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墨書 Inktalez
I returned home with a sense of unease. As soon as I entered the house, I saw Hu Fang still lying on the sofa, sound asleep. To avoid waking her, I led Li Zhisheng to my bedroom, closed the door, and said to him, "Take a look at this." I handed him the Divine Anomalies Classic: Nine Star Chart.
Li Zhisheng hesitated for a moment before accepting the book from me. He examined it closely, frowning. "Isn't this the one I showed you before? How did it end up in your hands?" I didn't answer him but gestured for him to read it himself.
He flipped through the pages, initially not sensing anything unusual. However, as he turned a few more pages, an expression of unease gradually appeared on his face. "Did you find this in the exhibition hall?" he asked while reading intently. I pulled out from my desk drawer the booklet I used to record spirits and pondered before replying, "The Death Apostle gave it to me. He also told me that what I'm doing now is exactly what the author of this book was doing before."
Li Zhisheng looked surprised and asked, "You are Dongfang Shuo?" I nodded. "Yes, if this method is indeed real, then that ancient poet must have had a similar experience." "How did he know..." Li Zhisheng seemed to wonder how the curator knew what I was doing but stopped mid-sentence.
I moved closer to him to take a look at what he was reading; indeed, he had seen the Nine Star Diagram. "According to the Death Apostle, this is the complete version." I intended to compare the material of my booklet with that of the Divine Anomalies Classic.
Unexpectedly, Li Zhisheng snatched the booklet from my hands. Startled, I panicked at the thought of him being marked too and reached out to grab it back. He raised his hand in front of me and smiled, "No wonder, no wonder..." His action startled me, and I quickly stepped back two paces.
I retreated to my desk and groped behind me for something to defend myself with in case anything went wrong. But Li Zhisheng returned to his usual calm demeanor. He closed the book and turned to me. "Earlier, I researched quite a bit about the Divine Anomalies Classic and Dongfang Shuo, but everything about this book seemed absurd. Now I finally understand."
Seeing that Li Zhisheng didn't seem to be in any danger—perhaps he was just overly excited after realizing something—I relaxed my guard and said to him, "Damn it! You scared me! I thought something happened to you. What do you understand? Hurry up!"
Li Zhisheng realized he had acted out of line and cleared his throat twice. "Originally, I thought this Divine Anomalies Classic was just nonsense. Later, when I combined it with some esoteric techniques for interpretation, I found only a small amount of hidden meaning behind the text. But now I finally know that both you and he were marked with a seal. Given some special mission, perhaps the true mystery of this book is that it was written to prevent such events from happening again so that it could be passed down through generations. The text may actually document the spirits he sealed away."
It seemed Li Zhisheng had come to the same conclusion as I had; my purpose in taking out that booklet was also to compare their materials. But now I was more worried about whether Li Zhisheng would be marked too. Thinking of this made me anxious as I asked, "Do you feel anything unusual in your body right now?!" Hearing my question caught him off guard; he quickly looked at his hands.
After confirming everything was fine, I felt relieved and took my booklet back from him. "From now on, just talk properly; don't go snatching other people's things." As I spoke, I put away my booklet. Just then, I suddenly heard a door closing outside. Li Zhisheng and I exchanged glances; it must be Hu Fang waking up, so I opened the door.
As soon as I opened my bedroom door, I saw Hu Fang standing at the entrance with a brown envelope in her hand. "You're awake," I said as she raised the envelope in her hand. "Yeah, just now someone knocked on the door. When I opened it, there was no one there; only this was on the ground..."
"That's strange; how come I didn't hear anyone knock? Was it because I was inside talking with Li Zhisheng?" With that thought in mind, I walked over and took the envelope from her.
This didn't look like an ordinary advertisement because it wasn't just any double-sided adhesive envelope; it was sealed with a red Wax Seal. The Wax Seal bore the design of the Nine Star Diagram, but apart from that seal on the closure, there was nothing else written on it.
"Don't you want to see what's inside?" Hu Fang asked curiously, and Li Zhisheng, who had leaned in closer, chimed in, "Since it has the Nine Star Diagram on it, it must be related to you. Open it and take a look."
I turned and sat down on the sofa in the living room. "I would open it even without you," I replied. I picked up the fruit knife from the table and carefully sliced through the Wax Seal. Inside was a piece of white paper wrapped around a red cardstock. Written in black ink on it were the words: "The Third Box is with me."
The sudden appearance of these words shocked me deeply. Noticing my strange expression, Li Zhisheng pressed, "What does it say?" I flipped the card over towards him, and he read it aloud word by word. When he finished, he was equally startled, exchanging glances with Hu Fang.
"Is that all?" Li Zhisheng asked again. I glanced at the white paper wrapping the card, which had an address written in red ink. "There's an address..." I began to say. Hu Fang looked worried. "Should we accompany you to check it out?"
I thought to myself, "Since he mentioned the Third Box, it must be related to me. I definitely need to go; however, if something unexpected happens again..." Considering this, I told them, "I have a mark and the Void Spirit with me; I'm at least safer than you two. I'll go alone."
Li Zhisheng nodded in agreement, but Hu Fang looked troubled. "Just make sure to inform us if anything happens." I nodded in response.
Seeing that there was no time to waste, I stood up and headed out the door. As I walked, a sense of unease and restlessness settled in my heart. I thought, "The person who sent this letter must have been watching me for some time since they know my address. But why did they choose this moment to tell me they have the Third Box? And why so mysteriously? There must be something more to this."
Lost in thought, the taxi stopped near a market. Since I rarely came to this area, I had no idea if this was the right place; I had only shown the address to the driver before getting in. Before getting out, I confirmed with him once more whether this was indeed the location. The driver assured me confidently, "I've been driving for over ten years; if there's a mistake with navigation, it won't be mine." Given his certainty, I didn't press further; I thanked him and paid before stepping out of the car.
Standing by the roadside, I looked around and checked the address on the paper: "No. 13 South Alley, Fuzhou Road." If that driver hadn't taken me off course, this should be South Alley on Fuzhou Road, but where was No. 13?
I entered the market and asked several vendors about it. Some didn't know; others claimed there was no such number as thirteen at all. Finally, an elderly woman buying vegetables informed me that No. 13 might have been an old door number that had changed due to renovations over time; she said that the original No. 13 was an old Tenement Building across the street. Following her instructions, I looked in the direction she pointed. Sure enough, there was an old building across the road. I thanked the elderly lady and made my way toward the building. It was a structure reminiscent of the old residential buildings from the Liberation era, inexplicably still standing after all these years. The walls were covered with climbing ivy, but as it was already late autumn, most of the leaves had fallen, leaving only yellowed vines sprawled across the walls, giving it a somewhat desolate appearance.As I approached the building, I noticed a pale blue metal house plate with the number "13" hanging beside the door of one household. Likely due to its age, the metal plate was covered in rust. It was fastened to the wall with only a single nail, and whenever the wind blew, it swayed, producing a creaky "squeak, squeak" sound."This should be the place," I murmured to myself, hesitating as I raised my hand to knock on the door. Just as my hand touched the old wooden door, it creaked open with a groan. The movement caused a flurry of dust to fall from the door frame, making me cough uncontrollably.
The house had clearly been abandoned for a long time. With the sunlight streaming in through the doorway, I noticed a thick layer of dust covering the floor. Aside from an old wooden table in the center of the room, there was nothing else.
I tentatively called out, "Hello? Is anyone there?" When no one responded, I crept into the house, feeling like a thief who had just broken into someone's home, fearful of an unexpected encounter.
However, after a few minutes, I realized my worries were unfounded. I noticed a clear trail of footprints on the floor where I had walked, but aside from my own prints, there were no signs that anyone else had been there.
At that moment, my gaze was drawn to something on the table in the center of the room. The light coming in from the door was limited, but I could just make out a red circular object sitting on the table.
Driven by curiosity, I approached the old wooden table. The red object was placed right in the center, as if it were waiting for my arrival.
Standing before the table, I bent down slightly to take a closer look and discovered it was yet another envelope. The brown envelope blended seamlessly with the dust on the table, making it difficult to see except for the bright red wax seal on it.
I carefully picked up the envelope, and at that moment, it felt as if lightning struck me; my body froze. "The entire room is covered in dust, yet this envelope is remarkably clean, as if it were brand new. And since I entered, there have been no signs of anyone else being here. Who could have placed this envelope here without leaving a trace?" A chilling sensation ran from my head to my toes as I pondered this.
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