"No... lake?"
There seems to be some fog-like obstruction in the cognition that has been cleared away.
The humans who realized something stopped their discussion and suddenly snatched the map in front of Bai Su.
Bai Su was still lighting the pen, but before he could retract it, the tip of the pen scratched a deep ink mark on the map, and even scratched it in serious places.
However, impatient humans don't care about this damage.
Rather than the damage to the map, they were more concerned about whether there was a lake on the map.
When humans were looking at paper maps, Bai Su researched whether there were any historical maps on the Internet that could be read.
However, the Internet can be traced back to ten years ago. No matter how early the Internet was not popular enough, you might have to go to the relevant local library or map agency to try your luck to see if they include paper versions.
It only took humans a few minutes to check whether the lake existed. They scanned the mountains near the village carefully. Except for rivers and streams, there was no structure as big as a lake.
"How could it be..." the young man murmured to himself, "In my understanding, the map is clearly..."
Before several humans were pointed out by Bai Su, no one thought they had a problem reading the map. In their memory, on the map they looked at before, there was a blue patch in what is now a dark green mountain range.
Xia Chengyin couldn't help but cast his eyes on Bai Su.
The black-haired young man was looking at his mobile phone with his head down. When he noticed someone looking towards him, he waved the electronic device in his hand and showed his search interface.
Xia Chengyin didn't look at that, but stared at the black-haired young man's head.
Bai Su was stared at for a long time and couldn't help but say: "Officer Xia." He could stop his eyes for a moment.
Xia Chengyin looked away without feeling presumptuous, and commented in his mind: Regardless of whether Bai Su has any problems, his abilities are still very useful.
When the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, you can choose to turn a blind eye.
"If there is no lake... we have to go to the original site of the lake to have a look, right?" Gao Tianyi struggled for a while and quickly adjusted his mentality, "Or ask around in the village, if conditions permit."
"...No, I think it's better not to do it." Qi Zhuyue, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said, "I...I think they...he..."
Qi Zhuyue didn't know how to express her feelings for a while. She just subconsciously felt that if they asked, something bad might happen.
From the time she interacted with Wen Jianyuan as "Wen Tao", she had always felt a little fussy, otherwise she wouldn't have frantically called for her companions to come and get her in the parking lot.
The same goes for other villagers. Looking at the information brought back by Baisu's night tour, there is more than one villager wandering around at night.
"Is this so..." Tang Nuo frowned, "Qi Zhuyue's intuition has always been very accurate."
Tang Nuo summarized some information that is now publicly available.
There is an anomaly in this village and it should be divided into two groups.
One group is represented by the giant fish tail Gao Tianyi saw in his dream and the fish-eyed villagers photographed by Bai Su. The other group is the target pursued by the special department during this trip - that is, the black silt.
However, at this stage, it seems that the cart is somewhat put before the horse.
Bai Su sat there quietly and listened to the humans discussing whether they should go to the original site of the lake today.
So, aren't they here to find the black sludge?
The smell of the fish-eye villagers is not good at all. No matter how alienated they are, the essence of the fish-eye villagers is still human, unless they completely abandon the human part.
In comparison, the humans who were replaced by black sludge smelled more delicious.
Ah...when will humans push another lead down?
The monster licked the tips of its teeth, recalling the pleasure and fullness of foraging in the woods in the early morning.
There is a large amount of black silt accumulated in the woods, scattered under the shadow of the trees, behind the rocks, and in the mud.
If all these scattered ones were gathered together, there might be more than one-fifth of the large mass in the city sewer.
But where is the source? The monster sighed quietly.
To say that the fish-eyed villagers are distinct from the black silt, you can say that but you can't say that.
The most primitive black sludge is a fight between the fish-eye villagers when they meet, but there are replaced villagers in the village. How did the latter come about?
We have to find a way to spread the news to humans.
He planned in his mind to lead people to a specific residential house when he went out. He told Qi Zhuyue yesterday about the transformed dog, but the person who was transformed and the people in the special department didn't know yet.
Humans and non-humans spent the next period of time with their own thoughts. When it was almost dawn and they were about to go out, there was a knock on the courtyard door.
"Taotao! Are you up?"
——It was Wen Jianyuan's voice.
The people in the room did not respond immediately, and others signaled Qi Zhuyue with their eyes.
'Did Wen Tao's uncle say he was coming today? '
'Wait... let me take a look. '
Qi Zhuyue, who had re-tied her braids, hurriedly went to get Wen Tao's cell phone, and as expected she saw several messages sent half an hour ago.
The general idea was to ask "Wen Tao" if she was up, and then ask "Wen Tao" and her friends if they had any plans for today, and if they needed a tour guide or something.
The middle-aged man recommended himself very enthusiastically, saying that he and his wife had discussed it last night and that they were not very busy in the past two days and could take them to visit the village.
He said that "Wen Tao" hadn't been back for so many years and probably didn't know about some of the changes in the village. There were also many people in the village whom "Wen Tao" didn't know.
Probably because Qi Zhuyue didn't reply for a long time, Wen Jianyuan ended the conversation by saying, "I'll see you later."
Now, the middle-aged man is standing outside the door.
It was because the information in the morning was so impactful that they ignored other aspects. It was also due to Qi Zhuyue's poor condition after the SC failed.
'Do you want to open the door? '
'open it. '
The human quickly made a decision and asked Qi Zhuyue to answer the door.
When the middle-aged man outside the door saw someone coming out, he immediately started chatting: "Here you come, I thought you hadn't gotten up yet." In a somewhat nostalgic tone, he told the interesting story of "Wen Tao" staying in bed when she was a child.
Qi Zhuyue didn't know whether the interesting story was true, because "Wen Tao" himself didn't remember it.
Now she could only smile along with the smiling face and stretched out her hand to hold the door frame: "Isn't uncle busy with anything?"
For people living in the village, there are only so many things that need to be done step by step every day. With a little push, it seems that you can squeeze out some time.
"It's okay." Wen Jianyuan waved his hand, "I still have a few days to take you."
"Originally, my son should have been involved in this kind of thing. This year, he went out to work just after taking the exam. You said this is not a coincidence."
"Hmm...ah..."
Qi Zhuyue responded repeatedly. She made a few gestures with her hands behind her back, signaling her companions to quickly discuss and make a decision whether to accept Wen Jianyuan's sudden behavior as a tour guide.
"Do you want to accept it?"
A breathy sound appeared in his ears, startling the human being who was thinking about it.
Xia Chengyin subconsciously wanted to react aggressively, but his mind was able to grasp him tightly. After turning his face at an angle of thirty degrees, he met a pair of black eyes.
There was not much light in the black eyes, but they had familiar outlines to humans. It was also because of this familiarity that Xia Chengyin stopped raising his hand, and in order not to appear abrupt, he touched the tip of his nose.
When did Bai Su come over? I don’t know, the black-haired young man sometimes has a very low sense of presence and is easily ignored.
It may also be that he deliberately lowered his sense of existence, along with his breathing and heartbeat.
The black-haired young man looked at the one among humans who could make decisions inquiringly.
Bai Su was a little curious whether humans would choose to follow Wen Jianyuan.
A middle-aged man named Wen Jianyuan has been assigned to the "fish" side in Bai Su's perception.
In fact, I could see it yesterday. It was only at night that I came up with the classification definition of "fish".
Following Wen Jianyuan would allow them to understand this village enclosed in the mountains, but correspondingly, they might not have the chance to go outside the village today.
He also has a little interest in the so-called lake. If humans don't go there during the day, he can sneak out at night.
Just avoid the patrolling fish-eye villagers and just walk through the woods outside the village.
Humans see black sludge as a threat, to him it is just one manifestation of the buffet.
"So, do you want to follow?"
Bai Su asked again, looking away from the short-haired police officer and drifting towards the courtyard gate ahead.
They were standing in the courtyard now, as if they heard a movement and came out to check the situation. They could be seen from the direction of the courtyard door.
The middle-aged man glanced in from time to time, and when he met Bai Su's eyes, the latter smiled at him.
The middle-aged man who was smiling inexplicably was speechless for a second, and the man raised his lips and smiled back.
Very normal behavior.
There was nothing unusual about the dinner table last night.
"Fish...switch..." Inaudible whispers floated in the air, but Baisu did not avoid humans, and humans heard a few syllables.
……switch? The intuitive police officer suddenly thought of something.
He thought for a moment, then suddenly stretched out his hand from the side, and then Bai Su blocked the way and pushed the minor.
The minor was unprepared and fell forward as soon as he leaned forward.
After walking a few steps before barely regaining his balance, Gao Tianyi turned his head and looked behind him, and the moment he met Xia Chengyin's eyes, he lowered his lips.
Then, Gao Tianyi jumped towards the door, pausing for less than three seconds in the whole process.
The young man took advantage of the appearance and naturally came to Qi Zhuyue's side and joined in the chat.
The tone, which is a bit lower than that of an adult male and crisper than that of an adult female, echoes in the ears of adults like turning on a machine gun and pouring beans.
Gao Tianyi gave full play to his boundless curiosity at this age, asking questions to the middle-aged man, until Wen Jianyuan, who was still smiling, could hardly stop laughing.
Since this is an unfamiliar child or even a guest, it is not easy to say the reprimand directly.
Wen Jianyuan shifted his gaze and looked at his "niece".
"Wen Tao" received the look that seemed to come from her elders asking for help. She finally coughed twice and interrupted the young man's inquiry: "Then I'll bother you, uncle. Let's clean up a little and come back... Where can we meet later?"
"In front of my house, you all know me too."
As if getting rid of a troublesome matter, after confirming that his niece and friends needed his help, the middle-aged man turned around and left, as if there was some savage beast behind him.
With the outsiders out of sight, Gao Tianyi naturally shut his mouth and stopped acting in his true colors.
"What an ordinary reaction." The young man commented, "The uncle during the day is quite normal."
It would be better to say that the village is quite normal during the day, wrapped in a false appearance. The closer it gets to dusk, the normal appearance begins to break away.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing during the day.
In the corners where darkness thrives and is not illuminated by the sun, there are still some extraordinary things.
Wen Jianyuan's self-proclaimed tour guide's introduction today was much more detailed than yesterday. If yesterday he only briefly talked about the names of the people living there, today he just told some interesting stories and gossip about the village.
"Taotao, do you remember this house?" the middle-aged man asked, pointing to a window.
On the way to a place where they were said to be able to observe how preparations were being made for the upcoming sacrificial ceremony, the group passed by a house with a 囍 character on it.
Unlike the 囍 characters I had seen before, which were slightly warped and faded by the wind, the one in front of me was painted in the purest red - festive and gorgeous.
"Uh... don't remember."
Qi Zhuyue answered honestly, "Wen Tao" really didn't remember.
The middle-aged man didn't care to answer. He just started talking about the family whose daughter was about to marry.
I seemed to have had a quick glance yesterday, and Wen Jianyuan didn't remember what he said yesterday. Now he was talking about the girl who was about to be a bride. She used to be one of the children running behind Wen Tao.
"Wen Tao" heard this and raised a question mark in his heart.
Is there such a thing?
Wen Tao's childhood memories had faded and become blurry. Even with Gao Tianyi's reminder in his dream, they could only piece together the conclusion that the children in Wenjia Village often played together in the early days.
The child following Wen Tao... After asking around for a while, the people in the special department breathed a sigh of relief after getting the answer that the girl was only twenty-two years old.
Great, no crime.
A few people who walked to the criminal studio next door thought again that at this age, in the dream Gao Tianyi experienced, he should not have been born yet.
"No, not necessarily." The young man whispered to Bai Su, "Last night's dream became very nonsense."
Bai Su: "...Why do you want to tell me?"
Gao Tianyi: "Hey, Brother Xia and Brother Tang are collecting information now, so I won't go up to spoil the fun."
Reading is disappointing, writing is troublesome.
In Bai Su's eyes, the young man's head was turning around, and he was also recording what he saw in the village with his own eyes.
Of course, they were already much slower than Baisu who had been free to move around at night.
Wen Jianyuan's narration continued: "Weren't you the king of children in the village when you were a child? When you grew up, you became a lady. Who did you follow at that time? Follow Wen——"
After the name was spoken, there was a sudden silence. Others couldn't help but look over and saw the middle-aged man's face twitching a few times, and then changing the topic.
It should be Wen [——].
The name that was deliberately silenced in the dream.
(End of chapter)
