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墨書 Inktalez
After a brief rest at the foot of the hill, Mai Lao looked up at the sky and said, "We need to set off; it's about to rain again. Please remember our website." Just as he finished speaking, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening thunderclap that shook the entire island.
When the lightning flashed, I caught sight of a shadow standing atop the highest peak. In that moment, I could see his disheveled hair—it was the Shriveled Old Man.
He had returned to the summit; that old ghost was remarkably quick. Without any of us noticing, he had already reached the highest point. Could it be... that place is his home? It seemed that there was information I sought on that peak, possibly the key to unraveling the secrets of this island.
The wind grew stronger, making it difficult to keep my eyes open. It looked like rain was imminent. We braced ourselves against the gusts and began climbing up the slope.
"Everyone, watch your step and keep an eye on those around you," Mai Lao called from the front, frequently reminding us.
We helped each other up; while the slope wasn't particularly steep, it was quite slippery. There was no grass on the slope—just yellow earth and mud. The path was relatively flat, with fewer pits and depressions.
Even so, several times we nearly slipped down. Thankfully, the slope wasn't very high; otherwise, we could have been in serious trouble.
After a struggle to climb up, we finally made it to the top of the slope. Once we reached it, we had truly arrived at the base of the towering peak before us, which loomed like a giant reaching for the sky. We felt incredibly small in comparison.
Every time I looked up, I had the unsettling feeling that the old man's cat-like eyes were watching us. From this slope to the mountain ahead would still take a little while to traverse; this area was vast and open, almost devoid of any vegetation.
In between was a narrow path flanked by barren land that felt completely out of place compared to the previous jungle scenery—it was far too desolate here.
On the left side of the path, I could vaguely make out some mounds of earth. I couldn't tell if it was an illusion or not; without moonlight tonight, visibility was poor. The right side was flat and mostly level ground.
"It's so quiet here; it's downright eerie," Jenny said beside me, sounding a bit frightened.
"This Demon Island has always been quiet. There isn't even a blade of grass around. Everyone stay alert; something feels off," I thought uneasily. This place looked unwelcoming—far worse than the previous jungle.
Jiao Ba turned on his flashlight and scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, his tone shifted to one of shock as he exclaimed, "Oh my God! This... this is actually a huge Cemetery."
Cemetery? Jiao Ba's words startled me. With his flashlight beam illuminating the area, I realized that those rows of mounds on the left were indeed Tomb Mounds, each marked with a gravestone in front of them.
The vast expanse of the graveyard stretched endlessly before us, with thousands of Tomb Mounds closely packed together. It was an enormous cemetery, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I could hardly have imagined that so many dead were buried beneath this mountain.
"What the hell is this place?" I exclaimed. How could there be so many Tomb Mounds on this deserted island? They were arranged neatly and planned meticulously, far from the so-called 'chaotic' burial grounds.
Jiao Ba whispered in my ear, "The entire island's Yin Qi must be emanating from here. It's now certain that this island is indeed home to a large number of dead."
"You’re right. No wonder this deserted island never sees the sun. With so many dead, the Yin Qi is incredibly heavy. But I never expected that so many people would be buried on a deserted island."
I had been puzzled earlier; Jiao Ba kept insisting that there were many dead here, yet we hadn’t seen a single corpse along the way. Now it seemed obvious—there was no need to search further; all the dead must be right here.
Everyone was stunned. No one had anticipated this. Initially, we thought it was just a deserted island, but now it was clear that it was anything but. This vast graveyard surely had its own story to tell.
Jenny stammered, "What... what a huge graveyard! I have a bad feeling about this; danger is getting closer. We need to find a way to leave here quickly."
Big Guy said nervously, "My goodness, is this place inhabited by savages? Otherwise, why would there be so many graves?"
Jiao Ba sneered, "Your imagination is quite rich. Do you really think savages would erect tombstones? That's utterly ridiculous."
"Mai Lao, what’s going on with these mounds?" I turned to Mai Lao and asked.
"I don’t know. This is beyond my expectations. How could there be so many Tomb Mounds on this deserted island?" Mai Lao looked just as stunned, his tone shifting.
Big Guy's voice trembled as he said, "This place is too eerie. What should we do?"
"Bro, can you keep it down? This isn’t the time to be scared," I said, patting his chest to calm him down.
Changshan then spoke up, "With so many graves here, it means many people are buried here. Could it be…"
"What is it? Just say it!" Jenny urged impatiently.
"It is a curse, the curse of the undead." After Changshan finished speaking, he intentionally glanced at Jiao Bayi.
"What kind of curse is that? My goodness, what kind of place is this?" Jenny was so anxious she was almost pacing back and forth.
Li Xin comforted her, saying, "Jenny, don't panic. Let's listen to what the others have to say first."
"Brother Changshan is right. This could very well be the source of the curse. With such a vast graveyard filled with so many dead, it's no wonder this small island has such heavy Yin Qi. We just don't know where these people came from, which era they belong to, or why it has come to this now," Jiao Ba said, regaining his composure and speaking calmly.
"Maybe if we go take a look, we'll find out," Li Xin said coolly. This girl really had guts; Jenny couldn't compare at all.
Jiao Ba and I exchanged glances and then looked at Mai Lao. "How about... we go take a look? This large graveyard is indeed very strange."
Big Guy immediately said, "I think we should avoid it. What if there's danger?"
I shot him a glance. "There are dangers everywhere we've walked so far. Haven't we managed to turn peril into safety? Although it was by sheer luck, at least we're still alive. You say there's danger in that graveyard; then tell me, where is safe around here?"
Big Guy was momentarily speechless by my words, looking down at me without saying anything. "Going to take a look might be good; we need to understand the situation," Mantou said, which was rare for him since he had been in a daze since we arrived on the island.
"Alright, let's go take a look. Everyone turn on your flashlights and be careful," Mai Lao said as he led the way into the left side of the graveyard.
I tightened my grip on the makeshift spear in my hand and shook my head before following everyone else. We only had three flashlights: one for Jiao Bayi, one for Mai Lao, and now Jenny had one as well. The rest of us carried some glow sticks for emergencies.
As we slowly entered the cemetery, I felt my heart rate quicken. It wasn't fear but an indescribable sensation. This vast cemetery should have been quite spectacular; however, given the current environment, it felt eerie instead.
The tomb mounds were arranged haphazardly without any pattern but shared one common feature: they were all closely packed together. Each mound resembled a small hillock, and in front of each grave stood a wooden tombstone.
These tombstones were not large; they were narrow and simple—just broken wooden planks. From this detail alone, it was clear that those who had died here held no significant status; they were just ordinary commoners.
"My goodness, how many people are buried here? You can't even see the end!" Big Guy said with a hint of panic in his voice.
I patted him on the back and said, "It's fine. You look so fierce that even if there were ghosts, they'd be scared of you. Don't worry."
My words eased the atmosphere quite a bit. Jenny and Li Xin even managed to chuckle, and at that moment, Mantou made a joke too, saying, "Yeah, what are you afraid of? Just your old face alone could ward off evil spirits."
"I think so too," Shunzi chimed in. This time, Big Guy didn't get angry; he just smiled foolishly. But I knew very well that everyone was trying to release their inner fears. The oppressive feeling in this large graveyard was incredibly intense.
Mai Lao stopped and shone his flashlight on the tombstone in front of the mound. After examining it closely, he said, "It looks like there are some words on it. Let's see what it says."
We quickly halted as well. With the light from his flashlight, I saw that there were indeed some characters carved into the tombstone, but they were dirty and chaotic, making it impossible to read clearly.
Jiao Ba squatted down and wiped the tombstone with his hand. After observing closely, he said, "There are definitely words here, but unfortunately, the writing is completely illegible. It's probably because it's been so long and has been affected by wind and rain."
"If we can't read this one, let's check another," I suggested to Jiao Ba, indicating that he should look at a few more; we couldn't just hang ourselves on one tree.
Jiao Ba examined over a dozen tombstones in succession, but the inscriptions remained unclear. They were too blurred to make out anything specific; we could only vaguely discern that some characters were traditional Chinese characters, but what they said was beyond anyone's comprehension. The tombstones were nearly blank.
"The carvings on these tombstones are very shallow and seem quite random, as if someone had hastily scratched a few words with a small knife. If they had been properly engraved, they wouldn't be so illegible," Jiao Ba remarked while pressing his hand against the indistinct characters.
"Exactly. Not only are the characters shallowly carved, but these tombstones are also too rudimentary. It looks like none of them are intact; they're all incomplete," Mai Lao said after shining his flashlight around.
The wooden tombstones were lightly damaged around the edges but still somewhat intact. However, the worst ones had already lost half of their structure, with the other half tossed aside near the grave...
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