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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Six
My heart nearly stopped as the skeleton slowly rose, like a ghost of death crawling out of hell, ready to drag us into the abyss. The pale bones reflected a chilling sheen in the dim light, and the hollow eye sockets seemed to stare at us, a cold breath permeating the air, making it hard to breathe. In that critical moment, Old Li suddenly lunged at the skeleton. With a dull thud, the skeleton collapsed, its bones scattering across the floor, the sharp clatter echoing in the silent dark room like whispers from the Grim Reaper. A small black notebook fell out from the chest cavity of the skeleton, standing out starkly among the scattered bones.
"Don't panic!" Xu Kai's voice was like a beacon in the darkness, briefly dispelling my fear. "This skeleton is being controlled! Look!" He shone his flashlight behind the skeleton, revealing several nearly invisible steel wires glinting faintly in the dark, resembling spider silk connecting this deathly puppet.
Fang Wen trembled as she picked up the Black Notebook. With the faint light, she opened to the first page, her face instantly turning as pale as paper, her lips quivering as if she had seen something horrifying. "This is... my sister's diary." Her voice shook with disbelief and fear.
Suddenly, the entire clock tower shook violently again, as if a giant beast was awakening. Outside came a chilling metallic scraping sound, like nails on a chalkboard. I rushed to the window; a flash of lightning split the night sky, illuminating the exterior of the clock tower. The enormous clock hands were spinning wildly, producing a shrill sound akin to a countdown from death itself.
"Quick! Look at the diary!" I urged, my voice hoarse with tension. "There might be clues inside!"
Fang Wen rapidly flipped through the pages of the diary, her trembling fingers brushing against the yellowed paper. Suddenly, she stopped on one page, her gaze fixed on the text. "November 7, 1999: I discovered a terrible secret. Manager Zhang and Manager Li are conducting an experiment called 'Eternal Life' in secret, using orphans for human trials. I must stop them; tomorrow I will go to find the police..." Her voice was low and trembling, laced with despair.
"The entry for November 8 has been torn out." Fang Wen's voice cracked with tears welling in her eyes. "My sister disappeared that day..." She choked on her words but we all understood; that day marked her sister's departure from this world forever.
Old Li suddenly interrupted, "Wait! Look at this!" He pointed to the spine of the notebook where a folded note was hidden, like a secret waiting to be uncovered. Unfolding it revealed a string of strange numbers: "23-19-15-14-7-19-15-21-12."
"What is this?" Xu Kai frowned, confusion evident in his tone.
I scrutinized the sequence of numbers as my mind raced. Suddenly it clicked: "This could be a code! Each number represents its position in the alphabet..." My heart began to race as if the answer was right before me.
Just as we were deciphering the code, an icy chill swept through the dark room, sending shivers down our spines as if a cold wind from hell had descended upon us. The photographs on the wall began to sway unnaturally without any wind, eerily fluttering like ghosts in flight. I noticed that each photo had a small red number on its back; these numbers combined matched exactly with those in the notebook's code!
"Eternal Life..." Fang Wen suddenly whispered, his eyes vacant as if lost in some memory. "My sister's last note mentioned this term."
My mind raced, connecting all the clues: "The photo, the password, the Eternal Life experiment—everything points to one place!" I pointed at a seemingly ordinary brick in the corner of the dark room, my tone resolute. "The answer to the password is right here!"
Old Li pushed the brick hard, but it didn't budge, as if it were fused with the wall. Xu Kai examined it closely and said, "There's a combination lock here; we need to input the correct letter sequence."
At that moment, the vibrations from the clock tower grew more intense, cracks began to appear in the walls, and debris fell around us. The shadow of death loomed over us. We were trapped in this collapsing dark room, time slipping away like sand through an hourglass.
"We have to crack the password immediately!" I said urgently, a hint of despair in my voice. "Fang Wen, your sister must have wanted to tell us something with these clues!"
Fang Wen suddenly had a realization, his eyes lighting up. "Wait! In the last letter my sister gave me, she said, 'Some souls never disappear'..."
"STRONG SOUL!" I nearly shouted, the answer striking me like lightning. "That's it—the password!"
Xu Kai quickly entered the combination into the lock. As he pressed the last letter, there was a click, and a hidden compartment slowly opened, like a door to another world.
Inside lay a Metal Box, covered in rust as if it had endured countless years. Just as I reached out to grab it, I suddenly heard a cold laugh behind me, like a serpent's hiss that sent chills down my spine.
"Found it," a chilling voice echoed, as if summoned from hell. "It seems my arrangements have worked."
We turned sharply, and in the flash of lightning stood a familiar figure at the doorway, holding something aloft. The person's expression was twisted with malice, eyes gleaming with madness like a demon risen from hell. Even more unsettling was that in his other hand he clutched a strange device with red numbers rapidly flashing...
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