Qin Ye sprinted along the wall at full speed, and what he failed to notice was that all of the people in all of the photographs on the wall had turned to look at him in unison with wooden expressions.
It was impossible to say exactly what type of place the fourth floor was. Perhaps it was a parallel space, perhaps it was a long corridor of memories manifested from the hatred of the village’s residents that had been brewing for over 1,000 years. In any case, this place was a miracle created by the unique properties of the forsaken land, and only in this place would he have an opportunity to find out the truth behind the earthen building.
He rushed all the way to the end of the long corridor of photographs, and there, he discovered pieces of artwork hanging on the wall.
These pieces of artwork were all from the Song Dynasty, and they were yellow with age, but they had somehow been preserved and prevented from disintegrating here. There were close to 20 pieces of artwork in total, and they were still portraits depicting the entire village.
It was a portrait of zombies.
Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the final portrait. Prior to this, he had carefully counted the number of people on the portraits and determined it to be 127. However, in this portrait…
There were 128 people!
There was a very good chance that the culprit was that extra person! That 128th person was the one who had doomed all of the residents of the Huang Clan’s earthen building to an eternity of limbo!
He was the one who transformed this village into a purgatory for zombies.
He was the one who created the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudrā.
He was the only one who had consumed the Taisui fungus and survived!
This was the starting point of everything.
He was certain that the extra person would be the culprit as the residents of the Huang Clan’s earthen building were unable to leave the earthen building. They were restricted by the laws of the forsaken land and were trapped here for all of eternity.
Hence, there was no way that this extra person had perished over time. Instead, they had to have left the earthen building, and the only way they could’ve done that was by consuming the original uncontaminated Taisui fungus, taking advantage of its special properties to ignore the restrictions of the forsaken land.
These portraits of the residents of the Huang Clan’s earthen building weren’t just a record of how long they had lived. More importantly, it was a record of that person, the vile being who had doomed the entire village!
“No, this still isn’t enough. Contaminating a Taisui fungus and transforming an entire village into zombies isn’t enough to warrant the title of irredeemably heinous…” Qin Ye shook his head with furrowed brows as he continued to examine the portrait.
There was a slightly chubby individual wearing an innocuous smile on the portrait, situated on the very left of the final row.
However, it was impossible to tell who he was.
During the Song Dynasty, all artwork was created on a freehand basis with an emphasis on capturing the subject’s spirit rather than aiming for accuracy in form. Thus, the only way to tell this person’s identity would be through some special features.
With that in mind, Qin Ye began to carefully search for such features, and several seconds later, his eyes suddenly lit up.
There was a mole around halfway up the man’s neck.
This definitely wasn’t an unintentional ink blotch. It was far too small for that, and it had clearly been intentionally added to the portrait using the tip of a tiny brush. While it was true that accuracy in form wasn’t a major area of emphasis in the artistic style of the Song Dynasty, special features like these definitely wouldn’t be ignored.
Right at this moment, the lightbulb overhead suddenly began to flicker violently.
All of a sudden, there was a soft bang, followed by complete darkness, indicating that the fuse of the lightbulb had been blown. Shortly thereafter, the sound of something gently falling to the ground rang out, and right after that, light returned to the room.
The portrait had already fallen onto the ground.
Qin Ye didn’t immediately bend down to pick up the portrait. Instead, he cast his gaze around the empty room, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh.
This hatred and resentment had crossed a span of over 1,000 years.
What exactly had the culprit done to them?
It was clear that the Yin spirits in the earthen building were now helping him in any way that they could. Not only had they posed no obstruction to him after he had stepped onto the fourth floor, they were doing everything in their power to guide him to the truth.
He cupped his fist in a respectful gesture to express his gratitude toward the Yin spirits, but that was it. Any further gesture of respect from the King Yanluo would be too much to bear for these Yin spirits.
He picked up the portrait, but after examining it a few more times, he didn’t make any new discoveries.
“What are they trying to show me?” He raised the portrait above his own head with a befuddled expression to examine it under the light, and as a result, he discovered that there was something adhered to the back of the portrait using clear tape!
It was a roll of film tape.
The roll of tape was cold to the touch, but it felt scorching hot to Qin Ye. He knew that this roll of tape most likely contained the truth that he had been searching so arduously for.
It was going to tell him what that man had done to earn him the title of irredeemably heinous!
“If there’s a roll of tape, then there must be a VCR somewhere… It must be in the broadcast room!” Qin Ye’s mind was currently racing at an unprecedented speed. He was already infinitely approaching the final answer, and every single one of his brain cells was striving toward cracking the final answer. After arriving at this conclusion, he immediately rushed out of the room and began to search for the broadcast room.
He passed by the village records gallery, the county records gallery, the ancestral hall, the resident name gallery of the Huang Clan’s village… Finally, he spotted the VCR that he was searching for!
It was situated at the very back of the room, and as he passed through the screen and entered the broadcast room, he was greeted by the sound of countless heart-wrenching sobs and howls of fury and indignation. These voices had crossed over a span of over 1,000 years to reach him, and they were resonating deep in his heart.
This broadcast room was different from all other broadcast rooms.
It was very large, but it wasn’t very spacious as all of the walls were filled with hanging pieces of artwork!
All of these pieces of artwork depicted the exact same image of a man, the one with the mole on his neck. The man was wearing attire from different time periods in each piece of artwork, but he was always depicted holding a boning knife, in the process of dissecting a human body!
These weren’t sketches. Instead, these pieces of artwork were all drawn in the antiquated style of simple lines and bare attention to accuracy in form.
There were three people in each piece of artwork.
As aforementioned, the man with the mole on his neck wore different attire from artwork to artwork, including long robes from ancient times, clothing from the Qing Dynasty, and attire from the republic era. However, in all of the pieces, he was in the same pose with one hand locked around a young man’s neck, while the tip of his knife was pressed against the young man’s chest. The young man wore an expression of horror, rage, and disbelief at the fate that he was about to suffer, and even Qin Ye couldn’t help but be amazed at how brilliantly the spirit of the scene had been captured through such simple lines and strokes.
It was often said that the best artwork were pieces that were imbued with emotion, and he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of emotions could’ve led the artist to create such a terrifying image with such simple techniques.
Every single piece of artwork was identical with the exception of the attire worn by the trio being depicted. Different knives and tools were placed beside the man with the mole on his neck, and there were even human bones that had been extracted lying alongside the tools. There were also needles and thread, as well as all types of dissection instruments… Qin Ye knew that this was the scene of the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudrā’s creation.
Those knives were used to slice open the human body.
Those pliers were used to pluck out the bones.
Those scissors were used to cut through the flesh and skin.
And finally, the thread was used to sew the subjects back together.
The truly horrifying thing was that the two subjects were still alive!
They were being dissected alive!
No, the woman was already dead. In the artwork, her abdominal cavity had been completely opened up, and not a single bone was visible inside, while the man was also close to death.
The entire broadcast room was surrounded by these different yet identical pieces of artwork, presenting a very gruesome sight to behold. In addition to that, the gut-wrenching howls of fury and anguish ringing out incessantly in the surrounding area further compounded the horrific atmosphere in the room. Even Qin Ye couldn’t help but be struck by the urge to shiver.
The artwork perfectly captured the anguish and horror that the young man was experiencing. He was being cut open stroke by stroke while still alive, and one bone after another was plucked out of his body before he was sewn together bit by bit… Qin Ye shook his head vigorously to rid himself of the horror and disgust that he was feeling, and he took a deep breath before making his way over to the broadcast station.
There was a television here.
It was an old black and white television that was connected to a VCR. Back in the 80s and 90s, DVDs were still yet to come into existence, so VCRs were the main form of visual entertainment at the time. All of the devices were already switched on, as if they were awaiting his arrival.
The tape was slowly inserted, and the television flashed momentarily before black and white static filled the entire screen. Six to seven seconds later, the static suddenly subsided, and an image appeared on the screen.
It was a very dimly lit image, but the outlines of a room were still just barely visible.
Despite how dark the room was, it wasn’t completely silent. The cringe-inducing sound of a blade being sharpened on a whetstone was ringing out incessantly alongside the sound of someone blowing on something.
Soon, a candle was held up by someone in the room, but it was held too far away from the person’s face to illuminate their appearance. However, the candlelight did reveal that the person was carrying a very long case.
The case was entirely black in color, and it seemed to be very heavy, as evidenced by the apparent strain displayed by the person carrying it. The case was dropped onto the ground with a loud thud, and horrified muffled voices immediately rang out within the darkness.
It was the sound of someone who had been gagged.
The person carrying the candle placed the candle onto the ground in an unhurried and well-rehearsed manner, as if they had performed the action on countless occasions. They then calmly opened the case, and the sight of its contents instantly made Qin Ye’s pupils contract drastically.
The case was filled with different varieties of knives and all types of tools!
There was a boning knife, thread, thick needles around 10 centimeters in length, hammers, pliers… It was all of the tools depicted on the pieces of artwork!
Qin Ye suddenly realized just how gruesome the scene that he was about to witness was going to be.
The person carrying the candle pulled out a pair of scissors and gently blew on it a few times. Throughout this entire process, the candle remained far away from their face. After that, they carried the candle in one hand and the pair of scissors in the other as they made their way into the darkness.
There was a bench roughly one to two meters away, and the candle was placed onto the bench. As a result, its light was able to illuminate two people tied to a wooden bed!
The duo was a man and a woman, both of whom were still alive. Their eyes were wide with horror as they stared at the figure in the darkness, and they were shaking their heads frantically as they yelled into their gags with all their might.
“Don’t be afraid.” The person finally spoke, and the voice indicated that it was a man. He wiped the pair of scissors in a slow and methodical manner as he said, “It’s not like this is the first time. I couldn’t find any anesthetics, so you’ll just have to endure the pain.”
On the wooden bed, the young man’s eyes were completely bloodshot, and he continued to desperately scream into his gag. The man who was sharpening the scissors heaved a faint sight before removing the gag from his mouth. “What do you want to say? Go ahead, no one is going to be able to hear you anyway.”
“Why?!” The young man stared intently at the figure in the darkness, and even the image seemed to be trembling with the weight of his emotions. “Why are you doing this?!”
The man in the darkness seemed to be smiling as he replied, “I’ve lived for far too long, and I need a goal to pursue. Otherwise, what would be the point in living? Be a good boy now…”
“You’re a monster!!” the young man roared in a hoarse voice, “Ah Lian is pregnant with your grandson! How could you do this, Father?!”
Qin Ye’s expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this.
His mouth gaped open slightly, and he gently shook his head as his calm expression gave way to one of sheer incredulity and disgust.
It was very clear that the duo tied to the wooden bed provided the bodies that formed the Taisui Crossbred Karmamudrā, while the one who created the Karmamudrā was the irredeemably heinous soul. However, never did he think that the two bodies would belong to the creator’s son and daughter-in-law!
“Holy fuck…” Aside from that, Qin Ye didn’t know what to say.
Having consumed the Taisui fungus himself, he was well aware that people like him who had also consumed the fungus appeared to be living the dream life of an immortal, but in reality, very few of them even made it past the 100-year mark without going insane. The crippling sense of loneliness, the inability to fit in with the world around them, the complete and utter numbness that slowly killed one on the inside… The combination of all of this was enough to drive one insane.
As a result, one either became completely selfish and wilful, or they attained true enlightenment as in the example of Lee Jung-sook.
However, this man had a family!
He had a son and a daughter-in-law, and there was even a grandson soon to come. However, he had dissected his son, his daughter-in-law, and his unborn grandson with his very own hands!
“Don’t be afraid.” On the television screen, the man gently stroked the young man’s cheek, and his yellow robes were like the attire of a death god. “It’ll be over before you know it. Can’t you consider things from my perspective? I gave you life and I raised you, despite how much of a shameless wench your mother was. Isn’t it very normal now that I’m taking back your life?”
The young man’s entire body was trembling as he implored, “Father, I don’t care if you take back my life, but at least think about your grandson! Ah Lian is about to give birth soon! Please, I’m begging you, at least let her live!”
The man heaved a faint sigh, then suddenly stabbed the pair of scissors right into Ah Lian’s belly button, and a geyser of blood immediately shot out of the wound.
Ah Lian’s agonized groans instantly rang out across the entire room, and her limbs spasmed as sweat poured down her face like rain.
“You!!!!”
“In that case, I’ll send her on her way first.” The man stood up before slowly making his way over to Ah Lian and gently caressing her cheek. Due to the excruciating pain of being stabbed, her eyes had already rolled into the back of her head. The man smiled and said, “Don’t be afraid, it’ll be over before you know it, I promise. It’ll only hurt for a little bit, and then it’ll be done. How about we start with your right pinkie finger?”
