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Capítulo 29

"Sister Li, what is this?" Xu Feifei asked from the side.

“It’s a talisman.” Li Hong’s eyes were fixed on the yellow paper. “Haven’t you seen this before?”

Xu Feifei shook her head. She looked at it for a while, then lost interest and started looking through the other clothes, searching through each pocket just like Li Hong.

Li Hong picked up the lighter again. It was a Zippo lighter, quite heavy, with a wolf pattern on the outside. The edges were worn smooth, clearly indicating frequent use. Li Hong held up the lighter and asked Xu Feifei, "Is this Liu Yun's?"

“Yes, it’s hers,” Xu Feifei said after glancing at it.

Li Hong tried to light the lighter, but it seemed to be out of ink, and she couldn't get it to light no matter how many times she tried.

There must be some purpose to this. Li Hong thought to herself, then pretended to make a call and took out her phone to talk to Zheng Zhihao. Only in this way could she avoid making Xu Feifei unnecessary nervous.

"What do you think this means?" Li Hong asked into the phone.

“It’s simple, this is to let you light that talisman,” Zheng Zhihao replied, his tone somewhat cold.

Li Hong noticed that Zheng Zhihao didn't use his usual "Let us light it" phrase, but instead said "Let you light it." Coupled with his cold tone, Li Hong found it a bit strange, but she didn't press him for details. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Should I just light it directly? Or do I have to use this lighter?"

“You can’t light it now,” Zheng Zhihao said. “You’ll need some other things, and then wait until night, around midnight, to light it. If I’m not mistaken, you’re actually not using a lighter at all.”

"What's the meaning?"

"Once it's ready, it will start burning by itself. By the way, smell the paper. Does it smell of blood?"

"No, it smells like cinnabar."

"That's good. Talismans drawn with cinnabar are not too dangerous."

"If it smells bloody, it means it was drawn with blood, which could be dangerous, right?"

"Yes. Symbols drawn with blood are usually for malicious purposes, and if not handled properly, they can backfire."

"What do we need to prepare?"

Are you sure you want to lure it here?

"Who? Will lighting it attract ghosts?" Li Hong asked. She saw Xu Feifei stop what she was doing and start listening carefully to Li Hong's words.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course it will attract Liu Yun. This is what she prepared for you." Zheng Zhihao emphasized "prepared for you," and his indifferent tone annoyed Li Hong.

"Alright then." Li Hong suppressed her anger and asked, "What do I need to prepare?"

"Let me think... a writing brush, incense, candles, paper money, tea, rice, a rooster, a bowl, a knife. And cinnabar and a peach wood board."

"So much stuff! Wait a minute, let me write it down."

…………

“We have something to do,” Li Hong said to Xu Feifei, holding up a list.

Xu Feifei's face was a little pale, and she looked at Li Hong, not knowing what to say.

"What's wrong?" Li Hong asked, somewhat surprised.

"Are you... also a witch?" Xu Feifei asked cautiously.

Li Hong laughed. "No, I just have a wizard guiding me." She waved her phone. "I only got involved here because of his guidance."

Xu Feifei seemed to let out a long sigh of relief, then revealed a helpless expression.

"Alright, stop thinking about it." Li Hong moved closer to Xu Feifei, then asked casually, "Did you find anything else?"

“No.” Xu Feifei shrugged. “There’s something in that leather jacket. How do you know there’s something there?”

"I don't know, maybe we just ran into each other," Li Hong said.

"Why do I always run into people like this..." Xu Feifei muttered to herself as she tied up her bundle.

*************************

Li Hong and Xu Feifei spent the entire afternoon preparing the items on the list, but the rooster kept defecating, making the balcony smell unpleasant. Li Hong felt overwhelmed, staring blankly at all the things she had never encountered before. Xu Feifei, on the other hand, picked up this and looked at that like a child, finding everything new and interesting, and frequently asking Li Hong how to use these things.

“I don’t know exactly how to use them,” Li Hong said. “My master only told me to buy these things.”

"Will he come here tonight?" Xu Feifei asked.

“He can’t come,” Li Hong said, then began to tear open the packaging paper. They bought these things near the Yonghe Temple; finding the peach wood planks had taken some effort and cost Li Hong several hundred yuan. Now everything was ready, everything was arranged, everything was lit, and they were just waiting for nightfall. Li Hong knew that the rooster would definitely be killed then, and its blood would be used for something.

"Do you know how to kill a chicken?" Li Hong turned to ask Xu Feifei.

Xu Feifei's eyes widened, then she shook her head. "All I do is eat, haha!"

Li Hong rolled her eyes at her, then sighed, "If there's really no other way, we'll just have to chop off the whole head."

Xu Feifei stood to the side, pouting.

The rain outside had stopped, and because of the overcast sky, it began to get dark around 6 p.m. Li Hong looked at the things laid out on the table and gave a wry smile. She took out the yellow paper and muttered to herself, "What are you trying to tell me?"

2.28 Guiding the Soul (Part 2)

Li Hong and Xu Feifei sat on the sofa, their eyes fixed on the TV. However, their expressions revealed that neither of them was paying attention to the program. Laughter came from the TV, while they remained expressionless and motionless.

It was 9 p.m. They quickly finished their dinner, turned off the lights, and began to wait. The room was dark, but by the light of the television, they could see a table set up against the window in the living room, with the things they had bought that afternoon on it. A candle was lit, its small flame flickering like a beating heart, making the shadows of the surrounding objects dance as well. Three thin incense sticks burned in the incense burner, emitting wisps of smoke that rose slowly in the dim candlelight, constantly conjuring various images. Some of these images were terrifying, some were laughable, and some resembled human faces with hypocritical smiles. They were fleeting, yet left a deep impression. The sounds of people chatting and laughing in the neighborhood drifted in from outside the window, clashing horribly with the atmosphere of the small living room. Even the two people in front of the television were made to look strangely eerie by the peripheral light from the screen. Inside and outside the window were completely different worlds.

At 10 p.m., the sounds of people outside the window gradually faded away, and only the occasional bark of a dog could be heard.

At 11 p.m., all was quiet outside the window. Even the chirping of crickets was barely audible, but the pattering footsteps of people walking at night could still be heard. Li Hong changed the candles and incense for the third time.

At 11:30 p.m., an old clock, seemingly from someone's house, chimed hoarsely, startling Li Hong awake from her nap on the sofa. She sat up abruptly and looked around. Xu Feifei was slumped face down on the sofa armrest, her even breathing indicating she was fast asleep. Li Hong yawned deeply, then, as if afraid of waking Xu Feifei, tiptoed to the desk.

"Can we begin now?" she asked Zheng Zhihao softly.

“There are still 15 minutes left,” Zheng Zhihao replied. “11:45 p.m. is the time of day when the yin energy is at its heaviest. At that moment, countless wandering ghosts appear.”

"Are you trying to scare me?" Li Hong said after glancing at her watch. "You've never told me this before."

“I did mean to scare you; I didn’t want you to light that talisman,” Zheng Zhihao said.

"Why?" Li Hong asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Aren't you afraid? If you summon this vengeful ghost, are you confident you can send it back? You didn't bring the soul bottle. If it really appears and attacks you, I can't save you at all."

“But I… don’t think she would attack me,” Li Hong said.

"Is it still because of your intuition?" Zheng Zhihao chuckled. "Although I don't know Liu Yun very well either, I still know her better than you do, and I've seen what she did with my own eyes—I really don't want you to light that talisman."

Li Hong hesitated.

“We have a disagreement now,” Zheng Zhihao continued. “I wanted you to investigate that restroom, but you didn’t. You’ve spent the whole day here. You insist on seeing how powerful it is, right? Have I ever lied to you before?”

Li Hong frowned. Indeed, she couldn't persuade Zheng Zhihao, and she knew she was doing something extremely dangerous, but now that things had come to this point, she was unwilling to give up.

“I already warned you, and I didn’t stop you from doing these things. Originally, I wasn’t planning to help you with this execution ceremony, but I just had a loose tongue and told you to prepare the items anyway. But it’s not too late to turn back now,” Zheng Zhihao said earnestly.

Li Hong took the yellow paper out of her pocket and slowly unfolded it. The red strokes on the soul-summoning talisman appeared incredibly vibrant, forming fantastical and mysterious patterns, like wriggling earthworms, seemingly about to burst forth from the paper. Li Hong glanced at it by candlelight and immediately felt dizzy. She laboriously placed the talisman on the table.

“I have a question I don’t understand,” Li Hong said. “Liu Yun’s ghost caused many accidents. In my opinion, it is omnipresent and omnipotent. So why would it give me this? If it wanted to kill me, it would be very simple. It doesn’t need to make it so complicated. So I think it must be trying to tell me something.”

“You’re right.” Zheng Zhihao pondered for a moment, “but I really don’t believe it, and I don’t want it to affect the direction of our investigation.”

“You mainly have a prejudice against Liu Yun,” Li Hong said.

“If that’s what you’re saying…” Zheng Zhihao paused for a moment, “then I can only say, it’s up to you. If you want to do it that way, go ahead. Just put two drops of chicken blood on the talisman, then hold a lighter in your hand and silently recite her name, that’s all.”

"It's that simple?"

"Yes. Because she specially prepared this talisman for you. It has very strong energy and is very easy to use. Besides, you prepared it so thoroughly."

Li Hong nodded, then glanced back at Xu Feifei. She was still asleep and showed no sign of waking up. Li Hong decided not to wake her, but to perform the soul-guiding ritual herself. She took a deep breath, rubbed her hands together, and prepared to begin.

Although she had sounded confident when talking to Zheng Zhihao, as the moment actually arrived, Li Hong felt a growing unease. She had never done anything like this before, and in this atmosphere, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. The candles burned brightly, their long, orange flames casting an ethereal glow around her. Li Hong couldn't hear anything; only her own heart pounding faster and faster, as if urging her to begin immediately. Her hand trembled slightly as she slowly reached for the seemingly incredibly heavy yellow paper. In the candlelight, her hand cast a deep shadow, as if it might transform into a monstrous hand with sharp nails at any moment. This eerie atmosphere intensified her psychological burden, and she withdrew her hand.

Li Hong finally decided not to touch the paper again, but to drip the chicken blood directly onto the talisman. She calmed herself slightly, took another breath, and then steadily picked up the bowl full of chicken blood. With her hand slightly tilted, the crimson chicken blood began to drip down the white rim of the bowl. Li Hong seemed to smell the stench of blood spreading around her.

The first few drops splashed onto the table, then the remaining chicken blood dripped onto the mysterious yellow paper. As soon as the talisman was stained with chicken blood, Li Hong immediately leveled the bowl and set it aside, afraid that too much chicken blood would contaminate the talisman. She carefully watched the few red dots on the yellow paper gradually spread and fade, completely blending into the paper.

Li Hong looked around warily, but nothing had happened. This relieved her. Only one last step remained.

The lighter felt cold as ice when she held it in her hand, but it was quickly warmed by Li Hong's sweaty palm, becoming slippery as if it would slip away. She glanced again at the talisman on the table, then began to silently recite Liu Yun's name in her mind.

Just as she was reading it aloud for the second time, Li Hong's eyes suddenly lit up. The yellow paper, which had been neatly placed on the table, suddenly burst into flames with a whoosh. The flames were so high that she took a step back in fright. She hadn't expected such a quick reaction and was completely unprepared. The yellow paper burned very quickly, turning completely into black ash in an instant.

Before Li Hong could get ready, a strange woman's voice suddenly came from behind her: "We've finally met."

2.29 Guiding the Soul (Part 2)

Li Hong was stunned. She couldn't believe she had heard voices behind her. There was no one else in the room except her and Xu Feifei. Had a third person appeared?

She slowly turned around and looked behind her.

The room was dark, and Li Hong couldn't see a third person standing behind her. She could only see Xu Feifei, who was still sleeping in front of the TV. The reflection from the TV shone on her, and it was clear that she hadn't woken up.

"Are you Liu Yun? Where are you?" Li Hong asked cautiously, searching around in the darkness.

"I am Liu Yun, right in front of you." The strange woman's voice rang out again. This time, Li Hong clearly recognized the voice as coming from Xu Feifei, but it wasn't Xu Feifei's at all. It was a completely unfamiliar voice, the slightly hoarse voice of a mature woman in her thirties. At this moment, Xu Feifei was still leaning against the sofa armrest, face down, in the same posture as before.

Could it be…? Li Hong became a little nervous. She slowly walked towards Xu Feifei; she needed to confirm.

"I'm on Feifei now." As Xu Feifei spoke, her body twitched, like someone about to vomit.

Li Hong stopped in her tracks, not daring to go any further.

Xu Feifei's body began to move slowly, as if she was about to change from a prone position to a sitting position. Li Hong still couldn't see her face and could only stand there watching.

Xu Feifei was like a boneless person, swaying unsteadily from side to side, her right arm, which had been supporting her face, now free. Li Hong finally saw her face. He couldn't discern anything different about her face, except for her wide-open eyes, which sent chills down his spine. Her eyes had no whites, seemingly entirely filled with dark pupils; her gaze was lifeless, her eyeballs seemingly incapable of movement, only able to shift her gaze by turning her head.

Li Hong felt a chill run down her spine and instinctively took a step back. She was completely at a loss for what to do; this was entirely unexpected.

“I’m just using her body to talk to you,” Liu Yun said. She was now sitting up straight, but as if her neck couldn’t support the weight of her head, her face was bowed low. Her hair was hanging down, obscuring her face.

"What do you want to tell me?" Li Hong asked after calming herself down. "Will you leave Xu Feifei?"

"I will walk," Liu Yun said. She seemed to want to stand up, but appeared somewhat powerless.

“You can just sit there,” Li Hong said. “What do you want to tell me?”

Liu Yun was panting heavily and didn't answer Li Hong's question. Then she suddenly stood up, swaying unsteadily. Her head was still hanging low, and her hair swayed from side to side with her movements. In the reflection of the television screen beside her, Li Hong seemed to see a zombie, a living zombie. This made Li Hong take a step back in horror.

"Do you like Xu Feifei?" Liu Yun asked slowly. "If you like her, I can arrange for you two to be together."

Li Hong frowned, wondering why Liu Yun would bring this up out of the blue. She didn't know how to answer for a moment.

“I like Feifei, she’s a good girl,” Liu Yun continued, “It’s just a pity I can’t be with her.”

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Li Hong asked, mustering her courage. She felt an instinctive fear of the walking corpse before her and didn't know how to deal with it. Now she began to regret lighting that talisman.

"If you get rid of Yang Yunhui, I'll give Xu Feifei to you," Liu Yun said. Now she slowly raised her hands and swayed as she walked towards Li Hong.