Feng Bujue arrived at the well, but he didn’t come too close as he just lowered his body, tilted his head and looked forward without craning his head above the well.
He didn’t forget even a word of that folksong: "Don’t look at him, or you will be buried in the dry well." This was surely a hint. Feng Bujue didn’t doubt that. As soon as he looked straight at the thing inside the well, he would immediately trigger the Death FLAG. Also, he didn’t want to be dragged down there by a monster that he couldn’t fight against as his Survival Value would decline to 0 instantly.
"Hey, you there," Feng Bujue yelled, "is it ok if I throw you a rope?"
Seconds later, the voice from the well echoed again, "I… alone… can’t climb up…"
As soon as Feng Bujue heard this, he had a feeling of finding out something; he tried to probe, "So… How about me carrying you on my back and climbing up?"
The voice from the well simply answered him, "Okay."
Feng Bujue directly asked, "I’m not familiar with this school. Do you know where I can find a rope?" He just wanted to know to what degree the Quest would aid him with hints.
But then, his new friend didn’t answer him as the voice from the well just repeated, "Save… save me…"
Thus, Feng Bujue spoke up, "Wait there, I’ll go find a rope and come back to you."
That voice didn’t say anything to object him besides continuing his call for help.
Feng Bujue was curious what would happen if he didn’t come to the well. However, after he had contemplated, even if the badass under the well wouldn’t climb up to solve him, sooner or later, he had to come back there to finish this quest.
Feng Bujue left the well area and trotted to the sports equipment storage, where he wanted to plunder something before reaching the well. As he had memorized the route, he found it easy to get back there and used his wrench to break the door. After Feng Bujue entered he rummaged through the whole place.
Soon, he found a rope, which was a rough one used for tug of war. Feng Bujue tried its degree of toughness. When he felt it was okay, he rolled the rope, put it into his bag, then headed out of the room and returned to the dry well.
As he approached the well, the call for help echoed again. Feng Bujue acted like he didn’t hear anything and walked faster to the place. He tied one end of the rope firmly around the trunk of a dead tree nearby, then he threw the rope into the well. He estimated that the well was around 10 meters deep, or might be just six or seven meters. This rope should be enough.
Now, the most troublesome problem was the phone. No matter whether it was going down there or climbing up again, he had to use both of his hands. Ugh, he couldn’t keep the phone in his mouth. And, if he did keep the phone in his mouth and the phone rang when he was half way there, he would have no way to receive the call. If he was careless and slipped the phone to the bottom of the well, he would be chased to death.
Feng Bujue glared at the clock; there were still seven minutes left until the next call. He thought that it would be no problem though. The cry asking for help from the well might belong to the small boy in the previous illusion. As his peer could bring him up with ease, and now he was a ghost, he should be much lighter.
Feng Bujue made up his mind then put the phone on the ground. Without any hesitation, he grabbed the rope while facing the tree trunk and his back facing the well. He sat on the well’s wall and started to step his legs on the inner surface. While moving downwards, he kept his head facing up the sky as his hands alternatively gripped the rope. He tried to make it quick. From the beginning to the end, he didn’t glare at the bottom of the well; he faced his back to the thing that would be 80% or 90% a ghost all the way down.
"Look at the sky; the moon is laughing…" (1) Since Feng Bujue had stepped in the well, he always
kept his head facing up the sky and back to the well, humming unconsciously. Then, he stopped immediately and said to himself, "Boo, I didn’t notice that I would sing such a brainwashing melody. Lucky me, no one is here. It’s embarrassing…"
When Feng Bujue reached the bottom of the well, he felt that he was stepping on soft mud. He stood on one side of the well, not daring to turn around, and leaving the opponent to only see his back. "Where are you, I came back to—"
While talking, a pair of bloody arms jutted from behind, crossed over his shoulders and clutched his neck. At the same time, Feng Bujue could feel half of a body was leaning against his back. Now, he could confirm that even a female player could totally carry this ghost on her back since it was pretty light, or, in different words, its limbs were incomplete.
"Alright..." Feng Bujue wanted to say something, but he decided to keep silent. Usually, he would make some jokes, but when he was about to open his mouth, he felt something was wrong. In such circumstances, if he exposed the non-human features of that guy, the situation would be developed in a bad way. For example, "You are that quick, why don’t you climb up there on your own?""Why do I feel like you have nothing under your waist?""Water is dripping down from your belly, isn’t it?" All were prohibited utterances.
At the end of numerous ghost stories, so many main characters have tried to talk to someone who looked like ‘human’ that ‘I’ve just met a ghost, it looks like blah blah blah," and then, they all receive the same reply, "Does it look like this?" Afterwards, they all got killed.
Feng Bujue didn’t dare to take the risk as his neck was still in that guy’s hands. What if this ghost, with his prompt reminders, suddenly remembered that it was a ghost? It would activate the Death FLAG then. As such, he must ABSOLUTELY not say those things.
"Ready? I’m going to climb up." Feng Bujue totally ignored the creepy sounds and other vehement indications. Also, he didn’t care about the bloody arms under his chin. After he had made his greetings, he started to climb up with the ghost on his back.
Previously, when he descended to the bottom of the well, he didn’t look down as though he was just walking backwards. Now, he was climbing up with his sight looking straight forward, and thus, his speed was fast enough. And, the thing he was carrying on his back wasn’t heavy at all; in fact, it was almost nothing.
Getting to the bottom and then climbing up again, it took him only more than four minutes. Feng Bujue stopped at the mouth of the well. After he had adjusted his breath, he still didn’t dare to take risk of picking up the phone; instead, he took out the wrench and spoke to the thing on his back, "We’re out, you can go home now."
A voice arose pretty close to Feng Bujue’s nape, just like an icy-cold wind sweeping over. "Go… home…"
In the next seconds, everything was tranquil to the point that it almost suffocated people.
"Thank you..." This was the last thing the ghost told him.
When Feng Bujue heard this, the chilling-to-the-bones coldness around him disappeared all of a sudden, and he could feel that the thing on his back was gone. At this time, he sighed then finally turned around.
Under the silver moonlight, the appearance of the dry well had been changed. The mouth of the well was sealed with cement. The rope Feng Bujue was holding had one end tied around the trunk of a tree, and the other end, which he had thrown into the well, was now stacked on the ground next to the well.
Perhaps Feng Bujue didn’t get down to the bottom of the well. Perhaps where he had climbed down… was somewhere else. And, he had saved the boy from that place.
The last paragraph of the article in Like Rain’s hand read, [In the fall of the year Heisei 10, parents of students in the school had invited a Yin Yang Master to perform his ritual. When he left, he said that he had slashed the grudging ghost, but his ability wasn’t enough to make the ghost become Buddha.
The writer of this article kept asking him, and the Yin Yang Master answered, "Do you want me to get 'there' and return carrying him on my back?" After that, he left in rage.
Since then, the mouth of the well was sealed again with cement. So far, there is no supernatural phenomenon that occurred again.
It’s a verse of Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!! (Japanese: Bakusō Kyōdai Rettsu Endo Gō!!) is a manga series created by Tetsuhiro Koshita, first serialized in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic magazine from July 1994 to October 1999. The manga centers on Retsu and Go Saeba, twin brothers who focus on the world of miniature car racing.