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墨書 Inktalez
On the third morning, I was woken up again by someone pushing me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that apart from a soldier cleaning up, the entire team had gone out for morning exercises. How embarrassing! These soldiers must think very little of me, their lazy captain! As I was lost in thought, Li Dongri led the team back. After they lined up, he came over to ask me for instructions. What could I say? Just woke up and already expected to give a lecture? I told him to disband and tidy up Internal Affairs. Just as I was about to turn away to wash up, I noticed Li Dongri making faces at me, as if urging me to come closer. I stepped over and asked him, "What’s going on, A Dong?" He hesitated before finally pulling me further away. "Squad Leader, there's something wrong with your room."
"Wrong? What do you mean?" I hadn’t even processed what he said. Last night, when I got up to use the bathroom, I passed by his room and noticed his window was open. The wind chime inside was ringing continuously; I thought he was just bored and playing with it. But when I peeked in, he was sound asleep, and the wind chime was swaying right above his head—not just swaying, but tilting towards him!
Tilting? What the hell! That description sent chills down my spine! "Dongri, don’t joke around! As Squad Leader, I've seen all sorts of things; you’re not trying to scare me, are you?" Just as I was about to walk away, Dongri stopped me again. "Squad Leader, remember that brother who committed suicide by kneeling? He was in this camp; just don’t know which room." My scalp tingled at that moment. It had to be him! That voice—soft and eerie—"Will we meet again?" Wasn’t that his last wish before he died? Suddenly, I made up my mind. "Dongri, bring three—no, five brothers tonight to keep watch. Set up a cot in my room; after lights out, we’ll all keep an eye inside while the others take turns watching outside! And don’t tell anyone why; just say the Squad Leader is sleepwalking and needs someone to check on him."
A Dong readily agreed; perhaps it was youthful curiosity that made him so unafraid. Seeing him so calm eased my own fears. After all, there were so many of us—what was there to be scared of? Looking back now, we really were like fearless calves!
To cut a long story short, that night after lights out, A Dong and I went to bed together. I kept an eye on things and had A Dong sleep in the corner opposite me. I even gave him a bottle of essential oil to keep him awake. My mind was racing with thoughts; I couldn’t fall asleep. Glancing at my glow-in-the-dark watch, it was already past midnight. There hadn’t been any movement from A Dong’s side; maybe he had fallen asleep? Just as I was about to shush him, I noticed something that sent chills down my spine!
The window was open! I had been sleeping with my head facing the window directly across from A Dong's bed. As I lifted my head slightly to look over, light streamed in! My window had been covered with white paper; it shouldn’t let any light through! The only explanation was that the window had been opened. Was it one of the brothers outside? Just as I turned my head back toward A Dong’s corner, he suddenly signaled frantically with hand gestures! It was a military signal—get down! Get down? Without thinking further, my first instinct was to drop flat on my bed and tilt my head slightly to look.
What I saw nearly made me lose my mind!
The window slowly opened by itself, and a mass of black mist began writhing its way inside. The Purple Wind Chime at the head of my bed trembled violently; the intensity increased as the black mist approached until the chime started ringing loudly! This is bad—what should I do? Clearly, this situation was beyond my control!! Glancing over at A Dong’s side revealed complete silence—had he been scared stiff? What about the brothers outside? Why wasn’t there any noise?! In that moment, countless thoughts raced through my mind! What should we do? Suddenly I saw A Dong move slightly; thank goodness he was still awake! Then I spotted the switch above his head and shouted urgently, "A Dong! Hit the switch above your head!"
Since the room was large and there were usually two switches for each fluorescent light on either side of the room—and mine hadn’t been used—I hoped it would work! A Dong sprang into action and slammed down on the switch! The light didn’t turn on!! "A Dong!" I yelled again. "Press it again!" It might have been a blown fuse or something; after several attempts, finally—the light flickered on! At that moment, I jumped off the bed and threw off the covers to cover that mass of black mist—but just as my feet hit the floor, I watched in shock as the black mist retreated like a startled rabbit back out through the window and disappeared into the dark night.
"Chase!" I shouted as I dashed out of the door with A Dong right behind me. Once outside, however, I froze in place—the surroundings were eerily silent. In our earlier panic over the light situation, we hadn’t noticed that even during summer nights there weren’t any mosquitoes or birds chirping... everything was pitch black around us. Where were our brothers? "A Dong," I whispered cautiously so other soldiers wouldn’t hear us from their rooms. In the grass nearby, A Dong replied softly too.
We quickly turned toward a patch of grass diagonally across from us where indeed our comrades lay sprawled out in various positions. "I told them to lie low here," A Dong said as he approached them for a check-up. "They’re all asleep!" "Wake them up; it’ll be fine—let them go back to sleep." I knew this matter couldn’t be made public; however, it seemed like the black mist didn’t harbor any malicious intent—it didn’t seem like it wanted to scare us on purpose; there must have been a reason behind it!
Once things settled down a bit more brightly after that incident, I asked A Dong to keep an eye on our squad while I stepped out for a bit to handle some matters. That evening after lights out again, I instructed A Dong and others to close all doors and windows tightly and not come out unless necessary. Armed with some incense sticks and Joss Paper that I'd bought earlier for offerings, I headed toward the Water Room.
The Water Room was dimly lit; outside felt hot but stepping inside brought an immediate chill—as if temperatures dropped significantly upon entry. Not daring to venture further inside than just a couple of steps past the entrance door where I'd lit incense and started burning yellow paper (back then most offerings were made with yellow paper instead of today’s extravagant denominations), everything around remained eerily quiet as usual—it made sense why some soldiers moved here—they became quieter themselves without even a hint of buzzing insects or chirping birds.
While murmuring quietly to myself about these thoughts regarding our presence disturbing things here—I spoke aloud: “Brother, I'm new here as Red Card; there's not much help I can offer you regarding your situation—I’ve heard bits about it.”
“Brother,” continuing softly now “I know you’re unwillingly stuck here because your squad leader has retired—I don’t know him personally but you probably want to see him again… though perhaps he can’t be found anymore… your bond might be strong but trust me when I say he would’ve wanted you safe above all else!”
“We’re comrades now; this place is home for both you and me—you wanting to stay behind waiting for him isn’t strange—but remember: iron-clad barracks will always have flowing soldiers coming through… eventually one day even I'll leave too… so why not embrace change gracefully?”
Honestly speaking at that moment reminded me of my ex-girlfriend Li Mengqiao (here's another friendly shout-out for a fan girl), causing tears welling up in my eyes as well: “Brothers… truthfully speaking… I've just broken up with my girlfriend recently without knowing why… sometimes life feels like fate playing tricks on us… is this what destiny looks like? Guess it's time for me too…”
As I burned Joss Paper, I didn't notice when a mass of black mist surged out from the innermost part of the Water Room, swirling continuously in front of me. As I narrated my thoughts, the color of the black mist gradually faded, becoming lighter and lighter until it disappeared completely. I was still lost in my own musings when I suddenly realized that the surroundings had become much noisier. Yes, there were more frogs croaking, crickets chirping, the sound of the wind, and occasionally a bird call. Looking around, apart from a pile of ash from the paper, there was nothing else. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the Water Room; where was the black mist? Was there really any ghostly presence? Or was it just my emotional turmoil creating an illusion? Perhaps it was my changing emotions that caused its appearance? I could not determine which reason it was; in any case, I had come to believe in the existence of demons to some extent.
The next day, I stopped A Dong and told him that everything was fine and that nothing should be leaked; we should all continue living as usual. A Dong calmly agreed. In that moment, I felt an impulse to ask him if he had seen what I had seen, but I held back. Many things do not need to be clarified so thoroughly. Perhaps he thought I had some supernatural ability to resolve this matter, or maybe he simply hadn’t taken it to heart at all!
Later on, I researched related information and found that hanging wind chimes in certain positions in a room could indeed attract nearby wandering souls. However, when I read the first usage of wind chimes on Baidu Baike, I couldn't shake off the lingering thoughts. It stated that the primary purpose of wind chimes is to serve as a warning for the future. To this day, I still don't know whether it was the hanging wind chime that attracted the spirits or if it was due to something approaching that caused the wind chime to issue a warning of danger. But I knew that the Purple Wind Chime was indeed my Soul Bell; it called back my spirit and vitality, teaching me to cherish the present and live well each day. The reasons for our breakup no longer mattered; every action has its meaning—why cling to it? I believe she made the right choice for herself. From that moment on, I completely turned away and no longer lingered on past emotional experiences, stepping out from the shadow of that relationship. I pressed the Purple Wind Chime at the bottom of my box, allowing that relationship and those memories to remain forever hidden in my heart. Once again, thank you, Meng Qiao, for being that girl who brought me beautiful memories of youth!
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