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墨書 Inktalez
Under the moonlight, we raced down a path overgrown with weeds. The chanting behind us was faint yet persistent, sometimes distant and sometimes close. A Xiu was so frightened that she couldn't speak, gripping my clothes tightly.
"This way!" Zhou Jing suddenly pulled us into a narrow alley. "I know a place!"
The path grew narrower, with weeds towering over our heads. After running for about ten minutes, the outline of a low wall appeared ahead. We climbed over it and found ourselves in an abandoned village.
"This is Old Changling Village," Zhou Jing panted. "It’s been deserted for thirty years."
With the moonlight as our guide, I surveyed the surroundings. A dozen dilapidated houses were scattered haphazardly, some already half-collapsed. The courtyards were overrun with wild grass, and many places still held rusty farming tools and broken furniture.
"They probably didn’t think we would hide here," Zhou Jing said as he led us into a relatively intact house.
The interior was filled with dust and cobwebs, but at least it could shield us from the wind and rain. We huddled in a corner, listening to the sounds outside. In the distance, flickering flames mingled with intermittent shouts.
"Sister, I'm scared," A Xiu finally spoke up, her voice trembling.
"It's okay," Zhou Jing whispered to comfort her. "We’ll be fine."
I took a moment to examine the room by moonlight. From the layout, it seemed to be a shrine; several broken tablets hung on the walls. As I leaned closer to read the inscriptions on one of the tablets, I suddenly noticed a half-buried iron ring in the dust on the floor.
"There’s a cellar here." I crouched down and tried to pull on the iron ring.
The iron door didn’t budge at all. Zhou Jing helped me pull together, and finally, we managed to open a crack. A musty smell wafted up from below.
"Should we go down and take a look?" I asked.
Zhou Jing hesitated for a moment. "You watch A Xiu; I'll go down."
"No way, it’s too dangerous." I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. "We’ll go together. A Xiu, you wait here."
"I don’t want to be alone!" The little girl was almost in tears.
Reluctantly, we decided to take her with us. The cellar was deep, and the steps were covered in moss, requiring extreme caution. After descending about twenty steps, we entered a spacious underground chamber.
I shone my flashlight on the wall, where a rusty sign hung: Changling Village Air Raid Shelter.
"So this is an air raid shelter," Zhou Jing said as he moved closer to the wall. "Look at this."
The wall was densely covered with writing; some of it was already blurred but still legible:
"Date: They brought another child."
"Date: The Zhang family's boy went missing."
"Date: My daughter..."
"Are these records of missing children?" I examined the handwriting closely.
"Not just that," Zhou Jing's voice trembled as he pointed at another section. "Look here."
Her flashlight illuminated a segment of text in the corner: "Year and month, the village chief colluded with outsiders to abduct children under the guise of rituals. We, the informed ones, were driven here to establish a new village. But they said that if we dared to speak the truth, they would kill our children."
Li Dashan? The name sounded somewhat familiar. He was Granny Li's husband. Zhou Jing remarked, no wonder she claimed to have kept a secret for seventy years.
Suddenly, A Xiu pointed at another wall: "There’s a hole over there!"
We approached to investigate and found an opening about half a person’s height, leading into a downward passage. The entrance showed clear signs of use, with fresh footprints on the ground.
Could this lead to... I hadn’t finished my thought when footsteps suddenly echoed from outside.
We quickly turned off the flashlight and hid behind a pillar. The footsteps grew closer, accompanied by voices: "There’s a cellar over there! Search quickly! They must be hiding nearby!"
We held our breath as the footsteps reached the cellar entrance, paused for a moment, then gradually faded away.
Are they gone? A Xiu whispered.
Just then, a hoarse voice broke the silence in the darkness: "No."
We jumped in surprise and shone the flashlight in that direction, revealing a hunched figure standing at the entrance of the passage. It was Granny Li!
"Follow me," she beckoned. "I know where Zhou Ming is."
"How do you—"
"Don’t ask," she interrupted me. "They’ll be back any moment now. This passage leads to the basement of the village chief's house, where several children are locked up."
"But—"
"Hurry!" she urged. "In half an hour it will be midnight. If they don’t complete the sacrifice before midnight, the buyers will pull out."
We exchanged glances and followed Granny Li into the passage. Behind us, a faint chant began to rise again, echoing through the underground space like a funeral dirge.
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