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墨書 Inktalez
As Binzi was busy organizing, I began to sort out my own belongings. Compared to Binzi, my items looked more like those of a tourist. Aside from some daily necessities, it was mostly clothes. I quickly finished packing and turned to Binzi, asking, "Are you ready?" At that moment, Binzi had already hung two neatly packed Cloth Bags around his waist and replied, "I'm ready. Just bring your ancient scroll; don't take anything else. We need to find someone." I was about to discuss our plan with him when he seemed to have everything figured out already. I could only nod in agreement and then pulled out the ancient scroll from my Luggage. Worried about it being stolen again, I tucked the scroll into my waistband and covered it with my coat.
Once we were prepared, Binzi and I left the inn and stood on the main road. I looked around, feeling a bit lost. Binzi suddenly said, "Do you remember what Lao Yang mentioned? There's a place called Baiyan Village near Zhenkang County." I replied, "I remember. Didn't Lao Yang say it was haunted?" Binzi answered seriously, "Exactly! It's because it's haunted that we need to go there; perhaps the expert Lao Yang spoke of is actually a ghost." I quickly retorted, "What evidence do you have? Don't be ridiculous!" He chuckled and said, "Did Lao Yang not go there? The ancient scroll you have contains text only understood by Void Spirits, and the script used to teach Lao Yang how to summon Void Spirits is the same. Don't you get it?" Hearing this from Binzi made me realize that he was definitely more complex than he let on, and I needed to be cautious.
To mask my doubts, I hurriedly asked him, "So what do we do next?" He touched the Cloth Bag hanging at his waist and said, "Let's assume that expert is a ghost and that Lao Yang was deceived. Would someone who has just tricked others stay in one place waiting to be caught?" I shook my head. Binzi continued, "Good! When Lao Yang was there, he was searching for ways to see ghosts and happened to hear about the hauntings in this village. Since it's rumored to be haunted, there must be something or someone attracting spirits there. So it makes sense that this so-called expert would hide in that village after deceiving Lao Yang. We're unfamiliar with this place and don’t know anyone here; therefore, we should start by investigating this object."
"Object? What object?" I asked in confusion. "Think about the name of this place: Baiyan Village. We should focus on the 'rock' aspect," he said. With that, he raised his hand and hailed a Taxi that stopped beside us. Once he got in and told the driver to take us to Baiyan Village, the driver shook his head repeatedly and refused to go. We had no choice but to get out of the car.
After several attempts at hailing different taxis, we finally offered double the fare before a driver agreed to take us. Once inside the car, I curiously asked the driver why everyone was reluctant to go there. The driver replied in a heavy Yunnan accent of Mandarin, "That place is really cursed; usually at this time there are hardly any people around. Why are you going there now?" Although I didn't fully understand him, I gathered enough context and explained that we were going for sightseeing since we heard the scenery was beautiful.
After about twenty minutes of driving, we arrived at our destination. Throughout the ride, Binzi had been staring out of the window without saying a word. Soon enough, the driver informed us that we could turn off at the next intersection for Baiyan Village. After paying him, Binzi and I got out of the car. As soon as we stepped out, the driver turned around and drove away. Looking around at our surroundings felt desolate; it seemed like we had been tricked. Just as I was about to ask Binzi about it, I noticed he had already walked over to the intersection pointed out by the driver and waved for me to come over.
When I reached his side and looked down at the intersection, indeed there was a small village nestled against the mountainside; though not large, it was quite picturesque. Binzi pointed towards a mountain behind the village and said, "Look at that mountain over there; all its exposed rocks are milky white! Plus there's a large azure stone standing in the village—we should investigate that stone." As he spoke, he started walking down towards it. Lost in admiration of the beautiful scenery, I snapped back to reality when I realized he had already walked several dozen meters ahead of me; I hurriedly chased after him.
After walking for a few minutes, we entered the village where my eyes fell upon that azure stone Binzi had mentioned earlier. "Isn't this called Baiyan Village? Why is there an azure stone standing in the middle?" I muttered under my breath but was overheard by Binzi. He explained, "That stone should actually be white; what we're seeing as azure is probably not its original color—seeing isn't always believing. Let's wait until nightfall before making any conclusions." As dusk began to settle in, we decided to find a house where we could borrow a place to stay.
To our surprise, the first house we approached welcomed us generously; an elderly lady lived there alone. Not only did she refuse any payment from us but she also insisted on cooking for us. All she wanted was someone to chat with—much more valuable than any amount of money we could offer her. We thanked her profusely and agreed that when we left, we would definitely leave her some money.
After sitting down for a while inside her home while Binzi prepared to share his plans with me, an elderly lady emerged from the kitchen carrying a large plate of steaming rice cakes. I quickly took it from her hands and placed it on the table while pulling out a chair for her so she could sit down with us as we ate and chatted.
The elderly lady introduced herself as Liu Qian; she wasn't originally from this village but had married into it later on. She shared how some quarry merchants had come through years ago looking for work opportunities; her husband went off to earn some extra money but tragically died in an accident—buried under rocks—and had never returned since then; it had been over forty years now since she last saw him. Both Binzi and I felt deep sympathy for her situation while also admiring her loyalty.
Later on, I asked about that azure stone in the village; Liu Qian revealed that it had been left behind after her husband's accident over forty years ago. Hearing this piqued my interest further so I pressed on with questions. She recounted how this village used to be peaceful until those quarry merchants arrived seeking perlite deposits which led them here eventually.
Initially unaware of any strange occurrences in their midst due to their focus on mining operations—many villagers took jobs working for them—everything changed when reports surfaced about bones being unearthed from within mountains during excavation work yet they ignored these warnings instead opting just to clear away any remains found without concern for what they might mean or imply about their activities...
One night, a villager returned from the quarry in a frenzy and, in a fit of madness, strangled his own child. Afterward, he ran to the quarry and detonated all the explosives that had not yet been set up, causing a landslide. Many villagers who were working late at night and the quarry owner's subordinates were buried beneath the rubble. Liu Qian's husband was among those who went missing at that time. An investigation followed, but since the murderer had already died, no one could be held accountable. The quarry owner was forced to take the blame and ended up losing a significant amount of money, and ultimately, the matter was left unresolved.
However, the situation did not end there. Not long after, the mad villager's wife also mysteriously disappeared, and soon after, more villagers began to vanish. One night, a child from Old Wang's Family woke up to relieve himself and witnessed an astonishing scene: two adults from the village appeared to be entranced as they lined up to jump into the village well. The child rushed to tell the adults in the village about what he had seen, but no one believed him; they thought he was possessed and asked his parents to find some shamans to ward off evil spirits and call back his soul. Unwilling to accept disbelief, the child took matters into his own hands and secretly climbed down into the well, shouting for help until some villagers came.
When they saw a child had fallen into the well, many rushed over to assist. Someone threw down a long rope with a noose for him to tie around himself so they could pull him up. Fortunately, the clever child did not pull on the rope but kept shouting that he couldn't reach it. Seeing this, one villager had no choice but to go down himself.
Once down there, he was startled by what he found: all the missing people were in the well. The villagers quickly pulled him back up and hurriedly fetched pickaxes and shovels from their homes to dig. They worked until they unearthed all the bodies. However, once they had done so, no one knew what to do next—some suggested calling upon deities for protection while others recited prayers for their souls. The crowd became chaotic with conflicting ideas. At that moment, a man stepped forward; his surname was Yin, and he was just passing through. He claimed he had a way to save the village: everyone needed to re-bury the bodies in the well, fill it in completely, and place a large stone on top. He would handle the rest. With no better options available, everyone reluctantly agreed.
Hearing this made me secretly rejoice; it reminded me of an old saying: "When you tread on iron shoes in search of something, you find it without any effort." I was happy but did not show it; I merely exchanged a glance with Binzi before continuing to eat while listening to Liu Old Lady.
Everything proceeded according to Mr. Yin's instructions. He then performed a ritual and instructed the villagers not to come out or look; otherwise, anyone who did would be doomed. Seeing his seriousness, everyone stayed indoors out of fear. Before long, they heard him shout for everyone to come out. When they emerged, they found that the white stone brought from Mountain had turned green. No one dared ask questions; Mr. Yin warned them not to look at this stone if they went out at night. After that warning, he collapsed on the ground and remained at one household in the village for recuperation. Over time, he settled there and continues to live in the village even now.
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