Chapter 45: The Monster Falling from the Clouds
February 12th
Shen Kuo and the monk Huailiang stopped in front of a tile house. Shen Kuo thought to himself, it seems that just like last time, this monk intends to use singing and dancing to enlighten me. Not bad, let's see what tricks he has.
"Master, are we going to watch the illusion show this time, the Seven Sacred Swords illusion show, or Xue Tinghe's goose illusion? I'm currently studying the new chapter of Goose Illusion, and I've gained some insights."
"No need to ask, just go in and you'll know."
The monk strode in and threw a few coins to the man who was beating the gong at the door. Shen Kuo followed him in.
The two of them went inside. There were only a few spectators in the huge venue. Perhaps as the night deepened, the number of customers gradually decreased. Even if someone wanted to get drunk and dream before the end of the world, they would inevitably be timid and go home after the hour of Xu. The tile business would be difficult to do.
As usual, the two of them sat in the front row, and Shen Kuo waited without blinking to see through the trick.
However, there was no luxurious decoration on the stage. There was only a table, a chair, and a round fan on the table. That was all.
After waiting for a while, a woman slowly walked to the seats, bowed to about eleven or twelve audience members, and then sat down.
It doesn't look like a magic trick, as magic tricks don't happen while sitting, but it's not ancient either, as there are no women in Bianliang city who tell ancient stories.
The woman picked up the round fan and covered her face.
Suddenly, a real baby cry was heard. There was no child here, so it was clearly the woman imitating it.
Following the crying scene of the baby, the mother began to sing a song to lull the baby to sleep. The baby sobbed for a while, then gradually stopped crying and seemed to fall asleep.
Shen Kuo suddenly realized what the monk had brought him here to enlighten him about. He couldn't help but gasp as he thought about wearing this layer.
The woman slowly put down the round fan that was covering her face. She continued to sing the ballad, but her lips were tightly closed, and she did not speak.
Shen Kuo was stunned. He had seen ventriloquist performances imitating birds and animals in Jiangnan, but he had rarely seen one without opening its mouth, and he had no idea where the sound came from.
Then the slow and melodious singing was interrupted by the crows' noisy voice. The baby seemed to be awakened and started crying again. The dog outside the door also started barking. The world built by each person became more complicated, but she still didn't open her mouth. Thunder rumbled from far away. It didn't come from outside, it was clearly imitated by the woman. The baby was awakened by the thunder and started crying again.
Shen Kuo went from being stunned at first to being bewildered, not because of the silent ventriloquist performance, but because he had completely guessed the monk's intention.
Huailiang has never changed. He believes that everything in the world has its own internal and self-consistent logic. Even if you cannot understand it for the time being, it does not mean that the operating rules do not exist. This is what he firmly believes.
When the hat monster was causing trouble in the Prince Consort's mansion, Xiao Ping was nearby. Although her piano playing could prove that she was not in the Prince Consort's study, the angle between the lamp and the screen obviously needed to be adjusted.
The situation was exactly the same as that in Baifan Tower. Therefore, the two palace lanterns that contained secrets were burned, leaving no evidence.
What do too many coincidences mean? He stared blankly at the performance on the stage, his heart tormented, and he felt more and more that the monk had some sinister intentions.
In the morning, Huailiang specifically asked about Xiaoping's location when they encountered the puppet spirit in Baifan Building. He asked him to draw the exact location of himself, Xiaoping and the puppets at that time.
Xiao Ping had indeed been sitting by the attic, close to the guardrail. In other words, although she was frightened and pale and fell off the chair and sat on the ground, she was always between the puppet and the others. If we look back at the testimony of the prince consort, he clearly heard thunder when he saw the dark clouds on the screen. He had never figured this out, but it seemed that thunder could also be imitated.
After the performance, the actress stood up and bowed to the audience. She still did not open her mouth to thank them before leaving. When she walked to the edge of the stage, she quietly spit out something. Except for Shen Kuo who was watching her every move carefully, no one paid attention to this small action. The rest of the audience also left after having a good time. In the end, only Shen Kuo and the monk were left sitting in their original seats.
"Master Huailiang, how is it possible?"
He was still immersed in the struggle between himself and himself and unable to extricate himself.
"How is it impossible?"
"This...but..."
"When there is no solution to a problem, it is better to find the most coincidental part first. As the saying goes, there must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. You must know what I mean by that."
Shen Kuo knew that the demon the monk was referring to was Xiao Ping. Xiao Ping always appeared at the scene of the demon, the first time at the Prince Consort's Mansion, and the second time when the puppet was resurrected, she appeared at the place closest to the puppet.
In addition, there were quite a few people who saw the puppet on the third floor of the tavern near Baifan Building last night, such as the owner of the small courtyard they just moved to, the silk shop owner Qi, who was also on the Baifan Building with his concubine last night. They also saw the puppet jumping in the air, but did not hear the puppet reciting nursery rhymes.
In fact, Xu Chong questioned many witnesses, and none of them heard the nursery rhyme. Only the people in the mystery club on the fourth floor heard it.
"Let's go and get some cool air. Maybe you'll figure it out."
"How do you imitate the sound of thunder?" he asked.
"Can you see what comes out of her mouth? It's a bamboo tube with a reed hidden inside. It can imitate the sound of birds or the faint flash of thunder. But it can't be too loud, otherwise it will be a giveaway."
"Sure enough, there is still a way."
Shen Kuo stood up, and when the monk pulled him up, he still staggered, as if he had lost his soul.
When the two men walked to the door of the tile house, they felt the cold wind from outside blowing in.
When I walked out of the door, I was greeted by a southeasterly wind and even a faint rumble of thunder in the sky. This thunder was actually coming from the sky.
"Before the Waking of Insects arrives, spring awakens. The thunder in the sky is late. It's late, it's late, hehe."
Huailiang seemed to be in a good mood, probably thinking that he had awakened Shen Kuo.
"Master, I remembered that I have something to do tonight and I have to go out to explore the streets with Xu Chong." Shen Kuo said dejectedly.
"But what did Yang Chunguan deduce?"
"It is indeed calculated that the hat monster may come again in the busy market in front of the Imperial Street tonight. However, the strange things happen again for no reason, so Xu Chong suspects that Yang Shaoqing miscalculated the date and counted it as yesterday. However, no matter what, I have to go because I am responsible."
I saw the rumbling thunder disappearing in the clouds, coming from the southeast.
"Maybe there will be a spring rain. I have to get up early to light a fire tomorrow, so I'd better say goodbye first. You should be careful."
Huailiang and Shuangsong folded their hands and said.
"Master, please do as you please. There is one more thing. Bao Longtu has found a new place in Laoya Lane by the Cai River. It is not far from the front gate of Daxiangguo Temple. When you come, you can see a big locust tree at the door and the door god on the door. That's it."
"Haha, it's good to be much closer." He wanted to turn around, but saw Shen Kuo still a little dejected, "I think you still don't want to believe it, or dare not believe it. It doesn't matter, one day you call Xiao Ping to the place in Lao Ya Lane, and I will teach you a few more questions to ask her. If she answers without omissions and her replies are flawless, then I, the monk, have been wrong to blame this girl."
Shen Kuo did not comment or agree, and watched the monk leave triumphantly.
He sighed, turned and walked towards the Imperial Street, walking slowly without fear of the cold spring rain that was about to pour down on him. He just lowered his head and pondered the possibility mentioned by the monk.
Now it seems that if other impossibilities are ruled out, Xiao Ping's suspicion has really increased a lot. But Xiao Ping can only play and sing, and I haven't heard that she can perform ventriloquism? How could she, a weak woman, who was born beautiful but had a miserable life, hide so many secrets?
The rumbling thunder in the distance was getting closer and closer, and the pedestrians on the street were running away quickly. Now that the Waking of Insects has passed, it is the time when hibernating insects come out again and the spring rain is coming. Is this probably the reason why the monk shouted twice that he was late?
He just kept walking forward with his head down, hoping that a loud thunderclap would wake him up and help him figure out all the confusions.
But I heard a commotion ahead, as if someone was shouting. Listening carefully, I heard someone exclaiming, "The demon is making trouble again, it's making trouble again..."
He looked up suddenly and saw several people running towards him like crazy, dragging the rest of the people on the street to run around as well.
He stopped a panicked man and asked: "What's going on ahead?"
"Imperial Street, Imperial Street, there is another evildoer there."
"What kind of monster?"
"I didn't see it myself, so how can I know what kind of monster it was? I only heard someone shouting behind me, "If you are not afraid of death, go and see for yourself. Don't try to stop me from escaping."
Shen Kuo dodged and the man fled in panic. It turned out that the man hadn't seen it either and was just frightened by someone else's shouting. I thought I wouldn't be able to get anything out of him if I stopped another person randomly, so I might as well go and see for myself.
He calmed himself, rolled up his sleeves, tightened his belt, and headed towards the Imperial Street ahead without looking back.
Ever since he saw the resurrected puppets last night, he had been filled with fear.
What people are really afraid of is always the unknown, but what the truth craves is also the unknown. At this moment, he is looking forward to seeing those things again, relying on his own pair of sharp eyes to see through all the traps.
After running a few hundred steps, the people in front gradually became sparse, and it seemed that they had all scattered.
Amid the faint sound of spring thunder, he walked to the empty Imperial Street and saw puppets jumping around on the Baifan Building from afar. They were like a group of naughty children, jumping and dancing around the roof. When lightning flashed in the distance, these puppets looked particularly real and ferocious. The yellow dust brought by the strong wind blinded his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully, but he saw not only puppets, but also a huge flag flying in the air. It was the demon flag. These puppet spirits seemed to be running around in the air under the command of this flag.
He was determined to see what was going on, so he went forward against the strong wind and lightning. When he was almost at the bottom of Baifan Building, he saw a horse rushing out from the side. The person on the horse was Xu Chong.
"I wonder who is alone on the street, don't want to die, run away."
He rode over, grabbed Shen Kuo and pulled him onto his horse without saying a word. The good horse from Longyou was also strong, and even with an extra man on board, it still galloped away.
Shen Kuo reluctantly turned his head. In the lightning, the puppets turned pale white all over. They were still playing around on the roof of Baifan Building and did not chase him.
“Stop!!”
He shouted, but there was a loud thunder at that moment, and Xu Chong did not hear (or pretended not to hear).
"How can we solve the case if we flee the scene like this?"
He shouted helplessly. At this time, the horse had already run a long distance and the little monsters on the roof were gradually becoming invisible.
In a hurry, he pulled the reins, and Xu Chong was forced to turn the horse's neck and turn around.
"Brother Shen, please don't be reckless. I was hiding in the dark just now and saw a demon flag dancing wildly above the heads of those evildoers. I remembered that the flag that the puppet chanted yesterday had the Five Thunder Curse. At this moment, there was a loud thunder. I felt that it was ten thousand times more dangerous than yesterday. I saw you walking slowly on the street alone, and I was afraid that you would be struck by lightning."
"If I'm going to be struck by lightning, I'm going to be struck by lightning this time..."
Before he could finish his words, thunder struck in the distance, and his eyes were blinded by the dazzling light, but after a moment, he could see again. He saw a fire on the roof of the Baifan Building, but the puppets were gone.
Xu Chong was also somewhat confused, and did not dare to walk fast, but slowly urged his horse forward. Looking around, there were five buildings surrounding the Baifan Building, one in each of the east, south, west and north, and the middle building was the tallest. At this time, there was a fire in the east building and the middle building facing the Imperial Street. The fire was spreading, and it seemed that the first building in the capital was about to be burned down. However, a torrential rain poured down in the blink of an eye, and the two men stopped on the street on horseback and watched the fire being put out.
Shen Kuo dismounted and walked forward slowly despite the heavy rain. He clearly saw something lying on the street in front of him, which looked like a person but a few inches shorter. This thing was steaming white mist in the heavy rain, and he intuitively knew that it was definitely not a good thing, so he naturally did not dare to walk too fast.
"Be careful of the thunder curse of the demon flag." Xu Chong said not far behind him.
"Xu Jieji, don't be afraid. I saw that thing clearly. Haha, the thunder curse knocked the puppet monster down."
He walked quickly to the object, which was lying on its back, smiling at Xu Chong.
Judging from its appearance, it was clearly An Lushan from the "Troublemakers" that the Wood Spirit Class had lost. It was easy to recognize because it was particularly fat and had a beard. Xu Chong slowly let go of the reins and let the horse approach. He looked around. The first spring rain of the year came quickly and went away quickly. It was getting smaller at the moment. There was a burnt smell in the air, but the demon banner and the other puppets were no longer visible. Looking down, An Lushan was lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, motionless.
"It was struck by its own thunder curse? How is that possible?" Xu Chong said immediately.
"Xu Jieji, do you feel anything strange?"
"It seems bigger than when I was in the Wood Elf class?" Xu Chong said unsurely.
"Much bigger." Shen Kuo shook his head. He found that Xu Chong's judgment dropped sharply when he got involved in matters of the underworld.
Shen Kuo squatted down to check, and Xu Chong was unable to stop him, but he saw that Shen Kuo had already grabbed the puppet and turned it over. This thing was not heavy, and there was a red mark on the back, which he had seen in the puppets of the Wood Spirit Class. Because the owner of the puppet show always put talismans on the back of the puppets, saying that he was afraid that they would come back to life and run away in the middle of the night. Over time, a red mark like a ghost's handwriting appeared on the back of the head.
There is a line of engraved words under the seal, which can be vaguely distinguished: Made by Yu Hao in Kyoto in the third year of Qianyou.
"Yu Hao has become a god. He is omnipotent." Shen Kuo sneered.
"Be careful, beware that he comes back to life..." Xu Chong reminded.
"Are you afraid it will bite me?"
"That's not the case, but it's still an evil thing, so it's best to stay away from it."
"Keep your distance? Just now I was filled with awe, but now, I am no longer afraid."
"Why?" Xu Chong held the knife handle in one hand and the reins in the other on his horse, still not daring to dismount and take a closer look.
"Because it fell from the sky. Since it can fall from the clouds and die, it must not be a demon, but can be broken."
