Manual of the Monster in City

52 Race Against Time

Back to Stealing Heaven Pavilion, there is always a sense of peace of mind that everything is over.

    Jia Qingming didn't know why, it was probably because of the powerful power that Bai Ling had seen during the rainy night not long ago.

    But when preparing afternoon tea for Bai Ling and the others, Jia Qingming was still thinking about it. He vaguely felt that there was something wrong with the whole thing, but he absolutely couldn't agree with Su Qiang's speculation.

    Even if it wasn't because of my belief in Master Lin, there was also the first impression from people, just talking about taming beasts and disguising them as tigers...it's somewhat similar to the fantasy.

    "What's the matter?" A gentle and elegant female voice sounded, "Anything in your mind, Mr. Qingming?"

    "Well... it's nothing."

    "If you don't mind, Mr. Qingming can tell me your troubles."

    "It's not going to charge in disguise, right!" Jia Qingming is like an enemy.

    "Ahhhhh, I'm very alert. But if you just speak out, but don't need to solve it... If you just feel that it will be more comfortable to say it, naturally you don't need to charge a price." Bai Ling covered his mouth and smiled, "Talk to something. , This is a common thing among friends, Mr. Qingming can completely treat me as a friend."

    Friends...

    "It's nothing..."

    Jia Qingming said this, but after thinking about it again, he still told Bai Ling what happened yesterday, as well as the various causes and consequences that began when he left Stealing Pavilion yesterday. As for Su Qiang’s unreliable guess... …He considered it again and again, and decided that it would be better not to say it, just say:

    "But I always feel... there may be something wrong, maybe it's my illusion..."

    "Don't rush to deny it yet." Bai Ling said, "Mr. Qingming is the host of Sky Eye... His intuition is naturally accurate."

    The spout of the old iron kettle on the stove made a hissing noise.

    "is it?"

    "Then, Mr. Qingming, think about it again, is there anything wrong? Is there any difference between Master Lin before and after his disappearance?"

    "I didn't know Master Lin before... This kind of thing should be thought of by Yuan Mu-mutou..." Jia Qingming reluctantly vomited, but he soon remembered something, his eyes lit up, and said, "Yes, There is one thing. Master Lin went to calm the anger of the spirits in the mountains and forests, but he did not succeed. It is said that the big spiritual tiger bit off one of his fingers. But..."

    He felt that such words might cause some kind of misunderstanding, "But I checked, the wound is indeed a wound not long ago, and the cloth used for temporary bandaging is also a strip of cloth that Master Lin tore from his clothes. It should be..."

    "Which finger is it?" Bai Ling asked.

    "Huh? Which finger? I can't remember this kind of thing..." Jia Qingming recalled hard, "Probably the left hand...little finger?"

    "Little finger?" Bai Ling lifted up his white palm and squirmed his little finger. "What kind of finger is the little finger?"

    "Ha? Little finger? Is it... the one wearing a ring?" Jia Qingming was confused.

    "The ring worn on the little finger represents celibacy." Bai Ling sighed and said, "I think very few people would wear it like this, right?"

    "Uh..." Jia Qingming didn't know what she wanted to suggest.

    "Forget it. I can leave a possibility to Mr. Qingming to judge." Bai Ling said leisurely, "In folklore, there is a ghost named *. The so-called "Hu Zuo" is based on this allusion. Ming Dynasty "*" "Small Notes" recorded such a story, saying that a man dreamed that he was eaten by a tiger's mother entrusted the dream to herself, saying that on a certain mountain, under a certain tree, there are inexhaustible treasures buried. In fact, it is his mother. After being eaten by the tiger, he became a ghost, trying to lure him into the tiger’s food."

    "You mean..."

    "The ghosts were originally people who were eaten by tigers. The ghosts condensed after death. They are the power of the king of beasts. They cause the ghost to remain, continue to serve the tiger, and continue to lure other people into the tiger's mouth. "Bai Ling smiled and looked at Jia Qingming, and said slowly, "And ghosts seem to be no different from ordinary humans, but to distinguish ghosts from humans, there is a very significant feature: the man's left hand There is no little finger, and the woman has no little finger on her right hand."

    "But... but if Master Lin is a ghost, then I can't feel it. He is not a ghost, but a living person. Although the dead can be possessed, it is impossible to continue to adhere to the original The body..." Jia Qingming immediately realized this problem.

    "Yes, that's why I have to ask Mr. Qingming one thing..." Bai Ling's voice paused, revealing a mysterious smile, "Little finger...what kind of finger is this?"

    "Little finger..."

    While Jia Qingming was thinking about it, he suddenly heard the sound of the fire being extinguished in front of him. It turned out that the pot lid was pushed by the hot steam and the boiling water overflowed.

    The water is ready.

    The teapot and tea leaves on the other side are also ready.

    Little finger, what kind of finger is it?

    He heard his cell phone ring suddenly, it was Yuan Mu-mutou's number. "Hey, we have already negotiated and set off."

    "what?"

    "The manager of the engineering company agreed to Master Lin's request. Now we are all going there and there is no way to wait for you. But everything is going well."

    What is going well? ! The situation is serious now, right?

    Although Jia Qingming believed that Master Lin was definitely not a ghost. He always thought that Miss Bai Ling was reminding him. Her words and Su Qiang's seemingly ridiculous guesses seem to be connected together somewhere...

    what is it then? hateful. I can't figure it out.

    Xiao Shanshan’s voice came from the other side of the phone: "Hehehe, Senior Qingming must not be able to catch up. This is the big news of our school magazine tomorrow! Tiger wounding incident! The legend of the forest ranger and the strange forest! Let us listen to our god The mysterious report brought from the scene by the High School Monster Incident Investigation Agency!"

    I added a sentence at the end: "Who is the senior, you secretly ran out to date Miss Su, but I took pictures. The gossip front page of the school magazine tomorrow is..."

    "We are on the highway now." Yuan Mu-mutou suddenly said something meaningful. "Do you feel anything over there? Alright, that's it."

    He hung up the phone.

    It seems that Yuan Mu-mutou felt something wrong, but he didn't know it, and he deliberately said this to him, telling him that their current location was on the highway.

    Sure enough, he looks dull, but in fact, he is very witty!

    "What's the matter? What's wrong with Qingming?"

    Really... do you want to act for an uncertain guess? Maybe it’s hidden in the reassuring place of Stealing Heaven Pavilion, then everything will be settled...

    But, but...

    "Then go. I'll do the rest."

    "Actually, it's not a hassle to prepare refreshments...soon."

    "Tasting tea is also a kind of taste, in the thinking of the Oriental. Mr. Qingming has something important in his mind, please do it immediately. Otherwise, with such a mood, the brewed black tea will not taste good." Bai Ling said, "Xiao Bai, I will trouble you to accompany Mr. Qingming again."

    "No problem!" Xiaobai's voice penetrated through several walls with strong penetrating power.

    Jia Qingming was so moved that he choked silently.

    Bai Ling raised his hand to cover the sly touch at the corner of his mouth: "Anyway...I would be fine if Mr. Qingming was absent from work today. There is also the cost of hiring Xiaobai again, which is also added."

    ——This is what makes people cry like a wow.

    ————

    "Hey. Well, I also feel that something is really wrong, you are right." Jia Qingming called Su Qiang and said, he and Xiaobai were running on the street and quickly stopped a taxi.

    For the sake of face, he vowed not to let Xiaobai carry himself like that anymore.

    "Let me just say it." Su Qiang's triumphant voice came from the other end of the phone.

    "where are you?"

    "I'm in the cafe opposite the hotel. I have a good eye on them. After all, the other party hasn't acted yet, so I won't be stunned and wait patiently here."

    "Master, stop at the coffee shop opposite the International Hotel, I want to pick up a friend." Jia Qingming said to the driver, and then immediately said to Su Qiang on the phone:

    "No, they have set off now, what Yuan Mutou told me just now."

    "What?! Damn, the exit of the garage seems to be..."

    The sound of turning over the map.

    Unexpectedly, Su Qian had even got the hotel map, she was indeed a person who had already determined to become a professional case handler.

    "...In the west street. Damn it!" she said.

    "I'll take a taxi to pick you up. You will wait for me at the intersection. You will be there soon."

    From a distance, Jia Qingming saw Su Qiang standing on the side of the road, her mountaineering outfit and moccasin boots bravely, and the wind blew her high ponytail.

    The car stopped in front of her, but she had no intention of getting in the car.

    "Get off," she said.

    "I don't have time to explain, get in the car!" Jia Qingming sacrificed this network phrase.

    "Get out of the car." She opened the car door and pulled Jia Qingming out. Xiaobai had to get out of the car door on the other side. Su Qiang threw a ten yuan ticket to the driver who didn't know the truth.

    "No need to look for it," she said.

    "What's wrong! It's too late!"

    "Are you going to take the road? It's too late. They have already set off!" Su Qiang said coldly, pulling him to a quick trot in a certain direction.

    Jia Qingming didn't know what she was going to do.

    "Go through the alleys here and you can go up the mountain. This is the closest way to the mountain. This time we have to go through the mountain. Otherwise, we will never catch up."

    "what?"

    "I looked at the map of Shenting County. The construction site is on the west side of the mountain, and Shenting County is on the east side of the mountain. They started by car and took the road. They had to bypass the mountain to reach the construction site at the other end, and then from The engineering camp there enters the mountain forest. We may catch up on the mountain road." Su Qiang said, "If we move fast enough."

    Jia Qingming had to admire Su Qiang's fast-moving mind and his unruffled temperament.

    When it feels like it is too late, if I change it to him, I am afraid that I can't think long ago, and I can only sit in a taxi and dream about catching up with another car that has left a few minutes ago.

    "By the way, how did you find that I was right?" Su Qiang turned around and asked him triumphantly.

    "Uh, intuition." Jia Qingming said.

    ————

    At the same time, steal the sky in the pavilion.

    The scent of incense permeated the ancient room, and Bai Ling paced slowly.

    Bai Ling looked at her white and slender right hand, and gently stroked the little finger of her right hand.

    Xiao Hei was behind her, staring at her little finger, silent, she picked up the tea cup and took a sip and smiled gently.

    "Little finger... is the finger used to make promises. Agreement... is a type of contract. Because of a strong belief, I promised to defeat time."

    Bai Ling's voice was smiling, and it seemed to carry a sigh.

    "It's only a pity that modern people's agreements have become more and more verbal...In the past era, those unbreakable contracts, the bone-heavy cost of breaching contracts... have all been forgotten along with them. "