Chapter 1 A Half-baked Ghost Hunt
At eleven o'clock at night, the torrential rain pounded against the glass of the paper shop, and a chilling wind swept in. The candlelight flickered in the wind, and the shadows of the paper figures on the wall were stretched long and twisted, as if they might fall down from the wall at any moment.
Xie Xun looked at the last bucket of instant noodles in his hand, then glanced at the three utility bills on the table, his fingertips turning white from gripping them so tightly.
He was the fourth generation of the Xie family and was also known as a notoriously unlucky man.
From childhood to adulthood, whenever he tried to take the initiative to do something meaningful to change the status quo, bad luck would follow him like a shadow.
Walking downstairs, I get hit by a flowerpot; crossing the street, I almost get hit by a car, though I bleed but survive; even when buying a lottery ticket, I perfectly avoid all the winning numbers.
Only by staying in this family-run paper craft shop could he save his life.
He had just graduated from university and was not skilled in Taoist arts, so even if he acted as a charlatan, no one would believe him.
But now, his meager savings are almost gone, he can't pay the water and electricity bills, and the rice jar is nearly empty. If things continue like this, he'll really end up on the news.
Suddenly, the shop door was violently slammed open.
Xie Xun was pouring hot water into the instant noodles, putting the lid on with a noodle fork, and frowning at the person who barged in through the door, his face full of impatience.
It's so rude of them to come and ask for things on a rainy day.
However, at this moment, the paper figure's eyes seemed to come alive, moving slightly with the candlelight.
"Master! Please save my family!"
A man burst in, reeking of a strange odor. His left hand was tucked into his sleeve, with only his blackened, stiff fingertips sticking out, but he was clutching a wad of cash tightly. He slammed it on the table.
"My home is in that villa on the outskirts of the city. Lately, I've been hearing ghostly wails and howls in the middle of the night, and even a female ghost in red combing her hair! If this continues, my wife and children will die!"
Xie Xun's gaze shifted from the man's strange fingers to the thick stack of cash, paused, and...
He came to us for this job; it wasn't like he asked for it.
Perhaps... we can find a loophole?
Xie Xun unconsciously tightened his grip on the jade pendant around his neck.
After my father passed away, besides leaving behind this shop and this cracked jade pendant, he left behind the seemingly unrelated words, "There are things inside the jade, don't touch it unless absolutely necessary," before departing for the rest of his life.
Let's take a gamble!
He suppressed his apprehension about the ancestral precept of "only giving away, never selling," got up, grabbed the peach wood sword and half a box of exorcism talismans, and looked at the man, "Address."
The man seemed surprised that he had agreed so readily. A hint of astonishment flashed in his cloudy eyes, which then turned into an almost uncontrollable twisted ecstasy. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards uncontrollably, but he hurriedly lowered his head to cover it up.
None of this escaped Xie Xun's eyes.
He remained calm, but as he turned around, he grabbed another handful of the most heavily drawn exorcism talismans from the bottom of the dusty drawer and quietly stuffed them into his sleeve pocket.
Just as I reached the door, almost simultaneously, I heard a creaking sound from above.
A piece of old plaster from the ceiling fell off with a snap, grazing Xie Xun's nose as it hit the ground and shattered into pieces.
Xie Xun didn't even lift his eyelids. He simply picked up the old umbrella behind the door, opened it, and followed the man into the car.
Perhaps his bad luck struck again; the car swerved and the rain poured down harder and harder.
Finally, the car stopped on a barren slope on the outskirts of the city.
In the night rain, the villa stood alone in the weeds, its exterior walls covered with withered ivy, which, after being soaked by the rain, looked like a blackened, wet shroud, clinging heavily to the wall.
Large raindrops pounded against the broken roof and glass, making a loud, pattering sound. But in the intervals between the raindrops, Xie Xun vaguely heard a woman's sobbing.
The cries were mournful and fleeting, sometimes near, sometimes far, as if entangled in the rain, making one's heart flutter and one's spine turn cold.
The closer you get to the villa, the stronger and more pungent the stench in the air becomes, instead of being washed away by the rain. It mixes with the earthy smell and some other putrid odor.
Xie Xun stopped in his tracks outside the rusted iron gate of the villa.
It's not that he's not afraid.
The cries were like icicles drilling into his bones, and the stench of decay clung to his throat, all warning him...
This place is extremely unlucky!
His rudimentary skills, learned from his great-grandfather's tattered notes, were enough to barely defeat wandering ghosts; but he was utterly powerless against this malevolent being before him.
If we go in, the chances of survival are slim.
But.
Xie Xun reached out and clenched the jade pendant hanging from his chest.
So what if I die? It's better than starving to death!
Taking a deep breath of the cold air, which was mixed with the stench of decay and the smell of rain, Xie Xun no longer hesitated and followed the man into the half-closed door.
The moment the door was pushed open, a stench of decay mixed with the smell of blood assaulted my senses. The smell was like the rotting carcass of rats that had been rotting for months, and it was utterly repulsive.
Xie Xun frowned as he looked around the room, gripping the peach wood sword in his hand tightly.
After entering the villa, the man vanished as if he had evaporated into thin air; and the door slowly closed after he came in, clearly locked without him even looking.
He can't get out.
There was no other way but to keep moving forward.
After looking around, Xie Xun gradually adjusted to the darkness and could see things inside the room again. On the living room wall, there were three lines of crooked words written in dark red liquid, like some kind of strange tale.
1. No looking in the mirror after midnight;
2. Upon hearing crying, one must also cry.
3. When the woman in red asks for the time, you must answer that it is 11:45 AM.
Just then, Xie Xun saw a woman huddled on the sofa, holding a child. Her face was as white as paper, and she was trembling uncontrollably.
Upon seeing him enter, all he could do was mechanically repeat the same sentence: "We've always followed the rules... always..."
Her eyes were empty and lifeless, yet a strange smile lingered on her lips.
Xie Xun frowned, gripping the compass tightly. The needle spun wildly, finally pointing dead to the floor-to-ceiling mirror at the end of the corridor. The mirror was covered with a thick layer of bloodstains, and a red-clad figure could be vaguely seen moving within it.
Just as he was staring intently at the mirror, the smiles on the faces of the mother and son on the sofa suddenly froze, their skin instantly turned bluish-black, and their limbs twisted rapidly at bizarre angles.
He suddenly sprang up from the sofa and rushed straight at Xie Xun.
It's obvious that this family of three is probably long dead, and even this house is a den of evil spirits that lure and kill the living.
The air was thick with a putrid stench, and the woman's fingertips suddenly grew an inch or so, black and sharp, aimed straight at his throat.
Although Xie Xun was terrified, he remained calm and on guard.
Almost instinctively, he spun around and took half a step back, the exorcism talisman already concealed in his sleeve flying out as he uttered a low shout: "Imperial Decree!"
The yellow talisman instantly adhered to the foreheads of the two rotting corpses. The moment the talisman touched the skin, it burst into a blinding golden light, like a red-hot iron being branded onto grease, emitting a hissing, burning sound.
Instantly, the large and small corpses froze, letting out a shrill scream, billowing black smoke rising from their bodies, and staggering backward. They were temporarily suppressed by the talismanic power, writhing and struggling in agony on the ground.
Before Xie Xun could even catch his breath!
The full-length mirror, covered in bloodstains, shook violently, its surface rippling wildly like water, as layers of bloodstains peeled off.
The red-clad figure in the mirror gradually became clear, and in the next instant, she actually crawled out of the mirror!
Her hair cascaded down like a waterfall, but her head was nowhere to be seen; at her neck was a severed wound from which black blood dripped continuously. She clutched a bone comb in her hand, and as she crawled, she combed her bones, making a sickeningly loud, grinding sound.
With each stroke of the comb, a strand of black hair would fall to the ground, wriggling and crawling frantically toward him.
Xie Xun got goosebumps on his arms, gripping the peach wood sword in his hand and constantly chopping at the hair, retreating step by step.
"It smells so good... so good... dessert... I want to eat you!!!"
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