C1 1st level

Ever since I was a child, I had been able to see things that ordinary people couldn't. When I was young, I didn't know what it was and often told my parents about it. They took me to see the goddesses in town a few times, and my family also became the most frequent visitors to the goddesses' house.

I still remember the old woman.

The tan of her face was like a piece of dry paper, and her sharp eyes didn't match her old appearance. She kept muttering to herself, and the way she looked at me made me feel uncomfortable.

"Pretending to be ghosts."

This was the first time I saw her mutter something. She was clearly far away, but the old woman seemed to have heard it. She stared at me with her sinister eyes, causing my scalp to tingle.

The old woman told my parents that I was born with the Yin Yang Eyes, and that I was born with the ability to see things that were born with the Yin Yang Eyes.

She said that she did not have enough mana to seal the Yin Yang Eyes, so she could only give me a treasure to ward off evil, to prevent evil from harming me.

The old woman took out a broken bracelet made from wooden beads from a drawer, obtained the status of an expert, and calmly said, "1000."

At that time, it was difficult even for me to eat a fifty percent ice cream.

I stared hard at the string of thousand-dollar gold pimples. It looked ordinary, even a red string strung with a string of tawny wooden beads that made it hard for me to use as a pinball.

How dare you ask me for a thousand?

I stared hard at the old woman. She was expressionless and unmoved.

His parents gritted their teeth and haggled for the final 800 yuan.

As I placed the bracelet on my wrist, I could even feel my heart pounding. Eight hundred handchains, how many pieces of hard candy would be enough for me to eat!

With just a few casual words, the old woman was able to earn eight hundred yuan. This business was way too profitable. At that time, I was thinking that if I could do the same thing in the future, I would be able to earn a ton of money from my daily business.

It was for this reason that I desperately begged the old lady to teach me. Now that he thought about it, they were all wrongdoers! The last thing I should have touched in my life was this business.

"You have to bring it with you. You can't take it off, and you can't lose it."

I could see from her eyes that she also felt sorry for the thousand dollars, but between the money and her son's safety, she chose me.

Even if it was just a fake.

No matter what you see, pretend not to see it. Don't pay attention to them, let alone talk to them. Remember, do not speak to them.

"What will happen if I do?"

"Hehe, they will pester you forever."

Her husky voice was half smiling, and her cold look gave me goosebumps.

Actually, I was just thinking about it. Every time I actually saw their bloodied appearance, this desire would vanish like smoke into thin air.

I was so obedient that I pretended not to see them every time I saw them. There were times when some of the deformed, grotesquely shaped heads smirked at my face, and I resisted the urge to vomit.

They thought I was as invisible as the others, and they didn't bother me. The beads in my hand had never had a chance to be tested, so until I was eleven I thought the old woman was a con artist.

The transformation began when I was twelve.

At the north end of the village, there was a gun turret left over from the war, built out of a particularly large, square lump of earth. Unlike the current bean curd project, the cannon building was particularly sturdy. Even after a year of torrential rain, the village was still unable to break it. The villagers all said that it was under the protection of Chairman Mao. Actually, it's just a row of 'Long live Chairman Mao' carved on the door. I really don't think that it has anything to do with Grandpa Mao.

The turret was three stories high and no one had ever entered it before. No one knew what it looked like inside. Except for the old village chief.

The turret is so close to our village's elementary school that you can always see it coming and going when you get home from school. Once I had a sudden idea to see what it looked like, so I called some of the better boys who were playing, and we planned to make a run for it.

It would be impossible to go during the day. If he were caught by an adult, he would be beaten up. The best time to do so was at night.

We were in the sixth grade at the time, and a few of us were huddled together trying to figure out what to bring in. First of all, we need a flashlight, and the dark iron inside must be dark. At least I've never seen any light in it in my life.

Next we're going to bring some defense gear, and if we run into anything we shouldn't, we have to protect ourselves. Axe? Too heavy. Dagger? Not at home. Finally, after some discussion, we broke a few branches and set off with our penknife.

We chose Friday night. Wang Tiegu, Zhou Yu, and Liu Pengzhao from the Full Moon Star went down to the cannon building.

Actually, the arrangement was very reasonable. Think about it, if you get tired on Friday night, you can just go home and sleep for the rest of your life.

When I brought up this wise martial god's decision, the worshipful eyes of Iron Egg and the others made me flutter.

At that time, the road was not paved with cement. As they walked on the muddy ground, the friction between the soles of their shoes and the sand made 'sha sha' sounds. The exceptionally quiet night and the occasional shrill cry from a few old crows made everyone's heart turn cold.

It was a full moon that night. The huge moon hung in the sky in a hazy way, like the gloomy face of a dead man. One or two stars surrounded him, and the earth was shrouded in a dark, gray haze, as though a mysterious mist had been cast over it. The tall ancient gun turret stood in the darkness of the night, silent and cool, like a deformed ghost staring at us with its ghostly eyes.

It was autumn then, and the night wind made us shiver.

Even though we were afraid of the surrounding scenery, we still had to force ourselves not to say anything.

After pinching the knife in my hand, Tao Zi and I looked at each other. Taozi pulled the key out of his pocket — his grandfather was the village chief, the keeper of the cannon keys. We encouraged him to steal it from his grandfather.

Looking around to see that there was no one around, I shone the flashlight.

I had seen the locks of the old days in my house, and the poor people's homes were made of square iron, about the size of a palm, which was opened in the hollow with a long key. The lock on top of the turret was clearly a common sight in modern times. It must have been replaced later on.

Who knows how many years the wooden door had been damaged by the rain and wind. When it was pushed open, the door opened with a long creak, as if it was trying to summon something. It carried a sinister mocking tone as it ridiculed us trespassers.

The first reaction upon stepping into the doorway was black.

It was pitch black.

It was a breathtaking black.

The only light came from the old flashlight in our hands, and if there was a problem with it, we would all sink into darkness.