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墨書 Inktalez
Driving from the city to the infamous Suburban Haunted House took over an hour, even without traffic and with all green lights. Xin Yi watched as the concrete jungle transformed into a landscape filled with trees, and he couldn’t help but feel that this suburb was underdeveloped. He maintained a dismissive attitude towards this so-called "Top Five Haunted Places in the City," viewing it as nothing more than superstition. His upbringing had instilled in him a disbelief in ghosts or deities; to him, death meant the end of existence, leaving no room for notions of past lives or reincarnation.
So when he heard from Song Buxian that his younger brother had decided to skip work during his break to explore this Haunted House, he immediately thought that the kid must not be a good influence. On the way to pick him up, Xin Yi mentally rehearsed what he would say to persuade Song Bunan to stay away from such bizarre activities.
After parking the car on a narrow road where no closer approach was possible, he called Song Buxian to ask whether he should go in or wait for him to come out. A soft voice on the other end asked him to hold on for just a moment as he would be out shortly.
The voice sounded youthful and slightly clingy—not in an unclear manner, but rather as if they were familiar with each other despite the politeness in their speech. Xin Yi waited by the car, lighting a cigarette while observing his surroundings filled with poplar trees and low shrubs. The path leading to the old house could hardly be called a road; uneven stone slabs were haphazardly laid among the bushes, creating a rough opening. If it weren't for a nearly weathered sign at the entrance reading "Dragon Garden," finding this place would have taken much longer.
Dragon Garden? That name sounded somewhat familiar. After extinguishing his cigarette in the car's ashtray, Xin Yi tried to recall where he had heard of it. Although it was now suburban, about twenty years ago, this area had been a villa district. Many wealthy individuals bought properties here as vacation homes, and the famous Long Family had even purchased land meant for new villas and built themselves quite a castle instead. The low shrubs must have been planted back then and had since grown wildly.
Song Bunan didn’t keep him waiting long. Xin Yi heard rustling from the bushes and looked up just in time to see a young boy with a backpack running out. The boy clearly hadn’t stopped running; when he reached the car, he bent over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily as sweat dripped down his forehead like rain.
“Sorry for making you wait… It’s a bit far, and I can’t run fast,” he gasped, struggling for breath. Xin Yi could hear wheezing sounds coming from his chest. He retrieved some paper and water from the car; when Song Bunan thanked him, Xin Yi noticed large bruises and scabs on his arms.
“What happened to your arm?” This question made Song Bunan look up. Perhaps due to exhaustion from last night’s activities, he felt discomfort returning after just a short run. After being asked about his arm, he glanced at it and replied, “I don’t know; I probably bumped into something last night. It’s not serious; I’ll just put some medicine on it when I get home. By the way, you’re Xin Yi, right?”
After confirming his identity, Song Bunan leaned against the car as he walked over to the passenger side but felt dizzy just as he was about to open the door. Thinking it was due to lack of sleep, he simply sat down in the back seat instead.
Xin Yi wasn’t one for small talk; seeing that Song Bunan looked exhausted, he handed him a pillow from the front seat. “Use this.”
Lying back in the rear seat, Song Bunan felt increasingly dizzy. Besides the pain in his chest, his back began acting up too. Habitually reaching back to touch it confirmed his fears—his hand found something wet. Frowning through his dizziness, he tried to pull out his phone but couldn’t manage due to trembling hands. He leaned against the seat and said, “Xin Yi Brother, can you help me with something?”
Hearing something off in Song Bunan’s voice from the back seat made Xin Yi pull over and look back. He saw that within moments, Song Bunan’s face had turned pale; his lips lost all color as blood stained his fingers gripping the seatback. Rushing into the back seat to check on him, Xin Yi urged him not to move while trying to help him lie down but was met with resistance.
“I can’t lie down. Xin Yi Brother, take me to City Third Hospital and find Doctor Jiang Xiaoyan for me. Then call my brother and tell him my back is acting up again… I’m dizzy and my hands are shaking; I can’t use my phone right now…”
After delivering Song Bunan to the hospital, Xin Yi saw terrifying wounds on his back: pale skin marred by scars left from healed injuries—several raised scars crisscrossed across his back with some splitting open at their connections to his skin where dried blood pooled in their crevices. The doctor cleaned them up gently only for Song Bunan—who had passed out in the car—to shiver slightly at the sting of alcohol on his wounds.
The doctor was relatively young; after settling Song Bunan into a hospital room, she instructed Xin Yi to turn him onto his stomach. At that moment, Song Buxian walked in and greeted Doctor Jiang before being cut off by her reprimanding tone: “Is this how you take care of your brother? You don’t know what condition he’s in? It’s bad enough that his wounds are splitting open; how could you let him catch a cold and develop a fever? If this continues, I’ll call your parents!”
Standing beside Song Bunan supporting his face so he wouldn’t suffocate against the pillow, Xin Yi listened in shock—they seemed very familiar with each other. Meanwhile, Song Buxian stood behind the doctor with an expression of helplessness mixed with despair: “He went out playing by himself; I couldn’t reach him all night until now! What could I do?”
“Making excuses now?” The doctor shot an irritated glance at Song Buxian before turning back around while Song Bunan stirred awake on the bed with a soft groan as if realizing where he was. Xin Yi felt a cold hand gently grasping his wrist; looking down at Song Bunan’s flushed face from feverishness smiling up at him made him feel oddly warm inside as he leaned closer.
“Xin Yi Brother,” he said softly, “I’m fine lying like this; you don’t need to hold me up anymore—thank you.”
This child smelled faintly of milk; his chubby cheeks looked delightful enough to pinch. As Xin Yi gently withdrew his hand and started moving toward the door of the hospital room, he heard Song Bunan say cheerfully to Doctor Jiang: “Aunt Jiang, I’m back again.” The boy chuckled before letting out an “ow,” likely from being playfully smacked on the head by her.
“Still laughing? Do you know you have a fever? Your wounds aren’t too serious this time; Auntie will bandage them up and then you can go home with your brother after sleeping for a bit. The weather has been unpredictable lately—no running around!”
As they chatted in the ward, Song Buxian quickly pulled Xin Yi outside and leaned against the wall looking relieved yet exhausted. Xin Yi felt queasy just thinking about those wounds and asked what had happened.
Song Buxian shook his head: “He has had issues since childhood; no matter where we went over these years nothing improved—it keeps splitting open like this! Catching a cold and developing a fever must be because he went exploring last night in that chilly suburb; once he recovers from this illness I’ll definitely give him an earful! You’ve been through quite an ordeal too—go home and rest! I’ll wait here for him.”
The suggestion of resting at home was declined as Xin Yi sat beside him on a bench outside of the ward feeling strangely preoccupied with Song Bunan’s smiling face when he said thank you earlier. Rubbing his fingers together still feeling their softness, Xin Yi asked: “Does your brother often go exploring?”
Leaning back casually against the chair's backrest, Song Buxian shook his head: “That little rascal hasn’t explored anywhere—he hasn’t even been to any Haunted Houses! I don’t know what got into him this time that made him suddenly want to run off into that house in suburbia! My parents are away right now; when they come back they’ll either kill me or make my life miserable knowing about this! Luckily they won’t be back for another two months—I have time to find something for that little rascal to do…”
"I need an assistant. Are you willing to let him come?" Xin Yi's words made Song Buxian sit up straight, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he scrutinized him from head to toe. Xin Yi knew that the next words out of his mouth would not be pleasant, and he quickly added, "It's perfect since he's already in the company; you can keep an eye on him without anyone saying you're giving your brother special treatment."
"The company is all mine. Even if I opened the front door, there wouldn't be any issues. But you!" Song Buxian flashed a strange smile and raised an eyebrow at him. "How many assistants have you scared off because of Picky? If you bring that little thing over, will I even get to see his whole corpse? By the way, why are you suddenly so concerned about my brother? You just met him today."
After that, he watched as Xin Yi reverted to his usual unyielding demeanor at work and replied seriously, "He's quite polite and shouldn't be too dumb."
Song Buxian couldn't help but mock him without restraint: "You're mistaken; what he lacks the most is brains."
Song Bunan, upon learning that his brother had sent a friend to pick him up, immediately informed the boy about it. The boy nodded and said, "The entrance you came through is just past Ze Li; you can go straight there."
After sincerely thanking him, Song Bunan smiled and introduced himself, "I'm Song Bunan, 23 years old. What about you?"
The boy raised an eyebrow and handed over his phone, displaying a QR code. "I'm Xiao Mei. Let's add each other on WeChat; come hang out often."
After happily adding Xiao Mei on WeChat and saving his contact under that name, Song Bunan intended to chat a bit more. However, he received a call saying the car had arrived outside. Xiao Mei smiled and said, "Go ahead; just leave me the flashlight."
As Song Bunan grabbed his bag and dashed toward the door, he waved goodbye to Xiao Mei outside the small room but caught a glimpse of a shadow behind Xiao Mei inside.
It was just a fleeting image that Song Bunan dismissed as a trick of the light. He hurried down the stone path without hearing Xiao Mei say to the room behind him, "It's useful."
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