Judge of Souls - Chapter 120

This girl’s emotions were undisguised, and her behavioral logic was quite traceable.

Xie Zhilan had probably heard voices from downstairs and came running up with quick steps. When she was nearly at the third floor, she deliberately slowed her pace. She might not have known that the wooden stairs in the empty hallway, combined with the hard plastic soles of her shoes, still made quite obvious sounds. Or perhaps it was just to show that she didn’t dare to disturb them.

Miumiu snorted disdainfully and picked up her phone to start playing with it.

“You left home… it should have been three years ago, right?” Chu Xuanliang said. “How much money did you take from home at that time? How did you spend these three years? Who went out with you? Why did you come back?”

“That little bit of money they had wasn’t even enough for me to eat a few meals. They were too poor. To tell you the truth, I can hardly believe it myself – after working for so many years, they ended up in such a pathetic state. It’s simply a joke.” Miumiu curled her lips and said, “Don’t say I’m materialistic – they taught me that. Just look at Xie Zhilan’s penny-pinching ways, pure chicken heart without the guts – she’s not even as good as me.”

Chu Xuanliang: “But you dared to go out alone at such a young age. You’re quite bold.”

Miumiu was delighted to hear this. “We’re called entrepreneurial youth of the new era!”

Yama: “Sounds impressive.”

“I am impressive!” Miumiu straightened her sitting posture. “Not bad, you have money and good taste.”

Xie Zhilan stood behind the door, carefully listening to their conversation through the door frame, her eyes full of worry.

Miumiu directly grabbed some snacks from the table and threw them at her. “Stop eavesdropping, damn it!”

Xie Zhilan shrank back behind the door.

Chu Xuanliang patiently tried to coax information about what had happened from her through half-flattery, half-conversation.

“It must have been quite hard. Wouldn’t it have been much easier if you had stayed home to study?”

“What do you adults understand? If you could give me the life I wanted, would I need to work hard myself?” Miumiu sneered. “If you can’t do it, then don’t babble. It’s annoying.”

“You’re already an adult too.”

“So I went out to make my way in the world. What can she still control about me?”

Yama couldn’t understand the young person’s thinking. Hadn’t she come back home herself?

Chu Xuanliang laughed dryly. “Oh, don’t be angry. I’m just asking out of curiosity. How did you make money?”

Miumiu said, “Money? Who doesn’t like money? I worked very hard to make money, okay?”

Chu Xuanliang asked curiously, “You do eating broadcasts, right? How do you make money from that?”

Miumiu put down her phone and sat cross-legged to educate everyone. “Eating broadcasts require training, okay? You definitely need to start preparing before competitions. If you’re poor, you drink lots of water to maintain your stomach capacity. You have to eat fast, basically not chewing much – just swallow it directly, and you can’t taste anything anyway. Then while eating, you must drink lots of water and add some oil or whatever to make it easier to vomit.”

Chu Xuanliang: “But wouldn’t that make your body feel increasingly uncomfortable?”

Miumiu said bluntly, “Having no money is the most uncomfortable thing.”

Xie Zhilan called from outside: “Miumiu, making money isn’t simple. Those are all scams. Don’t do foolish things.”

Miumiu said unhappily, “What do you understand? Go away quickly!”

Chu Xuanliang also asked, “Are internet celebrities really that profitable? I remember when I was little, my classmates’ dreams weren’t to become stars.”

Although Miumiu’s attitude toward outsiders was also perfunctory, it was obviously much better.

“Who doesn’t want to be an internet celebrity? Just selling your face gets you loads of money. Look at those internet celebrities who came from viral marketing – they’re not particularly beautiful or good singers, but add a filter and they become otaku goddesses. A casual meal is worth tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. Or become a celebrity’s monthly girlfriend, then open an online store and make millions. If I had money, I’d do marketing too. What’s dignity worth? Scientists? Do they make money? I look down on them. Only useless honest people suffer losses, and poor people just comfort themselves.”

The three of them felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

She had a complete set of twisted logic. Or rather, she deeply believed in what she wanted to believe. It was deeply rooted – something society had taught her.

Chu Xuanliang said, “Then I can tell you now that your situation isn’t very good.”

Miumiu giggled. “Are you going to tell me my forehead is dark and misfortune is coming?”

Chu Xuanliang: “You might not believe it, but it’s true. Your mother invited us over specifically because of this matter.”

Miumiu grabbed her feet and laughed, falling back onto the bed. “Can’t you come up with something fresh?”

“Since you came back home, you should have some sense of it yourself. I don’t need to say much, do I? Am I talking nonsense, or are you afraid to admit it?”

Miumiu’s tone turned cold as she drove them away. “I think I’m doing fine. You don’t need to say more. Leave. If I find out you’re cheating my mom out of money, I’ll beat you up.”

After that, she grabbed things from the table and began wolfing them down again.

She ate very quickly, just as she had described. But it was also somewhat terrifying, as if she were in an uncontrolled state.

Although he knew he would be disliked, Chu Xuanliang still took away most of the food from the room. Miumiu saw this and looked angry, but didn’t free her hands to fight with him.

Xie Zhilan stood outside the door and asked, “How is it?”

Chu Xuanliang pointed downstairs, and the four of them went down the stairs one after another to the first floor.

They sat on a small stone stool in front of the door, and Chu Xuanliang said, “Don’t let her eat so much anymore.”

“But she’s hungry!”

“She’s not hungry. She’s just used to it.”

“Honestly, if she keeps eating like this, we can’t afford it either. She eats several hundred yuan worth of food a day. If we order takeout, it’s over a thousand. She completely can’t stop – she eats and then vomits. It’s not proper eating either. What kind of situation is this?”

“I heard that frequent vomiting makes you get used to this. But she’s a bit different from ordinary eating broadcasters. For her health, she should still restrain herself. You can’t indulge her. You have an obligation to help her.”

Xie Zhilan hesitated for a long time before saying, “I suspect she got into that stuff when she was out. Why did she start eating so much? Can you make money by eating? I did hear that people who do too much of that stuff become perverted.”

“That’s not it.” Chu Xuanliang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You can indeed make money by eating.”

Miumiu stuck her head out of the upstairs window and immediately started cursing, “If you want to talk bad about me, get lost! Don’t think I can’t hear you! F*ck!”

Xie Zhilan looked at them apologetically. “I’m sorry. She’s… she’s just like this.”

“Mm. The biggest problem now is that we can’t simply say she’s normal or abnormal. The ghost on her body is deeply integrated with her – normally you can’t see any problems at all. But the way she eats is obviously wrong, too absorbed. From what I can see, that ghost has no intention of actively harming her, but the physical damage, as you can see, is unavoidable. In the long run, it’s a problem.” Chu Xuanliang said. “We couldn’t get the reason out of her – she very obviously avoided this topic. This won’t work.”

“Then just capture it! Didn’t you say you’re a Taoist priest?” Xie Zhilan glanced at his sleeve. “Your peace talisman – won’t it work?”

Chu Xuanliang: “Ordinary talismans are useless, and as you saw, the two are closely connected. Forcibly expelling it would harm her. I don’t know how she got tangled up with that ghost. If we need to make a decision, it’s very difficult.”

Xie Zhilan: “I see. I need to discuss this with my husband. He’ll be back tonight, and maybe he can get it out of her. Miumiu still listens to him somewhat, okay?”

The three of them weren’t in a hurry – it was just a matter of a few hours anyway, but it could very well be a matter of life and death. Since she said this, they obediently sat downstairs for a while.

At five-thirty in the evening, Miumiu’s father came home from work.

Chu Xuanliang introduced himself. Upon hearing the words “Taoist priest,” his face showed undisguised disapproval.

Without even letting him finish, he directly took out twenty yuan from his pocket, trying to send Chu Xuanliang away.

“Our daughter is perfectly normal, no problems. She’s the one who’s been a bit confused lately. Thank you all for your trouble, but please leave.”

Xie Zhilan said awkwardly. “He didn’t take my money – he’s not a fraud.”

The man said loudly, “That’s because he hasn’t taken your money yet! Fraudsters are all very clever – those who ask for money right away are just beggars! Are you out of your mind?!”

Miumiu came down from the stairs, looking smugly at the group.

Chu Xuanliang smiled and didn’t get angry or take the money. “Since that’s the case, we’ll leave. If anything happens, you can go to the nearby city and ask about Baiyun Temple or Qianyuan Temple – these are more reliable Taoist temples.”

The man didn’t listen at all, though Xie Zhilan nodded. She seemed to fear her husband and didn’t dare to stop him.

Since it was already late, taking the van to the neighboring province would require several more hours, and they might not be able to find a hotel to stay in by then. They decided to find a guesthouse here to stay overnight and set off tomorrow.

The guesthouses here weren’t that strict – they rarely had outside guests and basically used them as hotels. You could stay just by claiming to be a relative of some employee.

The three of them got two rooms. After Yama washed his feet, he sat on the bed eating takeout and said, “I think she’s possessed by Liu Shan.”

“At least Liu Shan doesn’t vomit.” Chu Xuanliang asked, “What’s on her is a hungry ghost, right?”

Yama said: “Yes. She made a contract with it herself… This is the first time I’ve seen someone dare to make a contract with a hungry ghost. The other party isn’t possessing her either – you Taoist priests probably can’t handle this.”

This was exactly what gave Chu Xuanliang a headache.

They watched TV until after eleven, then dispersed to sleep.

Not long after closing his eyes, someone was pounding heavily on the door outside.

Bang bang bang – Chu Xuanliang was startled awake.

After collecting himself, he recognized Xie Zhilan’s voice. She was crying and shouting. “Help! Help!”

There were curses from others nearby. “Damn! Calling souls in the middle of the night? You scared me to death!”

Chu Xuanliang looked at his phone – 12:13 AM.

Chu Xuanliang sat up, rubbing his aching forehead and asked, “What’s wrong?”

The pounding on the door finally stopped, and she said, “Open the door first, quickly! Come with me to take a look. Master, please!”

Chu Xuanliang said helplessly, “I think you already refused me today. If the person involved doesn’t cooperate, even if you find the greatest immortal, it won’t help.”

“No, we were wrong, we were really wrong! It was my husband who told me to find you!” Xie Zhilan spoke a few words and started crying again. “Someone’s going to die, Master. Please come with us to take a look! Please!”

Chu Xuanliang got up and changed out of his pajamas. Jiang Feng and the others from the next room also came out.

Fortunately, the guesthouse wasn’t far from their home.

Xie Zhilan walked back crying hysterically, trotting quickly and nearly falling down.

Miumiu was tied to a chair, with blood all over her mouth and clothes. Her father stood beside her, along with some other men they didn’t recognize. They were also holding down her limbs to prevent her from struggling violently and hurting herself.

Miumiu’s eyes were red, as if she had been crying. She alternated between lucidity and madness. When the three arrived, the girl who had been screaming suddenly quieted down and returned to normal.

“Master! A real master! Look!” Those watching immediately exclaimed in amazement. “She got better as soon as you arrived!”

Miumiu was probably terrified and burst into tears. Her exposed skin was red with blue marks from being pressed down hard. These grown men didn’t know their own strength.

Her father looked at them helplessly and asked: “What should we do?”

Chu Xuanliang said: “Let her go. Tell us what happened.”

Xie Zhilan came out and said, “She… tonight, I listened to you and didn’t give her so much food. It really wasn’t good. Then she was very unhappy at the time, but didn’t say anything and just went back to her room. In the middle of the night, after it got dark, I heard footsteps outside and thought she had gone downstairs to sneak food. I felt very sad, but I had already emptied the refrigerator, so she definitely wouldn’t find anything and would come back soon. But after lying in bed for about half an hour, I still didn’t hear her come back, so I thought I’d get up and check… and found no one was home…”

The man beside her continued. “I had a cigarette craving at night and went out to buy cigarettes. Holy sh*t, I was scared to death – I saw someone crouching under the streetlight, covered in blood, eating meat with those crunching sounds, you know? Like the sound of wild animals eating. When I looked closer, wasn’t this Miumiu?!”

“I mustered up the courage to call her, but she ignored me and kept eating there. I heard that she seemed to have gone crazy recently, so I hurried back to get people.” The man was quite animated, gesturing with his hands to explain. “Everyone was scared, so we came to pull her away. Then she started screaming like crazy, insisting on eating that thing. Sometimes she was normal, sometimes not – completely like two different people. Half of what she said was incomprehensible. Either she’d cry and shout for help, or she’d even bite living people. Didn’t we immediately have sister-in-law go get you?”

Chu Xuanliang frowned and asked, “What kind of meat was she eating?”

Xie Zhilan: “Dog – it was dog meat. She went to the street and bit a stray dog to death, then ate the dog meat raw right there.”

Dog meat was better than human meat, at least. But if she really got hungry and lost her mind, and there were no pets around…

Chu Xuanliang’s expression had already darkened.

Someone said quietly, “I think… it’s actually drugs, right? I’ve seen similar news reports before.”

Miumiu was there spitting out dog hair from her mouth. When she heard this, she immediately retorted. “I didn’t do drugs! I didn’t!”

Miumiu’s father was nearly at his breaking point, stamping his foot to vent. “Give us a straight answer – what’s wrong with her?!”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Then you should ask her.”

Miumiu kept repeating. “I didn’t, I didn’t. I’m fine, I’m not sick, and I’m not possessed. Don’t lie to me.”

Xie Zhilan walked over and slapped her. “Enough! Go outside and see what you were eating just now!”

Miumiu cried out in despair.

“Is it my fault that I’m poor? Is it my fault that I want to make money because I’m poor? I didn’t choose my birth – why treat me like this?” Miumiu wiped her tears, but smeared blood all over her face. “What did I do wrong by working hard to make money?”