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墨書 Inktalez
"Are you sure?" Old Shao adjusted his backpack and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he asked.
Qiuju Niu, despite weighing over one hundred fifty pounds, moved quite nimbly. She leaped across a ridge and looked into the distance with her hand shielding her eyes. "It's about right. Although it's been over thirty years, many things have changed, but these two mountains remain the same."
Jiang He also climbed up to the ridge and looked ahead in the direction Qiuju Niu was facing.
The two mountains stood like two fists on either side, leaving a saddle in between that allowed for quick passage through.
"How do we get there?" Old Shao asked again.
Qiuju Niu slid down from the ridge and replied, "We’ll walk through the middle and then climb over another mountain to reach it. The village is nestled in a Mountain Valley."
"That doesn't seem too far," Wang Chao said.
Yuan Jun looked around and smiled. "There's a saying: 'A horse dies from running after a mountain.' Just because that dip is right in front of us doesn't mean it won't take at least two hours to get there, not to mention climbing over another mountain. I think if we want to reach that place, it will be well past ten o'clock tonight. Let's prepare to camp in the woods. Spray some insect repellent; there are quite a few mosquitoes here."
Though Yuan Jun was proud, he was indeed the expert in this kind of environment.
Fortunately, as the saying goes, while thirty years may change many things, the direction of the mountains remains largely unchanged. Just as Yuan Jun had predicted, when everyone climbed over a mountain, they caught sight of a cluster of low houses illuminated by moonlight.
The entire village lay nestled in a basin among the mountains, relatively flat all around. In front and behind the village, large fields of crops could be seen, dark and indistinct in the night. However, at this season, they were likely sorghum and corn, which had probably grown taller than a person.
In the darkness, the fields of sorghum and corn stood like Imperial Guards, straight and tall, protecting the village.
Wang Chao took out his phone to check for signal and found that it indeed had none.
Xu Yiman glanced over and asked, "Is that Desolate Village?"
Qiuju Niu felt a surge of excitement as she gazed at the darkened houses under the faint light of the starry sky. It was already eleven o'clock at night, and only a few homes still had their lights on. This indicated that there was still a significant connection between this place and the outside world; the electricity was the best proof of that.
Old Shao reminded them, "Remember our identity. We are here for an investigation and have stumbled upon this place. Moreover, if there is even one child in this village who has been trafficked, or one bride who has been sold, then it is safe to say that at least five or six brides have been trafficked."
"Understood," everyone replied.
Yuan Jun led the way down the path, with the others following closely behind him. The mountain breeze blew through the night, bringing a refreshing chill against their skin. The trees swayed in the wind, their leaves rustling together, creating a sound like soft claps. The wind swept over the treetops, producing a sharp sound reminiscent of ghostly wails.
The village was not far ahead, yet it was eerily quiet.
They had visited many villages before, and in today's rapidly developing society, many rural areas were no longer very different from cities. Television and broadband internet were quite common in rural settings. At eleven o'clock at night, most people would still be awake, especially on such a calm and cool evening; they would likely be gathered outside playing cards or enjoying the night air.
However, this village was unlike any other. At just past eleven, with only a couple of stars visible from the mountaintop, the entire village was terrifyingly silent and appeared lifeless from the outside. As they made their way along the narrow path into the village, tall sorghum and corn plants flanked them on either side, reaching about five feet high.
Occasionally, strange sounds emanated from the cornfield; stalks would sway inexplicably as if something were hiding among the towering sorghum plants, watching them from the shadows.
Wang Chao was drawn to these mysterious noises. He glanced around nervously and couldn't help but say, "It's like there's a living person hiding in that cornfield. You can't see anything from outside, but I feel like something is watching us from within."
The others didn't seem to mind much. Yuan Jun was fearless; such interruptions meant little to him. Old Shao and Qiuju Niu were country folk who had grown up in environments like this; they knew that animals like hedgehogs or field mice could easily cause disturbances in the cornfield as they moved about.
Jiang He paid no attention at all, while Xu Yiman, having been a doctor for many years, never believed in ghosts or supernatural beings.
Wang Chao shook his head helplessly; these people were indeed different from him.
Just then, a sudden loud shout shattered the stillness of the night and startled everyone. The source of this pig-like scream was Qiuju Niu, who had been walking alone on the right side of the group near the cornfield. For reasons unknown to her, she suddenly let out a cry.
Jiang He stood next to Qiuju Niu and quickly asked, "What happened?"
"I just saw someone in the cornfield looking at me!" Qiuju Niu's voice trembled, and she was almost scared to the point of losing control.
Qiuju Niu was sure she hadn't misseen anything. Thoughts of her grandson filled her mind, leaving her no mood to listen to Wang Chao. She silently followed the group forward, but as they reached this spot, a sudden panic gripped her heart. It was an indescribable feeling that made her uncomfortable all over.
The source of this discomfort came from the nearby cornfield. She turned her head and saw a dark figure peeking out from among the cornstalks, its eyes darker than the night itself, fixed intently on her. Qiuju Niu stared back into those eyes, which were also staring at her.
Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine.
The face was pale and devoid of color, unlike that of a living person.
Without hesitation, Qiuju Niu screamed in fear. Her cry startled everyone and scared off the owner of that head.
The cornstalks in the field swayed slightly before falling silent once more.
Jiang He and Yuan Jun rushed into the cornfield, trampling many cornstalks underfoot. However, moving through the cornfield was not an easy task. By the time they reached that area, there was nothing there.
Jiang He turned on his flashlight and began shining it around the cornfield.
Under the beam of light, the shadows of the cornstalks danced in the distance, resembling clawing demons. The cornstalks were too tall; Jiang He had to raise the flashlight above his head, yet still found nothing.
"What was it?" Yuan Jun asked as he looked into the distance. "Was it a person or an animal?"
Jiang He shook his head and directed the flashlight down to his feet. The soft ground only bore two sets of footprints—one belonging to Yuan Jun and the other to himself. So what exactly had hurriedly disappeared into the cornfield? Had Qiuju Niu made a mistake, or was whatever it was too light to leave any prints on this soil?
Jiang He could be certain of one thing: whatever it was, it was not large and was definitely agile, as he had hardly heard any noise coming from the cornfield. Especially when Yuan Jun and Jiang He were running, the sounds they made caused the surrounding insects to cease their chirping.
"It could be some kind of animal," Yuan Jun said. "Wild rabbits or wild boars in the mountains are possible."
As the two emerged from the cornfield, they noticed a number of villagers rushing toward them from a distance.
Old Shao glanced at the two and asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Nothing!" both replied, shaking their heads.
Old Shao had not expected to meet the villagers in such a manner.
"Don't let anything slip. Even if we discover a woman or child who has been abducted, don't act recklessly until we understand the full situation," Old Shao advised softly. "For now, just relax a bit."
Meanwhile, the villagers had already arrived.
Looking at these villagers, most of them were bare-chested and only wearing shorts as they rushed out. They carried various items in their hands; some held kitchen knives, others carried shoulder poles, ropes, or sticks.
Among the crowd were both young and old men, but without exception, all were male.
The leader appeared to be a man in his forties, gripping a beer bottle in his hand.
He pointed at the crowd and spoke with a heavy accent, "What are you doing?"
Old Shao slowly replied, "Hello, Fellow Villager. We are from the National Geographic Archaeological Team. We came to survey the area and inadvertently found ourselves in your village. This is our Guide we hired, and the rest are my students."
"Student?" the leader asked. "Such a big student?"
"PhD Student, PhD Student, you know?" Old Shao explained.
"What kind of doctor?" the man replied, confused. "What is that?"
A man nearby gently said, "I think someone’s daughter-in-law is a PhD student or something."
The man frowned. "Is that how it is here?"
Then he turned to Old Shao and the others, saying, "We don’t care if you’re some kind of doctor or whatever, just leave. Our village doesn’t like outsiders."
Old Shao certainly couldn’t leave. He took out his wallet and said, "Fellow Villager, we are just nearby for research and happened to discover your village. We hope to stay here for a few days."
With that, Old Shao handed over a stack of money, at least seven or eight bills.
The man took the money, wet his finger with his tongue, and began to count. As he counted, a smile spread across his face, and he cheerfully said, "Oh, I see. Come on in."
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