After Rebirth, I returned to Miaojiang to inherit my family business - Chapter 42

[Second day task: Answer Chi Fangfang]

[Success prize: A Tiger Suppressing Talisman] 

[Punishment for failure: fall]

What does fall mean?

At midnight, the task of the Tiankeng consciousness appeared in Wu Rong’s mind on time. Simultaneously, he looked at Chi Fangfang. Compared to the previous two days, she looked a little different.

From the first time they met, Wu Rong discovered that Chi Fangfang was very special, and she had an unspeakable affection for him. On multiple occasions, she behaved very strangely, whether it was her hostility towards Fu Qing at the beginning, the promise of protection she made the night he told the ghost story, the phantom of blood mud reflected on the hanging rope when eating today, or the monster that killed Su Jingjing with one move, all of these proved that Chi Fangfang was unusual and had an indescribable connection to blood mud. 

But now the sense of evil in her body had disappeared, and her sticky and fanatical sense of concentration when watching Wu Rong had also gone. She had become a little afraid and a little nervous—just like in the real history line, she should just be an ordinary high school girl.

Is this the so-called history repeating itself? No matter how weird Chi Fangfang was before, she would become the innocent girl who was swallowed up in blood that night?

Seeing Wu Rong’s silence, Chi Fangfang was like a snail who carefully stretched out its feelers but was knocked back, obviously regretting her proposal, she timidly said: “Forget it, forget it, I’ll go by myself—”

“一together.”

The dormitory’s toilet wasn’t far away, and the sound of dripping water became clearer the closer you went. The floor was plastered with cement, and the space was very large, divided into two rooms. Inside, the outer room was used for washing. There were two rows of sinks on the left and right against the walls, with more than a dozen faucets on each side. Mirrors were mounted on the walls. On the right hand side was a large wooden door, and when pushed open, there were two rows of old-fashioned toilets in the inner room.

The school was old, and the toilets were also old. They were old-fashioned squatting toilets without doors. There was a cement board between each squatting toilet. A hole was dug in the middle of each toilet, and they were all connected. A flush of water can rush from the leftmost toilet to the rightmost one.

Wu Rong looked around. First of all, he found a faucet that kept dripping water. The last one on the right, the faucet kept dripping as if it wasn’t tightened. It was very strange in this quiet environment, in the middle of the night, especially the sound of water which seemed to gradually resemble the heartbeat of a person.

Tick, tick. 

“The faucet isn’t closed tightly.”

Chi Fangfang, who was standing with Wu Rong, was a little nervous, as if she hadn’t recovered from the shock of “she actually went to the bathroom with me”, when taking the initiative to step forward when finding topics.

“I’ll go and close it.”

Wu Rong acquiesced, and he glanced down, looking at Chi Fangfang’s shadow. It looked normal, the way a normal person’s should be, not like the bloody slush from dinner. While he was observing, Chi Fangfang had already walked to the faucet, and said to herself: “Strange, why is the water a little red?” 

“Could it be that the water pipe inside is rusted?”

Chi Fangfang was about to reach out, but someone else was a step ahead of her.

With a creak, Wu Rong tightened the faucet, and said calmly, “Go to the toilet.”

“Ah, um.” 

Chi Fangfang hesitated, turned around, and then left. Wu Rong still maintained the same posture, as if his hands were glued to the faucet. The tightened faucet stopped leaking, but the dripping sound didn’t cease.

It rang in Wu Rong’s mind.

Tick, tick.

An invisible coldness enveloped Wu Rong, and as he looked up at the mirror in front of him, Wú Róng’s figure was reflected in the mirror with black eyes and black hair, wearing a school uniform. Suddenly, the ‘Wú Róng’ in the mirror raised the corners of her mouth, smiled at him, and moved her arms slightly. Even if the mirror didn’t reflect him, he could guess what her hands were doing. 

She turned the tap on.

Blaaah——

Unlike the drop-by-drop flow just now, a stream of water poured out. The water flow was so strong that splashing red water droplets could be seen in the mirror, as bright a red as blood. Everything in the bathroom was normal, except that the scene reflected in the mirror had already become a sea of ​​blood, making it hard to tell which side was a reflection and which side was reality. At the sound of water flowing, Wu Rong felt a slight dizziness in his body, feeling like he was bleeding profusely.

He closed his eyes, seemingly weak. In the mirror, Wú Róng’s eyes gleamed with malice, and a pair of blood-stained hands stretched out from the mirror, reaching towards Wu Rong’s neck with malicious intent. 

At that moment, two black shadows sprang out, one on the left and the other on the right. The little green snake swallowed the ghost hand directly as if it were an egg, its big mouth was stuck to the mirror. On the other side, the human-faced spider’s shyness was swept away. It was like a starving ghost. It grabbed the other ghost hand in a hurry and injected poison. To be exact, it wasn’t for eating the ghost, but in order to swallow the Yin Qi and resentment. These kinds of ghosts could only be swallowed when the whole ghost came out.

Waa——!

In the mirror, ‘Wú Róng’ was frightened and full of panic, just like a little girl who was frightened by a ghost movie. There was a cracking sound like a mirror shattering, the ghost’s image in the mirror disappeared, and the sound of water flowing also stopped. What appeared in front of Wu Rong was a mirror fragment the size of half a palm. The tip was stained with blood, and there were many cracks on the fragment. Countless figures of Wu Rong were seen like a kaleidoscope, but the figure in the mirror was vaguely different from the outside world’s.

… The ghost in the mirror was missing a pair of hands. 

The little green snake climbed back to Wu Rong’s arm contentedly, just like swallowing a delicious snack. The human face spider vomited out the arm that it had just swallowed, hesitated, and then finally while drooling, painfully divided it into three segments, each with sharp joints. Wu Rong was provided with one big arm, and the spider was given one small forearm and palm. He was very conscious of being enslaved, so he left the five fingers for himself, each small mouthful of delicacy, which was very economical.

The black rock tarantula still liked to eat meat, and had no interest in ghosts. It looked at the arm that was allotted to it and, like a rich young master, threw it back to the human-faced spider very generously. Wu Rong didn’t want its offering either. The human-faced spider who regained a whole arm was stunned, and circled around happily and excitedly. Wu Rong heard its excited sound of ‘hissing hissing’ again.

‘Hiss, hiss, thank you, sir’

‘Thank you chief master!’ 

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This is a ghost, but its level was low. The female ghost itself was not a villain, and with the loss of both arms, it would dissipate after using it twice at most.

Putting away the fragments of the mirror, Wu Rong walked to the toilet. All of this seemed to take a lot of time, but in fact, less than half a minute has passed since the vision in the mirror appeared. He didn’t need to open his ghost eyes to feel that, in addition to the resentful spirit in the mirror, there were many places where Yin Qi gathered in the toilet, such as in the window cracks or in the sink. Compared to the thick Yin atmosphere in the toilet, the bathroom was completely insignificant. 

Wu Rong didn’t go into the innermost room. He just walked to the area between the washroom and the toilets when he heard a bang. Even though there was no wind, the door slammed shut in front of Wu Rong. At the same time, Chi Fangfang’s screams filled with fear and panic came from the depths of the toilet.

“Ah——!!!!”

“Amitabha.”

Standing in front of the girls’ dormitory door, Hui Xin suddenly whispered Buddha’s name with a compassionate expression. 

“It’s about to start.”

Kang Jianbai sighed heavily, with a serious expression. The combination of the middle-aged teaching director and the uncle of the canteen seemed very strange. Even though they gathered at the door of the dormitory separately, they also took care of many sneaky tailing testers on the way.

“Today is the night of Chi Fangfang’s death, and it is also the time when the sewer’s blood mud was in its original state, which is its best state. It will be terrible if it swallows a few more people.”

It’s no wonder that the trainees wanted it, the blood mud was the best to get today, and if they get it, whether it’s for self-enhancement or selling off, the trip to the Tiankeng would be completely worthwhile. But they didn’t know that with Liu Hu’s involvement, tonight was destined to be a night of death. One by one, all the trailing testers were knocked unconscious, with Kang Jianbai and Hui Xin also simultaneously saving their lives.“该进去了。” 

“It’s time to go in.”

Hui Xin nodded, and took out the red-purple wooden fish containing the golden cicada, muttered something, causing it to make a sound, and then he and Kang Jianbai entered the girls’ dormitory together. The dormitory supervisor’s lounge by the door on the first floor was dark, and there was a snoring sound coming from inside. The horrible hoarse voice was not like a human, but like some kind of beast. The dorm manager was not awakened by the sound of the wooden fish, and the snoring accompanied Kang Jianbai and Hui Xin to the third floor.

“This is the vortex of Yin Qi.”

Kang Jianbai Xu nodded at the iron gate that separated the third floor from the fourth floor. The iron railing was covered with reddish-brown dew, smelling like blood. 

“Liu Hu will definitely come, wait for him.”

“Benefactor Kang, I have a question for you.”

Kang Jianbai wondered: “Huh?”

“Will Chi Fangfang die today?” 

Hui Xin hesitated: “My Buddha is merciful, Chi Fangfang did not commit any crimes but suffered a miserable end and could not enter reincarnation, it really makes me… alas.”

“Relax, little master Hui Xin.”

Kang Jianbai’s expression changed from ‘What do you want to ask?’ to suddenly realize ‘Oh, it turned out to be this problem.’ he took out a cigarette, and just as he was about to light it, he remembered that there was a young monk here, so he just sucked it in his mouth to enjoy himself, and said to him: “Little Master Hui Xin, do you want to save her, or at least go overboard so as to keep her from being tortured again and again?”

Hui Xin nodded sincerely. 

“No.”

Kang Jianbai shook his head, and sighed with some melancholy: “The No. 444 Tiankeng has been opened so many times, and many people have thought like you. Some of them want to try to change the plot, and some want to take Chi Fangfang as a ghost or ghostly creature. But no matter what they do, Chi Fangfang will be swallowed by the blood mud in the end, and her soul will be wiped out.”

“There are many unclean things in the women’s toilet on the 4th floor.”

Kang Jian pointed to the top of his head: “Some people died of blood loss for no reason. Others were crushed into meat mud by the door panel. There are various ways to die, but none of them came out alive after entering the toilet. Over the years, only one person has collected blood mud and then he became half a crazy person. He- be careful!” 

Kang Jianbai said sharply. As soon as Hui Xin began to beat the wooden fish, with the sound of chanting, golden light emanated from the wooden fish, like a barrier blocking the black mist that hit it.

“Hee hee hee hee——”

In the sharp and weird laughter, a ghost head bleeding from all seven orifices was faintly revealed. Her hair was scattered like seaweed, and there was no body under her head, only a string of stinky and bloody internal organs attached to each other. When she bumped into the Buddha’s light, half of her hair was scorched, but she still wailed uncontrollably and rushed again towards the two that were guarding the Yin Qi barrier.

“Bang!” 

The gunshot rang out, and the ghost’s head exploded like a water balloon, the stinky pus and bloody ghost energy splashing around were completely swallowed up by the silver light of the bullet explosion. Kang Jianbai held a uniquely shaped gun with a silver light in his right hand. Still emitting a silver smoke, he flicked through the silver notebook in his left hand.

“Hitouban, a resentful ghost, which was formed in a corpse pit with ghost crystals after he was eaten alive. He was irrational and was manipulated by his murderer. His original name was Xu Lei, and the place of death was Century Park.”

“Be careful!”

Sharp laughter resounded one after another in the darkness, and a pair of black ghost eyes opened from the darkness, bleeding from the seven orifices with crying and laughter, which then rushed towards the two. 

“Liu Hu is here!”

Before the Highway 9 factory grave was discovered, more than ten people had gone missing in Century Park. Considering that Liu Hu has raised ghost dogs for so many years, countless people had died under the hands of the ghost dogs. Now it seems that he not only feeds the flesh and blood of these people to the ghost dogs, but also trains their heads into becoming evil things like Flying Heads. By controlling the ghost dogs, these flying-headed savages would also be under his control.

“Don’t let them get close!”

Hui Xin knocked the wooden fish faster, and the Buddha’s light soared instantly, scorching several flying-headed men who rushed forward. While rushing towards the two one after another, one of them was scorched by the Buddha’s light and exploded without even realizing its death. Pus splattered out, most of which was dissolved by the Buddha’s light, but a small part still mixed into the air. 

The concentration of Yin Qi rose instantly, and a biting cold wind blew from behind.

“He’s trying to activate the vortex of Yin Qi.”

Kang Jianbai gritted his teeth, and the bullets splashed like mercury, colliding and bursting one by one, forming a layer of silver mist. Whenever the resentful ghost energy encountered it, it would be swallowed up: “I’m holding it here, Little Master Hui Xin, go to the fourth floor, I suspect that Liu Hu has already gone up!”

“Amitabha, benefactor Kang take care.” 

The situation was urgent, and so Hui Xin didn’t bother to refuse him, the Buddha’s light shone behind him, vaguely resembling a fallen Buddha. The Buddha’s shadow only appeared for a second and then disappeared, but Hui Xin had already passed through the iron gate and hurried upstairs.

“Arhat, that phantom, it’s terrible.”

Kang Jianbai murmured, holding a cigarette in his mouth and holding a gun, he looked at the attacking ghost coldly: “Come on.”

I don’t know how Wu Rong is doing. 

During the battle, Kang Jianbai couldn’t help thinking this, and then comforted himself: “It should be fine, the blood mud swallowing Chi Fangfang is a closed incident, as long as he doesn’t go into the toilet, he will be fine.

Boom——

The wooden door swayed and fell to the ground, making the ground tremble. Wu Rong stepped on the fallen door panel and walked in. The door panel creaked. It was indestructible just before, but now it seems to be rotten. He moved his wrist, and the bandage on his left arm was untied, revealing a slender, white hand with well-defined bones.

The wooden door, which was as hard as iron, was closed by the ghost hand without stirring its surroundings, and it was then pushed down by it. This was an easy task for the ghost hand, and it did not reach the upper limit of its strength. 

When the power of the big ghost filled his left arm, Wu Rong even felt like he was invincible and that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Just how strong is the big ghost with its five senses unblocked?

Chi Fangfang’s sobbing, like a kitten’s, came from the second-to-last toilet on the left. She was still calling for help when the door was just closed, but now there was only faint crying.

Gululu… Gululu… 

There seemed to be something blocking the sewer pipes, and there was a muffled sound of bubbles bursting as water squeezed through. The sound became louder the closer he was to Chi Fangfang. When Wu Rong stopped at the penultimate pit, he saw Chi Fangfang. The girl burst into tears, trembling with fear all over her body. She put her hands on the ground regardless of her dirty hands, and tried her best to maintain her balance and pull her body out, but she couldn’t.

Chi Fangfang’s right leg sank into the pit, and her left leg was about to lose its hold and slip. It looked like a foot stuck in the air, but when Wu Rong looked over, her body suddenly fell downwards, and her left leg sank completely, as if something was pulling her down, or as if she was swallowed by a quicksand swamp.

“Help, save…”

Chi Fangfang trembled all over, she was so frightened that she couldn’t speak, she looked at Wu Rong with tears all over her face, begging and begging, but Wu Rong could clearly see the vein-like streaks under her skin. The objects protruded, squirmed, and sometimes gathered and sometimes dissipated. There were also red threads thicker than that of were found in the white of her eyes, seeming to be like parasites, or like— 

—she was being assimilated and swallowed by the blood mud.

The sewer purr sounded again, Chi Fangfang’s face turned pale instantly, tears streamed down her cheeks, her lips trembled, and she was about to faint. Like a dying person trying her best to grab the last straw. She trembled suddenly, and stretched out her hand to Wu Rong with all her strength.

“Help… ah!!!”

The moment she stretched out her hand, Chi Fangfang’s body suddenly fell down again, and the unbearable sound of bones being squeezed sounded, the pit was not big enough to allow a person to fall. If something was pulling her down, unless the bones and the internal organs were crushed, the person would not die immediately, but would be like a meat and skin bag without bones, slowly moving toward death under the endless pain caused by internal bleeding and systemic fractures. 

But in the next moment, Chi Fangfang’s fall slowed down. Wu Rong grabbed her hand, and wrapped her back with the other and hugged her hard.

Taking her out of hell.

After pulling Chi Fangfang out, Wu Rong took a look into the pit. Chi Fangfang’s clothes were still in good condition, so she must have been dragged down just after getting off the pit. At the bottom of the pit, there was no blood mud and no filth, only a thin layer of water. If he didn’t see something pulling her down just now, he would’ve thought it was a hallucination.

Just now, Wu Rong held Chi Fangfang’s hand with his left hand, while his right hand held her back. Chi Fangfang was very light, it didn’t take much effort to pull her up, and it didn’t feel like she was falling. Was it because of the ghost hand? 

Wu Rong thought about it, and half-carried Chi Fangfang who hadn’t recovered from the fright. Her body was as soft as mud and she was trembling. She left the toilet, and when she got to the bathroom, she turned on the faucet and washed her legs.

“Róng, Róngróng.”

Water splashed on Chi Fangfang’s face, Wu Rong pinched her chin to take a look, and found that all the blood lines on Chi Fangfang’s face had disappeared, there were no traces of the ordeal other than paleness, and her skin to the touch was normal. The cold water seemed to bring Chi Fangfang back to her senses. The girl’s eyelashes trembled. She didn’t open her eyes, and buried her head in Wu Rong’s arms in fear, speaking incoherently.

“I, I… you, thank you, wuu wu, thank you.” 

Wu Rong stroked her back with his left hand. The moment Chi Fangfang was pulled down just now, he seemed to see something running up her back, but it disappeared after Chi Fangfang was pulled out. Wu Rong touched the girl’s thin and trembling back, and smoothed it from top to bottom.

There was no deformity or mutation, and the ghost hand didn’t feel anything strange.

His silent movements were comforting her, Chi Fangfang was still sobbing, but the crying was a little softer. Her shoulders kept shaking, and her voice was hoarse after crying bitterly: “Aren’t you afraid…”

Aren’t you afraid? Normal people would be afraid. Why did you want to save me? Many words could have been said, but they were stuck in her throat. 

“You said ‘help’”

Wu Rong said calmly. The task he received in the Tiankeng task was (Answer Chi Fangfang). When Chi Fangfang said “help” and asked him, did he also need to agree? Additionally, when he was in the toilet just now, although Wu Rong felt a great danger, his nerves were tense and his hair stood up, and even the black rock tarantula and the human-faced spider were unsettled, though the Zhong Gu in his heart did not respond.

Even if it had not yet hatched, the Zhong Gu was extremely sensitive to its perception of the outside world. It’s inherited from the Wu people, and there were even legends that a fully grown Zhong Gu could resist the ghost king after being fused with the Wu Gu master. Wu Rong is currently its owner, and their lives are connected. It’s like a highly sensitive alarm light, and it will desperately emit sounds like calling the police whenever it encounters something that could endanger Wu Rong’s life. 

Not only was the Zhong Gu calm, but the big ghost was also very calm, which made Wu Rong speculate that the sense of danger was a bluff, more like some kind of threat or a temptation, rather than the real thing. Sure enough, he pulled Chi Fangfang up easily without any obstacles.

These thoughts flashed through his mind, but he didn’t say them. After hearing what he said, Chi Fangfang hugged Wu Rong even tighter, as if wishing to embed herself into his arms, she no longer sobbed, but her body was still trembling.

“I…”

“Come out.” 

Wu Rong stood up and stared at the corridor, where there was a thin, barely visible black mist. The reason why he didn’t leave the toilet immediately after pulling out Chi Fangfang was because he felt that there were dirty things surrounding the place.

“Róngróng, I…”

Chi Fangfang grabbed Wu Rong’s clothes, trying to get his attention, but was interrupted by a sneer.

“Sheesh, you can sense my ghost domain. It seems that your handicapped ghost is also useful.” 

Liu Hu’s dark voice came from all directions: “But that kind of rubbish is rare only for trash like you.”

When he spoke, he did not hide any more. The black fog rose and filled all directions, enveloping all four floors into the ghost domain. The smell of decay and stench came to Liu Hu’s face, and the toilet was the point that Liu Hu attached great importance to, almost all of it was submerged by the black fog. Every ghost at the level of evil spirit could form a ghost domain, in which its own power would be maximized, while the power of other ghosts would be weakened to the extreme.

But though Wu Rong was in Liu Hu’s ghost domain, he didn’t feel weak and oppressed. Only Chi Fangfang in his arms was cold, like a corpse. Wu Rong pulled her away, and Chi Fangfang obediently stood up, still grabbing the corner of his clothes. Contrary to the coldness around her, Chi Fangfang had a sickly blush on her face, though there were still tears on her cheeks, she was smiling. The trembling in Wu Rong’s arms just now was actually laughter. Her eyes followed Wu Rong obsessively, and he was the only one in her gaze.

“Róngróng, I…” 

“Wu Rong, stop making a futile resistance, you can’t even summon ghosts now. Give Chi Fangfang to me, and I’ll leave you with a whole body!” Liu Hu sneered, with a hint of madness in his voice, as if he had been repressed for a long time and was finally released without feeling fear.

“Róngróng…”

“Wu Rong, you’re not still waiting for reinforcements, are you? Ha, that idiot Kang Jianbai was stopped by me, and the idiot monk didn’t dare kill anyone. He was blocked by my ghost servant, and won’t be able to come up for a while, you don’t have to daydream!”

“Róng…” 

“Wu Rong, you—”

“Get out!!!”

Chi Fangfang screamed with extreme anger, no one saw her movements clearly, only hearing the sound of torn silk, before the black mist instantly dispersed as if Moses had just split the sea.

Liu Hu’s Ghost Domain was torn apart. 

The author has something to say:

Ranking list of No. 444 Tiankeng with loud voice:

First place: Liu Hu

Second place: Hui Xin 

Third place: Kang Jianbai

The youngest: Chi Fangfang.

What? Where are Wu Rong and Fu Qing?

These two little dumbs basically don’t speak