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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
The old man's words were somewhat chilling, but wasn't that a bit too sensational? How could he know my surname was Chen just because I went to Snake Skin Gully? Surely, not everyone living there was a fortune teller who could immediately deduce my name upon my arrival.
It felt a bit eerie to think about.
I asked, "What happened to the people with the surname Chen?"
The old man replied, "If I had a curse, would you believe me? But people from the city probably don't. Anyway, since your surname is Chen, just listen to me. I'm your kin; I wouldn't harm you."
I stared at the old man and then asked, "Who would know my surname once I go in?"
He chuckled and said, "In our village, at least ten people have died in Snake Skin Gully, and their bodies were never recovered. They didn't even know they were surnamed Chen. None of them were from Chenjiaba either, yet they died just like that. Isn't that eerie?"
It was around two in the morning, and it really did sound a bit eerie!
Gao Qing stood by silently while Zhao Fan interjected, "Is that true?"
The old man affirmed, "It's true. Just trust me on this. Besides, if you want to have some fun, we have a dam nearby where you can fish or something; it's quite relaxing and suitable for city folks like you."
At this point, the old man's expression changed slightly as he added, "Just so you know, a bride from our village went to Snake Skin Gully recently and hasn't been heard from since."
After finishing his statement, he told us that his family was sleeping and asked us to keep quiet. He then arranged rooms for us.
We all agreed. The atmosphere became cautious as there weren't many rooms available: Gao Ling and I shared one, Zhao Fan had another, and Gao Qing took one for himself.
Once the old man finished arranging everything, he went off to sleep. In our room, Gao Ling turned to me and asked, "Is it really that eerie where you're from?"
I shook my head in uncertainty. The old man probably wasn't trying to scare us on purpose; after all, someone had just died a couple of days ago. But that bride shouldn't have been from Chenjiaba either—perhaps she had a different surname. Still, how could someone die like that?
Curiosity filled my mind as I noticed Gao Ling lying on the bed and lighting a cigarette.
Suddenly, Gao Ling asked me, "Are there really a lot of snakes in Snake Skin Gully? Otherwise, why would it be called Snake Skin Gully? There might be many venomous snakes that bite the villagers when they go in."
I glanced at Gao Ling and thought that her words might not be entirely wrong; it just seemed that things were not that simple.
I called out to the Taoist, but my voice was low, and after calling for a while, he still did not appear. After finishing a cigarette, Gao Ling drowsily fell asleep.
Having driven for quite a while, I was tired too, so I quickly succumbed to sleep as well. It was understandable.
By this time, it was already three in the morning. With the Taoist not showing up, I felt helpless. The danger of Snake Skin Gully was evident, yet the Taoist still wanted me to go there. Suddenly, I thought that since so many people had died in Snake Skin Gully and their bodies had not been collected, finding a corpse shouldn't be too difficult, right?
As these thoughts crossed my mind, I slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I crawled out of bed and checked the time; it was already nine o'clock. I had slept in a bit. After getting up, I kicked Gao Ling lightly. When she opened her eyes, she exclaimed, "Who is it? It's early in the morning! Can't anyone let me sleep?"
I replied to Gao Ling, "Stop sleeping; it's already bright outside."
After we both went downstairs, we saw five people: Gao Qing, an old man, an old woman, and two children around four or five years old.
When the old man saw us come down, he said, "So you’re awake! This is my wife and our two grandsons."
I nodded and greeted them.
At that moment, Gao Qing was drinking porridge. We went to wash our faces and joined him for breakfast. Zhao Fan was the last one to wake up.
With the Taoist still absent, I felt really uneasy about whether or not to go to Snake Skin Gully. The old man seemed quite mysterious. While drinking porridge, I asked him, "Where is Snake Skin Gully?"
However, he refused to tell me and said, "We are from the same family; I can't harm you."
Hearing me mention Snake Skin Gully, the old woman chimed in, "Young man, you can't go there; people die there."
No matter how much I pressed him for answers, the old man remained tight-lipped. Left with no choice, we decided to go out and ask others ourselves. The four of us ventured out together; the village felt somewhat quiet but we could see villagers going about their work. They would glance at us in surprise as they passed by.
We also asked villagers where Snake Skin Gully was located. However, upon hearing those three words—Snake Skin Gully—their expressions immediately changed. It seemed that those words were considered taboo here.
As we walked further, the sound of a trumpet reached our ears, suggesting that a funeral was taking place. Following the sound, we arrived at the location and confirmed it was indeed a funeral.
Upon entering, we found a large man crying inside, surrounded by three or five elderly men playing instruments.
The atmosphere of the funeral felt somewhat desolate. I stood outside for a moment and heard the man say, "Cui Fang, I remember the dream you entrusted to me last night. I will fulfill it tonight."
As he burned Joss Paper, tears streamed down his face. A big man reduced to such sorrow—it seemed he truly loved her.
After pondering for a moment, I realized this must be the bride who had passed away that the old man had mentioned. We exchanged a few glances but did not linger.
We walked onto an empty road. We had asked many people already, but no one was willing to help us. It was frustrating; why were they so afraid?
But since they wouldn’t help us, we were at a loss. Just then, Gao Qing suddenly spoke up, "I know where Snake Skin Gully is."
"You've been there?"
"We reached the intersection once but didn’t go in. That place is really eerie; there’s a Nine Corpse Formation right at the entrance, and the malevolent energy is so strong that ordinary people can’t withstand it."
The mention of the Nine Corpse Formation sounded quite eerie! Gao Ling asked, "Did you go with Mom and Dad?"
Gao Qing nodded slightly in acknowledgment. Gao Ling remarked, "I knew it; they always take you along and never bring me."
Gao Qing glanced at Gao Ling but remained silent.
I asked Gao Qing, "Can you take us there?"
Gao Qing looked at me but didn’t respond. I asked again, yet she still remained silent. With no other choice, I decided to stop pressing her.
After returning to the old man's house for lunch, night fell quickly. However, as night approached and we still hadn’t set out, we saw an elderly couple on the road crying out for help. Their voices were loud as they called out, "My son is missing! Please help me find my son!"
The villagers were drawn out by their cries. It was around seven in the evening when about a hundred people gathered quickly in response to their pleas.
The old couple cried bitterly, their voices nearly hoarse as they asked, "Have you seen our son?"
No one had seen him.
The old couple continued, "I heard our son was going to find a wife. Could he have gone to Snake Skin Gully?"
As soon as those words were spoken, everyone's expressions changed in unison. Someone interjected, "That shouldn't be the case. We all know that place is dangerous; he wouldn't go there."
"But our son kept mentioning he wanted to find Cui Fang," the old couple lamented. "What should we do? He's our only son. If something happens to him, we won't be able to live with ourselves."
"Uncle Three, Aunt San, don't worry. Perhaps Guang is already home. Why don't you go back and check? If not, we can all search separately. If that doesn't work, we can decide whether to go to Snake Skin Gully."
Everyone quickly dispersed to search for him. I realized this must be the man who had been crying at the funeral.
Gao Ling remarked, "Could it be that someone has already died?"
I felt uneasy and didn't know what to think. I suggested to Gao Ling and the others that we should help look for him too.
Gao Ling agreed, and we split up to search for him. We wandered around several places but found no one. Finally, we arrived at an alley. As soon as we entered, I heard someone whistling. He was leaning against the wall as if he were urinating.
From his silhouette, he looked somewhat familiar; it seemed like the man who had been crying at the funeral. I called out to him, but as soon as my words left my mouth, he took off running. I chased after him for a while until I was out of breath when suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder. He was panting just like me.
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