Escape from the Thriller World – Chapter 25.2

Volume One: The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village

Investigation

The two of them were simultaneously parasitic in one body.

Ning Lan stepped forward to stop the Daoist Master and said: “Master, it’s been a while. I didn’t know you had a child.”

The little girl pulled at Xiaoming’s sleeve and called out: “Grandpa Ming, who are they? Jiajia hasn’t met them before.”

What? Jiajia?

Xiaoming’s face turned iron-blue as he held Jiajia’s hand and said: “Children talk nonsense, don’t believe her.”

Xiaoming’s deliberate protection of this little girl made people even more suspicious.

Ning Lan stepped back a few steps and said: “Little sister, are you called Jiajia? Are you the little friend Jiang Mengjia?”

Jiajia, holding a tanghulu [candied fruit on a stick] in her hand, said: “Yes, I’m Jiang Mengjia, I’ve been by Grandpa Ming’s side since I was little.”

The two were shocked – wasn’t Jiajia the child who disappeared and was even possessed and eaten by that ghost baby?

The chance of having the same name coming together like this wasn’t very high…

Sanqing Daoist beckoned them to come in, seeing through their intentions.

Ning Lan spoke frankly: “Sanqing Daoist, you tried every possible way to make us investigate the matter of Wei Jinye from Tong Lau, it was all for his Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror, right?”

“The Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror originally belonged to my ancestral master, Wei Jinbao has occupied it for many years!” Xiaoming scolded harshly.

It seemed Xiaoming had also formed a grudge with Wei Jinbao, he wanted to use them to enter Tong Lau to investigate this matter, and take the opportunity to reclaim his sect’s treasure.

Shen Qingyou spoke up: “This is not the place to talk. Daoist, if you trust us, please tell us everything about this matter, we also have ways to help you recover your treasure.”

Shen Qingyou’s words made sense, Xiaoming nodded his head in agreement with her statement.

After all, they were still living in Tong Lau, and were the ones with the best chance to get close to Wei Jinbao and obtain the bronze mirror from his room.

Sanqing Daoist coughed twice and told Jiajia to go inside and play with Grandpa Qiang. Xiaoming gave Xiaoqiang a meaningful glance, and Xiaoqiang took the child into the paper craft shop.

Jiajia cried and said she wanted Grandpa Ming to play with her. Xiaoqiang comforted her saying: “Your Grandpa Ming has important matters to handle now, he’ll play with you later.”

Xiaoqiang managed to comfort Jiajia and stop her crying. Xiaoming asked the two of them to wait for him for a moment.

He took out a paper doll from the paper craft shop and held it in his palm, saying: “The paper doll you saw that day looked like this, right? My appearance at Tong Lau was not a coincidence…”

“So you’re saying that paper doll was arranged by you, not the ghost baby…” Ning Lan asked.

Xiaoming shook his head and said: “The worst thing I, Xiaoming, did in this life was to dot the eyes of the paper doll [ritual to give life to paper figures], harming that whole family…”

The paper doll wasn’t arranged by Xiaoming, could there be more coincidences?

Now things were becoming more and more mysterious, and Xiaoming was actually involved in it?

The three people still found their way to the Dongfa Dessert Shop across from the paper craft shop. This time the restaurant didn’t have those strange rules and ghost stories.

The three walked straight in, and the restaurant staff had been replaced with ordinary people. (No strange zombie servers)

It was different every time they came, the game settings were interesting.

The three ordered tea snacks, and Xiaoming sat in his seat becoming restless, his hands crossed, his forehead breaking out in unstoppable cold sweat.

Ning Lan noticed his anxiety and handed him a glass of iced lemon tea to calm his emotions, saying: “Daoist, no need to be nervous, take your time to tell us.”

Xiaoming took the iced lemon tea Ning Lan handed over, gulped it down making “gulugu gulu” sounds, and let out a long breath.

It seemed Xiaoming had buried a story deep in his heart for a long time. His lips moved slightly as he said: “The story starts in 1972…”

Summer of 1972.

As usual, Xiaoming operated until exactly 10 PM and was preparing to clean up the storefront and close with Xiaoqiang.

After Xiaoming carried the paper doll from the doorway inside, he was about to pull down the rolling shutter door curtain.

At this time, a woman wearing a thin floral-print blouse came to the door. Her face was haggard as if her soul had been devoured by evil spirits.

“Daoist, are you still open? I have a matter I want to ask for your help with.” The woman’s palms were sweating as she clenched them tightly, her eyes glancing around at her surroundings.

Her expression was hurried as if avoiding something frightening, her gaze swept around the surroundings again.

Xiaoming described this woman as being as thin as a utility pole, and her forehead area [specifically the ‘yintang’ point between eyebrows, considered important in traditional Chinese medicine and fortune telling] was darkened, suggesting she was being haunted by something unclean.

This woman was none other than Lan Fang.

Lan Fang had returned from her shift at the textile factory that day. She had heard from a coworker about a particularly efficacious paper craft shop in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district, saying the Taoist priest there could exorcise evil spirits.

Xiaoming glanced her up and down and said: “Miss, have you encountered some supernatural incident?”

Lan Fang gritted her teeth and nodded: “There’s a female ghost in our home, she stays by my side watching me, she follows me like a phantom…”

Lan Fang’s mental state was near collapse at this point, she begged the Daoist to go to Tong Lau to exorcise the ghost.

Xiaoming shook his head and said: “I know the female ghost you speak of, she is a fierce ghost from Japan. My spiritual cultivation is still shallow, not enough to contend with her. I cannot help you with this.”

Lan Fang knelt down and pleaded with Xiaoming: “Daoist, you are the only one who can help our family now…”

Her body was covered in injuries inflicted by her gambling ghost [gambling-addicted] husband – her arms, wrists, there wasn’t a single good spot on her entire body.

The woman wiped her tears, her shoulders revealing new bruises – patches of blue and purple from being beaten.

Xiaoming cursed her husband as a useless good-for-nothing who only knew how to vent his anger by beating women.

Xiaoming slowly helped her up and said: “Let me think of a solution. For now, keep troops still [don’t make any moves], don’t alert that female ghost, to avoid alerting the snake by disturbing the grass…”

Xiaoming agreed to help Lan Fang, saying he would help her deal with the female ghost’s harassment once he thought of a method.

Lan Fang was a pitiful person, not only did she have to work hard at the factory during the day, but she also had to go home at night to serve the man of the house.

She endured like this for several years, all for the sake of her poor child, which was why she refused to divorce such a husband.

Her husband would often beat her after drinking, yelling at her: “Look at yourself, you can’t even bring back money from work, can’t even pay back the debts!”

The textile factory wasn’t doing well financially, and the factory owner was withholding their wages, delaying payment for three months.

When Lan Fang couldn’t bring back money, she would inevitably get beaten with a stick by her husband to vent his anger.

“I’m running around for this family, you’re a grown man, why don’t you go find proper work!” Lan Fang said with a grief-stricken face.

The man kicked her in the stomach and said: “I will turn things around, I need more capital, I will definitely turn things around!”

This gambling-addicted husband was still lost in dreams of turning his fortune around overnight, while their family could barely afford to pay rent now.

Lan Fang dragged her barely surviving body to crawl toward the master bedroom to get the medical kit. Jiajia ran over showing off her new drawing – with just a few simple strokes, Jiajia had drawn out the darkness of this home.

Gray furniture, a black father, an injured mother, and herself standing helplessly to the side.

Her simple drawing reflected every aspect of their broken family.

Lan Fang didn’t want her daughter to see her in such a sorry state. She endured the pain while taking out cotton swabs and disinfectant to clean her wounds.

Jiajia sobbed quietly and said: “Mama, did Papa hit you again? Let’s leave him, let’s leave this place…”

Lan Fang hugged her daughter’s head and wept helplessly in a low voice: “Leave… but where could we go?”

“The sky is big and the earth is vast [the world is wide], let’s go, leave Papa.” Jiajia cried and pleaded.

“We can’t leave, we can’t leave, your father would still catch us and bring us back.” Lan Fang cried even louder.

This was the voice of a married woman – where could a woman with a child go by herself?

Going to other cities would inevitably lead to people pointing fingers and gossiping.

She had tried to escape once before, but that gambling-addicted husband followed her like an ever-present demon.

He grabbed her hair and smashed her against the cabinet, saying viciously: “You’re my person even if you become a ghost in this life, don’t think about running away.”

Lan Fang’s endurance only led to her gambling-addicted husband becoming more and more unrestrained in his outrageous behavior.

Once, when Wei Jinye came to collect rent with several thugs, he took a liking to Lan Fang.

The gambling-addicted husband made a few superficial pleas, but privately offered her to Wei Jinye.

She cried and begged her husband not to.

He grabbed her chin and said: “You water-natured flower-flowing woman [promiscuous], it’s just accompanying a man, what’s wrong with that?”

The heartless husband handed her over to Wei Jinye, and she shed tears in Wei Jinye’s room.

As a woman, her life was too bitter.

Lan Fang endured her husband’s abuse day after day, until the female ghost appeared – she wanted to take her child, and her mental state became even more broken…

After saving enough money to see a psychiatrist, the doctor said her mental pressure was too great, and told her to take medicine and rest early.

The psychiatrist didn’t believe what she said, so she had no choice but to seek out Daoist Xiaoming.

After thinking it through, Xiaoming said: “Take your daughter out during the day, avoid the female ghost’s gaze, and replace her with a paper doll when you return.”

Xiaoming’s ancestors had a method of drawing paper dolls for the dead – if eyes were dotted on them and Taoist methods were used, they could be brought to life.

Lan Fang asked: “Daoist, will this method really work? Can it fool that female ghost?”

Xiaoming nodded and said: “I will make a paper doll exactly like Jiajia, and that female ghost will believe it is really Jiajia.”

Following Xiaoming’s instructions, Lan Fang took Jiajia out that day. Xiaoming gave the eye-dotted doll to Lan Fang, and after Lan Fang left this time, she never returned…

The truth about the disappearance might be hidden on the 18th floor.

So, was Lan Fang’s deception about Jiajia’s paper doll discovered by that female ghost, who then killed her and took over her body?

However, this explanation seems too far-fetched.

The story paused here, and Xiaoming shook his head saying: “After that time, I never saw her again. I only heard that Tong Lau had another haunting incident, and she and her husband disappeared…”

Ning Lan continued asking: “What about Jiang Mengjia? What’s her story?”

Xiaoming sighed and said: “Jiajia was also severely tormented by that female ghost, her mind developed intermittent amnesia, she deliberately wanted to erase what happened to her.”

Jiang Mengjia, this little girl, was traumatized by the female ghost. Her memory selectively forgot certain things, and she even mistook Xiaoming for her grandfather.

The three returned to the paper craft shop. Shen Qingyou stepped forward to look at the child and found she was deliberately hiding behind Xiaoming, her eyes showing fear.

Jiajia cried out: “Jiajia is scared, bad auntie wants to eat me…”

Xiaoming shook his head, protected Jiajia, and said to them: “Don’t frighten this child.”

The two could see that Xiaoming was atoning for dotting the eyes of the paper doll. Xiaoming lowered his head and said: “That paper doll that replaced Jiajia has probably been taken possession of by the female ghost.”

“So you’re saying the paper doll we saw that night was controlled by Akita Kyoko?” Ning Lan asked.

Xiaoming explained in detail that the female ghost’s fifty years of accumulated resentment wasn’t something his level of cultivation could seal.

Only his ancestral master Xuanmin’s magical tool, the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror, could temporarily seal Akita Kyoko.

Xiaoming nodded and said: “The reason I sent you was because your faces are unfamiliar, Wei Jinbao doesn’t know you.”

The two discussed with Xiaoming that if this female ghost wasn’t eliminated, Tong Lau would never know peace.

“Sanqing Daoist, to be honest with you, we also have a mission of our own.” Ning Lan said with clasped hands [traditional gesture of respect].

“You need not wade into these troubled waters, just help me get the Qin King Bone-Viewing Mirror.” Xiaoming said with slightly furrowed brows.

At this time, Xiaoqiang walked out from the paper craft shop and patted Xiaoming’s shoulder, saying: “Senior Brother, our responsibility is to eliminate evil spirits, have you forgotten the words passed down by our ancestral master?”

Xiaoming helplessly twisted his mouth and said: “How could I forget our ancestral master’s teachings, but you also know we are no match for that female ghost.”

Xiaoqiang furrowed his brows deeply and said: “Within feng shui secret techniques, there is a sealing formation. If we work together with one heart, we can surely seal this female ghost back into the painting.”

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