Bloody Xinjue Town

01

When I woke up alone in my hotel room with a king-size bed, I realized that I might have been set up.

Last night I was in a bad mood and was drinking alone in a bar near the school. Suddenly, a girl I didn’t know came and sat next to me, saying that she knew me and wanted to drink with me. I was drunk at the time, and she looked like my type, so I agreed without thinking too much.

Afterwards, we drank from the bar to the bed in the hotel. I thought it was a romantic encounter, but when I opened my eyes the next day, the girl was gone.

I quickly searched the bed, and to my surprise, my cell phone and wallet were there, and nothing I had was missing.

It wasn’t a honey trap, I was a little puzzled, but why did she leave? Could it be that she was attracted to my body?

I looked down at the fat on my belly and quickly dismissed the idea.

Suddenly, I found a campus card in the compartment of my wallet. The photo on it was exactly the same as the girl last night. I took it out and looked at it carefully, only to find out that her name was Cheng Lengzhi, she was in the same grade as me, and studied in the Finance Department of our school.

But the strange thing is that this card looks like it has been in my wallet for many days and has faded a bit…

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. What on earth was this girl trying to do?

So when I checked out, I handed over the room card and asked, “Hello, I want to ask if you saw a girl leave this morning? She stayed in 301 with me last night.”

The receptionist took the room card and looked at me with some confusion: “Sir, are you sure you stayed in room 301 last night?”

“Of course, isn’t it written on the room card?”

“But sir, I was on duty last night, and I remember you checked in alone.”

“I’m alone? Impossible, did you remember it wrong?” I asked the front desk several times, but she was very sure that she remembered it right. I had no choice but to go back to the dormitory first. Anyway, her campus card was with me. As long as I found her in person and asked her clearly, wouldn’t all the problems be solved?

On the way back to the dormitory, I found three more tickets in my trouser pocket. The date showed that it was the summer vacation five months ago, and the destination was Xinjue Town, which was three hours away from the school. But the other information, including the departure place and the passengers, was dyed red by something and was completely unclear.

I am very sure that I didn’t put anything in my pocket before I went out last night, so could it be that Cheng Lengzhi put it in? But why would she do that?

I really couldn’t figure it out, so as soon as I got to the dormitory, I took out my phone and asked in the class group: “Does anyone know Cheng Lengzhi?”

The previously active group suddenly fell silent. After a while, someone posted: “Cheng Lengzhi? Are you talking about the one in the Finance Department of our school?”

“Yes, that’s her. Do you know her?”

“I guess so. What’s the matter with you?”

“Something personal, can you help me contact her?”

“Contact? But she committed suicide by jumping off a building last week!”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. If Cheng Lengzhi was dead, then what had I encountered?

I asked several classmates in a row, but the answers I got were all the same. Cheng Lengzhi had committed suicide by jumping off a building last week. Although it was not reported much in the news, it still spread around the school.

I suddenly felt a chill on my back. Could it be that I really encountered… a ghost last night? ?

02

“My dear son, Daddy is back!”

Just then, my roommate Liao Yong pushed the door open and walked in. When he saw me, he laughed, “What’s wrong? Did you eat shit? Why do you look so bad?”

I wanted to tell him to get lost. I wasn’t in the mood to joke around right now. But then I suddenly remembered that Liao Yong was the perfect person to solve the problem at hand.

Liao Yong was my college roommate. He was particularly interested in studying supernatural things. One time, I dropped something and was looking for it all over the dormitory. I accidentally opened his drawer and found that it was full of supernatural and spiritual books: how to control ghosts, memory and soul theory, etc., and even some strange props like talisman paper, bronze mirrors, candles, silver needles, etc.

At first I thought he was mentally ill and even considered applying to transfer from a double dormitory to a multi-person dormitory. Until one time, the woods near the school were haunted. Some people said that they could always see a boy about ten years old squatting under a tree at night, crying and calling for his brother, but as soon as someone approached, he would immediately disappear.

This incident lasted for more than half a month. The school security, police, and fire department all came, but they found nothing, and the crying never stopped. Finally, Liao Yong took me to the grove, and I saw with my own eyes that boy’s feet left the ground like a ghost, and he rushed towards me! At the critical moment, it was Liao Yong who stood in front of me and suppressed it with a talisman paper. After that, no one heard the crying again, and this incident completely changed my view of him.

“Liao Yong,” I put the phone down and sat up, “you have to help me.”

“What do you want to help with?” Liao Yong asked with a smile, “Why are you so serious all of a sudden?”

“I seem to have met a ghost.”

“Ghost? What ghost?”

“Do you know a girl named Cheng Lengzhi in our school?”

“Cheng Lengzhi?” Liao Yong’s expression suddenly became serious. “Are you talking about the one who jumped off the building last week?”

“Yes, I ran into her last night.”

“And then, what happened?”

“We drank together, and then…” Thinking about last night’s experience, I felt my limbs begin to get cold, “We went to the hotel.”

“Hotel? You went to the hotel!” Liao Yong suddenly became furious. “Yang Chen, are you really going to die? Do you know what that is? How dare you sleep with her?”

“But I didn’t know she was dead at the time,” I didn’t understand why Liao Yong was so angry, which made me even more scared, “But nothing happened to me, so maybe I’m fine now?”

“Do you think it’s possible? A female ghost can only look for a man to absorb his essence. Think about it carefully. Did you feel uncomfortable when you woke up today?”

I nodded. Although I had no impression of it originally, I felt a little uncomfortable after hearing what Liao Yong said.

“So what should I do now?”

Liao Yong thought for a moment, then took out a box of cinnabar and several yellow talisman papers from the drawer. After drawing the talismans with cinnabar, he asked me to stick them on the doors and windows of the dormitory. Strangely, I didn’t use glue, but I still stuck them on easily.

Then he took out a bronze mirror, about the size of a tablet computer, covered in dust.

He brushed off the dust and handed it to me: “You have a relationship with the female ghost. No matter where you run, she can find you. You must carry this bronze mirror with you and put it under the quilt when you sleep.”

“Do these things really work?”

“I don’t know,” Liao Yong shook his head, “but this is the only way at the moment.”

I didn’t say anything else, but I was still unsure. Especially at night, the slightest movement would scare me, and I would think the occasional footsteps of someone passing by were a female ghost coming to take my life.

I had no choice but to open the King of Glory, thinking that I could stay up all night and go to sleep when the sun rose. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold on and fell asleep at around one o’clock.

03

In the middle of the night, I was awakened by the urge to pee. After I finished my work and was about to go back to sleep, I noticed a figure on the balcony.

At first I thought it was Liao Yong, so I took a step forward out of curiosity, wanting to ask him what he was doing so late at night. But just at this moment, the person on the balcony turned around, with disheveled hair and fierce eyes, just like a female ghost!

I screamed and turned to run, but she floated over and passed through the window with the talisman paper. The pale hand was burned by the talisman paper and finally grabbed my hair.

I suddenly felt a splitting headache, and reached out to grab, but I didn’t touch the female ghost, but pulled out a silver needle from her head. I looked back and found that she had returned to the balcony at some point. With the moonlight, I finally saw clearly that the female ghost was Cheng Lengzhi! !

Suddenly, she floated towards me again, but this time she was much slower than before. I didn’t dare to stay any longer, so I ran back to the bed, huddled under the quilt and hugged the bronze mirror tightly.

A shrill scream was heard outside the quilt, followed by the sobbing of a girl. After that, the sobbing gradually faded away, and the only sound left in the dormitory was Liao Yong’s snoring.

The next morning, when Liao Yong and I woke up, we found several claw marks on the balcony window, and the talisman papers had fallen off and turned into a pile of confetti.

I told Liao Yong what happened last night, and he became more serious. He lit a cigarette and said slowly, “I used that silver needle to calm your soul and prevent you from being seduced by a female ghost. She was able to get it off, and she didn’t alarm me at all…” As he said that, he lifted my quilt again, and I realized that the bronze mirror was full of cracks.

“Yang Chen, she’s too resentful. With my skills, I may not be able to handle her.”

“Then what should I do, Liao Yong, I beg you, please save me!”

The broken bronze mirror made me more convinced that Liao Yong was my only hope at this moment. But I couldn’t understand why Cheng Lengzhi had such a big grudge against me?

“I can’t handle it,” Liao Yong patted my shoulder, “but don’t worry, I will ask my uncle for help.”

“Your uncle?”

“You don’t know him, but he’s the most powerful Yin-Yang master in my hometown, Xinjue Town.”

“Sinjuk Town? Why does it sound so familiar…”

“Sound familiar?” Liao Yong was a little flustered for some reason. “Impossible, you haven’t been there, so you must have mixed it up.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a leave in two days and go back to discuss it with my uncle. When everything is arranged, I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

I nodded and stopped worrying about the details.

“She was able to chase me to the men’s dormitory and destroyed the talisman paper and bronze mirror. I think she must have been seriously injured.” Liao Yong took out a few more talisman papers from the drawer, drew a few lines on them and handed them to me. “As long as you don’t go to places with heavy yin energy during this period, she shouldn’t be able to hurt you. Take these things with you. If you really happen to run into them, they can at least hold you back for a while.”

“A place with heavy yin energy?”

“Things have died there, not many people go there, and there are legends of ghosts. All of these count. Anyway, don’t run around. Just wait for my news.”

I nodded, took the talisman, and said with some emotion, “Liao Yong, thank you.”

Liao Yong stared at me for a while, then reached out and patted my shoulder, smiling and said, “Yang Chen, what is our relationship? Do we still need to distinguish between us?”

After saying this, Liao Yong left.

04

Although the female ghost did not appear in the next few days, I could hear strange noises every night, as if she had never left and might pounce on me from some corner at any time.

In the past few days, I never left the dormitory except for classes, and I carried the talisman paper Liao Yong gave me with me. But I still felt unsure, and even searched his drawers to see if there was anything useful, but I only saw some needles and a book with some key points of soul exchange recorded on it, such as the need for lit candles and chicken blood, etc.

After closing the drawer, I sighed. There was nothing useful in it. It seemed I had no choice but to wait.

Fortunately, Liao Yong didn’t make me wait too long. On Friday of the second week, he called me and said that everything was ready and that a car would come to pick me up at 8:30 that night. The license plate number was LC413.

At 8:30 in the evening, I waited for the bus at the back door of the school as scheduled. It was strange. Although it was winter and it got dark early, there were usually many barbecue stalls at the school gate at this time, and many students would come here to have dinner after class. But today, there was no one, the whole street was very deserted, and even a few street lights broke down without knowing when.

Looking up, there were only a few stalls at the end of the street, but they were hard to see clearly. There were no cars or pedestrians, and at 8:30 in the evening, the street was as quiet as the early morning.

I was a little scared. Even if the city management had just been here, there shouldn’t be no one here, right? This was too abnormal, wasn’t it?

A gust of cold wind blew by, and I subconsciously clenched the talisman paper in my hand.

Fortunately, not long after, the car Liao Yong mentioned stopped across the street. But just as I was about to walk over, the surrounding street lights suddenly went out, and then began to flicker violently!

Just then, a figure appeared in the middle of the street, slowly approaching me. I looked carefully and found that the figure was covered in blood, with both feet off the ground, not walking, but floating!

It’s strange to say, I clearly only saw Cheng Lengzhi once, but whether it was that night on the dormitory balcony or now, I can quickly recognize that the female ghost in front of me is Cheng Lengzhi!

“Don’t come over here!” I wanted to ask for help, but there was no one around. Cheng Lengzhi approached me step by step, and I finally saw her face clearly – her hair was disheveled, her face was dark, her clothes were tattered, and the entire left half of her body was a bloody mess.

She slowly stretched out her hand, and an indistinct sound of terror came out of her throat. The street lamp flickered, and the dim light illuminated her painful expression. I was so frightened that my legs went limp and I fell to the ground.

Just then, the car across the street suddenly honked its horn. Cheng Lengzhi stopped, slowly opened his arms, and made a blocking gesture.

I didn’t understand what she meant, but I knew that if I didn’t leave, I might die here tonight. So I took advantage of her stillness, closed my eyes, held up the talisman paper, and rushed around her to the car.

Originally I couldn’t outrun her, but just when she was about to catch me, the talisman in my hand emitted light, repelling her while also shattering into pieces.

Finally, I ran to the car and was about to get in, but when I turned around, I saw the driver’s face.

This sight gave me another shock!

He looked haggard, with sunken eye sockets and lips as dry and pale as a rotten tree. He looked not like a human but more like a dead corpse.

Although he quickly pulled down the brim of his hat to cover his face, I was still frightened by his appearance. I don’t know if it was my illusion, but I seemed to see a child in the back seat out of the corner of my eye. But when I turned around to look at the back seat, there was nothing there.

I suddenly felt that the car in front of me was very strange. It had the same aura as Cheng Lengzhi, the aura of death and fear.

Suddenly, I felt a chill behind me again. I turned around and found that it was Cheng Lengzhi floating towards me. For a moment, fear made me unable to think. I didn’t dare to face what was in front of me anymore, so I turned around and ran back to the dormitory, hiding in the quilt and shivering.

Fortunately, Cheng Lengzhi did not chase me into the dormitory. I poked my head out of the quilt and confirmed that there was nothing unusual on the balcony and at the door. Only then did I finally breathe a sigh of relief and slowly calm down.

I took out my cell phone and called Liao Yong to tell him that I didn’t get in the car. Firstly, Cheng Lengzhi stopped me, and secondly, I felt that the car must have been tampered with by her, and the driver didn’t look like a living person.

I thought Liao Yong would comfort me and think about the follow-up solutions with me, but strangely, he remained silent. After a long time, he asked in a stiff tone: “So you didn’t get in the car, right?”

“Yes, didn’t I say that Cheng Lengzhi–“

“Don’t tell me this. Do you know how long I have been preparing for these things and how much time and energy I have put into them? Let me ask you again, Yang Chen, you didn’t get in the car, right?”

Liao Yong’s tone was very cold, without any emotion. I knew he would only be like this when he was very angry. But why? It was Cheng Lengzhi who didn’t let me get on the bus. It wasn’t my intention. And he said he had prepared and paid a lot, but didn’t he just go to his hometown to visit his uncle?

“I’ll be back tomorrow. Before that, you stay at school and wait for me.” Liao Yong hung up the phone. I was really confused. How could he suddenly become a different person?

But I didn’t think about it any further. I don’t know why, maybe it was because I was too nervous in the past few days, or maybe it was because I was too frightened today, but I suddenly felt very sleepy and fell asleep quickly.

05

When I woke up the next day, it was already morning. I ordered takeout and was browsing my phone in bed, but suddenly I saw a piece of news that made the hairs on my body stand on end.

An abandoned car was found in the suburbs near Xinjue Town. The driver inside was dead. Forensic examination showed that it was suspected to be suicide.

The license plate number of that car was exactly the same as the one of the car last night, LC413.

“Xinjue Town again?” Suddenly I remembered that Xinjue Town is not only Liao Yong’s hometown, but after meeting Cheng Leng for the first time, I had three more tickets to Xinjue Town in my bag!

What happened during the summer vacation five months ago? Why did Cheng Lengzhi leave the tickets for me, and who did those three tickets belong to?

Before I could think through this series of questions, another piece of news appeared in front of me, making it completely impossible for me to think.

The forensic doctor determined that the driver died not last night, but a week ago!

The driver I saw last night was not a living person at all!

I thought that all this was Cheng Lengzhi’s fault. She stopped me from getting on the car and then killed the driver. However, the driver died a week ago. Did she know about my plan with Liao Yong? Even if she knew, why didn’t Liao Yong notice it at all and let the dead man pick me up?

Bang, bang, bang! There was a sudden knock on the door. I was startled and quickly put down my phone: “Who, who is it?”

“Police, is Yang Chen here?”

I breathed a sigh of relief, luckily it wasn’t a ghost.

I opened the door of the dormitory, and outside the door was a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties: “Hello, I’m Yang Chen, what can I do for you?”

“It’s still the same case. There’s new progress now. As the boyfriend of the deceased, I have some questions for you.”

“Case? The deceased?” I was a little confused. “Comrade police officer, I don’t quite understand what you are talking about…”

“Yang Chen, this is a serious criminal case. Please cooperate and don’t joke around.”

“No, police officer, I’m not kidding. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, I’ve been single for almost a year…”

“Impossible. I have solid evidence that you and the deceased Cheng Lengzhi were in a relationship before you died.”

“Cheng Lengzhi!” I exclaimed.

“You remember?”

“Comrade police officer, please listen to my explanation. I do know Cheng Lengzhi, but I have only seen her once, and that was when she…” After thinking about it, I still didn’t tell them about the ghost. “And I asked my classmates. If I was really in a relationship with her, they would not be unaware of it. And I haven’t posted anything related to her in my Moments.”

“You guys haven’t made your relationship public yet. Only a few close friends know about it, such as Liao Yong. During the summer vacation, the three of you went to Xinjue Town together. Remember?”

Xinjue Town, summer vacation! Could it be that the three train tickets left by Cheng Lengzhi were from that time?

As if noticing my strange reaction, the policeman was silent for a while, then looked at me with strange eyes: “Yang Chen, do you remember who I am?”

“Ah? Officer, isn’t this the first time we meet?”

“My name is Jiang Jun, and I’m the police officer in charge of investigating Cheng Lengzhi’s case.” Jiang Jun said as he showed his ID. “I came to see you when Cheng Lengzhi just passed away, and we met before that. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t remember.”

“As expected… every time you encounter a critical problem, you lose your memory.”

“Amnesia? That’s impossible. I’m not sick and I haven’t been in a car accident, so how could I lose my memory?” My first reaction was that he was lying, but he was a policeman after all, so why would he lie to me?

“That’s something you have to ask yourself.” Jiang Jun wanted to say something, but the walkie-talkie on his waist rang. After several conversations, he told me that he had something else to do and had to leave first, and would come to see me later.

“Oh, by the way, it happened ten years ago,” Jiang Jun had just walked a few steps when he turned back and asked me, “Do you still remember it?”

“Ten years ago?” Jiang Jun’s question confused me. “What happened ten years ago?”

“Forget it, it’s nothing. Here’s my contact information. Write it down.” Jiang Jun gave me his WeChat and phone number, then turned and left. “Yang Chen, if you are telling the truth, then you must be careful of Liao Yong, but if you are lying, I will never forgive you.”

Be careful of Liao Yong? And what about Cheng Lengzhi and what happened ten years ago? What does this person mean? Is there really something wrong with my memory?

Looking at Jiang Jun’s departing back, I suddenly felt that the matter of being haunted by a female ghost might not be that simple.

06

After Jiang Jun left, I thought about it for a long time alone in the dormitory, and finally decided to call Liao Yong. I really couldn’t understand why he lied to me, so I had to find out the reason.

“Hello, what’s up, Yang Chen?” Liao Yong answered the phone after a while. “What happened again?”

“No, I just want to ask you, have I ever been to Xinjue Town before?”

“No, you’ve never been to my hometown. I was thinking of bringing you here after graduation.”

“Really… What about Cheng Lengzhi? Did I know her before?”

“Know her? Didn’t you know her only after she died–” Liao Yong seemed to realize something. He was silent for a while before he continued, “Yang Chen, did someone tell you something?”

“Yes, there is a policeman named Jiang Jun. He told me a lot of things.”

Liao Yong was silent for a longer time this time: “Yang Chen, do you believe him or me?”

This time it was my turn to remain silent. Although I really wanted to believe Liao Yong, both his behavior and what the police told me were too abnormal and strange: “I don’t know either…”

“You f*cking doubted me because of what a lousy policeman said?” Liao Yong suddenly got furious, which scared me. “Yang Chen, you f*cking disappoint me. You just wait for me in the dormitory. Don’t you think it’s weird? When I get to the dormitory this afternoon, I’ll give it to you—”

The takeaway arrived at that moment, so I took the opportunity to hang up the phone with Liao Yong. To be honest, his reaction really scared me. In the next few minutes, he called me several more times, but I didn’t dare to answer.

Mr. Jiang is a policeman and there is no need for him to lie to me. So even if the driver incident was all Cheng Lengzhi’s fault, why didn’t Liao Yong admit that I knew Cheng Lengzhi and that the three of us had been to Xinjue Town together?

After thinking for a long time, I decided to take advantage of Liao Yong’s return to school in the afternoon and go to Xinjue Town myself.

I’m not a brave person, but I always have a feeling that there I will find out the truth of everything.

07

So I bought the earliest ticket for that afternoon. Three hours later, I got off the bus and immediately found the busiest hotel to stay in. I looked at the time, it was exactly 4:30 pm
, I planned to ask around for information from the Yin Yang Master before dark, and then immediately return to the hotel.

People who are related to Yin-Yang masters are usually people in the funeral business, so I searched on the Internet and finally found a store selling coffins, then went out and took a taxi.

Xinjue Town is very small, and the car stopped on the roadside in less than five minutes. I found the store easily. An old man wearing glasses was sitting behind the table. He seemed surprised by my age and asked in surprise, “Boy, what do you want to buy?”

“No, no, no, I’m not buying anything,” I waved my hands quickly. “Sir, I mainly want to ask if there is a great Yin-Yang master in this town?”

“Yes, there is one. What do you want him for?”

“I ran into something dirty and wanted to ask him for help.”

“Ask him for help? He’s a filthy bastard! We usually just want to stay away from him!”

“No way? Are there other Yin-Yang masters here?”

“No, we only have him. Let me tell you, kid, stay away from him, he’s really weird! I saw him insert a silver needle into a cow’s brain, and then the cow only listened to him, and didn’t even recognize its previous owner. Tsk, it’s weird!” “Silver needle?” I suddenly remembered what Cheng Lengzhi pulled out of my head that night. It seems that what the old man said is right. It should be this person. Liao Yong probably learned his skills from him: “That uncle, do you know his name and where he lives?”

“He lives in the neighborhood next door with his grandmother. What’s his name… Oh, right, Liao Yong.” The old man took off his glasses and wiped them. “Let me tell you, kid, even though he’s about your age, he’s very scheming. If you want to ask him for help, be careful.”

“Oh, really? Thank you, sir. Sorry to bother you.” I thanked him, but I felt a chill in my heart. Liao Yong had really lied to me!

“Wait a minute, kid,” the old man suddenly called me when I was about to turn around and leave, “I was wondering why you looked so familiar, are you Yang Chen?”

“How do you know… Sir, do you know me?”

“Hey, why is your memory not as good as mine? Ten years ago, your family came to Xinjue Town to escape the summer heat. You and your brother often came to my store to buy things. At that time, I was still running a small store. Have you forgotten?”

十年前我来过新觉镇？为什么我完全没有印象了？还有我确实有个弟弟，可他在我很小的时候就得病去世了，我甚至都不知道他长什么样，而之后我也从没和任何人说过我有个弟弟。

“It’s a pity that something like that happened later…” As if noticing my silence, the old man quickly apologized, “Oh, look at my mouth, I’m sorry, kid, I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s okay, uncle, but can you tell me what happened ten years ago and what happened to my brother?”

“You must know this better than me. Oh, it’s my fault too. I shouldn’t have mentioned this…”

Seeing that the old man was unwilling to talk, I asked several more times, but not only did I not get an answer, but he almost thought that I had suffered a great shock and had mental problems. In addition, it was getting dark, so I didn’t dare to stay outside for too long, so I had to leave the funeral home and go back to the hotel first.

At this moment, I finally understood that whether it was the uncle in the funeral home or Mr. Jiang, their words pointed to a common fact: I had forgotten something very important.

This incident happened in Xinjue Town and was related to my younger brother who died young and Cheng Lengzhi. The most important thing is that Liao Yong must have known something, but he chose to hide it.

Thinking of this, I called Jiang Jun and asked him if he knew what happened ten years ago.

Jiang Jun was silent for a while, then asked, “Yang Chen, where are you? Is there anyone else around?”

“I’m alone in the Xinjue Town Hotel now,” I said in surprise, “Why are you asking this?”

“Because every time I tell you what happened, you will be very painful and even do something to hurt yourself.”

“Every time? Have you told me that before?”

“Of course. Didn’t I say before that we have met more than once?”

It seems that there is indeed something wrong with my memory, but why? If it was an illness or an accident, I would at least have a doctor’s order or something, right?

“But… I really don’t have any impression at all.”

“I also find this very strange. The doctor also said that there is nothing wrong with your body, but do you know why I didn’t make things difficult for you? Because my years of experience tell me that you are indeed not lying.” Jiang Jun was silent for a while, “In short, Yang Chen, what happened to you is very strange… Sometimes it even exceeds my cognition.”

“I know, that’s why I want to find out the truth of the matter.”

“I understand, but I’m really worried—”

“Just tell me what happened at that time, just give a general idea.”

“Probably?” Jiang Jun thought for a while and asked, “Yang Chen, how much do you remember about your brother?”

“I just remember that he died of an illness when I was very young, and I never told anyone that I had a younger brother.”

“But in fact, your brother is not sick. Ten years ago, you and your parents went to Xinjue Town for summer vacation. It was at that time that your brother had an accident.”

“Accident? What accident?”

“Brother,” Jiang Jun said before answering. A chill suddenly rose behind me, accompanied by a childish voice. “You really have forgotten everything.”

My whole body trembled as if I had been electrocuted, but when I looked back, I found nothing behind me, as if what I heard before was just an illusion.

However, when I breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, I found that a little boy covered in blood was sitting in front of me, only one meter away from me!

He looked at me and laughed strangely: “Brother, where are you looking at?”

“Ghost! Ghost!” I screamed and backed away.

I recognized the child in front of me. He was the ghost that Liao Yong subdued in the grove!

The smile on the child’s face froze, and then turned into anger: “Brother, you really don’t remember me. I ran out to find you. Do you know how uncomfortable it was to stay in that grove?”

“You, what are you talking about? I don’t understand at all!”

The child’s expression became more and more ferocious: “Brother, I finally understand now. Although Liao Yong arrested me, he is a good man. He is right. The one who killed me was not him, but you!”

“Help, help!” Seeing the child rushing towards me, I turned away and ran out of the house screaming. There was no one in the hotel corridor, so I had to shout while running towards the elevator at the end.

08

I rushed into the elevator and pressed the first floor button, but the elevator broke down and did not stop on the first floor. Instead, it went directly to the third underground floor, B3.

Damn it, I don’t care about that, I just need to escape. Just as I was leaving the elevator thinking this, I suddenly realized that this hotel doesn’t have a third underground floor!

With a click, all the lights around me went out, leaving only darkness in front of me. Then, a ray of light suddenly appeared in front of me, and something rushed towards me at a very fast speed. When it was in front of me, I could see her face clearly – the female ghost Cheng Lengzhi!

I turned around and tried to run, but the elevator door was already closed and I couldn’t open it no matter what. I was completely desperate and fell to the ground with a plop, watching Cheng Lengzhi getting closer and closer. Her face was pale and blood was constantly pouring out of her eyes, just like the evil spirit in the movie.

I realized I might die here.

But strangely, when Cheng Lengzhi’s hand grabbed mine, I didn’t feel any pain. On the contrary, I suddenly remembered everything about her. I remembered how we met, got to know each other, and fell in love. I also remembered that five months ago, he and I went to Xinjue Town together under the leadership of Liao Yong.

我甚至还看到一个毛骨悚然的画面，在阴暗的小房间里，廖勇不断将银针插入一个男人的脑袋里，而那个男人，正是我自己。

At this moment, I finally understood that Cheng Lengzhi had never thought of harming me. Whether it was leaving the ticket or stopping me from getting on the bus, she just wanted to remind me to stay away from Liao Yong.

I noticed that after she told me everything, her body became a little more transparent, and I suddenly remembered the painful expression she showed when I asked her name when we first met. Maybe for some reason, telling me the truth would hurt her badly. Thinking of this, I couldn’t help but reach out and want to hug her.

But at this moment, a silver needle was inserted into Cheng Lengzhi’s head. She wailed and struggled violently, looking extremely painful. I rushed forward to hug her, but I missed her. I could only watch her become more and more transparent until she disappeared into thin air.

“Damn it, if she hadn’t dared to tell the truth…” A familiar voice came, I looked up and saw Liao Yong smoking and throwing away the silver needle in his hand, “I really don’t know how to deal with her.”

“Liao Yong, what the hell is going on?”

“You still don’t understand? Yang Chen, you are so stupid,” Liao Yong said with a smile, “Isn’t it simple? She found out my intentions towards you, so I killed her. But I didn’t expect her obsession to be so deep that she would protect you even as a ghost.”

“Did you kill Cheng Lengzhi?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“I didn’t want to, but she insisted on meddling in my business. I had no choice but to kill her so that she couldn’t tell the truth.” Liao Yong shrugged. “I just didn’t expect her to be so cruel. She wanted to save you even if she was dying.”

“You fucking beast!”

I screamed and rushed towards Liao Yong. Being betrayed by the person I trusted, losing the person I loved… these things made me furious.

But before I could rush forward, the ghost of the child wrapped around me from behind, and in an instant, I could no longer move.

“Brother, since you refused to save me at the beginning, why don’t you give your body to me now, okay?” It lay on top of me and said softly.

09

When I woke up again, I found myself in a dark little room, surrounded by talisman paper, candles, and various instruments and pictures that I couldn’t understand. I was lying on a rectangular wooden table, with silver needles inserted into the ends of my limbs, and I couldn’t move no matter how I struggled.

“Awake?” Liao Yong put his finger into a bowl of chicken blood next to him, then took it out and drew a strange pattern on the yellow talisman paper. Then, he walked to my side, lit a candle, chanted a strange spell, and burned the talisman paper. “You said it would be great if you got on the bus at that time, so that the driver would not have died in vain, and Cheng Lengzhi would not have disappeared.”

I didn’t say anything, just stared at Liao Yong fiercely. If I could move at this moment, I would definitely pounce on him and tear him to pieces.

The words from my brother’s soul not only made me lose consciousness, but also made me completely remember all my lost memories.

I do have a younger brother, and he did not die of illness when I was a child. On the contrary, ten years ago, our family of four came to Xinjue Town for a summer vacation and stayed there for a whole month.

It was at that time that the younger brother met Liao Yong, and because of Liao Yong’s influence, his behavior became more and more strange. He often got up secretly in the middle of the night and slipped out of the house alone. During the day, no matter who he talked to, he was absent-minded, with his eyes staring blankly into the distance.

I was very curious and worried about what happened to my brother, so one night, I pretended to be asleep and ran out after he slipped out of the house. Surprisingly, my brother didn’t run far, but instead climbed into the neighbor’s yard.

I hesitated for a moment and then followed him in. What I saw was a horrifying scene that I couldn’t believe.

I saw my brother standing in the neighbor’s yard, his eyes were lifeless, holding a dead chicken with a broken neck in his arms. I was terrified and asked my brother tremblingly, “Brother, what are you doing?”

“Liao Yong said he wanted chicken blood and asked me to help him find it.” After saying this, my brother took out a razor blade and a bottle from his pocket, cut open the flesh of the dead chicken with an expressionless face, and put all the blood into the bottle.

I was shocked by the scene, but my brother didn’t react at all. He even asked me, “Brother, do you want to help?”

I didn’t answer, turned around and ran back home, locked the bedroom door and hid under the quilt.

The next day, my parents asked me why I locked my brother out of the house, so I told them what I saw last night. After hearing what I saw, they were furious and went to confront Liao Yong’s grandmother, but they had no choice but to give up because they could not produce any evidence. The matter was left unresolved, but my brother was also forbidden to have any contact with Liao Yong.

Since then, I have often been threatened and intimidated. Sometimes when I woke up in the morning, I would find dead mice and birds next to my pillow. The most terrifying thing was that I once found half a rotten finger!

After my parents found out about this, they quietly squatted outside the room in the middle of the night to watch, but they didn’t find the murderer. Instead, they saw a black wild cat sneak in from the balcony and put those dirty things next to my pillow.

Seeing that things were getting weirder and weirder, my parents had to abandon their original plan and take my brother and I home early. However, the day before we were about to leave Xinjue Town, an accident happened.

My parents were busy packing that day and didn’t have time to go out, so they asked my brother and I to go out and buy some local specialties to share with relatives and friends. But I didn’t expect that not long after we went out, we met the black cat in the corner. Half of its face was rotten and pus was constantly flowing. The only remaining eye was emitting a frightening green light, like a ferocious beast.

Suddenly, the black cat screamed and pounced on us, so my brother and I had to turn around and run away. It kept chasing us, and before we knew it, we had run out of Xinjue Town and came to the nearby wild forest.

After we entered the woods, the black cat stopped chasing us. My brother and I thought we were safe and just breathed a sigh of relief, but there was a clicking sound under our feet.

Then, something shot towards my chest, and by the time I saw that it was a sharpened stick, it was too late to dodge.

At the last moment, my younger brother rushed up, pushed me away with his body, and was pierced through the chest by the wooden stick.

I was so scared that my mind went blank. I could only watch my brother lying in a pool of blood and struggling until he could no longer move.

“You idiot!” Liao Yongqi’s eyes turned red. He rushed forward, looked at his lifeless brother, and said viciously, “Why did you save him? Why didn’t you obey my orders! You are my toy, you are mine!”

Then, Liao Yong turned around and looked at me like a demon: “Yang Chen, just say whatever I tell you to say. If you dare not obey, I will kill you and your parents.”

Later, my parents brought the police to the scene. Liao Yong told them that his brother accidentally stepped on a trap left by a hunter. However, the hunters had appeared in Xinjue Town more than ten years ago, so the police certainly didn’t believe it. So everyone looked at me.

I wanted to tell them the truth, but when I thought of Liao Yong’s ferocious eyes, I couldn’t stop shaking all over.

“It was a trap. What Liao Yong said was true. I… saw it with my own eyes.”

After that, I never mentioned this to anyone again, until I found myself in the same dormitory with Liao Yong when I was in college! I immediately applied to change dormitories, but Liao Yong got there first and inserted a silver needle into my head.

After that, my memory was controlled by him. Later, his manipulation of me was accidentally discovered by Cheng Lengzhi, so he killed Cheng Lengzhi to silence him and faked it as suicide.

I suddenly felt very regretful. I should have thought that there was something wrong with Liao Yong earlier, when the funeral home owner told me that he used silver needles to control the buffalo, when Cheng Lengzhi stopped me from getting in the car – or, I should not have chosen to escape because of cowardice and fear from the beginning.

10

“Liao Yong, why are you doing all this?”

“My parents didn’t want me since I was little. No one was with me and no one cared about me. I always wanted someone to belong to me completely and become mine completely.” Liao Yong’s tone was as if he was talking about something very ordinary. “Your brother was originally mine, but because of you, he died, so you must compensate me.”

“He’s not yours, he’s my brother!”

“Whatever you say, you’re going to die soon anyway.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Soul exchange, didn’t you see it in my notebook? Let your brother live on in your body, isn’t that what you should do as a brother?” After saying that, Liao Yong inserted the last silver needle into my forehead. I felt myself getting lighter and lighter, as if my consciousness and body were separated. Then, I saw my brother’s soul, and he was walking towards me step by step.

“Brother, what are you doing? I am your brother!”

“Then I am not your brother? Why did you lie? Why did you avoid me when I looked for you at your school?”

I was silent. Although my memory was indeed altered by Liao Yong, I did back down at that time. I felt sorry for my brother. Perhaps letting him be reborn with the help of my body would be the best outcome.

Just as I was about to accept all this, the door was suddenly pushed open and Jiang Jun rushed in, shouting, “Don’t move!”

“Don’t worry about him, just continue the ritual!” My brother’s soul had already stopped, but after Liao Yong yelled at him, he continued to walk towards me.

But surprisingly, he didn’t take over my body directly. Instead, he hugged me and sobbed in my ear, “Brother, I’m so scared.”

I was stunned.

Suddenly, my brother’s eyes went blank, and he struggled painfully like a zombie, holding his head tightly with both hands. He opened his mouth wide, trying to occupy my body, while muttering, “I don’t want to, I don’t want to be controlled anymore…”

I finally came to my senses. Even if my brother came back to life with my body, he would not be free. The so-called best ending was just another self-consolation. My brother, Officer Jiang Jun, and the disappeared Cheng Lengzhi… They sacrificed their lives to protect me, but I chose to escape again and again because of my cowardice.

If I were braver, I would know that Cheng Lengzhi would not harm me. If I were braver, I would not have told my parents and the police ten years ago that it was all just an accident.

I have always let down those who protected me. It was because I kept running away that Liao Yong had the opportunity to take advantage of me.

From his peripheral vision, Liao Yong and Jiang Jun were already tussling with each other, but Jiang Jun was a policeman after all, so Liao Yong quickly lost the upper hand. In a panic, Liao Yong knocked over the table, and everything on it was scattered on the ground.

Suddenly, I found that I could move, so I turned around to avoid my brother’s soul and pounced on Liao Yong.

“Yang Chen, you have to think clearly. Only I can save your brother.” What I didn’t expect was that Liao Yong could actually laugh and looked at me with a mocking expression.

“Fuck your mother!” I was completely enraged and kept punching Liao Yong in the face until his face was covered in blood, until Jiang Jun rushed up and hugged me.

“Yang Chen, calm down!” Jiang Jun pulled me away, but he also fell back and sat in the messy formation. “Do you want to go to jail for this beast?”

I gradually regained my sanity and ignored Liao Yong who was still laughing on the ground. I stood up and looked around for the two familiar figures, but saw nothing.

Even though Liao Yong finally failed and everything has settled, some people can never come back.

Whether it is my younger brother or Cheng Lengzhi, I have lost them forever.

11

A week later, I came to Cheng Lengzhi’s grave and placed a bouquet of flowers.

After Liao Yong was arrested, he resisted violently, shouting that he was wronged, and even saying that he was not Liao Yong. In addition, the case was too bizarre, and many evidences could not be obtained. We could only rely on me and Jiang Jun’s oral statements, which took a lot of time. Although he may be judged as mentally ill and escape punishment, at least he will never have the opportunity to harm others again.

And I also completely understood that Cheng Lengzhi had always just wanted to protect me, not harm me, just like my younger brother did before.

“I’m sorry,” I burst into tears, “Now I remember everything, I remember everything… Cheng Lengzhi, I like you, I miss you so much…”

A hand was placed on my shoulder, and I knew it was Officer Jiang. He didn’t say anything, but just accompanied me silently.

After a long time, I wiped my tears and stood up: “Let’s go.”

After Liao Yong was arrested, I also learned the identity of Officer Jiang. It turned out that he was the police officer in charge of my brother’s case. He had always felt that the case was suspicious, so he had been secretly observing Liao Yong and me.

“Fortunately you called me that day, and I heard your cry for help, so I came to Xinjue Town to find you right away.” Jiang Jun lit a cigarette, which made me feel a little strange. Before this, I had never seen him smoke. “Fortunately I came in time, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.”

“Yes,” I nodded, “It was thanks to Officer Jiang that you came to save me that day, otherwise…”

“Otherwise, your soul will be swapped.”

After saying this, Officer Jiang suddenly laughed like a madman.

“Officer Jiang, what’s wrong with you?” I suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Yang Chen, haven’t you noticed something is wrong yet?”

“Officer Jiang, what do you mean?”

“Have you forgotten that Jiang Jun doesn’t smoke?”

Jiang Jun’s words exploded in my mind. I suddenly remembered how Liao Yong looked when he was arrested. His eyes were filled with despair, and he kept saying that he was not Liao Yong and that he was wronged… Could it be that…

A terrible thought popped into my mind: The person in front of me is not Jiang Jun!

“Yang Chen, don’t you think about why I angered you at that time? Was it just to be beaten by you? And about the soul exchange, haven’t you read the book? When did it say that if the formation is disrupted, the ceremony will end?”

I was completely stunned.

“I asked you to hit me because I wanted Jiang Jun to stop you. From the moment he fell into the formation, you had already lost.”

“Yang Chen, I’ve changed my mind. It would be boring to let your brother resurrect. Now, I want you to pay me back. I want you to–” Jiang Jun said as he took out a silver needle and inserted it into the top of my head.

“You have become my toy.”

– over –