Chapter 8: Encountering Ghosts at a Wild Grave
“The calamity of bloodshed? Ha, streamer, that’s such an old-fashioned line.” The ‘ghost’ on the screen looked completely unconvinced, certain that this was just something Sang Jing had fabricated to build her account. But she also wanted to see what this new streamer could come up with.
“Since the streamer says I have a calamity of bloodshed today, can you be more specific? A torpedo can’t just be for one line about a calamity of bloodshed, can it?”
The bullet comments were still filled with sarcastic and mocking remarks. To start off with a calamity of bloodshed was just like the fortune-telling scammers of the past.
【She didn’t give her Bazi, the makeup on her face isn’t even washed off, and without seeing anything, she just says calamity of bloodshed. A 100% scammer. Even if you’re going to scam people, can you at least understand the trade first? Starting with a calamity of bloodshed is hilarious.】
As soon as this bullet comment appeared, similar ones followed. Everyone thought Sang Jing was bluffing, or that she was part of the same team as this ‘ghost’ she was linked with, putting on a show.
Xie Yu’s eyesight was good, and she could clearly see these rapidly scrolling bullet comments. She couldn’t stand this kind of treatment. Seeing the reserved person remain silent made her even angrier.
“Scammer, scammer, did she scam you out of your money to be called a scammer? Did Sang Jing even say anything? Before she said anything, you’ve already branded her a scammer and a view-farmer. Your mouths are so filthy, why don’t you go wash them instead of disgusting others? How many brains do you have to talk like that? Oh, I see, you probably have no brain at all. Someone says something, and you just nod and follow along. Are you a pug? You’re sick.”
Silence…
The livestreaming room was silent, and the bullet comment section seemed to have frozen. The girl with the ghost makeup on the screen had her mouth open, not daring to speak.
Xie Yu, with a cold face and no expression, retorted against those bullet comments, her aura explosive.
After a long moment, Sang Jing finally reacted. She gestured with her eyes for Xie Yu to stop talking, then shifted her body to partially block Xie Yu from the camera and cleared her throat. “Um… let’s continue.”
The bullet comments started to scroll again, noticeably more restrained than before, but it also provoked a rebellious streak in some people.
【Why so arrogant? It’s the truth. The streamer has no real skills, and you won’t let people say it? What, you think you’re Young Mistress Wenren Jin? Do you own White Whale Live?】
【I’ve really seen it all. First time seeing such a domineering livestream. Avoid, avoid.】
【No wonder she needs an assistant. There are some things the streamer can’t say, so she has the assistant say them. It must be satisfying for the streamer to hear the assistant curse at us, saying what’s on her mind.】
【Why are you cursing at me!!! Why are you cursing at me!!! I just got here!!! If you have the guts to curse at me, then curse me until I’m satisfied!!!】
【…What kind of pervert is the person above? An M?】
【The assistant’s voice sounds so familiar.】
Sang Jing quickly scanned the bullet comments, her gaze pausing for a moment, the corner of her mouth twitching imperceptibly.
What a mess of comments.
“Alright, then I’ll be more specific.” Sang Jing brought the livestream back on topic.
The ghost face on the screen blinked rapidly at her. “Oh, okay.”
Without a Bazi, without her real facial features, it was indeed impossible to make a deduction. But the calamity of bloodshed Sang Jing spoke of was based on her surroundings.
“In the frames that just flashed by, I saw a cypress forest behind you. There are sounds of insects, but no traffic noise. You’re not in the city. You’re probably at a wild grave in some suburb. You didn’t go alone; you have three or four companions, and you’re waiting for them.”
With every sentence Sang Jing spoke, the ‘ghost’s’ eyes on the screen widened. She already had large eyes, and with the special ghost makeup, the image became terrifying again.
“Oh my god…”
Hearing the gasp from the other side, Sang Jing knew she was right.
“Th… then what?” the girl’s voice stuttered.
Sang Jing’s voice quickened. “Do you have earphones?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
The girl quickly found the Bluetooth earphones in her pocket and put them on. “Okay, they’re on.”
“They’re coming for you.”
“Qin Yue, what are you doing?”
The streamer’s voice in her earphones and her friend’s call from behind her sounded at the same time.
But in that instant, the hair on Qin Yue’s entire body stood on end. The voice from outside the earphones was ethereal, low, and cold, the end of the words drawn out strangely long, until it almost sounded like it was being spoken right next to her ear.
Qin Yue whipped her head around and saw the three people she was waiting for standing not far away, looking at her. The three of them clearly had different personalities, but at this moment, their expressions were strangely identical. Their heads were slightly bowed, and they were smiling at her.
Her phone was clutched in her hand, the camera aimed straight ahead, shaking uncontrollably.
【Mom, mom, mom, mom, help!!!!】
【No, wait, these, these three people??】
【They’re not human, are they? They look so scary.】
【Why do I feel like the sister we’re linked with is about to cry?】
【Is this really not staged? The plot hole is too obvious.】
【Agreed, feels like it was designed by the streamer’s team again.】
Qin Yue was really about to cry. Her legs were weak, her breathing was getting heavier, and she gritted her teeth and whispered, “Wh-what should I do?”
“Qin Yue, what’s wrong with you? Who are you talking to?” One of them came over, her legs not moving, floating over.
Qin Yue: “!!!”
Mommy!
“Don’t be afraid, calm down,” Sang Jing said slowly. “If you’re really scared, repeat after me in your mind—”
“I wash my body with the moon, refine my truth with the sun… The twenty-eight constellations, follow my command… Thunder and lightning before me, wind and clouds behind me, a thousand evils and ten thousand filth, are cleansed by the qi.” [1]
Knowing that the other person was terrified, Sang Jing’s voice was soft and gentle as she recited the incantation.
Qin Yue repeated it in her mind. She didn’t know if it was because Sang Jing’s voice was comforting her or if the incantation was really working, but she actually felt less scared.
At least she could open her mouth to reply.
“I’m listening to a song. It’s San Huo’s new song, it’s really good. Want to listen together?” Qin Yue acted as if she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the people opposite her, enthusiastically offering one of her earphones.
Sang Jing didn’t say anything.
The bullet comment section was also unusually quiet. After a while, a single comment floated up—
【Why is no one talking? I’m so scared.】
Followed by a few scattered comments—
【Don’t give me away! How did the streamer’s incantation go again? Can you say it one more time?】
【So nervous, so nervous, so nervous!!】
【What’s there to be afraid of if it’s fake? Are you all part of the water army? What’s the streamer’s background? Which company is she from?】
“No need, I prefer Qing Tian’s songs. They sound a bit more sunny.”
Qing Tian, a singer who had been dead for over a decade.
Qin Yue’s scalp tingled, and she almost dropped her earphones. She chuckled and put them back in her ears, not daring to look up at the person in front of her.
The person in front of her was named Li Menghan. She had been her roommate for four years in college and didn’t like listening to music at all, let alone the songs of a singer who had been dead for over ten years!
Her palms were slick with sweat, and Qin Yue’s voice was hoarse. “Ha, haha.”
“Qin Yue, aren’t you going to shoot a video? Why are you just standing here? Let’s go,” ‘Li Menghan’ said, reaching out her hand to Qin Yue.
By the faint light of her phone screen, Qin Yue saw the outstretched hand. It was stiff, bruised, and purple, with long, slender nails. It didn’t look like a normal person’s hand at all!
“Go with her.”
Sang Jing’s voice came through the earphones. Qin Yue was considering whether to just run for it when she heard Sang Jing say again, “If you don’t want anything to happen to your three friends, listen to me.”
Qin Yue’s train of thought was broken. She looked at the hand in front of her, then looked up at the eerily smiling ‘Li Menghan’.
Tonight’s plan was her idea in the first place. What would it look like if she ran away by herself? If what the streamer said was true, and something happened to her three friends because of her, she would probably regret it and feel guilty for the rest of her life.
Forget it, if I die, I die!
Qin Yue closed her eyes and took the hand in front of her. The moment she touched it, she felt a bone-chilling cold, and she couldn’t help but shiver.
Passing through the cypress forest, Qin Yue was led by the three ‘people’ to the wild grave Sang Jing had mentioned earlier. One wild grave after another, untended and unvisited, overgrown with weeds. Some graves didn’t even have a tombstone; no one knew who they were in life.
In front of one grave, there was a pile of unburnt paper money, glowing with embers in the darkness.
Seeing this, Sang Jing understood and felt a sense of relief. These few wild ghosts had no intention of harming anyone.
She said to Qin Yue, “Ask them their names and Bazi.”
Hearing Sang Jing’s words, Qin Yue, with a sense of desperation, asked the question.
‘Li Menghan’ was stunned for a moment, and the other two ‘people’ looked at each other.
“Take off your earphones and turn up the volume,” Sang Jing said again.
Qin Yue did as she was told, guessing that Sang Jing was going to say something to these three. After turning off her Bluetooth, she shoved her phone right in ‘Li Menghan’s’ face.
The livestreaming room was met with a bruised, dark ghost face.
Sang Jing: “…”
She looked down at her own legs, then at Xie Yu, who was beside her, looking calm but with a hint of guilt in her eyes.
The moment the ghost face was magnified on the screen, her calf had been kicked hard.
【!!!???】
【Hey sis, did I say I wanted to see this???】
【Take it away, take it away, take it away!!】
【Why is there a jump scare in a livestream! Streamer, if you’re really working with a team, I’ve watched it, can you give a high-energy warning next time? I won’t say you’re fake, but can you also be considerate of me?】
【What ghost looks like that? Fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, wuwuwuwu.】
‘Li Menghan’ saw Sang Jing on the phone, and their eyes met.
Sang Jing pulled out three talismans from the side, a calligraphy brush and cinnabar in hand, fully prepared. “Name and Bazi. I can send you through the Ghost Gate to reincarnation.”
‘Li Menghan’s’ eyes moved, and her voice instantly became old and weak, completely changing into another person’s. “Really?”
Sang Jing nodded and added, “Although ghost possession can let you ‘live’ for a short time, when dawn breaks tomorrow and the yang energy rises, your souls will immediately dissipate, unable to be reborn. With the chance of reincarnation, why bet on a completely uncertain outcome by borrowing someone else’s body?”
‘Li Menghan’ listened to Sang Jing’s words, exchanged a look with the two ‘people’ beside her, and they nodded in agreement.
“Alright.”
The three ‘people’ gave their names and Bazi, and Sang Jing wrote them down one by one.
In front of the screen, Sang Jing performed the trick of a talisman igniting without fire.
As the talisman burned to ashes, wisps of white smoke drifted out of the window.
A moment later, on the other end of the screen, a wisp of white smoke appeared on Qin Yue’s side.
The white smoke seemed to have a consciousness of its own, circling around the three ‘people’ of ‘Li Menghan’.
Before long, the three of them closed their eyes and fell down limply. Qin Yue saw three almost transparent figures chasing after the wisp of white smoke.
She pointed with a trembling finger, her voice choked with tears. “A ghost, a ghost!”
“Your three friends’ souls have strayed a little. I’ll send you an incantation. Recite it three times for each of them until they wake up.” After saying that, Sang Jing added a reminder, “In the future, don’t wear this kind of ghost makeup to a place like this. Some ghosts might mistake you and follow you home, affecting your luck.”
The makeup on Qin Yue’s face was ruined by her tears. She nodded. “Okay, okay, okay, I’ll remember.”
After saying that, she didn’t forget the fee. She immediately sent a torpedo to Sang Jing’s livestreaming room and followed her account.
“Thank you, thank you,” Qin Yue said repeatedly.
The first link-up was over. Sang Jing felt that she had proven her abilities.
Looking at the bullet comments, the top-liked one was—
【Great acting, just like watching a movie.】
Sang Jing: “…”
Oh.
Next.
The person on the other end was also a streamer, with over three hundred thousand fans.
Sang Jing glanced at her own. Hmm, 32.
The livestreaming rooms were connected, and the bullet comments instantly multiplied. The doubts about her were all drowned out by a dense wall of praise for the other streamer, along with questions about why she had come to the metaphysics section to link up with a ‘three-nos’ streamer.
“Little sister, you’re so pretty. Why did you come to this section? Have you considered coming next door with me?”
