The lid of the box bounced with the slight sound, opening a thin gap, reflecting a faint dim light on the pure black surface of the box, and coating the simple lines engraved on it with a strange brilliance.
Mo Yi held his breath unconsciously, stretched out his fingers, slowly clasped the edge of the lid, and exerted a little force.
With a dry “squeak” sound, the box slowly opened.
The inside of the box was also completely covered with black lacquer, which was deep and even, and had not faded in the slightest after hundreds of years. There were some messy small objects stacked at the bottom of the box.
Tucked on top were several pieces of letter paper with a familiar style, which attracted Mo Yi’s attention.
The yellowed papers were folded into several folds and randomly covered the top of the debris in the box. Faint dust coated them, shrouding the papers like a shadow.
Mo Yi picked up the folded letters from the box, and opened them cautiously and gently with his slender fingertips.
Yu Ran, who was standing on the side, turned on the flashlight with a wink and helped Mo Yi to illuminate the papers.
Mo Yi raised his eyes and glanced at her while being busy. He gave her a hurried smile, then continued to lower his head and carefully observe the papers in his hand.
The first letter was written in familiar handwriting. It looked rational and plain. Every character was written in a certified and neat manner. It was almost impossible to tell that it was someone who had experienced grief, but still seemed to give off an inexplicable shocked feeling.
Mo Yi lowered his eyelids and read the contents carefully.
“Dear Esther,
You know, my grandmother and I were never very close, and I had an inexplicable fear of her when she was alive. Maybe because I was too young, I always felt that there was something about her at that time, that was kind of weird.
Her whole breath smelt like clothes that haven’t been dried for three months. Her eyes always made me panic. Dark ones, that were like two bottomless pits. I have always been afraid of her. Whether it was her rotten breath or her cold fingers, that were as thin and pale as a dead person. I subconsciously didn’t dare to approach.
I never told you that in the year she died, she left me a black box engraved with many strange patterns as a relic.
As much as I hate to admit it, this may be the only hope for saving our children.”
This letter ended here.
Mo Yi turned to the next page. The handwriting on it looked a little chaotic, and there were a few lines of text that were messy and illogical.
“Dear Esther:
I started sleepwalking and hearing auditory hallucinations again. I always hear someone talking in my ear. The voice is hoarse and scary, and it seems to want me to do something. I can’t hear or remember what it said. I just feel as if I am standing on a cliff, whether it is advancing or retreating, it is an abyss.
I miss you so much, it would be nice if you were here. (this line was crossed out)
I woke up last night to find myself standing beside Erica and John’s little bed with their little cold clothes in my hands, full of my tears.
By the way, my grandmother’s grandmother was burned to death, did you know?”
Mo Yi narrowed his eyebrows slowly, and the deep black eyes under the long eyelashes flashed thoughtfully.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lf xcfk, lc atbrf vjsr, klamtfr kfgf obecv ab yf yegcfv ja atf rajxf ys atf Pcdelrlalbc.
Pc atlr kjs, atf qgbajubclra’r ojwlis ktb kgbaf atlr ifaafg tjv vffq gbbar lc vfwbcbibus, ktlmt jirb mbcolgwr atf bglulc jcv jeatfcalmlas bo atf rqfmlji ‘Bfs bo Vbibwbc’.
Lf reymbcrmlberis geyyfv atf gbeut fvuf bo atf ifaafg klat atf alq bo tlr olcufg, jcv atfc iloafv la ab gfnfji atf atlgv qjuf.
This time, the words were still very brief, but the handwriting on it was trembling and helpless. Several simple words were misspelled, and they were scribbled out and rewritten several times:
“God oh god oh god!!! I can’t do this, I can’t do this!”
The three “gods” were scratched out so violently that the letter paper was cut through rough cracks.
The words written in lighter ink appeared under the crossed-out words:
“False God”.
Cold as stone.
At the end of the page were dotted marks of dark brown, that appeared to be dried blood.
Mo Yi pursed his lips and looked a little heavy for a while– the organs that needed to be sacrificed must come from living people, and according to the known parts, it was impossible for only one victim to satisfy the demand.
He stroked the words “False God” with his fingertips. The paper under them was rough and cold, the word ridges sunken, which made one’s heart tremble inexplicably.
–It seemed…she did it in the end.
Mo Yi took a deep breath and tried to get rid of the lingering emotions in his heart, then stretched out his hand to turn to the next page, there was only one sentence on it, shaky and unbelievable handwriting was written crookedly on the paper:
“It works.”
Yu Ran on the side frowned suspiciously. She raised her eyes and opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask something, but the next second she saw Mo Yi’s increasingly gloomy face, and couldn’t help but swallow the unspoken words down.
When he came back to his senses again, Mo Yi had already turned to the next page, while Yu Ran settled down and looked at the paper in his hand:
“Dear Esther:
I just don’t know how to express my ecstasy. I really succeeded. I brought my children back to the world, and now I have no regrets even if I die.
But they’re in a weird state. They seem to be silent, and I don’t know how to cheer them up…”
Yu Ran had an inexplicable premonition, as if she was blindfolded and placed in front of the abyss, and the next step was a terrifying fall. She took a deep breath and continued to read.
The letter paper had been turned to the next page. Yu Ran took a closer look, and couldn’t help but be startled by what she saw on it.
She saw the rough and yellowed letter full of frantic handwriting, while the excessive force almost cut through the paper. The despair and madness that were between the lines almost penetrated the paper and pierced people’s eyeballs straight:
“NONONONONONONONO”
A whole page full of giant “no’s”.
But if one looked closely, one could see a different kind of calm handwriting under the cover of the crazy handwriting. It seemed that after writing the first text, reason was eroded by despair, and under the irresistible crazy impulse, the whole paper was occupied with the frantic “no’s”, and the previous handwriting was covered.
Mo Yi got closer, and carefully identified the lines of words written on the scratched paper:
“They’ve got rashes all over their bodies, they’ve had a low-grade fever all night long, and I’m afraid to call a doctor. They already know that my children are dead. Is this God’s punishment for me? I can’t accept it, I can’t believe–”
The handwriting was so fierce that the last stroke was drawn down long, breaking at the edge of the entire sheet of paper.
Mo Yi pursed his lips, and his face looked pale under the light of the flashlight.
He reached out and turned to the next page.
“There are demons living in my children’s body’s.”
After nervously scribbling and drawing, she continued to write in clear handwriting:
“They want to go out.”
Immediately after, there were large blanks.
Mo Yi’s fingers turned to the next page steadily. The handwriting became more and more scribbled and flustered, and there were more traces of corrections:
“Now, I know what it is. It’s been gone for more than two hundred years…how could it be…it’s getting scarier and deadlier.
I can’t imagine if…
Oh god what have i done? What mistake have I made?”
The extreme pain came out between the lines, slashing like a sharp knife, as if gurgling blood was flowing continuously from the rotting wound.
Below was a line of extremely familiar text:
“It can never happen, I won’t allow it.”
At the bottom of the paper, the ink of the sentence was smeared, but Mo Yi slowly murmured the sentence that should have been written in his heart:
“God please help me”.
The stack of stationery ended here.
Mo Yi took a deep breath and put down the stack of extremely light and heavy papers.
Now, the context of the incident became clear. The last piece of the puzzle had been put together, and the complete truth had finally been revealed.
Yu Ran, who was on the side, saw that he put down his hand and folded the papers along creases again, then lowered her hand holding the flashlight.
She stared at Mo Yi. His face was a little blurry in the gloom, the lines of his profile shrouded in dim light, and the expression on his face couldn’t be seen at this moment.
Yu Ran felt a little apprehensive.
She organized the words in her mind, and then asked carefully, “…how is it?”
The remaining half of her words was hidden in an unfinished breath– was this clue worth it?
Mo Yi seemed to awaken from his meditation by her voice this time. A pair of extremely deep and dark eyes lifted up for a moment, they instantly penetrated the hazy light, as sharp and eye-catching as a blade.
The next second, he lowered his eyes again, his long eyelashes covering the light in them.
He smiled: “Thank you.”
After speaking, Mo Yi sandwiched the thin sheets of paper between his slender fingers and handed them to Yu Ran.
Yu Ran took it subconsciously, then opened it and looked at it. Just as she lowered her head, she heard Mo Yi’s voice: “Is it alright to open the branch quest now?”
Her eyes narrowed, she thought about it carefully, and then nodded slightly.
Seeing that she was ready, Mo Yi summed up all the clues he had collected in his heart, and then said it succinctly.
When his voice fell, the familiar mechanical female voice appeared again:
“Dangdangdang! Congratulations to player No. 05, Mo Yi, and player No. 09, Yu Ran, for unlocking the hidden plot of this escape game!
The side quests are now open, and the completion of the side quests will reward you with rich points. Please keep working hard! ”
Just as the voice fell, Mo Yi felt his left hand being clenched heavily.
–The Mist?
The familiar cold touch on his hand pierced his heart with a slight pain, a sharp alarm sounded in his head, and an ominous premonition was deeply embedded in his mind like a hard wooden wedge.
A strong sense of danger struck instantly. It climbed up his spine, cold and sticky, almost making his hair stand on end.
Mo Yi suddenly raised his eyes,
…and the blood in his body instantly froze.
Yu Ran looked at him unconsciously, with a little doubt in her eyes, as if she didn’t understand why Mo Yi’s face was suddenly pale as paper while he was staring straight beyond her.
He saw behind her a familiar shadow standing in the dark.
With a pale and blurry face he could not see his facial features clearly, only a pair of black hole-like eyes stared at him like a ghost.
So the punishment was that these children…. Were bearers of black plague
Oh, is Grandma at home?
Thank you very much for the translation 💙💙💙💙
spooky!
thanks for the chapter <3
I have to take a break reading this. Even though the next chapter is here, I’m giving myself a cliffhanger to calm myself💀
The difficulty increase doesn’t wait around, so scary
Thank you so much for translating! <3
I don’t know if I can still sleep after reading the next chapter. God please help me.