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墨書 Inktalez
I went up to the second floor and started knocking on doors again. The situation was the same. Two households opened their doors without even asking who it was. There was also a girl, and I shook my head inwardly, wondering why people today had such poor awareness of safety. Was I overthinking it?
Putting those thoughts aside, I went up to the third floor. This time, I wasn't disappointed. When I knocked on the second door, a loud voice came from inside: "Who the hell is disturbing my sleep?" It was surprising that someone was still sleeping at this hour, clearly not keeping normal hours. Moreover, there was indeed an old talisman on the door, at least three years old. I ripped it off and stuffed it into my bag, feeling certain that this must be the place of those two punks.
I didn't say anything and continued knocking. Accompanied by more curses, the door swung open to reveal a Blonde Youth wearing a string of prayer beads. I knew that this was likely what had kept the Old Spirit at bay. He looked at me with an annoyed expression and asked, "Who are you?" I replied, "You don't need to worry about who I am. A few months ago, did you take a pair of silver bracelets from an elderly person who hadn't moved out yet?" He paused for a moment before responding, "So what if I did?"
I spoke frankly: "The elderly person who asked you for help has passed away. Those bracelets were meant to accompany her in burial. Now her spirit is still lingering in this world." Before I could finish my sentence, he interrupted me: "Stop with your ghost stories; do you think I'm a child? Ghosts? Screw you." At that moment, another person walked out from inside—he had tattoos on his arms and was shirtless, without any protective charms on him. Seeing his stance, I realized that if it came to blows, I might not stand a chance.
I softened my tone and said, "Just give me the bracelets back, and we can forget about this." But seeing my change in demeanor only made him more aggressive. He walked over to a drawer in the living room and pulled out the pair of bracelets, taunting me as he held them up: "Come and take them if you can." Clearly used to being arrogant and dismissive, he looked down on me.
I stared at him intently and warned, "If you don’t give them to me, you will regret it." When he heard me threaten him again, he charged at me ready to fight. To be honest, I hadn't encountered many thugs before; his sudden move caught me off guard. He kicked at me fiercely. Although I was alone, I wasn't particularly afraid; after all, I'd dealt with Spirits before and had seen my share of things. Plus, I had been training regularly and wasn't weak.
As he lunged at me with that furious kick, I sidestepped just in time to avoid it. Before he could retract his leg, I took the opportunity to kick him back. He slammed against the door with a loud thud; it must have hurt quite a bit. The Tattooed Youth next to him cursed and rushed towards me in an attempt to grab me. The doorway was small and blocked by the Blonde Youth halfway through, so his speed wasn’t great. Even so, he charged out swinging his fists towards my head.
I stepped back just in time; he missed my head but struck my shoulder instead. It definitely hurt a lot. He wanted to continue attacking when suddenly the Blonde Youth stood up and kicked me hard in the waist, sending me tumbling out into the hallway.
Fueled by adrenaline, I scrambled back up and charged at them again. The hallway wasn’t wide enough for them to have much of an advantage over me. After a chaotic scuffle, I managed to grab the prayer beads from the Blonde Youth's hand and yanked them hard until they broke apart; two beads fell into my grasp before the Tattooed Youth kicked me back several steps, causing me to fall onto the ground.
At this point, we had reached the stairway landing. I shouted loudly in frustration—was there really no one else on this floor? With all this commotion going on? They both paused for a moment as I quickly got back up and dashed down the stairs while they were still stunned. They weren’t willing to let it go easily; they followed behind me down the stairs while cursing.
After some experience with fighting them off earlier, I realized that I couldn’t win against them in a fair fight anymore. So I ran downstairs as fast as I could. They weren’t particularly fast either; before they could catch up with me, I burst through the front door and onto the street without looking back. As soon as I turned into an alleyway and zigzagged around a few corners, I finally shook them off completely.
Feeling frustrated inside, it made sense why these two thugs would kneel before an elderly person and steal their silver bracelets—they were utterly unreasonable individuals. As a good citizen, I thought about calling the police but hesitated; how could I explain this situation? Sure they could help but not right now; we would go back tonight instead.
I had already taken away those protective items—didn’t they want their bracelets back? The spirit replied: "If that's how it is then I'll listen to you." Nodding in agreement, I said: "Alright then; I'll go get something to eat first and rest for a bit before we head out tonight." It responded affirmatively.
After eating, I lay down on my bed to rest; my whole body felt sore after everything that had happened earlier. After applying some medicine again due to exhaustion from physical exertion, I drifted off into a deep sleep.
At ten o'clock that night, I switched into another vessel for possession and took the spirit of the elderly person with me as we headed towards those two punks' home again. To be safe, I brought along the mask vessel from Five Spirits as well. By the time we arrived it was already eleven o'clock; people were coming in and out frequently at that hour.
I blended into that small building once more and made my way up to the third floor where there were no lights on inside—likely indicating no one was home at that moment since this was prime time for them to be out causing trouble. With no other options left but to wait around for them to return, I found a spot between the stairs leading from three floors up to four floors where I could hide.
I waited there for two hours until nearly one o'clock when they slowly made their way upstairs. Once they reached the third floor without noticing me lurking nearby in silence waiting for them to enter their room before closing their door behind them—I quickly called upon Old Spirit—not through Call of Souls but letting it come forth voluntarily so that way I'd carry less burden myself.
Then quietly descending alongside Old Spirit down towards their doorsteps while praying internally that no one else would suddenly appear from any other rooms nearby—the pale face of Old Spirit along with its blurry figure would surely frighten anyone who saw it!
Once we reached their doorstep—I instructed Old Spirit to stand guard while kicking at their door repeatedly until more curses erupted from within! Just seconds later—the door swung open revealing none other than that Blonde Youth again!
Upon seeing Old Spirit standing there—he froze momentarily before letting out an ear-piercing scream retreating backward instinctively! But then immediately charged forward attempting desperately shutting us out!
In response—I swiftly kicked open their door just as he tried closing it! Old Spirit floated inside followed closely by myself as well!
With a quick motion—I shut the door behind us… clearly terrified—the Blonde Youth stumbled backward continuously glancing fearfully at Old Spirit—the very same elderly figure who once knelt before him now transformed into something beyond his comprehension!
At this moment—the Tattooed Youth emerged from within another room presumably just finished showering—upon witnessing what transpired—he gasped loudly collapsing onto the floor trembling uncontrollably unable even uttering words!
At that moment, the two of them had completely lost the momentum from the afternoon. All they could do was shiver; to be honest, they were just unable to accept it and were scared. It wasn't that the Old Spirit had used any tricks. If they had the courage, they could have come and fought me. In the end, I still wouldn't have been able to defeat them. But I wasn't afraid because I had the Five Spirits with me. The Old Spirit couldn't fight, but the Five Spirits didn't care whether you were human or ghost. Once attacked, they retaliated fiercely.
However, even though they were unreasonable, they truly lacked the courage to face such a situation. After a few minutes of trembling, I felt secretly pleased. Weren't you all so tough? I said to the Blonde Youth, "Do you believe me now? Or should we have another fight?"
The Old Spirit also cooperated by making a fierce expression, which further frightened them. They lowered their heads and repeatedly said, "I was wrong, I was wrong."
I asked, "What about the bracelets?" The Blonde Youth pointed to the drawer from earlier. I walked over and opened it; there were many items inside, all mixed together. There were even cigarette butts. I wondered what kind of life this was. I took out the pair of bracelets and put them in my pocket. Then I said something very streetwise: "When you come out to mix in this world, you'll eventually have to pay it back. You better take care of yourselves."
I turned around and left their room, and the Old Spirit followed me out as well. The reason for this quick exit was that manifesting itself consumed a lot of its energy. After a while, it would automatically disappear; it couldn't stay visible for long. This is why we only see Spirit Gods for a fleeting moment; they are beings beyond human comprehension that can scare an ordinary person into illness in just that instant.
Once outside the room, I quickly let the Old Spirit attach itself to my vessel again. I put it back in my pocket and returned to the two young men’s room. I didn’t go back to show off my power; this kind of shock was not something ordinary people could handle. Moreover, affected by sinister energy, I needed to return to exorcise them. When they saw me come back, they looked very nervous. I took out two talismans for exorcism. By this time, they seemed somewhat dazed and spoke in a bit of a stupor. The Tattooed Youth was better off; the Blonde Youth had already started rambling incoherently and had completely lost his previous hostility.
Since it was just an exorcism, it wasn’t complicated. I told the Tattooed Youth to drink some Talisman Water and that would be enough. He numbly nodded his head; I hoped he wouldn’t be incapable of even that simple task. Not wanting to linger, I turned around and left the room. As I walked down the corridor outside, I recalled our earlier fight here; perhaps due to psychological effects, I even felt sore all over again.
In the car, it was already around two or three in the morning when the Old Spirit appeared in the passenger seat beside me. I asked where its partner was buried. It mentioned a place that I recognized as a cemetery. Although I wanted to help, I felt powerless at this point. I asked again: "Where is your grave?" It replied that it was on a small hill near Zengcheng.
Huangpu and Zengcheng are connected and not far apart. Because it had no descendants to send it off properly, it could only be hastily buried. This touched me; supporting my weary body, I drove left and right until finally finding that new mound. It was indeed very simple— even the tombstone was just the most basic kind. Using my car's headlights, I lit incense and called out for the Old Spirit's soul. There wasn’t much more conversation; I sent it off quickly. As for those silver bracelets, before saying goodbye, I buried them at a position seven inches to the left of its tombstone while it watched. It couldn’t take them with it, but it would know that these meaningful bracelets would accompany it because they now belonged to it. Beneath nine springs, it could at least have some closure with its partner.
After everything was done, I sat in the car with my weary body and didn’t feel like going home just yet. Reflecting on this exhausting day made me realize how tired not only physically but also emotionally I was. Closing my eyes brought many thoughts to mind—there is too much unfairness in this world and too many tragedies. I didn’t have any grand ambitions; what I could do wouldn’t change societal trends at all. But all I sought was a clear conscience as I turned off the car lights and opened the sunroof. Looking up at the stars above, I wondered if at this moment the Old Spirit had reunited with its partner and what emotions their meeting would bring.
All of this remained unknown to me as various thoughts swirled in my mind until slowly closing my eyes again.
In front of the Old Spirit's grave,
I held on until dawn broke—this was my final farewell to it.
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