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墨書 Inktalez
The man who walked into the shop was Chen Luo, a middle-aged man in his forties. He wore a neat black suit, with a steel rod the thickness of a finger piercing through his chest. The rod had gone straight through his heart, and it was smeared with fresh, crimson blood. Strangely, the blood did not drip from the rod, as if it were fixed in place.
Chen Luo was actually a ghost who had been dead for over three months. He was unwilling to be reborn in the Underworld due to his greed for the prosperity of the Yang Realm, so he wandered around the Yang Realm, constantly evading capture by the Ghost Messenger.
Wang Hongtao glanced up at the newcomer and signaled to Wu Chun, who was standing behind him. "Wu Chun, bring Chen Luo two of the newly made incense sticks for him to try."
Wu Chun set down her fan and retrieved two incense sticks from a wooden box. The sticks had an unusual color; they appeared dark white but were interspersed with a hint of blood red, their origin unknown.
With a faint smile on her face, Wu Chun lit the incense sticks and handed one to Chen Luo. "Chen Luo, these are freshly made by Old Wang. You're the first to try them; let me know how they taste."
Upon seeing the incense stick in Wu Chun's hand, Chen Luo's eyes sparkled with excitement. He reached out to take the lit stick and inhaled deeply from it, swallowing a large cloud of green smoke.
"Delicious! This incense truly has an extraordinary flavor. Wang Hongtao, your craftsmanship is impressive." A look of enjoyment spread across Chen Luo's face as he finished speaking and took several more deep inhales. The incense stick burned at a visibly rapid pace, and within less than a minute, both sticks were completely consumed.
Chen Luo wore an expression of lingering desire as he pulled out a gold ring from his pocket and placed it on the counter before him. "Wang Hongtao, I found this ring in the sewer yesterday; it can definitely fetch a good price. If you give me five more incense sticks, this gold ring is yours."
Ghosts like Chen Luo often scavenged in places like sewers for lost treasures and then brought them to Wang Hongtao's shop in exchange for items useful to the dead.
This gold ring could sell for several hundred outside, but in Wang Hongtao's shop, it could only be exchanged for seven incense sticks. While that sounded expensive, Chen Luo was making a no-cost trade; he only cared about getting enough to eat.
Wang Hongtao glanced at the gold ring and discreetly pocketed it before calmly saying, "Wu Chun, give Chen Luo seven incense sticks so he can have a hearty meal. After all, he's dead and hasn't eaten well since he passed; he looks quite pitiful."
Wu Chun nodded and took out ten incense sticks from the wooden box. After lighting them, she handed them over to Chen Luo.
Upon hearing Wang Hongtao's words, Chen Luo realized he was being scrutinized, which initially made him somewhat unhappy. However, when he saw the incense sticks in front of him, his anger dissipated instantly. He grasped the ten incense sticks with both hands and smiled, saying, "Wang Hongtao, when did you become so generous? This is truly a rare sight!"
After chatting for a bit, Chen Luo noticed that Wang Hongtao was ignoring him, focused on fiddling with something. Chen Luo shook his head and decided not to engage further. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, swallowing the incense sticks one by one.
After three or four minutes, Chen Luo had finished all the incense sticks in his hands. He let out a satisfied burp, rubbed his belly, and asked Wang Hongtao, "Wang Hongtao, what kind of incense is this? Why is it so delicious? What are they made of?"
"This incense is made from ground human bones mixed with Corpse Oil Ointment and infused with the flesh and blood of Living Persons. It’s my specially crafted Bone Blood Incense," Wang Hongtao replied as he looked up at Chen Luo. He set down the scissors in his hand because he had finally completed his origami project. With a sinister smile, he asked, "Chen Luo, are you full? If not, I can have Wu Chun bring you some more."
Hearing Wang Hongtao's explanation shocked Chen Luo to his core. When he saw the eerie smile on Wang Hongtao's face, an ominous premonition surged within him. He quickly nodded and said, "Wang Hongtao, I'm full now; I won't disturb your business any longer. I'll come back to see you tomorrow evening."
As Chen Luo turned to leave the shop, Wang Hongtao picked up the freshly cut origami and said with a chilling smile, "Chen Luo, since you're full now, why not stay and become my Puppet?"
The origami in Wang Hongtao's hand appeared small but was intricately crafted; one could even see a lifelike Face cut into it.
"Without doors, all things are spirits. Without paths on earth, the Demon God becomes a soul. With scissors as tools and paper as ground, grant new souls. Chen Luo, heed my command and return swiftly. The command of ten thousand ghosts—return!" Wang Hongtao threw the origami toward Chen Luo's soul form. Black threads emanated from the paper and wrapped around Chen Luo's spirit, attempting to pull him into the origami.
"Wang Hongtao, what are you trying to do?" Chen Luo noticed Wang Hongtao's actions; his expression changed as he tried to evade the black threads from the origami. Unfortunately, no matter how he dodged, the paper followed closely behind him like a shadow.
"Get away from me!" As unease grew stronger within him, Chen Luo pulled out a steel rod from his chest and swung it at the origami in front of him. The steel rod struck the black threads, severing some of them and knocking the approaching origami aside.
"Hah! Wang Hongtao, do you really think you can trap me with this flimsy paper? Watch me tear your shop apart!" Seeing that he could counter the origami with the steel rod gave Chen Luo confidence. He raised his hand again to strike at the paper.
At that moment, Wu Chun suddenly appeared behind Chen Luo. A powerful Eerie Aura emanated from her body, immobilizing him completely. Simultaneously, she knocked the steel rod from Chen Luo's hand and forcefully grasped his neck with her left hand, shoving his soul into the origami.
Chen Luo was entangled by those black lines, his face changing drastically as he cried out in despair, "Ah! No! Wang Hongtao, please spare me!"
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