There were many diners gathered in the hall. When they heard this, there was an uproar. Many people immediately swarmed up and surrounded the two policemen, and started asking questions.
"What happened? Didn't you leave town at 2pm? Why are you still here?"
"Ghost beating the wall? What do you mean? Do you mean you can't leave this town? Are you just simply lost? Don't create panic! Explain clearly!"
"A ghost beating a wall? Is it the legendary ghost beating a wall? Hehe, interesting! I really want to see it~"
"There is a ghost in this town? I've never heard of it. What do you know to say that? What happened in this town? We couldn't have entered a ghost town!"
"Stop being scary! There was a murder just yesterday, and today you say the town is haunted? What a joke! What the hell have we come to! I want to go back! Go back now!"
"A ghost place? It really might be a ghost place, and you want to go back? Didn't you hear that the ghosts were breaking the wall? Tsk! Can you still go back?"
"No, why did it suddenly change to this horror style? I'm just here for a vacation and chasing stars!"
"Don't say half words, it will make people panic!"
"Yes! Make it clear! If there is danger, there is still time to escape!"
"Speak quickly! What happened!"
Everyone has different ideas. There are those who are normal and curious to ask and try to understand the truth, and there are also those who are just watching the fun and adding fuel to the fire. But there is no shortage of people who are panicking because of this. And this kind of people It happened to be the most, so the atmosphere gradually became tense and restless.
The two policemen seemed to have just returned to a safe place after escaping. All the adrenaline had been secreted, so they looked extremely weak and mentally depressed. For a while, they opened and closed their mouths several times, but they could not say a word for a long time. .
Seeing this, Cellululu was about to ask everyone to leave first and give the two policemen a quiet space to recover. When they would ask more questions later, Director Bill arrived. With a tigerish face, he started to curse and drive away the crowd.
"Okay, everyone, disperse. Don't gather around here. What can you ask? We will communicate with the police. I will announce the details later. Everyone, please disperse now!"
Many people immediately quit and started shouting.
"Why are you leaving? We also want to listen!"
"We have the right to know what happened!"
"Are you trying to hide the truth?"
"I've long heard that something is wrong in this town. Now, the director still wants to hide it? Doesn't this mean everyone's lives are at stake? This is too much!"
"Yeah, if I don't explain everything clearly in front of everyone today, no one will be able to leave!"
Panicking and not being too big to watch the excitement led to more and more noisy opposition. Facing the angry fans of the extras, Bill kept trying to appease the crowd, but he felt that he could no longer control the scene.
"I'm not trying to hide the truth. Everyone, calm down, calm down..."
Bill kept shouting at the top of his lungs, but was still forced back by the excited crowd.
Jin couldn't stand it anymore. Panic was contagious, and now it was obvious that he was about to enter a state of mass panic. He was not far away from collapse and riots. If the ghost didn't show up by then, he would have been killed by himself first. .
However, before Jin could take action, there was a loud thud, and the crisp sound of gunshots suddenly resounded through the room, deafening.
The crowd was silent for a moment, and then, before a new panic could form, a voice with a smile and an air of ease filled everyone's eardrums.
"Everyone, please be patient and listen to what I have to say."
Everyone looked up after hearing the sound. The vice-president of the Hunter Association smiled and stood on the spiral escalator leading to the second floor in the hall with his hands behind his back. Five mercenaries in camouflage uniforms were on both sides. One of the mercenaries had a stern face and held a gun high in his hand. There was still smoke left in his mouth.
Seeing the gun, everyone became as quiet as a chicken. Faced with absolute power and authority, everyone's rationality returned, or in other words, they regained their composure.
Pariston leaned on the armrest, leaned slightly, and smiled at everyone below.
"It seems that everyone has calmed down. Collectivism is a good thing, but sometimes it will only make things get out of hand. Before the truth is clear, any impulsiveness and irrationality will only plunge everyone into unnecessary changes. In great danger, so if you are willing to trust me, how about leaving these two police officers to me? I will never let you down."
Everyone looked at each other for a while, and then someone soon laughed and made a sound.
"Of course I believe this..."
Another person shouted to the people around him as if he was looking for a way down the stairs.
"Leave professional matters to professional people. With a big shot from the Hunter Association appearing, do we have anything to worry about? What do you guys think?"
Then, everyone agreed.
"Yes, yes, don't worry, okay, I'm hungry, it's time to eat."
"Well, let's get over it. If the sky falls, there will still be tall people holding it up. Don't mess up."
"Haha, really, what was I thinking about just now? I didn't even know what was going on, but I was thinking about running away. Really, I'm too cowardly."
"Me too, I was frightened for a moment, and then I became excited."
"Anyway, let's wait for the official news."
Everyone laughed at each other and found steps to get down, and left one after another, and the commotion subsided.
Celluloid looked at Pariston and realized that at this time, the benefits of his bureaucratic style were revealed. It could at least stabilize people's hearts and balance the overall situation, regardless of whether it was foolishness or not!
As he said himself, collectivism will only intensify panic, and sober cognition is not suitable for everyone, because it may not lead to the right choice.
After finding a quiet study room and waiting for the two policemen to calm down a little, the questioning began. In addition to Pariston and the five mercenaries he brought, the participants were Director Bill and Celluloid and his party.
Of course, Bill actually didn't want too many people to get involved, but after hearing that Miku's assistants were all hunters and strong men equivalent to hunters, he wisely kept his mouth shut.
The first policeman, who was in his early twenties, kept talking in a panic and panic.
"It's really impossible to get out of this town! We have been trying for several hours. I didn't notice it at first. I just thought that after driving for a long time, we still haven't reached the town entrance. I originally thought that Uncle Tom was leading the wrong way. The map was wrong, but Uncle Tom insisted that he was leading the right way! We even had a quarrel at that time."
"Really? Since we have a map and we didn't lead you the wrong way, why did this happen?"
Pariston nodded with interest and smiled, looking at the other old policeman, hoping that he could also explain.
The policeman known as Uncle Tom was about 50 years old. He behaved even more badly than the young policeman. At least the young policeman could explain clearly what happened, but he kept trembling, holding his head, and kept mumbling. With.
"If we can't get out, we will all be swallowed up by Ghost Town..."
Pariston's smile did not change, and he still looked at Thom. Beside him, a mercenary stepped forward very understandingly, grabbed Thom's collar, and shouted.
"If you're afraid, you have to tell me clearly first!"
The roar was very effective, shaking Thom's consciousness back a little. Moreover, the tightening of the collar also made it difficult for him to breathe.
He looked at the mercenary. This man was full of evil spirits, and he was not easy to mess with at first glance. Compared with the unknown terror, it was more uncomfortable at the moment. The fear brought by the small town was temporarily suppressed. He said with difficulty,
"I...I understand, please let go first..."
The mercenary let go slightly and still stared at Thom eagerly. Thom loosened his collar and lowered his head with trembling hands.
"There must be no problem with the map. The problem is the town. I shouldn't take chances. I thought that if the ghost town was abandoned, those strange things wouldn't happen anymore. I was too naive! Before. As I mentioned clearly, the map is only useful to those who already live in the town. For outsiders, the map is completely useless! This town is alive!"
Pariston was somewhat dissatisfied with this statement. He waved his hand and asked.
"Whether the town is alive or dead will be discussed later. Anyway, when you found that the map was useless, you just turned back?"
The young policeman Rick immediately shook his head.
"No, I thought Uncle Tom was confused and couldn't even read a map, so I took the map and found the way by myself. In the end, I actually drove him to the entrance of the town. At least I thought it was at the time. At the town entrance, because there was a tall plaque that looked exactly like the town entrance sign from a distance, I drove past it. As a result, the streets behind the plaque were exactly the same..."
"Wait a minute, you said you thought you saw the town entrance, but the streets behind the town entrance are still the same?"
Pariston's smile faded slightly, and he exchanged glances with Jin thoughtfully.
Jin groaned, Chrollo raised his eyebrows, and Cellululu also thought about it. In the video taken last night, the town entrance seemed to be mirrored in the heavy fog. This seemed to be consistent with the scene they said. Isn't this just an illusion? ?
"Yes, that's right."
Rick's tone became a little incredulous.
"Moreover, I also discovered another strange thing. The time was wrong! I remember clearly that when we left, the sun shone on my face from the right side, making my right eye dazzle. It should have been around 2:30 in the afternoon, but since we drove for so long, it felt like it had been at least an hour or two, but the sun was still shining on the same spot on the right side of my face, making my eyes still dazzle.
But this is wrong. Why should the position of the sun be changed? Only then did I think of checking the specific time, and found that Uncle Tom's watch actually stopped. The time was at 2:23, as if it had stopped at the moment we were about to leave. What's even more incredible is that the time in the car The time on my phone actually shows 2:23, and the time has not changed at all! Our one or two hour drive was like a dream! "
"I panicked at the time. Didn't I encounter a ghost and hit the wall? I had heard some rumors about Ghost Town before, but because they were all old things, I didn't even bother to inquire carefully about what happened. , I didn’t know what to do next, so I could only continue to wander around the town, but I couldn’t get out. Anyway, it felt like time passed very slowly. My mind became a little blurry in the end, and many things felt like I was in a dream. At that time, the gas was almost running out. Then, Uncle Tom told me to give up the idea of leaving Ghost Town and come back first. I was so lost thinking about it at the time. Is this something I can come back if I want to give up? But Somehow, I really came back here when I turned it on, and the time and weather returned to normal without me noticing..."
That was the whole story, and Rick couldn't say anything more, so he stopped.
Pariston frowned slightly, then he looked at Thom and asked with a smile.
"Officer Thom seems to know more. Do you mind sharing it?"
Tom seemed to have remembered something again, and his expression became extremely frightened again, as if he was a Xianglin's wife, he was annoyed repeatedly.
"I really shouldn't believe in evil. I clearly know that Gui Mi Town will try every means to keep everyone here until we become part of this town. Obviously, such things have happened. I really Come into this ghost town."
Jin asked immediately. "What happened?"
Thom didn't hide anything, and spoke with a recalling expression.
"When I was a kid, I had a distant cousin who was a tax collector in the county. He was responsible for going to Guimi Town to collect taxes one year. He didn't listen to the advice of his seniors not to go into Guimi Town to collect taxes, so he went in. Then he never came out. At that time, both his work and his family went to look for him, but the people in his work did not dare to enter Ghost Town. The people at home were held back by people from their work, and they asked the townspeople who lived there to call for help. , at first, everyone said they had never seen this person before.
After going there for three days, the people in the town finally brought my distant cousin to the entrance of the town, but my cousin was unwilling to go back. He also said that he had found a wife and wanted to start a family here. My cousin was already married outside at that time. He already had children, and his wife went crazy at that time. She didn't care about the rumors that she couldn't enter Ghost Town, so she rushed into the town and started fighting with my cousin. My cousin's mother got anxious and followed her into the town. , trying to pull them all out.
As a result, people in the town rushed to break up the fight and pulled the three of them away. People from the work unit yelled outside for a while, but no one came out, so they had to leave first. Later, my cousin and his father took him My cousin, his daughter, some relatives in our family, and people from the work unit went there several times. As a result, my cousin, his wife, and my mother came, but they were unwilling to leave the town. They couldn't persuade them to come back. His father and his cousin's daughter had no choice but to go to the town. The family later settled in the town. They entrusted relatives to dispose of all the properties in the county. The relatives asked the uncle who was so fascinated at that time that he must stay in the town. Who is the person who married her? It turns out there is no such person at all. I don’t know why my cousin must stay in the town if he wants to lie.
This happened not just once or twice, but many long-distance drivers who came here to collect mountain goods or passed by along the way accidentally entered the town, and ended up not coming out. Every now and then, family members from other places would come looking for them, all crying. I begged and refused to go back. As long as I didn't step into Gui Mi Town, some of them gave up and left in the end. But those who had entered Gui Mi Town ended up living in Gui Mi Town. "
After finishing speaking, Thom let out a long sigh and said.
"When I first started working, I once heard an old household registration policeman who was about to retire casually mention that more than two-thirds of the people in Guimi Town are immigrants, and every year these people stay in Guimi Town for various reasons. There are never less than one or two hundred people, but the strange thing is that the total population has never changed. Weddings and funerals in Guimi Town are not connected to the outside world, so we don’t know what happened. Come to report death and cancel There are only a handful of people with household registration, and I really don’t know where so many people have evaporated. However, when I was working, the town had been abandoned for more than ten years, so who would care about a town that has disappeared.”
"I never thought that people would come to a place like this now..."
Tom sighed and glanced at everyone almost resentfully.
Thom's story only scared him. Even Director Bill felt that it was not scary and had nothing to do with the ghosts they encountered.
Jin said.
"Excluding those supernatural reasons, your cousin's incident can actually be explained by more practical reasons. In order to prevent the population from being cut off, in many backward and remote villages and towns, or to develop the village, or to need labor force, the whole village will be destroyed. , the whole town went into battle together, luring, abducting and even coercing outsiders to stay in the village. If outsiders did not obey, their freedom would be restricted, physically tortured, and they might even lose their lives. Due to helplessness, many people could only submit, so you express What the uncle said about marrying a wife at the beginning is not necessarily a lie. The usual way for villages and towns to retain outsiders is to let the person have a new home in the local area. After years of monitoring, he will finally relax after confirming that the person has really been naturalized by the village or town. This kind of surveillance, some may even be under this kind of surveillance for their entire lives.”
Silence on celluloid is indeed a common phenomenon, and it often happens in barbaric, ignorant and backward villages.
Unexpectedly, Tom suddenly retorted fiercely.
"No, I know what you said, but it's different! If it's coercion, you can see some clues no matter what. Besides, with so many people trapped, do you think outsiders won't be suspicious? Although Guimi Town has a mountain road It’s difficult, but it’s not that isolated from the world!
Moreover, people from Ghost Town can come out! Including my cousin's family, they have all come to the county to buy things. They all come out as a family. There is no such thing as one person being left alone in the town, so everyone can only go back. Therefore, their freedom is definitely not restricted. !
However, they have become very strange. My relatives said that sometimes they even feel a little scary. Moreover, it is not just my cousin's family, but all the townspeople who live in Ghost Town feel strange and do not look like normal people. , people in other towns and villages were unwilling to deal with them, and our relatives later lost contact with this distant cousin’s family. "
"This...can't mean anything, right? It may be that I have been abused too much and my mind is numb..."
Director Bill curled his lips, isn't Stockholm Syndrome a similar situation?
Thom no longer knew what to say. Without seeing it with his own eyes or being there, he couldn't understand the horror of a person he once knew suddenly turning into someone who had no idea what he was. And even he, in fact, I don’t know much about him, but I clearly remember the deep fear on my relatives’ faces when they mentioned that cousin.
Chrollo suddenly asked.
"Then do you know what happened to your distant cousin's family in the end? I heard that everyone in Ghost Town should have died, right?"
Tom was silent for a moment before speaking.
"I have inquired that my cousin hanged himself on the largest curved locust tree in the town. I heard that he was the 135th person to be hanged on that tree, and there were many others behind him. Although I haven’t carefully counted the hangings, at least hundreds of people were hanged from this tree.”
Cellululu suddenly thought of the big curved tree that was covered by the moonlight and showed countless densely packed human legs. She and the others looked at each other in surprise. Apparently everyone had thought of this.
"After a few days, his wife disappeared late one night, and was found dead in front of her cousin's grave early the next morning. When she died, her whole body was bent like a U shape. It looked like there was something in the grave. Someone held her waist and pulled her in, and she struggled so hard that her spine was broken in two."
Cemetery group! Cellululu's face became more and more solemn, as the second terrorist incident occurred.
Tom sighed.
"A week later, my cousin's parents were found dead at home. They died miserably. Their bodies were cut into pieces and cooked as vegetables. It is said that the neighbors never saw anyone coming out of my cousin's house, so they went to I visited, and when I walked in I saw that the dining table was filled with sumptuous meals, including broth, meatballs, fried meat cubes, all kinds of meat. My cousin’s daughter, who was six or seven years old, was eating it. She said she ate a little every day and it was enough. She had eaten it for a week, but she still hadn’t finished it. At that time, others didn’t know whether she was eating her grandparents, or they only found out later when they found the human head and some other human remains in the pot.”
"Is it the person my daughter killed?" the knight asked curiously.
"I don't know. Anyway, I heard that my cousin's daughter was imprisoned in the town hall for questioning the next day. As a result, the child disappeared that night, disappearing from a completely closed interrogation room. There was no indoor surveillance at the time. No one knows how this child disappeared. Anyway, no one has seen this child again until the last person in Ghost Town died."
Tom paused and said.
"I heard that after my cousin's daughter disappeared, children began to disappear in the town. They all disappeared in a completely secret room with the door locked. I don't know what the connection is. Anyway, since my cousin's daughter disappeared, From that day on, my cousin’s family was completely gone.”
Rick said in shock. "I didn't even know this happened, Uncle Tom, why did you never mention it?"
"Why are you bringing this up? It's not a good thing! If it hadn't been for the weird thing about not being able to get out, I wouldn't even want to talk about it. It feels too sinister!" Tom said angrily.
Pariston put his fingers on his cheek,
"Just listen to these things. At least for the current situation, I don't see any use. In short, let's solve the current matter first."
Pariston suddenly said as if he thought of something.
"So, apart from you, the other three police officers have not returned yet. If you have contact information, why not ask first how the situation is?"
"What? They haven't come back yet? Indeed, I didn't see Fergus and the others, and I didn't even notice them just now."
Tom looked like he just realized it.
He looked at his watch in shock. It was already 8:30 in the evening. There was no water or electricity in this town. Except for this house, which was still bright because of the temporary generator installed by Director Bill, the rest of the place was completely dark after nightfall. It's such a dead town, where can they spend the night? Nothing really happened, right?
Worried, Thom quickly took out his cell phone and dialed one of them.
There was no strange thing like no one answered the call or no signal at all. The call was quickly connected and a voice spoke clearly.
"Hello? Tom?"
Tom was delighted and asked immediately. "Fergus? Where are you?"
"Where? It's right here." Fergus sounded confused, as if he didn't know the purpose of his question.
"Where is this place? Why haven't you come back yet?" Thom asked angrily.
"Where? What are you talking about..." On the other end of the phone, Fergus' tone became even more confused.
At this moment, Cellululu and everyone heard another voice coming from the phone.
"Fergus, who are you talking to on the phone?"
Cellululu and the others' expressions suddenly changed slightly, and they looked at Thom at the same time.
That voice sounded strangely familiar to Tom. Before he could figure out who it was, Fergus on the phone was already asking in horror.
"Thom? Are you Thom? You're not on the phone? No, no, if you are Thom, then who is this Thom on the phone?"
Tom finally remembered why this voice sounded familiar to him. Wasn't it his own voice?
He was immediately shocked. "Fergus, I am the real Thom. No matter where you are, get out of there quickly!"
On the other side of the phone, Tom was also talking, with an unusually vigilant tone.
"Fergus, what are you talking about? Thom on the phone? Someone is pretending to be me? Hang up the phone! Who knows who is over there? Have you forgotten the horror of Ghost Town? Is this because you know we are going to stay overnight? Are you deliberately disrupting and alienating me by leaving Ghost Town?"
"Fergus, don't hang up, I'm the real Thom!" Thom immediately shouted in a panic.
At this time, another burst of slightly messy footsteps came from the phone over there, and then a female voice came.
"Mr. Thom, Mr. Fergus, aren't you leaving yet? It seems like it's going to be foggy outside~"
Chrollo, Jin, and Illumi each raised their eyebrows slightly, and Hisoka, Xia Ke, and Feitan also looked at Cellululu in surprise.
Celluloid stared at the phone in Thom's hand with the same surprise. The voice was clearly hers.
"Leave now." Thom on the other end of the phone replied, and then said angrily to Fergus. "What are you still dawdling about!"
"I know!" Fergus said in a panic, and then, with a beep, the phone was hung up.
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When I was revising the article, I deeply regretted that I had too many words in each chapter. If I changed one chapter, it would be equivalent to someone else revising three or even four or five chapters. The key is to read it word for word to find out where the problem lies. Forty-four chapters have problematic chapters. I almost want to vomit blood after revising it. I originally planned to update it on Thursday, but it was all taken up by revising the text. I hope that next time the wind blows, I won’t have a bunch of problematic chapters again. I’m almost afraid of revising the text╮(╯_╰ )╭
I have read all your messages, thank you for your support (づ￣3￣)づ╭❤~Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who threw [Bazooka]: SYOU 1;
Thanks to the little angels who threw [landmines]: Matcha Milk Green Hahaha, Ali Girl, Fei Yi 2; Fujiwara Roshi, Little Mushroom Head, Little Rabbit Saku, 32740955, Wushuang, wllll 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigates [nutrient solution]:
170 bottles of ANI; 54 bottles of The Cat Who Loves Fish; 40 bottles of Red, Green and Purple, Cha Cha Yue; 10 bottles of Amethyst; 9 bottles of Dumao who rules the world; 7 bottles of 鶭; 5 bottles of ★Glory★, Huanqingyue°; roselle 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
