I clutched the picture and stood there in a daze. The photo was caught in a fire, and after being trampled on, there was still residual warmth, and the window was not closed tightly, and it was blown open by the wind again. Cold air poured in. I rolled up the photo in my hand, and the black-and-white photo, which had been damaged, fell to the ground again.

I was suddenly kicked hard in the back, and the force sent me stumbling forward. I held on to the wall, and it was finally enough to stand firm, and it was Uncle Man who attacked me, and he angrily picked up the picture on the ground, and swung it at me with another punch, and I had already reacted. Naturally, he quickly dodged.

Uncle Man put the remaining corner of the photo on the oil lamp and burned it, and Uncle Man was not afraid of being hot, until the photo was burned to ashes, he gently clapped his hands. Uncle Man looked at me with sharp eyes and a look of wanting to kill, he didn't speak, but looked at me.

We stood for a long time, and the first person to speak was me: "Who is the person in the photo?" ”

Uncle Man thought for a while before replying, "Since you don't know each other, why bother asking." ”

I shook my head: "No, I know!" ”

Uncle Man: "Do you know?" Then tell me about it. Who is it? ”

But in the face of Uncle Man's words, I had no way to answer. It was just a burned photograph, and the only thing left in the photo was the upper forehead, and the person had a scar on his right forehead, and that scar deeply irritated my nerves. The scar was long. The shape is also strange, it looks like a small sword.

I seem to have seen this sword mark somewhere, or rather, I seem to be very familiar with this scar, but I can't remember where I have seen it. Thinking about it, my head started to hurt, and I refused to give up, holding my head and continuing to think.

The heart-rending pain spread all the way down my brain to my whole body, and I gritted my teeth, cold sweat dripping down my forehead. I think I'm just about to remember. But just as the memory was about to come out, an invisible barrier enveloped my brain.

It felt strange, like a part of the memory had been pulled out of my brain.

"You don't know him, this photo carries the memories of my youth, Li Ke, whether you believe it or not, I have to tell you that I didn't kill Rena, I didn't kill anyone in the village. I don't tell you what happened back then, I don't let you see this picture, I don't even burn it, it's all because I don't want to touch the scars of that year again. Uncle Man sighed and said to me.

I struggled to raise my head, and Uncle Man walked up to my side and helped me to the edge of his bed.

"Everyone will have a painful memory, some people will remember it for a lifetime, some people have long forgotten, and those who have forgotten are really lucky and happy. And those who keep it in mind will be whipped into their souls by thorns full of spikes for the rest of their lives, until their souls tremble! Until the soul can't bear it anymore! Li Ke, do you know this feeling? ”

Uncle Man also sat down next to me, and he said a long word to me, and I could only barely hear what he said, but I had a headache that I couldn't make a sound.

"I'd rather be physically tortured than have my soul burned by fire and frozen by glaciers. You know, I have nightmares every night, sometimes I dream that I am tied to a fire, sometimes I dream that I am being pushed into an abyssal glacier. Do you know what happens to people who are tormented by memories day and night? ”

Uncle Man kept talking to himself, his tone was very lonely, as if he wanted to vomit all the unhappiness in his life. Uncle Man didn't want me to answer at all, and he immediately told me that people who are tortured by memories all day long will one day become numb walking dead.

This kind of person is reluctant to leave this world easily, because they are reluctant to remember those people, because they want to atone for their memory, so they cannot die, because once they die, they know nothing. The souls of such people have been drained, and they are left with an empty skin.

Eating and sleeping are just to support the survival of this skin, until one day, this skin finally slowly ages and dies, and they are truly liberated, because the skin is finally in the same place as the soul after the soul has been dead for many years.

And Uncle Man said that he himself was slowly becoming like this, and he sighed again.

"It doesn't matter if what you say is right or wrong, or if Zena is really on someone's orders to spy on me, it doesn't mean anything to me. I don't want anything, this place is where I was born, and it will be the place where I will be buried in the loess for the last time, and I don't want to be disturbed, no matter who it is, including the police. ”

Uncle Man finally said slowly: "Let me spend the rest of my life in this place quietly, even if I really become a walking corpse, I will admit it, because that is what I deserve." I will never mention that memory again, if you doubt me, arrest me, in prison, in this village, it's all the same. ”

After Uncle Man finished speaking, he stood up and walked to the edge of the windowsill.

It was almost dark, and I looked out the window with a headache. The air was muddy, sand blown out of the desert by the wind. The wind blew the corners of Uncle Man's clothes floating, and as before, Uncle Man was wearing very thin. I still have the sword mark in the photo in my mind.

After a cold wind blew for a while, my headache finally slowly dissipated, and I also stood up and walked to Uncle Man's side. I listened to all the words that Uncle Man said just now, and what he said did come from the heart, but I would not stop pursuing the truth because of what he said.

"The guy in the picture, I've definitely seen it, I'm familiar with that scar. Maybe it's inadvertent, but I definitely know the person in the photo, Uncle Man, do you really want to say it? I asked.

Uncle Man shook his head: "Li Ke, don't make it difficult for others, I won't say it." I don't know where you found out that Zena was the one who spied on me, but I can tell you now that I suspect someone is spying on me. ”

I was slightly stunned, and Uncle Man told me that it was just his suspicion. After so many years in the village, Uncle Man didn't feel that he was living a very stable life, he always felt that there was a pair of eyes staring at him all the time in the dark. When strange things happen in the village one after another, he will even think that the infinite horror is coming at him. It's a wild bargaining technique.

Uncle Man didn't have any evidence, it was just his feelings. But a person will inexplicably have such a feeling, which can only show that his heart is actually tight, and Uncle Man is always worried that someone is spying on him and pestering him, so as soon as something big happens in the village, Uncle Man's heart is like a frightened bird, thinking that everything is coming at him.

I suddenly realized that when Uncle Man took me into the desert, he kept looking around, probably to be wary of someone he thought might be spying on him. Uncle Man told me that he was the source of bad luck, so the continuous strange time in the village may also have been prepared for him.

"I don't know it myself, but I feel that the coffins in the mouths of the villagers, the evil spirits of the desert, and the souls of the first seven are all because of me and related to me." Uncle Man sighed: "I also thought about leaving this place, but I suddenly found that I had nowhere to go. ”

If everything really has nothing to do with Uncle Man, then what did Uncle Man experience when he was young? It must have been a very painful memory, otherwise Uncle Man wouldn't have thought that all the big things were because of him.

Uncle Man didn't want me to go into the desert to investigate at first, not because of the so-called desert evil spirits, he was afraid that I would find out something, so that the people hiding in the shadows would kill them. Uncle Man rarely had contact with the villagers, and he was afraid that he would endanger them.

"I can't understand why you think everything has anything to do with you when there is no evidence?" I asked.

Uncle Man shook his head: "You won't understand." ”

I won't say anything more. Uncle Man told me that there was a reason why he kept persuading me to leave the village, because the presence of people in the desert that night made Uncle Man even more sure of his suspicions.