Judge of Souls - Chapter 71

Chu Xuanliang closed all the doors and windows, watching as the clock on the wall ticked to eleven o’clock.

Mr. Ye was lying back against the headboard, watching television with the volume turned up high. A talk show featuring Kong Su was playing.

Chu Xuanliang took the remote control from his hand, turned down the volume, and tossed it aside. Meeting Mr. Ye’s glance, he said, “Now can you tell me?”

Mr. Ye’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as his gaze became evasive and flickering.

Chu Xuanliang sat down across from him, blocking the TV screen, and crossed his legs. “Many people think they’re being flawless when they do something wrong, that no one will ever find out. But I find it strange that you still believe this. If you were an atheist before, I could understand, but what about now? Dr. Zhao is already dead. How will you keep this secret? If you lie to me, I’ll leave right now.”

“I’ll talk,” Mr. Ye shrank his neck and rambled, “My son rarely comes to see me, and neither does my daughter. My daughter always feels I favored her brother too much. I didn’t give her a penny when she got married, but I paid for all my son’s wedding banquet. She doesn’t get any share of the family house either. Since I favored my son, I figured he should take care of me. But my son complains that I couldn’t help with his down payment and thinks I must have secret savings, that I’m too selfish. So you know…”

He bit his lip hard and choked up, “Being poor is a sin…”

Chu Xuanliang made no comment.

Failed parenting was the real sin. Poverty was just a condition that could be changed.

Seeing that Chu Xuanliang wasn’t responding, Mr. Ye continued, “Later when I was injured and hospitalized for surgery, my son came to see me. Yes… the attending physician asked me, and my son agreed to sign, something about using certain medical equipment—I didn’t understand it. But after the surgery, while I was resting in the ward, my son came and quietly discussed with me to keep quiet about this matter, to forget about it. Because another doctor was willing to pay two hundred thousand yuan for him to falsely accuse Dr. Zhao, and said he would help handle the signed documents. If we continued to make trouble, we could get even more compensation from the hospital. All that compensation would come to us. My son had already taken the money and agreed… I did feel this wasn’t right, but it was two hundred thousand yuan!”

He raised his voice to express his emotions and stared intently at Chu Xuanliang. Being guilty, he tried to find some validation in Chu Xuanliang’s face to comfort himself. However, Chu Xuanliang merely tilted his head impatiently.

Mr. Ye continued sheepishly, “These doctors aren’t like us. High salaries, good benefits, they can receive red envelopes worth thousands or tens of thousands for just one surgery. I’m old, and my son works himself to death for less than ten thousand a month. Two hundred thousand is really a lot. Doctors rely on their skills, right? Even if they leave one hospital, they can still have prospects elsewhere, right?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Are you asking me? Don’t you know yourself? Did you ask Dr. Zhao this question?”

Mr. Ye lowered his head.

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Who was that doctor?”

Mr. Ye replied, “I don’t know his name… um, he spoke directly with my son and forbade him from telling others. Anyway, it’s hospital business, probably related to professional titles or promotion, right? What else could it be?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Give me your son’s phone number. I want to ask him.”

“It’s useless, I’ve asked him, and he doesn’t know either…” Mr. Ye mumbled, “With this kind of thing, how could they appear in person?”

Chu Xuanliang insistently extended his hand, curling his finger.

Mr. Ye forwarded the number to him, then lay down sobbing, pulling the blanket over his head to rest.

Chu Xuanliang opened the glass door and walked onto the balcony to make the call.

As soon as Mr. Ye’s head hit the pillow, his consciousness began to sink. His body felt as light as if it were floating, his head was splitting with pain, and his body seemed to be controlled by someone else—an extremely uncomfortable sensation.

All sounds around him were amplified. He could hear the car horns outside the window, though they were several floors away, sounding as if they were right next to his ear. His eardrums vibrated, directly stimulating his brain.

Mr. Ye frowned, trying desperately to speak but couldn’t make a sound. His consciousness was still clear, and he could tell that Chu Xuanliang was on his left, talking on the phone with his son.

It was getting closer… it felt closer and closer. He felt as if he were flying toward Chu Xuanliang.

Then, with great effort, he opened his eyes.

His vision was not the familiar white ceiling, but a pitch-black night sky. Light flickered in his peripheral vision, and he realized he was moving away from his home, uncertain of his destination.

Still unable to move his limbs, he rolled his eyeballs to try to see what was below him. Finally, he understood what was wrong.

Six paper figurines were carrying him.

The paper figures had childishly drawn crayon faces with two black ponytails and bright rouge on their cheeks. The overall cutting was crude, with irregularly rounded heads.

Mr. Ye heard the six little paper figures making indistinct laughing sounds—”hee hee hee…”

This snickering laughter continued endlessly in his ears as he kept moving.

Until he saw the sign for City Third Hospital.

No—

Mr. Ye frantically tried to break free and escape. The bright lights of the hospital lobby pierced his eyes as he was carried through several doors and then placed on an operating table…

****

Sun Yi finished smoking in the hallway and went back to his shift.

After midnight, someone came to relieve him, and after handing over his duties, he put on his coat and went home.

Jiang Feng watched him walk out of the lobby and disappear at the entrance, then continued sitting in the quiet waiting area.

Not long after, Jiang Feng saw something appear at the entrance.

The thing rushed by like an eight-legged spider.

Jiang Feng only caught a glimpse of white in his peripheral vision, but roughly seeing the direction, he got up to chase. By the time he turned down a corridor, he had already lost sight of it.

This place was too familiar; Jiang Feng walked directly through and finally stopped in front of a door.

Without looking up, he knew this was Sun Yi’s office.

The door wasn’t locked; Jiang Feng opened it with a twist.

When he entered, Mr. Ye was being placed on a small bed against the wall.

The office was very dim. In the faint light filtering in from the corridor, he could vaguely see that Mr. Ye’s stomach had already been cut open. But there was no blood.

The doctor performing the operation stood with his back to him, holding a sharp blade. From the silhouette, he looked very much like Sun Yi.

Jiang Feng turned on the light switch on the wall, closed the door behind him, and walked around to see his face.

It was indeed Sun Yi. He hung his head low, expressionlessly cleaning Mr. Ye’s wound.

Or rather, this wasn’t Sun Yi.

The “ghost” before him, accurately speaking, couldn’t even be called a ghost. He was just a loosely assembled soul.

A person has three hun and seven po, but the “Sun Yi” standing here had only two hun and one po.

The two hun were Embryo Light and Clear Spirit, and the one po was Fushi; these were Sun Yi’s own, still living souls. The remaining one hun and six po all belonged to someone else, carrying a faint death aura that was concealed after integration. Jiang Feng guessed they probably belonged to Dr. Zhao.

Embryo Light is the main deity among the three hun; without it, a person generally cannot live long.

Clear Spirit governs a person’s intellect and reaction abilities. Someone who loses their Clear Spirit becomes dull and feels no pain.

As for Fushi, it represents a person’s main consciousness.

These three determine the basic differences between people. The remaining souls are only related to an individual’s emotions and physical health.

Since Embryo Light, Clear Spirit, and Fushi were all here, it was sufficient to prove that the Sun Yi who was active outside was not the original Sun Yi. That person didn’t have Sun Yi’s thoughts, memories, or way of thinking. The only thing he inherited from Sun Yi’s physical body was Sun Yi’s sexual orientation and healthy organs. How could he be considered the real Sun Yi?

Jiang Feng had never seen two different souls combined like this, and at a glance, he couldn’t even distinguish them. Even with ghost possession or body snatching, it starts with coexistence, then suppression, devouring, and finally occupation, because two different souls naturally reject each other. This spirit, however, fit together perfectly, as if they were meant to be together.

If he weren’t a Judge, if he hadn’t directly seen the assembled souls, he definitely wouldn’t have discovered it.

As for Mr. Ye lying there, he too wasn’t his complete self, but rather one hun and one po.

One hun was Clear Spirit. One po was Fushi.

Because Clear Spirit is related to pain sensation, and Fushi represents Mr. Ye’s consciousness, he was helplessly screaming in pain while pinned to the small bed.

Mr. Ye’s screams were miserable, but Jiang Feng couldn’t stop “Sun Yi.”

If he stopped now, probably there would only be a bloody, gutted body left where Chu Xuanliang was. By the time they got him to the hospital, the corpse would be cold. It was better to let “Sun Yi” sew his stomach back up first.

The six little paper figurines that had delivered Mr. Ye were lined up against the wall, still laughing “hee hee hee.”

“Sun Yi” seemed to hear nothing; his gaze was scattered, expressionless, showing no emotion or consciousness. After cutting Mr. Ye’s chest, he removed the previous stitches like a zombie.

Although he had his own Clear Spirit and Fushi, he appeared as if he didn’t. He just repeatedly performed some designated task, having lost his ability for complex thinking.

Jiang Feng walked around “Sun Yi” and noticed yellow talismans attached to both of them. He couldn’t understand the patterns on the talismans, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

The one on “Sun Yi” was likely to suppress his own consciousness. And the one on Mr. Ye was probably used to strengthen the connection between the soul and the physical body.

After removing the stitches, the “doctor” suddenly changed appearance, gradually transforming into Dr. Zhao.

Dr. Zhao, now in control, used his tools to grip the end of the needle and began to sew.

This was the first time Jiang Feng had observed a soul performing surgery on another soul, and it somewhat shattered his worldview.

“Can you understand what I’m saying?” Jiang Feng still tried to communicate with him, “Dr. Zhao, who killed you?”

As expected, there was no response. He only skillfully moved his hands, as if he had done this thousands of times before.

Jiang Feng asked, “Who assembled your soul?”

Still no answer.

Gradually, Mr. Ye’s voice grew quieter, and his reactions slowed down.

His soul had left his body and lacked yang energy. After the surgery, when he returned to his physical body, he would probably not remember anything that happened tonight.

Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Zhao raised both his arms and stepped back.

The surgery was complete.

Jiang Feng stepped forward and pulled off the talisman from his back. “Dr. Zhao’s” face instantly changed back to “Sun Yi’s” face.

His expression flashed through various emotions—fear, anger, hatred, confusion… until they all disappeared.

A shattered soul, without the constraint of talismans, quickly dissipated.

But it was absolutely impossible to leave him in the hospital performing abdominal surgeries on others.

The six little paper figurines approached step by step, ignoring the vanishing soul, and lifted Mr. Ye from the bed to take him back.