“Woof, woof, woof…”
I woke up to the chaotic and shrill barking of dogs, and the bright incandescent light above me made me close my eyes again. Where am I? After a while, I opened my eyes again and saw a circle of white curtains around me, and a vague figure was swaying behind the curtains.
“Miss Nurse, is that one also caused by altitude sickness?”
“No, that’s acute gastritis.”
“I think he looks a bit familiar. Could you draw the curtain open so I can have a look?”
“No, he’s hooked up to an IV.”
“Where did he come from? How could he be in such a remote town in the middle of the night?”
Acute gastritis—are they talking about me? Is this… town?
I stared blankly for a moment, my gaze drifting, and followed the scent of mugwort to catch a glimpse of the copper hand warmer by the bedside. It was then that I snapped back to reality and suddenly sat up. The iron-framed bed screeched loudly. Did Tunshe Nalin bring me to the nearby town in the middle of the night?
What about him?
Did he go back?
Without paying attention to the infusion, I pulled out the needle from the back of my hand and got out of bed. The curtain in front of me was quickly drawn open, and the female nurse almost bumped into me head-on. She was startled by me.
“You, you’re still receiving an IV, why are you getting up?!”
I looked around. Except for a young man sitting opposite me, the several iron beds in this small room were empty. There was no sign of Tunshe Nalin at all.
It was dark outside the window, with light snow falling, and only the outlines of the mountains could be vaguely seen.
“Where is the person who sent me here?”
“Are you talking about the tall man wrapped in a cloak?” A clear and smiling boy’s voice came from the side. “That person must have had something irritating on him because as soon as he reached the door, the guard dog at the clinic and the ones nearby in the town started barking like they had rabies, as if they wanted to rush out and bite him. He must have been scared by that, so he just rode off on his horse. Listen, the dogs are still barking like crazy now.”
Did he really leave?
Is he mad that I destroyed the painting and doesn’t want to see me anymore?
My heart sank, and I was about to walk out the door when I heard the iron bed creak. A figure rushed in front of me in two or three steps and stretched out his hand to stop me: “Hey, don’t go out at night!”
This boy looked younger than me, with curly blond hair, slightly taller than me, and had a sunny and handsome appearance, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, like a little golden retriever. Seeing me looking at him in confusion, he scratched his head and said, “A murder just happened in this town. It’s not safe. If you go out to look for someone at night, it’s easy to get into trouble.”
“Thanks for the reminder.” I said absentmindedly, “Which direction did he go?”
The boy shook his head. “I only caught a glimpse through the window and didn’t see clearly. Just give him a call if you want to know—why bother going out to look for him yourself?”
…It would be great if Tunshe Nalin had a cell phone.
“He’s not trying to frighten you, Xiao Ah Lang… people really died in this town, and not just one or two. They say the bodies were found without blood or intestines. It was so horrifying that no one around here dares to go out after dark.” The slightly trembling voice of a female nurse came from behind, “I heard from the old people in the village that there are Jiangshi[mfn]Jiangshi is a Chinese hopping vampire[/mfn] eating people.”
My heart trembled, and I couldn’t help but think of the “corpse slaves” I met in the forest and subconsciously looked out the window. Have those “corpse slaves” wandered into this town?
While he was stunned, a notebook was suddenly handed to him.
“Teacher Qin Ran, you are Teacher Qin Ran, right? Hello, my name is Mo Wei. You may not have an impression of me, but I met you at your ‘Burial’ painting exhibition a while ago and gave you flowers. I didn’t have time to ask for your autograph at that time. Can you sign for me now?”
Does he know me? I was stunned and looked up to see the boy’s eyes sparkling: “I really like your dark paintings, they are so shocking.”
He was referring to the pieces I painted during the three months following Ming Luo’s death. Created in the depths of my grief and agitation, they were more emotional outbursts than actual artworks—raw, messy, and lacking any real aesthetic value. As a result, they received a lot of bad reviews, and not a single one of them was sold… I really didn’t expect to meet someone who likes this series here.
“Thank you…” I took the pen hesitantly and signed my name in his notebook. “Uh, Mo Wei, you… are also… from Jiangcheng? What are you doing in such a remote place?”
“Work!” He grinned, put away his notebook, and poked a camera bag next to him with his thumb. “I’m a paranormal vlogger, and I’m here to collect footage.”
I see. No wonder he likes the “Burial” series.
“Teacher Qin Ran, why are you here? Looking for inspiration?”
“I guess so.” I nodded, feeling a little dizzy and swaying. He quickly helped me sit on the bed. “Sister Nurse, is there anything to eat here?”
After a few mouthfuls of hot rice milk, the dizziness was relieved and my appetite came back. I wolfed down the hot sweet potato in my hand and accidentally saw the boy looking at me and laughing.
“What are you… laughing at?”
Mo Wei shook his head, his eyes flickering: “I didn’t expect that Teacher Qin Ran is not as aloof as you look on the surface. You are quite, quite… there is sweet potato on your lips.”
I pursed my lips, wiped the corners of my mouth, and didn’t answer. Maybe it was because I was too gloomy at that exhibition, so I left people with the impression of being “aloof”.
“Can you lend me your cell phone?” I asked. My adoptive parents and relatives must have been worried sick after I fell off the cliff and have probably called the police.
“Oh, okay,” Mo Wei reached out to take out his backpack, but then he seemed to remember something, his face froze, and he looked at me with some embarrassment. “My phone fell into the water when I was taking a video the day before yesterday, and it broke. But there is a phone in the duty room, and the nurse sister should be there right now. How about I go with you?”
“Okay, thank you.”
When I saw him pick up his bag and take out the camera, I was initially a bit puzzled. But when I opened the door, I noticed that several lights in the clinic’s hallway were broken, flickering on and off. The walls on both sides were worn and peeling, with murals with southern Jiangsu ethnic characteristics that exorcised evil spirits and ghosts on them. It looked eerie, really creating the atmosphere of a supernatural movie, making it quite fitting for him to shoot some footage here.
But when I reached the end, the duty room was lit, yet empty. The female nurse was nowhere to be found. Perhaps, seeing that there were no patients to care for, she had gone to sleep.
The telephone on the desk in the duty room was an antique rotary dial type from the last century. I was a little surprised and lifted the receiver, but there was no sound.
“What’s going on? This phone seems to be broken?”
“Really?” Mo Wei heard my voice, put down the camera, and tried it. “Strange, I used it yesterday and it was still working.” He lowered his voice and muttered, “Could it be… that group of people did it?”
“Let’s wait until the nurse comes and ask her. What did you mean by that group of people?” I stood up, my eyes accidentally sweeping across his camera screen, and froze.
It was a photo. Although the light was dim, one could vaguely make out a small hill. There was a stone staircase at the foot of the hill. On both sides of the staircase were two lion-like stone sculptures. On the top of one of the sculptures perched a vulture with red head feathers.
My heart skipped a beat, and I grabbed his camera, zooming in on the picture to take a closer look. I originally wanted to identify whether that vulture was the one owned by Tunshe Nalin or not, but all vultures look pretty much the same, so I couldn’t confirm whether it was the same one. However, I found that there seemed to be a vague outline of a large building on the hillside leading up to the stone steps.
I glanced at the shooting time, 1:10 am on November 6th.
“Ah, I just took this photo today. Are you interested in this as well?” Mo Wei lowered his voice, approached from behind, and pointed at the vulture in the photo. “At this altitude, mountain vultures are rare, but it is said that they are attracted to the dead. Do you see that building up there? That’s a famous haunted house in this town. I came here just to find it, but I got altitude sickness just as I was about to go up.”
The nearby haunted house and the griffon vulture that appeared at dawn today? What a coincidence!
Maybe Tunshe Nalin was exhausted from carrying me down the mountain overnight and never actually left. Perhaps he’s just resting nearby?
An uncontrollable impulse gnawed at my heart. I licked the dead skin on my lips and said, “Then do you still want to go? How about, before dawn, we explore it together?”
“Ah?” Mo Wei was taken aback, clearly not expecting me to make such a suggestion. “Teacher Qin, there was just a murder in this town…”
“That’s what makes it interesting. If you happen to capture something, wouldn’t you become famous?”
I could hardly believe what I was saying, but the thought of Tunshe Nalin being nearby made my head heat up. I felt anxious, fearing that I might never see my muse, the one I had so painstakingly found again. I hadn’t even painted him a single stroke or line yet.
Without hearing a response, I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. “Are you scared? You even call yourself a paranormal vlogger… or should I just go take a look by myself, and you can just point me the way?”
When I provoked him, the little boy’s ears turned red: “Who’s afraid?”
When I went out and saw the sign at the entrance of the clinic, I learned that the name of this ancient town was “Gaxia“, which means “dusk” in southern Jiangsu dialect. This is because the town is surrounded by mountains and is located at the foot of the highest mountain, Sumilou. It is blocked by the mountains, and the sun cannot be seen most of the time during the day. Only the sunset and afterglow in the west can be seen; hence, the name came from this.
Although I don’t understand Feng Shui, I think it is not surprising that there are haunted houses and strange things happening in such an ancient town where the sun never shines.
Although I was eager to find Tunshe Nalin, I still felt a little nervous when I followed Mo Wei to the foot of the hill not far behind the clinic and stood in front of the stone steps leading to the haunted house.
“Are you sure you want to go up now? It’s almost three o’clock in the morning, Teacher Qin Ran, we still have time to turn back.” Mo Wei asked with a smile, as if he wanted to turn the tables on me.
I caught sight of a vulture feather on the stone lion sculpture on the right. I zipped up the jacket he lent me, swallowed hard, and walked straight up the stone steps.
Tunshe Nalin, in order to find you, I even did something crazy like breaking into a haunted house at night. You must not leave yet…
