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墨書 Inktalez
As we stepped into the wooden cabin, a musty smell and chill enveloped us. We quickly shut the door, blocking the howling wind and snow outside.
The cabin had only one wooden window, which was also closed, leaving the interior dim. A few weak rays of light filtered through the cracks in the door, forming beams of light in the dancing dust.
Zhao Lifeng and I cautiously examined the inside of the cabin. It was small, covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly abandoned for some time. On one side, there was a wooden platform that seemed to be used for camping. In the center of the floor was a square fire pit, with a little iron pot hanging above it. This place could serve as a decent shelter.
I let out a sigh of relief. "Great! We can start a fire, and there's a pot; we can have some hot water."
Just then, something peculiar in the corner near the window caught my attention.
I slowly approached to investigate. At first, I thought it was just an illusion created by shadows. But as I got closer and my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I realized what I was looking at.
It was a corpse!
To be precise, it was a female mummy.
The body was sitting against the wall, likely preserved due to the low temperature and dry conditions here; it had not decayed but had turned into a desiccated state. From my estimation, she had been dead for at least two years.
"Officer Zhao, come over here!"
Zhao Lifeng had noticed something unusual on my end and quickly walked over. Upon seeing the horrifying sight of the desiccated corpse, he was clearly startled and looked at me in disbelief. "How could there be a... body here?"
"I'm not sure. On the surface, there are no obvious signs of trauma on this corpse. It's possible she died suddenly from an illness while camping here. The exact cause of death would require a detailed autopsy to determine."
Zhao Lifeng nodded. "We should avoid touching the body to preserve the scene. Let's report this once we leave."
"Exactly." I took a couple of steps back and pointed to a large backpack next to the corpse. "Maybe we can take a quick look at that backpack; it might have something useful inside."
Zhao Lifeng hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed.
In the backpack, we found several packs of compressed biscuits. I checked the packaging for the date; compressed biscuits typically have a long shelf life, which solved our immediate problem. There were also two sleeping bags at the back of the backpack that we temporarily borrowed.
But why were there two sleeping bags? This indicated that she hadn’t come here alone; she must have had one or more companions. There were two possibilities.
First, her companion had safely left but chose not to report anything due to her death being related or for some other reason.
Second, while her companion had left this cabin, she might not have made it out of these woods and encountered danger elsewhere, leaving no one aware that her body remained in this cabin.
This woman had died alone in this desolate wilderness—would anyone still care about her or search for her?
At that moment, Zhao Lifeng returned from outside with an armful of branches. I quickly tucked away my thoughts and went to help him close the door securely.
The sky gradually darkened as the fierce wind howled outside. We ate some compressed biscuits and drank some hot water; the safe and warm environment only intensified our drowsiness.
We spread out our sleeping bags and soon fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, I woke up thirsty, my throat burning, possibly from a cold. I wanted to boil some water to drink, but the door had been tightly bound with Zhao Lifeng's backpack, making it difficult to open without waking him up; he was sound asleep at the moment.
Perhaps I could open the window and take some snow. With that thought, I carefully got up, picked up the Little Iron Pot, and walked toward the window. The floor creaked softly under my weight, and the silhouette of the female corpse in the corner cast an eerie shadow in the firelight.
As a doctor, I was not afraid of corpses, but in this environment, the scene still sent chills down my spine. Just as I was about to step over the female corpse, my foot suddenly caught on something, causing me to lose my balance. Instinctively, I reached out to grab something for support and accidentally touched the corpse in the corner.
The female corpse slowly tilted to one side, and an object rolled off her body, clattering to the ground by my feet.
I bent down to take a closer look and discovered it was a ring, clearly fallen from the corpse's hand. I carefully picked it up and examined it in the firelight; despite being covered in dust, its design was still recognizable. Two intertwined metal bands—one Platinum and one Rose Gold—were set with a Heart-Shaped Diamond at their intersection… this looked exactly like the ring Zhao Lifeng wore!
I glanced back at Zhao Lifeng; he was facing away from me, still deep in sleep. There was no doubt that this could very well be a pair of couple rings. Of course, there was a possibility that Zhao Lifeng had coincidentally bought matching rings like this one for the corpse. But there was an even more terrifying possibility: this corpse was Zhao Lifeng's fiancée who "passed away due to illness," as he had said!
If that were true, why had Zhao Lifeng lied? Why was she here in this remote Abandoned Cabin? Did her death have anything to do with him?
I quietly slipped the ring into my pocket and decided against getting snow to boil water; instead, I tiptoed back into my sleeping bag. I looked at the blurred outline of the female corpse in the corner—once a vibrant young life that had quietly and inexplicably perished in these desolate mountains. Who was this poor girl? What had she gone through?
I stole a glance at the sleeping Zhao Lifeng; I would have to survive in the wilderness with him next. For my own safety, I needed to figure out whether he was a victim or... a murderer. The feeling of being consumed by violence and despair surged back within me. Wide awake now, I stared at the dark ceiling while listening to Zhao Lifeng's steady breathing and the howling wind outside.
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