CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 41: PIG-KILLING KNIFE (PART 7)

When Sang Que heard the sound and turned around to look, she saw the flying head, the falling body, and the overturned old furniture.

She held her breath, raised her hand and hurled the Tang Blade at the Butcher.

The Butcher’s body didn’t move, but the half-severed head suddenly twisted toward Sang Que, and the pig-killing knife swung down again.

Clang!

With a crisp sound, Sang Que’s Tang Blade flew backward, and the pig-killing knife in the Butcher’s hand was also blown away by the power of the Ghost Soldier Talisman.

A great opportunity!

Sang Que’s eyes were sharp, she tilted her head to take her hunting bow from her back, stepped back two steps, notched an arrow, drew the string, and ignited the Ghost Soldier Talisman in one fluid motion.

The arrow cut through the wind with speed, hitting right between the Butcher’s eyebrows.

A tremendous force struck the Butcher’s head back, his cold eyes glaring at Sang Que in anger, and he lunged forward. But before he could take a single step, his entire body shattered under the power of the Ghost Soldier Talisman.

Like papery ashes blown by an eerie wind toward Sang Que, she lowered her hunting bow, prepared to absorb them, when a strong force suddenly emanated from behind the Skywell Building, chilling her to the bone, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

She watched helplessly as the Butcher’s power vanished without a trace into the Brother Watch Shop beneath the Skywell Building.

"Damn it!"

An angry curse resounded, but it wasn’t from Sang Que.

Sang Que quickly walked to the heap of debris across the street, only to see Xu Yichao lying among it, grinning in pain, but apart from a scratch on his neck, he was unharmed.

Surprised, Sang Que swiftly searched for the head that the Butcher had chopped off earlier, only to find a Paperman head gently swaying under a telephone pole by the roadside, blown by the wind.

Sang Que’s heart tightened, surprised yet... not surprised.

Ever since she entered this world full of supernatural occurrences, all she encountered were Evil Spirits filled with malicious intent. Even the Evil Spirit that grew from Qin Lu’s corpse would mercilessly harm her, once a friend.

Sang Que once believed that Evil Spirits were devoid of reason, possessing only a thirst for blood and murder.

Yet this Paperman girl showed Sang Que a ’good’ side of such beings.

Sang Que suddenly felt her mood drop, not knowing how to express her inner emotions.

As she withdrew her gaze, she suddenly saw the old-styled pig-killing knife the Butcher had dropped.

"A yin object?!"

Sang Que opened her chest pack, took out a piece of red cloth and a bottle of mineral water she had prepared earlier.

The bottle contained rooster blood she bought in advance at the market, with a red string soaked in it.

Since she came here to kill Evil Spirits, she naturally had to be prepared.

Using the red cloth as a cushion, she picked up the blood-stained pig-killing knife. A violent murderous intent accompanied by a bone-chilling coldness assailed her, flashing images of chopping flesh before her eyes. She quickly wrapped the knife tightly with the red string, and the chill subsided.

Sang Que glanced at the nearby Skywell Building, having lost the ’Experience Points’ stolen by the Butcher and two Ghost Soldier Talismans, but acquiring a yin object made up for it.

This knife was powerful, capable of beheading from a distance, effective against both Evil Spirits and human ghosts, but the cost of using it was unknown.

Sang Que thought of how the Butcher had slit his own throat, and of his mostly severed neck, guessing that the price would be hard to bear; the pig-killing knife could only be a last resort.

"Do you still want to go in with me?"

Since the Butcher’s power could be absorbed by the Skywell Building, it meant that the culprit responsible for turning the entire village into this was inside the building; she hadn’t gotten the wrong place.

With three more Ghost Soldier Talismans and the pig-killing knife, Sang Que decided to continue on, since her main purpose for coming here had not yet been fulfilled.

Xu Yichao didn’t answer, and when Sang Que turned her head, she found him kneeling under the telephone pole, holding the Paperman head and shaking all over, as if he were lost.

"I remember now, I remember everything..."

At this moment, only a tattered piece of paper hung on the deformed bamboo frame of the Paperman head, but in the eyes of the Paperman, there was a trace of blood-red imprint.

Fragments of scattered memories flashed back in Xu Yichao’s mind.

"Ouch! The threshold is so high, it almost killed me, my hand’s scraped, hissing—"

"Eh? This Paperman is quite well made, why doesn’t it have eyes? Watch this!"

"Hehe, now you can see, right? I’ll hide in the room next door for a while, you keep an eye out for me, don’t tell anyone."

"That old bitch, dying serves her right!"

Xu Yichao’s voice trembled as he slowly explained to Sang Que, "That day when I played hide and seek as a child, I ran to the Fushou Paper Shop and dotted eyes for this Paperman girl with my blood. The Paperman and the paper mansion were offerings for the anniversary of Xu Chunxia."

"It must have been because I cursed Xu Chunxia as petty that she hooked my soul. When I followed Grandma Temple Guardian back, it was Xu Chunxia who grabbed my hand! That old witch, causing trouble for Uncle Fatty when alive, and now for me after death."

"At that time, besides Grandma Temple Guardian, it was her who saved me. She lunged out and knocked Xu Chunxia aside, allowing me to regain my soul. Sang Que, did you see her before, was she always with me?"

Xu Yichao nervously sought confirmation from Sang Que.

Sang Que nodded, "Yes, she’s been following you. In the photo studio, it was also she who pushed you over and saved you."

"So, is she... dead now?"

Upon learning the truth, Xu Yichao didn’t feel frightened; instead, his heart ached.

"As far as I know, these kinds of entities can enlarge themselves by devouring their own kind. I can still see some remnants of her aura on you; it hasn’t completely disappeared."

Hearing this, Xu Yichao sprang to his feet, eyes shining, "Does that mean as long as I capture a ghost for her to devour, she can recover?"

Sang Que frowned, "That butcher just now, and the happenings at the photo studio, don’t you fear them?"

Xu Yichao shivered but forced himself to remain calm, "Not afraid! If they manage to kill me, I’ll surely be more vicious than them in death. Then we’ll see who kills who!"

Sang Que raised an eyebrow, this logic... is intriguing!

Retrieving his Tang Blade, Sang Que noticed the imprint of the Ghost Soldier Talisman still faintly remained on it. He handed the blade to Xu Yichao.

"It should be able to slay an evil spirit... which is a ghost. Save it for when it’s most needed. Dealing with these filthy things takes brainwork; you have to be cautious, not reckless."

Xu Yichao was flattered as he received the blade, placing the Paperman head beside him and covering it with a plastic basket.

Sang Que shouldered his hunting bow, placed the pig-killing knife in a satchel on his chest, took out the fruit knife from his pocket, reattached a Ghost Soldier Talisman, and picked up the crowbar Xu Yichao had previously left aside, feeling it might come in handy later.

Glancing at the slightly nervous Xu Yichao, Sang Que led the way into the Brother Watch Shop under the Skywell Building.

The glass door of the watch shop retained only its frame; inside, there were shattered glass everywhere, with thick dust accumulated on the rusty old display cases. Some counters housed decaying rat corpses; when you approached, swarms of flies buzzed around.

Sang Que remained calm, surveying the surroundings. On the walls were some broken wall clocks of various styles, their times frozen at different moments.

Opposite the entrance stood an empty shen kan that once housed the God of Wealth, now only cobwebs remain. Beside it, there was a large standing grandfather clock in classic redwood style, missing its pendulum.

The floor bore disordered footprints, suggesting that someone had been inside not long ago. Overall, Sang Que did not discover any anomalies for the time being.

At the deepest part of the shop, there was a Taoist Sect, leading to the interior of the first floor of the Skywell Building. Xu Yichao held a flashlight up as he ventured inside.

This building faces east and west, with each floor having the same layout. There are three rooms on each side; the stairs are on the north side, and a communal toilet on the south.

The three rooms on the west side of the first floor have been knocked through to serve as the shopfront for the watch shop. In the center skywell is a concrete floor with an ornamental rockery flower bed that was once a flowing water feature, now only rotting and mildewed dead fish and buzzing flies remain.

The three rooms on the east side have 102 divided into two to serve as a duty room and warehouse; the doors to rooms 101 and 103 are tightly shut. Scattered outside 103 are some broken toys, and a dirty children’s tricycle parked at the door.

Standing in the courtyard, Xu Yichao looked up, "Sang Que, come look, you can actually see the moon from this skywell!"

Hearing this, Sang Que walked to Xu Yichao’s side, looking up towards the skywell above, where a bright full moon was hung high in the sky. The bright moonlight illuminated the railings on each floor, and the clothes hangers on the railings clattered in the eerie wind.

The shadows on the moon resembled a strange human face, staring coldly below.

Sang Que took out his phone to check the time, "This can’t be right! It’s only seven o’clock now. Even if the moon were visible outside, it shouldn’t be at the center of the sky."

Kou Yushan had taught her that if the moon were in this position in summer, it would be around midnight.

"I’ll go check outside again."

Sang Que ran outside to confirm, Xu Yichao also realized that when they were outside earlier, they had only seen thick clouds and no moon at all. He approached the flowerbed in the center of the first floor, lifting his flashlight up, carefully observing.

"Could this moon be fake? Impossible..."

Bam!

Someone suddenly fell heavily in front of Xu Yichao, and scalding, sticky liquid splashed all over him unexpectedly.

Xu Yichao’s mind went blank for a moment, sharp tinnitus erupted, making him feel the sky spinning, he widened his eyes in terror, meeting the gazes of the lifeless, unblinking young man with curly brown hair on the ground.

The man clutched a mobile phone tightly in his hand, and on the screen was a message that failed to send.

[Brother, I might not be able to return, you must save Brother Wu Jun!]

Dong——

The heavy sound of a clock suddenly resonated. Sang Que stared wide-eyed as the place where they had entered, all the roller shutter doors slammed shut, a strong oppressive force laden with bone-chilling coldness instantly filled the building, making Sang Que’s hair stand on end.

She retreated into the watch shop, turned around, and was stunned in place.

All the broken clocks on the wall at that moment were pointing to the same time.

Midnight, twelve o’clock!

Dong——

Dong——

Dong——

The funeral bell rang one after another, flocks of birds flew across the sky in a rush, rats scurried in packs, a black cat perched on the eaves licking its paws as it watched the entire village sink into deeper darkness, something was slowly resurrecting...