Chapter 103 102. Torii, Corridor

  It has just entered the night, quiet and remote among the bamboo forests shrouded in twilight.

The gurgling stream winds from the depths of the forest. Under the dim shadow of the tree, I don’t know what is spying on the human world. The sound of insects and the sounds of certain creatures constitute the main melody of the forest, but sometimes, silence And engulf everything.

  Lu Yi looked at the night sky, and under the faint mist, there were almost no constellations in sight. There were only a few stars shining stubbornly.

  The moon was hidden in a deeper cloud, Lu Yi couldn't even tell whether the monthly pass in this world was round.

Festivals are being held on the island. A street is full of lanterns. There are vendors selling apple candies, goldfish fishing, and masks. The sound of mysterious music reverberates in the street, but there are no performances. people.

  Lu Jie walked through it, passing by many men and women in kimonos. The happiness was theirs, he had nothing.

However, Lu Yi noticed that, except for those artists who indulge in joy, these people, children, girls, and old people who look like locals, have a kind of indifference in their eyes. It is like a performance that matches the atmosphere, and poor acting skills cannot make up for the essence. Indifferent.

  He came to the end of this street, and a small road stretched towards the bamboo forest. It can be seen that this is the road up the mountain.

  Washima Shrine at night does not seem to be open to the public, no one goes up and down the mountain.

  Lu Yi saw that at the foot of the mountain, under the red torii, Hongye was standing there.

  She is still in a kimono with an arrow feather pattern, a long cyan dress, and long boots, but a fox mask hung next to her head, adding a sense of innocence.

   "The bamboo forest at night is very dangerous, especially now."

   Seeing Lu Zan, Hong Ye didn't greet her, she just turned her head and went up the mountain. She carried a lantern in her hand, and the dim light illuminates the road, which is disturbing.

  The road up the mountain is slightly bumpy, and the bamboo forest next to it is sparse and quiet.

  "Strange, why is there no sound in the bamboo forest?"

  It is the midsummer of the island now, but there is no sound in the forest. The streets of the festival are far away, and the whole world is in silence.

   "Don't fall into the shadows, walk in the light of the lantern."

  Hongye reminds you to raise the lantern slightly.

  Lu Yi saw that those bamboos seemed to have become denser.

  This reminded him of the grassland in the wild in the deserted city, the vegetation that has life and grows savagely.

  Can't help but feel a little cordial.

  When they reached halfway up the mountain, they saw a series of torii gates.

  This kind of building, which is said to be the gate connecting the two worlds, is everywhere on the road going up the mountain, forming a tunnel, making the road more gloomy.

  Walking into the torii, Lu Zizan seemed to hear a sound from behind him.

  He looked back, and in the dark shadow, he seemed to see the red skirt and white socks stepping on the clogs for a moment.

"That is."

  Lu Zan couldn't help but stop, the red leaf light in front of him was a little bit away from him.

  The trouser legs seemed to be pulled by something, and Lu Tie lowered his head.

  A pale hand retracted into the shadow.

  He felt the darkness around him getting deeper.

  Besides the ear, music came.

  Shamisen, shakuhachi, and island-style melancholy music are mixed with chant-like whispers.

  ". Pray to God, in this life and this life, the flesh is sad, and the floating dream is gone."

  It was like whispering in his ear, Lu Zie felt a numb scalp, and when the whispering disappeared, he turned his head hurriedly.

  But there is only darkness around.

  In Lu Zan's field of vision, only the road under his feet and the torii on the road were left. All he could see was only within reach, and beyond, it was quiet and dark.

   "Red leaves?"

   Lu Yi tried to scream, but even the voice melted into the darkness, and there was no response.

  He looked around, he could only roughly see the direction of the mountain.

  Outside the darkness that envelopes the road, I don’t know what is there.

   "Anyway, it shouldn't be dead yet?"

  Lu Yi climbed up, the torii came towards the field of view, and then moved away from the field of view. These dilapidated buildings seemed to be stained with dirt. Lu Yi didn’t know what it was and how it splashed the dirt up.

  In the endless darkness and silence, Lu Zan walked away for about three hundred heartbeats, only to find that he was still between the torii gates.

   "Could it be that ghosts hit the wall again?"

   Lu Jian thought, squatted down, picked up a stone to mark the torii gate with a five-pointed star, and then moved on.

  Every step, when the darkness was lit up because of the close distance, Lu Zie had to tighten his nerves, worried that something strange might run out of the shadow.

  It's like walking at night when I was a child. It was dark outside the lights. Every step was careful, for fear that something terrifying might suddenly appear on the road.

  He was planning to continue walking for three hundred heartbeats, but when the count reached two hundred and thirty-three, Lu Zan stopped.

  He saw the five-pointed star mark he had just left on the torii gate beside him.

  And, under the mark of the five-pointed star, there is another mark.

  It is a symbol that seems to be drawn easily, but is full of weird meaning.

  ". Someone is also on this road, and he has found my mark, is it red leaves? Or is there something else."

   Lu Yi thought, he thought for a moment, and decided to go down.

   Just as he turned his head and started to move forward, as the vision in front of him lit up, Lu Zie saw that a person was standing next to the torii gate in front.

  The man was wearing a red and white witch costume. The clothes were slender and dusty. His black hair fell softly behind his head, and his face was pale, which made Lu Zie think of the Jingliu Li doll that he saw during the day and hung in the sky.

  She stared at Luzhan, her eyes seemed to be resentful.

   "You got me here?"

  Lu Zan stopped and asked.

  The other party didn't say a word, but took two steps back slowly, and sank into the darkness.

  Lu Yi did not rush away from this road full of torii gates. Although it seems that there will only be a loop here, it is obviously not a good choice to go out.

  He continued to walk down for more than a hundred heartbeats.

   Then I saw that on the torii gate on the side, there seemed to be a mark again.

  That is Lu Zin’s own five-pointed star.

  It’s just that Lu Zin originally marked the position of the five-pointed star, which should be facing the road down the mountain, but now, the five-pointed star turned out to be facing the road up the mountain.

   "Did the torii gate change, or are these all hallucinations?"

  Lu Zan took a step and looked at the back of the torii gate.

  The mottled and peeling red paint surface is filled with shocking scratches. Those scratches are not sharp claws, but seem to be scratched by human hands over and over again. Under the peeling red paint surface, there is a richer blood color!

It is conceivable that there may be a maiden who is really lost on this road. She experienced this repeated reincarnation over and over again, and eventually her sanity collapsed and she was completely crazy. She scratched these torii gates with her fingers, and finally left the road and never returned. to here.

  The darkness around him became more intense. The midsummer night's temperature made Lu sweat all over his body. The sweat soaked his clothes and stuck it with his skin, which was unpleasant.

  Lu Zin suppressed the divergent thinking, and walked a few steps forward.

   Suddenly, a strange feeling came from under his feet. It seemed that he had stepped on a hard and protruding object. It was definitely not a stone, but something with a curvature and a crisp texture.

  Lu Zan looked down.

  There is a mask there.

  *

  A new month, ask for monthly ticket, recommended ticket!

  (End of this chapter)