Hyakki Yagyō (Desfile Nocturno de Cien Demonios)

Capítulo 4

He told the driver to go back to Jing'an Road in the city center. The driver nodded and immediately stepped on the gas and sped away from the place.

Lin Hai observed that the driver appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with somewhat disheveled hair, but his eyes were bright and piercing.

The car was speeding along, and after about ten minutes, it suddenly slowed down. "What happened?" he asked the driver.

The driver shook his head helplessly and said, "Damn it, my old car is broken down again. It seems to have broken down. Wait here, I'll go down and take a look."

The driver got out of the car, took out tools from the trunk, walked to the front of the vehicle, opened the hood, and began to repair it. Lin Hai inwardly groaned; how could the car have broken down in such a desolate, remote place? The mere thought of the word "desolate" sent a shiver down his spine.

Lin Hai looked out the car window and thought, "Hmm, this place looks so familiar."

Suddenly, he remembered that rainy night a year ago, the very spot where he and Tong Zhengdong had fled after their car accident. Good heavens, how could this be? Why such a coincidence? The car broke down right here. Could it be...?

He dared not think any further; he felt a chill run through his body, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

The driver had been working on it for ages, but it still wasn't fixed. Lin Hai looked ahead and couldn't see the driver at all. He suddenly felt a sense of dread and quickly opened the door and got out of the car. He saw only his lonely figure on the empty road, and couldn't see anyone else.

Where did the driver go? How could he have disappeared? Just as he was becoming increasingly anxious, suddenly—he saw something. Good heavens!!! What was that?!

What Lin Hai saw was a cat, a black cat. It was pacing towards Lin Hai, its eyes flashing with an eerie green light. It was an embodiment of evil, making people tremble with fear. Moreover, Lin Hai had heard from the elders since he was a child that black cats were unlucky, especially after someone had died. If a black cat appeared, it meant that the "corpse had come back to life."

The thought of these terrifying legends terrified Lin Hai, and he kept backing away, but the black cat kept closing in on him.

By this time, it was completely dark, and a chilling atmosphere filled the air. Lin Hai was on the verge of collapse in the dim darkness. The black cat was still closing in when suddenly a voice came from behind him:

"Look who I am!" a ghostly voice rang out behind my ear.

Lin Hai whirled around. Good heavens, wasn't this the "female ghost" who had appeared in his room that night?! Yes, it was her. She was still like Sadako from *The Ring*, her hair disheveled, revealing only the whites of her eyes, one of which was now just a black hole. A nauseating green liquid dripped from the corner of her mouth, and there were bloodstains on her white dress. She kept screaming, "Give me back my life! Give me back my life!"

No, this is not a hallucination, not a horror movie, but a real "ghost" appearing before Lin Hai's eyes.

Lin Hai took off running, sprinting forward as if his life depended on it. But in his panic, he lost his way and plunged headfirst into a deep ditch by the roadside. The ditch was very deep, filled with loose rocks at the bottom; if he had fallen in, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

So what happened to Lin Hai?

He didn't escape it; yes, he fell and died. Today marks exactly one year since his hit-and-run accident. He ultimately couldn't escape fate's punishment, dying a year later at the very spot where he abandoned his car and fled.

He didn't wait three days to go to Nanhua Temple to get the "peace charm" from Master Zhihui to protect him; in the end, he couldn't escape this so-called "calamity."

Lin Hai lay supine in a pool of blood, his features contorted and distorted, his eyes wide open, his death bizarre and terrifying. Even more chilling was the eerie smile that lingered on his lips as he died, as if in a bloody curse:

"It's you! You're next!!!"

Chapter Three: An Alternative Truth

(1)

Sunday, April 3.

The night sky remained overcast, with no twinkling stars or bright moonlight. Only a gentle breeze stirred my thoughts, and my mood sank to rock bottom.

I learned of Lin Hai's death an hour ago. Ye Xiao called to tell me. I can't believe it; he was the one I talked with until late the night before last.

He passed away just yesterday. Although we had only known each other for less than 48 hours, he left a deep and indelible impression on my mind.

Ye Xiao said on the phone that Lin Hai's body was discovered this morning; he died in a ditch beside a suburban highway. A person exercising in the morning found him and reported it.

Police arrived later and handled the scene. His death was reportedly extremely gruesome; his features were contorted, his face was covered in blood, and his eyes were bulging out. A very eerie smile remained on his lips.

After the body was brought back, the forensic doctor conducted an examination as quickly as possible. The preliminary conclusion was that the deceased had accidentally fallen into a deep ditch, resulting in a fractured skull and death. Furthermore, judging from the deceased's expression, they appeared to have suffered extreme trauma before death, their face showing terror and fear, as if they had been scared to death. That's the general situation; the detailed analysis results will be available in a few days.

After hearing everything Ye Xiao said, I was deeply moved and couldn't calm down for a long time. I couldn't help but recall the scene when I met him two days ago. At that time, he had already seemed cautious, but in the end, he still couldn't escape this fate.

I thanked Ye Xiao on the phone for informing me of the news so promptly. I was saddened that a life had ended like this, but I didn't know the truth of the matter. I really wanted to know what had happened. But could anyone truly tell me? I didn't know!

(2)

In truth, the real facts are always hidden behind the surface. The Lin Hai incident is no exception. Just as the wise Master Zhihui said, everything in this world has a cause and effect; cause and effect are cyclical, and good and evil are rewarded accordingly. So what is the "cause" of this story? It is, of course, the car accident a year ago. In fact, the whole story begins a year ago...

That rainy night, after Lin Hai hit someone with his car, he not only failed to take the victim to the hospital in time, but also cruelly dumped the injured person into a deep ditch with Tong Zhengdong, attempting to destroy all evidence under the cover of darkness. Although they temporarily escaped responsibility, fate still punished the guilty.

The girl who died after being hit by a car was named He Jia. She was only twenty years old at the time. She had an older brother named He Tao.

He Tao was a policeman, and coincidentally, he and Ye Xiao were good friends. They had both graduated from police academy and had known each other since then. He Tao only had one younger sister, and after their parents died early, he took on the responsibility of supporting the family. He loved his sister dearly and never let her suffer any harm. But when he saw his sister's cold body, his heart broke.

Because she was his only living relative. He saw his sister die with her eyes wide open, her expression clearly one of dying with unfinished business. He Tao hated the hit-and-run driver to the core; he wished he could shoot that bastard on the spot. The anger in his heart could not be expressed in ordinary words.

As He Tao gazed at his sister's remains and looked into her beautiful eyes, he suddenly realized something.

He knew that He Jia had been a strange girl since childhood; she could always see things that others couldn't. The elders said that such children had the ability to see ghosts, to see so-called "unclean" things. What was even more astonishing was that He Jia's eyes could sometimes store the images of certain people. That is to say, people she had seen would be stored in her eyes like a camera, and their appearance would be clearly reflected in her pupils.

This isn't something I made up; scientifically, this phenomenon is called "double pupils." Remember the little boy "Xiao Mi" from the story "Midnight Flute"? He was a child with double pupils; Xiao Mi could see into people's hearts and even guess what they were thinking. In short, such people do exist, but the probability is only one in tens of millions, making them extremely rare.

He Tao thought that the last person his sister saw before she died was very likely "captured" by her "pupils," and the person "imprinted" in her eyes was very likely the perpetrator.

Yes, that's right. Thinking of this, he bent down and carefully observed He Jia's eyes. He hadn't closed his sister's eyes because he felt that she died with her eyes open, perhaps so that she could see the day the murderer was brought to justice.

As expected, He Tao actually found human images in her eyes. It looked like two men! And the "images" were quite clear. With tears in his eyes, He Tao excitedly took a picture of the "scene" preserved in his sister's eyes.

Finally, he closed her eyes and said tenderly to his sister's body, "Xiao Jia, don't worry, your brother will definitely find the murderer. I will definitely avenge you. Rest in peace, little sister."

(3)

He Tao himself was a policeman, so he used his access to the camera and his skills to quickly zoom in on the image he had taken of He Jia's eyes. Finally, he saw the faces of two young men.

He Tao vowed to make those two pay for his sister's life. At this moment, the flames of revenge had blinded him; he had forgotten he was a policeman. To avenge his beloved little sister, he was determined to find those two bastards at all costs; his burning rage fueled his desire for revenge!

He Tao looked at the two people in the enlarged photo and used his computer to find their files.

One of them was named Lin Hai, a senior at a university. The other was named Tong Zhengdong, who worked at an e-commerce company. He Tao even wrote down their addresses, and then he began a terrible revenge plan!

He Tao was very patient. He knew that the plan could not be implemented immediately, so he needed to wait until the time was right before making his move.

After more than half a year, He Tao finally found a breakthrough. Lin Hai lived on the sixth floor, and the landlord of the fifth-floor apartment below him had just moved out and was preparing to rent it out. He Tao immediately contacted the landlord and rented the fifth-floor apartment. From then on, he lived downstairs from Lin Hai, and of course, Lin Hai had no way of knowing who he was.

He Tao secretly monitored Lin Hai's actions downstairs. He planned to deal with them one by one, first taking care of Lin Hai, and then settling accounts with Tong Zhengdong.

One day, He Tao saw Lin Hai driving his brother Lin Feng's car for a drive. He immediately realized that his sister might have died under the wheels of that car. He also found out that Lin Feng owned a company in the Jinmao office building. So He Tao went to that office building and, using his position as a police officer, retrieved the footage from the security room showing the condition of Lin Feng's BMW on the day of the accident.

Sure enough. He saw that the person who drove Lin Feng's BMW out of the underground parking lot that day was his younger brother, Lin Hai, and the person in the passenger seat was Tong Zhengdong.

He Tao finally confirmed that the two men were the hit-and-run drivers from that day. They were the ones who killed his sister.

Moreover, the video footage showed that the BMW did not return that day. He Tao saw Lin Feng's car in the parking lot and noticed that the front right side of the car seemed to have been repaired, but it was not noticeable unless you looked closely.

This proves that the car was in an accident and must have been repaired!

Now that everything is clear, it's time to officially implement my plan.

(4)

He Tao planned to orchestrate a series of terrifying events to instill fear in Lin Hai and ensure he never had a moment's peace. However, this plan required a key figure. And then, by chance, He Tao inadvertently apprehended a female college student working as a hostess in a nightclub.

This female college student's name is Chu Xiaoying. Actually, many female college students in today's society are doing this. We've seen many news reports like this on television or in newspapers.

He Tao demanded that Chu Xiaoying do him a favor, or he would arrest her for prostitution and notify her school, threatening that she might go to jail.

Chu Xiaoying was terrified. She only did this in her spare time because she saw many of her female classmates doing it to earn money, so she couldn't resist the temptation and started doing it herself at night. She absolutely dared not let the school or her family know, and she didn't want to ruin her future. So she agreed to He Tao's request.

In fact, Chu Xiaoying is quite beautiful. She has a unique temperament, beautiful but not glamorous, and is the kind of girl that makes people feel good at first sight.

So, Chu Xiaoying began to act according to the plan devised by He Tao.

(5)

Following He Tao's instructions, Chu Xiaoying first pretended to buy software at Lin Hai's workplace, thus getting to know him.

She also claimed to be of mixed race, having returned from France. As for her "deep blue" eyes, they were actually blue contact lenses Chu Xiaoying wore; many girls wear them now, and they come in various colors, making them look very trendy. Lin Hai, of course, knew nothing of this and actually believed her.

Chu Xiaoying herself was a university student, and coincidentally, she was studying French, the same major as Lin Hai—something even He Tao hadn't expected. Therefore, she successfully deceived Lin Hai, hooking him up.

Afterwards, Chu Xiaoying met with Lin Hai several more times, making him completely infatuated with her, thus completing half of the plan. The phone number she gave Lin Hai wasn't inherently problematic; however, she had it forwarded to "call forwarding," meaning that calls Lin Hai made to her were actually being forwarded to the phone at the "crematorium."

In fact, Director Shao of the crematorium management office was also arranged by He Tao. Director Shao had committed a crime in the past, and He Tao had helped him out back then. So, to repay him, Director Shao fabricated the so-called "Ni Siqi" story according to He Tao's instructions. After Lin Hai "called" him, he revealed the pre-planned "truth".

The old man Liu, the pyrotechnician he mentioned, doesn't exist at all. It was all a setup, just waiting for Lin Hai to fall for it.

On that stormy night, the "female ghost" that Lin Hai saw clinging to his window frame was, of course, fake.

This is the key point of the entire plan, and also the most difficult part to complete.

In fact, the "female ghost" was a lifelike inflatable doll, specially ordered by He Tao from Hong Kong. Once inflated, it would look just like a real person. Many "horror parks" or "haunted houses" now use these kinds of dolls. He Tao also installed a camera inside the "female ghost's" body so he could observe what was happening in Lin Hai's room. Even more ingenious was the fact that the "female ghost" also came with a remote control, allowing him to operate and command her remotely.

He Tao first opened his window on the fifth floor, used a stick to lift the "female ghost" to the vicinity of Lin Hai's window on the sixth floor, and then used a remote control to make "her" hand grab the window frame. Then he made "her" climb into Lin Hai's room and continued to direct the "female ghost" to perform various terrifying actions.

As for the words spoken by the "female ghost," they were pre-recorded by He Tao. He simply put a small recorder inside "her" body and that was it. In any case, Lin Hai was definitely too scared to do anything at the time.

When He Tao saw Lin Hai faint from fright through the camera installed inside the "female ghost's" body, he climbed out of the window and risked his life to climb up the pipes upstairs.

Fortunately, he had learned various climbing and fighting skills at the police academy, so this was not too difficult for him.

Upon entering the room, he found Lin Hai unconscious on the bed. So, he used a special pen to tattoo "MAGELITE" (meaning "death comes") onto Lin Hai's arm. Because it was a special pen, Lin Hai couldn't erase it.

Then, he mysteriously left behind a sheepskin with "Your Death Date" written on it. All of this was to keep Lin Hai from having a moment's peace, to scare him to death, and to keep him in a state of extreme panic every day.

After finishing everything, he released the "ghost's" energy and put it in a prepared bag. Then he carefully climbed back up the way he came to his room on the fifth floor.

6)

After that, He Tao continued to secretly monitor Lin Hai's every move, including his visits to Nanhua Temple and the crematorium.

On the afternoon Lin Hai went to the crematorium, He Tao had borrowed a taxi from a friend of his beforehand. The taxi Lin Hai got into after leaving the gate was driven by He Tao. He had already prepared for this; after driving for a while, the car "suddenly" broke down, so He Tao pretended to get out to fix it. In fact, he took the "female ghost" from the trunk, hiding it in his tool bag. He then went to the front of the car, opened the hood, so Lin Hai couldn't see him. Taking advantage of this moment of obstruction, He Tao quickly ran away and jumped into the nearby bushes. He then quickly fixed the "female ghost" and used the remote control to command it to "pounce" on Lin Hai again. Terrified, Lin Hai ran wildly, and in the darkness, he lost his way and fell headfirst into a deep ditch, dying instantly.

After watching him fall to his death, He Tao's lips curled into a cruel smile. He had finally avenged his sister. Although he knew that as a policeman, what he was doing was a violation of the law, the thought of his sister's tragic death made him furious. In the end, anger broke through his rational defenses, leading him to decide to take this action.

Now that Lin Hai has already received his just deserts as one of the two murderers, it's time for that kid named Tong Zhengdong to be punished as well. He won't escape either. He must be punished too. So He Tao decided to launch his second revenge plan.

But in all his meticulously planned schemes, there was one element he hadn't anticipated: the black cat Lin Hai saw before his death. That cat was filled with an eerie and malevolent aura.

He Tao didn't know where the black cat had come from; this terrifying black cat was not part of his plan.

He Tao was fully aware of the consequences of his actions. Although he was a police officer, he was still subject to legal punishment, so he had already written a letter. He knew that after doing these two things, he had embarked on a path of no return, so he wrote it all down in the letter. He was going to send the letter to his colleague...

His friend Ye Xiao. He hoped Ye Xiao could forgive him for what he had done, because he was so grief-stricken and indignant that he had done these things, and he was willing to bear any consequences.

Now, He Tao has rallied his spirits again; he's ready to move on to his next target.