Aunt Qiao was indeed growing impatient.
After receiving the final awkward material, she immediately stuffed the paper effigy into the incense burner before the shrine. Then, she took a large swig of white liquor. Before long, she collapsed to the ground, muttering incoherently as though she was communicating with the “immortal spirit” within the shrine.
“Yes, yes… %￥#@ Holy Immortal, merciful and compassionate. I will obey… I will make them listen properly… %￥# Everything will be done as you command… Grateful thanks to the Holy Immortal…”
Aunt Qiao’s eyes were tightly shut, but her eyeballs darted rapidly beneath her eyelids. Her throat emitted a continuous stream of murmurs. Yang Siguang, unable to help himself, focused intently on listening but could only catch fragmented and disjointed words.
Just as he was trying to hear more clearly, Aunt Qiao suddenly let out a violent retching sound. The next second, she knelt forcefully before the shrine, banging her forehead on the floor several times until blood appeared on her brow.
Yang Siguang shuddered. Watching the scene unfold left him both terrified and at a loss. Fortunately, after a few seconds, Aunt Qiao’s body abruptly relaxed.
“Phew…”
Aunt Qiao hung her head and let out a long exhale.
When she raised her head again, she appeared to have regained her senses, though she looked even more haggard and exhausted.
After resting for a while, she finally caught her breath and, with trembling hands, handed the paper effigy to the two waiting behind her.
As soon as the effigy touched his hands, Yang Siguang felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
The paper figure had a weight that belied its appearance, feeling unexpectedly heavy. Even more unsettling, it was faintly warm to the touch, almost like a living thing.
The eerie sensation almost made him instinctively drop it, but in the next moment, Aunt Qiao shot him a sharp glare.
“Hold onto it!”
Aunt Qiao snapped sternly.
“From now on, this thing must stay on you at all times!”
Hearing such a solemn instruction, Yang Siguang snapped out of his daze and quickly tucked the effigy deep inside his jacket.
Just as he thought the matter had finally come to an end, he heard Aunt Qiao say to them:
“This thing will only buy you some time.”
Her tone was calm.
Yang Siguang’s fingers instinctively curled slightly.
No, he wasn’t foolish enough to believe his life would play out like a movie or novel: someone haunted by a ghost finds a powerful exorcist who, after some struggles, resolves everything in the end. Those Lin Zhengying films were products of a bygone era, and modern stories didn’t work that way anymore.
So, even though Aunt Qiao had intervened, it never meant that all problems were solved…
Yang Siguang understood this.
He really did.
Yet, when he heard Aunt Qiao emphasize that even with the “substitute,” it would only delay the inevitable, his heart still trembled slightly.
Perhaps sensing his momentary unease, a pair of broad, warm hands suddenly reached out and gently rested on the back of Yang Siguang’s hand.
Yang Siguang’s heartbeat inexplicably began to return to its normal rhythm.
“The priority now is to find the root of the curse on you.”
Aunt Qiao lowered her gaze, her voice calm, seemingly unaware of the small interaction between the two in front of her.
She continued speaking on her own.
“Only by finding the root of the curse can I figure out a way to deal with it. The Immortal Spirit has said that if you follow instructions obediently and do everything as told, they might be willing to help mitigate some of it… But let me make this clear: finding the root of a curse is no easy task! Otherwise, death curses wouldn’t be so notoriously difficult to break. When the curse was cast, they already used enchantments and illusions to hide it.”
Perhaps worried Yang Siguang wouldn’t understand, Aunt Qiao added a few more explanations:
“It’s like ghostly walls or ghostly veils—if you try to find it, you simply won’t be able to. Don’t worry, Auntie will teach you the method to search for it when the time comes. But as for the success rate…”
Aunt Qiao sighed and glanced at Li Bo.
“The Li family has been in this line of work since ancient times, worshiping the old Mirror Immortal passed down from the Qing Dynasty. Its cultivation is exceptionally deep. I’m not sure if we can deal with that thing.”
As she spoke, Aunt Qiao gave an example of a similar case she had handled before.
It involved a young man who, being flirtatious, provoked a knowledgeable girl and was cursed. Fortunately, it was discovered early and he was immediately sent to Aunt Qiao. However, after thoroughly searching his body, they found nothing suspicious. Desperate, the man had to strip completely and live in fear, stark naked, for more than half a month. In the end, he still collapsed dead on his bed when the time came.
Only after his death did Aunt Qiao finally find the root of the curse—his teeth.
The man thought he was just getting a dental filling, but the material placed in his mouth turned out to be the root of the curse, causing him to scream and wail in agony every night.
“That girl was just an amateur, completely different from the kind of old immortal the Li family deals with. Anyway, the longer this drags on, the weaker your soul will become, and you could be dragged away by that thing at any moment. Also, during this period, you’d better avoid mirrors and similar objects. If there are any in your room, cover them up immediately.”
Aunt Qiao sighed again and concluded, “In short, you need to act quickly.”
“I understand, Aunt Qiao. I’ll find that thing as soon as possible… I think I know what it is,” Yang Siguang replied softly, forcing himself to stay composed.
He then instinctively turned his head and met Li Bo’s gaze.
“I’ve already sent someone to your house. They should be able to retrieve the dog’s corpse,” Li Bo said calmly. “If my guess is correct, that thing should be inside the dog’s body. Perhaps it sensed something and tried to escape.”
As soon as Li Bo finished speaking, Yang Siguang’s phone rang.
The caller ID displayed his mother’s name. Yang Siguang’s expression tensed—his mother rarely called him since he started college. Yet, when he checked the call log, he was startled to see that both his mother and father had called him multiple times.
It was likely due to poor reception at Aunt Qiao’s place that the call only connected now.
As soon as he answered, his mother’s sharp yelling came through the receiver.
“Yang Siguang! Where have you been? I’ve called you so many times, and you didn’t answer! Come home quickly; something’s happened!”
The woman’s shrill scolding quickly turned into sobbing.
“Your brother… he’s gone mad!”
*
Just the day before, Yang Siguang had been attacked by an evil spirit in his room. The situation was so dire that Li Bo could only focus on saving him. It wasn’t until the next day that they remembered to deal with the black dog’s corpse left at Yang’s house.
Yet, this one-day delay led to an utterly unexpected and tragic outcome.
At the time, Yang parents had gone to visit relatives and didn’t return until almost midnight. Upon opening the door, they were overwhelmed by a stench of blood and decay. Turning on the lights, they were horrified to find someone kneeling in their living room.
The person was naked, their body stained crimson with filthy blood…
*
“I thought it was a burglar at first… but when he turned around, I realized it was Xiaolong! How could the child turn into that? He was holding the dog he used to love so much, but by then, the dog had already been torn apart by him…”
From the moment Yang Siguang received the call, he had a sinking feeling of foreboding.
When he rushed to the hospital and saw his mother crying outside the ward, that ominous feeling was confirmed.
Mother Yang, usually critical of him, collapsed upon seeing her eldest son, sobbing as she recounted the horrifying scene she had witnessed.
“That child… that child was eating the dog’s raw meat! How could he eat raw meat? When he turned around, I was so scared I almost fainted! I asked him what he was doing, and he just laughed… like a ghost. The meat fell from his mouth, and the blood was everywhere… Your father tried to pull the dog away from him, but Xiaolong bit him instead…”
“Tell me, Siguang, what’s going on? You’ve studied more than me. Explain this to me—has Xiaolong really gone mad? The doctor mentioned checking for rabies, but the dog never bit him! How could he have rabies? I told you kids shouldn’t keep pets, but your father spoiled him…”
Yang Siguang weakly supported his mother. Unconsciously, he looked up at Li Bo, who had followed them to the hospital.
Li Bo made a calming gesture toward him.
Yang Siguang tried to force a smile at Li Bo, but his face felt like it was covered by a mask, unable to show any expression.
Due to Xiaolong’s sudden “madness,” Yang’s mother was utterly terrified, crying and wailing in fear and worry.
In contrast, as the elder brother, Yang Siguang appeared indifferent.
Apart from a numb sense of helplessness, he felt nothing else.
Even knowing that Xiaolong, lying pale-faced in the ward next door after having his stomach pumped, was his own brother, his heart remained unmoved.
This nearly earned him a slap from his mother—until a young nurse hurriedly emerged and called out his name before his mother’s frayed nerves completely snapped.
“Who’s Yang Siguang? Yang Siguang, family member of bed 12, Ding Xiaolong? The patient wants to see you.”
*
It took Yang Siguang a great deal of effort to free himself from his mother’s grasp and enter Ding Xiaolong’s ward alone.
He vaguely sensed that Li Bo had probably used some connections after receiving the notification—Ding Xiaolong was now staying in a single-patient room.
The teenager had an IV drip attached to his arm. When he was first brought in, it was said that Ding Xiaolong had lashed out violently, barking and biting like a wild dog, in a crazed fit.
Thanks to the old residential building’s many neighbors, a group of people had swarmed in and used various means to subdue him.
Because of this, the boy’s face and arms were now covered in shocking bruises.
After being forcibly given a gastric lavage, he finally quieted down.
However, even now, his wrists were still restrained to the hospital bed. Clearly, despite the meticulous examination, the hospital staff remained concerned about Ding Xiaolong’s mental state and other potential risks.
After all, no normal person would ever do something like eating all the internal organs of their pet raw at home.
“Ge…”
When Yang Siguang entered the room, Ding Xiaolong moved his lips slightly, calling out in a very soft voice.
The once-defiant and arrogant teenager now looked especially frail, with even his cheeks sunken in.
“You wanted to see me.”
Yang Siguang didn’t get too close to Ding Xiaolong. He watched him warily, unconsciously scrutinizing the boy.
Li Chen’s eyeball—or rather, the cursed root—had already been eaten by the black dog.
But then Ding Xiaolong suddenly went mad and ate the dog.
So… where was that thing now? Inside Ding Xiaolong?
Yang Siguang wasn’t sure.
Vaguely, he also felt an inexplicable sense of unease…
But before he could think further, Ding Xiaolong’s anxious voice interrupted him.
“Ge, ge, I have something very important to tell you, something I can only tell you.”
Ding Xiaolong’s gaze was a little vacant, but he stared straight at people in a way that could make one’s skin crawl.
“Make him leave! Make all these people leave!”
Ding Xiaolong screamed, his eyes fixed sharply on the man who had followed Yang Siguang into the room.
Hearing Ding Xiaolong’s blunt demand, Yang Siguang couldn’t help but frown. However, considering that Ding Xiaolong might be connected to the curse on himself, Yang Siguang forced down his anger. He turned to glance at Li Bo. At this moment, Li Bo was also lowering his eyes, quietly observing Ding Xiaolong on the hospital bed. After confirming that Ding Xiaolong posed no immediate threat to Yang Siguang, the man slowly retreated toward the door.
“I’ll be just outside.”
Before closing the door, he exchanged a look with Yang Siguang. After receiving a confirming nod from the latter, he fully shut the hospital room door.
The room instantly fell silent, with only Ding Xiaolong’s heavy breathing, uncontrollable due to his agitation, breaking the stillness.
“What do you want to say?”
Without the man’s presence, Yang Siguang frowned even more deeply.
He suppressed the unexplainable unease in his heart and looked at Ding Xiaolong as coldly as possible.
Seeing Ding Xiaolong like this, he knew the boy must be hiding something from him.
Sure enough, almost as soon as Li Bo left, Ding Xiaolong burst into tears in front of Yang Siguang.
“Ge, help me—only you can save me—”
“W-what?”
Ding Xiaolong struggled, trying to break free from his restraints, making the entire metal bed creak loudly.
The sound sent a wave of inexplicable panic through Yang Siguang.
“He’s haunting me! Ge! That dead guy Li Chen is haunting me, and he won’t let me go…”
Ding Xiaolong raised his voice, but Yang Siguang’s gaze sharpened.
As a kid barely old enough to grow facial hair, how did Ding Xiaolong know Li Chen’s name?
Before Yang Siguang could question further, Ding Xiaolong cried out in sheer terror.
“Ge, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have messed with that guy. I shouldn’t have taken his money. I shouldn’t have listened to him and switched your medicine, then let him sneak into your room in the middle of the night…”
“I was out of my mind. I was wrong… I was really wrong…”
…
“You’re Yang Siguang’s stepbrother?”
Ding Xiaolong still remembered the first words he heard from that man named Li Chen when they first met.
At the time, he was just a complete kid in the eyes of any adult.
But in action, he had long shed the innocence that a child should have. In fact, even the teachers at school couldn’t control him anymore, and his busy parents had even less of a handle on him.
Among the group of delinquents he hung out with, several had already gotten girls pregnant.
As for Ding Xiaolong himself, he spent all year ditching school, hanging around internet cafes and arcades, and idling his days away…
Then, one time, when he was tagging along with a so-called “big brother” to broaden his horizons, he encountered a young man at a bar who stood out from the crowd.
Ding Xiaolong had been sizing up the man when the man, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, turned and looked at him coldly. The pale golden-brown irises reminded Ding Xiaolong of a cold-blooded reptile.
And then, the man locked his gaze on him.
At the time, Ding Xiaolong genuinely thought his cheap older brother had gotten into trouble and provoked some enemy. What he hadn’t expected was that after sitting down across from him, Li Chen made a bizarre proposition.
“…That man said… he could give me ten thousand yuan.”
On the hospital bed, Ding Xiaolong didn’t even dare to say Li Chen’s name.
It was as if merely mentioning him would terrify him.
“And then?”
Yang Siguang stared at Ding Xiaolong with a blank expression, his voice flat.
“And then he said, after taking the money, I had to do two things for him.”
The first task was to replace the prescription medication Yang Siguang needed to take every night to stabilize his mental state with an unmarked drug provided by Li Chen.
The second task was to unlock a certain locked window in the house during the dead of night.
*
“I was… I was stunned at the time. I even thought it was some kind of truth-or-dare game. But… but when I looked into his eyes, I knew every word he said was serious.”
“I even asked him, really, brother, I asked him why he wanted to switch your medication and open the window. It was too weird. I looked into him; his family is loaded. Just one pair of his shoes costs more than Dad’s annual salary. Why would he do this?”
The memory of the handsome, imposing young man surfaced, accompanied by a lazy smile directed at Ding Xiaolong.
At that moment, Ding Xiaolong realized that, in front of this person, he was just an insignificant kid.
“It’s nothing, really. I just have some matters I want to discuss with your brother. It’s just that there are too many distractions during the day. If I don’t do it this way, it’s inconvenient,” Li Chen said faintly.
It seemed like an explanation, yet it explained nothing.
*
Ding Xiaolong didn’t accept the money immediately. Li Chen’s requests were genuinely strange.
But after that, it was as if he was cursed. Time and again, he found himself causing unexpected trouble.
If it wasn’t breaking computers at the internet café, it was accidentally damaging expensive decorations in roadside shops.
If not that, he was caught stealing by shopkeepers who were usually lazy and sluggish.
If not for his age being too young for legal consequences, he might have already been in jail.
Even so, he lost a lot of money, and his allowance was reduced to a pitiful amount—so little that his friends no longer wanted to hang out with him.
It was at this low point that Li Chen reappeared in front of him.
The man asked him to reconsider the proposal.
…Ding Xiaolong admitted that he was tempted.
He didn’t have much affection for Yang Siguang.
The age gap was one reason.
But more importantly, since Ding Xiaolong was old enough to understand, Yang Siguang had always been like a vague shadow in their home.
Or, more precisely, he was like a glaring stain in an otherwise perfect family.
Ding Xiaolong could sense that neither his father nor mother really wanted Yang Siguang in the house.
He was a stark reminder to the adults that their family was merely a patchwork—a blended family.
Yang Siguang was an outsider.
So, Ding Xiaolong thought: Why should he care so much about this guy? After all… nothing serious would happen.
Finally, Ding Xiaolong silently accepted the items Li Chen handed him.
*
The first few days passed without incident.
Everything seemed normal.
The only anomaly was his mother complaining that Yang Siguang, a grown man, slept like a dead pig. She said he pretended not to hear when asked to buy breakfast in the morning.
But then, one night…
Ding Xiaolong stayed up late gaming until the early hours. During a brief pause in the game’s sound effects, he heard something unusual.
From the room next door, separated by a single wall, came a sound like Yang Siguang moaning in a nightmare.
Ding Xiaolong’s heart skipped a beat.
Compelled by an inexplicable force, he abandoned his game and quietly crept to Yang Siguang’s door.
The door was tightly shut, but he could hear more clearly.
Others might not recognize the sound, but Ding Xiaolong, who was well-versed in things he shouldn’t know at his age, immediately understood.
His heart was filled with terror.
Scenes like this were common in the adult films he had seen, but in reality, they felt disturbingly eerie.
Li Chen’s actions… everything about him was bizarre to the extreme.
*
Their home was on the fourth floor.
Even if the window was open… there was no place outside to gain a foothold. No matter how much Ding Xiaolong thought about it, he couldn’t figure out how Li Chen could climb in.
*
“So later… I didn’t dare open the window anymore.”
“He knocked on the window once… I pretended to be asleep, and then there was no more movement outside…”
“After that, I heard he died.”
“But even after he died, his face… his face still lingered outside the window. Every day, I could hear it… every day…”
“When I ate raw meat before, it was because he controlled me! That ghost must still be holding a grudge about me not opening the window. He’s punishing me!”
“That’s why I ended up like this!”
“Ge, please save me—please save me!”
*
Yang Siguang’s face was pale as paper, devoid of any trace of color.
He breathed heavily, but his lips remained a sickly shade of blue.
“You’re lying—”
Yang Siguang looked at the boy on the hospital bed and murmured, his voice weak and hollow.
“I think you’ve just watched too many dirty movies and imagined this disgusting, vile story.”
However, as he spoke, he couldn’t help but raise a hand to cover his mouth.
He wanted to vomit.
He wanted to vomit so badly.
This was just Ding Xiaolong’s disgusting fantasy. There was no way Li Chen could do something so revolting and depraved—it was impossible…
Yet, even as his mind screamed in denial, fragments of details he had previously dismissed or buried deep in his heart began surfacing, one after another, crowding his thoughts.
He thought of how Li Bo always hesitated, as if struggling to speak, whenever Li Chen was mentioned.
He thought of the countless nightmares he had experienced.
He thought of…
The phantoms he glimpsed in those moments of half-sleep and half-wakefulness when he struggled to open his eyes.
And the scorching breaths that fell near his ears.
*
Was Li Chen really the person he thought he was?
Suddenly, Yang Siguang found himself unsure.
*
As Yang Siguang’s thoughts spiraled into chaos, Ding Xiaolong continued to mutter incessantly from his hospital bed.
He was like a child utterly terrified, firmly convinced that the vengeful ghost named Li Chen was punishing him for breaking their earlier agreement.
“Ge, save me! Only you can save me!”
“Only you…”
…
“Save you? How am I supposed to save you?!” Yang Siguang finally lost his composure and roared in frustration.
But in the very next second, a voice—one that Yang Siguang knew all too well yet sent chills through his entire body—came from the hospital bed.
“If you come with me, wouldn’t that solve everything, Siguang?”
Yang Siguang, like a broken puppet, struggled to lift his head… and then, he met the smiling face of the vengeful ghost.
