El decimonoveno nivel del infierno

Capítulo 13

As he spoke, he took the washbasin and went out the door. Tao Rujiu glanced at her phone somewhat nervously; it was 10:37—not too late yet.

Relieved, Tao Rujiu was about to put down her phone to get the watermelon on the table when the signal bar on her phone screen suddenly disappeared.

Da Afu appeared silently by the door, its snow-white fur bearing a sharp half-footprint.

Tao Rujiu remembered that it was this creature that had saved him in Corpse Soul Town. He wasn't too nervous, but then he thought about why he had lost the signal, and he felt a little uneasy.

Da Afu squeezed through the door and ran to the bedside to squat down.

"Well……"

Tao Rujiu didn't know what to do, but perhaps thanking Da Afu would be a good choice.

"Thanks……"

However, before the second "thank you" could be uttered, Da Afu impatiently waved its paw, opened its little mouth, and uttered a sentence in classical Chinese with perfect pronunciation:

"You don't need to be so polite."

Tao Rujiu stood there, stunned.

No need to be polite, I'll still use "you"...

His first thought after realizing what was happening was that he was dreaming. Tao Rujiu disliked the method of distinguishing between dreams and reality by pain, but at this moment, he had no choice but to pinch his arm.

Big Afu squatted on the ground, taking in all the young man's movements, then twitched his beard and revealed a mocking expression.

“You are not dreaming. My name is Qilinpo, and I am an earth immortal who possesses the body of a white cat.”

Without waiting for Tao Rujiu's reaction, the white cat jumped directly from the ground to his side, placing its two front paws on the young man's shoulders and leaving two small, grayish plum blossom-like marks.

"Enough of this small talk. When Xiao Li returns later, you need to send him away. If you want to get through the night peacefully, do as I say."

As they were talking, Xiao Li hummed a song and came outside. Da Afu glanced lazily at Tao Rujiu, waiting for his decision.

Xiao Li walked in carrying a washbasin, saw the cat on the bed, and smiled in surprise.

"You actually let this little beast into bed? Heaven knows if it's crawled around in wild graves or rat burrows. We usually wouldn't even touch it."

As she spoke, she stuck out her tongue at the white cat; the two scars on her face had not yet faded.

Hearing Xiao Li's words, Tao Rujiu felt a chill, while Da Afu jumped off the bed without saying a word and turned around to urge the young man with his eyes.

Tao Rujiu felt he had to do as it instructed.

"Xiao Li... I feel much better here, thank you, go and rest."

"Aren't you scared?" Xiao Li asked suspiciously. "When President Ling carried you back, I thought you were scared to death."

Tao Rujiu gave a wry smile.

"Now it's all right..."

Hearing him say that, Xiao Li naturally didn't insist. After handing over a towel, he left the house. Once the footsteps in the yard had completely disappeared, Da Afu shook his beard and jumped back onto the bed.

"You need not be afraid. I am not one of those miscellaneous ghosts in Corpse Soul Town. As I mentioned before, my surname is Qi and my given name is Linpo. I am an earth immortal guarding this city. You do not need to know anything else for now. Just do as I say."

Tao Rujiu listened blankly to what Da Afu—no, from now on he should be called Qilinpo—said. Although tonight's perilous experience had made him completely believe in the existence of ghosts, it still couldn't immediately overturn the worldview he had built up over the past twenty years.

There were ghosts and immortals, and perhaps even the Eastern King Duke and the Western Queen Mother above. The young man felt as if he had returned to ancient times, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that he had stepped into a mythological legend.

"Uh... Immortal... above..."

He suddenly hesitated, unsure how to speak with Qi Linpo, as classical Chinese was certainly not his forte. However, Qi Maoxian didn't notice his predicament and continued to instruct him:

"First, please provide your birth date and time."

Tao Rujiu paused for a moment, then recited a string of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches that even he himself didn't quite understand.

Back in my hometown, my grandmother used to talk about this with great interest. It wasn't until Tao Rujiu turned fifteen and moved into a boarding high school that she took off the small brocade pouch with her birth date and time written on it around her neck and started wearing a green jade Bagua pendant on her own.

After listening to the eight characters, Qi Mao Xian seemed to be deep in thought, and after a while, he continued to ask:

Have you ever seen ghosts or spirits before?

“I can’t remember things from too early,” Tao Rujiu answered truthfully, “but I can’t remember anything that I’ve remembered.”

"You must have some items on you to ward off evil spirits, right? Take them out and let me see them."

The young man hesitated for a moment before realizing what the Qi Mao Xian was referring to, and quickly showed off the Bagua symbol around his neck. The big white cat understood immediately after just one glance.

"Has anyone else touched this jade recently? Once it's been blessed, it's useless if someone else touches it. You should usually keep it in a brocade pouch. You were born on March 23rd, and your birth chart is extremely Yin. You used to rely on this Bagua to protect yourself."

Tao Rujiu suddenly realized what was going on, and when he recalled the gossip about the piece of Bagua, he blushed.

It must have been caused by accidentally sticking to Ling Li yesterday morning.

"Could it be that I can actually see those ghosts, but because of this jade protecting me, I... can't see them for the time being?"

Tao Rujiu blushed and voiced her doubts.

"Now that the Eight Trigrams are useless, even if I leave Hailing City, can I still see ghosts from other places?"

Qi Mao Xian nodded solemnly.

"However, as long as you wear an item with equivalent magical power, you can return to being invisible."

"That jade was obtained from Ge Ling in Hangzhou. Should I set off there immediately?"

Tao Rujiu understood that this was a matter that couldn't be negotiated, but it seemed that with the help of Qi Maoxian, his fear of the ghosts and monsters in Hailing City gradually subsided. Qi Maoxian's words also confirmed that there were other ways to resolve the matter.

"I will stay by your side tonight. Tomorrow morning I will take out the jade and process it, and return it before sunset. This will ensure your safety for a month."

As she spoke, the cat fairy gave some more trivial instructions. After a quarter of an hour, she stopped talking to Tao Rujiu and instead climbed onto the pillow, stretched out her front paws, and then curled up into a ball.

Qi Maoxian's words calmed Tao Rujiu down. If it was true, then he could at least spend another twenty days safely in Hailing City. Although it was almost half of what he had initially planned, he could still complete the mission if he worked diligently.

The lights in the other rooms in the courtyard went out around eleven o'clock, but Tao Rujiu hesitated to turn them off. He lay on the bed with his eyes wide open, occasionally trying to say something to the Qi Mao Xian, but the big white cat kept its head buried in its tail and ignored him. The young man leaned against the bed like this, until he finally drifted off to sleep at two in the morning.

He still had a dream. Although it wasn't a nightmare, it was still eerily unsettling, sending chills down Tao Rujiu's spine. In the dream, it was still the small grove outside Corpse Soul Town, still a dimly lit moonlit night. The only difference was that the people entangled and groaning in the woods had become Ling Li and himself.

In the dream, Ling Li was as naked as that morning; they intertwined in the dark woods, kissing and caressing each other like lovers.

The next morning, Tao Rujiu woke up with a flushed face. The Qi Cat Fairy had already left, and when he looked down at the jade pendant around his neck, only a broken string remained. The young man prayed that the Cat Fairy could really help him. Despite still being sleepy, he got up to wash up amidst the sounds of singing outside.

That morning, the members of the opera troupe showed him concern, but they all deliberately avoided asking about what had happened the previous night, presumably because Xiao Li had already spoken to him. Tao Rujiu was very grateful for his thoughtfulness.

Hua Kai wasn't included in breakfast, presumably because she hadn't returned home all night. Everyone seemed to have gotten used to it by now.

After everyone finished breakfast, they returned to Cuiying Pavilion, and it wasn't even eight o'clock yet. Surprisingly, some people were already sitting in the courtyard.

This person is Ling Li.

"Tao Rujiu, how are you feeling today?"

The man still had that half-smile.

"I almost thought you were scared to death yesterday."

This was clearly a joke, but Tao Rujiu had no intention of refuting it.

"I also thought I was going to die, but thankfully it's all over now."

"Is it really all over?" Ling Li clearly wasn't going to let it go, and he pressed on.

"Tell me what you saw yesterday, as payment for the hard work I put into dragging you back."

Tao Rujiu paused for a moment, then remembered Qi Maoxian's instruction to keep his mouth shut.

"It was probably a hangover, and then I caught a chill and started hallucinating. I slept it off last night and the alcohol completely wore off, so I'm fine now. I'll find another opportunity to repay Mr. Ling's favor."

"Oh. It's good that you're sober now."

Although he said that, the man paused and then suddenly added something out of the blue.

"I thought you were having erotic dreams tonight."

Startled by the sudden revelation of her innermost thoughts, Tao Rujiu's face flushed crimson. She was also puzzled as to why the other person would suddenly say such a thing. However, the "spring dream" that the sharp words referred to clearly had nothing to do with Tao Rujiu's dream.

“Last night, when you were unconscious, you kept chanting ‘flowers bloom, flowers bloom’ for a while. The way you said it was so cheesy.”

The man's tone was quite displeased.

"What exactly did you see that made you so eager to call out the flower's name?"

Forced to recall the events of the previous night, the young man's face turned pale again. He stammered as he tried to answer, but after a while he suddenly clutched his head and curled up into a squatting position.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say you were sober?"

The man immediately stood up and walked to his side.

"I don't know..." Tao Rujiu's voice became very weak, "Just thinking about what happened last night gives me a headache."

"Then forget it."

Seeing Tao Rujiu's pain, Ling Li suddenly softened.

"Don't make me feel like I'm bullying you again."

He helped Tao Rujiu sit down.

"Speaking of which, I shouldn't have led you down that path. Here's what we'll do: before you leave Hailing City, I'll find time to give you an exclusive interview. Or if you have other ideas, I'll try my best to accommodate them."

Tao Rujiu was surprised that the fright he had experienced had created such an opportunity for him. At this time, more and more tourists arrived, and Ling Li also got up and left.

Watching the man's departing figure, the young man suppressed his feigned anguish. He didn't intend to worry others, but faced with the man's sharp demeanor, he increasingly felt unwilling to retaliate. Who in this world has the energy to endlessly confront someone they see almost every day?

In fact, Ling Li felt the same way.

Here's what happened: Two days ago, while making radish and pork rib soup at home, I cut my left index finger quite badly. The blood stained the sink red, and it took about five minutes to stop the bleeding. After applying the medicine, the wound was about two centimeters long, a flat piece of flesh sliced off—it hurt so much! The wound became a little inflamed the next day. Although I had taken cephalosporin beforehand, I still had a fever, which seriously affected my typing speed… I apologize for that. I can access JJ now without any problems. I will update as soon as possible.

Qin Huakai didn't appear before everyone until noon. Although Tao Rujiu was still a little scared, he had no choice but to approach him boldly because Qi Maoxian had assured him that Huakai would be perfectly normal during the day. As it turned out, Huakai was still the same shy and gentle boy he used to be. Only Tao Rujiu noticed a few dark red marks in his open collar.

What happened yesterday was not an illusion.

That evening, after dinner, Qi Mao Xian returned as promised with the gossip, which was covered with a yellow cloth bag.

"Isn't this a tourist souvenir sold in the Taoist temple in the scenic area?" Tao Rujiu asked, pointing to the bag.

“Indeed, but the Taoist temple actually existed before the film studio was built; it was just renovated on the original site.” Qi Mao Xian tossed the item to the young man. “I have already infused it with some spiritual power; do not let anyone else touch it.”

Tao Rujiu nodded his thanks and hung the yellow cloth bag back around his neck. "Is that all?" He wanted to ask something else, but the Qi Mao Xian ignored him. In fact, ever since he put the amulet back on, the Qi Mao Xian had turned back into an ordinary large white cat. And the terrifying situation never appeared around Tao Rujiu again.

Four days passed quickly, and before Tao Rujiu could almost forget about the ghost encounter, another strange and tense event occurred.

It's a typhoon.

Xiyao is located on the southern coast, a region prone to typhoons. This year, it's already a bit late; a powerful typhoon named Ao Guang formed in the South Pacific and is said to be very likely to make landfall in F Province within the next week. Although Sun Zhendao is in overall charge of typhoon prevention and control, since Ling Li is also located in Hailing, it would be unreasonable not to involve him as well.