Chapter 069

While the Long-braided Ghost was leading a mob of spirits to visit his former employer, Qiao Man wasn’t idling either. He used the remaining incense to set up a small altar.

He wasn’t very experienced with this particular procedure, so he made a quick phone call to Master Yu. As Master Yu spoke over the line, Qiao Man repeated the words after him, lighting the last of the incense.

Wisps of blue smoke drifted upward, scattering into the clouds and dust. Soon, everyone felt that familiar, biting cold wind sweep through the room.

Though they couldn’t see anything, they knew that ghosts had arrived.

Maomao pulled his neck back, staring at the tiny figure ahead who was looking up into the empty air. Even though there was nothing in front of the child, Maomao couldn’t help but shrink behind Lu Jianxing.

“Brother Lu, what is Xiao Man doing now?” Maomao whispered. “Didn’t he just find a bunch of ghosts earlier?”

Recalling the scene from moments ago and looking at the scorched black marks on the floor, Maomao still felt a lingering sense of dread.

He couldn’t see ghosts, but that didn’t stop Master Xiao Man from showing his power. Once the ghost-summoning Talisman was lit, spirits from all directions had been drawn to the spot, making the room as cold as an ice cellar. Maomao felt certain that ghosts had passed right through him; waves of cold had seeped deep into his very bones. He didn’t know what those ghosts had said, but Baby Xiao Man had pulled a stack of Talismans from his backpack, and bolts of lightning as thick as a man’s forearm had come crackling down. Maomao had been forced to close his eyes against the blinding glare. Only afterward did the room temperature return to normal.

He had just summoned ghosts, and now he was doing it again?

Lu Jianxing didn’t quite understand either. He said softly, “Just watch.”

Maomao obediently huddled back.

Yin Energy swirled, and the sky turned gloomy. Every breath was filled with nothing but the freezing wind and the faint scent of incense. He didn’t even dare to breathe deeply.

As for Jiang Yucheng, Madam Jiang, and Pei Xiwang, they hadn’t dared to make a sound since Qiao Man’s first summoning.

Because none of them could see the ghosts, none of them realized that the spirits Qiao Man had summoned this time all shared a certain resemblance.

They were all the illegitimate children who had died to provide Life Extension for Jiang Hong.

Some had died when they were very young, dying and going to reincarnation in a daze. Others had been old enough to understand, realizing what was happening to them but powerless to change it, forced to watch as their lives were taken away.

After death, their resentment would not dissipate. They refused to reincarnate, wanting only to seek revenge on their biological father. However, because Jiang Hong was protected by a powerful Taoist, they couldn’t get near him. They could only wander the human world in a muddled state.

Resentment coiled around them, and black mist fluctuated violently. Several of the ghosts had already lost their sanity, only managing to stay somewhat calm under the soothing influence of the incense.

With a quick glance and a rough count, there were nearly ten ghosts floating in the room.

It was unimaginable. To forcibly extend a life that should have ended long ago to the present day, just how many people had Jiang Hong killed? And these were all his own flesh and blood!

Qiao Man quickly folded the Talismans in his hand and tossed them into the fire. The ashes drifted into the air and were inhaled by the ghosts, causing their soul forms to become more solid.

The ghosts looked at each other, then at Jiang Yucheng and Madam Jiang, who were supporting each other behind the boy. As Father Jiang’s illegitimate children, they were not unfamiliar with these two.

The oldest-looking ghost floated forward, looking down at the child who only reached his waist. “Are you the one who called us?”

Qiao Man nodded. “I am.”

“Are you here to perform rites for our souls¹?”

Qiao Man nodded, then shook his head. He looked up at them and asked, “Do you have unfulfilled wishes?”

“Of course we do!” The ghost’s resentment surged violently with his emotions, and his face became distorted and hideous. “That man isn’t dead yet! He’s still living well in this world. How could we possibly go to reincarnation willingly!”

As children, they naturally possessed a sense of longing and affection for their parents. Despite their less-than-respectable status as unacknowledged illegitimate children, their respect for Father Jiang had been genuine. When they were first taken in by their father, every one of them had been filled with joy. Who could have known that what awaited them was not the fatherly love they imagined, but a bloody hell?

As it turned out, they had never been wanted from the moment of their birth. In the eyes of the biological father they had admired, they were merely materials used to extend his life. There was no fatherly love, no family bond. They were worth less than a cherished object. No one had ever asked if they were willing; they were simply thrust into a cruel reality without warning.

Their lives became the nourishment for his growth. Their souls wandered the world, with no one to offer them sacrifices and no place to reincarnate. They circled their enemy day after day, wishing they could eat his flesh, drink his blood, and scatter his ashes, yet they were never able to achieve their goal.

The ghosts grew agitated again, only regaining their composure after inhaling another breath of incense.

Qiao Man asked again, “After you get your revenge, will you go to reincarnation?”

“We will,” the ghosts said through gritted teeth. “But he has a very powerful Taoist protecting him. We can’t get close.”

“Then it’s a promise. You have to be good and go to reincarnation!” Qiao Man raised his hand, extending his pinky finger toward the ghost in front of him.

The ghosts froze for a moment, then, a beat late, extended their pale, ghostly fingers to hook around that small, fair, chubby hand.

The Talisman ashes settled onto each of the ghosts. Invisibly, they felt as if a chain-like restraint had appeared within their soul forms. At the same time, they felt themselves becoming much stronger.

The ghosts promised him, “Once our revenge is complete, we will go to reincarnation on our own.”

The ghosts gave Madam Jiang one last deep look before drifting toward the hospital without looking back.

They had repaid the debt of birth with their lives.

Now, it was time to settle the debt for the upbringing they were never given.

…

In the middle of the night.

A hospital ward.

On the hospital bed, a middle-aged man in a striped gown was trapped in a nightmare. The electrocardiogram fluctuated uneasily. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and his eyelids trembled violently, yet he could not wake from the dream.

Jiang Hong was dreaming of the scenes where he had extended his life.

Those children lay weakly on the floor, their dark eyes staring at him without blinking as they cried out “Daddy.” In the blink of an eye, the people on the floor changed; their skin turned a bruised blue-black and began to crack, while dark red blood seeped from their facial orifices. They gazed blankly in his direction, looking like malevolent Rakshasas².

He turned to flee, only to find that Daoist Zhu had vanished. He was trapped in a place so dark he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face. A bruised, dark hand clamped down on his shoulder from behind, sharp nails digging deep into his flesh.

“Daddy…”

“Daddy…”

“It hurts so much, Daddy…”

Countless cries rang out as innumerable hands reached from the darkness. One after another, faces both familiar and terrifyingly strange appeared before him. Jiang Hong tried to run, but his arms and legs were pinned down, leaving him unable to move.

The dark ghouls swarmed him. Sharp teeth sank into his arm, tearing away a chunk of flesh. He let out a shrill scream, but soon he couldn’t even manage a cry. He felt his life force draining away with terrifying clarity. Amidst those eager, persistent calls, he was being devoured like a gourmet feast, his very bones cracked open so the marrow could be sucked dry.

It wasn’t until the last shred of flesh was swallowed by the ghouls that Jiang Hong jolted awake from the nightmare.

He gasped for air, looking around in terror. The hospital room was calm and cozy, with only the rising and falling lines on the heart monitor providing any movement.

The dream had been far too real. The pain of being eaten alive seemed to linger throughout his body. His back was drenched in sweat, and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Thank God.

The cold wind leaking through the gap in the window dried his cold sweat, helping him calm down from the horrific dream.

Thank God it was just a dream.

Those children were all dead. How could they possibly come back for revenge?

And then there was Jiang Yucheng.

To think he had spent so much effort raising Jiang Yucheng all those years, only for the boy to turn out not to be his biological son, causing his Life Extension plan to fail.

Besides, he was their father. What was wrong with using them to extend his own life? Without him, those children wouldn’t have been born into this world at all. He was the one who gave them life! Those ungrateful brats actually wanted to take his life in return.

Jiang Hong pulled the Amulet Master Zhu had given him from inside his collar, clutching it in his palm for comfort. With this, those ghouls wouldn’t be able to get near him.

“Daddy…”

Jiang Hong’s head snapped up.

A cracked, blue-black ghostly face was inches from his own. Two streaks of dark red bloody tears flowed down the face. On that familiar yet strange countenance, a pair of lifeless, dark eyes reflected his own terrified expression.

He shrieked and recoiled, but countless ghostly hands reached out, pinning his limbs firmly to the bed.

The nightmare had descended into reality!

“No… No-stay away!!!”

“Help me-help me-“

“Help-ah-“

“…”

“…”

Clang.

The sudden noise startled the young nurse at the front desk out of her drowse.

She leaned out to look and saw that a health promotion display board in the corner had fallen over. The nurse walked over to set it upright and took the opportunity to walk down the corridors on either side.

In the dead of night, even her intentionally light footsteps sounded exceptionally loud. The patients in the rooms were all fast asleep. As she passed the private room at the very end of the hall, she slowed her pace.

A well-known entrepreneur was staying there, and he had been under close observation since his admission. Over the past few days, Taoists had frequently appeared in his room. Even more bizarrely, a Taoist had been rushed from that room to the emergency department just this afternoon.

Some nurses had even witnessed him chasing his visiting son out of the room. Since it involved patient privacy, the hospital staff only gossiped about it in private.

The nurse peered through the glass of the ward door. It was dark and silent inside. Not a single sound came from behind the closed door, and her pager showed no alerts. She lingered at the door for a few seconds before continuing down the hall with steady steps.

Jiang Hong’s eyes were nearly bursting from their sockets as he stared at the blurred silhouette through the door’s glass. Shrill cries for help rose in his throat-“Help! Save me!”-but he could only watch helplessly as the shadow vanished from sight.

The winter night wind howled, sealed away outside the window.

All the horrors were likewise sealed within this luxury hospital room.

Translator’s Notes