Tuk, tuk, tuk...

The blunt sound of a nail hitting wood like a blunt nail.

Dean pulled away from his soft arms and thighs and walked outside the treehouse to see a colorful woodpecker diligently pecking at the oak trees among the green trees that smelled faintly green leaves.

In front of the ten-meter-high tree house, the breeze and morning light are like the murmur of a lover, hitting the face, making people feel physical and mental.

Unlike in meditation, there is no thought or thought, and at this time, a faint joy rises in the heart like the sublimation of life.

Wrapped in a sheet, Gretchen clinged to his back, wrapped around his chest, his head resting on his shoulders, his delicate skin white and red in the morning light, exuding a healthy glow.

"I seem to have been in a hot spring once, what did you do to me last night?"

"You overworked during physical training at the police academy, and over time you left some dark wounds in your muscles and bones, and if you don't pay attention, these dark injuries will damage your health in the long run." Dean turned around and smiled, "So I gave you a massage." ”

"You can massage?" Gretchen was more and more surprised, "I didn't know there was such a thing in Las Vegas. ”

"I just learned the technique from a blind masseuse in Hawkins," Dean laughed and rambled, in fact, he used his life energy to warm and comb Gretchen's body from the inside out, so that her life strength tended to stabilize.

"Do you help me massage once a day in the future? I pay. ”

"Then I'm going to advance a whole year's worth of pay in advance."

"Hmm... Giggle, don't scratch! ”

The two played around on the wooden bed for a while, dressed in a couple's tracksuit, and left the wooden house and quickly returned to Bourbon Street.

After the madness of Halloween Eve, there are still a few people lingering on the streets: red-haired aliens who are drunk in vomit and kissing rats, people who have taken too many stimulants and are running around the streets in a delirious sense...

The two came to 256 Bourbon Street, in front of a Creole cottage with a green wooden door.

"Bang, bang... Faraj, it's me, Gretchen. ”

"Click..."

Behind the door, a beautiful face was revealed, and his big eyes swept over the two of them, especially on Dean's face for a few more seconds, and a playful smile opened at the corner of his mouth,

"My good sister, it's this handsome guy who haunts you, is crazy and obsessed, and leaves your best friend behind on Halloween night, leaving me alone to guard the empty room."

"Why are you alone in the empty room, you guy is full of wine, you went out crazy last night, right?" Gretchen fanned his nose and pushed his male partner out again, "This is Dean, my high school classmate, boyfriend, and private detective." ”

"Hello, I'm Faraj, the daughter of the owner of this mall, a future LVPD police officer, maybe we will have a chance to work together in the future." The black girl peeked out from behind the door, wearing a black tight tank top and jeans to show off her long legs and waist, and her strong breasts.

Although dark-skinned, she did not have the broad flat nose, excessively plump lips, and curly black hair that are common among blacks, and she had a soft face and straight black hair, and was a mulatto Creole.

Dean shook her hand and followed her into the store.

The house is decorated in a very peculiar style.

Wooden floors with natural patterns, display walls and glass cabinets are covered with scarves and tapestries made of colourful animal skins.

The contents of the cabinet ranged from tattered shirts, straw hats, leather boots and loose shirts, eye masks, and iron hook prosthetic limbs, as well as strange things such as monkey skulls, antelope skulls, small bottles containing cloudy unknown liquids, and gourds stuffed with dried seeds and beads.

The Caribbean Sea and the African savannah seem to intertwine here...

In a birdcage not far from the door, a red cockatoo shouted in English with a strong Orleans accent, "Welcome to the Voodoo Mall."

Dean had a vague impression of the term in his mind, "What is Voodoo?" ”

"Voodoo is the foundation of our Haitian culture, the source of music and festivals, the master of mystery and soul. Ancestor worship, animism, spiritism," Faraj said with reverence, "believing in it will make you lucky." ”

Dean nodded noncommittally, and casually picked up a small figure made of palm-sized jute cloth from the side of the birdcage, intertwined with naivety and evil,

"It's a voodoo doll," Faraj explained with a smile, "you can use it to curse enemies, pray for success, health and luck, protect yourself from evil, and of course attract love—"

The black girl immediately performed a passage with affection:

"I see love, I hope love, I hold love in the palm of my hand, and I come across the sea and over the earth."

After chanting the incantation, she graciously placed the voodoo doll and a glass bottle in the palms of Dean and Gretchen.

"Take it, and wish the two true loves forever."

"Bless me for taking it," Gretchen hugged the doll tightly in his arms.

Dean opened the small glass bottle curiously and sniffed it, and a strange aroma came to his face, "What's in here?" ”

"Love Potion... The air-dried chameleon is ground into powder and mixed with a little Chanel No. 5 perfume, and you can swoon your sweetheart by spraying yourself with a little spray. ”

Watt?

Dean smiled and shook his head, what a mess.

He didn't feel the slightest hint of mystery in this so-called voodoo shop, it was all used to bluff people.

"Without further ado," Gretchen said with an eager look as he picked up a leaflet with a bloody zombie on the counter, "when will you show us a night ghost hunt?" ”

"Wait a minute, Zumby is going outside to pick up the scheduled guests... Coming back later drove us to the remote suburbs. ”

"Where exactly?"

Faraj handed the two of them hot coffee and dessert, "Honey Island Marsh." ”

……

"Ahaha, at this point, there will be no more devils in the night, let's put on a good show, my friends." A magnetic male voice came from outside the door.

As soon as Dean turned his head, he saw a tall black man walking into the store, with a purple cape, a magic hat decorated with red flowers, a red waistcoat, black suit pants, and an exaggerated white eyeshadow on his left eye.

"Welcome to the voodoo hut in Zumbi... Faraj, come and receive your guests. ”

A group of tourists followed the caped black man, including an elderly couple, three young men in punk-style leather suits, and an elderly father and a sibling.

The sibling Dean and Gretchen met last night.

"Wait, you were Miss Witch and Mr. White Wolf last night?" The girl with soft brown hair greeted Gretchen in surprise and grabbed Grechen's hand, the corners of her mouth were lightly exposed, and her sweet smile instantly lit up the whole cabin.

"What a coincidence, Katie, Scott... You also go ghost hunting? Gretchen stroked the girl's hair, and then looked at the boy behind him, he covered his panda eyes with his sunglasses, still wearing a tight yellow tracksuit, and was waving at the two.

"Just passing through New Orleans and meeting Halloween, I'm sure to have a good time!" Katie said with a smile,

"When did you meet new people?" A tall man in a cowboy hat walked over and hugged the two siblings, he had medium and long hair, deep nasolabial folds, unshaven beard, sagging muscles and skin on his majestic face, but his brow was furrowed all the time, even if he was smiling at the two of them, this smile was full of thought and sorrow.

"yes, they helped last night—" Katie paused,

"We took a picture together last night," Scott quickly interrupted his sister and introduced them to the two of them, "This is our dad, Jacob." ”

Dean and Gretchen looked at each other and smiled, reached out and shook the man's hand,

"Dean, my girlfriend Gretchen."

"I'm sorry, but these two high school students didn't bother you, did they? Every time I wasn't looking, the two of them would get into trouble, no exception. Jacob reluctantly said,

"No, they are sensible and well-behaved." Dean winked at Scott,

"It's Scott who is causing trouble!" Katie glared at her brother with her hands on her hips, "I'll wipe his ass!" ”

"Those bastards are not used to seeing my face, provoking me, I just defend myself and fight back!" Scott tilted his neck and smiled disdainfully, "Besides, I begged you on my knees?" ”

"Everyone, look here, the ticket fee of 40 yuan per person should be paid." The black man in the cape standing in the center of the store slapped his palms twice, attracting everyone's attention,

"Mr. Zumbi, is there any danger in the Honey Island swamp?" The old man in the crowd, with gray hair and a broomstick beard under his nose, asked, "Poisonous snakes, zombies?" ”

Dangerous?

The black man grinned, showing teeth whiter than plaster, and glanced at his daughter and assistant Faraji, who instantly handed him a black rose,

"I'm the greatest tour guide, the funniest soul, the greatest voodoo shaman, on this street! I have been in this business for more than ten years, and I have never encountered an accident, and the golden sign is shinier than my teeth. ”

The black man took the rose and clasped it in his palm, and his five fingers closed like lightning, and then parted, and the rose disappeared without a trace.

Then he walked up to the old man, poked into his pocket, and pulled out a delicate rose again, and inserted it into the chest of his wife.

"I've sent you, beautiful lady, and I hope it will dispel your doubts."

The little magic trick made the two sisters and brothers applaud wildly, and several tourists present couldn't help but cheer, and the worries in their hearts disappeared.

……

"You're friends with Faraj, so the ticket money is free." The black man finally whispered to Dean and Gretchen, and then looked at the daughter who was entertaining the guests, "Prepare the mosquito repellent and the stove." ”

"It's ready." The black girl made an OK gesture.

Zumbi looked at the Asian boy who was rummaging through the display case, "Don't touch it, young man, it's a bracelet made of an elephant's tail, and when you wear it, you will have the blessing of an elephant's soul, you are too thin to bear it." ”

"Who to underestimate?" Scott stubbornly brought the bracelet to his wrist, "I bought it." ”

"Benefit 30 dollars." Zumbi smiled with a black face,

"It's too expensive, it's a money grab!" Katie said,

"It's okay, I spend my own pocket money!" Scott didn't hesitate to pay the money.

……

At noon, after lunch.

A group of 12 people got on a small yellow school bus outside the voodoo shop.

Zumby started his car and drove down the nostalgic roads of downtown New Orleans to the suburbs.

Gretchen and Miss Katie fell in love, so they sat together on the left side of the back row and chatted about dressing and accessories, and Dean was forced to sit on the right with Scott.

Jacob and the old couple sat in the center, reminiscing about their youth.

At the forefront, three punk young men in black leather pants, earrings and nose rings fiddle with a Polaroid 600 camera and listen to Faraghi talk about the history of New Orleans.

"Man, how did you get such a beautiful girlfriend as Miss Gretchen?" Scott chewed on the bubbles and asked Dean curiously, "There is no precedent for Asian to white girls in our grade." Do you have the ability to make money? ”

"I don't have a lot of money, but I have the ability to shoot real guns, and you can exercise well." Dean bent his right hand, and the biceps under his sleeve suddenly bulged exaggeratedly like a mountain, Scott opened his mouth wide, and puffed out his undulating arms again, with a dejected face,

"Come back to your senses! I don't mean anything else, how did you end up with Katie? ”

Scott thought for a few seconds and whispered, "Ten years ago, my biological parents died in an accident, and then our diocesan pastor Jacob adopted me, Jacob was very good to me, and he was my second father. ”

A White Pastor Adopts Asian?

Dean suddenly wondered if there was no resemblance between their brother and sister, "I'm sorry..."

Scott laughed to himself, "It's okay, I'm used to it, and basically normal people can't help but ask when they see me and my sister." ”

Dean looked at the pastor in the front row who was listening carefully to the couple's reminiscences of their youthful years, "Jacob is really a pastor?" I thought he was a cowboy from Texas. ”

"He didn't dress like this before, he always wore a black sacrificial garment that was serious from head to toe, seven days a week, from morning to night. Then something happened... He bought an RV, helped us take a long break from school, and the family went on a road trip, which was ridiculous to say, he didn't even tell us where the trip would end. ”

"Jacob has changed so much because of an accident?"

Scott hung his head in silence, and his sunglasses couldn't hide the gloom on his face.

"Okay, let's change the subject," Dean put his hands on the back of his head and cocked Erlang's legs, "You like Bruce Lee a lot?" ”

"Of course, he is the pride of our Chinese," Scott swept his nose with his thumb full of reverence, and showed a vicious look in his eyes, and made a "Ah Da" sound from his mouth, "And I have a lot of fate with him, and my ancestral home is GD." ”

"Pretty boy?" Dean said in pure and fluent Chinese,

Scott smiled in surprise, "You're not Korean?" ”

"No, I have Celestial Empire blood."

"Then we are also a kind of 'fellow countryman', you are not much older than me, good buddy, can you teach me how to pick up girls?" Scott's eyes became more and more affectionate when he looked at Dean, "I liked a girl at school for a long time, but I felt like she didn't call me." ”

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to pick up girls, they usually send them themselves."

“……”

……

The car left the downtown area of New Orleans and drove along the narrow road to the suburbs at high speed, and the future Faraj policewoman passed the boring rush with excellent explanations.

It wasn't until late evening that the twilight began to quadrangle.

Zumbi slowed down, and Dean peered out the window to see a row of willow trees on the side of the road in the dark night sky, clusters of silver willow branches suspended by a wooden pier jutting out of the shore.

There was a small white boat with colored lights, and the lake next to it was filled with gray mist and wriggled like a blanket.

"Everyone arrived safely, got out of the car, and started the trip around the lake!" Zumbi opened the car door, and the three punk men and women in the front row rushed to the dock, the red-haired young man held up the camera, and the two punk women with nose rings faced him and the car, and lifted their shirts boldly.

Click-

"God!" The old man was shaken by a white flower, the broom beard trembled, stroked his chest and almost didn't have a heart attack, the old lady hurriedly slapped him on the back,

Scott looked straight in his eyes and swallowed his saliva and kept thinking,

“B、C？ C、D？ ”

"Put on your clothes quickly, and be careful of catching a cold at night!" Zumbi laughed, told Faraj to carry a handbag, and yelled for everyone to sit in the white boat by the dock, and Dean and his girlfriend snuggled up to each other in the stern of the boat, admiring the lake at night.

The moonlight hid in the dark clouds, and under the cover of night, the lake became deep and mysterious. The breeze was light, and the surface of the lake was rippling with layers of ripples, as if the devil was flying in the mist.

Fly to a dark honey island in the distance.

"Next, we'll take a boat around the lake and then head into the uninhabited island of Honey in the middle for the night." With the roar of the engine, Zumbi sailed towards the middle of the lake.

"Wait, it's only nighttime now, where's the ghost hunt?" The red-haired punk man asked, "If the most important project is gone, then at least half of the ticket price will be refunded." ”

"Don't worry, boy, you have to summon the demons before you can catch them. We're about to have a ceremony, right on the boat," Zumbi put his handbag on the table in the center of the ship, unzipped it, took out an incense burner and lit it, handed it to Faraji, took out a soft brush for himself, and then the two fathers and goddesses waved the soft brush and the incense burner to the whole body of the people.

In the white smoke, everyone's eyes were confused.

Dean seemed to have seen a crappy jump. But he also smelled the smell of verbena from the incense burner, which was not entirely foolish to the voodoo godfathers and daughters.

"What is this for?" Gretchen looked at his friend,

"Before the summoning ceremony, it is necessary to expel the evil spirits on the ship, purify the air, and facilitate communication with the holy Lowa. ”

Pastor Jacob felt the cross from his clothes, took the hands of his children, and looked at the movements of the black man with a solemn face, as if ready to witness a miracle beyond God's jurisdiction, "Who is Lowa?" ”

Faraj explains, "The spirits of our gods, our ancestors, each with their own role in ruling over the world, have given us the power of verve and summoning. ”

Scott excitedly asked, "What are we calling to Lowa?" ”

"A harmless, mystical creation, called a rejuvenating corpse in our voodoo cult, is cold, can move, eat, farms and cleans the land at the behest of the summoner, but has no memory and no idea of the environment in which it is located. Once the summon is successful, it will wake up from its slumber and head to its room on the island, where it will make our room, make our bed, and make a hot dinner, which we can enjoy as soon as we arrive. ”

"Isn't this a housekeeping robot?" Katie held her small chin and muttered, always feeling that something was wrong.

Then Zumbi took out from his handbag the statue of Lova with beautiful gauze, the size of a fist, and black skin, candles, paper with strange charms, flowers, jerky and tobacco representing sacrifices, which represented the gods...

"Wait, are you sure it's safe to do this, you're not stupid to death?" Dean looked at Zumbi very seriously, "This is on the boat, if something happens, you can't run away." ”

"I can't swim!" The two punk women who had exposed their breasts before said nervously,

The old couple also clinged to each other, their expressions excited and worried,

"I'm by far the most powerful sorcerer, I've never missed, I'm here to make sure you're okay... If you really don't worry, buy some amulets, you'll be safe with them," Zumbi pulled out a few amulets made from feathers and animal hair threads from his backpack.

To be on the safe side, everyone was generous, even the old pastor Jacob.

Gretchen was about to dig into his pocket, and Faraji, who was lighting a candle, quietly leaned into her ear, "Don't buy it, my dad is just an ordinary person, he can't summon anything without mana, it has been useless a dozen times before, and someone is decorating the room on the island." Clients need a stimulus, and we sell them a little bit of just the right amount of stimulus, fair trade. ”

Gretchen raised his eyebrows, pointed to his friend's nose, and lowered his voice, "Sooner or later, I will arrest you two crooks who are pretending to be ghosts and put them in prison." ”

Dean shook his head and smiled.

Specifically to scare people on a ship that does not land on the ground, isn't this a fairy jump?

……

"Quiet! The ceremony begins! ”

Zumbi shouted, waved the censer in his hand, and sang a rhythmic prayer in obscure Creole.

Faraj beat the tambourine.

Zumbi shrugged his shoulders, waist, and back cramping to the beat of the drums, and crouched around the icons and offerings, occasionally prostrate on the ground as if bowing to the central statue.

The white candle flame on the table faltered, reflecting Zumbi's black-and-white horse face.

His reflection flickered and shone in the lake.

His grotesque cries floated out of the boat, across the lake, and into the dark island.

A night breeze blew, and everyone on the ship seemed to feel some subtle change in the air, and they couldn't help but shrink their shoulders, clenched their talismans, and pressed against their companions.

Dean wrapped his arms around Gretchen's warm delicate body and looked around, opening up God's perspective at the same time.

There are no mysterious fluctuations.

The surface of the lake is dark and calm.

(End of chapter)