JOS Chapter 125

Punishment Seeing that the three of them remained motionless, only repeatedly studying the stone statue with troubled expressions, the female ghost urged them. “Make your wishes.”

Chu Xuanliang remembered the main business and asked, “What’s your boyfriend’s name?”

“He’s no longer my boyfriend now,” Xiao Xia said. “His name is Wang Chao.”

The female ghost muttered. “What an ordinary name.”

Chu Xuanliang walked to the front of the stone statue, hesitated for a moment, then placed his hand on top of the statue’s head in a rather dramatic fashion. The eerie feeling surged up again. Chu Xuanliang suppressed the confusion in his heart and said, “Help me find Wang Chao.”

The surrounding voices suddenly became louder.

“Here we go, here we go, who’s going?”

“Who knows which Wang Chao? There must be at least a hundred people named Wang Chao in H Province.”

“Hehehe, then let’s just randomly find one for them.”

A ghost approached, and the nearby Yama coldly swept his gaze over them.

The female ghost yawned on the side and said, “It’s the Wang Chao who came here to make a wish before. Those who don’t know him shouldn’t join in the commotion, or you might die again.”

Xiao Xia held up her phone vertically and shook it, saying, “It’s too late at night, this livestream room is completely cold. There isn’t even a single comment.”

Miumiu: “The viewer is me.”

“Something seems to be flashing?” Xiao Xia moved away from the screen a little. “Is there nothing?”

Miumiu asked, “What thing?”

“I can’t see clearly, I’m wearing glasses,” Xiao Xia said. “Take a look.”

Xiao Xia couldn’t make out anything on her phone, but looking beyond the phone, there was indeed something white appearing and disappearing intermittently. It wasn’t glowing, but rather something that appeared somewhat whitish in the dark night, so it wasn’t obvious. It was extremely blurry, yet had a strong sense of presence.

Miumiu shivered and said with squinted eyes. “It’s…”

Chu Xuanliang: “Eyes.”

Miumiu was stunned.

She pressed close to Xiao Xia, tightly against Jiang Feng’s side.

Xiao Xia pressed the phone screen. “How is a real ghost encounter livestream room still so cold?”

“If the audience suddenly increased after entering this place, you should be afraid rather than happy,” Jiang Feng said. “Do you know whether your viewers are human or ghosts?”

Xiao Xia was speechless.

An old ghost spoke up. “Since you’re Taoist priests, set up the Circle of Light Technique here. You should know it, right?”

Chu Xuanliang: “Do you have something of Wang Chao’s here?”

“He came here and made a wish, so of course he had to leave something behind,” the old ghost cackled. “Although what he used was these two girls’ blood, the person who came to make the wish was him. How could there be such a good thing as achieving your own wishes by relying on others’ misfortune?”

The female ghost: “We said H Province treats good people and bad people fairly.”

The stone statue under Chu Xuanliang’s hand seemed to laugh along. He quickly removed the hand he had been keeping on top and thought to himself that he was truly possessed.

Chu Xuanliang raised his hand and rubbed his fingers. Xiao Xia cleverly shone the light over, revealing several strands of hair caught between his fingers.

The voices of the ghosts rose one after another:

“Go.”

“Come.”

“Hehehe…”

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Where are there water and a mirror?”

Miumiu and Xiao Xia contributed their equipment.

Chu Xuanliang placed the items on the ground and set up a simple formation to activate the Circle of Light Technique.

He found a wide circular plate nearby, poured water into it, threw the hair into the water, and chanted incantations to activate it.

Several phones together flashed their lights toward the water surface.

The calm water surface rippled without reason, then human figures appeared.

Perhaps because the yin energy here was too intense, or perhaps because the ghosts here knew Wang Chao’s whereabouts and influenced this spell casting, the images from the Circle of Light Technique were clearer than any Chu Xuanliang had ever seen before.

The scene showed a sixty to seventy square meter, two-bedroom, one-living room simply decorated apartment. It was fairly clean, but with too much furniture, making it appear crowded after everything was arranged.

“Isn’t this the place we lived in before? But we returned the house. No wonder he went back there?” Miumiu said puzzledly. “But… he’s not someone who would do housework!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a male student in a white shirt walked out from the inside room, yawning. He went to the dining table, lifted an umbrella cover, took a piece of cake from the plate, then turned on the TV and watched happily.

From the color outside the window, it was almost evening.

A man and woman opened the door with keys and entered.

Miumiu and Xiao Xia initially thought these two were new victims, but what happened next didn’t seem to be the case.

The plot took a bizarre turn.

The two who returned were both wearing professional business attire, apparently white-collar workers. They stood at the door and started arguing. First it was complaining-like muttering, then they began shouting loudly. But their gazes never fell on Wang Chao.

Xiao Xia pinched her throat and provided voice-over. “It’s fine, it’s fine, nothing’s wrong. What kind of man are you with no backbone? When your girlfriend says she’s scared and you still say it’s fine, I might as well find a dog instead of a man!”

Everyone looked at her, thinking she was possessed.

Xiao Xia said innocently. “I think that’s what she said, look at her lip movements. Right?”

The group found it surprisingly reasonable.

Xiao Xia continued cheerfully. “Who the hell wants to live in a haunted house with you? Even when renting, you’re so cheap you find a haunted place. Being so stingy, after marriage you’d just want a free maid and free whore, right?”

Chu Xuanliang had to expose her. “From her lip movements, she didn’t say that much.”

Xiao Xia said, “I artistically embellished it a bit, but that’s basically the meaning.”

Wang Chao sat comfortably on the sofa, shaking his leg and watching, completely unconcerned about the two of them, even changing the channel.

As soon as the TV program switched, the two arguing at the door also stopped.

The woman stomped her feet and screamed in breakdown, not even taking off her shoes, and walked straight out.

The man hesitated for a moment, locked the door and chased after her.

Miumiu: “What’s going on? Others can’t see him, but he can touch things? He’s like an invisible man?”

Xiao Xia protested. “What kind of punishment is this! He doesn’t have to worry about food and drink, okay? For a lazy person like Wang Chao, this is simply heaven! This is called a superpower, not punishment!”

Miumiu paused and said, “Is he stupid? If I were him, I’d go take private jets and live in ultimate luxury mansions.”

Xiao Xia thought about it and sighed. “Sigh, but splurging often requires an audience to feel pleasure. Otherwise, buying lots of things just provides the fun of scaring people.”

Jiang Feng and the others didn’t comment or react.

The situation definitely wouldn’t be this optimistic. After all, the ghosts here had lived for so many years. As punishment, how could it stop at just this? Miumiu and Xiao Xia had already received this level of punishment; Wang Chao’s would only be more severe.

Soon, Wang Chao’s situation began to deteriorate.

His current physical condition was bizarre. Although he was still alive, had a physical body, needed to eat and excrete, and could touch solid objects, he seemed only able to move freely within a certain range around him. So he stayed at home for long periods, occasionally surfing the internet or watching TV as entertainment.

His mental state also showed major problems. He didn’t feel there was anything wrong with his current situation at all. He didn’t think about changing it, didn’t think about seeking help, had no surprise or fear, just enjoyed and accepted this lifestyle, and would actively avoid physical contact with living people to prevent them from discovering him.

The same brain influence, but Wang Chao clearly hadn’t signed a contract with ghosts, right?

Yama stroked his chin and watched seriously with a grave expression.

After the couple’s argument, they still invited two monks over to help drive away ghosts and chant sutras. Wang Chao went out for a casual stroll, waited until they all left and the room was empty again, then slowly walked back.

The couple found that the ghost-driving didn’t work. In their daily life, they would still inexplicably encounter some entity, the bed would be occupied, TV and computer would run without reason. Due to fear, they quickly packed up and moved away.

After the two moved away, Wang Chao began looking for food elsewhere, such as sneaking into other people’s homes or going to nearby accessible supermarkets to steal things.

Then one day, he was holding a bowl of instant noodles he had prepared, ready to go to the living room to sit and eat. Halfway there, his hands suddenly became empty and the noodles fell from his palms.

Wang Chao was slightly stunned, thinking he hadn’t held them tightly. He left the mess of noodle remnants on the floor and went to prepare a second cup.

He picked it up and walked only a few steps when the noodles fell again.

He looked at his hands, completely certain. It wasn’t that his grip had loosened, but for a moment, his hands couldn’t touch solid objects, so it had fallen.

He was completely stunned.

Wang Chao finally began to panic, having a feeling of suddenly awakening from a dream. His emotions were agitated and he was terrified.

He took out a pen to write on paper, wanting to seek help from others. But as long as something was in his hands, others couldn’t see it.

He threw the paper at others’ doorsteps, but before they could get the message, he saw real ghosts.

Those ghosts grinned menacingly around him, pulling at him with their hands, taking him out of the residential complex.

Wang Chao shouted loudly for help but received no response.

He was grabbed by the ghosts and thrown to the edge of the complex, then ran back crying by himself at night.

Whenever he tried to seek help from others, that group of hideous ghosts would suddenly appear, grab his hands and feet, and take him out of the room.

He discovered this, not knowing what their purpose was, so he no longer took such risks. He waited for the right moment and observed the changes, but unfortunately never succeeded.

Time didn’t give him many opportunities.

Gradually, he couldn’t touch anything. Including water and food.

People could even pass through his body without feeling any discomfort due to his presence. He became like a real ghost.

However, he would still get hungry.

He lay in the living room, his body unable to move due to gradual starvation, watching people come and go in front of him, stepping over his body. He lost the ability and hope to seek help.

Finally, the image froze with only a pair of bulging eyes still moving, staring blankly outside the window.

The subsequent development made the two girls somewhat horrified, not daring to think deeply.

If they hadn’t met Chu Xuanliang and the others, what would have happened to them?

Miumiu might have died from her stomach bursting due to constant eating? Xiao Xia might also have died from facial ulceration and infection, then from complications? Perhaps before they reached these outcomes, they had already encountered more terrifying things.

Miumiu asked quietly. “Was he starved to death in the end?”

Chu Xuanliang: “From what we can see, yes.”

“If he’s already dead, then what about me? Can the hungry ghost on me still be removed?” Miumiu said tearfully. “I don’t want to become like him. Is there really no second way besides death?”

Chu Xuanliang gently patted her back to comfort her. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about troubles that haven’t happened yet.”

All the images disappeared. Jiang Feng stood up and asked, “What else did Wang Chao do to become like this? According to what you said, he didn’t sign any contract with you.”

“The guardian deity,” the female ghost spread her arms and said. “He made a wish to the guardian deity. When he came to H Province, he signed a contract with the guardian deity here. H Province doesn’t allow crime and will punish injustice. He violated our rules here, so of course he would be punished.”

“God?” Jiang Feng said. “Didn’t your guardian deity here die long ago?”

“Dead? As long as faith exists, how could the guardian deity die? Isn’t ghosts’ faith still faith? Do you know how many ghosts there are in H Province?” An old ghost gazed tenderly at the stone statue and said, “Look, do you think she’s dead?”

Jiang Feng: “Whether she’s dead or alive, anyway she’s no longer here. This stone statue has no magic power at all. You’re just using her name falsely to harm people.”

The group of ghosts stopped talking and glared at him with hostility.

Jiang Feng coldly pointed at the female ghost. “You ruined her face because you like makeup. The hungry ghost keeps eating because of his appetite. Neither of you truly fulfilled their wishes, yet you borrowed a physical body to commit evil deeds. If H Province truly doesn’t tolerate crime, what punishment should you receive?”

Yama stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.

“There is only one underworld. Those who can judge the crimes of ghosts are the Divine Lords, those who can discern the good and evil of human hearts are the Mirrors of Sins, those who can record right and wrong are the Registers of Merits and Demerits. The Ten Kings of Hell, judges and impermanence officers, all are righteous souls who accumulated merit through many lifetimes in the mortal world and cultivated their hearts for hundreds of years in the underworld—”

Yama slightly lowered his head, his handsome face showing a trace of disdain, “What are you things supposed to be?”