Book of Warlocks
In Cheng Sheng's predecessor's memories, there were few specific impressions of the horrors of the Black Tide.
The Black Tide was like a typhoon, "coming" several times a year. Whenever it did, all outdoor work stopped, and every household shut its doors and windows.
The worst one had occurred when "Cheng Sheng" was still a child.
His memories were already hazy. All he remembered was that the whole family had hidden in a place resembling a basement. His parents had held him and Cheng Yue tightly, covering their mouths to keep them quiet, their faces full of tension and fear.
Afterward, the whole family had come through the ordeal unharmed, though there had been fewer neighbors, friends, and playmates around them since then...
From his first day after transmigrating, Cheng Sheng had been trying to figure out what the "Black Tide" actually was.
There was little information about the Black Tide online. To avoid causing public panic, the government had banned the vast majority of visual records relating to it, telling everyone only that the Black Tide was dangerous!
But the more that was the case, the more curious some people naturally became.
Cheng Sheng was one example, as were Song Cai, the childhood friend who had forwarded him the video, and the source of the video, the so-called "Dark Forum."
Cheng Sheng closed his eyes. The video clips of the one-horned giant python and the blurry black shadow lingered in his mind, replaying over and over.
"This world is much more dangerous than ordinary people know."
Cheng Sheng opened his eyes and slowly sat up straight in his chair. He let out a soft breath. "Good thing I have..."
Bang!
The sudden slam of a door outside startled Cheng Sheng.
He sprang up from his chair and walked to the door.
He gently pulled it open a crack and saw that Cheng Yue had come out of her room. The refrigerator door in the living room was lit up.
She was probably hungry. She found something to eat in the refrigerator, then sat back down on the couch and turned the TV on again...
It looked like Mom had sent her a message too.
No, she might actually have gotten through to their parents long ago and known they were safe.
Her earlier shouting at him in the living room had been nothing but an excuse to vent her feelings on him...
Failing the major exam had given Cheng Yue ample reason to "attack" him...
Having figured that out, Cheng Sheng shook his head, shut the door, and returned to his desk to continue what he had left unfinished.
Cheng Sheng's transmigration could be considered "well prepared."
Perhaps. Even he didn't know whether that thing's appearance was ultimately good for him.
It was... a black book that existed only inside Cheng Sheng's head.
When Cheng Sheng closed his eyes, he could "see" it floating in the middle of a boundless expanse of darkness and nothingness. Its pure black cover was suffused with an unspeakably evil quality, like an ancient black heart. Sometimes, Cheng Sheng could even feel it beating rhythmically...
On the cover, a flowing liquid that might have been magma or blood traced out several strange symbols, or rather, words: Warlocks!
That was probably what they meant.
Whenever Cheng Sheng's thoughts touched the black book, a voice would murmur low, incessant ravings in his ear.
It was like furtive whispers, every syllable steeped in malice; like the filthiest, foulest thing in the world, sickening to hear; and like sharp fingernails scraping frantically back and forth across smooth glass...
It kept telling Cheng Sheng: Warlocks! Warlocks!...
Its name was the "Book of Warlocks"!
"Rustle, rustle..."
Enduring a faint urge to vomit, Cheng Sheng slowly opened the evil black book with his thoughts.
The ancient paper on the black book's first page was dark yellow with a reddish tinge, and entirely blank.
Only when Cheng Sheng's thoughts touched the paper did twisted characters appear one by one-
"Taboo... demon... apprentice..."
"Ritual... communication... initiation..."
"Urgh..."
More than half the content on the first page had appeared when a design somewhat resembling a hexagram emerged in full at the very center of the page. At that instant, Cheng Sheng could no longer bear the intense urge to retch. He thrust both hands forward, and his chair slid backward with him in it. He ended up sprawled on the floor.
"Urgh... urgh..."
He retched for a long time, but nothing came out.
Instead, his nose felt wet. He wiped it with his hand, and blood filled the spaces between his fingers.
A nosebleed?
Cheng Sheng was used to it by now. He casually pulled a few tissues from the desk and wiped his nose a few times.
He remembered the first time he had touched the black book. Blood had seeped from his eyes and ears, nearly amounting to "bleeding from all seven orifices"... Yet he was still alive and well now.
"The price!"
Holding onto the chair, Cheng Sheng slowly clambered to his feet.
The soul inside his body was thirty-five years old, so he naturally understood that to gain anything in this world, one had to pay a corresponding price!
The blood flowing from his nose and the dizzy, pounding pain he now felt, as though someone had split his skull in two, were the price he had to pay to obtain what the black book held.
Compared with many things... this price might be considered light.
"At least I've already gained some benefits, haven't I?"
Cheng Sheng sat back down at his desk and gave the computer a strained grin, as if to comfort himself.
He could imagine how ugly his smile must look right now.
Every experience of "reading" the black book was utterly dreadful, but each time the intense nausea and pain faded, Cheng Sheng found that his mind had become noticeably more agile and clear.
His memory was improving, and he could think through problems faster than before...
Most visibly, Cheng Sheng could read more and more of the black book each time!
It had taken him nearly ten days in all to read more than half the contents of the black book's first page.
All the information in that half-page of text described how to perform a ritual.
"A warlock's initiation ritual!"
"If it succeeds, I can communicate with those roaming and drifting through the Abyss of Taboo..."
Cheng Sheng paused, then reached out and tapped lightly on the keyboard in front of him.
"Demons."
He stared at the word displayed on the computer screen, his eyes flickering slightly in its glow.
He didn't know whether the "demons" described in the black book were the same kind of beings as the "demons" he knew.
But no matter what, the word represented mystery, the unknown, and fear... It was full of uncertainty and unsettling implications.
Cheng Sheng pushed the keyboard away, rose from the computer desk, and turned toward the window in his room, looking at the dark green ivy leaves trembling as the rain beat against them on the glass.
"...Then offer a sacrifice to a demon and strike a deal, exchanging it for power to strengthen myself."
"This is the first step to becoming a warlock, and a step every apprentice warlock must go through."
"Touch the taboo, learn about the taboo, grow familiar with and master the taboo, until... becoming taboo itself!"
The crisp, dense patter of rain came through the window, echoing in Cheng Sheng's ears as a low hum. The discomfort caused by reading the black book was fading, and his mind was gradually regaining its sharpness and clarity...
Cheng Sheng felt as though he were standing before an enormous, ancient, and mysterious gateway. The patterns carved on its doors and the faint light shining through the gap between them fascinated him, but all the unknown things hidden beyond made him tremble, afraid to approach rashly.
"Whichever way I look at it, rushing into an evil ritual like this doesn't seem wise."
"But..."
Cheng Sheng stared at the glass as water spread across it. The images he had seen earlier, of the one-horned giant python and the blurry black shadow smashing through everything, flashed through his mind again.
He didn't know whether the first video was fake, but the second had taken place in this very city. He only had to find time to go take a look and he would know.
"I'll give it a try."
Cheng Sheng finally made up his mind.
"Once the rain stops, I'll start preparing the materials needed for the ritual..."
He turned around, ready to go to the bathroom and rinse out his nose.
The blood that had just flowed from his nose had congealed inside his nasal cavity, forming a big, hard, thick lump...
It made him very uncomfortable.