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墨書 Inktalez
The night in the countryside was getting deeper, and it was still quite cool. Su Jin'er felt as if her body had gone numb. The sound of the wind rustling through the leaves was eerie, like the cries of vengeful spirits in hell, sending shivers down her spine.
Chu Feifan seemed to sense her slight trembling and loosened his embrace, saying, "It's cold, isn't it? Let's go back and sleep. It's already late."
In truth, she wasn't sleepy at all. She had slept too long in the afternoon, and although her head ached slightly from drinking, she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
Like her, Chu Feifan also felt completely awake.
However, neither of them voiced this thought because they both assumed the other was tired.
Lying in bed, Su Jin'er couldn't manage to fall asleep. She couldn't remember what had happened on the mountain, so she didn't dwell on it; she simply thought she had gotten drunk and was brought back by Chu Feifan. Yet, she remained worried about the vengeful spirit. If that baby resented her grandmother for sealing it away, it would surely seek revenge. Although her grandmother never said so, Su Jin'er knew that her grandmother was also afraid; she just didn't understand how to deal with a vengeful spirit as well as her grandfather did.
The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, but she couldn't come up with a solution.
Slowly, her mind faded into unconsciousness, and she fell asleep.
However, her sleep was restless; in her dreams, her brow remained tightly furrowed as if she were experiencing a terrifying nightmare.
After an unknown amount of time, a baby's cry suddenly pierced through the night. The sharp and shrill sound made Su Jin'er feel even worse as she struggled to sleep. She tightly closed her eyes, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. The baby's cries continued—sometimes close by and sometimes distant. When far away, it felt like it came from another world; when near, it sounded as if it were right beside her ear.
Even in her dreams, that unsettling feeling caused her to toss and turn until a pair of warm hands rested on her forehead. Only then did she stop moving, and her tightly knit brows began to relax.
Yet outside, the baby's cries did not cease; they continued to wail mournfully as if they would never stop.
Chu Feifan was also awakened by the piercing cries. He quietly got out of bed and walked toward the door. Outside, he saw his grandmother standing alone in the yard, seemingly lost in thought.
As he approached slowly, he realized that his grandmother was talking to a baby whose entire body appeared blue. The baby lay on a branch, glaring maliciously at his grandmother. This sight startled him and reminded him of the baby killed by its parents' hands.
He stood frozen in place; the baby seemed to notice him and turned its gaze toward him. Chu Feifan was taken aback by this sudden turn of events and nervously stared at the baby. He found it strange that despite how dark it was outside, he could clearly see the baby's eyes.
Footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned to see Su Jin'er rubbing her eyes as she walked out. When she saw Chu Feifan, she paused for a moment, then noticed the grandmother standing in front of her and the baby hiding among the branches.
She stepped back in fright, then suddenly walked over to her grandmother, staring at the baby together with her.
"Yaner, go back inside. This is not your concern," the grandmother scolded her.
"No, I want to stay here." Her words seemed to catch the baby's attention. The baby shifted her gaze from Chu Feifan to Su Jin'er and then smiled—a twisted and eerie smile.
"Quickly go back inside!" The grandmother's voice trembled.
At that moment, Su Jin'er noticed that her grandmother had her arms crossed over her chest, holding a piece of yellow paper in each hand, covered in symbols she couldn't understand.
Chu Feifan approached. "Grandma, what should we do now?"
"Take Yaner inside."
"But..."
"Hurry!"
Chu Feifan grabbed Su Jin'er and started toward the house when the baby on the tree suddenly let out a strange cry and jumped down, lunging toward Su Jin'er and Chu Feifan.
"Watch out!" The grandmother threw away the yellow papers and rushed toward them.
However, the Vengeful Spirit was too fast. Before they could react, it was already in front of Su Jin'er. At that moment, she finally saw the baby clearly; it was a girl with pale skin and a twisted body, her legs contorted like twisted ropes. It struck her as odd how the baby had been standing on the tree. But there was no time to ponder that now, as the baby wrapped her arms tightly around Su Jin'er's neck and pressed her bloodied face against Su Jin'er's.
"Oh no, she wants to enter Jin'er's body!" The grandmother's sudden shout jolted the dazed Chu Feifan awake.
He pulled hard on the baby's body, trying to separate her from Su Jin'er, but it felt as if they were glued together. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull them apart. Su Jin'er looked in terror at the face so close to hers; a putrid smell made her want to vomit. Yet, the baby's arms clung tightly around her neck like a vice. When she tried to push the baby away with all her strength, it only tightened its grip around her neck, making it hard to breathe. Sharp pain shot through her face as she felt the baby's face merging with hers.
No, she absolutely cannot let it enter her body!
"Feifan, push harder." She struggled to squeeze out a few words, then, together with Chu Feifan, they exerted their strength. Chu Feifan looked at Su Jin'er’s face, which was turning red from the pressure, and felt reluctant to push harder, but he couldn't allow the Vengeful Spirit to enter her body.
"Feifan, don't hesitate," Su Jin'er reminded him again.
The baby's face was already merging with Su Jin'er’s face.
Grandma had entered the room at some point. After a while, she took out a wooden sword that seemed to be dripping with something.
"Feifan, step aside."
Hearing Grandma's words, Chu Feifan quickly moved to the side but did not release his grip on the Cursed Baby.
The Cursed Baby seemed to have noticed the sword in Grandma's hand and suddenly let out a strange cry, releasing its hold on Su Jin'er and fleeing rapidly.
At that moment when the Cursed Baby screamed, Su Jin'er also fainted and collapsed on the ground.
"Quick, carry her back inside." Seeing the Cursed Baby escape, Grandma hurriedly instructed Chu Feifan to bring Su Jin'er into the house and close the door.
A red mark was left on Su Jin'er’s face, as if she had been slapped. Grandma brought over a bowl of water containing some dark substance for Chu Feifan to feed to Jin'er. Although he thought the dark substance looked unclean, he trusted that Grandma wouldn't harm her granddaughter, so he fed it to her.
After this terrifying incident, none of them felt like sleeping. They sat in front of Jin'er’s bed watching over her.
"Grandma, why did that Cursed Baby possess Jin'er?"
Grandma sighed and said, "Jin'er has been weak since childhood and easily attracts unclean things. Her grandfather asked me to get her a string of prayer beads for protection. However, these beads can only protect her from ordinary dirty things; they are ineffective against deep-seated resentments."
"So that's why you let Jin'er into the house just now."
"Yes, but she still managed to discover it."
"Will she come back?"
Grandma shook her head and said, "It's hard to say. People like Yaner are rare, so once she discovers Jin'er's condition, she definitely won't give up easily."
"So she will come back?"
"Yes, but don't worry. As long as Yaner stays in this room, nothing will happen."
Chu Feifan nodded; no wonder Qiangzi was able to take her away.
"By the way, Grandma, can we ask Qiangzi for help? Isn't he also a ghost?"
Chu Feifan felt a glimmer of hope, but it was quickly extinguished when Grandma said that the Vengeful Spirit's resentment was too strong. Although Qiangzi died an unnatural death, he was inherently kind-hearted and didn't harbor such deep resentment. The reason he almost took Jin'er away was that he had always been thinking about her. Taking her was merely a test to see if you would abandon Jin'er out of fear. The fact proved that you are someone who can protect Jin'er, which is why he returned her; otherwise, he might have taken her away.
"Since he still remembers Jin'er, if she's in danger, he should come out to help! After all, he and that baby are the same kind."
In truth, Chu Feifan's worldview had completely unraveled. Before coming here, he didn't believe there were other species besides humans and animals in this world. However, after experiencing the events of the morning, although he felt a bit confused, he still thought it was just his imagination. But that terrifying scene earlier made him fully believe in the existence of another entity in this world.
"This might work, but it's not a long-term solution. Sigh! If only that old man were here."
At that moment, Su Jin'er on the bed slowly woke up.
She suddenly sat up and shouted, "Grandma, where's the Cursed Baby? Where did the Cursed Baby go?"
Seeing that both Grandma and Chu Feifan were safely sitting by the bed watching her, she felt relieved, but then a sharp pain surged across her face.
"That hurts!" She reached up to touch her face.
"Don't move."
Although her face was painful, she still listened to her grandmother and lowered her hand. "Grandma, what about the Cursed Baby?"
"She ran away. Why were you so foolish to come out?"
"I was sleeping, and then I heard a baby's cry. It made me feel so uncomfortable, but suddenly I felt a pair of hands on my forehead, and then I didn't feel as sad anymore. However, later I heard someone talking outside, so I came out to take a look."
After a pause, she continued, "Grandma, those hands were yours, right?"
Her grandmother didn't respond; she just patted the back of her hand.
"You almost got possessed."
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