Part 2 Chapter 12: "Dark Tribute"
I stood up, asked Qin Yiheng for a cigarette, and asked him, "Is this thing a ghost?"
He shook his head and motioned for me to look again.
I had no choice but to light a cigarette and observe patiently again.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m not very sensitive to graphics. Anyway, I looked at it for a long time, and even though my eyes were irritated by the smoke, I still couldn’t make out anything.
Finally, probably because Qin Yiheng was really tired of waiting, he leaned over next to me, pointed at the approximate location on the door and asked me: "Did you see clearly what this person is holding in his arms ?"
When he asked me this, I took a closer look. I looked at her carefully, but my main focus was to see what she looked like.
There is nothing we can do about it, after all, it is male instinct.
Now that he reminded me, I finally understood what was going on. It seemed that this woman was really holding something in her arms.
Although it was said that she was holding something, there was no specific image. At best, there were a few relatively darker shadows on the woman's chest.
Observing on the eggshell is a real test of eyesight, not to mention distinguishing these small shadows. I counted for a long time but couldn't figure out how many there were. In addition, the shadows were so small that I couldn't guess what these things were from the outline.
In terms of intuitive feeling, I didn't think it looked like she was holding something, but rather that the woman was wearing a knitted wool vest with a large plaid pattern. Seeing this, I asked Qin Yiheng: "What on earth are these shadows?"
He pointed at the door handle and said, "The secret of why the door is difficult to open is on the door handle." Then he motioned for me to continue looking.
To be honest, only I can tolerate his bad habit of keeping people in suspense, so I patiently looked at the door handle .
From the eggshell, the shadow of the woman was still a short distance from the door handle, and nothing else could be seen. However, I suddenly realized something. I didn't notice it just now, and I don't know when the scratching sound on the floor seemed to have disappeared. I held my breath to confirm it, and it was gone.
This is obviously not a good sign, right? I quickly reported it to Qin Yiheng, but he waved his hand and told me not to worry, and asked me, "Did you see the mystery?"
His question left me completely speechless. I had been staring at the eggshell all night, and I really didn't figure out the mystery. I could see the chick right away. I lit a cigarette and confronted Qin Yiheng directly, asking him to tell me the answer.
Seeing my face down, he smiled and told me not to get angry. Then he walked to the door, pointed at the door handle and told me that the door was hard to open because there was a "Hui Gong" tied to the door handle! This "Hui Gong" was the shadow seen on the eggshell.
On the eggshell, it looked like the shadow did not touch the door handle. That was because what was tied to the door handle was the woman's hair, and her feet were nailed to the floor, unable to move.
Because of the angle and the fact that we can only see the shadow roughly, we can't see what the woman's posture is. In fact, she is not leaning against the door, but her entire back is suspended in the air, without any contact with the door. It seems that the weight of her whole body is concentrated on her hair, and her hair happens to be tied to the door handle, which just uses her body to pull the door closed.
This is why when we pull the door outward, we feel it is very heavy, but when we close the door, the external force disappears. This is a bit like the spring-loaded automatic door-closing mechanism installed on old-fashioned wooden doors.
Qin Yiheng's explanation left me confused. Even if this filthiness is an evil act, it is something that cannot be seen or touched.
How come according to what he said, it is still an automatic door closing device?
What is most puzzling to me is that in our common understanding, ghosts and filth should be weightless, aren't they just a gust of wind? How can this go against common sense?
I thought about it, and reluctantly bent down to take another look. The shadow on the eggshell was still the same ghost. After Qin Yiheng's explanation, I could barely tell that the woman's posture was probably not leaning against the door.
But I still don't understand. Even if this thing can really be used as an automatic door closing device, who put it here? Xu Chuanxiang, or the previous owner of the house? What's the mentality? Just for fun?
I had no idea what to do, so I could only stand up, light a cigarette, point at the door with my chin, and signal Qin Yiheng to continue.
He said "hmm" and continued to gesture with his hands to tell me that this "Hui Gong" is not a ghost, but a soul, because the woman's body is not dead, but was hooked out for some reason and finally tied here. The reason why it has weight is not because it really has "mass", but because these wandering souls instinctively want to return to their own bodies, so they will always want to break free from this bondage.
As he spoke, Qin Yiheng pointed under the bed with his toes and continued, "We actually saw the thing this woman was holding this afternoon. It came out from under this bed."
When he said that, I immediately understood that he was referring to the two mice I killed.
So those dark shadows in this woman's arms are all mice?
My comprehension ability is not bad, so why do I become more confused the more I listen?
I looked at Qin Yiheng. He seemed to think these things were not difficult to understand, which made me feel a little embarrassed to say that I didn't understand.
Fortunately, before I could ask, he continued to explain: "Yes, those shadows are rats. To be more precise, they are the souls of rats."
"And the reason why these mice are in this woman's arms is probably the same as the reason why this woman appeared here. Add to that the man who was the first to die in the house who was dressed as a woman. Taken together, there is probably only one possibility, that is, someone used 'Hui Gong' to set up a trap."
"The form of tribute is not limited to food, cattle, sheep, and money. Generally speaking, as long as the gods or ghosts like it, everything in the world can become a tribute. This is just like everyone's hobbies. Fruits and cakes are equivalent to the meals we eat every day. Although they are indispensable, they can only be used as general tributes."
"Throughout the ages, there have been living sacrifices (killing livestock), human sacrifices (killing people), female sacrifices (killing virgins), and the ways of worship have emerged in an endless stream, and the tributes are all-encompassing, some good and some bad. This 'Hui Gong' refers to those bad tributes. However, although it is said to be bad, it is only described verbally, because since the offerings are made, they must be pious people. Therefore, in metaphysics, 'Hui Gong' mainly refers to those who do good things wrongly and bring disaster to themselves, and does not specifically refer to tributes. This is also a jargon in the industry."
After saying this, Qin Yiheng exhaled a long puff of smoke and said, "As for today 's 'Hui Gong', I'm afraid it's not offered to ghosts or ancestors, but to this house."
I was completely confused. How could this house accept tributes? This was not an old house, and it did not have the heritage left by those old houses after so many years!
Moreover, according to Qin Yiheng's idea, the tribute's feet were nailed to the floor and their hair was tied to the door handle. Is this house still a sadist?
This is too much! For the first time, I felt that things related to ghosts and gods could no longer be described as unbelievable , but only abnormal.
I told Qin Yiheng about my idea, and he laughed out loud. He told me that it might be hard for me to understand with a simple explanation now, but he could show me something, and I would surely understand it after seeing it.
After saying that, he pushed the door open with his shoulder and took me directly to the yard.
When I left the room, my legs couldn't help but feel weak. Although I had picked the eggshells and the door looked empty, I was still worried that the woman would grab my legs at any time. I tiptoed out of the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
We didn't stay for long when we arrived at the yard. Qin Yiheng just stopped for a moment, looked around, and asked me to follow him out of the gate. The two of us went around to the back of the wing on the right.
He looked around for a long time at the base of the wall, as if he was choosing a location, and finally pointed to a place and said, "This is the opening."
He said it was a hole, and I was quite puzzled. The wall was intact, and there was not even a spot of paint peeling. How could it be a hole? I wondered as I took a closer look. After all, this is a high-end residential area with complete facilities and brighter street lights, so visibility is still very good.
But I looked around and still found nothing, so I asked Qin Yiheng: "What is the hole? Is it in the soil or in the wall?"