horror effect

Julian sat down at the desk, turned on the lamp, took out a transparent plastic bag from his coat pocket, and laid it flat on the desk.This plastic bag was found by Stephen from his closet. There is a seal at one end, which can often be seen at crime scenes or rare book stacks in libraries.

Now, there is only a piece of paper in the plastic bag, about half the size of a palm, in an irregular triangle shape with jagged edges, as if torn off by hand; the color of the paper is yellow, with traces of mildew; The texture is very crisp.

From these points, the piece of paper has a long history.If you get it to the laboratory, you should be able to identify the exact age of manufacture.

But Julian didn't care too much about the paper itself. What he noticed was what was on the paper: near the edge, there were some faded ink marks, although the color was very light, and it was partially covered by the damaged edge. , can still easily recognize the handwriting, it is five Latin letters - kalos.

This piece of paper is also the reason why Julian came out of room C307 later than Stephen.Stephen left quickly, but Julian noticed that although they had searched the entire room, they missed the dry cracked floor, so he went back to the center of the room, lifted the cracked floor, and opened the cracked floor with a flashlight. Scan it again.At first, he didn't expect to find anything, but a white spot under a certain floor caught his attention, and he reached out to touch it, only to find that it was a piece of paper.

Julian should be happy now that the paper was lying quietly on the table for study, but he looked at it and sighed because he didn't know what the five simple letters meant.

kalos.From the pronunciation, it looks like a southern European language, but he knows that there is no such word in French, nor in English.Similar words are calleuse - callused, or calotte - round cap, but these two words mean nothing.In fact, the letter k is not an inherent component of the Latin alphabet, it is a foreign product, and it is difficult to see this letter even in Spanish or Italian today.So is it a password?thought Julian.But with only five letters, the code was impossible to decipher without the other control group.

Perhaps, there are other undiscovered pieces of paper in room C307.Thinking of this, Julian decided to go back and take a look again. It was just two o'clock, and he could go into that room to search again, without even calling Stephen.He picked up the key of his room (don't forget that it was the key that opened the door just now), walked out quietly, entered the corridor, looked around, and came to the door of room C307.He put the key in the lock and turned it—but this time the key hit an obstacle and stopped.

At this moment, Julian suddenly understood that what was in front of him was the real door in reality, the door he should not have opened, and their entry just now was a deception, a trap.

He quickly pulled out the key and ran back to his room.On the table, the transparent plastic bag and the yellowed paper inside were still there.Turns out not everything is a dream.And the appearance of this piece of paper now looks more like a premeditated plan.

What exactly does it mean? What did "he" give us this piece of paper for?A clue in the hope that we would investigate further, or a deception with intentions we could not have foreseen?He didn't know anything and couldn't figure it out.

But he could imagine that somewhere, "he" was enjoying watching the two of them being driven and pulled by "him", laughing at their outlandish guesses and ugly failures.This made Julian very angry. He really wanted to tear up the torn piece of paper, but when his fingers touched the sealed bag, he had to admit his curiosity and weakness. He couldn't destroy it by himself. The paper thing.

He kept fighting with himself, pulling plastic bags for a while, and pulling hair for a while. There were already several brown hairs on the table, and he seemed to have forgotten that the shaved area on the top of his head could not withstand such a toss, nor could he Seems to forget the importance of maintaining a full head of hair.But—in perfect time, a certain sound in the room caught him, and saved his hair at the same time.

That kind of sound is like the purring sound of a sleeping cat. In fact, it is the purring sound, but it is made by humans.Julian turned his head and looked at Stephen who was sleeping with both amused and helpless.He slept soundly, and like most men of his age, he slept poorly, lying sprawled on the bed.Judging from his expression, Stephen doesn't seem to be affected by the nightmare just now, which at least shows that he is optimistic, and of course it can also show that he is a little heartless.

But it was this awful, childish sleeping that made Julian feel a warmth in spite of the pressure of the omnipresence of the white lion, like warming by a fire in winter, like the warmth poured into the cold sea at night. sea ​​water.

Well, Julian thought.I'm not in a hurry, everything can be taken slowly, let Stephen look at this piece of paper after he wakes up, maybe he can find some clues.

His mood relaxed, but tiredness came with it.Looking at the bed occupied by Stephen aggressively, Julian knew that he had to sleep on the sofa that night.

What did Thomas Hood say?

"Ah, bed, bed, comfortable bed, heaven on earth for a tired head." But all he could do now was curl up on the couch, wrap himself in a blanket, and turn off the light.

However, before going to sleep, Julian finally thought: this is in my own room, I pay for the room alone, how can I end up with such a poor result?

At noon, when Julian woke up, he felt pain in his neck and waist as if he had been grabbed and twisted by Cyclops.He tried to slide down from the sofa and straighten his waist, but his neck was so stiff that he could barely move, and even a slight movement hurt him so much that he couldn't help moaning.

"Hmm...you're awake." An indistinct voice came from the side.Julian followed the sound and looked over from the corner of his eyes, and found that Stephen was sitting cross-legged on the sofa on the other side, holding a plate of spaghetti as high as a hill in his hand, and was stuffing it into his mouth while sloshing the sauce.

"You...you...!" Julian wanted to say loudly: You bastard who invaded my bed and ate and drank leisurely in my room!But his neck was still stiff for a while and he couldn't recover. If he wanted to curse someone, he had to turn his neck and pull his waist. The anger brewing in his lungs stopped when it encountered obstacles.

At this moment, Stephen still said calmly, "I think you should move your waist first."

With some difficulty Julian kicked the blanket to the floor and stood up.He twisted left and right like a person in an animation, returning the bone to its original position. "So who caused me to be like this? Who took over the bed and forced me to sleep on the sofa? Huh?" Julian stared at Stephen angrily. "Isn't it you?"

"I'm really sorry, it's indeed my fault." Stephen readily admitted, but then, he changed the subject and said, "Are you hungry? I specially ordered double servings." As he spoke, he handed over the plate In front of Julian.

Julian Raymond, who is British, is not a gourmet, but he loves food, especially when he is hungry.The plate of pasta in front of me looks delicious: light yellow noodles pressed into spirals, red sauce made with tomato and olive oil, oysters with their mouths wide open.

"Uh...thank you." He took the plate and fork a little awkwardly.It's embarrassing to get angry at someone who ordered you breakfast (or lunch, actually), but no amount of embarrassment should hurt your stomach.After expressing his apologies, Julian ate unceremoniously.He had just taken two bites when he suddenly remembered something and turned to Stephen and asked, "You paid for this?"

"No." Stephen replied with a smile, "It's already been charged to your account."

In the next second, the noodle plate was placed heavily on the table.Stephen only felt that countless fists were coming towards him. He resisted a few times with his arms, but his bones were so painful. As soon as he withdrew his hand, Julian pressed him onto the bed, and he was punched on the face and chest for a while. .Stephen's inactive body was no match for Julian, who had been a soldier.

"Stop it!" he cried.

"I didn't hit you, I hit a little brat!"

"I ordered the meal for you!"

"It's you who put all the blame on me!"

"You're going to kill me!"

"Oh, yes, that's fine. You don't think I haven't killed someone. I think you know that. I'm itchy today, and I'd love to have a fight with you, and you messed with me yourself, Consider yourself unlucky!"

"Stop hitting! If you hit again, I won't say what Kalos means!"

Julian stopped. "What did you say? Kalos?"

Taking advantage of this time, Stephen climbed down from the other side of the bed.He turned back and said to Julian, "kalos. It's what you wrote on the scrap of paper you put on the desk. You should have found it from room C307, right?"

"Yeah... wait, you say you know what that word means?"

"I know."

"Hi!" Julian laughed, "Don't lie to me, you don't know what it means, it's just a conspiracy, but it's enough to escape. But do you really think you can escape?" He Leaned towards Stephen again.

"I'm not kidding! I really know what it means!"

"Come on, Stephen, it's no fun telling a joke twice. Let's cut it straight and end this pointless chase."

Stephen retreated to the corner and said, "I can imagine that based on the pronunciation and writing of the word kalos, you must think it is a Latin language, but the letter k makes you feel embarrassed, because it is not a real Latin alphabet. , the word doesn’t exist. You can’t go any further, you’re having trouble. Am I right? But you’re an idiot, your brain has only so many folds, and they’re not breakthrough or divergent at all. Oh! You Angry! That's great. Let's see! You thought kalos was the Latin alphabet. Why did you think it was the Latin alphabet? Did you ever think of any other language it could be? You didn't! You never would of!"

Julian didn't continue to chase, he stopped.

In Stephen's eyes and expression, he found pride, slyness and excitement because the secret was about to be revealed.Maybe he really knew something, Julian thought. "Okay. Let's have a truce." He spread his hands, "On condition that you continue talking."

Stephen gave a victorious smile.