Chapter 3: The Legend of Gui Dao Bay (2)

Faced with Lin Jianguo’s honest smile, Liu Er, who already had a high opinion of Lin Jianguo, naturally didn’t neglect him. After putting on a friendly smile on his face, Liu Er walked over to Lin Jianguo and squatted down.

This position is important. It is about one or two meters away from Lin Jianguo, who is squatting at the door eating noodles. It is neither too unfamiliar nor too close to the shack behind him, which is dark and empty because the oil lamp is not lit. That is Lin Jianguo’s taboo.

No one else knows about this taboo, but Liu Er knows. No matter who it is, as long as they get close to Lin Jianguo’s shack, they will always show signs of displeasure on their faces. On several occasions, people in the town who didn’t know about this taboo accidentally entered Lin Jianguo’s shack. Liu Er always saw Lin Jianguo with a dark face, barely keeping his composure, but his hands were clenched into fists and he was still shaking slightly.

This detail was noticed by Liu Er, who, after a glance, seemed to have noticed it, and stuffed his fists into his pockets.

In fact, there was nothing in Lin Jianguo’s shack. This shack, which could be seen through at a glance, could hide anything? The initially uninformed Liu Er also went in, and he was sure that there was nothing inside, but he didn’t know why Lin Jianguo would be so nervous and concerned, or even disgusted!

Liu Er had his own thoughts, or a kind of cunning that only the common people had. After discovering this, he didn’t tell anyone about it, but kept it to himself. He thought he was the one who knew Lin Jianguo the best in the town, and the one who had the closest relationship with him… He didn’t want others to find out about this, especially the other people who knew about it, and then get closer to Lin Jianguo than he was.

Master Liu didn’t have any particularly bad intentions. He just wanted to see that if he died one day, Lin Jianguo would personally organize a funeral for him. The more capable a person is, the more he can give his soul peace and transcendence. Although superstition is now being opposed, these ideas are still deeply rooted in the hearts of ordinary people.

Lin Jianguo is low-key… Liu Erye thought to himself that he had many close friends, and he might not agree to his request because if he handled his own funeral, he would have to handle other people’s funerals in the future. The Chinese people talk about personal relationships, and once this thing starts, it can’t be stopped.

But if he is close to him, he can still have an excuse.

This is the only thought in Liu’s mind. Thinking of this, Liu’s eyes looked more and more friendly at Lin Jianguo. Seeing that Lin Jianguo had finished eating the bowl of spicy noodles, he quickly wrapped up a pipe of tobacco and handed it over.

“A cigarette after a meal is invigorating. Come on.” Liu Er was especially attentive.

Lin Jianguo smiled and said, “Have you eaten, sir? Shall I make you another bowl? This noodle is delicious.”

Liu Er Master swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Even for people in the town, eating a bowl of spicy oil noodles is a luxury. After all, who can be as carefree as Lin Jianguo, not to mention that he is also a worker at the timber transportation office.

But how can I trouble someone? This good impression cannot be ruined because of some trivial matters. Liu Erye smiled politely, waved his hand, and then said, “I’m not eating. The old lady makes pancakes at night and eats a lot. Smoke, I’m not bored and I’m here to nag you again. Are you not bored?”

Lin Jianguo lit the pipe that Liu Er had handed him, took a couple of puffs, shook his head and smiled, and then started chatting with Liu Er. In fact, he had better cigarettes, but he was happy to accept Liu Er’s attentions every day. He just wanted someone to talk to.

Under the moonlight, next to the dilapidated shack… the two crouching figures were a little warmer than the solitary figure crouching here.

In an era without entertainment, people always went to bed early. After chatting for a while, Liu Ershu said goodbye at the same time as usual. Lin Jianguo glanced at Liu Ershu’s back, his eyes deep and unfathomable, not knowing what he was thinking. He sighed slightly and got up to go inside.

The moonlight shone through the gaps in the dilapidated shack, making it not so dark. Lin Jianguo used the faint, cold moonlight to reach for the oil lamp, struck a match, and lit the lamp.

When the dim light of the oil lamp came on, it finally added a touch of warmth to this cold shack. At this time, one would normally feel at ease and relaxed, but the light clearly reflected Lin Jianguo’s face, which looked somewhat painful and fearful.

He looked up, peered through the gap in the roof of the shack at the moonlight in the sky, estimated the time, then took out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, took out the tobacco, rolled it with the white paper inside, lit it with the oil lamp, took a deep breath, and the fear on his face subsided a little, but the pain remained.

After so many years, the boy should be big enough to bring his wife and child to pick him up. At this age, the boy is 7 or 8 years old and is sensible. He should not talk nonsense anymore. If it is too late… it is like coming out by himself, which is meaningless. If he cannot pass the 9-year-old threshold… Lin Jianguo’s face became more painful.

It’s just that it’s hard on my parents… what will happen to them? Lin Jianguo thought about this, suddenly buried his head, painfully grabbed his hair, and made a low “sobbing” sound, like a wounded beast.

The cold moon rose higher. Lin Jianguo, who had been lying on the broken table and moaning in pain, suddenly seemed to sense something. He suddenly straightened up, and even though he had tears and snot all over his face, he stood up like a possessed man.

At this time, his expression changed. It was no longer the pain and fear of just now, but a mechanical numbness with an expressionless face and empty eyes. Then, his body also cooperated with the expression on his face, and he walked mechanically and numbly to the only kang in the shack, and then, under the dim light of the oil lamp, he squatted down.

This scene was so strange, with a hint of horror… The flickering oil lamp, the cold moonlight, the expressionless, mechanical man… You have to know that even the expression of pain and the beast-like moaning are vivid emotions of human beings, unlike this… At this time, Lin Jianguo was like… an indescribable existence.

He reached out his hands and groped his way into the hole in the fire pit. Because it wasn’t winter yet, the hole was filled with thick, dark ash. His hands moved skillfully through the ash, and in less than two minutes he pulled a carefully wrapped package out of the thick ash.

The cloth wrapped around the package was a typical kind of flowery cloth from the countryside, but it was very thick and should be the kind of ‘luxury’ cloth used for sewing quilt covers for weddings. After taking out the flowery cloth package, a strange smile suddenly appeared on Lin Jianguo’s numb and vacant face. If someone were present, they might be shocked and then choose to leave in a hurry.

But this is an empty shack, no one saw Lin Jianguo’s smile, and no one could interpret the meaning of the smile on Lin Jianguo’s face. He took the package and returned to the table, and then the originally empty and numb face revealed a trace of fear, and then suddenly returned to a strange expression, and suddenly opened the package.

Inside the cloth package was a statue, but unlike the statues that are worshipped everywhere in China, even the mountain ghosts don’t make people feel scared. The moment the package was opened, the statue inside it, with a truly terrifying aura, entered Lin Jianguo’s eyes.

It was a skeleton statue, but not a human skeleton, but a fish skeleton. To be precise, it should be a hybrid of a fish head and a human body. The strange skeleton statue was black, lifelike, and had a hideous expression. The open mouth had sharp teeth, and behind the empty black eyes, it seemed that there was a cold stare staring at Lin Jianguo in front of it.

The scary thing is not just that, but the mottled blood on the skull. Lin Jianguo glanced at the skull statue, then picked it up with trembling hands and walked to the corner of the house.

On the wall in that corner was a wooden board, with nothing on it, but it was not particularly eye-catching… Lin Jianguo placed the skull statue on the wooden board, then knelt down respectfully and began to bow three times and kowtow nine times to the statue, humming a strange little tune in his mouth, which was both melodious and desolate, like the soundtrack to a horror movie.

After doing all this, Lin Jianguo suddenly ripped open his clothes, and on his abdomen were a mess of wounds, old and new, overlapping, making people look chilling.

Lin Jianguo, however, seemed to feel nothing. He took out a sharp knife from his waistband and then, without hesitation, slashed his own stomach…