double

Chapitre 21

Yang Tianxing sighed heavily at this point. We didn't disturb the old man's reminiscence of the past. After a while, he continued his story: "Lin Junxian was heartbroken over his daughter's illness and kept blaming himself, saying that he was incompetent and couldn't cure his daughter. Later, even more tragically, Lin Junxian's wife couldn't bear the suffering of her only beloved daughter's serious illness, and coupled with her own poor health, she passed away prematurely."

"What happened to Lin Junxian afterward?" Fang Lei, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but interject.

"Sigh!" Yang Tianxing sighed and said, "I don't know the specifics, but I know that my father told me later that Lin Junxian became very depressed and almost followed his wife in death, but he had to endure it for the sake of his daughter. But suddenly one day, he became very energetic again and worked overtime in the laboratory until very late every day. My father thought he had come to his senses and was very pleased with him. But unexpectedly, Lin Junxian's temper became extremely irritable after that, and he acted arbitrarily and wouldn't listen to advice. It was also as if he had some secret dealings with someone, and he drifted further and further away from my father."

"A secret operation? Do you know what kind of operation it is?" I asked hastily.

Yang Tianxing's face twitched a few times, as if he had touched upon something painful he didn't want to recall. After a long while, he glanced at us with his eyes, as if he had made a great decision, and said, "He's conducting live experiments!"

"What?" Fang Lei and I exclaimed almost simultaneously, exchanging glances. If it were true, then there would be a reason why the corpses on Death Avenue showed signs of live dissection.

“Yes, it’s cruel, isn’t it?” Yang Tianxing said. “After my father found out about this, he tried his best to dissuade him from doing it and had a big argument with Lin Junxian at home. But Lin Junxian didn’t listen at all and didn’t take my father’s words to heart. He said that if my father didn’t help him, someone else would help him, and told my father to be careful and not to talk nonsense outside.”

"Did your father agree?" I asked.

Yang Tianxing shook his head and said, "Of course my father didn't agree. After Lin Junxian left, he thought about it for a long time and gave me some instructions before chasing after him to the hospital to continue persuading Lin Junxian."

"Did it work?" Fang Lei asked.

“No, that very night, a fire broke out at the hospital.” Yang Tianxing’s hands trembled as he held the cup, and he said sadly, “My father and Lin Junxian were both burned to death in the hospital.”

Hearing this, Fang Lei and I couldn't help but sigh. Lin Junxian, who conducted live experiments for his beloved daughter, was worthy of sympathy, yet also despicable. However, I somewhat understood Lin Junxian's actions because I was the same as him. If I could exchange someone else's death for the life of someone important to me, I would do the same. Humans are inherently selfish. I reached out and took Fang Lei's hand, my resolve not to lose my beloved was exceptionally strong. Even if it meant going to hell, it didn't matter, as long as we were together. Fang Lei seemed to sense my feelings and firmly grasped my hand in return. Her eyes held an incredibly warm and unwavering gaze.

"You're telling us all this because?" I knew Yang Tianxing wouldn't just tell us this secret.

“Because I knew that the deaths of my father and Lin Junxian were not as simple as a fire, I really wanted to find the truth, so I came to work at this hospital. But I didn’t have the ability to find the truth, and I thought I had no hope for the rest of my life, until you appeared. I know you are not simple people. So I told you this story in the hope that it would help you. Besides, I’m getting old, and the task of finding out the truth can only be left to you young people.” Yang Tianxing said sadly, looking much older all of a sudden.

"Don't worry, Dr. Yang, we will definitely find out the truth." Fang Lei looked like she was swearing an oath to the heavens, her confidence unwavering.

Yang Tianxing smiled with satisfaction. After chatting about some trivial matters, he got up to leave. Watching his retreating figure, I felt both happy and worried. I was happy that we had finally learned some inside information about St. Mary's Hospital, but worried that we still couldn't figure out the truth. Everything was still shrouded in mystery, and there was even a tendency for things to become more confusing.

"You don't seem to trust Dr. Yang very much?" Fang Lei pouted, clearly displeased with my distrust. I smiled. Had she spent over twenty years cultivating magic without learning to be wary of others? How naive! She believes everything people say without considering the truth. Of course, I didn't doubt Yang Tianxing's words, but there were some things in his words that I couldn't understand. Actually, this was something I had just thought of—a small question.

"Fang Lei, do you think that if a person dies, will their ghost look like the person they were when they died?"

"Why are you asking this?" Fang Lei asked, puzzled.

"Answer me first!" I said, while gently touching her face, successfully bringing a blush to her delicate features.

Fang Lei gave me a reproachful look, slapped my hand away, and said, "Basically, ghosts are actually a thought entity formed by humans before they die, and also a kind of energy entity. They usually take the form of themselves before they die."

“That makes sense,” I said, confirming my doubts. “If that’s the case, Lin Junxian was burned to death, so why did the ghost we encountered, who claimed to be Lin Junxian, have bandages on it?”

"What do you mean?" Fang Lei was quite clever and immediately understood what I meant.

“That’s right,” I nodded. “I think that bandaged ghost might not be Lin Junxian at all.”

Chapter Forty-Six Breaking the Formation

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"Li Yang, what do you think?" Li Hai asked Li Yang, who was standing to the side, after listening to Yang Tianxing's account of the past of St. Mary's Hospital.

"We can believe him for now until there is other evidence to prove he is lying. As for the true identity of that bandaged ghost, that remains to be discussed!" Li Yang replied. For a policeman, seeking evidence is perfectly reasonable.

"Where is Cao Ying?" I checked the clock; it was already late at night, but I still couldn't see Cao Ying.

“Oh, she went to **town,” Li Yang replied.

"What are you going there for?" I asked.

“We found out that the Kunqu Opera troupe came from ** Town, so Cao Ying thought this was also a clue, so she went to investigate.” Li Yang sat down next to me and said, “She said that the four of us here should be enough.”

"Oh," I nodded, and asked, "Did you find anything else?"

“Of course there is.” Li Yang proudly raised his head and said, “We investigated and found that a small incident had occurred at Xinhu Lake before those women were murdered.”

"Oh, what's the little thing?" Fang Lei came out of the kitchen, carrying two bowls of noodles. Well, what could she do? The two brothers, Li Hai and Li Yang, were so busy investigating the clues that they forgot to eat dinner! It seems that the two brothers are the same in terms of their workaholic investigative style.

“Several migrant workers from out of town were detained by the police station for indiscriminately cutting down trees in Xinhu Lake,” Li Hai replied.

"What's so special about this?" I asked curiously. It's just cutting down a few trees!

"Idiot!" Li Yang slapped my head, looking as if everyone else in the world was a fool except him, and said, "The Soul Locking Array of Heart Lake is formed by the arrangement of the surrounding trees. If any tree is moved or removed, wouldn't the array be disrupted?"

I scratched my head and looked at Li Hai with a puzzled expression. Li Hai nodded at me, indicating that this explanation might not be entirely unbelievable. I figured that outsiders were probably unfamiliar with or didn't believe in the ghost stories of Heart Lake, so it wasn't surprising that they dared to target the lake, which was so taboo among the locals. Judging from the date they cut down the trees, it was exactly the day before the murder at Heart Lake.

"Did anyone come back and do anything to those trees afterward?" I asked hastily.

"Yes, trees have been replanted, and they are locust trees," Li Yang replied.

"You guys even managed to find this out, that's impressive!" Fang Lei placed the noodles in front of the two brothers; they were steaming hot and looked delicious, making my mouth water. It seems Fang Lei's cooking skills are quite good; she's definitely worth marrying!

"Of course!" Li Yang boasted again, picked up his chopsticks and started slurping his food. In contrast to Li Yang's boorishness, Li Hai ate very elegantly and unhurriedly.

"Do you know who personally ordered the replanting of the locust trees?" Li Hai took a bite of noodles, winked at me, and asked with a smile.

"Just say what you have to say, kid!" I laughed and punched Li Hai, temporarily putting all the unpleasantness aside.

“Hehe, it’s Zhu Zhenhua, the vice mayor of this city! And he was also a close friend of Yu Zhongguo!” Li Hai replied.

"What?" I was a little surprised. It wasn't a good thing to involve a deputy mayor in these matters.

"Didn't you say you planted more locust trees? Logically, the formation should be complete again, right?" Fang Lei didn't seem to care whether the mayor or the deputy mayor was involved.

"I think it will take some time for those locust trees to integrate with the original locust trees in the formation and take effect after they are planted!" Li Hai replied.

Fang Lei gave a soft "oh" to indicate she understood. I remained silent, my mind still preoccupied with the matter of Vice Mayor Zhu Zhenhua. The involvement of high-ranking officials was never a good thing, but reality often contradicted our wishes. I tilted my head in slight frustration. Li Yang and Li Hai were busy finishing their noodles, eating with relish. Finally, after they had both finished, Li Yang wiped his mouth with a lingering sense of satisfaction and asked, "What are your plans now?"

"I don't know." I rolled my eyes. I was so tired. Right now, I didn't want to do anything but get a good night's sleep.

“Based on the clues we have now, the body on Death Avenue came from St. Mary’s Hospital, but the exact location where the body was dumped is unclear, and I don’t think we’ll necessarily run into the Vengeful Mist again.” Li Hai put down his chopsticks and said, “So Death Avenue isn’t a good starting point. Sacred Heart Hospital is a place we could consider, but it’s a hospital, and there are people there all the time, which I don’t think is appropriate. As for No. 77 Ancient Locust Street, we probably haven’t found the exact address yet, so it’s impossible. So now we only have one place left that we can easily start.”

No way!? Going to that place again? I sighed heavily. The more you want to escape a place, the more you end up going there. That's just how people are; reality often forces you into a helpless situation.

"Going to Heart Lake again?" I almost wanted to scream in despair.

"Of course, and we're going to do something very important this time!" Li Hai's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"What do you want to do?" I straightened up alertly, my twitching eyelids telling me he was up to no good. Sure enough, Li Hai only said two words, but that was enough to make me worry about whether I'd live to see the sun rise the day after tomorrow.

"Break—the formation!"

※ ※ ※

Wearing light sportswear and carrying a large travel bag, if each of us also had a camera in our hand, I think an uninformed person would definitely think that the four of us were on vacation. However, in fact, we were at the entrance of the woods by Heart Lake, preparing to do the important thing that Li Hai had mentioned: breaking the formation!

The large travel bag was filled with some of Li Hai's magical artifacts. I really didn't know if he was relying on his own magic or those items whose effectiveness was still uncertain, but he insisted on carrying them, so we couldn't say anything since he was carrying them himself. As for the tracksuit, well, even simple tracksuits can make a beautiful woman look athletic, so I have nothing to say. This was also Li Hai's idea; he said that if we were in danger, wearing this outfit would make us run faster! To this explanation, I only had one word in my mind: "Damn it!"

"What are you still looking at?" Li Yang asked, glancing at me as I looked up at the sky.

"Let's see if we ever get a chance to see this day again!" I glared at him irritably and replied.

"Don't worry, you're as resilient as a cockroach, you won't die!" Li Hai said, taking a bunch of things out of his bag.

“On this point,” Li Yang shrugged, “I support his view.”

Ugh! I rolled my eyes. When did I get involved with Xiao Qiang? But my expression, along with Li Hai and Li Yang's banter, cleverly eased our slightly tense mood. After all, everyone knew this mission wasn't simple and could potentially be life-threatening. No one said they wouldn't participate; things had come to this point, sticking together was the only way.

"Here, this is for you." Li Hai gave me a small peach wood dagger and Li Yang a small bronze bell.

"What is this?" Li Yang picked up the bell and played with it for a moment. Although it looked old, the workmanship was exquisite, and the patterns on it were clearly visible.

“It’s a soul-summoning bell,” Li Hai replied.

"Where is Fang Lei?" I asked, looking at Fang Lei's empty hands, feeling a little uneasy.

"It's alright, I have this!" Fang Lei stretched out her wrist, revealing a delicate gold bracelet with a large lotus flower on it.

"Huh? What kind of treasure is this?" My curious expression made Fang Lei smile and say, "This is that hairpin! It can transform." Really? As expected of a woman's treasure, it's so fancy!

"Alright, let's go in!" Li Hai slung his bag over his shoulder, gripped the Antarctic Star Sword in his hand, and shouted at us. We nodded to each other and finally stepped into the woods.

After entering the forest, Li Hai walked at the front, constantly brandishing his sword. Sparks flew from the sword as he swung it, gleaming in the shady surroundings. Patches of sunlight dappled the ground. Li Hai chose to enter the forest at noon, as the yang energy was strongest then, making movement easier.

The rustling sound of our feet on the dense grass was the only noise as we ventured deeper into the woods. The increasingly dim environment began to make me uneasy. The figures of Li Hai and Fang Lei seemed unreal, sometimes close and sometimes far, as if they were a blur. Although I knew it was Li Yang walking behind me, I still felt very uncomfortable, as if I were being followed by a stranger, a feeling of unease. Suddenly, a sharp clinking sound came from behind me, startling me.

"What's going on?" I turned to ask Li Yang, who was looking at the bell in his hand with a puzzled expression.

“This bell will ring automatically if a ghost gets close!” Li Hai replied with a serious expression, gripping the sword even tighter.

Li Yang shrank back somewhat sheepishly, and we didn't say anything more, continuing to follow behind Li Hai. The bell rang more and more urgently, its clanging and banging making everyone anxious and restless, our irritability growing heavier. I turned to look at Li Yang and saw him barely managing to grip the vibrating soul-summoning bell with both hands, sweat pouring down his face.

The air around me grew heavy, the air pressure seemingly increasing by several Pascals, pressing down on my chest and making me feel suffocated. I took a deep breath, touched my chest, and looked at Fang Lei; fine beads of sweat were gradually forming on my forehead. I was starting to feel weak; although it was just a slow, almost leisurely walk, it felt like I had run 1000 meters. My legs were getting heavier and heavier, and my throat was dry and sore. I pulled down my collar, and the jade pendant on my chest began to slowly heat up upon contact with the cool air. A wisp of warmth, transmitted through the pendant, traveled through my body, flowing to my limbs and meridians, gathering in my dantian to form a warm ball of energy that I found very comforting, and gradually I regained my strength.

Chapter Forty-Seven: A Failed Return

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"Fang Lei, how are you?" I worriedly supported Fang Lei, who was almost exhausted. Then I looked at Li Hai and Li Yang. The former was barely holding on because of his magic, but Li Yang was in the worst shape, almost lying on the ground. The pressure of the air and the feeling of suffocation made us feel like we had been pulled out of the water.

"I'm still holding on... I can hold on!" The bracelet on Fang Lei's wrist glowed with a purple light, seemingly resisting the pressure from the surroundings.

"Here, take this!" Li Hai suddenly took off his ten-thousand-year-old immortal jade and put it around Li Yang's neck. Li Yang struggled to refuse, but he was too weak to do so.

"Why...why?" Li Yang touched the jade pendant, a cool and comfortable feeling spreading from his palm to his whole body.

"Because I'm your brother!" Li Hai turned his head away, not letting Li Yang see his moved face. Yes, no matter how much discord and misunderstanding there had been in the past, blood ties were an undeniable fact. Li Yang, unusually, stopped nagging, and I noticed his eyes were slightly red.

"Then let's keep going!" I held Fang Lei's small hand, suddenly feeling scared. I didn't know if this action was the right thing to do. I just wanted to survive, for all of us to get out of this damned forest safely. But now the situation seemed to make my hope seem slim, because I saw wisps of black smoke rising from under every tree, slowly gathering into a ball, forming faces with hideous features.

"Everyone be careful." Li Hai swung his sword, unleashing a burst of blue light that repelled the surging ghosts wherever it touched. Fang Lei broke free from my embrace, stretched out her right hand, and the bracelet on her wrist flashed with purple light, transforming into a ribbon embroidered with purple lotus flowers, which then swept towards the ghosts.

And so, Li Hai and Fang Lei positioned themselves one in front of the other, surrounding Li Yang and me. Blue-purple light intertwined, forming a small wall that enclosed us. Li Yang and I desperately wanted to help, but we were powerless to do so. At that moment, for the first time, I desperately longed to possess magic myself.

Looking around, I saw more and more ghostly faces, many of which transformed into familiar faces—my parents and Yin Xue. I grew increasingly uneasy, desperately wanting to step out of that wall of light. The feeling was so intense. I couldn't see Li Hai and Fang Lei anymore, and even Li Yang, who was right beside me, had vanished. I was all alone in this place, feeling lonely and isolated. I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

"Xiaoxiao, get up quickly, the sun is shining on your bottom!" That was her mother's voice.

"Xiaoxiao, don't cry, you're a boy!" That was his father's voice.

"Lin Xiao, I love you. Even if you don't love me, it doesn't matter. As long as I live, I will love you." This was Yin Xue's voice.

"Xiaoxiao..."

"Lin Xiao..."

Countless calls assaulted my eardrums, these sounds seemed to be calling incessantly in my mind. I reached out my hand, grabbing at each face, but all I grasped was empty air.

"Ah...!" Li Yang's sudden roar rang in my ears, and I shuddered, waking up from the hallucination.

"Grab him!" Li Hai yelled at me. When I looked at Li Yang, his face was contorted, his features seemed to have shifted, his eyes were radiating a venomous light, and his ten fingers were curled up, gripping his hair.

"Li Yang!" I grabbed Li Yang from behind, who was about to rush out, and shouted. The fear of losing him made me tremble, and I held onto the collapsing and frantic Li Yang with all my might. Li Yang seemed to be trying desperately to break free from me, struggling in my arms, and emitting an unusually piercing howl. In that sound, you could feel resentment and unwillingness, which made my blood boil, and I almost let go of his hand. This was not Li Yang's voice, but it was definitely coming from his body. The sound seemed to be coming from countless pores all over his body, and I could even feel his skin trembling because of the howl.

"Evil spirits, begone!" Li Hai suddenly turned around, and a blue light streaked across and shot straight into Li Yang's forehead. Just after the light disappeared, Li Yang's originally ferocious face suddenly calmed down, and he slumped into my arms. Just as I relaxed, countless ghosts suddenly pounced on Li Hai's back.

"Watch out!" I yanked Li Hai behind me, and he swung his sword backhand, successfully cleaving the ghost in two, turning it into black smoke. Had he succeeded? My heart leaped with excitement, but as the black smoke coalesced again and reformed into a ghostly face, my heart turned cold. Truly, it was a persistent, lingering spirit!