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In the evening, Yang Su was tidying up his belongings at the inn, organizing his notes from the past few days. Suddenly, he discovered a rusty iron box under the bed, covered in dust. After some effort, he managed to open it.
Inside, he found a yellowed notebook, a copper coin, and several photographs. He took everything out and first examined the notebook. The front page bore the name "Gu Linshan."
It was his mentor's notebook!
He quickly flipped through it; the early entries contained ordinary folklore information. However, as he turned to the later pages, the handwriting became increasingly scrawled and the content more bizarre:
"The sound of bells grows clearer..."
"There’s something strange in that well..."
"I saw things I shouldn’t have seen..."
"I must find that place..."
The last page contained only one line: "The altar underground..."
Next, he looked at the photographs. They had yellowed and become brittle, but the contents were still discernible. The first photo depicted a clock tower, seemingly taken in the seventies. The second showed an old well, likely the same one he had seen earlier that day.
The final photograph was the most blurred, appearing to have been taken in a dimly lit place. It showed a stone chamber with walls covered in symbols, and in the center was something resembling an altar. However, what caught his attention most was what hung above the altar—a massive Bronze Bell.
Yang Su flipped over the photograph; written on the back in pen were the words: "Underground Altar, 1975."
He then picked up the copper coin. It had oxidized to a green hue; on one side, he could faintly make out the characters "Xianfeng Tongbao," while the other side bore a strange symbol that resembled a seal script but was not quite like it.
As he pondered this, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from downstairs. Yang Su hurriedly put everything away, but somehow the copper coin rolled under the bed. Just as he bent down to retrieve it, there was a knock at his door.
"Who is it?"
No one answered, but the knocking grew more urgent. He opened the door to find an empty corridor, with only a wall lamp swaying in the wind.
When he turned back around, he noticed that the copper coin was gone. He crouched down to search for it and felt only a damp patch on the floor, faintly smelling of copper rust.
It was past ten o'clock at night, and the inn was quiet. Yang Su sat on his bed studying his mentor's notebook, hoping to uncover more clues.
Suddenly, he heard voices outside. He tiptoed to the window and saw two figures standing in the shadows across the street. With the dim light from a streetlamp, he recognized one as Teacher Li and the other as Zhou Yue, whom he had seen earlier at school.
"We can't keep going on like this," Zhou Yue said in a low voice but with firm determination.
"What do you know!" Teacher Li snapped back. "This is how it's been for years."
"But Xiao Wangzi has already..."
"Shut up!" Teacher Li interrupted sharply. "Don't forget how your mother died!"
Zhou Yue felt as if she had been stabbed, her voice trembling, "You can hide it for a while, but not forever. That man named Yang won't let this go easily."
"Hmph, he won't be able to investigate for long," Teacher Li sneered. "You keep an eye on your students and make sure they don't talk out of turn. Remember, you are one of the villagers too."
With that, Teacher Li turned and left. Zhou Yue stood in place for a moment before crouching down as if she were sobbing. After a while, she too departed.
Yang Su thoughtfully closed the window. He took out the photo of the Underground Altar from his notebook and examined it closely under the desk lamp. The symbols in the photo seemed somewhat similar to the strange symbols he had seen on the window of the Art Room today.
"Thud..."
A muffled sound came from downstairs. He put down the photo and pressed his ear against the door, listening as footsteps approached and then stopped right in front of his door.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Yang Su remained silent, but the knocking grew heavier. He took a deep breath and suddenly yanked open the door.
Standing outside was a person wearing a tattered blue shirt, head bowed low.
"Who are you..."
The person slowly lifted their head. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating a pale face—revealing none other than Xiao Wangzi, who had gone missing just days ago!
But that was clearly not a living person's face. The skin was ghostly white, with deep-set eyes and purple lips. His feet hovered a few inches off the ground, his entire form seeming to float like smoke.
"Dong..."
A bell tolled from far away. Xiao Wangzi's figure gradually faded with the sound of the bell, leaving only an empty echo of his words lingering in the corridor:
"Don't investigate anymore... If you do, you'll end up like me..."
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