sin of nature

On the way back to Shanyang, because they were not in a hurry, everyone took a different path from when they came.

Jin Buhuan, Kuangyu, and Lingxi sat in the carriage behind, and the other three rode their horses in front.

Both Jin Buhuan and Lingxi were chatterbox types, and they chatted endlessly. From morning to evening, their mouths never stopped.

While chatting about the mountains with Jin Buhuan, Lingxi glanced at Kuangyu, or, more precisely, at the deer next to Kuangyu.

Kuang Yu noticed the unfriendly eyes of the other party since the morning, so he couldn't bear it and said, "What are you looking at?"

Lingxi raised his eyebrows, his expression was very calm, "Oh, it's nothing, it's just that I've been a snake for nearly 1000 years, and when I saw these wild animals, I always felt—" He paused, as if he was thinking about how to word it, The corners of the mouth slightly raised, and met the opposite gaze, "I always find it very attractive."

He pointed to the deer curled up beside him, and a greedy look flashed in his eyes, "This size is at its most tender - I don't know if you mind..."

"Excuse me!" Kuang Yu immediately interrupted.

"I haven't said anything—"

"No, no, no."

"You really don't know the old people...... Is this how you treat your savior?"

"........"

Jin Buhuan knew that it was Lingxi's teasing Kuangyu for fun, so he also booed aside, "Yes! If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't even know who took care of your deer for you!"

Kuang Yu looked very reluctant, frowned, and insisted in a low voice, "No—"

Jin Buhuan continued to tease him, "Then you have to show something——"

Kuang Yu turned his face away and muttered in a low voice, "Didn't you thank me last night?"

When Jin Buhuan heard the word 'last night', he immediately became alert, "Oh? How can I thank you?"

Lingxi let out a laugh in his nasal cavity, the corners of some long eyes were tinged with ambiguity, and a pair of peach blossom eyes stared at Kuang Yu, "Last night...it was indeed a very sincere way of gratitude."

Kuang Yu was shocked, and thought, isn't that just kowtowing you three times.

"???" Jin Buhuan scratched his head, always feeling that this sounded weird, "So what is the method?"

Lingxi licked his lips, showing a look of reminiscence, as if he was carefully recalling the situation last night, rubbed his lips with his fingers, and said softly, "Last night, he completely surrendered to me..."

Kuang Yu: "..."

Jin Buhuan: "..." I don't understand.

Xiao Ming, who was originally riding a horse in front, heard their conversation behind them at some point, and the imperial horse went around to the carriage behind, and smashed it hard, "Hey hey hey - he is still a child!!"

Huan Li also went around to the back, insisting that Jin Buhuan get out of the carriage to ride the horse, and he went up to the carriage.

A group of people walked for a long time like this, and it was already dark. They hurriedly rushed to rest at an inn around a town before dark.

But as soon as they walked in, everyone immediately felt something was wrong.

Next to the inn is the yard where horses and carriages are tied for passers-by. The yard has plenty of thatch, but there is no staff watching over it. Apart from their horses, there are no other horses in the stables.

Normally speaking, not to mention that the inns around this town will definitely have an endless stream of passers-by staying, eating and so on every day, even the inn itself will have horses in the stables, but the stables that can accommodate dozens of horses Li Leng didn't even have a single horse.

That's okay, it might just be a coincidence.

But as soon as a few people took care of the horses and carriages, they went around to the front door of the inn, and when they were about to walk in the door, the guy standing at the door saw them coming, not only didn't greet them enthusiastically, but even stepped in in panic. Inside the gate, he quickly closed the door with his hands and feet, and put up a closed signboard.

???

The sky has just darkened, why is the inn already busy closing its doors to see off the guests?

Huan Li asked strangely, "What's going on?" Then he stepped forward and knocked on the door, "Stay in the hotel!!"

A timid voice came from inside, "We are already closed! You should go rest elsewhere!"

Huan Li continued to knock on the door, and said loudly, "Where are there other inns around here? How can you close so early?"

The voice inside was full of fear, as if he was afraid of the people outside, "Masters! It's really closed! It's already Youshi!"

"You also know that this is Youshi? How can an inn close at this hour? I think you are purely trying to make things difficult for us—"

Huan Li's words are not unreasonable, which inn will close at the time when it is dark in the evening and it is time to stay, drink and eat?What the guy in the shop said was a little strange.

The inside replied again, "It will be Xu time after another incense stick, and the curfew will begin, so naturally we will no longer welcome guests."

"??"

Xiao Ming and Huang Li stayed in Ying Country for quite a while, and they had never heard that the curfew time started from You hour.

Huan Li immediately replied in a loud voice, "Are you fooling people? Why did the curfew start so early? Besides, haven't you entered the city yet?"

This time, the people inside were silent.

Huan Li walked back to the side of the crowd and asked, "What should I do?"

Xiao Ming looked around and felt a bit of a headache, "I came all the way just now, but I didn't see any other places to stay."

Lingxi said indifferently, "Find a flat place to rest, or find a temple."

That's what I had to do--

Fortunately, the group of them had encountered no matter how bad the situation was, and such things as sleeping in the wild were nothing.

After going back to the stables to lead the horse, Jin Buhuan was still standing dejectedly at the door of the inn, sighing weakly, "Oh——"

"What's wrong?" Huan Li led the horse, and came to lead him very naturally.

"It's okay to have nowhere to sleep...but I'm hungry—"

Huan Li: "I guess there are wild rabbits around here - we can go hunt some after we settle down, and roast them to eat."

"Forget it—" Jin Buhuan shook his head, "It's getting dark, so what kind of rabbits are you shooting? You'll get hurt in a while."

"Go, go."

"Alas—" Jin Buhuan let out a long sigh, turned around and was about to leave.

With a "squeak", the door of the inn, which was originally tightly closed, opened tremblingly.

From inside came a cowering fellow, the same one who had closed the door when he saw them.

"??"

Everyone looked over strangely, not knowing what was going on with this inn that had just closed its doors tightly and refused to allow entry.

The chap was standing very close to the door, as if ready to rush back inside again at any moment.

Husse shrank and asked, "Are you... are you human?"

? ?

Jin Buhuan, who was closest to him, turned around and looked at the people leading the horses, thought for a while, and said, "You have to ask this... Strictly speaking, it really doesn't count."

"boom--"

The open door closed again.

Seeing that his hope of having a hot meal was about to be shattered, Jin Buhuan was in a hurry and knocked on the door.

"Hey, I'm joking! We are all good people!! Really!"

"........"

In the end, the clerk at the inn invited everyone in.

The inn is not small, and from the stable that can accommodate dozens of horses just now, it can be seen that there must be many people staying and resting in this inn on weekdays.But as soon as they entered, they found that the inn was very empty. The shopkeeper's couple, the cashier, a few cooks, and the handyman were all standing in the lobby looking at them in fear.

The guy who greeted them led them to sit down at an octagonal table in the middle of the lobby, and ordered food for them. Except for the two cooks who were cooking, the other people in the inn still stood aside with vigilant faces. watching them.

Lingxi asked Jin Buhuan, "What's the matter? Quickly help me to see if my tail is showing again?"

Jin Buhuan confirmed with a glance, "No."

It's a good thing the guy didn't hear what they were saying, otherwise he would have to drive everyone out again.

The man poured hot tea in front of them all, and then apologized to everyone and explained, "I'm really sorry just now, we thought you were.....yes..."

The guy didn't continue talking, and talked about the recent situation of their town.

"Our place has always been peaceful, the place is small, and there are usually no major incidents - at most, it is just something like someone's cattle running into someone's field and trampling on the crops, but it is also peaceful. The worst is three. A month ago, one night in the middle of the night, there was no one on the street, only a porter named Zhang Da was drunk and wandering on the street. Suddenly, he came across the vision of bright lights in front of him. He was already drunk, and thought it was When the street is busy at night, without thinking too much, I walked along the street to a place where there were some pleasure-seeking places. The women in brightly colored clothes all looked like gods. This picture is not a clean and self-contained person. That place was hugging left and right, indulging in tenderness, and the next morning someone found him lying on his bed, with all his clothes stripped off, his flesh and blood seemed to have been drained by something, leaving only With a layer of skin, I can no longer continue to make a living, so I just lie in bed all day and wait to die."

"This incident is strange, but everyone is dubious, saying that he broke his body. At first, most of them didn't believe it. What was even more strange later was that other people also encountered the same scene, in the middle of the night, during the day The streets where few people set foot in the streets are brightly lit, and people who stray into it either lose fingers, ears, etc., or suddenly turn gray. So that everyone dared not go out at night again.”

"What I didn't expect was that many people's doors in the city would be knocked on in the middle of the night for no reason, and something would always be taken away, sometimes from people, sometimes from people's homes, and those things that only appeared at night... ....Some resemble people and some don't. If you encounter something that doesn't look like a human, at least you can take precautions. If it looks like a human, it's hard to distinguish. What's worse is the time when those things appear It will appear sooner and sooner, as soon as it gets dark. Therefore, our city lord has issued a curfew for everyone's safety. Even if it is a big deal, we can't go out. If there is something knocking on the door at night, we must not open the door .”

After the buddy finished explaining the ins and outs of the matter, the hot dishes and warm wine were served.The clerk poured wine for everyone and apologized, "It was getting late just now, and I saw that you all looked very embarrassed. I suspected it was that thing, so I didn't let you in."

Jin Buhuan asked curiously while stuffing something into his mouth, "Then how do you judge that we are all right?"

The man filled up the wine glass in Jin Buhuan's hand, and showed a shy smile, "Although some of these elusive 'things' look like people, they are still different from real people. I heard you shouting outside just now, It always feels too real..."

Jin Buhuan laughed twice, "So that's how it is..."

Just as Xiao Ming was about to ask about the details of those events in the city, he was interrupted by a knock on the door——

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom"

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom"

Everyone stopped what they were holding and looked towards the door.

Fear appeared on the faces of the guys and shopkeepers again, and no one answered the knock on the door.

Xiao Ming asked loudly towards the gate, "Who's there?"

The knock on the door froze for a while, and there was no answer. After a while, the knock on the door became louder.

"dong dong dong dong dong-"

"Squeak-"