Chapter 139
Chapter 139
Business at the barbecue stall was slow, and we were the only table left. The owner and his wife weren’t in any hurry to look for Su Qian, but we were starting to get anxious. After all, she was just a part-time worker; in her current state, she wouldn’t dare slack off.
Something was wrong if she had been gone this long.
The three of us shared a look of mutual understanding and stood up together, heading toward the owner to ask where the storage room was.
The owner looked us over curiously and chuckled. “What’s the matter? Why are you asking about the storage room? That’s just where we keep the ingredients.”
“Just tell us which way it is,” I said.
“No, why should I tell you?” The owner put his hands on his hips. “You’re just here to eat. Why are you poking around my storage room?”
“We asked you where the storage room is!” Song Xiaotian’s short fuse was lit. His fierce, menacing expression immediately made the owner drop his hands in fright.
“Answer the question! Where is it?”
“It-it’s over there! The fourth door!” the owner stammered, quickly pointing out the direction.
Song Xiaotian slapped two hundred yuan down on the table and hurried off with Meng Yifan and me to find Su Qian.
The storage room was located in an alley, behind the fourth door.
We reached it quickly and found the door wide open. There was no one inside. Just then, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the deepest part of the alley. It was a woman’s voice.
“Shit! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
The three of us bolted from the storage room like rabbits, racing toward the end of the alley.
We soon spotted Su Qian. She was slamming her head against the wall like a madwoman, her forehead already slick with blood. She was sobbing as she did it, her face a mask of terror and agony.
Beyond her, I saw a shadow in the distance. I recognized it instantly: it was Du Yuwei.
“Stop it!”
Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan rushed forward, grabbing Su Qian to hold her back. But she seemed to have developed superhuman strength; even two well-built men struggled to restrain her.
“Chen Mo! Do something! We can’t hold her!”
“I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”
I looked around frantically for a pair of chopsticks. Luckily, there was a trash can nearby. I kicked it over, spilling the contents everywhere. The trash wasn’t just disgusting; it reeked so badly I nearly passed out from the stench.
After a frantic search, I found a pair of chopsticks.
I rushed over to Su Qian and used every ounce of strength I had to grab her right hand.
“Close your eyes! Close them now!”
As I shouted, I clamped the two chopsticks onto the middle finger of her right hand, squeezing hard like an ancient torture device.
This was a method Old Zhao Seven had taught us. Chopsticks are square at one end and round at the other, representing the concept of ‘Round Heaven and Square Earth.’ The chopsticks represent the world itself; since ghosts exist within the world, they are naturally bound by its laws.
Generally, for someone possessed by a ghost, you use chopsticks to pinch their middle finger-the left hand for men and the right hand for women. You have to keep squeezing until they return to normal before letting go.
It sounded like pure superstition, but Old Zhao Seven had passed it down to us personally. Superstitious or not, we trusted Old Zhao Seven.
Sure enough, the method was effective-incredibly effective!
Su Qian gradually began to calm down.
I quickly asked her, “What’s your name?”
“Su Qian…”
I asked again, “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one…”
One more question: “What is your boyfriend’s name?”
“He Tao…”
She was back to her senses!
“She’s back to normal!”
Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan finally breathed a sigh of relief. I noticed both of their shirts were soaked through with sweat.
But it wasn’t over yet…
We looked back and saw that Du Yuwei had manifested. She stood not far away, staring straight at us with a deeply resentful expression.
Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan’s faces paled with fright. They hurriedly dragged Su Qian back.
I stood in front of them, facing off against Du Yuwei.
“What are you doing? Do you even know what you’re doing!”
Du Yuwei seemed furious, her expression turning somewhat twisted. “It’s not like you don’t know why I’m killing people. You clearly know I want revenge, yet you’re stopping me. I’m angry now!”
I froze in place, a strange sense of guilt rising in my heart as if I had done something wrong.
“I don’t want you to kill anyone. I don’t want to see you hurting people anymore!”
“He Tao, Su Qian, Su Qian’s parents-they were all innocent! If you want revenge, we can find a way. We can get revenge together. By killing all these people, aren’t you just following in Du Ruhai’s footsteps?”
I started trying to reason with her again, even though I knew I couldn’t sway her.
As it turned out, I really couldn’t.
She grew even angrier. “I don’t care! She’s the one who killed me! If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be dead!”
“Then kill me instead.”
I looked at her, my heart exceptionally calm. “I’ll die in her place. Kill me, and after that, I won’t care who you hurt. But as long as I’m alive, I will definitely stop you from hurting anyone.”
She looked at me in disbelief, her eyes actually turning a bit red, as if she were looking at someone who had hurt and betrayed her.
“You’ve disappointed me so much!”
“It’s because I don’t want you to die!”
My emotions suddenly spiraled out of control. My mind was filled with the images of Su Qian’s parents dying, and I just screamed it out: “I didn’t want you and the child to die at the hands of Old Zhao Seven! I don’t want you to hurt people either! What else am I supposed to do?”
“Look at her! Look at Su Qian! Look at her and see if she isn’t just as pitiful as you! Isn’t she just another version of you?”
“You won’t kill her today. Not unless you kill me first. Then you can go after her.”
“Just kill me. Kill me right now. I don’t want to live anymore anyway.”
After I finished shouting, tears started streaming down my face.
A month ago, I was just an ordinary worker. In this short month, I’ve either almost been killed, or I’ve watched others die-watched the people around me die.
My father and my grandfather are both dead. My mother doesn’t want me. What’s the point of me living?
I might as well just die.
“Chen Mo!”
Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan’s voices were shaking with fear. “What are you doing? Don’t be impulsive!”
Just as they finished shouting, Du Yuwei floated over and reached out, grabbing me by the throat.
I quickly raised my hand, signaling for Song Xiaotian and the others not to come over.
“If you guys consider me a brother, then respect my choice. Living is too painful… it’s really too painful.”
I stared at Du Yuwei through my tears.
She looked at me, and surprisingly, she began to cry as well.
I didn’t understand why she felt such strong emotions for me.
I was clearly the culprit who had led to her family’s murder.
“Do it. I should die by your hand. Remember to swallow my soul, otherwise, even if I become a ghost, I’ll still stop you from hurting people.”
After I said that, she let go, her hand dropping to her side.
She still couldn’t bring herself to kill me.
The moment she turned around, I couldn’t help but call out.
“Yuwei!”
She left without looking back, vanishing directly from my sight.