Chapter 1: Four Acts Awakening from the Earth
The dusk in Hecheng today is particularly long.
The setting sun burned feebly into the dark clouds, staining large areas of wild mugwort and crabgrass bright red.
"Sister... Shasha... Don't go any further, the signal here is so bad."
The orange sky, the crimson sunset, the dark jungle, and the cold green path along the farmland. A girl walked alone on this path, holding a silver radio that had long been abandoned by the times.
Ying Zhiwei looked up at the sky and muttered to himself, "I'll seek vitality in the Purple Palace, and the Big Dipper will point the way to distinguish good and bad luck." His gaze moved downwards and stopped at a bush somewhere in the wasteland. The dead trees here were connected, birds avoided and insects disappeared. It was the "Ghost Palace" where resentment was easily formed.
"Ash, look there."
"What—rustling," the radio was a little stuck. Before the complete sentence was finished, it jumped frequency one after another with a faint electric sound:
"…By the close of trading, Jianhua Steel fell 1.12%, while Huiyao Group rose against the trend…"
"...Is the building truly haunted? Let's connect with Xiao Zhang from the cold chain logistics company to hear his thoughts..."
"...Someone is missing. A suspected kidnapping and trafficking gang is on the loose. Police are reminding the public... rustling..."
——"It's so noisy."
With a click, the radio's channel pointer began to jump around in an irregular and crazy manner. Snippets of information from various stations were pieced together like movable type, forming the same strange tone from before: "Sister, did you hear anything?"
Ying Zhiwei feigned composure and looked around cautiously: "It should be coming from underground."
I held my breath and waited for a while, but the voice never came again.
The radio was a little scared: "Is there a ghost here?"
Ying Zhiwei knocked on the lid of his iron shell: "Aren't you a ghost? Even ghosts are afraid of ghosts."
The other person's voice was about to cry: "Why don't we go home? If you sneak out to catch ghosts, your second uncle will definitely scold you again."
Ying Zhiwei, on the other hand, lost her temper. She squatted down with high morale, pressed her palms to the ground, and chanted, "Return to the true nature of the universe, all ghosts obey my orders, follow the laws of nature, and I command you to serve me!"
Rumble——
The ground began to shake, and the mud and sand on the surface began to collapse unexpectedly. Gravel and dust surged in the sky, like a dragon turning over and a stone dragon flying down.
When the noise stopped and the dust settled, I saw a person sleeping deep in the mud and sand.
The person was awakened by the noise and reluctantly sat up. Mud and sand trickled down her hair, revealing her true appearance soon—a young man with short hair, his skirt almost rotten beyond recognition. His skin was pale, his left bangs almost covering half his face, and his right hair was tucked away at his temples, revealing a lifeless, round eye with dark circles as heavy as soda at the bottom of a pot, and his lips were purple. He really didn't look like a living person.
"It's dawn?" The ghost yawned tiredly, then sat up expressionlessly, her face drowsy and dazed. She murmured in disappointment, "I overslept. I thought I was dead."
There was a worn handbag next to her legs. The contents were covered in mud and sand. One could barely make out an ID card, a plastic makeup mirror, lipstick, and a few coins.
They are all old things.
The radio said weakly: "Sister, why doesn't she respond?"
The moment the alchemist subdues a ghost, a chain will appear instantly, indicating that the ghost can be controlled by the alchemist from then on.
However, after the spell was finished, everything in front of him was still calm and nothing happened.
Ying Zhiwei was particularly surprised: "There can't be any mistake?"
She refused to believe in evil, and clasped her hands together again, concentrating her mind and energy: "Return to the true nature of the Mysterious Underworld, and all ghosts will obey my orders. The Tao follows nature, and I command you to serve me!!"
The ghost ignored her, frowned and lowered her head, counting something on her fingers: "Ten thousand generations of prosperity, virtue and wealth will bring peace to the country... The fourth generation is wealth, I counted correctly, why can't I find it?"
Finally, she looked up, as if she had just seen someone in front of her: "Do you know Chen Fujun?"
Ying Zhiwei: “…”
who? ?
Seeing this, the other party scratched the back of his head in annoyance and sighed repeatedly: "Is the name wrong? What a hassle."
The radio volume was turned down low: "She seems to be looking for someone?"
Ying Zhiwei clenched his hands and hesitated for a moment, then tiptoed forward.
She took a deep breath and put on a flattering smile: "Well, I know some simple ways to find people. Do you need my help?"
The ghost girl's dark eyes suddenly caught hers, and she asked in a sinister tone, "Really?"
Ying Zhiwei pretended to be calm: "Yes, but I have a condition."
She licked her dry lips, her heart pounding like a drum. "Can you... be my servant?"
Unlike Taoists, most alchemists like to drive away evil spirits, which is called "Yi".
If the evil spirits succumb to the magician's methods, they will voluntarily submit and worship the magician as their "spiritual master". If the spiritual master dies, their souls will also be scattered.
For ghosts, it is simply a black-hearted business.
Ying Zhiwei had already prepared for the other party's rage, but she didn't expect the "female ghost" to weigh the pros and cons for only a second before saying nonchalantly, "That depends on whether you can help me."
Ying Zhiwei nodded happily: "Of course I can. Whatever you want to do, as long as it's not against the law, I can help you!"
The "female ghost" pondered for a moment and then said in a negotiating tone, "Can you kill a ghost that's over a thousand years old? Yeah, or maybe two or three thousand years old, I can't remember exactly."
Ying Zhi's smile froze on his face, and his eyes turned complicated as he looked at the other person: "I haven't even seen a ghost over three hundred years old..."
"Then we should find someone first. We need an identity that allows us to enter and exit various places freely." The other party showed an expected expression, looked down at himself, and then looked at Ying Zhiwei: "Your clothes look quite sturdy. Can you get me one too?"
Ying Zhiwei was a little dazed.
The radio kept making noises: "Sister...why do you feel more like a yoke ghost?"
-
The last trace of purple and red in the sky faded away, and Hecheng quietly fell into night.
This prosperous yet decadent city strives to overdraw all desires, so that the bright lights and feasting in front of it all seem murderous.
In the underground parking lot of a private club in the South District, several beautiful young people in fashionable clothes were laughing and chatting.
"Chen Songling, you've become famous too," his drunken companion joked, "I saw on my WeChat Moments that someone was clamoring at the entrance of Huiyao Building looking for Chen Fujun this afternoon. The fans are really crazy now."
"Did they even dig out my real name from my ID card?"
"Hahaha, what's so secretive about this era of big data?"
Hecheng wealthy businessman Chen Rongqing founded Huiyao Group. Now the helmsman is his eldest grandson Chen Deyin, and Chen Songling is his beloved only son. Two years ago, he "did not do his job properly" and joined the entertainment industry.
Someone suddenly looked in a certain direction and exclaimed, "Look at that car..."
A dilapidated silver Xiali N3 was slowly parking, with the words "All-round housekeeping, door-to-door cleaning" painted on the body of the car.
The driver seemed to be waiting for something and showed no intention of getting off.
Everyone took a few more glances at it curiously.
After all, this kind of top-level club generally does not accept individual guests, and in order to protect the privacy of guests, the garage is also off-limits.
At this moment, the companion who received the text message was shocked: "There are paparazzi staking out outside the club."
Chen Songling automatically flicked the cigarette butt from his hand: "Damn it!"
He has already been criticized enough for spending a lot of money to debut and his frivolous style. A few more negative news will be enough to keep his agent busy.
Having lost interest, they exchanged a few pleasantries and then got into different cars and left.
Chen Songling then staggered to the front of the luxury car and knocked on the window, but found that the driver who was supposed to be in the car was nowhere to be seen.
Unable to dial the phone, Chen Songling gritted his teeth and cursed in his heart.
If I go out through the main gate, the paparazzi might make me go viral again with reports like "Huiyao Group is suspected of bankruptcy, young master is drunk and ends up on the street hailing a taxi in public."
Just when he was feeling upset, the broken car suddenly stopped next to Chen Songling.
The person inside called out, "Get in the car, I'll take you."
A moment later, the barrier suddenly creaked and rose up.
A small broken car rushed out, and the screen of the gate flickered unsteadily. After a long time, a string of unrecognizable question marks finally appeared.
-
The neon signs of the game halls along the street flashed rhythmically.
A young man in a dark blue Taoist robe with a slanting collar was leading a little Taoist boy and standing next to the coin pusher.
He tilted his head to hold the phone, and put coins into the machine intermittently, while making perfunctory "hmm" responses to the person on the phone.
"...Oh, Mr. Zhou, we've certainly exorcised the evil spirits from this old house once, but there's no guarantee we won't encounter other filthy things. I collected the gift money from last time, so of course I have to collect it again this time..."
The young man stared at the shaky game coins and tapped his fingers on the glass cover. "What are you talking about... I believe that Mr. Zhou didn't mean it. Wuliang Tianzun forgives you."
The little Taoist boy was bored and was sitting on a high stool eating ice cream. He looked up inadvertently.
On the most famous sleepless street in the South District, an out-of-place "All-round Housekeeping" whizzed past.
He was stunned for a moment, then immediately used his elbow to poke the young man next to him: "Uncle Master! Uncle Master, look!"
The young man ignored him and continued to play Tai Chi with the gullible customer on the phone: "...We at Qingcheng Temple all charge regular fees. The fees in Hecheng are even higher. Besides, your house is so far from Shucheng, and I have business trips..."
"Uncle Master!" The little Taoist boy was anxious and grabbed the young man's robe: "Look!"
"Okay, okay, it depends on what you said, haha."
The young man agreed with a smile, pulling back the corner of his robe with an impatient expression. After hanging up the phone, he stared at the screen and complained, "You curse so filthy."
Only then did he realize it and slapped the little Taoist boy on the head: "What are you looking at?"
"He left early," the little Taoist boy said with a resentful tone, "The God of Wealth you asked me to keep an eye on was taken away by the cleaning car!"
The young man loosened his fingers, and the last coin moved left and right along the track, which happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back, splashing a dazzling array of silver water.
The coin pusher dinged excitedly, and the redemption coupons sprayed out like festive ribbons, rustling and hanging on the two people like a spider's web.
-
Chen Songling pressed his forehead. The cold wind coming in through the gap in the car window was like a knife, removing a lot of alcohol from his blood.
At this time, he began to feel a little regretful. Why did he end up in such a broken car? It was bumpy and shaking, and there were a lot of invalid vehicle inspection labels on the windshield. It was so old that it was falling off.
He suppressed his motion sickness and directed, "Turn left ahead."
The driver turned the steering wheel quickly, but to the right.
Chen Songling was stunned for a moment: "Not here."
The other party replied perfunctorily, like a taxi driver taking a detour: "Oh, it's all the same."
Chen Songling: “…”
The car is not soundproof and makes a lot of noise.
Chen Songling waited patiently for the red light ahead. He tapped the window frame twice anxiously with his fingers, then reached out to turn the car radio on the central control.
"Kara... a kidnapping and trafficking criminal group is roaming around committing crimes in many places. The victim in this city... Kara is missing... Please... Kara, be vigilant..."
The onboard equipment was in disrepair, making constant noise and repeatedly interrupting with boring social news.
Chen Songling didn't take it seriously, but accidentally caught a glimpse of white in the rearview mirror.
There was a pile of papers scattered on the back seat of the car.
A closer look revealed that they were all individual photos torn from different magazines, scattered in a disorderly manner under a pair of bright yellow rubber gloves.
The person in the photo looks unusually familiar.
Chen Songling tried hard to identify it and suddenly broke out in a sweat.
How could it be...
It was all his own fault!
Boom!
There was a dull knock from the rear of the car, like a blunt hammer, which completely woke him up from his drunken state.
He opened his eyes wide and his scalp felt numb for a moment.
There's someone in the trunk?!
Boom! Boom!
The sound became more frequent and Chen Songling's face turned pale.
I wanted to pick up my phone, but found that it had already been turned off due to low battery.
The car had already left the bustling city center, and it was pitch black all around. Only the area within the headlights could be seen.
"Stop the car...I want to vomit, stop the car!"
He suddenly covered his mouth and banged on the car door frantically.
The driver stepped on the brakes, and the moment the car slowed down, Chen Songling almost ran out of the door, like a moth in the night, desperately rushing towards the faint light under the distant street lamp.
He moved his legs frantically, not daring to look back to see if the driver had caught up with him.
I ran and ran, and I didn’t know how long I ran.
The residential area gradually approached, and patches of warm light were scattered like stars, and the sense of humanity began to appear in the field of vision.
Someone was clattering mahjong tiles, a child was stuttering while practicing the piano, and a couple suddenly raised their voices to have a quarrel...
All these urban noises that he had never paid attention to suddenly became like heavenly music.
With the fluctuating feeling of having escaped a disaster, he ran towards a passerby smoking under a street light, panting.
"Please, please help me call the police! ...I've been kidnapped!!"
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