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墨書 Inktalez
I immediately ran to the edge of Hilltop and looked down, noticing that one of the two Flashlights had gone out, leaving only a faint flicker of light below, circling around as a distress signal!
What happened?!
I felt a surge of panic and quickly called out to everyone, hurrying down the slope of Hilltop. The brothers behind me followed closely, all worried about Fatty Hua.
At that moment, I couldn't care less about snakes. I sat down and slid down towards the glowing Flashlight.
I was the first to reach the bottom of Hilltop. I rushed straight towards the light and found Old Jia waving the Flashlight in circles—this was indeed a distress signal!
"Old Jia! Old Jia! Where's Fatty Hua?" I gasped.
"Squad Leader, you’re here?! I don’t know! I heard his voice, turned around, and he was gone. I panicked and started waving the light to alert you."
Damn it, this is bad. Where did that fat idiot run off to? The Flashlight went out; where could I search? I was both frightened and anxious, stomping my feet.
The other brothers arrived one after another, all asking about Fatty Hua's whereabouts. With no other option, I told Old Jia to stay put while we turned on our Flashlights and retraced their steps to search for him.
I led the way, shining my Flashlight and calling out his name. After walking less than thirty meters along the edge of Hilltop, I heard a noise from an open area to my right!
I quickly shone my Flashlight over there and saw something moving in the dim light, making grunting sounds.
My heart raced. Was it a wild boar? Cautiously, I stepped closer and focused my gaze—it was none other than Fatty Hua sprawled on the ground! He was groaning away. Furious and frustrated, I kicked him in the rear. "Fatty Hua, what are you doing lying here at this hour?!"
"Squad Leader! Squad Leader! Help me! I—I fell into a hole!"
I could hardly contain my anger. "So you fell into a hole—just pull yourself out! Why are you panicking? You even tossed your Flashlight away? And why didn’t you call for help? Do you know everyone is looking for you? You’re going to get someone killed!"
"Squad Leader! Squad Leader! I—I just wanted to find a place to pee when suddenly my right foot sank into something. I got scared, lost my balance, fell over, and passed out. I just woke up!"
By this time, the other brothers had also arrived, panting as they asked what had happened. I briefly explained the situation, and everyone burst into laughter despite their worries. Not knowing what else to do, I sent a few brothers to find their Flashlights and signal for assembly while I went over to pull Fatty Hua out.
"Squad Leader! Squad Leader! Be careful!" Fatty Hua said nervously.
"What’s wrong?" I asked in confusion.
"I think something is biting my foot," he replied with a quivering voice.
My heart sank. It couldn't be a snake, could it? That was my biggest fear at the moment.
I began to hesitate, but by then, the other brothers had arrived.
I looked at Old Jia, who had already made it there. "What exactly happened?"
Old Jia sighed in frustration. "I was in front, and he was behind. Who knew that while we were walking, he fell behind? Suddenly, there was a scream, and I was scared out of my wits. When I turned around, I saw half of his leg stuck in this hole. He's heavy, and I couldn't pull him out, so I had to support him to prevent him from falling in completely."
I felt even more speechless. "Fatty, can you move that leg?"
"I can."
"Do you have any feeling in it?"
"I do."
"Then that's good enough. What else could it be? It's very likely just a broken pot or something." I said impatiently and then yanked his leg hard. Fatty Hua's leg popped out of the hole with a 'thud,' and something fell to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.
"There really is something! Could it be an antique? This could be our big break!" Fatty mumbled to himself excitedly.
With keen eyes and sitting on the ground close by, he reached for it.
"Ah! Oh my god!" Before I could even see what it was, Fatty screamed again, throwing whatever he had in his hands away as if he had seen a ghost. He scrambled away, leaving his gun on the ground.
The others were startled and gathered around. A-Liang found Fatty Hua's flashlight, tested it to see if it worked, and then shone it over.
When the light hit it, we discovered that what Fatty had thrown was actually a skull!
Everyone crowded around to take a look. I squatted down to examine it closely; the skull was already yellowed with age and seemed quite old. It must have been that when Fatty stepped into the hole, he accidentally put his foot in the skull's mouth, which got stuck when he pulled back.
While the brothers debated among themselves, I used my snake stick to poke at the skull and leaned down to look into the hole. Shining the flashlight inside shocked me; there were human bones everywhere! No doubt about it—we were medical students and were quite sensitive to this sort of thing. Although many of them were yellowed with age, they still appeared as a dense mass of white under the flashlight's beam.
A chill ran down my spine. Could this be where the taxi soldiers were buried all those years ago? Seeing everyone gather around, I quickly poked the skull back into the hole and hastily pushed some dirt over it to cover it up.
"What happened? Did you find something?" A-Liang asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. It might just be the remains from someone else's past. Let's not disturb it. We should hurry and complete the assessment," I quickly replied.
With that, I immediately organized the team and led everyone away from Hilltop. Everyone was eager to leave, and after the scare, Fatty Hua lost his mood to complain about the mosquitoes, shivering as he stayed close to the group. I figured he wouldn't dare to stray from the team again, even if it meant climbing a mountain.
It seemed that for the last point, we would have to send someone to make a hole. As I thought this, I noticed Ayu slowing down to walk alongside me.
"What’s inside?" Ayu asked as we walked at the front, deliberately quickening his pace to create some distance from the others.
I lowered my voice. "It's all human bones!"
Ayu's body jolted, and his steps slowed. I quickly pulled him aside and said urgently, "There are many—I'm not sure how many. It feels like a pit filled with people; they must be your fallen warriors. I don't know if they are Japanese or ours."
"Most likely ours. The Japanese usually burn their dead and take the ashes back home," Ayu whispered.
"I think so too. Let's finish the assessment first and report back to the team; this is a significant discovery."
"Yeah, but I feel like tonight is a bit eerie," Ayu said quietly.
I shivered at his words and glanced at my watch—it was already 11:40 PM. I hurried my pace forward.
After walking for a while, I asked Ayu, "How much longer?" Ayu studied the map carefully before replying, "About half a kilometer ahead; we'll reach the burial mound."
Taking a deep breath, I stopped and clenched my right fist, signaling everyone to halt.
"The destination is just ahead. Since the area is narrow and it's hard for people to spread out, Ayu and A-Liang, you two come with me to find a spot to dig. Old Jia, keep everyone on alert here and wait for us to return."
After giving some final instructions, I felt reassured as I led my two brothers forward with flashlights in hand. Ayu walked ahead, checking the terrain while A-Liang followed closely beside me. I turned to A-Liang and asked, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
A-Liang paused for a moment before responding, "I don't believe in that stuff. I grew up in the countryside; I'm pretty tough and not scared of anything. I even used to play around graveyards at night."
"Good! A-Liang, looks like you'll get another chance to play tonight," I said lightly.
A-Liang looked puzzled. "Does that mean our destination is...?"
"Yes, it's right in front of us among the graves. We need to find it," I interrupted him calmly.
A-Liang fell silent, but I noticed him shifting his gun from his back to his hands, casually attaching the Bayonet as well.
He was still a bit nervous. What was the Bayonet for? Stabbing ghosts? I felt a chuckle rising, but it didn't seem appropriate in this situation.
As I was looking down to check my watch, I suddenly heard, "Squad Leader, we're here!" "Squad Leader, Will-o'-the-Wisp!" Ayu and A-Liang both whispered at the same time.
I quickly looked up and froze. Under the beam of the flashlight, less than ten meters ahead of us stood numerous graves in disarray. Some had tombstones in front of them, some did not, and others were left with only half a stone. Among the graves floated several clusters of blue flames—A-Liang's Will-o'-the-Wisp.
Scattered among the graves were a few trees I couldn't identify; it was hard to see clearly. A gust of wind blew through, causing the leaves to rustle ominously.
I glanced at my watch; the luminous hands pointed directly at twelve o'clock. The atmosphere felt strange, and I began to feel an inexplicable tension rising within me.
Faced with the graves, should we advance or hold back?
(To be continued, more exciting content tomorrow!)
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