paranoianovel Chapter 42 Boundaries
Chapter 42 Boundaries
As dusk falls and night falls, the bustling town gradually falls silent. The waning moon hangs in the west, casting shimmering reflections on the river.
In the dimly lit alley
The oil lamp flickered dimly, and the candlelight swayed uncertainly.
With a gloomy expression, Chen Ming meticulously mended the straw figure in his hand, the name Chen Qinghe still faintly visible on it.
After the stitches were completely finished, Chen Ming cut his palm and filled the jar on the table. Pale-faced, he tried his best to steady his trembling body.
The straw figure, soaked in blood, made gurgling sounds. In just a moment, the entire bowl of blood was absorbed. The yellowish-red straw figure faintly emitted an eerie and chilling scent.
'Bang bang bang'
The sound of the copper ring striking the wooden door echoed throughout the house.
Chen Ming stuffed the straw figure back into the wooden box under the bed before slowly opening the door.
"Father, this is Master Zhiyuan, a demon-slaying captain under the Demon Suppression Division. He has come to visit us to offer his assistance."
Ruan Huaizhong also squeezed in through the crack in the door. He looked at Chen Ming with a fawning expression, his palms already soaked with cold sweat.
"Uncle Chen..."
In Niujia Town, from children to adults, everyone feared the infamous corpse retriever, even Chen Qinghe's closest friend.
"Amitabha. My secular name is Ze Zhiyuan. Please address me as Zhiyuan, Benefactor Chen."
"Having come this far, what are your plans?"
Chen Ming was hunched over, coughing violently. Yet his eyes were sharp, as if they could see right through the monk's soul.
He questioned the monk bluntly, as if certain that the monk had come with malicious intent.
"Father, the sorcerer has saved me and Huaizhong. How could he be a villain who harbors ill intentions towards us? Isn't there some misunderstanding?"
The monk showed no sorrow or joy, his head bowed as he demurely looked at the increasingly rapid turning of the prayer beads in his palm. No one knew what he was thinking.
Chen Ming's gaze shifted slightly, settling on Chen Qinghe's face. That brief moment of eye contact seemed like an eternity to Chen Qinghe, making him feel unbearable.
Ruan Huaizhong, who was standing next to them, quickly tried to smooth things over.
"Uncle Chen, it's getting dark. Why don't we go inside first and talk?"
Only then did Chen Qinghe notice Chen Ming's hastily bandaged hand. He first looked at the blood-stained cloth strips, then asked with concern.
Chen Ming didn't answer, but slammed the door shut. His expression changed several times, but he eventually returned to calm.
"Tomorrow...tomorrow we'll go out of the river to retrieve the body..."
A detached voice echoed within the house. Chen Qinghe, who had been somewhat apprehensive, changed his expression slightly, but ultimately told Tong Huai'an about the strange occurrences in his home.
Chen Ming remained calm and indifferent, sipping the welding fumes with a detached air.
"There is a great terror beneath the river, which cannot be investigated by ordinary people."
"Tomorrow happens to be an unlucky day and month. If the problem of the drowned ghosts isn't resolved before midnight, half the town's population will perish here. The newly dead will mingle with the old ghosts, and the entire Niujia Town will become a ghost town..."
The monk's extremely hoarse voice, which had been silent for a long time, rang in everyone's ears.
"If you go out of the river, could you take me with you?"
Chen Ming stared coldly at the monk for a long time before fixing his gaze on Chen Qinghe. The monk naturally noticed this as well.
He closed his eyes and nodded, waiting quietly for Chen's father's reply.
"Then let's go."
Having said all he could say, Chen Ming's absent-mindedness flared up again.
"My son...my son..."
The indistinct murmurs brought tears to Chen Qinghe's eyes, and he helped his staggering father back to bed.
"Huaizhong... Huaizhong..."
The mournful sound entered the room through the crack in the door. Ruan Huaizhong was initially surprised, but then all his joy turned into terror.
The aged voice outside the door belonged to Ruan Huaizhong's long-deceased mother!
"Qinghe..."
Ruan Huaizhong gripped Chen Qinghe's clothes tightly. His legs trembled and his whole body shook as if he would defecate and urinate in a moment.
The monk remained calm, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.
The loud knocking started again, but this time it wasn't just three people; it sounded like more than a dozen evil spirits were working together.
"Another...another person has died..."
"Master... my Liu family has provided you with the best food and drink... why have you abandoned us... could it be that your heart is cold as well..."
Master Liu's voice rang out, joined by the shouts of all seventeen members of the Liu family.
Outside
The house was completely surrounded by a swarm of drowned ghosts, and the surrounding houses were deathly silent.
This doesn't mean that all the neighbors have died, but rather that the drowned ghosts only reap the rewards of those who died in chronological order, thus maximizing the stimulation of people's inner fear.
The two servants who had been instructed by Master Liu to follow the three people cried out in alarm upon seeing this, and scrambled back dozens of steps.
A pair of pitch-black cloth shoes suddenly appeared in front of the two of them.
Immediately, a sinister smile appeared on Master Liu's swollen, pale face. The servant, already completely bewildered, was utterly stunned.
A moment later, two splashes echoed through the silent fields. Then, two pairs of hands appeared on the bank, reaching up...
...
"Qinghe... I hope they won't break down this door..."
"No, the door separates the living and the dead... If they are not allowed to enter, the door gods will keep them all outside."
Chen Qinghe wasn't sure either, but at this moment he had to step forward to reassure his timid best friend.
"Hehe...Found you guys..."
The pale moonlight shone through the gaps between the tiles... and a swollen, pale face peered in.
Its face was greedy, and its eyes revealed unmistakable ferocity.
"Oh no! We forgot to patch up the broken tiles we were supposed to repair a few days ago!"
Clang... Clang...
The sharp footsteps made a crisp sound as they rubbed against the tiles, and the eaves of the Chen family's house were crawling with drowned ghosts!
"What should I do..."
"What should we do... Qinghe..."
Ruan Huaizhong stared in despair at the increasingly empty rooftop, his mind already blank, and could only mechanically repeat this murmur.
"Go inside..."
The monk pushed open the door first and went inside. Chen Qinghe gritted his teeth and followed. As for the absent-minded Ruan Huaizhong, Chen Qinghe had already dragged him into the room.
"Master... so you can rest easy now...?"
Although the monk's expression was solemn, he was actually moving his body. This was in order to quickly get his body into a fighting state.
"I'm not sure, but the house should be intact. They can't find any loopholes, so they can't get in..."
The monk tried his best to comfort the two, but he was completely focused on the door that was being knocked on.
A cold wind blew in gusts, making people shiver.
Outside the door, wails filled the air, and through the cracks, pairs of greedy, violent eyes peered out. They stared intently at the four people inside the house, repeating fragments of their dying cries.
"As dawn breaks, dogs bark and roosters crow. These evil spirits will be frightened away by the Lesser Yang energy and forced to hide in the shadows..."
The monk spoke again, but his expression was much calmer.
"But...only a very small part of my house gets sunlight..."