Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Wang Pozi, gripped by intense fear, hadn’t even grabbed a lantern. She could only rely on her instincts as she ran through the darkness.
She stumbled and fell, her mind haunted by the eerie and cold laughter of the two-headed infant creature.
Home—this word now filled her with boundless strength. As long as she could return home, she would be safe.
At home, there was dim yet warm light, a cozy bed, and that nagging husband who always cared.
After a tumultuous journey, Wang Pozi finally arrived home. The familiar scents and the comforting arrangements brought her a sense of relief as she leaned against the door, breathing heavily.
After sipping some hot water, warmth began to seep back into her body. After all, she was getting older; the fright and the long run had taken their toll. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she yawned as she burrowed into the blankets.
It was true that men had a fiery temperament. The bed was warm, though it carried a hint of her husband's foot odor. Yet it provided an immense sense of security.
Wang Pozi nestled against her husband and fell asleep almost immediately.
But this was a place filled with a chilling aura, like a sticky snake slowly slithering across her skin—nauseating and frightening.
A blood-red moon hung in the dim sky, resembling a giant single eye gazing down upon the earth.
Wang Pozi looked around in confusion. She had clearly returned home to sleep. So where was this place? Why was there no snow?
Silence enveloped her—a deathly stillness.
Wang Pozi swallowed hard and tentatively cupped her hands around her mouth to whisper, “Is anyone there?”
A sudden sound echoed through the forest, but apart from the fading echoes, there were no birds chirping or insects buzzing.
“Giggling…”
The laughter of a baby abruptly rang out, and Wang Pozi screamed as she ran desperately in one direction.
“Come on! Come kill me…”
“Aren't you the one who wants to kill me?”
The baby’s voice, sweet and innocent, seemed to cling to Wang Pozi like a parasite, following her closely, now near and now far.
It was so close that Wang Pozi could almost feel the warm breath against her ear.
Time passed without her noticing, and eventually, Wang Pozi was exhausted. She leaned against a tree and slid down to the ground, her chest heaving violently, her throat rasping like a broken bellows, producing a harsh sound.
“Who… are you…”
Wang Pozi hoarsely shouted into the night sky, her voice resembling that of Ye Xiao.
In response, she heard the giggling again, filled with the mockery and delight of a cat playing with its prey.
“Are you asking whether Dad should protect you or not? Is such a question even necessary? Of course, he should protect me.”
The baby’s voice continued to sound sweet and innocent.
Wang Pozi's body trembled violently, and her voice became shrill as she shouted, "In the end, didn't I safely deliver both of you brothers? How can you repay kindness with enmity?"
She felt a damp sensation behind her ear, sensing someone was behind her, but she dared not look back. Her whole body shook like chaff in the wind, and her heart raced fiercely, as if it were about to leap out of her throat.
"I am willing..."
Wang Pozi felt a chill wash over her, every nerve in her body taut like a bowstring pulled to its limit.
Yet having lived for half a lifetime, she had seen all sorts of things. Wang Pozi gritted her teeth and suddenly turned around.
She was almost face to face with the two-headed infant.
It was a wrinkled face, with enormous eyes that seemed to take up a third of its features. The bulging eye sockets resembled those of a toad with a human face.
One head wore a terrifying grin, revealing a row of teeth as sharp and dense as those of a piranha. The other head, however, had its eyes tightly shut, as if it were asleep.
For a moment, Wang Pozi felt lost, almost forgetting her fear and the urge to scream.
"Ming Jian."
Wang Pozi watched the mouth of the Two-Headed Monster open and close, the stench of dead fish and shrimp sunbaked in summer wafting toward her.
"Ah... ah..."
Wang Laotou slapped Wang Pozi's face vigorously but could not wake her. He had been sleeping soundly until Wang Pozi's screams and wild kicks jolted him awake.
Wang Laotou thought it might be a nightmare, so he mumbled to himself as he put on his clothes and got out of bed. He fetched some cool water and filled a bowl to the brim with rice.
Next, he took a piece of black cloth and wrapped the bowl of rice in it, then turned it upside down beside Wang Pozi.
Finally, he dipped his hand in the water and sprinkled it on Wang Pozi's face while muttering the Buddhist Six-Character Mantra.
In less than a minute, Wang Pozi screamed and sat up in bed, drenched in sweat that smelled sour, as if she had just been pulled from the water.
Upon seeing her husband's concerned gaze, she clutched his hand tightly and cried out loudly, "He’s come! He wants to kill me! He’s here..."
Wang Laotou winced in pain as he shook off Wang Pozi's hand, looking displeased. "Stop with the nonsense. It’s the middle of the night; can’t you let someone sleep?"
With that, he ignored the dazed Wang Pozi and yawned as he went back to sleep.
No one knew that the rice wrapped in the black cloth was rapidly diminishing.
Three days later, Wang Pozi was found dead.
It was said that she fell into the latrine while going to relieve herself and drowned. The rural conditions back then were certainly not like today’s high-rise buildings with flush toilets. The village latrines were extremely rudimentary—just a simple pit.
When they pulled Wang Pozi out, her body was covered in maggots, and her eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets.
Meanwhile, Ling Er Xiezi from the west side of the village seemed to have been possessed by an evil spirit and was scared to death. Otherwise, how could such a shallow pit drown someone?
Ling Dajun learned about it while on his way back from town after buying rice noodles; he overheard the women gossiping in the village and pieced together what had happened.
The rice noodles in his hand nearly slipped away as he forced a smile at the village women.
A woman in a floral jacket laughed and asked, “Dajun, I heard you had twins! Congratulations! When will you treat us to drinks and sweets?”
Ling Dajun responded absentmindedly, then hurriedly ran back home.
Could it be that his son, the one born against all odds, was truly a monster? Was he really just a Nemesis?
That night, Ling Dajun sat on the ground for the entire night, finally deciding that no matter what Ying had given birth to, it was still a child of the Ling Family.
So, he thought that once Ying was buried, he would take his son and hide in the mountains for the rest of their lives. At least they would have a way to survive. If they stayed in the village, they would surely be suffocated by the villagers' disdain.
Monsters were considered ill omens; this was a rule passed down through generations.
Ling Dajun suppressed his grief as he cleaned Ying’s body and dressed her in a decent outfit. “Decent” meant a faded floral jacket that had seen better days.
Clumsily, he braided his wife’s long hair into a plait and let it hang down beside her.
Ling Dajun initially planned to keep her body for three days before secretly burying her and then retreating into the deep mountains with his son.
However, on the second midnight, when Ling Dajun got up, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Bright moonlight streamed through the broken window into the room. Instead of lying on the bed as she should have been, Li Juying sat up. In her arms was a swaddled baby. Her long braid hung down to her chest.
The floral jacket lifted slightly from one side, revealing a patch of pale skin on her chest.
Under the moonlight, Ling Dajun clearly saw the twisted head, desperately sucking. It seemed as if there was some divine nectar within that mouth, driving one to madness.
The night was silent and still.
Ling Dajun felt all the hair on his body stand on end, as the sound of a baby sucking echoed in his ears, filled with desire and excitement.
One was his deceased wife, and the other was his newly born son. Ling Dajun seemed to forget his fear, forget to run away.
Feeding a corpse—was it his wife's deep obsession? Or something else...
Ling Dajun could not know.
Comment 0 Comment Count