Retribution

"Zhong Nan!"

The old man lunged forward, wanting to hold his son, but when he saw the cinnabar on his hands, his outstretched arms froze halfway.

"It's over, it's all over!!"

The distant sea of fire surged wildly, illuminating half the sky. One villager after another turned into torches amid the flames, and the old man's face went ashen.

The offerings were gone. Zhong Nan's soul, which had only just been painstakingly gathered together, was about to disperse again. All his years of effort had been wasted.

"Damn it, serves you right... cough, cough... this is your retribution!!"

Li Bo staggered over. His face was waxy yellow, his bloodshot eyes glaring at the father and son on the ground. He wanted nothing more than to grab a brick and smash these two bastards to death.

Even Zhang Hao, standing nearby, wanted to pounce on them and take a few savage bites.

"Retribution??"

The old man raised his head woodenly and eyed Li Bo sideways. "What do you think retribution is??"

"You..."

The old man's vicious gaze made Li Bo's hair stand on end, but he still stubbornly said, "You built this damned village and killed so many people. Ending up like this is your retribution!"

Hearing that, the old man's eyes grew lost. He looked at the towering blaze behind him, then suddenly let out a hollow laugh. "Hahaha... so this is the retribution you mean?"

He abruptly raised his head. "Thirty-eight years ago, our village suffered a plague of insects unseen in a century. The crops failed completely. Some villagers fled for their lives, others starved or died of thirst. Even the livestock all died. I used the Five Ghosts Carrying Technique to steal food from the county town for them."

His eyes glinted as though he had returned to that day, to the scene of secretly handing food over to the villagers.

That day, everyone had smiles on their faces. White rice poured into measuring buckets, and hope shone in every pair of eyes.

But the old man's tone suddenly changed, his voice becoming thin and sinister. "And what happened? Less than three months later, people from the county suddenly came. Without a word, they arrested me and tortured me brutally. I spent three months in prison, tortured until I was covered in wounds. Tell me, was that retribution too??"

"This..."

Li Bo was stumped, but he still forced himself to say, "Stealing is wrong, no matter what."

The old man did not get angry. Instead, he nodded calmly. "Right. Stealing is always wrong. I was beaten half to death in prison before I finally found a chance to escape. But when I returned to the village, do you know what I found?"

"My wife was dead. When I pushed open the door, she was lying on the bed, already rotting. Flies crawled densely across her face. She had starved to death alive.

Not a single family in the village had been willing to give her even a bite to eat.

I hurried to find my son, only to discover him in the well. His body had soaked until it rotted. I could not even pull him out. He died horribly, a violent death, and I wanted to perform rites for him, but I could not even gather his soul completely.

I don't blame the villagers.

I went door to door begging for rice and cloth from a hundred families. I only asked them to show my son a little kindness, so he could be properly laid to rest.

But...

I could not knock open a single door."

It was impossible to tell whether the old man's face held sorrow or fury. His weathered face was full of regret as he looked at Li Bo and demanded, "Tell me, was that retribution?"

Li Bo caught his breath, unable to say another word this time.

Xu Tong picked up the bell from the ground and took the Danghuang he had removed from his pocket. This thing was easy to take apart and equally easy to put back together. There was an iron clasp inside; it only needed to be snapped into place.

He walked over to the old man and handed him the bell. "If we help you, do you have a way to save him?"

"What?? Brother Xu, why... why save them???"

Li Bo's expression changed drastically. He was practically going crazy. He knew Xu Tong was mad, but why was he going mad at a time like this??

"Can't help it. I'm a Doctor!"

Xu Tong shrugged and sighed helplessly.

"Help me?" The old man studied Xu Tong suspiciously. He did not believe Xu Tong would be so kind-hearted, especially when his son had nearly killed them just moments ago.

"Yes, help you!"

He nodded seriously and placed the bell in the old man's hand. "But on one condition: you release all the wandering souls you imprisoned first."

Li Bo, listening from the side, suddenly understood. That's right. Their mission wasn't to punish evil and uphold justice. It was to free every soul. How did I forget that?

Seeing that the old man was still hesitating, Xu Tong patted his shoulder and sat beside him. "I lost my parents when I was very young. I was locked in a little cage, and there was an old man beside the cage. Every morning when he woke up, he would become someone different. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman. But every day, he told me one thing: where there is hope, there is a future."

He turned to the old man. "Believe me. This definitely isn't your retribution."

Something seemed to stir the old man's nerves upon hearing that. He looked at the bell in his hand, then at his son, whose soul was about to scatter completely. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Fine. I'll gamble one more time."

The old man took a deep breath. At this point, he could only take the risk.

"If you want to free those ghosts, take this bell to the dead tree in the northwest corner and shake it hard three times. They will be released."

The old man pointed toward the woods at one end of the village.

Naturally, Li Bo took on the task. Though injured, he would not refuse after hearing that they could complete the mission. He wanted nothing more than to finish it quickly and leave.

"Brother Xu, then I'm going. You..." Li Bo said, holding the bell. There was something else he did not say.

Xu Tong knew what Li Bo wanted to say. He merely waved his hand. "Go on, then!"

Seeing that Xu Tong did not intend to come with him, Li Bo said nothing more and walked out without looking back.

Just as he was about to leave the courtyard, the old man suddenly called out, "Bring some fire. Their clothes are in the hollow of that tree. Remember to burn all those clothes."

"Oh, okay!"

Li Bo paused, then nodded to show that he understood.

After Li Bo left, the old man had Xu Tong take an oil lamp down from the kitchen beam.

Then he had him bring out the boxes filled with paper ingots and scatter them all over the ground.

"Is that all?"

Xu Tong tore open the old man's clothes and found some gauze to crudely bandage his wounds. His earlier stab had not hit anything vital, but if the bleeding was not stopped soon, the old man would not last much longer.

"You took that book, didn't you?" the old man suddenly asked while Xu Tong was bandaging him.

"Yes. It's here."

He did not deny it, taking the book from his chest to show the old man.

The old man had no intention of asking for it back. He only said, "This book has been passed down through the Eight Gates for generations. My master's surname was Wang, and he taught two disciples. Unfortunately, our branch is about to die out. If you like it, take it back and study it. Consider it my payment to you."

"The Eight Gates?" Xu Tong widened his eyes, as though the old man had revealed a hidden world to him.

"The first gate is towels, the second is leather, the third is color, the fourth is hanging, the fifth is leveling, the sixth is groups, the seventh is tuning, and the eighth is talking. That is the Eight Gates. Our family belongs to the Seventh Gate. If you meet someone important in the future, you'll have something to say."

The old man said a great deal in one breath. Besides the Eight Gates, there were also Night Watchmen, Underworld Matchmakers, and others among the lower nine professions, each with an unknown side.

"After this is over, stay with us for a while. I'll pass on everything I have learned in my life to you. It will count as an explanation to my master. When you travel outside, just say you are an inheritor of the Wang branch. It will naturally spare you a lot of trouble."

Xu Tong did not answer. He only nodded with a foolish grin. Seeing the yearning in his eyes, the old man finally relaxed more than half of his lingering unease.

As the two spoke, thin smoke had already begun to rise from the woods at the village entrance.

At the same time, a cold notification sounded in their ears: [Main Mission 2: Release] completed.

[The mission in this Script World has been completed. Participants may choose to remain or return to reality.]

[If you choose to remain, the maximum duration is twenty-eight hours. Once the time limit is reached, you will be forcibly returned to reality.]

As the notification sounded, Piglet's eyes went blank for a moment. Soon, it lost consciousness and fell to the ground, turning back into a paper pig.

Zhang Hao's soulless body disappeared as well.

But Zhou Yu and the college student Wang Shaohui, lying on the bed, would remain together forever.

Seeing that everyone had left, Xu Tong pursed his lips. "Tch, so impatient."

"Get ready. Time is short, so let's not waste it."

The old man had rested for a while and regained some strength. When he saw the smoke rising in the distance, he knew Li Bo had already burned the tree.

As for his bell, losing it was no great matter. Compared to his son, he did not care about losing a family heirloom.

The old man walked to the pile of paper, lit the brazier, then picked up the oil lamp and walked to his son. With a gentle blow, faint fluorescent light appeared on the lamp's wick, drawing Zhong Nan's body into the lamp.

"Remember this. No matter what you see later, don't panic. You must listen to me."

As he spoke, the old man carefully set the oil lamp on the ground and took two sheets of yellow paper from his chest. He rubbed them lightly between his hands, pinched them with his fingers, and easily shaped them into two little paper dolls.

The skill made Xu Tong secretly marvel.

Bang!

Once he had prepared everything, the old man knelt on the ground, interlaced his fingers, and began chanting:

"Mount Mang lightly knocks upon the ghost gate, seated to send the Yellow Springs across the Nine Springs. Beneath King Yama's hall are ten ghost lords. I ask not the Ox-Head or Horse-Face, trouble not the civil or martial judges, dare not call on Zhong Kui or Cui Yu, bother not with silver hooks and iron chains. I only ask Seventh Master and Eighth Master to appear before me. Matters of impermanence, I ask of the Impermanent Ones..."

When his voice fell, a chilling wind from nowhere blew across their faces. It was more piercing than winter wind, making their entire bodies feel indescribably uncomfortable.

Beads of cold sweat rolled continuously down the old man's chin. Whether from excessive blood loss or some other cause, Xu Tong did not know. Seeing the old man's trembling hands, he frowned.

Then his brows suddenly rose as he stared fixedly at the two paper dolls slowly rising from the ground.

"Quick, throw all the money in."

The moment the two paper dolls stood up, the old man hurried Xu Tong to toss all the paper ingots at hand into the brazier.

At the same time, he repeatedly kowtowed to the two paper dolls. "Seventh Master, Eighth Master, please show mercy and grant my son a chance at life."

He continued bowing, his head striking the stones with loud thuds each time. After several kowtows, the fire in the brazier only grew weaker.

Xu Tong looked closely and saw that the flames could not ignite the paper ingots he had thrown in.

The old man's face darkened. With a bitter expression, he continued, "If Seventh Master and Eighth Master are willing to pity this old man, I will erect living shrines for you both. Incense will burn every day, and offerings will fill your tables every year."

Unfortunately, no matter what he said, the two paper dolls before him remained unmoved.

Just as the old man was falling into despair, Xu Tong suddenly remembered something and took two Underworld Banknotes from his chest, tossing them into the brazier.

He had merely intended to give it a try, but the moment the banknotes entered the brazier, they burned to ash with a whoosh.

The two paper dolls twitched slightly. Though the movement was tiny, it gave the old man hope.

Seeing this, Xu Tong did not wait for the old man to speak. He continued tossing the Underworld Banknotes in his hand into the brazier. The fire burned brighter and brighter until the two paper dolls finally slowly raised their hands and gently pushed forward.

Lamp oil suddenly appeared in the oil cup before them. A spark flickered on the wick several times, and the discarded oil lamp was actually lit.

"Thank you, Seventh Master. Thank you, Eighth Master. I will definitely build living shrines for you both, worship you daily, and make offerings every year."

The old man hurriedly kowtowed in thanks, then carefully placed the two paper dolls into the brazier. Only after watching them vanish in the flames did he let out a long breath.

In a low voice, he warned Xu Tong beside him, "This was a last resort. It is easy to invite gods but hard to send them away. If not for the banknotes you threw in just now, today would have been the death anniversary of my son and me."

As he spoke, he carefully held the oil lamp in his hands. A smile finally appeared on his face. Though all his prior efforts had come to nothing, his son had been saved. At worst, he could start over. There would surely still be a way to send his son to the Underworld for reincarnation.

As he was thinking, Xu Tong suddenly leaned over, carefully took the oil lamp from his hands, and examined it closely.

"Careful, careful!"

The old man did not want to let go, but he was already nearly out of strength.

Xu Tong examined the lamp, then tilted his head and looked at the pale-faced old man. "Old sir, see? I told you. This definitely isn't your retribution."

The old man did not understand what Xu Tong meant. He nodded, about to say something.

But Xu Tong took a deep breath and blew hard at the oil lamp. The weak flame scattered at once, and even the oil inside was spilled onto the ground.

Looking at the disbelief on the old man's face, Xu Tong grinned. "See? This is your retribution!"

Volume One Complete. The status changed today, and I'm grateful for everyone's support. Special thanks to my first Alliance Leader, [Five Big Fans].

There's no way to add extra chapters during the new-book period either. I don't have any saved drafts. So I didn't split this chapter up and finished this instance in one go—a four-thousand-word long chapter. Get some rest early tonight. Daytime updates will resume tomorrow.