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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
By the time I arrived at the place where the bus had plunged off the cliff with Guo the Blind, darkness had already fallen.
Earlier, I had passed through Futu Ridge, which was surrounded by mountains. The hills rolled on endlessly, and the trees were lush, making the mountain roads dark and eerie at night. If a wild cat or rabbit suddenly jumped out from the bushes, even the bravest person would scream in fright. Especially in the villages near the mountain ridges, the moonlight barely penetrated at night. Only our Bright Moon Village was different; located right in the center of Futu Ridge, it was always bathed in bright moonlight except on particularly dark nights.
Behind Bright Moon Village, there was a winding road leading directly to the county town. Below was a large open space that used to be the old Ancestral Grave for several villages in Futu Ridge. However, decades ago, county leaders ordered that the Ancestral Grave be leveled to make way for a road and to build a township station for Futu Ridge.
The people of Futu Ridge were not pleased with this decision. They believed that disturbing the old Ancestral Grave was a grave taboo; if their ancestors' remains were unearthed, it would have dire consequences for their descendants—ranging from bad luck to complete extinction of their lineage.
At that time, the Cultural Revolution had just ended, and feng shui practices were one of the targets of the "Four Olds" campaign. Although the revolution had concluded, fear still lingered in everyone's hearts. No one dared to advise the County Leader against it for fear of being labeled a counter-revolutionary.
In the end, several village heads convened and reluctantly agreed to let the Construction Team from the county dig. Life was already tough; they could hardly afford to invite more misfortune upon themselves.
The villagers allowed the Construction Team to dig without hesitation, but strange occurrences soon followed.
First, members of the Construction Team collectively fell ill with fevers. Then they began dreaming of a woman dressed in a Republic of China qipao standing on a hilltop watching them. All of the migrant workers experienced sleep paralysis overnight; they could see and hear but could not move.
The next morning, several migrant workers shared their experiences and confirmed that a woman in a red qipao had stood on the hilltop watching them all night without speaking or moving until dawn when she finally left. A few migrant workers were so frightened that they ran away on the spot.
The head of the Construction Team reported this incident to the County Leader, but he did not believe it. He personally came to Futu Ridge to supervise and ordered that all graves in the open space be leveled and that the mountain road be cleared.
That night, the County Leader stayed overnight on the back mountain. The migrant workers thought that since he was an important official—someone with wealth and status—he naturally exuded an aura that warded off evil spirits. With him present, they believed there would be no problems. If even he dreamed of that woman in red, he would surely withdraw them from work.
Unexpectedly, none of the migrant workers dreamed of her that night; however, something strange still happened the next morning.
The County Leader was missing.
Everyone initially thought he had sneaked away during the night. When they reached Winding Mountain Road, they found his car still parked there. So they began searching everywhere but found no trace of him. Just as everyone was at a loss about whether to continue working or not, Huang the Cripple appeared. He claimed to know where the County Leader was but warned that he was likely already dead.
If the County Leader had indeed died under their watch, it would be a huge problem; no one could take responsibility for such an incident happening right under their noses. Everyone anxiously asked Huang where they could find him and pleaded for his help.
Huang hesitated for a moment before pointing towards the north of Futu Ridge, into the forest up there.
Upon hearing that the County Leader had gone into that desolate northern forest, everyone rushed to search for him. But Huang's words stopped them all: no one who entered there ever came back alive.
A group of people was drenched in cold sweat. They had heard of the strange occurrences at Futu Ridge before; it used to be known as Taboo Ridge. From ancient times to the present, there had been deaths at Futu Ridge, and the public officials never dared to investigate, fearing they might provoke some evil spirit.
The leader of the Construction Team realized that Huang the Cripple was not an ordinary person and asked him to bring out the County Leader. Otherwise, they would all be held responsible. Huang the Cripple nodded in agreement, sighing. If it weren't for the County Leader having saved his life during the Cultural Revolution, he wouldn't have bothered with this matter.
Everyone knew that Huang the Cripple was actually Huang the Lame, a Feng Shui Master from Dagu Village. He agreed to find someone but did not set off immediately. Instead, he had a large rooster brought in, and before everyone’s eyes, he let it bleed onto the ground, spreading sulfur around and inserting hundreds of lit sandalwood incense sticks on top.
The smoke from the incense wafted curiously towards the forest to the north of Futu Ridge. No one knew what Huang the Lame was doing, but before long, the County Leader emerged from the woods on his own.
When he came out, the County Leader appeared dazed, covered in repulsive slime. No matter how they called him, he did not respond. A group of people took him to the hospital, where doctors informed them that he had gone insane.
Years passed, and he remained in a state of madness. If anyone asked him what had happened back then, he would only utter one word: snake.
As a result, rumors spread that the construction project at Futu Ridge had disturbed a powerful Snake Goddess living in the mountains. After that incident, no leader dared to consider working on Futu Ridge again; it was clearly a thankless task. They would surely incur losses if they attempted to build roads into the mountains and might even attract trouble. Who would want to take on such a job?
For decades after that, Futu Ridge remained peaceful. Due to ghostly happenings in the back mountains, villagers moved their ancestral graves elsewhere. The Winding Mountain Road was only half completed before being hastily finished with a simple path down for buses to use.
As for the area below the cliff of Winding Mountain Road, it became wasteland due to years of neglect; weeds grew taller than people.
The site where the bus had fallen off the cliff was here. The overgrown weeds had already been cleared by police investigating the scene; a path led deeper into it. After walking just a few steps, our view opened up because the explosion from the bus had scorched everything around it bare.
Amidst ashes and gravel lay a twisted bus that had crashed down, surrounded by footprints everywhere.
"The bodies here have already been removed by the police; what else can we find?" I said while watching Guo the Blind looking around.
Guo the Blind replied, "I'm not here to investigate these dead bodies; I'm here to examine the Feng Shui and terrain of this place. Think about it—if Zhou Manman is a ghost, why is she the only one who turned into a ghost while others did not?"
I frowned and said, "I heard that if someone dies with too much resentment, they will become a ghost."
Guo the Blind chuckled lightly and said, "Ghosts are much more formidable than humans. If merely having resentment before death could turn someone into a ghost, how many people would wish to become ghosts? During wartime, billions died—how many would have turned into vengeful spirits? Could we still call this world human?"
Seeing that I remained silent, he continued, "The reason people become ghosts is not just resentment; what's important is where they die or what is around them when they die."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked in confusion.
"Guo the Blind" replied, "The earth's veins and mountains, rivers and seas, conceal yin and yang, creating all things. The study of Feng Shui has been passed down through countless generations of ancestors; it is not something fabricated out of thin air. Feng Shui can create life or bring harm, and it can also generate phenomena that ordinary people cannot comprehend, such as certain energy fields. These energy fields can cause a person's will to persist after death, preventing their soul from dispersing, thus becoming a ghost."
"So you suspect that the Feng Shui of this place could allow someone to become a ghost after death?" I asked.
"Guo the Blind" nodded and continued, "As I mentioned earlier, there are two reasons why a person becomes a ghost after death: one is dying in the right place, and the other is dying at the right time. The second possibility involves having a spiritual entity nearby at the moment of death. This entity could be a geocentric spring formed by millennia of Feng Shui evolution, a relic from a Buddhist master after Nirvana, or some rare object from Taoist traditions. You see, having a spiritual presence nearby can cause one's soul to remain intact after death, leading to their transformation into a ghost."
As "Guo the Blind" spoke, I glanced toward the mountain peak. "Zhou Manman" had come with me; she was ejected from the bus during its fall off the cliff by a pine tree that had grown on the mountainside. When she regained consciousness, she found herself hanging from that very tree. In my line of sight, I could vaguely see several pine trees growing on the mountainside.
I was about to tell "Guo the Blind" about my situation with "Zhou Manman," but at that moment, "Guo the Blind" suddenly frowned and said, "Why are there still people coming here at this time?"
"Who?" I asked anxiously.
The night at " Futu Ridge " was already eerie; few dared to walk alone at night, especially in this area that used to be a graveyard. Moreover, as a young person, I hadn't heard anyone approaching. How could "Guo the Blind," nearing seventy years old, have such keen hearing?
Without answering me, "Guo the Blind" gestured for me to hide in the thicket. Sure enough, moments later, a group of five appeared under the moonlight, with none other than "Huang the Lame" leading them.
One slightly plump young man said, "Grandpa, you have to save me! I'm your only grandson."
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