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墨書 Inktalez
A Yu's diary, with its elegant handwriting, exudes a profound sorrow that penetrates to the bone. As I turn the pages, a long-buried story gradually comes into focus, completely overturning my previous assumptions.
A Yu was not a "soul" imprisoned, but a real woman who once existed. She was an orphan who fled to Huaiyin Town decades ago and was taken in by the then-young Granduncle San, Lin Shoucheng. Over time, they developed deep feelings for each other, but an ancient and cruel "rule" of the Lin family prevented their union.
The diary reveals that the Lin family has guarded a "Dragon Vein" in Huaiyin Town for generations, but this duty comes with a curse—someone from the direct bloodline of the Lin family must "serve" and protect the local "Huaishen." If not, the Huaishen would become restless, bringing disaster upon the entire town. The method of "service" involved sacrifices. Initially, it required living sacrifices, which later evolved into creating Substitute Paper Dolls. During specific seasons, the Lin Family Guardian would transfer a portion of their spirit or "fortune" to the Paper Figurine to bear the brunt of the Huaishen's erosion or backlash. This was a slow process that consumed life.
Granduncle San, as the sole guardian of his generation, was destined to live in solitude and continually sacrifice himself. He loved A Yu deeply but could not offer her a name or a future.
What shocked me even more was that towards the end of the diary, A Yu had secretly researched ancient texts of the Lin family to find a more sinister method of creating a "substitute." She devised a way to craft a life-sized wooden puppet resembling herself using specially prepared materials infused with her own blood and obsession. Through a certain ritual, she could merge part of her soul with the puppet. This way, the puppet could take on some of the responsibilities of serving Huaishen, alleviating Granduncle San's burden and allowing A Yu to remain by his side in another form for an extended period.
The puppet veiled in cloth in the attic was A Yu's handmade substitute! The so-called "Locking Soul" was not imprisonment but rather A Yu's voluntary and desperate sacrifice!
The last few pages of the diary were filled with chaotic and frantic writing. A Yu seemed to realize that something had gone wrong with her method; her mind began to falter between clarity and madness. She mentioned unbearable pain and that the puppet seemed to be developing its own consciousness; she even hinted at feeling as though she was being "devoured" by it.
The final entry abruptly ended with a line written in blood-red ink: "Save me... Shoucheng..."
Holding the diary made my hands and feet feel icy cold. The sobs did not come from an imprisoned ghost but from A Yu herself, who had formed a terrifying link with the puppet and was on the brink of mental collapse! She may not have died but existed in an exceedingly bizarre way alongside this puppet, enduring endless suffering!
Granduncle San did not imprison her; he desperately guarded this secret, protecting both the woman he loved deeply and who he had inadvertently caused such tragedy for! His confessions in his later notes about "feeding ghosts" likely referred to his ongoing suffering from Huaishen's backlash and the toll it took on maintaining A Yu's soul. The phrase "the method of substitutes may offer liberation" might refer to finding a way to break this dark magic, while "Blood Kin Extradition"... required me, as a descendant of the Lin family, to perform some sort of ritual?
At that moment, I suddenly realized an even more terrifying question: How much did the person secretly manipulating the Paper Figurine know? What did they want? Were they trying to stop me from uncovering the truth to maintain the status quo? Or… did they intend to use A Yu or that already conscious puppet for some other purpose?
The real danger did not come from ghosts but from that hidden living person and from the substitute puppet in the attic that was beginning to come "alive"!
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