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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Five
I stood before the ruins of the temple, the moonlight pouring down like mercury, enveloping the crumbling walls in a ghastly pallor. The blood characters left by Wang Fugui before his death served as an invisible key, guiding me deeper into the mystery of this case. The night wind wailed as it swept through the broken window frames, producing sounds akin to ghostly howls, sending a chill down my spine; this place was terrifyingly eerie.
"My lord, look!" Advisor pointed to a sunken area in the center of the ruins, his voice trembling slightly with tension. "The soil here is different from the surrounding ground; it's darker, as if..." He paused, seemingly searching for the right words. "As if it has been soaked in blood."
I crouched down, a wave of cold rushing from my fingertips to my heart. Gently brushing aside the top layer of soil, a putrid stench mixed with damp moldiness assaulted my senses, making me gag. Sure enough, the edge of a blue stone slab emerged beneath, and within the cracks of the slab, dark red stains were faintly visible, resembling dried blood. "Bring people! Dig this place up!" I suppressed my discomfort and commanded. The officers immediately grabbed their shovels and began to excavate.
The sound of shovels striking dirt echoed sharply in the stillness of the night, and my heart raced with each thud. As layers of soil were removed, an entrance to an underground passage gradually revealed itself. The entrance was sealed by a massive blue stone slab covered in dense runes that had been worn down by time, barely recognizable as Taoist incantations but interspersed with strange symbols I had never seen before.
"These runes..." Advisor leaned in for a closer look, his brow furrowed. "They resemble some kind of exorcism spell but seem unusually different; it appears... it seems to contain some sort of evil power."
A chill ran down my spine. Could it be that something unspeakable was sealed underground? An ominous premonition surged within me as I instinctively tightened my grip on the dagger at my waist. Just as I was pondering this, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew out from below, carrying an even more nauseating stench than before, as if it were the breath of hell itself. Several officers turned pale and instinctively took a few steps back, their torches flickering violently as if they might extinguish at any moment.
"Don't be afraid!" I barked sharply, striving to maintain my composure. "Prise open the stone slab!"
Six strong men worked together with crowbars and shovels; after great effort, they finally managed to shift the heavy stone slab aside. With a thunderous crash, it fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust and revealing a deep opening before us—dark enough to seem capable of swallowing all light, like a gateway to hell. I raised my torch and stepped into the passage first. A peculiar scent pervaded the damp air—like burnt sandalwood but laced with an indescribable eeriness that resembled both blood and decaying flesh, sending shivers down my spine.
The passage was not long; after walking about a hundred steps, we emerged into a spacious underground chamber. The walls were constructed from blue bricks adorned with Buddhist murals. Strangely enough, these murals had been charred beyond recognition by flames, leaving only patches of blackened remnants that resembled grotesque faces lurking in the flickering light—enough to send chills through anyone who gazed upon them. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt material; one could almost feel the terror of that Great Fire that had consumed everything.
"My lord, look over there!" Advisor's voice suddenly rose an octave higher with fear.
Following his gaze, my heart lurched violently. In one corner of the chamber lay seven skeletons arranged neatly; each skeleton wore a string of prayer beads around its wrist and hung a copper amulet around its neck. In the flickering torchlight, they appeared particularly sinister and chilling.
"This is..." I crouched down to examine closely, a chill running from my feet to the top of my head. "The monk who was burned alive fifty years ago!" The charred remains bore faint traces of burning, silently recounting the tragedy of that year.
At that moment, Advisor suddenly noticed something and said with a trembling voice, "My lord, look at the positions of these bones..."
I focused my gaze and couldn't help but gasp in horror. The seven skeletons were all in a kneeling position, hands clasped together as if engaged in some kind of ritual or prayer, pleading for liberation. On the ground before them, a massive array was drawn in red cinnabar, its lines complex and eerie; I had never seen such patterns before.
"This is not an ordinary array," I observed the symbols on the ground carefully, a sense of unease creeping into my heart. "This is... some kind of evil ritual meant to... summon something!"
Before I could finish my sentence, an eerie chime suddenly resonated from all directions, echoing in the chamber, striking at my nerves like a death knell from hell. Even more disturbingly, the skeletons began to tremble slightly, producing a chilling "clack" sound as if their bones were grinding against each other.
"Get out quickly!" I shouted, a wave of intense fear sweeping over me, but it was too late. The entrance to the chamber suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash, trapping us inside. Debris and dust flew everywhere, choking me into a fit of coughing.
At that moment, I noticed a stone tablet in the center of the array, inscribed with small characters:
"Fifty years ago, the temple's Great Fire was no accident. Died to suppress the Blood Curse; tonight at Midnight, the curse will reappear..."
Suddenly, all seven skeletons lifted their heads simultaneously, hollow eye sockets glowing with a ghostly green light like Ghost Fire, sending chills down my spine. They began to chant in low voices filled with sorrow and despair, echoing like curses from hell throughout the chamber.
"My lord..." Advisor's voice quivered with tears. "What time is it now?"
I glanced at my pocket watch and felt my heart race: "Midnight... just one minute away..."
The air in the chamber turned frigidly cold; the charred marks on the murals began to writhe as if countless Vengeful Spirits struggled within them, emitting silent screams. The chanting of the seven skeletons grew louder; the array on the ground emitted an eerie red glow that intensified and became blinding, as if it aimed to consume the entire chamber.
At this critical moment, I suddenly recalled the words of Old Zhang before he passed away: "There is more underground than just this..."
Could it be that all of this is part of a scheme? The people who have died, the Great Fire, even the case of the Wang Fugui couple—are they all just pieces in this elaborate game?
And an even greater secret is about to be revealed at Midnight...
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