Judge of Souls - Chapter 9

After leaving, Jiang Feng first bought a pancake on the street, planning to have a proper meal when he got to the shop. As he walked, a piece of paper money floated down near his feet, almost getting stepped on.

This was quite inauspicious.

Jiang Feng looked around and found it probably came from the incense shop nearby.

He turned around, deciding to avoid it, but the paper money simply defied gravity and flew onto his hand.

Three characters were written on it in blood-red ink.

“Luo Xiaomei?” Jiang Feng frowned, “Who is Luo Xiaomei?”

Then it flipped over by itself, revealing an address written on the back.

Jiang Feng: “……”

Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

Seeing his anger, the little ghost hiding nearby finally couldn’t help but reveal itself.

“I’m just here to deliver a message! King Yama requests you to bring Luo Xiaomei down.” The little ghost said tremblingly, “I’m leaving!”

It said while shrinking into a ball and quickly diving into the ground.

Jiang Feng: “……”

What was that about?

Meanwhile, Luo Xiaomei had completely lost control.

When the storm subsided, Chu Xuanliang opened his eyes to find that Luo Xiaomei had transformed into her adult appearance.

Long hair, bloody clothes. Skeletal and gaunt, with a horrifying face. Various wounds exposed flesh, her features obscured by scars. Part of her lips was cut off, revealing stark white teeth. Her arms were covered in bruises and scars.

Even though Chu Xuanliang had seen many ghosts who died tragically, he found this sight disturbing.

She was holding a newborn baby in her arms, who was wailing loudly. Luo Xiaomei held it, occasionally patting the swaddling clothes.

When Huang Yu saw the baby, her heart tightened, and she stepped forward to try to take it back, but was stopped by Chu Xuanliang.

Huang Yu anxiously said, “What are you doing?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “Feel your talisman.”

Huang Yu took out the exorcism talisman she had brought from her pocket.

The yellow paper talisman was already getting hot, curling up and turning black. It probably wouldn’t have much effect if used on Luo Xiaomei.

Indeed, the yellow talisman was a bit too weak.

Chu Xuanliang said, “Look again.”

Luo Xiaomei didn’t seem to want to harm the baby, or rather, since first seeing her, Chu Xuanliang hadn’t sensed much malice from her.

The room was very dark, with all doors and windows tightly closed. A moment later, Mother Luo and Father Luo tumbled down from upstairs in panic.

“My grandson! My grandson!”

Mother Luo fell in front of Luo Xiaomei, caught a glimpse of her face, and let out a distorted scream. “Ah—— you! It’s you! Why have you come back!”

Father Luo shrank back, hiding tightly in the corner. “Revenge has its target, debts have their owner, don’t come after us, we didn’t kill you!”

Luo Xiaomei laughed. “Of course revenge has its target and debts have their owner. My husband has already been frightened to death. He’s dead, so aren’t you all that’s left?”

Mother Luo cried, but didn’t dare to look up at her. “Heaven knows, I’m your mother, I’m your mother! What do you want to do!”

Father Luo shook his head. “I… I’m not your real father! Don’t come after me, don’t come after me!”

Father Luo was Mother Luo’s husband after remarriage, technically Luo Xiaomei’s stepfather. However, Luo Xiaomei had never met her biological father, and after being brought from her hometown at age five, she had always lived with them. In her heart, wasn’t the man she called father her real father?

Father Luo clearly didn’t think so. When he saw Luo Xiaomei, besides terror, there was disgust. He stood up, opened the main door, and staggered into the courtyard.

Light shone in from outside, but the brightness was off.

Though it should have been noon, the light looked more like the cold remnants of sunset.

“Wait~” Luo Xiaomei didn’t stop him, just snapped her fingers. “Right, we’re still missing one person.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a young man’s voice sounded from outside the courtyard. “Dad, what’s going on? Where is everyone?”

Father Luo rushed back in, kneeling at the doorway saying, “He’s your brother, he’s your brother! He has nothing to do with this, you can’t hurt him!”

Luo Haozhi followed in from behind, caught sight of Luo Xiaomei floating in the air, and immediately felt his breath catch. He rubbed his eyes hard, barely managing to stand steady by leaning against the doorframe, too scared to speak properly. “Sis… sis……”

“You say it’s my fault, but I don’t know why. So let’s play a game.” Luo Xiaomei smiled, blood oozing from her face in an extremely horrifying scene.

She spread her arms and said, “Everyone is Luo Xiaomei! Come on! Tell me, where did I go wrong?”

After she spoke, the three Luos were dressed in the same bloody clothes she was wearing.

Originally a white floral dress, now soaked in blood. The blood was still wet, sticking to their flesh, instantly turning them into bloody figures.

Luo Xiaomei handed the crying baby in her arms to Chu Xuanliang, saying, “You play my grandmother, act well.”

Chu Xuanliang looked down to find himself forcibly dressed in a blue elderly woman’s outfit, with a greasy white apron tied around his waist. Someone who usually didn’t swear even muttered a “damn.”

Luo Xiaomei pointed at Huang Yu. “You’re my grandfather.”

Huang Yu’s style came to match Chu Xuanliang’s!

She patted her partner’s shoulder. You’re not alone!

Chu Xuanliang: “Luo Xiaomei you——”

“Shh——” Luo Xiaomei raised a finger to him in warning, “Grandmother doesn’t speak loudly!”

Chu Xuanliang asked, “What’s our situation now?”

Huang Yu: “How would I know!”

The child in Chu Xuanliang’s arms seemed tired from crying and slowly fell asleep against his chest.

Luo Xiaomei smiled and clapped her hands, calling out, “Luo Xiaomei, time to get up and wash clothes~”

The three Luos were forced to walk to the middle, where wooden tubs appeared in front of each of them, containing the same bloody long dress that Luo Xiaomei was wearing.

Luo Xiaomei urged. “Hurry up and wash the clothes, or you’ll get beaten!”

As she spoke, two dolls walked out from the first-floor bedroom.

The dolls wore ordinary clothes on the outside but were stuffed with paper and fabric inside. Their white faces had simple five-colored features drawn on them, vaguely resembling Father and Mother Luo’s features. One doll held a thick wooden stick, the other held thick bamboo strips, and they stood behind them.

Mother Luo couldn’t help but tremble all over, letting out high-pitched cries.

She stopped, and the Mother Luo doll whipped the bamboo strips once, scolding in her voice. “You can’t even wash these few clothes properly, why are you so slow, hurry up and clean them! Where are your brother’s diapers……”

The three resigned themselves to crouching by the wooden tubs to scrub clothes.

The tubs were full of bloody water, and no matter how they scrubbed, they couldn’t get the clothes clean. Blood dried and congealed thickly on their hands, making them feel itchy all over and unbearably uncomfortable.

Chu Xuanliang didn’t know what Luo Xiaomei ultimately wanted to do, just watched as the three Luos were forced to wash clothes, washing and washing for several hours straight.

Luo Haozhi couldn’t take it anymore; he had never done manual labor before. When he stopped to rest for a while midway through, the two dolls didn’t punish him. But for Father and Mother Luo, before the afternoon was over, they probably didn’t have a single piece of uninjured flesh left.

Chu Xuanliang didn’t know how much time had passed, but Mother Luo could barely lift her entire arm anymore.

Luo Xiaomei said, “But I still have to pull rabbit grass, feed rabbits, pluck rabbit fur, chop wood, and catch small fish! Look how long you’ve been washing and you still can’t clean a single piece of clothing?”

Mother Luo whimpered softly. She had no strength left.

“Alright.” Luo Xiaomei clapped again and said, “Luo Xiaomei is getting married! You forced her to marry!”

Then another doll appeared in the room.

This doll had a big belly, and its simple sketch face was painted into a messy black mass.

Chu Xuanliang remembered that according to the records, Luo Xiaomei’s husband was seventeen years older than her.

But what exactly was this thing?

Terror instantly appeared in Mother Luo’s eyes.

The new doll, holding a cleaver in one hand and a beer bottle in the other, grinned ferociously and charged straight at them.

The three screamed, chased around the house and courtyard by the knife-wielding doll, and when caught, they were severely beaten.

Beer bottles shattered against their bodies, only to be replaced by new ones. It was an endless cycle of violence.

After one round of beating, the fierce doll stopped and dragged them back before Luo Xiaomei.

The three were covered in blood stains, though it was unclear whether from the bloody tubs or their own bodies.

Luo Xiaomei seemed to watch with great pleasure, her pitch-black eyes constantly examining them. She hummed a low tune.

Luo Haozhi cried and begged. “Sis! Sister save me, save me!”

Luo Xiaomei’s voice paused for a moment, looking at him without speaking.

“Wait~” Luo Xiaomei held up one finger and said, “Now you have one chance to call for help!”

Everyone brightened up.

Luo Xiaomei said, “Call your parents for help!”

Mother Luo knew what the result would be and broke down. “Xiaomei, Xiaomei I know I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! Good daughter, I’ll burn paper money for you, I’ll go and erect a monument for you, okay?”

“Shh, Luo Xiaomei, call your father and mother for help, don’t say other things,” Luo Xiaomei said emotionlessly. “Now you are Luo Xiaomei.”

Father Luo immediately complied and called out, “Dad… Mom, save me! Save me!”

Luo Xiaomei coldly uttered three words. “I refuse.”

The faces of the two dolls, eyebrows raised and corners of mouth turned down, showed extremely angry expressions. They simultaneously spoke in Mother Luo’s voice, cursing. “What nonsense are you talking about? How could he hit you for no reason? You can’t even be a proper wife, you deserve to be beaten!”

“I was wrong,” Mother Luo sobbed uncontrollably, “I was wrong, I was wrong! My child, I was wrong!”

Luo Xiaomei gazed at her heavily.

Chu Xuanliang quietly turned and asked. “If it were you, what would you do?”

Huang Yu gritted his teeth and said, “I would kill them.”

Chu Xuanliang sighed. “It’s not worth it.”

How great a price must be paid for killing someone? She was already dead, suffered so much in life, should she have to endure more torment and pain after death because of them?

If she killed them today, could she face the future with a clear conscience? What kind-hearted people couldn’t do, she would remember this forever afterward. They would never be separated.

Some people simply aren’t worth killing.

Luo Xiaomei took the cleaver from the doll’s hand and whispered, “Mom, you never gave me a chance for forgiveness. Isn’t that right?”

Chu Xuanliang handed the child to Huang Yu, reached for the compass in his pocket, and was about to speak when the courtyard gate was kicked open.

The person walked into the room backlit, carrying a wave of heat. They took off their sun hat and swung it in their hand.

Jiang Feng looked at all the blood on the ground and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

Luo Xiaomei’s hand trembled involuntarily.

Jiang Feng tilted his chin up and asked her. “What are you planning to do with that knife?”

Luo Xiaomei answered softly. “I…I’m…chopping…vegetables.”

Chu Xuanliang: “……”