The Ghost That Is Told

Before long, a light knock sounded on Li Huowang's guest-room door. When the waiter entered, he saw the copper-coin-masked guest sitting at the round table drinking tea.

“Sir? You asked for me?” The waiter hunched his back as he approached the table, speaking with obvious caution.

“Sit.” Li Huowang picked up the teapot with one hand and poured a cup for the man.

“Oh, you’re too kind. I’ll stand, sir. If there’s something you need from me, just say the word. Has the inn been treating you well?”

After so many days of contact, the waiter no longer seemed quite so afraid of these outsiders.

Clink. A small gold ingot—no bigger than a thumb—was placed in front of the waiter. “I have a few questions for you,” Li Huowang said. “Answer them, and this gold is yours.”

Before the waiter could even process what was happening, Li Huowang got straight to the point: “Why are the people in this county so afraid of suoyang? What causes the shrinkage? In both men and women?”

Hearing this, the forced smile on the waiter’s face instantly collapsed. He spun around to flee.

But as soon as he turned, his head smacked into the stone board that Gao Zhijian held against his chest. Stars exploded in his vision, and he collapsed backward, limp.

When he came to his senses, he found his arms and legs bound tight with tough ox-hide cord. A large, imposing man stood nearby, glaring at him.

Rattle. The metal clatter of Li Huowang’s toolkit spread open on the floor before the waiter.

Seeing the dark, dried bloodstains on the blades, the waiter shuddered all over.

“Sorry about this. I’m not good with words—can’t really talk my way through things. So I tend to use the method I’m best at. Forgive me. Since coming to this world, I haven’t learned much else, but I have gotten pretty good at all kinds of torture.” Li Huowang’s flat tone sent a chill through the waiter like ice.

“This tool here is for scooping out eyeballs. Let me tell you something: the eyeball itself can’t feel pain. If you don’t believe me, try prying your eyelid open and touching it. The pain you feel is from the flesh around the eye, not the eye itself.”

As the round, cold iron tool traced along the edge of the waiter’s face, goosebumps erupted across his entire body.

The waiter looked utterly terrified—his face was drained of blood—but his lips were pressed tightly together. He still had no intention of answering Li Huowang’s questions.

Seeing this wasn’t working, Li Huowang set down the iron clamp and picked up a metal spindle instead, holding it up for the waiter to see.

“And this? You might think it’s for winding thread. It’s not. This is for winding intestines.”

“It’s very simple to use. First, I cut a small hole right here at your navel. Then I pull out a loop of your intestine and hook it onto the spindle. And then I just keep pulling… and pulling…”

“Do you know what that feels like? Close your eyes. Think about it.”

“If you don’t want to imagine it, that’s fine. You’ll experience it soon enough. Let me give you a spoiler: it’s a very unpleasant sensation. You feel… hollow inside.”

The moment the words left his mouth, there was a sharp rip. Li Huowang tore open the waiter’s shirt, exposing his thin, sunken belly.

The instant Li Huowang’s five fingers touched the waiter’s navel, the man broke.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” The sharp stench of urine began to seep from beneath him.

Gao Zhijian scratched the back of his head. He thought Senior Brother Li was actually pretty good at talking—just words alone could scare a man like this.

Li Huowang slowly lifted his hand from the man’s belly. “Talk. What exactly is causing the suoyang and suoyin in this county?”

“There are ghosts! Ghosts!” the waiter wailed, his voice pitiful and ragged. Tears and snot streamed down his face. “Some wandering souls want to be reborn as men, so they come to the mortal world to take what we have! They want to steal ours!”

Li Huowang found this absurd. “What kind of nonsense is that?”

This wasn’t what he had expected. He had assumed the shriveling was caused by some kind of malevolent entity.

Could they be mistaking some sort of demon for a ghost? Or is a uniquely vicious entity attacking them? In that case, wouldn’t the Supervisory Heavenly Office send someone?

Frowning, Li Huowang thought for a moment, then looked at the waiter again. “Have you actually seen one of these so-called ghosts? What does it look like? Is it something you can touch, or can’t you touch it?”

If he could get the details straight now, he would know what to expect when he encountered one again.

At this question, the waiter shook his head frantically. “No! People can’t see ghosts at all! But if you get too close, they’ll shrink you! Keep shrinking you until you die!”

Seeing that the man was finally willing to talk, Li Huowang untied him and helped him back into a chair.

His tone had softened considerably compared to before.

“All right. I just asked you a simple question. Was there any need to hide it? Why didn’t you tell me before? Believe it or not, we’re actually here to help.”

Hearing this, the waiter covered his face and burst into loud sobs. He was terrified, his voice heavy with despair.

“I can’t say it! If I say it, you and I will be haunted by the ghosts!”

At those words, a chill ran down Li Huowang’s spine. He gripped his sword hilt and quickly scanned the room.

The window. The wooden door. Under the bed. He looked everywhere, but found nothing. Everything appeared perfectly normal.

Thinking back on all the malevolent entities he had encountered so far, this was the first time he had heard of something so sinister—something that could spread just by being spoken of!

Although the waiter’s story had plenty of holes, Li Huowang had learned by now that it was better to believe something might be true than to dismiss it out of hand.

He immediately looked up at Gao Zhijian, who was guarding the door. “When we leave, don’t tell anyone about this!”

Gao Zhijian nodded firmly. He had no desire to bring danger to their companions.

Ignoring the risk, Li Huowang reached out and forcibly pulled the waiter’s hands away from his face, staring intently at his despair-ridden expression.

“Who told you this? Who said that telling anyone else would get you haunted? Did they mention any way to deal with these things?”

Despite the two demon-slaying swords on his back, this was the strangest threat he had ever faced.

“I don’t… I don’t know! Everyone just says so!” With that, the waiter, ignoring Li Huowang’s presence, fumbled with his belt and nervously peeked down at himself.

The next moment, the waiter froze as if struck by lightning.

(End of chapter)