Judge of Souls - Chapter 4

Spicy Crayfish and others chose the largest room on the third floor. The walls were unfinished concrete on all sides, with rough cement surfaces. They sat cross-legged in the middle, forming a circle.

One of the boys sent Jiang Feng a message on WeChat, telling him they were all on the third floor.

A girl spoke up, “Brother, the livestream got shut down.”

“It’s fine, as long as the camera is running,” said Spicy Crayfish. “We have our content, we can upload it later. Or if anyone has an account, they can start another livestream.”

Another boy excitedly pulled out his phone and said, “I’ll do it!”

A girl sitting close to Spicy Crayfish asked, “Are we just going to wait? Why is that delivery guy so slow?”

Spicy Crayfish didn’t respond, busy fiddling with his device.

They placed the flashlight in the middle, pointing it at one wall, leaving those sitting in the shadow deeply shrouded in darkness.

Someone suggested, “Why don’t we play a game?”

“What game?”

“Let’s play Pen Fairy.”

“Playing Pen Fairy in a place like this feels pretty creepy.”

“What Pen Fairy? We don’t even have the tools.”

That voice sounded floating, as if coming from above. “But they say Pen Fairy can summon ghosts and gods.”

“What ghosts and gods? We’re not here to do paranormal investigations, we’re here to prank people, okay?”

Everyone started discussing at once.

Someone tapped Spicy Crayfish’s shoulder, speaking in a voice that was clear yet indistinct, “What’s your name?”

Without looking up, he replied, “Xie Yu, didn’t I tell you already?”

“Xie Yu?” The person seemed to be right against his neck, cold breath brushing his ear as they giggled, “Now I know your name.”

The streamer named Xie Yu sensed something wrong and looked back. Then he found himself staring into a pair of blood-red eyes without pupils.

His heart skipped a beat, his spine went cold, and he screamed in panic. “Ahhh!”

The male ghost watched him scramble away and calmly reached out. “Hehehe, I’m going to take your name.”

Everyone was startled by Xie Yu’s sudden scream, cursed “damn,” and asked why he was yelling.

A violent wind gusted in through the window, and the door slammed shut with a loud “bang.”

Everyone’s vision blurred, and they instinctively closed their eyes and raised their hands to shield themselves. When the ghostly wind passed, Xie Yu was already entangled with the male ghost, who was desperately trying to force his way into Xie Yu’s body.

Xie Yu could no longer make a sound, with only saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. When everyone saw this horrifying scene, they were all terrified to their core.

The person closest to the door reacted first, rushing to grab the handle, but although it was a sliding glass door, it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard they pulled.

Frustrated, that person kicked it twice but still couldn’t open it. They took off their backpack, preparing to smash the glass door. But before they could act, another shattered face appeared outside the glass door– a child about ten years old pressed against the glass and asked, “Want to play Pen Fairy? You can summon me.”

“Ah!” The person retreated in terror, pressing tightly against the wall, seeking some small sense of security.

The man called Xie Yu was now convulsing, foaming at the mouth. The others scattered like frightened birds and mice, eventually ending up at various points along the walls, trembling as they watched him, too afraid to approach.

A tall, strong man, though frightened, had some courage and pulled out glutinous rice from his bag to throw at the ghost. He threw handful after handful, dropping other things in the process. But even after emptying half his bag, Xie Yu showed no change.

“It’s not working, it’s not working!” the strong man shouted roughly, “Why isn’t it working?!”

Several girls began crying. They knelt on the ground pleading. “We were wrong, please let us go, we’ll leave right now. We’re sorry, we’ll burn paper money when we get back. Really, we’re sorry, I can even invite a Taoist priest to perform rites for you, please, I don’t want to die…”

By the end, no one could understand what she was saying anymore.

Accompanied by their sobbing, the man on the ground finally stopped convulsing.

Could they negotiate?

Everyone’s expressions brightened slightly at this sight, and they fell silent, watching.

“Xie Yu” slowly stood up, using his slightly stiff hand to adjust his neck.

Everyone’s hearts trembled with his every movement.

A nearby boy’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he called out softly, “Xie… Xie Yu?”

“Xie Yu” turned around, looking at them with a dark gleam in his eyes.

“But,” he grinned and said, “I don’t even have a grave.”

“Ahhh–!”

Several people jumped, and the room was filled with various styles of wailing.

“Xie Yu” selected his target, approaching a girl who was nearly passing out, his fingers moving like spider legs. With each step, he let out a dark laugh.

The girl felt like she was about to die and tightly closed her eyes.

At that moment, the locked door was kicked open. Two of the more timid ones fainted from the loud noise before they could see who had arrived. The others instinctively looked toward the sound, turning halfway before remembering their current situation, already prepared to see another ghost.

But this time, the person who appeared was clean and neat, with delicate features, wearing a restaurant’s delivery uniform.

Their tense brains took a moment to register – ah, it’s the delivery guy!

It was like seeing spring after winter, and tears of joy streamed down their faces.

Jiang Feng looked inside, but everyone was pressed against the walls, and the flashlight was pointing at the door, making it hard for him to see clearly. He said flatly, “Your food delivery is here.”

Forget the food delivery, save our lives!

Everyone wanted to shout, but tragically discovered they couldn’t make a sound, nor could they move their feet, as if they were glued to the wall, not even able to bend their fingers.

The only one who could move in the room was the man called “Xie Yu.” He couldn’t straighten his legs properly and walked like a robot toward the door, asking, “How much?”

Jiang Feng glanced at him in the dim moonlight from the hallway and said, “782.”

“Xie Yu” stiffly patted his body and then pulled out his wallet. Unable to work the clasp, he handed over the whole thing, saying, “Keep the change.”

Jiang Feng looked down to open the wallet.

These days, young people have a habit of not carrying cash. Clearly, Xie Yu was the same.

His wallet only had three crumpled ten-yuan notes, one fifty-yuan note, and six or seven coins.

“Xie Yu” stared at him hungrily, ignoring his darkening expression, and giggled. “You look delicious too.”

Jiang Feng pulled out the money and slapped it in his hand, seemingly completely ignoring what the other had said, and stated professionally, “Still short by 700. No card payments, but you can do a transfer.”

“Xie Yu” lacked awareness; he raised his hand to touch Jiang Feng’s shoulder.

Just as everyone held their breath, waiting for bloodshed to occur, Jiang Feng casually tossed the wallet aside, grabbed “Xie Yu” by the back of his collar first, forcefully turned him to face forward, and then chopped with his bare hand near the base of the skull. The person was immediately knocked down, and a black shadow sprang out.

Watching the black shadow flee as if it had met its nemesis, Jiang Feng said, “When paying, don’t be difficult. I really hate that.”

Everyone didn’t dare make a sound. They were all shocked by Jiang Feng’s actions.

Are delivery guys all this impressive nowadays? Is this normal? Not even afraid of ghosts?

Jiang Feng took two steps inside, steadfastly collecting his debt. “Money.”

A boy opened his mouth, finding he could make sounds again, though his feet still couldn’t move. So the soft crying started again, echoing through the empty room like ghost wails and wolf howls.

However, this time, with Jiang Feng present, they had someone to rely on, and their crying wasn’t as loud as before.

That boy carefully said, “I have some in my pocket.”

Jiang Feng took out his wallet, counted the money in front of him, then put the rest back.

He said satisfactorily, “Thank you for your cooperation.”

The boy: “No… no problem.”

Everyone quietly watched their transaction, not knowing what to say.

The boy’s mind was blank, thinking perhaps everything before was just his imagination or a dream. He didn’t know what he was doing in such a dangerous moment.

However, Jiang Feng’s next action jolted them awake, making everyone want to scream their throats out.

He — was actually preparing to just leave like that.

“Hero, wait! Help! Save us!”

“Weren’t you all here looking for thrills? Thrilling enough now?” Jiang Feng tilted his head and said, “Stay put and learn your lesson. I’m leaving.”

Everyone became desperate. How could this be!

A girl shouted: “Please don’t go! Please don’t leave! Take us with you, we’ll do whatever you want, we’ll never do this kind of thing again, we’ll reflect, we’ll repent, please! Really, please!”

Jiang Feng covered one ear with his hand and asked, “Can you move now?”

They had been stuck in the same position against the wall since the beginning, clearly affected by something supernatural.

As soon as he spoke, the room fell silent again, afraid to miss even one word.

Girl: “Ca…can’t?”

Jiang Feng: “Then what do you want? You want me to carry all eleven of you out?”

That girl’s face turned pale. “But… there are twelve of us?”

An eerie silence fell over the room.

Jiang Feng calmly said, “Oh, then congratulations, you’re not the first casualty.”

The girl despaired, looking like she was about to have a mental breakdown.

Jiang Feng found their noise headache-inducing and stopped scaring them, saying, “Alright, I’m going out to call the police for you. Just stay where you are and don’t move.”

“Don’t go… I’m really scared…” that girl sobbed, weakly saying, “Can’t you just make the call here? You can use my phone.”

Jiang Feng: “The signal in the building just went out.”

Someone gathered courage to say, “Can you help Xie Yu? Is he okay? Will he…” Afraid, they swallowed the last word.

Jiang Feng: “Don’t know. I’m just an ordinary person. For ghost encounters and exorcisms, find a Taoist priest. Food delivery doesn’t include special services.”

Everyone mentally screamed: How the hell are you an ordinary person?!