As Enluke watched Hong Kui and Huang Liang's group leave, he saw a group of people wearing black coats and cloaks enter the Indian village.
Because Alaska winters are very cold, most people who travel wrap themselves up tightly in thick furs, so he didn't think there was anything unusual about someone covering their head with a cloak. What puzzled him was another person following behind this group into the village.
The man was alone at the foot of Mount Denali, a place where even ribbonfish could be frozen into the sword of Arthur. He was only wearing a thin gray trench coat, and seemed to be barefoot or wearing some kind of beach shoes. The thing on his head that he initially thought was a hat was actually moving, and looked more like some kind of animal lying on it.
When Enluke tried to take a closer look, the person had already disappeared from his sight, and even the group of cloaked people from before had vanished.
He glanced at the blue sky and the lukewarm Sun, letting the sunlight sting his eyes and bring tears to his eyes, just to make sure there was nothing wrong with his eyes.
The weather looks nice, but things might change tonight. He thought to himself, "May God grant young Master Wolf the chance to see the total lunar eclipse tonight."
The Native American woman beside him kept praying, muttering to herself. Although Enluke had grown up in Alaska, was Inuit himself, and knew many Native Americans, he couldn't understand a single word she said. The prayers passed down from these ancient tribes were even more difficult to understand than the spells of shamans.
"Alright, your husband will be back safely. Let's go back inside and warm ourselves by the fire," he said.
The Indian guide's wife stubbornly finished singing her prayer towards the distant snow-capped mountains before getting up to hug her child. "Yes, yes, we'll come back safely, we definitely will."
Enluke followed her back. The moment the woman pushed open the door, the child in her arms burst into tears, but she seemed unaware of it. Her body suddenly froze, and she stood there motionless, not even pulling back her hand that had been pushing the door, as if she had been frozen in time.
"What happened?" Enluke stepped forward and gently nudged the woman. Then, through the open door, he saw a group of people wearing black cloaks sitting around the fireplace in the room, warming themselves. One of them was adding charcoal to the fire.
The man in black, sitting in the center, raised his head, revealing a gaunt, the Mummy -like face. Yet, unlike the Mummy's rigid expression, this face wasn't lifeless; taut muscle fibers were clearly visible straining to move the corners of his mouth, creating a smile. A thin, translucent layer of new skin, densely covered with spiderweb-like red capillaries, clung to his sunken cheeks. He was looking at the child like a greedy diner eyeing a delicious meal, except his eyes were hazy, like two deep, dark holes, tinged with a deathly white.
Enluke was equally terrified, but he was, after all, a man, ordered to meet young Wolf as he ascended the mountain, and also obligated to protect the Indian guide's family.
He mustered his courage and stepped over the threshold, shielding the woman and child behind him. His hand gripped the gun in his pocket, and he asked the mysterious figures inside, "Who... who are you?"
"Close the door, child." The man's voice was stiffer than a machine's, colder than the wind on a snowy mountain.
For some reason, Enluke's mind suddenly went blank, and he even lost his fear. He only felt that he should listen to that person, and he had no other ability to think.
He turned and closed the door, pulling the petrified woman inside. They stood frozen before the man in black, kneeling obediently like servants before Ancient Egypt pharaoh. Only the child continued to wail, pounding his mother's face and shoulders, tears streaming down his innocent face.
"It's so cold in here..." the man in black said to Enluke. "Come on, add some firewood for me."
Enluke crawled forward on his knees, picked up some charcoal, and carefully threw it into the stove, as if afraid that sparks might displease his master.
The man in black smiled with satisfaction, his cheek muscles twitching as he grinned, revealing long, white teeth and a black tongue. A greedy glint appeared in his empty eyes as he looked at the woman and said:
I'm hungry...
The woman nodded in understanding, picked up the child, and headed towards the kitchen. The child cried even harder.
The sound of sharpening knives came from the kitchen. The child broke free from his mother and ran out, but was grabbed and pulled back by his mother.
The kitchen door slammed shut.
The man in black's stiff smile widened.
At that moment, the door opened, and another man in black wearing a cloak appeared in the doorway.
He nodded to the man in black in the middle.
The man in black in the middle asked, "Have you caught up?"
The man at the door said, "We've caught up."
"They didn't find out, did they?"
"No."
"Hmm..." The man in black in the middle glanced reluctantly at the kitchen door, then looked outside. "What fresh and delicious food! It's still early; we have plenty of time to catch up before the lunar eclipse."
A loud thud came from the kitchen—the sound of a knife chopping bones and then striking the cutting board.
Then, the child's crying stopped, and the whole house fell silent, with only the faint crackling of the embers in the stove, like a soul struggling.
The smile on the man in black's face vanished.
A sudden croak came from the kitchen, followed by a sound like Donald Duck:
"Caw, this pork knuckle is too tough, it's not good, not good! Ugh, I miss my Ruhua again!..."
The kitchen door opened, and the Indian woman collapsed to the floor in the doorway. Her child lay on top of her, no longer crying, but just watching curiously as a black Crow hopped around in the cupboards.
The sound of clattering footsteps rang out, and a man in an old trench coat, wearing slippers and flip-flops, emerged. Crow took flight with a whoosh and hopped onto his disheveled hair.
The man in black narrowed his empty eyes, the muscle fibers beneath the translucent skin on his face and forehead twisting together, and a sound like a saw cutting through rotten wood emanated from his throat.
" Qingmu... I've heard of you, your name is Qingmu..."
The Crow stretched its neck and cawed, "Me too, me too! I'm the Boss Coal! Guagua!"
The muscles on the man in black's face contorted even more violently.
"I've heard of you too—" Qingmu said, " Itjenetjer Ay —the usurper who broke the curse of the Itza People and shattered Tutankhamun's staff! Since you're already buried deep underground, why wake up now?"
"Ah, you know so much. It seems poor Ronald isn't coming back. Oh, it's alright, it's alright. He's just returned to Gaia's embrace ahead of time. We will all eventually return to her embrace—" Ay said, looking at the child nestled in the Indian woman's arms in the kitchen, "Like a child returning to its mother's embrace. Everyone longs to return to their mother's embrace, including me, and you. We will all eventually go back."
"Caw, you've called a clump of air... oh no, a clump of..." The Crow tilted its head and thought for a moment, "... cosmic paste... or nebula tofu pudding... 'Mother'?... Guagua, is your brain really made of tofu pudding? Caw ha ha caw!"