Chapter 17

Wen Jianyan stared at the small copper plate in his hand, lowered his head and sniffed it carefully.

The familiar scent of corpse oil, the rancid smell is mixed with a hint of sweetness, but in addition, there seems to be a little other smell mixed in, like long-standing blood, rich and salty.

The cotton wick is twisted on it, which is obviously capable of being ignited.

Compared with the previous plate of off-white lamp oil, this plate of lamp oil looks even weirder, with ominous meaning everywhere.

After seeing the scarlet oil contained in the small copper plate, Nursery Rhyme couldn't help but startled:

"This...what's the use?"

"I don't know."

Wen Jianyan shook her head, also without any clue.

It is very unwise to rashly use the props in the deputy when nothing is clear. Although Zhang Yu's current situation is critical, Wen Jianyan is not prepared to go to the doctor in a hurry.

It's best to see what other banknotes can exchange for before making a decision.

Immediately afterwards, he put the remaining two ghost coins into the box one by one.

A rusty copper key was exchanged for the ordinary Mingbi. After picking up the key, Wen Jianyan put the last red Mingbi with a dead face on it into the box.

Soon, there was a scalp-numbing "rustle" scratching sound. I don't know if it was an illusion, but this time the sound seemed to last for an extra long time.

The slightly flickering yellow light bulb cast a dim light above the head. Under the tense gaze of several people, a pair of green and black dead hands slowly protruded from the wooden box.

Two hands?

Everyone was startled, showing astonished expressions.

Wen Jianyan's eyes flickered slightly, and he cautiously looked at the outstretched palms of the two dead men, holding two talisman papers in their bluish-black stiff fingers.

One is yellow and the other is black.

On the rough talisman paper, there are complex and weird scarlet lines drawn, as if painted with blood, showing a viscous color that has not yet dried up.

It's like... waiting for their choice.

"Why are there two colors?"

The nursery rhyme on the side frowned, and stepped back carefully.

Although she didn't use her gift right now, her keen senses as a psychic gave her an early warning—these two talisman papers seemed to carry some ominous aura.

Especially the black talisman, just getting close to it made her feel very uncomfortable.

"Cough...cough cough."

At this moment, a hoarse cough sounded from the side.

Zhang Yu, who had just passed out in the past, seemed to wake up.

After coughing hoarsely for a while, he raised his head slightly, his face was blue, white and black, strands of black blood overflowed from his bruised lips, dripping on the front of his front, and suggested in a weak voice:

"Choose, choose the yellow one."

According to tradition, talisman paper is divided into good talisman and bad talisman.

The yellow talisman paper draws on the power of gods, with the purpose of suppressing and exorcising evil spirits, while the power borrowed by black comes from the evil soldiers and ghosts. The talismans drawn with this kind of talisman paper are often in perfect condition Although external yin evils are powerful, they can easily harm others and themselves. .

Wen Jianyan nodded, accepted his suggestion, and pulled out the yellow talisman from the dead man's palm.

"Hey, hello! Zhang Yu?!" An Xin's surprised voice came from the side.

After he finished speaking, Zhang Yu lowered his head again, and his sobriety just now seemed to come back. This time, his chest began to gradually lose its ups and downs, and his life gradually drained from his body.

An Xin was anxious like an ant on a hot pan.

"Hey, where's the talisman? Let's try—"

He took the talisman from Wen Jianyan's hand, and stuck the talisman on Zhang Yu's sweaty and pale forehead as he remembered it. After he let go, the talisman fell lightly and landed on Zhang Yu's forehead. on the knee.

Nothing happened.

From the looks of it, the function of this talisman is not this.

Their only hope now is that small plate of red lamp oil.

Now, even if you don't know what its purpose is, you can try it first.

Wen Jianyan squatted down: "Get out of the way."

While speaking, he took out a match and lit the wick on the oil lamp tray neatly.

Hearing the sound of "cha", a flame sprang up, and the cotton wick was ignited, and it became scorched black and curled in the firelight.

After the off-white lamp oil is lit, it emits a dim and weak yellow light, while after the red lamp oil is lit, the color of the flame and the surrounding light is actually scarlet like blood.

The light it produces is far dimmer than white lamp oil, and its penetrating power is weaker. Although it is not put into the oil lamp and is not blocked by the lamp wall, it is still astonishingly dark.

A sweet, fishy smell slowly emanated from it.

Wen Jianyan held his breath slightly, and brought the lamp oil pan closer to Zhang Yu.

The rest of the people were equally nervous, staring at the scene in front of them, for fear of missing any details.

Scarlet flames danced silently, coating Wen Jianyan's palm with a layer of blood like paint.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but under the light of the oil lamp, Zhang Yu's face no longer seemed to be as pale and blue as before, and gradually looked like a living person.

"Ah! It's really useful! Take a look!"

Su's eyes lit up, and he showed the back of his hand to everyone in front of him.

Under the action of the red lamp oil, those rotten, blue-black corpse spots seemed to stop expanding and gradually faded, almost disappearing under the watchful eyes of several people.

Tong Yao was startled, and hurriedly looked at herself.

Sure enough, the traces of the curse that had been corroded on their bodies, like Su, were gradually fading away.

An Xin pulled up Zhang Yu's sleeve, exposing his arm.

Although the shocking blue-black handprint is still there, the surrounding corpse spots are gradually fading, and the nearby skin regains the color and luster that a living person should have.

"Thank you, just say..."

An Xin heaved a long sigh of relief, as if he was out of strength, and sat on the ground beside Zhang Yu, showing a relaxed expression, "Even if this is a high-level deputy, it is impossible to die if you are touched by a corpse. Healed by the props, and given the time to delay the operation, I will definitely give you a solution."

As he said that, he looked at the red lamp oil in Wen Jianyan's hand, regained his spirit rarely, and said with a smile:

"Look, this is it!"

The expression on Tong Yao's face dropped, she nodded: "Yes."

Zhang Yu lowered his head, as if he had exhausted himself too much, and he still didn't wake up. However, looking at it like this, recovery should be a matter of time.

The atmosphere was unusually relaxed.

Although they were going through the extremely difficult two-story building and almost died several times in the middle, they not only survived successfully in the end, but also did not lose any teammates!

In less than a minute, Qi Qian, who was in a state of suspended animation, would be able to return to the team. The cursed Zhang Yu, Tong Yao, and Su found a way to relieve the curse.

It looks like everything is going well.

"Zizi."

Subtle electric flickering sound came from above the head.

Wen Jianyan was startled, then raised her head subconsciously, and looked at the person who heard the voice.

There are no oil lamps in this stairwell, but old light bulbs that have the same function as oil lamps. The dim yellow light emitted by the light bulbs dispels the darkness, making this a safe area that will not be eroded by darkness.

but…

Wen Jianyan raised her head, fixedly stared at the light bulb above her head, and frowned slightly.

I always feel that the current of the bulb seems to be disturbed by something, the light emitted is gradually dimming, and the area that can be covered is getting smaller. It could have illuminated the first half of the stairs going downstairs and the second half of the stairs going upstairs, but now , the area shrouded in light is unknowingly shrunk down around the table.

and…

Wen Jianyan lowered her head, her eyes fell on the red lamp oil in front of Zhang Yu, and the deep part of her amber pupils reflected the jumping scarlet light.

Yes, absolutely.

The red light emitted by the lamp oil is suppressing the yellow light above the head. It can barely illuminate the little red light around it. Now it has completely surrounded Zhang Yu and the others. The dark red light , as if the paint-like color, extended into the surrounding darkness, and even smeared onto the wall.

There's a... very uneasy feeling.

Sudden-

"Boom...boom boom!"

An abrupt voice sounded in the dead silent stairwell, startling everyone, they suddenly raised their heads, and looked at the direction from which the voice came.

Is...a knock on the door?

Behind the wall illuminated by the red light, there was a stiff knocking sound.

"Boom...boom boom!"

There, it seemed that someone bent their fingers and tapped the wall with their knuckles, but when everyone looked, they couldn't catch any figure in their sight.

"what happened?"

Tong Yao's expression froze again, and the relaxation just now was gone.

An Xin stood up, fixedly staring at the source of the voice, tense all over.

"clatter!"

There was a sound of hard landing above the head, followed by the rolling sound of "gululu".

"Cough, cough, cough."

Deep in the dark stairs, someone coughed.

In the originally quiet stairwell, under the shroud of the **** oil lamp light, it suddenly began to change, and strange voices sounded from all directions, making people's hair stand on end.

bad.

Wen Jianyan gritted her teeth, her nerves tensed suddenly, her eyes fixed on the darkness in front of her, the faint **** light was spreading over time, bit by bit.

"It's lamp oil..."

The voice of the nursery rhyme was tense, and said in a low voice.

Wen Jianyan's expression was frozen, and in just a few moments, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

That's right, lamp oil.

In [Prosperity Building], all the "props" provided to them by the deputy came with a terrible price.

The off-white lamp oil can dispel darkness and prevent the invasion of some curses, but it also acts as a lighthouse, attracting "customers" and bringing danger to the store.

The red lamp oil can remove the irreversible curse carried by the corpse, if it burns for too long, it will induce even more terrifying existence.

The stronger the effect, the greater the danger.

"Cough cough, cough cough."

It seemed that the coughing sound of Shen Ke, who had been ill for a long time, sounded from the bottom of the stairs again, but, compared to just now, the sound seemed closer, as if someone was gradually approaching, but still no figure appeared.

"Boom...boom! Boom!" The sound of hitting the wall gradually increased.

The sound of glass beads falling sounded from the ceiling, as if something was rolling in all directions.

"Zizi..." The light bulb above his head flickered more frequently.

Under the eerie red light, the area shrouded in yellow light became smaller.

"Quick, back up." Wen Jianyan said quickly, suppressing his voice, "It's safe under the lights."

The rest of the people dragged Zhang Yu, who was unconscious, and retreated to the side of the table. The space for them to stand had become extremely narrow, which seemed very cramped.

"How's his hand?"

Wen Jianyan did not bow her head, but stared at the places where the voices came from, and asked softly.

An Xin pushed back Zhang Yu's sleeves again and looked down.

The blue-purple handprint has basically faded away, leaving the last faint mark: "Quick, one minute should be enough."

"His life is not in danger now, why don't you put out the lamp oil, leave here first, and light it up after entering the shop?" Tong Yao suggested.

"No."

Her suggestion was rejected by Wen Jianyan.

"The red light will cancel out the safe yellow light," Wen Jianyan said, pointing to the light bulb above his head - its light is very weak, and a faint red light has been gathered around it, which looks extraordinarily Terrible, "Now there are light bulbs to help us resist part of the curse, but if we enter the shop, the only light source is our lamp oil."

Several people's hearts sank.

This time, although they got extra ghost coins, the ghost coins were red, so they didn't get extra white lamp oil this time. , The plate of spare lamp oil I got!

And it has already been consumed by half when it was upstairs.

Even if the light bulb becomes dimmer and the range becomes smaller, it will not only not consume, but also will not go out due to the power supply.

The curse must be completely removed, if there is any residue, it will continue to spread, and it will take longer to remove the curse.

If they enter the third floor and then light it up, they will consume a lot of precious resources.

What's more...

There is no doubt that the third floor will be more difficult than the first floor, and they may not be able to deal with the danger caused by lighting the red lamp oil there.

That is to say, they had to wait for the curse on Zhang Yu to disappear completely in the area between the first floor and the third floor, using this light bulb that would not go out, before moving on.

Wen Jianyan: "An Xin, pay attention to the curse on Zhang Yu's body. When it completely disappears, tell me immediately."

His voice was cold and calm, and he gave orders concisely.

No matter how flustered Wen Jianyan is right now, he will restrain his emotions and bring an unparalleled sense of security to his teammates—only in this way can he make the entire team more efficient.

You know, excess panic will hold you back at this time.

"Okay." An Xin nodded, staring fixedly at the palm print on Zhang Yu's body, subconsciously holding her breath.

"Take it."

Wen Jianyan stuffed red lamp oil into nursery rhymes.

"After An Xin speaks, turn off it immediately."

Tong Yao's face was pale, but she still held the lamp oil and nodded.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, and people couldn't breathe.

Wen Jianyan picked up the oil lamp, opened the lampshade outside the oil lamp, held the match in the other hand, and tensed up, waiting for the opportunity.

Half a minute passed.

The shimmering red light continued to spread, and the strange phenomena in the entire stairwell increased instead of decreasing.

As the dim red light smeared on the wall, a dark, blurry human figure gradually appeared. It seemed to be facing the wall, and smashed its forehead stiffly against the wall.

"Boom...boom boom!"

One click, one click, one click.

As its figure gradually became clearer, the sound of "dongdong" hitting the wall gradually slowed down until it stopped completely.

In the dead silence, it turned around slowly and little by little—

"!"

At that moment, Wen Jianyan immediately understood that it was "staring" at them, or, to be precise, it was aware of their existence.

His hair stood on end, cold sweat dripped from the palm that was tightly holding the handle of the oil lamp.

"Okay!" Wen Jianyan heard that her voice was still a little out of tune.

In a small space, they have almost nowhere to escape!

"Quick, quick!" An Xin's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and his answering voice trembled slightly under the high pressure, "There is only one last mark left!"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The sound of Shen coughing came closer, and under the red light, one could vaguely see a hunched black figure, stepping up the stairs step by step, walking in this direction.

It's definitely not human, whether it's steps or posture, it presents a completely inhuman sense of terror.

The temperature of the air dropped sharply, and the lighting range of the overhead lights was once again reduced.

And as the red light gradually became stronger, Wen Jianyan heard the familiar scratching sound from inside the box on the wooden table behind him—it wasn't as subtle as when he gave them something before, but it seemed extra crazy, as if attacking the sleepy. live in their wooden boxes.

Under the violent shaking, the bottom of the wooden box collided with the tabletop, making a rattling sound.

Wen Jianyan subconsciously turned her head to look, her scalp went numb for an instant, and she was about to jump up in fright.

On the crimson wooden box, in the narrow dark gap, countless dense bluish-black fingers can be vaguely seen, overlapping each other, wriggling under the red light, as if they are about to poke out of it!

"Okay!!"

he screamed.

"Wait a minute! Wait a moment!" An Xin stared at the palm print so hard that his eyes were about to fall out of their sockets, he was so sour, but he didn't dare to blink.

He screamed back in the same voice.

On Zhang Yu's skin, the bluish purple palm marks had almost completely dissipated, leaving a fuzzy edge, which was still fading slowly.

"What now!!"

Wen Jianyan screamed.

The moment An Xin saw that the palm marks had completely disappeared, he immediately jumped up on the spot and screamed in the same stern voice: "Good! Good!"

The moment his voice fell, Tong Yao extinguished the red lamp oil pan as quickly as possible, and the red light disappeared. However, those "things" that were awakened did not disappear, but were still approaching in this direction. .

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah! !

Wen Jianyan gritted her teeth tightly, her pupils constricted, and lit the spare lamp oil in her hand as quickly as possible, and then screamed: "Go! Run! Go to the third floor!!"

As he spoke, he ran out and rushed straight to the top of the stairs!

Everyone carried Zhang Yu's still unconscious body, and followed closely behind.

The weird voice behind was like a shadow, and everyone ran up the stairs as if their tails were burned!

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed, and the gray-white stairway ahead gradually enlarged.

quick!

just in front!

Like a drowning man catching a driftwood of hope, everyone stared at the front and ran straight—

Finally, step on the solid ground on the third floor.

Compared with the crisis-ridden stairwell just now, the gray and gloomy environment on the third floor seemed very friendly at the moment.

arrive!

However, before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief and relax, they heard a familiar voice from ahead:

"Hi."

"You guys have been waiting for you for a long time, why are you just now?" Orange Tang stood on the spot, talking with a smile, her immature and lovely face looked like a ghost from hell.

She stared at the group of people in front of her with crazy and warlike eyes, and gestured with her fingers:

"Bang! There's an ambush among you."

"Just like we did just now!"

Inside shop No. 02.

The oil lamp welded to the counter gave off a dim yellow light, illuminating the entire store.

Mu Sen sat with his back against the counter.

His eyes were closed tightly, as if he was resting his mind, his face was as pale as a dead man, his right sleeve was empty, and he seemed to have lost an arm.

In the confrontation just now, Mu Sen suffered a heavy loss.

In order to maintain the accuracy of the prophecy, he sacrificed his entire arm. What's worse, even so, he failed to keep the wooden card, and finally ended up in ashes.

Every time he thought of this, he couldn't help but contort his face and grit his teeth angrily.

It must have been done by the prophet on the opposite side...

Absolutely!

He didn't expect that one day, he would lose miserably in this one-on-one competition, which would be a great shame!

But that's okay.

Mu Sen's pale lips wrinkled, revealing a particularly vicious smile.

He suffered a loss upstairs, and he can get back all of it on the third floor!

As the battle lunatic who is good at team battles, Orange Tang is not an ordinary person. In that kind of crouching battle, it is impossible for her and her teammates to lose, that is to say, the group of people on the opposite side is absolutely finished.

Not only that, he also asked Tangerine Candy to tie back the prophet who ruined his good deeds—now, simply killing him is not enough to relieve his hatred.

Mu Sen's face was distorted, and his expression was happy.

He wants this so-called strongest prophet to pay for what he has done!

Whether it was the failure of the previous assassination, or the broken wooden sign and the loss of his arm this time, he had to get it back from that person...

This time, he will do it himself.

At this moment, familiar footsteps sounded outside.

Relaxed, bouncing footsteps, accompanied by a cheerful, intermittent humming, obviously, seems to be in a good mood.

Ah, it's orange candy and they're back!

Mu Sen suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes filled with surprise, he stood up with one arm supporting himself, and almost couldn't wait to meet him.

The glass door was pushed open.

The woman ran in bouncingly, and turned around with an almost proud attitude: "Orange candy, great success!"

"Kill them all?" Mu Sen's eyes lit up.

"No," Tangerine Candy shook her head with a grin, her ponytail swaying, "I didn't kill a single one."

"ah?"

Mu Sen was stunned.

"It's normal, why are you so surprised?" Tangerine Tang curled her lips and waved her hands casually, "Didn't they not be cruel when they ambushed us at the stairs last time?"

"So you put water?"

Mu Sen's forehead was throbbing with veins.

"Ah..." Tangerine Tang tilted her head, "Can you say that?"

She shook her head, showing that nonchalant look again: "It's just a matter of courtesy."

"However, it's not completely useless."

Tangerine Candy bouncing sideways, "Dangdangdang! The prophet you want is bound back for you!"

"!"

Mu Sen was startled, his face was filled with joy again.

Although the members of the opponent's team are not dead, it doesn't matter anymore. He believes that after losing the prophet, the incomplete team will not survive long on the third floor, and his real goal has been achieved—

Wen Jianyan raised her hand and said hello expressionlessly: "Hi."

"..."

Mu Sen's expression slowly cracked.

etc?

.