Chapter 15
After they finished tidying up, they went to the mourning hall as instructed by Zhang Zhen.
By this time, Zhang Zhen and Wang Yan had already turned the coffin upside down, scattered paper money and gold ingots around it, and some valuable jewelry was also carelessly thrown on the ground.
The nails sealing the coffin were very sturdy. Bai Nan watched with his own eyes as the coffin bearers hammered them in one by one before the funeral procession yesterday.
The fact that it was opened so easily shows that Zhang Zhen came prepared.
When Bai Nan walked up to him, she saw him placing things on the offering table. These things were arranged neatly, in a row and in a column, forty-two in total.
Zhang Zhen is currently placing the forty-third card.
It was a yellow talisman paper, covered with exceptionally complex symbols, drawn in a single, sharp stroke.
This is the culmination of Bai Nan's nearly one hundred days of practice.
"Little Di is here?"
Zhang Zhen noticed her and immediately looked up and waved to her.
"Come on, let me show you something."
His tone of voice was like a kindergarten child who had just bought a new pencil case and, after bringing it to kindergarten, greeted his closest friend:
"Look, my new pencil case, isn't it pretty? There are lots of even prettier pencils inside."
Bai Nan took a deep breath, made full preparations, and walked over.
Xu Xin intended to follow behind her, but Wang Yan waved him off, saying, "Xu Xin, come help me out, I can't move this."
He looked at Bai Nan with a deep gaze, as if he was struggling with something, but in the end he still chose to turn around and help Wang Yan.
He subconsciously felt that Zhang Zhen wouldn't hurt Bai Nan.
"You've never seen this before, have you?"
Holding the yellow talisman, he said with a smug look on his face, "You young people nowadays all believe in science, you have no idea how superstitious we used to be."
He placed the yellow talismans on the altar, counted them, and then bent down to take out another talisman from the coffin.
“This thing is called a ‘talisman’. It’s usually made by Taoist priests or shamans who pretend to be gods and ghosts. Each talisman has a different function.”
He pointed to the white talisman in his hand: "For example, this one has 'Seven Star Hidden Script' drawn on it, which means that this talisman is a celestial talisman."
"For example, this one is a 'Brahma Lamp Talisman,' which means it is a talisman for matters of the underworld. Simply put, the function of this talisman is to guide Brahma energy to descend through the power of the talisman to help deliver the souls of the dead or resolve matters of the underworld."
"Doesn't it look pretty complete?"
After Zhang Zhen finished speaking, he stared at Bai Nan with piercing eyes.
Bai Nan paused, looked back at him, and said, "Brother Zhen knows a lot."
Just then, Wang Yan suddenly arrived with Xu Xin, and upon hearing this, she immediately pursed her lips.
"Xiao Di, don't be fooled by him. He just searched this on the spot. The AI is getting tired of his questions."
Zhang Zhen immediately cleared his throat and said slowly, "After all, supernatural and superstitious beliefs are quite complex, and we still have a lot to learn."
Wang Yan only replied with two words: "Hehe".
Bai Nan couldn't understand what the two were up to.
She originally thought that Zhang Zhen had noticed something was wrong with her, and combined with the information she had deliberately leaked at the dinner table, he had called her over to test her.
In that case, Wang Yan wouldn't need to come and sabotage things.
Or perhaps they conspire to stage a play, first lowering her guard, then taking advantage of her reduced psychological defenses to suddenly trick her.
Otherwise, she didn't know what other reason there could be.
No one spoke for a moment. After Zhang Zhen had arranged all forty-nine talismans neatly, he suddenly pulled out another white talisman from the bottom of the coffin with a look of surprise.
"Oh no! This isn't right! No, this is really wrong!"
His reaction was exaggerated; the talisman he was holding was crumpled from the force he used.
"How come... there are fifty already?"
"The AI told me that only multiples of seven are valid!"
This sentence struck Bai Nan's mind like a bolt of lightning.
She understood everything at once!
The matter... the matter was all because of me... the death of Bai Zonghe and the Taoist priest...
She froze on the spot, her mind filled with the shock of 'impossible', followed by a moment of panic.
She looked for Xu Xin's gaze as if pleading for help, only to find Wang Yan standing right in front of him, completely blocking his view.
At that moment, when she looked at him with pleading eyes, Wang Yan calmly looked back at her.
them......
In a flash, she turned to look at Zhang Zhen and found that he was also looking at her. Their eyes met briefly in the air.
She finally understood what was going on.
Despite having made thorough preparations, they still couldn't escape the elaborate trap set by the two.
She fell completely into the net.
Like the now-deceased Li Laokou, except that what ensnared Li Laokou was greed, what ensnared her... was her 'conscience'.
"Xiao Di? Why are you stunned?"
Zhang Zhen smiled, seemingly unaware of Bai Nan's unusual behavior.
He put down the white talisman in his hand, picked out the unique yellow talisman from the pile of white talismans, and then put the white talisman back in.
Thus, all forty-nine talismans have been fully presented.
"Tsk tsk tsk, it really is the 'Seven Star Soul-Swapping Technique,' this Taoist priest is no ordinary person..."
Wang Yan asked, puzzled, "What is the purpose of this spell?"
He smiled mysteriously and pointed to the talisman on the table, saying:
"These forty-nine talismans are like forty-nine Seven Star Lamps, and the one that these forty-nine lamps are dedicated to is the very center lamp that represents one's destiny."
He paced to the coffin, pointed to Old Li inside, and said, "His body is this 'life lamp,' and its purpose..."
Zhang Zhen circled the heavy coffin lid, peering inside again and again, but said nothing.
This agonizing pain was so intense that Bai Nan desperately wanted to pry his mouth open.
"Purpose--"
At this moment, Xu Xin suddenly stepped forward, took over his unfinished words, and calmly continued.
"It is to exchange his soul with that of the deceased, and then use the soul of the deceased to nourish himself."
Zhang Zhen seemed quite surprised: "Oh? You've actually heard of this spell?"
Xu Xin walked to the coffin, peeked inside, and then looked away, saying calmly, "There are many in Taipei."
"You're not from City C?"
“I grew up in Taipei,” he replied.
Zhang Zhen and Wang Yan immediately exchanged a glance, clearly not expecting Xu Xin to dare to reveal his background so readily, and even to have known about the curse without hiding it.
"Do you know about the case that happened in Taipei seven years ago?"
Zhang Zhen continued to probe with his questions.
Xu Xin was clearly determined to go all the way.
"Yes, I've heard of it."
He had not only heard of it, but the parties involved in that case even...
The three people present were all shocked and turned to look at him.
Zhang Zhen and Wang Yan admired his frankness, while Bai Nan understood the meaning behind his words.
He was being so candid in an attempt to extricate himself from a difficult situation. But this act will put him under their scrutiny.
After this is over, Zhang Zhen will definitely shift the focus of his investigation to him, and may even connect the Taoist priest case with a case in Taipei seven years ago.
His family will also have to undergo investigation by the Taipei City Criminal Investigation Department.
He didn't have to do that...
The undercurrents between the four ended with Xu Xin's confession.
Before leaving, Zhang Zhen rolled down the car window and waved to them, saying, "Goodbye, you two!"
Wang Yan also peeked out from the passenger seat and said cheerfully, "Bye-bye, you two kids!"
The police car roared again and disappeared around the corner in the blink of an eye.
After Bai Nan and Xu Xin saw the two off, neither of them spoke, and the two of them walked back to the second floor without saying a word.
Finally, Bai Nan stopped Xu Xin before he entered the room.
"I...I didn't know it would turn out like this..."
She was somewhat incoherent, the weight of two lives pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe. The image of the Taoist priest's tragic death kept flashing through her mind, intensifying her sense of guilt.
She wanted to explain, but the dead cannot be brought back to life, and the curse of the 'Seven Star Soul-Swapping Technique' was still in effect. No matter how it was described, the incident exuded an absurdity of 'I didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me.'
This absurdity is mixed with sarcasm and ridicule, mocking her ignorance and her reaping what she sowed.
She looked dejected and lowered her head, no longer speaking.
Xu Xin seemed to see through her thoughts: "Bai Nan".
His voice was soft, and as he murmured her name, he bent down, a cool breeze swept over him, the refreshing scent of mint slowly calming the restless air.
His gaze found those amber eyes before he spoke again: "If there has to be a murderer in this case, then blame the person who invented this spell. He is the one who gradually brought people's deep-seated greed to fruition, ultimately turning it into an insatiable craving."
"But he was innocent too. He couldn't have imagined that others would use this spell for anything. He—"
Bai Nan was eager to explain that such a conviction was unfair to the Taoist who invented the spell, just as the person who invented gunpowder could never have imagined that later generations would use gunpowder to harm others.
“Yes,” Xu Xin interrupted her, “So, you’re innocent too. Nan Nan didn’t really mean to hurt anyone, right?”
He gently placed his hand on the top of her head and softly rubbed it.
She froze, and the tears she had been holding back for so long burst forth. "Waaah..." she sobbed, wiping her tears with her arm.
The grievances that had been suppressed in his heart finally surged up. His gentleness seemed to overlap with a certain figure, and he felt as if he had returned to the time when that figure was there.
The two loving figures gradually overlapped, allowing Bai Nan to see clearly her childish self and her doting grandmother.
Whenever she made a mistake, her grandmother would gently rub her head with her withered, rough hands, comforting her in a low voice: "It's not Nannan's fault. They scolded you first. Nannan was just protecting herself, right?"
"Waaaaah... Yes, Grandma, they bullied me first, they called me a unwanted bastard... hiccup, that's why I threw stones at them, waaaah..."
"Yes! They made the mistake first. My Nannan did nothing wrong. Don't cry, don't cry. Nannan is the strongest."
Bai Nan, who is not yet six years old, was talking until she hiccuped, while raising her arm to wipe away her tears. She was only willing to lower her arm after her grandmother comforted her.
At this time, Grandma would take out a mirror and show Bai Nan her face: "Look how badly my Nan Nan has cried! Doesn't she look like a dirty little kitten?"
Every time she looked at her ugly reflection in the mirror, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, "The person in the mirror...that's not Nan Nan..."
As long as a person can still cry, they can continue to live.
The person who taught Bai Nan this lesson was her grandmother, who was no longer in this world. And the first practical lesson she learned after finally mastering it was her grandmother's death.
She still remembers crying loudly for a long time in that desolate cemetery, crying until the sky darkened, until dark clouds gathered, until her tears merged with the torrential rain, and until thunder rumbled over the mountain ridge, splitting her broken heart into thousands of shooting stars, which fell into the muddy silence.
Bai Lu had already woken up and was playing games in his room.
Bai Nan, with swollen eyes, stood in the corridor and saw another shattered heart through the game screen.
The little character he was controlling was clearly being tortured in the BOSS's mouth, but he acted as if he didn't see it, continuing to swing the joystick as if the little character was moving normally and he was operating normally.
But Bai Nan was crying loudly just a second ago. How could Bai Lu, a 'normal person,' not have heard her?
It's more like he deliberately shut down his senses and immersed himself in his own world.
This scene was like a replay of Bai Nan's loss of her grandmother, but Bai Lu was probably not so lucky; no one had taught him this:
If it hurts, you should cry it out; only then will the wound heal as a scar.
Wang Ma was carrying a plate of fruit to take inside, but the moment she saw it clearly, she silently went downstairs.
Her hunched figure fell into the dimly lit corner of the corridor, forming a pale gray shadow. From Bai Nan's perspective, it seemed that a gust of wind could easily dissipate this shadow.
She wanted to go over and offer some words of comfort, but given the current situation, any amount of comfort would only seem pale and powerless.
And the best way to solve this problem seems to be only one:
time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
