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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
My body went limp, and I sat down on the ground.
Is this motherfucker ever going to end?
An unprecedented sense of isolation and helplessness tightly surrounded me, followed by a strange feeling that began to spread from my scalp downward, slow yet relentless, gradually enveloping my entire body. Every place it invaded felt like the pores were tightening, and goosebumps rose all over.
This feeling is fear; I was engulfed in deep fear. In this Ice Crystal World, an endless maze where loneliness prevails, it all made me feel afraid.
Yes, this feeling is not terror but fear. If a corpse suddenly came back to life, or a hand reached out from a coffin, or a woman with disheveled hair crawled out of the television, those would make your scalp tingle and your hair stand on end—this is called terror, but it's only momentary.
The fear I felt now was like maggots burrowing into my bones; it slowly and irresistibly invaded my skin through my pores, seeped into my blood, and eroded my marrow...
Ah——————————!
I couldn't help but scream, jumping up like a rabbit, raising my gun and firing wildly at the Passage until I emptied the bullets. I took out more bullets from my Spatial Bag and shot at another doorway in a frenzy, shouting in near despair: “Ah————ah——————ah————”
Bang bang bang bang!
I pulled the trigger desperately until the hammer clicked empty! Damn! I slammed the gun against the wall in frustration, chipping off a piece of it.
Once again, I collapsed onto the ground. However, after such an outburst, I surprisingly felt much calmer; the feeling of fear had diminished significantly. Lighting a cigarette, I even blew a smoke ring.
Motherfucker, if you die you become a ghost; if you don’t die, you become an immortal. Since it’s already like this, let whatever happens happen.
After finishing my smoke, I picked up the gun again, reloaded it with bullets, and was about to continue when something caught my eye—the wall I had smashed. Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind.
Since I just turned around and walked back, it means this maze is not the kind that is endless and boundless, but rather one that is interconnected in cycles. In my mind, it seems like I have drawn a giant map filled with countless "米" shapes, and I am like a mouse standing in front of one of these "米" shapes.
If I were to mark each entrance of the passageways I have walked through, wouldn't it be clear which paths I have taken and which ones I haven't? Even if I return to the original "米" shape, I can choose a path that I haven't taken to move forward.
It might take some time, but I have plenty of it. Uh, it seems time is running short. I glanced at my phone; it was already nine in the morning.
I randomly picked a passageway and shot at the side wall. A large chunk of ice immediately fell from the wall, and after coughing loudly, I moved forward.
Every time I reached a Circular Hall, I randomly chose a fork and shot to make a mark. This time, after walking for nearly four hours, the more I walked, the more anxious I became. Why hadn’t I seen any of the forked paths that I had shattered? Was every path I took a new "米" shape? Just as panic set in, I spotted a deep red cigarette butt in the middle of one Circular Hall.
Huh? This cigarette butt? Since I haven’t been here before, could this cigarette butt belong to Kong Xuan and his group? Thinking of this made me overjoyed, and I quickly shouted, “Kong Xuan!”
It was like shouting underwater; my voice was muffled. Then I remembered that sound doesn’t travel well in this maze. Damn it, this maze is really strange.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders; at least now I knew that I wasn’t alone in this maze. Fortunately, the color of this cigarette butt was so eye-catching; otherwise, I would have definitely overlooked it.
Huh? Something seems off.
Kong Xuan's cigarettes are Yellow Crane Tower 1916, with a golden Filter Tip, while this cigarette butt on the ground is deep red. It resembles White Sand instead. Slowly crouching down, I picked up the cigarette butt and indeed found that it was one I had discarded. Before smoking, I have a habit of biting the Filter Tip; it's something a friend taught me. If it's fake tobacco, biting the Filter Tip will reveal it; real tobacco has a very hard Filter Tip.
Looking at the bite marks on the Filter Tip, my mind suddenly clicked. Clearly, this cigarette butt was discarded by me as I turned back to where I had walked before. But what about the marks I left? Didn’t I shatter many ice blocks with my gun? Where did those ice blocks go? What happened to the gaps in the wall?
I jumped up and rushed to examine the wall where I had shot. Upon closer inspection, it became evident that there was something odd going on. The area where I had blasted away was slowly repairing itself; the ice blocks that had fallen were already melting into puddles and shrinking at a visible rate. It gave off a strange feeling as if the entire ice block was flowing—this side’s puddle gradually merged into the Ice Surface while over there, the ice blocks were mending themselves.
By the time the puddles completely disappeared from the ground, the gaps in the wall were also fully repaired without leaving any trace behind.
Not even leaving a mark? This maze is really cunning. But do you think you can outsmart me like this? You can repair yourself easily, huh? Fine then, if you won’t let me shoot at you, can’t I just place cigarette butts on the ground to mark my path?
I carefully opened the Filter Tip in my hand, tore off a piece of SpongeBob, squatted down, and placed this piece of SpongeBob right in front of one of the doorways. After all, there was no wind in this maze, so I wasn't worried it would be blown away.
After taking another look at the position of the SpongeBob piece, I was about to get up when I suddenly felt something unusual on the ground. Curiously, I leaned closer to take a look and discovered that there seemed to be some words beneath the ice.
Indeed, beneath the ice was a stone slab that was almost the same color as the ice, and on it were written seven white characters: “Li Zhen was here!”
Li Zhen? Isn't Li Zhen Old Li? The pride of Mint County, one of the founding generals. When did he come here? Could it be that he was also looking for the Land of Eternal Sleep? How did he get in, and how did he get out?
Thinking of Old Li, my mind began to race. Since Old Li could dominate the outside world until his death, it meant he had once made it out of here. If he could escape unscathed, there were only two possibilities: first, he got lucky and stumbled out by accident; second, he knew where the exit of the maze was.
With this thought, I felt invigorated and crouched down like a dog, looking around to see if Old Li had left any other clues. After searching for about ten minutes, I found nothing. I couldn't help but chuckle bitterly; anyone who wrote “was here” wouldn't note how they got there, right? Just like when Sun Wukong flipped into Buddha's palm and wrote ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here,’ he didn’t add a note explaining how he performed his somersault cloud technique or any professional terminology.
Old Li, Old Li, I desperately recalled stories and deeds about Old Li. Unfortunately, I didn't study history very well; I could only remember Old Li's name thanks to a movie I had seen where Old Li was portrayed as a master with exceptional martial arts skills.
Naturally, I recalled what Nong Zihao had boasted about Old Li in the car. The most prominent memory was Old Li's couplet: “No need to be proud of unorthodox paths; charging ahead is truly heroic. When no one is around in the right army's atmosphere, Erlang holds his spear and laughs.”
Wait a minute, this couplet... it resembles an acrostic poem. I took the first character from each line—left one, right two.
What does left one right two mean? Could this be the key to exiting the maze?
I looked at the '米' shaped intersection before me, and an answer gradually formed in my mind. If I stood at one of the exits of an intersection with seven paths ahead of me, then left one right two would make sense: standing at one path's exit with respect to the opposite path as a central axis, with three openings on each side. First, take the leftmost path, then reach the next '米' intersection before taking the second path on the right.
Damn it, that must be it.
Then another question arose: which '米' intersection counts as the starting point? Should I start counting from the entrance? After hesitating for a moment, I thought why overthink it; let’s use the opening where Old Li buried this word as the starting point.
With a decision made, I felt energized and began walking according to left one right two. As I walked further back, feeling somewhat fatigued, I simply tossed my handgun back into my Spatial Bag. After all, that handgun weighed at least a couple of pounds...
About half an hour later, I was suddenly dazzled by a sight in front of me. A giant hall appeared, one I had never seen before. The hall was as large as two football fields and about seven or eight stories high. In the center stood nine ice pillars, each with a diameter of one meter, evenly distributed in three rows and three columns throughout the hall. The white light emanating from within the ice pillars illuminated the entire hall as if it were daytime.
Looking around, I noticed a massive ice door at my two o'clock position. The door was half the height of the hall, which meant it was about three or four stories tall. In front of the ice door stood five people, and from a distance, I could see that it was Kong Xuan, Lin Tao, and others.
When they saw me emerge from the passage, Kong Xuan shouted out loud. I could only see his mouth moving but couldn't hear what he was saying. I was overjoyed; at this moment, whether they were friends or foes didn't matter. Being alone in this isolated place felt truly uncomfortable.
As I walked closer, I could see the surprise in the eyes of Kong Xuan and Aijia Yu, and Lin Tao and the others also wore expressions of astonishment. When I reached them, Kong Xuan's voice came through: "Hey, how did you not get killed by that wild boar?"
How did that wild boar not kill you instead?
Lin Tao looked at me with a smile, his expression peculiar: "Zheng Nan, how did you get out of the maze?"
"Just left one, right two!" I chuckled lightly, reciting Old Li's humorous poem.
"I didn't expect Old Li had also been here," Lin Tao said in surprise.
I punched Kong Xuan on the shoulder and casually asked, "How did you all end up here?"
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