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墨書 Inktalez
Just after the battle ended, I felt weak and had thought it was just due to exhaustion. Little did I know, it was because of this mark...
Hu Fang noticed my dazed expression and asked with concern, "What should we do now? Should we go to the hospital?"
Li Zhisheng replied, "This is probably not something a doctor can solve. In his current state, going to the hospital would only result in getting a bottle of glucose; it won't really address the problem..."
As they discussed, I gradually felt their voices drifting further away, and my vision became increasingly blurred. I swayed slightly and was about to fall backward when Hu Fang quickly caught me. "Where else can we go?"
At that moment, a name suddenly flashed through my mind: "Death Apostle." I pulled out my phone and weakly said, "Call... find Death Apostle..."
As soon as I finished speaking, darkness enveloped me, and I lost consciousness...
...
I don't know how long it had been when I struggled to open my eyes. A blinding light shone directly into them, and I hurriedly raised my hand to shield myself. At that moment, I heard Hu Fang's voice beside me: "You're awake?"
I turned towards the sound and saw Hu Fang sitting alone by my side. Rubbing my heavy head, I asked, "Where... am I?"
Seeing that I seemed relatively unharmed, Liu Mei smiled at me. "You're at Death Apostle's place. We heard you wanted to find him, so we brought you here directly. He’s the one who treated you..."
After hearing this, I looked around and realized I was lying in the back room of the Dead Apostle Exhibition Hall, surrounded by bookshelves. I was on a makeshift "bed" made from tables.
"Where are Death Apostle and Li Zhisheng?" I asked. She smiled gently, "Death Apostle will be here soon. They went to the pharmacy to buy some gauze and alcohol to treat your wounds."
I turned my head to check the wound on my left shoulder. There were five finger-sized holes in my shirt; blood had soaked through and stained my blue jacket red. Fortunately, the wound wasn't too deep, and the blood had already coagulated, sticking my shirt to my skin. Any slight movement sent sharp pain through the injury.
Seeing me grimace as if trying to get up, Hu Fang hurriedly urged me to lie back down. "Don't get up yet; they'll be back soon to help you with your wounds."
"…He should be awake by now," came Li Zhisheng's voice from outside the door. He and Death Apostle walked in from the front room. Li Zhisheng glanced at me lying on the "bed" and said, "So you're awake! How do you feel now?"
I moved my limbs slightly and said, "Aside from a bit of pain in my shoulder, I don't feel anything unusual for now." I glanced again at the mark on my right shoulder, which had healed completely, feeling puzzled. "It has clearly healed, so why does it seem normal now?"
Seeing the doubt flickering in my eyes, Situ, who was following behind Li Zhisheng, said, "No need to look further. I've already sealed the Void Spirit for you; otherwise, you would have been lost long ago."
"Sealed the Void Spirit?" I asked in confusion. The Death Apostle pulled up a chair and sat down beside me, nodding. "That's right. If your Void Spirit weren't almost powerless right now, even with my skills, I wouldn't have been able to seal it. I never expected your Void Spirit to be so powerful..."
I was left in a fog and quickly interrupted him, "Wait a minute, does this mean I can't use the power of the Void Spirit anymore?" He replied, "Not exactly. It's just that your Void Spirit is so strong that it took me three tokens to seal it. Moreover, its power is gradually recovering; it won't be long before it breaks free from the seal and tries to take over your body again."
"In that case, why didn't you just use three tokens to seal it permanently? That would save me a lot of trouble," I said. The Death Apostle chuckled bitterly and replied, "Well, your Void Spirit can't be permanently sealed anyway; using tokens would only delay the inevitable. Besides, I don't have that many tokens on hand; I've already given you all I had, and I only have three left."
After he finished speaking, I took a pouch from my waist and handed it to him. "Here, please help me continue..." The Death Apostle did not take the pouch I offered him. "It's unnecessary. Don't you have a book that can help you? Since its effect is similar to that of the tokens, why waste such a precious item? It's just a pity..."
I thought about it and withdrew my hand, putting the pouch back into my pocket. Hearing his regretful tone, I asked, "What’s so regrettable?"
"It's a pity we couldn't find the Soul Sealing Talisman..." Upon hearing this, I momentarily forgot our original purpose for coming here and brushed off the idea that he didn't have the Soul Sealing Talisman.
Meanwhile, Li Zhisheng opened a bottle of mineral water and took out some medicine they had just bought for me. "I was worried about your wound getting infected, so I got you some anti-inflammatory medicine. You should take it first..."
After taking the medicine, they cleaned my wound with some alcohol and wrapped it up with gauze before finishing their task.
I thanked the Death Apostle and bid him farewell as I left the exhibition hall. Through this incident, I began to think that perhaps the Death Apostle wasn't such a bad person after all; he just had too many schemes and was somewhat power-hungry. This realization made me lower my guard around him—whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained unclear.
As I walked down the street, I checked the time—it was already past five in the morning. Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng had stayed up all night with me and even helped buy medicine and bandage my wounds. Feeling somewhat guilty towards them, I said, "About today... thank you for your hard work; I really don't know how to repay you..."
Li Zhisheng patted me on the back. "Look at you! Why are you being so polite? Didn't you save our lives too?" Hu Fang chimed in beside him, "Exactly!"
"Hehe, since you're saying that, let's consider us even." Feeling a bit embarrassed, I scratched my head. Just then, Li Zhisheng seemed to remember something and asked, "By the way, how did you know that woman in red was suspicious?"
Hearing him ask, I struggled to recall the events that had transpired earlier. After a moment of contemplation, I replied, "Actually, it was because of your remark about that woman resembling someone from ancient times. It made me wonder if she might have been possessed, which led me to think about her connection to our story..."
I paused for a moment before continuing, "Her village was once engulfed in flames, but why was there no unusual occurrence within a year after the fire? According to folklore, the spirit returns on the seventh day after death. Yet, nothing happened on that seventh day; instead, issues arose exactly one year later. Isn't that strange?"
Li Zhisheng nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, that does make sense. What happened next?"
"Then consider this: they were all from the same village and had no deep-seated grudges against one another. Moreover, they died in their sleep and were unaware they had been harmed. Even if they became ghosts, they wouldn't harbor much resentment and would be unlikely to return to harm their fellow villagers. Thus, I concluded that someone must have been meddling behind the scenes. The only person capable of such a deed would be the old Taoist mentioned in the story..."
I cleared my throat and continued, "As for that girl, I suspect we share similar thoughts. It's clear she doesn't possess the simplicity typical of a rural girl. In fact, I don't think her behavior is particularly reminiscent of ancient times; she simply carries an air of scholarly refinement. Perhaps she came to the village through marriage or some other reason—it's hard to say. However, there's one thing that puzzles me..."
"Hmm? What is it?" Li Zhisheng asked. "Don't you find it strange? If she was possessed, why would she tell us those things? Wouldn't that expose her?"
Hu Fang suddenly interjected, "But didn't you just say that those villagers might be good spirits? Maybe they don't want to do bad things anymore and feel that since you have the ability to help them, they want you to assist them in finding peace."
Li Zhisheng responded with surprise, "Hu Fang, weren't you previously uninterested in our discussions? What's changed?"
I thought about it and realized Hu Fang had a point. I turned to Li Zhisheng and said, "This time she might not be wrong; you shouldn't mock her." Hearing my defense, Hu Fang became a bit smug and said proudly, "Exactly!"
Afterward, we returned home around six in the morning. The three of us quickly washed up and then yawned our way back to our rooms to sleep.
Once in my room, I lay on my bed. I wasn't sure if it was because I had napped earlier or if I had something on my mind; despite being physically exhausted, I couldn't seem to fall asleep.
I tossed and turned for nearly an hour before finally getting up and retrieving the Sheepskin Book to document what had happened in Gui Tian Village.
Just as I finished writing, a burning sensation began to radiate from the mark on my hand. A fiery pain spread from my arm. I quickly rolled up my sleeve to take a look; what I saw nearly caused me to fall off my chair.
The mark was gradually fading but left behind a large indentation on my skin as if a piece of flesh had been removed. A wave of unease washed over me. "Is this the price of its growth? The mark has embedded itself into my flesh; when it disappears, will it take part of my skin with it?!"
After a while, the pain subsided, and almost half of the mark disappeared, fading from my shoulder down to my elbow. Although a large dent remained from the injury, at least I was still alive, and my soul was intact.
I put away the book and glanced at the time; it was already nine in the morning. My stomach grumbled audibly. "Well, I might as well eat something before going back to sleep..." I muttered to myself as I headed into the kitchen to rummage through the cupboards. Fortunately, Hu Fang had bought some food earlier, or I would have had to go to bed on an empty stomach.
I nibbled on a few pieces of bread and drank some milk. With something in my stomach, I felt sleepiness wash over me. Afterward, I returned to my room and flopped onto the bed, falling into a deep sleep.
...
I woke up yawning and stretching, muttering to myself, "Ah—finally feeling better." I got up and opened the door to find Li Zhisheng and Hu Fang already awake. When Li Zhisheng saw me up, he waved me over excitedly. "Come here! Come here! You have to see this..."
"What is it?" I walked into the living room and noticed that the television was broadcasting a news report. "Last night in our neighboring village, Gui Tian, a horrific murder case occurred. Eighteen residents were brutally killed, leaving the village strewn with bodies..."
Hearing this made my mind go blank. I couldn't absorb anything else from the news; all that echoed in my head were four words: "I killed someone... I killed someone... I killed someone..."
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