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墨書 Inktalez
After sending off Xin Yi, it was already past eleven. This older brother, whom he had only recently met, seemed to show an unexpected level of concern for him. Before leaving, he fussed over every detail of living alone at home, explaining everything from head to toe, even more meticulously than his own parents would have. Song Bunan closed the door and couldn't help but imagine various scenarios, the first thought that popped into his mind being: Xin Yi must be trying to pursue his brother by starting with him.
What was that saying again?
To win someone over, one must first deal with the people around them.
“Hmm…” Suddenly feeling like he had stumbled upon a significant piece of gossip, he rubbed his hands together in excitement and headed towards his bedroom. Such juicy news simply had to be shared with his friends! Although it was just a wild guess on his part, he had always found that intuition was often spot on.
Noticing there was still some time before midnight, Song Bunan happily opened his computer, logged onto a chat application, and clicked on the avatar he hadn’t opened in two months to send a message. “ brother Hua, I have some juicy gossip I want to share with you!”
Xiao Mei returned to Dragon Garden a day early. Standing in front of the small second-floor door, he noticed that someone had entered while he was away. The barrier used to conceal the house's true nature had been breached with a small crack. The entire courtyard's barrier had also been disrupted, making the already gloomy place feel even more eerie.
Zhang Long arrived a little later and exclaimed from behind him, “Wow! This is quite a mess. Xiao Mei, do you think this place is still safe?”
The barrier was meant to hide the fact that this house was originally a Gathering Yin Land. While it didn’t affect humans much, Gathering Yin Land attracted many wandering spirits from the surrounding area. If enough yin energy and ghostly energy were absorbed by Gathering Yin Land, whether the things trapped in this house would remain obedient was another story altogether.
The trouble now was that the barrier in front of the small second-floor door had been set up by Xiao Mei himself and could be easily restored. However, the outer courtyard barrier had been established by his master long ago. With his master now deceased and their spirit trapped within the house unwilling to show itself, restoring it would be extremely difficult. He sensed no information about any visitors here; instead, the increasingly heavy ghostly energy made him feel anxious.
He stepped forward and kicked away the stone at the center of the barrier, fully exposing the small house where he lived. Before Zhang Long could ask what he was doing, Xiao Mei pulled out a dagger from his backpack and made a cut in his palm, letting blood drip onto the ground. Once there was about a bowl-sized amount of blood pooled on the ground, Xiao Mei closed his eyes and took a deep breath before plunging the dagger into the blood.
The blade slid through the earth as smoothly as if it were going through tofu. At that moment when Xiao Mei released the hilt of the dagger, the temperature around them rose significantly due to the overwhelming ghostly energy, causing Zhang Long to shiver involuntarily.
Zhang Long grabbed Xiao Mei’s wrist, intending to make him unclench his fist but then remembered he hadn’t brought any medical supplies with him. He knew very well how extreme Xiao Mei could be when dealing with ghosts or monsters; while he was kind-hearted towards people, he became ruthless when facing supernatural beings. From choosing to come to Dragon Garden to inspect the courtyard, Zhang Long had realized that Xiao Mei wasn’t just waiting for his master’s spirit to appear; sure enough, during one visit with Shui Su, he learned that Xiao Mei had captured several wandering spirits and confined them in this house—under the pretense of giving them a home.
Fortunately, they were well-equipped inside the house. After bandaging Xiao Mei’s wound, Zhang Long poked him lightly on the head and said, “What’s going on in that head of yours? There are at least three or four other ways to handle this situation; why did you have to choose this one? I think you’ve gotten too carried away waiting for Shui Su—when he returns, I’ll see if I report you.”
Despite saying this, Zhang Long carefully laid Xiao Mei’s hand flat and forcibly examined him for any other injuries. He meticulously checked every spot where blood could be drawn easily because if anything happened to Xiao Mei and their leader found out, it would be Zhang Long who would face severe consequences.
Meanwhile, Xiao Mei allowed Zhang Long to turn him over like a pancake as he pondered over names of people who could break his master’s barriers. In this city, there were no more than five individuals who knew this place was Gathering Yin Land and understood its barriers—two were already missing without a trace; one was too old to move; another was their leader; and one claimed he would return soon. So who could have broken the barrier and for what purpose?
He recalled what his master had said: if this place absorbed too much yin energy, it would lead to unknown consequences—consequences that would certainly cause trouble for many people trying to live their lives peacefully. Though they weren’t saints in their line of work, they still needed to strive to prevent major incidents that could harm humanity. His master had sacrificed their life to protect this place and remained as a spirit within the house for three years; Xiao Mei had tried countless methods during that time but all were in vain.
Now that the barrier had been breached and that fateful day drew near again, if he couldn’t find a way to activate the house before Shui Su returned, wouldn’t all of his master’s sacrifices have been in vain?
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, he began looking forward to exploring this house with Song Bunan tomorrow night; whatever might happen remained uncertain but his intuition told him he could obtain valuable information from this boy.
“Xiao Mei,” Zhang Long said thoughtfully after confirming that Xiao Mei hadn’t done anything reckless lately while tidying up his clothes. “Soon it will be your master’s three-year memorial day. Has he still not shown himself?”
Xiao Mei snapped back to reality at those words and nodded gently in response.
“His spirit still refuses to meet me. But it seems something will happen on that three-year anniversary day. Now that someone has breached our barriers outside and if I can’t find a way to awaken those spirits within this house soon enough, my master’s sacrifice will have been for nothing. I’ve invited Song Bunan over tomorrow night; since he can be summoned by this house, he should also be able to help me.”
Zhang Long looked outside as darkness fell and turned on the lights before heading into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Grabbing some frozen dumplings from the fridge, he casually remarked, “If you really plan on bringing that kid into this mess tomorrow, you’d better explain clearly why you need his help. This isn’t a small matter; make sure you’re prepared for the worst.”
Perhaps it was due to Song Bunan's genuine feelings that Black Notebook responded promptly—just as soon as midnight struck and time changed to 0:00, Song Bunan hurriedly flipped open his notebook to where he had written earlier. The black words on white paper remained intact but now contained content that only appeared at specific times; this made his heart drop back into his chest from where it had been hanging above his head.
Letting out a long sigh of relief and feeling so excited that he kissed his notebook twice in quick succession, Song Bunan suddenly lost interest in reading further and placed it back on the table.
He picked up the paper that the shadow had returned to him, wanting to study it closely. However, the smudged characters were utterly illegible. After pondering who might be able to help him decipher it, he realized that only Xiao Mei seemed to have the ability to understand or grasp its meaning.
He took a photo and sent it through the chat interface, along with several voice messages explaining why this strange item had appeared. Prepared to wait until the next day for a response, Song Bunan lay down in bed, ready to drift off to sleep. Just as he snuggled comfortably under the covers, his phone rang, interrupting his peaceful moment.
"Are you saying that the item you sent to the ghost was accepted?" Xiao Mei's voice on the other end was filled with excitement, her words tumbling out in a breathless rush. Startled by her enthusiasm, Song Bunan swallowed hard and stammered a confirmation.
After that, he could hear her breathing heavily, as if she were suppressing something. They remained silent for a while until Song Bunan, caught between sitting up and lying down, finally chose to recline again. It was then that she spoke up once more: "Come over to the house tomorrow afternoon. I have some important things to tell you. Also, remember to bring the bracelet I gave you and wear something warm."
Having committed her instructions to memory, Bunan readily agreed before hanging up. Just before falling asleep, he glanced at the chat window again; despite sending gossip earlier, he hadn’t received any replies. Yet, brother Hua was usually most active at this hour.
" brother Hua, have you been busy lately...?"
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