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墨書 Inktalez
We walked deep into the cemetery, far from the hillside path we had taken earlier. The wind seemed to have calmed down a bit, but the dark clouds above were multiplying, shrouding the entire island. Occasionally, faint rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance, yet there was no sign of lightning or rain.
As we ventured deeper, we hesitated to go any further. The surroundings had grown noticeably darker, as if we had entered a completely different space.
Mai Lao quickly stopped and reminded us not to separate or act recklessly. He shone his flashlight around and said, "It seems that aside from the cemetery, there is nothing else here. It's too dark inside; let's not go in. But how did this cemetery come to be?"
"From this cemetery alone, it's clear that this place was definitely not a deserted island before. There must have been people living here for a long time. If it were just a temporary stopover, so many people wouldn't have died here, nor would there be so many tombstones; they would have just dug a hole and buried them."
"The reason it has become so desolate and terrifying now could be due to two possibilities. One is that something major happened that caused all the inhabitants to perish. The other is that the source of life on this island disappeared, leading to their collective extinction." Changshan pointed out the crux of the matter again. His analysis was quite reasonable but still lacked some critical elements.
I agreed with him. The existence of a cemetery indicated that people had once lived here. If there were inhabitants, then this island must have been beautiful, with lush mountains and clear waters.
Even if it wasn't picturesque, it certainly wouldn't resemble the lifeless wasteland it was now—an abandoned Demon Island filled with deadly creatures. These changes must have occurred later.
"I agree with Brother Changshan, but I lean more towards the first possibility: something significant must have happened here. Look, if they wanted to survive, they could have relied entirely on fishing. Since ancient times, this water source could depend on rainwater; it wouldn't have starved them all at once. So I believe the most likely scenario is that something major occurred here. But what exactly happened? That's the key," Jiao Ba said sternly. Despite the darkness, I could see his expression was not right.
"What kind of people could live on this island? I really can't imagine it. But these numerous Tomb Mounds are inexplicable," Jenny shook her head lightly, appearing quite helpless.
"The environment here must have changed later; it definitely wasn't like this before," Li Xin remarked as he looked around.
After pondering for a moment, I said, "I suspect... many people lived here before and even passed down generations on this island—at least several generations or even more than ten generations. Based on the current environment, they must have died a long time ago."
"If it were just a few years or decades, this island wouldn't have turned into what it is now; there would still be signs of human habitation. But this cursed place is fraught with danger—strange insects and bizarre plants everywhere. If we hadn't seen this cemetery, who would think anyone ever lived on this deserted island? Moreover, the tombstones on these Tomb Mounds are severely damaged and barely legible; all of this indicates that a considerable amount of time has passed."
"Loyalty and Righteousness is right; this deserted island seems to have been abandoned for at least a hundred years. There are no signs of human habitation whatsoever—it's truly strange what kind of people lived here and what caused their collective demise," Changshan said slowly and steadily.
"War—only war can lead to mass death. It could be due to internal conflicts or an invasion by outsiders." I looked at Changshan and stated that only war could bring about such catastrophic destruction.
"And diseases—deadly diseases can also wipe out everyone," Jenny added, agreeing with me. Infectious deadly diseases occurring on this deserted island could indeed lead to collective extinction.
"The likelihood of disease is low; even if there were mass deaths, it should have been contained. I believe what Loyalty and Righteousness said about war is very plausible—it’s likely they were completely wiped out due to fighting," Li Xin remarked while glancing at me.
"Regardless of whether it's internal strife or external wars that caused this situation, what we need to know now is which era the people buried here belong to—that's what's most important," Jiao Ba pointed out the crux of the matter. Indeed, to understand the truth about this deserted island, we first needed to clarify who those buried here were.
“Mai Lao, what do you think?” The Old Man seemed lost in thought, having said nothing until now.
Mai Lao snapped back to reality. “I was wondering who buried them here.”
Indeed, that was crucial. These Tomb Mounds couldn’t have been dug by the dead themselves, could they? Who did it then? Someone must have buried them. If it was a brutal battle, this place should be filled with Bones, not Tomb Mounds, and certainly not gravestones. Damn, why is this so complicated?
“Brother Yi, could it be... that Mysterious Old Man? If everyone on the island is dead, why is he still alive?” Shunzi glanced at me and asked.
“Shunzi, don’t look at me; I can’t answer that. I don’t even know who that old man is.” I too wanted to understand why everyone on the island had perished while that Shriveled Old Man remained alive.
“That Mysterious Old Man is key. On this deserted island, there shouldn’t be anyone else besides him. He could very well be the gravekeeper, preventing outsiders from coming to this island. If that’s the case, all the dangers we encountered before might have been his doing,” Changshan pointed out again. That old man might indeed be a gravekeeper.
But as I pondered this, if the island had truly been abandoned for a hundred years... how old would that old man actually be? My God, I didn’t want to think about it. He couldn’t have been born a gravekeeper, could he?
“What exactly does that Mysterious Old Man do? Is he digging graves or guarding them?” I looked around and asked.
“Most likely... both.”
Just as Jiao Ba finished speaking, Big Guy suddenly shouted, “Hey Mai Lao, come look at this!”
Big Guy was standing in front of a Tomb Mound, staring at a gravestone. “What’s wrong? Did you find something?” We all walked over, and I squatted down to ask.
“Look at the words on this gravestone; they seem legible,” Big Guy pointed out.
“Really? Move aside; let me take a look.” Jiao Ba pushed Big Guy aside and crouched down with his Flashlight to examine it closely. At the top of the gravestone, there was indeed one word that was clear—Ming.
“Ming? What does that mean?” I turned to Jiao Ba.
Jiao Ba stared at the gravestone and carefully traced his fingers over it. “Aside from this word, the others are unreadable. What does this Ming represent?”
“Could it represent the Ming Dynasty?” If that were true, then this place was definitely where we needed to search.
“The Ming Dynasty? Well, it’s not impossible. This Ming is clearly the first word on the gravestone; if we deduce from there, it’s quite likely it represents the Ming Dynasty,” Jiao Ba nodded slowly.
“Exactly; the person buried here is most likely from the Ming Dynasty,” Changshan said from behind me.
"I think so too. If they really are people from the Ming Dynasty, that would explain the origin of the underwater cave, proving it to be a passage. The deserted island we are on now is likely our next destination," Jiao Ba said as he slowly stood up and glanced at Mai Lao.
"Is that possible? Why would Ming Dynasty people live on this island? This... this seems a bit unrealistic," Mai Lao frowned, still somewhat skeptical about the matter.
"I believe what Jiao Ba and Changshan said makes a lot of sense. Although this one Ming doesn't represent much, the inscriptions on the tombstones suggest a strong possibility that they belong to Ming people."
"Logically speaking, the Ming Dynasty was hundreds of years ago. These tombstones should have been eroded by wind and rain over such a long time, but if someone has been maintaining them, they could still remain intact. For example, that Mysterious Old Man; this entire Cemetery might have been taken care of by him," Li Xin interjected at a crucial moment.
I pondered carefully. But if they were indeed from the Ming Dynasty, then what era did the Mysterious Old Man belong to? If he wasn't from the Ming Dynasty, why would he guard this place? That seemed hard to explain. All signs indicated that he didn't come here by force or by accident.
But if he really was from the Ming Dynasty, then what was he? How could an ordinary person live for hundreds of years? That seemed utterly ridiculous. Both hypotheses clearly lacked solid reasoning.
"Can you confirm that those buried here are indeed from the Ming Dynasty?" I stood up and asked the others.
"Who can say for sure? This is just our speculation, but it’s likely true. I firmly believe that our arrival on this island is not an accident or coincidence; it's part of a larger progression of events," Changshan said, though his words were not entirely decisive.
"I think like Changshan. Since we set foot on this island, everything that has happened has been difficult to explain. If it were truly an accident, there would be no reason for such troubles on a deserted island. Just this vast Tomb Mound alone speaks volumes," Jiao Ba said meaningfully.
"We need to confirm things now; mere speculation isn't enough. Also, if those buried here are indeed from the Ming Dynasty, how do we explain the Mysterious Old Man? Could he also be from the Ming Dynasty? Is it even possible for someone to live this long?" I voiced my earlier thoughts.
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