Ghost Detective Records

Chapter 48

"What?" Everyone exclaimed in unison. This was too much of a coincidence. They never expected that A Bao's background would be so bizarre and mysterious.

“Unfortunately…” Abao shrugged helplessly and said, “I was born an oddball in the tribe. I have never been interested in medicine since I was a child. On the contrary, I am particularly interested in computers, a technology that the tribe regards as a desecration of the ancient gods. So, I was expelled from the Moro tribe when I was fourteen years old.”

A Moro girl driven out? Looking at Abao before me, in my heart she was always just a child, a child who loved the internet and computers. I never imagined that beneath her seemingly innocent face lay such a heavy fate! Being driven out of her own people must have been unbearable. Fourteen years old, so young, forced to leave home and wander. Some children at this age would still be nestled in their mothers' arms. Something felt stuck in my chest. Perhaps the tragedy wasn't the lonely life she endured, but rather the heartbreaking cruelty and lack of understanding from her people.

“Although I have no medical skills,” A Bao said, pressing the sword against his left wrist, “the blood of our Moro people is the best medicine in the world!” As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of sword light appeared before his eyes, white with a hint of blood, and a faint smell of blood immediately filled the air, mixed with a faint, indistinct medicinal scent.

No one spoke up to stop it, because this was probably the best way to save Li Yang right now. Looking at A Bao's face, which was straining against the pain in his wrist, I clenched my fists tightly. Had this action been too reckless? Unfortunately, there's no going back now.

"Eat it." Abao brought his wrist to Li Yang's mouth and said firmly.

Li Yang glanced weakly at A Bao, hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth and swallowed the blood flowing from A Bao's wrist. His facial expression immediately became strange, and he managed to swallow it with great difficulty.

"Good medicine tastes bitter!" Abao encouraged Li Yang to swallow a few more mouthfuls.

"That should be enough!" Fang Lei saw that Li Yang had already swallowed several mouthfuls, so she stepped forward, took out a handkerchief from her pocket, and quickly bandaged A Bao's wound. Then, Fang Lei helped A Bao, who was starting to sway a little, to the side.

"How are you?" I asked Li Yang, but his complexion was starting to improve, so it seemed that A Bao's blood should be working!

"I feel much better," Li Yang said, struggling to stand up on his own.

"Alright, let's continue searching for a way out!" Baiyun suggested from the side.

Everyone nodded to each other, and then Li Hai helped Li Yang, Fang Lei helped A Bao, Bai Yun and I walked in front, and Lao Gentou brought up the rear, and the group continued to search for the exit.

The flickering firelight mirrored our anxious hearts. Although we had dodged the rain of arrows and Li Yang's poison had been cured, what awaited us ahead? I glanced back at Fang Lei and the others with worry, then unconsciously touched the jade pendant on my chest. "Yin Xue, Yin Xue, please protect me!" I sighed and quickened my pace.

Suddenly, the walls around me appeared out of nowhere without warning. Startled, I instinctively grabbed Baiyun's hand beside me.

"Watch out!" I exclaimed, turning around to see the walls, which had been motionless, suddenly come alive, flipping and moving, separating us in a matter of moments.

"Lin Xiao!" Fang Lei cried out and reached out her hand to me. I quickly stepped forward to grab her, but with several loud bangs, a wall mercilessly separated us. The last thing I saw was Fang Lei's terrified face and worried eyes.

"Damn it!" I lunged forward and pounded on the walls, but they wouldn't budge an inch. No matter how hard I tried, it was all in vain. I spun around and found myself isolated in a small, secret room with Baiyun. Only the dim light of an oil lamp on the wall illuminated the dead man's mask, making it look particularly eerie. The only sound was the crackling of the lamp wick burning in the oil.

"The mechanism in this secret passage is truly ingenious. In just a moment, the walls were able to move freely and successfully separate us." Surprisingly, Baiyun's voice did not contain any fear or worry. He was very relaxed and seemed to even admire the Moonshadow Clan.

"Miss, what time is it? You're still in the mood to praise people?" I rolled my eyes helplessly and said, "Hurry up and find a way out!" After saying that, I started to feel around the walls, hoping to find some mechanism.

"Isn't this wonderful? Just you and me." Baiyun put her hands behind her back and said softly.

"Huh?" I was momentarily speechless, only finding her tone strange.

"Do you remember?" Bai Yun didn't start looking for a way out. Instead, she sat down on the spot, leaned against the wall, and said happily, "When we first met?"

"Ah, I remember!" I stopped my search and stared blankly at Baiyun. Her face had an unreal beauty under the lamplight.

"I remember you were sleeping on the grass, wearing a white T-shirt and faded jeans." Baiyun suddenly recalled excitedly and asked me, "Do you remember what I was wearing?"

"You?" My face immediately turned red. Even though several years have passed, I still want to dig a hole and crawl into it whenever I think about how embarrassed I was back then.

That summer afternoon, a boy lying on the grass and a girl in a white miniskirt had a strange yet awkward encounter.

"Tell me, did you see it or not..." Baiyun's face also started to turn red as she asked, "Did you see it or not?"

"Hehe, didn't I already say? No!" I explained with a forced smile. Sigh! Why did you come here on your own? And you even insisted that I was peeking at your underwear, are you kidding me? Your skirt is so short, and you came right up to my head, how could I not see? Of course, this is something I absolutely cannot say, not even if I die! I reaffirmed this belief once again.

"Really?" Baiyun glanced at me disbelievingly and said, "Ha, you men are all lecherous wolves!"

"Hehe, hehe!" I laughed awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Looking around the cramped space, I felt suffocated. Was this place sealed off? If so, wouldn't we suffocate to death?

No, I must find a way out before the oxygen runs out! With that thought, I hurriedly started groping again. Just as I began, suddenly, all the oil lamps around me went out at the same time, and darkness rushed towards us like a ferocious beast.

"Baiyun!" I called out. A boy who hurts a girl is really incompetent!

But no one answered me!

Why didn't she answer me?

My palms gradually became sweaty, and in the darkness, only my heavy breathing could be heard...

"Baiyun, answer me!" I called out alone in the darkness, feeling as lonely and panicked as a stray wild beast. I didn't want Baiyun to disappear before my eyes like this, without any warning.

Sigh~~~~

A faint, familiar sigh, yet definitely not Bai Yun's, echoed in my ears. Turning around, I saw before me, in the darkness, an enormous face—a demonic smile, a mask of the dead. Its left eye was so red.

Ugh! A painful groan burst from my throat as discomfort suddenly struck my left eye. The sensation of a foreign object burrowing deep into my left eye drove me crazy.

As I stepped back, I felt something floating beneath my feet.

Looking down, countless masks of the dead were faintly visible beneath my feet. Looking around, countless masks of the dead floated on the floor, making the originally narrow space suddenly seem vast and incredibly spacious. The masks of the dead spread across the entire ground, extending to the very edge of my vision.

Ah~~~~~, it sounds like a person exhaling.

Slowly, around me, many faces, like masks of the dead, appeared suspended in mid-air. They varied in appearance, some old and some young, but all shared a strange smile on their stiff faces. Also, none of them had a left eye; their dark eye sockets were empty.

Damn it, this must be an illusion! I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut, but whether my eyes were open or closed, the terrifying scene remained before me. It was as if I wasn't seeing it with my eyes, but with my entire soul.

My right hand twitched, and without thinking, my right hand fingers reached towards my left eye again.

I closed my eyes, and a pair of jade-like hands appeared before me, and the scene in the sewers of my heart lake was playing out again with unparalleled clarity.

Hands clasped together, then rotated, followed by another complex and strange gesture. My hands, without my noticing, moved as well, expertly mimicking the movements of the jade-like hands before me. Having already performed the gesture once before, this time I was much more skilled. Tiny specks of sapphire-like light emanated from my palms, multiplying and brightening until finally coalescing into a dazzling spectacle like the Milky Way.

My blood seemed to boil, and I felt a surge of energy rushing from my dantian to every vein in my limbs, a splitting pain shooting through me. "Hah!" I roared, slamming my already burning right hand onto the floor covered in the masks of the dead. Instantly, blue light emanating from my palm pierced through the darkness like lightning, and in a flash, countless masks of the dead were cleaved in two simultaneously, those on the ground and those all around.

Crack! That was the sound of masks shattering, the sound of thousands upon thousands of masks breaking apart with a terrifying, rolling thunderous force. My ears also throbbed with pain.

A crack suddenly appeared in the black floor, from which a dazzling white light shone, forcing me to squint. Then came a tremor as if the earth were collapsing. I struggled to keep my balance, but the crack stretched towards me, leaving me no chance to escape. I lost my footing and fell into the crevice.

The cracked floorboards quickly closed up after I fell, the white light disappeared again, and everything returned to darkness, silent and still, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Soul Refining Technique? Looks like they're in cahoots with that woman. How interesting! Hahahaha~~~" A woman's unrestrained laughter echoed in the darkness.

********

So cold! I shivered uncontrollably in my sleep, my hands and feet already stiff. When I opened my eyes, what I saw almost made me faint again. How did I end up sleeping here, on a black hanging coffin on a cliff! The cold mountain wind felt like knives cutting my face, the fierce wind almost making it impossible for me to open my eyes.

I didn't dare to move. I already have a slight fear of heights, and now I'm lying straight up thousands of meters in the air on a small coffin that could fall off at any moment. How could I not break out in a cold sweat?

Looking up, I realized there was still a long way to go to reach the summit, and the mountainside offered no footholds for climbing. It seemed the idea of climbing was unrealistic. Looking down, it was practically an abyss; unless I could fly, there was no way I could get down!

What should I do? What should I do? Although I still remember that gesture from just now, I don't think any soul refining technique will be of any help to me in my current state!

But something's not right. I was clearly in the secret room just now, how did I end up here in the blink of an eye? Could it all be an illusion? Yes! It must be an illusion! Then...? Should I jump down and try? Maybe it'll be alright? Thinking of this, I swallowed hard, struggled to sit up, and prepared to jump.

"Don't jump!" A woman's voice suddenly rang out behind me, startling me so much that I trembled. I turned around and saw a woman in flowing white robes sitting on a hanging coffin next to me, her long, black hair dancing in the mountain wind.

Isn't this the woman in that painting? Although I've never seen her face before, her expression is very similar, and she is exactly the white-clad woman I saw floating above the black hanging coffin from the window of my room.

Who is she? Is she human or a ghost?

A stronger mountain wind blew, blowing her hair aside. Her face wasn't the terrifying one I had imagined; on the contrary, she was exceptionally beautiful, ethereal and otherworldly like a fairy, as if... I feel like I've seen her somewhere before... That's right! Isn't she the image of the goddess of the underworld?

"Senro?" I called softly.

The woman gave a faint smile, then shook her head and said, "My name is Yuewa, and I am the last princess of the Moonshadow Clan."

Moonshadow Clan? I frowned. Weren't they wiped out? So she is... I sighed helplessly. It seems I'm encountering ghosts more and more often lately, and I'm even gradually becoming numb to fear.

"What are you doing sitting here?" As soon as I asked that question, I wanted to bang my head against the mountainside. What a pointless question! I'm definitely not here to admire the scenery, otherwise, that would be too much of a character!

"I'll be waiting for you!" Yuewa's smiling reply almost made me fall off my coffin.

"Wait for me?" I patted my startled chest. When did I become so popular?

“Yes!” Yuewa chuckled and handed me a blue-covered book from behind her, saying, “This was entrusted to me by a woman named Lin Yuyan, who said that someone will come to collect it in the future.”

"Lin Yuyan!" I shouted, immediately remembering that she had indeed said she had left a book about soul refining techniques in a temple. But I never imagined it would be the Longyi Temple, and that a female ghost would be keeping it! Was all of this just a coincidence, or was it an arrangement of fate?

*********

Author's note: Finally, a ghost appeared! It's been such a long time! :) Hehe, I have to apologize for Li Hai's death. I was determined to kill him, but I won't let him die a horrible death. Please, no need for harsh criticism!

Volume 2, The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter 22: Who Do You Believe?

Volume 2, The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter 22: Who Do You Believe?

This is an ancient book with a blue cover; its tattered pages and yellowed pages testify to its age. Touching the cover, the beautiful yet poignant face of Lin Yuyan appears before my eyes. This resolute woman—I wonder how she is now? If there truly is such a thing as reincarnation, has she already been reincarnated? Or is her soul still suffering torment in the blood pool of hell?

I sighed and looked at the equally beautiful Moon Doll before me. Did she also have a sad past? That would make her soul linger in this world, gazing longingly into the distance?

"How did you meet her?" I asked Yuewa.

"She came to sightsee, and that's how she met me." Yuewa looked up at the white moon, the silvery moonlight shining on her face, making her jet-black hair shimmer with a faint silver luster, and her slightly raised jade neck was as noble as a swan.

"Why...why don't you go?" I didn't say where I was going, perhaps ghosts would be wary of that place.

“Because…” Yuewa’s left eye suddenly began to redden, as if blood and tears were filling her eye socket, and she said softly, “I have someone I’m waiting for!”

"The person you're waiting for? Isn't it me?" I clearly heard you just say that the person you're waiting for is me!

Yuewa shook her head, and a red tear silently fell from her left eye, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

"It's another one!" Yuewa's voice was ethereal and plaintive, each word striking my heart like a heavy hammer, making it instantly painful and hard to breathe. I touched my chest; the jade pendant was emitting a faint blue light, and a piercing, electric shock-like pain shot through my fingers. Something's not right. I instinctively moved away, but the coffin wasn't very big, and my space to move was limited.

"Would you give it to me?" Yuewa's originally beautiful face turned pale, but the rims around her eyes were black, making the red tears of blood particularly glaring. Her resentful eyes stared intently at me, giving me goosebumps.

"Give...give you what?" I asked curiously, but my body involuntarily leaned back a little more.

"Your left eyeball! As long as I can gather a hundred, it will come back." Yuewa's hand suddenly reached out to me, her gray-black nails as sharp as claws.

"This, this probably won't work!" I pressed myself tightly against the cliff. What bad luck! I thought it was a good ghost, but it turned out it was after my left eye.

"Let's make a trade! I'll give you the book, and you give me your eyeballs!" Yuewa's mouth split into a wide grin, the corners of her mouth stretching all the way to her ears. Isn't this... the smile on the mask of the dead?

"No!" I refused resolutely, gripping the book tightly with my left hand. I looked down at the bottom of the cliff, which seemed to have no bottom. Just as I was about to jump, suddenly, a fair, delicate hand reached out from behind and grabbed my collar.

What's going on? Isn't that a mountain wall behind me? How did a hand suddenly appear? Before I could think any further, I fell backward and was pulled into the mountain wall by that jade-like hand.

Suddenly everything went black. I felt the cold air around me touch my exposed skin, and a chill seeped into every pore, freezing even my blood.

"Are you alright?" A female voice rang out in front of me, but it was definitely not Fang Lei, Bai Yun, or A Bao. Who could it be? I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness of the mountain wall, but to no avail.

With a whoosh, the flames lit up in an instant, a red halo flashed before my eyes, and a woman's figure appeared alluring in the flickering firelight.

Blinking, I finally saw the woman in front of me clearly; it was actually... Yuewa!

"Yuewa?" I jumped up from the ground as if I had been sprung up. She was just right next to me, how could she be here again? Turning around, I saw an uneven mountain wall behind me. There was no cliff or hanging coffin at all, only dark green mountain rocks sculpted into strange shapes by nature's ingenious craftsmanship.

Hallucination? I shook my head vigorously and leaned back. It really was a mountain wall. Although it was cold and slippery to the touch, touching the real thing always made me feel a little bit at ease.

Turning back to look at the "Moon Girl" in front of her, she had the same stunningly beautiful face, the same white dress and jet-black hair, and even the same gentle smile.