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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
The man looked bewildered.
This pattern... Could it be that the mountain has been possessed? But that doesn't seem right; when I, Bai Jianshan, was here, I didn't notice any signs of possession. Could it be that the mountain willingly followed along? I thought to myself, if that were the case, it would be rather frightening.
The more I pondered, the more uneasy I felt. Did the mountain really discover something? What could a child possibly uncover?
Moreover, he had never been involved in this matter before. What could he find? This was something I couldn't wrap my head around. Standing in the mountain's room, I walked in and discovered a stack of sketches. These sketches actually broke down the pattern.
One by one, they were beautifully drawn.
The man also had a talent for drawing; I was mesmerized. The mountain had deconstructed this pattern, which surely meant he had uncovered some secret.
This mountain might just be an oddity. After staring at the sketches for a while without understanding them, I asked the man if I could take these things with me. He replied, "Take them. I hope you truly are here to help me find my child."
I assured him, "I will help you find your child. Leave me a phone number, and I'll notify you if I have any news."
After exchanging numbers, Gao Ling and I left.
Gao Ling turned to me and asked, "Fei, aren't you going to tell Bai about meeting the mountain?"
I shook my head. "Not yet; let's wait until we find him. Otherwise, it might give him hope only to lead to disappointment." Gao Ling smiled at my response and said, "Fei, you really think things through."
We headed downstairs. With the mountain missing, it wouldn't be easy for just the two of us to find him; we would definitely need Fu Yan's help.
Gao Ling's car was parked near the basketball court. As we prepared to get in, suddenly a stone flew out of nowhere and smashed Gao Ling's car window. Instantly, Gao Ling exploded with anger, shouting, "Which bastard did that? Show yourself!"
I glanced around and quickly spotted someone emerging from an alleyway; from their silhouette, I recognized who it was.
"Mountain."
As soon as I finished speaking, I dashed forward. Gao Ling, still trying to process what had just happened, called out from behind, asking where I was going. I didn't have time to respond to Gao Ling; I just chased after Mountain, who had also started running. We began weaving through the boxes.
There were many alleys here, crisscrossing in a way that could easily disorient anyone.
At that moment, I was feeling just that way, chasing after Mountain until my head was spinning. The alleys were lit by streetlights, but instead of incandescent bulbs, they emitted a yellowish glow that didn't provide much illumination.
Damn it, it seemed like I was getting old; after running for a while, I was panting heavily.
I leaned against a wall to catch my breath, gasping for air. As I turned my head, I noticed a cart selling Stinky Tofu nearby. Huh! That's strange; it wasn't there just a moment ago! How did it suddenly appear? The vendor was an elderly man.
I asked him in confusion, "Have you been selling here all along?"
The old man looked at me and replied, "I've been selling here for thirty years. Would you like some? I guarantee it's authentic."
I stared at him in bewilderment but couldn't make sense of it. I told him never mind; I wasn't in the mood to eat right now. Instead, I asked him, "Did you see a child pass by?"
The old man said, "Yes, he went that way." He pointed in a direction. I thanked him and headed that way.
However, after walking just a few dozen meters and turning a corner, I found myself in a dead end. Reluctantly, I had to turn back. I initially thought about asking the old man if he had tricked me, but when I looked back, he had already vanished.
Something was off! How could a Stinky Tofu vendor just disappear like that? I glanced at the time; it was barely past eight in the evening—there's no way he would pack up so quickly.
Had I seen a ghost? My gaze wandered around; at that moment, I was all alone in the alley, which felt eerily quiet. As I walked toward the exit, the chill in the air intensified. This wasn't right! Something was definitely wrong.
You have to understand that there shouldn't be anyone around at this hour in the old city area; even though it was sparsely populated, it was only eight o'clock—there should be people out and about!
Could that Stinky Tofu vendor really have left so quickly? My heart began to race with an uneasy feeling that something bad might happen. I pulled out my phone to call Gao Ling, but at that moment, the call wouldn't go through. I continued to wander through the alleys.
I soon saw a girl with a ponytail walking towards me. She was young, dressed in a school uniform, and from the style of the uniform, I could tell she was a high school student.
As she approached, she glanced at me and brushed past. I called out to her, "Excuse me, can you tell me how to get out of here?"
The girl pointed behind me and said, "Just go straight and turn right; you'll see the road."
I thanked her and started walking in the direction she indicated. However, when I reached the spot, I found myself in another dead end. Damn it, had I encountered a ghost wall again?
Panic began to set in. Had I been tricked? I started to doubt myself, wondering if I had really fallen for it. Taking a deep breath, I decided not to run further but to search for an exit.
Running like this might lead me nowhere. After walking for about ten minutes, thankfully, I didn’t encounter another dead end. I thought about entering a hallway to find someone, but once inside, there was no one around; knocking on doors yielded no response.
At that moment, it felt like I had entered a ghost town. A chilling atmosphere began to spread around me; my palms were sweaty, my scalp tingled, and anxiety filled my heart. Just then, a voice came from behind me—an old voice that asked, "Would you like some stinky tofu?"
I turned around and saw the old man selling tofu standing about four or five meters away.
With a belly full of questions, I walked over to him and bluntly asked, "Are you human or a ghost?" My question might have sounded abrupt because the old man looked at me in surprise.
He spat and replied, "Kid, don’t be ridiculous; there are only ten days until the Ghost Festival."
"Ten?"
I glanced at the date and said, "That’s not right! It’s only the end of June! There’s still more than half a month until the Ghost Festival!"
"You don’t understand. On July 7th, we bring our ancestors home to stay for seven days, and then on the Ghost Festival, we send them off. So the real Ghost Festival is on July 7th," he said, his voice turning cold.
I pondered for a moment before asking him, "How did you disappear so quickly just now? Do you walk around selling stinky tofu everywhere?"
The old man replied, "My cart has wheels; I'm used to wandering through the streets. I did business like this thirty years ago, so I can’t change it now."
I let out a sound of understanding and glanced at the old man, who didn’t look like a corpse. I said to him, “I seem to be lost. Can you take me out?”
The old man shook his head and replied, “I still have business to attend to. I can give you directions.”
At that moment, I truly didn’t believe these people could guide me, as all the paths they pointed out were dead ends. So I said, “How about I buy all your Stinky Tofu tonight? You just need to take me out.”
The frying pan for the Stinky Tofu was still emitting a faint smoke, and the old man asked, “Are you really going to buy it all? Can you finish it? It’s quite expensive.”
I replied, “Is a thousand dollars enough?”
I just felt something was off about this place. Just then, I heard a “meow” sound. I immediately turned my head and saw four or five pairs of eyes glowing green as a group of Black Cats approached me.
What the hell…
What was going on? Seeing the Black Cats made me uneasy. I intended to call out to the old man, but when I turned around, I found four or five Black Cats right at my feet, and the old man had vanished.
I was suddenly terrified, my scalp tingling. I jumped back in a hurry, my heart racing as if it were stuck in my throat, and my breathing became rapid.
Where did the Old Man go? I wondered to myself, glancing at the Black Cats surrounding me, feeling increasingly anxious.
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