He stared wide-eyed at the little gold bars being tossed into his pocket one after another. It felt as if they weren't little gold bars, but huge rocks weighing down his whole body, leaving him unable to move.
At Old Woman's words, Xiao Ran's expression grew even more troubled.
The phrase "payment for a life" reminded him of the folk sorcery his father had once told him about: someone would deliberately leave money on the ground, and when you opened it, there'd be a note inside saying something like, "I'm buying ten years of your life."
But that was just a rumor, a bit of superstition from the underworld. Besides, in those stories, the person who picked up the money had to spend it for the curse to take effect.
What was happening now was far more overbearing. The money only had to be stuffed into his pocket, and Xiao Ran's face had already gone deathly pale.
When she reached the eighth gold bar, Old Woman studied Xiao Ran's pale face and weighed the bar in her hand a few times. In the end, she put it away.
She chuckled. "Young man, you've got a good life. You're still so young, yet you're worth seven gold bars. Too bad you're not one of us. Otherwise, I'm afraid even all the stock I've got here wouldn't be enough to weigh you down."
As soon as Old Woman finished speaking, Xiao Ran suddenly felt his body grow light. The heavy weight pressing down on him vanished all at once.
"Ah! Cough, cough, cough..."
Xiao Ran's legs gave way, and he dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. He wanted to pull the little gold bars from his pocket and throw them away at once, but to his surprise, they had all disappeared.
Seeing that the gold bars were gone, Xiao Ran glared angrily at Old Woman.
"Don't be upset, child. I'm not trying to harm you. Those gold bars are real. Once you've helped me, they'll be yours again. Seven gold bars are enough to see you through half your life. You're not losing out."
"What if I don't want to?"
Xiao Ran's face darkened, and anger flared in his heart. One hand had already closed around the dagger in his pocket.
But Old Woman didn't get angry. She only raised a finger, and the suffocating pressure that had just disappeared clamped around Xiao Ran's throat again.
It's over. So it really was payment for a life!
Xiao Ran's heart lurched, and half of it turned cold. He had taken her money, so his life was now in her hands. Whether he lived or died was probably up to her, and he had no room to fight back.
Thinking this, Xiao Ran put on a smile for Old Woman. "Old Woman, please take your money back. I'll still help you with what you need."
"That won't do. We're people of principle. The deal only holds if you take the money and do the job. If you don't take it, I won't feel at ease."
Xiao Ran cursed the old hag inwardly. She really was an old monster who'd lived a long, long time. But all he could do was force a smile and praise her. "Old Woman, I wish people out there were as principled as you."
"Heh heh, of course. Our line of work is all about principles."
Seeing that Xiao Ran had given in, Old Woman smiled more broadly and nodded to Brother Tao.
At once, three or five men stepped forward, helped Xiao Ran to his feet, and dressed him in the clothes they'd prepared.
Xiao Ran took one look and realized they were funeral clothes.
The living wore funeral clothes? Were they treating him like a corpse?
But with his life in Old Woman's hands, all he could do was let Brother Tao and the others dress him as they pleased.
As Xiao Ran stood stiffly and let them fuss over him, his eyes darted around. He asked Old Woman, "Didn't you say you wanted me to help drive out an evil spirit? What's this about?"
At Xiao Ran's question, Old Woman only smiled kindly and gave no explanation.
That made Xiao Ran's heart skip again. If she wouldn't explain, it was obvious she had no intention of letting him live.
Once they had dressed him in the funeral clothes, Brother Tao and the others took Xiao Ran by the shoulders and headed toward the coffin.
"Wait! What are you doing?"
As the coffin drew nearer, Xiao Ran's expression grew even worse. He turned to glare at Old Woman, who sat in her chair, his eyes bloodshot as he shouted, "There aren't any evil spirits! You're the biggest evil spirits of all!"
Hearing Xiao Ran's words, Brother Tao paused. Then the men exchanged glances and burst into harsh laughter.
"Hahaha! The kid's not so dumb after all!"
Brother Tao laughed. "Kid, you had a road to heaven and didn't take it, but you walked straight into hell. Don't worry. Once it's done, we'll give you a grand funeral, put up a tombstone, write a biography, and even find you a wife. You'll live more comfortably than the living!"
As he spoke, they opened the coffin, and a rotten stench wafted out. Xiao Ran looked inside and saw a man's corpse lying there. It wasn't badly decomposed, but someone had chopped off its head.
Without another word, the men threw Xiao Ran into the coffin.
Another villager picked up the backpack they'd just taken off Xiao Ran and tossed it in after him. He said enviously, "Big Brother's got it good. He's not only getting a living body, but one that belongs to such a young, handsome lad."
"Heh, what's so special about that? Once Big Brother gets this body, he'll be able to leave. After that, what kind of body won't you be able to get?" Brother Tao grinned.
Lying in the coffin, Xiao Ran heard their words, and his heart sank.
Old Woman's methods were impossible to guard against.
Who would've thought a tiny gold bar could cost him his life?
It was too late to regret it now.
Once Brother Tao and the others closed the coffin lid, the light inside dimmed at once.
Brother Tao looked at the closed lid and dusted off his hands with satisfaction. Then he noticed a few men about to nail the coffin shut, and his expression changed. He rushed over and kicked one of them to the ground.
"You idiots! If you nail it shut, how's Big Brother supposed to get out?"
After cursing them, Brother Tao turned and went over to Old Woman, immediately putting on a fawning smile. "Old Woman, everything's ready. Let's get started before anything goes wrong."
"Mm!"
Old Woman nodded. She didn't think there was much to worry about. The kid's life weighed a lot, but she'd put seven gold bars on him. She doubted he could cause any trouble.
Before long, the villagers surrounded the coffin with lanterns.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
A handful of white paper money fell like snowflakes. In the lamplight, the villagers' eyes glowed with feverish excitement.
"Seventh day of the seventh month, the cowherd meets the weaver girl. Little ox, little ox, where are you? You stole the fairy's clothes. Wolves and sheep are paired, the fairy falls to the mortal world, and from then on can never return to her dreamland..."
The eerie ballad, whispered by the villagers, echoed through the mountain woods and among the graves.
BANG!!
Lying in the coffin, Xiao Ran vaguely felt it begin to sway, as if someone had lifted it. The whole coffin seemed to grow weightless.
Not only the coffin, but Xiao Ran himself began to feel as light as a feather.
In a daze, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.
Then a tremendous force seemed to seize his body and drag him downward.
In an instant, his ears filled with shrill screams. In the darkness, countless hands seemed to reach through it and grab at him, trying to tear him to pieces.
Xiao Ran tried to struggle, but when he looked down, he saw seven little gold bars wrapped around his ankles. They weighed like two huge rocks, dragging him down toward hell.
It's over!
At the sight, Xiao Ran felt his heart sink all the way to his feet.
Just then, a wave of warmth swept over him. It felt as though a hand had caught him.
A woman's shadow appeared beside him, holding him up with both hands as she rose.
But when he tried to get a better look, the shadow had already vanished. Even so, he could still feel the warm force surrounding him.
"What was that?"
The sudden change took Xiao Ran by surprise. He hurriedly searched for the source of the warmth, feeling around himself until he realized it was coming from his pocket.
"My pocket?"
Xiao Ran thought it over. Aside from the fruit knife, there was only one other thing in his pocket.
Was it that diary?
As Xiao Ran wondered, the sound of a gong suddenly rang in his ears.
BANG!
A faint beam of light pierced the darkness. A figure carrying a gong slowly approached him.
It was none other than Li Ji, whom he'd met the previous night.
When the light fell on Xiao Ran, Li Ji didn't seem surprised. He only sighed softly. "I told you before. You shouldn't have come here."
Li Ji shone his lantern around Xiao Ran, and the darkness surrounding him receded like a tide.
Only then did Xiao Ran realize he was back in the village.
At the same crossroads, in a scene eerily similar to the one from the night before.
But it didn't take Xiao Ran long to notice the changes around him. The village before him was even more dilapidated than before. The few houses that had once stood there were now ruins, and the air was thick with a sharp, charred smell.
"What..." Xiao Ran looked around in confusion.
Li Ji followed his gaze and nodded. "Maybe this is what the place really looked like."
Hearing Li Ji's words, Xiao Ran froze. Then he asked, "So the villagers I saw during the day... were they people, or..."
He couldn't bring himself to say the last word—ghosts. He could barely tell anymore who was alive and who was dead.
Li Ji understood what Xiao Ran meant. His eyes narrowed as he explained, "They're people, but they're not people either. They've been trapped here for over a hundred years. They're practically rotting away."
Li Ji shook his head and added mournfully, "Don't feel bad. Sometimes I can't tell the difference either."
Li Ji led Xiao Ran uphill. When they reached an inconspicuous mound, he pointed below them.
Xiao Ran looked down and saw the villagers surrounding his coffin, jumping and dancing as if performing an exorcism. A piece of cowhide covered the coffin.
"These people are trapped here. They can't leave or die. The only way out is to become one of the living. Old Woman tricked you. She wants to use your body to bring her son back to life."
Xiao Ran frowned and stared at the coffin. "So there aren't any evil spirits. They're beasts even worse than evil spirits."
"Isn't there anything else we can do?"
"Something else?"
Li Ji thought it over, then pointed at the Golden Toad in Old Woman's arms. "See that toad? Kill it, and there'll be a way."
Before you continue