Path of the Dead Prequel: Wings of Silver

I ordered a glass of citron water, trying to free my mind from the turbid smell of tobacco and the bitterly sweet black coffee. My eyes crossed the edge of the glass and fell directly under the small spot of streetlight in front of the courtyard.. The dreamy atmosphere surrounding the adventure an hour ago still couldn't help my heartbeat speeding up, and my back was dripping with cold sweat.

After running for our lives back to the courtyard, we came to this rhinoceros horn restaurant with a blue exterior and ordered three relatively luxurious dinners, intending to forget all the unhappiness by having a good meal. As soon as Fatty Fan sat down, he started smoking as hard as he could, and at the same time complained loudly that I was as timid as a mouse. He didn't encounter any weird things in the four rooms on the left, and he just listened to me causing panic. And Krys was also laughing at me, saying that she was pushed and dragged back to the corridor before she could figure out what was going on.

My guilt began to surge over me, and my tongue that didn't want to speak began to become flexible along with the sweetness. My unimaginable gaffe during this visit was inseparable from what was on my mind, which was that Hollisman once mentioned a past incident that happened when he was in southern Italy.

While we were discussing how to make quick money, we would share some real-life experiences when it came to boredom. He liked to listen to urban legends about eating ears, and I also liked to listen to his interesting Italian folk tales. One night, while we were sitting on the swing in front of the Nashville Theater, he told me a story about Napo that happened seven years ago, which ignited the shadow of fear in my heart.

In 1991, Lin Rui was still living in the ivory-yellow old house of his grandmother Lao Musa. Hollisman was now suffering from rheumatic paralysis, and his family moved the patient and bed to a pavilion on the ground floor in order to facilitate medical treatment. As a result, the bedroom becomes an empty room. At that time, the second floor of his house was a square patio structure, with all the space underneath except for the privately built large bathroom.

Lin Rui's cabin is located due north of the square patio, and opposite is Old Musa's bedroom. To the east is the small kitchen where the old lady cooks daily, and to the west is the stairs to the ground floor. The side walls are covered with ivy, which rustle when the wind blows at night.

On a heavy rainy night in late autumn of that year, this kid got tired of hiding in bed and playing games, so he sat up and opened the small window to let some air in, letting out the smell of cigarette smoke in the room. As soon as the latch was opened, he saw a chubby wild cat hiding under the eaves, calling silently to him. So I put on my clothes and planned to go out and climb to the terrace to bring this little cold thing inside. But just as he was putting on his pants, he suddenly saw a figure moving in the bedroom opposite, and he stopped.

Who could run into that house in the middle of the night? And even if there were people, how could they rummage through things without making any noise? Along with his curiosity, fear began to arise in his heart, so he quietly closed the window and drew the curtain, opened a corner and started to peek.

After touching for a few minutes, the shaking shadow appeared again. This time Lin Rui could see clearly that there was indeed something in the darkness. It was a woman who looked about forty years old, with big braids and a hemp-yellow nightgown. She was walking in the opposite room with a fruit plate in her hand. After a while, the figure slowly moved towards the small kitchen, and finally stopped in front of the stove. He stood motionless, turning his head mechanically to look at his small window. Lin Rui was so frightened that he immediately got into bed. After a while, he opened the curtains and took a look. The figure disappeared.

At that time, I still didn’t know that he had sharp eyes, so I asked if this was an illusion. And what he said next really opened my eyes. According to Lin Rui's description, the reason why this female figure can be seen clearly in the dark is because there seems to be a spotlight on her head, and the entire body is bright, just like a butterfly flying in the night sky. When the figure came to the kitchen, it became even brighter, giving the impression of being bathed in the afternoon sun. In short, the person was completely inconsistent with the surrounding environment, and he didn't know the specific reason.

After half a week, he still told his family about it, because the old Hollisman had the habit of getting up at night to go to the bathroom. When he came out of his bedroom, he would pass by the corridor outside the kitchen. If he saw that person in the dark, There is no guarantee that the strange human form will make you sick. Shortly afterwards, based on his memories, he roughly drew a sketch of the strange woman on paper, and finally used it to figure out the origin of this person. It turns out that the lingering ghost is his grandmother's sister, who died in an air raid during World War II. Then, the linen pajamas were also found among the old things in the attic. When he opened the old photos, he saw her in the album at a glance.

Because he was his relative, he didn't seem to be very scared, so he would peek in that direction from time to time in the middle of the night. But unfortunately, this strange figure did not appear again. A year later, Lin Rui saw her again on the same late autumn rainy night. In 1993, old Musa passed away due to organ failure. From then on, the bedroom was locked for a long time, and the shadow disappeared without a trace..

No matter how relaxed his tone of description was at the time, this incident still made me feel nervous, because through it, I began to awaken the dark memories in my heart. I let out a long sigh, put the water glass aside, lit a cigarette and moved my gaze from the light spot back to the dining table.

Using my excuse, Fan Pang proudly shared again the stories he heard from Greek netizens on the midnight hotline.

"What are your dark memories? Say it, don't be a show-off."The three people in front of me listened with great interest, especially the one with four eyes, who seemed particularly excited and kept murmuring:"As expected, you have to go to old Europe for mining. All kinds of strange stories, ancient castles in the lonely mountains, and monuments of religious massacres are like mice crawling in the mud for thousands of years under the Roman Colosseum, soaked in countless innocent blood."

"Do you really want to say it? In the middle of the night, we have to rush to the tower again and bravely explore the 0514 warehouse. Will you have no psychological barriers after hearing this?"I glanced at a few people uneasily, held Krys' shoulders and said,"Don't go this time, I'm worried something will happen."

"I have my own ideas and will tell you later." She trimmed her long hair and was eager to know about my French memoirs

"It’s so heart-wrenching, just one of them is already terrifying, and yet you want to hear another one, okay?"I removed the mint leaves from the water glass, drank it all, and slowly fell into deep thought.

How should I describe this incident? It is actually one of a series of incidents. I don't have Marlowe's patience. , I like to start a long story from a few years A.D., and start with the main theme of the birth of shadow. That was the first year I was sent to the orphanage. I lived in the living area at night and stayed in the old T-shaped shabby building during the day. I took classes and did manual labor.

At that time, I had just been kicked out of the house by Mrs. Ou Rong. It was difficult for me to accept the cruel current situation that my family no longer existed. I lived in panic all day long. In any case, Madeleine was a high-level intellectual. I was also born and educated in a scholarly family. In the blink of an eye, one of my parents disappeared and the other died suddenly. I was immediately sent to the bottom class of children who were crowded with malicious intentions and exuded stench. It was like falling straight from heaven. It is difficult to adapt to the gap in hell. Every day I go to the confessional to see the statue of the Virgin, miss my mother’s breath, and have a silent dialogue with her. Only in that way can I find a haven of peace of mind.

Every accommodation Each unit has a room manager. During the day, he calls the numbers and takes the children to the dormitory. At night, he goes to bed and turns off the lights under the supervision of this person. He follows a strict daily schedule, just like a prison inmate. From 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. At half past three, being stared at every day is a boring and boring life, which makes people always want to escape over the wall. The person in charge of my name is a tall and arrogant boy, and his father is a serious prisoner. He is a criminal, so he is treated as an orphan. Due to family reasons, this child is very cruel. He regards all the children in the unit as his slaves. He will attack if he disagrees with him. Everyone has been beaten by him. Over time, all these children have suffered from the disease. He suffers from Stockholm Syndrome, relies heavily on him, and obeys the Hunzi's words, regardless of whether his orders are right or wrong. In short, he no longer has to do it himself, and there is a group of lackeys around him.

When he first entered the orphanage, the Hunzi wanted to establish his authority. So I picked on me all day long, provoking unprovoked provocations. Once when I was cornered, I gave him a slap on the head with a carpentry hammer, and as a result, two of his front teeth were knocked out. After the fight in the cafeteria, I was locked up alone for a week to reflect. The hospital will not pay close attention to who strikes first. They only look at whether the bullies can control their own people. So no matter how much hardship I have endured, I will be the first to be punished as long as I strike. In the 1980s, this was not the case now. The procedure for filing a complaint is so sound. In a group of children who are all grassroots and unsupervised, the law of the jungle is followed until they are taken away by a foster family.

The incident happened within a week after I returned to the unit dormitory. This mess Although the boy has a tigerish face all day long, he is no longer as impudent as before, and no one around him comes to trouble me. Seeing that he has two missing teeth, I always thought that I was too harsh, so I apologized to him several times to try to calm down. But that was too naive. The vicious boy had already prepared a big gift package for me.

It was a weekend evening, and I was assigned to clean the corridors and the biology classroom. There were several cages in the small room. , there were some white pigeons for dissection inside. When I came back from fetching water, I saw pigeons flying all over the house. I don’t know who quietly opened the gate and let all the birds out. Because of this, the Hunzi took responsibility He pushed it on my head, locked the iron door at the bottom of the building, and ordered me to catch all the pigeons before it was over. When all of this was done, he went up to the top floor to ring the bell. When they hear it, they will come and open the door.

It got dark soon, and I managed to catch only five white pigeons, but two were still at large. There was a strong wind in my ears, and the incandescent lamp in the classroom was blown to pieces. Even if they are all opened, they cannot stop the darkness from invading from all directions. I hugged my legs and hid under the podium alone, thinking silently that the ancestors of the pigeons could fly home on their own, so that I wouldn’t have to wander around again to avoid bumping into that

"What is that?"Seeing me stop lighting my cigarette, Fan Pang impatiently pushed my shoulder and asked urgently.

Then we must talk about the past of this old T-shaped building. It was originally a Catholic church. It has been more than two hundred years since the monastery was abandoned because all its property was robbed. At the end of the 18th century, the vigorous French Revolution broke out, and street mob politics began to take the stage. Although history has given it a rather complicated position, some say it is progress. Yes, it can be said that it was nothing short of a disaster. From the establishment of the Third Estate Parliament to the contest between the Royalists and the Girondins, and the Jacobins coming to power, countless people were killed. Even when Bonaparte came to power, there was still no end, and large-scale External expansion, for almost half a century, has always been in chaos.

Although compared to other big cities, most of the killings were concentrated in Paris, but it was a disorderly and chaotic time. Financial bankruptcy, currency became waste paper, and social management The system was gone, so the White Nights appeared in Lyon. They were not a group pursuing political demands, but a group of bandits who specialized in kidnapping people, especially children. Because they often committed crimes in the middle of the night and liked to wear white cloths on their heads, People who break windows and break into houses in the surrounding countryside are also known as ghosts on moonlit nights. Then the children in custody will naturally have a stronghold to sell the stolen goods, which is convenient for resale. Therefore, this T-shaped monastery named Cancrow is one of them. Black prison.

Among the strongmen responsible for guarding these abducted animals, a one-eyed woman was the most violent. Because this guy wore a nun's outfit and was good at mutilating children's hands and feet and selling them as beggars, people called them the Bloody Nun. Later, she was called the Bloody Nun. The Moonlight Ghost gang was annihilated, and the angry farmers held torches and surrounded the dilapidated building. This man could not escape, and felt that he was full of evil. If he was found, skinning and cramping would be an appetizer. So he cut his teeth. He bit, picked up a bucket of fire and oil, poured himself out, pulled out the fire and burned himself. Unable to bear the pain, he jumped into a well and committed suicide. This ended his sinful life. After the fire burned the remaining crows, people renovated the old building on top of the ruins. , it has been used as a residential school, a refugee shelter, and an ammunition storage warehouse. However, those on duty at night can always encounter the ghost of a nun holding a torch in the middle of the night. As strange things happen frequently and various gossips spread all over the sky, people Gradually, people began to get interested in hearing about the dilapidated building, and the most talked about thing was the legend of the bloody nun. On the ground floor of the T-shaped long building, there is a long and dark path, along which you can walk into the atrium filled with grass. There is everything there. It is the grave of an unknown person. In the center of the earthen bag, you can see a collapsed dry well. It is said that the bloody nun died under it. The villagers hated her to the core, so they pushed down the well rock, so that its corpse is still there to this day. It was crushed under huge rocks weighing dozens of tons. Because it was an inner courtyard with no sunlight all year round and strong winds, it looked particularly eerie.

Some older children in the orphanage often vividly described how every time the moon showed through the clouds, , the old demon below will break out of the well, searching for lost people and dragging them down. Therefore, the two entrances and exits in the atrium were equipped with rusty iron gates with copper locks. Every time Every few years, when the old locks rot, someone will lock them again, and the white dirt accumulates layer by layer on the iron bars. Whenever you pass by, you lower your head and dare not glance in that direction, for fear of being attacked. The rumored devil.

For these reasons, everyone usually leaves the dilapidated building before nightfall, and then the old man who looks after the hospital patrols the building to ensure that no one is there, and then locks the iron door at the bottom to avoid causing trouble. Of course, this is also a tactic often used by orphanages to intimidate rebellious children. They will usually drag you downstairs forcibly, claiming that they will lock you up for the night. When I saw you panicking and bursting into tears, I pretended to let you go back to the dormitory to write a review.

In short, no matter whether it is a pretense or a punishment method, no one would dare to cruelly lock a child in a broken building overnight. After all, if something happens, he will have to pay criminal liability and go to jail. But that stupid boy was brave. With the malicious intent of not being a hero without revenge, he spent a whole week planning the poisonous plot, and finally started to take action when the old patrolman returned home that night due to something. Because of this, I became the first person to be locked up in the building for a whole night in the more than ten years since the institution was founded.

In any old building, something has happened to some extent or another. In fact, there are six other gloomy corners related to the Broken Crow, but the dry well in the atrium is the most famous. If I go smoothly and catch all the pigeons, if I really want to go up and ring the bell, I will pass by two other"attractions", and the bell tower is one of them. No matter how you look at it, it will be difficult for me to survive this desperate night.

When he said this, a strong wind blew up outside, causing the tablecloth to flutter, and the water glass was smashed under his feet by the external force. The three of them couldn't help but trembled, and began to feel uneasy. They hurriedly carried the dishes and ran to the table in the center of the restaurant to change seats. As soon as I sat down, those timid and inquiring eyes immediately forced me to continue. The noise caused several couples of men and women around to join in. Perhaps feeling fear, they also moved away from their tables and ran to the area where the lights were the brightest, leaning sideways and silently waiting for the lecture to begin.

Sure enough, such topics always attract a lot of attention. After all, they happen in ordinary life and are so close to every household. The southern natives are inherently more superstitious than the Yankees. When they hear about foreign ghosts, they are all enthusiastic and fascinated. After ordering my meal, I didn’t even have time to eat. I watched the steak getting cold, so I lowered my head and wolfed it down, ignoring Xiaoma.

"What are the other six 'attractions'?"Finally, a middle-aged man who was taking his daughter to dine next to me couldn't bear it any longer. He patted me on the shoulder and asked anxiously:"You'd better tell me! We are all listening, how come we start eating half of our good words?"

"We are talking about our own affairs, what does this have to do with you?"I raised my eyes and glanced at him dissatisfied

"Sorry, sorry."Pang Fan scratched his sparse hair head with a sly and sincere smile on his face.