Chapter 4: The Mysterious Grand Hall

  Liu Ping was initially quite calm, but as he listened, his face changed. He mechanically wiped the sweat from his forehead: "From what you've said, this matter is quite tricky. I've believed in Buddhism for over a decade now, and as you can see, the name of this inn is also Buddhist Fate. Over these years, under my master's teachings, I've grasped a bit of skill, but the evil spirit that's been bothering you is extremely powerful. With my skills, there's no way I can help you dispel it."

  Hong Jun's newly ignited hope was like a balloon filled with air that had been pricked with a needle, shattering instantly.

  What to do? What to do? Hong Jun found his mind dull, unable to think of a countermeasure. Perhaps today's bizarre events had jumbled his brain, and he didn't know how long it took, but in the silence, a bright light suddenly flashed through his mind, like lightning cutting through the chaos, shining brightly.

  "Right, what about Master Shi Kong? His cultivation must be very high, right? He might be able to help me think of a solution." Hong Jun suddenly called out, startling Liu Ping.

  "My master never sees guests at night, he meditates on Buddhist scriptures every evening, no one dares to disturb him." Liu Ping hesitated, but Hong Jun had already pulled his hand and was walking out the door, "It's all about life and death now, even if we can't see him, we have to see him."

  Two people quickly came downstairs, but found the lobby empty. Not only were Xu Ming and Fat Chen not there, but even the charming front desk service staff was nowhere to be seen. Liu Ping frowned, knowing that this service staff had a ambiguous relationship with Fat Chen, thinking if they went out for a romantic tryst again. Although it's none of his business, tonight she was on duty, and he needed to go out now. If she wasn't there either, the hotel still had over a dozen guests, how could they just close up shop? So, he raised his voice and shouted loudly: "Lin Jie."

  As soon as he opened his mouth, he found something was wrong. Although he had opened his mouth wide and used a lot of strength to shout, the connection between his ears and mouth was broken, and he didn't hear any sound. This made him suspect whether he had shouted at all, so he shouted again in an even louder voice, Lin Jie! He used even more strength, and his voice was a bit hoarse.

  Still couldn't hear a sound. He turned his head to look at Hong Jun beside him, and Hong Jun also noticed something was off, lightly touching his arm with his own, his mouth opening and closing anxiously, probably trying to tell him something, but he couldn't hear the sound. The entire world had become silent. Sweat immediately started pouring down.

  Hong Jun was no better off at this time, just as Liu Ping shouted Lin Jie, he also opened his mouth to shout Xu Ming. The result was the same as Liu Ping's, although he was indeed speaking, but his ears didn't hear a single sound. He subconsciously took a glance at Liu Ping, only to see him also straining his neck and making a loud shouting gesture. Looking again at the TV on the wall, a host was holding a microphone with his mouth opening and closing, still without any sound. He clapped his hands once more, but there was still no sound.

  He couldn't hear the sound either. Both of them couldn't hear the sound at the same time. Under no external influence, both people suddenly couldn't hear the sound, if explained by science, it's a coincidence, but if explained by so-called feudal superstition, there is a very reasonable and legitimate explanation, that is——

  See a ghost.

  Hong Jun's face changed, and this time, would that female ghost appear? Suddenly plunged into a silent world, although there was still Liu Ping by his side, Hong Jun still felt like he was being locked in a glass house, fear and helplessness shrouding him.

  Liu Ping, however, did not become as flustered as Hong Jun. After the sudden change, he quickly regained his composure, patted Hong Jun's shoulder to signal him to calm down, and then ran towards the cash register, opened the drawer, pulled out an object, and with a flick of his wrist, a bright light flashed by, followed by a crisp "slap" sound.

  The world suddenly changed from silence to noise, the singing in the TV program was piercing and unbearable, but at this moment it made Hong Jun feel extremely intimate.

  "It's an audio interference. Something is causing the interference." Liu Ping's face turned iron-gray.

  "What is aphonia?" Hong Jun asked after taking a deep breath.

  "This is a ghost technique." Liu Ping's face turned iron-green, "It's just that our ears have been cast with magic and temporarily lost their hearing. In this situation, the evil spirit will influence people's nerves through their ears, ultimately making them mentally abnormal or even suicidal. If it weren't for the master giving me this talisman, I really wouldn't have a way to break it." Liu Ping pointed to a piece of paper on the ground that had been burned into ashes.

  "What about Fat Chen and them? Where did they go?" Now that the voice barrier had been lifted, Hong Jun thought of his two companions with a relieved heart.

  "Where did they go? Are they not here? I guess it's because they've been in the soundproof room for too long and have passed out." Liu Ping pointed to behind the cash register. Hong Jun walked over and saw Xu Ming and the other two piled up like a tower of people in the corner.

  "What should we do?" Hong Jun asked, at this time he had already completely regarded Liu Ping as the mainstay.

  "This is easy, just use incense ash to wake them up." Liu Ping said, stretching out his hand from the Buddhist altar by the wall, grabbed a handful of incense ash and sprinkled it on the three people. After a crisp sound like stir-frying beans, the three people let out a long breath and woke up one after another.

  "What's going on? Why couldn't I hear anything just now?" Fat Chen shouted as soon as he woke up, and the salesperson also asked in confusion.

  "Haven't you told them?" Liu Ping reproached Hong Jun, "At this time, it's not good to hide from anyone anymore."

  "This matter is extremely strange, don't be afraid when I say it." Hong Jun thought for a moment and recounted the day's events in brief. As they listened, the faces of Fat Chen and the female sales clerk turned pale, while Xu Ming, who had personally experienced it before, still looked shaken but didn't show any unusual expression.

  "Let's get out of here quickly." Liu Ping said to Hong Jun, "Now your troubles are not just that female ghost, but also the mysterious you on the mysterious chessboard in your dream. I estimate that at least two things will come looking for trouble with you."

  "What's up?" Fat Chen asked.

  "Yes, I feel that neither of those two are human, but for now, we can't see through their identities, so we can only call them 'things'. Liu Ping explained, "In short, they're extremely formidable, not something we can handle."

  Xu Ming suddenly jumped up: "Then let's hurry, but where are we going?"

  "We'll go find Master Shi Kong to see if there's a way to crack it. You three don't need to go, these two things now seem to be just going against Hong Jun, you following will only get entangled, Hong Jun leaves and he will naturally follow, here will be safe." Liu Ping said.

  "No way, a friend is in trouble and we can't just stand by. No matter where you go, I'll follow." Xu Ming said resolutely, having grown up with Hong Jun since childhood. This immediately reminded Hong Jun of the time when they were 10 years old, this little partner who was only one month younger than himself, competed with him to admit to destroying the school's blackboard, and as a result, they were both punished by the principal to stand in the sun for an entire afternoon.

  "I'm going too. My dictionary doesn't have the phrase 'abandon friends'." Fat Chen also said. Hong Jun didn't expect that this usually timid and somewhat sly fatty would be so straightforward at a critical moment, he lightly patted Chen Qing's shoulder in gratitude.

  "I, I... wherever Qing Ge goes, I'll go." The seductive cashier named Lin Jie reached out and hooked her arm around Fat Chen's, hesitating for a moment before speaking. If it were any other time, Hong Jun would have been thrilled for Fat Chen - girls who dared to follow their loved ones through thick and thin weren't common.

  Everyone wants to share weal and woe with each other, Hong Jun's eyes were moist. It is said that friends are hard to come by, especially those who have been through life and death together are even more rare. Today, in the face of this strange thing, Liu Ping, Xu Ming, Chen Qing, and Lin Jie, whether they were childhood playmates or strangers who had just met, all had to face this matter together with him. He was fortunate to have them in his lifetime.

  "Alright." Seeing the determination of the three, Liu Ping knew that saying more would be useless. He sighed and said: "Fine, let's go then. We'll head to Xishan Temple to find my master, Master Kongkong." As he went to open the glass door of the inn, after pushing it a few times with force, everyone saw his expression change.

  "Has something gone wrong again?" Chen's face was still pale, and when he saw Liu Ping nod in agreement, his face turned a bit purple. "Can't open the door," Liu Ping said, kicking the glass door with his foot. Just as his toes were about to touch the door, it suddenly came to life, swinging back and then bouncing forward again. Liu Ping was caught off guard and stumbled backward several steps, luckily Chen was behind him to hold him up, or he would have fallen to the ground.

  "Is it a ghost hitting the wall?" Lin Jie hid behind Fat Chen, her voice trembling as she asked. "Ghost hitting the wall" was her most direct understanding of ghostly affairs.

  Liu Ping walked around the door in a circle, then looked around the main hall and said, "This isn't a ghost hitting the wall. I thought I had already broken through the more severe mental barrier earlier." His face turned iron-gray: "If it were just a ghost hitting the wall, that would be easy to break through. But unexpectedly, what I broke through was only my auditory hallucination or updated voice." Mental barrier? What does that mean?" Thinking about the voice barrier made him dizzy and he didn't know what kind of consequences an even more severe mental barrier would bring. Fat Chen hummed in agreement.