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墨書 Inktalez
The female teacher fell silent for a few seconds, her gaze fixed on the makeup exam score sheet. She wrote something next to Jiang Jie's name, her face showing a hint of hesitation. She held the pen tightly; with just one stroke, she could change everything. That single mark could allow a senior to graduate smoothly.
The teacher did not answer his question directly but told him, "I will report your situation to the school."
The man let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Can I even wait for a conclusion? It's already the third, and the school will soon open for registration. I won't make it in time."
The teacher offered him a few words of comfort.
Jiang Jie stood outside, having overheard the teacher mark her makeup exam as a failure. She lacked the courage to push open the door and enter.
Feeling lost, she returned to her dormitory, contemplating how to explain this to her father. She felt utterly ashamed of herself.
After the activation, the entire school entered a lockdown state. Students complained bitterly about their fate, but she remained surprisingly calm. In fact, she thought it might be better this way—avoiding those she didn’t want to face felt somewhat liberating.
However, she hadn’t anticipated that she couldn’t escape reality after all.
She reflected on what had gone wrong and pondered deeply until suddenly everything clicked into place.
Why had her card turned blank at this moment? Why was she the only one among the messengers who needed to rely on a camera to use the Messenger Tool? Why had she become a messenger?
She looked at Tan Ming and said, "I know who the culprit is!"
"Who?"
Her tone was too certain; Tan Ming knew that Jiang Jie wouldn’t say such things unless she was absolutely sure.
"Office," she began but didn’t have time to finish before the system's voice interrupted again: "Disciplinary Action: The messenger mistakenly killed the False Messenger, triggering an emergency report."
"False Messenger?" Fan Xiaonan mumbled.
"What on earth is a False Messenger?" Qi Qiuluo asked.
"Zhang Liu," someone remarked, "but he’s definitely not the culprit."
"Not the culprit?" Shen Jianghuan looked at Jiang Jie with guilt in his eyes.
"I was too impulsive!"
As soon as the system finished speaking, messengers began collapsing one after another. Their consciousness was controlled by the system, and scenes flashed through their minds.
Shengnan City, Huixian, Luohua Village.
A man in his teens pushed open a wooden door. His face was lined with age, worry etched deeply into his features, and his hair was streaked with gray. Following him was eighteen-year-old Jiang Jie.
At that time, Jiang Jie’s hair only reached her shoulders, and she appeared far less composed and mature than she did now. She stepped inside behind the man.
The courtyard was desolate, overgrown with weeds and tangled with dry vines, leaving no place to set foot. The house was surrounded by a thick wall, so Jiang Jie had passed by countless times without ever knowing what lay within.
The brick house, weathered by time, was covered in a thick layer of moss. Neglected and battered by the elements, half of its three rooms had collapsed. To the right stood an unfinished earthen kitchen, opposite which was a cattle shed made of thatch.
A large hole gaped in the roof of the shed, left unrepaired. On rainy days, water poured in through the opening, pooling in a stone trough below. The trough contained a layer of yellowish water about an inch deep, with dry yellow stains marking where the water had receded. The bottom of the trough was coated in soft, muddy grime.
“Dad.” Jiang Jie called out softly to the man ahead of her.
“Xiao Shu, do you know where this family has gone?” he asked, brushing dust off his arms as he sat on the only stone bench in the yard.
Jiang Jie shook her head.
The man gazed at the dilapidated house and reminisced: “This family’s surname is Wang. They had a pair of children; both parents were honest and hardworking people. Over a decade ago, they were among the first in the village to build a brick house. Everyone envied them, saying the Wang family was blessed. Later, their daughter got into university—she was the first from our village to do so.”
“But do you know what happened to them later?”
Jiang Jie shook her head but then nodded; she had heard people in the village talk about the Wang family.
“In the end, they all died,” he continued. “I remember seeing their older sister when I was young; she was very beautiful.”
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