Two bright lights turned out of the bend of the mountain, and the particles in the air fluttered in the pillars of light, and the mountain road was as bright as day.

The white shadow vanished. My shadow stretched like an eraser in the grass beside the road, growing clearer and clearer, and then becoming short and small at my feet.

The bright light ran to me and stopped, a puff of dust and smoke rushed into my nose, a huge black shadow blocked in front of me, and a neutral voice came from the black shadow: "Left editor, get in the car." ”

My eyes avoided the glare, and it gradually became clear that it was the JEEP guide who had stopped in front of me, and Minister Zheng was leaning over to open the co-pilot's door.

I turned my head to look at the winding mountain road behind my guide, and it was empty.

I got in the car and closed the door.

Minister Zheng let go of the hand brake and stepped on the accelerator, and the wheels and small stones on the road popped and jumped forward. The lake under the roadbed reflects the glow of the headlights and the hazy moonlight into the car.

"What are you looking at? Left edit. Minister Zheng asked in his usual clean tone.

"I just saw an acquaintance." I looked out the car window in horror.

"Do you have any acquaintances here?" He gave me a strange look. "Who is it? Do we have a museum? ”

"......" I was speechless for a moment, thinking that I didn't know where to start.

The car slowed down suddenly, and a graceful figure appeared in the lamppost in front of the car, somewhat familiar. Minister Zheng taxied the car in front of her. The figure turned, the glow of the electric baton in his hand completely drowning in the headlights. She was wearing a white shirt and a security armband, and her eyes were wandering in the light.

Minister Zheng pressed the window of the car and shouted, "Xiaowan." ”

Xiao Wan bent down slightly to look at Minister Zheng in the cab and said, "Minister Zheng." Where did you go? ”

"Chic? What's chic, send the curator home. Minister Zheng said with a smile.

Xiao Wan turned her head to look at me in the passenger seat.

Could the white shadow on the mountain road just now be Xiaowan? This thought crossed my mind. "Were you on the mountain road ahead of you? Xiao Wan. I blurted out.

"What's wrong?" She said.

"I saw a man on the mountain road just now. Suddenly it was gone. ”

"Oh, I just came from home. Maybe you're seeing me. She added, "I'm on night duty." ”

I felt weird. "Do you live in Yard Bay?"

"yes."

There was nothing wrong with his answer. But I felt creepy, because I had inquired in the courtyard, and there was no such person as her. I said, "You're walking so fast." All of a sudden, they came ahead of me. ”

Minister Zheng said to Xiaowan, "Come up." ”

Xiao Wan looked at Minister Zheng, waved her hand and said, "I'll walk slowly, anyway, I have to walk two laps every day on patrol." You go first. Then he turned his head to look at me: "We patrol every day, and our feet are strong, and we are faster than ordinary people." ”

The guide circled the shore of the lake at a speed of nearly 40 yards, and the reeds on the beach appeared and disappeared in the pillars of light of the headlights. I looked back through the not-so-spacious rear window, and Xiao Wan and a pillar of light gradually became smaller. It turned into a palpitating white shadow.

Before the car arrived at the museum, Minister Zheng called Lao Wei. Lao Wei came over and opened the door of the museum. Minister Zheng parked the car inside. The two of us got out of the car, and Minister Zheng said, "Editor Zuo, you can stay in the dormitory of the security department tonight." ”

"Yes, as long as there is a bed." I say.

"The deputy minister is on leave, and his bed is empty."

"Are you talking about Tan Wenhu?"

"Yes. He's dead. The corners of Minister Zheng's mouth twitched.

Tan Wenhu is the man in black who died under the wolf's teeth. I'm starting to feel less like living there. But thinking that he was dead, and that he couldn't do anything to me, he held back the fear in his heart and didn't squeak.

Out of the museum, we walked along a row of trees for some distance. Then I went up the slope to the right and came to the three-storey security building. Only two rooms on the first floor of the building were lit up, and there were people talking in loud voices, and several people were playing poker. Minister Zheng took out the key and opened a room in the west. There was a banging on the door, and an incandescent light lit up on the wall, and a single bed against the wall appeared in sight. There is a row of tin cabinets at the head of the bed. On the wall opposite the tin cabinet hangs a wall calendar with several bikini models sitting on their backs on a golden beach. There was a table by the window. A piece of clear glass was laid on the tabletop, and a dozen or so photographs and a few old newspapers were neatly pressed under the glass.

"You'll just sleep here." Minister Zheng said, "I live next door to you. Call me for something. I'm on 24 hours a day. This is the key to the house. ”

He put the key on the table, turned and walked out the door, and then turned back to the door; "The bedding on the bed has been changed, don't be afraid. The boiling water room and toilet are on the other side of the corridor near the staircase, just like the washroom on the third floor. You go to bed early. With that, he left.

I noticed that the quilt on the bed was also army green, neatly folded, like tofu blocks. There are many security guards who used to be soldiers in the army, and this habit of life was developed in the army. I took a closer look at the window, which was only twenty centimeters from the tabletop, checked the latch to make sure it was secured, and looked at the lock on the door. It is the kind of spring old lock, this kind of lock can be cut with an ID card if it is not locked from the inside. A meter to the right of the door, there is also a glass window with several anti-theft steel bars erected on it. Looking at these steel bars, I felt a little more secure in my heart.

I hung my bag on the iron railing at the head of the bed, took out the toiletries, and then closed the zipper, ready to go to the bathroom, after thinking about it, I still put the bag on my shoulder, went to the bathroom at the staircase, and when I came back, I closed the door and turned the anti-lock button to the end.

This house is very old, but it is still relatively soundproof, and you can hardly hear the noise of a few people playing cards next door.

I took out the tablet and camera from my bag, connected the two with a data cable, copied the photos to the computer, looked through them frame by frame, then put away the camera and the data cable and put them in the backpack, took out the power cable of the computer and plugged it into the socket in the corner of the table, and then plugged the mobile phone data cable into the USB port of the computer. I propped one arm on the glass of the tabletop, clicked the chat window with my finger, and found that it was a message from "WE3126" Wan'er: "Are you asleep?" ”

According to the itinerary arranged by Editor-in-Chief Li, I will go to the museum warehouse tomorrow morning to take pictures, and I will take a flight back to Tianjin in the afternoon.

I thought that Wan'er might be the key person who helped me solve the mystery of the ancient paintings, and behind the mystery of the ancient paintings was my background. Tonight may be my last chance to solve this mystery. -- My habit of pondering over and over again has come into play here. I finally understood a truth: that is, anyone can be full of inexplicable fear of the unknown world, and Wan'er may happen to come from a world that I have not yet tasted, so I am afraid. But I can't afford to miss out on this opportunity because of the fear in my heart.

I quickly replied, "No." ”

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes. Booked a ticket for tomorrow. ”

"Let's meet."

"When?"

"Now. May I? There are some things I have to tell you. ”

I thought about it, but there was still no way to defeat the fear of the night. "Can we meet tomorrow during the day?"

The "......" message was interrupted for more than ten seconds, and I felt that she was thinking, and then two lines of text from her popped up on the screen: "You should know, the day is not very good." ”

"But at night......" I said, "I'm afraid I'll go mad." ”

"Am I that scary?" She was a little angry.

"Okay." I was a little timid to send these two words, and then suddenly repented: "No, let's do it tomorrow." "Shen's mother often drew some red lines for me, telling me that I can't do this and that, and once I make a mistake, I will hit my hand with a bamboo piece, which has developed my hesitant character, I like to do everything over and over again, and I always seem to be very timid, in fact, I am afraid that I will make mistakes. When others make mistakes, they can fight for their fathers and mothers, but I am an orphan and can only carry them by myself.

Although Xiao Wan is kind to herself, she doesn't seem to have any evil intentions, but I still shudder when I think of the corpse that was bitten off the neck. Choosing the daytime reduces my risk, and it's the smartest choice.

"Aren't you leaving tomorrow?" She said.

"My plane is departing at 4 p.m., and there are two hours to spare after noon tomorrow." I say.

She seemed to hesitate. "Okay, then tomorrow daylight. We agreed on a meeting place. The tone was very reluctant.

"If you are Wan'er, you should know the location of the palace." In my novel, I once wrote that the palace of Panlong City was built on a hill facing the lake on three sides, and Wan'er lived in the palace after marrying Zu Jia, the brother of the king of Shang, so she should be familiar with it.

"Of course I do." She said. This expected reply almost convinced me that she was really the Wan'er who died 3126 years ago.

"Then we'll meet outside the palace at two o'clock in the afternoon." My nerves were tense.

"Okay, see you soon."

……

My heart still hangs in the air. I put my phone under the pillow and wrapped myself in a cylinder with the quilt, showing only my two eyes outside, and looked warily at the glass window on the upper left side of the bed, for fear that someone would break through the window.

I couldn't sleep peacefully, so I just got up and turned on the computer to play games. I kept my eyes glued to the computer screen, occasionally squinting at the dusty glass window above the desk, and I continued to do so until the wee hours of the morning, unable to lift my eyes as if they had crushed a mountain.

In a state of extreme fatigue, my brain fell into a state of ownerless vacuum. I felt as if I was out of the earth's gravity and floating in the air. (To be continued......)