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墨書 Inktalez
I felt the world spinning around me, my head pounding, and I staggered back a few steps to sit down in a chair.
No news could have shocked me more. I felt utterly drained, a cold sweat breaking out on my skin. Whether Xiao Guolin had seen Song Guilong during the last operation, or if he had encountered him again in the Underground Passage, or perhaps spotted him somewhere outside the passage in the course of his work or life, it was all too much to bear. The fact that Song Guilong was still alive left me in disbelief and deep fear. Just the name Song Guilong had become a curse in my life.
Song Guilong was alive, but in our search for him, we had endured horrors worse than hell itself. The look of despair in Zhao Squad Leader's eyes and the sight of Li Squad Leader's bloodied head flashed before me.
How could Song Guilong still be alive? What was going on?
I lacked the strength to walk over to the computer or the courage to look at that letter again. I sat there helplessly, my mind gradually going blank.
“Qiangzi, Qiangzi.” Fatty's voice pulled me back to reality.
I leaned back against the chair, weakly opening my eyes to see three people in front of the computer turning their heads to look at me.
“Are you okay?”
“What are you thinking about?”
Xiao Ting and Jack asked me almost simultaneously.
I directed my gaze toward Xiao Ting. I imagined my expression must have been quite complex because my feelings were difficult to articulate. But what I was really thinking was: You know why I didn’t want you to see that letter, right?
Clearly, Xiao Ting didn’t understand the message conveyed by my gaze; she even seemed a bit excited. “Captain Song is still alive! That means my dad must be alive too.”
All I could do was offer a bitter smile, knowing.
Fatty waved his hand quickly. "Come here, look at what this means."
I felt uncomfortable and weak in my legs. Forcing myself to stand up, I decided not to push it and dragged a chair over instead. Jack wisely moved aside a bit, and I slid the chair in, sitting down next to Xiao Ting.
The letter was long; they had already read most of it. It seemed they had some questions for me, but upon noticing I wasn't reading and looked rather unwell, Xiao Ting pointed to a line and asked, "What does this mean?"
I glanced at it and felt a shiver. "I haven't read the beginning, so I can't make sense of it either."
Xiao Ting scrolled the mouse up, urging me to start from the top. When we reached that part, Xiao Ting paused the mouse again and asked me. I shook my head. "I'm not sure; let's keep reading. There might be hints later on."
Jack huffed behind me, but I ignored him. Xiao Ting showed no reaction and continued scrolling through the letter. It ended with a map.
The content of the letter was chaotic; some information was presented out of order. For instance, some conclusions were stated before the details of how they were reached were provided. The narrative lacked coherence, giving me the impression that it was written as thoughts came to mind, revealing that this letter was not written in one go but rather piecemeal over a long period. Throughout the writing process, Xiao Guolin's state of mind also fluctuated—sometimes agitated, sometimes calm. Overall, his mindset seemed to gradually settle down, which aligned with Xiao Ting's description.
After finishing the letter, none of us spoke. Each person's feelings were different, but none felt at ease. I took the mouse again and started from the beginning once more. I needed to organize these scattered pieces of information into a coherent sequence to draw reliable clues from them. The content of this letter was too unreliable; even though the latter half had a logical tone and structure, its content remained hard for me to believe or understand.
The letter described a dream of Xiao Guolin's—likely many dreams. He recorded these dreams like taking notes, with their backdrop being the familiar Underground Passage. In fact, such nightmares often appeared in my own sleep; I believed anyone who survived in that passage would be haunted by those nightmares for life.
However, Xiao Guolin's dreams were different from mine; he did not encounter the things I feared—like Squad Leader Li or Squad Leader Zhao or swarms of insects. Instead, there was a key figure: Song Guilong. Darkness was the theme of his nightmares, including his vision of Song Guilong, who was also shrouded in black. The most bizarre aspect of his dream was that he could walk freely through the pitch-black passage; it seemed that what guided him forward was not sight but another form of perception beyond my understanding.
Loneliness, solitude, and fear drove him to run continuously in his nightmares, waking up repeatedly in terror. In the latter half of the letter, he began methodically recording the passages he had traversed and drew a map based on that. This map matched my experiences in the Underground Passage perfectly; the Hexagon passage stretched underground like a massive beehive. Moreover, it seemed Xiao Guolin had thoroughly searched the Underground Passage; this map not only detailed our route from our last entry but also marked where we were attacked by the Giant Millipede—on the opposite bank of an underground lake. One side bordered the lake while on the other side Xiao Guolin drew an abyss.
At that time, we had fled for our lives from the Giant Millipede without any time to explore this area. However, since Xiao Guolin drew scenes from his dreams, I couldn't take them literally; I was more worried about Xiao Ting believing in this map. If Xiao Ting searched for Xiao Guolin based on this map, it would be tantamount to seeking death. Clearly, their recent expedition had followed this map and ended in disappearance. With this cautionary tale in mind, I absolutely could not allow Xiao Ting to take such risks and make the same mistakes again.
Fortunately, judging by Xiao Ting's expression, she also does not believe this map; disappointment is written all over everyone's faces. No one even feels like going through the letter with me again.
The only person who appeared in Xiao Guolin's dream was Song Guilong. I cannot understand how he could be so sure that this person was Song Guilong in a completely dark dream. He simply assumed that Song Guilong was still alive based solely on the dream, which not only made me doubt the credibility of this letter but also worried me about his mental health.
I even think that their incident is directly related to Xiao Guolin leading the team. It would be strange if nothing went wrong with someone who has such mental issues at the helm.
Many parts of this letter leave me puzzled, yet they hold no real significance. The only thing I consider a clue is a line he wrote: "I left something with Cao Mingzhe. If something happens to me, please take care of it." Cao Mingzhe understands this matter more thoroughly than I do; if you have any questions, you can ask him.
The situation keeps circling back to Cao Mingzhe. According to Xiao Ting, Cao Mingzhe has gone missing again, and I have no idea where to find him. Moreover, I can no longer trust Xiao Guolin. He is relying entirely on clues from his dreams, which could lead anywhere without certainty. If I were to follow the clues he left behind, I would probably end up in a ditch.
Everyone kept their heads down, either lost in thought or confused. Suddenly, Xiao Ting asked, "What did my dad go to Guangxi for?"
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