The next morning, Ye Feng's cell phone was vibrating next to his pillow. Half-closed-eyed, he picked it up and saw "路迎酒" written on it.
He answered and yawned, "What are you doing? I'm still sleeping."
Lu Yingjiu said: "The police investigated overnight yesterday. They found that there was another person named Yang Meng who came to Lujiang City from Dingyang Town with Zhang Hong and Chen Songhai. When they went to look for Yang Meng, the guy was at the train station. Fortunately, they stopped him."
"What did Yang Meng say? Is he willing to confess anything?"
"He had something to hide. He knew that Zhang Hong and Chen Songhai had died in mysterious circumstances, and he had been terrified for a long time. Now he confessed everything when asked. He said that last year in Dingyang Town, the three of them were drunk and flirted with Ji Cai after she got off work at night. The argument quickly turned into a physical fight, and during the scuffle, Ji Cai accidentally fell into the water. Her body was found downstream the next day."
He continued, "The three dared not speak out and prepared to flee to another city. When they bought train tickets, they found that there were only tickets to Lujiang City that day. This was certainly not a coincidence. It was Ji Cai's revenge to lead them to her hometown, where her body was moved."
Ye Feng asked: "What about Zhong Aiguo? Did he also offend Ji Cai?"
"Not sure yet. I plan to go to Lotus Primary School."
"What are you going there for?"
Lu Yingjiu said: "Before Ji Cai went to teach, he was a Chinese teacher at Lianhua Primary School. The police checked Zhong Aiguo's whereabouts overnight for a month and found that he had been to Lianhua Primary School three times, both during the day and at night, and stayed for more than three hours each time."
Ye Feng was stunned for a moment: "You are so interested in this case?"
As far as I can remember, Lu Yingjiu is only interested in very special supernatural events.
"I wasn't interested at first." Lu Yingjiu said, "But Ji Cai came to see me yesterday. She stood at the head of the bed and looked at me in the middle of the night. I thought it was quite interesting. I wanted to communicate with her, but she refused to speak. So I burned her again with the runes. I shoveled the ashes into the trash can and even put them in several garbage bags. This morning, Lao Liu told me that her body was back downstairs in the Meihua community."
Ye Feng: "... To be honest, it sounds a bit scary. I mean the part about the ashes."
"What's so scary about that? I even sorted out the non-recyclable garbage."
Ye Feng: “…”
Lu Yingjiu said, "So, are you coming?"
"Come." Ye Feng turned over and got out of bed, "Meet there at 8:30."
40 minutes later, the two stood at the gate of Lotus Primary School.
Today is Friday. The school is in chaos. Children are screaming and running faster than dogs, venting their excess energy.
Lu Yingjiu walked straight to the back door of the school.
Ye Feng called out to him: "Hey, hey, hey, where are you going? The gate is here!"
"I can't get in. They said they would give me permission in the afternoon, but I can't wait any longer," Lu Yingjiu said. "We don't look like parents of students."
That is true.
When they stood outside, carrying their school bags, they looked like college students, and they didn't look like people with children at all.
So they went around to the back door, where there was a wall that was neither too high nor too low, about two people tall.
Ye Feng was about to say "I'll carry you up" when he saw Lu Yingjiu retreat five or six steps and suddenly speed up! He stepped on the wall a few steps and hooked the top of the wall with his right hand, then stepped on the wall two more steps and flipped up in less than two seconds. He turned around and said, "Why don't you come up."
This series of actions was as smooth as flowing water. Ye Feng looked up at him and said, "Are you always □□ when you are studying?"
"Yes, it turns over every day." Lu Yingjiu smiled and stretched out his hand, "Come on, good student, I'll pull you up."
Behind the wall is the playground. Far away, a group of elementary school students are taking physical education class. Some are playing football, some are jumping rope, and no one can see them.
Lu Yingjiu said as they walked: "Ji Cai used to be the Chinese teacher of Class 4, Grade 6. After she passed away, her grandmother came here and took away some of her belongings - but not much. Her grandmother also passed away three months ago. She had no other relatives, and those belongings were cleared away by the landlord, and they are nowhere to be found now."
It is easy to erase a person's existence before his death.
The relics are lost, the memories fade, and then there is nothing left.
The shadows of the trees danced and fell on Lu Yingjiu. He was thinking about something, gently stroking the longevity lock.
Ye Feng didn't know why he felt sad: "Don't worry, your female ghost will definitely remember you. You will have a bunch of children, and each of them will remember you."
Lu Yingjiu: “…?”
Lu Yingjiu said, "You are still talking about this. People don't want to see me for many years."
Ye Feng patted his shoulder and said, "If she doesn't come to find you, I will be your sexy ghost, and we will be together for the rest of our lives."
Lu Yingjiu felt a chill and took a small step back, moving away from Ye Feng.
Ye Feng leaned closer again: "Hey, seriously, don't you consider finding a girlfriend? You don't even know if a female ghost is real or fake, you can't hang yourself on a tree."
"Why are you acting like the relatives who are urging me to get married?" Lu Yingjiu shook her head and smiled, "I'm not interested. Besides, I'm out every day, and it's normal for me to not go home for a few days or weeks. I don't have any core competitiveness at all."
"Not only do you not go home, you often skip meals."
"busy."
"What are you busy with? Are you thinking about getting a stomachache?" Ye Feng was very disappointed with his failure. "So I should find someone powerful to take care of you."
Lu Yingjiu still shook his head: "I will die sooner or later, so I won't harm others."
"If you talk nonsense, anyone will die."
"That's not what I meant," Lu Yingjiu smiled, "I like exciting and dangerous events, and I can't stop in my bones - I know this is likely to be the cause of my death. How does that sentence go? I have defeated the god of death many times, but it only needs to defeat me once. From a probability perspective, the possibility of my having a good end is almost zero."
Ye Feng was speechless for a moment, and after a long while he said, "What's the matter with death? Don't be such a pessimist... You are the most awesome exorcist I have ever seen."
Lu Yingjiu shrugged.
Ye Feng looked at him and thought that what he needed was not some sexy female ghost, but someone who could fight alongside him, have sex with him every day, and cook for him.
… Although he couldn't figure out where to find such an almighty person.
After entering the teaching building, they ran into a very young intern teacher - she was holding a pile of test papers, with soft black hair draped over a beige shirt.
Lu Yingjiu stepped forward and said, "Hello, we are the family members of Teacher Ji Cai. When she left, she left something here and asked us to help get it."
The intern teacher hesitated and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know her. How about you go to her office and ask her?"
Ji Cai had worked here for almost two years, so it was normal that she didn't know him. Lu Yingjiu certainly didn't expect to be able to ask directly.
Lu Yingjiu smiled: "She said that the things should not have been thrown away yet. Where do you put your sundries?"
"The belongings of the former employees are all in the utility room on the first floor. The security guard has the key there. You have to ask Teacher Ji to call him before he can let you in." The teacher replied.
The two of them went downstairs. It was just during the break. After walking past a group of screaming students, they saw the utility room at the end of the corridor on the first floor.
There was only one security guard here, sitting not far away and doing nothing. Lu Yingjiu took out a rune and flicked it lightly, and the rune burned, emitting a faint fragrance. When the security guard smelled the scent, his eyelids immediately fought and he lowered his head.
The door to the utility room was still locked. If we used runes to blow it open directly, the noise would be too loud.
The security guard had a bunch of keys, but he had no idea which one it was. Ye Feng was just worrying about how to try it when he saw Lu Yingjiu take out a paper clip, straighten it, and poke it into the keyhole: "Don't look for it. It's an old lock like this. I can definitely find it quickly if I pry it open."
Ye Feng was shocked: "What skills do you have? You can climb over walls and pick locks!"
Lu Yingjiu said calmly: "Everyone needs to know some life skills."
"This is a fucking life skill! Are you living in a beggars' gang?"
"It's very practical. Anyone who has used it will know. Instead of this, go and see if there is a name for Zhong Aiguo in the visitor record."
Ye Feng opened the roster on the security guard's desk and saw Zhong Aiguo's name.
The note is “Ji Cai’s family members”.
He said: "Zhong Aiguo came to the utility room more than once. He came to look for Ji Cai's things."
Lu Yingjiu turned his hand, and with a slight "click", the lock opened.
He turned the doorknob, and the metal made a sharp friction sound that made his teeth ache. What hit him was the stale smell that had accumulated over the years, causing Ye Feng to cough violently.
Cardboard boxes were stacked on the shelves, each with their name on them, filled with personal belongings. The room was dim, and Lu Yingjiu pressed the switch a few times, but the light didn't respond, so he turned on the flashlight on his phone and searched one by one.
The light shone across the front of the box, and dust danced in the beam.
In the evening.
Xu Zhonghua.
…
Jiang Mengmeng.
Season color.
"This is it." Lu Yingjiu said, pulling the paper box.
Very light.
It was so light that it seemed as if there was nothing inside. He took it down and saw only a dusty book inside.
"Beyond the Mountain"
Written by Ji Cai.
Ye Feng came over to take a look: "She also wrote a book?"
"It seems so." Lu Yingjiu blew away the dust, picked up the book, and took a quick look at the introduction. It told the story of a volunteer teacher who found love while teaching.
But there was something wrong with this book.
Lu Yingjiu took another look and said, "It doesn't have a publication number."
The official publication of a book requires a publication number. He flipped through the pages and couldn't find the publisher, edition, or book number.
This is an unpublished book.
Ye Feng checked on his phone: "Indeed, there is no information about it on the Internet. Could it be that she printed it out for fun?"
Lu Yingjiu turned to the last page of the book, was silent for a while, and said, "It doesn't seem like it."
He showed Ye Feng the last page.
The last paragraph is:
We stood together in the field, with the mountains in the distance. The weather was very good today, and he smiled and said to me, yes, this story will end until we
Until there are no more words left.
Ye Feng was stunned: "Is this sentence not finished?"
"Yeah." Lu Yingjiu said, "She probably died before she could finish writing it."
He weighed the book "Beyond the Mountain" in his hand and said, "This is not a normal relic. This is an unfinished book of the deceased. It is her obsession. You can't kill Ji Cai with the talisman paper, but as long as you destroy this book, she will disappear."
Some ghosts have obsessions that represent their deepest wishes.
If the exorcist gets the ghost's obsession, it is equivalent to getting the trump card for victory. Then, no matter how fierce Ren Jicai is, he will not be able to escape from their control.
Lu Yingjiu was wondering whether to burn the book.
The yin energy fluctuated.
He looked back and saw Ji Cai staring at him silently outside the utility room window. The woman's body was still wet, her eyes were completely black, leaving two lines of blood and tears.
Tick, tick, blood splattered on the ground. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end no sound came out.
When Lu Yingjiu blinked again, she was gone.
Ye Feng didn't notice the anomaly and asked, "Should we just burn it?"
Lu Yingjiu retracted her gaze: "Don't do it for now. Let me continue. Zhong Aiguo would come back to this elementary school, probably because..."
He paused briefly for two seconds.
Something is wrong.
In an instant, many thoughts flashed through his mind: the obsessions left by ghosts are very yin, and if the living take the obsessions back, at best, they will be extremely unlucky, and at worst, their families will be destroyed. Fortunately, this is a school, full of vitality, and there are many people with strong yang energy, so no consequences were caused. But Zhong Aiguo has come here so many times, it is impossible that he has not seen this book.
Why didn't he take the book with him
—Because he knew that taking it back might bring bad luck.
It seems that Zhong Aiguo is not completely ignorant of "exorcism". Most people don't even know the existence of obsessions.
But it also means he'll likely be doing more.
For example, using an object of obsession to attract ghosts.
In other words, make the ghosts more powerful.
My memory goes back to last night, when Xiao Li said in the Japanese restaurant, "I remember that there were several cases of homeless people going missing in that area before, and it was even reported in the news. How come all these bad things happen there? The feng shui must be so bad."
There was a series of suicides by jumping off buildings, the first of which was Zhang Hong's case on January 7 this year.
This was done by Ji Cai.
She became active from that day on.
Ye Feng heard Lu Yingjiu mumbling to himself, "Ji Cai died in August, but people didn't start dying until January this year. During that time, someone strengthened her power. The medium was this book. Zhong Aiguo, who came here again and again, could do it. And the best offering to the evil spirit is a human... a corpse. There must be a corpse. A homeless person is the best choice. We may have thought wrongly. Although Zhong Aiguo is a victim, he used to be on Ji Cai's side. He may even be a murderer."
Lu Yingjiu immediately called Lao Liu and said, "Please help me check if Zhong Aiguo has been to Lianhua Primary School from August last year to January this year. There are also disappearance cases near the Meihua community. I suspect Zhong Aiguo is related to the disappearances."
"I'll get someone to check right away!" Lao Liu replied, "Do you need any help over there?"
"… It's okay, Chu Banyang will bring people here soon." Lu Yingjiu clenched the phone, "I may know where those homeless people are, I'll tell you later."
He hung up the phone and walked out quickly.
Ye Feng followed behind him.
Lu Yingjiu said, "Ye Feng, if you were Zhong Aiguo and needed to find an open area in the elementary school to draw the soul-calling runes and bury the body, where would you choose?"
Before Ye Feng could answer, Lu Yingjiu's gaze had already fallen into the distance.
The playground is covered with green grass, and a group of students are playing football and laughing.
…
"A Qiang, pass the ball to me!!" Dalong shouted, his young face full of anxiety, and sweat soaked his blue school uniform.
Ah Qiang ran out of breath, and with a flying kick—
Someone pulled his left foot, causing him to stagger and kick the ball in the wrong direction. The ball followed a crooked trajectory to the left and was snatched away by the opponent.
Dalong scolded: "You, you, what's wrong with you! I won't go with you after school today!"
A Qiang defended himself: "Someone just pulled me!"
"There's no one behind you!"
"Obviously there is! You're an idiot!"
“Bounce!”
"The rebound is ineffective! You big idiot, you big idiot!"
The two cursed at each other for a few words, both filled with anger, and then continued to chase the ball.
Seeing that the opponent was leading and the score was getting bigger and bigger, Aqiang finally got the ball again and ran towards the goal.
His angle was very good, and the fat goalkeeper was even daydreaming.
As long as you kick, you can score a goal!
Aqiang became more and more excited, roared, and rushed forward with the ball, and the final kick -
The football flew out and drew a beautiful line in the air!
"Great!" Dalong raised his hands and cheered!
Bang!
The football flew backwards, flew a long way, and rolled on the ground.
A Qiang looked carefully and saw a blue-gray hand stretched out from the ground, standing upright, and the football had hit it.
There was dead silence all around.
"Fuck..." Dalong muttered, "He handballed, foul."