City Mission.

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After receiving the news, the guards who rushed to the old mansion quickly came to the conclusion of "suicide" based on the scene and the testimony of the four of us, which exceeded our expectations.

The corpse was also examined, and it was also determined that it was suicide. And the guards didn't go to the cellar, so that our hanging heart finally landed.

A few days later, the other three young men returned home without incident.

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Regarding the issue of the "closure" of the aforementioned vat house, I would like to say one more thing.

No matter how you think about it, the ——— vat room on site is closed.

——— both doors were locked from the inside, and there were no windows.

I knew there was no secret entrance or exit in that vat room.

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The two doors are the same as those described above. There were no suspicious signs of the lock or its surroundings, and there was not much space between the door and the frame.

Later, I made more detailed observations and investigations, and proved that these two doors had not been tampered with.

I have repeatedly checked the above places, what exactly I want to prove. This is self-explanatory.

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Ann did it on purpose.

Everything seems to illustrate this——— motivations, books, and closed scenes.

But I think there's something else going on. I think there are other possibilities——— he may have been killed.

That's what I thought. No, maybe I have to think so.

Around the "closure" of the vat room, I thought twice and finally came up with a clear answer.

But I don't want to tell anyone this answer, and I don't think it's necessary.

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It's been a month, and the dog meat shop has returned to its former tranquility, but my mind hasn't changed.

And if there are no major changes in the future, I will always keep my mouth shut.

People like Thunderwood won't be here again. An Zheng has also disappeared since then.

This is what happened in August.

This is the end of the matter——— which is the best ending.

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