"Brother Chen?" Wu Weiwei saw someone blocking the door and called out softly.
Chen Ling sat down, holding his phone tightly, and clicked on the news with a gloomy face.
The content of the news was very simple, explaining that the information was learned from the Weibo platform, and in order to let viewers know more about the whole story, a link related to Xiaofan's suicide was placed in the middle.
Chen Ling closed the news app, opened Weibo, clicked on the hot search, and saw four concise black words on the eighth place: real and supernatural.
Wu Weiwei happened to sit over there, and when he looked up he saw the display on his phone. He was stunned for a moment, then quickly took out his own phone.
In just a few seconds, the trending search position rose.
"Brother Chen, is this Xiaofan's home?" He has clicked on the trending searches, and under the most popular Weibo post, there are over 20,000 comments and 80,000 reposts.
In addition to the text, this Weibo post also includes a video.
Judging from the shooting angle of the video, it was obviously shot from a corner on the ground towards the living room.
There was nothing unusual in the video at first, all the images were still. Due to the low level of the equipment hardware, the reception was poor and the conversations in the room could not be heard clearly.
The program team was afraid that the audience would not be able to hear clearly, so they specially extracted the sound, analyzed it, translated it into text, and posted it in the comments.
The content is about how Chen Ling taught Lin's father how to spread lime and the function of lime.
This comment received a lot of likes and ranked first among the popular comments, and the comments that followed were also all kinds of strange.
From the sound of his voice, he is a little brother.
Are all the charlatans nowadays so young? That’s too fake. They want to be famous so badly, tui!
+1 to the above, another one who wants to debut.
I know the family in the video. They live in the same neighborhood as my classmate. My classmate told me before that yesterday was the seventh day after the death of the girl, the night of her return.
What era are we in now and we are still believing in feudal superstition? Mao Zedong Thought and Marxism-Leninism have probably been learned by the dog.
I want to say this quietly: Don’t doubt it even if you don’t believe it. It’s better to be respectful of this kind of thing…
If you talk nonsense, be careful that ghosts may come to haunt you at night.
…
There were several comments below this hot comment that all mocked superstition, and some people even questioned the program team, saying that they deliberately hired someone to perform because there was not enough traffic recently.
"This kind of filming is disrespectful to the deceased. This Zero One Eighth is simply a piece of shit!" Wu Weiwei was so angry that he almost smashed his phone.
Chen Ling's face looked bad, but he didn't say anything and continued to slide his fingers on the screen.
The comments gradually changed afterwards.
Wait, I see a pair of feet!!!
What was falling on the screen, blood
The fake video was shot so realistically that it made me feel creepy.
Prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious... Amitabha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
The Night of the Return of the Soul is real. There is a custom in my hometown that on the Night of the Return of the Soul, family members must stay in the bedroom and cannot come out to watch if they hear any noise. When I was a child, I was disobedient and got up to peek on the night when my grandfather returned to the soul. There were really footprints on the lime powder!
There were many different opinions, and more and more people were discussing it. Before long, the hot search moved up two places.
Chen Ling has no connections of his own, but among the people he knows, Jiang Shengxing has the most power and the widest network of contacts.
"Mr. Jiang, I need your help with something." After dialing the phone, Chen Ling did not exchange pleasantries. "Did you know about the supernatural hot search on Weibo? I wonder if you know the current person in charge of the 018 column team. I want to communicate with him."
Jiang Shengxing had just finished a meeting. Halfway through his walk, he saw that it was a call from Chen Ling. He raised his hand and gestured to his subordinate, asking him to leave first.
"I don't know this person, but I can have someone check him out right away. It'll be quick, maybe ten minutes or so."
"That's troublesome." Chen Ling hung up the phone, opened Weibo again in annoyance, and sent a private message to the 018 program team from the backstage, hoping that they could delete the video as soon as possible and not disturb the dead.
The girl in charge of Weibo operations took the private message to the office and found the person in charge as soon as she saw it.
The person in charge was so irritated by today's data that his eyes turned red. He glanced at the information on the screen and waved his hand away in annoyance, "Don't pay attention to him. He must be the opponent who is deliberately exaggerating. There are many red-eye diseases these days. The more angry we are, the more people will be unhappy."
Although the operations girl was not responsible for editing the video, she clicked on it out of curiosity after the video became a hot topic.
Unlike other people in the company who disrespect ghosts and gods, she was somewhat timid about this and said hesitantly, "Boss, this is really not a good idea. How about we keep the text and delete the video?"
"Delete it!" The person in charge lost his patience and yelled with a frown, "What are you still standing there for? Don't you want to do this anymore?"
The operations girl bit her lip in grievance and walked out in panic. Before she reached her desk, a figure passed by her quickly.
She looked back and saw that it was Agui who was in charge of filming.
Come to think of it, this video was shot by him. He is so brave.
Agui walked quickly into the office and slammed the door shut.
The person in charge only needed to glance at the corner of the clothes on the other side of the desk to know who it was. He snorted coldly, "I thought you really quit. If you want to work, do it well and stop talking nonsense in the future."
"That's not what I came to say." Agui's voice was very hoarse and sounded harsh and rough.
The person in charge finally looked up at the other person, "Then you are..." All the words were blocked back in his throat by the scene in front of him.
In just one night, Agui became so haggard that he seemed like a completely different person.
His face was pale, his eye bags were deep, his hair was messy, and his clothes were the same as yesterday, but they were wrinkled, as if he had been hanging out all night.
Agui had no intention of fooling around. After escaping danger from a ghost last night, he went straight to the Lin family without caring whether the time was right or not, hoping to get Chen Ling's contact information from them.
The Lin family knew nothing about Chen Ling. They only knew that he and Wu Weiwei were Xiaofan's classmates and that he had relatives practicing in a Taoist temple. They knew nothing else.
With nothing to show for it, Agui returned home with a tired body and a nervous heart, and bumped into something evil again in the elevator.
The thing was hanging upside down above the elevator, its hair dangling in the air.
He didn't think too much about it at first, and stretched out his hand to scratch the top of his forehead that was itchy from the hair. After a few times, he found something wrong, and his fingers suddenly tightened, grabbing a handful of hair.
When he looked up, he saw a woman hanging upside down with her head smashed, grinning at him.
As early as when the community was built, Agui heard that someone had died before the community was completed. A worker was tripped by an electric cable and fell directly into the elevator shaft.
After a brief blank in his mind, he began to press buttons frantically. As soon as the door opened, he ran out shouting.
He didn't dare go home or take a taxi. He walked to an Internet cafe and stayed up all night.
As the day dawned, the sun's rays spread across the earth. Agui finally had the courage to walk out of the Internet cafe and went to Xiaofan's school.
After asking around, he learned that there were three students with the surname Chen in Xiaofan's class, but each of them was an ordinary middle school student, and none of them had any distant relatives living in the Taoist temple for a long time.
Agui had no choice but to return to the company.
On the one hand, he wanted the boss to stop, and on the other hand, he wanted to use the boss's connections to find Chen Ling's whereabouts in order to save his own life.
There was a moment of dead silence in the office, and the voice of the person in charge woke up Agui from his trance: "How did you become like this?"
"Mr. Yao, I..." Agui didn't dare to blink. Once he closed his eyes, the horrible faces of the taxi driver and the elevator ghost appeared in his mind.
He took a deep breath and finally said, "Boss Yao, I saw a ghost last night."
The person in charge sneered, "You are kidding."
"It's true, I'm not kidding!" Ah Gui became emotional. He held his head with both hands, his fingers clenched tightly around his hair. "We must have filmed something we shouldn't have. Mr. Yao, I know you have great powers. Please save me. Help me find the young man who works for the Lin family, or you can help me find another reliable master!"
The person in charge thought it was funny, but he also felt a chill because of the fear spreading across Agui's face. "Are you too tired? There are so many bloodshot eyes. Did you not sleep last night? Why don't you go to the lounge behind me and lie down for a while."
Agui had no mind to rest, his mind was filled with the words "encountering a ghost".
"Mr. Yao, please help me. I don't have any connections and I don't know any masters..."
"How could I possibly know someone like that?!" The person in charge became annoyed and was about to curse, but suddenly his eyes narrowed and he had other plans.
He smiled, hooked his arm around Agui's shoulder like a good friend, and took him to sit on the sofa. "I remember now, I really do know a master, but you have to tell me the whole story so that I can tell him and see if he is willing to help."
Agui's eyes were lifeless, as if he had grasped the last straw. He recounted everything that happened last night word for word, without missing a word. He didn't notice that the person in charge had quietly opened the recorder hidden in his pocket as soon as his butt touched the sofa.
Although Xiao Fan's Return to the Soul Night remained a hot search topic, Chen Ling was not too anxious, as there was always a solution to any problem.
Just as Jiang Shengxing said, the phone number was sent in just ten minutes.
When Chen Ling called, the other end hung up the phone.
He didn't give up and called again. This time the call was answered, but after the other end learned the purpose of his call, he hung up the phone with a very bad attitude.
Chen Ling looked at the black screen, his chest choked with a breath, and sent a text message instead: Hello Mr. Yao, my name is Chen Ling, and I was one of the people present on the night when Xiaofan returned to the soul. I believe you know the situation that night better than anyone else. If you don't want to be blamed by the deceased and be infected with bad luck, you'd better delete the video immediately and apologize to Xiaofan's family.
The text message fell on deaf ears, and Li Hongyu still hadn't received a reply until his car arrived at the university town.
Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Wu Weiwei comforted him, "You have said what you need to say. If something really happens, it can't be blamed on you."
"I'm afraid Xiaofan won't be able to rest in peace." Chen Ling frowned and said, "If what happened in the Yang world makes her feel resentful, she may not leave easily when July 15 comes back."
People have three souls: heaven, earth and man.
The heavenly soul represents conscience and is bound to heaven after death and cannot leave; the earthly soul represents cause and effect and returns to the underworld after death to report its merits and demerits in life; the human soul is attached to the corpse and can sense the offerings and visits of relatives.
If there is no resentment, the three souls will return to their respective positions after death and will not reunite until reincarnation.
Those who die with resentment have their souls bound by negative emotions, circling around and refusing to go to the underworld.
There is also a third situation. After death, the earthly soul senses all kinds of things in the world of the living from the human soul, develops hatred, and looks for an opportunity to run back for revenge. Without the influence of the "conscience" of the heavenly soul, these two souls gathered together and would only become evil ghosts that feed on killing and hatred.
Xiaofan died at a young age. When she entered the underworld, her mind gradually became clear. She remembered the process of her own death, and was influenced by the various remarks made by her superiors...
No one can guarantee what will happen next.
Wu Weiwei realized this belatedly and fell silent, even forgetting to get off the car.
Li Hongyu, who had gotten out of the car at some point, opened the back door and stared at the two people inside who both looked unhappy. "It has already happened, and the warnings that should have been given have been given. As for what will happen next, we can only wait and see and act accordingly."
Chen Ling hummed absentmindedly, and when he got off the car and was exposed to the sun, his mind suddenly became clear.
"Wait a moment, I'll make a call." After saying that, he turned his back to the two of them and called Zhao Xunchang.
Zhao Xunchang had just come out of the base and was in a very good mood. The two eggs that had refused to come out of the female parrot's belly finally came out!
The two eggs are plump and heavy. When they hatch, the little parrots will definitely be very strong.
Because of this incident, the hyacinth macaw refused to follow his master and wanted to stay with his wife.
Zhao Xunchang was very understanding. Without saying a word, he took out all the snacks in his pocket and told Qian Qing that he would come back to pick up the bird tomorrow morning.
Thinking of the two cute parrot eggs, Zhao Xunchang smiled widely, and one could feel how happy he was even through the screen. "Disciple, do you have something to ask Master?"
"Yes..." Halfway through the words, Chen Ling suddenly remembered that he didn't know where Xiaofan's body was. He covered the receiver and turned to ask Li Hongyu.
Li Hongyu gave an address.
Chen Ling relayed the message to Zhao Xunchang: "Master, Xiaofan's body is still warm and she has just arrived in the underworld. I am afraid her soul is restless. Please recite the food and rebirth mantra for her to prevent any accidents."
Zhao Xunchang hung up the phone and rushed to the funeral home.
The parking lot outside the funeral home was full of cars. Someone must have been cremated today. When I walked into the hall, it was noisy and filled with crying.
Zhao Xunchang took a look when he passed by, found a friendly-looking person, and asked about the exact location of Xiaofan's body.
The man was wary, "What do you do?"
Zhao Xunchang was different from his usual kind appearance. His face was dignified and his voice was deep. "It's for someone to be saved."
The man's heart trembled slightly, and he put away his previous attitude and personally took Zhao Xunchang to the morgue.
The staff at the morgue had received a call from Li Hongyu a few minutes ago and knew that someone was coming. After seeing Zhao Xunchang, without waiting for anyone to speak, they politely pushed open the door of the morgue and led the person in.
The temperature in the morgue was very low. Apart from some neatly arranged morgue beds, the three front walls on the left and right were filled with densely packed morgue freezers.
The staff member was probably in his seventies, older than Zhao Xunchang.
He hunched over, took out a small notebook from the large pocket of his work clothes, and rummaged through Xiaofan's cabinet.
"B-5, the cabinet to your left."
Zhao Xunchang nodded to thank the old man and walked straight to the morgue. He swept his sharp eyes over the numbers on the cabinet door, grasped the handle, and pulled out one of them with force.
The cabinet was moved away and cold air rushed out.
The staff member said in an old voice: "I'm going to go out first. Call me if you need anything. I'll be guarding the door."
Zhao Xunchang: “Yeah.”
The old man turned his back and continued, "He died tragically at such a young age. His parents must be so sad."
The light in the morgue was dim, and once the door was closed, the light in the corridor was cut off, making the light even darker.
Zhao Xunchang was not affected at all, and his eyes stayed on Xiaofan's face.
The young face was covered with frost, her lips were as pale as her complexion, and the wound on her neck was stiff and cracked due to freezing, looking both horrible and pitiful.
Zhao Xunchang sighed, closed his eyes, and began to chant.
A deep, powerful voice rang out in the morgue, and every word was filled with the best wishes.
The lights above my head began to flicker, and the tightly closed morgues made strange noises, along with creaking sounds from the friction between the bottom of the cabinets and the cabinet slides.
Zhao Xunchang stood still like a mountain, he just opened his eyes and glanced at Xiaofan's face.
The smile that had always been on this face deepened, and the curve of the lips became eerily large.
Zhao Xunchang stopped chanting and said calmly, "My disciple will naturally help you avenge your grudge. But if you insist on doing it yourself, you will lose your chance to be reborn. As for those who offended you, they are now haunted by bad luck and have encountered ghosts and evil spirits. Whether they live or die depends entirely on God's will."
The morgue cabinets seemed to come alive and responded to his words, opening and closing by themselves with a clattering sound. Only the cabinet where Xiaofan was remained silent.
Zhao Xunchang said: "Your tragic death has brought great shock to your parents. You can rest assured to reincarnate. If your fate is not over, you may be their daughter again."
The morgue, which had been unresponsive the whole time, creaked and slowly opened.
Xiao Fan sat up from inside with her body frozen stiff with frost. She turned her head towards Zhao Xunchang, her eyes rolled to the corners of her eyes, but the smile on her lips remained unchanged.
Zhao Xunchang has seen a lot of storms and doesn't care about this at all.
He was calm as if he was chatting with an old friend: "The choice has been given to you, you decide which one to choose."
After saying this, he crossed his arms over his chest and said no more.
I don’t know how long it took, but Xiaofan fell back down straight.
This was a signal, and the morgues on the three walls were closed one after another, and everything returned to calm.
Zhao Xunchang looked at Xiaofan and said, "Good girl, you will live a long and healthy life in your next life."
At this time, Chen Ling and the other two had already found the dormitory of the male student who picked up the paper roses.
The dormitory is a four-person room, and two of the beds have been vacated. It has been nearly two months since the senior year graduation season, and the owners of the remaining two beds have not found a suitable job or house yet, and are still living in the dormitory for the time being.
A notice has been issued, requiring them to move out before August 20th.
Chen Ling looked at the neatly folded bed and asked, "Where are Gu Zhao and his family?"
Gu Zhao was the student's name. He had average grades but came from a wealthy family. His parents had paved the way for him long before he officially graduated.
But the young man was proud and unwilling to be confined by the future created by his parents, so he insisted on staying in the North City to find a job.
It’s hard to find a job these days, especially for fresh graduates.
After interviewing at more than a dozen companies and failing to find a satisfactory one, Gu Zhao felt a little discouraged.
"Look, he went out to look for a job again early this morning. But I really don't know where he went." After saying this, the roommate glanced at the three people standing in the middle of the dormitory and whispered, "Are you really his brothers? There are too many brothers."
Chen Ling gave a perfunctory “hmm” and asked him, “Has Gu Zhao behaved abnormally in the past one or two days?”
The roommate was stunned for a moment, and goose bumps appeared on the side of his neck.
His throat seemed to be strangled, his voice was blocked, and his voice was dry. "I have been classmates with him for four years and have been roommates for four years. I know him very well. Gu Zhao is not a very cheerful person. He is the type who is slow to warm up and it is difficult for him to open up to others. But recently..."
The roommate swallowed nervously, cleared his throat and continued, "Actually, it happened yesterday. He suddenly told me that he met a new friend who was handsome, well-spoken, and a senior who graduated from the school before. He spoke highly of the so-called senior, but when I asked him his name, he was stunned and didn't say anything. When I asked again, he stared at me fiercely and told me not to meddle in other people's business."
Chen Ling: "What do you mean by meddling in other people's business?"
"How would I know?" The roommate had a bitter face and seemed a little confused, but soon, his face turned gloomy and he shivered with fear.
"But the voice that said this was strange, a little hoarse and gloomy, like it came from another person using Gu Zhao's mouth."
"Then what?" Chen Ling asked.
"Then Gu Zhao went out and didn't come back until the night." The roommate frowned when he said this, and then stood up. "By the way, when Gu Zhao came back last night, he was holding a rose in his hand. I saw him holding that flower the afternoon before yesterday. I don't know who gave it to him, but it was folded beautifully and delicately."
Chen Ling was afraid that if he told him the truth, the student in front of him would have a psychological trauma about paper flowers, so he refrained from saying anything and just asked, "What else? For example, has he ever hummed a funeral song?"
"What are you crying about?" the roommate whispered.
Chen Ling repeated it, and his roommate's face turned pale. "Why is he humming funeral music?" He looked at them suspiciously again, "Who are you?"
At this time, Li Hongyu suddenly said: "There is news."
The three of them worked in sync, ignoring their roommates and turning to leave.
After making sure that no one in the dormitory could hear it, Li Hongyu showed his mobile phone screen to Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei.
Those were a few chat conversations. Li Hongyu's senior said that the last time Gu Zhao appeared was on the rooftop of the dormitory. Someone from the opposite building saw him standing on a high place, bending down and looking down.