Chapter 8

Returning to the civilian house where the task force was stationed, the village cadre was about to leave. I held him back and asked him seriously, "Do you know the background of Wang Baosong's mother?" He looked at me strangely and said indifferently, "Just an old country woman, what background could she have? She's been in this village since I was a kid, nothing unusual about her."

"Where is she from?"

"Where is she from? I don't know, isn't she from here in Sige?" He looked at me blankly. An old landlord standing nearby interjected, "You mean Luo Ermei? She's from Zhongyang, in the mountain hollow beyond Qingshanjie." Zhongyang is a Miao village, and an extremely remote one at that, with little contact with the outside world. I had read in the Twelve Methods of Suppressing the Mountains that the practice of raising gu (poison) was very prevalent there. So I asked the old man, "Grandpa, do you have any fresh eggs?"

The old man lit his pipe, his wrinkled face breaking into a smile, his eyes gleaming with cunning. He said, "I do, but..." I knew he was putting on an act, so I said, "Ten yuan per egg, I'll take two." He readily agreed, his yellow teeth showing in a wide grin, and then he went to the chicken coop in the yard to find the eggs.

Let me explain a bit, why do I always use fresh eggs to counteract gu?

Gu generally refers to diseases caused by the accumulation of insect toxins and blood stasis, leading to bloating and the formation of lumps. Insect toxins are attracted to fresh and raw things. By boiling a fresh egg until it is half-cooked and then rolling it on the chest and abdomen, it can easily absorb the toxins into the yolk. However, this is not absolute and can only counteract some of the toxins. If the method is incorrect, it can backfire...

Ma Haibo looked at me nervously and said, "I was poisoned? Was it the bowl of water?" The village cadre was also puzzled and said, "How could that be? I've heard of such things, but for an old woman to be able to poison people, that's absurd, right?" The eggs were quickly brought over. I gave the old man twenty yuan and asked him to cook them slightly. I told Ma Haibo, "Generally, only the person who cast the gu can counteract it. If the method is wrong, it can be even more deadly. However, I have a special way, and I can't explain the details to you, but you'll understand."

I was telling the truth. The Twelve Methods of Suppressing the Mountains roughly divide gu into eleven types: Jin Chan Gu (Golden Silkworm Gu), Snake Gu, Bamboo Slice Gu, Stone Gu, Loach Gu, Zhong Hai Shen (Harmful Spirit), Duan Gu (Swelling Gu), Dian Gu (Madness Gu), Yin She Gu (Negative Snake Gu), and Sheng She Gu (Living Snake Gu). The methods of casting gu are varied and each has its own secret. The one they were affected by is called Duan Gu, which is made by grinding up centipedes, small snakes, ants, cicadas, earthworms, yinguzi (a type of insect), and hair, and placing the powder in front of a statue of the Five Plague Gods in a room or box. After a long period of worship, it is then placed in water. If not counteracted, the powder will stick to the intestines, causing bloating, pain, and diarrhea.

If it weren't for the Jin Chan Gu protecting me, I might not have been able to counteract the gu in their bodies.

Ma Haibo said angrily, "Damn, you even gave them a thousand yuan."

I knew he was upset that I hadn't warned him earlier, so I said, "You wanted to find the murderer of the dismemberment case, I just didn't want to alert them." Ma Haibo was pleased and asked, "Do you know who the murderer is?" I said, "Just keep an eye on the madman's house, don't worry about the rest." At that moment, the old man came in with two boiled eggs in a porcelain bowl. I used the method I knew to counteract the gu for both of them.

Afterward, Ma Haibo, looking pale, went to assign tasks, while the village cadre muttered about causing trouble. I told him, "You'd better not, or you won't know how you died." His face changed, and he walked out in fear. Looking at him, I wondered how a seemingly ordinary family could become so terrifying.

By evening, the sky had darkened. Ma Haibo told me that the family was indeed suspicious. I didn't want to know the details, so I asked when we would take action. He said to wait until the arrest warrant arrived in the morning, and then we would move. During dinner, the task force members were noticeably more lively, and the young officers spoke to me with a tone of respect. No one drank alcohol, as some had to keep watch at night. Unfortunately, when I asked if they had found Li Decai, they all shook their heads and said no.

That night, I slept at the task force's base in Sige Village, sharing a room with a few police officers who were on duty during the day. I had started getting into the habit of praying and chanting every day. It was still hot in late September, and the only fan in the room didn't help much. I was sweating and tossing and turning until around eleven o'clock before I finally fell asleep. I didn't sleep well, as the snoring of the men in the room was deafening.

I finally fell asleep, but in a daze, I felt a cold breeze on the back of my neck. This wind was very different from the fan's, like a touch of menthol and camphor on my neck, then blown by a mountain breeze, making it feel eerie and scary. I wasn't fully asleep, so I opened my eyes immediately.

Then I saw, about three meters in front of my bed, a little girl in a red belly band, with a cute face and a topknot. Her face was as white as porcelain, her eyes black and shiny, her limbs white and chubby, looking very adorable, like a doll in a picture. However, behind her ears and under her jaw, there were dark, sinister veins. She looked at me in fear, but her pouting lips were still blowing at me: "Hoo, hoo, hoo..." The back of my neck felt cold again.

My mind was clear, and I immediately thought of the content in the Twelve Methods of Suppressing the Mountains about small ghosts.

Small ghosts have many names, originating from the Chinese Maoshan techniques, like raising five ghosts or Liu Ling Tongzi, which are all types of small ghosts. In Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Singapore, they are called Kuman Thong. In Miao witchcraft, they are called inviting Tian Tong. Most of these, except for a few high-level masters and sorcerers who use talismans and willow wood to raise spirits, use the most common method of opening the grave of a recently deceased child, roasting the child's chin with a candle, and collecting the corpse oil in a small coffin to refine the small ghost.

Small ghosts have many uses, such as accumulating wealth, dispelling disasters, warning of omens, causing illusions, and protecting homes... of course, they can also harm people.

No one in the house woke up. The silver moonlight shone through the wooden window lattice. I focused my mind on her, staring intently, and silently chanted, "Ling Biao Tong Qie Jie Xin Lie Qi Chan..." The coldness on the back of my neck began to dissipate, and a hot current rose from my abdomen.

At the same time, the little girl finally realized I could see her and turned to run away.

I wouldn't let her escape. I communicated with the Jin Chan Gu inside me and shouted softly, "Biao!"

Her body froze, and I felt a warm current flow from my body and concentrate in my hand. I jumped out of bed and grabbed the little girl's hand. When I touched her, it was icy cold, but I could feel that I had grabbed her. At that moment, she turned her head, her porcelain-white face turned ashen, her eyes turned red, and her cherry lips split into a large mouth full of sharp teeth, biting at me.

I wasn't afraid of such a weak ghost. I focused my mind on my right hand and used the power of the Jin Chan Gu to withstand her bite. The ghost girl bit my arm, but the heat I had hidden in my arm burned her, and she immediately let go and struggled desperately. I didn't know what to do, so I just held her tightly.

After a while, the ghost girl stopped moving and looked at me pitifully.

Her eyes turned black, with a faint light in them, like a lamp in the darkness.

I didn't know how to describe it, but seeing the innocent look on the ghost girl's face, I felt a pang of sympathy. We stared at each other for a while, and when I saw her blink, I wondered if she could speak, so I asked, "Who sent you?"

She blinked and then looked fearfully toward the west.

I knew the west was where Wang Baosong and his mother, Luo Ermei, lived. I asked her again, "Can you speak?" She shook her head, opened her mouth, but made no sound. I understood; as a spirit, she had no vocal cords and couldn't speak. However, she could understand me, so she must have some intelligence.

I remembered the strong corpse smell under Luo Ermei's bed at Wang Baosong's house. Could it be the body of this little ghost?

The Twelve Methods of Suppressing the Mountains contain many secrets and strange stories about zombies, small ghosts, demons, and gu. After seeing so many, I wasn't surprised anymore. With my birth gu protecting me, I wasn't afraid. Small ghosts can take lives, mostly through illusions, malevolent energy, and mystery. Some can harm people with their own power, but they are usually highly advanced. This little ghost was clearly new and not very powerful.

I relaxed and became curious. I had never seen such a spirit before, so I asked her many questions, like if she knew her name, where her family was, and how old she was. But she knew nothing about her past, just shaking her head. When I asked about Luo Ermei, she became terrified, her small body shaking in fear.

At that moment, the roosters in the village crowed for the first time.

The ghost girl became extremely frightened. I knew that spirits and ghosts are most afraid of sunlight, which can make them disappear. When they first form, they must be protected by objects made from their corpse oil, hair, and nails, or they will dissipate. So I didn't make it difficult for her and let her go, saying, "Go back."

She looked at me blankly, her hand still in her mouth.

I waved my hand and said, "Go back quickly, and don't harm anyone anymore... If we have a chance, we'll meet again."

I don't know why, but I didn't feel any ill will toward this originally terrifying thing. First, because she looked so cute and innocent, and second, because she was new and couldn't do much harm. Thinking about it, a little girl who died tragically and was then used to harm others was actually quite pitiful.

Okay, to be honest, I'm a bit of a lolicon and couldn't bear to let her go.

The ghost girl looked at me, then started to float and slowly squeezed out through the gaps in the wooden floor.

I stood there for a while, then looked at the men still sound asleep in the room, sighed, and put on my clothes to go to the yard, waiting quietly for the sun to rise.