Chapter 30: Diary

“I’m a little confused………”

Chen Bin pointed at the gravestone and whispered, “What does this mean?”

You Huo didn’t immediately answer.

He took a few steps and moved to another location that was dug up by a pair of ghost arms.

A second gravestone was revealed.

Name: Chu Xiaonan.

Examination ticket number: 860575-04221703-1124

I will always miss you.

Gravestone was set up by: Villager B.

Address: Chars Village, house number 2.

On the photo was a woman with an egg-shaped face. She had her hair in a high ponytail and wasn’t smiling. She looked both refined and capable.

If you let down her hair and messed it up a little, added a thick scarf, coupled that with a long winter coat that went down to her knees and also included a set of cracked, pale lips……..

It was that woman who was always smashing the ice by the river.

Everyone’s expression turned even more ugly.

They stood there in silence for a moment. They then all began to dig.

The third, fourth, fifth……

The area they searched grew broader and broader, and more and more gravestones were exposed. There were so many, they couldn’t help but feel their scalp go numb.

One after another, they uncovered familiar faces.

For example, the two other villagers who regularly went to the river, and also the village chief……

Chen Bin’s face was ghostly pale.

He no longer needed to confirm it. He could clearly understand what was going on——–

Those villagers who looked dull and lifeless were all once examinees.

Those people who are now referred to as “ABCD” were not originally NPC’s of this village. They once had a name.

You Huo squatted before a gravestone and looked up into the distance.

From where they were, they couldn’t see the ends of the woods.

They couldn’t spend the whole night here digging. Even if they didn’t eat or sleep, they wouldn’t be able to finish digging up this entire place.

The number of people buried here would be a mystery even until the very end.

‧

Old Yu muttered in fear: “What is this? Why did they become villagers? And……and with so many graves here, if all the examinees became villagers then how could there only be eighteen households?”

“There’s something here!” Yu Yao suddenly called out.

She knelt before Zhao Wentu’s gravestone and held up a clear waterproof bag.

“Where did you find it?” You Huo walked over.

“It was buried here.” Yu Yao pointed to the ground.

Her large belly made it inconvenient for her to move around, so she was slowly digging along the edge of Zhao Wentu’s gravestone.

She didn’t have to dig long to uncover this waterproof bag.

Please read this from kk translates

“It’s probably something left behind by Zhao Wentu.” Yu Yao said.

You Huo opened the waterproof bag and took out the book. Just as he was about to open it, he paused.

He looked down at Zhao Wentu’s gravestone and said: “Borrowing it to take a look.”

He said this very quietly, like a casual grunt. No one heard him apart from the invigilator who was forced to follow him around.

Hearing his words, Qin Jiu’s eyes flickered slightly. He looked at him for a while.

The young man on the gravestone continued to smile.

‧

With a quick skim, you could tell instantly that it was Zhao Wentu’s diary.

More precisely, it was a record of his experiences during the examination.

You Huo skipped over the others and turned directly to the contents mentioning this exam.

‧

-Day 1 of Foreign Language. Sunny.-

This time we were very lucky and didn’t manage to get English!

There are not many Gypsy speakers left in this world anymore, yet this d.a.m.ned system dared to examine us on it. But it also wasn’t unreasonable. There’s this girl in the team who seems to know a little.

I think saying “little” is being too humble. At the very least, she was able to translate very well for the listening part of the exam.

That girl wrote down the black widow’s name on the spot. d.a.m.n impressive!

She said that the name “floure” meant flower. It’s pretty nice……

Alright, I really have nothing else to say about that.

Except for her, the other teammates don’t seem very reliable (I hope that I can soon come back and slap myself in the face for saying this). It might also be because my expectations were too high. Afterall, you don’t always get lucky and get teamed up with those G.o.dsend teammates.

The villagers said that we would need to draw a card to be able to enter the black widow’s house (Thank you ex-girlfriend for teaching me about tarot cards and making me memorise the meanings behind the entire set of cards. I didn’t expect something like this to actually be useful later on.) Unfortunately by luck was bad and I drew the hanging man…..

In the afternoon, we were locked in the house and spent almost half the day sewing dolls. Manual labour was the death of me, so I only managed to sew an arm and a leg.

I’m a little worried. I don’t know what the intention behind these dolls were but it probably wasn’t a good thing.

It is now nine o’clock at night. I should go sleep. Sweet dreams.

PS: This village is really strange.

-Day 2 of Foreign Language. Cloudy.-

Someone died. Two of them.

One had their limbs cut off because of the dolls.

I knew there was something wrong with sewing the dolls. If you didn’t sew, you die, but if you sewed the most, you would be cut up. With so much f.u.c.king blood and the body missing, what difference was it between this and death?

That unlucky teammate was still very young and seemed to still be in high school. We only met yesterday but I remember him saying that his father’s name was Lin and his mother’s name was Tang so he was called Lin Tang.

Sigh……..

The scene was too b.l.o.o.d.y. I don’t want to recall it or remember it.

The other one was forced to enter the coffin because of an incorrect answer.

Our answer for the second listening question was wrong, but how could it be wrong? I really don’t get it……

The girl translated the entire speech spoken by the black widow for us. She said that the previous village chief was too foolish and disapproved of the black widow’s involvement with the dead. He ostracised her for many years until her husband and children died (I suspect the village chief probably asked someone to do it and later the black widow killed him in retaliation?). She said she buried her entire family in the east part of the woods and had since become addicted to making dolls as a form of mental rehabilitation. The dolls helped convey her feelings, and through this she remembered her family.

The girl wrote east part of the woods and also included grave as a precaution, but it was actually wrong!

I don’t get it. Now I want to go and take a look at the east part of the woods, but the villagers had warned us that we must not enter the woods. They seemed to be particularly afraid of that place. Having learnt our lesson from last night, this time everyone agreed to saw the same amount. We all only sewed the left arm so that there won’t be anyone who has sewn more.

It is now eight o’clock at night. Soon there will be a meeting to discuss the answer to the next question. Sweet dreams.

PS: I still find this village weird, especially those villagers. The girl said that the Gypsy inscription outside the village meant “Black Earth”. Black could be a.s.sociated with death and it’s also the same black in black widow.

So this was probably also “The Land of the Dead.”

-Day 3 of Foreign Language. Cloudy.-

Another teammate died.

It was because of those dolls.

It was useless even if we sewed the same amount. They actually calculated by including the amount sewn on the first day too. Then that means I’ve sewn a total of two arms and one leg?

The only good thing was that we managed to answer correctly today.

Please read this from kk translates

The black widow’s letter of blessing was very long. The girl could only understand a small portion of it. Along with some guesses, we felt that one of the dolls wearing black clothes looked a little like villager A. The letter of blessing said that we should stand at the door, knock three times and say, “I have a gift for you”. We were not allowed to get it wrong. We did as it said, and the door really opened. But the moment villager A saw the doll, he instantly went crazy.

Forget it, I’m not going to write about all the fights and conflicts. It’s too tiring. It’s enough just to be alive.

Today everyone discussed again and decided to ensure that everyone has sewn the same amount.

It is now eight o’clock at night. Soon we will be having another meeting to discuss the next answer……. But with fewer and fewer people, it can no longer be called a meeting.

-Day 4 of Foreign Language-

Another died.

We all sewed the same amount so the one who is targeted was randomly selected.

Also, another terrible thing happened.

The person living in villager A’s house had changed. The new one turned out to be Lin Tang who had died on the first day.

It really was Lin Tang, not someone who resembled him. Even the mole was exactly the same.

He looked very dazed and would dig for ice together with the other villagers. The scariest thing was that he didn’t recognise us anymore and no longer remembered his name.

He said his name was villager A. The previous villager had left, and he had only moved in today.

Then……does that mean that you are freed once you receive a doll? And the examinees who were killed would replace them as the new villager

It is now seven o’clock at night. There are only three of us left.

I think…..I probably won’t be able to get through this exam. Although I have mentally prepared myself for this with every exam, it is still a little sad thinking about it.

I hope that girl would be able to live a little longer. We have troubled her too much in this exam.

If there is a 1 in 10,000 chance and we are able to successfully pa.s.s……….I hope to see her again at another city. At that time, I would change my self-introduction and try to get to know her again.

Alright, I’m probably just being too wishful.

-Day 5 of Foreign Language.-

I was cut, but I was resurrected.

I still have my arms and legs, but it feels strange to touch, like cotton.

If this was what it meant to be alive……..

I can no longer remember what happened yesterday.

While there’s still time, I need to dig a grave.

I hope I can remember who I am after digging one.

I wish her sweet dreams.

My name is Zhao Wentu.

My name is Zhao Wentu……….

‧

The actual diary came to an abrupt stop here. The last entry showed signs of incoherence.

On the reverse side of this entry were the words, “My name is Zhao Wentu” filling the page. As it was written, the words became more and more awkward and crooked.

At the very last line, there was only one word: “My”.

‧

After reading Zhao Wentu’s diary, everyone’s heart went cold.

Judging from the contents of the diary, the gravestone was probably set up by Zhan Wentu himself.

He had constantly repeated his name as he stood there in desperate attempt to make himself remember it a little longer.

But the moment he wrote “Rest in peace”, he had become villager D and he no longer remembered anything.

Occasionally, he would suddenly feel that he did not belong there, and he would also suddenly feel that a visitor appeared familiar, but he could never explain why.

As a result, he had become known as the crazy man.

When the ghost limbs cut them up, they said that obedient guests could live, while disobedient ones could only die?

Could this still be considered living?

The severing of the arms and legs was like a curse. Cursed examinees would become villagers and be forever bound to this village whilst bearing the name of villager ABCD until the day an examinee gives them the correct doll.

At that time, they could finally truly pa.s.s on……

It was no wonder those villagers were so afraid of the black widow. It was because they also used to be examinees.

No wonder they were reluctant to enter the woods. It was because their own graves were there.

‧

You Huo finished reading the final page and closed the diary expressionlessly.

He shoved the diary back into the waterproof bag and intended to bury it back in place, but he eventually changed his mind.

Holding the bag, he said: “Let’s go.” “Go where?” Everyone had not yet recovered from their emotions. They were very confused.

You Huo: “I don’t want to take the test anymore. Gifting all the dolls out tonight.”

The words “gifting the dolls” were spoken by this great master, but his expression said “bomb the exam”.