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墨書 Inktalez
But once the stick around my neck was removed, the world revealed its true ugly face.
The road spewed lava, and the flesh flowers painted with cores were surrounded by monsters covered in tentacles, slowly writhing atop a mass of flesh.
Passing by a shop with a gaping maw for a door, the words on the sign twisted like maggots, forming characters we had never seen before.
"Hub, Mihu,
"The top of the Nanshan Classic is called Magpie Mountain. Its peak is called Mount Zhaoyao... There is a wood that resembles grain and is dark in color, its brilliance shines in all directions. It is called Mysterious Grain, wearing it will not lead one astray.
"This is a plant recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas; it might be related to this," Han Tianlin explained as he looked at the stick I was holding through the rearview mirror.
As we approached the television tower, we passed an intersection just as the light turned green, and Han Tianlin slowed down to drive through.
"Scrape—" A sudden hard brake.
I pressed my forehead and looked up. "What happened?"
A group of children suddenly appeared on the crosswalk, backpacks on their backs, seemingly just released from school.
Their white, tender arms were chubby like lotus roots.
They hopped across the writhing crosswalk, bouncing toward the other side.
They looked like ordinary little kids.
"Be careful!"
One child seemed not to notice the ground beneath him and fell down.
He lay on the ground, crying loudly.
I opened the door, stepped forward, and grabbed his arm, intending to help him up.
With a strong pull, I unexpectedly yanked off the entire arm.
The little child fell again, his head, hands, and feet scattered all over the ground.
I stared in shock at the severed limbs strewn about.
"Sister! It hurts! Quickly help me up!"
The head lying on the ground, with its chubby little face, urged me in a childish voice.
I bent down in confusion, extending my hand to help him up, unsure of where to grab.
"Bang!" A loud noise echoed.
The head that was still speaking was kicked away by a foot that fell from the sky.
"Are you stupid? Extend your hand for him to bite, and run!" Hong Jingtian pulled me out of the car and we started to run frantically.
I snapped back to reality and glanced back.
The severed hands and feet were bouncing around, seemingly piecing themselves back together.
With a series of crisp sounds, the child who had fallen apart turned to smile at me.
On his flat, square wooden face, the lines drawn with red pen slowly curved downward into a frown.
"Sister, why aren't you helping me up..."
"Baby hurts so much!!!"
The square face forced an angry expression, and hundreds of heads moved in unison to look at me, thousands of small eyes glinting maliciously in the dim night.
Suddenly, a group of children, like robots, stiffly made "clicking" sounds as they assumed a starting position for a race.
Their expressions were uniformly downturned at the corners of their mouths.
It was then that I realized they were a group of Puppets.
"What are you staring at? Hurry up and run!" Hong Jingtian saw that I was moving slowly, bent down, and hoisted me onto his shoulder to quicken his pace.
With my head down, I caught sight of countless severed limbs and broken arms emerging from a manhole spewing black water.
They were densely packed, like a swarm of ants.
"Clatter clatter—" Countless puppet parts jumped along the road, creating a sound like an army on the march, shaking the entire city.
The monsters in the city seemed to hear the call, emerging from different corners to join the chase.
This is bad!
I struggled to jump down from Hong Jingtian's shoulder and twisted my foot to run into a dark alley nearby.
"This way!"
The alley was narrow enough to block some of the larger monsters.
But after just a couple of steps, I began to regret it; this alley felt quite eerie.
In the darkness, there was a dim red light, and the walls on either side were bulging.
If I listened closely, I could hear rustling sounds coming from beneath the wall surface.
My hair stood on end as I found myself in a dilemma in the alley, unable to move forward or backward.
But the sound of "pata" behind me grew closer, leaving no room for hesitation.
If the Puppet Army catches up to me, it would be the end.
I took a deep breath, disregarding everything, and charged forward with my eyes closed, turning when I hit a wall.
I don't know how long I ran, but the footsteps behind me grew fainter.
I stopped, leaning my hands on my knees and gasping for breath.
I couldn't tell if it was because I hadn't exercised enough or if I had run too long, but it felt like there was less and less oxygen, and my breathing became increasingly labored.
"Hong Jingtian? Have you noticed..." I turned to ask him if he felt the same way, only to find that he was gone.
I stood up and, under the faint red moonlight, I stumbled back a few steps in the direction I had come from.
"Hong Jingtian? Are you still there?"
...
In the damp and sticky alley, only my footsteps and the increasingly loud beating of my heart could be heard.
"Guji guji—"
What sound is that?
I tightened my grip on the knife in my hand, leaning against the wall as I strained to identify where the sound was coming from.
"Hong Jingtian?"
"Han Tianlin?"
No one answered, and the world felt as if I was the only person left.
"Whoosh—"
"Huh—"
The oxygen in the air was decreasing, and I felt a wave of dizziness in my brain.
I couldn't go on like this. I leaned against the wall, preparing to change direction to find an exit.
"Bang—" I turned around and bumped into the wall.
It was soft, sticky, and smelled strongly of a foul stench.
I looked at the alley that had been narrowing without my notice, a wave of fear washed over me, and I squeezed past the wall blocking my way and ran wildly.
The long and deep passageway resembled a giant python, opening its pitch-black mouth that seemed bottomless, closely following behind me, contracting and expanding as if it wanted to swallow me whole.
Just when I finally held my breath and reached the mouth of the alley, I saw the dense Puppet Army waiting for me.
"Hello there~ Sister."
"Baby wants to play with you!"
Countless puppets spoke the same phrase in unison, their childish voices echoing eerily in the dark alley.
I knew I couldn't escape.
At the moment I fainted from lack of oxygen, I vaguely saw a wooden stick poking out from the black wall.
The intricately carved ceiling and warm, dim lanterns.
"Are you awake?"
A man in a Zhongshan suit with long white hair walked in.
He wore a blue robe and had waist-length white hair, leaning on a long wooden stick as a cane.
He bent down to take my temperature.
I saw his translucent white skin and the kaleidoscopic changes in his red pupils.
My head spun for a moment.
He lowered his gaze, his long raven feathers blocking my view.
I shook my head and looked around; it was a small bedroom.
I couldn't tell if I was dreaming now or if the previous experiences were the dream.
The man walked over and handed me a cup of tea.
Seemingly sensing my confusion, he said, "This is Abyssal Light. You're not dreaming; your companions will be here soon."
I held the warm tea he gave me, and the surrounding light felt cozy yet strangely ordinary, almost unnaturally so.
I noticed many knotted ropes hanging on the wall opposite me; they looked quite nice, and beside them was an intricately carved window.
I walked over to take a look. "Can I open the window to see outside?"
He smiled slightly. "Please do."
A bizarre city lay beyond, with roads bubbling with lava, writhing monsters by the roadside, and strange howls echoing from time to time.
Looking back at the quaint little house, everything seemed peaceful.
There was an eerie calmness in the air.
"Who are you? Why is it that here..."
Before I could finish my sentence, I saw Han Tianlin's car appear at the door of the house.
"Get in!" Hong Jingtian's voice came from the passenger seat.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked outside.
As I reached the door, he stopped me: "Take this, you might need it."
I looked at what he was holding—a cane.
Feeling a bit puzzled, I took the cane from him. "Thank you."
Before getting in the car, I called out, "Aren't you coming with us?"
He shook his head and waved goodbye to us.
Without looking back, he returned to the room and tied three knots on the rope hanging from the wall.
"It will be soon."
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