Origin
Chapter 665: What exactly are you planning to do?!
Strictly speaking, Wen Jianyan’s current situation was far from good.
This small town was located at the boundary between the human world and the land of the dead; deep beyond it was a barren wasteland where stepping in meant instant death. The secrets hidden here for generations were as massive as mountains and seas, and the townsfolk kept themselves equally deeply concealed. Even if Wen Jianyan had his items and his teammates, it would probably be very difficult to confront them head-on.
Previously, Wen Jianyan was merely forbidden from leaving the town; at least his personal safety was guaranteed. But, once Uncle De revealed what had just happened to the others in the town… judging by the excessively shocked expression he had when he saw that tattoo, what awaited Wen Jianyan next would likely be much worse than simple house arrest.
So the question was, how to escape under these circumstances?
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, slowly wrapping a cloth strip layer by layer around his injured hand. The smooth light fell on the bridge of his nose and his eyes, casting deep, almost precipitous shadows.
The simplest, most straightforward, and most effective method happened to be the one he was most familiar with and best at.
Just set a fire.
Sizzle.
Sparks burst forth, landing lightly on combustible materials. The tiny, orange-yellow fire snakes, having been fed, began to multiply and grow at a speed visible to the naked eye…
Crack, crackle!
The flames licked the pillars, walls, and beams, feverishly surging upwards!
In the blink of an eye, the wooden structures became fuel for the fire.
“…What’s going on over there?” Panicked shouts came from not far away. “Is there a fire?”
“It’s on fire!”
“Quick, go put it out!”
As the fire grew larger, a figure quietly slipped into the darkness.
He seemed to know every alley and every intersection here by heart, soundlessly blending into the shadows between the streets.
“What? A fire in the north too?”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Auntie Kun said urgently. “Everyone, go put it out!”
“Don’t worry, Auntie, it’s already under control over there. No one is hurt, but—”
Before he could finish, another person rushed in, forehead covered in sweat: “Auntie! The east side, the empty houses on the east side are on fire too!”
At this, Auntie Kun could no longer sit still. She abruptly stood up:
“Let’s go, lead the way!”
To them, the fire itself was a small matter; the real disaster would be if the backup candles kept in every room were consumed by the flames. The situation now was very special, and any resource was far more precious than before. Without even having the time to think about the cause, they all immediately sprang into action.
There weren’t many townsfolk left in the town now. To quickly extinguish so many fires, everyone had to go all out.
After three full hours of frantic rushing around, the fires were finally put out.
Auntie Kun wiped the sweat from her head, leaving streaks of black ash on her forehead, and let out a long breath.
She turned to confirm with the people beside her: “Are there any more?”
“Auntie, no, no more!”
Although the candles in the burned-down houses couldn’t be salvaged, at least the fire hadn’t truly spread. Not only were there no casualties, but the candles stored in the nearby houses were also safe—one had to remember that all the houses in this town were wooden structures, which acted as natural accelerants for fires.
A moment of carelessness could have easily caused irreversible and severe consequences.
“It’s just the locations of these fires… it feels a bit fishy,” one townsman frowned, deep in thought.
“Yeah, there were three points of ignition in total. Not only were they very spread out, but there were no major buildings around them either. It’s almost… almost as if…”
—As if someone just wanted to use them to distract their attention, rather than truly wanting the fire to spread.
Hearing this, Auntie Kun couldn’t help but freeze. Realizing something, her expression suddenly changed:
“Oh no!”
Arson was an art that required meticulous attention to detail.
The first was timing.
Although the townsfolk currently didn’t allow Wen Jianyan to leave the town, they were far from keeping him under strict surveillance and constant vigilance. It was precisely by exploiting this timing gap that Wen Jianyan managed to slip away successfully.
The second was the choice of location.
Although the town’s population was small, one fire wouldn’t be enough. It would be too easy to put out and hard to attract enough attention.
If he was going to set fires, he had to set at least three, and the locations had to be carefully selected.
After all, Wen Jianyan had no intention of letting the entire town burn to the ground. No matter what secrets it hid or what they planned to do in three days, based on the information Wen Jianyan had gathered so far, this town was still on humanity’s side. The town’s destruction would do him no good.
Therefore, these three locations had to effectively attract and divide the townsfolk’s attention, while not linking up to allow the fire to spread completely.
In the process of setting the fires, Wen Jianyan also took a shortcut to the tailor shop—just as he expected, whether Uncle De had left because he was being punished for attacking him without authorization, or to inform the others about his tattoo, he was not in the shop.
Fortunately, the purchasing rules inside the shop were still in effect.
Wen Jianyan took the human-skin clothes, left the spirit money on the counter, and everything went as smoothly as planned.
At the same time, the fires in the town were truly blazing. Red light shot up into the sky. Below, the crowd ran around shouting, completely overwhelmed. No one noticed a figure nimbly turning one hidden corner after another, silently heading in the opposite direction.
Soon, the dilapidated house appeared before him.
After confirming no one was inside, Wen Jianyan skillfully picked the lock in one smooth motion.
Without the lights on, the room was pitch black. The identical furniture and layout were covered in darkness, looking inexplicably daunting.
Knowing he was short on time, Wen Jianyan began rummaging through the chests and cabinets the moment he entered.
Although the house was large, there weren’t many things inside, and at least there were few places to hide something.
Wen Jianyan turned the room upside down, only finding a few red spirit money in a drawer. Without caring if the amount was right or if they were his, he stuffed them all into his pocket.
Even though he had turned the entire house upside down, there was absolutely no sign of the thing he was really here to find.
“…”
Wen Jianyan touched his empty neck, frowning deeply. He paced the room, looking for any other place that could hide something.
He suddenly turned around, and a strange glint of copper yellow caught the corner of his eye.
Wen Jianyan paused and instinctively turned his head to look in the direction he had just unintentionally glanced at.
It was the alcove directly facing the main door.
In other houses, there were similar alcoves, but they basically all held candles used to dispel the darkness. But here…
As if possessed, Wen Jianyan stepped closer, his gaze plunging deep into the dark alcove.
There were no candles in this alcove. In their place was an oil lamp.
A very familiar, copper oil lamp.
“…!!!”
Wen Jianyan’s breath hitched. He stared fixedly at the copper lamp and subconsciously reached out his hand.
His fingertips touched the familiar grayish-white lamp oil.
Soft, greasy, carrying a sickeningly sweet, metallic scent.
It was none other than the corpse oil he had seen more than once in the instances!!
How… how is this…
Wen Jianyan only felt his mind go chaotic. But, before he could figure out the cause and effect, an old voice came from behind him: “Young man, are you looking for this?”
Wen Jianyan shuddered and whipped his head around.
The old, short hag was standing firmly right behind him. Even though Wen Jianyan was sharp enough, he still hadn’t noticed when she appeared. The old woman leaned on her cane. Beneath her heavily wrinkled eyelids, a pair of cloudy eyes covered in white cataracts was revealed, looking inexplicably terrifying.
And between her dead-wood-like, ancient fingers, a thin chain was wrapped.
Below it dangled a dark, heart-shaped pendant, swaying slightly.
“Yeah.” Wen Jianyan’s lips hooked into an arc devoid of much warmth. “You’re at such an old age, don’t you know you shouldn’t touch other people’s things?”
The old woman shook her head, actually revealing a hint of a smile: “Young people nowadays are so hot-tempered… This old woman kindly hosted you, and you actually burned my village down, just for this?”
“That’s right.”
Time was tight, and Wen Jianyan couldn’t be bothered to beat around the bush with her anymore.
He stepped forward and held out his open palm:
“Give it back to me.”
“It’s a pity,” the old woman slowly withdrew her hand. “This old woman cannot agree to that.”
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth: “Although I respect the elderly and care for the young, there are times when I’m not entirely opposed to making exceptions.”
“You want to fight this old woman?” The old woman suddenly let out a cackling laugh. “Young man, you can try.”
Her wrinkled lips moved, emitting bizarre syllables. The sound didn’t resemble any language of civilization; the extremely eerie syllables stitched together, mixed with some distant, blurry echo, sounding as if countless people and countless mouths were speaking at once.
Beneath the cane, shadows twisted, looking as if countless arms were reaching out.
Wen Jianyan was startled.
Are you kidding me?
Thin, twisted arms crawled on the ground, squirming in his direction.
“W-Wait,” Wen Jianyan’s momentum weakened. “Granny, let’s talk this out nicely…”
“You must have quite a few questions you want to ask me, right?” He backed away step by step, letting out a dry laugh. “If you need it, I will, of course, tell you everything I know—”
The old woman smiled: “You’re quite flexible, kid.”
The wrinkles on her face trembled with her laughter.
“But what a pity. This old woman has absolutely no interest in your secrets.”
…?
Wen Jianyan paused.
Without realizing it, he had backed all the way up until his spine bumped squarely into the alcove behind him. Something fell over with a clang.
Wen Jianyan reflexively glanced back.
—The copper lamp.
He froze. In that instant, like a sharp blow to the head, something in his mind seemed to click into place.
A series of scattered details suddenly connected.
Wen Jianyan stood rigidly in place. He slowly turned his head to look at the old woman not far away:
“…It was you guys. You made a contract.”
It had been translated in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
[Volume Five] [Contract]
The old woman: “What?”
“This town you reside in is incredibly ancient, so ancient it’s hard to trace its origins. It has always guarded this barren wasteland, separating the human world from the land of death.” Wen Jianyan’s breathing quickened slightly, murmuring rapidly. It was hard to tell if he was speaking to her or to himself. “The symbols of the town are very simple: paintings, mahogany, spirit money, and candles. Places with these items are basically all closely related to the town, whether it’s the Xingwang Hotel or Changsheng Building…”
“Right, Changsheng Building.”
“In Changsheng Building, candles only existed in the courtyard inside the oil painting. But what truly dominated the interior of the mansion were oil lamps—copper oil lamps, and grayish-red corpse oil that can only be refined from humans.”
“…But the lamp oil is a product of the Nightmare.”
The incinerator in the Orphanage.
The souls of those who died unjustly.
“The darkness was crossing the border, and you were gradually unable to resist.” Wen Jianyan stared dead at her, his pupils trembling slightly. “So you accepted the help of an unknown power, replacing the candles with lamp oil…”
Unlike candles, which could dispel the darkness but had a weak effect, the grayish-white corpse oil emanating the sweet scent of death could completely protect everyone within its light as long as it was lit.
“…Damn it.”
“Wu Zhu.” …Zhu. Candle.
Saying that familiar name, Wen Jianyan was almost suffocated by the weight of his own guess.
Even after losing his memories, whenever humans were mentioned, that guy would show such intense hatred, disgust, rejection, and loathing.
It was the same when he saw the portraits in the mahogany frames on the cruise ship.
And when Uncle De saw the name tattooed on his body, his reaction was so extreme…
Everything seemed to leave only one explanation.
Wen Jianyan stared intently at the old woman opposite him, flames dancing deep in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, enunciating every word clearly:
“…Was he your former guardian deity?”
A god who was eliminated, dismembered, sold out to the invaders, and turned into the core of an eternally burning furnace.
“—Tell me, what exactly are you planning to do in three days?!”
