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墨書 Inktalez
The pond was nestled on the backside of a mountain, accessible only by a narrow path. Here, visitors were few and far between. As I approached the water's edge, I couldn't help but shiver; it was August, and outside the mountains it was quite hot, yet the temperature here was remarkably low.
The pond lay at the foot of the mountain, not very large—about the size of two basketball courts. The emerald water was opaque, revealing nothing of its depth. The surface was perfectly still, and the surroundings were eerily quiet.
I hesitated for a moment, glancing around to find no one in sight. Taking a deep breath, I admitted to myself that I had never burned Joss Paper before. It felt a bit superstitious, and I would have felt embarrassed if someone were watching.
I walked to the edge of the pond, deliberately keeping my distance. Finding a flat spot, I took out the Joss Paper and crouched down to light it with my lighter. As the paper slowly caught fire, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a gust of wind swept through, scattering the Joss Paper! It flew toward the pond, and I quickly stood up and stepped forward to grab it. In my haste, I forgot about the terrain beneath my feet; I stepped on something unstable and lost my balance, teetering dangerously close to falling into the water!
Just as I was about to plunge in, I felt a tight grip on my back! A hand caught me and pulled me back.
I turned around to see a burly man dressed in an old-fashioned uniform—likely a local farmer. I hurriedly thanked him as he looked at me with surprise. "What are you doing here burning Joss Paper?" he asked.
"Oh, a friend asked me to come pay respects to someone who has passed away."
The man squinted at me. "Who sent you here? Hmph, it seems you really don't know the legends surrounding this place."
Confused, I looked at him as he pointed to the side. "Did you not see the announcement?"
I turned my head and noticed a sign that I had missed earlier. It read: "No approaching the pond! Consequences are your own responsibility!"
The man said to me, "Come with me. That friend of yours likely has ill intentions."
I gasped in surprise. "Why?"
As the big man walked, he said, "There’s a legend about this pool. It’s said to be very old, dating back to ancient times, and it connects to hell. Every year around the Ghost Festival, some lonely souls sneak out from hell and linger in this pool, waiting for passersby to lure them into the water. Once they bend down, they essentially gain a second life. That’s why this pool is also called the Rebirth Pool. What kind of person is your friend to have you come here to burn Joss Paper at this time? It’s like telling the ghosts below that there are guests arriving!"
"Is that true?" I asked, half skeptical.
"Hahaha! Whether it's true or not, I don’t know. But I do know that you’re lucky to have met me; otherwise, you would have drowned if you fell in. This pool is as straight as a cylinder with no slope at all—it's very deep," the big man laughed ahead.
Could it be that Liang Yujie tricked me?! As I walked behind him, a chill ran down my spine. Another gust of cold wind blew by, making me shiver and involuntarily glance back.
Some leftover Joss Paper danced on the surface of the water. Suddenly, ripples spread across the calm surface of the pool, as if someone were scrambling for fallen bills!
I shuddered. Is there really such a thing as ghosts in this world?
Three days earlier.
It was late afternoon and there were many patients. After finishing with one patient, I was busy writing up their medical records when the nurse outside shouted loudly, "Hey! You can't go in there! There are others waiting behind you; you need to queue!"
The door suddenly swung open. "Dr. Ding! Hello! I have an appointment!" A sweet voice rang in my ears. I looked up and froze.
"Dr. Ding! We meet again! Don’t you recognize me?" A woman with long hair and heavy makeup approached, her long, fair legs quite eye-catching.
She smiled seductively and tossed her hair back before saying after a moment, "Oh, it’s you! Liang Yujie!" I suddenly realized; she had changed so much that I barely recognized her. The Liang Yujie before me looked like a mature woman—wearing sunglasses, with eye shadow applied, dressed in a tank top and hot pants, and carrying a bag slung over her shoulder. She looked very grown-up, completely inconsistent with her high school age.
"Hehe, it’s me."
"Well, hello, take a seat. How have you been feeling lately?"
She walked over to the sofa and sat down, crossing her legs. With a blink of her eyes, she said, "Doctor, I think your analysis is correct. Maybe it's because of my bad personality, my competitiveness, and my poor grades that I feel insecure. I always think that nobody likes me, but I keep wanting to change. So, um, about that... subconsciously, I just want to switch lives. After I fell into the water while traveling and got scared, hee hee, it was just the right opportunity to change my personality." After finishing her sentence, she adjusted her straps and glanced at me intentionally or unintentionally, seemingly checking if I was looking at her.
I stared into Liang Yujie's eyes, feeling that something was off. If during our last session I sensed something about her that felt both familiar and unfamiliar, this time it felt completely unlike her. The transformation was sudden; within a short span of time, her personality seemed to have changed entirely, and even her tone and manner of speaking had shifted significantly. Previously, I had thought it might be a case of dissociative identity disorder, but that involves multiple personalities not being aware of each other's existence. Clearly, the Liang Yujie in front of me was not experiencing that.
"Doctor..." Liang Yujie called out sweetly, pulling me back to reality.
"What about your parents?" I forced a smile.
"Why bother with them?" She pouted and pulled out her medical record from her bag. "Doctor, I don't want to go to school anymore. Can you help me get a medical leave certificate?"
I hesitated for a moment and didn't take the medical record. Instead, I asked her, "Liang Yujie, do you remember what you asked me to do last time? I did it. Do you think it was helpful?"
Liang Yujie smiled flirtatiously. "Doctor, what did I ask you to do? I can't remember."
A chill ran down my spine; there was definitely something wrong. Just as I was pondering this, someone suddenly knocked on the door from outside with a loud "knock knock knock!"
I stood up to open the door and was greeted by a bald man with a round rosy face. "Oh! Master? What brings you here?" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Haha! I'm here to pick up some Chinese medicine for a friend and thought I'd come check on you," the master said cheerfully. Even though he was retired, his voice remained booming and lively, reminiscent of the comedian Li Qi.
"Ah! Who's this?" My gaze fell behind the master where a young woman with short hair stood. She was very pretty but had a rather cold expression. About 1.65 meters tall, she was slightly shorter than me and wore sneakers. Although she also wore a tank top and shorts, my first impression of her wasn't one of sexiness but rather of competence and athleticism. The most striking detail was the bracelet on her wrist; it appeared to be made of bone and was adorned with various lengths of red spikes—truly bizarre.
"Well, this is my friend—Su Li."
"Oh. Hello!" I greeted her.
She ignored me, her eyes fixed on the open door, staring straight into the room. I turned around and noticed Liang Yujie was also looking at Su Li, her expression a bit panicked.
"Haha, just wanted to say hi. I didn't expect so many people here. Good job, keep it up!" The Master turned to leave.
Su Li grabbed the Master and whispered something in his ear.
"Ah!" The Master's smile vanished instantly. "Hmm." He responded quietly.
"Ding, come here. I need to ask you something." The Master beckoned me to follow him outside. I sighed, "Liang Yujie, sorry, I'll be right back. Wait for me." I closed the door behind me and followed the Master out.
As we reached the end of the corridor on the second floor of the clinic, I looked back and thought, huh, why didn’t Su Li follow us?
Confused, I asked, "Master, what’s going on?"
The Master slowly pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. "Have you broken any rules?"
"I..." I recalled Liang Yujie and admitted that I had started to see things from her perspective. She had stirred doubts in me about whether demons really existed. I wasn't sure if I had broken any rules; I hesitated.
Before I could respond, a sudden scream pierced the air—"Ah!" It came from my Emergency Room. I dropped everything and ran back. What was happening?
I ran back frantically, the door to the Emergency Room was open, and Liang Yujie was lying on the couch. Su Li was nowhere to be seen. What was going on? I couldn't care less about the surprised looks from other patients as I helped Liang Yujie sit up. "Wake up, Liang Yujie!" There was no response. I slapped her face lightly, but still no reaction. In a panic, I grabbed a bottle of mineral water and splashed it on her face; it would be a disaster if something happened to a patient in my Emergency Room.
Fortunately, she woke up, staring at me with vacant eyes. "Who are you? Dr. Ding? How did I end up here?"
I felt that this was Liang Yujie, or at least the original Liang Yujie.
I helped her sit up, and then my eyes caught sight of her wrist, where a red thorn was embedded right in the center. My heart skipped a beat; wasn't this the thorn from the bone bracelet that girl named Su Li wore? I pulled it out carefully; thankfully, it wasn't too deep and only bled a little. Holding the thorn in my hand, I turned to look at Liang Yujie again. She hadn't noticed anything unusual; she just looked around in confusion and then at herself, suddenly exclaiming, "Ah! Why am I dressed like this?!" She tugged at her straps forcefully.
I could only soothe her gently, leaving the door ajar as I turned to tell her, "What do you remember? Start from the beginning and tell me."
Liang Yujie held her head and said softly, "I... I only remember going on a trip, falling into the water, then being rescued and getting sick. After that, everything felt hazy; I could see things that seemed non-existent. Then I ended up here, and after that, I don't remember anything."
Indeed, Liang Yujie's current demeanor was completely different from before. If it was true what the villagers said—that Liang Yujie had been possessed—then whatever was inside her should have left now. Holding the thorn, I suspected that Su Li had done something to her. But who was Su Li? How did she know about Liang Yujie's situation?
Turning around again, aside from a few onlookers outside, there was no sign of Su Li or even my mentor. It was truly strange!
I prescribed some nerve-nourishing and calming medications for Liang Yujie and advised her to come back for a follow-up in a few days before sending her off. As I watched her leave, an inexplicable sense of unease surged within me. Suddenly, I called out behind her, "Liang Yujie, your eyeliner looks really nice."
She gasped and turned around timidly to say to me, "Doctor, are you talking to me? I never wear eyeliner."
Well, that settled my mind a bit.
On Friday, there weren't many patients, so I took out a book on neurology to read. As the afternoon approached closing time, the sky grew darker, and it looked like it was going to rain.
I casually closed the window when suddenly, someone knocked at the door. I glanced over and saw a few people standing outside. "What is it?" I asked.
"Doctor, I brought my son to see you," said a tall middle-aged man.
"Alright, come in!"
"Have a seat and tell me what's going on." I noticed a middle-aged woman leading a tall boy dressed very casually, who kept his head down. They sat on the sofa.
"Doctor, my son is in his third year of college. After coming back from summer vacation, we've noticed that he has been sleeping excessively—he sleeps for one or two hours at a time, wakes up to eat something, and then goes back to sleep! At first, we thought it was just typical for a young person during summer break, but then we realized it was more serious. He seems very lethargic; even when he wakes up, he appears dazed. We're quite worried since school is starting soon and he has an internship coming up. Today he finally woke up, so we brought him here."
"Oh? How did this relate to his trip?"
"Doctor, during the summer, we enrolled him in a summer camp. Unexpectedly, our son saved a girl from drowning there, and ever since he returned, he's been like this. Could he have caught something? We had him undergo a comprehensive physical examination today, and everything came back normal! The specialists suggested we visit a psychiatric clinic."
Sleep disorder? Or perhaps consciousness disorder? I thought to myself without dwelling too much on what his parents had said.
"Buddy, can you hear me?" I turned to ask him.
The boy kept his head down and nodded slightly.
"Do you understand what we're saying? Do you know where you are?"
"Um."
"Alright, I'll take him to the Assessment Room for an evaluation. You two wait here." I stood up and said to his parents, "Come on, Buddy, follow me."
The boy lowered his head and followed me into the Assessment Room. I closed the door and said to him, "Come, sit in the chair in front of the computer. I need to do a few scales with you."
He silently sat down, and I moved a chair next to him. I opened the assessment system and typed in the name field, "What is your name?"
There was no response, so I patiently asked again, "Buddy, what is your name?"
The boy's shoulders began to shake slightly as he leaned against my desk and looked at me. For some reason, his smile felt very strange.
"Who are you?" I hesitated. I didn't recall any odd laughter like that before; it puzzled me why it seemed funny. He slowly lifted his head, laughing as he looked at me. His gaze was both strange and familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before. He gradually spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Dr. Ding, we meet again! Don't you remember me?"
I felt a shock run through me! The pen in my hand slipped from my fingers and fell to the ground—this was truly eerie!
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