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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
I was taken aback for a few seconds after hearing that. I asked, "How do you know?" On the other end of the line was Fatty Zhang, who quickly replied, "I saw it with my own eyes."
"You were spying on him?" I inquired.
Fatty Zhang said, "Chen Fei, that's all I have to tell you."
I muttered a sound and suddenly recalled how Fatty Zhang had knocked me out last time. I shouted his name and asked, "Fatty Zhang, why did you knock me out last time?"
Fatty Zhang chuckled a few times and said, "I did it for your own good." Then that bastard hung up the phone.
"Damn Fatty Zhang," I cursed under my breath and set my phone aside. I continued to stare at the woman's portrait in the Hundred Ghosts picture. It was strange that there was a woman behind this design. I was curious but had no one to provide an answer. After looking at it a few more times without any clarity, one thing was certain: the woman's portrait was beautiful.
After putting away the red paper, Gao Ling walked in from outside and said to me, "Chen Fei, do you believe in karma? That evil deeds will be repaid, and everyone who has done bad things will eventually receive their due punishment?"
I looked at Gao Ling curiously, wondering why he suddenly brought this up. It sounded somewhat reasonable, not like something he would usually say.
I asked him why he suddenly made such a statement. Gao Ling replied that it was because of what happened at the hospital. Director Ouyang had done something unethical just to get promoted, and now he had been taken away by the police—wasn't that karma?
I nodded and said, "Yes! Karma is real; it's just that the timing hasn't come yet."
Time passed quickly, and during those three days, the Taoist's spirit grew increasingly frail. I had asked him if it was the Ghostly Pregnant Woman who had caused his injuries, but he denied it.
After three days, I was discharged from the hospital. Nurse Wang Yan escorted me to the hospital entrance and said she'd see me next time.
I smiled and replied that I didn't want to go back to the hospital again.
During those three days, I sent messages and called Zhang Xun but received no response. I still didn't know if what Fatty Zhang said was true.
We set off on the fourth night. I called Gao Ling and Zhao Fan to join me. Zhao Fan had nothing else to do, so he came along to see what it was all about. This time Gao Qing also went with us. Initially, Gao Qing didn't allow Gao Ling to go, but when she heard we were heading to Snake Skin Gully, she surprisingly agreed to let Gao Ling come along. From her back, she took out a black Ghost Curse; judging by Zhang Xun's reaction at that moment, it seemed he was a bit wary of it.
This time, going to Snake Skin Gully, I felt like I owed the Taoist a favor. He had saved me many times, and it was about time to repay him.
Gao Ling drove his car at full speed, with the Taoist acting as our GPS. However, what puzzled me was that even though the Taoist had appeared, Gao Qing seemed completely unaware of it. I was a bit worried at first.
The Taoist showed up, but the red-clothed ghost did not.
We set off around seven in the evening, and by the time we arrived, it was approximately one-thirty in the morning. There was a stretch of road where we couldn't drive in, so we had to walk.
The Taoist told me that this was Snake Skin Gully, and if we walked a hundred meters ahead, there would be a village. He instructed us to go to the village first.
I nodded in response. After he finished speaking, he disappeared. However, what we were about to do this time was rather unethical—digging up a corpse. But since I had already agreed, I had to help the Taoist.
He was right; after walking about three or four miles, we finally saw a village. Each of us carried a flashlight.
There were no streetlights in the countryside at night, so we relied solely on our flashlights for illumination.
By this time, it was already two in the morning. People in rural areas generally went to bed early, so the entire village was quiet. Once we entered, we could hear dogs barking.
I initially thought about calling for the Taoist and taking advantage of the darkness to dig up the grave and find the body since this wasn't exactly something one would want to be seen doing.
However, when I tried to call for him, he didn’t respond. Perhaps my voice attracted Gao Qing's attention because she turned to me and asked, "Chen Fei, what are you mumbling about?"
I jumped at Gao Qing's sudden voice and quickly replied, "Nothing, nothing! I was just curious about what might be in this village."
Gao Qing walked over and stared at me intently before saying, "Chen Fei, why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?"
I had come to Snake Skin Gully just to take a look for something very important but without any specific details. With Gao Ling and Zhao Fan's personalities, they definitely wouldn't ask questions; they would just treat it as an outing.
Gao Qing was different; she was like a keen-eyed leopard, always aware of her surroundings.
I said to Gao Qing, "What could I possibly hide from you? I'm just here to take a look; the mountains and waters here are beautiful." As we entered the village, the dogs barked even more fiercely.
Before long, a flashlight beam shone toward us, and an old man's voice asked, "Who are you?" We directed our flashlight back at him.
Perhaps the light was too bright, as the old man exclaimed, "How can you shine that light? It's blinding! Are you good people or bad people?"
Zhao Fan quickly replied, "We are good people, just here to travel. We miscalculated our time and ended up arriving at night."
The old man muttered, "I really don't understand what people find interesting about this poor rural area." He then inexplicably chuckled.
His laughter felt like a mockery of our ignorance.
Gao Ling turned to me and said, "Fei, how about we find a place to stay for the night?"
It was already quite late, and the Taoist priest was still not out, so we had no choice but to find somewhere to stay. The rest could wait until tomorrow night.
The priest's condition was worsening; his soul seemed to be aging. I found it strange that a soul could actually age.
I sighed in resignation and then Gao Ling spoke to the old man, "Sir, could you let us stay here for the night?"
The old man waved his hand dismissively. "How do I know if you're good people or bad? There are many bad people these days."
I interjected, insisting that we were definitely good people with proper jobs. After saying that, I felt embarrassed; all four of us were hardly respectable workers, living off "mystical tricks."
The old man fell silent and turned to walk back to his house—a two-story building that was unrenovated, with exposed red bricks on the outside.
I called out to him, "I'll give you a thousand yuan if you let us stay for one night."
After I spoke, the old man chuckled a few times and said, "You need to pay first."
I didn't hesitate; since I didn't have that much cash on me, we pooled our money together and handed it over. Seeing the real money made the old man's face light up with joy, and he led us inside.
Once inside, there was light in the room. We turned off our flashlights. I set down my backpack and asked the old man, "Is this village called Snake Skin Gully?"
The old man shook his head and said, "No, no, that's not it. Our village is called Chenjiaba, but why do you want to go to Snake Skin Gully? I advise you not to go there."
"Why not?" someone asked.
The old man replied, "It's best if you don't go. You city folks come here to travel and experience life; Chenjiaba is just fine for that."
At that moment, Gao Ling spoke up, "You call this place Chenjiaba, so does that mean everyone in your village has the surname Chen?"
The old man responded, "Isn't that obvious? Can people from Chenjiaba have the surname Zhang?"
Gao Ling suddenly exclaimed, "What a coincidence! My brother's surname is also Chen. That makes us relatives! What a fate!"
The old man then looked at me with suspicion and asked, "Do you have the surname Chen?"
I nodded. The old man's expression suddenly changed as he said, "If you have the surname Chen, then you absolutely cannot go to Snake Skin Gully."
"Why can't someone with the surname Chen go?" I inquired.
The old man replied ominously, "Those with the surname Chen who go there will die."
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