Rustle … The demonhead saber dragged across the ground with a shrill sound.
Wherever it passed, the darkness would recede.
When he arrived at room 123, he paused for a moment.
This was the room he had been in earlier.
Thud!
He kicked the door open, only to discover that it was empty.
He couldn't tell whose room this was, but there were dozens of old-fashioned photographs pasted on the walls.
A grey wall mirror was placed on the left, while an empty wardrobe sat on the right.
Inside, there were several tattered and old costumes hanging on the walls.
There was a desk right in front of him. Qin Ye wiped the mirror on the left.
He glanced at the female ghost in the costume who was still clinging to his shoulder. Her entire body was trembling, and she had even hidden her head behind Qin Ye's back.
Qin Ye grew taciturn. After staring for several seconds, he combed his hair.
"How can I be so handsome?" He exclaimed, "How could I not have noticed this before?"
"Why do I feel like you're bursting with confidence when you're facing ghosts?" Arthis sneered, "Have you finally discovered the usefulness of having an official residence?"
Qin Ye felt as though Arthis was suffering from a mental illness.
It was as though she wouldn't die as long as she didn't diss him for a day.
How could anyone possibly think of dissing a perfect man like him?
It must be because the person who dissed him was mentally unstable.
"Perfect."
He flicked his hair, "I'll definitely become a woman in my next life, and then marry a man as handsome as me."
With that, he walked straight to the desk and opened the drawer.
What he didn't notice was that as he turned around to leave, his reflection in the mirror was still in the same posture of shaking its head.
It was only half a second after Qin Ye left that it returned to its original state and faced the mirror motionlessly.
Zhuo Qinfen, Li Runxue, Lin Han and Su Feng followed closely behind him. Their faces were pale as a sheet as they walked into the room.
It was almost as though the five of them were in the same frame, leaving behind a black and white photograph.
Qin Ye didn't know about this, because he was currently looking at the contents of the drawer.
It was a dusty notebook.
"12 May 2001. Sunny."
He opened it and read, "I didn't get to eat again … The little girl in charge said that I was too noisy, and she didn't allow me to eat …"
"I'm so hungry … so hungry … I haven't eaten for an entire day.
This nursing home is practically a den of demons!
I regret not having a child back then. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here. "
"I'm not being noisy, I'm very obedient … I don't even sing anymore … I just listen to the recorder and hum for a while at night. If I can't eat tomorrow, I feel like I'm going to die."
Qin Ye's eyes twitched slightly.
These were the notes of an old man.
This was a nursing home.
However, he did not seem to see Jing.
He continued flipping. "On the 13th of May, I finally ate two biscuits.
The milk from this morning seemed to have spoiled and was inedible … These people were too hateful!
If I can still leave, if any of us can leave, I will definitely sue them! "
"Everyone here is like a devil, I know, we all paid the money, but the food we are eating is not human food!"
"14th of May. Old Man Li left. He was so hungry that he was skin and bones. I don't know if he ate something bad.
He likes to listen to me sing opera. I'm afraid I'm going to … "
"However, Old Huang is here today. I finally have someone to accompany me. I'm very happy."
"He's also old, and he doesn't have much longer to live.
It feels good to depend on each other for survival. "
"15th of May. I'm so hungry … I'm so hungry.
But … I'm very happy today. "
"Someone died in the nursing home.
Hahaha … someone died!
The head nurse who always skimped on our money is dead!
She died in the washroom! "
"And she died in washroom 124 right next to ours. Old Wang was the one who discovered her when he went to the washroom … I heard that her entire body was stiff, her tongue was hanging out, and her eyes were bulging out, almost as though she had seen something terrifying."
"16th of May. I'm leaving … I'm leaving!"
"There's something unclean here!
There must be!! "
It was a rare sight to see two exclamation marks on the notes. Furthermore, it was evident that the notes had been written with great agitation.
"Tonight … when I went to the washroom, all the doors were closed. But … there was only one door, the innermost one!
The cubicle where the head nurse died, and I actually … actually heard someone crying! "
"It was the voice of a young woman. I heard it loud and clear!
But … but we don't have any young women here at all!!! "
The last few words were written with great agitation, almost as though the exclamation marks were used to vent their fear.
The bottom half of the page was torn to shreds.
Qin Ye flipped the page.
"22nd of May.
Dark. "
"I might be dying soon …"
"I haven't been able to sleep well for the past few nights. Old Huang is the only one keeping me company. Every night … we would hug each other, and the sound of crying would start at midnight and end at 5am.
Furthermore … two days ago, I heard someone walking at the door! "
"Those were high heels … Nobody here wears those things at all!
Apart from the dead head nurse! "
"We haven't slept well for three days straight … We … don't dare to close our eyes.
Last night, the door was clearly locked, but it opened at midnight, and the sound of high heels stopped right at the door.
It's … it's almost as though there's a dead person standing at the door, staring straight at us! "
"23rd of May. Sunny."
"I can't move anymore. I've tried to react, but nobody cares about me at all. I don't dare to sleep, and I can't move. Even if I don't die, I'm going crazy!
But Old Huang is still keeping me company. She's lost weight, and I'm all skin and bones … "
"Finally, a doctor came to see me, and they began to pack up my things.
They told me that I'd get better soon. Haha … I know that only a dying person would move to another place.
But … these caregivers … I thought they were moving my things away, but they actually burned everything I owned!! "
"I … I'm going to kill them!!"
"24th of May. Sunny."
"I think my seventy years of life have come to an end today."
"I wasn't able to kill them, because my skinny hands can no longer lift a blade, and I can't even find one … I just hope that Old Huang lives on well …"
"Thank you, world. I love you."
"Yu Qiuqing, 24 May. Final note."
"Haa …" Qin Ye shook his head and casually flipped through the pages of the notebook. The back was completely blank.
Emissaries of Hell didn't care about the affairs of the mortal world.
What they did was arrest Yin spirits and escort them to Hell, where they would be punished accordingly.
"Don't worry." He patted the notebook gently, "Not a single person in this nursing home will come to a good end."
"Are you deceiving her?
Or are you deceiving yourself? "
Arthis' voice was somewhat deep and low, "Good and evil are repaid accordingly. The Heavenly Dao is a cycle, and the system that runs this cycle is now gone.
What's the point of consoling her? "
"Rather than wallowing in sorrow, why don't you hurry up and establish Hell … Kid, there are countless souls waiting for you to seek redress for their grievances.
The Yin spirits of countless villains roamed free from the law.
What the mortal realm can't punish, you can. "
"What the mortal realm can't punish, you can."
"What the mortal realm can't, you can see and hear."
"This is the meaning of Hell's existence."
"Evil, must be punished.
Good, must be promoted! "
Qin Ye grew taciturn. His Adam's apple moved slightly.
He looked no different from a stone statue.
His state of mind had already changed somewhat during the press conference.
He had lived through the vicissitudes of life. He had walked through the fires of war, and he had seen far too much good and evil, beauty and ugliness.
However, he had never shouldered these responsibilities before.
That said, the shard of King Yanluo's Seal was now in his hands.
He was the only one who could restart the cycle of good and evil.
He could allow the ghosts in human skin to exact vengeance for the sins of the mortal realm in Hell.
Today, this ordinary diary entry had allowed these emotions to slowly ferment like aged wine.
In life, there would always be some inadvertent scenes that would rush straight into one's heart when one was least prepared.
"That tragedy with Amorous Affair and CEO Wang was exactly the same …" Qin Ye sighed. For the first time, he didn't refute Arthis's suggestion to "work hard". In fact, he even felt a momentary impulse to do so.
Arthis would probably be smiling in the underworld if she were to learn of the fact that she was able to elicit such an impulse from a salted fish …
Whoosh … As he flipped through the pages of the diary, he suddenly paused.
There's still the diary!
"12 December 2013."
"Old Huang killed all the nurses in this hospital!
Hahaha!! "
"Evil will be repaid with evil, and good will be rewarded with good. It's not that retribution hasn't come, but that the time hasn't come yet!"
"I've tied Old Huang up, so he won't kill anyone else … right?"
"Good and evil will be repaid …" Qin Ye's voice rose and fell as he closed the diary.
There was silence in the room. Arthis pondered for a long time, before finally responding, "There should be a barrier here."
"A barrier that conceals all Yin energy, and at the same time, distorts one's vision and perception.
The person who set up this barrier must be quite skilled. "
Qin Ye furrowed his brows, "So, if I want to find the others and the location of the 30 million Yin energy user, I'll have to break through this barrier?"
"Be careful."
Arthis warned, "Any barrier, also known as a formation array, is divided into the gates of life and death. The gate of death allows entry, but no exit. You're still safe right now because you haven't violated the 'rules' of this barrier, and you've broken through it without knowing anything about it.
I'm afraid … none of the five of you will be able to get out. "
Qin Ye was taken aback, "Is it that serious?"
The soul sphere floated in the air as it surveyed its surroundings, "Although I can't sense anything, I can still trace the source of this barrier.
Let me ask you, what's the purpose of this barrier?
Who set it up? "
Qin Ye muttered, "Purpose?
It should be to seal off the Yin energy in this place. After all, there's a high possibility that there's a ghost king here that we can't suppress with our current level of cultivation … "
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly stopped.
That's right …
So that's how it is.
In order to prevent the leakage of Yin energy, only the government could possibly have set up a barrier here.
At the same time, the government had even left the fourth hunting zone untouched, and hadn't even attempted to clean it up in order to avoid alerting the great terror that might be lurking around.
Extrapolating from this … if the government had already taken precautions to such an extent, how terrifying would the barrier that had been set up here be?
Qin Ye drew a deep breath and glanced around. The nursing home was dead silent, yet he could sense danger lurking in every corner.
It was almost as though there were electric lines everywhere, and a single misstep would result in a chain reaction of explosions!
Arthis shifted slightly, and her voice was laced with a hint of slyness, "Now, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"