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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 0: Gui Liu
Qin Jian shook his head, his face pale and increasingly ashen, as if he were on the verge of fainting from blood loss. He weakly said, "I don't know. It should still be in the Ten Li Slope area."
"Ten Li Slope, Gui Liu..." I muttered to myself, truly losing my sense of direction. Yet, I couldn't believe that Qin Jian and I had gotten lost in this place. To me, our presence in this cursed location must have been due to some factor or a so-called twist of fate.
"Do you see that willow tree?" Qin Jian waved his phone, the cold light from the screen illuminating only a limited space. There was no willow tree in sight; instead, there were wild, unidentifiable trees with gnarled roots and sprawling branches that looked like long tentacles reaching out in all directions, covering a wide area. Standing among these strange trees, not a trace of moonlight could be seen.
I shook my head. "No."
Qin Jian took steps deeper into the forest, gradually increasing the distance between us.
"Qin Jian, where are you going?"
Without turning back, Qin Jian replied, "Follow me." I fell silent and followed him. The path was terrible, littered with prickly weeds and vines; it felt as if something had scratched my legs, causing various uncomfortable sensations.
Watching Qin Jian charge ahead, I couldn't help but shout again, "Qin Jian, where do you want to go?"
Ignoring my call, Qin Jian quickened his pace as if someone was waiting for him up ahead. A bad feeling crept into my heart as I hurried to catch up while paying close attention to my surroundings. This was Ten Li Slope; Bone Jade should be under the old willow tree.
Bone Jade, along with Liu Niang and Lao Guang, were also here.
Thinking of Liu Niang and Lao Guang made me worry about Qin Jian. I quickened my steps but couldn't keep up with him; the many thorny plants obstructed me and made me feel quite helpless.
I also used my phone's flashlight to illuminate the area around me, but it only revealed a limited space. The areas not lit by the light gave off an eerie feeling as if something terrifying was hidden there, lurking and ready to pounce at any moment.
"I think I've been here before; this tree..." Qin Jian looked up at a tree, shaking his phone in an attempt to see it clearly. It was difficult; the branches extended like a giant sunshade covering the sky above, blocking any starlight from reaching the ground.
It was cold—this place was particularly frigid, like mid-winter; my breath turned to ice. I rubbed my hands together repeatedly and glanced at Qin Jian. He seemed entranced, staring blankly ahead. I pulled my neck in and reminded him, "We should go back to the car to warm up."
Qin Jian ignored my words and lowered his head as if he had spotted something precious on the ground. He walked straight ahead with intense focus. His behavior puzzled me; this wretched place was filled with thorny weeds and reeked of decaying leaves—what could possibly be appealing? But it seemed he had been here before; could this be an environment from his childhood?
Rushing through the darkness, I found myself enveloped in a thick blackness ahead. I shook my phone, but the cold light from the screen was too weak to penetrate the gloom. Suddenly, I felt lost in the dark, panic rising within me.
“Qin Jian, Qin Jian…”
I cursed under my breath; today was the Ghost Festival, the twenty-first day, and I couldn’t afford to shout recklessly. Moreover, with the Nine Ghost Gate closed, I needed to find Bone Jade quickly. Before the Ghost Gate closed, the Underworld would send out numerous Ghostly Enforcers to search for souls unwilling to return to the Underworld.
If the souls released from the Ghost Gate didn’t return to the Underworld, the Ghostly Enforcers would do everything possible to capture wandering spirits to make up the numbers. In such a case, Bone Jade could also end up being one of those captured souls.
The situation was dire; I couldn’t tell if our presence had disturbed something that shouldn’t have been disturbed. Perhaps the other party was more powerful than I and was deliberately trying to convey something to me. That would explain why I had witnessed the crushing defeat of the Crested Serpent and how Qin Jian had vanished right before my eyes.
Now, I felt like I had entered a pitch-black tunnel, formed by dense vegetation with no gaps whatsoever. Even if I exerted all my strength, I couldn’t tear through this dark barrier.
I ran—sprinting as fast as I could—trying to escape this Dark Passage. My face scraped and my legs cut and bleeding, but I paid no mind to it; I desperately searched for Qin Jian, instinctively charging forward. Run—I had a feeling that breaking through would lead me into the light, perhaps Qin Jian was searching for me too.
With such thoughts racing through my mind, my attention wavered as I focused solely on running. Without realizing it, I crashed into a wall ahead with a loud thud. It felt as though I hit my head against it but didn’t feel pain; instead, I was bounced back and fell heavily to the ground, my phone slipping from my grasp.
The phone lay about a foot away from me.
I wasn’t hurt from the fall; reaching out, I grabbed my phone and turned on the Mobile Flashlight. The wall wasn’t made of bricks or stones but rather formed by thick green vines.
Could this wall lead to an exit? Or perhaps it led to the Black Water River. I distinctly remembered seeing Qin Jian heading this way. But this wall stood firm; Qin Jian wasn’t here.
Just as I was about to turn around and continue searching for Qin Jian, I heard shouting from beyond the wall.
“Kill that cow and divide it up; go back and bring another!” The voice was loud and fierce, a mix of male and female voices, accompanied by cries. A woman’s sobbing caught my curiosity, prompting me to temporarily abandon my search for Qin Jian. Compelled by some unseen force, I decided to climb over this wall.
The plant-formed green wall wasn’t as tough as a brick wall; it didn’t hurt my hands at all. Quickly, I grasped a sturdy vine and began to climb. Once atop, I saw flickering flames—like torchlight—illuminating a large gathering of people in a dark mass converging on one spot.
The crowd was quite far from where I stood against the green wall. The sound of women crying mingled with angry shouts that drowned out their soft pleas.
What is this place? If only Qin Jian were here. He is a People's Police officer and could help maintain order. I grabbed a vine and effortlessly climbed over it with a few agile jumps. After getting over, I touched the snake in my backpack to ensure it was still there before I dashed toward the crowd.
The crowd was in chaos, with everyone arguing, each side convinced they were right, not knowing what was actually happening.
A woman was crying, trying to persuade her family. I noticed that she had a captivating appearance and an extraordinary presence; someone called her Sister Qin.
The man standing next to Sister Qin was her husband, and it seemed like they were arguing about whose grass a cow had eaten.
Sister Qin's attire appeared different from the others; it was slightly more extravagant. The light from the torches illuminated the night but still made it hard to see everyone's clothing clearly. I did notice that Sister Qin had an additional pendant around her neck.
The people holding the torches were all defending their own family. I stood aside and watched for a long time, gradually piecing together what was happening.
Sister Qin's family owned land planted with grass specifically for raising cattle and sheep, but a poor family's cow had grazed on a large patch of it. The villagers were clamoring for compensation from this family, while Sister Qin hoped her husband would let them off the hook.
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