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墨書 Inktalez
Just when I was at a loss, the Box in my hand suddenly began to shake violently. But there was no time for me to think; the two ghosts were about to pounce on the souls of Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng. In that critical moment, I opened my arms and stood in front of them.
Suddenly, I felt a tightness in my chest, and then I was knocked back several meters by the two ghosts that charged at me with incredible speed. The pain made my vision blur. The Box I was tightly gripping rolled away to the side. Seeing it fall, I hurriedly reached out to pick it up, but just as my hand touched the Box, it unexpectedly opened by itself.
From within, a Black Cylindrical Wooden Carving fell out, adorned with many intricate patterns that I couldn't understand. Although I had no idea what the Wood Carving was for, I grabbed it tightly and struggled to get back on my feet.
The two ghosts, having missed their target, flipped in mid-air and charged toward Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng once more. This time, even if I wanted to use my body to shield them, it was already too late.
In a moment of desperation, I stretched out my arm as far as I could and lunged forward, trying to tackle them down. Just as my feet left the ground, I suddenly remembered that "even before, I couldn't even touch them; what good would it do now if I lunged at them?"
But there was no time to stop thinking; the two ghosts were already within arm's reach, their ghastly faces just a foot away from me. Yet somehow, I managed to reach them first and touched the souls of Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng. But just as my hand holding the Wood Carving passed through their souls, their bodies suddenly became solid again.
In an instant, I tackled them both to the ground. At the same time, I felt a tightening grip around the hand holding the Wood Carving. Despite my efforts to hold on tightly, the Wood Carving slipped from my grasp and floated into the air, emanating a dark purple glow.
Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng, now pinned to the ground by me, stared in shock. Just as Li Zhisheng opened his mouth to ask what had happened, he saw that dark purple light rapidly expanding outward. In an instant, it formed a massive sphere of light that exploded with a loud bang. Before any of us could react, a powerful suction pulled us all into the black sphere of light.
"Where are we?" In the darkness, I heard Hu Fang's anxious voice. Suddenly, a blinding light shone down on us. I quickly raised my hand to shield my eyes. "Is that you, Hu Fang?" At that moment, Li Zhisheng seemed to regain his senses. "Whose butt is under my hand? Please lift it up; my hand is about to break." Hearing this from Li Zhisheng, I realized something was indeed beneath me and hurriedly got up.
The three of us stood up and confirmed our identities; it was indeed us. Looking around our surroundings, we found ourselves back at the entrance of the City Morgue. Seeing that we were still in the hospital made Hu Fang anxious. "We should leave quickly; what if something happens again?" Li Zhisheng agreed. "That's true; let's deal with everything after we get out of here."
With that, we hurried toward the exit. This time nothing unexpected happened as we successfully escaped from the hospital. Once outside, I checked my watch; it was already past four in the morning. The surroundings were eerily quiet with not a single car on the street; let alone taxis available for hire. We had no choice but to walk home.
On the way, Li Zhisheng noticed my empty hands and asked curiously, "Where's your Box?" Sighing in frustration, I shook my head. "This time we really accomplished nothing." Then I recounted our experience in the Underworld. After listening, Li Zhisheng looked troubled. "Wait a minute; first off, that Box opened way too easily. And what's more surprising is that what's inside is just a Guiding Wood. That's really strange." Hearing him mention "Guiding Wood", I curiously asked, "What is that? I've never heard you mention it before."
"I remember reading a book before that detailed the method for creating Onizuka. This Guiding Wood was mentioned in it as well. To make this, you need Ebony, which is what we refer to as Dark Wood, carved into the required shape. Then, you bind it with extremely tough silk threads along with some blades and sharp objects. Finally, you need to capture a child under five years old and feed one end of the bound Dark Wood and sharp objects into the child's mouth while tying the other end around their neck, so that the Dark Wood is suspended inside the child's body."
Hearing this, I instinctively touched my stomach and swallowed hard. "And then?" Li Zhisheng scoffed, "And then? After that, you tie up the child's hands and feet and hang them in midair for three nights. During this time, they are not given food or water, tortured to death. Afterward, you can cut open the child to retrieve the Dark Wood. At that point, due to the sharp objects cutting through the child's insides, there will be massive internal bleeding, and the Dark Wood will absorb this child’s blood. Simultaneously, after the child dies, their soul will attach itself to the Dark Wood, transforming it into what you just saw as Guiding Wood."
I felt goosebumps all over my body at this revelation but recalled his earlier comment about it being merely Guiding Wood and found it strange. "Since the method of making this thing is so cruel, why do you say it's just that?" It seemed he anticipated my question as he continued, "There are two reasons for my statement. First, think about what you previously opened from the Box; most of its functions were used to counter Vengeful Spirits. This Box merely allowed us to escape from the Underworld. The second reason is that Guiding Wood can actually be made by anyone, and it’s a one-time use item."
At this point, Li Zhisheng seemed to realize something. He paused before continuing, "Although this Guiding Wood is a one-time use item, it requires someone with certain qualities to use it. I believe you are such a person. Its function is that if used in the mortal realm, it will separate a living person's soul and bring it into the Underworld to merge with a ghost. However, if used in the Underworld, it can summon back a soul. So your Box is basically confirmed to be fake."
Upon hearing this, I felt like I understood something better and rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "So essentially, that person wanted to harm me by creating a fake Box to extract my Void Spirit and merge it with a ghost from the Underworld to become an extremely powerful Evil Spirit? Coincidentally, another Evil Spirit in the hospital had similar intentions, which is why we were saved by the Guiding Wood?"
Li Zhisheng nodded. "That seems correct, but there's one more thing I'm worried about—" "You two have been going on endlessly about things I don't understand; it's fine on the way here but now that we're at home..." Hu Fang interrupted us with evident impatience.
Having been busy analyzing things with Li Zhisheng since we came out and not paying attention to Hu Fang's feelings, I now noticed in the elevator light that her eyes were stained with tears from earlier fear. Hearing her like this made me fall silent.
"Alright, alright, enough already." Hu Fang shot me a glance before opening the door. As soon as I entered, I took out that Sheepskin Book intending to record everything I had seen in the hospital and in the Underworld. I thought to myself, "If this works out, wouldn't that mean I've wiped out all ghosts in the Underworld? A one-time solution!" Feeling pleased with myself for a moment but upon finishing writing realized that the markings hadn't faded much at all—if anything less than when I last used it.
"Could it be that this book's ability isn't powerful enough to eliminate all ghosts in the Underworld? Or is it only effective against those who have wandered into the mortal realm?" This thought left me somewhat disappointed; still better than nothing—I figured any reduction was better than none.
After recording everything down, I put away the book; Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng had already tidied up and were preparing for bed. I felt quite exhausted myself and collapsed onto the sofa. I touched my chest where I'd been struck by a ghost; it still hurt somewhat but at least my bones weren't broken.
Looking at the Flower Board again plunged me into thought: "Since that Box is fake, where is the real Box? And why did that person go through so much trouble to create a fake Box just to extract my Void Spirit? Was it merely for crafting an even more powerful Evil Spirit? Also, what exactly was Li Zhisheng worried about at the end?"
"It's almost dawn; stop thinking about it and wash up before sleeping," Hu Fang said as she tossed a towel at my face.
"Okay, got it. I'll sleep soon; you two go ahead," I replied as I pulled off the towel covering my face and got up to wash up casually before returning to bed. However, I only managed to fall asleep when daylight broke.
When I woke up again, it was already past three in the afternoon. Yawning as I pushed open my bedroom door, I saw they were still asleep while my stomach was growling from hunger. So I decided to head to the kitchen first to prepare something to eat.
Before long, I had prepared four dishes and a soup. Just as I was about to wake them up, they emerged from the bedroom, stretching lazily as if they had made a pact. "Hey, it smells great! There's food right after waking up," Hu Fang said, wiping drool from his mouth. Li Zhisheng followed behind, yawning and stretching, "This is way better than what I make."
"Of course! You should see who made it," I said, wiping the oil stains off the table. Just as I was about to invite them to sit down for breakfast, I looked up and was astonished to find that overnight, Hu Fang and Li Zhisheng appeared significantly older. Hu Fang had streaks of silver hair at his temples, and there were some wrinkles around his eyes and forehead.
Li Zhisheng looked similarly aged, even more so than Hu Fang. Seeing the terrified expression on my face, they seemed a bit confused. Li Zhisheng asked, "What's wrong? Is something off?" I countered, "Don't you notice anything strange about yourselves?"
Upon hearing this, the two exchanged glances. Li Zhisheng's face also showed extreme surprise. Hu Fang gasped and rushed into the bathroom. Moments later, a piercing scream echoed from inside, followed by Hu Fang's frantic voice: "How could this happen? What on earth is going on?!"
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