荒墟牧神 - 暮色封村，莫入荒夜 - 書海閣

When night falls, do not go out.

This saying had circulated through Yincan Village for many years. When exactly it had first been passed down, no one could trace. Yet it was truth, beyond all doubt.

Granny Zhu of Yincan Village watched the setting sun inch its way behind the mountains, and anxiety stirred in her breast once more. As the sun sank and the last thread of light vanished, a sudden, profound silence fell over heaven and earth—not a sound to be heard. Then the Gloom crept in slowly from the west, devouring mountains and rivers, roads and trees in its path, until it reached Yincan Village and swallowed it whole.

At the four corners of Yincan Village stood four ancient stone statues, weathered and mottled, so old that even Granny Zhu did not know who had carved them or when they had been raised there. When the Gloom descended, the Night-Guarding Idols gave off a faint, ghostly luminescence in the darkness. The statues still shone, and Granny Zhu and the village elders breathed a sigh of relief. The Gloom beyond the village grew thicker still, but with the light of the statues, Yincan Village remained, for the most part, safe.

Suddenly, Granny Zhu's ears twitched. She froze, then cried out, "Listen! There's a child crying outside!"

Old Ma shook his head. "Impossible. You misheard... Wait—there really is a baby crying!"

The cry of an infant came from the Gloom beyond the village. All the elders who were not deaf heard it. They exchanged glances. Yincan Village was remote and desolate—how could a baby have appeared nearby?

"I'll go take a look!"

Granny Zhu grew excited. She scurried on her tiny bound feet to one of the village statues. Old Ma hurried after her. "Old Granny Si, are you mad? It's dark! Step outside the village and you're dead!"

"With this statue on my back, the things in the Gloom will fear it. I won't die so easily!"

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

Another elder limped over. "Old Ma, you have only one arm. You won't last long carrying the statue. I have both hands—let me carry it."

Old Ma glared at him. "You lame old fool, you've got a broken leg—can you even walk? I may have only one arm, but this arm is strong as iron!"

He lifted the statue with his single arm, steadied his footing. The statue was unimaginably heavy. "Old Granny Si, let's go!"

"Don't call me old granny! Lame Sou, Mute, all of you be careful. We're short one statue now—don't let anything from the Gloom slip in!"

...

Old Ma and Granny Zhu left Yincan Village. Strange things prowled around them in the Gloom, but whenever the statue's light fell on them, they screeched and retreated into the darkness. Following the crying, they walked a hundred or so paces and came to the bank of a great river. The baby's cries came from the riverside. The statue gave off a faint glow that did not reach far. The two of them carefully traced the direction of the sound and walked upstream along the river. After several dozen paces, the crying was close by. Old Ma's single arm could barely hold on. Granny Zhu's eyes lit up. She saw a tiny glimmer of light—a basket resting on the riverbank. The glow came from the basket, and so did the crying.

"There really is a child!"

Granny Zhu stepped forward and reached for the basket, but paused—she could not lift it. Beneath the basket was an arm, blanched white from soaking in the river. It was this arm that had held the basket and the child within it aloft, all the way to the shore.

"Rest easy. The child is safe now," Granny Zhu said softly to the woman beneath the water.

The female corpse seemed to hear her words. Her hand loosened, and she was swept away by the river, vanishing into the Gloom.