Chapter 010 Master
I looked at these two people in a daze. My brain short-circuited for a moment and I couldn't think. I just stared at them in a daze.
The strange-looking middle-aged man came over, stretched out his right hand, and pressed his thumb on the center of my eyebrows. Somehow, I felt a stream of warm current flowing from the center of my eyebrows to my head and body, and I even felt sweat all over my body.
My brain regained some of its ability to think, and I blurted out, "Who are you?"
The middle-aged man let go of his hand, looked at Li Daming, shook his head and said, "It's too late."
"What do you mean it's late? What are you talking about?" I was a little confused, as if my head had been hit by a stick.
Li Daming did not respond to me, but asked the middle-aged man cautiously, Uncle Zhong, can we enter the house?
The middle-aged man nodded: "Let's talk about it after we go in."
These two people were really very familiar with each other. They walked into my house without any courtesy. I was a little annoyed: "What are you doing? Are you trespassing? Did I allow you to enter the house?"
Li Daming pulled me and pointed at the gate and said, "Take a look first."
I saw a long black paper sticking to my door. It looked like it had been burned. Next to the paper, someone had written a word in red. It didn't look like Chinese characters. After looking at it for a long time, it looked like the word "避" (avoid) for avoidance.
"What...what is this?" I was stunned.
Li Daming said, "This is what Uncle Zhong wrote just now."
I was furious: "Li Daming, how do you know my address? You came here and brought a stranger with you to write on my door? Aren't you going too far?!"
"Don't be impatient." Li Daming said, "Uncle Zhong is a master. Since you don't want to invite him, I will go and invite him. Let's talk slowly when he comes in."
Without giving me a chance to explain, he pulled me into the house and locked the door. The middle-aged man walked around my house without taking off his shoes, leaving shoe prints all over the floor. He twisted beads in one hand and held a compass in the other, walking and stopping in a serious manner, looking up and around.
I was extremely angry: "What are you doing? You came to my house to sail, and you even brought a compass with you."
Li Daming laughed: "Why sail? Uncle Zhong is here to check your feng shui, just be happy."
The middle-aged man heard us talking, walked over and held out his hand, looking at me with bright eyes: "Hello, my last name is Zhong, I'm quite old, my friends all call me Uncle Zhong."
I thought the name sounded familiar, but I stared at it for a long while and couldn't remember where I had heard it.
Uncle Zhong waved his hand in front of my eyes and said to Li Daming, "One soul and one spirit are missing. The sequelae are beginning to show, and the reaction is becoming slow."
"What?" I said blankly. I don't know what happened today. Maybe I didn't get enough rest. Why is my brain so slow?
Li Daming said, "Don't you know who Uncle Zhong is? Wang Yue asked you to find an expert, Uncle Zhong. You kept putting it off, so I had to go. As soon as I told him, Uncle Zhong came right away."
Uncle Zhong shook his head: "Xiao Li, no matter what you say to him now, he won't be able to react. His soul has been lost, and his IQ will drop sharply. After tonight, he will become a child under eight years old."
"What are you talking about?" I said reluctantly, "Is my soul lost?"
Uncle Zhong looked at me and said, "Just now, a ghost from the underworld entered your home and took away your soul and spirit. You are now a person with an incomplete soul and spirit."
I was a little surprised. If I had heard something like this in the past, I would have had a bigger reaction, but today, for some reason, my emotions took so long to emerge, like a small stone thrown into a big lake, which only causes shallow ripples.
"After tonight," said Uncle Zhong, "you will become an adult with low IQ. In another week, you will become a fool who cannot take care of yourself."
I was speechless and said subconsciously: "Then, what should I do?"
Uncle Zhong said, "Borrowing souls. I have collected thunderwood before, which is the souls of people who died by lightning. I wanted to practice the art of the Five Ghosts , but the other four ghosts were too difficult to gather. Today is an opportunity. We are destined to be together. I will use the thunderwood to replace your lost soul, but it can only last for a week. If your soul is not found by then, even the Golden Immortal cannot save you."
To be honest, my brain really isn't working right now, like an old machine without oil.
Uncle Zhong instructed Li Daming to help me sit on a chair in the middle of the hall. Uncle Zhong opened his bag and took out a large brocade bag, then told Li Daming to get a large plate from the kitchen.
Watching them busying about, I was a little confused. Is this still my home? Why are they so casual?
I simply stopped caring because I was too tired to think.
Li Daming came over and said, "Lin Cong, Uncle Zhong charges for his services. Borrowing souls is a very complicated and troublesome spell. Uncle Zhong wants 5,000 yuan. You can transfer the money to me."
I subconsciously wanted to get furious, but I couldn't get angry. I smiled bitterly and said, "Why is it so expensive?"
I heard Li Daming and Uncle Zhong laughing , as if they were saying that this guy was not completely stupid and still knew how to bargain.
I was confused and wondered if I had been tricked by them. Uncle Zhong had an unknown origin, didn't look like a good person, and was extremely . I vaguely remembered a story about a traveler who entered a black shop a long time ago, took a drug that made him lose his soul, took out money in a daze, and was eventually made into a human meat bun.
I said weakly, "You, don't hurt me."
Li Daming said: "No one is trying to harm you. Don't you know what's happening to you now?"
"I, I didn't sleep well." I said, "Maybe I caught a cold."
"Your IQ will drop if you catch a cold?" Li Daming sneered, "If you don't have money, I'll pay for it for you. It's not a big deal."
I nodded and said softly, "Okay, you pay it first." I didn't say the second half of the sentence. It depends on my mood whether I return it or not.
After we agreed on the price, Uncle Zhong started to work. I was drowsy sitting in the chair, and I didn't quite understand how he did it. I saw him holding a brush and writing on the floor of the living room. The characters were very large, and he walked back and forth with my position as the center, describing the long strokes of the character.
The next second, I passed out.
In my coma, I vaguely saw a stranger approaching me, and he seemed to say to me, "I borrow my soul from you, but I really don't want to."
I also thanked him. As for what this stranger looked like or who he was, I had no idea. Later, I fell asleep again. When I woke up, it was already dark outside. I lay in bed and smelled a faint aroma of food coming from the kitchen.
I stretched my limbs and felt indescribably comfortable all over. I felt light and floating, as if in ecstasy. My mind was unusually clear and all the memories came flooding back.
I called out casually: "Li Daming".
Li Daming pushed the door open and came in. "Oh, you're awake? Hurry up and get up. Uncle Zhong has made some preserved egg and lean meat porridge. I'm drooling just from smelling it. I'm waiting for you."
I blinked at him and jumped up from the bed.
"How does it feel?" He looked at me.
"It feels so good." I stretched my arms and legs. "It feels like a cold is getting better."
Li Daming looked at me, wanting to say something but not saying anything, just beckoning me: "Come out for dinner."
We went outside, and the living room dining table was filled with a variety of dishes. The staple food was preserved egg and lean meat porridge. The diced lean meat could be vaguely seen floating on the white porridge. I raised my nose and smelled it. Wow, it was so fragrant that my stomach started to growl. There were also some chopped green onions sprinkled on the porridge, which were green and very appetizing.
I sat there, eating without slurping and burping all the time. Uncle Zhong looked at me with a smile on his face.
I put down my bowl and chopsticks and said, "Tell me what's going on."
Li Daming said first: "It was Uncle Zhong I found."
According to him, he was very angry when he found my negative attitude after talking to me on the phone that day, and he went to find Uncle Zhong privately. Uncle Zhong was really in Room 506 of Jingming Building. Uncle Zhong had a small business there, and the whole room was filled with facial masks.
At this point, Uncle Zhong chuckled and said, "I'm ashamed. My daughter is a micro-business owner. I happen to have a house there, so I'll use it as a warehouse for her temporarily."
Li Daming said that when he saw Uncle Zhong for the first time, he knew that this man was a master. After asking his name, Li Daming did not hide anything and told him everything he saw and heard that night at Wang Yue's house.
At this point, Uncle Zhong asked, "Do you know what I do?"
"Don't you sell facial masks?" I joked.
Uncle Zhong smiled and said, "I didn't tell Xiao Li in advance. I'll tell you when you're all here. Actually, my job is the same as Wang Yue's. I'm also a ghost messenger walking in the world of the living."
"Ah?!" Li Daming and I looked at each other in shock.
Li Daming was very interested: "Uncle Zhong, I only knew that you were a master, but I didn't expect that you were also a ghost messenger. So what exactly does a ghost messenger do?"
"Don't ask what I'm doing." Uncle Zhong said, "This is not something you should ask. Wang Yue helped me before, and I owe her a big favor. She has already made an appointment with me for today's disaster. So when you guys came, I couldn't refuse, and I had to bite the bullet and go."
He looked at his watch: "The time is right, it's almost midnight, let's go to Wang Yue's house."
I said blankly, "Can't it be tomorrow? I'll be mentally prepared. This is too soon."
"You still want to delay?" Uncle Zhong said, "You will become an idiot in seven days. You are the one who can least afford to delay among us!"
