Chapter 54 New Painted Skin
"Slow down, don't fall." Yu Zhenzhen's parents watched their daughter jogging down the mountain road and reminded her, "Did you meet your classmates?"
"Yes, it's Tan Xiao. I showed you his videos and photos." As soon as Yu Zhenzhen said this, her parents remembered. Her father even suddenly realized, "Yes, your classmate, the drummer of the rock band, is he still in the band?"
Yu Zhenzhen: “…”
Her father only remembered the performance by Tan Xiao and the band.
"What nonsense! It's a folk performance. He just gave me a talisman." Yu Zhenzhen took out the talisman.
"Talisman? What kind of talisman? You can't just carry it with you." Older people are more particular. Yu's mother took it and examined it, but couldn't tell what its effect was.
"He said it was to ward off evil spirits." Yu Zhenzhen snatched it back. "What's the problem? He has a bunch of them hanging around his body, and his performance is pretty good."
As soon as Yu Zhenzhen said that her grades were good, no one objected.
I go back home and stay up until the early morning to celebrate the New Year. In the next few days, I visit friends and relatives, receive lucky money, and take a bunch of photos. I don’t have to think about homework during these days, I can just have fun.
On the evening of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Yu Zhenzhen used the camera's APP to transfer photos and found that there was a new firmware update. She was puzzled. Why did they update the firmware before the holiday? Did the big companies still work overtime during the Lunar New Year? But it had nothing to do with her, so she downloaded the update anyway.
After updating and uploading the photos, she put the camera into her bag, placed it on the bedside table and went to sleep.
The winter in Nanchu is cold, damp and chilly. Yu Zhenzhen's family installed floor heating, so the house was very warm. She curled up in the quilt and fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed of herself running long distances in physical education class at the beginning of the school term.
Round and round, a bloody taste rose in her throat and her body became burning hot, as if it was being roasted on a fire. The burning sensation made Yu Zhenzhen kick away the quilt and reach out to grab the phone in a half-asleep state.
Why is it so hot?
Faintly, Yu Zhenzhen saw a few flames outside the window and the sounds of dogs barking. Her first reaction was that someone's grave lamp was still on.
But soon, Yu Zhenzhen realized that something was wrong. My house is on the 13th floor, how could I see the tomb lights, and how could there be such obvious sounds of wild dogs barking.
The sleepiness disappeared, Yu Zhenzhen sat up suddenly, staring at the flames outside the window, trying to see if it was her illusion. But after staring for a few seconds, she saw that there was really a flame flowing in the darkness...
The camera lens on the bedside table made a motor sound in the bag and kept expanding and contracting as if it was trembling. However, Yu Zhenzhen clearly turned off the camera after updating before going to bed.
Her sleepless brain was like a paste. Before she could think about it, the flames suddenly rushed towards the window, like an all-encompassing sunset glow. Yu Zhenzhen subconsciously raised her hands and closed her eyes, screaming, "Ah!"
A faint golden light emanated from Yu Zhenzhen's coat pocket, enveloping the entire room, and then disappeared along with the flame.
The burning sensation seemed to disappear. Yu Zhenzhen slowly opened her eyes, only to see her mother in front of her with a concerned look on her face.
Mother Yu bent down and touched Yu Zhenzhen's face. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"What?" Yu Zhenzhen felt herself sweating. She was confused and shocked. Was the real feeling just now just an illusion?
"I heard you humming." Yu's mother gently wiped the sweat off Yu Zhenzhen's face and asked her if she wanted some water.
Yu Zhenzhen felt her throat dry, as if it had been roasted by fire, "Okay..."
Mother Yu brought some warm water and watched her drink it. Her eyes fell on the camera bag on the bedside table. "Let me take this away from you. It has radiation if you put it on the bedside."
"What radiation...!" Yu Zhenzhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How could any electronic device have radiation? But she didn't have the energy to say anything now. "Okay, okay."
She watched her mother pick up the camera bag. She wanted to check it. Just now, she seemed to hear the sound of the camera motor. After thinking about it, she said, "Mom, I always feel that there is a problem with the focus of the lens of this camera. Can you help me talk to the boss and ask him to replace it for me?"
Yu Zhenzhen, a student, feels that she is not as eloquent as her mother.
"Sure." Mom said and closed the door quietly.
…
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, at the Laomei Temple in the early morning, when it was still light, a young monk had already opened the door.
On such a cold day, a young girl wearing a summer school uniform and carrying a single-shoulder camera bag on her shoulder walked to the Laomei Temple with her head down, stood at the door and looked inside, but did not dare to go in.
An orange cat walked across the roof, licked its paws, and tilted its head to look at the strange visitor.
The few passers-by who saw the girl cast strange looks at her.
Finally, a young wizard came out with a broom, met the girl's eyes, and was shocked: "Classmate, aren't you cold?" He took a look and saw that the girl also brought her student ID with "Yu Zhenzhen" written on it.
"It's okay, is this the 404 office?" the girl asked pitifully, "Can I go in and report the case?"
Little Mage: "Ah...wait a minute!"
About five minutes later, the little wizard came out again after asking, "You can come in, follow me."
He took the girl to the office area of 404. There were only two people on duty during the Spring Festival. They stretched in the duty room. When they saw the girl, they also shouted, "Girl, you are not cold?"
"You... aren't human, are you?" The staff member on duty used his experience to see that she was probably not human, and that she might have just transformed. "Don't you know that humans are not so resistant to cold?"
I don’t know where I got a summer school uniform for Nanchu No. 1 Middle School.
"Uh, wait, let me change my clothes." The girl finally realized that this was too abrupt, so she stood up and went to the lounge next door to change her clothes.
The two staff members on duty chatted for a while, "Do you think the clothes were stolen, or is he really studying in Nanchu No. 1 Middle School? Can monsters also apply to key high schools?"
"That's impossible. Have you forgotten who is in Nanchu No. 1 Middle School? She is in the same school as the little spiritual master. She can't be completely ignorant of it, right?"
After a few words, the door of the lounge opened, and a young mage walked out, scratching his head and said, "I'm done changing. Is that ok?"
The two staff members on duty almost spit out their tea and stood up vigilantly: "Painted Skin?!"
The Painted Skin Ghost is a well-known evil ghost in the secular world who disguises himself by painting a human face. There are even many literary and artistic works about him. It is normal to call out his origins when seeing his appearance.
“No, no,” the reporter who changed his “clothes” was very modest. He didn’t dare to touch the legendary senior, but he still straightened his chest and said, “I am a full-frame mirrorless camera with 45 million pixels, which can provide you with shocking color and texture restoration!”
Two people: “…………”
This advertising slogan almost confused them. It took them a while to figure out, oh... it’s a camera!
This restoration is high...
Wait, speaking of cameras, someone remembered something and opened the internal operating system in the computer. "There seems to be a case assigned verbally on New Year's Eve, and it's related to cameras. Let me see, is it you?"
The case that was assigned verbally was sent by Tan Xiao, who said that a camera with intelligence was found, and asked the 404 office to see if it had been entered into the system. If not, they could pay attention to it.
Although it was during the Spring Festival, after verifying that the camera was not registered, they still found a way to communicate, which was to upgrade the firmware.
Since the advent of the Gengshen Year of the Japanese Emperor, many new monsters have appeared. The 404 Office Headquarters has also studied various solutions, including various data packages that include human laws, which can be imported into monsters such as A Jin. The results of several practices have been good, so this time the 404 Office also directly applied to transfer data packages to cameras in the background, and the camera users did download and update honestly.
"It's me. My name is Jiao Guang." The camera blinked and made a slight motor sound. This was the name it gave itself. "...Is it okay for me to be here?"
It couldn't even conceal the sound of its motor, but as a monster that had only recently developed intelligence, it could freely transform into various human forms, unlike Ah Jin whose head had not yet grown out. This was its racial specialty, because it had been used to take portraits for a long time, it had a considerable understanding of the human body, and its transformation was naturally fast.
"That's fine, but what exactly does it matter?" The person on duty looked at it and it didn't look like anything serious.
This information package is still not perfect. Some newly transformed monsters may not know where the reporting limit is. Previously, there was an electric rice cooker that burnt its porridge, so the monster came crying to report the incident, saying that he must have been ambushed.
There are still patches to be applied.
"I was attacked." Jiao Guangquan said confidently, "A dog that can spit fire attacked me. Fortunately, I was protected by a talisman given by a wizard. I originally wanted to find the wizard, but unfortunately I didn't know where he lived, so I had to come here."
"Hmm?" The staff on duty's alarm went off and he quickly checked the surveillance to see if Bidou was still in the detention center. At the same time, he asked, "What kind of dog? And is the wizard you mentioned a student?" There are only a few famous wizards in Nanchu, and seeing that Jiao Guangquan was wearing a school uniform before, of course he guessed it was Tan Xiao first.
Another staff member on duty quickly picked up the phone and called Director Mu.
"How did you know?" Jiao Guangquan hadn't even described it yet, but the other party knew it was a student, a classmate of his temporary user. "I didn't see it clearly, I just knew it was a black dog."
Black Dog...
The person on duty had already called Mu Fei, and someone quickly picked up the phone. "Hello, Director Mu."
Mu Fei was confused: "Hmm? Hmm..."
There was also a faint male voice next to him: "Who is calling you so early?"
Then came the sound of Mu Fei opening it.
The person on duty sweated a little, "That's right, we have a camera expert coming here now..."
Mu Fei's voice instantly cleared up, and he howled so hard that he almost pierced the screen of his phone: "What! Take it down right here! Check to see if it's a SLR or a mirrorless camera, and what lens it has! How high the pixels are! If it has 20 million pixels, ask it if it's willing to work for us, and I'll protect it!!"
Personnel on duty: “…”
…
During the Spring Festival, everyone is greeting each other, and Tan Xiao is no exception. He greets everyone from WeChat to neighbors. However, by the sixth day of the New Year, everyone had rested and he began to gradually concentrate and resume doing his homework.
But Kong Xuan has not come back yet. After the New Year, the gods should have gone down to the mortal world one after another. The God of Wealth was welcomed on the fifth day of the first lunar month. I think Kong Xuan has been away from home for so long, so the great god Yuanfeng let him stay at home for a few more days. Tan Xiao thought.
I just took a break after finishing a set of papers when I saw a WeChat message from Mu Fei: [[Excuse me] Are you there? ]
They had sent each other New Year greetings on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Mu Fei finally had a holiday and had been resting these days. She suddenly spoke up, so it must be something else. Tan Xiao: [Hmm? ]
Mu Fei told Tan Xiao about the suspected appearance of another evil spirit, […That’s right, we just dealt with your classmate, our leader allocated funds to buy a replacement, and then the camera spirit will stay in our unit to work and pay off the debt [grin]]
Mu Fei looked worried but also happy. That was right. When they first met, Mu Fei complained that their company had not replaced their cameras for ten years. Although this camera was also second-hand, it was probably much better than their old camera. After applying for equipment upgrades so many times, she finally caught up.
Tan Xiao understood what she meant. Since he had finished his homework and had nothing to do during the New Year holidays, he told Tan Chunying that he was going to a classmate's house to pay New Year's greetings, and then went to 404 to handle the matter.
It was not the first or second time that Mu Fei worked overtime during holidays. When Tan Xiao arrived, she was touching Jiao Guanghuan's hand with a kind look on her face, "Look at the pixels, how high..."
Looking at the side, Fang Zhu was wearing a neat suit and sitting upright, but his head was secretly rubbing towards Mu Fei. Tan Xiao came in and said "Happy New Year, everyone", then sat next to Fang Zhu and asked him, "Are you about to give birth?"
"It will be soon." Fang Zhu whispered. He was getting weaker and weaker and had been following Mu Fei all the time, not only because he needed the breath of the child's mother, but also because he was uneasy. When he was powerless, he instinctively wanted someone to protect him.
"Wizard teacher." Jiao Guangquan had seen Tan Xiao before, so of course he recognized him and said gratefully, "Thank you for your talisman, otherwise I would have met with an accident." Although the talisman was given to Yu Zhenzhen.
Tan Xiao originally thought that this was a little wizard, and was stunned for a moment, "Oh... don't call me teacher, call me classmate. If I knew you were being targeted, I would have taken you directly to Room 404."
"You can't guard against thieves for a thousand days." Mu Fei said simply, "I checked. Bigger has never escaped from prison. Judging from its desire to devour and spit fire, what Jiao Guangquan saw was most likely another Huotou... No, to be precise, it was another Huotou that also possessed the attributes of Tengu."
"The probability of a meteor hitting a dog is extremely small." Tan Xiao fell deep thought. Yes, if it was just a demon, Mu Fei would not have to call him over.
But apart from the duel, there is another Huo Dou. Why is it mass-produced?
"Could it be that a litter of puppies just happened to be hit together?" Tan Xiao speculated.
"Don't scare me..." Mu Fei said jokingly, "There can't be only two in that litter, what if there are other brothers and sisters?"
Tan Xiao didn't say anything.
"Damn, it's not impossible." Mu Fei wanted to wipe the sweat off his face. "Let's deal with the current situation first. We can only confirm that there is a Huo Dou in the territory of Nan Chu. The harm is not low. Moreover, the population and monsters are highly mobile during the Spring Festival. We must arrest them as soon as possible. You have fought with Bi Dou before, and spiritual masters have more experience in dealing with Tengu."
Tan Xiao groaned, "Now that you put it that way, I think I have some ideas for solving the problem..."
Mu Fei: “Hmm?”
Tan Xiao: "I'm talking about the idea of solving the case."
He pointed at Fang Zhu and said, "In the Paijiao magic, there is a magic called Fishing Dragons, which is to use the swallows that the Jiao family likes to lure them out, which is equivalent to fishing. I caught him in Yunmengze in this way before. I think we can do the same."
Fang Zhu was attracted by Tan Xiao's bowl of rice porridge. When he thought of the bowl of fragrant, thick porridge with the taste of swallows, he felt that the baby in his stomach would be smaller due to hunger. He recalled for three seconds and realized that he had just been exposed. He felt a little ashamed and said hesitantly: "I was actually quite accommodating to you at that time. Who would have the heart to hit the cook?"
Tan Xiao: “…” What cook.
"There's a hole cut into your clam shell." Mu Fei exposed him coldly. Not only was he beaten, but he was also beaten in a mixed doubles match.
Fang Zhu's eyes suddenly filled with tears again, and he was about to cry: "That's because our baby affected my performance."
"Don't say anything..." Tan Xiao looked at Mu Fei's face and said, "Salted fish warning."
Fang Zhu burped and fell silent for a moment.
"You mean, let's do a dog fishing plan." Mu Fei raised an eyebrow, thinking that this Huodou would be in for a treat. "If we want to fish for dogs, we need to call a few more people. I wonder if we have enough manpower."
This time, the five-colored divine light of the Peacock God is not here, so it is better to deploy more people to catch the dog. The evil spirits are created by meteors, so they can run away very quickly.
When Kong Xuan was mentioned, Mu Fei suddenly had an idea, and looked at Jiao Guangquan and said, "By the way, aren't you also considered a painted skin? You also said that you have Peacock God in your memory card, so can you cosplay Peacock God?"
"..." Tan Xiao also looked at Jiao Guangquan, "As long as Huotou is not as face-blind as I am, theoretically I can scare it."
Calling the name of a god can cure ghosts, and the image of a god can also scare people. But after all, it has not been consecrated, so it is probably only a little scary. But he found it a little hard to imagine, can others pretend to be like Kong Xuan?
Jiao Guangquan blinked obediently and the motor made a faint sound.
"I'll give it a try when I get a chance." Mu Fei thought that even if it wasn't for catching dogs, it might be useful in other cases.
Due to the shortage of manpower, she called two colleagues on duty to discuss the matter.
My colleague, the mage, was surnamed Lu and was also from a famous family. Hearing this, he said, "It's good to lure the snake... lure the dog out of the cave, but we're worried that we don't have enough manpower. Why don't we try the traditional way to find the location first, then close the door and beat the dog, and if that doesn't work, then try fishing for the dog?"
The traditional way he mentioned is that they have a special ritual to capture demons, called sealing mountains and breaking caves. Evil spirits often lurk in mountain forests and stone caves, and to hunt for demons, they can dispatch gods to search and attack them.
However, it is difficult to find monsters with high cultivation or good at hiding, especially the Huo Dou, which is born with civil servant qualifications. In other words, the evil aura on it is not strong, which increases the difficulty of searching. This is why Mu Fei also hesitated about this method.
"Can we ask fellow spiritualist to seal the cave in the mountain?" Master Lu asked Tan Xiao, "Fellow Tan, you should know this ritual, right?" Although they are from different sects, they have been influencing and communicating with each other for thousands of years, or to put it bluntly, they have been competing for business... Many things are connected or have similar rituals.
"Yes." Tan Xiao said honestly, "You can invite mountain gods and ghost generals, but I have only invited one sect master god to my altar, and he is not here."
"One?" Master Lu took a breath. Tan Xiao was the one with the least number of ghosts and gods he had ever seen on the altar. Especially among folk wizards, there were usually dozens of gods and gods, not to mention demons and soldiers. There were even some with thousands of soldiers and horses. "Is one enough?!"
Tan Xiao sighed: "...one is too much."
Master Lu: “…”
Mu Fei was so depressed that she almost laughed out loud. Ever since she knew that Peacock Master was in Tan Xiao's class and saw that result, she...well, everything was self-explanatory.
"Then you guys try it." Mu Fei said. She was a civil servant and not very good at summoning gods and capturing monsters.
"Okay." Master Lu rubbed his hands, put on his robes, and set up the altar. These are all ready in Office 404. Generally speaking, different gods will be invited for different rituals, and everyone has their own strengths.
For example, if you ask Peacock for the results, it will definitely not work, unless they insist on taking the order...
Anyway, in the sect of Master Lu, the ritual of subduing evil spirits usually involves asking the gods of thunder, because thunder has a natural restraining effect on evil spirits. Different gods will be asked to help according to their factions and strengths.
Wang Shan, the King Spirit Officer, and Ma Sheng, the Horse Spirit Officer, are both preferred. Not only are Spirit Officers good at fighting, they also have many followers under their command. Or other generals in the Thunder Department. The Thunder Department has a large population, such as the Four Thunder Immortals, the Six Thunder Boys, and hundreds of Thunder Messengers...
It would even be great if we could invite the God of Wealth. There is a God of Wealth named Zhao Gongming who is also a talent in exorcising demons. However, it was the fifth day of the first lunar month yesterday, and he was probably visiting every household, so the probability of inviting him to do work is probably not high.
Master Lu meticulously followed the rituals and drew the talisman. When everything was ready, he chanted the spell to summon a general, who was a Thunder Commander he usually kept in touch with: "...I now invite you to come and bestow your thunder power to exorcise the evil spirits. When the talisman arrives, I will obey!"
He felt his eyes were clear and his back was hot, which were the signs of spiritual response, and he could use it to command thunder and fire to hunt for monsters.
But it's at this moment.
Suddenly, a faint "Huh?" sounded in his heart, and in a trance, a voice rolled through his soul. There were no words, but he could understand inexplicably: [Your colleague looks so familiar. ]
“?!” Master Lu turned his head and looked at the onlookers. It was the first time that Ling Ying chatted with him when he was capturing a monster. He couldn’t help but feel flattered. At the same time, he really didn’t know which colleague General Lei was talking about. Was he Director Mu?
【The young one.】
Master Lu looked at Tan Xiao.
Tan Xiao didn't understand why Master Lu suddenly looked at him when the ritual reached a critical moment. His heart tightened. Could it be... Could it be that Kong Xuan had grabbed the hotline again?
Tan Xiao said embarrassedly: "Is there a problem?"
Master Lu was silent for a while, then said to Tan Xiao, "General Lei in my altar said he seemed to have seen your...photo."
Tan Xiao: “……???”
