Chapter 21:
Tormented by an Evil Spirit (Part 4):
“Maybe It Wants to Eat You…”
Li Xiaoqiang’s screams brought Chen Shu running from the kitchen, her hands still wet. Seeing the homeless man, she yelled, “Do you want to keep your other leg?! If you come here again to scare people, I’ll have someone break it! Then let’s see how you walk!”
“Honey, watch your words!” Li Gang pulled her back, afraid she would attack the homeless man. It wouldn’t look good, especially with a guest present. He turned, realizing Chen Henian was standing far away, his face barely visible.
Chen Shu, her heart aching for her son, blamed the homeless man for everything. “Breaking one leg was already merciful! He’s like a leech, even the police can’t get rid of him! What if he’s a human trafficker? If anything happens to my son, I’ll kill him!”
The homeless man pointed at himself, shaking his head, then waving his hands, struggling to speak. His lip movements were unintelligible. He pointed at the gate lock, seemingly denying her accusations, wanting to enter. The couple ignored him. He seemed resigned, his efforts futile. He dragged his broken leg, moving to a corner by the gate, out of the way.
A sound reached Chen Henian’s ears.
The tinkling of a bell. He turned, realizing it was the warning bell he had hung inside the house.
The ghost tormenting the family had appeared!
Chen Henian rushed inside, quickly detecting a faint trace of ghostly qi, his eyes catching a fleeting shadow.
He took three quick strides, grabbing the banister, and flicked a silver needle threaded with red string from his sleeve. The needle embedded itself in the wallpaper, blocking the shadow’s path. He held his hand out, the needle still between his fingers. “Got you.”
He used the red string as a barrier, reaching for the shadow. But it was small and quick, slipping beneath the string. He paused, then yelled at the mirror ghost, “Stop it!”
The shadow darted upstairs. The mirror ghost was faster, appearing on the ceiling, its grotesque face looming, its long hair like a thousand needles, pinning the shadow to the floor.
“I’ll eat you, hee hee.” The mirror ghost grinned, the air turning cold, its mouth opening wide, ready to devour the shadow.
But Chen Henian flicked another red string, binding the mirror ghost, tightening it around its face, and yanking it back.
The mirror ghost landed on the floor with a thud. “What are you doing?!” It was furious.
“Who told you to eat it now?” Chen Henian’s voice was stern.
“It’s gone!” Before the mirror ghost could protest further, the shadow had vanished into Li Xiaoqiang’s room.
Chen Henian followed, the red string in his hand, but the room was empty. He followed the scent to the window. The curtains billowed wildly, a few black hairs caught in the frame, traces of blood. He looked down at the vegetable garden below.
The ghost had escaped. He untied the mirror ghost.
“It was just a newly formed ghost, its resentment still lingering. I could have swallowed it whole! You said you’d give it to me! Why did you stop me?!” The mirror ghost was angry, but Chen Henian’s voice was even harsher. “You don’t eat unless I tell you to.”
“That’s my rule. Get used to it.”
Chen Henian’s rule was his master’s rule. Before every job, Zhou Xianzhi would repeat, “When humans die and become ghosts, listen to their grievances. If a ghost is innocent, do not harm it.”
“You’ll find that ghosts are much simpler than humans.”
His master knew many things, but he had never introduced Chen Henian to other practitioners. They had traveled through small towns and villages, finally settling down and opening a shop.
The mirror ghost made a face, grinding its teeth.
Chen Henian examined the black hairs. “Why did it suddenly appear?”
The mirror ghost scoffed. “Maybe it wanted to eat you. Every ghost wants a piece of you. What if it succeeded?”
“I don’t think so.” Chen Henian’s intuition told him the ghost hadn’t appeared because of him. He couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t dwell on it. “I’ll ask it next time.”
The ghost would reappear.
The witching hour was the best time for hauntings.
After nightfall, Chen Henian sat alone in Li Xiaoqiang’s room, not on the bed, but by the window, his legs drawn up, his head against the frame, the wind blowing on his face, his hair pulled back, a few strands brushing against his cheek and nose. He closed his eyes, his breathing even, taking a short nap.
The clock downstairs ticked steadily.
Half-asleep, his head lolled to the side, almost falling, when a cold hand caught him, its touch brushing against his cheek.
He woke up instantly, jumping down from the windowsill. The room was empty. He touched the red string on his finger, still warm.
It must be past midnight. He grabbed his suitcase and left the room, treading softly, following the unusual scent.
He climbed the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the silent house, the only light coming from the windows. He stopped before a door.
The kitchen.
He heard a faint crunching sound from inside.
He took a red string from his suitcase, holding it in his hand, and opened the kitchen door. He saw a figure hunched over on the floor, its head lowered, eating something. It was Li Xiaoqiang. He turned, his mouth bloody, still chewing, his pajamas stained with blood, fish scales caught between his fingernails. He was eating a raw fish, starting from the belly, a large fish bladder still dangling from his lips.
“Delicious?” Chen Henian frowned, stepping back. “Are you full?”
“Are you a starving ghost?”
Li Xiaoqiang was clearly possessed. His movements were animalistic, his hands and feet on the floor as he crawled. He abandoned the fish, scrambling onto the kitchen counter, knocking over a soy sauce bottle and a stack of bowls, the sound of shattering porcelain echoing through the room.
He paced before Chen Henian, wary, waiting for an opportunity to attack, his eyes pale and lifeless.
Chen Henian saw black hair sprouting from his body. What was he turning into?
Li Xiaoqiang snarled, baring his teeth.
“You go first,” Chen Henian stepped aside, gesturing towards the door. The boy was filthy, covered in blood and fish guts. He didn’t want to get his clothes dirty.
Li Xiaoqiang scurried out of the kitchen, into the living room, leaving bloody footprints on the floor, the smell of fish filling the air.
He crawled and rolled across the living room, creating a commotion. Chen Henian couldn’t ignore it any longer. He flicked the red string, striking Li Xiaoqiang’s back.
“Get out of him. Let’s talk.”
Li Xiaoqiang shook his head, snarling. He clearly didn’t understand. Chen Henian struck him twice more, forcing the black shadow out of his body.
“What’s happening?” The Li family rushed out. “What’s going on?”
“Oh my god—!” They saw the blood on the floor and gasped in horror.
Chen Henian advanced on the shadow, intending to capture it, but it vanished in an instant, without a trace.
He was puzzled.
Li Xiaoqiang, his consciousness restored, collapsed on the floor, vomiting, his mouth filled with the taste of fish, his stomach churning. A fishbone lodged in his throat, his face turning red, tears streaming down his face as he choked and gagged.
“Get some vinegar!” Chen Shu yelled at Xiaoxiao, then turned to comfort her son. “Just a little longer, son, just a little longer.”
“Look outside,” the mirror ghost appeared before Chen Henian, its eyebrows raised, a playful smile on its face.
Chen Henian looked up. A chunk was missing from the full moon. A lunar eclipse! Was something evil emerging?
A crack of thunder split the sky, a flash of lightning illuminating the dark clouds. Then, he heard a deep bark.
The ghost wasn’t human. It was a large black dog.
It appeared in the living room, its fur swirling like a dark cloud, its size immense, its eyes glowing white, its teeth bared, its gaze fixed on them, its presence growing more menacing with each passing moment.
Li Xiaoqiang screamed, his cry so piercing that Xiaoxiao dropped the bottle of vinegar she had brought from the kitchen.
“Even a dog is more useful than you! Can’t you even hold a bottle properly?!” Chen Shu scolded her daughter.
Neither she nor Li Gang saw the black dog. Li Xiaoqiang trembled uncontrollably.
The dog jumped off the sofa, vanishing like a dissipating cloud, but claw marks appeared on the floor, the sound of tearing flesh.
More claw marks appeared, tracing the dog’s path, moving closer and closer to Li Xiaoqiang.
“Stay away! Stay away from me!” Li Xiaoqiang squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face in his mother’s arms. Chen Shu, unaware of the source of his terror, held him tightly.
“Little Master! Do something!” Li Gang paced anxiously, afraid to touch his son.
“It… it…” Xiaoxiao tried to speak, but her mother grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Can’t you see your brother is suffering?! Do something!”
Xiaoxiao winced, her hand throbbing. She didn’t know what to do, standing there helplessly. Chen Shu’s words were clearly directed at Chen Henian, her displeasure evident.
But Chen Henian remained impassive, watching the scene unfold with a cold, indifferent expression.
“Ah—!” Li Xiaoqiang screamed again, his cry even more agonizing.
Blood flowed from his legs, his pants torn, claw marks appearing on his skin, deep gashes, as if something was trying to tear his flesh away.
Such resentment.
The pungent smell made Chen Henian sneeze.
“Oh my god—! You… you have to save my son!” Chen Shu screamed, reaching out, but grasping nothing.
“Little Master! Little Master! Do something!” Li Gang pleaded.
Chen Henian finally acted, throwing a handful of incense ash at Li Xiaoqiang’s legs. The dog’s form materialized. He tried to bind it with red string, but the dog’s size increased dramatically, snapping the string, the force sending Chen Henian tumbling backward.
The black dog left Li Xiaoqiang momentarily, but it was about to attack again. Chen Henian quickly took out a bell from his suitcase and rang it.
The sound affected the dog, making it shake its head in discomfort. Chen Henian stood up, giving the mirror ghost a look. The mirror ghost lunged, its size increasing to match the dog’s, its hair swirling around it.
But the black dog roared, shattering the window and escaping.
Chen Henian chased after it, finding it on the roof, the moon, now completely eclipsed, behind it.
“I was wrong. This dog isn’t ordinary. It has merit. It was about to become a celestial hound, but its resentment has turned it into a ghost, absorbing essence on this full moon night, becoming a hellhound,” the mirror ghost said.
A hellhound, a guardian of the underworld, as fearsome as a grim reaper, capable of tearing people apart and dragging them to hell.
“This will be difficult,” it complained. “If you had let me eat it earlier, none of this would have happened.”
“You can’t eat it anymore.” Chen Henian looked up at the black dog, his voice firm. “It has merit. I have to guide it to reincarnation.”
