Not every evil deed is judged a crime,
nor is every sin punished.
--Volume Two: Crime and Punishment
A pitch-black night shrouded the cemetery. From time to time, a few red-eyed ravens flew in and perched atop the gravestones.
Qi Si sat leaning against a small grave mound, fiddling with the skeletal arm he had just pulled out of the ground, as if he were holding a freshly picked ghost orchid.
Bony hands sprouted from the earth like blades of grass, crooked and scattered, appearing and disappearing at random. Soon, white flowers bloomed all across the dark grave soil.
"Qi Si... we died so miserably..."
"You have to pay with your life... Pay..."
The wind carried the wails of the dead. Qi Si stood and looked around, spotting a familiar-looking idol in the distance.
Beneath the cold moonlight, the idol was shrouded in a thin layer of pale red. Its lowered gaze seemed at once compassionate and mocking.
Qi Si walked toward it step by step, crushing fallen leaves underfoot and startling the ravens into cawing wildly.
The flock rose like a wicked gale, circling overhead. Their beating wings made a strange flapping sound.
"Crash!"
Lightning struck without warning, illuminating half the sky and scattering the demons and ghosts from a nearby tree.
A cracked gravestone blocked the way ahead. For an instant, the writing on it was clear in the lightning. Qi Si made out only one character: "Qi."
A woman's shrill voice roared in his ear. "You killed me. You killed me... I'll make you pay with your life..."
Qi Si turned his head slightly. A face hidden behind long hair pressed against the tip of his nose. Bloody tears streamed from its empty eyes, full of resentment and fury.
"First, you killed yourself." Memories swirled chaotically through