Part 2 Chapter 24 Another Shadow
This shadow is not the first time I have seen it, or rather, this kind of shadow. I saw one like this in the house where the Nine Sons were dug out, after the statue of Zhong Kui was knocked down.
The shadow was still hazy, without any obvious physical features, and I didn't know if it was the same thing. I stood there in a daze, confronting it, but I didn't feel scared at all. I just kept recalling the shadow I had seen in Jiuzi's house, trying to compare it. Unfortunately, although I remembered it very clearly, I didn't look at it carefully at the time.
Qin Yiheng also stared at the shadow without moving, and neither of us said anything. The shadow also remained motionless, as if staring at us. I was a little suspicious whether this thing was the shadow of some object nearby, and it was not filthy at all. But this wilderness was completely empty.
It took about five or six minutes, and maybe because I was too nervous, I felt that time was stretched out. Anyway, after a while, the shadow actually moved. At first, it just trembled slightly, and I thought it was an illusion or my eyes were blurry. Then the shadow's movements became bigger, as if it slowly squatted down, anyway, it shrank into a ball.
This time I looked very carefully. Although the shadow didn't have clear limbs, it looked like it was covered by a layer of frosted glass. If I had to describe it, it looked a bit like a water shadow. However, the general movements were still distinguishable, at least from the outline, the shadow was indeed squatting or kneeling.
What the hell does this mean? Coming to worship me, kneeling down for me? It doesn't look like that. I glanced at Qin Yiheng with my sidelong eyes. I didn't know if I could open my mouth to ask questions now, so I simply turned my head and continued to think about it. After watching for a while, the shadow shook again, and I felt a little uneasy. Because I suddenly realized that his action was so much like the starting action before a 100-meter race. Damn, it's not preparing to run towards me, is it?
I couldn't calm down anymore, so I quickly squeezed Qin Yiheng's hand to remind him. He also shook me hard with his hand to remind me to stay calm. Then, he suddenly said "Ah" softly, like a sigh, and also a bit like an exclamation.
I turned my head to look at him, his eyes were wide open, I don't know what extraordinary thing he saw. I turned back, the shadow didn't move, still maintaining the same posture.
I was still wondering, it didn't look that scary, but after staring for a while, I understood that although the shadow didn't move, it seemed to be gradually getting bigger, at least one-third bigger than when I first saw it. This is because it didn't stand up. If it stood up, it would probably be two meters high!
My palms began to sweat, but fortunately the shadow did not continue to grow larger. Instead, it disappeared after a moment without any sign, which made me doubt whether it had really appeared.
Qin Yiheng cleared his throat and said, "We can move now. Take the shovel and let's dig out the plaster statue. Be careful not to break it!"
This was another test of my physical fitness. Fortunately, I would occasionally exercise, otherwise I would have been paralyzed tonight. Fortunately, the soil was not very solid, so Qin Yiheng poured some liquid into it. It was easier to dig than the first time, but I had to be careful not to accidentally break the plaster statue, which would have taken more time. It took more than half an hour until the plaster statue was dug out and placed on the ground.
Qin Yiheng walked around the plaster statue, thought for a while, and asked me to hold the flashlight. He then carefully began to break the body of the plaster statue bit by bit.
As he knocked, I wondered if the shadow had come from inside the plaster statue . Was this a container? I wondered if I would find anything if I broke the plaster statue.
Don't mention it, it really didn't disappoint me. Qin Yiheng had just smashed an arm, and a piece of something like a string or rope appeared in the plaster statue. The thing was not thick, and even with the flashlight, it was not very clear. Qin Yiheng was stunned for a moment, and actually increased his speed. He smashed the plaster statue in a few drastic strokes, and then cleaned up the fragments and debris, and pulled the thing out.
Qin Yiheng lifted the thing up, looked it up and down for several times, and said "Fuck", it seems that this thing is not a simple object. I looked at it for several times, but I didn't find anything special. It is longer than I thought, and more complicated, with many knots and buckles, it looks like many pieces connected together. If you lift it up and look at it, it looks a bit like a fishing net, but it is not that complicated, at best it is just a semi-finished hammock.
What is this? Is it for fishing? I asked Qin Yiheng, and he just said "hmm", told me to pack up my things, use the soil I dug earlier to dry-clean my hands, and choose moist soil, and I'll talk about everything after I get back to his house.
I had no choice but to do as I was told. I picked up some soil that still had moisture in it and rubbed it briefly , which made my hands sticky and disgusting. While I was washing my hands, Qin Yiheng sorted out his things, disassembled the long pole and the one he had found in the plaster statue and put them in his bag, and finally placed the stone that smashed the plaster statue neatly on the pile of soil we had dug out, and then took me back.
Qin Yiheng drove back home, and he didn't say a word on the way. I didn't want to distract him, so I didn't bother him. After I entered his house, collapsed on the sofa and gulped down a few gulps of water, I asked him what happened tonight.
Qin Yiheng opened a can of beer, sat on the sofa, took a sip, and then asked me if I had seen the shadow.
I nodded, and when he saw me nodding, he asked me again, what did the shadow look like?
When I heard him ask this, I recalled it . I really couldn't tell what it was like, but my deepest impression was that the shadow squatted down and became bigger.
I answered Qin Yiheng, and he nodded with satisfaction, saying, "Originally, I lost a lot of money today and my luck was bad, so I wanted to deal with the situation like tonight and see if I could have some communication with this filth. It's just a pity that before I could prepare myself, this filth was taken away by the ghost who came to collect souls."
I was speechless when he said these few words. To sum it up, it can be summed up in six simple words: 50,000 yuan wasted. But at this point, this is the only way.
I asked him, "Has the shadow always been inside this plaster statue?"
Qin Yiheng answered very straightforwardly: "I don't know. I can't tell now whether this thing was locked in from the beginning, or it slipped in later. Anyway, no matter which one it is, this shadow is related to this thing." After that, he opened the bag, took out the thing he found in the plaster statue, and spread it out on the coffee table as much as possible. "I can't tell you what this thing is called, but its purpose is obvious. This thing is the meridian made by a master for this plaster statue, and it is embedded in the body of the plaster statue."
Is this a meridian? If he hadn’t told me, I probably wouldn’t have figured it out even if I had eight heads!
I stood up and looked at it carefully. After he said that, I could see a little bit. After the meridian was spread out, it was not difficult to find that it was obviously made according to the body structure of a person, with long limbs and short head and tail. But this was not right. How could this meridian have a tail? Although it was not long, it was obviously protruding. Could it be that this was a man?
I pointed to the extra piece at the bottom and asked Qin Yiheng: "The gender characteristics of the plaster statue are very obvious. Is this piece the one for that job?"
But he shook his head, stood up, pointed at the place I pointed, and said word by word: "This is the crux of the problem. This is the tail, because this meridian is not human."
Qin Yiheng continued to tell me that at first, he could not think so far, but because he saw the filth, he was able to conclude that the reason why it became larger and fell on all fours was because the filth attached to the plaster statue, that is, to the meridian, was not human filth at all, but a horse.
