Geistertagebuch

Kapitel 1

West Night Lament

I. The Adventures in Niya

A crimson sun hung in the western sky, its deep golden rays illuminating the undulating sand dunes in the distance. A scorching wind whipped up yellow sand, sweeping over the lonely ancient city walls standing atop the desert, leaving a hazy yellow mist in the air. Scattered nearby were a few brown poplars; their leaves rustled softly in the wind, their whispers carrying messages from a thousand years ago.

A caravan of camels moved slowly and orderly by, their backs laden with heavy loads, their faces bearing an unchanging serenity. The people on the camels, their faces weathered by time, seemed to be moved by the scenery, and began to sing aloud a song. It was a language they couldn't understand, and the desolate melody echoed for a long time.

Two thousand years have passed, and the sea has turned into mulberry fields, but the life and romance of the past remain ingrained in people's bones. Passed down from generation to generation, it is surprising how little has changed.

Yin Li gazed at the scenery before her, speechless for a long time. The yellow sand stung her face. Just then, a hand suddenly slapped her shoulder, startling her so much she almost fell into the sand.

"Xiao Li, look—I told you the best time to visit the ruins is in the evening, but you didn't believe me. There are so few people now, we can have some fun." The girl beside her was dressed in a practical T-shirt and jeans, with long black hair and a white travel hat. She was so vain that even in the scorching desert, she refused to tie her hair up. "Come on, let's go see the city wall ruins." Before she finished speaking, she had already pulled Yin Li towards the ancient city wall not far away. Yin Li was somewhat amused and exasperated, running alongside her through the yellow sand, her shoes filled with sand.

The once tall and long ancient city wall is now reduced to a broken section standing on the yellow sand. Years of weathering have left it riddled with holes, and when the wind blows, it makes a wailing sound, like the wailing of ghosts.

"I'll climb up and take a look," the girl said, starting to climb up.

A middle-aged man rushed over, stumbling along, and shouted, "Get down! Get down! It's too dangerous!"

"Okay, Director Cheng." The girl reluctantly pulled her foot back from the stone wall. Yin Li looked helplessly at her friend and rubbed her aching temples.

This girl was her best friend, named Qin Wen, a name that sounded like the somewhat arrogant and beautiful girl in "Dream of the Red Chamber." She was just as beautiful and charming as Qin Wen, but unlike her, she was excessively kind and naive, which was one of the reasons Yin Li liked her. The two were university classmates, becoming inseparable best friends from the very first day of school. During their four years of university, they dreamed of traveling together, promising to travel west along the southern route of the Silk Road after graduation, all the way to Kashgar, and then back to Xi'an along the northern route. They worked many part-time jobs during university to pursue this dream. Now that they had graduated, they packed their backpacks and set off westward.

Director Cheng pointed at Qin Wen and scolded her sternly before returning to explain the legends of the ancient city to the other tourists. This is the lower reaches of the Niya River, 150 kilometers north of Minfeng County, where the ruins of the famous capital of the Jingjue Kingdom, Niya, are located. When Stein discovered this ancient city a hundred years ago, it had already slumbered in the desert for over a thousand years, and its artifacts were remarkably well-preserved.

Yin Li and Qin Wen had always longed to visit this place and vowed to see it no matter what. However, the Niya Ruins were located in the desert, and traveling independently was too dangerous. When they were in Minfeng City, a large tour group happened to be renting cars to enter the desert, so they begged the tour guide to take them along. After much pleading and paying a considerable sum, the guide finally agreed.

At this time, Director Cheng was leading everyone to find dwellings within the ruins and then set up tents near them. No one seemed inclined to ask for their help; everyone was happily busy with their tasks. The two women, not knowing how to set up tents, simply wandered aimlessly around the ruins.

The ancient ruins, centered around a Buddhist stupa, stretch over an area 25 kilometers long from north to south and 5 to 7 kilometers wide from east to west. Within the ruins, remains of houses, courtyards, cemeteries, stupas, temples, fields, orchards, livestock pens, canals, pottery kilns, and smelting sites have been discovered. The two visitors, referring to their professional books, thoroughly enjoyed the tour, seemingly curious about everything.

They walked for an unknown amount of time, until the tour group setting up their tents disappeared from sight, and the sky gradually darkened. When the two realized something was wrong, a thick curtain had already been cast over the sky, adorned with countless glittering stars.

"So beautiful!" Qin Wen exclaimed, looking up at the sky. "You can't see so many stars in the city. That must be the Big Dipper, right? And that's Andromeda..."

"Xiao Wen!" Yin Li snapped, unable to contain herself any longer. "You actually have the nerve to look at the stars! Don't you know we're lost!"

Qin Wen paused for two seconds, then said, "I know."

"Knowing this, you're still so relaxed?" Yin Li felt like she was going crazy. This Qin Wen, she's always so slow to react to anything.

"If we can't find our way back, we're doomed!"

"So what?" Qin Wen sat down next to a house that looked like a residential building and said indifferently, "At worst, we'll just sleep here for one night, and they'll come looking for us tomorrow."

Yin Li rolled her eyes helplessly. This must be what they mean by "talking past each other like chickens and ducks." She ignored Qin Wen, who was drawing randomly in the sand with a stick, took out her flashlight, and carefully searched back in the direction she had come from, hoping that her footprints had not been buried by the sand.

But her efforts were in vain. She hadn't even walked a hundred meters before her footprints disappeared, replaced by endless yellow sand. She sighed and had no choice but to turn back. Just as she returned to the house she had just been walking in, she froze. A chill ran down her spine, and she felt a sudden coldness rise from her feet.

She's gone! Qin Wen has disappeared!

She thought she had remembered the wrong place, but there were still irregular patterns left by Qin Wen when she scribbled on the sand at the corner of the wall.

That's right! This is it! But where did Qin Wen go?

"Xiao Wen!" Yin Li looked around with a flashlight, the pale yellow light sweeping across the surrounding houses and decaying wooden stakes, but she couldn't see Qin Wen anywhere.

"Xiaowen! Where are you? Don't scare me!"

No one answered, not even an echo; her voice seemed to be swallowed up by the ancient, ruined city. The deathly silence chilled her heart, and her voice trembled as she cried out, "Xiaowen! Come out, this game isn't fun!"

Still no one answered. In her anxiety, she tripped over something and stumbled, almost falling on the sand.

Her expression froze for a moment as she noticed a series of footprints in the sand.

Those footprints couldn't possibly be Xiaowen's. Xiaowen was wearing sneakers, so her footprints should have some pattern. But those footprints were flat, somewhat like the footprints of a homemade cloth shoe, and they were very small, at most size 24.

Besides them, who else was in this city of death? The thought sent chills down Yin Li's spine.

The footprint was too small to be from Director Cheng or his group, and besides, Director Cheng wouldn't have taken Xiaowen back to camp alone. So, who owned the footprint?

She crouched down and examined the strange footprints closely. Such small footprints—could they be from a child? But a child's footprints wouldn't be this deep. Even adult footprints wouldn't be this deep; the owner of the footprints must have been carrying something heavy.

Heavy object?

Yin Li thought of her good friend Qin Wen. Could this strange man... be carrying... Qin Wen?! Qin Wen's Taekwondo is a family tradition; ordinary people can't even get close to her. Since she's being carried...

Yin Li's heart skipped a beat; Xiao Wen was in danger!

She gritted her teeth, stood up, and followed the footprints. No matter who it was, she wouldn't let him hurt Xiaowen!

The footprints extended deep into the residential buildings. Yin Li hesitated for a moment in front of the many houses. This residential area seemed to be very well preserved, and one could even see streets covered with yellow sand.

Countless images flashed through Yin Li's mind, one by one from the horror movies she had seen before. This terrifying ancient city ruin, nestled deep in the desert, had slumbered for millennia—what lay within?

She dared not think any further. The cold desert wind blew through the air, carrying yellow sand. The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is huge, with temperatures in the forties during the day dropping to minus ten degrees Celsius at night. She was still wearing a short-sleeved shirt, shivering from the cold, but she had no mind to take out a sweater from her backpack to change into.

Just then, a point of light suddenly appeared in the residential area. The light was very conspicuous in the pitch-black desert night. Yin Li was startled. Could it be Xiao Wen's flashlight? No, impossible! The light flickered slightly, uncertainly shining; it couldn't be a flashlight, but a candle.

Candle?

Xiaowen didn't have any candles on her!

II. Mysterious Antiques

Yin Li's hand gripping the flashlight tightened, her five fingers turning white. Her forehead and back were covered in a dense layer of cold sweat, which felt even colder when the wind blew.

She sneezed suddenly, as if she had mustered her courage. She steadied herself, stepped into the street, and walked towards the faint light.

The light came from a relatively well-preserved house. The window seemed to be covered with a layer of paper, and the candlelight flickered inside, casting a human shadow. Yin Li saw the shadow and unconsciously took a step back. The shadow moved back and forth in the house; it was rather short, and it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

Yin Li's heart skipped a beat. Could this be the owner of those strange footprints?

Her heart pounded like a rabbit's. She stared at the shadow for a long time before finally mustering the courage to call out towards the house, "Xiaowen? Xiaowen, are you there?"

The shadow seemed to hear her voice, paused, and then vanished in a flash. Yin Li felt her chest pounding like a drum, and cautiously walked to the door.

There was no door anymore; the original door had vanished without a trace in the weathering of a thousand years. Yin Li stood in the doorway and saw a table inside. The table wasn't new, but it didn't look like an artifact from a thousand years ago. A white candle sat on the table, but no one was in sight.

"Xiaowen?" Yin Li walked into the house. The interior was even more dilapidated than the exterior. It was just a single room without a bedroom, and everything inside was visible.

"Xiao Wen!" Yin Li finally saw her friend. She was lying on the bed in the corner of the room. The bed was a stone bed, which might have once been covered with cotton, but now only dust and some stones remained. Qin Wen was sleeping on it, without moving.

Yin Li rushed over, helped her up, and pinched her philtrum hard: "Xiao Wen! Wake up! You can't be hurt!"

Her voice trembled with a sob. If Xiaowen had been murdered, how could she face her parents? How could she face herself?

Qin Wen frowned and slowly opened her eyes. Yin Li's face gradually came into focus: "Xiao Li? Where am I?"

"Thank God!" Yin Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad you're alright." Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall.

Qin Wen looked completely puzzled: "I remember I was sitting on the floor drawing a picture just now, how did I get here?"

"Do you remember who brought you here?" Yin Li asked quickly.

"I..." Qin Wen's eyes were blurry. She scratched her head and tried to recall carefully.

"I was drawing, and I don't know how I drifted off to sleep. I think I was still somewhat conscious in my dream. I think I saw the face of an old woman."

"Old woman?" Yin Li exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, a very old woman, wearing a long robe, with a face full of wrinkles, and very short."

An old woman? Yin Li frowned. If she was an old woman, perhaps her feet were indeed small. But could an old woman carry Xiao Wen on her back?

She went to the window to look at the paper pasted on the window. The wind rustled through it. The paper was new; it must have been just pasted on. Could that old woman have made it too? What was she up to?

"Xiao Li! Come and see!" Qin Wen seemed to have discovered something and shouted loudly.

Yin Li quickly returned to her side and saw that she was holding a wooden board and a stone covered in dust. She asked, "What is this?"

"I don't know either, it was on the bed." Qin Wen carefully wiped the dust off the wooden board, on which a row of strange characters were written in ink.

"Khálya?" Qin Wen exclaimed in surprise.

"What is Kharosthi?" Yin Li asked, puzzled.

"Kharosthi script, also known as Kharosthi or donkey-lip script, is a dialect of Niya. It is written horizontally from right to left. The Jingjue Kingdom has always used this script, and it is also written on the wooden slips discovered by Professor Stein a hundred years ago." Qin Wen said, looking up and seeing Yin Li looking at her strangely, she quickly said, "Have you forgotten? My mother is an expert in Western Region scripts, and I have learned a lot from her."

"What does it say on this?" Yin Li asked eagerly.

"How would I know?" Qin Wen shrugged and said, "Kharosthi script is one of the most difficult scripts in the world to decipher. It's not the script I've studied the most. I can only take it back and have my mother take a look. Maybe she can understand the general meaning." As she spoke, she put the wooden board into her backpack. Yin Li was startled and said, "This is an important cultural relic. Aren't you afraid of breaking the law?"

Seeing her pale face, Qin Wen smiled mischievously: "Don't worry, this thing is definitely not an antique. The wooden board is too new, the ink is new too, it must have been made recently. As long as it's not an antique, what am I afraid of?"

"Just recently made?" Yin Li frowned. How could there be a wooden slip made so recently in this ancient city? Could it be? Left behind by that old woman? What was her intention in doing this?

Thinking this, Yin Li took the stone that had been placed alongside the wooden board from Qin Wen's hand. After wiping off the dust, her expression changed: "A jade pendant?"

"Let me see!" Qin Wen had a special fondness for jade, and upon hearing about the jade pendant, she quickly snatched it away, her expression changing as well.

It was a jade pendant of exceptionally high quality, with a dark blue base and an apparent liquid flowing within it. Holding it in my hand, I could even feel a warmth. The jade was carved into the shape of an insect, with two intricately patterned wings, resembling neither a moth nor a butterfly. I didn't know its age, but the craftsmanship was exquisite, so it was unlikely to be an ordinary item.

"That's strange, there doesn't seem to be any record of such a pattern in the Jingjue Kingdom." Qin Wen scratched her head: "Could it be that this doesn't belong to the Jingjue Kingdom?"

"What are you muttering about?" Yin Li asked. "Is this an antique?"

Qin Wen was taken aback; she had fallen in love with the jade pendant at first sight. If this jade was at least two thousand years old, Xiao Li would definitely force her to hand it over, making it difficult for her to see it again. Perhaps…?

"No, it's nothing special, just ordinary jade." Qin Wen wasn't good at lying, and her face flushed as she spoke. Fortunately, the room was dimly lit, and Yin Li didn't seem to suspect anything.

"Alright, get up quickly, let's find our way back." Yin Li helped her out of bed, and the two had just reached the door when Yin Li stopped abruptly, her face turning deathly pale.

"Xiao Li, what's wrong?" Qin Wen was startled. Did Xiao Li know that she was lying to her?

"Xiaowen, I saw a small shadow inside the house when I was outside, but it disappeared after it went inside. But I didn't see it go out the front door."

"Perhaps, it's from the window..." Qin Wen turned her head. There was only one window in the room, covered with a layer of white paper. Her face immediately turned as white as the paper. The two exchanged a glance, and suddenly a terrifying word came to mind:

ghost!

With a cry of pain, the two women took off running, the wind whistling in their ears, the yellow sand stinging their faces like knives, yet they felt nothing. They ran for what seemed like an eternity, until they were both utterly exhausted and collapsed onto a sand dune. They felt dizzy and their bodies ached all over.

"Xiao Li—we, our speed just now, could we compete in the Olympics?" Qin Wen, a natural optimist, didn't forget to joke even at this moment: "We're definitely no worse than Liu Xiang."

Yin Li was speechless and could only manage a bitter smile.

Qin Wen turned her head unintentionally and exclaimed as if she had discovered a new continent, her voice full of surprise: "Xiao Li! Look, our camp!"

"What?" Yin Li couldn't believe her luck. Turning around, she saw a row of tents and bright lights.

Overwhelmed with excitement, the two forgot their fatigue and ran joyfully toward the camp. As they ran, Yin Li looked back at the way they had come, but the eerie Niya dwellings were no longer visible, only a blurry mass of darkness in the night.

III. Prophet Apul