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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Nineteen: The Blood Tower in the Village
I have a friend named Xiaolu, a first-year student majoring in Chinese Language and Literature at Xi'an International Studies University. The following story is based on her recent personal experience.
In April, there were fewer classes, and one night, I was enjoying barbecue and beer with a few close friends from the sports department by the roadside, feeling quite relaxed. I was the only girl among them, but I wasn't the delicate type; they all called me a "tough girl," and I accepted it. After a few drinks, everyone started talking more.
I don't know who brought up the topic of ghosts first. They deliberately shared some scary ghost stories, like tales of midnight corpses and ancient tombs in desolate villages. I wasn't scared at all; after all, we had been educated in the materialism of the new century—why would we fear the vague concept of ghosts? Before long, someone mentioned a place in Xi'an called Auspicious Village and a building known as the Ghost Tower. I had heard this story before; it was quite well-known in Xi'an.
Friends in Xi'an know that Auspicious Village is a famous red-light district. But in this bustling urban village, there stands an uninhabited two-story building located at the far west near the suburb. People say that at night, strange noises can be heard from inside the rooms, along with low cries of women, piercing screams, sounds of fighting, sighs, and even wall-building noises as if someone were constructing something.
Back when liberation first occurred, this building served as the office for the Auspicious Village Committee and housed several villagers. They often experienced strange dreams at night, dreaming of two women dressed in bright red clothing lying on top of them while they slept.
When they woke up the next day, they would find inexplicable bloodstains on their bodies, yet no one was injured. Every night, those two red-clad ghosts would seek them out in their dreams; one ghost would chop off their limbs while the other would shoot them in the head until they bled profusely. These villagers were so terrified that they soon moved out of that building.
It wasn't until the Reform and Opening Up period that a wealthy outsider bought the building. Not long after moving in, large patches of bloodstains began to appear mysteriously throughout his home. Sometimes he would wake up to find streaks of blood running down the walls of his bedroom or blood on his bed without any apparent source. Every night he dreamed of two women in red fighting right before his eyes. As they fought, they transformed into thin red paper figures with noses and eyes that moved as if they were alive. Upon waking up, he always felt a chill on his back and soon became haggard with deep-set eyes. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and moved out.
Upon hearing this, fueled by alcohol, several boys insisted on checking out that small building. One boy named Zhang Chen was particularly enthusiastic about it. He usually appeared weak and listless with glasses, resembling a cultured person but was actually quite wild inside; after a few drinks, he quickly turned into a mischievous character. He grinned and asked Xiaolu if she dared to go.
What kind of joke is that? I'm a tough girl! As the saying goes, tough girls can stand on their hands and walk horses on walls. I could fight off old folks at nursing homes and stomp on kindergartens! Let's go! Who's afraid of whom?
The other two boys named Liu Kai and Zhou Ming agreed to join us as well. The four of us decided to venture into the Ghost Tower while still under the influence of alcohol. We bought some flashlights and set off.
After taking a bus and transferring several times, we arrived at Auspicious Village just as darkness fell. The village was vibrant with lights and bustling activity. We thought to ourselves: In such a lively place, could there really be ghosts?
Walking into the Village, I found someone to ask for the address of that building and then headed over.
From a distance, I spotted the old two-story building located at the far west of the village, shrouded in a dark wilderness. There were no other houses around, and it stood in stark contrast to the bustling lights in the distance, as if it had come from another hellish world. As we got closer, we could clearly feel the air around us growing colder, and several of us had goosebumps.
Finally, we arrived at the base of the building and carefully examined it: this was an old structure with a style from the Republic Era, two stories high and generally cylindrical in shape. The first floor had two wooden doors tightly shut. There were a few half-open windows on the walls. In front of the wooden doors was a very small yard surrounded by thin stone pillars, each one weathered and arranged in an irregular pattern. With the dim light of our flashlight, we saw that each stone pillar was inscribed with some unintelligible characters. Later, we learned that these inscriptions were soul-binding spells. The yard was overgrown with unknown wildflowers, glowing faintly; it was unclear whether the light came from insects or ghostly flames.
A cold breeze swept through, causing me to shiver and bringing me back to my senses. Zhou Ming said he also felt an unusual chill. Liu Kai hesitated and looked back toward the lit area, saying: "It's really cold tonight; why don't we head back?" Zhang Chen, reeking of alcohol, exclaimed: "Damn it! I've lived for twenty-one years without even holding a woman's hand! I'm full of fire; even if a female ghost comes along, she better think twice about whether she can handle me! If you guys are scared, just say so."
Liu Kai explained: "That's not what I meant. I just think we've all been drinking, and doing things while drunk isn't very reliable. I see you're also drunk; your words are all over the place. Let's come back another day."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen became furious, took off his glasses, and shouted at Liu Kai: "You? Can? You? Up? No? Can? No? BB!" Liu Kai's temper flared as well: "How dare you talk like that? Let's go; who’s afraid?"
Zhou Ming stepped in to mediate: "Why is everyone so worked up? Can’t my buddies have fun together anymore? Let’s just go; it’s not a big deal. Why get angry?"
After reaching a consensus, we decided to explore the Ghost Tower.
Entering the yard with our flashlights on, Zhang Chen walked toward a wooden door leading to the first floor and gently pushed it open. The old wooden door creaked loudly. We tiptoed inside and immediately saw a staircase leading up to the Second Floor, followed by a corridor lined with several locked rooms on either side. At the end of the corridor was a storage room likely used for servants. We kicked open a few doors only to find them filled with miscellaneous items—nothing particularly frightening.
So we returned to the stairs and looked up at them; they appeared as a dark hole leading down to Hell itself, with dripping water echoing from above.
To be honest, I was feeling quite scared, but fueled by alcohol, Zhang Chen boldly stepped onto the stairs first. We followed behind him.
In the pitch-black corridor, our flashlight beam seemed exceptionally bright; this section of stairs felt unusually long.
Suddenly, there was a “drip” sound as a drop of water fell at my feet. Another “drip” followed but landed on Zhang Chen's face this time. Liu Kai's flashlight inadvertently illuminated Zhang Chen's face, revealing an expression of sheer terror as he pointed at him speechless. Zhou Ming saw this too and let out a scream: "It's a ghost!" Both of them yelled and ran back, nearly knocking me down the stairs. I also directed my flashlight at Zhang Chen's face only to find his eyes filled with fear as blood streamed down his face, staining his collar bright red.
At that moment, there was another "tick," and this time it landed on my face. I felt something sticky on my cheek, and using the flashlight, I looked and found it was blood! Now I could understand how they felt! Having blood all over your face for no reason would scare anyone.
I was just about to run down when Zhang Chen suddenly turned around, grabbed me, his face pale and his eyes filled with confusion: "No! This isn't our blood! This blood is dripping down from upstairs, it just happened to land on our faces. Someone is playing tricks on us!"
I called out to Zhang Chen and Liu Kai, pointing upstairs. Sure enough, drops of blood were dripping down from above the stairs. The three Lords were furious: "Damn it, someone must know we are coming and is playing a prank on us!"
We ran upstairs and soon reached the second floor. Exiting the staircase, we found a long corridor that was pitch black, seemingly endless. On both sides of the corridor were several rooms. We walked to the end of the corridor, which led to a balcony; apart from that, there was nothing else, no signs of any prank. Zhang Chen said: "Someone must be hiding in one of the rooms; we need to find them and give them a beating!"
Liu Kai and Zhou Ming were also filled with rage at this point and wanted to vent their frustrations. At that moment, Zhang Chen's flashlight accidentally shone on the ground, revealing a row of small footprints. These footprints were particularly small, resembling those of ancient girls' bound feet. The footprints led to a room in the middle of the corridor, so we headed towards that door and burst in.
Once inside, we shone the flashlight around; the furniture was all in ruins—broken beds, broken chairs, broken dressing tables—without any valuable clues. At this moment, I felt it getting colder and could vaguely hear a woman's sobbing sound around us. Feeling scared, I said to them: "Let's forget it; we should go back since we've already been here!" But Zhang Chen stubbornly replied: "Let's search a bit more; there must be something suspicious here!"
Unintentionally, Liu Kai's flashlight beam swept across the bed in the middle, and he shouted: "What the hell is this?"
We looked over and saw an old-fashioned earthen kang made of blue bricks, less than a meter high. A layer of plaster was exposed on top of it, covered entirely with bloodstains. Under the pale light of the flashlight, the bloodstains seemed to be slowly flowing.
At that moment, Zhou Ming suddenly shouted: "Oh my god, there really is a ghost! Look at the wall!" Everyone turned to see that bloodstains were seeping from above where the kang was located, flowing down towards the base of the wall. Slowly, a woman's outline began to appear on the wall; it became clearer and clearer until suddenly a twisted and terrifying face emerged—a woman's face that opened its mouth wide at us, revealing a row of sharp teeth that glowed eerily white, sending chills down our spines.
The four of us were frozen in shock, our minds blank as if someone was blowing cold air on our necks. Someone shouted: "Oh crap! There really is a ghost! Run!!!" We disregarded everything and ran downstairs as fast as we could. Behind us came the sounds of a woman's crying and sighing; some fragmented words reached our ears: "I... want to go out... suffocating... don’t run..."
We ran frantically without knowing when we reached outside into the courtyard until we finally collapsed on the ground in an area bustling with lights and vendors in town. Passersby looked at us with astonishment as we lay there pale-faced like a group of monsters. After what felt like an eternity, I finally regained my senses and slowly stood up to look towards Ghost Tower. It still stood silently in the darkness; compared to our vibrant lights here, it seemed like it belonged to two different worlds. Separated by hundreds of meters was the difference between Hell and Heaven; for a moment, I felt as if I had crossed into another world. (To be continued!)
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