El beso inolvidable de Ghost Lips

Capítulo 36

The old man spoke with absolute certainty, and I couldn't help but feel my face burning. I gave an awkward smile and remained silent. To say that the curse of the dragon coffin was superstition was simply unacceptable. If the curse of the dragon coffin could be explained, then the corpses of Professor Wang and Wang Quansheng were truly inexplicable.

Seeing that I didn't speak, the old man immediately took a breath and said, "I made an appointment with that kid Huang Zhihua. After I take care of Wang Quansheng's body, I'll go to Shanxi to explore the eye of the storm in Ying Kunlun."

I shook my head and remained silent. He was a righteous Nanpaizi, and even Professor Sun had to be mindful of his feelings. The fact that he was able to get along with Huang Zhihua meant that he probably had someone behind him who wasn't so simple. What did it have to do with me that they wanted to explore the Kunlun Wind Eye?

The young master and maid were both curious, their four eyes fixed on him. The old man continued, seemingly oblivious to the dangers lurking around the Shadow Kunlun Eye, he explained that they were too old, and the Shadow Kunlun Eye was fraught with peril, a place he didn't have the energy to venture in. Therefore, he was only responsible for locating the location, and then they would enter.

I'm confused. Me, the young master, the maid, and I are going to explore the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye? Is this Huang Zhihua's idea, or this old man's? If there's a large tomb in the Shadow Kunlun Wind Eye, whatever it is, there will definitely be plenty of treasures. But with the police and archaeological experts involved, we can only look on helplessly, no matter how many treasures there are. This old man is so cunning! He wants us to do hard labor and risk our lives? He's taking advantage of us and doing us a favor?

Thinking of this, I smiled and said, "Old man, that shadow of Kunlun eye doesn't seem to have anything to do with us, does it?"

The old man rolled his eyes and said coldly, "How can it not be related? Since you have been to the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum, you can naturally go to the Shadow Kunlun Eye of Wind as well."

I was both amused and exasperated. In order to break the curse of the Yellow River Ghost Coffin, the young master, the maid, and I had no choice but to take the risk and go to the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum. We almost lost our lives. Now, no matter what the old man says, I will absolutely not go to the Kunlun Wind Eye.

But the old man didn't care at all. He squinted his eyes, took a sip of his old wine, and then slowly said, "Mr. Xu, there are two paths. One is that you spend the rest of your life in prison. I'm still a sharp old man and I can tell that you won't die young. The second path is that you and your two friends go to the Eye of Kunlun and investigate that Jinlou Su Nu."

At this point, the old man looked at me with an air of composure.

I was seething with frustration, and I couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, you old man, of course you wouldn't let your apprentice take the risk for something that doesn't bring you any benefit. You're too cunning."

The old man chuckled twice, then leaned closer to me and said mysteriously, "Are you stupid, kid? There are benefits—there are benefits in the Shadow Kunlun Wind's eyes, but you can't touch the big stuff, and you can't keep one or two small things. Oh... you're in the antique business, you know the prices without me telling you."

I was stunned by what the old man said, thinking to myself, with the People's Liberation Army uncles going down with me, how am I supposed to become a ghost? Just as I was about to speak, the girl suddenly interjected, "Brother Xu, we'd like to go with you to see the Kunlun Wind Eye."

"Ah!" I was shocked to hear this. In the Guangchuan King's Mausoleum, the girl almost lost her life. How dare she go there again?

"The little girl is so sensible, I like her." The old man really knows how to put on airs, and that's exactly what the cheap grandpa did.

The little girl blinked her big, bright eyes, called out "Grandpa" sweetly, and then stretched out a small, white hand, saying, "Grandpa, you won't be stingy with this granddaughter's gift, will you?"

This little girl... I didn't know she had this trick up her sleeve. This old man was driving me crazy, and seeing this, I couldn't help but smile and watch him, wanting to see what kind of "gift" he had to offer. Being a cheap grandfather isn't easy. The young master, just like me, was clearly eager to see the old man make a fool of himself.

To my surprise, the old man rummaged around in his pocket for a moment and pulled out a small embroidered pouch. It was pale pink with delicate peony embroidery, the workmanship exquisite, the peonies vibrant and lifelike, as if just plucked from the branch. My eyes lit up immediately. Judging from the embroidery, it was probably Suzhou embroidery from the Ming Dynasty. If that were true, the quality, the craftsmanship… wow, in the market, this wouldn't be just an ordinary purse.

I thought to myself, this old man really does live up to his reputation as a tomb raider; he does have some good stuff on him. But then the old man squeezed the pouch for a while before saying, "This thing is nice, but it's not very useful after all, sigh..." As he spoke, he stuffed the pouch back into his pocket, which almost made the girl furious. I could tell that the girl really liked that pouch.

The young master could no longer contain himself and asked, "Old man, now that you've become someone's grandfather, are you planning to owe them a gift?"

The old man rolled his eyes at the young master and sneered, "I may not have much else, but I have plenty of trinkets. Come here, girl, I'll give you something good." As he spoke, the old man rummaged through his clothes for a moment and pulled out a dark, unremarkable handkerchief. While the young master and I were both looking at it with disdain, he carefully opened the handkerchief, revealing a white jade bracelet inside.

My eyes lit up instantly. If I wasn't mistaken, it should be a mutton-fat jade bracelet. I know the price of mutton-fat jade bracelets; let alone antique jade, even modern pieces are incredibly valuable. But what puzzled me was—this bracelet had a red spot the size of a fingernail, as bright red as blood, which only accentuated the crystalline luster of the mutton-fat jade.

"Girl, take this!" The old man put the bracelet on the girl's wrist and explained, "This is the legendary Love-Longing Jade Bracelet. There was originally a pair, but unfortunately..."

"What's a pity?" The young master's eyes were fixed on the jade bracelet, and he almost drooled.

"Unfortunately, this old man only has one..." The old man seemed to dislike the young master, rolled his eyes, and continued drinking his old wine. I thought to myself, having even one of these treasures is already quite difficult; finding another would be far more challenging.

Just as I was about to say something, the door was suddenly and forcefully flung open, and Hu Lai rushed in, angrily saying, "Master... something terrible has happened..."

Upon hearing this, the old man spat out the mouthful of liquor he had just eaten, and cried out in alarm, "It's a zombie! It's a ghost..."

Damn it, couldn't this old man have chosen a lucky omen? Hu Lai was too fat, and after running all the way, sweat was pouring down his forehead. He said with a mournful face, "Something happened to Uncle Luo."

I was puzzled. Who was this Uncle Luo? What happened? The old man's expression changed upon hearing this, and after a long pause, he said, "I'm an old man, and I can't even have a peaceful drink. What happened to Old Luo?"

I looked at the young master with a questioning gaze, but he shook his head, indicating that he didn't know who this old Luo was either. When Hu Lai saw the old man, he seemed to have calmed down and, after catching his breath, said, "The God of Wealth refused to go on his way and almost hurt Uncle Luo."

The God of Wealth? My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. I realized that the God of Wealth they were talking about was probably that thing, and it definitely didn't mean the same thing as the God of Wealth in ordinary people's minds. The girl asked curiously, "What is the God of Wealth?"

Hu looked at the girl, wiped the sweat from his brow, and whispered, "It's the zombie you were talking about..."

I was shocked. It was true. A chill ran down my spine, and I couldn't help but ask, "Old man, where did you get these zombies from?"

I should have asked, because once I did, the old man flew into a rage and yelled at me, "You brat, how dare you ask? It's all your fault! That God of Wealth is Wang Quansheng. This afternoon we found out the identity of the other zombie. That body was fine and has been cremated. But this Wang Quansheng's body still has a soul and a spirit. If that soul and spirit don't dissipate and we cremate it rashly, the soul and spirit will leave the body and become a ghost... At that time, he will be unrestrained and even more dangerous."

I couldn't help but shiver—ghosts, what are those? Does the soul really not dissipate after death? The old man saw through my thoughts and said coldly, "Humans—when gathered, they take on myriad forms; when dispersed, they become qi. Generally speaking, after an ordinary person dies, their soul dissipates, and everything should come to an end. But Wang Quansheng did not die a normal death; he died a violent death. His soul power is still preserved."

"Then...what should we do?" The young master was also anxious, his teeth chattering as he spoke. A living person turning into a ghost was a terrifying thing, especially since this living person was someone we knew.

The old man shook his head and remained silent. Hu Lai looked at the old man pitifully and asked in a low voice, "Master, what should we do..."

"What should we do?" the old man asked, and after a long pause, he said, "What about Xiaomingzi? How is Uncle Luo doing?"

Hu Lai's face was a little pale, and he didn't dare to look at the old man. It seemed that the old man was more terrifying than a zombie: "Just now, the God of Wealth suddenly attacked and almost hurt Wang Ming. Uncle Luo controlled him."

The old man thought for a moment, then said, as if talking to himself, "There's no reason for it. Wang Quansheng died far from home, and Lao Luo brought him back to his hometown. Why wouldn't he want to go? Unless there are still unfinished wishes he has." He then asked me, "I was the last person to have contact with Wang Quansheng. Do you know if he had any unfinished business?"

I was stunned by the old man's question. Unfinished business? I recalled the old man's appearance that morning, squatting in my room, his eerie and sinister smile—unfinished business? Could it be that Wang Quansheng wanted to get that money bag back? That makes sense. Wang Quansheng was a poor country bumpkin. How much sand would a Yellow River ghost have to shovel to earn five thousand yuan? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile bitterly and say, "He still has some things with me. I'll go get them now."

Upon hearing this, the young master jumped up and yelled at me, "Old Xu, you didn't fucking withhold their money, did you?"

This kid usually seems muddle-headed, but his mind works incredibly fast right now. He guessed it right away, and all I could do was nod in agreement.

The young master scolded me for being greedy. I smiled bitterly. What was I greedy for? If I hadn't kindly gone to Shanxi to help Wang Quansheng return, how could I have ended up in such a sorry state?

Just as we were talking, the door opened again. My room seemed to have become a free market, with everyone wanting to join in the fun. Wang Ming came in, followed by a tall, thin guy with a livid face who looked like a ghost. To say he looked like a ghost was an understatement; he looked exactly like the Black and White Impermanence. I couldn't tell his age at the time.

"Old Luo, did you step on a metal plate?" The old man couldn't help but laugh when he saw the tall, thin man, sounding somewhat gloating.

The guy called Lao Luo had a gloomy face, as if everyone owed him money and wouldn't pay it back. After a long while, he said in a somber tone, "The God of Wealth's wish is not fulfilled, so he refuses to set off."

The old man said he already knew the reason: the God of Wealth had left something behind, and he would retrieve it for him tomorrow before setting off. Old Luo nodded, still without saying a word, his mostly white eyes glancing at me before turning and leaving.

I saw Lao Luo almost reach the door when I suddenly remembered the nightmare from last night. It was nighttime again, and it had already been proven that Wang Quansheng's corpse was not simple. What if it suddenly attacked and came to settle scores with me? Moreover, the old man said that Wang Quansheng's corpse was a medium-sized corpse that had been activated, which meant it was different from ordinary zombies and could not be treated the same way.

"Please wait, sir." I called out quickly, thinking of this.

"Spit it out, kid." Old Luo wasn't polite to me at all.

I smiled wryly and forced a smile, saying, "May I ask, sir, where do you place the God of Wealth?"

office!

As Lao Luo spoke, he walked out without looking back. I was left alone, a chill running down my spine. He had locked Wang Quansheng's body in his office—or, if I wasn't mistaken, Huang Zhihua's office? That place was only a few steps away from here. What if that thing came over in the middle of the night?

With a heavy heart, I ordered the young master to prepare some more wine and food. I had to keep the old man here, drink all night, and get through the night. Having someone with me was better than having no one at all. Otherwise, who knows, I might end up like that unlucky guy this morning, strangled to death in his room by Wang Quansheng tomorrow.

The young master was puzzled, but seeing me winking repeatedly, he quickly agreed to go find the police officer on duty to get some food and drinks. Of course, getting food and drinks at this time required a lot of money.

The old man seemed to know what I was thinking. He didn't say he was leaving, but calmly sat down, eating large chunks of meat and drinking heartily. Just as a bottle of fine baijiu was about to be empty, the old man asked me, "Why hasn't your food and drink arrived yet? Go check..."

I nodded, inwardly grumbling about how long the young master had taken. As I walked out, it dawned on me that we were now staying in the police officers' quarters. To find the officer on duty, we had to go through a corridor lined with offices, and unfortunately, Huang Zhihua's office was among them...

I had just stepped out of my dorm room when a gust of cold wind blew in, making me shiver. I looked up and saw that the weather wasn't good; the clouds were thick, and only a few faint stars stubbornly pierced through them, blinking like peeping ghosts. No wonder it's so cold; the weather is about to change.

I pulled my clothes tighter around myself and forced myself to walk outside. But the more afraid I became, the more curious I grew, especially as I passed Huang Zhihua's office. I vaguely saw a faint green light emanating from inside. This light was very strange; it wasn't the glow of an ordinary light bulb, nor was it from an ordinary candle or anything like that.

I walked down the corridor, listening to the echoes of my own footsteps in the silence. As I passed Huang Zhihua's office, I forced myself not to look, not to look—but all the other offices were pitch black, while his office alone emitted a ghostly green light. It was really not easy to resist looking.

As I passed by his office window, I instinctively turned around and peered inside—a sight I will never forget. On the office floor, there were seven strange oil lamps arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. I wondered what kind of oil they contained and why the flames were green.

In the center of the oil lamp, a person—no, no, no!—was standing upright with his back to me. From his clothes, I could tell that the corpse was Wang Quansheng. Just as I peeked out the window, he suddenly twisted his stiff neck and turned his head at an incredible angle, as if his head had grown backwards.

I couldn't help but scream "Ah!" and turned to run, but then I felt a tightness behind me as two hands gripped my shoulders. I was terrified and struggled violently—

"Old Xu, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?" came the young master's voice from behind.

Young Master...wasn't I supposed to be looking for him? How did he end up behind me? Curious, I turned around and saw the young master carrying two plastic bags filled with cooked food in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other, looking at me with a curious expression and saying, "Old Xu, what's wrong with you?"

I shook my head and pointed inside the window. The young master looked at me in confusion, frowned, and said, "Are you seeing a ghost? The curtains are drawn tightly. What do you see?"

I froze. Curtains? There were definitely no curtains here just now. Did I just see things? It's not covered by curtains; it's completely dark inside.

"Shall we go back and continue drinking?" The young master shoved the bottle in my hand and asked, puzzled, "Why did you invite that old man for drinks?"

The old man was scared! I confessed honestly, thinking that I would be laughed at by the young master for the rest of my life. But when the young master heard this, he lowered his voice and said, "So you're scared too. To be honest, I called the girl here today because I was planning to drink all night. I won't be at ease until Wang Quansheng's body is gone."

So this kid's scared too! I could only manage a wry smile. Greed can kill! If I hadn't bought Wang Quansheng's watches and copperware, how could I have gotten myself into this mess?

Perhaps because the old man was there to keep things under control, we drank all night without a single problem. By dawn, the old man was so drunk he was slurring his words. However, as he was leaving to say goodbye, he reeked of alcohol, hiccuped, and grinned at me, saying, "Kid, go to sleep while it's still broad daylight, hehe... you've finally met your match." With that, supported by Hu Lai and Wu Ming, he staggered away, leaving me with nothing but a bitter smile.

I've finally met my match! It's all that damned Wang Quansheng's fault.

I slept fitfully until the afternoon. The young master and the maid came to find me, while the old man waited outside. They said they were looking for Wang Quansheng's things. I later hid the tattered bag that Wang Quansheng had obtained at the young master's guesthouse. Accompanied by Huang Zhihua—or rather, escorted—the five of us went to the young master's guesthouse again. All the police officers from yesterday had left, but because a murder had just occurred there, it looked very desolate. Although it wasn't exactly deserted, it was close.

I went straight into the guest room I used to stay in, the room where the murder happened just last night. I walked to the corner, to the spot where Wang Quansheng had been squatting yesterday, where there was a TV cabinet. I hid my things behind the TV cabinet. This was an old room; as long as I didn't touch the TV cabinet, no one would find what was behind it.

Just as I was about to put my hand in, the old man suddenly grabbed me and said urgently, "Don't move!"

I looked up at the old man, puzzled. He didn't explain, simply telling us to move the cabinet. This was the young master's territory. The young master and I lifted the television off the ground, then the two of us lifted the cabinet. The girl, standing opposite us, suddenly screamed—"Snake...a snake..."

A snake? I was startled and loosened my grip. The young master couldn't move it by himself, and the cabinet crashed heavily to the ground. The young master was about to curse when he looked down, let out a strange cry, and quickly dodged. With the young master and I moving it, the cabinet was now more than a foot away from its original corner, and the inside was covered in dust.

My gaze fell on a dark, tattered bundle. It was Wang Quansheng's old bag containing RMB, which was originally used to carry bronze artifacts. There was nothing unusual about the bag before, but now a black snake was coiled on it. It wasn't afraid of people and even raised its head, sticking out its scarlet forked tongue at me.

I took a few steps back, fearing that the black snake might suddenly attack and hurt someone. Huang Zhihua's expression was very unpleasant. He gave the young master a cold look. That's right. The young master runs a guesthouse. What if a venomous snake appeared in a guest room and bit someone? Moreover, there has been a murder in this room before. It seems that the young master's guesthouse is going to close down completely.

The young master looked very uncomfortable, and after a long while he chuckled awkwardly, "It's probably a snake from nearby. I don't know how it got here."

The old man stared at the snake for a long time, then asked the young master, "Do you know what kind of snake this is?" The young master examined the black snake carefully for a long time before saying that he didn't recognize it either, and guessed it wasn't a local species. I was furious. Did I bring this snake with me? If it wasn't local, was it some kind of visitor from out of town?

A wave of fear washed over me. If I had rashly reached my hand behind the cabinet, this snake certainly didn't look like a vegetarian; it would have bitten me. Moreover, the snake was pitch black, with a triangular head and its tail coiled under its body, making it difficult to see clearly. It was almost certainly a venomous snake.

The young master reacted quickly, running to the kitchen in a few strides, grabbing a pair of fire tongs, and running back again. Huang Zhihua thought it was just a snake, and they should just kill it, but the young master refused. I understood that in many places, snakes in the house are called "house snakes" and can't be killed indiscriminately, so the only option was to drive them away.

The black snake seemed unafraid of people at all. It twisted its body and lay softly on the ground until the young master poked it with fire tongs. Only then did it lazily raise its head and twist its long, ugly body to try to avoid him.

Just then, I was suddenly startled—what kind of snake is this? How can it be so eerie? Just as the black snake raised its head to avoid the young master's fire tongs, I clearly saw a small section of its abdomen.

No matter what kind of snake it is—whether it's a five-step kill snake, a seven-step fatal snake, a bamboo viper, a red-banded snake, a water snake, a grass snake—even tropical rainforest pythons all share one common characteristic: their bellies are always white. But this snake's belly was pitch black, exactly the same color as its back.

Transform into a snake...

These two words inexplicably flashed through my mind. In the Guangchuan King's Tomb, I cut the body of the Huashe in half with my sword. When it fell, the entire stone tree collapsed with a crash... At that time, I had a strange feeling, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now, when I suddenly saw this snake, my heart skipped a beat. Could it be that this little black snake has some connection with the Huashe?

The young master was really useless; his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't even hold the tongs steady after several attempts. He couldn't manage to pick up the little black snake after several attempts. Huang Zhihua couldn't stand it, so he took the tongs from his hands and smashed them down on the snake's triangular head.

I couldn't help but gasp, a sudden fear that Huang Zhihua might hurt the little black snake. But to my surprise, the seemingly lazy little black snake suddenly became unusually agile, dodging away with a flick of its head. Huang Zhihua's fire tongs missed their mark, and then the snake lashed its tail, coiling itself around the tongs in a swift motion.

Huang Zhihua, being a former soldier, was naturally not afraid of a small snake, especially a domestic snake. So he tried his best to snatch the fire tongs and continue the battle between man and snake. Just then, a dark shadow suddenly sprang up with an eerie speed and slapped heavily at the back of Huang Zhihua's hand.

Something's wrong! There's definitely something wrong with this snake. I didn't care about anything else and rushed forward, dragging Huang Zhihua back in a staggering motion. But it was too late. A red mark swelled up on the back of Huang Zhihua's hand, with some terrifying black in the middle.

"How is it?" I asked anxiously.

Huang Zhihua glanced at the black snake, still lying lazily on the ground, with lingering fear. He shook his head and said, "It hurts a little, but it's nothing serious." I was worried it might be poisonous and wanted him to go to the hospital, but I didn't expect this guy to be so stubborn. He refused no matter what I said. The girl was already hiding behind me in fear, the old man frowned and smoked his cigarette without saying a word, but the young master was pale with fright and dared not go near the black snake again.

I didn't think much of it. I walked over to the cabinet and used it as a shield to carefully examine the black snake. It had a small, triangular head and a black body, about the thickness of a human thumb and less than two feet long. Such a small snake was as ordinary as could be. If it weren't for its pitch-black belly, and if it hadn't behaved so strangely earlier, I would never have paid it any attention.

"Brother Xu, be careful!" The girl's anxious voice rang out from behind me. My heart warmed, I smiled, bent down, and whispered, "Brother Snake, I haven't offended you. Why don't you go back to where you came from?"

I guess I've been so scared lately that I actually started talking to a snake in human language? Or ghost language? I was looking at the snake, and it actually turned its head to look at me too. A person and a snake, just staring at each other with our eyes locked for about thirty seconds. Then the snake twisted its body, and I don't know if it understood what I was saying or if it was scared by us, but it slithered towards the corner of the wall.

I watched helplessly as the black snake disappeared into a small burrow nearby, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Damn it—finally, we got rid of that thing. Only then did I notice that there was a small hole, about the size of a thumb, under the wall where the snake had coiled up; that was probably its den. It was a sunny day, and the snake was preparing to bask in the sun, but our group disturbed its pleasure.

There was a tattered bag under the snake's coiled body. I dared not touch it now, so I took the fire tongs and picked it up. Based on my feeling, no one had touched the contents.