horror effect

At two o'clock in the morning, Si Lifa Tavern had been closed for two hours. Looking from the street, except for the neon light above the lintel that marked the name of the Tavern was still flashing slightly red, the entire Tavern building had been submerged in the dark night. The mottled walls blend in with the surrounding background.Rows of such old houses are connected, and the protruding roof ridge seems to be the spine of a dinosaur. This dragon is sleeping soundly, and neither the dim moonlight nor the cold and damp wind can wake it up. A light would come on suddenly, illuminating one of its scales, and then it would be back in darkness again in no time.

After another hour, a window of the Four Calendar Tavern suddenly brightened, like the vitreous body in the eyes of nocturnal animals, gathering a faint light, staring at the villages and towns crawling under its feet.

Father Collivan turned down the bedside lamp a little, and the divergent beam only left a circle of light on the ground.He took out a key, opened the drawer of the small cabinet beside the bed, and took out a brown notebook whose cover color was almost faded. He opened it gently by the light, and after finding what he needed, Colivan murmured silently Again, and then lock the notebook back into the drawer.

He opened the bedroom door softly, looked at Mitya's room opposite, and after making sure that there was no movement, he walked out of the room, walked through the corridor and stairs, and came to the living room downstairs. a telephone.Father Collivan dialed the number he had memorized in his heart just now, and there was a cold ringback sound from the receiver. After ringing five times, a voice came.

"Collivin?" The voice from the other end of the phone seemed to overlap like an echo, but Collison knew it wasn't the phone's fault.

"It's me. Sorry to bother you so late, but I have to say something."

"About the British?" said the voice on the line.

"...It seems that you have also noticed. He has visited people in the town frequently recently, and he has gotten very close to Stephen, the child of the bank president's family. I am afraid that they are planning to jointly carry out the investigation. If there is only one person like before It's easier to deal with Stephen alone, but for a foreigner, what I can do is too limited."

The other end of the phone pondered for a while.

"We think it's just a coincidence that those two people are together. But this time the situation is really tricky. The British don't have any real interests in our place, and they probably don't care about it, but we think this matter has been involved from the beginning. It's very strange, you have to know, there are some things that we can't decide..."

"Do you mean...?" Even though the temperature in the living room was very low, beads of sweat still oozed from the forehead of Colivan's father.

"Yes. We know this time it's going to be different, that the Englishman and the kid might actually find out that they're someone."

"But I think they'll be like...the ones before. The path they chose and the results they made!"

"But, you have doubts yourself? These two people are special, and I believe they have nothing to do with that incident... Mark our words, Collevin."

Dad wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his hand. "What about us?" he asked.

"Do what we should do, as for the result..." There was an echo-like bitter laughter on the other end of the phone, "Everything we do is for our hometown... Now we are old..." The receiver said A short beep.

"... Tofana?" Dad called, but the phone had obviously been hung up.

He looked up and saw through the window that the faint light in one of the windows of the house across the street had gone out.He waited for a while, and after finding no movement, he quietly returned to his bedroom, but when he lay down on the bed, he couldn't fall back asleep.

What exactly are we doing?Father Collivan stared at the moonlight outside the window, and couldn't help asking himself.What's the point of all our efforts to stop it now if we know the end is sealed and the secret will be revealed?If my behavior does not bring about different results, what is the meaning of my behavior?

He thought back on his whole life.

Once he too was as young as the Englishman and Stephen, and there was a fire in his heart which drove him to devote his youth to his nation, his middle age to his country, and in old age his strength weakened. , dedicated himself to his hometown town, but the fire was still burning, and even got stronger as he grew older, so he felt that it would burn him completely one day.

He is not reconciled.He has no complaints about what he has dedicated, but he has not seen the results of his efforts-people are still suspicious of each other, intrigues, some people are still oppressing others, and it is still endless and mediocre. Life.Since middle age, he has been constantly asking himself: What is the meaning of my actions?Does it really make sense?He doesn't love the era he lives in—too indifferent, ruthless, and stagnant. What he loves is the era full of flames and fiery blood 60 years ago, but it has passed away forever, and it will be like what he doesn't want. Forgotten as seen. Sixty years ago, he knew—everyone knew—that the dead are silent, that they will not care about the judgment of future generations, and will not affect the lives of future generations.But the appearance of the white lion made him feel that something was crawling out of the grave, and that those dead people might come back to life at any moment, standing in front of him, so what should he do?He knew well that he was walking a path without joy and cheer, leading to an altar, and when he stood on the altar one day, he would not be a priest but a destroyed victim.

He often had terrible dreams, in which the corpse broke free from the rights of time and death, and stood in front of him without moving. The same image would still stand before him: the trigger, the gunshots, the blood.Often in his dreams this vision covered his whole world.

Sometimes he even thinks that relief is a good thing. His time is running out, and his liver has been hurting, and it has gotten worse in the past few years.But before that day came, he wished someone—or anything—could tell him what he had spent his whole life doing.

The moon began to set, and the moon was very large. It descended slowly, casting shadows crossed by the windows on the floor, the sheets, and the people.

He tremblingly raised his hands and covered his face, his lips moved slightly.But the short syllable he uttered was lost in the majestic and indifferent darkness like the passing breeze of that night.

Three days after Julian and Stephen decided to go to room C307 of the Cedar Hills Hotel for archaeology, Stephen followed Julian into the hotel. He was carrying a suitcase, which looked no different from a normal suitcase for computers or documents. , but if the things inside are at the boarding gate, it will definitely surprise the security personnel.Hotel guests have the right to entertain friends in their own rooms, not to mention that many people are familiar with Stephen, so the process of him entering Julian's room was very smooth.

They didn't expect to enter room C307 easily that night. The first thing they had to do was to prepare a suitable key. In Stephen's suitcase, there was already a model made according to Julian's room key. Found a bunch of similar keys.

The first thing the two of them did after entering the room was to lock the door.They then opened the suitcase, checked its contents, and locked it in a locker.It was two o'clock in the afternoon.It was their plan, in order not to arouse suspicion, to go to the restaurant for tea at four o'clock in the afternoon, as was Julian's custom, to have supper at eight o'clock in the evening, and the time thereafter was to be their own.

Of course, the two hours between now and tea time were not wasted by them.Julian showed Stephen the survey data in his computer, and made some modifications according to the latter's suggestion. Then, they pretended to be nonchalant and walked in the corridor, and made a careful observation of the exterior of room C307.

Compared with the other doors, the door was nothing new, which disappointed Stephen. "I thought it would be a dark, mysterious door emitting blue light like those described in Gothic novels." But he also knew that this kind of idea that all mysterious things must show a mysterious appearance is actually naive and stupid.Julian felt the same way about it.

While walking, they encountered several occupants of other rooms.Since Julian moved in, these people have changed several batches. Most of them are short-term tourists or ski enthusiasts. These people often spend the whole day outside and come back exhausted near the night. It will not cause too much hindrance to "archaeological activities".They also met Masha Chebisova, the waiter on the floor. She was obviously familiar with Stephen, and the two chatted while standing in the corridor.Stephen explained that he and Julian were schoolmates, and they had a lot to talk to each other, and it was inconvenient to be under the control of their parents at home, so they came to the hotel room together.Martha seems to believe this rhetoric, and she even said that if their conversation is too speculative and forgets the time, Stephen can stay overnight in Julian's room, and she will not tell it.Julian and Stephen could not have wished for more.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, they went to the restaurant for tea.Generally, Eastern Europeans do not have the habit of afternoon tea, but this British custom has become quite popular in the world recently. In order to keep up with international standards, Cedar Hill Hotel will naturally not lag behind.Today's refreshments are quite rich, in addition to the usual bread rolls, frosted chocolate cake, macaroons, fried fish sticks, and sturgeon caviar sandwiches, but Julian and Stephen did not take them, because they knew very well that the kind produced in the Black Sea A small bite of expensive food can cover a month's expenses.There were not many people in the restaurant, probably because some customers had not returned from the ski resort, and those who had already returned could not wait to eat. Watching them stuff caviar sandwiches into their mouths, Julian's saliva drools It's almost gone.

There are as many as four hours from tea time to dinner time, and they don't need to spend all of them in the room. The two of them first went to a store near the river valley to buy some food, and then went to Lin Nong's rented bookstore.Stephen and Valentine Linnon were good friends, so when he showed up at the door of the book rental store, he was greeted immediately, and Valentine came out from behind the counter to greet him.

"long time no see!"

"Oh! I haven't been here for a long time, I'm sorry. This is a reporter from England, Julian Raymond. You must have heard of it." Stephen introduced.

"Hello," Valentine smiled and shook Julian's hand. "I heard Herbert talk about you. He said that you are a special person who is both knowledgeable and determined."

This caught Julian's attention. "Herbert? You mean Mr. Wernstein, the proprietor of the Cedar Hill Inn."

"That's him. Herbert is a regular visitor to us."

"It's also the person who often competes with me for books!" Stephen interjected, and then he walked to the counter and began to look through the borrowing records.

On the other side, Julian is still talking to Valentine. "I didn't expect Mr. Wohnstein to be a book lover, although I have seen many books in his office." Julian said.

"Herbert is a businessman, but this does not contradict his love of reading. Besides, I think businessmen should read more."

"Study business economics?" Julian laughed.

"No, merchants deal with people, but they see people as transit points for goods and money, and are in fact no different from things. This is Herbert's view. He feels that business activities will make people less like people and become less human. More like material things, so he needs to find something else. Herbert has rented all books, but he has never rented books on economics."

"Well. That's interesting..."

The two were talking, but Stephen behind him yelled loudly.

"Ah! How could this be! Denon's Rubbings have been borrowed! This is the book I've been waiting for! Ah! It's been borrowed by Herbert Wernstein again! Always like this !” He held up the borrowing book with a very angry expression on his face.

"Stephen..." Julian wanted to tell him that this is someone else's place, and he should be polite, but it was obviously useless, and the latter was still yelling. "Hmph! I knew that as long as there is a new good book, I must lend it to him first! Is this how you treat your good friends?"

Valentine Linnon was very embarrassed, not only because of the borrowing problem, but also because Stephen touched his secret.He walked over and took the borrowing book from Stephen. "I'm sorry. But you didn't come these days. Herbert borrowed it when he saw it... Well, you can ask for compensation."

"Can you ask for anything?" Stephen asked with a smile.

"of course."

"Well, I ask you to have a candlelight dinner with Mr. Warnstein in the restaurant of the hotel."

This request baffled both Valentine and Julian. "Then what are you doing?" Julian asked.

"Me? Of course I slipped away, how can I destroy the beautiful atmosphere of the two people's world..."

Hearing this, Valentine's cheeks turned red immediately, and he didn't care about borrowing the book, and hit Stephen on the head with it.The latter laughed and grabbed Julian's hand and escaped from the bookstore.