"I'm just meeting to die here."
Qu Dingchun replied.
Every year, Cave City distributes many gift cards worth thousands of gold, but not everyone who receives one can receive a birthday gift worth thousands of gold.
Although the ghost king is vicious, just like the self-proclaimed "Dharma King of Mighty Virtue in the Ten Directions", he is an evil god who is being sacrificed, not a vicious ghost who acts purely with cruelty.
He has rules.
"What rules?"
"Give me all your family assets."
"Is this enough?"
"What's not enough is filled with life."
Qu Dingchun nodded at his chest.
"My own life or the lives of everyone around me." When things came to a close, he seemed much more open-minded than that day. "No matter how stupid you are, you know how to choose."
So there was a banquet in front of us - one unlucky guy made an appointment with several other unlucky guys who had the same problem, had a good meal and drank, and died in time before dusk came.
Qu Dingchun wanted to introduce Li Changan, but Li Changan stopped him.
"If you are imprisoned into the cave city after your death, you will probably become a ghost. There will be no place to burn incense. What's the use of knowing names and taboos for a poor Taoist?"
The dining room became increasingly bleak.
Bang!
But the scribe who had been immersed in drinking wine suddenly stood up, threw the wine bottle on the ground, pointed his halberd at Li Changan and cursed angrily:
"You little bastard! Are you here to see grandpa's joke?!"
"What's so funny about a dying person?" Li Changan shook his head, pulled up a chair and sat down, "I'm here to borrow something."
The scribe sneered: "I have given my life and property to others, what else can I borrow?"
"The poor Taoist wants to go down to the cave city, but the way is difficult to find, so he wants to be guided. Today, I am bothering you for no other reason than for your hands..."
Li Changan said calmly to the various faces on the table.
"Thousands of gold stickers."
…………
dusk.
When the last evening bell falls.
The open ditches and culverts in Qiantang breathed out thick yellow fog, so the sky suddenly became dark and the city became silent. All living people, dead people, poultry, livestock or other things, rich or poor, old or young, all held their breath, extinguished the lights, and huddled in their own shacks or tile houses, trembling and suffering. Wait until dawn.
Only in the deserted streets, the wind swept away paper ashes and sobbed, and the lingering incense and cold candles were still shaking with little sparks.
Er.
Bursts of advocacy suddenly appeared in the dead silence.
If you listen carefully, it sounds like the song "Peach Peach Presentation" is a song meant to celebrate birthdays.
The music gradually became clearer, and the vague outline of a line of carriages and horses was faintly visible in the fog.
At the front of the carriages and horses, someone held a lantern to guide the way, performing funny dance steps accompanied by festive cheers.
Getting closer.
Only then can you see clearly, where is the lantern and where is the dancing?
The "man" who led the way was as skinny as a stick, but a pustule larger than his head was swollen on the top of his head. His scalp was as thin as rice paper, and the pus was faintly swaying inside, exuding a turbid light.
The long and thin neck was overwhelmed, and the head hung on the chest.
So the huge head staggered forward, leading it to the steps, as if dancing.
Behind it, there are several trumpeters. In addition to the suona, sheng, and pipe in their hands, each of them has shackles on their necks. The shackles are connected with crossbars, and the crossbars are connected to a cart.
The cart is richly decorated, luxurious and heavy. The heavy burden is placed on the shoulders of the promoters, and the suffering is squeezed out of the chest and poured into the instruments, making the "Peach Presenting" in the fog even more high-pitched and festive.
Singing and dancing, the team rolled over paper ashes and incense candles all over the city, and stopped in front of a restaurant.
The guide ghost held up its huge and misshapen head, a strange smile appeared on its face, as if it was about to speak.
Suddenly there was a sound of drumming in the fog.
It's still the song "Peach Peach".
Then, another team of identical carriages and horses drove to the front of the building.
Then, the sound of encouragement and the sound of wheels turning continued, the third team, the fourth team, the fifth team...
Not long after.
Eight teams of carriages and horses crowded the street.
At the same time.
More carriages and horses appeared in the vast yellow mist.
Or visiting a wealthy family, and greeting the ashen-faced passengers amidst the suppressed cries of young, old, women and children behind the wall.
Or stop at a wine shop where no one is watching, but the aroma of wine and meat overflows, and bring out a fresh corpse.
Or in front of a certain temple, the way is blocked by the gloomy-looking protectors.
…………
Fan Liang sat stiffly in the car.
His face would turn red at one moment, and turn pale at another.
Just like the excitement, expectation, anxiety, and fear in his heart, all kinds of emotions were intertwined like cold water overturning a frying pan, causing his heart to be filled with confusion.
He was not an ordinary "guest" who was forcibly invited, and he did not receive a "gift of gold". He took the initiative to have the Ghost King's banquet on his own initiative.
In order to get the "thousand gold post" from others, he also spent a lot of money and thought. Fortunately, Cave City only recognized the post but not the person, so his efforts would not be in vain.
As for.
There were rumors that he was suffering from mental illness.
The wizard hired with a lot of money laughed at himself as the best gambler in the world.
The wife invited monks and Taoists to exorcise the evil spirits to no avail, so she secretly colluded with her parents' family to seize the inheritance.
The colleagues who gave themselves "gifts of gold" kowtowed on the first day, and on the second day they were gearing up to grab business after they were finished.
He knows all this, knows it clearly!
But he also knew that if the inside information he learned was true, his birthday gift would definitely please the Ghost King, thereby obtaining an unprecedented big business and becoming the leader of the entire industry.
What if the news is false? Oh, what's wrong with people dying for money?
Thoughts change.
"Guest, we are here."
A sweet call sounded from outside the car.
He trembled, hugged the gift box tightly in his arms, suppressed his fear and got out of the car.
…
It was foggy outside the car.
It's hard to tell where you are.
All he could see was the entrance of a ditch as big as a doorway in front of him. It was dark and deep, as if the open esophagus of some kind of monster was blowing out a cold and slightly rancid wind.
Fan Liang shook his head again unconsciously.
After freshening up.
He was surprised to find that the drums, carriages and horses he had come with suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving only a guiding ghost standing in front of the cave entrance with a strange smile.
There was a rather tall man next to him, wearing shabby clothes, with only a pair of straw sandals under his feet, and carrying a wooden box - perhaps containing a treasure worth thousands of gold - casually held in his arms.
strangeness?
When we came, weren't there many carriages and horses traveling with us? Why is there only one guest besides myself?
No time to think too much.
The guide ghost has already urged him to enter the cave entrance.
Or.
Falling into the cave city.
…
Moss grows in the culvert, making it slippery underfoot.
Fan Liang soon discovered that his boots with several layers of leather soles were not as effective as straw sandals.
I accidentally stumbled and almost slipped.
"guest."
The deformed smiling face of the guide ghost pressed against his eyes.
Fan Liang's breathing suddenly stopped.
A sweet voice whispered in her ear: "Do you need my help?"
Fan Liang shook his head vigorously.
Ambition is one thing, fear is another.
Fortunately the journey is not long.
The road ahead was suddenly blocked by stagnant water. The water submerged half of the sewer, turning the culvert into an underground river.
There is even a wooden boat tied to the "riverside".
Fan Liang was not surprised.
Although it is not the peak tide viewing period on August 18th, as August approaches, the tide will gradually rise, and the tide will flow back into the city along the ditches and rivers. Every year, low-lying areas in Zhufang City are flooded by sea water.
Therefore, it is reasonable for underground rivers to appear underground. However, if the culvert becomes a waterway, wouldn’t the Cave City become the country of Ze? So have the ghost king and his messengers all become water ghosts?
Complex emotions will inevitably lead to random thoughts.
When Fan Liang put away his distracting thoughts, he found that he had boarded the boat and sailed towards the depths of the "underground river".
The surroundings suddenly became silent.
This kind of quietness is not the quietness of walking in the ditch before.
At that time, there were still slight noises, the wind hissed in the ears, the mosquitoes buzzed in the face, and the mice squeaked in the dark. But now, except for the slight sound of the boat gliding across the water, and my own heartbeat and breathing, there was nothing else.
The uncomfortable turbid light emitted by the guide ghost could only barely illuminate the dark water beside the boat. The dome of the tunnel squeezed down above the head was so dark that nothing could be seen in front and behind.
The world collapsed into a small piece on the ship.
Fan Liang couldn't help but tense up, not daring to make any noise, lest he become an outlier in this small, quiet world. He even suppressed his breathing further and further, until he almost felt dizzy due to lack of oxygen.
A little light emerged from the darkness ahead, and the world suddenly expanded.
He finally dared to take a deep breath.
You can see more and more light sources ahead.
It was a dot of light green fluorescence, sometimes lingering under the water, sometimes leaping out of the water and flying on the bow of the ship. They are not afraid of people, and some fall on the edge of the boat and shed a faint light.
Fan Liang subconsciously retreated.
Ambition and greed drove him to throw himself into the netherworld, but his instinct of fear made him wary of everything underground.
It wasn't until more fluorescent light fell on the boat that it did not harm him, and a man traveling with him even caught one and held it in the palm of his hand to examine it, that he got bold enough to lean over and take a closer look.
Wrapped in the light spots, it turned out to be ladybugs, like fireflies, with dots of light on their tails.
He opened his palms, and a ladybug flew into his hands, quiet, sparkling and cute.
Fan Liang breathed a long sigh of relief and laughed.
In any case, this little thing somewhat relieved the anxiety and fear accumulated during this journey.
As the boat went deeper, the fluorescent bugs became more and more dense.
They gathered in groups and hovered on the water. The fluorescent light reflected on the water surface, and the water surface reflected the fluorescent light. The two sides intertwined with each other and extended into the depths of the ground, as if a tributary of the star river in the sky had strayed into this underground corridor.
The boat passed by.
The "Galaxy" then jumped up, dancing in the tunnel dome to form a starry sky, splitting into two, and falling into the water like a shower of stars from both sides of the boat.
Fan Liang was dazed for a moment and couldn't help leaning out of the edge of the boat, leaning over and looking into the water.
The fluorescent light gathered together, making the water flow as clear as nothing, so shallow that it seemed as if the "river bottom" was pulled right in front of you.
There are shallow aquatic plants growing on the bottom of the water, woven into mottled green carpets, and underneath the mottled...
Fan Liang's smile instantly froze on his face, his body froze, and his pupils dilated rapidly.
Mottled.
It was a corpse - it was a woman, her flesh was half dry and half rotten, huddled among the algae, with a skeleton nestled in her arms, and several ribs pillowed under her head.
The bamboo pennant in the guide ghost's hand pierced the bottom of the water, stirring up sand and corpses.
The boat carried Fan Liang forward, and one skeleton after another slid past his eyes, men's, women's, adults', small people's, complete, incomplete, only bones left, wrapped in carrion... Layers upon layers of corpses paved a path under the water.
That bug?
A human head with still-skinned flesh lay on its back in the sand, its hair floating gently in the water waves, like slender water plants swaying.
Suddenly.
The pus-white eyes rolled slightly, and then, a ladybug emerged from the corner of the eye, dragging light green fluorescence, jumping out of the water and landing on the edge of the eye socket on Fan Liang's face.
"ah!"
He suddenly let out a shrill scream, fell onto the boat, and desperately swatted the insects on his body.
But the harder he struggled, the more insects fell down.
His screams became more miserable, like a dog whose spine had been broken.
Finally, the guide ghost spoke.
It looked back, with the same weird smile and the same sweet voice.
"Guests, don't worry, that bug doesn't eat living people. It landed on you, but it's just waiting for you to die and rot, so that it can lay its eggs."
The screams stopped abruptly.
Fan Liang calmed down instantly.
But it's not because of the guide ghost's "comfort", but...
The gift box is missing!
He was so frightened just now that he didn't care about it for a moment, but he didn't know where he threw the gift box?
In the blink of an eye, he carefully searched all the small places on the boat, but he couldn't find it!
Where? Where? !
Cold sweat flowed down his pale face, and his brain was hit by a huge dizziness. He bit his lip hard and let the pain awaken some sense.
His eyes couldn't help but cast into the water.
He gritted his teeth and decided to jump down and search all the bones under the water.
The gift box was handed to him.
"Get it," said the man traveling with him, "I almost fell into the water just now."
He snatched it away without thinking, opened it quickly, held the box tightly in his arms, and then gasped violently. Even though ladybugs crawled all over his face, there was no reaction at all.
So long.
Finally regaining his composure, he hesitated whether to say thank you.
Looking up, he fell into a daze again.
But I saw that the dome and both sides of the waterway in front were carved with dense reliefs. On the reliefs were people of all ages, men, women, and children. Each one was surrounded by several strange dogs. They were either being chased or bitten.
The craftsmanship is exquisite, and the characters are all vivid, especially the expressions on the faces of men and women, which may be frightened, painful, or regretful. They are not only lifelike, they are simply enlarged and copied faces of living people who suffered the tragic things on the sculptures. In front of you.
The fluorescent light was slightly sparse, but the light green light turned pale green, making the reliefs on the wall even more gloomy and terrifying.
The voice of the guide ghost sounded faintly:
“However, if there are those who neglect, deceive, insult, or insinuate the Dharma King and his envoys, and those who fail to fulfill the Dharma’s decree or fail to fulfill their promise within the time limit, the ghosts and gods of the Soul Catcher Department should be sent to capture their souls and throw them down into the cave city, where they will be bitten by dogs day and night. The limbs were severed and the skin and flesh were completely rotted. Even if it lasts for a hundred years, he will not be forgiven."
"The one who takes charge of the soul-catching division according to the decree of the Dharma King is my Lord..."
At some point, the guide ghost stopped holding the boat and allowed the boat to slowly drift forward.
It sat cross-legged on the bow, and its voice was no longer sweet.
He raised his hand and pointed at the center of the relief - a ghost with a slender figure and a pale face sitting on a tall war horse.
"The Soul Catcher."
