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墨書 Inktalez
"Damn... damn..." The hushed whispers echoed, accompanied by the sound of sharp claws scraping against the doorframe, producing a hissing, eerie noise.
Shen Binghan had not been asleep; he had heard that strange sound.
Without turning on the lights, he tiptoed out of his room, straining to listen. The noise was coming from the entrance.
He reached the door.
The lock was a simple bolt; with a gentle pull, it clicked open. As the door swung ajar, a cold wind rushed in, causing Shen Binghan to shiver involuntarily. Forget it, it's so dark. If I go alone to the riverbank and something happens, no one would know.
Shen Binghan stepped back, planning to check with Ye Chenfeng the next day. Just as he turned around, a soft knocking sound came from the door. He hurriedly opened it, and the cold wind swept in unexpectedly, chilling him to the bone.
Peering through the doorway again, he caught a glimpse of a fleeting figure that resembled Ding Li from behind.
When did Ding Li go out? Shen Binghan wondered, his eyelids twitching nervously. A sense of foreboding washed over him as he quickly followed after her, calling softly, "Ding Li, come back." But the figure ahead only seemed to run faster.
With no time to alert Ye Chenfeng, he chased after her alone.
He stumbled through the darkness; however fast he ran, she matched his pace perfectly, maintaining an unbridgeable distance between them. In this frantic pursuit, he lost all sense of direction until finally, the figure ahead came to a halt.
He approached cautiously, every nerve on high alert.
In an instant—before Shen Binghan could react—the figure vanished without a trace.
Strange!
Shen Binghan scanned his surroundings; it was pitch black, and he could faintly hear the sound of flowing water. Ye Chenfeng had once told him stories about water ghosts that preyed on people. Could what he saw just now have been a water ghost?
But that couldn't be right!
Water ghosts couldn't leave the water; once they did, they would be lost forever.
What had he just seen? Was it a disguise, or did ghosts truly exist?
Shen Binghan instinctively reached for the gourd at his waist, only to find it empty.
Oh no, he hadn't brought the gourd?
This realization sent a chill down his spine. What if he encountered a particularly powerful Evil Spirit without his Ghost-Collecting Gourd? With that thought racing through his mind, he quickly turned around, determined to retrieve the gourd and get to the bottom of this.
Just as he pivoted, a piercing cat's wail echoed from not far away.
A sudden chill swept through the air, shadows danced among the trees, and the cat's cries grew louder, as if it were leaping straight toward him.
From the sounds of it climbing and jumping through the branches, Shen Binghan could easily guess what kind of cat it was.
He suddenly recalled Ye Chenfeng telling him about a Big Cat that walked like a human in his dreams. Could there really be a Big Cat here? That seemed utterly illogical. Shen Binghan scoffed at himself, dismissing the cat's cries as he took off running back the way he came.
He thought he had left the sound behind, only to realize he had taken a wrong turn.
As Shen Binghan stood there, bewildered and at a loss, something dark and indistinct moved ahead of him.
He cautiously inched forward, ready to strike at any moment, and whispered, "Who’s there?"
The dark mass shifted slightly and slowly turned to face Shen Binghan.
As he recognized what it was, the tension that had been constricting his throat suddenly eased. "It's you..." he began to say, but before he could finish, the dark figure sprang upright and lunged at him with its gaping maw.
Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng lay in bed unable to sleep.
His mind was filled with images of Ding Li—her gentle gaze and delicate hands. As those thoughts consumed him, heat surged through his body. In a daze, he imagined her under the soft glow of a showerhead, her hair cascading down as droplets glistened on her smooth back, tracing her exquisite curves and fair skin. His dreamy eyes wandered as he thought about how her skin must feel like polished pebbles beneath his touch.
Ye Chenfeng slowly reached out his hand to touch her, who stood before him. The moment his fingers brushed against her, a chill shot through him, like a snake swiftly slithering across his body. He shivered and focused again, realizing that the figure before him was not just a shadow of Ding Li, but clearly Shen Binghan.
"What are you doing in my room?" he asked.
"Be careful... be careful... run away..." Shen Binghan's words trailed off, and like melting ice, she vanished in an instant.
Ye Chenfeng was taken aback and shouted, "Fool!" As soon as he yelled, he jolted awake, realizing it had all been a dream. Not only had he dreamed of Shen Binghan, but also of Ding Li.
He got out of bed and suddenly noticed a puddle on the floor. Surrounding the puddle were a series of footprints, watermarks that seemed to have come from someone entering effortlessly from outside.
The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
Could it be a water ghost?
Feeling cold all over, Ye Chenfeng's skin prickled with goosebumps. He hurriedly dashed to Ding Li's bedroom to check if she was alright.
As he opened the door to step out, the trail of water footprints had vanished.
This is truly eerie! His heart raced with anxiety, pounding wildly as he held his breath and sprinted toward the master bedroom. He feared that if he opened the door and found Ding Li missing, he wouldn't know what to do.
Ye Chenfeng speculated that the water footprints belonged to Ding Li since she had gone to take a shower.
Indeed, Ding Li had gone to shower before going to sleep.
At that time, Ye Chenfeng hadn’t dared to follow her; he was afraid his grandmother would scold him.
Life in the countryside was different from that in the city.
There were many customs and taboos in rural areas.
For example, a daughter returning to her mother's home cannot sleep in the same room with her husband; this is a serious taboo.
Thus, Grandma was very angry about Ye Chenfeng and Ding Li being in the main room together.
Because of this, Ye Chenfeng dared not overstep any boundaries.
Now, Ye Chenfeng woke up from a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat. The first thought that crossed his mind was to check on Ding Li; he wondered if she would be scared alone in the room.
Ding Li was indeed frightened.
This was her first time leaving a familiar environment to come to this strange yet refreshing village.
She liked Ye Chenfeng and also Shen Binghan.
Ding Li admired Ye Chenfeng's handsome and carefree demeanor.
She appreciated Shen Binghan's subtlety, his reserved nature, yet he occasionally displayed a touch of dry humor.
The small bathroom, easily visible, gave her a sense of security.
After taking a shower, she carefully dried herself with a towel and dressed before stepping out into the bedroom designated by Ye Chenfeng.
The bedroom was spacious and featured a double bed.
Wasn't it said that there were customs in the countryside? Ye Chenfeng's parents were special cases. Ye Chenfeng's father had moved in after marrying into the family. They had a house where they worked, and Grandma's House had prepared a new room for them as well.
This new room had faded red wedding characters on the window frame.
The interior was quite tidy and clean.
This was one of the rooms that Ye Chenfeng's grandmother had to clean every day. She wanted to keep it just as it was before her daughter left home, until they returned from the city.
In fact, Ye Chenfeng's parents rarely came back after starting their jobs. When they did return, it was usually just a fleeting visit.
After Ye Chenfeng was born, his grandmother took care of him until he turned five, during which time his parents often came to see both the child and the elderly woman. However, once Ye Chenfeng started school, their visits became even less frequent.
Thus, Ye Chenfeng's parents hoped that the elderly woman would move in with them for better care, but she consistently refused, leaving the matter unresolved to this day.
To cut a long story short, let's return to Ding Li.
Ding Li finished her shower and walked back into the room. As she dried her damp hair, she glanced around at the furniture arranged in the room and noticed a wedding photo of Ye Chenfeng's parents displayed on the cabinet. Suddenly, she accidentally bumped into the frame. When she set it upright again, she caught a glimpse of the beautiful bride in the picture.
At first glance, the bride in the frame seemed to move; not only that, but she also smiled—a smile that was oddly unsettling.
Startled, Ding Li's hand trembled, causing the frame to fall to the floor. She gasped in shock and stared blankly at the shattered frame, slowly reaching out to pick up the pieces. In doing so, she accidentally cut her finger on a shard of glass.
Blood oozed from her fingertip, resembling a round, glistening red bead.
Beside Ding Li, a pair of cold eyes fixed on her intently. The faint scent of blood was both enticing and chilling. After a long, eerie breath, a swift shadow darted past the window.
"Who’s there?"
Outside, it was eerily quiet. Aside from the wind rustling through the plants and casting shadows on the wall, nothing seemed amiss.
Ding Li was exhausted. After a refreshing shower, she felt a strong urge to lie down for a while. Being in an unfamiliar place made it difficult for her to approach Ye Chenfeng for conversation.
She was afraid of Ye Chenfeng's grandmother, especially those eyes hidden beneath the wrinkles.
Lying on the bed was incredibly comfortable and soothing.
However, Ding Li felt a deep unease. Earlier, she had accidentally damaged a wedding photo of Ye Chenfeng's parents, and she wondered if his grandmother would blame her for it.
As she lay there, she picked up the broken frame and recalled the moment it shattered, causing her heart to race with anxiety.
She scolded herself for letting her imagination run wild. Perhaps her fondness for horror novels had made her overly imaginative, leading to illusions that the people in the frame were moving and smiling!
With that thought, she slowly drifted into sleep.
In her dreams, Ding Li felt as though a pair of blood-red eyes were watching her. No matter how hard she tried to escape that terrifying gaze, it followed her every movement.
At the same time, she thought she heard the sound of something being chewed and torn apart. This time it felt real. Suddenly, she sat up in bed, turned on the light, and stared blankly at the curtains swaying in the breeze, trying to remember if she had closed the window before sleeping.
A chilling cat cry echoed from the dark space, and suddenly a pair of blood-red eyes appeared, fixated on her and the blood on her finger.
Just then, the door was forcefully pushed open from the outside.
Ye Chenfeng's voice trembled as he called out, "Ding Li... are you okay?"
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