The Exorcist

Chapter 27 Photos

The next day, it was the last rehearsal day for the campus drama club. When the rehearsal was over, it would be the performance the day after tomorrow.

Because Zhao Jiang had not taken action for a long time, the three of us were extremely nervous. We must know that the scary thing is not the impending disaster, but the waiting process of knowing that the disaster is not far away, but it has not yet arrived.

Before the rehearsal, Bao Datong and I wandered around the school. In the eyes of other students, Bao Datong was going home and looking for some scenic spots to take photos before leaving school. In fact, we were checking to see if Zhao Jiang had laid any traps on campus, especially by the lake.

"The resentment here is getting heavier and heavier." Bao Datong made a pose, then squatted down and pretended to tie his shoelaces, and stuffed a stone with a charm on it into the soft soil by the lake.

Early this morning, he went outside to pick up a lot of small stones, and then drew less conspicuous charms on them. He has always regretted not bringing more of his father's talismans with him this time. Because of his limited skills, the power of the talismans is also limited.

"Is he going to take action?" I asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, but he must be preparing." He leaned on the willow tree by the lake and took another photo. "Can you develop the photo as soon as possible? The aura is fluid, and I can't see clearly. If Having photographic evidence is different.”

I looked down at the camera in my hand.

The camera is normal, but Bao Datong used blood and cinnabar to draw dense spells on the lens. Everyone saw me taking pictures of him, but they didn’t know that what I saw was actually a scene covered by a mass of horizontal and vertical ink stains, as if The scope of the camera is trapped by a cage.

The blood is a mixture of my blood and his, because he said that I was taking pictures and he was performing the spell, and both are indispensable. But I actually doubt whether his 'psychic camera' is useful, although he said However, it was based on his father's 'Spirit Fixing Talisman'. He believed that since it could 'fix spirits', it would naturally also be able to fix 'spirit images'.

"Can the photo be developed?" Seeing my silence, he asked again.

I said absolutely fine. The president of the school photography club and I are buddies, so we can still do this little thing.

"You have to do it yourself. If there is anything, it will scare others." He asked, "Come and take a look at the lake!"

I was tired of his gesticulations, but I still had the patience to do as I was told, and took a lot of photos of the water. Then he sent me to develop the photos, while he stayed by the lake and continued to 'enjoy the beautiful scenery'.

The strange thing is that although there are many charms drawn on the lens, the photos taken are very clear. He is in the playground, in front of the dormitory building, in the library, and in the cafeteria. Everything is normal, except for... By the lake!

He took three photos in total by the lake. One was squatting on the lakeside fence, one was leaning against a willow tree, and the other was standing in a relatively open place. The background was the spire of the small auditorium and the distant scenery. Small stone bridge.

These three photos all have varying degrees of stains. At first glance, you may feel that the lighting of the photos is not very good and they are dirty, but if you look closely, you will find that there are other things around Bao Datong all the time.

In the first picture, a blurry black line stretched out from the water and wrapped around Bao Datong's feet, seeming to drag him into the water; in the second picture, a snow-white hand stretched out from the middle of the willow tree, towards Bao Datong's feet. Heart; in the third picture, there is nothing around Bao Datong, just a dark cloud hanging over the stone bridge and the auditorium!

I looked at these photos blankly, and I understood why there were so many things secretly attacking Bao Datong but he was fine. This can be seen from the photo - there is a layer of white light on the outside of his body, which seems to be the halo caused by the sun on his body. But the sunshine today is not enough, and it is still a bit cloudy, so it is definitely not the refraction of natural light, but the protective layer formed by himself. Although it was too weak to be easily detected, it was enough to protect him from harm, and it showed up on this 'psychic camera'!

I was also at the lake at that time. If Bao Datong took a picture of me, would there be other strange phenomena around me? And I didn’t feel any physical discomfort, that is to say, I also had invisible things protecting me. So what protection was there for Nana?

If there is nothing to protect her, then I will protect her!

I thought firmly and looked at the watch on my wrist. Seeing that the time agreed with Bao Datong was coming soon, I quickly put the last few photos into the developer, carefully held the photo paper with tweezers and moved it gently. Slowly, the picture captured by the camera was displayed!

Four photos, four faces!

Children, Xiaoling, migrant workers, and Zhao Jiang!

These four faces all had their eyes closed, their faces were pale, and they were extremely swollen from being soaked in water. Their facial features were all distorted, and they were facing me through a layer of light green water! I don’t know if it was due to the sloshing of the developer, but I suddenly felt like I was at the lakeside. I felt that they were floating underwater. As the waves swayed, their faces seemed to have expressions, and they were moving one by one. Point to drill towards the water surface, and you will rush out of the water immediately!

With a 'bang' sound, the tweezers in my hand somehow fell out of my hands and fell to the bottom of the container with a soft sound, while the four photos in the edition floated on the surface of the developer!

At this time, I suddenly realized that the photos were no longer what I had just seen. The muscles on the faces of the first three people began to fall off, and soon they turned into three rotten and disgusting faces. It was impossible to distinguish between men, women, old and young. But the fourth face has not changed, it is still Zhao Jiang!

I blinked my eyes hard, fearing that I was hallucinating due to some psychological suggestion, but the scene after that told me that I was right, those three faces had indeed turned into that disgusting look, only Zhao Jiang has not changed!

I gritted my teeth, reached out and grabbed the photo, stared at Zhao Jiang's face and said, "Get away as far as you want, it's useless to scare me, I won't let you hurt Nana even a hair!"

"We'll see!" he said.

he? He speaks? Is Zhao Jiang here?

I was so shocked that I almost knocked over the imaging equipment. I rushed over and turned on the light in the darkroom, and grabbed a bottle of something to keep on guard. However, there was nothing in the room. Is it an illusion? No, the feeling was too clear, and his voice was very close to me, so close that it seemed to be in my ear, so close - right in my hand!

I immediately held up the photos to look at them, and saw that the first three photos were still in a rotten look, and Zhao Jiang's face had not changed, but the moment I stared at him, he suddenly opened his eyes and laughed!

The anger and panic made me almost lose my mind. However, at the moment when I was about to collapse, I suddenly realized that he was attacking my belief in defeating him, so I desperately forced myself to calm down and stretched out my hands to pinch both ends of the photo paper. Staring at him without showing any signs of weakness, she used both hands to tear his face apart from the middle!

In an instant, his face disappeared, leaving only his two eyes on two broken pieces of photo paper.

I didn't dare to delay any longer, so I hurriedly packed up and rushed to the small auditorium. As soon as they turned near the forest path near the lake, they saw Bao Datong standing on the small stone bridge.

"You're late," he said.

"Don't stand here and talk, he will hear me." I didn't have time to argue with him, and looked around as I spoke.

"It seems we have taken a supernatural photo." Bao Datong glanced at his feet, "Stand closer, he can't hear what we said."

I looked down and saw that he had placed a circle of stones on the ground and painted some flowers and grass-like things around the stones. I understood that it might be something like a barrier, so I quickly stepped in, stuffed the photo into Bao Datong's hand, and briefly talked about what happened in the darkroom.

"Don't worry, he didn't go to the darkroom with you, he just used a little magic to make him see you. It's like a video phone or something."

"I looked at the video player, and the photos actually moved. In my opinion, he probably knew we were watching him, so he protested. Did you bury so many talisman stones by the lake for any use?"

"How could it be useless?" Bao Datong shrugged, "But this is not to trap him. It is to eliminate the yin energy he collects from water to increase his mana. In his current state, it is no problem for you and me to join forces and barely defend. If we lend him strength, we will all mourn together!"

"No matter what, I want to protect Nana!" I gritted my teeth and said, "I sympathized with him when he died. But his misery cannot be the reason for him to harm others."

"Well said!" Bao Datong said, "We only found out yesterday that he was causing trouble, but on the other hand, he only found out today that we were watching him, and we are on the same starting line in terms of preparations. But I guess He won’t take action tomorrow, and Azhan will be back the day after tomorrow, and then he will be the only one afraid of us.”

"Why won't you do it tomorrow?" I asked.

"Tomorrow is the official performance. Because the heroine is the school beauty, the small auditorium will be overcrowded tomorrow. They are all young people with strong yang energy. Not to mention Zhao Jiang, even Duan Jin did not dare to perform at this time Come out." Bao Datong said confidently, "If nothing happens in the school, there is no benefit in following him outside!"

"Does that mean tonight's rehearsal is his only chance?"

"I just thought of it, otherwise I wouldn't have been nervous for a long time." Bao Datong scratched his head, "But tonight will be very dangerous, we must be careful. You go pick up Nana first, and I'll go backstage for a walk. , and today you will guard the front of the stage, and I will guard the back." As he spoke, he bent down and handed me a small cloth bag on the ground.

"There is a stone on which I have painted a charm. Sorry, the effect is not very ideal, but it is enough to attack ordinary spirits. Oh, that wooden stick is a peach stick, which can ward off evil spirits! Alas, the peach trees in the city are really good. It’s hard to find, and I can’t carve, so just make do with it.”

"Ordinary spirit? You mean he has helpers?" I frowned.

"He is not a helper, he was driven by Zhao Jiang. The child and migrant worker whose souls were eaten by him, I guess is Xiaoling. Please be merciful, she is a poor person!"

I nodded, grabbed the nondescript bag in my hand, and went to pick up Nana.

Since it was the last rehearsal, it was different from usual. Normally everyone just wears their own clothes and plays their roles well. If something goes wrong in the middle, they will stop immediately to correct or study and discuss. But today's rehearsal is actually an audition. The students will wear the costumes in the play and perform the scene completely, just like the real performance, without stopping in the middle.

I sit in the front row near the left side. There are stairs over there that lead to the stage. If something happens, I can run up and rescue people as soon as possible. Bao Datong had already sneaked into the backstage. With his personal charm, he got along with the two little sisters who were in charge of costumes and props. Now he is staying behind as a non-staff member of the crew.

The rehearsals of the drama club are not open to the public, so apart from us, there are only the director of the drama club, the B-actor and the male and female friends of the drama club members, a total of more than a dozen people sitting in the audience. But everyone was sitting in the middle, and I was the only one sitting in the corner, holding the cloth bag tightly in my hand.

The beautiful costumes, touching plot, and romantic dialogues did not stop in my eyes. I just kept paying attention to whether there was any unusual movement around me and on the stage. As time passed slowly, nothing happened. Bao Datong in the background didn't give me any signal, as if everything was fine, but I became more and more nervous.

Zhao Jiang has such a deep obsession with Nana. If tonight is the last chance, how could he let it go? So why hasn't he taken action yet? We can't find any helper. Is he planning some conspiracy? But this drama has reached its end and is about to end. Could it be that he wants to take advantage of everyone's confusion at the end?

Thinking of this, I stared at the stage even more nervously. I saw that the play was almost reaching the last scene. The male and female protagonists had changed their costumes from the backstage and appeared again. The classmate in charge of the lighting shone a beam of light on them.

Nana looked particularly radiant under the lights. I was in a trance for a moment, thinking that maybe she should apply for the film and television major. Her slim figure, full of passion, and delicate facial features are very suitable for the stage. Although she is wearing a mask at the moment.

But——mask? ! Does the plot require this?

I stood up in a hurry, a strange feeling filled my body and mind!

In this play, the male protagonist's face was burned, so he wears a mask, but why does the heroine also wear one? If they have made some improvements to the original script, Nana was not wearing it just now!

I looked around and saw that other students were also puzzled. Only the male and female protagonists on the stage were still performing selflessly.

"What kind of trick is this?" I heard the director classmate mutter.

Is it a gimmick? still--

I looked up at Nana again, and suddenly I realized something was wrong!

Nana loves drama and joined the drama club in her first year of college. However, she has a very unprofessional habit. After a while on the stage, she likes to look at the people in the audience. The more critical the moment, the more In this way, in the past, it was looking at A Zhan, and later it was looking at me.

But today in the climax of the plot, she didn't even see him coming off the stage. She just looked at the male protagonist intoxicated. It seemed that she was completely absorbed in the drama, but in fact it was impossible!

It is true that she has been working hard for this play, but it is impossible for her not to know that we are all in danger now. At this time, her heart is extremely unsettled. It took me a long time to comfort her before she could go on stage. The previous performance was I am also extremely nervous. How could I suddenly calm down now and not make eye contact with me, but devote myself selflessly to the drama?

"Nana!" I yelled, holding a stone in my hand.