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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Jin Manyuan? How did this old turtle end up here?
From the looks of it, Jin Manyuan knows Old Li, so who is the third person besides them? An Ran mentioned that the Suspension Bridge requires three people to activate the clouds.
More importantly, if Old Li has been here, then Lin Tao's claim that this place only opens once every three hundred years doesn't add up; one of them must be lying.
"There are two possibilities!" I cleared my throat. "First, Old Li is like Jin Manyuan, an old turtle who has lived for several hundred years, and their visit here happened three hundred years ago."
Kong Xuan looked at me and shook his head while pointing at the date carved by Old Li: "Do you know what year the seventeenth year of the Republic of China was? Starting from when Sun Yat-sen established the Republic of China, which year was the Xinhai Revolution? Was it 1911 or 191? So, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China would be either 197 or 198, tsk tsk, that doesn't even add up to a hundred years, let alone three hundred."
I nodded: "Then there is only the second possibility left; Lin Tao is lying."
"Yes, I think so too. Also, after three years, this Land of Eternal Sleep will close, but it hasn't disappeared yet," Kong Xuan frowned.
"One thing at a time; his disappearance might refer to that sleeping gate disappearing, while we are inside the Land of Eternal Sleep, so naturally it won't disappear." I stated frankly: "Besides, why would Lin Tao want to deceive us? If he wanted to kill us, it would be as easy as saying a word. No matter what he wants us to do, we would have no choice but to comply; there's really no need for him to go through all this trouble."
After discussing for a while without reaching a conclusion, we finally decided to head back first and take our chance to shoot him in the head whenever possible.
When An Ran saw us come out from behind the tree, a fleeting look of displeasure crossed her face, but she didn't say anything and just signaled for us to continue on our way.
Moonshadow Island is the largest floating island among all, so the towering mountain in the center of the island is also the most majestic. From afar, an overwhelming sense of grandeur hits you; even someone as lazy as me and Kong Xuan dared not speak carelessly.
After walking for about three or four hours, we reached halfway up the mountain. Lin Tao glanced at his watch and approached An Ran, whispering a few words before turning back with a smile: "It's currently eleven o'clock at night. Let's eat something here and rest for the night; we'll head to the summit tomorrow morning."
The time referred to by Lin Tao naturally corresponds to our usual time; there is no night in the Land of Eternal Sleep. Hearing that it's late at night under broad daylight feels strange.
After eating a bit, the six of us found a random spot to lie down. Since we had been traveling for days, both our bodies and minds were exhausted, and we fell asleep on the ground.
I don't know how long I slept, but I felt someone gently pushing me. Dazed and confused, I turned over and heard a nearly inaudible voice whispering: "Don't move, don't speak."
I was taken aback; my mind hadn't caught up yet. Plus, since their voice was so soft, I couldn't tell who it was. Who was behind me? Right, it seemed like it was Kong Xuan. What did he want with me? Why so mysterious?
Then I felt a finger tracing my back. At first, I didn't understand what was happening, but as the finger moved slowly across my back, I finally realized he was writing something on me.
"Emergency situation."
Kong Xuan wrote these four characters three times behind me before I finally understood what he meant. I made a 'K' gesture with my hand to indicate that I had understood what he wrote.
"Let's go together and take her down."
Kong Xuan wrote six characters again.
Strangely, did Kong Xuan not distinguish between genders? Wasn't Lin Tao referred to as 'he'? Why did Kong Xuan write it as 'she'?
Could it be that Kong Xuan wanted to take down An Ran? What was wrong with him? Even if we could take down An Ran, with Lin Tao's word, wouldn't we both be doomed?
Then he wrote four more characters behind me, this time more hurriedly. Although he wrote it twice, I could only vaguely make out three characters: "late change"? Hmm, it seemed like there was a character for 'change,' late change? Ugh! He should mean 'change occurs when late.'
Just as I was unsure how to respond to him, his finger suddenly stopped moving on my back, not reacting at all.
Damn, was he still trying to gather his thoughts? I waited a moment longer, but that finger remained still. Something felt off. I pretended to mumble and turned over, slightly opening my eyes, only to be startled and sit up straight.
The person writing on my back was actually Mo Lu, that thin middle-aged man. At this moment, his face was dark, his eyes rolled back, and his nose and mouth were covered in blood; he was already dead.
Hearing my exclamation, the others gradually woke up and gathered around. Upon seeing such a scene, they were all dumbfounded. Lin Tao walked over slowly, crouched beside Mo Lu's body, and after checking his nose for a moment, looked up at me coldly and asked, "What happened?"
How would I know what happened? My mind was a mess. Kong Xuan and Aijia Yu stood on either side of me; they had not been far from me just moments ago and immediately moved closer upon hearing the sound.
Lin Tao looked at me with an unusual light in his eyes. I felt uneasy and secretly placed my hand near my Spatial Bag; if anything went wrong, I would draw my gun and fight him to the bitter end.
After a long while, Lin Tao's expression gradually calmed down as he looked down at Mo Lu's corpse. "With your abilities, you are not capable of silently killing Mo Lu."
Hearing Lin Tao say this, I immediately turned my gaze toward An Ran. If someone had killed Mo Lu without anyone noticing, only An Ran would have that capability; as for Kong Xuan, how could that be possible? He always shouted loudly before doing anything.
An Ran seemed to understand the meaning behind my glance; her brows furrowed in anger. "If I wanted to kill someone, it would be you three first..."
Lin Tao raised his hand and said lightly, "I don't need you; perhaps there are other things in this Land of Eternal Sleep that we do not know about. This issue is no longer up for debate; let's leave it at that."
He raised his hand to check the time on his watch. "It's already 6 AM. Let's hit the road."
The group of five continued on their way, leaving the dark green corpse abandoned by the roadside, disregarded.
Following the previous order, An Ran walked at the front, while Kong Xuan, Aijia Yu, and I walked in the middle, with Lin Tao bringing up the rear alone.
Without the protection of the dark green figure, Lin Tao seemed hesitant and kept a distance from us. He staggered along behind us, while An Ran charged ahead. Seizing this opportunity, Kong Xuan whispered to me, "Now's a chance; should we take out Lin Tao?"
Just then, a colorful long-tailed bird flew by. I pretended to watch it, casually glancing back at Lin Tao. "I'm not a sharpshooter; I might not even hit him from this distance, let alone aim for his head!"
Kong Xuan chuckled and asked, "Who killed your dark green friend?"
"It could be either Lin Tao or An Ran; it definitely wasn't any of us three," I replied quietly. "Otherwise, as Lin Tao said, there must be other entities in this Land of Eternal Sleep! By the way, Kong Xuan, do you feel like someone is following us?"
Kong Xuan nodded. "I really do have that feeling!"
Aijia Yu's expression changed as she looked around nervously. Then she shot a fierce glare at Kong Xuan and lowered her voice. "Don't act recklessly!"
I mentioned how the dark green figure had been writing on my back earlier, which made Aijia Yu's face pale even more. She whispered, "Have you noticed that An Ran has become particularly irritable since entering the Land of Eternal Sleep?"
Aijia Yu's observation resonated with us; earlier when Fatty needed to relieve himself, An Ran had shown signs of hostility and just now had brazenly threatened to kill the three of us.
Could it be that this Land of Eternal Sleep has triggered an early onset of menopause for her? It seems quite possible.
After walking for nearly four hours, we finally reached the mountain peak.
I rarely hike mountains; to be precise, I have seldom reached the summit of any mountain. Of course, the dirt slope in Yuhua Park across from my home doesn't count. This was my first time climbing such a high peak and witnessing such a unique summit.
The top of the mountain before us was deeply recessed in one large section, resembling a basin. However, this basin was about the size of four football fields and had a pentagonal shape—an absolute regular pentagon. If measured with a ruler, all five sides would be equal in length.
If it were just a pentagonal basin, that would be one thing; but in the center of this basin stood a pentagonal platform with a diameter of about fifty meters. Its height was slightly lower than the edges of the basin, allowing us to see a pentagonal opening at its center. From our angle, we couldn't tell how deep this black hole was; the entire platform gave off an impression similar to that of America's Pentagon.
Both the basin and the surface of the platform were covered in green vines, creating a lush view from afar.
This is not the most peculiar part; the strangest thing is the pentagonal opening in the center, surrounded by a silvery cloud. The cloud neither flies away nor dissipates; it simply hovers above the opening, constantly shifting and transforming into various bizarre shapes.
I exchanged a glance with Kong Xuan, and it seemed that this was the Moon Demon’s chamber.
Lin Tao casually walked up from behind and smiled at An Ran, saying, "So, how is it? Can we summon the Moon Demon in the center now? Do you still remember how to summon the Moon Demon?"
"Of course I do!" An Ran's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, but then a hint of confusion crossed her brow. "I feel like something is off about this altar."
Lin Tao was taken aback. "What do you mean something is off?"
An Ran furrowed her brows. "I can't quite put my finger on it; it just feels a bit unusual!"
Lin Tao chuckled. "We're only cooperating here. I'm responsible for bringing you to the Land of Eternal Sleep; beyond that, I have no idea what happens next. Whether it's unusual or normal, I wouldn't know. So, what do you plan to do next?"
"Go to the center! Bring the offerings over; we will need them for the ritual," An Ran said as she leaped toward the center.
"What? Offerings? Ritual?" I realized we couldn't delay any longer. We were already at a ritual, and my impression of such ceremonies was that they involved more than just slaughtering pigs or sheep. In ancient mythology, offerings were often thrown into rivers or volcanoes. From An Ran's tone, it seemed that the three of us were the offerings.
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