Oni-tsubo

Kapitel 1

A Night Feast of One Hundred Ghosts (Modern Version of Spring River Flower Moon Night)

Legend has it that in a dark room, a hundred candles are lit on a round table. Many people sit around the table, each telling an incredible story about themselves. At the end of each story, a candle is blown out. When all the candles are extinguished, something terrible is summoned from the darkness.

Of course, this is just a story; no one has ever actually tried it. This is the origin of the "Hundred Ghosts Banquet," a tale of a hundred ghosts that can be summoned.

Chapter One: The Passing Years

It was a peaceful autumn afternoon. Dragonflies flew in the sky, old people leisurely enjoyed the cool shade under the trees, and a gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of grass blew around them. It was a peaceful and beautiful autumn, and everything was so perfect.

However, this afternoon was not perfect in everyone's eyes.

"Can't you do anything? Is being your assistant just cleaning?" In a suite in the apartment, a young man was yelling, holding a mop. He was a thin young man, no more than twenty years old.

"Zijin, don't be like this. Things are different now than before. Money is hard to earn. Who told you to owe me money!" On the large bed next to him, a person wearing a silk robe said. He was leaning against the side of the bed, holding a bowl of grapes in his hand, looking absent-minded, with a wicked smile on his lips.

The boy sighed: "I've said it so many times, my name isn't Zijin, it's Chen Kai. Even though I'm not good-looking and my grades are just average, my name is still not Wang Zijin!"

"Hehe, who gave you that red birthmark between your eyebrows? That's proof that you're Prince Jin!" The alluring young man, lounging on the bed, laughed, his carefree eyes revealing a deep reluctance.

"Is this what you mean?" Chen Kai pointed to the blood-red birthmark between his eyebrows. "That's easy!" He rummaged through his drawers and found a Band-Aid, then slapped it on his face to cover the red birthmark. Turning around, he shouted, "Is this enough now? Don't call me Prince Jin anymore. Even though I owe you money, you can't just change my name like that!"

"Hehehe!" The boy on the bed covered his mouth and chuckled, "What's the use? Zijin is still inside you, and one day you will still be Wang Zijin!"

Chen Kai sighed. He felt like he was talking to a brick wall. Ever since he met him that afternoon, nothing good had ever come his way. He glanced sideways at the boy lying on the bed eating grapes. His black hair was like satin, black and shiny. He had beautiful phoenix eyes and handsome, sword-like eyebrows. All of these made him look like an angel, but his personality was just like a devil's.

Thinking about how unlucky I was, I finally finished high school and lost my tuition fees as soon as I registered for university. Luckily, he helped me. At that time, he seemed like a very nice person. Who knew he was a glutton, lazy, and didn't like cleaning? He said he hired me as an assistant to pay off the money, but no one ever came to his business. It was like I had just finished high school and then came to work as a nanny.

"Zijin! I want chicken! Order me some takeout!" Someone else was craving chicken.

"How many times have I told you, my name isn't Zijin!" Before she could finish speaking, a slipper flew towards her. "Hurry up! I'm starving!"

Chen Kai got hit on the head with a slipper, so he could only shake his head and walk away cursing as he made a phone call: "Do you want soup or roast chicken?"

"Drink the soup! Add lots of mushrooms!" The voice was cheerful and clear; Chen Kai could almost hear the sound of saliva falling to the ground.

"What exactly do you do for a living?" Chen Kai ordered takeout and decided to talk to him.

"Hey! I help others solve problems they can't solve themselves!"

Such an answer was tantamount to nothing. Chen Kai looked up and glared at him, but he was still lazily sprawled on the bed, his round eyes wide open. He wouldn't get out of bed even once. If a person could be this lazy, they were truly hopeless. If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't finished paying off his debts, he would have strangled him to death.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"How can it be so fast? Soup that's simmering so quickly can't be good!" Chen Kai said, cursing as he went to open the door.

The boy over there looked serious, pulled his robe tighter, and sat up.

"Feixiao, what's wrong with you? This isn't like you!" Chen Kai said with a smile. It was really rare to see him get out of bed today.

"It seems we have a guest!" said the boy called Feixiao.

"Let's make a bet. If it's takeout, you'll clean up the mess yourself for a whole day!" Chen Kai chuckled. He'd been with this woman named Fei Xiao for two weeks, and no one except restaurant staff had ever come through this door. How could there possibly be any customers at this hour?

"Okay!" Fei Xiao said, blinking twice. "But you're sure to lose. Don't ever bet with me!"

"Tch~" Chen Kai said as he opened the door.

A curly-haired girl in white stood outside the door. She had fair skin, big eyes, and looked very cute.

"Hehehe, I won, didn't I? This is just a restaurant waiter!" Chen Kai said with a smile.

"You're the waiter, you idiot! Get out of my way, I'm in a hurry!" With that, she shoved Chen Kai aside and went straight for Fei Xiao.

Chen Kai was startled when he saw her approaching aggressively, which was completely different from her gentle appearance. He didn't know what was wrong with her.

The girl walked up to Feixiao and said, "Is it you who called me over at the door?"

“Not bad! I can help you solve your problem!” Feixiao smiled at the girl in front of her.

"I... I need help with something, I can't do it by myself~" The girl said and then squatted down and started crying.

Chen Kai was immediately dumbfounded. This girl was too unpredictable; her face could change in an instant, and she was moody and unpredictable.

"Don't worry, little sister, just tell me what's wrong!" Fei Xiao squatted down and coaxed him.

The girl looked up at him and started crying again: "My name is Amy! Help me find someone!"

"Amy, right! I'm an expert at finding people, but this isn't free!"

Chen Kai almost fainted when he heard this. It's true what they say, businessmen are all about profit. This little girl is only about ten years old, and he actually has the nerve to ask her for money.

“I know that. I can provide you with food for a lifetime!” the girl replied.

Chen Kai was shocked again. You really can't judge a book by its cover. A person can probably eat hundreds of thousands of meals in their lifetime. If you calculate it this way, this deal would be worth over a million. This girl is so rich!

"Food!" Fei Xiao glanced at the ceiling, probably already calculating her own options, "This is good, deal!"

After speaking, he shook Amy's hand to show his professionalism. "Hello, Amy, just call me Feixiao. That's my assistant, Wang Zijin—no, Chen Kai! Who are you looking for?"

Amy blushed upon hearing this, lowered her head, looking embarrassed. She cupped her face in her hands and stammered, "I need to find my husband!"

"Sir!" Chen Kai finally couldn't help but call out this time. If he understood correctly, "sir" seemed to be the respectful term for husband nowadays. This Amy was only about ten years old, yet she already had "sir".

"Feixiao, Feixiao, don't help her!" Chen Kai shouted, "She's so young and already has a husband. That man must be a lecherous old man, definitely not a good person. Let's take her to the police station!"

Feixiao glanced at Amy, as if she were seeing the most delicious food in her life, and shook her head firmly: "No, he's just an old man! Help her look for him!"

Amy looked displeased: "My husband isn't old at all, he's very gentle and kind to me!" Then she put on a shy expression.

Chen Kai shook his head. Oh no, this girl is so young and she already knows how to date. What's going to happen to this society?

Feixiao continued, "Then do you know what your husband's name is?"

The girl stared with wide, innocent eyes: "A gentleman is a gentleman, how could he have a name?"

"Well, just like your name is Amy, you can't just call someone 'sir'!" Chen Kai chimed in, seemingly pointing out that Amy's intelligence was a bit off.

"Um, um..." Amy sat on the ground scratching her head. "How about this, I'll take you to see the master!"

"Huh? Wasn't your husband lost? Why would you go to see him?" Chen Kai found this matter increasingly strange.

Feixiao was already getting dressed. "Let's go, Chen Kai, let's go out together!"

Chen Kai was completely baffled, so he tidied himself up, put on a big T-shirt, and went out with them. Fei Xiao was still wearing a simple white shirt, just like when they first met.

Under the midday sun, the white shirt shone with a dazzling luster. Chen Kai couldn't help but squint as he looked at it. He seemed to have seen such a bright and clean white shirt before.

The three of them went out and hailed a taxi.

Chen Kai opened the car door and asked Amy, "Where are we going?"

"Where are we going? To find the teacher!"

Chen Kai felt his head buzz. How many more times did this idiotic dialogue have to be repeated?

But seeing Amy's innocent eyes, he had no choice but to suppress his anger: "Amy, I know we need to find the gentleman, but where is he? Weren't you going to tell this driver?"

“I don’t know where the gentleman is either,” was Amy’s answer.

At this moment, Chen Kai felt like he was going crazy. Why hadn't he met a normal person lately? First, there was a crazy narcissist, and now there was a mentally challenged girl. It was as if his life had gone off track in an instant.

“Anyway, I’ll be able to find Mr.!” Amy muttered to herself.

"Then, beautiful lady, please sit in the front and lead the way!" Fei Xiao said, opening the passenger door and bowing slightly, gesturing for the driver to enter.

"Thank you, this is the first gentleman I've met today!" Amy said, lifting her skirt as she sat down. She glanced back at Chen Kai with a disdainful look.

After seeing these two clowns, Chen Kai was at a loss for words, so he could only shake his head and get into the car with Fei Xiao.

Amy sat in front, pointing east and west. After a few turns, they arrived at a large gate. Chen Kai glanced at the sign on the electric gate; it read "Dongfang Hospital".

"The gentleman is lying inside!" she said as she got out of the car, her face showing an eager expression.

Chen Kai and Fei Xiao were also puzzled, so they got out of the car as well. It seems that this Ai Mi is not too confused when it comes to finding her way around.

Amy started running as soon as she entered the hospital. The two men had no choice but to follow her.

"Hey! Don't you need the elevator?" Chen Kai called out from behind, as if the inpatient ward was usually quite high up.

"Elevator?" Amy turned around and said, "I don't know how to use it!" Then she dashed up the circular staircase.

She lifted her long white dress and walked with light steps. Chen Kai looked at her long curly hair from below and thought she really looked like a little princess who had stepped out of a fairy tale.

But after a while, Chen Kai changed his mind. This little princess was a little devil. Why didn't she say that the place she wanted to go was so high up? Who knows how many times she had circled the stairs, but she still hadn't reached the place.

"Fei, Feixiao! I'm exhausted! Let's take a break~" He felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

"No, then you can climb slowly! We'll wait for you up there!" Fei Xiao said calmly and without batting an eye.

"You, you, how come you're all alright?" It seems that the saying that people with mental problems have exceptionally good physical strength is absolutely true.

Before they could react, the two figures had already disappeared on the spiral staircase. Chen Kai dragged his heavy steps behind them, calling out, "Wait for me!" But no one paid him any attention.

Because it was a hospital, the air was filled with a strong smell of disinfectant and formaldehyde, and the long, spiraling staircase seemed to have no end in sight.

Chen Kai slowly climbed the stairs alone, feeling that the steps were eerie and terrifying, with faint dark red bloodstains on them. This was normal in a hospital, but now it looked particularly frightening.

Wait, why are there no lights on this staircase? Right, it's daytime, so there's no need for lights. Why didn't they feel this place was scary when they were here?

He climbed two more floors, but he was too exhausted to go any further. Why hadn't he asked the girl which floor she was going to? He glanced at the stairwell number; it was the 11th floor. He didn't know how many more floors were left, and he couldn't possibly search each floor and each room one by one.

But I really didn't want to stay in this gloomy stairwell anymore, and just as I was wondering whether I should continue climbing up, a man in green clothes came down from above.

Chen Kai glanced at him. The clothes were a grassy green, and the style resembled a military uniform worn long ago. The man looked rather unassuming, wearing glasses with old-fashioned black plastic frames. He looked like someone who had stepped out of a propaganda poster from the Cultural Revolution era.

"Hey, sir!" Chen Kai mustered his courage and asked, "Did you just see a girl in a white dress and a man in a white shirt?"

"You mean me?" the man asked, turning around.

Chen Kai then saw clearly that this was a very handsome man with a fair and delicate face. His complexion was just a little too pale.

"Yes, I got separated from my friends. You should be able to see them if you come down here, right?"

"Sorry, comrade!" the man said, scratching his head. "I'm not quite sure either. Why don't you go check the 15th floor? I just came down from there!"

"Comrade?" Chen Kai was extremely puzzled. How long ago was this nostalgic title? It seemed that it was used wildly by the Chinese people for a period of time before he was even born, but no one had used it since.

Before he could react, the man was already gone, humming a song as he walked down the stairs. It sounded like the lyrics to a song about the Red Sun and Chairman Mao.

"Hey! You can take the elevator!" Chen Kai shouted. It would be strange if he didn't get dizzy walking downstairs like this!

"What is an elevator?" A questioning voice came from below.

Chen Kai shook his head. Lately, he'd only encountered people like this. He didn't bother to answer him. He just listened as the man hummed revolutionary songs as he walked further and further away. It was as if the appearance of this man had transported Chen Kai back 40 years.

After climbing a few more floors, he finally reached the 15th floor. Hospitals have many taboos, and the staircases don't even have 13th or 14th floors. Chen Kai found it amusing. So what if there are no unlucky numbers? Hospitals are still the places that bear the most deaths.

As soon as he stepped out of the stairwell and into the corridor, he saw a man in white waving at him from outside a room. Judging from the long black hair, he guessed it was Feixiao.