The old woman said with emotion: "There is no one now, but it used to be lively here, and people's emotions have already soaked this place, even if there is no one now, occasionally they will hear the noise of the year in the thick fog." ”

Taking advantage of Qin's concession to the old woman, Qi Yan made a casual gesture and asked the old woman: "I heard from a guest that the shrine next door to the hot spring is very effective. ”

"Yes, young people who used to come to the hot springs used to go to the shrine to pray for a lot, but," the old woman paused and continued, "We locals rarely go. ”

Qi Yan and Qin Rang immediately glanced at each other: "Why is this?" ”

As an elderly NPC, the hot spring woman believes that there is no one in the copy who knows more about the shrine than her.

The old woman recalled: "A long time ago, when I was very young, there were some strange stories about this shrine, saying that there was a poor woman trapped in the shrine, who was white and red-lipped, dressed in scarlet clothes, and wore a high hat made of black lacquered paulownia wood on her feet, and her hair was raised high, and she looked very beautiful. ”

Qi Yan hurriedly asked, "Is this trapped woman holding a pipe?" ”

The old woman thought for a moment and shook her head: "I haven't heard of this." ”

"Legend has it that on a moonless night, through the gate of the shrine, you can faintly hear the laughter and crying of a woman inside... There is even the sound of moaning during love, so the elders in the neighborhood do not let children play outside the shrine gate at night. ”

Qi Jiu: "Huh? But isn't that shrine a marriage affair? ”

"Yes, but who knows if it's true or not?" The old woman continued, "There is an even stranger saying that on a snowy winter night, if a late returning hot spring visitor passes by the shrine and does not leave quickly after hearing the woman's voice, or even leans under the window to continue eavesdropping on the movement inside, he will see that the window paper of the shrine turns damp red, as if it is stained with blood, and the blood oozing from the window paper will drip on the clothes of the late returnee." ”

The old woman in the hot spring described the ancient strange talk of the shrine in an old voice, and Qin Rang, who was massaging for her, was so frightened that her hands stiffened.

He stole a glance at Qi Yan through the mask, but this guy was still silent.

"According to the regulations, the shrine is lit at night when it is closed, but there are always guests who return late and see the lights lit inside after the shrine is closed, and they describe it like this: looking at the shrine through the window paper, it looks like there is a fire flickering," the old woman sighed, "but how can there be fire at the shrine at night!" ”

Qi Jiu: "Has there been a fire at the shrine before?" ”

The old woman thought for a while and shook her head: "I don't have an impression, why do you ask that?" ”

Qi Jiu's brows furrowed slightly, didn't the fire in the dream happen in the real shrine?

"I thought the rules for turning off the lights and flames were because of the shrine's historical accidents, so I was extra careful." Qi Jiu's answer was perfect.

"Then I don't know, it seems that since I was born, the shrine has such a rule, and it is as old as those strange tales." The old woman described.

"That's right..."Qi Yan hesitated for a moment, and suddenly asked, "By the way, do you know Miss Yuzi?" ”

The old woman thought carefully for a while: "I don't know, the name is somewhat familiar, but..."

After thinking for a while, the old woman finally gave up, shook her head and said, "I can't remember, there are probably a lot of guests called Miss Yuko." ”

The massage went smoothly, and soon, Qin Rang had already skillfully completed the service for the hot spring old woman.

The two insisted that they did not charge the old woman, and the old woman sat up: "Then how can you be embarrassed?" It's not easy for you young people to earn some living expenses. ”

"By the way, will you go back to the hotel later?" The old woman asked the two young men.

Qi Ji replied while packing up the massage utensils: "I won't tell you, my brother and I plan to go to the shrine next door when we go back." ”

He didn't intend to hide his itinerary from the old woman, after all, he was likely to ask for some valuable information from the other party.

"Will you go later?" The old woman was slightly stunned.

Qi Yan smiled: "Yes, after all, it is not easy to get out of the hotel. ”

"Excuse me, do you have any advice for our brothers?" Qi Ji didn't miss any opportunity to ask for clues, and asked.

The old woman looked at Kei Ji deeply and warned in a serious tone, "Remember, if the ema in the shrine turns black, please try not to use it, it is said that it is an ema tainted with the resentment of the resentful spirit, and the wishes written down will be sent to the resentful spirit." ”

Ema is a pentagonal offering used by people to pray at shrines, and most of them are wooden boards with unique patterns.

"Also, remember to bow before stepping into the torii gate, and don't bring open flames into the shrine at night, although I don't know why, but we have always spread it in the local area, so it's better to be cautious."

Hearing this, Qi Yan was slightly stunned: "I understand, thank you for informing." ”

It's just a very important clue, and since there is a black ema, it proves that there is something dirty in the shrine.

"By the way, since you don't want to charge me for my massage service, I'll give this to you," said the old woman, handing a pendant the size of a finger and shaped like a bullet to Qi Yan, and explained, "There is a spell to suppress evil spirits in the pendant, although the energy is limited, but it may be able to help you in an emergency." ”

The old woman in the hot spring had a very good impression of the new young man and did not want anything to happen to him.

"Thank you," Qi Ji put away the spell pendant and bowed to the old woman in thanks, "If you need any help in the future, you can always contact us." ”

The old woman patted him on the shoulder: "What a good boy, since you have already planned, let's go early and return early, pay attention to safety." ”

*

After saying goodbye to the hot spring mother-in-law, the two went directly to the shrine.

The hot spring street, which was originally only shrouded in darkness and dead silence, suddenly became foggy, and the thick white fog was like a huge white net, trapping the travelers who accidentally broke in, making the travelers lose their direction and wear out their inner sense of security.

Obviously it wasn't particularly cold, but Qin Rang hugged his arms and shivered fiercely, I don't know if he listened to the hot spring mother-in-law talk about the shrine all night, and now he looked at this dilapidated shrine from afar, and always felt that the shrine was faintly revealing a shaking fire in the dark windows.

He could even hear the crying and laughing of women lingering down the thick fog, wrapping around him like spider silk.

"Qin Rang, pay attention to the pleasure value."

Qi Yan's calm voice pulled Qin Rang back, and Qin Rang was in a trance for a moment, only to find that his pleasure value was slowly decreasing.

"Oh, I almost..."

"It's easy to get distracted by the fog on the streets." Qi Yan handed the pendant given by the old woman to Qin Rang, he glanced at the ghost fire bamboo lamp in his hand, and the blue-green flame burned even more vigorously.

As the fog cleared, the spirits in the streets seemed to be more active.

It was an unsettling night.

It's only a little more than ten meters from "Yu-no-yu" to the shrine, but the two of them have the illusion that they have been walking for a long time.

The dilapidated shrine was sunk in fog, and not a single paper light was lit tonight.

Qi found that as if he was deliberately welcoming their visit, the lock on the door of the shrine was loosened at some point.

It's okay to save a lock-picking prop.

According to the explanation of the hot spring old woman, Qi Zhen bowed before stepping over the torii, and then did not take the liberty to push the door in, but imitated the appearance of the girl at the front desk, first raised her hand and gently knocked on the door three times, and waited for a few seconds to make sure that there was no movement in the door, and then said to the shrine door: "Late at night, disturbed." ”

After speaking, an abrupt "creaking" sound sounded in the dead silence, and he pushed the door in.

The air that had been sealed in dust for a long time flowed again, and Qi Ji moved his nose, and the familiar smell of burning permeated the confined space.

But the hot spring lady said that this shrine has not suffered a fire, so why does it smell like a hotel?

Could it be that there was no shrine at the time of the fire? Is it the "House of Gloria" that stands on the street and is used to entertain guests?

To be on the safe side, Qi Ji followed the words of the old woman in the hot springs and placed his small ghost fire bamboo lantern at the torii gate outside the shrine, and exchanged two flashlights from the inventory for lighting.

"Qi Jiu, look at this." Qin Rang had mastered the skills of finding clues, and he raised his flashlight towards the stone plate on the right side of the shrine gate.

Qi Yan followed the light of the flashlight and noticed that the stone plaque was engraved with the "Shrine Code"-

1. Please bow before passing through each torii gate;

2. Open flames are prohibited at this shrine, so please refrain from smoking or burning incense.

3. The shrine provides ema for visitors to the shrine, and after entering the shrine, please write down your wishes and leave your name.

4. Write down the price you are willing to pay on the back of the ema, and hang the ema with the wish and the price written on the prayer stand.

The second rule once again confirms Qi Jiu's conjecture that the original site of the shrine was burned.

But the third and fourth rules are a bit tricky, in short, the shrine forces visitors to use ema to pray and make wishes, and pay a certain price for their wishes.

Qin Rang subconsciously looked at the "Ema Self-Pickup Place" on the side, and when he saw the Ema provided to tourists, he gasped.

The ema provided at the shrine are all black, the ones that the hot spring woman warned about and polluted by the resentment of the spirits.

"It's... What are we going to do? Qin Rang looked at Qi Yan at a loss, "The rules of the shrine say that visitors who come in should write their wishes and costs on the ema, but this ema is obviously polluted by resentful spirits..."

Qi Yan was not obsessed with the rules, but walked to the prayer stand, and his eyes quickly lingered on Ema who had already written his wish: "Don't be in a hurry to think about the "Shrine Rules" first, let's find Xiaomi's Ema first to find clues. ”

Qin Rang was stunned for a moment: "Xiao Mi's Ema? What do you mean...? ”

Qi Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly, and intently browsed the prayer rack: "On Chinese New Year's Eve before the accident, she must have been here." ”

Although their current timeline has not yet reached Chinese New Year's Eve, Qi Ji believes that the "explosion and fire accident" and the "player's timeline" in the copy are the relationship between the surface and the inner world, and the "inner world" is the "reality" of Xiaomi's life, where the Chinese New Year's Eve fire accident has occurred, and as they break through the "table world", they will see the barren and grotesque phenomenon of the hot spring street.

And according to the dream hints given by the guy, Xiao Mi's vague and chaotic words, and the information on the radio, Qi Zhen judged that the "shrine" was a space connecting the world inside and outside, and it was also a rope that strung together those fragmentary clues.

Qin Rang heard it in a fog, but with the cooperation of many times, he was used to Qi Yan's style, and he was also used to not thinking about why, but to completing Qi Yan's plan with the highest efficiency, after all, he knew that he would never be able to keep up with the speed of that guy's brain, and he was probably confused when he asked, so it was better to roll up his sleeves and do it.

After a copy of the "burglary" training, coupled with the blessing of the European Emperor's physique, Qin Rang's speed of finding things was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

"Found it! Yes, this should be right! ”

Soon, Qin Rang keenly found the black painted horse signed by Xiao Mi from the thousands of painted horses with wishes written on the prayer rack.

"Offended." Although he was a little resistant in his heart, Qin Rang still stood on tiptoe to take down someone else's Ema brand.

Qi Ji shone a flashlight on the past, only to see the immature handwriting of a girl left on the painted horse-

"I want to forget that my mother has left, and let my mother come back to life, or let me go back to my mother."

"Prayer Person: Xiao Mi"

It turned out that Mrs. left Xiao Mi before the explosion accident.

In this way, it can be explained that when Qi Ji asked Xiao Mi what "things" he wanted to ask for at the shrine, Xiao Mi said two words in a daze - mother.

Qin Rang's heart was shocked, and he quickly flipped to the back of the price written on the wisher-

"I'm willing to give everything I have for this, including the rest of my life."

Qin Rang held Xiao Mi's painted horse, and his lips trembled: "This...?" ”

"I can probably figure it out, Xiao Mi made a deal with the evil spirit in the shrine in order to return to his mother, which is likely to be the "cause" of the explosion and fire accident," Qi Yan showed a clear expression, "Put away this Ema, and we will bring it back to Xiao Mi." ”

Qi Zhen guessed that his wife was likely to die in an accident, and on Chinese New Year's Eve, Xiao Mi, who lost his mother, would come to this shrine to make a wish.

And Xiao Mi mentioned in her wish that she wanted to forget that her mother had left, so she would forget the fact that her wife had passed away, forget about Black Ema's deal with evil spirits, and even forget the disaster caused by it.

Xiao Mi is likely to be the "starting point" of this accident and the "solution" of the copy.

As for why Xiao Mi and his wife live in the dungeon as players... This probably needs to be known after Xiao Mi recovers his memory.

Qi Zhen looked back at the thousands of black painted horses on the shelf, and also noticed that each painted horse was tied with a red rope and a small bell.

After he removed the "front desk call button" last night, he found a clump of cursed hair in a hole in the wall, and a small red string bell of the same style was also tied.

The sound of bells is a signal that ghosts can attack tourists.

Qi Ji speculated that the resentful spirits who died in the hotel accident were being controlled by the powerful evil spirit forces in the shrine, and they were likely to resemble ghosts.

If that were the case, the witch's plan to overtake the inn's wraiths might not work.