One

They carried Lu Feng to his room, put him on the bed, and then returned to the living room, where they stood dumbfounded, looking at each other. Shen He said heavily: "What are we doing now? ”

Monk Yuanzhen said briskly: "Get something to eat." You know, we've got to eat. Once again, they went into the kitchen, took out some cakes, and swallowed them mechanically, barely tasting them. Liang Feiyan said: "I will never eat flatbread again in the future." They finished the meal and sat around the kitchen table, staring at each other in a daze. Shen He said: "There are only four of us left...... Who's next? Nangong Jin's eyes widened, and he said without thinking much: "We must be very careful......" He suddenly stopped talking again. Shen He nodded. This is exactly what Lu Feng said...... But he's dead! ”

Nangong Jin said: "I really don't understand how this happened? ”

Monk Yuanzhen cursed: "The methods are really cunning and vicious! It was deliberately placed in Miss Liang's room. We were deceived, thinking that someone was trying to murder her, and rushed upstairs. So, in the chaos, Lao Lu Feng was unexpectedly poisoned. ”

Shen He said: "Why didn't anyone hear a little movement? Monk Yuanzhen shook his head. At that time, Miss Liang was screaming there, and the wind was very loud, plus we were running around and shouting. No way, no sound can be heard. He paused, "But this trick can't be used anymore, he'll have to try something else next time." ”

Shen He said: "He may try." His tone was unpleasant. The two men squinted at each other.

Nangong Jin said: "There are four of us, but we don't know which one is ......."

Shen He said: "I know ......" Liang Feiyan said: "I don't doubt ...... at all" Nangong Jin said slowly: "I think I do know ......" Monk Yuanzhen said: "I think I have a very good idea...... "They all looked at each other again...... Liang Feiyan staggered to her feet and said, "I feel a little sad. I need to go to sleep...... I'm exhausted. ”

Monk Yuanzhen said: "It's best to go to sleep." It's not a good thing to sit here and stare at each other. ”

Shen He said, "I don't have an opinion...... "Yi Nangong Jin muttered, "It's better to be like this—although I doubt anyone can sleep?" They walked towards the door.

Shen He said: "I really want to know where the secret weapon is......

Two

They went upstairs. The next four of them stood together and put their hands on the door of their room. Then, as if at the sound of a command, everyone stepped into the room and closed the door. There was a sound of bolts and tables moving. Four frightened men locked themselves in and waited for tomorrow.

Three

Monk Yuanzhen put the stool on the table after pressing the table against the door, and then turned around and sighed. He walked leisurely to the dresser, and examined his face curiously by the flickering candlelight. "yes, that's scaring you enough." He whispered. His wolf-like smile suddenly flashed on his face, and he quickly took off his clothes and walked to the bed. He placed the watch on the bedside table and opened the drawer of the table. He was stunned for a moment, staring at the hidden weapon in the drawer that he had lost earlier......

Four

Liang Feiyan was lying on the bed, the candle still burning beside her. She didn't have the courage to blow it out, she was afraid of the dark...... She said to herself over and over again, "You won't have any problems until tomorrow morning." Nothing happened last night, and it won't be tonight. Nothing will happen, you've bolted the door and pressed the table against it. No one will be able to come close to you......" she thought suddenly, "of course! I can stay here and not go out! Lock the door and stay in the house, waiting for people to come and rescue me. It doesn't matter if it's a whole day – or two days. yes, but can I stay? Hour after hour...... There is no one to talk to, nothing to do, except to think about things......" She began to think back to Xiao Yun - to think about Xiao Ping - to recall what she had said to Xiao Yun. A crying and annoying child always pestered her...... "Sister Feiyan, why don't you let me go to the lotus pond?" I don't think it's dangerous. "Is the voice answering her own?" Of course you can, Xiao Yun. Really, you can go over there and play, as long as you don't let anyone else see it. ”

"So I can go, Sister Feiyan?"

"Listen to me, Xiao Yun, your father and mother are always so worried about you going. But I'm telling you, tomorrow you can go to the lotus pond, and I pretend not to know, and if anyone asks me, I'll say you're going to the hut. Then, when they look for you, you can stand by the lotus pond and wave at them! It's sure to blow their minds! ”

"Oh, you're the best, Sister Feiyan! This must be fun! She had spoken. Tomorrow! Xiao Ping is going out and waiting for him to come back—it's all over...... Yes, but what if that's not the case? What if something goes wrong? Xiao Yun may be rescued in time. Then...... At that time, he would say, "Miss Liang said I could go." "Ah, what then? You have to take a risk! If the worst happens, she has the cheekiness to deny it. "How can you tell such a shameless lie, Xiao Yun? I didn't say that. "People will believe her. Xiao Yun often lies. He was not an honest child. Of course Xiao Ping will come out. But it doesn't matter...... Nothing can go wrong. She pretended to run to him, and deliberately went down to the lotus pond despite the danger, but she didn't have time...... No one will doubt it...... Is Xiao Ping suspicious? Is it because of this that Xiao Ping looked at her with such strange and distant eyes? Does Xiao Ping understand? Was it because of this that he left in a hurry after the incident? He did not reply to the letter she had written to him. Xiao Ping...... Liang Feiyan tossed and turned on the bed. No, no, she must not think about Xiao Ping anymore. It's so sad. It's all gone, it's over...... Be sure to forget about Xiao Ping...... Why did she suddenly feel that Xiao Ping seemed to be in this room tonight? She stared at the ceiling, at the large black hook in the middle of the room. She hadn't noticed the hook before. That's where the seaweed hangs down from it...... She shuddered as she recalled the cold, sticky feeling on her neck...... She doesn't like this hook on the ceiling, it catches your eye and bewitches you...... A big black hook.

Five

Shen He sat on the edge of the bed. His small eyes were red and bloodshot, and there was a vigilant glint in his face. He looked like a wild boar ready to attack. He had no sleep, and danger was imminent...... Six out of ten have died! Although Lao Lu Feng was smart, alert and cautious, he still ended up so tragically like others. Shen He shrugged his nose with a satisfied expression. What did the old man say? "We must be extra careful...... "The complacent, self-righteous hypocrite, sitting in the lobby thinks he is the master." Now he is solved...... So don't worry about him anymore. Now only the four of them remain. That girl, Monk Yuanzhen, Nangong Jin and himself. It wasn't long before another of them would die...... But it won't be him, it won't be Shen He. But what about the hidden weapon that Yuan Zhen bringed...... Where is the hidden weapon now? This is really disturbing......! Shen He sat on the bed, his brows furrowed, and his small eyes narrowed into a slit as he pondered the question of the hidden weapon...... In the silence, the sound of leaky flow downstairs could be heard. In the middle of the night, his nervousness relaxed a little, and he could even lie down in bed, but he didn't undress. He lay on the bed and pondered, thinking through the whole thing, detail by detail, from beginning to end, just as he had done when he was in the yamen. He knew that in order to figure it out, he had to think it through. The candle is running out. When he saw the match, he put it in his hand and blew out the candle. It was strange that he found that darkness could not tranquillize him either, as if the fears that had been dormant for thousands of years had been resurrected and were trying to dominate his mind with all their might. All kinds of faces floated in front of his eyes, Lu Feng's face with a strange hat, Madam Qin's face that would never get angry, and Fang Yulong's spasmodic and blue face...... There was also a face, pale,—— it was a face he had ever seen, but when exactly? Certainly not on this small island. No, it was a long time ago. Strangely, he couldn't remember the name of this man...... Looks stupid - looks like a stupid person. That's right! His heart jumped suddenly, and he remembered that it was the history of Fang Thorn! Strange to say, he actually completely forgot his appearance. Yesterday he was trying to remember what this man looked like, but he couldn't remember. Now he appeared on his own, so realistic, as if he had seen this man not so long ago...... Fang Thorn Shi had a wife, a woman with a thin body and a sad face. He also has a child, a daughter who is about fourteen years old. For the first time, he considered the current situation of the bereaved family of Fang Thorn Shi. By the way, where did the hidden weapon go? This is even more important......

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became, and he couldn't understand the secret weapon...... Maybe someone in the house took this secret weapon...... At this moment, Shen He seemed to feel something, and his thoughts were interrupted. He was suddenly startled and immediately sat up from the bed. He heard a voice, a very slight one, coming from somewhere outside the room. Someone walks around in the dark. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Who could this be? Who quietly walked along the corridor? He dared to conclude that this man must have bad intentions! Despite his stout body, he was unusually agile in his movements. He slipped out of bed without a sound, and stole to the door in two steps, where he stood and listened with bated breath. But the voice was gone. Still, he was convinced that he had heard correctly, and that someone had indeed walked past his door. He felt creepy, and terror hit him again...... Someone is secretly moving in the dark...... He heard it—though it only sounded for a while. A new thought flashed through his mind. He wanted to rush out desperately and see what was going on. As long as he could see who was moving in the dark. But it was foolish to open the door, and maybe that was exactly what the man wanted. He had already calculated that Shen He would hear the voice, and opened the door to come out to watch. Shen He stood there dumbfounded, listening. He could hear all sorts of sounds—the cracking of branches, the rustling of leaves, and a mysterious whisper—but his realistic mind knew what was going on—it was just a nervous self-imagined sound. Suddenly, he heard voices that he had not imagined, very soft, very careful footsteps, but still faintly recognizable. The footsteps were getting closer and closer (the rooms of Monk Yuanzhen and Nangong Jin were farther away from the staircase than his room), and they passed without stopping at his door. Shen He turned his heart on the side and decided to go out to see who it was! Footsteps clearly passed through his doorway and toward the stairs. Where is this man going? Although Shen He looked bulky and sluggish, he was surprisingly agile once he acted. He tiptoed back to the bed, stuffed matches into his pocket, and picked up a vase in the room—a handy weapon. He walked quickly back to the door quietly, moved the chair in front of the door, and carefully opened the door. He stood in the hallway for a moment. Downstairs, there was a sound of a soo in the hall. Shen He ran barefoot to the staircase. It was only then that it dawned on him why he could hear so clearly. It turned out that the wind had completely subsided and the sky had cleared. The faint moonlight illuminated the main hall downstairs through the windows on the staircase. Shen He saw a dark shadow pass through the gate in an instant and disappear into the outdoors in an instant. He was about to go downstairs to chase after him, but he immediately stopped again. Almost became a fool again! Perhaps that person did not expect that he himself had made a big mistake and completely exposed himself. For one of the three rooms that are now inhabited upstairs must be empty. Now it's just a matter of finding out which room is vacant. Shen He quickly returned to the corridor. He first stopped at the gate of Nangong Jin, knocked on the door, and did not answer. He stayed for a while, and then came to the door of Monk Yuanzhen, and immediately replied, "Who?" ”

"It's me, Shen He. I just saw that Nangong Jin was no longer in the house, can you open the door and let's take a look together, by the way, I'll call Miss Liang. He went to the door at the end of the corridor and knocked on it: "Miss Liang, Miss Liang." Liang Feiyan's panicked voice was heard: "Who? What's up? "Don't be afraid, Miss Liang, you wait, I'll be here soon." He came to the door of the monk Yuanzhen. The door opened, and Monk Yuanzhen stood there, holding a candle in his left hand, and said vigilantly, "What's wrong?" Shen He hurriedly explained what he had discovered. Monk Yuanzhen's eyes lit up. "Nangong Jin, is it, is it? So it's him, little pigeon! He walked to Nangong Jin's door. I'm sorry, Shen He, I can't trust anything. He knocked heavily on the door. Nangong Jin, Nangong Jin. There was no answer. Monk Yuanzhen went around to the window of Nangong Jin's sleeping room, poked a hole in the window and peeked in, and then said, "The door is not bolted." Shen He said: "In other words, he closed the door and left directly." Monk Yuanzhen nodded and said, "It's done very carefully." Let's go find him, Shen He, this time we will catch him, it won't be long. He shouted towards Liang Feiyan's room, "Liang Feiyan." ”

"Hey."

"We went to chase Nangong Jin, and he went out. Don't open the door no matter what, you know? ”

"Oh, I understand."

"If Nangong Jin comes back and says I'm dead or Shen He was killed, ignore him, understand? Don't open the door unless I call you with Shen He. Do you understand? Liang Feiyan said: "I understand, I'm not so brainless." Monk Yuanzhen said, "That's good." He walked back to Shen He and said, "Now—keep up with him!" Be quick! ”

Shen He said: "We had better be careful, if the person behind it is him, then he may have a hidden weapon in his hand." ”

Monk Yuanzhen chuckled and ran down the stairs. He said, "You're wrong. When he opened the door, he said, "I think I should take the deadbolt directly, so that it will be easier to come back." After doing this, he said, "The secret weapon is already with me." As he spoke, he pulled the hidden weapon half out of his arms. This was found in my drawer this evening. Shen He stopped abruptly at the door, his face changed. Yuan Zhen saw this, and said impatiently: "Don't make a mistake, Shen He!" I won't use it on you! If you're afraid, then now go back and lock yourself in the house. Let me go find Nangong Nishiki myself! He rushed into the moonlight outside, and Shen He hesitated for a moment and followed. "I'm going to figure it out anyway, ...... anyway," he mused, and he'd dealt with criminals with hidden weapons before. Shen He may also owe other shortcomings, but he definitely does not lack courage. When he sees danger, he will not hesitate to meet it. He never flinched from the danger that was public, and he was afraid of something beyond his own knowledge—danger from somewhere.

Six

Liang Feiyan stayed in the room and waited for the results. She got up and got dressed, and glanced at the door. The door was sturdy, the deadbolt was good, and there was a table behind the door, so it was impossible to break through from the outside. Nangong Jin's body is not strong, and it is absolutely impossible to break in. If Nangong Jin intends to harm people, he must use treacherous tricks, not violence. She sat there bored, imagining the means that Nangong Jin might use. It is likely that he claimed that one of the two of them was dead, as Monk Yuanzhen analyzed. Perhaps he pretended to be seriously injured and groaned and crawled to her door. There are all sorts of other possibilities. Let's say tell her that the house is on fire...... Yes, it's quite possible. Lure the two men out of the house, sprinkle some oil on the ground, and set the house on fire. So she was like an idiot, confined to the house and waiting to die. Liang Feiyan walked to the window, fortunately, he could escape from here when he had to. It's just a bit of a fall - it's good to have a flower bed underneath. She sat down and picked up the diary and wrote it down in a clear and beautiful font, killing time anyway. Suddenly, her body tightened, and she heard a sound, as if the glass downstairs had been shattered. But when she pricked up her ears to listen carefully, the sound disappeared again. She heard—perhaps she imagined she had—the sound of sneaky footsteps, the creaking of stairs, the sound of Suo's clothes...... But none of this can be known for sure. She came to the conclusion that just like Shen He's just now, these voices were purely from her own imagination. But at this moment, she heard a real voice again. Someone went upstairs, whispering, and ascended the stairs with firm steps, and a door opened and closed, and the footsteps went up to the second floor, and then there was more noise from the second floor. Finally, footsteps came down the hallway toward her room.

Monk Yuan Zhen's voice asked, "Liang Feiyan, are you okay?" ”

"It's okay, what's going on out there?" Shen He's voice said, "Can you let us in?" Liang Feiyan walked to the door, removed the table, took off the door chain, and opened the door. The two men who came in were panting, their feet and trouser legs dripping with water. She asked again, "What happened?" Monk Yuanzhen said: "Nangong Jin is missing. ”

Seven

Liang Feiyan called out: "What? Monk Yuanzhen said, "Disappeared from this island." Shen He agreed: "Disappeared - this word is used well, it disappears like a trick." Liang Feiyan said impatiently: "Nonsense! He must be hiding somewhere! ”

Shen He said, "No, it's impossible! I can assure you that there is no hiding place on this island, bare, at a glance. The moonlight was as bright as the day tonight, but I couldn't find him. Liang Feiyan said, "He turned back to the room again." Shen He said: "We also thought so, and we just searched it." Of course, you must have heard, told you, he wasn't there, he was gone—completely gone, slipped......" Liang Feiyan said suspiciously, "I don't believe it." ”

Monk Yuanzhen said, "Girl, this is true. He paused for a moment, and then added, "There's another little thing." One of the dining room windows was shattered, and only three small porcelain figures remained on the table. ”