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墨書 Inktalez
I walked over and looked ahead. In front of me was a desiccated skeleton, the body completely devoid of moisture, its skin tightly adhering to the bones, sitting on the ground and staring forward like a mummy.
Zhou Ping stepped back a few paces, while Li Chao and the others took a few pictures. Then Li Chao moved forward to take a closer look and said, "It's already dead, and it seems like it's been a long time. It's strange that they haven't decayed at all."
I glanced at the skeleton and then looked around. Soon, I discovered many more such skeletons in the vicinity. Some were standing, some lying down, and some had rotting burdens slung over their shoulders. Everything felt eerie!
I swallowed hard; for some reason, despite the strangeness of this place, I felt an inexplicable familiarity. I knew that this was likely where my ancestors once lived.
"There's more over there!" Zhou Dafu exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.
We began to move forward. As our flashlight beams illuminated the area, more and more skeletons appeared in the light.
"What on earth is this place?" Li Chao muttered, gripping his gun tighter instinctively.
"This is the Witch Clan!" Zhou Dafu said excitedly as he strode ahead. He pointed forward and declared, "In the center, there must be the leader of the Witch Clan, a being who can communicate with spirits! He is the messenger of the gods and the communicator with ghosts, possessing supreme wisdom and power!"
Zhou Dafu was animated as he walked and shouted, "Do you know about medicine? About traditional Chinese medicine? About divination and fortune-telling? About I Ching Hexagrams? About lunar months, the twenty-four solar terms, agriculture, and literary heritage? That is what witches are—bringing light and wisdom to the world!"
I felt my blood boil with excitement; however, I sensed something was off. While I believed that traditional Chinese medicine descended from witchcraft, I knew that I Ching Hexagrams were created by Zhou Wenwang in prison—how could they be related to witches?
I approached him and said, "Uncle Zhou, you're going too far. I Ching Hexagrams are not from witches; they were created by Zhou Wenwang."
"Zhou Wenwang? Ha! Do you think a mere mortal obsessed with power could create a work that encompasses the essence of all changes in existence like the I Ching Bagua? No, that's impossible," Zhou Dafu replied loudly.
At this point, we had followed Main Street to a square in the center. The Witch's Abandoned Ancient City wasn't very large; in the middle was a circular plaza with an exceptionally tall eleven-story ancient tower rising from it. At the very top stood a dancing woman.
"Witch Tower!" Zhou Dafu walked over, circling the eleven-story tower halfway, his eyes filled with awe and delight.
I stood beneath the tower, and for some reason, at that moment, I suddenly felt clear-headed and yearning. I looked up at the tower; although the sky was dark, it seemed as if I could see very high up.
I saw a woman dancing at the tip of the tower. On her head was a pitch-black Cosmic Pendant, a circular ring with a woman with three hands inside it. The woman was dancing, her hands supporting the upper part of the ring, symbolizing communication with the divine, while her feet were planted below, symbolizing control over the underworld.
I swallowed hard and then knelt down there, beneath the tower, pondering why such a powerful race had been completely annihilated.
"The Crystal Sphere is gone!" Zhou Dafu muttered.
I got up and walked towards Zhou Dafu.
Zhou Dafu glanced at me; seeing my fascination with the ruins brought him a sense of accomplishment. He pulled me closer. "Song Fei, look at this spot. According to the incomplete information I've gathered, there should have been a Crystal Sphere here, something similar to a water Crystal Sphere. But this object was very important to the leader of the Witch Clan; it was a gateway to the divine. But now it's gone."
I looked at that spot and indeed noticed a place on one side of the Witch Tower where a sphere could have been placed.
Slowly, I reached out my hand to touch it.
Zhou Dafu quickly grabbed my arm. "This is an ancient ruin! What if you break it? If it collapses, it would be disastrous. We can only look; we can't touch, understand?"
Seeing how much Zhou Dafu cherished it made me smile. "Alright, alright, Uncle Zhou, you’re right."
As we chatted there, Zhou Ping scolded from a distance, "What are you two doing?"
Zhou Dafu and I turned to look in that direction and saw Li Chao and several others struggling to lift a Bluestone slab.
"Hey, Li Chao, what are you doing?" Zhou Dafu walked over and said, "This is a site that's over three thousand years old; you're going to destroy it!"
"Hehe! Boss Zhou, you have millions, so of course you care about it. But for us brothers, when millions are right in front of us, we'd rather choose the money than protect this relic," Li Chao chuckled.
"What millions?" Zhou Dafu asked, confused.
One of the security guards beside Li Chao laughed and said, "Boss Zhou, look at this!"
The guard suddenly lifted a Bronze Tripod from below. The tripod was about the size of a human head and had a tiger embroidered on it.
"This is a Bronze Tripod from the Shang Zhou period. Hehe, we’ve hit the jackpot!" the guard exclaimed happily.
Zhou Dafu quickly shouted, "No! No! Put it back! You signed a contract before coming here; you absolutely cannot touch anything in this ancient site! Besides, I've already given you a good reward—put it back!"
"One hundred thousand or several million; we know how to choose!" Li Chao suddenly turned around, aiming his gun at Zhou Dafu. "You either shut up or... die!"
Zhou Dafu was taken aback and was about to say more.
I quickly pulled Zhou Dafu back. "Alright, alright, do as you please. We’ll pretend we didn’t see anything; let’s keep our distance." As I spoke, I dragged Zhou Dafu behind the ancient tower.
Li Chao sneered, "Now that’s more like it. I'm just in a good mood lately; otherwise, I would have killed you to keep quiet."
"Brother Chao, there seems to be more over here!" another security guard shouted excitedly.
Li Chao walked over with his gun and then laughed, "Great! There really is more. Huh? This one is the Azure Dragon. Azure Dragon and White Tiger? Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise? Could there be two more? You guys hurry and check the other two directions!"
"Good!"
The four of them were extremely excited, completely forgetting their surroundings.
I quickly grabbed Zhou Dafu and Zhou Ping, heading towards the distance. Who knew if these guys would suddenly turn violent and shoot us?
Zhou Dafu was still fuming with indignation, his face full of regret. "I really shouldn't have trusted these people! I even signed a contract before coming here, but I never expected to actually see the antiques. They acted like they had gone mad."
I said, "Uncle Zhou, let's not think about that for now. We should hurry back; this place is quite strange. I feel like something big is going to happen now that those four Bronze Tripods have been unearthed."
Zhou Dafu nodded in agreement.
As we continued to walk out, suddenly, a series of gunshots rang out behind us.
The three of us quickly turned around and saw a creature resembling a Python suddenly burst out from the ground, chasing after Li Chao and the others. As for the fourth person, it seemed he had already been swallowed whole by that giant snake.
The monstrous snake looked fierce and hideous, its head flat like a human face.
"Thump Thump Thump..."
Li Chao kept firing while throwing a grenade from his hand.
Clearly, Li Chao was quite skilled; the grenade landed perfectly in the giant snake's mouth.
With a loud bang, a burst of flames erupted, and the snake collapsed to the ground, black blood pooling everywhere.
Three people ran quickly, completely ignoring us as they hurried toward the entrance with black bags slung over their shoulders.
The three of us hid behind a circular building, watching the trio leave.
Suddenly, a horn echoed throughout the ancient city, followed by billowing clouds of black smoke that began to envelop the entire area.
"What is happening?" I asked.
Zhou Dafu clearly had no idea either.
We quickly put on our gas masks.
At that moment, a hand suddenly patted my shoulder.
Thinking it was Zhou Ping, I turned around and froze. It was a withered arm reaching out from the window of the circular building, tapping my shoulder and beckoning me inside as if inviting me in…
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