Chapter 257: Soul Lost
The skeleton grinned a weird smile at Sister Xueliu, and thick fog gradually rose around Batang Village, enveloping the entire village.
Sister Xueliu instinctively slammed on the brakes, the tires screeching harshly. Nan Yuanman, sitting in the back seat, yelped and lunged forward, only to be yanked back onto her seat by the seatbelt.
Nan Yichen hissed and drew in a sharp breath, rubbing his chest sore from the seatbelt: “Sister Xueliu, are you trying to murder us?”
Sister Xueliu pointed out the window: “Didn’t you see that skeleton outside?”
“What skeleton?” Nan Yuanman puzzledly looked toward the window, and saw Aunt Zheng walking over with a joyful face. Through the car window, she could even hear her loud voice.
“Oh! Yuanman! Why didn’t you tell me in advance that you were coming back? I could’ve helped tidy up your house to make it livable!”
Nan Yuanman pressed the window down and shouted out the window: “Aunt Zheng…”
Before she could finish, the window that had been lowered rose back up. Sister Xueliu tensed up, staring at the skeleton slowly approaching: “Don’t open the window! Yuanman, this Aunt Zheng is no longer alive!”
Aunt Zheng: “??”
“Who are you saying isn’t alive?!” Aunt Zheng put her hands on her hips, glaring unhappily at Sister Xueliu: “I’m alive! My body’s still warm!”
Nan Yuanman also looked at Sister Xueliu strangely: “Sister Xueliu, are you under a ghostly illusion? Aunt Zheng is clearly a person!”
She could even sense the vitality on Aunt Zheng’s body!
“She’s not!” Sister Xueliu hurriedly turned to look at Nan Yichen: “Nan Yichen, what do you see—is it a person or a skeleton?”
Nan Yichen glanced at Aunt Zheng, then at Sister Xueliu: “You’re under a ghostly illusion. Outside is a living person.”
Sister Xueliu was stunned.
She looked suspiciously at the rotting skeleton shambling outside. Through the car window, she could even see the maggots wriggling on the skeleton’s face and the corpse bugs crawling in and out of its eye sockets.
Such a realistic skeleton was actually a real person?
Was she really under a ghostly illusion?
Nan Yuanman looked at the dazed Sister Xueliu, rummaged in her shoulder bag with her small hand, and pulled out a few talismans to hand to her: “Sister Xueliu, if you don’t believe it, you can throw a talisman at Aunt Zheng. If the talisman reacts, she’s not alive. If no reaction, it proves she’s still alive.”
Sister Xueliu thought for a few seconds and finally decided to be cautious.
She took the talisman from Nan Yuanman’s hand, quickly threw it at Aunt Zheng after lowering the window, then swiftly closed the window again, vigilantly watching Aunt Zheng.
When the talisman landed on Aunt Zheng, it sizzled and ignited, the blue-purple flames rapidly enveloping the skeleton.
Sister Xueliu: “!!!”
She swiftly drew her peach wood sword: “She’s not alive!”
Nan Yuanman frowned: “Sister Xueliu, what are you saying? The talisman clearly had no reaction.”
Nan Yichen: “Sister Xueliu, are you blind?”
Sister Xueliu grew anxious: “She’s really not human—trust me!”
She gritted her teeth, gripped the peach wood sword, and got out of the car: “Watch carefully! See if what I kill is human or ghost!”
Sister Xueliu got out of the car and fiercely thrust the peach wood sword toward Aunt Zheng’s heart!
–
“Yuanman, although someone from your family comes to maintain the house regularly, it’s been too long since anyone lived there. It’s full of dust inside. For tonight, why don’t you stay at my place first?”
“I’ll clean it up for you tomorrow, then you can move in?” Aunt Zheng wiped her wet hands on her apron, her gaze falling on the two dazed people behind Nan Yuanman who seemed dim-witted, a trace of sympathy appearing in her eyes.
“These two are your clients, right? What’s wrong with them? They look like they’ve lost their souls.”
Nan Yuanman held Sister Xueliu’s clothes hem with one hand and Nan Yichen’s with the other, her meaty steamed bun face furrowed, looking especially worried: “They really have lost their souls.”
Half an hour ago, as soon as Sister Xueliu drove into Batang Village, the souls in her body were hooked away—so fast that Nan Yuanman didn’t react in time.
She hurriedly used talismans to protect the remaining soul bodies of Sister Xueliu and Nan Yichen, but one soul and one spirit from them were gone, and the people acted like they were possessed, dazed and unresponsive.
At that time, the car was still some distance from Batang Village. Nan Yuanman feared their bodies would be occupied by lonesome ghosts, so she didn’t dare leave them alone. With great effort, she dragged them out of the car and pulled them into the village.
Just as they entered the village, they were spotted by Aunt Zheng who was washing clothes outside.
Nan Yuanman carefully stared at Aunt Zheng for a good while, confirming there was no yin energy or ghost energy on her and that she had the breath of a living person, before daring to talk to her.
She was also afraid, afraid that Batang Village was already in danger and that the Aunt Zheng talking to her now wasn’t alive.
That would make her feel very, very upset.
Fortunately, it seemed everything could still be salvaged in time.
“Poor things.” Aunt Zheng looked sympathetic and hurriedly ushered Nan Yuanman inside: “Come on in. It’s windy outside, chilly—be careful not to catch a cold later.”
Nan Yuanman led Sister Xueliu and Nan Yichen inside, casually asking: “Aunt Zheng, has anything weird happened in the village lately? Have any strange people come into the village?”
“There is one weird thing.” Aunt Zheng said: “For some reason, lots of red spiders have appeared in the fields lately, weaving tons of webs. We can’t clear them all no matter what.”
“Their color is so bright and vivid. We’re afraid they might be some kind of poisonous pest that’s been locked away for years, so we don’t dare use insecticide. We can only smoke them out, which has kept us from going to the fields lately for fear of being poisoned.”
“You’re back just in time. When you have a moment, come help take a look—what the heck those things are.”
“Red webs…” Nan Yuanman had a flash of insight and pulled out a few strands of red silk thread collected at the Jiang family from her small shoulder bag: “Are they webs woven from thread like this?”
Aunt Zheng looked closely and nodded firmly: “Yes, yes, exactly this kind of thread.”
Nan Yuanman’s heart tightened—this proved that the evil ghost from the Jiang family had already begun laying its plans.
Fortunately, fortunately she had come in time.
She suppressed her inner urgency: “Tomorrow after I wake up, take me to the fields to see.”
Aunt Zheng: “Sure.”
She couldn’t help complaining to Nan Yuanman: “I was even afraid they might crawl into the house before. Thanks to the amulet you gave me earlier, I stuck it at the doorway, and after that, the snakes, bugs, rats, and ants in the house decreased a lot. But the amulet is almost gone…”
Nan Yuanman silently took out two and handed them to her: “Reward for cleaning the house.”
Aunt Zheng beamed with joy, stuffing the talismans into her bosom: “Oh, look at you, being so polite. We’re all neighbors—mutual help is what it’s about!”
Nan Yuanman: (;_)
Nan Yuanman: “Don’t give them back.”
Aunt Zheng’s face changed: “No way!”
Nan Yuanman: “Hmph!”
After a night of fussing, Nan Yuanman finally settled down.
She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the two people sitting blankly in chairs, staring straight ahead, and felt troubled: “What am I gonna do…”
Big brother had said to get help from the 908 Bureau people, but they lost their ability to act as soon as they entered the village.
They hadn’t helped at all yet and were already causing her trouble.
Nan Yuanman took out the soul-summoning incense burner and muttered under her breath: “Should’ve just come by myself, not brought them.”
Nan Yuanman plucked hairs from Sister Xueliu and Nan Yichen, wrapped them around the incense, lit it, inserted it into the incense burner, sprinkled rice, and chanted the soul-summoning incantation.
She tried summoning their souls. If she couldn’t get their souls back, she’d go check Bai Wenyin’s tomb in the fields by herself first.
The room gradually filled with yin energy.
A white shadow slowly floated before Nan Yuanman, the white shadow shifting from illusory to solid.
Nan Yuanman looked at that face she had seen a million times in photos, etched in her heart. Her steamed bun face froze for a moment, and she subconsciously said: “M… Mother?”
