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墨書 Inktalez
Xu Wenshan followed Widow Lin to the abandoned well in the east of the town. The woman pulled a bundle of braids from her bosom and tied them to the winch. As she turned the handle, the sound of iron chains echoed from the depths of the well.
When the object wrapped in a shroud was pulled up, Xu Wenshan finally saw that it was a Lipstick Coffin. Blood had been used to draw forty-nine combs on the Coffin Lid, forming a Bagua Formation.
The moment the coffin opened, a foul stench mixed with Huaihua Fragrance wafted out. Widow Lin pressed a Jade Thimble into the corpse's forehead, and suddenly, the female corpse dressed in a 1996-style polyester factory uniform opened her eyes. Her decayed lips slowly moved: "Just... seven more..."
Xu Wenshan took out his compass for self-defense, but to his surprise, the Magnetic Needle pointed behind him. The Hair Combing Old Woman had somehow crept up behind him; as he felt a sharp pain from a wooden comb scraping against his scalp, he heard Zhou Huaisheng's voice: "It's been twenty years; it's time to continue the incense."
A half leaf from a Sophora Tree clung to the back of Xu Wenshan's neck, its veins standing out under the moonlight like livor mortis. He moved along the outer wall of Qinghe Tailor Shop, where the sound of Widow Lin's Sewing Machine faded in and out, resembling someone tapping on the Coffin Board with a thimble.
His phone's location showed that Zhou Huaisheng's antique shop was just three streets away, but every few steps he took, Twenty Years fell from eaves above, creating drumbeats on the bluestone pavement.
As he passed by the Land Temple, ash from the incense burner clouded his vision. In that moment when he wiped his sleeve across his eyes, he caught sight of a pale hand extending from beneath the offering table—its wrist bound with a red thread, using a wooden comb dipped in incense ash to write on the ground.
By the time he retrieved his Self-Defense Spray, only a pool of bubbling black water remained beneath the offering table, with water stains spelling out "Three-Quarter Hour of the Dog, seven coffins opened."
Suddenly, his phone vibrated; a private message popped up with a black-and-white photo: in a group picture of female workers from Twenty Years ago at a Textile Factory, Widow Lin stood behind Li Xiuyun, her right hand adorned with that Jade Thimble. The edge of the photo bore blood-written words: "Bingzi Year, July 15th, Zhou Fudi's employment commemoration."
At midnight in the graveyard, Xu Wenshan's hiking pole pierced into a Grave Mound, pulling out rotting hemp rope. The knot was entwined with Gray-White Strands and tied in exactly the same way as the Zhenhun Rope from the teahouse's dark room.
As he used his Swiss Army knife to cut through the hemp rope, an empty sound suddenly echoed from below—it was the top cover of the Lipstick Coffin, painted in blood with forty-nine combs forming a constellation map.
The flashlight on his phone illuminated the Coffin, and cold sweat slid down Xu Wenshan's spine. Seven Headless Female Corpses were arranged in a Beidou formation; each corpse clutched a Carved Wooden Comb in their right hand.
The central corpse wore a factory uniform with an employee badge pinned to it; prominently displayed was the name "Zhou Fudi," with an employment date of July 15th, 1996.
Suddenly, all of the corpses raised their hands collectively; the sound of wooden combs scraping against coffin walls sent chills through him. As Xu Wenshan stepped back, he knocked over an accompanying Ceramic Pot; from within its ashes rolled out a Jade Ring engraved with Zhou Huaisheng's seal script on its inner side. The ring suddenly grew hot in his palm, branding a red mark shaped like a Comb.
In the Antique Shop Secret Room, as Xu Wenshan pried open a hidden door, half a sewing thread was stuck in its copper lock hole.
The walls of the secret room were adorned with Braids, each tied with a date-marked Wooden Plaque. The most recent braid, Huang Mu Zhu, still bore fresh Bloodstains.
On the mirror of the Dressing Table, the word "death" was written in blood forty-nine times, each stroke pointing to the same location—Qinghe Town, Qinghe Hydrological Station.
When Xu Wenshan examined the wooden combs in the Display Cabinet with a Magnifying Glass, he suddenly noticed that the shadows of the forty-nine Combs formed a silhouette on the wall. The outline unmistakably resembled Widow Lin, but instead of a hairpin, she had a bloodied Tailor's Scissors inserted in her hair.
"Mr. Xu, you have a keen eye," came Zhou Huaisheng's voice from behind the Antique Shelf. In his hands, he twirled a Wenwan Walnut that was actually made from Human Bone. "Twenty years ago, my sister Fudi was disfigured in that fire. Now..." He suddenly peeled back his skin to reveal rotting muscle beneath. "It’s time to use Seven New Souls to complete the Forty-Nine Calamities."
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