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墨書 Inktalez
The words formed by "a" and "g" seemed endless, as if we were pulling the entire Oxford Dictionary out, word by word. Even if the four of us worked tirelessly for half a month, we might not finish.
What was even more frustrating was that these foreigners loved to add prefixes and suffixes to names, such as place names, district names, titles, and even self-indulgent terms like "dear," "esteemed," and "noble." If we encountered some obscure and specialized terms, the Oxford Dictionary might not cover them completely. So, the path of guessing meanings could basically be abandoned.
Of course, it was impossible to use special symbols for guidance. Firstly, marking would be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly; no one would write guiding symbols in gold ink. Secondly, such markings would be too conspicuous, which would hinder the team's stealth.
Just when everyone was at a loss, A Li suddenly said, “I think I’ve seen this symbol before.”
I quickly asked, “Where did you see it?”
A Li sighed, “In an English book at our school library. It didn’t appear in the book itself but was annotated in pencil on the side of the page. At that time, I thought to myself who had such poor manners to not erase it properly, so it left a deep impression on me.”
I asked, “Do you remember the name of that book? Or can you recall how this string of English characters was clearly written?”
A Li thought for a moment but shook her head, looking quite dejected; clearly, she couldn’t remember anything.
I comforted her, saying, “It’s okay; just let us know when you remember.”
The senior sister was a few years older than us and handled things with her own sense of measure and grace. She didn’t lash out at A Li and didn’t press on with their previous unpleasantness. Perhaps this was what set her apart from ordinary schemers; she could always manage her attitude, calculations, anger—everything—with ease. It was precisely this quality that made it impossible for me to hate her no matter how cunning her schemes were.
At that moment, Old Qiao said, “Everyone, since our discussion about special symbols has hit a bottleneck, why don’t we set it aside for now and continue searching for an exit? First of all, the air here is limited and may not last much longer; if toxic gas comes up, we’re all done for. Secondly, Boss Sun and the others are currently missing; they might be trapped somewhere waiting for us to rescue them! Of course, it would be better if nothing were wrong. In short, our immediate priority is not to identify the builder of the Ancient Guge Silver Eye but to keep ourselves alive so we can continue contributing our light and heat to the modernization of our Great Motherland.”
My junior brother patted my back and stood up from the ground. “Then why waste any more words? We can wait, but Motherland cannot! Let’s go!”
At this point, the senior sister said, “Wait a moment. There are at least nine thousand corpses here. If we don’t take any protective measures soon, we’ll be consumed by Corpse Poison before long. Corpse Poison mainly gathers in the heads of corpses; only by sealing Sha Blood in the center of the forehead can we effectively stop the spread of Corpse Poison.”
I asked, “What is Sha Blood?”
Old Qiao immediately said, "Sha Blood is just the blood of livestock. But where are we going to find a living animal right now?"
Everyone fell silent at once. This place felt like an unknown hell on earth, where those inside could not escape, and those outside could not enter. It was impossible to conjure up a livestock out of thin air. Tens of thousands of Gan Shi were coldly "watching" us, and our fate would be the same as theirs.
The pressure of impending death hit us like a sudden storm at sea, tightly surrounding us. Each person's face turned ashen, especially when we saw the rows of Gan Shi sitting upright in the Buddha Cave. The thought that we would soon become like them filled us with a heavy sense of dread, as if a giant stone were pressing down on our hearts.
At that moment, I suddenly had an idea and said, "Livestock? Do we count?"
My senior sister shot me a look of disbelief, regarding me as if I were an idiot. Old Qiao sighed, and the clouds on his face lightened somewhat due to the absurdity of my question. Of course, I knew it was an extremely foolish question, but if it could lighten the mood, why not?
My junior brother hooked his arm around my neck and excitedly said, " Senior Brother, I think this idea isn't bad! Humans' ancestors were originally apes; being livestock isn't too far off. Evolved to this point, we're just advanced livestock; it might even be more useful! Why don't you try giving two ounces of blood first?"
I replied, "No thanks. Our Chinese Nation has a long-standing tradition of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young. This kind of attention-seeking endeavor should be undertaken by you first! History and the people will remember your name; your deeds will be immortalized like the People's Hero Monument!"
My junior brother immediately understood my meaning and was about to banter back when suddenly a violent gasp echoed from the Buddha Cave, followed by a grunt.
He instinctively touched his neck and exaggeratedly mouthed, "It's a Frugivorous Civet!" Then he froze for a second and whispered with an even more exaggerated expression, "A living animal!"
Everyone immediately grasped the implication; the gloom on their faces lifted as excitement surged through us like an adrenaline rush. We followed the sound and found an inconspicuous Buddha Cave beside the Ancient Guge Silver Eye, where a Brown Spotted Civet lay.
Perhaps stimulated by the flashlight's beam, the Brown Spotted Civet lifted its head from the ground. It had taken quite a fall; its left cheek was covered in dark bloodstains, its nose flattened as it gasped heavily. Its once shiny black eyes were now stained dark red with congealed blood. After drifting for a moment, they suddenly fixed on us.
It seemed this poor creature had not escaped the all-consuming Black Cloud Abyss either; it had fallen along with its sacrificial offering to the Ancient Guge Silver Eye. It just happened to land on the statue and was knocked unconscious before being drawn into that strange force within the Buddha Cave.
Recalling the sucking force, I reminded everyone to stay vigilant about these empty Buddha Caves.
Old Qiao said, "This is a help to me! Now we have both the livestock and the Sha Blood! This Mao Mouse can serve us, and it counts as atonement for its sins. By reducing the bloodthirstiness on it, we can lessen some of the debts of human lives. We need not be overly concerned. Amen!" With that, he solemnly pointed to his chest in various directions, then crossed his fingers and held them at his chest, closing his eyes and bowing his head in sincere prayer.
His junior brother asked curiously, "Old Qiao, when did you convert to Christianity?"
After finishing his prayer, Old Qiao kept his fists clenched and head bowed, only opening his eyes to glance sideways at his junior brother. "When under a roof, one must bow their head. I’m just going along with local customs. Dui Er Brothers, you should hurry and pray too; be sincere."
Upon hearing this, his junior brother found it quite reasonable and hurriedly imitated Old Qiao's earlier actions, mumbling, "Almighty Lord, great Jesus! May you bless us with promotions and wealth, and grant us longevity!"
His senior sister shot them a sidelong glance. "Hmph, fence-sitters!"
At that moment, the Brown Spotted Civet had completely regained consciousness and was climbing towards the Ancient Guge Silver Eye's arm along the Buddha Cave. Although the strange suction force within the Buddha Cave was fierce, it was not enough to trap a conscious person or animal with strong limbs. Those who had already been meditating in the Buddha Cave—like Gan Shi—either died when they fell from the Black Cloud Abyss or were like Old Qiao and his companions, teetering on the edge of life and death. If we hadn't discovered them in time and rescued them, they would have ended up like those Hei Pi Lao Gui, becoming specimens.
I said, "This Brown Spotted Civet is indeed despicable, but its crimes do not warrant death. After all, it’s because we acted unfairly first by taking its offspring (I’ve always thought it was paired with the Black-Furred Civet). The two of them took turns retaliating against us; it’s only fair now that we ask it for some blood. We cannot harm its life again; otherwise, it would truly be repaying kindness with enmity—a grave sin! Even if we manage to leave alive in the end, our hearts will never find peace. Here’s what I suggest: I’ll go up first to distract it, then we’ll figure out how to catch it. We can tie it up with rope and take a little blood from it. Once we find an exit, we’ll take it along with us."
His senior sister and A Li both agreed without objection.
I pulled out the knife from the side of my flashlight as a tool for securing my position and was about to go up when I looked up—damn it! The Frugivorous Civet was nowhere to be seen. (To be continued.)
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