Chapter 84: I’m About to Fall In!
The heavy rain intensified, and the sky grew darker, as if in just a few breaths it transformed from dusk to deep night.
The darkness accompanied by the downpour weighed heavily, making it hard to breathe, while on the clean mud walls of the village, claw marks and slashing traces from knives appeared, along with dark red stains.
A woman’s intuition is very accurate.
Luxianbei didn’t know whether she counted as a woman now, but her intuition told her that very horrifying and bloody events had occurred in this village.
The sounds of various classical ritual instruments echoed continuously in the empty desolate village, making it feel as though one was in a street holding a grand celebration for some festival.
But she could not see a single person.
In the midst of a dead silence, the door of someone’s house creaked open; from a distant unseen place, a raspy male voice shouted.
It seemed he was calling out a name, trying to awaken something.
“Creak—Creak—!”
Accompanied by a whimpering sound, the thatched doors of the low village homes were pushed open. On the muddy path, a series of stealthy footsteps echoed, and red lanterns floated out from the houses as if carried by someone.
Those bl**d-colored lanterns drifting along the desolate village path gathered together like a slowly flowing crimson river, heading towards the dark and eerie mountains beyond the village.
Although no bloody scenes were visible, the bizarre sight before Luxianbei filled her with a creeping sense of dread.
She found a gap between two mud houses to hide and held her breath, quietly observing the ghostly red lanterns drifting by.
The lanterns emitted an unsettling red light, yet their source was invisible; the scarlet glow cast strange shadows on the mud walls flanking the path.
Those shadows.
Some wore armor and held bizarre objects aloft, appearing tall and uniform; despite having legs that looked just like those of ordinary people, they gave the illusion of moving with snake-like tails.
Others seemed hunched and deformed, burdened with heavy loads that bent their backs, forcing them to crawl on all fours.
There were even some very small shadows, wearing grotesque masks that matched their height, being dragged along by chains.
Seeing those short shadows, Luxianbei froze for a moment, and images flashed in her mind from the bamboo slips translated by Jumeng, suddenly realizing that those small shadows must be the boys and girls sacrificed to the deities.
They seemed to be parading for some kind of ritual. The destination of the parade should be the mountain forest beyond the desolate village, Luxianbei thought.
She watched those lanterns with fear, as they floated right past her, seemingly indifferent to her presence, time passing as slowly as if frozen.
After an unknown length of time, she finally caught sight of a figure at the end of the “parade.”
It was Luxu, the person Professor Ma had mentioned as missing.
He was wearing a ragged hospital gown, like a puppet that had lost its soul, his body bent backward slightly, and he looked down, with his head seemingly hanging on his shoulder. There was a giant wound on his chest, with something inside emitting a faint glow.
Luxianbei fixed her gaze on the source of the faint glow, slightly startled.
She saw that the gruesome wound revealed half of a bl**d-red lantern, stained with some rotten and blackened flesh.
Luxianbei stared at Luxu, and her eyes suddenly burned with intense pain, followed by a vision of Luxu’s last moments.
…
In that dimly lit room filled with the faint scent of disinfectant, he sat alone on the bed, tilting his head and blankly staring at the wall ahead.
Suddenly, his body spasmed, bending back into an arch; he struggled with all his might, his limbs twisting hard, but no matter how much he fought, he couldn’t escape his predicament. His body gradually weakened, his flesh slowly withering.
bl**d-red threads slithered beneath his skin like small snakes, emitting sinister hissing sounds that resembled neither insects nor the wind, but sounded full of vitality.
“Ugh—!”
Luxu suddenly let out a pained wail, a splash of crimson spreading across his chest, like a bl**d-red dahlia blooming before him.
Then came a light sound of flesh tearing, and Luxu’s wail abruptly ceased, the entire room sinking into silence, coupled with the sound of teeth grinding as something tore open his chest, emerging from within. His chest rose high, glowing with a scarlet light.
…
The scene of Luxu’s d*ath gradually faded, and her vision became clearer. Luxianbei was horrified, all the hair on her body standing on end.
A lantern had grown inside him?
When Luxianbei snapped back from her shock, the “parade” had already moved on. She peeked out from her hiding place and looked in the direction the “parade” had gone, still able to see Luxu’s staggered silhouette moving away.
“…”
“Whoosh—!” After a moment of contemplation, Luxianbei slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, emerging from her hiding spot and taking steps to follow.
Staying put wasn’t a solution; the illusion wouldn’t just simple dissipate.
It was better to follow those strange lanterns, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about being suddenly attacked by some unknown entity. Luxianbei thought, looking up in the direction of the “parade.”
In the distance, the towering silhouettes of high mountains rose like a dark river, flowing amidst the swirling clouds and mist, akin to some writhing giant beast…
…
At Huacheng University, in the Special Text Research Room, within the seminar room.
Professor Ma watched as Luxianbei took out the original bamboo slips and slowly unfolded them, quietly waiting nearby. But soon he sensed something was off with Luxianbei.
Holding the bamboo slips in both hands, his head slightly lowered as if reading the content, yet his gaze was numb and dazed, as if the moment he opened the slips, he had turned to stone.
Seeing this, Professor Ma felt a vague sense of unease. He stood up a few times, wanting to awaken Luxianbei, but each time he felt it was inappropriate and sat back down.
Standing up, sitting down, standing up… Professor Ma restlessly observed Luxianbei for a while, then he heard a series of soft sounds in the seminar room, and the air gradually grew hotter without him noticing.
“Sizzle—Sizzle—!”
The soft sounds resembled water droplets falling onto a red-hot iron plate.
Professor Ma searched for the source of the sound, his gaze landing on Luxianbei, momentarily stunned. Then he saw a wisp of smoke rising from Luxianbei.
Seeing her in a pose reminiscent of martial arts movies from the last century, as if practicing internal energy, Professor Ma was astonished, a strange thought arising in his mind.
If I touch her now, will she go crazy or something? Professor Ma pondered.
…
Luxianbei followed those drifting bl**d-red lanterns, keeping a distance that allowed her to turn and run at any moment. In the depths of the eerie mountains, faint sounds of instruments playing could be heard.
As she moved forward, she soon entered the mountains.
The sky poured down rain, and the forest was shrouded in thick white fog.
Unlike the desolate village below, as soon as she stepped into the forest, Luxianbei saw stone slabs laid on the ground.
Those symmetrically and neatly cut dark greenish-black stone slabs did not resemble items that ancient people could have made.
At the very least, they were not objects that a group of warriors and children sent by the king to find deities could create.
Perhaps due to years of dampness and cold, the stone slabs were covered in moss.
The moss was not the common green or dark green but presented a gray-black color.
It looked like the fur of some animal or like fungi growing on spoiled, decaying food, slick and sticky underfoot, making it feel disgusting.
The winding stone path was overgrown with weeds, an abandoned and desolate scene. The further one went, the denser and more prosperous the vegetation became, extending infinitely beneath her feet, leading her deeper into the shattered mountains.
In the dim light, she walked deeper into the expansive labyrinth of ancient trees, seemingly leaving the known world and venturing into an unknown maze.
The ancient silence she had never experienced before left Luxianbei with a sense of bewilderment and anxiety.
In this suffocating atmosphere, Luxianbei walked for an unknown length of time when the raspy voice of that man called out again, and the faint sounds of instruments ceased abruptly.
The entire forest fell into a dead silence as if in this vast wilderness, besides the chaotic growth of vegetation, there was no other life.
Luxianbei raised her head and looked ahead, not knowing when those bl**d-red lanterns had vanished from sight, moving far away from her.
Seeing this, a wave of inexplicable panic filled her heart, and she quickened her pace. But just a few steps in, she misstepped and fell out.
The stone stairway that had been winding upward had suddenly turned downward without warning.
Luxianbei fell onto the slippery moss-covered stone slab, unable to steady herself, her body sliding down like she was caught in a surging current. In her panic, she reached out to grab the bushes on either side, but it was futile.
In her peripheral vision, the retreating forest twisted, resembling sinister figures with joyously writhing limbs.
It felt as if some force was pulling her, or perhaps someone had deliberately smoothed and polished the stone path, planting slick moss upon it.
Luxianbei’s downward slide accelerated, and in her panic, she tore through countless weeds beside the path, unable to slow her speed even a bit.
Gradually, pushing through the mist, a massive sinkhole suddenly came into view, the stone path abruptly ending at the edge of the pit.
Those bl**d-red lanterns floated at the edge of the sinkhole, swaying and praying, and the air was filled with the indistinct murmurs of hundreds of voices.
It was a sinkhole formed by a collapsed cave, appearing from afar like a black sore on the earth.
The dark, confined space gave a strange illusion, as though the familiar world with light was fading deeper as one gazed in, sinking into a nest filled with infinite secrets.
Seeing herself slipping closer to the edge of the sinkhole, Luxianbei’s face turned pale, while her forward speed remained unchanged. Her heart sank with a foreboding feeling.
It’s over, I’m about to fall in! Luxianbei thought, that bottomless sinkhole giving her an indescribable sense of aversion, as though something detestable lurked beneath.
I need to do something!
Right, the description! I don’t know if that description originating from within me will work in this illusion, but given the current situation, I can only try!
“There is Zhongshan, a woman dressed in blue…”
Luxianbei silently recited a few lines in her mind, her body suddenly growing hot, her long hair, covered in mud and filth, instantly transforming into a deep crimson…
(Today’s writing is a bit stalled; perhaps there’s only one chapter. Please bear with me.)
