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墨書 Inktalez
After walking a bit further, I stopped and tried to turn off the Flashlight. As the light vanished, I was instantly engulfed in endless darkness, unable to see anything—not even the sky. All I could hear was the faint sound of Thunder, and my body could only feel the force of the wind and the chill in the air.
This cursed place is truly uninhabitable. Mai Lao was right to keep me out. When I turned the Flashlight back on, I saw a shadow dart past the beam of light, moving so quickly that all I could catch was a glimpse of darkness.
I was startled, too frightened to even breathe. "Who’s there?" I shouted, trying to bolster my courage with my voice. I quickly swung the Flashlight around, but aside from the numerous Tomb Mounds scattered around, there was nothing else.
Could it have been my imagination? Forget it; I should just head back and find Jiao Ba and the others. Just as I was about to turn back, that unsettling feeling of being watched returned.
I was certain someone was nearby. "Who are you? Stop hiding and show yourself!" I yelled as I spun around in circles, but despite my bravado, sweat poured down my forehead.
Suddenly, another shadow flitted past the beam of the Flashlight, causing me to instinctively stumble backward several steps. Yet I continued to shout, "If you have guts, come out! You old ghost! Hiding like this isn’t what a man does! You think you can scare me?"
I felt like I was on the verge of breaking down as I kept retreating. I needed to get out of here. Just as I was about to turn and run, my foot sank into the ground unexpectedly, and without any warning, I fell flat.
I nearly hit the ground hard, but thankfully my reflexes kicked in and my hands caught me just in time. Unfortunately, the Flashlight flew from my grasp and landed nearby. Cursing under my breath, I quickly scrambled to my feet.
As I went to retrieve the Flashlight, I suddenly noticed that where its beam had accidentally shone revealed a small clearing surrounded by Tomb Mounds on both sides—only this spot was empty, perfectly sized for a Tomb Mound.
This must be an excavated Tomb Mound! Grabbing the Flashlight again, I approached it, momentarily forgetting about the shadow I'd seen earlier. Shining the light around me, I saw that this Tomb Mound had completely collapsed; the ground here was uneven.
I tested the soil with my foot; it felt loose enough that it could be dug up. Taking a cautious step forward, suddenly part of the ground beneath me gave way with a 'whoosh,' and I quickly pulled back just in time to avoid falling in.
It seemed this place was indeed viable for exploration; not only was the soil loose, but there were also potential collapses all around. Shining the Flashlight around once more near another Tomb Mound's edge, I spotted a gravestone lying on the ground.
I walked over to pick it up and examined it closely. The surrounding Tomb Mounds all had gravestones; this one must have belonged to the collapsed Tomb Mound nearby. Shining my Flashlight again brought clarity to my surroundings.
On the top of the tombstone, there was also a character, and it was the same Ming as the one we had seen before. The engraving was quite shallow; in Jiao Ba's words, it looked like it was done casually, just a few simple strokes with a knife. However, it felt like all of it came from the same hand.
I continued to look down the tombstone. The middle part of the inscription was no longer legible; it was too blurred to make out. I could barely tell that there were characters there, but what they said was completely unclear, almost worn away.
Yet at the very bottom of this tombstone, there were a few traditional characters that were relatively clear. They were slightly smaller than the Ming above but still centered on the tombstone. Upon closer inspection, I realized that these traditional characters actually represented numbers, translating to Seven Hundred and One.
What could this Seven Hundred and One possibly mean? This Cemetery's tombstones couldn't be counted like regular ones; they were all made of wood, about the width of a book.
Logically speaking, if this were the name of the person who placed the tombstone, it should have been engraved on one side and would definitely be smaller than the characters above.
However, this tombstone was peculiar. Not only was the inscription at the bottom centered, but it also wasn't a name; instead, it was a number—Seven Hundred and One, written in traditional characters.
This was truly strange. I needed to call Jiao Ba and the others over to discuss this. I quickly stood up and shouted, “Lao Ba, Changshan, come over here!”
I shouted several times until I saw a Flashlight beam in the distance. Two people hurriedly approached me. “Brother Yi... Brother Yi, where are you?” It was Jiao Ba's loud voice.
I quickly waved my Flashlight. “Here! Over here! Hurry!”
The two of them jogged over. “What’s up, Brother Yi? What did you find?” Jiao Ba asked breathlessly.
I shone the Flashlight on the ground and said, “Well... look here, this is a small clearing. It’s obvious that a Tomb Mound has been washed away. And over here is where I accidentally stepped earlier; it's clearly collapsed.”
Jiao Ba squatted down to take a closer look with his Flashlight. “Yeah, that's right. This area definitely used to have a Tomb Mound. Look at this slope; there's more soil here. It’s clearly been washed down by years of Heavy Rain, carrying soil from the top of the Tomb Mound over here.”
Changshan also crouched down. He touched the ground with his hands and then grabbed a handful of dirt to smell it. I wondered what he was doing—did he have a nose more sensitive than a dog’s?
"The soil has the scent of corpses; it seems there are indeed dead bodies buried down there, though I can't tell how deep," Changshan said calmly. This man was certainly extraordinary; just by using his nose, he could discern whether there were bodies below. Perhaps he really was like Jiao Ba said—a grave robber.
After Changshan finished speaking, Jiao Ba turned to glance at him, a grim smile on his face. "It seems Brother Changshan is quite knowledgeable as well. To be able to smell the scent of corpses in the soil is not something just anyone can do. Even I can't manage that."
Whether Jiao Ba truly had such skills, I couldn't say for sure, but I knew that this guy often played dumb. His understanding and knowledge far exceeded my imagination; his mind, as I would put it, was more mysterious than an encyclopedia.
Changshan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you're joking. I'm no expert; I'm just making a wild guess." This statement was somewhat misleading—how could I not have guessed?
"Brother Changshan, saying that makes it less interesting! I'm a grave robber; I can tell at a glance who's knowledgeable and who's not. The ability to 'smell graves and listen to mountains' is no mere guesswork. If you don't want to share, that's fine by me," Jiao Ba's tone shifted, lacking any hint of frivolity.
"Truly impressive for a grave robber! The descendant of Jiao Si is indeed remarkable," Changshan surprisingly knew about Jiao Ba's ancestors, which astonished me.
"Oh? You actually know about my ancestors? It seems you're not just some sailor; you've dabbled in grave robbing before?" Jiao Ba looked somewhat surprised, his gaze towards Changshan now tinged with suspicion.
"I won't hide it from you, brother. I know a bit about the trade. I learned some from the elders in my family years ago. As for your ancestors, that was just a guess. Your family was quite famous in Guangdong back in the day; it would be hard not to know," Changshan replied.
This revelation caught me off guard—Changshan's family understood this? This wasn't something good people learned; digging up graves was a major taboo. Who would willingly do such work?
Jiao Ba smiled, but it was an unsettling smile. "Alright, Brother Changshan, it's normal for you to know that. Let's not waste time; we need to dig up this grave quickly. I see the sky—if we wait another half hour, it's bound to rain."
Jiao Ba's expression clearly showed he didn't believe Changshan's words. I felt the same way; Changshan's statements were vague and seemed evasive—he hadn't really addressed the main point at all.
"But we don't have any tools! Are we really going to dig with our hands?" Changshan looked somewhat dumbfounded. If we had to dig with our hands, how long would that take?
At that moment, I suddenly remembered something important. "By the way, Lao Ba, there's one more thing you should take a look at." Saying this, I handed over the nearby tombstone.
Jiao Ba took a closer look and frowned, asking, "Seven Hundred and One? Where did you find this?"
"Right over here. It looks like it was left by this collapsed Tomb Mound," I said, pointing to the nearby Tomb Mound.
Changshan examined it and said, "It really is Seven Hundred and One, written in traditional characters. What does this mean? The 'Ming' above can be tentatively inferred to refer to the Ming Dynasty, but I can't make sense of these traditional numbers."
Jiao Ba held the tombstone with a puzzled expression, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, he suddenly said, "Let's check under the other tombstones to see if there are any more of these traditional numbers."
The three of us searched around again and eventually found only two tombstones with inscriptions. The engravings on the top were completely illegible, while the ones underneath were still visible.
The inscriptions on these two tombstones were quite strange; they were all numbers—one read Eight Hundred Twenty and the other Eight Hundred Forty-Four, both written in traditional characters.
"What do these numbers mean?" I asked Jiao Ba as we returned to the original clearing.
"They're definitely identifiers—absolutely identifiers," Jiao Ba replied firmly.
"Are you sure?" Changshan asked skeptically.
Jiao Ba nodded calmly. "Yes, I'm sure. This is definitely an identifier. Look here—the tombstone number is Seven Hundred and One, but the ones we found inside have numbers in the eight hundreds. This means these graves are arranged according to this numbering system. If we go further in, the numbers under the tombstones should exceed a thousand."
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