Oracle bone fragments

Chapter 25

"This is the 'Nan' I created after researching it." He said, shaking it again, and Xu Xu felt his heart flutter, as if the instrument truly possessed some kind of magic.

"Then, shall we get ready to begin?" he asked Xu Xu.

"Okay." Xu Xu licked her slightly dry lips.

"Take out the wizard's skull and stand on the round platform, facing the flames."

As she opened the lead box and her fingertips touched the wizard's skull, Xu Xu felt a jolt run through her body. A strange, indescribable feeling washed over her; she could hear her own heartbeat, as if being pulled by the skull in her hand, each beat striking her chest, heavy and powerful, like the sound of the "Nan" bell just now.

Slowly standing in the center of the circular platform, facing the flames, every strand of hair could feel the heat ahead. Ouyang Wenlan was obscured by the flames, creating the illusion that his figure was twisting and contorted with the flames.

"Have the wizard's skull facing you, relax, let your arms hang naturally, and place the skull in front of your lower abdomen. You can close your eyes."

The cauldron crackled and popped intermittently, emitting a faint, calming fragrance. Slowly closing her eyes, she listened to Ouyang Wenlan's gentle, almost hypnotic voice emanating from the other side of the fire.

“Calm down your heart, calm down, calm down to the deepest part. It is very quiet there, there is no sound, but you can feel the initial pulse of life, like your heart, contracting and expanding, contracting and expanding. Feel a seed hidden in your pulse, hidden in the core of your life, incredibly tiny, yet so vast that its boundaries are invisible. Find it, experience it, embrace it.”

As Ouyang Wenlan spoke, his voice grew so low it was almost inaudible. Suddenly, he began to chant, his tone extremely ancient. The words he sang were completely incomprehensible; if Sun Jing, well-versed in ancient phonetics, were present, he might have been able to discern something.

Ouyang Wenlan sang softly as he handed the bamboo cane to Abao, picked up the tortoise shell and placed it on the square table. He then took a chisel and a small hammer and made a very standard chisel mark on the shell. After that, he held the drill bit and began to rotate it along the chisel mark.

He was over ninety years old, but his hands were still strong. After drilling dozens of times, only a thin layer of the tortoise shell remained; any further and he would have drilled through. He chiseled first and then drilled, leaving a fan-shaped mark in the center of the tortoise shell, just like the chisel marks on unearthed oracle bones.

Ouyang Wenlan examined the tortoise shell for a moment, nodded slightly, and was about to make his next move when he heard a "dududu" sound coming from the tunnel of the oracle bone.

He frowned and stopped chanting. Slowly, hearing a sound, he opened his eyes.

"What is that sound?" Xu Xu asked.

"Someone is ringing the doorbell outside, maybe it's someone delivering water." Ouyang Wenlan glanced at Abao. "I shouldn't have left you here. Go on, don't keep them waiting. You're always causing me trouble. Remember, be nicer, and don't cause any more trouble."

Ah Bao responded and quickly ran into the passageway.

“Abao’s attitude has always been good, how could he cause trouble?” Xu Xu said.

"You've never seen him angry. You need to keep him in check. Just ignore him and let's move on."

Ah Bao opened the door to the basement at the end of the passageway, and the "beep beep" sound immediately became many times louder and extremely piercing. This wasn't a doorbell ringing; it was the alarm going off, indicating that someone had entered the garden through unauthorized means.

Near the basement exit was a locker. Abao opened the locker door and pressed the stop alarm button; the annoying sound finally stopped. Inside the locker was a monitor displaying surveillance footage from the four corner cameras of the garden.

In one of the scenes, Abao saw Sun Jing. He stopped searching with his head down.

"What's going on?" Abao said, then looked around the room and spotted a two-foot-long Ming Dynasty bronze reclining Buddha. He grabbed the Buddha's feet, lifted it up, and went out the door. He muttered to himself as he climbed the stone steps.

"Kill him, kill him, kill him! Oh, but we can't kill him."

Abao sighed, remembering Ouyang Wenlan's advice to avoid trouble, and shook his head. He turned back to the basement, found a rag to wrap around the Buddha's head, and then tiptoed back to the ground.

Having already spotted Sun Jing's location on the monitor, he circled around and saw Sun Jing's back as he looked around. He grinned silently.

Abao lifted the bronze Buddha, took a few steps toward Sun Jing, and suddenly rushed toward him with increased force.

Hearing the noise behind him, Sun Jing quickly turned around, but A Bao had explosive power. He had only turned halfway when the bronze Buddha hit him on the head and he fell down.

"Idiot." Abao looked down and said disdainfully.

But he quickly exclaimed "Huh?" The guy lying unconscious on the ground, though wearing Sun Jing's clothes, was a complete stranger he had never seen before.

Before he could even process what was happening, there was a loud bang behind him, a numbness in his waist, and he collapsed to the ground.

Sun Jing squatted down and pressed the stun gun on A Bao's body for several seconds until he was confirmed to be unconscious before releasing it.

“What an idiot who’s in such a hurry to lock the door,” Sun Jing said.

Ouyang Wenlan is definitely too busy right now. If he can lure Abao out and deal with him, the chances of rescuing Xuxu will be much higher. He knows that Xuxu is most likely not in the building because he didn't see any shoes taken off in front of the door. Fortunately, the rain has stopped recently, so he can follow Abao's shoe prints to find the way he came.

He was able to come up with this idea entirely because during his previous two visits, he had carefully observed the environment out of professional habit, confirming the presence of alarms and memorizing the locations of the cameras. Fortunately, the alarms here worked as he had imagined, simply going off indiscriminately without being able to determine the number of intruders.

As for the beggar on the ground with whom he had swapped clothes, let him lie there a little longer. There's no time to worry about him now; after taking all the money from his wallet, he had to make some sacrifices.

But Sun Jing couldn't immediately go find Xu Xu's whereabouts. He took the key from A Bao's body, opened the door and went out. He returned the ladder leaning against the wall to the owner of the hardware store across the street and thanked him sincerely.

"That alarm was really scary. If you hadn't come out, I almost called the police. Is your great-grandfather alright?" the shop owner said with a smile.

"What kind of thug climbs the wall so openly? Haha. My back is getting bad as I get older, and I can't walk without support these past few days. I just peed in my pants, nothing serious. When I went in, I found that Ah Bao was actually sleeping. I slapped him a few times before he woke up."

“It’s never going to work out if an elderly person is cared for by someone with intellectual disabilities. I’m telling you, younger generations, don’t wait until the elderly call you for help before coming over; they should have family members with them.”

"Yes, yes." Sun Jing nodded and quickly left.

"Living a long life can also bring misfortune," the shopkeeper said, shaking his head as he watched Sun Jing's retreating figure.

With a "bang," Sun Jing slammed the iron gate of the Ouyang family's house shut.

Inside the air-raid shelter, along the edge where the firelight reached, there were many pairs of eyes.

Yellow, blue, and turquoise.

As Ouyang Wenlan chanted, these furry little creatures appeared silently, without uttering a sound, and quietly gathered at the boundary between light and darkness.

"Hiss—" The sharp knife severed the blood vessel in the calf's neck, and blood gushed out. It was poured into the small cauldron below. The calf's body twitched slightly; the anesthetic rendered it unable to even offer a token resistance.

Ouyang Wenlan's wizard-like chanting continued unabated. He let the cow's blood flow, then used long-handled iron tongs to hold the tortoise shell, uncut side down, and carefully roasted it at the edge of the flame.

Xu Xu stood on the round platform, cradling the skull, motionless as if in deep meditation. She felt an unknown aura surrounding her, enveloping her, and slowly even the heat of the flames in front of her faded.

Ouyang Wenlan rotated his wrist, and the tortoise shell circled a few times over the flames before being inserted deep into the fire cauldron. He pulled it out less than a second later and immersed it in the ox blood in the small cauldron next to him.

With a soft "sizzle," Ouyang Wenlan put down the iron pliers, reached in and took out the tortoise shell, which was covered in ox blood and had divination patterns.

Ouyang Wenlan stepped onto the round platform, holding a tortoise shell in his left hand and dipping his right hand in the blood on the shell. He then placed a dot between Xu Xu's eyebrows, moving downwards from the bridge of her nose to her chin, drawing a line of blood. Next, he drew a branch from the corner of her eye to the tip of her nose on her left cheek, adding a small dot on the branch. The shape was exactly the same as the divination marks on the tortoise shell.

Upon catching a strong whiff of blood, she knew it was cow's blood. She was already in a semi-dazed state, still somewhat conscious, but remembering Ouyang Wenlan's earlier words, she relaxed completely and remained motionless.

Ouyang Wenlan tossed the tortoise shell into the fire, then gently guided Xu Xu's hand, helping her slowly lift the wizard's skull upwards. From her lower abdomen to her chest, and from her chest to her face. As Xu Xu positioned the wizard's skull directly in front of her face, the dizziness intensified, as if she were losing control and beginning to sway.

In fact, she remained standing very steadily, almost stubbornly so. Ouyang Wenlan continued to lift the skull upwards, supporting it as he moved it above her forehead, then slowly turned it upside down until the round hole on the skull was pressed tightly against the top of her head.

Ouyang Wenlan smiled, stood next to Xu Xu, and sang even louder.

The sound of footsteps, like a sudden downpour, came from the other end of the oracle bone passageway.

Ouyang Wenlan raised his white eyebrows, and then a loud shout was heard:

"lay down!"

It was Sun Jing's voice, she slowly realized. She began to try to break free from her daze, but it wasn't easy.

Seeing Xu Xu standing on the round platform from afar, Sun Jing knew that the witchcraft had not only begun, but had probably reached a critical moment. He tightened his grip on the stun gun and, as soon as he rushed out of the tunnel, threw it at Xu Xu.

He aimed at the wizard's skull on Xu Xu's head, but how could he have such good aim while running so fast? The stun gun veered slightly to the side and hit Xu Xu's right hand instead.

Xu Xu felt a sharp pain in her right hand as her skull fell to the ground. Her left hand instinctively tried to catch it, but instead pushed it away.

The wizard's skull arced forward. Ouyang Wenlan tried to catch it, but being old, his reaction was slow, and he watched helplessly as the skull fell into the fire cauldron.

He cried out "Ah!" and forgot all about chanting. He jumped off the platform and reached in to grab it, clearly in a frantic state. Only when he was burned by the flames did he realize he had to pull his hand back, but he didn't give up. He pushed the scalding cauldron with all his might, trying to knock it over.

Ouyang Wenlan used all his strength, and the three-legged cauldron tilted, but instead of falling, it swayed back up. Some of the oil in the cauldron splashed out, landing on Ouyang Wenlan along with the flames.

The old man finally lost all his composure, screaming and rolling on the ground. Sun Jing ran past him, jumped onto the round platform, and pulled Xu Xu back.

"This...this is..." Xu Xu had already opened her eyes, but she didn't understand what was going on.

"You just held a real wizard's skull; Ouyang Wenlan was the test subject." Seeing that Xu Xu was unharmed, Sun Jing pulled her off the platform, but remained vigilant. The flames on Ouyang Wenlan's body were dwindling, threatening to extinguish completely with a few more rolls. His counterattack could arrive in the blink of an eye—what would it be like?

"A real wizard's skull? Good heavens, did I throw it into the fire?" Xu Xu stared intently at the blazing cauldron.

"That's too extravagant," she said softly.

Xu Xu was completely out of it, and Sun Jing didn't have time to wake her up. He pulled out the stun gun and rushed towards Ouyang Wenlan. The one he had just thrown away was the one he had snatched from Wen Zhen yesterday.

No matter what skills you have, I'll stun you with electricity before you even recover.

Ouyang Wenlan rolled a few more times, but still couldn't keep up with Sun Jing's running speed. When they were about three steps apart, Sun Jing prepared to pounce. A shrill meow came from behind him. He turned around sharply and saw a black cat leaping high, aiming straight for his neck.

Sun Jing quickly dodged, the stun gun switched off, and an electric arc exploded. The black cat fell to the ground, its body steaming.

But he wasn't attacked by just one cat; at least five cats leaped up and pounced on him before the black cat even hit the ground. More than a dozen surrounded him, their fur bristling and hissing wildly, while even more emerged from the darkness.

The stun gun was incredibly effective against cats, but it couldn't withstand so many attacking at once. In the blink of an eye, three more cats were electrocuted, but two more were already dangling from each of their legs. Even his jeans couldn't hide their sharp teeth. More cats climbed up his body like they were climbing trees, and Sun Jing tried to push and block them with both hands, but within seconds, he had many cuts from their claws.

But Sun Jing was relieved. The cats' unusual attack must be because of Ouyang Wenlan. He had been worried that Ouyang's newfound abilities might be terrifying, but now it seemed that although the dozens of cats attacking were fierce and he was covered in wounds and unable to escape, he probably wouldn't die.

Sun Jing covered his throat and face, and used the stun gun to call out the names of the cats one by one. The crackling sound of the electric shocks made his ears ring.

Suddenly, Sun Jing shuddered, and the stun gun slipped from his hand and fell to the ground; he had been shocked himself.

This is not surprising at all. Cats are extremely agile. If a cat had reached out its paw and touched Sun Jing's body just before being electrocuted, the current result would have occurred.

Sun Jing thought to himself, "Oh no!" The electric shock caused all the cats clinging to him to tremble and fall off, but more were about to pounce on him. What would he do without the stun gun?

But surprisingly, no cat pounced on it again.

Sun Jing turned her head and saw that the stun gun that had been thrown out earlier was now in Xu Xu's hand, crackling with electricity. Beside her, Ouyang Wenlan, who had been standing up, fell down again.

“This thing isn’t very powerful,” Sun Jing shouted. “One shock won’t necessarily knock you out. Let’s shock you again.”

Sun Jing looked tattered and bleeding from multiple places, a truly wretched sight.

Xu Xu asked, "Are you alright?" He bent down to call Ouyang Wenlan again.

"Watch out!" Sun Jing shouted.

Xu Xu heard a cat meow, and thrust the stun gun backward, but missed.

The large, tiger-striped cat that pounced darted past Xu Xu and landed on Ouyang Wenlan.

Ouyang Wenlan did not faint, but for an ordinary elderly person, a simple fall is a serious matter. He had been burned and then electrocuted, and now every bone in his body ached as if it had been broken, leaving him completely powerless. At this moment, when the large cat bit his hand, he could only cry out in pain and could not even make a movement to drive it away.

He only called out twice, and the remaining dozen or so cats pounced on him silently, tearing at him with their heads down. Ouyang Wenlan's screams echoed through the air-raid shelter, sending chills down everyone's spines.

He slowly retreated many steps, his face turning pale.

"This is too cruel, please save him."

Sun Jing looked at the tabby cat that had pounced first and was now biting Ouyang Wenlan's neck, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid there's no hope."

Despite saying that, he still went up and used a stun gun to press on the back of a cat that was biting Ouyang's calf.

All the cats were electrocuted, but most were unharmed. After a few meows, they turned and scattered.

Ouyang Wenlan was on the verge of death. He opened his mouth and looked at Sun Jing.

Sun Jing lowered his head.

“Huai Xiu… and I are good friends,” he said, then repeated, “We really are good friends.”