The cramped room was filled with a faint smell of blood.

Xu Le's eyes were full of worry, and he began to look for clues to this ritual in the room.

On the table were an old book and a notebook, which was mutilated and the back half had been torn out.

The book is very thick, called "Introduction to the Occult", the author is Ron, and the cross drawn on the cover is scarlet and weird.

All the characters on the book are in traditional Chinese, and although Xu Le may not necessarily write them, he can make them recognizable.

Holding the book, he didn't rush to read it, but calmly used a few straws, kneaded together, and blocked the hole in the cat's eye of the door.

Even if there was no one outside, he had a feeling of being spied on.

After doing all this, Xu Le opened the "Introduction to the Occult" and found that someone had written a sentence on the title page - I can't escape, they are watching me, they are watching me, they are watching me, and on the roof, I see its scarlet and vicious pupils!!

This sentence is followed by three scarlet exclamation points. In this environment, reading such a sentence, Xu Le's back was cold.

"The color of the ink is the same as the color of the ground ritual pattern, and it should be from Ye Kong's hand." Xu Le muttered.

He shook his left hand slightly, and now the lines on the palm of his left hand are still spreading.

He anxiously flipped through the table of contents of the book, which was generally divided into five large chapters, the first of which had no occult tendencies, but seemed to introduce the history of the wasteland.

Xu Le didn't have time to take a closer look, only looked at the main points of the catalog.

Chapter 1 – How did the wasteland come to be?

Chapter 2 – Why do the outcasts in the wasteland fight over different faiths? Who is spreading the faith? Gods?

Chapter 3 – Why are there altars in some ancient ruins, and what were the ancestors sacrificing? What rituals were used in those sacrifices?

Chapter 4—The Resurrection of the Dead After Burial? Is it a legend or a fact?

Chapter 5 – Is there an extraordinary being in the world?

After a cursory reading, I didn't find any clues, but it seems that the author is deliberately attracting attention.

At this time, the lines in the palm of the left hand gradually spread to half of the palm, forming half a complex and strange pattern, almost exactly the same as the pattern on the compass.

Xu Le subconsciously wanted to wipe off those lines, and rubbed the palm of his left hand frantically with the thumb of his right hand, but those lines and bumps were like stone cocoons, and they couldn't be erased at all.

And the more you rub it, the hotter it gets, and the whole palm of your hand feels like it's about to burn off.

Once these lines form a complete ritual, there is no telling what mysterious things will happen.

"Oh, how do I feel, that evil compass is now melting in my palm."

"What the hell is this ritual?" Xu Le closed the "Introduction to the Occult" and prepared to study it later.

"The diary, about the ritual, he must have recorded it in the diary."

He picked up Ye Kong's diary with some irritability and began to look through it.

Ye Kong's handwriting is very beautiful, and the typesetting is also very neat, and he looks like a very rigorous person.

There are a lot of words on the diary, which tend to be memorable, and Xu Le is very eager to pick out the key content to read.

"March 15th. Today in the library of the school, I came across a piece of parchment whose owner was named Ron, who described how he had seen a man who could fly. ”

"Who is Ron? Author of Introduction to the Occult? ”

"On March 16, I searched all the books on the occult in the library, but only a few words came out, and the words were unknown."

"On March 25th, I held a mysterious ceremony for the first time according to the ancient book, and that night I actually had a dream, and I dreamed ......" Xu Le suddenly frowned when he saw this. Ye Kong should have written in his diary what he dreamed about, but this large content was altered with ink.

Who did this?

"On April 8th, I held another ceremony, which was very complete, I secretly translated it in the school, and the name of the ceremony was 'Spiritual Retreat'. I meditated for ten minutes as required by the ritual, and I found that I was not sleepy at all throughout the night, and my strength seemed to have increased. Is this the cultivation method? ”

"On April 9th, I continued the ceremony, and this time, within five minutes, I noticed a sharp pain in my head, and my body was about to explode. I was so scared that I quickly stopped. ”

"On April 11th, the same ritual did not have the effect of the first time at all, but became more and more weird, I feel that my body is going to split and become a monster, what is the problem?"

"On April 12th, I met Ron and he showed me around the organization's ......"

The notebook has been flipped through, and seeing these neat words, Xu Le feels that there is a storm brewing in it.

"Tsk, interesting."

Judging from the wall calendar on the bed, Ye Kong is on the fifth day of May, that is, today's ceremony.

A month ago, he came into contact with the person "Ron", and he was also connected to the mysterious organization behind him.

"I only have half of the diary in my hand, and the other part is gone, who took it?" Xu Le closed his eyes and began to digest Ye Kong's memory fragments.

A hazy memory came to mind.

"Give me the diary!"

"Don't give it!"

It was two people arguing.

A beautiful and touching woman in front of him was angrily snatching a notebook from his hand. Neither of them let anyone, and finally tore the notebook in half.

"It's Ye Jia, Ye Kong's sister, she snatched the notebook!"

Xu Le's eyes froze, and from Ye Kong's memory, he learned that Ye Jia was very disgusted with Ye Kong's study of occult knowledge, and the sister and brother quarreled many times for this.

"The content behind the notebook is the key, not only can it solve the problem of my left palm, maybe there is really a way to cultivate." Xu Le's eyes flickered, and he was going to go to Ye Jia's room next door to find out.

It was at this moment that the lines of the palm suddenly accelerated and converged, and instantly became a complete ritual!

The drastic change was so fast that Xu Le didn't react for a while!

Airplanes!

The palm of his left hand shook violently, like a powder keg about to explode, and a terrifying energy was about to erupt.

At this moment, Xu Lexin mentioned his throat!

Just when he was at a loss, the ritual that was about to erupt seemed to be suddenly hindered, and the rushing river suddenly could not find its outlet, and it came to a standstill in an instant.

Xu Le's right hand clenched his left wrist, panting violently, he stared at his palm, and he was relieved until his palm slowly returned to calm.

"It seems that one is missing, the key to activate the ritual ......" The panic in Xu Le's eyes gradually dissipated, and was replaced by a strange look.

"There seems to be a surge of energy in these patterns." Xu Le took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "If the method is done properly and the ritual in the palm of my palm is successfully activated, can I use this power?" ”

There seems to be such a possibility.

So how do you find the key and control it?

He was silent for a while, ready to go to Ye Jia's room to look for clues. As soon as he got up, a familiar shout came from outside the courtyard: "Xiaokong, hurry up and open the door, I brought you lunch." ”

Ye Jia is back!

Xu Le narrowed his eyes slightly, clenched his left hand into a fist, hid the palm ceremony, and then said with a smile: "Sister, I'll come over right away." ”

He trotted over and opened the gate of the yard.

Living in the wasteland, locking the door is the most basic operation.

What catches your eye is a beautiful face, with short hair, wearing blue jeans and a white shirt.

This kind of dress looks cold on the earth, but on the wasteland, Ye Jia is one of the very few people who can wear a complete dress.

After all, she is a school teacher and needs to pay attention to her appearance.

"Xiaokong, I brought you noodles." Ye Jia said with a smile, as if she had forgotten about the fact that she and her brother were fighting for the notebook yesterday.

She laughs very kindly and gently, which makes people feel like a spring breeze, which is very comfortable.

"Thank you, sister." Xu Le took the lunch box and smiled back.

"The yard has been touched by dirt." Ye Jia half-turned his body and pointed to the big sunflower and asked.

"I see that the yard is quite monotonous, so I want to grow flowers." Xu Le explained with a smile.

Ye Jia glanced at Xu Le meaningfully, and did not continue to ask, but said, "Let's go, eat noodles." ”

She carried her lunch box, walked inside, and began to clean the table.

Xu Le watched from the sidelines, of course he wouldn't tell Ye Jia that he had buried the crow in the morning.

It was Ye Kong's body, and it was none of his business.

After abandoning the ancestral grave of others for many years, Xu Le's life creed has always been - if you feel guilty, then convince yourself not to have it, and if you do something bad, tell yourself that I didn't do it.

"Sit down and eat." Ye Jia on the side wiped the table and took out the wooden bowl in the food box, which contained a bowl of stewed noodles.

"Recently, the shelter has not been peaceful, and the price of braised noodles has risen to 30 yuan a bowl." Ye Jia looked at Ye Kong and said worriedly.

In the Black Blood Shelter, the average monthly salary will not exceed two thousand, and a bowl of noodles of thirty yuan is simply sky-high.

This is still for people who have jobs, ordinary homeless people, basically only starving.

Xu Le nodded, in his memory, Ye Jia persuaded Ye Kong many times to go out to work.

"Xiaokong, you should follow me as a teaching assistant tomorrow, don't study those things." Ye Jia sat down opposite Xu Le, looked at Xu Le seriously and said.

"Uh-huh." Xu Le nodded, "But I have one condition, sister." ”

"On what terms?" Ye Jia looked at her younger brother, with a little elder majesty on her beautiful face.

"Give me back the journal."

"Impossible!"

The negotiation between the two sides broke down in a second, Xu Le opened the food box, took out the wooden bowl, and quietly looked at the bowl of stewed noodles.

Braised noodles are a kind of coarse noodles, the workmanship is not fine, one by one, and there is no oil and water in the bowl, only clear soup.

"If you can't eat it, buy a piece of dried pork from the grocery store diagonally across the street."

Ye Jia calmly took out fifty yuan and handed it to Xu Le.

"Sister?" Xu Le looked up and glanced at her in surprise.

"Let's go."

"Hmm." Xu Leying came down and ran to the utility store with the fifty yuan.

Xu Le's emotions slowly precipitated, and some pictures of getting along with Ye Jia in the past came to mind, which was very warm.

He tilted his head slightly, his expression was slightly dazed, at this moment, he didn't seem to know whether he was Ye Kong or Xu Le.

Xu Le thought as he walked out of the courtyard, the sun outside was very scorching, as if it could roast people.

He took the fifty dollar in his hand and looked at it, and it was very well made, and it was engraved with a red sun, and in the red sun was a woman sitting on a throne.

Who's this? Which organization issued the currency? These thoughts flashed through Xu Le's heart.

Many of Ye Kong's memories are vague, and when he encounters familiar things, he may stimulate his memory, or he may not remember anything.

He looked at the door and found the Zhao Ji Grocery Store diagonally opposite.

Zhao Kee Grocery Store is the only grocery store in No. 8 Market Town, and the owner has some connections in the shelter.

Boss Zhao has a fat son named Zhao Fugui, who is fifteen years old this year, but his brain is not very good.

Xu Le walked outside the utility store and pushed open the hidden door. The yard of the utility shop is large, and there are some vegetables and garlic grown.

There was only a little fat man in the yard, who was chasing a big yellow dog, and scolded in his mouth: "Don't let you pee on my mat, you still swear, believe it or not, I'll stew you tonight!" ”

The big yellow dog ran in the yard, although it ran very fast, but it did not trample on the vegetables, and landed very measuredly.

The little fat man chased for a while, sat on the ground, panting, and couldn't chase anymore.

"Fugui, buy a piece of pork jerky." Xu Le said.

Zhao Fugui raised his eyes, saw that it was Ye Kong, waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute." ”

After speaking, Zhao Fugui began to take off his pants.

"What are you doing?" Xu Le subconsciously took a few steps back, "Don't mess around." ”

Zhao Fugui glanced at Xu Le strangely, and didn't pay attention to it, but walked to the mat in the courtyard, revealing a small earthworm, and began to pee. The mouth explained:

"That stupid dog always pees on my lunch mat and wants to occupy my territory, so I have to pee and let it know that this is Lao Tzu's territory!"

Yellow urine spilled all over the mat at once, spreading a faint smell.

"You're so smart!" Xu Le gave him a thumbs up.

The little fat man lifted his pants, clapped his hands, and looked at Xu Le with some surprise and excitement.

"Ye Kong, you finally admit that I am smart, you didn't always say that I was stupid before?"

Seeing him like that, Xu Le coughed a few times and said with a smile: "No, where is the pork jerky?" ”

"Inside, take it yourself, 35 pieces." The little fat man said.

The house with a utility shop is also very large, and there are a lot of goods in it, and there is a lot of variety.

The better sellers are pork jerky and large tobacco, and a small piece of pork jerky is not as big as the palm of a person's hand, and it costs 35.

It's expensive, but it's the only condiment for people in the market town, and if you can eat half a day of it, it's definitely a rich family.

"35 is too expensive, you see you're so smart, 30." Xu Le tried to bargain.

He wanted to take advantage of the little fat man's father to fool the little fat man.

As a result, the little fat man was anxious, and said very resolutely: "No, my father said it, and he will sell it for 35!" ”

“30！”

“35！” The little fat man still won't let go.

went back and forth a few times, and seeing that the little fat man was not unwilling to give in, Xu Le thought about it and forgot it, and handed the little fat man 50 yuan.

The little fat man opened the cash box, Ma Li rummaged through it, and handed Xu Le a 20, 10, and 5 yuan bills.

"I'm looking for you for 35 in total, my dad said 35 is 35, I'm so smart, don't lie to me." The little fat man looked serious, and his big eyes were spinning.

"You're so smart!" Xu Le accepted the money and gave him a thumbs up.

Take the piece of pork jerky, go back to the house, and lock the yard gate.

Xu Le found that Ye Jia in the house was gone, and her bowl of noodles had been eaten.

On the other side of the table, there was a half notebook.

"Oh, this sister." A smile appeared on the corner of Xu Le's mouth.