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墨書 Inktalez
"To break in, we need to be able to enter, but the only entrance is being guarded. How are we supposed to get in?"
Yao Long heard my confusion and replied, "There is a way, but..." He looked up at the twenty-story building.
Seeing him silent, I asked, "What, do you want to climb up?"
"How could that be possible..." Yao Long responded, turning to take off the gray bag he had on his back. He rummaged through it for a moment and pulled out two paper-folded objects. They were a burnt yellow color, about the size of two fingers, resembling a butterfly but not quite—just somewhat similar.
I pointed at what Yao Long was holding and asked, "What is this?" He adjusted his bag again and said, "Have you heard of the Miao Family Gu Technique? If you haven't, it's not convenient to explain now. In short, this thing..."
Before I could ask further, Yao Long walked towards the two security guards behind us and gestured for us not to follow.
Under the streetlights, I saw him gently cup the two objects in his hands before pulling out cigarettes from his pocket and offering them to the guards.
However, the guards had no intention of accepting them and waved him off repeatedly. One of them spoke loudly; I vaguely heard him say, "No, no, no! If you want directions, just ask directly. No need to be so polite..."
Seeing they wouldn't take them, Yao Long seized the opportunity to slip a cigarette into each of their pockets. By the time he pulled his hand back out, it was empty. The whole process was smooth and flawless.
"Impressive skills..." I couldn't help but exclaim quietly, feeling that this scene seemed somewhat familiar but unable to recall where I had seen it before.
"There’s more than just two souls involved; he even knows how to use Miao Gu. This guy is not simple..." Although Li Zhisheng's voice was low, I still caught it.
A chill ran down my spine as I glanced at Death Apostle nearby; he seemed unaware. I quickly nudged Li Zhisheng to signal him to hold his tongue. He met my gaze with an understanding nod.
At that moment, Yao Long waved at us from a distance. I stepped forward and saw that the two guards stood there blankly, their eyes glazed over as if they had lost their souls.
Yao Long shook the keys in front of us triumphantly and said, "Alright, let's go." With that, he led the way toward the iron gate.
I followed closely behind and asked, "Yao Long, what exactly is going on? What were those things you just showed us?" As soon as I finished speaking, Yao Long reached the gate and inserted the key into the lock hole. With a turn of the key, the heavy lock clicked open.
He pushed the door open with one hand and looked at me. "Those were just ordinary soul-losing bugs. They're insects that can temporarily make someone lose their senses; however, it doesn't last long and only works on ordinary people. So we should hurry there and back..."
"How long can it last?"
"Not more than an hour at most, hurry inside..." Yao Long urged.
The four of them entered the door, looking into the pitch-black parking lot entrance, feeling a chill in their hearts. Suddenly, a low rumble echoed.
"It looks like it's going to rain soon." I said, glancing up at the sky. Thick clouds completely obscured the starry night, making one feel uneasy.
Yao Long and Death Apostle were completely unconcerned, heading straight for the parking lot. Noticing that Li Zhisheng and I had not followed, Death Apostle turned back to us, "What are you looking at? Hurry up, there's not much time left."
Hearing this, I tugged at Li Zhisheng and quickly caught up with them.
As we made our way into the parking lot, Yao Long pulled out a flashlight from his bag and illuminated the path ahead.
With the beam of light from the flashlight, I saw that the surroundings were empty; aside from a few square concrete pillars for support, there was nothing else. Even the elevator door mentioned by Yao Long and the attendant was nowhere to be seen.
At that moment, Li Zhisheng suddenly voiced his confusion. "Strange, this place doesn't seem to meet the necessary conditions for constructing Onizuka. Did we come to the wrong place?"
Yao Long chimed in, "That's true. Onizuka requires a square structure to create a ghost. While this parking lot is square-shaped, it can't be considered a true square..."
Just then, Death Apostle, who had been quiet since leaving the hotel, spoke up. "Although Onizuka does need a square room, there isn't a fixed form for this square room's existence. It might not be here at all; this could just be an entrance."
I nodded in agreement. "That's reasonable. In that case, let's look for that elevator door the attendant mentioned..." With that, the four of us began searching around the parking lot.
Before long, over half an hour had passed. Yao Long appeared puzzled as he took a drag from his cigarette. "This doesn't make sense; when I came here before, the door was clearly nearby. How could it be...?"
"Are you sure you didn't misremember?" Death Apostle's tone carried a hint of reproach. Yao Long took a deep puff of his cigarette and crushed the remaining butt underfoot with certainty. "There's no way I could have misremembered; you know my work style too well. I count my steps as I go. If we still can't find it, then there's only one possibility..."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "The door requires a specific time or method to be seen. The last time I came was at eleven o'clock at night, and now..." He glanced at his quartz watch. "It's not even nine yet. To see the door might require some special means..."
After listening, I suddenly recalled the scene from the Four Corners Game, where I had inexplicably entered the Onizuka. Thinking about it, I shared this with the Death Apostle.
The Death Apostle pondered for a moment and said, "That was the first tomb you broke. I know that, but each tomb corresponds to one of the Nine Stars, and not only are the solutions different, but the situations encountered can also vary greatly. The first tomb you broke at City Seventh Middle School corresponds to the English Star, which refers solely to the Blood Disaster, so using your blood could solve it."
"And the second tomb you broke corresponds to Zhu Xing, whose stars are related to combativeness and destruction. That's why you encountered the Yao and sealed the second Onizuka by killing it. Moreover, what you're dealing with is entering the interior of Onizuka, where Vengeful Spirits reside. They can be immortal inside; wouldn't we be seeking our own doom by going in there? Furthermore..."
Just as the Death Apostle was about to continue explaining, a voice echoed from a distance: "Come over here and take a look!" It was Yao Long's voice, reverberating in the empty parking lot.
Upon hearing this, the Death Apostle immediately stopped talking and rushed toward the sound, with Li Zhisheng and me following closely behind.
As we approached, I followed the beam of light from a flashlight and saw a shiny new metal elevator door in front of me. Next to the door was a panel with buttons, featuring a red button pointing upwards.
"Is this it?" I asked. Yao Long nodded and pressed several times on the buttons on the wall. "See? Just like I said before, it’s not stuck at all."
I stepped forward to try pressing a few times myself, but there was indeed no response. "Do we have to keep pressing it?" Just as I pressed my hand firmly against the button, an ear-piercing cry of a child suddenly echoed from above, startling me into quickly retracting my hand.
"What?! Did it work?!" I hurriedly looked around, but outside the beam of my flashlight was still pitch black; apart from that piercing wail, there were no other signs.
At that moment, Li Zhisheng seemed to have discovered something nearby. "It looks like there are words by the door..." he said while gesturing for Yao Long to shine his flashlight on where he was pointing.
Yao Long understood and slowly moved his flashlight over. Under its illumination appeared a poem: "Jade without blemish falls silently; those who are unclean suffer illness for life." I unconsciously read it aloud.
Yao Long looked puzzled. "It seems like a riddle; I didn't see this poem when I came here before..."
The Death Apostle waved his hand at Yao Long to silence him, and then everyone fell into deep thought.
After a long silence, Li Zhisheng spoke up: "This seems like it's referring to a person. 'Jade without blemish' should indicate the character 'Wang,' while 'falls silently' suggests something that makes no sound—only one thing fits that description: snow."
I considered Li Zhisheng's words carefully. "Hmm, it's possible that the first half refers to someone's name while the latter half implies that this person has become unclean or has contracted some chronic illness."
"You're probably right," said the Death Apostle, nodding. "This person is likely the ghost that Hotel Waitress spoke of, but what connection does she have with this door? Why is she written here? Could it be that she is the key to opening it?"
After hearing this, I wanted to continue pondering, but the loud wailing disrupted my thoughts. I could see that Yao Long's curse was about to expire. Yao Long glanced at the watch and said, "There's not much time left. If the Gu Technique disappears, they will surely notice the key is missing and see that the iron door has been opened. Once they find us, getting back in will require different means..." With that, Yao Long reached behind to touch the bag on his back, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.
I thought to myself, could he have brought some other weapon?
Feeling a tightness in my chest at the thought, I hurriedly reassured him, "Don't worry; there will always be a way. Even if we run out of options, we can always use money. There's no need to resort to violence."
The Death Apostle chimed in, "What Shen Xu said is correct. You're good at many things, but your bloodlust is too strong. I've told you countless times to stay calm when faced with problems; you can't just resort to force at every turn. This poem clearly presents a puzzle for us to solve..."
Meanwhile, Li Zhisheng ignored them completely and muttered to himself, "Is there still something wrong? Or is it this Wang Xue..."
Just as he uttered the name Wang Xue, several bloody hands, skinned and dripping with foul-smelling blood, reached out from the surface of the metal door and grabbed all four of us tightly. None of us were prepared for this sudden attack.
Before we could even scream, we were instantly dragged into the door...
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