Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

As the car entered the highway, the whistling wind swept past the car window, pulling Ye Zhuo's thoughts back to reality from her memories.

She turned her head to look at Shen Xun, then turned to Lin Jian in the back seat and added, "This year marks exactly three years since we met."

Lin Jian suddenly understood: the people around Shen Xun never appeared out of thin air.

He guides people out of worldly attachments and helps those who are trapped by them but still yearn for the light. Like stars gathering into fire, he gathers the scattered glimmers of light together to warm each other.

The journey from Hangzhou to Mohe is over 3,000 kilometers long, and even working day and night would take a full day and night to reach the destination.

Not to mention the need to refuel and rest along the way; the vehicle only made brief stops at major service areas along the route for refueling.

Ye Zhuo stared ahead, his tone calm: "The situation in Mohe is more urgent than we imagined."

"Mm," Shen Xun responded softly.

The carriage fell silent again, with only the sound of wind and snow hitting the windows growing louder and louder.

Lin Jian took out his phone, and the screen lit up. A WeChat notification sounded softly; it was a message from "Demon King Dong".

She met Demon King Dong while playing video games; he was a true expert.

The two had never met, and Demon King Dong never mentioned anything about real life, so Lin Jian didn't ask any questions. All she knew was that this person spoke decisively, acted efficiently, and was very capable.

"You haven't been online lately, are you still busy with that strange shadow thing we talked about last time?" Demon King Dong's message was as direct as ever.

Lin Jian swiped his finger across the screen and replied, "Yeah, on my way to Mohe. I have reliable people with me, so don't worry. Once I'm done with this, I'll definitely play games with you."

After sending the message, she put her phone in her pocket and looked out the window.

Ye Zhuo's gaze never left the rearview mirror inside the car.

The black SUV had been trailing behind ever since it left the city, neither too close nor too far, neither chasing nor overtaking.

She slowed down, and it slowed down too. She sped up, and it sped up too. She deliberately turned into the service area, went around in circles, and drove out from another exit.

It's still there, like chewing gum stuck to a tire, impossible to shake off or peel off.

She tried, but couldn't shake him off.

The car wasn't in a hurry; it was waiting.

Wait until she makes a mistake.

Shen Xun tapped the peach wood staff lightly with his fingertip, and a faint, cold light shone from the staff: "They're coming for us."

Lin Jian's heart tightened, and he subconsciously looked back. The wind and snow blurred his view behind him, and he could only vaguely see the car lights, like phosphorescence in the dark night.

The mark on Shen Xun's left chest suddenly trembled again.

Another aura was coming from the northeast, approaching Mohe from the depths of the distant Greater Khingan Mountains.

That was the second candidate chosen by the Reincarnation Well, located in the Northeast. They set off seven days ago and are now almost at Mohe.

He didn't say anything, but simply raised his hand to his chest and said calmly to Ye Zhuo, "Speed ​​up. Once we get there, no one should act alone."

The fuel gauge for 2045 has come on.

Ye Zhuo had no choice but to drive into the service area.

She walked to the gas pump, opened the fuel tank cap, and began filling it with diesel fuel.

She remained wary of the SUV, knowing it would seize the opportunity.

Sure enough, when she looked up, she saw the black SUV slowly approaching.

It glided slowly from the service area entrance, like a predator that had finally waited for its prey to arrive.

Ye Zhuo reached for the entrenching tool hidden behind his back.

Ye Zhuo walked towards the black SUV without making a sound. His steps were steady and firm, and his vigilance as a soldier was ingrained in his bones. Even his breathing was extremely slow.

Just as she approached the SUV, the vehicle suddenly started up wildly, its engine roaring loudly and powerfully, with a force more impactful than that of an ordinary vehicle, causing the air to tremble slightly.

The car suddenly swerved, its wide front end carrying an overwhelming momentum, hurtling towards Ye Zhuo! The speed was astonishing; snowflakes were whipped up by the wheels, like a white blade rushing straight towards him.

"Watch out!" Shen Xun shouted in a low voice, his voice unusually urgent.

Ye Zhu reacted quickly, instinctively rolling to the side, her shoulder blade slamming heavily against the icy ground. She groaned in pain as the biting cold instantly seeped into her skin through her clothes.

But she used the momentum to quickly get up, her eyes fixed on the SUV. Seeing that her attack had missed, the black SUV didn't stop for a moment. It floored the accelerator, and its powerful engine instantly broke through the snowstorm, speeding towards the service area exit. The tires kicked up two thick waves of snow as they rolled over the snow, disappearing into the vast snowstorm in an instant, leaving only the echoing sound of the engine in the empty service area.

"Stop chasing!" Shen Xun pointed to the Iveco van that was still being refueled. "The van is still being refueled and can't leave immediately. We can't catch up."

Ye Zhuo stared at the direction the black SUV had disappeared in, his eyes filled with coldness, yet he knew he was telling the truth. The trip to Mohe couldn't be delayed; they couldn't afford to lose sight of the bigger picture for the sake of small gains.

Ye Zhuo rubbed his aching shoulder and got back into the car.

Lin Jian was sitting in the back seat when his phone vibrated. It was a message from Demon King Dong.

She opened the chat window.

"Something happened at my house. My mother... was pulled down to the floor by something. The floor is solid, there's no hole, but I saw her fall down. I don't know what it was. I just called the police and I'm waiting for them to arrive."

Lin Jian's breathing stopped. She wanted to reply, but didn't know what to say. She wanted to ask, "Are you alright?", but the question sounded too weak. She wanted to ask, "Where are you?", but that seemed pointless. Finally, she sent a message: "You have to hold on. Wait for the investigation results. I believe your mother will be alright."

The phone screen went dark.

She put her phone in her pocket and hugged the camera tightly.

The news about Demon King Dong made her even more uneasy than the SUV collision she had just witnessed.

She asked the camera in her mind, but received no answer.

The Iveco was fully fueled and set off again.

Ye Zhuo's fingertips brushed against the notebook peeking out of her work clothes pocket. She always carried that worn-out notebook with her, as if her grandfather were still by her side, accompanying her on her journey to the northern border he had guarded his entire life.

Meanwhile, along the Mohe River, a fierce snowstorm raged.

Old Gu huddled in the pickup truck, his withered hands clutching a thermos that had long since gone cold.

The ice field stretched as far as the eye could see, and snowflakes pelted the car windows, blurring the view outside.

For over a thousand days and nights after his release from prison, he stayed by the riverbank, repenting before the water and building shelters and feeding the little creatures adopted by animal rescue organizations. He didn't know if doing this would make Xiulian at the bottom of the river feel any better, but he knew that every time he saw the stray dogs wagging their tails and rubbing against his palm, the stone that had been weighing on his heart for so many years would lighten a little.

During his 25 years in prison, he never stopped repenting.

I've repeated "I'm sorry" a thousand times in my heart, until every word is etched into my bones, until when I close my eyes, all I see is Xiulian's image.

In the last few days, he has started to hear some sounds.

It wasn't the sound of wind, nor the sound of ice cracking; it was coming from the bottom of the river.

It was faint, distant, like someone calling his name. He wasn't sure if it was Xiulian or if he was going mad. He only knew that the voice grew closer each day. Today, it was pressed against the outside of the car window.

Suddenly, a very faint sound, like a fingernail scratching, came from the car window.

"Squeak."

The faint sounds were exceptionally clear in the strong wind, like a steel needle piercing into Old Gu's heart.

His hair stood on end, and he turned his head sharply.

Outside the car window, there was a cold, bluish-gray hand with long, curved nails that gleamed with a deathly white.

On the ring finger of that hand, there was a polished ring.

That was the wedding ring he bought with three months' salary when he married Xiulian. Xiulian was also wearing it when she fell into the river.

The hand slowly reached up the car body, its nails scratching the glass, and Old Gu's heart clenched.

That ring belonged to the person he loved most, but now it was worn on this gray and twisted hand.

Suddenly the car window started to slowly roll down, but it was an electric window, and I hadn't operated it at all. The hand outside was just resting on the glass and hadn't moved, nor had it used any force to break the window. How could the glass open by itself?

Old Gu's lips trembled, and his whole body shook uncontrollably. He subconsciously touched his chest; the peach wood plaque Shen Xun had given him was burning hot, as if it were a warning, or as if it were anchoring his mind.

Unseen by him, in the windbreak forest on the opposite bank of the river, several dark figures were hidden behind the trees, their presence concealed so well that they were impossible to detect.

Deep in the snow-covered slope to the side and rear of the river, a black SUV lay quietly, its body half-buried in snow.

In the shadows of the back seat, an elderly figure sat motionless, his white hair gleaming with a faint, cold light in the carriage.

He gently stroked the cluster of seven-colored light floating in his palm with his fingertips. The halo twisted and surged, and the fine points of light on the surface intertwined with the sinister aura faintly seeping from the bottom of the river.

His gaze pierced through the wind, snow, and ice, landing precisely on the pickup truck by the riverbank, and also on the Iveco van speeding through the snowstorm. A faint, emotionless curve appeared at the corner of his lips, a smile that seemed both mocking and resolute.

The seven-colored light at her fingertips trembled, and a cold, invisible ripple quietly overflowed, penetrating the frozen surface of the river and instantly resonating with the dark shadows at the bottom.

In the eternal darkness at the bottom of the river, the thick shadow that had been gathering for thirty years suddenly "opened its eyes." Two clusters of condensed, eerie green light suddenly shone in the pitch-black, icy water. Countless cold, bluish-gray hands surged out of the shadows, their nails long and curled, carrying a brute force that seemed to tear everything apart, and viciously clawed at the frozen surface of the river.

Beneath the ice, the sharp, screeching sounds suddenly intensified, and spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly along the scratches, causing the entire frozen river to tremble silently.

Old Gu huddled in the pickup truck, staring at the hand that reached in through the window.

He saw it; at the end of the hand was nothingness, no body. It was an incredibly long hand that stretched from the bottom of the river all the way into the car.

He heard it; it was Xiulian calling him.

It was very light, very distant, as if it came from the depths of the riverbed. She was calling his name.

Old Gu closed his eyes, tears streaming down his deeply lined cheeks. He didn't know if it was a hallucination or if she was really calling him. All he knew was that after twenty-five years, she had finally called him.

The wind and snow howled, and the headlights tore two ghastly white beams through the darkness. The Iveco sped along the highway.

The SUV had disappeared, but Ye Zhuo knew it was still there.

It is waiting.

Wait until she stops again.