Chapter 1: Archive Management

Among these four to five hundred people, nearly half of the young and middle-aged individuals have gone out to work, leaving behind only some elderly, women, and a few small children who do not attend school. They spend their days chasing each other around the village, creating a lively atmosphere. On summer days, even before dawn, several small children gather at the village entrance to play together.

Throw the rope down, the child is young and seems to be scared out of his wits, unable to grasp the rope for a long time, only knowing to cry incessantly, which makes his grandfather anxious and fidgety. At this moment, a thin man volunteered and said: "How about this, let me down, I will tie the rope around the child first, and after pulling the child out, you can pull me out as well"

"Did you also let the monster eat?" An old man, seeing the tall and thin figure, could not help but tease.

"Number 1320941, Shao Shilin, you are free from today." Listening to the prison guard's extremely low voice, reminiscent of a duck's quack, my head felt heavy and dazed as I pushed open the door that seemed to have been sealed for a century... The sunlight outside was so intense that I could barely open my eyes...

They walked slowly and eventually arrived beside the dry well. The crowd exchanged glances, and no one dared to lean over to look into the well. At this moment, the Child King, filled with determination, gritted his teeth and stomped his foot before stretching his head forward. However, he had his eyes closed at that moment, seemingly unable to sense anything. It was only then that the Child King opened his eyes.

With someone leading the way, the group of children was like a flock of sheep, each one chasing after the other until they arrived around the dry well. However, having heard many stories about monsters, the children felt a sense of fear in their hearts, and no one dared to step forward, merely gathering at a distance to look inside. The leader of the children also felt a bit of trepidation, but at a critical moment, he still had to show his abilities

A group of villagers rushed to the edge of the dry well, peering inside. The sun was blocked, and it was dark within, making it impossible to see clearly. After shouting a few times, they heard the cries of Er Mao the donkey, which lifted a heavy weight off everyone's hearts. At least the child's life was saved. However, the current issue was how to get the child out.

This method seems feasible, and now we have no choice but to follow the approach of the tall, thin man. After toiling for over an hour, we finally managed to lower him down. The well was pitch dark, and the tall, thin man tied the rope around the child, giving it a tug. Everyone pulled together, and only then did we manage to hoist the donkey named Ermao up. Upon inspection, it had numerous abrasions on its body, and one of its legs was broken. All things considered, this was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

As I pushed open the door to the archives, the young intern had already arrived. I greeted her, but noticed that she was intently leaning over the table, casually flipping through a file, completely absorbed in her reading. I thought to myself, in such a vast archive room, how is it that this young girl is not afraid at all? With this in mind, I quietly approached her from behind and casually glanced at the file she was reading. It turned out that she was engrossed in a bizarre case that had occurred six years ago in Niulan Village.

The leader of the children said, "You are all cowards. Whoever is brave enough, come with me to take a look at the dry well behind. I want to see what this monster looks like!" This leader of the children, at such a young age, is in the stage of being a fearless calf, and the more dangerous the place, the more he wants to go and take a look

A few rays of the setting sun shine there, yet are swallowed by the boundless darkness; on the crumbling concrete wall, not a ripple stirs. It resembles a coffin resting in this secluded corner, filled with oppression, that is the prison that no one pays attention to

Upon opening his eyes, it was not a big deal, but it frightened the surrounding children quite a bit. The leader of the children seemed to have seen something and shouted loudly, "Ah!" Just as he intended to run back, he made a mistake in his haste and stumbled directly into the well. Although the well opening was not very large, a child of seven or eight years old is not very big either, and he fell directly into the well, with only his cries echoing for a long time.

In short, it can be summed up in one sentence: adults do not allow children to approach that dry well. This is not surprising, as the well has been around for quite some time, having existed for several hundred years. It has long since dried up, and now that there is running water, the area around the well has gradually fallen into disrepair. The adults say this mainly out of fear that the children, in their playfulness, might accidentally fall into the well and get hurt. That said, no one has bothered to fill in the well, as it has been harmless for so long, and no one is inclined to take action.

Niulan Village is located in the western part of Yuzhou City, where there are many high mountains and hills. Simple farmers have lived here for generations, engaged in the spring plowing and autumn harvest, busy with their work. There are many villages in the mountains, and Niulan Village is just an inconspicuous one among them, situated on a gentle flatland in the mountains, with a total of about one hundred households, amounting to four to five hundred people.

The words of the child king sparked a flurry of discussion among the crowd. A snot-nosed little boy said, "My grandmother says there are monsters living inside, and she never lets me go near it, saying they specifically eat children. Last time, my grandmother even saw one with her own eyes!" Another simple-minded little girl chimed in, "That's right, my grandmother told me the same thing, saying there are also monsters!" Various voices emerged, some claiming there are monsters, while others argued that it is not a monster but a large bug, and some said that once you enter, you cannot come out.

As they spoke, the Child King walked towards the dry well, and some of the bolder ones followed him to the side of the well. Near the dry well, a faint path could be seen, though it was overgrown with weeds. Interestingly, it seemed as if something had passed through, as the weeds on this path were bent towards the side of the dry well. However, the children's attention was entirely focused on the well, and they did not notice these details.

This archive room is located in the southwest corner of the Public Security Bureau. As I entered through the side door, the guard, an elderly man named Qin in his forties, was dozing off. Upon seeing me, he didn't even blink. I casually tossed in a Huanghelou cigarette, and only then did Old Man Qin break into a smile and say, "Xiao Shao, you are here?"

Looking at the yellowed teeth of Old Qin, who was stained by smoke, I said, "Still smoking the five-yuan Honghe, you old rascal earn no less than I do, yet you don't know to smoke something better!" After saying this, I ignored Old Qin and headed straight for the archives, while behind me, I could vaguely hear Old Qin mumbling, "I have children and grandchildren, so I save whenever I can..."

As the rope was thrown down again, the tall and thin individual grasped the rope and began to climb up, pulling and tugging himself along. Despite the scorching heat of the day, his back felt surprisingly cool. The onlookers observed that this tall and thin person appeared as if he had just bathed in the river, completely drenched in sweat, and he was shivering all over, unable to utter a word.

The children were completely in an uproar, scattering in all directions, many of them crying and shouting: "Er Mao Lu was eaten by the monster, Er Mao Lu was eaten by the monster." In the countryside, children often have rather playful nicknames, while Er Mao Lu's formal name is quite literary, which I shall not disclose.

The adults were too lazy to care, but who would have thought that on this day, a few small children suddenly had a whimsical idea. One of the older children, around seven or eight years old, said to these little ones, who were on average four or five years old: "Do you know what is in the dry well behind our village?"

Could it be that some small animal has fallen into the well, its corpse rotting and emitting a foul smell? Upon thinking of this, the tall and thin individual felt a wave of nausea and instinctively looked closely with his eyes. My goodness! This did not scare the tall and thin person half to death; this is not the corpse of some small animal, but a human corpse!

At that time, I had just been transferred to the criminal investigation team, and it was the first murder case I personally participated in

I subconsciously rubbed my eyes and slowly opened them. The intense sunlight streamed in through the gap in the curtains. Ever since that incident occurred, I often dream of the past. After a simple wash and breakfast, I rode my old bicycle, which made noise everywhere except for the bell, towards the office.

At this time, the villagers had all gotten up. Those who needed to work in the fields went to the fields, those who needed to feed the pigs fed the pigs, and those who needed to cook prepared meals. No one expected that shortly after getting up, a group of children came running home, crying and shouting. No one knew what had happened, so they hurriedly asked the little ones. It turned out that Er Mao the donkey had fallen into a dry well. This was no small matter. Upon learning the situation, the villagers quickly rushed to the dry well, especially Er Mao's grandfather. His son and eldest grandson were both away, and his wife had passed away early, leaving him to live with this little grandson, who was the apple of his eye. No amount of pampering could be considered excessive. Now, hearing that the little one had fallen into the well, he was anxiously jumping around.

The corpse had already decayed and emitted a foul odor, with several large stones piled on top of it. In the dim light, one could vaguely see that the eyes of the corpse seemed to be staring back. Upon witnessing this scene, the tall and thin man nearly fainted in the dry well. No wonder the donkey was so frightened that it lacked the strength to even hold onto the rope; if it were an adult, they would surely be terrified as well.

This place can be considered a remote corner, as hardly anyone comes here. The vast archive room quietly sits here, and throughout the day, it is basically just me, Old Qin, and a university student who just started interning not long ago. To be honest, what century are we in? The twenty-first century, the era of the internet. Archives have all been digitized and stored online. With a computer and an internet connection, as long as you have the necessary permissions, there is nothing you cannot find. Why bother coming here?

"He is damn it, he is damn it!" The tall and thin man cursed twice before saying, "There is a dead person down there"

However, it is also necessary to preserve paper documents, as sometimes the internet does not seem to be very reliable, so to speak, it serves as a double insurance. Furthermore, there are case files that were retained from the time before the internet, some of which are older than I am, quietly placed as they are, with some having not been touched for over a decade or even several decades.

At this point, the seven or eight-year-old child said with a hint of fear: "You cowards, watch me!"

A few people hurriedly carried the donkey named Er Mao towards the village clinic, while the others were trying to pull up the tall, thin individual. At that moment, the tall, thin person was in the bottom of the well, enduring the heat. It was the height of summer, and the morning air felt as if it were on fire. Moreover, in this dilapidated well, the air was stagnant. Suddenly, a foul odor wafted into the tall, thin person's nose, which was truly unbearable. While they had been busy rescuing Er Mao, they had not paid attention to it, but now, being alone, they could distinctly smell it, as if something was rotting.