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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Two Hundred Pan Shenbao
Cold tombstones were scattered around the cemetery, and the hazy moonlight cast an eerie glow over the entire area. Thick white mist danced in the wind, sometimes taking on human shapes, and at times emitting howls reminiscent of Wailing of Ghosts and Howling of Wolves.
I walked slowly into the cemetery.
There should have been three graves here, but at this moment, there was only a corpse pit. Caution tape surrounded the pit, and there were no police officers on guard. It wasn't that the police department didn't want to send someone to secure the scene; rather, no one dared to take on that responsibility.
I stepped over the caution tape and approached the edge of the corpse pit. Looking down, I saw human flesh floating in the pit, and a foul stench assaulted my senses. Heads soaked in water bobbed up to the surface.
Suddenly, a hand slowly emerged from the bottom of the water. It tentatively felt around before resting on the edge of the pit, and then a head, drenched in corpse water, gradually surfaced.
Surprisingly, I noticed that the hand rested just in front of my toes and did not retreat. Instead, it slowly bent down and extended its right hand toward me. A terrifying thought crossed my mind: perhaps many hands would suddenly emerge from the corpse pit, pushing me into it. Or maybe shadows would appear behind me, and when I was caught off guard, they would shove me into the pit, drowning me in intestines and pieces of flesh until I died. Then they would fish me out with a dull knife to sever my fingers and toes, using hooks to gouge out my eyes, and slice my flesh into uniform pieces to remain in the corpse pit.
Although this strange thought arose, I felt no fear because I believed I was responsible for the deaths of those police officers. If they truly intended to drag me down into the water, would I resist?
The hand resting in front of my toes exerted a slight force, and then a head emerged from the water. A wet left hand suddenly reached out and grabbed my right hand, while that head slowly opened its eyes.
Indeed! He still had eyes!
His hand was icy cold and slippery, like grasping a mudfish. Then I suddenly pulled hard and lifted him out of the water.
His body was light as if it had no weight at all. Soaked through with corpse water, his clothing surprised me because it resembled that of a deceased brother of mine.
"You've come!" He slightly parted his lips, and some strange liquid dripped from the corner of his mouth.
I nodded and said lightly, "I've come."
Then, he slowly raised his head to look at me. I could clearly feel him beginning to change; his entire body became ethereal. His hair, which had been soaked in corpse water, gradually transformed into a fluffy mane, his wet clothes slowly dried, and his distorted features returned to their normal position.
"It's you!" At that moment, I couldn't help but exclaim loudly.
"Hi, long time no see!" The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he smiled.
However, I found it hard to calm my emotions and couldn't help but open my arms to embrace him. Unfortunately, my arms passed right through him.
What is happening? I clearly remembered holding his hand just now; I could even feel the chill emanating from him!
"That was just a scene I played along with you," he suddenly said.
I was slightly surprised, but after looking at him seriously, I couldn't help but choke out, "Junior Brother!"
That's right!
The person before me was my junior brother Pan Shenbao, who once gave up his body in pursuit of Lin Xiaoqi at the River of Forgetfulness, willingly becoming a Ferry Operator and turning into a ferryman.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time!" Pan Shenbao said with a smile. "It seems you've encountered quite a bit of trouble."
I nodded, organized my thoughts, and asked, "Are you doing well down there?"
"The heavens are vast, and the world is full of beauty. Suddenly looking back, a hundred years feel short!" he said calmly.
I couldn't help but retort, "Damn it, my language teacher died young."
He smiled slightly and said, "It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. People, whether dead or alive, are all very fleeting. What matters most is how to do the right thing in the limited time we have."
"Have you found Lin Xiaoqi?" I couldn't help but ask.
He shook his head. I couldn't resist saying, "Have you ever thought that after searching for her a thousand times in the crowd, suddenly looking back, she might be taking off her autumn pants in a hotel?"
Pan Shenbao looked at me and then shouted, "Damn it!"
I wanted to advise him to give up searching for Lin Xiaoqi, but it seemed he had no intention of doing so. Love is something I don't understand; perhaps when I do understand it, I won't advise him anymore.
Originally, Pan Shenbao was on the ferry across the Wangchuan River, casually looking for Lin Xiaoqi's whereabouts until one day, a man riding a white horse burst into hell. He trapped Shenbao with talismans and sealed Shenbao's soul with a Paper Figurine, then used strange techniques to scatter Shenbao's spirit and seal it in seven ghost-sealing formations as part of the array.
This man is Xiang Qing.
Regarding the suffering of being sealed in the seven ghost-sealing formations, Shenbao didn't say a word to me. He only mentioned: "It's nothing. When I was alive, I helped people exorcise ghosts and capture monsters; even after death, I can still help people suppress ghosts!"
Though he didn't speak of it, I knew that those days of being cursed by thousands of ghosts and tormented by countless spirits were not easy to endure.
Until one day, someone broke the Seven Gates of Ghost Sealing Formation, and the Three Sovereigns Formation was simultaneously forced. At that moment, one of Pan Shenbao's seven souls was freed. With his understanding of formations, he could have easily escaped, but he chose not to. He continued to guard this graveyard until one day, they arrived.
They referred to five individuals: the Five Ghosts and the Five Beasts.
After their arrival, the five were responsible for killing the surrounding police officers. At that time, there were a total of Thirty-Eight Police Officers in the entire graveyard. Thirty-eight was quite a number, but relative to the vast graveyard, it seemed rather lonely.
One by one, the five killed the police officers. When unnoticed, they used hammers or wrenches to strike the officers' heads; when discovered, they fought back with guns.
After all Thirty-Eight Police Officers were dead, they dragged the bodies to the front of the Three Sovereigns Formation. One corner of the formation had been split in two by lightning, with water pooling inside. The five then picked up shovels and began digging up graves. Among them, one police officer who had been struck on the head with a hammer was not dead; he tried to crawl away cautiously, leaving a trail of his blood on the ground. However, after crawling a short distance, a shovel suddenly plunged in front of him. He looked up in shock and saw a grotesque face. The person raised the shovel and struck down on the officer's head, then used it to directly decapitate him.
After the five dug open the Three-Way Emperor's Tomb, they formed a large pit that gradually filled with water. They used tweezers to extract the police officers' eyeballs and pliers to tear off their fingers and toes. Then they used axes to target the officers' heads and limbs, sawing their bodies into pieces with a chainsaw, cutting open their bellies with knives to remove intestines, hearts, livers, spleens, and other organs. They then skinned them with small knives and sliced their flesh with cleavers.
They were very professional, cutting the meat into slices on a stone slab before throwing it into the corpse pool. They spat into the pool and urinated and spat on it.
Meanwhile, five beasts drove away the surrounding little ghosts under the leadership of the Five Ghosts as they left the graveyard one after another.
As dawn approached, five blood-soaked individuals finally completed their gruesome task. They left cheerfully behind a corpse pool filled with human flesh.
Although Pan Shenbao's soul had been scattered by others, he witnessed everything clearly. Later on, when the formation was broken, Pan Shenbao's soul drifted around, thinking he was about to be completely lost. However, in the morning, a woman arrived here and used special methods to help gather Shenbao's soul. Then Ox-Head and Horse-Face personally came to restore Shenbao's body and gathered three souls so that Shenbao barely became a complete ghost.
To allow the deceased police officers to rest in peace, Shenbao did not leave immediately but hid in the corpse pool until the next night when he took the souls of the dead officers to the Underworld. He feared that once I arrived, I would not find their souls; therefore, he waited here until I came before crawling out of the corpse pool.
I estimate that the woman who helped Shenbao gather his soul must be Murong Duoduo. Although practitioners of Yin-Yang might not be effective at collecting ghosts, they are quite skilled in healing spirits.
"Do you know those five people?" I asked.
Pan Shenbao shook his head, "I only remember that each of them has a skull tattoo on the back of their hand."
I nodded, "What do you plan to do from now on?"
"Return to Underworld and be at ease as Pan the Ferryman," Pan Shenbao said.
"You're not planning to give up?" I urged.
Pan Shenbao shook his head, slowly turning around to look at the crescent moon in Heavenly and said, "Song of appearance, do not speak of abandonment, for generations, never apart. When one day you find someone you can love deeply and completely, you will understand that in this world, family may abandon you, friends may leave, but only the one who loves you will quietly wait for you. Even if you offend the whole world, she will stand by your side without hesitation, opposing the entire world."
To be honest, I didn't understand what he was saying at all, but I could tell he was determined not to give up on Lin Xiaoqi.
While he spoke of love, I was more inclined to believe that he was being toyed with by fate; Heavenly Father had determined that he was the ferryman destined to help the souls of the dead cross the river for a thousand years.
After Pan Shenbao told me everything he knew, he slowly left.
Once again, I was alone in the empty cemetery. The surrounding winds howled and mist swirled around me. The dim moonlight made me take a deep breath as I looked at the graves scattered throughout the cemetery, then turned my gaze toward the city center.
Shenbao has his responsibilities and duties, and I have mine. My destination is at the International Trade Building!
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