Today is not a Sunday, and the afternoon is not a time usually used for worship.
The blond priest led the crowd in singing hymns and praying. He smiled at everyone, saluted, then turned and walked toward a side door. One of the people sitting on the bench suddenly stood up, holding the paper bag handed out at the door with excitement on his face, and followed the pastor into the side door.
Lu Ning also received a small piece of bread when she entered the door. She immediately took it out and opened the paper bag, and found a number inside the paper bag: forty-seven.
"Girl...you got it?"
Suddenly an old man's voice came from beside him. Lu Ning shuddered slightly and turned around to see an old man with gray hair and beard, followed by seven or eight sturdy men in black suits. The girl from the Yin family whom she met on the street yesterday Then he held the old man's arm beside him.
At this point, Lu Ning guessed the origins of these people and immediately put on a respectful expression: "I'm just curious, old gentleman, can you tell me what this number means?"
The old man laughed loudly: "It's not interesting, it's just drawing lots."
"Drawing lots?" Lu Ning pretended to be confused.
"The confessional here is overcrowded every day. People say that people who leave here are reborn. There are only so many people in Avery Church, so we have to make such a lottery decision. Fifty places a day."
Lu Ning's mouth twitched: "This is really...unheard of."
"It's not easy for the kid Paradel. He took the few old and young people left in the church to re-develop this place into such a prosperous state. But how many of these people really believe in this now? It's just watching. This name of repentance and cleansing of sins is just to expose the things I have done before.”
The old man let out a long sigh.
"You...should believe it, right?"
"The late priest was an old friend of mine." The old man smiled kindly. "The past is always something that older people like us can't forget. I just want to talk to you because I have a grudging invitation."
"You tell me." Lu Ning said.
"My...junior, if you want to quit, according to the rules set back then, you must repent here and take an oath before you can leave. If you have no intention of using the number in your hand, girl, why not give it to him?" If you use it, it can be regarded as a favor from me."
The old man said, pointing to a bodyguard with a scar on his face behind him.
Lu Ning immediately handed over the paper bag in her hand.
"The favor is too polite. I'm just here to have fun. Old gentleman, just take it."
"Thank you then. I am Yin Han of the Yin family. If you want my help, you can go to any store with the 'Yin' seal on the sign at the door to find their boss."
After saying that, the old man took the paper bag and handed it to the bodyguard with some instructions. The man gratefully took the bag and ran over to queue up. The old man turned his head and let go of the girl beside him, and walked to the bench to rest with a smile, leaving the girl staring at Lu Ning, not knowing what to say.
"I saw you last night." Lu Ning would still do it if she just wanted to find a topic.
"Really? Last night...oh." The girl seemed to have thought of it and scratched her head, "I just went to change places last night, and only one minor thing happened...Forget it, my name is Yin Luo, what about you?"
"I'm Lu Ning."
"Come to Danma to play?"
"That's right. My grandfather was stationed in the border area when he was a soldier. He once stayed in Danma for a while. Now, it can be considered as a visit to his hometown on behalf of his old man."
"Descendants of soldiers? Worthy of respect." Yin Luo nodded slightly, "The location of the old barracks is thirty kilometers west of Danma. It has been sealed off. If you want to take a look, you can walk around outside."
"Old barracks?"
When Yin Luo heard Lu Ning's question, he lowered his voice: "The place where the flying saucer was seen crashing was right there. Later, the inspection team and special forces sent by the country sealed off the old barracks and the surrounding area. It was mysterious. Even we don’t know what happened there. The blockade is still not lifted, and the soldiers patrolling there never communicate with us and don’t know what they are covering up.”
Lu Ning didn't expect to accidentally learn information from fifty years ago here.
"Is it... strange?"
"If there is something that is still there after so many years, it means that it cannot be moved. Soldiers are replaced every five years. This is to ensure that they do not get familiar with the locals... In short, overall, the place is not a good place. If you want to see it, take a few photos from a distance, and don’t get too close.”
This warning was still in Lu Ning's ears when she walked out of the church. Yin Luo seemed to be afraid that she was getting close, but the behavior itself was very suspicious - why did she bring it up specifically?
Just when she walked out of the door, a chill rose from behind. Lu Ning suddenly turned around and found two people in the crowd looking at him with cold eyes.
It was the two people who had been hiding in the shadows before. A man and a woman, both wearing hooded woolen sweaters, looked a little weird in this hot weather. Both of them had church staff emblems on their chests, but you couldn't tell from their appearance.
Suddenly, the man made a mouth gesture to Lu Ning. It was hard to tell what he said, but he could tell the threat just from his expression.
But this way, Lu Ning didn't panic anymore.
She slightly compared it with the still indifferent expression of the woman next to her, and she already had some concerns in her heart.
There is indeed something wrong with this church...
There is nothing valuable in the Clock Memorial Hall, at least the so-called cursed clock cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. Since Lu Ning had no intention of playing around, it was still early enough when she came out of the memorial hall from the memorial hall, enough for her to go to the history museum to have another look.
Just as I was passing by the commercial street in the city center, a video began to play on the promotional screens of several buildings at the same time. Starting from the Frost Day celebration thirty years ago, which was recorded in the video, the pictures and numbers were quickly switched, all the way to this year. As the digital fireworks exploded, several celebrities appeared on the screen at the same time, followed by highlight clips of preparations in each area. In short, it conveyed the message that everything is going well and everyone can look forward to it.
People walking on the street stopped to watch and cheer. Lu Ning also stopped and took out her mobile phone to turn on the video recording function.
The length of the promotional video was only fifteen minutes. Lu Ning waited for a moment. After fifteen minutes, it was replayed again. She was well prepared this time and recorded the entire promotional video.
I just don’t know how many of the people around me with their mobile phones and cameras are like her?
Lu Ning left quietly.
When I returned to the Phoenix Stone Hotel from the History Museum without finding anything, a fierce quarrel was taking place in the lobby.
After just one day, Ye Fei and Song Baoguo couldn't stand Yuan Xi.
"Can you stop being so high-profile?"
"High-profile? Who was taken away by the police car last night?"
"Isn't that a force majeure factor? Or is it our responsibility?"
Ye Fei blushed and glared at Yuan Xi, but the other party showed no sign of weakness and stared back with a haughty look on his face. If Song Baoguo and Xiao Shifan hadn't pulled them, they would have fought.
The quarrel seemed to have just broken out. The hotel manager rushed over quickly, asked a few questions in a low voice, and then helped to persuade the two of them, finally calming down their emotions a little. Lu Ning watched the excitement from the side and was a little curious as to why they started to quarrel.
Lu Ning had already guessed the identities of these people. Although Ye Fei and Song Baoguo were well-dressed, their words and deeds did not match their clothes. It was the first time Yuan Xi met her and she couldn't comment. Xiao Shifan was simply held back by the two of them.
But this does not mean that Ye Fei and Song Baoguo are not capable. Even if they have only experienced one test field, Lu Ning will not despise everyone who survives, especially... many of these people must have survived more than one test. Field is even more of a skill.
As Ye Fei and Song Baoguo boarded the elevator and left, the group seemed to have completely broken up. Xiao Shifan was still with Yuan Xi, both of whom had a hint of displeasure in their expressions. Under the persuasion of the manager, they walked out of the door to relax, and the original order in the lobby was slowly restored.
When the manager was about to leave, Lu Ning hurried over and asked, "Manager, what happened here just now?"
"This... I can't say anything about the guests. We can just give some advice on the big family's matters." The manager did a Tai Chi tactfully.
"Thank you."
Lu Ning thanked her and left, leaving the confused manager wondering what she was thanking for.
Back in the room, Lu Ning took out her laptop from her luggage, started transferring the videos on her phone to her computer, and looked up a name by the way.
Shen Wenhao.
A professor of history at Nanxiang University and a backbone of the academic school, he has published many research papers on folk celebrations and festivals, vocal music and dance, and social structure. I came to Danma four years ago to experience the Frost Day Celebration and lost contact.
The disappearance of a professor was not a trivial matter at that time. His family also posted many messages asking for help on the Internet. However, time quickly covered up the matter, and they have probably given up now.
Who would have thought that this man would crash in an elevator in an inexplicable way four years later, and both the manner and cause of his death would become a mystery?
Lu Ning opened her notepad and entered Shen Wenhao's situation in her memory.
To be honest, I thought that the forty-day time limit would be enough time to search for clues, but the show of force on the first day made Lu Ning feel a murderous intention - coming from the entire test site.
After the video was copied, Lu Ning downloaded an editing software, loaded it and began to study the content frame by frame. Of course she saw Shu Xingruo appear in the video, but what was more important were the previous historical clips about the Frost Day Celebration.
The flashing cut at the beginning will give people a dizzying feeling, and no one pays special attention to the content inside. Only when Lu Ning slowly looks over it will she discover the mystery hidden inside.
