Chapter 1: Don't Go Out After Dark

Chapter 1: Don't Go Out After Dark

Don't go out after dark.

This saying had been passed down in Cripples' Village for many years. Exactly when it originated was impossible to verify. But it was the truth, beyond doubt.

Granny Si of Cripples' Village grew nervous as she watched the setting sun slowly hide behind the mountains. As the sun sank and the last ray of light vanished, the world suddenly fell into utter silence, not a single sound to be heard. Darkness crept slowly from the west, swallowing mountains, rivers, roads, and trees along the way, until it reached Cripples' Village and engulfed it entirely.

At the four corners of Cripples' Village stood four ancient stone statues, mottled and weathered with age. Even Granny Si didn't know who had carved them or when they had been erected.

As darkness fell, the four statues emitted a faint, hazy glow. Seeing that the statues still shone, Granny Si and the other elders of the village breathed a sigh of relief.

The darkness outside the village grew thicker, but with the light of the statues, Cripples' Village remained safe for now.

Suddenly, Granny Si's ears twitched. She froze, then exclaimed in shock, "Listen! There's a baby crying outside!"

Old Man Ma beside her shook his head. "Impossible, you must have misheard... Huh, there really is a baby crying!"

From the darkness outside the village came the sound of an infant's wails. All the other elderly villagers who weren't deaf heard it too. They exchanged bewildered glances. Cripples' Village was remote and desolate—how could a baby have appeared nearby?

"I'll go check!"

Granny Si grew excited. She hobbled on her bound feet toward one of the statues at the village edge. Old Man Ma hurried after her. "Granny Si, are you crazy? It's dark! Leaving the village means death!"

"I'll carry this statue out of the village. The things in the dark are afraid of the statues. I can survive for a little while!"

Granny Si bent down, trying to lift the statue onto her back, but she was hunchbacked and couldn't manage it. Old Man Ma shook his head. "Let me do it. I'll carry the statue and go with you!"

Another elderly man limped over on a crutch. "Old Man Ma, you only have one arm. You won't last long carrying that statue. I have both hands—let me carry it."

Old Man Ma glared at him. "You cripple, with only one leg, can you even walk? I may have just one arm, but it's incredibly strong!"

With his single arm, he hoisted the statue, steadying himself. The statue was unimaginably heavy. "Granny Si, let's go!"

"Don't call me an old hag! Cripple, Mute, all of you be careful. With one statue missing from the village, don't let anything from the dark sneak in!"

...

Old Man Ma and Granny Si stepped out of Cripples' Village. In the darkness, strange things circled around them, but when touched by the statue's light, they squeaked and retreated back into the shadows.

Following the crying, they walked a hundred paces until they reached a great river. The baby's cries came from the riverbank. The statue's faint glow didn't reach far, so they listened carefully to pinpoint the sound and walked upstream along the river. After a few dozen paces, the crying was nearby. Old Man Ma's single arm was barely holding up. Granny Si's eyes lit up as she spotted a faint glimmer—a basket resting on the riverbank. The glow came from inside the basket, and so did the crying.

"There really is a child!"

Granny Si stepped forward and lifted the basket, but paused, startled. She couldn't lift it. Beneath the basket was a pale arm, soaked by the river water. It was this arm that had held the basket and the child, pushing them to the shore.

"Don't worry, the child is safe now," Granny Si whispered to the woman beneath the water.

The corpse seemed to hear her. Its hand loosened, and the current swept it away, disappearing into the darkness.

Granny Si lifted the basket. Inside was a swaddled infant, and on top of the swaddling lay a jade pendant, glowing faintly. The pendant's light was very similar to that of the statues, but much dimmer. It was this pendant that had protected the child in the basket from the things in the dark.

But the pendant's light was too weak to protect anyone beyond the child—not even the woman.

"It's a boy."

Back in Cripples' Village, the villagers gathered around. They were all elderly, crippled, or frail. Granny Si lifted the swaddling for a peek and grinned, revealing her few remaining, crooked teeth. "Our Cripples' Village finally has a whole, healthy person!"

The Cripple, who had only one leg, was astonished. "Granny Si, you plan to raise him? We can barely support ourselves! I think we should send him away..."

Granny Si flew into a rage. "I found this child with my own skill—why should I give him away?"

The villagers stammered and dared not argue. The village chief arrived on a stretcher. He was worse off than the others—at least they had some limbs, just fewer than normal. He had no arms or legs at all. But everyone respected him deeply, and even the fierce Granny Si dared not act out.

"If we're going to raise him, we should give him a name, shouldn't we?"

The chief said, "Old woman, is there anything else in the basket?"

Granny Si rummaged and shook her head. "Only this jade pendant. No notes or anything. There's a character on the pendant—'Qin.' The pendant has no impurities and contains a strange power. It's no ordinary item. Probably from a wealthy family?"

"Is his name Qin, or is his surname Qin?"

The chief pondered. "Let his surname be Qin. As for his given name, call him Mu. When he grows up, he can herd cattle—at least enough to get by."

"Qin Mu." Granny Si looked at the swaddled infant. The baby wasn't afraid of her at all. Instead, he babbled and laughed.

...

By the river, the sound of a flute drifted through the air. A young shepherd boy sat on the back of a cow, playing a clear, melodious tune. He was about eleven or twelve, with delicate features, rosy lips, and fair skin. His shirt was half-open, and a jade pendant hung around his neck.

This boy was the infant Granny Si had found by the river eleven years ago. Over the years, the village elders had raised him with great hardship. Granny Si had somehow gotten a cow, letting the infant Qin Mu drink its milk every day, helping him survive the fragile early years.

Though the villagers of Cripples' Village were all fierce-looking, they treated him well. Granny Si was a seamstress, and Qin Mu learned tailoring from her. He learned herb gathering and medicine-making from the village pharmacist, leg techniques from Grandpa Cripple, sound-location from Grandpa Blind, and breathing exercises from the limbless village chief. The days passed quickly.

The cow had been his wet nurse as a child. Granny Si had planned to sell it, but Qin Mu couldn't bear to part with it, so the task of herding it fell to him.

He often herded the cow by the river. The green mountains were like dark brows, and the blue waves and white clouds made for a pleasant scene.

"Qin Mu! Qin Mu, save me!"

Suddenly, the cow beneath him spoke. Startled, Qin Mu jumped off its back. The cow had tears in its eyes and spoke in human tongue: "Qin Mu, you drank my milk as a child. I'm like a mother to you. You have to save me!"

Qin Mu blinked and asked cautiously, "How can I save you?"

The cow replied, "You have a sickle at your waist. Skin me, and I'll be freed."

Qin Mu hesitated. The cow said, "Have you forgotten the kindness of my milk?"

Qin Mu raised the sickle and carefully cut into the cowhide. Strangely, when the hide was peeled, not a single drop of blood flowed. The inside of the hide was empty—no flesh, no bones.

When the hide was halfway peeled, a woman in her twenties or thirties rolled out. Her legs were still wrapped in the cow's hind legs, her skin and flesh fused with the hide, but her upper body had already broken free.

The woman, hair disheveled, snatched the sickle from the stunned Qin Mu. She cut through the hide on her legs in a few strokes, then turned to him, malice in her eyes. She pressed the sickle to his neck and sneered, "You little villain! Because of you, I was turned into a cow. For eleven years, I could only eat grass and had to nurse you! How tragic—I had just given birth to my own child before that witch cursed me, turning me into a cow to feed you! Now that I'm free, I'll kill you first, then slaughter every villain in this village!"

Qin Mu's mind reeled. He had no idea what this woman, who had emerged from the cowhide, was talking about.

Just as she was about to slash his throat, her heart went cold. She looked down to see a blade protruding from her chest.

"Mu'er, your Grandpa Pharmacist wants you to come back for your medicine." The woman's body crumpled. Behind her stood Grandpa Cripple from the village, kind-faced and simple-looking, holding a bloody knife. He smiled at Qin Mu.

"Grandpa Cripple..." Qin Mu's legs gave way. He stared at the cowhide and the woman's corpse, still unable to process what had happened.

"Let's go back, let's go back." Grandpa Cripple patted his shoulder and chuckled.

Qin Mu staggered back toward the village, one foot higher than the other. He looked back and saw Grandpa Cripple tossing the woman's body into the river.

The shock was so great that he didn't even know when he had returned to the village.

"Qin Mu! You brat, how many times have I told you? Don't go out after dark!"

Night had fallen. The statues at the four corners of Cripples' Village had lit up on their own. Granny Si grabbed Qin Mu, who was about to sneak out to the river to check on the cowhide, and dragged him back.

"Grandma, why can't I go out after dark?" Qin Mu looked up and asked.

"When it's dark, terrible things move in the shadows. Going out means death."

Granny Si said solemnly, "The village statues protect us. The things in the dark don't dare enter the village."

"Do other villages have statues like these?" Qin Mu asked curiously.

Granny Si nodded, but her face showed worry. She kept glancing outside the village and muttered, "Cripple should be back by now... We shouldn't have let him go out. That guy only has one leg..."

"Grandma, something strange happened today..."

Qin Mu hesitated, then told her about the woman who had crawled out of the cow's belly. Granny Si said casually, "That woman? Cripple told me. He handled it well. I told you to sell the cow when you were four and weaned, but you couldn't bear to part with it, so I let you keep feeding her. See? Now there's trouble. I told you—nursing until you were four would make you attached to the cow."

Qin Mu blushed. Being weaned at four was indeed a bit old, but that didn't seem to be the main point here.

"Grandma, that woman was killed by Grandpa Cripple..."

"Good riddance."

Granny Si laughed. "She got off easy. She should have died eleven years ago. If she hadn't been needed to nurse you, would she have lived this long?"

Qin Mu was confused.

Granny Si glanced at him and said, "That woman was the wife of the city lord of Inlaid Dragon City, a thousand miles from here. The city lord was a lecher, and she was insanely jealous. He liked to fool around outside, forcing himself on innocent women. Every time he ruined a woman's honor, the city lord's wife would have that woman beaten to death. I snuck into Inlaid Dragon City, planning to kill her, but I saw she had just given birth to a child—only three months old. And I thought of you, who had no milk to drink, while she had plenty. So I turned her into a cow and brought her back to nurse you. I never expected her to break the seal and speak, nearly costing you your life."

Qin Mu was dumbfounded. "Grandma, how can a person be turned into a cow?"

Granny Si cackled, revealing her few, scattered teeth. "Want to learn? I'll teach you... Cripple's back!"

Qin Mu looked and saw Grandpa Cripple limping toward them, one hand on his crutch, the other gripping a catch slung over his back. Darkness surged like a tide toward the village. Granny Si shouted urgently, "You cripple, hurry up, hurry up!"

"What's the rush?"

Grandpa Cripple walked unhurriedly toward the village. The moment he stepped inside, the thick darkness engulfed the village. His catch was a striped tiger, still alive. Its tail was grazed by the darkness, and the tiger let out a mournful roar. Qin Mu looked closely and saw that the tiger's tail had been reduced to a string of bones—all the fur, flesh, and blood had vanished, as if gnawed away by something.

Curious, he peered into the darkness outside the village. It was pitch black, revealing nothing.

"What's in the dark?" he wondered.