Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 30: The Death Taboo

The group advanced along the wall like thieves.

This pedestrian street was about eight hundred meters long, with matching faux-ancient archways at both ends. None of the shops along the road had more than three floors, which was ordinary.

Faceless people moved slowly up and down the street. Every ten-odd seconds, they returned to their original positions and repeated their actions, like unintelligent NPCs in a video game background.

Those evil spirits, on the other hand, seemed highly intelligent.

A one-eyed bird monster perched on a telephone pole, its huge single eye scanning all around. Fierce ghosts floated in the shadows, while starving ghosts squatted beside the corpses of their own kind, frantically gnawing away. The entire street had practically become a ghost street, haunted by countless shapes of evil.

Fang Xiu couldn’t help muttering to Bai Shuangying, “They’re all showing their faces. Doesn’t that make them less scary? Feels like a horror movie turned into a zombie flick.”

He then began chattering on about zombie movies to Bai Shuangying, who nodded the whole time, quietly enthralled by the idea of zombies roaming en masse.

“End of the street,” Jia Xu said suddenly.

Fang Xiu, who had been deeply engrossed discussing Resident Evil and The Walking Dead, looked up at the sound of Jia Xu’s voice.

Beyond the faux-ancient arch lay nothing but darkness. It didn’t look like some supernatural barrier formed by a ghostly illusion; rather, it had the hollow feel of the world’s edge.

As for whether that darkness could be touched, nobody was eager to risk their life finding out.

Using concealment for cover, Fang Xiu dragged over a dying big-headed ghost from the street. Pressing down on its head, he rammed it straight at the darkness.

The big-headed ghost struck the darkness with a muffled thud, then abruptly bounced back. It was thoroughly finished off by this process.

Fang Xiu hastily looked to Bai Shuangying, who shook his head firmly. Apparently, it wouldn’t taste any good.

Fang Xiu let go in disappointment. “Jia Xu was right. This really is the boundary.”

The others: “……”

They felt they had just learned something best left unlearned.

Blondie thought for a moment, then leaped onto a nearby rooftop. He was back in a few seconds. “Same thing over there—black on both sides. Looks like we’re trapped on this single stretch of road.”

Fang Xiu was a little disappointed. It seemed that for the next few days, they would only be able to wander around this one short street.

Within a few minutes, everyone found an abandoned clothing shop.

It seemed no one was renting it out as inside there were only a few odds and ends. The door was sturdy enough, though the lock had apparently been clawed open by some evil spirit and now merely hung ajar.

Guan He’s little child-ghost slipped in, scouted around, and came back making gestures indicating that things were at least reasonably clean.

Having been through their last ritual, they all understood that “actions without clear meaning” wouldn’t trigger an immediate, lethal taboo. Thus, the group decisively went in and set up a base of operations in the empty shop.

All that remained inside were some cardboard and discarded clothing scraps, far from comfortable. But at least this time, they didn’t have to worry about food and drink.

Blondie held a skewer in his left hand and a beer in his right, plus a big bag of oranges tucked under his arm. “I found these out on the street, picking them up off the ground. It didn’t violate any taboos. I even saw some free samples out there: snacks, all sorts of stuff… They can’t seriously bring back those same shitty taboos from Weishan Village.”

When he finished talking, he took a bite of lamb skewer, chewing noisily. A few seconds later, he loudly spat it out.

Everyone: “……”

Blondie flew into a rage. “Why’s there no flavor at all?!”

Unwilling to give up, he took a swig of the beer, only to look even angrier. “This fucking drink is like not drinking at all!”

Curious, Fang Xiu tried a wedge of orange and immediately understood Blondie’s frustration.

Indeed, the orange had no taste whatsoever. Eating it gave an indescribable sense of emptiness. If a real orange was like a perfectly crispy Peking duck, this was only that starchy “fragrant roast duck” snack sold by school gates, maybe the kind that used to cost just one cent a pack.

The orange juice couldn’t even quench thirst. It vanished the moment it went down.

…These things were purely superficial in appearance, with no real sustenance. Their luck was just that bad: two rituals in a row lacking proper food and water.

Fang Xiu simply poured out the remaining beer on the ground and opened up the Weishan Shrine cafeteria.

After he pulled out two cases of drinks, six roast chickens, and a large bag of apples, everyone stopped complaining that his skill wasn’t useful. They promptly planned out their lunch rations in advance, and Blondie practically wanted to grab Fang Xiu by the shoulders and call him Big Bro on the spot.

Jia Xu exhaled in relief. “Thank goodness we’ve got this trick. Otherwise, the next few days…”

If they didn’t manage to find a place like the Weishan Shrine here, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“This place is too weird,” Jia Xu said with a shudder. “Let’s lay low tonight and head out in the morning.”

Then he took a deep breath, his tone rising with excitement once more. “We’re not short on food this time. As long as we can defend our base, we can take our time searching for the ‘E’. Even if it takes ten days or half a month, we’ll be fine. Next, I’ve got a few ideas…”

“I’m going out,” Fang Xiu interjected decisively.

Jia Xu: “?”

“My ghost can conceal me. I won’t die.” Fang Xiu pocketed a few snacks and stood up.

They had almost no information. All Jia Xu could do was lead a meeting of empty talk. Fang Xiu had no patience for it, so he tugged on Bai Shuangying and left. They had agreed to explore the street together, after all.

The moment they stepped through the door, the cheerful music suddenly became much clearer.

They could easily see both ends of the eight-hundred-meter pedestrian street. If one disregarded the corpses, it looked fairly normal overall.

No over-the-top “internet celebrity” elements, no shoddily assembled tourist attractions. The night sky merged seamlessly with the darkness beyond, and beneath the full moon, fireworks still bloomed nonstop.

Vibrant bursts of light popped again and again, while the LED signs on the storefronts flickered in perpetual motion. Bai Shuangying kept slowing his pace.

Fang Xiu grinned. “Never seen it before?”

“Mm.” Bai Shuangying craned his neck to watch an advertising screen, his pupils lit up by the shifting colors.

“Pedestrian streets are always best at night. It’s perfect for going out with friends!” Fang Xiu patted Bai Shuangying’s back. “Take your time. We’re in no hurry…”

Before he could finish, Fang Xiu’s foot slipped. He urgently grabbed Bai Shuangying’s sleeve, barely managing not to land square on his backside.

He had stepped in a pool of blood, which gave off a pungent, sweet fishy smell. It was clearly human blood.

Beside the puddle lay a severed head.

It belonged to a middle-aged man, half of whose skull had been bitten away by an evil spirit. The remaining half still wore a desperate expression. The human remains around here were tangled with evil remains, making it hard to distinguish them at a glance.

They were from another group of ritual participants.

That man was undeniably dead. His flesh had been devoured by the evil spirits, and not the slightest trace of his living soul remained. There was only half a skull no one had bothered to gnaw on.

Fang Xiu put away his grin and sighed. “Looks like we should take care of serious business first. Let’s count heads together to see how many people have died.”

Bai Shuangying said, “I want to go shopping.”

Counting heads was dull work. He had zero interest in human skulls.

Fang Xiu coaxed him. “We’ll do it fast, so it won’t get in the way.”

Bai Shuangying clicked his tongue softly, then raised his index finger and pressed it lightly against Fang Xiu’s forehead. The air shimmered, and Fang Xiu stared at him, perplexed.

Bai Shuangying: “Now you can conceal yourself on your own. Let’s split up to count. We can meet back here when we’re done.”

They happened to be in the middle of the street, so each could handle one half.

Fang Xiu suppressed a laugh. “Sure, sure. Let’s see who can count faster.”

Though he trusted Bai Shuangying’s concealment, he still couldn’t help saying, “But be careful on the way.”

Before Fang Xiu could finish, Bai Shuangying was already striding off.

Fang Xiu: “…”

He really does want to go shopping, doesn’t he?

So Fang Xiu took off running toward the far end of the street.

There were plenty of nooks and crannies along the way. Fang Xiu searched thoroughly and found a surprising, and somewhat regretful, amount. In just two hundred meters, he discovered over a dozen severed human heads.

Some groups had died all in one place, never even managing to flee. Stranger still, there were only piles of bones and scattered flesh at those scenes, with hardly any broken magic weapons.

…It was like these were total newcomers experiencing their first ritual.

All the bodies he came across looked like novices. Thinking it over, his own team had only started its second ritual, so technically they weren’t very experienced either.

…What was going on? Could it be that this ritual only chose newbies?

…If even drinking water was an issue, what was the Underworld thinking by sending a swarm of novices here?

Still, Fang Xiu got at least one positive outcome: he found several shops he could visit later with Bai Shuangying, one of which had a very attractive vase.

……

Bai Shuangying strolled the other side of the street.

With Fang Xiu absent, it was a good chance to test his power. One of the chains binding him had broken, so he had a bit more freedom over karmic energies.

He was still suppressed and couldn’t see the living karma of mortals, but a person’s death was like a lamp gone out, their causal lines dissolving largely. Such a degree of change was something he could sense now.

On his side of the street, twenty-eight people had died.

“Help… help me…” a faint, raspy cry reached Bai Shuangying’s ears.

He stopped and looked toward the source of the sound.

A chubby man was curled up in a corner of the street, shaking like a leaf. His pants were soaked with urine.

Blocking him was a centipede with a human head. The creature’s face lacked a lower jaw, replaced by insect-like mouthparts. Its eyes curved merrily as it clicked and clacked, toying with its prey as though savoring the moment.

The man was terrified to the point of madness, yet didn’t dare call out too loudly. All he could do was whimper.

Bai Shuangying watched for a while, then calmly released his concealment and revealed himself.

In the neon-lit street, his simple white attire made him stand out all the more. When the man saw him, the man’s eyes lit up. Amid a horde of twisted evil creatures, Bai Shuangying seemed like an immortal descending from on high.

“Help me, Immortal, please help!”

His voice abruptly rose. “I’ll do anything, anything you want!”

Bai Shuangying smiled.

He curved his lips without hiding the malice in his grin. “What is it you want from me?”

His voice was soft and gentle, calm as moonlight.

Seeing that smile, the man instinctively shrank back, but he had no time to think further. “Help me. Get rid of that thing! Once I get out of here, I’ll make offerings to you for the rest of my life!”

“What if I want human lives?” Bai Shuangying asked.

“That’s fine, as many as you want!” the fat man shrieked.

His voice grew louder, prompting the centipede to thrust its mouthparts even closer to his face. “Just get rid of it, hurry…”

Swish.

It was like snipping off a flower. In an instant, the centipede’s head was severed. The headless body flopped to the ground, oozing thick fluid from the ragged stump.

The fat man breathed out a sigh of relief as he wiped away his cold sweat from his forehead.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he cursed breathlessly, struggling to stand. “This damned place…this damned place…”

He noticed that the other evil spirits on the street were deliberately veering away from this corner, as if they couldn’t see him. Only Bai Shuangying stood a single step away, regarding him at leisure.

“Thank you, Great Immortal!”

The fat man immediately straightened up, bowing respectfully. “How many lives do you need? Any preference for gender or age? When I get out of here…”

Bai Shuangying didn’t answer. Still smiling, he reached out and grasped the top of the man’s head.

In the next instant, the man’s body dissolved.

His flesh and blood melted away from his bones, dripping like molten wax. His heart gradually deformed, and when it landed, it was still beating.

His pair of eyes blinked within the flowing meat, looking up at this “white-clothed immortal” and the immaculately clean skull in his hand; the skull that had once belonged to him.

“You got what you wished for, and I’ve claimed my offering.”

Bai Shuangying opened his fingers. The skull clattered onto the mound of flesh, splattering blood in all directions. Leaning down, he gazed at the pair of eyes, still smiling.

“…One human life received.”

The fat man wanted to scream again, but he no longer had a tongue. He could feel the spell on him rapidly fading. The pulpy flesh all over the ground was reverting to a solid state, which wasm, unfortunately, not a condition compatible with staying alive.

A few seconds later, the grotesque heart stopped beating.

Bai Shuangying seized the man’s newly freed living soul. After a moment’s thought, he flattened it like a small pancake and placed it into his mouth.

Having finished his snack, Bai Shuangying started strolling back. He took only a couple of steps before turning around.

He rummaged through the fat man’s remains and dug out a whistle magic weapon, deciding to bring it back for Fang Xiu.

……

When Bai Shuangying returned to the middle of the street, Fang Xiu was there waiting.

“I found twenty-three dead people on my side. What about yours?” his human friend asked.

At that very moment, a burst of crimson fireworks lit the sky, and under its glow, Bai Shuangying’s lips curled upward slightly.

“Twenty-nine,” he said. “My side had twenty-nine dead.”

Fang Xiu scratched his head. “So that’s fifty-two in total? That’s a lot.”

Last time, during the Weishan Village ritual, only four teams—fourteen people—had shown up at the start. This time, the map was actually smaller, but the number of participants had gone way up.

So counting his own group, that meant there were at least eight teams for this ritual. As for how many were left, that was anyone’s guess.

Now it seemed that summoning a fierce ghost had been well worth it, extra round of potential death or not. Had the Jade Buddha group gotten sent here, they might not have survived the opening at all.

Then again, without their experience in Weishan Village, Fang Xiu’s team wouldn’t have been able to react so quickly, either.

Truly…

Fang Xiu couldn’t help rubbing at the goose bumps on his arms.

Bai Shuangying glanced over. “Scared?”

“No, just a bit overly excited.”

Fang Xiu muttered, “This time, the Underworld’s approach is pretty odd. Once we solve this ‘E’, we’ll definitely figure out more about how these rituals work.”

As he spoke, his tone carried a hint of laughter.

“There are still six more rituals after this. It’d be so meaningless if we just muddle through all of them trying not to die… Let’s go. We have a street to explore!”

Bai Shuangying’s spirits lifted. “Okay!”

“By the way, I finished counting first, so I win,” Fang Xiu said as they walked.

Bai Shuangying refused to concede. “I counted more. I win.”

“We said we were racing…”

“I win.”

“Okay, okay. You win.”

……

It was Fang Xiu’s first time strolling through a pedestrian street at night with a friend.

He’d watched a lot of videos before. Travel vloggers and food bloggers always liked to film at night, when the neon lights gleamed vividly against the darkness, producing a sort of cyberpunk dreaminess.

And, of course, sizzling barbecue or chilled drinks always appeared more tempting against the evening backdrop.

This street was the same way.

Many shops had set up stalls right outside their doors, and the faceless youths would gather there in groups of three or five, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, enjoying their flavorless late-night snacks.

The faceless people never spoke; they only gestured excitedly. The boys pointed and waved, and the girls huddled close to take selfies. Even though Fang Xiu couldn’t guess what they were saying, he could sense the joyful energy in their actions.

They must be good friends.

Fang Xiu couldn’t help turning to look at Bai Shuangying.

In his long, snow-white robe and waist-length hair, Bai Shuangying seemed like he was in a completely different layer than this bright, modern street. At the moment, he was pausing in front of a trendy cotton candy stand, quite captivated by the stall owner spinning sugar.

The machine was whirling away, forming a soft white fluff that somewhat resembled a living soul. On Bai Shuangying’s usually impassive face was a glimmer of anticipation, as if he were curious about this sugary treat.

So Fang Xiu went over to try the sample. Unfortunately, it was just like everything else here: a whole lot of nothing.

When Fang Xiu shook his head, Bai Shuangying lowered his gaze, disappointment flickering in his eyes.

“Let’s go.” He straightened up, his interest was gone. He stayed there a moment longer, quietly looking to Fang Xiu.

He was waiting for Fang Xiu so they could walk together.

Fang Xiu took half a step forward, matching Bai Shuangying stride for stride, just like so many young people filling the street.

It was a bit of a shame he couldn’t take Bai Shuangying to a real night market.

…But that was destined to remain an impossible dream. Fang Xiu sighed softly.

To keep a bit of anticipation for the coming days, they didn’t try to explore every shop in one go. By the time they were finished, Fang Xiu took Bai Shuangying to a place called “Treasures of Huai Zhen”, which sold all sorts of porcelain knick knacks.

They spent a whole hour browsing the store.

Bai Shuangying took a liking to a white porcelain vase with subtle dark patterns. It rested in a red silk-lined box that looked delicate and beautiful. Fang Xiu agreed it would go perfectly with the paper flower Bai Shuangying sometimes wore.

With the vase chosen, Bai Shuangying’s mood visibly improved, as if he’d shaken off the disappointment over the cotton candy.

All the while, the faceless shopkeeper stood behind the counter, swiping away on his phone, showing off his spare hair.

Fang Xiu wasn’t sure whether walking off without paying might trigger a taboo, so they just memorized the vase’s location and decided to return another day.

Back at their base, Fang Xiu reported truthfully on the “fifty-two people are dead” situation. Then he ignored the heavy atmosphere that set in and prepared to doze for a bit.

He had just laid out some cardboard in a corner when Bai Shuangying sat down beside him without a word. Fang Xiu, in turn, leaned his head against Bai Shuangying’s shoulder and fell asleep in seconds.

Before long, he started mumbling in his sleep. “There must be other survivors… mm…”

Seeing that Fang Xiu was fast asleep, Bai Shuangying swept his gaze over the rest of the humans. Their expressions ranged from terrified to grim; the same old faces he was tired of seeing.

He gave them only a quick glance before deciding he’d rather keep looking at Fang Xiu.

Fang Xiu kept mumbling, looking unusually content. “Bad guys… Soul mooncakes…”

“Soul mooncakes aren’t bad,” Bai Shuangying murmured, relishing the warmth of a living body.

His human friend chuckled twice in his sleep, nuzzling closer into Bai Shuangying’s neck as though he might have heard him.

Unfortunately, half an hour later, Fang Xiu woke up.

Cheng Songyun, Guan He, Jia Xu, and Blondie had all collapsed on the floor, faces deathly pale, as if they’d suddenly been hit by low blood sugar.

Guan He was baffled, while Jia Xu and Blondie struggled upright, frantically demanding to know what was happening. Cheng Songyun was relatively calm. She described her sensations as quickly as she could.

“My head is spinning, my limbs are weak, my whole body is cold.”

She looked at Fang Xiu, speaking with difficulty. “It’s getting worse by the second… We must have triggered some taboo…”

Something’s off, Fang Xiu thought. They’d all basically been together the entire time, doing exactly the same things. If a taboo had been triggered, it should have applied to him, too. And yet, only Mei Lan and himself felt fine.

Wait, just Mei Lan and himself?

Indeed, there was one thing only the two of them had done. Mei Lan stomped a malicious spirit to death in order to feed her water ghost, while he had slammed that big-headed ghost into the boundary.

Fang Xiu immediately left the base, grabbed a small insect-like evil spirit from the corner of the street, and brought it to Cheng Songyun. “Cheng Jie, kill this.”

Still dizzy, Cheng Songyun obeyed, stomping the insect until its guts splattered.

Then her eyes instantly cleared, and she stood upright, even though her face was turning paler by the second.

Those still watching, minus the clueless Blondie, more or less realized what the taboo implied.

“At a… certain time, we have to kill an evil spirit?” Jia Xu panted, looking across to the old-fashioned clock at a stall opposite them. The second hand on that clock was still ticking.

“I checked it just now. It was 11:45,” Fang Xiu said.

“That’s the third quarter of the hour at midnight.”

Jia Xu muttered, “Before the third quarter-hour of midnight, you have to kill an evil spirit, or you’ll break a taboo…?”

“And if you don’t make up for it, your condition just keeps getting worse…?”

Cursing under his breath, Blondie forced himself up using the power of his ghost. A few minutes later, he returned from outside with scraps of an evil spirit clinging to him.

“Sure enough, soon as I killed one, I was fine again,” Blondie spat. “Good thing there are plenty of them out there. It makes it easier.”

“It’s not that simple,” Cheng Songyun said bitterly. “The evil spirits are also killing each other. If their numbers run out… I mean, if they ever get wiped out and only we remain, how are we supposed to handle this taboo?”

Fang Xiu reflexively looked at Bai Shuangying. Before coming here, they’d discussed something related.

[Living souls in objects count as half-evil spirits.]

…If the ritual counted them as evil spirits, then this could get quite interesting.

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The author has something to say:

The young couple is happily out shopping! (Gore-free version) 

Actually, by comparison, Weishan Village is a really friendly instance…

Also, in my initial draft, I wrote about an “insect-like evil spirit the size of a fist”. But, thinking of my friends in Guangdong who might find that too ordinary (…), I changed it to “the length of a forearm”. 

Anyways…

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