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墨書 Inktalez
Two women sat side by side on the sofa, their long hair obscuring their faces. This was part of my design. All I needed to do was sit across from them, gently brush aside their hair, and gaze at their angelic smiles as they radiated a divine glow, slowly fading away to be reborn into a life of abundance and happiness. Then they would continue to enjoy their joyful next life.
I was doing just that. I reached out toward their long hair, trembling with excitement.
"Zi Yi, Zi Shan, you will be happy."
As I gathered their hair completely, both of them lifted their heads simultaneously. I looked at them confidently.
But then I saw the most unbearable sight of my life.
It was two identical faces, hanging with tattered flesh over stark white bones, the flesh riddled with dark red veins that glistened like leeches gorged on human blood. Their eye sockets were mere black holes, from which white brain matter oozed slowly. Through those black holes, I could even see what resembled soft tofu gently writhing inside.
"Father, we've been waiting for you for a long time! Come and be with your daughters," came a call from hell, emanating from their exposed teeth.
This was completely different from the scenario I had designed. In that moment, my nerves unraveled completely! I felt as if my heart was being gripped tightly by a giant hand, only to slowly release its hold.
That pain was called fear!
Cai Can finished telling this story and fell into a deep sleep. Jack rested his chin on his hands, his expression serious. After a while, he lifted his head and looked at us.
I was somewhat confused by the story and couldn't tell whether Cai Can was speaking nonsense or truth. If it was true, then his girlfriend Nansanen and his good friend Shang Da had teamed up to set a trap? Was it to achieve the most authentic filming effect? Or was there another reason?
Yuebing stepped lightly in front of the sleeping Cai Can and asked, "Belt buckle?"
"What?" Jack asked in confusion as he put down his pen.
I noticed the belt buckle shimmering with a wave-like glow in the dim light of the counseling room. When I focused again, I realized that the glow moved in a rhythmic pattern. Two beams of light flowed from each end of the rose stem along the petals toward the ring, converging in the middle before dispersing again, repeating this cycle.
Yuebing carefully unbuckled Cai Can's belt and laid it on the ground, mumbling something under his breath. He then placed his index finger in his mouth and bit down gently; with a "crunch," blood welled up from his fingertip.
Just watching made my own fingers ache; Jack was even more puzzled and nearly shouted exaggeratedly, "Oh! My God!" Yuebing let a drop of blood fall onto the belt buckle and quickly stepped back.
The sizzling sound of roasting filled the air, and the belt buckle trembled like melting chocolate. Suddenly, a chilling scream pierced through, and rose patterns intertwined, twisting together to form a woman’s face the size of a walnut. A gray mist lifted the woman’s head from the belt buckle, freeing it as it rushed toward the mooncake.
The mooncake faced the head, and with a flick of its middle finger, it struck the forehead of the head and shouted at me, “Pumpkin, shoe insoles!”
“What?”
“Shoe insoles, two of them!”
The head was knocked back two or three meters, bouncing on the ground like a ping pong ball. It steadied itself and charged at the mooncake again. The mooncake dodged while batting at the tiny head, as if it were poking a light bulb with its fingers, bouncing it back and forth.
I found the scene incredibly funny, but there was no time to comment as I hurriedly took off my shoes to grab the insoles.
“Is this a game of ping pong?” Jack exclaimed in disbelief.
I finally couldn’t hold back my laughter and tossed the two insoles to the mooncake.
The mooncake caught one in each hand, aimed at the incoming head, and clapped its hands together, trapping the gray mist-formed head firmly between the insoles. Another scream echoed as the mooncake’s hands seemed to be pulled by an invisible rope, uncontrollably running away. The whole scene was utterly ridiculous.
What had started as a dangerous situation had inexplicably turned into a comedy.
Jack and I both clutched our stomachs and laughed uncontrollably, while Cai Can remained deeply hypnotized; if she woke up to see this, she would probably laugh herself silly.
With hands pressed together, the mooncake struck down hard, releasing a burst of blue flames. When it opened its hands, the insoles fell to the ground ablaze, and the flames vaguely formed a human shape that struggled within them until it shrank smaller and smaller until it vanished completely.
A faint earthy smell mixed with a strong odor of foot sweat filled the room!
“That’s amazing!” Jack exclaimed while pinching his nose. “Can I learn how to do that?”
The mooncake commanded, “Pumpkin, quickly get a basin of water!”
I had rarely seen such a tense expression on the mooncake's face. Not daring to ask further questions, I hurriedly grabbed a basin and ran out to fill it with water from the bathroom down the hall, returning drenched in sweat.
Jack was staring intently at the ashes of the burnt insoles, occasionally poking at them with his hand. Mooncake stood in the room, frozen, her brows furrowed tightly.
When I entered with a basin of water, Mooncake darted over and said, "Don't move!"
I had no idea what was happening and dared not stir. My mind raced, recalling that books said water and wood were most likely to attract spirits. What was Mooncake up to?
Mooncake plunged her hands into the basin and scrubbed for at least two minutes, even cleaning under her nails. She wiped her hands on my T-shirt and sighed in relief. "Are you disgusting or what? Don't you wash your feet every day? The insoles were sticky like glue; it made me sick."
I held the basin, glancing at the two dark handprints on my T-shirt, wishing I could splash the water right in her face!
"Can someone tell me what happened? Cai Can should be fine now, right?" Jack asked, carefully sweeping the ashes onto a piece of paper and wrapping it up neatly.
Mooncake pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "He should be fine, but he will have to live with the painful memory from now on. Explaining this to you wouldn’t help; it’s better if you pretend it never happened, or you'll end up like him."
Jack looked terrified, glancing nervously at Cai Can, and casually tucked the paper package into his pocket. "I can use hypnosis to seal away that memory for him, make him forget about it."
Seal away memories? My heart stirred as I thought of my lost memories. "Jack, can you help me recover my lost memories?"
Jack shrugged. "Psychological suggestion can help recover lost memories, but if it's due to physical trauma, I can't do anything about that."
I felt a bit disappointed because I had always been troubled by my amnesia from the car accident when I first arrived in Thailand. I believed that those lost memories were key to many things! Besides, who could bear losing a part of their memory? People who drink until they forget often wake up unable to recall what they did the night before; perhaps they would feel just as I did.
"Sometimes, the most tragic thing for a person is having too good a memory. Like Cai Can... forgetting might not be such a bad thing," Mooncake said as she continued to carefully wipe her hands.
I admitted that Mooncake had a point, but thinking about my missing memories still left me feeling uneasy!
Jack seemed lost in thought, repeating one phrase over and over: "It's truly fascinating..."
Mooncake took out her phone and fiddled with it for a while before handing it to me. She said to Jack, "Don't worry; this matter is resolved."
I took the phone and saw an entertainment news article from six months ago: "Low-budget production captures real scenes; successful use of movie effects; horror blockbuster 'Shattered Face,' featuring numerous Chinese elements, swept all awards at Thailand's microfilm festival! Screenwriter Shang Da and director Nansanen rose to fame overnight. Nansanen personally handled makeup and played the lead female role Zi Yi! The male lead went missing due to being trapped in the plot."
A still from the show accompanied the news: the faces of Cai Can and Zi Yi overlapped, with the Ghost Coffee House in the background. The predominantly black frame made it all the more eerie. I felt an indescribable sensation inside me and glanced at Zi Yi again, only to find that the red cinnabar mole by her right eye, which had been there just moments ago, had vanished.
This situation left me feeling uneasy. After saying goodbye to Jack—who was going to perform deep hypnosis on Cai Can—I returned to the dormitory with Mooncake.
I sat in silence, smoking and staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Pumpkin, stop dwelling on your memories," Mooncake said lazily, resting her head on her hands.
I took a deep breath. "I'm not stuck on that; I'm just thinking about why so many people sacrifice others for desire and profit. Shang Da and Nansanen went to great lengths to use a belt buckle infused with Wraith to curse Li Ran. How could they do such a thing? People shouldn't be like this."
"Desire is inherently demonic," Mooncake concluded, turning over to sleep. "The devil in Cai Can's heart is even more wicked, which is why she was swayed by the Human Bone Belt."
It seemed this matter had come to an end.
In 2008, the biggest scandal in Thailand's entertainment industry was the mysterious death of rising director Nansanen and screenwriter Shang Da in their home, with no signs of homicide, suspected to be due to a curse!
No one knew the reasons behind it.
Across entertainment circles worldwide, many suddenly famous stars had committed suicide or died under bizarre circumstances, and no one knew why.
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