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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter: The Trunk Above the Village
As soon as the two sat down at the guest table, barely settling in, they heard a commotion outside.
A female voice pleaded, “Er Niu, what are you doing? Don’t scare me, come home with me.”
A stern male voice responded, “Er Niu! What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”
Ji Zichen and Lin Chuyu exchanged glances and quickly covered their faces with cloths before stepping outside. While Ji Zichen felt it was optional to cover her face, an extra layer of protection was always a good idea.
The moment they stepped out, Lin Chuyu spotted three people in front of their neighbor's door. She recognized one of them and exclaimed, “Isn’t that the person from earlier?”
The thin man was not wearing a cloth over his face; he paced back and forth like a dog, sniffing around as if searching for something. The other two were a man dressed in cold-weather clothing and a woman in a floral top. Despite his frail appearance, the thin man had surprising strength; he dragged the other two along as they struggled to keep up. Frustrated, he shouted, “Let go!”
The woman cried out, “Er Niu, please come back with me! You’ll die without covering your face!”
But Er Niu seemed entranced and ignored her pleas, fixated on sniffing the air.
Ji Zichen and Lin Chuyu watched in bewilderment. Lin Chuyu asked, “What is that person doing? This is so strange. Is the poisonous mist really that pleasant?”
As the noise continued, lights began to flicker on in nearby houses as residents came out to see what was happening.
A-Jiao emerged from her house wearing an apron and asked, “What’s all this noise about?”
Lin Chuyu pointed at Er Niu and replied, “I don’t know! It seems like that person is smelling something in the poisonous mist.”
Er Niu took a few more sniffs and suddenly his face lit up with joy. He opened his mouth wide and took a deep breath, displaying an expression of pure bliss.
“The smell, the smell! What a wonderful aroma!”
Ji Zichen furrowed his brows. From Er Niu's expression, it seemed that he was not crazy but was purposefully searching for something.
Er Niu opened his mouth and inhaled for a moment, as if the fragrance had suddenly vanished. He stomped his feet and shouted, "Don't go, don't go! I want to smell it more!"
Ji Zichen thought to himself, "It seems like he is really inhaling something, looking urgent yet extremely content."
Suddenly, Ji Zichen felt a jolt of realization. "Could there really be some scent in the mist?"
He quickly removed his scarf and took a deep breath, but there was no scent at all.
A-Jiao was startled when she saw him take off the scarf. "Put it back on! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Ji Zichen ignored her and began sniffing around the area.
Seeing that Ji Zichen wouldn't listen to her advice, A-Jiao turned to Lin Chuyu and said, "You should persuade him!"
Lin Chuyu knew that the poisonous mist had no effect on him, so she shook her head and replied, "He's fine."
At that moment, the mist began to lower, pressing down against the eaves of the house. The rural houses were not tall; one could easily reach up with an outstretched arm. Suddenly, Er Niu caught a whiff of something again. He reached into the mist with both hands as if grasping something and performed a pull-up, suspending his body while stretching his head into the fog.
Four sturdy villagers stepped forward to pull him down, but Er Niu seemed to possess extraordinary strength; the four strong villagers could not budge him.
Then another villager shouted in surprise, "There’s a scent! A very fragrant smell above the mist!"
After this commotion, all the villagers had gathered around.
The mist grew thicker; even with the lanterns shining brightly, it was difficult to see the figures of those nearby.
In an instant, more villagers caught the scent. The four villagers who had been trying to pull Er Niu down also smelled it. They released their grip and looked up in search of the aroma. At this moment, Er Niu's face turned pale as he descended on his own. It seemed he heard some kind of call; his face turned green as he gazed at Lin Chuyu and pointed toward the end of the street. "Over there! That’s where the source of the fragrance is!"
Er Niu moved his body, and one by one, the villagers followed him.
A-Jiao, for some reason, clutched her throat and cried out, "Cough... cough... I can't breathe."
Lin Chuyu's expression changed drastically as she supported A-Jiao and asked, "What happened to you?"
A-Jiao unusually removed her face mask and took a deep breath. "Hah... I can... I can breathe now..."
Lin Chuyu found it strange; how could A-Jiao be fine without her mask?
A-Jiao opened her mouth wide and began to inhale in the mist. Suddenly, her eyes glazed over, as if she were a puppet under someone else's control, swaying as she followed the villagers.
Lin Chuyu reached out to pull her back, but A-Jiao seemed to possess immense strength now. With a push, she knocked Lin Chuyu to the ground. By the time Lin Chuyu got back up, A-Jiao's figure was already lost in the thick fog.
The mist gradually rose, surpassing the rooftops. As it thinned, Lin Chuyu's vision cleared within a few yards. With the fog lifting, she tightened her expression upon seeing tree trunks as thick as her legs crisscrossing above the houses. It dawned on her why Er Niu could reach into the mist and seem to float; he was grabbing onto the tree trunks.
However, when the mist lowered to just before the rooftops, there was nothing above them; those tree trunks extended from above the lowering fog.
Seeing such a bizarre sight, Lin Chuyu was taken aback. "What is going on? Could it be that these tree trunks are emitting a fragrance? Is that it, Brother Ji?"
She turned around but found Ji Zichen had vanished from her side.
Seeing Ji Zichen gone left Lin Chuyu frozen like a wooden doll. Yet she did not linger; she followed the villagers along their path.
Jinsi Village had two hundred villagers, moving like a writhing long line toward the back mountain of the village. Each villager appeared comfortable and content, having removed their masks and letting their noses twitch as they followed the enticing scent.
Lin Chuyu trailed behind them alone, feeling both astonished and fearful. She did not see Ji Zichen anywhere and thought to herself, "Where did Brother Ji go? Where are the villagers headed? It seems they are being led by the fragrance, but why can't I smell anything?"
At that moment, Lin Chuyu saw the villagers ahead gradually walking into the void, as if strolling through mist. Lin Chuyu felt a chill run down her spine. "Could it be that these villagers are ghosts?"
Then she thought to herself, "No, A-Jiao is definitely alive." This thought gave her some reassurance.
As Lin Chuyu continued forward, she suddenly realized that the villagers were not walking on mist but rather on a tree trunk over ten feet wide, which rose steeply into the sky.
The more Lin Chuyu walked on the trunk, the more astonished she became. "What kind of tree has such a massive trunk? It must be at least a thousand years old."
At that moment, the Vermilion Bird Pearl on her chest suddenly opened its eyes, and Lin Chuyu exclaimed, "There's danger!"
She immediately stopped and looked around, but aside from the mist, there was no sense of danger anywhere.
This trunk, over ten feet wide, extended several branches. Lin Chuyu felt as if she were walking on a giant tree. The branches that extended out were bare and lifeless. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to move forward, but at this point, she could no longer see the backs of the villagers.
Lin Chuyu murmured to herself, "Where did they go? I only delayed for a moment; they couldn't have left me behind."
Driven by curiosity, she didn't turn back. Just as she was about to move forward again, Ji Zichen appeared behind her with a serious expression. "We can't go any further!"
Ji Zichen's voice suddenly rang out from behind her, startling Lin Chuyu and making her hair stand on end. But upon seeing Ji Zichen, her heart calmed down. "Brother Ji, where have you been?"
Ji Zichen replied with an expressionless face, "Listen, this is the Rong Tree King! It is devouring the villagers."
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