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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
We looked outside the door, eager to discover who had come up. However, the knocking sound continued for several minutes without anyone appearing.
"Nian Chen said, 'Fei, should we go out and take a look?'
I nodded and began to move toward the door, but when I reached it, there was still no one in sight, and the knocking persisted. I wondered aloud, "Could it be someone just passing by?"
Zhang Xun replied, "It seems like they went upstairs."
Were there really some strange things in this tower?
I asked Hu Qingming, "Should we go up and check?" Hu Qingming responded, "But that would mean going to the fifth floor."
I asked, "Is there a problem with the fifth floor?"
Hu Qingming shook his head, indicating there was no issue. After he finished speaking, we started making our way upstairs. The knocking sound seemed to guide us as I called out, "Is anyone up there?"
After my words echoed back without a response, we reached the fifth floor, and the footsteps vanished. Had they stopped on the fifth floor?
At that moment, I felt a sense of unease creeping in. The coffin—Zhang Xun had come here looking for a coffin. Would finding it help him remember everything? I turned to Zhang Xun and said, "Since no one is around, let's look for the coffin."
"Alright," Zhang Xun agreed. We spread out on the fifth floor to search for the coffin. Hu Qingming remarked, "Chen Fei, you definitely aren't looking for an ordinary coffin. If it's not an ordinary one, it surely won't be placed in a common spot."
I asked Hu Qingming, "Where do you think it would be?"
Hu Qingming replied, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be on the Ninth Floor."
I said, "Going to the Ninth Floor might be risky!"
"Chen Fei, are you scared?" Hu Qingming asked.
I replied that I wasn't afraid. Hu Qingming said, "Since you're not afraid, let's go up." I glanced at Zhang Xun and Nian Chen; if I went up, they would definitely follow me. I just didn't want to drag them into this.
"What are you worried about? Life and death are fated; it's not something you can decide," Hu Qingming reassured me.
Just as he finished speaking, the sound of footsteps echoed again—this time, it was more than one person, as if a group was approaching. Along with the footsteps came a strong smell of blood.
Our attention was once again drawn to the sound, but this time it felt different. Previously, it might have just been someone passing by, but now it seemed like trouble was coming our way.
"They're here!" Hu Qingming exclaimed.
I shone my flashlight toward the staircase and saw several bloodied corpses emerging from the hallway. These bodies appeared to be eyeless, and the light from my flashlight made them look even more terrifying.
"It's trouble knocking at our door," I said, my expression changing as the metallic scent of blood became overwhelming. I called out to Zhang Xun and Nian Chen to come closer to me.
Once we were huddled together, I said, "Everyone, stay alert."
"You don't need to be nervous, Chen Fei. It's just a few bloody corpses; we can handle them easily," Hu Qingming said confidently before taking action. He engaged one of the corpses and, after a few moves, brought it down.
"Let's make this quick," I told Zhang Xun and Nian Chen. With that, the three of us charged forward. Before long, we had dealt with several of the corpses. However, just as we finished, we heard hurried footsteps approaching—these were even more frantic than before.
"This is bad!" Hu Qingming warned.
I quickly looked down the stairs. What I saw made my face turn pale.
"Nian Chen" asked, "What's wrong?"
I replied, "We can't stay here! We need to move up quickly."
I hurried toward the sixth floor, and soon "Nian Chen," "Zhang Xun," and "Hu Qingming" followed closely behind. Once we reached the sixth floor, I noticed that the footsteps behind us had not stopped. I was curious about where all those corpses were coming from.
This is truly bizarre! When I looked down just now, I saw a continuous stream of corpses making their way up the stairs. There were so many that we couldn't possibly handle them.
The corpses were still closing in. "Hu Qingming" suggested, "How about we go to the Ninth Floor? If those bloody corpses dare to follow us there, then we'll have to fight."
I agreed quickly with a nod, but "Zhang Xun" seemed hesitant and said that if we went to the Ninth Floor, there would be no way back.
That's true; if we went to the Ninth Floor now, we'd be cutting off our last escape route. But there was no time to worry about that. I told "Zhang Xun," "Let's go up first."
"Zhang Xun" glanced at me and eventually agreed. The four of us quickly made our way to the Ninth Floor. Once we arrived, the footsteps behind us vanished completely. Looking down, I saw that the bloody corpses had stopped at the stairway between the eighth and Ninth Floors and dared not come up.
It seemed we had made the right bet, and "Hu Qingming" let out a sigh of relief. However, "Zhang Xun" reminded me, "Chen Fei, it will be difficult to go down later." Before I could respond, "Hu Qingming" interjected, saying we should focus on the immediate situation first and deal with everything else later.
I told "Zhang Xun" not to worry; things would work out in the end. Besides, I felt that the coffin should be above us.
Truthfully, I wasn't entirely confident either, but if no one else had any certainty, someone had to step up and speak. "Nian Chen" said to "Zhang Xun," "Trusting Fei is not a mistake."
"Zhang Xun" looked at me and said, "If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't have come up here."
Since this nine-story building was designed like a spire, the top floor had the smallest area. There was only one room up there, so we walked toward it. A strange cold breeze suddenly swept through; considering this place should be sealed off, where was the wind coming from?
When we pushed open the door to that room, illuminated by our flashlight, we saw five coffins neatly arranged inside.
The Five Coffins were all a dark red color. They were arranged neatly, with their lids closed. If I was not mistaken, both Zhang Xun and I had crawled out from a coffin, which meant that the Five Coffins must hold all the secrets.
As we approached the coffins, we noticed that each one had a lamp lit underneath it. I recognized this lamp; it was typically used during funerals, placed beneath the coffin to guide the deceased smoothly into the Underworld.
But why were there lamps lit under the Five Coffins? Had they just been lit? Otherwise, how long could a single lamp burn? I was filled with confusion about who had ignited these lamps.
At that moment, everyone seemed puzzled. From a distance, the Five Coffins looked identical, but up close, we noticed differences. The middle coffin had the words "Main Coffin" inscribed on it, while the others simply bore the word "Coffin."
Staring at the inscription on the coffin left me stunned. It seemed that Zhang Xun was right; the other four coffins were likely meant to facilitate the resurrection of the person in the Main Coffin.
I glanced at Zhang Xun, who suddenly pointed to the coffin on the left side of the Main Coffin and said, "Chen Fei, I crawled out of this coffin."
I nodded in acknowledgment as Zhang Xun continued, "The coffin closest to your right belongs to Zhang Fatty. That's why Li Qiang betrayed you, but Zhang Fatty would rather die for you."
Zhang Xun and Zhang Fatty were the two coffins nearest to me, making them my closest friends and brothers. Zhang Xun went on to explain that the rightmost coffin belonged to the Fifth Person, whose identity remained unclear.
If even Zhang Xun couldn't identify him, then I certainly couldn't either.
But why had I forgotten everything after crawling out of that coffin? The year 198 was when I emerged; surely many events had occurred before that.
I was deep in thought, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make sense of it all. I reached out my hand toward the Main Coffin; perhaps if I wanted to know more, I should start there. Where I came from was where I needed to begin remembering.
I turned to Zhang Xun and Hu Qingming and said, "I want to open the coffin!"
As soon as I spoke, Zhang Xun, Hu Qingming, and Nian Chen froze in shock and asked, "What do you want to open the coffin for?"
I said, "The reason Ninth Floor might not be able to come is possibly because of the Five Coffins, or perhaps it's because the truth is hidden here. You all knew that coming here was for the final Awakened, so we should trace back from where we started."
It felt like their lifelong ambition, yet I couldn't remember anything at all.
Nian Chen asked, "Fei, are you really going to open the coffin?"
I nodded. The moment my hand touched the coffin, a familiar feeling surged in my heart, which is why I had the thought of opening it. Since I had made up my mind, I started to act. I asked Nian Chen to step aside. I felt that Nian Chen was probably the one furthest from these coffins, and I didn't want him to get involved.
Hu Qingming quickly said, "Since Chen Fei has made up his mind, let's help him open the coffin."
Hu Qingming was quick and urged me, "Hurry up."
I thought to myself that this guy was even more anxious than I was. At that moment, Zhang Xun couldn't help but ask me, "Chen Fei, are you really sure about this?"
I replied that I was indeed sure. Once the bow is drawn, there’s no turning back. It was like crawling out of a grave only to go back in again. If it truly was a grave, then it would be a dead end; if not, it could lead to uncovering the truth and taking the final step towards the ultimate Awakened.
However, Hu Qingming seemed impatient. I pushed against the coffin, and it made a sound as we three easily lifted the lid.
"Go ahead," Hu Qingming reminded me. At that moment, there was a fiery glint in his eyes as he said, "Chen Fei, if you die, everything will end with you. Sometimes there’s no point in getting tangled up in things; if you want to do it, just do it."
At this point, one of my hands was already resting on the edge of the coffin.
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