Chapter 007 Black Smoke
Li Daming pointed at the coffin with a horrified expression on his face. I quickly turned around and saw black smoke coming out of the coffin.
The black mist that was originally lingering on Wang Yue somehow began to overflow from the coffin.
The black smoke seemed to be endless, rolling out like a black cloud, madly occupying every inch of the room.
I made a prompt decision: "Let's go!"
We both ran to the bedroom door and pushed it, but it was tightly shut and wouldn't open. I started sweating.
Li Daming and I banged on the door, but it didn't budge, as if it was locked. He looked at me and asked, "Did we lock the door when we came in?"
My mind was in a mess and I shook my head and said I forgot.
Li Daming tried to twist the door handle, but couldn't move it at all. The door seemed to be welded shut. He took a deep breath and asked, "Could this also be part of the mechanism?"
The black smoke became more and more, filling the whole room. In the black air, a faint light could be seen in the corner, which was emitted by two ever-burning lamps.
Li Daming's voice in the darkness was filled with fear: "Does Wang Yue want to bury us with him?"
We went to the window in the dark to check it and found that it was also locked tightly. The window axis iron bolt had been welded and could not be opened no matter how hard we tried. I said with a cold sweat, "The black gas can't be poisonous, right?" Li Daming responded helplessly, "If it is poisonous, there is nothing we can do. We can't run away."
We really had no choice but to decide to listen to the recording on the phone first.
"...I tripped over a brick and fell badly, but I was too scared to go home." Wang Yue's voice in the recording said: "On the night I returned home, I had a high fever and went to the underworld in a daze."
Li Daming and I gasped at the same time.
"The first thing I saw in my dream was that I was still at home. I blurred the dream and reality and had no idea that I was dreaming." Wang Yue said, "I came out of my house and saw an unfamiliar hillside outside. After I walked up, I saw a temple surrounded by green trees. It should have been daytime, but the sky was dim and muddy yellow, looking like an old photo. I turned to the back of the temple, where there was a big tree, very, very thick, with lush branches and leaves. Under the tree, I saw a person cooking something in a pot. The pot was black, and the stove below was burning coal. I couldn't tell what was cooking, but I saw hot water boiling in the pot, and something was rising and falling. The person raised his head to look at me, and I was shocked. It turned out to be an old woman. I couldn't tell how old she was. She was wearing a black cotton jacket and her hair was disheveled. Later..."
The first recording stops playing.
Li Daming and I sat very close, but because the room was filled with thick fog, I could hardly see him. In order to avoid losing contact, he turned on his flashlight, and the light seemed to come from a distant island.
"She walked through the underworld when she was a child." Li Daming's voice came out from the black fog.
I asked what it meant.
Li Daming said: "Walking in the underworld is also called entering the underworld. The meaning can be understood literally. It means that a person enters the world of the dead through some kind of opportunity, which is the so-called underworld."
“I think I’ve heard of it,” I said.
Li Daming was completely submerged in the black smoke. Only his deep voice could be heard: "In the south, there are wizards who specialize in this profession. In some places, they are called ghost masters. They specialize in taking living people into the underworld and talking to their dead relatives and friends. This kind of magic is called spirit-watching magic."
"How do you know it so clearly?" I wondered.
Li Daming laughed in the darkness: "I am usually interested in this, and I am also the leader of an exploration group in this city. I know a lot of miscellaneous things."
I was silent, and suddenly I had a strange feeling. It seemed that it was not accidental that Li Daming fell into this situation. There must be some connection.
Before I could think about it, he turned on the second recording.
Wang Yuepiaopiao's female voice came faintly, "... Later I found out that the old woman I saw in my dream was the legendary Meng Po. What I was feeling at the time was not a dream, but a walk in the underworld..."
My heart skipped a beat when I heard this. Li Daming was right.
"Meng Po took me to see my dead father. My father's condition was very strange. He seemed to be imprisoned in a place. Meng Po told me that my father had sinned during his lifetime, so I must serve as a ghost messenger for 15 years to eliminate his karma. As long as I complete my merits, I will be reunited with my father and released from hell. He can be reincarnated or find a good destination in the underworld." Wang Yue said, "I listened to Meng Po and really served as a ghost messenger for more than ten years. What is a ghost messenger and what does it do specifically, Lin Cong, don't ask, these are things you shouldn't know. Now, in 2019, I have completed my merits and will go to the underworld to rescue my father."
Li Daming heaved a long sigh of relief in the darkness, "So that's how it is."
I asked in confusion, “What do you know?”
"Wang Yue's methods have led to the current situation. It turns out that she wanted to save her father through secret means." Li Daming said.
Suddenly, the sound in the recording became noisy, as if it was strongly disturbed. "Lin Cong... I'm sorry..." Wang Yue said: "In the process of saving my father, I need a kind, smart and sincere person to help me. I have been looking for two or three years, and finally chose you..." There was a rustling sound in the recording.
I didn't say anything, feeling uncomfortable all over. Wang Yue praised me so much, but I wasn't happy at all. Instead, I felt like I had eaten a live fly.
"...I pretended to be you and signed an underworld agreement with Meng Po, and pledged your soul and spirit to the underworld..." the recording said.
I stood up with my eyes wide open: "What the hell?!"
In the darkness, Li Daming reached out and held my hand, urging me to stay calm and listen to what he said.
"If you don't help me," Wang Yue said, "you will be incomplete for the rest of your life. In serious cases, you will be unable to take care of yourself and will be like a fool with an IQ of only a five-year-old child. If you help me and successfully rescue my father, Lin Cong." She paused and said, "I will thank you. After I come back to life, I will marry you and work like a slave for you all my life!"
Li Daming laughed in the darkness: "Sure, the stakes are high, Lao Lin, just take the gamble. If you succeed, you'll get a wife."
I was irritated and yelled, "Why does she make decisions for me?! Why did I marry such a crazy woman? What did I do to offend her?!"
"Lin Cong, if you are willing, I will teach you the specific method of the last recording." Wang Yue's voice continued to play in the phone.
The recording was interrupted. I was shaking like a sieve, surrounded by thick black smoke, and couldn't see anything. I was shocked and scared, annoyed and terrified. I accidentally ran into Wang Yue sleepwalking some time ago, and it seemed to explain it. At that time, she called herself "Lin Cong" and signed an agreement with "Lao Meng".
Old Meng, could it be Meng Po? Thinking back to that strange night, the cold moonlight, the empty pavilion... I was so scared that I was shaking all over. Could it be that Meng Po really died that night? Is there really Meng Po in this world?
"Should we play the last recording?" Li Daming asked me.
I said weakly, let it go.
"Lin Cong, if you decide to help me, it will be the wisest choice in your life." Wang Yue's voice came: "Now listen to me carefully, to help me, you need two things and one person." Hearing this, for some reason I thought of Li Daming. Could it be that Li Daming is the person Wang Yue was talking about?
"Let me tell you two things first." Wang Yue said: "In the coffin in front of you, you will find my body. There is a bracelet on my right wrist. Take it off and wear it on your hand." After this sentence, the recording suddenly stopped.
The light flickered faintly in the darkness. It must be Li Daming shining a flashlight on his phone. He said slowly, "The recording has not stopped, but there is no sound."
I immediately said, "Could it be that Wang Yue made time for me to get the bracelet?"
Li Daming smiled, "That's really possible. I think Wang Yue made the right choice by choosing you. You really understand her. Go ahead, don't just stand there. I think this is also a trap. You must take off the bracelet during the silent recording period."
In the darkness, I groped for the flashlight and shone it around. The black smoke swallowed everything, and the flashlight light could not spread out, only illuminating less than half a meter in front of me.
I have to find the coffin and pull the bracelet off Wang Yue's physical wrist before the recording continues talking.
