Embers Ad Infinitum

The slightly dull knock on the door echoed in the small room, as if it was knocking directly on everyone's heart.

Here we go again... Long Yuehong's heart palpitated.

There's no end to this!

Jiang Baimian frowned and thought for a few seconds, then said to Shang Jianyao:

"Speak louder and ask who it is."

She wanted to use this method to attract the attention of the monks on the same floor, so that those "enlightened ones" could use whatever skills they had to solve this very strange thing.

Shang Jianyao, who was right next to the door, let go of his throat:

"Who?"

His voice spread out, but no one responded, and there was no echo, as if there was an abyss outside with no bottom and no end.

"Boom!"

The same knocking sound sounded again, and the wooden door seemed to tremble a little.

If they don't open the door and don't sense it, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao will naturally have a picture of a person standing outside in their minds.

He and Shang Jianyao were only separated by a door.

"The sound doesn't seem to be able to travel too far." Bai Chen, who was also at the door, expressed his feelings just now.

"Are we isolated? Are we isolated?" Long Yuehong's heart tightened.

Jiang Baimian thought for a while and said:

"If someone really uses the ability to interfere with matter to manipulate the air, change the wind pressure, and simulate the sound of knocking on the door, then he can naturally limit the sound to this area."

"Boom!"

As soon as Jiang Baimian finished speaking, the door moved again.

The people outside seemed impatient to get in.

"Open the door?" Shang Jianyao asked the team leader for his opinion.

Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said:

"hold on."

After waiting for nearly half an hour, there was silence outside the door, and no sound came in.

The person who knocked on the door seemed to have given up completely after waiting.

Jiang Baimian got out of bed, walked to the door, felt carefully for a while and said:

"I'll try to open the door, so be prepared."

Bai Chen took two steps back and aimed the gun in his hand at the wooden door. Long Yuehong also made a similar move, but he was in front of the bed further away from the door.

Shang Jianyao took off the flashlight hanging on his armed belt and took out a mirror.

Seeing Jiang Baimian looking at him, he explained seriously:

"I learned this from Guanzhu Zhou. What if it's really a ghost?"

But Guanzhu Zhou's tactics were not used to deal with ghosts... Jiang Baimian took a slow breath and spit it out again.

She raised her left hand, used her right palm holding the "ice moss" to twist the doorknob, and pulled it back.

The light from the distant streetlights flowed into the room through the gradually widening gap, causing the faces of several members of the "Old Tone Group" to alternate between light and dark.

There was no one coming or going in the corridor, and even where the street lights couldn't shine, the shadows seemed to have fallen asleep.

"There is indeed no one left." Jiang Baimian observed carefully for a while and came to such a conclusion.

She carefully closed the door again to see if there would be another knocking sound.

The "Old Tune Team" waited for more than half an hour, but there was no more "dong" sound.

This made what they had just experienced feel like an illusory dream.

If Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Bai Chen weren't still waiting there, Long Yuehong would definitely have thought that there was no knock on the door and that everything was just her illusion.

"It seems that it has stopped..." Jiang Baimian said "hmm".

Bai Chen frowned and said:

“What on earth is that ‘person’ knocking on the door for?

"He 'left' without doing anything..."

"Is there anything bad that will happen to us if we open the door when there are three 'dong's behind us?"

Shang Jianyao laughed:

"When did you get the illusion that nothing bad happened to us?

"Perhaps we have been affected unknowingly, but it has not yet occurred, just like it was at the ruins of Wasteland 13."

Thinking of the three "hunters" who committed suicide due to Wu Meng's hidden influence, Long Yuehong couldn't help but shudder:

"No way……"

"We can't rule out this possibility." Jiang Baimian didn't dare to be careless about this. "Anyway, we all take turns to watch each other, and if we find anything unusual, we will immediately remind each other."

In this regard, they still have some experience.

"Garibaldi" Giuseppe, who was still tied up and enjoying the feeding treatment, added in a low voice:

“I don’t think you need to worry so much.

“This is the headquarters of the ‘Crystal Consciousness Cult’, and no ghost of any kind can cause trouble.

"When certain places in the First City are 'haunted', monks from the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect' are often invited to purify them."

"I'm afraid it's not a ghost." Jiang Baimian sighed.

She did not explain any more to Giuseppe, but said to herself:

"If something is really abnormal, we can definitely inform the monks of the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect' and ask them for help.

"If there is no quiet and hidden influence, then the focus of what just happened is on the act of 'knocking on the door'. Well, there is no contradiction between this and the quiet and hidden influence. Since Wu Meng can use radio waves to transmit power, what just happened It's not too unacceptable to rely on knocking for influence.

"Besides this, 'knocking on the door' may be trying to convey some information to us, just like the paper in a scripture."

Jiang Baimian connected the "knocking on the door" incident just now with the previous "Holy Land List".

After all, this all happened after they entered Xikaluo Temple and witnessed the death of the chief minister.

"Send the message..." Bai Chen's eyes moved slightly, "The first group knocked on the door seven times, and the second group knocked on the door three times. What does this mean?"

The "Old Tune Group" has special courses to train people on passwords and passwords.

"From a simple and direct perspective, it represents the two numbers 'seven' and 'three'." Jiang Baimian answered, "Since we want to convey information to us as outsiders, it won't be too complicated. .”

"Seven, three..." Long Yuehong began to think about the meaning of these two numbers.

"In addition, it is early in the morning." Shang Jianyao gave his idea with "confidence", "The answer is seven days later, at three o'clock in the morning, let us go to see him."

"Do you think I knocked you on the head three times?" Jiang Baimian couldn't help laughing.

She has already shared the corresponding story within the "Old Tune Group".

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao's response, she asked further:

"So, where are we going to meet?"

"I don't know." Shang Jianyao answered very simply.

Long Yuehong helped me remember the reason:

"Maybe seven days later, at three in the morning, he's going to come here to find us again?"

"Then why didn't you just come in directly and have to wait seven days?" Jiang Baimian skillfully picked out the loopholes.

Long Yuehong was speechless and couldn't answer.

"But according to your logic." Bai Chen joined the discussion, "He can just come in if he wants to convey any information. Why does he have to knock on the door and leave a code?"

"This is indeed a problem." Jiang Baimian nodded, "Maybe the person who knocked on the door can't communicate with us directly and can only communicate with us in this way, uh, so we don't rule out that he can talk to us after seven days. We will visit at three o'clock in the morning, but why would he come early and knock on the door, be impatient and wait until that time?"

"Ritual!" Shang Jianyao responded quickly, "He is in a special condition and must complete the knocking on the door. He will not be able to communicate with us until seven days later."

Bai Chen proposed another possibility:

"Maybe he is afraid that we will escape from Sikaluo Temple in the past few days."

Jiang Baimian nodded gently:

"Both explanations have a certain degree of plausibility, and the only way to verify it is to wait until seven days later."

Having said this, Jiang Baimian raised his head and glanced at the ceiling:

"The numbers 'seven' and 'three' may have other meanings.

"From the perspective of the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect', 'seven' represents the seven-level pagoda, the seven-story Sikaluo Temple, and the level above our heads."

This makes sense... Long Yuehong nodded invisibly.

Compared with Shang Jianyao's slightly empty guess just now, Jiang Baimian's guess based on the characteristics of Buddhist organizations seems more based.

Jiang Baimian continued:

“If ‘seven’ represents the seventh floor of Sikaluo Temple, then ‘three’ may be the number of a room there.

"Does the person who knocked on the door want us to go find him?"

This... Long Yuehong and Bai Chen looked at each other and felt that this explanation was indeed quite possible.

"Go now?" Shang Jianyao asked eagerly.

Jiang Baimian was silent for a while and said:

“There’s no rush yet.

"What if it's a trap? I can't tell whether that person is good or bad at the moment. Maybe... he can't directly confront Master Chan Naga and compete for the chief position. In this way, he lures us over and accuses us of violating the temple rules. In order to reach the Zen Naga master...

"Perhaps, his power is limited to that room, and only a small part can be revealed to the outside. We must be lured in to be effective..."

After hearing the team leader's assumptions, Long Yuehongshen thought it was better to be cautious.

At this time, Jiang Baimian looked around and said:

"Wait until dawn for an opportunity to find out what is on the seventh floor of the temple and who lives in room three, and then make a decision.

"Well, go to sleep. The night watchers look at each other and are extremely defensive."

The discussion ended here, and the "Old Tune Team" encountered no more strange things that night.

…………

In the morning, the young monk from before brought oatmeal and toast.

Jiang Baimian said seemingly unintentionally:

"Who lives in the rooms on the top floor of your temple? There seems to be movement at night."

The young monk said with a puzzled look:

"No one lives here."

"..." Long Yuehong really realized what a ghost story is at this moment.

"Is it a place where scriptures are kept?" Jiang Baimian asked further.

The young monk nodded:

"There is also a small hall dedicated to my Buddha Bodhi."

"Is there no Tathagata of World Freedom?" Shang Jianyao interrupted curiously.

"Our main purpose is to worship my Buddha, Bodhi." The young monk did not hide this fact that could be heard from everywhere.

"What else? Are there any other rooms on the seventh floor? Maybe a rat got in?" Jiang Baimian began to make insinuations.

The young monk thought for a while:

"Impossible, it's very strictly guarded... there's also a room where magic weapons are kept, and..."

His expression suddenly became solemn:

"There is also a Zen room where the 'Buddha's body' sleeps."