When I came out of Temuguan, I had been thinking about the case, and I didn't care about the other criminal policemen at all, but I didn't expect that everyone would even find out that their colleagues did not follow us down the mountain. A strong uneasiness welled up in my heart.

When I glanced at everyone, Zhao Da finally noticed that something was wrong, and he slapped the back of his head: "What about Xiao Gang!" Zhao Da's words caused a commotion among everyone. Everyone looked around and shouted Xiao Gang's name loudly, but all they answered was the echo of the silent valley.

"No need to shout, he didn't go down the mountain, go up to him." With that, I turned around and walked up the hill. Zhao Da scolded a few times behind him and followed. The cost of the police force cannot be too large, so it is impossible to equip every police officer with a mobile phone, Xiao Gang is just an ordinary little criminal policeman, and he did not buy a mobile phone himself.

So we had to go up to him again, everyone was already very tired, and when we climbed up the mountain, we all complained. Zhao Da walked behind me, and when I looked back at him, he was looking agitated. He plucked out his ears, stopped, and scolded everyone: "You guys are fucking endless, shut up all of them!" ”

Zhao Da was angry, and no one dared to talk nonsense anymore, so he had to follow us silently. I can see that it is Zhao Da who is most worried, he must still be thinking about what the bad-faced Taoist priest said just now. Zhao Da is a person with a very contradictory personality, he is very shrewd when he is shrewd, but his brain often can't turn around.

More than once, Zhao Da, under my persuasion, believed that the case was man-made, but all kinds of strange things continued one after another, so that he had no way to separate the case from ghosts and gods. Zhao Da is sometimes brave, but sometimes he is cringe, and at this time, he shows the latter.

Zhao Da followed me up the mountain while looking around suspiciously. At night, in the deep mountains and forests, the atmosphere is indeed a little depressing, the mountains are very dark, and our visual range is only outside the woods. In the deep woods, it was pitch black, and Zhao Da kept staring at the depths of the woods, not paying attention to the stone steps under his feet, and almost fell down several times.

Hold Zhao Da who almost rolled down the mountain again, "Captain Zhao, Xiao Gang is still on the mountain, let's hurry up the mountain." I urged Zhao Da to stop being suspicious, which would slow down the team's progress. Zhao Da glanced in the direction of the woods again and whispered to me that he felt as if there was something in the woods.

Although the voice was small, several people behind us heard it, and everyone invariably looked at the place where Zhao Da had been staring. There are also many bold among them, shouting that there is nothing to be afraid of ghosts, and if they really dare to appear, he will have to beat up the ghosts.

But as soon as the man finished speaking, the branches and leaves in the woods were rustled by the evening wind, and the sound of the wind looked a little strange in the mountain forest, like a person panting. Zhao Da wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with his sleeve, this time, he urged me, he didn't dare to look at that place again, so everyone sped up.

Originally, everyone couldn't walk anymore, but after this little episode, everyone was full of energy and went up the mountain at full speed. Zhao Da asked me if anything would happen to Xiao Gang, I couldn't answer Zhao Da, everyone acted together, but Xiao Gang suddenly didn't go down the mountain, this is a very strange thing, and everyone hasn't noticed it, including me.

Finally, everyone returned to the wooden door of Tiemuguan with trepidation, and I noticed that the dilapidated wooden door was not closed tightly, and there was a faint glimmer of light in the half-hidden wooden door. Zhao Da glanced at me: "Professor Li, that old Taoist priest is still not closed in the middle of the night?" ”

When we came up before, it was not yet completely dark, and the Bad-faced Taoist priest had already locked the door of the Taoist temple, and it was already late at night, but the Bad-faced Taoist priest did not close the door, which is indeed a little strange. Out of politeness, I still knocked on the wooden door of the Taoist temple, and the knocking was very loud, but this time the rotten Taoist priest did not come to open the door.

"I feel ......" Zhao Da was behind me, and he didn't say anything halfway through the sentence. I know what Zhao Da means, he is worried about what is happening in the Taoist temple. I didn't hesitate, and immediately pushed open the door of the Taoist temple, and the light in the door was emitted from the main hall of the Taoist temple.

There are many candlesticks in the main hall, and all the candles on them are lit. The candle flame swayed in the wind, as if it would be extinguished at any time, so many candles lit up the entire hall, and a hideous Taoist statue stood on the stone platform. Their faces were lit by the dim candlelight, and even from a distance, I could clearly see the evil smile on the corner of their mouths.

I walked straight into the main hall, the candles were all new, and not long after they had been lit, I looked around and called out Xiao Gang's name twice. It was quiet in the hall, and my voice echoed for a long time before it stopped, and Zhao Da followed in with courage.

It's the second time I've been here, but this hall still feels very strange to me, especially these Taoist statues, which are completely different from the Taoist statues in my understanding. Their expressions were very dead, but they kept staring at them, even I was inexplicably stunned, and Zhao Da had been deliberately avoiding them and not looking at these Taoist statues.

The others also came in, and they said that the outside and the brick house had been checked, and Xiao Gang and the bad-faced Taoist priest were not found. At this moment, the sound of slow footsteps reached the ears of each of us. Subconsciously, we all looked in unison at the place where the footsteps came from.

It was the back door of the main hall, and we had already surveyed the entire Tiemu Temple, and outside the back door was an empty courtyard with some vegetables growing in the yard. The rotten-faced Taoist priest said that he planted it himself, and he never went down the mountain, relying on the vegetables grown in the yard to fill his stomach.

It was pitch black outside the back door, and I squinted at it. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, as if someone was deliberately rubbing on the ground with cloth shoes, and it was also like someone was dragging something on the ground...... Zhao Da and the others were nervous, and finally, I could see who it was.

It was a rotten Taoist priest, and his wrinkled face was smiling evilly, which was somewhat similar to the expression of the statue. I was also shocked because he was holding a firewood knife in his hand, and the firewood knife was still stained with blood. The blood didn't dry and kept dripping.

Almost at the same time, everyone took out the matching guns on their waists, and Zhao Da nervously shouted at the rotten-faced Taoist: "Old Taoist, put down your weapons, what's wrong with Xiaogang!" ”

The rotten-faced Taoist priest suddenly threw the firewood knife in his hand on the ground, he raised his hands, but he was not panicked at all, but was a little stunned: "What are you going to do?" ”

Zhao Da waved his hand, and everyone vigilantly walked towards the Rotten Face Taoist Step by Step, the Bad Face Taoist did not resist, and let the accompanying criminal police control him. Zhao Da breathed a sigh of relief and put the gun away, while I strode towards the back door of the main hall.

However, unexpectedly, there was no sound of Xiao Gang here at all, only a rabbit lying on the ground. The rabbit's head had been cut off, and it was out of breath, its body had been slashed by knives, and blood was sprayed everywhere. Everyone walked in with a bad-faced Taoist priest, and when they saw the scene inside, everyone was stunned.

At this time, the grim-faced Taoist priest explained. He said that he was just killing a rabbit, but Zhao Da didn't believe it, and viciously asked how a Taoist priest could kill and eat meat. The rotten Taoist priest was still very calm, and asked Zhao Da why Taoism can't kill and eat meat, and also said a lot of Taoist rules.

Zhao Da was a little dizzy, and he couldn't answer a word. As far as I know, there is more than one branch of Taoism, and some of them do not prohibit the killing of living beings and the consumption of meat, which is also in the past. But I don't think it's that simple, because if the Rotten Face Taoist priest wanted to eat meat, he wouldn't be able to cut the rabbit like that, and besides, all the candles in the main hall were lit, which was strange.

"You want to sacrifice, right?" I kept observing the Bad-Face Daoist, and when the Bad-faced Taoist stopped and didn't speak, I directly said my guess. The bad-faced Taoist priest was slightly stunned, and then laughed faintly, saying that this is none of our business. The hands of the bad-faced Taoist priest were clasped behind his back, and Zhao Da still didn't give the order to let him go.

"Where is Xiao Gang?" Zhao Da saw that the blood on the firewood knife was not Xiao Gang's, and he was a little more relaxed than just now. He immediately asked the Rotten Face Taoist Priest, but the Rotten Face Taoist priest did not answer, but turned his head to a place, and under the vast night, it was empty and there was nothing.

The inexplicable behavior of the bad-faced Taoist priest made Zhao Da annoyed again, "Old Taoist, you play me, tell me quickly, where is Xiao Gang!" ”

The grim-faced Taoist priest finally spoke: "Don't you see, something is coming towards us there......"

Zhao Da was frightened by the words of the Rotten Face Daoist, and he scolded on his lips, telling the Rotten Face Daoist not to talk nonsense, but the corner of his eye kept glancing at that place. The others too, all of them invariably took a step back, and no one wanted to stay at the front.

"Xiao Gang is there." I said calmly. Everyone was attracted by what I said, and just as the grim-faced Taoist priest was pretending to be a ghost, I saw Xiao Gang running out of the main hall in a panic towards the back door. He didn't seem to notice us, and at the moment, he was sitting on the threshold, patting his chest with one hand and panting for air.

Zhao Da called Xiao Gang, Xiao Gang found us, he stood up in surprise, and was about to run towards us, but stopped again, because Zhao Da had already scolded. I noticed that Xiao Gang seemed to have something to say, but every time he was interrupted by Zhao Da's scolding.

I stopped Zhao Da and asked Xiao Gang what he was going to say, and asked him why he didn't go down the mountain with us.

"It's this old Taoist priest who lied to me and said that you asked me to come here and wait......"