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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Three
Lin Sui sat at the desk in the archive room, the night outside as dark as ink. The streetlights cast a blurred glow through the rain and mist, resembling a hazy eye. Beside her lay Shen Jingqiu's notebook, along with a yellowed boat ticket and a price list for letters. The butterfly-shaped mark on her wrist lingered, faint like ash scattered by the wind. She dared not look too closely, fearing it might move. The whispers from the old house last night still clung to her ears, like wings beating against her head; every time she closed her eyes, she saw that blurred shadow in the mirror. Rubbing her temples, she forced herself to concentrate. She needed to decipher the butterfly shadow code on the wall; that string of black market jargon concealed the key to Shen Jingqiu's disappearance.
She opened the price list, noticing a pattern hidden among the numbers: every three lines, the prices jumped, as if encoding something. Referring to the notebook, she read Shen Jingqiu's words: "They want me to exchange my soul for gold bars; I signed my name, and then the Blue Butterfly came." Lin Sui frowned—would black market traders really use such methods? She flipped to the suicide note: "April 1st, I will leave—not walk away, but disappear." The handwriting trembled, as if written in fear. A chill ran down her spine; it seemed Shen Jingqiu knew she couldn't escape.
She turned on her computer and searched for black market information from 1947. The literature was sparse but mentioned a group of mysterious traders who used jargon and symbols to mark their transactions. Rumor had it they exchanged not only money but also "costs." Lin Sui stared at the screen, her fingers cold. At that moment, the lights in the archive flickered briefly, reminiscent of last night's old house. She quickly looked up; the light steadied, but she distinctly heard a low hum seeping from the walls.
Determined to tackle the code first, Lin Sui copied down the symbols of butterfly shadows on the wall—a series of curves and numbers resembling wing patterns. She compared them with the price list and attempted to decode them. Half an hour later, she discovered a pattern: the symbols corresponded to dates and amounts; April 1st's entry read "Twenty gold bars; cost has been paid." Her heart raced—Shen Jingqiu had indeed engaged in black market dealings, but what was the "cost"? Flipping back to the notebook, she found Shen Jingqiu had written: "After signing, time stopped; I heard wings fluttering; outside my window, more and more Blue Butterflies appeared."
She felt dizzy—time stopped? This resembled a scene from Blue Wing where a woman trades her soul and becomes trapped in a loop. Lin Sui gritted her teeth and resolved to return to the old house for verification. Taking her notebook and flashlight, she stepped into No. 17 Nanchang Road once more in the dead of night. The rain had ceased; the old house was silent as a tomb. Ascending to the second floor, she found the bathroom door ajar, a sickly sweet odor wafting out like decaying flowers. Pushing open the door revealed butterfly shadows once again—clearer than last night, as if freshly painted. She took out paper and pen to compare with her code, checking each one meticulously.
Halfway through decoding, she paused. The last line of code read: "The soul remains forever; April 25th." She froze—the date on the boat ticket! Shen Jingqiu hadn’t failed to leave because of canceled sailings; she had been trapped instead. A chill crept up her neck as she turned around; her flashlight beam swept across the mirror where Blue Butterfly appeared again, its wings slowly fluttering. Clenching her teeth, she stared at her reflection and whispered, "Where are you?" The mirror shimmered slightly as if ripples danced across water.
In that moment, time seemed to freeze. Images from 1947 flashed through her mind—Shen Jingqiu standing in her residence on Xiafei Road while rain pattered outside like weeping; she signed a contract with twenty gold bars laid out on the table before her. Knocking sounded from outside like fingernails scraping against walls. She wrote her suicide note with trembling hands unable to grip the pen properly. On the windowsill, Blue Butterflies gathered increasingly closer; their wings beat against glass with a low mournful sound like funeral bells. Shen Jingqiu looked up with hollow eyes and murmured, "I was wrong..." The vision vanished abruptly as Lin Sui snapped back to reality, finding herself leaning against the wall with her flashlight dropped on the floor casting erratic beams.
She picked up the flashlight and took a deep breath. She understood now—Shen Jingqiu’s disappearance wasn’t an escape but rather a consequence of some transaction. Looking again at the notebook revealed that ink on its last page had blurred like tears. A sharp pain shot through her as she glanced down at her wrist—the butterfly mark had deepened slightly as if seeping into her skin. Gritting her teeth, she resolved to complete decoding all of it. As she rewrote it down, the symbols on the wall shifted into new words: "You have come; she is waiting." Lin Sui froze as low footsteps echoed behind her—one step after another—as if someone were emerging from within the walls.
Pressing against the bathroom wall, Lin Sui’s breath quickened. She had faced fear before but this time it felt like a knife carving into her heart. Memories flooded back of that night when her mother disappeared—the Blue Butterflies outside mocking her helplessness. She always felt compelled to do something yet could only bury herself in archives while waiting for her mother’s return. Now Shen Jingqiu’s shadow reflected back at her like a mirror revealing twenty years of hidden cowardice within herself. Clenching her fists until nails dug into palms brought some clarity amidst pain.
She closed her eyes again filled with Shen Jingqiu’s despair—signing contracts for gold bars yet losing freedom in return. In that moment both Shen Jingqiu and she were consumed by fear alike. Opening her eyes again fixed on new code on wall: "She is here." Where is she? In this old house? Or somewhere else? A cold shiver ran through Lin Sui as if unseen eyes were watching from darkness around her. Remembering how in Blue Wing after transforming into butterflies women’s souls became eternally trapped in loops made everything click into place—Shen Jingqiu hadn’t left; she was ensnared within time itself while Blue Butterfly served as her prison.
Looking down at her wrist revealed that butterfly mark now seemed alive—the edges quivering slightly. A wave of nausea washed over her as though something was wrapping around tightly around herself. Wanting desperately to flee yet footsteps grew nearer testing boundaries of courage within herself—she gritted teeth reminding herself there was no retreat possible now. Shen Jingqiu’s fate served both as warning and temptation; she needed answers or else this old house would consume her whole too. Taking another deep breath made low humming clearer now echoing wings beating against eardrums—she felt herself spiraling out of control just like Shen Jingqiu drawn deeper into an abyss.
Lin Sui forced herself to calm down, picking up the flashlight and looking again at the code on the wall. The phrase "She is here" seemed burned into the surface, the blue ink seeping into the cracks of the bricks like blood. A wave of dizziness washed over her, and the footsteps ceased, replaced by whispers that seemed to emanate from the mirror: "You have come..." She spun around abruptly, her reflection in the mirror revealing her face, but in her pupils was an additional sight—a Blue Butterfly, its wings fluttering slowly. She let out a scream and stumbled backward, knocking over a lamp, its shade shattering into pieces.
Gasping for breath, she stared at the mirror; the butterfly's shadow had vanished, yet the whispers persisted, burrowing into her mind. Gritting her teeth, she dashed downstairs and burst out of the old house. The night wind was icy as she leaned against a streetlamp. Looking down, she noticed the butterfly mark on her wrist had deepened, resembling a tattoo. A sharp pain shot through her; she closed her eyes but dreamt of Shen Jingqiu standing before her, his face pale and a sinister smile playing at his lips as he whispered, "You cannot escape." She opened her eyes suddenly to see a Blue Butterfly drifting across the sky, its wings chilling against her face.
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