Chapter 15 Verse 14

  "Can we... make a deal? For example, I can help you fulfill something, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

  Senko's eyes, like a dead fish, could only see one thing.

  Cheng Chou shut his mouth. No matter how stupid or dull he was, he could see that the female ghost in front of him had no intention of communicating with him. At present, she obviously only had one purpose, which was to absorb his yang energy!

  Watching Chitose's terrifying face with facial muscles twisted due to hanging herself getting closer and closer, Seiyu felt both scared and wronged.

  In our Chinese ghost stories, the female ghosts are all beauties, not only with great looks and figures, but also skilled in music, chess, literature, and painting. Even when they take a man's yang energy, it's still a very... romantic way of doing things. But why did the Japanese female ghosts change? They're all so terrifying! And the one who found me was even an middle-aged obasan...

  A pair of dark purple hands with black fingers landed on his shoulders, and Cheng Zhou could even feel the stiffness of these palms.

  Her palms tightened, grasping his shoulders.

  This caused Chiyoko and him to rapidly close the distance between them, so close that he could see the blood vessels in her eyes.

  "Save me..." Cheng Zhou never thought he would have a day where he would shout out these two words.

  But these two words sounded in his ears, and even he himself knew that the voice was really too small.

  Fear seemed to have taken control of his vocal cords as well.

  It was a strange feeling. Just now in the locker room, he thought that Chiyoda's hand had no actual sensation, but now he clearly felt the weight of this pair of hands on his shoulder.

  I don't know if it's because he was scared, but Cheng Zhou's self-protection system, which had been built up since childhood, started to activate, and his attention shifted from the fact that Chitose had already caught him to other things.

  Chiyako shouldn't be a zombie, should she? he thought.

  If she's a zombie, then everyone should have noticed the change in Chiyoko's body back at the Kawau old mansion. He remembered that zombies on TV needed an actual physical body to move around.

  So that's the soul materialized? Because it sucked his yang energy? Why doesn't she suck other people's? Does the ghost also know to pick soft persimmons? Wooo...

  Damn it! The feeling I had at the Kawau's house just came back. An inexplicable chill is slowly invading his internal organs, gradually spreading to his limbs.

  This extremely uncomfortable feeling also pulled back his gradually scattered attention.

  Will I die like this? It's really worthless to die like this. At least let me save two people and leave a good name before I kick the bucket.

  This time's trip to J country was really terrible. From now on, even if you kill me, I don't want to come to J country again... Dad and mom, I'm sorry... Waaah, I don't know if this death can be counted as a work injury... Waaah!

  Ahh! If they don't give me work injury compensation, even after I die, I'll become a vengeful spirit and make them pay the price!

  The first one is looking for...

  "Crash!" The window glass across from me suddenly shattered!

  Innumerable fragments pierced through Chiyo's body, but fell down with a clatter in front of Seijuro.

  In a daze, Cheng Zhou raised his eyes and saw... the car window behind Qian Dai's back seemed to be pierced by a branch. A thick branch had penetrated the glass and stabbed into Qian Dai's back.

  Look down at the branch tip that came out of Chiyako's chest, and Seiya showed a dazed smile. Let you materialize, hehe, it seems like I've hit you now. Hahaha!

  Chidako's expression was strange, her face twitching as if it were being pulled by an invisible string. Her purple-swollen lips parted, seeming to want to say something, but before Cheng Zhou could understand what she meant, Chidako's entire body began to convulse. In an instant, Chidako's face suddenly ballooned up, completely losing its human shape. Just as Cheng Zhou was about to let out a terrified "ahh", Chidako's body dispersed like mud washed away by a strong current.

  "I'm sorry... it's taken me this long to come and rescue you..."

  It seemed as if there was a voice ringing in his ear.

  "I can't eliminate the ghost... Only when it materializes... Can I cut it down..."

  Who? Who is talking to me?

  "Don't worry... it's gone... and has merged with the dust..."

  "You'll get better soon...... I'll give you strength......"

  "You need to go and resist..."

  Chengzhou couldn't hear anything anymore, his consciousness completely cut off all contact with the outside world.

  Cheng Chou was awakened by the children's screams.

  As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a large circle of people surrounding him. The dark and oppressive heads of the crowd scared him half to death. Had he done something again that made him the center of attention? Please, he already had a phobia of being gawked at.

  Would you mind not surrounding me?

  His body moved, and he felt a strange sensation on his wrist. Cheng Zhou tilted his head to take a look and noticed that an intravenous needle was inserted into his wrist. He then lifted his head to glance at the hanging IV bag... Hmm, where is he now? In a hospital?

  "It's really great that you woke up!" Xiū Míng excitedly grasped his hand, her eyes reddening.

  "That's right, you've slept for a whole day and night! You scared everyone half to death."

  How did the master and mistress of Lianshan Villa come? And there's a familiar-looking old woman.

  "Cheng Zhou, you're really lucky! You know what happened when the big tree next to the cable car you were riding suddenly fell over, its entire body pressed onto the car, and a thick branch even pierced through the glass into the carriage! That branch was right above your head! There was shattered glass all around you. The doctor said that excessive blood loss and severe shock caused you to faint." Young Liu Rong spoke excitedly, spitting out the story.

  "What's even weirder is that you don't have a single wound on your body, yet the doctor says you've lost too much blood..." This time it was George who spoke with an incredulous expression.

  "It's just that there weren't many passengers on the bus, and everyone was sitting relatively far apart. To say it, you're just unlucky, that tree could have fallen in any direction, but it just happened to land right on your head."

  "All the passengers in the car are fine, but you're the only one who fainted."

  "Do you feel anything wrong now? Like where it hurts?"

  So many voices...

  Spare me... My head hurts...

  A cool little hand covered his forehead.

  You idiot! I thought you could lift the seal and see vengeful spirits, at least deal with that resentful woman, but it turns out you're just a useless and ugly big fool!

  Incompetent! Coward! Can't even handle that small, insignificant evil spirit, and still owe that damned tree demon a huge favor. Truly... infuriating!

  This voice is so noisy. It's echoing directly in his head but he can't understand what it's saying.

  "Would you all mind leaving? The patient has just woken up and needs some rest."

  Woo woo, Nurse Sister is so good! Cheng Zhou looked at the white-clad nurse in her thirties, with tears of gratitude flashing in her eyes.

  Xiu Ming, still excited, probably also saw that Cheng Zhou now needed quiet rest the most. He hastily agreed with the nurse's opinion and asked everyone to leave the ward. Before turning around, Xiu Ming added a special explanation:

  "Don't worry, all medical expenses are covered by the Mt. Takao Tourist Bureau. They just hope you can recover quickly."

  Cheng Chong smiled with a mixture of surprise and gratitude, this sentence was apparently more effective than any miraculous medicine for him, now he could finally rest assured to recover from his illness. Hmm, since it wouldn't cost him any money, could he take the opportunity to do a full-body checkup? Especially for his eyes and brain.

  Whether they were there to see the excitement or to visit the sick, all the people left, leaving only the child, who insisted on staying behind as the "son" of the patient.

  You'd think the little devil stayed behind to take care of his dad, but you're dead wrong. The kid only stayed behind to sit on the bed and help his dad eat the fruit and pastries that others sent over.

  Cheng Zhou endured the crunching sound of the little ghost eating an apple, while trying to fall asleep. He felt his body was heavy and all he wanted to do was sleep.

  The source of his fatigue came from his dreams.

  In his dream, he remembered that Chiyako seemed to have said something to him just before she disappeared. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't believe what she had said. He needed to hear it again, he wanted to make sure...

  Unfortunately, before he fell asleep, someone came to visit again.

  The first words of the police officer from Nanshan as he pushed open the door to the hospital room were: "I've confirmed with the doctor, and he says you're now in a condition to answer some questions for me."

  I hate the police……!

  Apparently without noticing Cheng Zhou's reluctance, Nan Shan pulled a chair and sat down beside the bed. Standing next to him was Xiu Ming, whose eyes were filled with sympathy but unable to help him in any way.

  Due to the innate fear of the petty bourgeoisie towards police and officials, Cheng Zhou had no choice but to force himself to respond to Nanshan's questioning... which was somewhat like an interrogation.

  "The passengers on the bus said that they saw you suddenly 'jump' from your seat to the aisle when approaching the terminal, and then stood in the aisle facing the window with a very dull expression. Some people also saw your mouth moving as if muttering to yourself, but couldn't hear what you were saying."

  Nan Shan opened his notebook.

  "There was another passenger who testified that after the branch was inserted into the window, the shattered glass fell down in front of you about two centimeters away from your face as if it had been blocked by something. He also testified that before you fell down, the branch was at most five centimeters away from you. Can you explain to me what these phenomena mean?"

  Xiǔ Míng was shocked by the testimony understood by Nán Shān while translating.

  Japanese people are more likely to accept the concept of ghosts and gods than Chinese people, and they have always been enthusiastic about researching strange phenomena.

  What? The Han Chinese opened their mouths, and from a psychological perspective, they rejected this kind of ghost talk. Even if he had personally witnessed or experienced it before. He firmly believed that all of this could be explained by science, what he saw and felt was just an illusion. It must be!

  Nan Shan carefully observed Cheng Chou's expression and continued, "Also, the doctor diagnosed that the main reason for your coma was excessive blood loss. However, no matter how meticulous their examination was, they didn't find any wound on you, not even a needle-sized one. Can you explain what happened?"

  I told you, but you won't believe! Cheng Zhou refused to answer, because he didn't even believe it himself.

  "It's a ghost! It's the female ghost that Daddy saw at Uncle Kawada's house." The little boy sitting on the bed, hugging an apple and taking small bites, suddenly chimed in.

  Although the child's mouth was full of apples and his words were unclear, both Nanshan and Xiuming heard what he was saying.

  "Was it your father who told you?" Officer Nanshan asked with a cough.

  "Uh-huh!" The kid nodded.

  Chengzhou looked at Xiaomao's head and wondered if he was talking nonsense or really knew something.

  The child gave him an innocent smile.

  This genuine smile suddenly made Cheng Chou's goosebumps spread all over his body.

  "Did you really see... a female ghost? In broad daylight? In front of so many people?" Atheist Officer Nan Shan didn't believe Cheng Chou's ghost story at all.

  "I'm anemic." Cheng Zhou sighed, he didn't want to believe it either.

  "What?"

  Cheng Zhou raised his voice and said, "I'm saying... I have anemia. The symptoms those tourists saw are all due to my severe anemia, and I fainted not because I was scared, but because I didn't eat anything from morning till noon, which led to severe anemia and made me pass out."

  Seeing Nanshan's satisfied expression, he knew he was heading in the right direction.

  "As for those glasses... I think it should be due to gravity." Cheng Zhou was also trying to find a scientific explanation.

  Nan Shan nodded.

  "As for why the branch happened to stop in front of me, all I can say is... I'm relatively lucky..."

  Nan Shan closed his laptop, he himself didn't think that coming to Cheng Zhou's place would get him any useful information, it was just a kind of police instinct that made him unbearable to seek answers here.

  It seems that since this Chinese person set foot on Japanese soil, some strange events have been surrounding this Chinese person.

  The strangest thing is that the oldest local resident, Di Yuansheng's wife, and the chief priest of the Miyagi Shrine, specially came to visit this Chinese person. If he hadn't seen them talking at the hospital entrance and overheard them mentioning Cheng Zhou's name with very serious and subtle expressions, he wouldn't have gone over to ask specifically.

  Unfortunately, those two obviously concealed something very important but had no intention of explaining it to him, only evasively saying they heard rumors and came over out of curiosity.

  Since it was just curiosity, why did you show such a respectful expression and tone when mentioning the name of Cheng Zhou? This was a question that Nan Shan couldn't ask out loud.

  Nan Shan always felt like he had overlooked something, and that thing was right next to this Huaxia person. What was it?

  Nan Shan's gaze swept over Cheng Zhou, the child, the gifts that had been sent, and the window of the hospital room.

  Why did he feel it but couldn't grasp it? Nan Shan's eyes revealed a hint of confusion.

  The little boy sitting on the hospital bed took another big bite of an apple and started gnawing at another one.

  The perplexity in Nanshan's eyes dissipated, and although Chengzhou was strange, the murder case related to him had been solved, and his suspicion had been basically cleared. There were still many things waiting for him to do on his desk, and continuing to stay here would only be a waste of time.

  Nan Shan seemed to have understood for the time being, but he didn't explicitly tell Cheng Zhou that he was no longer a suspect of the police. Instead, he spoke ambiguously and left with Xiu Ming.

  When Nanshan and Xiuming left, the child climbed onto Chengzhou's body and curiously asked: "Why did you tell a lie?"

  "I didn't..."

  "I know you're lying! Grown-ups can't cheat kids!"

  What's the big deal if I deceive you? Humph! Cheng Zhou pulled up the quilt to cover his head and turned over.

  Ostrich!

  I didn't hear anything, I didn't hear anything at all.

  Don't say that as a policeman, Nan Shan wouldn't believe his words, even he himself wasn't sure if his mind was clear at that time. Heaven knows whether what he saw and heard during this period were all illusions, maybe he really didn't adapt to the water and soil of J country.

  After all, no one else saw the existence of ghosts, only him...

  What was that famous saying again?

  What most people believe is right, and those who are different will be locked up in a mental hospital.

  That's right, this sentence.

  He mustn't be locked up in a mental hospital...... Never!

  So... Chengzhou decided to continue being an ostrich.

  The child despised him and kicked him with his small foot.

  Chengzhou covered his head and pretended to be a child getting a massage.

  The kid kicked him for a while, probably felt bored, got down from the bed and went out by himself. Earlier he saw quite a few edible things in this hospital, although they didn't look very appetizing, at least they could temporarily fill his stomach.

  The little kid's small figure twisted and turned until he reached the vicinity of the operating room, looked around to make sure no one was watching, then this little guy brazenly pushed open the large door of the operating room and walked in...