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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Four
I stood outside the mortuary, the cold wind slicing through the air like a series of sharp blades, mercilessly cutting into my face. The dilapidated door creaked in the wind, emitting a mournful sound reminiscent of a dying person's groan. Inside the mortuary, seven corpses were arranged in a bizarre posture, their stiff fingers all pointing towards Qing Stone Town, as if silently accusing something. This eerie sight sent an indescribable chill coursing through me, like a cold hand gripping my heart tightly. Why had these bodies sat up simultaneously? What were they trying to tell me? Was it possible that the cataclysmic Great Fire from fifty years ago was about to stir new waves half a century later?
“Sir, we found it!” Advisor rushed over, panting heavily, breaking the suffocating silence. He held a stack of yellowed documents in his hands, the edges curled as if they had endured the ravages of time. “The detailed records of the Great Fire from fifty years ago are all here; I managed to find them among the dusty archives.”
I took the documents and quickly flipped through them under the dim light. The yellowed pages chronicled that horrific disaster. As I read on, my brow furrowed deeper and deeper; an inexplicable unease began to entwine my thoughts like creeping vines. It turned out that the temple back then was not just an ordinary Buddhist monastery but also a refuge for local people in times of crisis. The Great Fire was not an accident but a deliberate act of arson! Who could be so heartless as to send so many innocent lives to their fiery demise?
“Keep investigating. I want to know how many people perished in that Great Fire, their identities, their stories—I need to know everything.” I closed the documents with a heavy sigh and turned to look at the seven cold corpses inside the mortuary. “Also, bring Zhang Lao's body here; I want to examine it personally.”
“Zhang Lao?” Advisor paused, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. “Do you think Zhang Lao might be connected to the arson case from fifty years ago?”
I didn’t answer directly but countered with a question: “Do you remember what Zhang Lao mumbled during our last meeting? He seemed dazed, as if he had seen something terrifying.”
Advisor pondered for a moment, his face suddenly turning pale as if recalling something horrific. “He said, ‘It’s all underground,’ could it be…?” His voice trembled, afraid to voice his thoughts.
“Exactly,” I nodded, affirming his suspicion. “His delirium may not have been coincidental. The bodies of the victims, the crimes of Wang Fugui and his wife, even Zhang Lao's death—all might be connected to that Great Fire from fifty years ago. It seems there is an invisible thread linking these seemingly unrelated events together.”
At that moment, a constable hurried over, interrupting my thoughts. “Sir, we found it! The fire resulted in twenty-three deaths; most of them were burned alive in the temple's cellar! I also discovered that these victims were mostly elderly, weak women and children who had no chance to escape.”
“Twenty-three…” I murmured; this number struck me like thunder in my mind. Suddenly, something clicked in my head and I looked up sharply. “Wang Fugui! Immediately summon Wang Fugui for questioning! He may know more than we can imagine.”
In the prison cell, a damp and putrid smell filled the air, making me feel nauseous. Wang Fugui huddled in the corner like a frightened beast. Upon seeing me enter, he trembled all over, fear evident in his eyes. “Sir, I’ve told you everything; truly everything… Please, spare me.”
“No, you’re hiding something from me.” I stepped in front of him, looking down with a cold gaze. “You said there were bones in the cellar already. When did you discover them? Where exactly? You must tell me everything without missing a word!”
Wang Fugui trembled violently, as if shaken by a sieve. “It… it was three years ago when we found them while expanding the cellar. The bones… they were in a hidden chamber at the deepest part… We were terrified at the time, so we sealed the chamber back up and didn’t dare to touch it again.”
“A hidden chamber?” A jolt of realization surged through me, a strong premonition taking hold. “Take me to see it! Right now!”
The moonlight poured down like water, casting a cold glow over the ruins of Fu Lai Inn, making it appear especially desolate. We followed the path deeper into the cellar, where the air grew thinner, weighed down by a suffocating pressure. The torches on the walls flickered erratically, casting eerie shadows that danced like countless specters in the darkness. Finally, at the deepest part of the cellar, we discovered a hidden door covered in dust and cobwebs, resembling a gateway to hell.
Behind the door was a small chamber, its walls marked with charred remnants, and the air was thick with a pungent burnt smell. Scattered across the floor were numerous bones, yellowed and blackened, silently narrating the horrors of that time. I counted carefully; aside from recent remains, there were exactly twenty-three skeletons left!
“Twenty-three plus the seven recent ones, and then…” I abruptly turned to Wang Fugui, my gaze sharp. “Your wife said before she died, ‘There’s more underground than just this.’ Is there another place? What else haven’t you told me?”
Wang Fugui suddenly erupted into a fit of manic laughter that echoed hauntingly in the cramped chamber. “My lord, do you know why my wife committed suicide? Because she couldn’t take it anymore! Every night, those people come looking for us! They say we’re living on their graves and must pay the price!”
“Those people?” I pressed on, filled with confusion.
“Yes, those who were burned to death fifty years ago!” Wang Fugui’s eyes became hollow as if he had lost his soul. “They say we’ve killed and buried bodies, desecrating their resting place. They want us to pay with our lives! Zhang Lao… Zhang Lao knew too much; that’s why…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden gust of cold wind swept through, extinguishing the torches in an instant. The chamber plunged into darkness so thick I couldn’t see my own hand in front of me; fear washed over me like a tidal wave. In that darkness, I heard rustling sounds coming from all directions as if countless beings were closing in on us.
“My lord…” Advisor ’s voice trembled with fear. “Do you hear? Is someone chanting?”
Indeed, an indistinct chanting floated through the air—a sound both ethereal and chilling. Strangely enough, we understood the content of the verses:
"With deep sins, forever doomed to hell. Tonight at Midnight, the soul returns home..."
At that moment, a piercing scream shattered the night sky. When we finally managed to relight the torches, we discovered that Wang Fugui lay on the ground, blood streaming from his seven orifices, his death a horrific sight. Beside him, a line of blood was written clearly:
"The secret lies beneath the ruins of the temple..."
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