horror effect

Stephen strolled all the way to Lin Nong Rent Bookstore.Valentine was still sitting behind the counter in place of his father, Mr. Linnon Sr., and he was sorting out the library catalogue.But Stephen found that his mind was not fully on work.Valentine stared at the computer, but from time to time his eyes became distracted, as if looking at a faraway place, and sometimes he simply put down his work and put his elbows on the counter to fall into deep thought.

Stephen went around the bookshelves to find the book he wanted, and then put the book on the counter with a little force, making a 'boom' sound, which startled Valentine.

"What are you thinking?" Stephen asked him.

"Ah? Nothing..." He replied vaguely.

But I know what you're thinking and who you're thinking about.Stephen said to himself, I know you like Herbert Wernstein and you are thinking about him, but I am afraid you do not know that he has a secret hidden in him, and because of this secret he can neither open up to you nor accept you.I can feel that Herbert is deep in secrets, and you are deep in fantasies about him.

Stephen sighed and said, "I want to look up books. I want to read all the books about the history of this town."

Valentine searched on the computer and found that there are not many such books. After all, this place is just an inconspicuous mountain town.

"There is a special booklet, I'll look for it for you." Valentine left the counter, walked back and forth among the bookshelves, and searched for a long time, becoming more and more surprised. "I remember that no one borrowed that booklet, why is it gone?" He searched again, but still couldn't find it.

"Disappeared?" Stephen said.

"It seems so." Valentine said, "Wait a minute, I'll ask my father." Then, he walked out through a small door next to him.Soon Stephen heard the scuffling of shoe soles on the ground and the tap of wooden crutches coming from that direction.

The small door opened again, and old Mr. Lin Nong came out with the support of Valentine. He was a bit obese, coupled with severe arthritis, he was wheezing and wheezing when he walked, but his mental condition seemed to be fine. Yuanyuan's face was bright red without too many wrinkles, and his big dark eyes flashed a cheerful look that was hard to see on patients.As soon as he saw Stephen, he cried out happily: "Ah! It's been a long time since I saw you, child. We should meet again some time."

"Indeed. Is your arthritis better?"

"No! I don't think there's much hope. The guy who's in my bones is going to be with me for the rest of my life. But so what? Not only do I still want to walk, I want to play football! Even if he turns me into a I'm going to dance on crutches, too. At the end of the day, I'll dry and break it with him. Let's not talk about that, boy. Valentine told me there was a book missing."

"Well," Valentine continued, "the booklet on the town's recent and contemporary history is missing."

"I remember putting it on the shelf over there." Old Mr. Lin Nong pointed to the bookshelf in the corner with his crooked and deformed fingers.

"But not there."

"What about other places?"

"I've searched all over, and there's nothing."

"This is really a hell." Old Mr. Linnon said thoughtfully. "I remember that the last time I lent this booklet was several years ago. It was Mr. Wernstein who borrowed it, and then it has been there. .Could there be a thief? But who would steal those torn pages? Strange, strange." He shook his head and poked the floor with his cane, making a 'beep' sound.After a while, he turned around suddenly and said to Stephen, "What are you borrowing this book for?"

"That's right. I'm researching the modern history of this town with Mr. Julian Raymond, but I found some doubts and need to check the information."

"Ah! So it's just like this!" Old Mr. Lin Nong said as if he had suddenly realized, "Just for this, you can just ask me! I have read that pamphlet many times. Although I am old and sick in my bones, My brain is still working fine. What do you want to know?"

Stephen was very happy, at least he began to feel that not everything in the whole town was against him and Julian, and their estimation of the situation might really be a little serious.Of course, he also thought of another possibility: the white lion, or as Julian thought—Berkes Molatov deliberately left some clues for them to lead them.

Although this road may lead to a deeper maze, Stephen doesn't care about that much. It's better to go forward than to stand still.

Stephan's question one: Who is Bergerus Moratov.

Old Mr. Linnon's answer: He was the only son of Andrei Moratov, who came from a family of big landowners and was the richest man in the town at that time.I have never met him, he was dead for several years when I was born, but I heard from my parents, and from the books, that he is an albino, for this reason, he is almost never seen outside, many No one has ever seen his face.

He was indeed put to death for treason, and so were the books, and it was a great event in the town at the time.

It was the period of German occupation at that time, and the Moratov family hardly suffered any losses. It must be because they had something to do with the Germans, and it is normal for them to be hated by the common people.

He died young and had no offspring, so the Molatovs were the last generation to him.

Stephen's second question: The history of Theoros' fortune.

Mr. Lin Nong's answer: Not sure.When I was growing up, the Theolos family had been in good shape for many years.It is said that he inherited an inheritance.However, I heard from my father that during the period of fighting against the Germans and then destroying the capitalists, the Theolos family were all active members of the movement, and they may have obtained some property of the defeated capitalists by some means.You know, the reclusive Tofana sisters used to be rich people in the town. I heard that they were censored after the war and lost a lot of property. Maybe they went to Theolos' house In the purse.However, those people in their family are really good at squandering. After only a few years, there is nothing left.Otherwise, Theoros would not have ventured west to run business.

Stephan's question three: Bouy's family history.

Old Mr. Linnon’s answer: Not long after I was born, the banker Boyle’s father, Robert Boyle, took his wife and son abroad to make a living. It is said that he was excluded because he was not active enough in the campaign against the Germans. gone.But looking at it now, it's a good thing, because if they didn't go abroad to develop, how could they make so much money?Later, when the situation improved, they returned to China to start banks and insurance companies, and those who were kicked out of the town became the pride of the town.What a sarcasm.If I were Boui, I wouldn't go back to this poor place, but he not only came back, but also invested in the opening of a ski resort. Many people are grateful to him.

Julian Raymond received an unsigned letter after returning to his hotel room from the infirmary.The handwriting was graceful and elegant, and he thought it should be a woman.The content of the letter is as follows:

//Mr. Raymond, I know you're investigating our secrets, and I happen to know some of them, but I can't tell you in this letter.If you want to know, please be at the south-east corner gate of the churchyard at seven o'clock this evening.Note that it is best not to let Klodkov, who is in charge of the cemetery, find you. //

Julian immediately took the letter to find Martha, the floor attendant, and asked about the origin of the letter, but the answer he got was: the letter was found on the table at the service desk in the lobby this morning. who put it there.

After he returned to the room, he read the short content of the letter back and forth several times, trying to figure out the information hidden between the lines.Just now he thought that the writer of the letter was a woman, but now he began to doubt it again. He thought that men can imitate women's writing style in order to cover up their handwriting, and such beautiful handwriting can be regarded as the result of deliberate modification.The secret mentioned in the letter obviously refers to the legend of the White Lion. So far, not many people know that Julian's purpose of staying in the town is to investigate the secret of the White Lion. Except for Stephen, it is the old man who owns the tavern, Collivan, and His grandson Mijia, but it does not rule out the possibility that other people who have been in contact with Julian will discover the truth, such as the Theolos family, the female painter Marme, the innkeeper Wernstein, and even the church priest Georg Gee, all of these people are possible.

Whether the "we" in the letter refers to certain people or the town itself is also a question.

Julian wanted to call Stephen to show him the letter, but picked up the phone and put it down again.He thought that Stephen could not necessarily be excluded from the objects of suspicion. In this case, it was best not to tell him, but to go to the cemetery in person according to the letter, and the writer appeared at seven o'clock in the evening Then the secret will be revealed.It was exactly eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was going to have lunch first, and then take a good night's sleep to get enough energy for the meeting at night.

It was a quarter of an hour before seven o'clock at night, and the sky was already pitch black.The night sky was clear, and the light projected by a crescent moon was thin and weak, which made people feel extraordinarily cold. The stars seemed so far away as never before tonight.

Julian rubbed his cold hands and walked around the church to the cemetery behind.

The church is built on the top of the hill, and the cemetery is behind it. It slowly extends down the hillside. Next to it is a dense forest, which should be the forest farm of Seolos. Farther away, the hillside begins to rise rapidly again. It is connected with the snow peaks in the distance through a ridge.

The cemetery is surrounded by a low stone wall that has been in disrepair, and some of the damaged stone walls can be crossed in one step.The cemetery is full of tombstones and weeds. The newer tombstones are still managed, while some old tombstones are allowed to collapse slowly in the wind and snow.The southeast direction where Julian is located is where the old tombstones gather. The stones are tilted here and there, and the surface is eroded and mottled.In the moonlight, they stand alone, like the abrupt bones of the earth.

The church was on the top of the hill, a bit higher than the cemetery, and Julian had to look up to see the middle window.Now it's dark there, only the room in the corner is lit, which should be Klodkov's residence.In such a cold night, he shouldn't come out, right?Julian thought so.

It was almost seven o'clock, and the surrounding area was still very quiet, with the occasional sound of the breeze blowing and the sound of dry branches falling to the ground.Almost at seven o'clock, Julian heard the rustling of fallen leaves from the direction of the woods.He immediately hid his body close to the stone wall, staring at the place where the sound came from.

It was very dark in the woods, but Julian could still see that there was a darker shadow moving slowly in the darkness. After a while, the shadow walked out of the woods, and the rustling stopped.

The man was wearing a dark cloak from head to toe, and it was hard to spot without looking carefully. He stopped at the edge of the woods, looked in the direction of the church, and then continued walking towards where Julian was standing.He was getting closer and closer, and his figure was getting bigger and bigger. The cloak on his body was blown up by the wind, and the edges were shining like the umbrella cover of a mushroom.

The distance between the two was only a few steps, and Julian stepped out of the shadow of the stone wall.The visitor stopped, looked carefully for a while, and said, "You are very punctual, Mr. Raymond."

Julian was taken aback because the man's voice was familiar to him.

"It turned out to be you, Mrs. Theoros."