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墨書 Inktalez
After hesitating for a moment, I made up my mind. "Ayu, can you check which direction the Punch Stake is in?" I tried to keep my voice steady.
As Ayu looked down at the map, I took a few deep breaths. The rumors about Medical School graduates being fearless weren't entirely true; most people just got used to seeing corpses after a while. But that didn't mean it was right to rummage through graves in the dead of night out in the wilderness.
I recalled the anatomy classes back in medical school, where we would take turns cleaning up after each session. As students and teachers gradually left the dissection room, the large space would become eerily empty and lifeless. Each specimen stage lay with its body, and when I bent down to clean, I always felt like they might sit up at any moment... I would leave the door wide open, ready to escape at a moment's notice.
My drifting thoughts were abruptly pulled back by Ayu's voice. "Class leader, the map shows that if we enter from here and turn left, it should be next to a grave on the outer side."
"Let's go around from the outside and then enter from the left," A-Liang suggested.
I shook my head. "No, going around outside with so many graves could take forever. We might lose our way without any reference points, and visibility is low at night. We might not even find the Punch Stake. It's better to go straight in; I believe the instructors placed it here to test us. Cutting corners won't necessarily yield good results."
A-Liang glanced at Ayu, who remained silent. Clearly, Ayu was also apprehensive about entering among the graves, but her silence indicated her agreement with my approach.
I shone my flashlight ahead again; the will-o'-the-wisps had vanished into thin air. In the distance where the flashlight couldn't reach, there was only an abyss of darkness. I sighed. "Let's go; we have to brave this mountain of knives and sea of flames."
Unlike A-Liang, I didn't take off my gun but instead switched the flashlight to my left hand while holding a stick in my right. A rifle without bullets was less useful than a firewood stick at this moment. My only fear was snakes, so I cautiously swept through the knee-high grass as I moved forward.
After taking a couple of steps, I turned back and whispered to the two brothers behind me, "What are you waiting for? Keep up! Ayu, stay on my right; A-Liang, stay on my left. Ayu, pay attention to the surrounding terrain and compare it carefully with the map; A-Liang, keep an eye on our environment and try not to startle easily."
The two quickly nodded in agreement and fell into formation as we approached the grave mounds.
I chose to slip between two graves that were relatively far apart. Both had tombstones that were already quite worn down. I wasn't one to pry into others' affairs, so I didn't bother shining my flashlight on their names or stories; instead, I focused on moving deeper inside.
The other two brothers followed closely behind me. Just as we crossed over two burial mounds and hadn't taken more than a couple of steps, I sensed something was off about our surroundings. These two graves felt like a doorway; stepping inside made the change between inside and outside starkly apparent.
First was the sound—there was an unusual silence among the mounds. There were no background noises; even the chirping of insects from outside had faded away. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
Then there was the temperature. On summer nights, we marched with our sleeves rolled up, and by the time we reached the graveyard, we were already drenched in sweat, especially after the commotion caused by Fatty Hua. As we stepped into the mounds of graves, I felt a sudden drop in temperature; the most immediate sensation was a chill creeping over my skin.
Next came the emotions. In the dead silence of the night, I realized that at some point, the moon had hidden itself away, and there were no fireflies to be seen. The beam from my flashlight illuminated nothing but dirt mounds resembling steamed buns, and a sense of oppression settled in my heart. As time passed, anxiety began to creep in.
This place was not suitable for lingering; that was my first judgment.
I had no words. I stopped and turned to pat Ayu on the shoulder, pointing ahead. Ayu nodded slightly, holding the map and standing not far to my right, ready to lead the way.
With Ayu consulting the map and searching for our route, our progress became exceedingly slow. I tried hard not to focus on the surrounding environment, concentrating instead on Ayu while occasionally using my stick to poke at the grass beneath my feet.
A-Liang walked just a little behind me on my left, frequently shining his flashlight around. It seemed he was even more nervous than I was.
After about ten minutes and passing seven or eight grave mounds without any unusual occurrences, I felt slightly more at ease.
We should be getting close, I thought.
Just then, Ayu stopped in her tracks.
Before I could ask what was wrong, she turned off her flashlight and whispered, "There's something ahead."
Just as I feared—what you dread often comes true.
I pulled back my flashlight to shine it at my feet as A-Liang caught up from behind. I noticed he had strapped his flashlight to his gun; this guy must be really on edge.
"What’s going on?" A-Liang asked quietly.
"There’s something ahead, and the spot we’re looking for is also up there," Ayu replied, her voice tinged with tension.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know. It's behind the grave. I just shone my flashlight over there and saw something, but before I could get a good look, it darted behind the grave," came the reply.
"What should we do?" A-Liang asked.
I pointed my flashlight at the grave, which looked like an ordinary mound, without a tombstone or anything strange. However, knowing Ayu's character, she wouldn't have made a mistake.
"There's no choice; we have to take a look. We're three grown men after all." Just moments ago, I had been quietly laughing at A-Liang's caution, but now I gestured for Ayu to do the same as me—remove her gun and attach the flashlight to it for illumination. Then I fixed the bayonet onto my rifle, holding it with both hands as we formed a tactical formation and approached the grave.
As we got closer, three flashlights illuminated the area in front of the grave, but there was no sign of anything unusual; the back of the grave remained silent.
Three steps, two steps—I could see we were almost there. Still no movement behind the grave. Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I suddenly turned and rushed around to shine my gunlight!
An empty space! Nothing was there!
Just as I lowered my weapon in confusion, a shadow suddenly sprang up from behind the mound and lunged at my chest. Instinctively, I thrust my gun upward in a stabbing motion, feeling it connect. I then threw it aside.
At that moment, the other two brothers rushed over. With three flashlights shining down, we discovered that what lay on the ground was actually a wild dog. It wasn't very large, but its eyes were blood-red, and it emitted a low growl from its throat. There were bloodstains beneath it; it seemed seriously injured and wouldn't be able to attack us anytime soon. Turning back to inspect the mound again, I noticed an inconspicuous hole behind it. It appeared that this wild dog had been living there and had been startled by us, causing it to leap out and attack me.
Ayu and A-Liang raised their guns to kill it, but I stopped them. "Forget it; let's not disturb it further. Let it go. Ayu, check where we need to go."
Ayu put away her gun and examined the map for a moment before pointing behind the wild dog. "There’s an Independent Tomb over there; that should be our destination."
"Then let's go," I said as I led them around the wild dog. As we passed by it, I couldn't help but say to it, "Sorry about this; you attacked me first and I had to stab you a bit. But you shouldn't die from that—sorry again; we're leaving now."
The wild dog initially kept its gaze fixed on us, wary of our intentions. After I finished speaking, whether it understood my words or sensed our lack of malice, it turned its head away and stopped watching us.
"Heh, just a wild dog. It feels like it doesn't know how to behave like us!" A-Liang said, both amused and exasperated.
After such a commotion, the atmosphere lightened up a bit. Everyone's spirits improved as we quickened our pace towards the Independent Tomb.
There were no further surprises. Upon reaching the Independent Tomb, we found the Punch Stake. A-Liang grumbled, "Silly Instructor, why on earth did you put the damn Punch Stake here? It's just ridiculous; I can't understand what they were thinking."
Having successfully located the Punch Stake lifted my spirits. While pressing the paper card, I said, "Who cares? Let's head back and call for help! The Brothers are still waiting for us!"
Since we had found our target, there was no need to linger in the graveyard. To avoid any unnecessary complications, we chose to exit from the left side of the tomb mound and then circle back to our assembly point. I checked the time: 1:00 PM. Fortunately, after regrouping with the main team, thirty minutes of brisk marching would be enough to get back.
The three of us stepped out of the graveyard and instinctively walked a bit further until we could no longer see the tombs. We then turned parallel to their location and retraced our steps.
Ayu was leading the way, A-Liang was in the middle, and I took up the rear. We all slung our guns over our shoulders, held our Flashlights in hand, and walked briskly back. My heart gradually settled down.
We had been walking back for less than ten minutes when I suddenly felt something was off, though I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Just then, a cold wind blew from behind me. I instinctively shrank my neck and turned my Flashlight around to look. What I saw sent chills down my spine: not far behind us, at the end of the Flashlight beam, a group of people suddenly appeared! They were lined up neatly in formation, moving perpendicular to our direction, heading straight for the graveyard at a fast pace!
(To be continued tomorrow with more excitement!)
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