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墨書 Inktalez
As A Yue had said, by around eleven o'clock, orders in the kitchen were pouring out like snowflakes. No one was asking the chef to serve dishes anymore, but many strange requests had appeared. The steward had vanished since nightfall, boasting before he left that he would return to help during the busiest time.
After saying that, he disappeared without a trace, leaving Shi Mo alone in the kitchen, working frantically. Just as the first dish was about to cool down, A Yue arrived in a flowing red cheongsam, bringing a refreshing breeze into the hot kitchen as she opened the door.
Shi Mo was in a frenzy trying to cut the ingredients for a new dish according to the peculiar requirements. He couldn't understand why the stir-fried cabbage needed to be cut into standard diamond-shaped pieces and arranged to resemble leaves on the plate. The sudden cool breeze made him look gratefully at the newcomer; all his unspoken words were condensed into a single drop of sweat that fell from his chin onto the floor.
"I'll go serve this dish first and come back to help you," said the young girl, who carried a faint scent of roses as she fluttered past him like a butterfly. She skillfully took the corresponding order slip and gracefully picked up a tray before heading out.
This brief respite allowed Shi Mo to catch his breath. After watching A Yue leave, he returned his focus to battling with the cabbage. He remembered this dish well; besides its strange requirements, there was another note requesting that he sprinkle a generous amount of sugar on it before serving. A large handful of sugar on sour and spicy stir-fried cabbage made Shi Mo ponder what kind of person would enjoy such a combination.
Fortunately, after completing this complicated order, both he and the machine experienced a moment of quiet. With A Yue's help, the previous dishes had been successfully delivered, and positive feedback came from another specialized machine, calming Shi Mo's anxious heart.
When A Yue returned after delivering the last dish, Shi Mo was just starting to arrange the vegetables as they came out of the pan. It was quite challenging to reshape the shriveled diamond-shaped cabbage back into leaf form. Luckily, this customer only wanted one piece of cabbage, so he could calmly complete this homemade puzzle.
"This customer is still here," A Yue said while chewing on a pack of squid strips she had pulled out from somewhere. The savory flavor mixed with the rising acidity from the heat made Shi Mo's stomach growl with hunger as they sat in silence and heard an unmistakable rumble.
"Do you know her?" Shi Mo asked, changing the subject to distract himself as he resolved to cook instant noodles later. A Yue nodded in response and said, "She probably moved in around early June; at that time, Xiao Qi was upset because of her requests. But she has ordered several times since then, and everyone has gotten used to it. I just haven't seen this dish for over half a month; I thought she had left."
Just as A Yue finished speaking, Shi Mo completed arranging the last piece of cabbage. He grabbed a large handful of sugar and sprinkled it evenly on top, saying, "Well, she has indeed been here for quite a while. It's done; could you please take it over? I need to get something to eat; I'm so hungry."
After hearing this, A Yue shot him a strange glance but remained silent as she picked up the dish and carried it from the counter to the farthest cold storage in the kitchen. She placed chopsticks and a red sticky note beside it before grabbing his arm and quickly leading him outside the kitchen, instructing him to stand against the wall at the corner and not look around.
"Do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?" A Yue handed him a squid strip with a hint of nervousness in her tone. "Didn’t the steward tell you that once he received her order, you should leave the kitchen alone so she can eat in peace?"
Shi Mo chewed on the squid strip with an expression of helplessness. He explained that the steward had already disappeared by evening and only mentioned that instant noodles were delicious before leaving. "And besides, there was nothing written about any special requests from her on my notes," Shi Mo replied in confusion.
“Shh, she’s coming.” His confusion remained unanswered, and along with A Yue's voice came a sudden appearance of white mist.
The dense and humid fog surged in from all directions without warning, first covering the ground completely, then rising up along every ornament. Shi Mo felt as if he had been plunged into ice water; a chill crept up from his ankles, slowly engulfing him entirely.
He couldn't help but shiver and turned to look at A Yue, only to find the little girl calm and collected, picking small strips of squid from her bag and stuffing them into her mouth. Noticing his discomfort, she cheerfully tore off a large piece and handed it to him, signaling with her eyes for him not to be polite.
Shi Mo tried to communicate with her using lip movements: “Aren’t you cold?” She understood his meaning and gently nodded, smiling as she replied that she was cold but could endure it.
As they conversed, the white mist thickened, and Shi Mo was astonished to find that he could no longer see the flowerbed that had been right in front of him; everything below his calves was also a blur. The surroundings were completely obscured by the pale blue fog, making it feel as if he had entered some fantastical realm.
He instinctively turned back; he could still see a patch of the kitchen's outer wall, but that was only limited to the area where he and A Yue were leaning against. At the same time, a strong fishy odor wafted through the air, reminiscent of rain-soaked soil mixed with mud from a fish pond recently dredged up, filled with countless dead fish, along with a hint of paint smell that was utterly nauseating.
His stomach, empty from busyness, began to churn under this strange scent. The feeling of nausea made Shi Mo instinctively cover his mouth with his hand; the snacks he had forced down earlier now rebelled against him like water splashing into hot oil.
Relying on memory, he moved forward and lunged toward the edge of the flowerbed as soon as he spotted it, grabbing onto a flower stem and starting to vomit. His watch indicated that it was already two in the morning; in nearly four hours of work since then, the only thing that had entered his mouth was those two pieces of dried fish. The sour bitterness of stomach acid made Shi Mo feel even worse; the damp mist seeped into his mouth and throat as he breathed, leaving his tongue dry and tight in the air, yet his attempt to escape that taste did nothing to alleviate it.
With nothing left to vomit, Shi Mo gasped for air beside the flowerbed, cursing that strange smell in his mind. He wanted to call out to A Yue for help but felt constrained by his inability to make a sound; all he could do was endure the discomfort and rise up to ease his aching back.
The thought that this situation could only be caused by a ghost made Shi Mo involuntarily compare this one to Candy Grandma from earlier that afternoon. Although Grandma had been frightening in demeanor, at least she smelled pleasant; her eating habits were just peculiar. But this one—he couldn’t tell if it was male or female—was simply unbearable due to its odor.
For some reason, Shi Mo inexplicably associated this smell with earthworms, along with the slimy and wet sensation that belonged to them. He swallowed back bitter saliva and instinctively rubbed his fingers together to wipe away imaginary slime on his pants.
“Are you okay?” A woman’s voice sounded from behind him. Lost in thoughts of earthworms, Shi Mo didn’t notice how unfamiliar this voice was and honestly replied that he was fine and thanked her for her concern. Immediately after speaking, he heard a cackling laugh behind him; it was sharper than any spoken sound, its ending akin to nails scraping against glass.
A chill ran down his spine as some semblance of rationality returned; Shi Mo suddenly realized that this voice did not belong to A Yue. He turned around abruptly and saw a woman standing almost too close for comfort—her straight black hair fell over her face while her white dress trailed on the ground, its hem dirty with dust and speckled with indistinguishable stains.
Due to the close proximity of her nose, Shi Mo was overwhelmed by the strong smell of blood, making it difficult for him to breathe. He instinctively stepped back, only to find his waist pressed against the edge of a flower bed. He watched as the figure slowly extended a colorless hand, with long red nails reaching toward his head.
In that moment, Shi Mo even forgot his fear; he stood there rigidly, his mind blank except for the thought of how foul the smell was. However, his body reacted first, and without thinking, he lifted his foot to kick at the figure in front of him. But this attack was useless against a ghost; his foot passed right through her body, and instead of hitting her, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
The pain from hitting the ground sent a wave of fear through Shi Mo. He scrambled away from the flower bed on all fours, not daring to take his eyes off her for fear that if he looked away, her nails would shatter his skull. Finally regaining some rationality, he crawled toward A Yue, confirming that she merely turned to follow his movements rather than lunging at him. As soon as Shi Mo stood up, he intended to bolt.
The kitchen wall was incredibly hard; crashing into it would produce a headache-inducing sound. Shi Mo crouched down, covering his head with his hands, filled only with resentment toward the wall. Thoughts of ghosts and escape faded into the background in the face of pain. Warm blood flowed from his nose, and the stinging sensation made him tear up; it felt as if his head might burst apart.
“Damn it.” A familiar voice rang out beside him. A Yue's startled exclamation didn’t prompt Shi Mo to get up; instead, it made him lie flat on the ground. “What are you doing? You haven't even been drinking.”
His nose, head, and half of his face throbbed with pain. Struggling to open his eyes, Shi Mo told A Yue that there was a ghost. The expression on A Yue's face twisted for a moment as if she were holding back laughter. “Your reaction is quite rare,” she said with a tone of schadenfreude, sending chills down Shi Mo's spine.
He looked at her in confusion, seeking an explanation. Then he caught sight of the ghost standing behind her through A Yue’s face. The ghost no longer hid her face behind black hair; instead, she pushed aside her hair with her long nails, revealing a grayish-blue face and pure white eyes as she smiled widely at him.
This was far more thrilling than watching a horror movie. Shi Mo momentarily forgot how to breathe and finally let out the scream that had been stuck in his throat. It was the first time he realized he could produce such a piercing scream, reminiscent of female characters encountering ghosts in horror films.
Laughter followed; A Yue doubled over in laughter and even fell to the ground while the ghost floated gracefully behind her. With an elastic band pulled from who knows where, she tied up her hair and skillfully braided it into a plait. Her dress also appeared much cleaner now. The thick fog dissipated, and the seventeenth floor returned to its quiet nighttime appearance; a crescent moon hung in the sky alongside countless stars.
Noisy, embarrassing, like a fool—it seemed like he was the only one experiencing this entire ordeal. Lying on the ground, Shi Mo understood that he had been thoroughly played by both A Yue and the ghost. As fear subsided, only pain and humiliation remained within him. He glared at A Yue in dissatisfaction and asked why she had done this.
“This is a friendly welcome ceremony,” she replied without any sense of wrongdoing, beaming at Shi Mo. “It’s also a test of courage; after all, working here requires sufficient bravery. Her name is Xiu Niang; she lives in Room One and is a friend.”
“…” People really do laugh when they have nothing to say. After hearing A Yue's explanation, Shi Mo felt a mix of emotions swirling inside him. He wanted to express countless thoughts but ended up with just a cold smile hidden behind his hand where no one could see it. He was someone who could rationalize everything; any absurdity could be transformed into reason through self-conversion—this situation was no different.
Shi Mo reminded himself that this place was inherently abnormal; thus it was normal for those who worked here to be abnormal too. Earlier that day, there had been a butler and Candy Grandma laying the groundwork for meeting ghosts; now he had just made friends with someone who introduced him to a ghost—achieving something unprecedented in his life by having a ghost communicate closely with him. It was an experience that could land him in a mental hospital if someone read about it in his diary.
Just as the nosebleed stopped, Shi Mo released his now blood-stained hand and looked down to see the front of his chef's uniform soaked in red, just as he had expected. The two girls, witnessing the scene, also put away their smiles, a faint glimmer of guilt flickering in their eyes.
"Don't scare me like that next time," Shi Mo finally managed to organize his thoughts and speak, the soreness in his face still lingering. A sharp sting shot through him, and he knew that the collision had likely left several wounds on his face. Strangely enough, after regaining his senses, he didn't feel angry; instead, recalling his earlier foolishness made him want to laugh.
"Got it!" A Yue playfully saluted and pulled a handkerchief from her qipao pocket, shoving it into his hands. She told him that with her and Xiu Niang watching over the kitchen, he should quickly change clothes and wash his face. "I'll call you if there's an order."
Shi Mo gladly accepted and stood up to head towards his small room. The spare chef's uniform had been delivered by the butler earlier that afternoon, and now it was just what he needed. However, as he bent down to wash his face, he felt that familiar sensation of being watched again—this time even more intense than before.
This gaze was clearly laced with malice, as if a predator lurking in the shadows had marked him as its prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The cold water splashed against his face, aggravating the wounds, and Shi Mo grimaced as he dried off with a towel. The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to scan the room once more.
Unlike the fleeting sensations from earlier in the day, this scrutiny came from a painting hanging above the bed that was not illuminated by any light. The painting was small, framed in deep brown wood without glass covering it. Its texture was ambiguous—part print, part real painting—making it hard for him to discern. The content was simple: a typical landscape of blue skies, white clouds, and green grass. The only dark element was a small black snake painted on the grass, about the thickness of chopsticks, with only half of its body visible.
Shi Mo could feel his heart racing. He decided to turn on all the lights in the room to eliminate any shadows before cautiously approaching the painting to check for hidden cameras.
He didn't mind being monitored; in fact, having a camera in such a place could be beneficial. But it needed to be located where everyone could see it at a glance. Shi Mo leaned closer to examine the painting carefully but found no gaps between the frame and canvas—no signs of tampering whatsoever.
Finally, his gaze fell on the little snake. As he leaned in for a closer look and reached out to touch it for confirmation, something suddenly pushed against the back of his head. His nose collided directly with the snake’s image on the canvas. The bright red blood smeared across the fabric was jarring.
This has to be compensated for. Shi Mo's first instinct was to wipe it away but soon realized that doing so only made things worse. Pressing down on his reopened wound, he suddenly realized that something must have pushed him just now.
Turning around, he found nothing else alive in the empty room; even that burning gaze had vanished. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He decided to grab a first aid kit and head to the kitchen to bandage himself up instead.
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