Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  The talisman on the door of the Taiping Temple emitted a faint glow, and the light flickered uncertainly. Zhang Shanyi felt a bit tense, because he was also unsure whether this talisman would work on the newly deceased ghost. Ding Lingxiu extinguished his cigarette butt, stretched his waist, and spoke in his usual tone:

  "Old man, this girl's resentment is quite strong, what happened that she was sent here?"

  Old Wang still delayed for a few seconds before slowly responding:

  "This woman was just sent over last night, with her head and more than half of her body blown off by a ceiling fan."

  "Was he hanged by a ceiling fan?" Zhang Shanyi asked in surprise, it was the first time he had heard of such a tragic way to die.

  "There were three others who accompanied her to the hospital, they were eating at a restaurant when an old ceiling fan fell from above and sliced this woman diagonally. The other few people were also in a terrible state, when they arrived here their bodies were covered with sauce and bloodstains, that woman's clothes were all torn apart and there was still flesh stuck to them."

  "So that's how it is, no wonder the resentment was so strong." Zhang Shanyi couldn't help but sigh.

  The mournful ghostly wails continued unabated, coming intermittently from the other side of the door, as if this vengeful spirit still seemed not to believe in death and was unwilling to die just like that.

  Ding Lingxiu felt a little melancholy. People always think that death is something that happens to others, and it will never suddenly come to themselves one day. We either tear our hearts out for love or cut into our bones with hatred. Perhaps one day we suddenly feel that living has no meaning, perhaps one day the difficulties we encounter make us feel like the sky is falling apart.

  But what does it all add up to in the face of death?

  What's terrifying is not death, but that we're all living and every day is so ordinary, yet we still deceive ourselves into thinking that ordinariness is the truth.

  "Ding brother, you've provoked this happy god, what are we going to do now?" Zhang Shanyi looked at him helplessly.

  "What's the time now?" Ding Lingxiu asked.

  "Two o'clock in the afternoon."

  Ding Lingxiu seemed to be thinking of something, looked at Old Wang and said:

  "Grandpa, are there still several empty freezers inside?"

  Old Wang looked at Ding Lingxiu with a strange expression for a long time before saying:

  "Two..."

  Ding Ling's eyes sparkled as a plan formed in his mind, and he smiled at Zhang Shanyi.

  "You see what I'm doing, don't you...?" Zhang Shanyi looked at Ding Lingshu in surprise, as if he had guessed his thoughts, but Ding Lingshu suddenly signaled him to be quiet.

  "Ai, you haven't even eaten lunch yet, looking at all this blood and flesh has made me hungry, let's go eat something." Ding Lingxiu changed the subject, putting his arm around Zhang Shanyi's neck.

  "You really can associate anything with food!" Zhang Shanyi looked embarrassed.

  "Sorry to bother you, old man, but this demon is too ferocious. It seems we may not be able to subdue it after all. Looks like the Dean will have to invite someone else." Ding Lingxiu bowed his hands to Old Wang, and suddenly became somewhat timid.

  Old Wang didn't even give him a glance and continued back into his dilapidated hut to watch TV.

  The two of them hastily returned to the first floor.

  "What? You really gave up?" Zhang Shanyi said.

  "What a joke, we haven't even tried yet, what do you think the probability is that we can catch the Corpse Eater?" Ding Lingxiu looked at Zhang Shanyi seriously.

  "If I had to use probability to describe it, I think there's only a 40% chance of success. Given your current state, I wouldn't say more than 30%." Zhang Shanyi said seriously, and Ding Lingshu nodded in agreement.

  "Ah Yi, your judgment is very accurate. That's why sometimes, people who are too clever can't accomplish great things." Ding Lingxiu's eyes were deep and profound as he leaned against the wall.

  "Why?"

  "Because you're too clever to take fantasies seriously anymore!"

  Ding Lingxiu finished speaking, rubbed his neck and walked out of the hospital.

  Zhang Shanyi gazed at Ding Lingshu's back, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth, but it didn't linger for long before fading away. The young man in front of him, whose emotions were not easily revealed, had an astonishing amount of experience and insight into life despite his youth. Although they hadn't known each other for long, they were somehow bound together by fate's invisible shackles. Zhang Shanyi himself couldn't explain why he decided to follow Ding Lingshu's footsteps, perhaps it was because of their mutual understanding or maybe it was due to his own expectations.

  "How did I run into you two again? What are you two running around everywhere for? You're as inseparable as a young couple." Luo Huaiyu blocked the hastily departing Ding Lingxiu.

  "Hehe, nothing." Ding Lingxiu smiled mischievously.

  "No, heavens... how can you smell so disgusting? Did you guys go to the morgue?" Luo Huaiyu's face suddenly changed, looking at them with some horror.

  Ding Lingxiu did not answer, and Zhang Shanyi also didn't know how to respond.

  "Zhang Dair, you didn't take Lin Xiu to that place, did you? Don't you know what's been happening there these past few days?" Lu Huaiyu suddenly became stern, but her concerned emotions were evident.

  "Has your father told you about the mortuary?" Ding Lingxiu asked, because he felt that with Luo Yuan's personality and age, it was unreasonable to tell his own daughter such a thing.

  "I... I heard it from a colleague, now everyone is talking about it."

  Luohuai Yu's eyes darted back and forth, Ding Lingshu felt that Luohuai Yu seemed to be hiding something.

  Because Dean Luo deeply understood the severity of this matter, it was impossible for him to let this news spread easily outside.

  "Hey, never mind about that, have you eaten the breakfast I sent over?" asked Luo Huaiyu.

  "En, thank you Miss Huaiyu," Ding Lingshu said.

  "Is that all? I've treated you with kindness, but you don't even want to properly repay me!" Luo Huaiyu said, shaking her body as she held the medical records behind her back.

  "Alright, I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow night," said Ding Lingxiu with a smile.

  "It's settled then, I still have to deliver medicine to a ward, let's talk later." Lu Huaiyu smiled brightly.

  The two of them waved goodbye and continued walking out of the hospital. Lu Huaiyu looked at their receding backs, somewhat perplexed.

  "Brother Ding, you're really lucky," Zhang Shanyi said.

  Ding Lingxu lazily said:

  "I'm used to it... I'm a popular model's girlfriend."

  "Haha, this Luo Waiyu is usually lukewarm to others, but last time I basically saved her life, and she didn't even show much enthusiasm towards me. Who would have thought that after being punched by you, she'd become so enthusiastic?" Zhang Shanyi's words were joking, but there was a hint of envy in his tone.

  "Because I hit her, it means we have physical contact!" Ding Lingxiu said.

  Zhang Shanyi was speechless for a long time before saying:

  "Eh? Brother Ding, where are we going?"

  "Go to the peace room."

  "Huh? Didn't we just leave? And where are you going?"

  "It must be sneaking away!" Ding Lingxiu replied calmly.

  "Huh? You really want to finish watching that striptease show?" Zhang Shanyi was puzzled.

  "I suppose you've also noticed that this old Wang is a bit odd." Ding Lingxiu's tone suddenly turned serious.

  "That's right, an old man who has been working as a night watchman in the mortuary for years doesn't have anything to ward off evil spirits on him. Moreover, there isn't even a basic mirror to ward off evil spirits in his room, and the layout of the room is also very strange. I don't know if the old man did it intentionally, but the clutter in the house blocks all the sunny corners of the room, it's simply a place where evil spirits gather." Zhang Shanyi also became serious.

  "So, I didn't continue to reveal my plan just now." Ding Lingxiu nodded, although he wasn't as knowledgeable about Feng Shui as Zhang Shan Yi, but he could also see that there was something eerie about the room. However, the old man had been living in the peaceful room for so long without being harmed, and even when the Corpse Eater appeared, it didn't harm him, which seemed suspicious.

  "Brother Ding, what's your plan?" Zhang Shanyi asked, suddenly recalling the question Ding Lingxiu had asked Old Wang in the morgue earlier. His expression changed involuntarily, "You wouldn't... want us to sneak into that icebox tonight, would you?"

  Ding Lingxiu raised his thumb and said with a smile that was not quite a smile:

  "Ai, you really understand me, you guessed it right."

  "Ah……this won't do, haven't you thought about this problem? Let's not mention whether we'll freeze to death or not, even if we can hold on in the freezer, what if another corpse is sent in? Won't we be discovered right away?" Zhang Shanyi immediately vetoed this plan.

  "Ai, you may have guessed that my plan was to hide in the icebox, but you only got half of it right." Ding Lingxiu lit a cigarette.

  "Really?"

  "We're going to drill into one of the other four cabinets that have bodies in them, not those two empty ones."

  "What?" Zhang Shanyi was shocked beyond measure.