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墨書 Inktalez
Mary said, "Is there a possibility that the girl used sorcery to come back to life and replaced that Witch, living in this world?"
Listening to Mary's unbelievable words, so superstitious, no one immediately refuted her. Even Yan Junde frowned, seemingly lost in thought. I rubbed my temples with my fingers, as if replaying a movie in my mind, recalling the first time I saw the Witch.
The Witch had not shown any signs of being unusual; from her speech and actions to her expressions, she appeared to be an elderly woman who had lived in the deep mountains for a long time. But one detail struck me like lightning: the Witch's arms.
I suddenly remembered what Ma Weishan had mentioned before, which was also noted in the files. When they buried the girl's body, they had broken her arms. And that Witch—I had observed her—her arms were in a peculiar twisted state. If the girl had truly not died back then, could this Witch be the very person who crawled out of the ground?
However, this Witch was currently missing, and whether we could find her was still a question. At that moment, Director Wang approached me and said, "Xiao Shao, our colleagues at the bureau are ready and can set off at any time." I nodded and then said aloud, "Then let's thoroughly investigate that cave."
The team from the Police Department arrived at the cave entrance, and some officers began setting up power equipment at the mouth of the cave. Others were pulling wires inside to set up lighting. We followed the officers laying down wires into the cave, and soon enough, the entire passageway and cave were illuminated as bright as day. Surrounding us were dark insects that quickly hid into the crevices of the rocks upon seeing the light.
Once the officers set up the lighting equipment around us, everything inside the cave came into view. When Yan Junde and I had come here before, the flames were too dim to see anything clearly. Now looking around again, it was evident that all those vessels that should have been on the stone walls were gone. The various items piled on a stone bed in one corner of the cave had also completely vanished.
Little Grass said, "There really is nothing left; it's as if no one ever lived here!"
As I observed my surroundings, I replied to Little Grass, "Yes, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes back then, I wouldn't believe it could be cleaned up so thoroughly. It seems that shortly after we left, that Witch began preparing to escape!"
After circling around the stone walls without discovering anything, one wall caught my attention: it was covered with vines and unknown plants. This wall was entirely shrouded from top to bottom in vines while no other walls in the cave bore any plant growth.
This particular wall stood out remarkably; it was simply too eye-catching. Standing before it and examining closely, I noticed a fiber-like substance embedded within the vines. I frowned; this fiber was clearly not something that could occur naturally.
This indicated that someone had climbed into those vines before. I exchanged glances with Yan Junde; he nodded and drew his pistol from his waist. I pulled out my dagger and began cutting through the vines and other unknown plants. Before long, we uncovered a small hole behind the stone wall.
This hole could only accommodate one person at a time and required bending down to enter. From this angle, we could only see a short distance inside; beyond that lay an expanse of darkness. It would be impossible to lay lighting equipment further inside. I said, "Give me a flashlight; Yan Junde and I will go take a look."
Yan Junde and I suited up and grabbed flashlights, preparing to delve deeper into this cave within a cave. At that moment, Little Grass spoke up: "I want to go with you."
I shook my head and replied, "We don't know what conditions are like inside; it's very dangerous. Plus, it's narrow at the entrance; moving around would be difficult with too many people. You’re just a girl; it's better for you to stay outside. Don't worry; we’ll be fine."
Upon hearing my words, Little Grass shook her head firmly and said, "Brother Shao, I've known this old lady since I was very young. I don't know why she deceived me and Grandpa, but I do know that all these years she has never intended to harm us. People say that if someone who raises insects doesn't release them to harm others, it will backfire on their master."
Little Grass became increasingly agitated, her face flushed. This was the first time I had seen her speak so loudly in front of so many people. She continued, "But I've known Grandma for over ten years, and she has never harmed me. People say witches are all evil, that there isn't a single good one among them. I don't believe it! I want to see for myself."
Her words left me at a loss for how to respond, until I heard Little Grass's Grandfather say, "A curse is like the gun in your hand; it depends on who wields it. In the hands of someone good, it's a tool. In the hands of someone with evil intentions, it's a weapon for murder. In this world, there is nothing that is entirely beneficial without any harm or entirely harmful without any benefit."
His words rang true, much like how drugs are intended to alleviate a patient's pain. Seeing Little Grass's Grandfather support her, I felt I could no longer refuse. Nodding, I said, "You should stay close behind us and make sure to tell us if you notice anything. Don't try to be brave."
Little Grass smiled brightly and nodded vigorously.
I walked at the front; the passageway was only about one point seven meters high, forcing both Yan Junde and me to bend our heads as we moved forward. The flashlight's beam formed a straight line down the narrow passageway but still failed to illuminate its end. The stone walls on either side felt smooth to the touch, as if they had been deliberately polished.
This was quite strange; the passageway wasn't very damp and didn't appear to have been formed by flowing water. Both sides were the same, indicating that these stone walls were not naturally occurring but rather shaped by human hands. After walking a short distance, I felt a depression in the wall that starkly contrasted with the smooth surface.
I signaled for the others to stop and directed my flashlight onto the polished indentation. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a name. The name had been crossed out in the middle, reminding me of how names are circled in red when prisoners are executed. Zhu Wang, Zhu Wang.
The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't recall where I had seen it before. As I continued forward while tracing the name with my fingers, another name appeared before me. Then came a third and fourth. At this point, I finally remembered where I had seen these names: they belonged to the villagers from Baili Village that Ma Weishan had marked—those who had experienced that incident firsthand.
I said, "Look at these names; they are those fifty-five people who died in the curse case!"
Yan Junde remarked, "It seems that this witch indeed killed those people and fled while we weren't paying attention out of fear of being exposed."
Little Grass seemed unable to believe her eyes; before I could speak, she interjected, "Impossible! Grandma would never kill anyone! She has always been kind; there must be some misunderstanding here."
I reached out and patted Little Grass on the shoulder before saying, "We only see names here; we can't yet confirm that the deaths of those fifty-five people are related to this witch." I wasn't trying to comfort her; it was genuinely how I felt.
There was still some logic that eluded me; without all the clues connecting together, anyone could potentially be the killer. As each name appeared one after another until the last one was counted—fifty-five people exactly—each name bore a mark indicating its owner was deceased.
The names on the passageway walls ended here, but there was still a long stretch ahead of us yet to explore. The flashlight still couldn't reach an end as we continued onward into the unknown length of the passageway. After what felt like an eternity of walking, another name appeared on the wall before us.
Zhu Wang. Again it was Zhu Wang.
"Another carving? Just how deep is this witch's grudge against these people..." Yan Junde remarked upon seeing it.
I remained silent alongside Xiaocao, both of us sensing that something was amiss. However, to avoid causing panic, I chose not to voice my concerns and led everyone onward. Gradually, the fifty-five names vanished from our sight once more as we continued deeper into the Passageway.
An hour passed, and the light from our flashlights seemed to dim. Then, another name appeared before us—still that familiar name, Zhu Wang. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I rushed forward to examine the name, only to be taken aback.
"It seems we are trapped in this Passageway," I stated as calmly as I could, though inside, I felt a growing unease. This was all too bizarre; if I hadn't experienced it myself and seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed such a story.
Xiaocao spoke up, "Could it be that we are encountering a ghost wall?"
"What ghost wall?" Yan Junde frowned and replied. "There are no such things as ghosts in this world. I think this is just the Witch trying to create a spectacle. She deliberately made this Passageway long and straight, repeatedly carving the names into the stone walls to make us think we're going in circles. I believe that soon enough, we'll reach the end."
Yan Junde spoke with conviction, but sadly, his guess was incorrect. I took a few deep breaths before saying, "Look at Zhu Wang's name. The second time I saw it, I realized something was wrong, so I carved another mark next to his name."
The two looked over and indeed saw the mark I had made beside Zhu Wang's name.
"Although I don't want to admit it, we are truly going in circles," I said softly.
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