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墨書 Inktalez
City S Central Park Cemetery
The midday sun mercilessly scorched the ground, yet countless flowers in front of the tombstones bloomed brightly, seemingly welcoming the arrival of summer. Beside the cemetery gate stood a small pavilion, enclosed on all sides by walls and glass. For Xie Weizhong, the farthest distance he traveled each day was from his apartment to the pavilion, where he would sit for an entire day.
For Caretaker Xie Weizhong, the cemetery, the pavilion, and the willow trees constituted his entire world.
The pavilion was relatively cool, at least with an air conditioner to lower the temperature. On this sweltering day that could easily lead to heatstroke, Xie Wei Zhongda red not step outside. He watched as a gentle breeze lifted the willow branches and glanced down at the phone number on his screen. After much hesitation, he dialed the contact.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Nana, how have you been lately?"
"Pretty well! If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."
"Wait, please... can you give me some Time? I just want to know if our daughter is doing okay. She's on summer break now, right?"
"Yes, we're both doing fine; you don't need to worry."
Xie Weizhong silently put down his phone, switched to speaker mode, and placed it on the table.
"Nana... let's set a Time to meet."
On the other end of the line, there was a long silence, only interrupted by the sounds of passersby proving that the call had not been disconnected.
"Listen, Xie Weizhong, we are divorced. I have custody of our daughter; that was our agreement. Since you don’t want to take care of her, you have no right to ask me to meet. With your salary, focus on taking care of yourself first; you don’t need to worry about us. Our daughter is very happy, and I’ve met a good man while dating."
The woman paused: "Let’s forget about each other; perhaps separation is what’s best for us. We both need a fresh start. You can call me materialistic, but reality is what it is—no woman is willing to devote her life to a man who can't even support himself."
"If there's nothing else, I'll hang up."
The call ended, leaving Xie Weizhong alone in the desolate pavilion of the cemetery, drinking in all the pain of his losses.
He understood clearly that Nana left him simply because his profession was considered too ominous in people's eyes. Moreover, the little money he earned barely supported himself. The reason he gave custody of their daughter to his ex-wife Nana during the divorce was not that he didn't love his daughter; he just wanted her to avoid suffering alongside him.
No matter how hard it got, he couldn't let the next generation suffer—that was a father's resolute reason for letting go.
But what he ultimately received was nothing but endless indifference, loneliness, and discrimination from others.
The pain in his chest burst forth again, unbearable for Xie Weizhong, who could no longer sit still. Throwing aside his old white shirt, he turned and stepped out of the pavilion to greet the first visitor of the day—an oppressive heatwave.
Picking up a watering can and a broom, Xie Weizhong felt as if he had swallowed an invisible painkiller; the painful memories began to slowly dilute. He had thought about quitting his job, but gradually he realized that he had become attached to this sense of tranquility. Other professions could not provide such leisure—a leisure that could heal the scars in his heart. He gave up on change and chose to accept his current life. In a daze, he found himself standing before a familiar willow tree.
"Rolo, it's really hot today. Here, have some cold water to cool down."
This willow tree, which Xie Weizhong affectionately called Rolo, had witnessed half a century of history in this city since it took root here.
From this willow tree onward, Xie Weizhong began to repeat the route that had become second nature over the years. He slowly swept past one grave after another with his messy yellow broom. Moreover, at each grave, Xie Weizhong would say a word or two to the tombstone as if an elder were standing before him.
"Old Hu, today is your birthday! Your family hasn’t come to see you! How unfilial! But old Xie is still good to you... I come by every day to visit and clean your grave... your home."
"Sister Song, the flowers in your yard are blooming again! White ones, just as beautiful as when you were alive! Your husband sent me a pot of tulips yesterday to place at your grave; he said those were your favorite flowers after you met him. He hopes you still like them now."
Thus, Xie Weizhong spent over two hours sweating profusely as he swept the moss-covered tombstones. By the time he reached the last grave, he was exhausted and sat down beside the tombstone, wiping the sweat from his dusty yellow face.
A sense of inexplicable melancholy washed over Xie Weizhong as he searched the ground with his eyes, looking for the small millet flowers blooming in the grass. Each flower resembled the smiling face of a girl—his daughter when she was young.
The radiant smiles of the flowers instantly transformed into bamboo needles coated with poison from a poison dart frog, deeply piercing his throat, making even the act of swallowing a torment. Xie Weizhong could no longer suppress the sadness that had been buried in his heart for years; he buried his face in his open hands and wept bitterly.
He realized he was nothing because society could not accommodate someone with his profession. A man who had lost his family lived humbly in such a role, and he could not comprehend what meaning his life held. Perhaps lying in the ground alongside friends in their graves would be a good choice, but if he truly died, who would bury him? Maybe he was destined to be forgotten, regarded as trash and discarded.
In an instant, silence enveloped everything; even the cicadas in the trees ceased their noisy chirping, as if the entire world mourned for this man condemned by fate.
However, it was this sudden stillness that made the strange mechanical sound coming from deep within the shade of the trees gradually clearer. "Beep beep clack," the faint sounds struck against his nerves one after another, heightening Xie Weizhong's alertness.
Confusion quickly turned into curiosity as Xie Weizhong cautiously rose to a half-crouch, scanning his surroundings.
Everything seemed normal. Aside from the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the trees, there were only those old friends standing in the grass.
But just as Xie Weizhong relaxed and attempted to shift his body, he moved his right foot, and the mechanical sound grew louder!
Xie Weizhong realized—
Something was hidden beneath his feet, and it was definitely not something natural.
Since Xie Weizhong worked during the day, he didn't know if anyone bold had entered the cemetery last night. However, even if there had been, surely the night shift workers would have known? People rarely visited the cemetery at night—so rarely that they could sketch portraits of those who did. Such rare occurrences were not something that night shift workers would keep to themselves.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. In a panic, Xie Weizhong reached out and began to dig at the patch of earth that was making noise. As his hand delved deeper and clumps of soil were lifted away, gradually, something resembling a capsule emerged before Xie Weizhong's wide-open eyes.
Its deep blue and dark black exterior seemed to conceal some terrifying secret.
Xie Weizhong was momentarily stunned as he continued to dig, eventually unearthing the entire object. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the capsule had a small screen on it, displaying numerous incomprehensible patterns that changed with the passage of Time.
Initially, there were two distinct patterns, but as they reached a certain threshold, they merged into one.
As Time flowed…
Time…
“Is this a countdown?”
The sudden thought sent a chilling realization through Xie Weizhong. A shiver ran up from his calves to his back as he hurled the capsule far away and sprinted back toward the pavilion where he had been moments before.
But it was too late.
“Boom!”
With a deafening roar, the explosion unleashed a shockwave that seemed to carry an energy field. Mixed with deep blue waves, it emitted a cacophony of sounds as countless polymer structures imploded and erupted. The jelly-like waves composed of Cosmic Energy surged forward, lifting the earth in waves toward Xie Weizhong.
A tsunami over four meters high! This blue energy wave spread rapidly from the center of the explosion like a despairing tidal wave, uprooting tombstones and instantly engulfing them in dust. The futile cries were silenced in an instant by the force of the blast, and Xie Weizhong, lying on the ground, was pinned down by the pressure of the wave!
As the energy wave passed through him, he felt as if his body were being flayed alive from his feet upwards. The explosion's impact on him was brief; just a fleeting moment of excruciating pain and the sensation of flesh being torn from bone caused him to suffer for a moment before his head grew heavy, his vision darkened, and he lost consciousness completely.
On a nearby building's rooftop, four internal Humans stood silently watching the bomb detonate, none daring to speak.
“Are you sure this is effective? An explosion of this magnitude would have killed him instantly, wouldn’t it?”
Gad was skeptical and turned to ask the stalker standing beside him.
But the stalker was focused on playing with the dagger in her hand, letting out a cold snort, completely ignoring Gad. She was very confident in her control over the energy usage of this bomb.
"It's just an experiment; if it dies, it dies. Before the Vamulel people come to clean up, let's hurry and take a look." Xiu Sha waved her hand, and storm clouds rose beneath her feet as she flew down. The stalker grabbed the two people beside her, and they all transformed into shadows on the ground, following closely behind.
In the graveyard, everything was already a charred black ash.
Petals danced in the wind, eventually landing on the ground, where they were also turned to ash by the lingering heat of the grass tips.
"Am I... dead?"
Xie Weizhong opened his eyes and touched his face with his hand. However, as his fingertips brushed over it, he could only feel something hard—
Bone.
Xie Weizhong was taken aback, thinking that a piece of flesh had fallen from his face. When he turned his hand to take a closer look, the misty appearance terrified him—his hand had transformed into a black cloud.
"Why is this happening?"
Xie Weizhong looked down and saw that his feet had long since disappeared; his entire body was floating in mid-air—he had become a mass of black cloud!
"Why is this happening?!" he screamed in horror, dragging his cloud-like form to the edge of the pavilion that had been mostly burned to a crisp. There, only a blackened torso remained of Luo Luo, standing alongside the pavilion as the only thing left in the graveyard.
Inside the pavilion, the small mirror he had brought and placed on the table reflected Xie Weizhong's terrifying appearance: his entire body was completely a mass of black cloud, continuously radiating energy waves, with only one solid part—his head, which was a skull.
Xie Weizhong, stunned and frozen in fear, turned to look at the graveyard that had been reduced to rubble. This last sanctuary of his life had vanished into thin air along with his final belief.
In despair, Xie Weizhong spread his arms wide, challenging the heavens, and let out a long-suppressed roar towards the remnants of the setting sun in the gray smoke: "What sins have I committed to end up like this!"
"Your name is Xie Weizhong, right?"
A cold question interrupted Xie Weizhong's outcry. He hadn't expected anyone to arrive at the explosion site so quickly. He wanted to flee but was called back. Hesitantly, he turned around and saw four strange figures standing before him.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Xiu Sha." The white-faced figure with spiky horns and a cloak extended a hand towards him.
"And you are?" Xie Weizhong asked, feeling a surge of caution as he looked at the four bizarre individuals. He instinctively took a step back, "What? Do I not look like a monster now?"
"Don't worry, we've seen many victims like you."
Xiu Sha stepped forward, blocking Xie Weizhong's view of the large figure known as Big Guy Gad.
"We can tell you everything and grant you your freedom."
"Return to my original self?" Xie Weizhong asked skeptically.
"Yes. But do you want to believe that we also mutated because of such explosions?" Xiu Sha said solemnly. "To uncover the truth that has destroyed our lives, we mutants have come together. Just now, my friends detected a sudden catalytic energy disturbance nearby and rushed over to see if they could save anyone, but..."
Xie Weizhong squinted painfully and lowered his gaze to the ground.
"There have been too many incidents like this recently. As fellow victims, we are working together to unravel this mystery. We are truly sorry for what you've endured; please accept my sincerest sympathy."
"Is sympathy useful? I've become such a monster that I don't even have a body anymore! Do you think your so-called efforts can make up for what I've lost? Huh? Mr. With Two Horns on His Head?!" He no longer cared who these people were; he just wanted to vent his feelings, and dying would be the best outcome.
The anger that was about to spill out was swallowed back by Xiu Sha, as if he hadn't heard Xie Weizhong: "Brother, you can take revenge! Use your anger to show the world how unfair fate has been to you! You and I are both abandoned, both chosen by destiny as those who will be reborn! Life is precious; don't forget, I and those behind me are just like you. We need to find the reason and make the world give us justice! So, you have no reason not to resist!"
Xie Weizhong fell silent, even though he couldn't trust these people at all.
"There is someone I must tell you about; our physical mutations are all related to him—Nars."
Xiu Sha turned around, took the sickle that Eckton had prepared earlier, and handed it to Xie Weizhong.
"Give yourself a name, great warrior."
"War..." The skull-faced Xie Weizhong took the sickle and expressionlessly ran his fingers along its sharp edge. "Why? What exactly are we supposed to do?"
"We are going to fight! This Nars is a madman from abroad who has been obsessed with various perverse experiments for many years. We need to settle the score with him." Xiu Sha said in a low voice, seemingly filled with hatred for that name. "According to our mathematical model, this bomb that caused your suffering should be the last one he buried in the country. We are all victims of his mutations; together, we will kill him. If the law cannot provide justice for the victims, then private revenge at this moment is just and feasible. Do you understand?"
Why not indulge myself for once? I… a lowly person scorned by society, stripped of everything until there's nothing left, since I can't understand being human, it might be better to venture with these monsters. Although I don't know why, it's certainly better than being nothing at all.
After pondering this, Xie Weizhong raised his face and slowly uttered five words:
"Grave Sweeper, joining the battle."
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