To be honest, Robert's story is a bit clichéd. Most thriller American TV shows, especially those set in small towns, start with a similar trope. But as the saying goes, even the most exciting TV show cannot compare to the alluring whispers of reality. What piques Jian Jing's interest in particular is: "The photos all came from a diary? Could I see the original photos?"
"Hmm, let me find them." He rummaged around his studio for a bit before digging out an old diary from his neatly categorized boxes. "Please be gentle when flipping through this."
Jian Jing solemnly agreed and placed the diary on the table to slowly peruse page by page.
Compared to Robert's childhood memories, Reed's diary was certainly more lucid and bizarre at the same time.
It started like this:
--
This is the third day since Kerry went missing. I've decided to write everything down until I find her.
First, I need to recount everything from the beginning: Three days ago, on May 10th, I told Kerry I was going to mow the lawn that afternoon and asked if she could help me transplant some potted flowers. But Kerry said she needed to go to Anna's house to do homework. That little liar, I know she was planning to meet up with Bill.
But I pretended not to know. I'd already warned that rotten Bill that if he dared mistreat Kerry, I would make him experience my fists.
In fact, that's exactly what I did the second day Kerry went missing. I gave him a good beating. But Bill stubbornly claimed he hadn't seen her. After the sheriff investigated, they confirmed Bill was out bar hopping that night.
That's weird. According to Anna, Kerry ate dinner at their place and left very early. If she didn't go to Bill, then where did she go? Why hasn't she come back?
I'm very worried, extremely worried.
...
--
Today marks the seventh day since Kerry went missing. Everyone says she wandered into the woods and got dragged away by a wolf or bear.
I don't believe that. Kerry would never go into the forest after dusk. She said there was something in there that creeped her out.
But we've searched the whole town to no avail.
I'm starting to suspect there's a murderer lurking in this town, or drug traffickers escaping from the border. In any case, poor Kerry, my sister, I will definitely find you.
...
--
The next few pages detail Reed's fruitless search for Kerry day after day.
Eventually, the entries stopped until 1992 started up again.
Five children went missing from town five days ago. Yesterday, we found their bodies in the woods. I've never witnessed anything like that scene before.
The children were arranged in a circle like sacrificial lambs. Their bodies were deathly pale without a hint of blood, which was exactly the case. The coroner said all their blood had been drained! And their expressions were grotesquely twisted. I've heard that hypothermia causes strange smiles on frozen faces, but I'd bet the scene was ten thousand times more horrifying.
...
The investigation turned up nothing. The grieving parents of all five children said they noticed nothing out of the ordinary beforehand. We screened many outsiders, and one drug trafficker seemed highly suspicious...
Damn it, the drug trafficker lead turned out to be a dead end. The residents are terrified, so we had no choice but to notify everyone to keep their children off the streets at night.
No entry into the forest after dusk.
Just what exactly is in those woods??
...
All leads have gone cold. My colleagues and I understand clearly that we may never catch the perpetrator, just like how I never found Kerry again.
I simply cannot accept this. I went back to the forest today and guess who I ran into? Bill! I haven't seen him since he left for college. He asked me if I had any clues about Kerry. I didn't tell him.
Don't think I didn't see the tattoo on his hand—maria. She must be his new girlfriend, huh? But my Kerry, my sister, is already never...f*ck!!!
I swear I'll get to the bottom of this!
The investigation stopped as we still couldn't find the culprit. But I have one suspect in mind: Frank. I need to look deeper into this guy...he's suspicious.
No clues, so my speculation was wrong? I met Ben's father who asked me if I had any leads at all. Even just a tiny bit would do. Even without evidence, as long as we know who did it, he'll take out that bastard himself.
I couldn't give him an answer.
Laura's parents moved away. I went to send them off. *sigh* I understand their feelings all too well.
Kerry, I'll never forget Kerry.
Dear God, why don't you go punish those villains?
--
In 1982, Reed seemed to still be in high school with a rather naive take on searching for his missing sister.
But around 1992, he was already a Twilight Town policeman and had access to insider information not available to the general public. The diary contained very comprehensive autopsy reports, testimonies, and analyses. The only downside was the sloppy handwriting making things barely legible.
The gist of it all was five teenagers—Roger, Teresa, Ben, Laura, and Qiao Zhi—were brutally murdered. The scene resembled some kind of special sacrificial ritual.
The police spent months questioning over a hundred people, locking onto several suspects that all turned out to be dead ends. The case remains unsolved to this day.
In January 1993, the diary entries stopped temporarily.
The next decade resumed in 2002.
A couple went camping in the woods when the girlfriend suddenly went missing. Her boyfriend couldn't find her anywhere and reported it to the police after leaving the mountain. My partner and I entered the woods to search for her and found both her and Kerry's remains in a cave.
My poor little sister whom I've finally discovered as nothing more than bleached bones. But I recognized her clothes that she wore the afternoon she disappeared—jeans and a white lace blouse.
I was devastated and furious and wanted to know exactly how she died. The coroner told me there were no visible wounds on the skeletal remains. She probably got lost in the woods, hurt herself, and died trapped.
I couldn't believe those results. No, it couldn't have happened that way!
Something was off.
Why would Kerry have wandered into the forest?
It's been 20 years now. Will I ever uncover the truth?
--
Too much time had passed for the 2002 entry to contain much. Only Kerry's autopsy report remained.
But in October 2012 another incident occurred—a massive forest fire.
It rampaged for three days and nights, scorching acres upon acres of land. According to survivors, there had been a suspicious foreigner snooping around beforehand.
On the day the fire started, witnesses claimed to have seen him carrying gasoline into the woods shortly before disappearing without a trace himself.
Reed became oddly fixated on investigating this case.
This is how eyewitnesses described that bizarre foreign man: His face looked kind of weird and highly unnatural, as if he had restorative surgery from fire damage. He brought with him some strange items—yellow paper, red ink, and a copper platter seemingly used to map constellations.
We were just talking about the past incidents when he suddenly cut in claiming evil spirits were the culprit behind all the deaths.
In order to seal away the evil spirits, one must first locate the demons' lair and force them back into the depths of the earth with cleansing fire.
In his diary, Reed wrote: "That man called himself Sky. Inside the cave, I found a scroll used for writing. It had Ursa Major sketched on it along with letters I didn't understand."
Sandwiched between those pages was indeed an Ursa Major diagram.
--
Jian Jing jerked her head up abruptly. The light had dimmed outside with the setting sun resembling spilt blood.
Robert sipped his steaming americano and asked, "Would you like a cup too? You seem pretty engrossed in your reading."
"Yes, please. Thank you." Jian Jing accepted the coffee and took a sip to gather her composure.
When she first saw Ursa Major in that cabin, she didn't have too intense of a gut feeling. She simply thought the realism of the photos rather convincing, especially the dead victims appearing genuinely deceased rather than special effect makeup.
So she became curious on a whim to dig into the story behind the scenes.
But she didn't expect to discover records like these!
Sky, heavens, Ursa Major...how could she not think of Qi Tian? That warlock who used seven children to set up the Seven Star Entombment formation and also harmed Xie Wei.
Judging by the timeline, around 2012 when he likely got plastic surgery after fleeing abroad right as real-name registration systems started rolling out domestically. Yes, that matched up quite logically.
Jian Jing made up her mind immediately and decided to find a way to take a trip to Twilight Town. But before that, she had to gather more information. So she smiled and said, "These records are truly bizarre. Now not only you, even I am brimming with inspiration."
Robert patted his forehead and laughed, "Right, I remember now. You are a writer. What do you write again? Oh yes, Demon Doctor. I've read the book. To be honest, it lacked some religious discussion – I hope you don't mind me being direct."
"Of course not."
So Robert rambled on at length about his perspectives on religion. In summary, he believed that religion was a need of the human psyche rather than something that actually existed.
Jian Jing took notes carefully, then pretended to casually ask about Reed, "I met him. Is he well?"
"Old Reed is as strong as an ox, but his memory..." Robert pointed at his brain, "is still stuck decades ago. If he said anything strange to you, please don't take it to heart."
"He always cares about his sister," Jian Jing said. "Even when old, he has not forgotten to protect her."
Robert sighed as well.
Only then did she tentatively ask, "Could I take some photos to keep as mementos?"
Robert hesitated for a moment, but nodded in the end with the encouragement of the trust card.
Jian Jing did not overdo it. She only took photos of the more important information from the diary, before gratefully saying thanks, "I have bothered you for so long. I'm really sorry."
"It's fine. I'm glad you like it here."
After bidding Robert goodbye, Jian Jing casually caught up with dinner as if nothing had happened.
Since there were important scenes to film at night, most of the crew members were on set. She quietly ate alone, then cited needing to rest early to prepare for tomorrow morning as an excuse to return to her room early.
After that, she began looking up information related to Twilight Town.
It was located on the border between the United States and Canada, about two to three hours' drive from Seattle. Without much going for it, few people went there, hence she could barely find any information online.
Tsk, going alone to a remote, weird little town. No matter how she looked at it, it was like the opening to a horror movie.
As Jian Jing thought this, she did not show any hint of retreating. On the contrary, she was even more excited, unable to fall asleep that night as she tossed and turned in bed.
She did not know how much time had passed. In her half-asleep half-awake state, it seemed like she started dreaming.
In the dream was a dark forest. Perched in the trees was a strange owl, and under the trees was a lamb. The two animals were talking.
Owl: "There is another newcomer."
Lamb: "Baa baa."
The moon was covered by clouds. Someone walked out from a cave, lifted up his face.
His visage was very peculiar. His face was stiff and taut, clearly showing signs of skin grafts that looked very out of place.
"It's you," he said.
Then, the dream ended.
Outside the door were the stylists with their wakeup call service, "Teacher Jian, are you awake? It's time to get styled."
Jian Jing sat up, no longer remembering what she had dreamt about.
She groggily got out of bed to open the door, "This early?"
"It's already 3:15. We have to hurry. It'll be light out after 4 plus." The makeup artist had probably not slept yet as she busily laid out her kits and did Jian Jing's hair and makeup, before bringing her well-fitted clothes.
"Sis Jing, breakfast," Jiang BaiYan came in, surprisingly holding piping hot dumplings and milk.
Jian Jing was astonished, "Where did the dumplings come from?"
"I made them yesterday afternoon. I guessed you must be sick of Western food," he did not try to show off at all, only urging her to quickly eat, "Eat while they're hot. They won't taste as good when they turn cold."
Jian Jing hurriedly picked up her chopsticks.
Morning scenes were always rushed. She ate a plate of steaming hot dumplings in the snippets of time she had. By the time the scene started, she was done with breakfast.
In the desolate farm in the wilderness, the morning light was still dim. The horizon only lit up with a hint of pale greyish blue. From the depths of the oppressive woods came the roar of a wild beast.
Rustling sounds rang out as the disheveled guests stumbled and crawled out from the woods. "Hurry, hurry," you supported me with my injured leg, and I supported you coughing blood. It was a sorry sight.
According to the script, they had already gone through much tribulation, yet were still chased by the monster horde at the final juncture.
The guests resisted and cried, "Leave without us first", "No, we can't abandon our comrades,", "If we leave, we leave together."
The contrived plot played out in real life.
"Roar!" The monsters and their lackeys chased up to them. It seemed someone was about to be pounced on any moment. Suddenly, an agile figure appeared in the distance.
Gunshots rang out.
Author's note: Yes, Qi Tian is about to make his appearance!
American small towns are really suitable for mystical adventures!
Unknowingly, I've written over a million words...
