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墨書 Inktalez
The door to the room was kicked open, and I was mentally prepared; even if a Vengeful Spirit jumped out at me, I wouldn’t be afraid.
However, there was nothing inside the room—only an incense burner and a stick of incense that was slowly burning, emitting a strange scent. I immediately covered my nose, recalling that I had ended up in this bizarre place because I inhaled the incense given to me by Wang Cuihua's father.
The room was eerily quiet. Long Nan and I exchanged glances.
I walked toward the incense burner. After taking a couple of steps, the burner suddenly trembled with energy, and then a dark hole appeared out of nowhere. My hand brushed against the black void, and before I knew it, I was sucked into it with a whoosh. My head spun, and then I lost track of where I was.
My head throbbed painfully, and my eyelids felt heavy. I struggled to open my eyes; everything was pitch black. I kept trying until, in the darkness, I could finally make out some shapes.
I forced myself to move my fingers and head, managing to sit up. My arm hurt a bit, so I looked down and saw a needle sticking into my arm, as if something were being injected into my bloodstream. I pulled out the needle and rubbed my head.
The air had a foul stench.
I rubbed my eyes vigorously, but it was still too dark around me; all I could see were vague shadows.
At that moment, footsteps approached from outside. Startled, I quickly lay back down and tucked the needle under my arm.
With a loud whoosh, a massive door swung open nearby, letting sunlight flood in and illuminating the room.
I squinted against the brightness and followed the rays of sunlight with my gaze. Then it hit me—I realized I was lying in a huge warehouse. Beside me were hundreds of people sprawled on the ground like me; each one had a needle in their arm connected to saline bottles that were clearly homemade since they bore no labels.
As the door opened wider, Wang Cuihua entered, accompanied by a young man.
"Brother, check the nutrient solution above. I want to see who else has died," Wang Cuihua said, her tone practiced as she began inspecting from the far left where Long Nan was.
I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. I wasn't afraid of Wang Cuihua or the young man; I just wanted to see what they were up to.
Wang Cuihua had no doubts about me. In fact, she seemed quite skilled at this; she moved quickly, glancing over each person to determine if they still had any life left in them.
Wang Cuihua and the young man walked deeper inside, checking on the people below and the nutrient solutions above.
I opened my eyes. I was near the warehouse door, so I felt safe. I sat up slightly and looked inside. The sight made my scalp tingle; all the people on my right were nothing but skin and bones, suspended by nutrient solutions, lying in eternal slumber. They were more like corpses than humans!
Corpses!
As I realized what the nutrient solutions were for, my scalp prickled with horror; they were clearly meant to sustain these people's lives!
"This person is already dead. Move him out," Wang Cuihua instructed.
The young man walked over and lifted a corpse out, tossing it aside at the edge of the warehouse. It was a female corpse, so emaciated that she probably weighed no more than thirty pounds. The young man threw her down carelessly before moving on to check others for signs of life.
I widened my eyes, feeling my stomach churn as I speculated why they were doing this. Soon enough, I thought of it: these people must be those I encountered in that strange world—people like Wang Dong.
While I was still pondering this, suddenly Qin Hai beside me began coughing violently. He slowly opened his eyes, and Long Nan next to him also awoke, crawling up from the wooden floor.
Hearing the cough, Wang Cuihua and her brother jumped in surprise and quickly turned to look at us three in alarm.
I pulled out the nutrient needles from Qin Hai and Long Nan, and then we all stood up together.
Wang Cuihua felt a bit at a loss, while her brother shouted loudly, "Dad! Dad! Come quickly, three people have woken up! Hurry, bring the gun!"
As soon as I heard "bring the gun," I immediately looked at Long Nan.
Long Nan was disheveled; in reality, we were all just wearing simple white hospital gowns. Long Nan touched her body and realized she didn't even have her bra on. Her face flushed as she said, "They took my gun."
Qin Hai chimed in, "My gun is gone too."
I quickly urged, "Let's escape first and then request backup."
The three of us dashed out of the warehouse. The sunlight outside was quite intense. We had no idea how long we had been in that strange world. Once we ran out of the warehouse, we realized we were right at Wang Cuihua's home—the courtyard from the Qing Dynasty. We sprinted toward the entrance.
At that moment, footsteps echoed behind us, followed by the sound of a handgun safety being disengaged.
"Curve run!" Qin Hai shouted and jumped to the side.
I quickly zigzagged as well.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out behind me, and a bullet ricocheted off the door frame next to me, chipping away a piece of it.
We burst through the main gate, and outside were police cars. The three of us immediately took cover behind one of them.
The car keys weren't on us. Qin Hai picked up a rock and smashed it against the police car's window with force. Then he pressed a button inside, and the trunk popped open. To our surprise, there was a shotgun inside!
Qin Hai picked up the shotgun and stood up, pointing it at the doorway.
Soon, Wang Cuihua's father emerged, trembling and holding a gun. He froze for a moment upon seeing Qin Hai's weapon, speechless.
Qin Hai did not pull the trigger.
From the side, Long Nan shouted, "What are you doing, Wang? Those corpses are local villagers, right?"
Wang Cuihua's father merely sneered. "Knowing too much is not good for you. You all better obediently follow me back to that twisted world; otherwise, you will die!"
With that, Wang Cuihua's father raised his handgun, preparing to shoot at Qin Hai again.
Qin Hai squeezed the trigger. With a loud bang, a burst of flames erupted, and Wang Cuihua's father's right arm was blown off completely, sending his gun flying from his hand.
Seeing this, Long Nan rushed forward to pick up the fallen handgun.
At that moment, instead of showing fear, Wang Cuihua's father began to cough and laugh. He coughed violently and then seemed to expel his own lungs from his body. Slowly raising his head to look at us, he chuckled eerily as his body began to age rapidly, chunks of decaying flesh falling away.
I was startled. Was he turning into a zombie? I shouted, "Sister Long, come back! Be careful!"
It was Long Nan's first time witnessing such a scene; she quickly ran back toward us.
Qin Hai cocked the shotgun again and fired a shot at Wang Cuihua's father's head, shattering it completely and splattering putrid blood everywhere.
The stench of decay filled the air, making me feel nauseous.
At that moment, the originally misty white suddenly turned dark and shadowy. A mass of shadow shot out from Wang Cuihua's father's body with a swift motion, so large that it overshadowed all of us.
Qin Hai shouted and quickly hid in the car, while Long Nan also climbed inside.
I stared at the enormous shadow, swallowed hard, and then climbed onto the vehicle, pulling out my Peach Wood Sword and Black Dog Blood.
The shadow slowly coalesced, eventually taking the form of an old man over three meters tall. Above Xiangwa Village, everything was engulfed in darkness, creating a terrifying atmosphere.
"Is he... a Taoist?" The ghostly figure saw me holding the Peach Wood Sword and buzzed ominously before sneering, "In my lifetime... I have always hated Taoists!"
I glared at the Old Ghost. Though fear gripped me, I still asked, "Who exactly are you? Did you create that world?"
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