Chapter Nineteenth: Bungling Invention

  In the afternoon, I was idle at home studying these animal hides and shells, chatting with Ah Po. I asked Ah Po if all of these were just hides, where did the meat go? Ah Po said they must have been eaten, hunting is first for food, these are just discarded and wasted, hung up to sell later. I asked her if she had encountered any strange things while hunting, and when killing these hunted animals, had she ever taken out anything strange from their bellies.

  The old lady thought for a moment and told me that it was the last time her husband went hunting before he got sick, which was in August of last year. At that time, just as the sky was getting dark, her husband had shot several wild chickens and dug up an armadillo, and was about to head home when they heard someone talking in a mountain valley below. The old man thought it strange because it was farming season at the bottom of the mountain, and wondered why someone would be on the mountain so late in the day.

  The old man had also heard many stories about people sneaking into the mountains at night to dig for treasure, and he thought that maybe someone had discovered a treasure during the day and was planning to come back at night to dig it up safely. He decided to go take a look, after all, with a gun in hand, what was there to be afraid of?

  After the old man went down, the voices suddenly stopped, and no one was found. The sky wasn't completely dark yet, but vaguely saw a fox and a snake on a stone. The old man from Grandma's house didn't think much and fired a shot over there. The bullet was made of iron sand, and with one shot, both the fox and the snake were killed.

  However, despite the loud gunshot, no one came out. The old man probably got scared and hid or ran away, who would have thought that it was a fox and a snake talking? Taking advantage of the fact that it's not yet completely dark, he picked up the dead fox and snake and hurried home.

  The old woman finished speaking and turned around to go back into the room, bringing out a bundle of cloth. When she opened it up, there were three thumb-sized, milky white, semi-transparent stones inside. The old woman pointed at the largest one and said that this was from the body of the fox spirit, the second largest one was from the body of an old turtle, and the smallest one, which was about the size of a peanut, was from the snake's body.

  Tongtong told me that the fox and snake can't talk, but Lao Ye can hear them talking, which means he's been enchanted. If he hadn't fired a shot at that time, it would have been difficult for him to return home alive, but Lao Ye killed the fox and snake, and was also haunted by vengeful spirits. In other words, whether he killed or didn't kill, it was all a calamity, a disaster predetermined by fate. As for why this calamity occurred, I reckon it's related to his decades of hunting, killing so many animals that the evil energy on their bodies became too heavy, and eventually something would come knocking on his door.

  I took the stone from Grandma's hand and looked at it, isn't this the same thing as the demon egg that Tongtong had before? It was soft and elastic. The fox and snake must have become spirits too. They had extremely high spirituality, probably wanting to avenge their countless companions who were hunted by the old man. They led the old man to the mountain valley to wait for an opportunity to retaliate, but instead, the old man took the initiative and fired a shot first.

  This fox and snake failed to avenge themselves, but instead lost their lives. How could they be willing? Don't look at the old man lying in bed suffering, but when he really dies, I estimate that the outcome will be even more miserable. These resentful spirits will probably peel off his skin every day and still not feel relieved.

  If we can't save the old man, his fate after death will be a hundred times more miserable. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but furrow my brow. If we can't save him, then we've harmed him. Although not saving him would probably mean he wouldn't last much longer anyway, having gone through my hands makes it my responsibility.

  The old woman told me that this thing was originally going to be thrown away, and when it was killed, the intestines were even discarded under the roots of the fruit tree as fertilizer. As a result, one night, she found that these small stones could actually glow, so she picked them up and kept them.

  I asked Grandma, "If I cure Uncle's illness, can these three stones be mine?" The cause of Uncle's illness is indeed caused by them. Of course, this was just my nonsense, but these three weird eggs are useless in her hands and will only attract more mountain spirits to bother us. It's like holding a box of gold, can't you be bothered? If it can't be used, it's just a pile of metal, if the weird eggs can't be used, they're just stones, why not give them to me, maybe I have other uses for them.

  In the evening, I told my grandma to go out for a walk and wait for me to call her back. After she left, I made some preparations. I killed the only big rooster in our house, drew a paper man on paper, cut it out and stuck it on the window. I'm not sure if it's effective, but I've heard that rooster blood can ward off ghosts, so using its blood to draw a paper man and sticking it on the window should work too! It's better than nothing.

  I carried the old man under the bed, he was very thin, probably weighing less than 70 pounds. Then I put on the old man's clothes and pants and lay down on the bed. The old man didn't know how long it had been since he took a bath, and the bed was also incredibly dirty, in short, it smelled several times worse than a toilet. As soon as I lifted up the quilt, I couldn't bear it, so I changed to squatting in a corner, which shouldn't be any different from sleeping on the bed!

  I placed the jar with the infant's corpse in the center of the room, opened the lid and tied it with a red string so it couldn't escape. I crouched in the corner, enduring the stench for over half an hour, when suddenly there was a knocking sound at the door. I thought it was Ah Po coming back, but after asking twice, no one replied. Tongtong told me that those things had arrived.

  The knocking at the door continued, I got up to open it but saw nothing. After a while, the knocking sound started again, and at the same time, the kerosene lamp in the room went out by itself. This time, I didn't move, squatting in the corner, waiting for these resentful spirits to enter the house, then I would have the opportunity to get rid of them.

  As expected, within ten seconds after the lights went out, the door actually opened by itself. In the dark corner, I vaguely saw several white shadows floating in from the doorway, swaying back and forth. Those few white shadows were like someone taking a puff of smoke and exhaling, only this smoke was magnified dozens of times.

  I counted a total of five white shadows, and just as I finished counting, many more white shadows floated in from outside the door. These floating white shadows were thick and thin, with the thicker ones resembling a cluster of white fog, while the thinner ones were almost invisible if you didn't pay attention.

  After these white shadows came in, they floated motionlessly in mid-air about 30-40 cm above the ground, looking both beautiful and eerie. Grandma said there were only a few of these strange people, but I saw dozens of white shadows, estimating that the old man's time was running out, no more than three days left, not sure if I can turn things around.

  I crouched in the corner, watching these dozens of floating white shadows, not only was I not afraid in my heart, but I felt very excited, just like a fisherman seeing many fish coming to the edge of the net, nothing but prey.

  Just when I was feeling proud of myself, those white shadows began to stir again, crawling one by one under the bed, as if there was an exhaust fan under the bed that sucked away the smoke.

  Things are bad, the old man under the bed is not a fan, these resentful spirits completely ignored me, the old man under the bed has no defensive objects at all, being pressed down for so long, his body will probably not hold up tonight.

  I let out a loud cry, turned on the flashlight and rushed over to pull the old man out from under the bed. His face was even darker than Judge Bao's, his eyes bulging, blood vessels swollen like earthworms, and he was panting heavily.

  I dragged the old man out, and he was already frightened by his appearance at this moment. He suddenly stood up and grabbed my shoulder with a pair of hands that were incredibly strong, then opened his mouth and bit towards my face.

  If I were bitten by him, I'm afraid half of my face would be gnawed off, and then how could I marry a wife? In the midst of desperation, I fell backwards to the ground, and since the old man was holding onto my shoulders, he also came crashing down. I quickly pulled my legs back and then kicked him in the chest with all my might, sending him flying onto the bed. This move had worked for me before when dealing with a mountain goblin, and the old man weighed less than 70 pounds, so it wasn't difficult to send him flying.

  After kicking the old man onto the bed, I rolled all the way to the wall and stood up with a small ancient bronze knife. The small ancient bronze knife turned bright red, and after being kicked onto the bed, the old man immediately jumped down and pounced towards me. When he saw the ancient bronze knife, his bulging eyes clearly showed fear, but due to inertia, his body couldn't stop immediately, and he pounced in front of me.

  I was holding a small knife, but I didn't dare to stab him, that would be murder. So I just stood still on the spot. The old man bumped me against the wall and then he immediately turned around and pushed the door open, running outside.

  This is completely beyond my expectation, I just wanted to lure those vengeful spirits into the trap, but they all got onto the old man's body instead. It's really messed up. Now the old man won't be able to recover from his illness, and his body definitely won't make it through tonight, I...

  I shouldn't have taken the lead! After all, I don't have any experience, it would be better if Zhang Shenniang were here.

  I immediately chased after him, although I knew the old man's weak body couldn't withstand the harassment of those resentful spirits. At least he should die at home, which is better than dying in the wilderness. Who knows, maybe even his corpse wouldn't be found, with so many animals in the mountains and forests, one bite would devour him completely, how much meat could a 70-kilogram skeleton have?

  The old man ran faster than Bolt, I couldn't catch up at all, only chasing a few hundred meters, he slipped into the woods and disappeared.

  I asked Tóng Tóng what to do next, and how to chase after him. Tóng Tóng pointed me in a direction, saying to follow this mountain road straight ahead, and stop when I reached the edge of a pond.

  The old man who was possessed by a ghost ran so fast in the dark forest at night, I couldn't catch up with him even on open ground, let alone in the bushes. Following Tongtong's hint, I jogged along the mountain road for half an hour and indeed came across a pond.

  This pond is located in the middle of three mountains, with three small streams flowing into it from between the three mountains, forming a shape like the Mercedes-Benz logo, and there is a whirlpool in the center of the pond.

  I was panting with exhaustion, but suddenly I saw someone rushing down from the mountain. The person was on the other side of the pond, about 20 or 30 meters away from me. As I shone my flashlight over there, wasn't that the old man? He rushed to the edge of the pond and stopped, revealing a strange smile at me, then with a splash, he jumped into the pond.

  The old man's body was already on the verge of collapse, and with the added burden of being possessed by a ghost and running so far, it could be said that he had exhausted his last bit of life force. Even a god couldn't save him now. However, he jumped into the water pool, which shattered my idea of letting him die in the house.

  I don't know if Tongtong has a way, after all, the old man's body has been occupied, whether Tongtong can come back later and take control of the old man's body again, not letting him die in the water.