Chapter 25: The Devil's Temptation

  Su Tong didn't know how to respond, to be honest, she didn't quite believe this answer herself, but it wasn't good to say so directly, which would hurt Tang Hao's feelings and make him lose face. Moreover, after thinking about it, she realized that in the previous communication between the two of them, she had never mentioned where she lived, only saying that she couldn't go back because work ended too late. She hadn't even mentioned the hotel's name, just that it was the best one in the county town. Under these circumstances, unless Tang Hao was like a spy in the movies with some kind of tracking system on him, then "telepathy" was probably the most plausible reason.

  Su Tong didn't make a sound, and Tang Ao thought she didn't believe him, also feeling a little embarrassed. He explained: "I know this thing sounds strange when I say it out loud, so when you asked me earlier, I hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to tell you directly or not. You said in your text message that you were staying in the county, at a hotel, but suddenly I had a bad premonition, feeling like something was going to happen, and even I couldn't explain why I felt this way. I couldn't stay at home, so I drove over here, planning to contact you after arriving, ask where you were, and it turned out that when I got to the county, I really could feel how to get there, just following my intuition, driving all the way here, and actually found you, luckily in time, or else..."

  He didn't finish what he was saying, but Su Tong understood anyway. Indeed, if Tang Ao hadn't arrived in time tonight, she couldn't bear to think about what her own outcome would be. She shuddered and felt a lingering fear in her heart, remembering what Tang Ao had said earlier about Zhang Min's strange behavior: "You say his pupils are all dilated, it's not right, what exactly is wrong with him?"

  "Oh, so his name is Zhang Min, I suspected that he might have been possessed by something. After you met him at the hotel, what happened to him after he left you? Did he go anywhere, meet anyone, or get confused by something? We don't know now. All I know is that his state tonight was absolutely not in a completely sober state, otherwise, he wouldn't have felt my presence and kept wanting to pounce on you like a madman. It wasn't until then that I confirmed something was wrong with him." Tang Ao said, "I cast a spell on him, and he won't wake up for the rest of tonight. Tomorrow when he wakes up, he'll be in for a surprise too. After putting him down, I thought about it more and felt a lingering fear, so I gave him another lesson, a small punishment to serve as a warning."

  "What kind of lesson?" Su Tong asked with some curiosity, she didn't understand those things about Fu, on one hand thinking of Zhang Min's words and actions towards her, hoping he would get into trouble, on the other hand fearing that Tang Ao would get into trouble for standing up for her.

  "I'm not sure if it will work, to be honest, I've never actually tried it before, and this is the first time I'm attempting it on him," said Tang Ao. "Previously, when I was rummaging through old books at a street stall, I came across an old book that had a very ancient feel to it, like a well-preserved handwritten copy. The cover of the book was titled 'Symbol Collection', and inside, it recorded some strange and unusual symbols, including their usage, production methods, and even some introductions to acupoints. Except for those, I also remembered a record from that book earlier, so I decided to give it a try."

  "Acupoint? Is that the kind that can make people unable to move?" Su Tong asked with curiosity, almost forgetting that he had just escaped danger, his eyes wide open.

  "What you're talking about is fabricated in martial arts films," Tang Ao laughed. "That book of symbols introduced several, basically all simple hand techniques suitable for use at critical moments to pay off the enemy, without any harm or attack, but can dissolve threats from the opponent, such as quickly hitting a few acupoints that can make people's limbs numb and sore, or dizzy and disoriented. What I tried on that man today is a bit special, if it really works, tomorrow when he wakes up, he might have several days where his whole body feels like countless ants crawling, numb and itchy, and no matter how hard he scratches, he can't reach the spot."

  Su Tong felt much more at ease after hearing this, although Tang Ao said that Zhang Min might not have been in his right mind when he did those things, she still had some doubts.

  "But when Zhang Min came to find me, he spoke very clearly," she expressed her doubts and hoped that Tang Ao could give herself a reasonable explanation. "If he was possessed by a ghost, why would he still speak so logically? I think what he said were his true feelings from the bottom of his heart."

  "He's indeed possessed, but what he said is also likely to be his true feelings. I don't know him well, so it's up to you to decide whether he's the type of person who can't keep things inside or not. If he were in a normal state, would he have said those words to you tonight?" Tang Ao wasn't surprised that Su Tong had such doubts and patiently guided her to think clearly.

  Su Tong thought for a moment and felt that if it were the usual Zhang Min, many of the things he said tonight would not have been possible. Calming down and putting aside his disgust and anger, trying to be objective in his analysis and judgment, it was actually not difficult to come to this conclusion: someone who usually doesn't even have the courage to express good feelings, who has to think of ways to probe and test before showing emotions, afraid of losing face or being taken advantage of. How could such a person suddenly become so bold as to take such a huge risk in a place like a hotel where there are many people around?

  "Oh, and there's another thing," Su Tong suddenly remembered a most important question, and as soon as she thought of it, she felt a chill run down her spine. If Zhang Min's actions had given her a great shock, then that shock was still related to human beings. But the previous incident involving the deceased female worker...

  "You didn't mention this, and I haven't had a chance to tell you," Tang Ao suddenly interrupted her as soon as Su Tong opened her mouth. "Do you know whether your eight characters are light or heavy?"

  "I know that when I was very young, a fortune teller said my eight characters were particularly light, much lighter than ordinary people. However, no one in our family believed in such things, so we never took it seriously," Su Tong said.

  Tang Ao sighed: "From now on, you really need to be more careful. You know, many things aren't nonexistent just because we can't see them. Just like we can't see air, but it's always surrounding us. The eight characters of your name will affect the strength and weakness of your yang energy. Do you know what this means?"

  Su Tong sat up with a jerk, shaking his head somewhat tensely: "I don't understand this, what does it mean?"

  "Although there is a saying that yin and yang are separated, or that life and death are different paths, in reality, no matter what aspect, the boundaries are not always clear-cut. Therefore, around us, there are many ghosts who linger in the mortal world due to objective or subjective reasons. Some have attachments and do not want to leave, while others are trapped and cannot escape. For them, lingering in the mortal world is very painful.

  Tang Ao explained to Su Tong, "Can you imagine that feeling? You would feel hungry, but no matter what you eat, it wouldn't fill your stomach. Even if you ate something, you wouldn't have a sense of fullness. Food would pass through your body, and you wouldn't gain anything from it. You would feel cold, but couldn't add more clothes. You would feel tired, but couldn't sleep.

  Is that not very painful? Therefore, for many ghosts who linger in the mortal world, having a human body is the most comfortable thing. The flesh is like a warm 'house' to them. With this 'house', they can eat their fill, wear warm clothes, and sleep soundly from then on. Unfortunately, their own bodies have long since rotted away or been cremated, and cannot be found. Other people's bodies are already occupied, just like a house with an anti-theft lock. Those lonely ghosts and wild spirits cannot enter.

  What is an anti-theft lock? It is the yang energy on our bodies, which is also affected by the balance of yin and yang in one's birth chart. So, it is said that your birth chart is too light, and your yang energy is weak. As a result, you are like a house with only a simple small lock, easily targeted by ghosts and spirits with ill intentions. You must be extra careful."

  "Uh..." Su Tong started to speak but hesitated, "Can you pull over to the side of the road?"

  Tang Ao thought Su Tong was uncomfortable somewhere, so he hurriedly pulled the car over to the side of the road. Fortunately, this section was not a closed highway, and at night, there were very few cars on the road.

  "What's wrong? Is something uncomfortable? Or is it painful somewhere?" He asked with concern as he turned back.

  Su Tong bit his lip, looking a bit embarrassed, and said: "Can you help me out? My legs are still weak and I'm having trouble standing up. Hearing what you said, sitting in the back is a bit scary for me, I want to switch to the front and sit next to you."

  Tang Ao realized she was just a little scared, let out a sigh of relief, got off the car from the back row and supported Su Tong to sit down in the front passenger seat, then continued driving towards the city.

  "I didn't understand those things before, but just now after listening to you, I feel like they're quite convincing. Maybe it's because the analogies you used are very vivid and apt." Su Tong said sincerely.

  Tang Ao also laughed: "No way, although I seem to have suddenly accepted those things and became very interested, after all, I am a person who has received modern education and read university. The way of thinking can't be changed. By the way, in that room, before Zhang Min appeared, didn't you receive any other fright?"

  Su Tong naturally didn't hide from Tang Ao how he had encountered the ghost of that female worker whose scalp was torn off by a machine, and how that ghost had almost taken action against him.

  Tang Ao said after listening: "Although I felt that the yang energy on your body was a bit weak from the first time I saw you, it wasn't as weak as it is tonight. At first, I suspected it might be because of Zhang Min, but later I thought it didn't add up - no matter how infatuated he was, he's still a living person and couldn't cause such an obvious injury to your yang energy. The only thing that could weaken your yang energy so obviously is a vengeful spirit or resentful ghost."

  Su Tong leaned back in her chair, rubbing her arms, and sat next to Tang Hao, feeling a bit safer than when she was in the back row earlier. However, discussing this topic while driving on the dark road still made her feel quite thrilled. She suddenly remembered what the female ghost said before disappearing - that something even more terrifying would happen. So, she told Tang Hao about it. After listening, Tang Hao asked if anything strange had happened to her after the female ghost disappeared. Su Tong couldn't answer either, and no matter how hard she thought, all she could remember was that after the female ghost disappeared, Zhang Min came knocking on the door very soon. The interval in between was very short, and she was too busy responding to Zhang Min's attack to pay attention to anything else.

  "How did you think of telling the waiter that there was something strange about the room? I hadn't told you those details about the female ghost at that time." Su Tong suddenly became aware of something.

  Tang Ao smiled a little awkwardly: "Actually, when I first said that, it was completely based on my own subjective speculation, without any basis or discovery. On the way here, I was driving and thinking, you said this hotel had been fully booked due to activities, but there was still one room left, which made me feel a bit uneasy. Generally speaking, hotels used to entertain activity guests wouldn't be so careless, leaving only one room empty just because they thought it was full. Their computer system would also show that. So the most likely possibility is that the room was intentionally left empty. Of course, at that time, this was just my speculation. Just now when I mentioned the room, it was actually a mistaken guess, mainly because I was afraid that once we left, they would go to the room to clean up, and seeing Zhang Min's appearance, no one could explain clearly, which would be troublesome for us. Originally, I planned to make up a nonsense story to get past it if nothing happened, but unexpectedly, there really was something fishy about that room. The service staff were so scared when they heard that something had really happened that they didn't dare go over, which actually made things easier for me, and I didn't have to force myself to make up a nonsense story."