Chapter 62: Tall Woman
February 16th, the beginning of the year
Shen Kuo was surprised to see the hat demon turn around not far from him. It was crossing the street, still maintaining a height of about three meters. In all the sightings before this moment, the hat demon had always appeared sneakily, like a cloud of changing mist, always hiding on the ridge of the house, and rarely turning so blatantly. Moreover, its movement almost completely bankrupted the hypothesis of the thin line pulling, because someone was secretly pulling the line on the roof to guide the hat demon to move, and there was still a faint theoretical possibility. However, for the current turn in the street, at least the person pulling the line had to walk through the street. However, with the light of the lantern, it could be seen that there was no one on the street in front. The hat-shaped cloud passed by a few feet above his head.
Shen Kuo was furious. He was angry that the truth had slipped through his fingers. There was no reason for everything in front of him. The fuse in his hand was about to burn out. The hat monster in front of him was also in the middle of the street. He suddenly turned the bamboo tube and aimed it at the hat monster. For him, sending a signal to summon his companions was no longer important. He was going to teach this unsolvable thing a lesson.
Flames shot out from the bamboo tube, and brilliant flames exploded on the street with whooshing sounds. As Xu Chong said, this thing was not very powerful, but it could scare a horse, or... it could scare a hat monster.
The Hat Monster began to shake up and down, as if it was frightened.
Shen Kuo watched it stagger across the street like a drunk, and then heard a slight crash, as if it had hit a tile. Finally, it disappeared behind the eaves and was never seen again.
"Can it be frightened?" A question lingered in his mind. "I've only heard that ghosts can scare people, but I've never heard that they can be frightened by people?"
"Why is that monster so unstable?"
Xu Chong came from behind and stared at the eaves where the hat monster disappeared with wide eyes.
"I chased it away." Shen Kuo said bitterly. At this moment, he felt a little relieved. Although he still couldn't figure out what it was, or how it flew, he was surprised that it would be frightened.
"Xu Jieji, use that hook to climb up and see where it went."
"good!"
Xu Chong took out the hook, threw it toward the eaves of a street shop, and was about to climb up.
Then a cloud of smoke was seen coming out from behind the house, and the frightened hat monster just now flew into the air again.
It was still flying close to the roof of a low building on the street, but this time it turned eastwards. It was flying high and low, and it was obvious that something was wrong.
The Taoist priest in front also arrived. He had already pulled out the peach wood sword from his back and was chanting in the street. Seeing the hat monster approaching, he threw the peach wood sword with all his strength. The wooden sword went straight into the mist. It just brushed past the green ghost fire. The hat monster seemed to be injured, and struggled to get into the attic on the second floor of the Baifan Building and disappeared.
Several people rushed to the east gate of Baifan Building and wanted to push the cart open to enter through the gate, but they found that the wheels of the cart were locked to the doorposts on both sides by two iron chains.
Xu Chong took out the iron hook again and was about to throw it upwards, but at this moment, a melancholy sound of guqin playing came from upstairs.
It was so sudden that the four of them looked at each other in shock.
The sound of the piano paused for a moment, then came out again. It was clearly the "Spring River Moon Night" that Xiao Ping had played before, but this time there was no singing. The location of the piano sound seemed to be in the highest attic of Baifan Building, which was where the mystery society encountered the puppet that day.
"Master, what is this ominous thing?" Xu Chong asked.
Li Cheng'an counted on his fingers and said, "I don't know what kind of ghost it is, let's go up and take a look first."
Xu Chong threw the hook to the second floor attic and hooked it. He was indeed very agile and climbed up in a few steps. The old Taoist Li Cheng'an was not far behind and grabbed the iron chain before Shen Kuo. He was also very agile and climbed up quickly. When Shen Kuo grabbed the iron chain and struggled to climb up, he remembered something and turned to the young Taoist behind him.
"Brother, it's too weird in here, don't come up. Just stay here."
The young Taoist was indeed a little frightened and nodded repeatedly.
He used up almost all his strength to climb up to the second-floor railing. If it was one or two feet higher, he probably wouldn't have been able to climb up.
During this process, the sound of the guqin above his head never stopped. Shen Kuo had heard Xiao Ping play the guqin. Her skills were so high that there were probably only a few people in the whole city of Tokyo who could play the guqin as well. However, the skills of the hands playing above were no less than Xiao Ping's. If you listen carefully, you can find that the techniques and some characteristics are exactly the same as Xiao Ping's, except that the right hand is a little awkward in picking the strings, and the index finger is a little bit staccato when wiping the strings, which seems to be too strong and not soft enough. Shen Kuo couldn't help but guess that it was a man with nimble fingers who was playing, but this thought flashed by, because the rest of the fingering, hooking, picking, plucking, dragging, the technique is agile, almost the same as Xiao Ping's, and judging from the sound of the guqin, this person's state of mind - calm and indifferent, with very little irritability.
He panted and climbed into the building. Xu Chong and the Taoist priest were no longer on this floor. It seemed that they had followed the sound up. The surroundings were in a mess. The food on the table had not been cleared away, and the ground was full of overturned plates and dishes. One could imagine how terrified the people eating here were when the puppets flew around the Baifan Building that day. I think everyone fled to the street in a panic.
He groped his way to the stairs in the dark and walked slowly up. Then he remembered that he had not had time to send a signal into the air.
Things changed too fast, and they didn't happen according to expectations. No one else would come to help now, but even if they came, they probably wouldn't be able to do much. He knew the people behind the hat monster too well. Once they started to act, they would plan very carefully and without any flaws. This might be Yu Jing's style. Even if there were dozens of people scattered around, it might not be able to do anything.
But what is the meaning of the piano music above? What is the real purpose of the gourd?
He walked up to the third floor and found Xu Chong standing there, not daring to move forward. The old Taoist was a little closer than him, but only slightly. He stood on the stairs leading to the top floor but was a little hesitant, not as bold as before. It turned out that the old Taoist was also afraid.
The sound of the piano was playing more and more slowly, like clouds flowing in the mountains and breeze in the valley. Someone was coming up from below, he (she) must have known, why could he still be so focused and calm? Shen Kuo's curiosity surged, he took a few steps up the narrow ladder, squeezed past the hesitant old Taoist, and rushed to the front.
"Mr. Shen, be careful. There must be something fishy going on." The old Taoist reminded.
"I know, but I just want to see who it is."
"If I hadn't lost my peach wood sword, I would have rushed in even if it was a dangerous place." The old Taoist priest was still trying to save himself.
Shen Kuo walked slowly upwards, and his head slowly rose from under the floor.
The moonlight outside had come out of the clouds again, and now the white moonlight was sprinkled on the attic. The curtain in the distance was fluttering and dancing, and behind the curtain, a woman in white was playing the piano. She was wearing a veil so her face could not be seen, and she was sitting there so her figure could not be seen. Only from the sound of her playing, it could be determined that it was almost the same as Xiao Ping's, but the sound of the piano suddenly became faster, perhaps due to her changing mood.
Shen Kuo had no weapons, and walked down the last step empty-handed, then walked straight toward the woman. Behind him, the Taoist priest and Xu Chong also slowly came up, and they followed Shen Kuo and slowly moved forward. The surroundings were in a mess, and it was probably the same situation as when the Imperial City Division came up to arrest people that day.
The three of them still moved forward . Xu Chong did not draw his sword but tucked the bamboo tube under his armpit and lowered his head to look for the flint in his pocket. He had just taken it out and stuffed it back into his pocket in a hurry because the hat monster suddenly appeared. Now he didn't know where it went. It was also his fault that he was too well prepared today, as the treasure bag on his waist was filled to the brim.
Under the moonlight, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped. The woman in front of me had her hands covered by her long sleeves and could not be seen, but it should be a pair of delicate hands pressing down the strings of the piano.
Shen Kuo had already walked very close, and through the gauze of the man's hat, he could see that the person playing the piano was wearing a mask. He could also notice that although this person was wearing the same colorful dress, pink shawl, and cute bun as the night of the club gathering five days ago, his figure was not like Xiao Ping.
A sweet laugh came from behind the mask. The three people in front of her stopped and began to retreat. Even the old Taoist couldn't help but move back.
The woman behind the piano case slowly stood up, her body gradually rising higher and higher, her head almost hitting the roof. Shen Kuo clearly remembered that the servants of the puzzle club had to use a ladder to change the riddles hanging on the roof. Although this floor was an attic and not as high as the floors below, the height from the floor to the roof was at least 13 or 14 feet.
The masked female ghost had almost stood up, looking down at the three men who were shrinking back. She suddenly leaned forward and stuck out her arms from her sleeves. They were not arms at all, but a pair of hook-shaped forelimbs that were much longer than ordinary people's forearms. There were no fingers at the tip of the forelimbs, but they were like a pair of iron hooks. The hooks glowed blue in the moonlight.
The pair of long hook-like forearms trembled as they pointed at the three people. The huge figure behind it bent forward. Its shape was so strange, like a praying mantis bravely moving forward under the moonlight.
"Demon, why don't you surrender?"
The old Taoist suddenly gained courage from nowhere and rushed to the front, holding the sword in his hand.
The tall monster kicked the piano case away and came towards the Taoist priest. The Taoist priest shouted and raised his three-foot sword to block it. The monster was not afraid at all and swung its right long hook fiercely. When it hit the Taoist priest's sword, there was a clang and the Taoist priest's sword slipped out of his hand.
Shen Kuo's heart twisted. Why was it the sound of metal colliding? Even a monster shouldn't have a copper head and iron arms. Moreover, he was clearly playing the piano just now, so he should have five fingers. How did it become like this in the blink of an eye?
The monster in front of him was still swinging his forearms and slashing left and right. The old Taoist had no weapons and could only hide here and there. He was about to be blocked by a table behind him. The monster had a hook in his hand and was about to chop down. Xu Chong rushed forward in a flash, knocked the old Taoist to the side. In a flash, the monster's long iron hook swept across and cut off a corner of the wooden table. This thing is sharp enough to match a sword.
The monster missed its first strike and roared towards Xu Chong and Lao Dao, swinging its two hooks over their heads. The two dared not fight back and could only crawl between the tables and chairs upstairs. The monster pressed forward from above, and each of its steps was huge. However, there were indeed too many tables and chairs upstairs, which prevented it from killing the two.
The chase and escape unfolded in the attic, and Shen Kuo was dragged down. In the moonlight, he saw that the ground was littered with bamboo tubes and various things. It seemed that when Xu Chong hugged the old Taoist and rolled on the ground, these treasures fell out of his treasure bag.
His flint was also nearby. Shen Kuo quickly picked it up. Since this thing could scare the hat monster, maybe it could also scare this monster?
He squatted down and struck the flint vigorously. Sparks splashed onto the tinder. He blew on it carefully, and gradually a flame ignited.
At this time, the monster was chasing the Taoist priest and Xu Chong all over the attic, smashing and pushing the tables and chairs, knocking them all over the place.
The two men were forced to the corner of the attic, with their backs against the railing. There was no way to retreat unless they jumped down.
The human-headed monster giggled again and slowly swung her right arm with the iron hook.
"stop."
Shen Kuo shouted.
The monster actually stopped when he heard the sound and slowly turned his head. Her hair was already in disarray and her long hair was flying. Her veil had long since fallen to who knows where, leaving only the mask. I couldn't see it clearly just now, but now I see that it is a ghost mask, somewhat similar to the one worn by the great Nuo master in the palace this morning, but even more terrifying.
Shen Kuo did not say much, but used the tinder in his hand to light the fuse on the bamboo tube. With this, Xu Chong and the Taoist priest took the opportunity to crawl out from under the iron hook raised high by the monster and escaped, temporarily gaining safety.
The monster groaned in doubt, then realized something was wrong and turned around to run. Shen Kuo grabbed the bamboo tube and chased after him. He was determined to see what it was even if he died today. Of course, he knew very well that the monster was still covered with clothes. If the sparks from the bamboo tube ignited it, it might be possible to reverse the outcome. But would it ignite the surrounding wood and burn the capital's number one industry to ashes? He had no control over that.
The monster probably understood the situation and knew that Shen Kuo's move might turn the tables, so it stretched its limbs and ran forward desperately. It was blocked by a row of screens in front, which were smashed to pieces by the iron hook. Shen Kuo chased after it, only to regret that the fuse was too long and had not yet burned the gunpowder wick. The distance between him and the monster was increasing. When he ran past the shattered screens, he saw a strange object covered by a cloth in the north window. It was very strange, but he had no time to check it out now.
The fuse finally burned out, sparks gushed out from the mouth of the bamboo tube, and although the flames were scattered, there was still a cluster of dazzling sparks that hit the monster's skirt and burned in an instant. The monster screamed and ran to the railing with all four limbs. The two iron hooks on the ground carved deep knife marks in a staggered forward direction.
Shen Kuo saw the flames on its body gradually extinguished, and couldn't help but secretly shouting that it was not good. However, the monster was frightened and didn't want to fight anymore. It ran to the railing on all fours, jumped onto the railing, stretched out its two hooks to hook the tiles above, turned around and jumped up, and disappeared.
