Origin
Chapter 666: Witch doctor
“What will happen?” The old woman opposite him repeated Wen Jianyan’s question.
The wrinkles on her face twitched. She slowly raised her eyes, her cloudy gaze focusing on Wen Jianyan, and enunciated each word clearly:
“Of course, it is to continue what we left unfinished two days ago.”
“…”
Two days ago.
Wen Jianyan froze.
He recalled that dark, dead, and silent land once again.
At that time, something in the unseen world seemed to be guiding him, pulling him forward. The feeling was irresistible, until… what appeared before him was a bottomless empty grave.
—That was a grave dug by believers with their own hands for their god.
The noisy human voices from that time seemed to ring in his ears again.
“The one you wanted to catch wasn’t me,” Wen Jianyan’s eyes trembled slightly, his voice sounding as if he were suffocating, “It was Him.”
“Young people’s brains really do work well.”
The old woman chuckled, a somewhat sinister undertone in her voice.
Beneath the twisted cane, tiny arms rapidly expanded in the darkness.
“Next time, the one appearing inside won’t be you—at least, this old woman will make sure of that.”
Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank. Seemingly realizing the approaching danger, he abruptly backed away.
However, before those arms could touch him, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
“A-Ma! Bad news! This is bad—”
The next second, Auntie Kun rushed into the room with a few people. They were covered in dust, their faces full of black soot, clearly having just run over from the fire.
Upon seeing Wen Jianyan, they suddenly froze, all subconsciously halting their steps.
“Ah, what’s with the panic.” The senile old woman lowered her eyelids once again, her decayed fingers pressing on her cane. “Our guest is still here.”
Auntie Kun stared at Wen Jianyan. Her previous kind expression had completely vanished, leaving only a chilling hostility.
She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but the old woman smashed her cane downward, producing a heavy thud that interrupted all the words she might have spoken.
“Go, escort our distinguished guest back to his room.”
“This time, make sure he cannot come out.”
Wen Jianyan was locked up.
The main door and windows were sealed from the outside with wooden planks, leaving only a half-foot-wide small window near the front door open. Three meals a day would be sent in through here. Footsteps occasionally sounded outside the door; clearly, someone was patrolling at irregular intervals. All the tools in the room had been taken away, even the candles and matches—according to the person who locked him in, whenever night fell, they would light a light source for him outside the room. They definitely wouldn’t let him die.
Wen Jianyan leaned against the wall, sitting silently in the darkness.
The good news: the information he gained on this trip was unprecedented.
The bad news… he hadn’t managed to escape.
He lowered his eyes and raised a hand to touch the empty spot below his collarbone. The shadow cast by his eyelashes fell on his face, making him look inexplicably gloomy.
Su Cheng had once said, “The Nightmare arrived on this ship.”
From that moment on, he had already guessed that the Nightmare was not originally a product of this world.
Then, how did the Nightmare truly invade this world? Wen Jianyan had many guesses—the unexpected heaven-sent “help” in the Ping’an Asylum, the coaxing and deceptive “external factors” in the Xingwang Hotel, or the meticulously planned “layout” in Yuying Comprehensive University.
What he didn’t expect was that he hadn’t completely guessed right, yet he had guessed all of them correctly.
The Nightmare had used all of the above methods.
This was a secret conspiracy to hand over the entire world. Humanity, blinded by its own stupidity, actively walked towards the cliff—the god who protected all living beings was betrayed, dismembered, and exploited, and thus the world’s rift was opened. Countless greedy, peering blood-red eyes looked inward, using the Nightmare as a medium to swallow and devour the entire world.
What would happen in three days?
A naked betrayal.
“…”
Thinking of this, Wen Jianyan’s gaze suddenly turned cold.
He lowered his eyes and took a deep, forceful breath.
Calm down, calm down.
Now is not the time to be angry.
Wen Jianyan pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing his mind to settle down, and re-examined his deductions in a rational manner.
Although the logic flowed smoothly, there still seemed to be a few blank links here.
First, the prerequisite for the Nightmare’s invasion was finding a loophole. It was precisely because the darkness was spreading endlessly that humanity desperately sought the help of an outer god… What went wrong?
And the old woman. Before Auntie Kun arrived, that old hag clearly wanted to kill him—although she didn’t say it explicitly, Wen Jianyan could clearly feel that genuine murderous intent—but after the others arrived, she gave the order to lock him up instead… Although there was no direct reason, Wen Jianyan felt there was some hidden agenda here.
Just as Wen Jianyan was deep in thought, a soft thud suddenly came from outside the door.
“…?” He froze involuntarily and turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.
Through the only small hole left in the door, he could vaguely see a blurry back running away quickly.
Thinking of something, Wen Jianyan’s eyes flickered slightly.
Soon, it was time for the first meal delivery.
Accompanied by dragging footsteps, someone slowly came to the door carrying food, placing the bowls and plates one by one into the small open window. When they were halfway done, a hand suddenly shot out from inside the door without warning and tightly grabbed their wrist!
“Ouch!” the person exclaimed, caught off guard.
The newly placed items were completely overturned, and soup dripped and flowed freely onto the floor.
“…A-Yuan?” the young man’s smiling voice came through the door.
“Let me go!!” A-Yuan struggled in a panic. “Y-you, if you don’t let go, I’m going to call for help!!”
Unexpectedly, the person on the other side suddenly asked in return:
“Why call for help?”
“…” This guy asked with such absolute confidence that A-Yuan was left dumbfounded, momentarily not knowing how to answer.
“Wasn’t it you who wanted to chat with me?”
The other party’s voice still carried that lazy, unhurried tone.
“!” Hearing this, A-Yuan shuddered and looked back in panic, terrified that someone might hear those words.
Before he could recover from his panic, the fingers that had been tightly gripping his wrist let go so easily, then withdrew without any hesitation.
“…” A-Yuan stood blankly at the door, holding his empty wrist with one hand, at a loss for words.
And the inside of the door was similarly silent.
Even though the tightly closed door blocked his view, he could almost still see the other party’s teasing expression, as if he were in control of the entire situation.
A long silence spread out.
Finally, unable to bear the current situation, A-Yuan was the first to speak, breaking the agonizing silence.
“They said… it was you who burned the town.”
A-Yuan asked hesitantly.
“I-Is it true?”
“Yes.” From behind the door, the young man’s voice was still smiling. He shamelessly and unhesitatingly admitted to his crime just like that.
A-Yuan was infuriated by his nonchalant attitude:
“A-Ma was right, you are a bad person!!!”
After saying that, he turned around and ran away without looking back.
Inside the door.
In the darkness, Wen Jianyan leaned his back against the door panel, a lazy smile playing on his lips, seemingly unsurprised by A-Yuan’s angry departure.
The second and third meals were also delivered by A-Yuan.
However, for the next few times, as if acting out of spite, he didn’t say a single word to Wen Jianyan, dropping off the food and running away each time. Wen Jianyan didn’t mind A-Yuan’s attitude; he simply accepted the meals from the hole by the door on time and with peace of mind, never taking the initiative to start a conversation again.
Finally, during the fourth meal, the situation changed.
After putting down the food, the footsteps didn’t leave immediately like before, but lingered hesitantly at the door.
Eventually, A-Yuan spoke again.
“…Why?” his voice was conflicted and hesitant, filled with contradictions.
Wen Jianyan answered very quickly:
“You want to know the reason?”
“Mhm.” A-Yuan replied softly.
“Then let me ask you three questions first,” before the other could refuse, Wen Jianyan smilingly added, “Of course, you can choose to answer or not; it’s your choice.”
“…”
A-Yuan was silent for a few seconds before confirming:
“After you ask these three questions, you will tell me the answer I want to know?”
“Yes.”
“…Alright then,” A-Yuan took a deep breath. “Ask.”
“The first question: after the town caught fire, were there any major losses or casualties?”
“…”
“The second question: where has Uncle De gone during this time?”
The footsteps outside shifted restlessly, but still offered no answer.
“…………”
Wen Jianyan didn’t mind and continued asking.
“The third question: why, after I woke up, did you still so firmly believe I was a ghost? Even though your A-Ma classified me as an arsonist criminal, and I personally admitted to it, you still wanted to come to me for an explanation…” the young man’s voice was slow and drawn out, “Why?”
“We’ve only spent two days together. Logically, there shouldn’t be that deep of an attachment, right?”
“Th-that,” A-Yuan couldn’t stand still anymore and finally couldn’t hold back, “That’s because—”
“Because you have your own feelings, right?”
Even with a door between them, the young man’s voice suddenly felt close, as if ringing right next to his ear, sounding inexplicably eerie and causing A-Yuan to involuntarily take half a step back.
“…”
He stood outside the door, staring at the tightly closed door in panic.
Even though the other party showed absolutely no sign of leaving the room, A-Yuan just felt his hair stand on end for some reason.
“It’s not like there are no other children in the entire town besides you, but you are the only one who is so familiar with A-Ma, and who was sent to follow me around. And during this process, you didn’t have any verbal or eye contact with any other children; you seem completely unfamiliar with them,” Wen Jianyan continued unhurriedly. “Moreover, the attitude of everyone else in this town towards you is also different. They give you lots of food when you pass by, even if you don’t pay at all. I haven’t seen this happen with anyone else in the town but you—this isn’t because they are so hospitable, because the looks they give me are only vigilant and scrutinizing, but towards you, it’s genuine enthusiasm and affection.”
Wen Jianyan smiled silently.
“Your status in this town is not ordinary, is it?”
The world outside fell silent.
This silence lasted longer than any previous one.
If it weren’t for the fact that the footsteps never sounded again, Wen Jianyan would almost suspect the other party had already left.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, A-Yuan spoke in a low voice:
“…Because, I am a ‘Wu’.”
Wu (Shaman).
Wen Jianyan suppressed his surging heartbeat, held his breath slightly, and continued listening.
“I heard the adults say that a long time ago, our town… was called Wu Town.”
“We can communicate with the gods and protect everyone’s safety.”
“In our town, a ‘Wu’ appears every fifty years. By next year, I will officially take on this title,” A-Yuan said hesitantly and slowly. “So sometimes… I can feel some… unusual things.”
So that was why, despite A-Ma’s repeated assurances, he still firmly believed Wen Jianyan was a “ghost” at first sight.
Because at that time, he had entered that no-man’s land entirely using Wu Zhu’s identity. Whether it was the train or that solitary grave, they all recognized him as a part of Wu Zhu—it was precisely because of this that A-Yuan found it incredibly hard to believe Wen Jianyan was truly a living person.
“…”
Wen Jianyan slowly took a deep breath.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Didn’t you want to know why I set the fire?”
“…Mhm.”
“Because your town is doing a very terrible thing.”
Wen Jianyan closed his eyes and said slowly.
“Your leaders have been tempted and corrupted by the outside, and have made the wrong decisions,” he enunciated each word. “If this situation is allowed to continue, you will betray all the principles your town has followed since its establishment, free will will be handed over to malice, and it will cause irreversible consequences.”
“B-But, A-Ma said…”
“Forget what A-Ma said.” Wen Jianyan unceremoniously interrupted him. “Think about your own feelings!”
Outside the door grew quiet.
Wen Jianyan didn’t rush him; he just waited patiently.
The sunlight outside gradually dimmed as time passed. In another ten minutes or so, someone would come to light the candle for him to safely pass the night.
A-Yuan’s faint voice came through the crack in the door:
“…Do you know why things turned out this way?”
Wen Jianyan answered quickly: “I have a guess, but I’m not sure.”
“Go look in A-Ma’s room and bring me anything you feel is off.”
“If it’s you, you should be able to find the answer.”
What he had to do next was simply wait.
Seeing the time drawing closer to the third day, Wen Jianyan’s heart found it increasingly difficult to stay calm. He paced in the cramped space, pondering and deliberating repeatedly. The empty spot below his neck seemed to constantly remind him of something, making him restless.
Finally, in the early hours of the third day, rustling footsteps came from outside the door.
Wen Jianyan almost immediately woke from his light sleep. He slightly held his breath and turned his head toward the door.
“…Are you awake?” A-Yuan’s low voice came through the door crack.
“Mhm.” Wen Jianyan rolled off the bed, his movements swift and silent.
“Did you find anything?”
Through the small window on the door, something was shoved in from the outside.
Wen Jianyan looked at it by the candlelight, and for a moment, it was hard to describe the disappointment in his heart.
It was that copper oil lamp.
He had seen this thing in that old hag’s room before; it wasn’t anything new to him. If A-Yuan only found this, it wasn’t actually of much use to him.
He was just about to ask the other party if they had found anything else when he suddenly stopped.
The copper casing felt cold to the touch.
You must know, it was night right now. And in the town, a light had to be kept on all through the night—whether it was a candle or an oil lamp.
This meant this lamp wasn’t the one he saw in that old hag’s room, but another one that had never been lit.
Wen Jianyan’s heart suddenly started pounding wildly.
He carefully examined the copper lamp in his hand, his fingertips following his gaze, slowly tracing over the entire body of the oil lamp, searching for any clues that might have been overlooked.
Suddenly, his movements paused.
His fingertips seemed to feel some uneven spots on the bottom of the oil lamp.
Wen Jianyan flipped the oil lamp over. By the faint light coming from outside the window, he finally clearly saw the small symbol at the bottom of the copper lamp.
…A lotus?
Wen Jianyan was stunned.
Why would it be a lotus—
Suddenly, his pupils shrank. Like a clap of thunder on a clear day, something seemed to explode deafeningly in his mind, making Wen Jianyan almost forget to breathe.
When was the first time he saw a brass item?
Right.
It was in the “Antai Community”.
The brass statue of the Evil Bodhisattva.
And the Bodhisattva sat cross-legged within a lotus. ①
That brass knife capable of truly harming gods was found in the coffin in the Changsheng Building instance. He clearly remembered that carved into the handle of the brass knife was a lotus mark identical to the one in “Antai Community”. ②
And that old hag’s eerie chanting, and the tiny arms hatching from the shadows beneath her cane—all of these shared striking similarities with the rituals performed by Granny Wen in the Antai Community.
The “Bodhisattva Statue” suppressing the “Father God”.
And [Antai Community] was also the only instance that overtly displayed the clash between the believers of the two sides!!!!
Just as portraits and spirit money were the symbols of Wu Town, brass was the symbol of the opposing Evil Bodhisattva.
So this was why the Nightmare was able to invade this world so easily, why the originally normally functioning order had gone wrong… It turned out that, since who knows when, it had already infiltrated this town and began to tempt and corrupt the minds of everyone in it—the Evil Bodhisattva used the Nightmare to destroy the god in Wu Town, and the Nightmare used this to invade this world. The two were mutually dependent and exploited each other.
In fact, the Nightmare seemed to have always played this role.
It acted as a medium.
An… “Observer”.
Through its observation, countless external malice surged in—those blood-red eyeballs, those eerie Bodhisattvas, countless anomalies, ghosts, and evil gods.
And the Nightmare sat silently on its ship watching, using everything as nourishment to feed the “Viewers”, until…
[Entertainment to Death].
“…Damn it.”
Thinking of something, Wen Jianyan suddenly cursed under his breath, his cold fingers pressing against his burning forehead.
That damn old hag.
No wonder she withdrew her murderous intent when the others came in. After all, this town still held the name of “Wu” (Shaman); she couldn’t expose herself so obviously.
Looking at that old tree-bark face identical to Granny Wen’s, she was probably the one corrupted the deepest!
Right at this moment, a creak came from outside the door.
The sound pulled Wen Jianyan out of his thoughts.
Startled, he looked up in astonishment toward the direction of the sound.
He saw the main door being pushed open a crack from the outside.
The wooden planks that had sealed it shut had been removed at some point, and the figure of a half-grown child appeared in the door crack—it was A-Yuan.
She had opened the door.
“…Hurry and go,” A-Yuan said, holding the door handle with one hand. The candle outside had burned to its end, and the faint candlelight reflected in her eyes, where countless chaotic emotions seemed to be churning. “All the adults in the town have left, heading deep into that place… The ceremony is about to begin.”
“If you make it in time, maybe…”
Wen Jianyan’s eyes flickered. Just as he was about to say thank you, his gaze was suddenly drawn to the hand A-Yuan was using to hold the wooden door.
On the tips of her thin fingers, blood-red nail dye was vividly painted.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze suddenly stagnated.
He seemed to realize something all of a sudden and whipped his head around to look at A-Yuan: “You’re a girl?”
A terrifying guess pounded in his heart, ready to burst out.
“Yeah.” A-Yuan nodded, accustomed to it. “All ‘Wu’ are girls.”
Wu, an invoker/shaman. A woman capable of serving the formless, bringing down spirits through dance.
But she was too young, still just a half-grown child. Her hair was cut to her scalp, and she spoke and acted no differently than a boy.
“So you were very out of line before,” A-Yuan complained in a low voice. “You shouldn’t be improperly dressed in front of a girl.”
True.
If it were an ordinary little boy, he probably would rarely think that situation was indecent, unless…
“Usually, a ‘Wu’ will only have the red dye painted on before burial after dying of old age normally, to bless the generations of descendants with peace. But A-Ma said the situation is special this time, so she had me paint it early, just in case.”
The expression on A-Yuan’s face was as innocent as ever, seeming completely unaware of what kind of fate awaited her next.
She spread her fingers.
“Look, it’s pretty, right?”
…Hell.
Wen Jianyan felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
[Born here, buried here, guarding here].
The person standing before him right now was the final female corpse in red from Changsheng Building.
Author’s Notes:
① First appeared in Chapter 43: Antai Community
② First appeared in Chapter 266: Changsheng Building
(´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) a yuan nooo