Resentful Spirits
“…What is that?” Bian Shengjian’s whole body was shaking all over when he spoke.
“Be careful.” Lu Shen frowned. He stared at the white shadow that gradually showed its shape in the tumbling black lake water, that slowly moved towards them along the waves.
Sure enough, it came for him.
“Do you still remember the rumor I told you about what happened thirteen years ago?” Lu Shen lowered his neck and spoke lightly as the white shadow kept approaching.
“Wha…you let me go!”
Bian Shengjian’s breathing became difficult. He was not a fool. Although he didn’t know what was going on in this strange and terrifying scene, his instinct was always warning him of the danger ahead. But at this time, his hands and feet were a little uncooperative, and he struggled for several times without even breaking free from Lu Shen’s strong arms.
“Do you hear me? Let me go!”
“Thirteen years ago,” Lu Shen said to himself, “fifty-six people of Class 8, sophomore year, died.”
Bian Shengjian couldn’t break free, and the fingers that grabbed Lu Shen’s arm almost dug into his flesh. He tried to desperately step back and yelled, “What the hell are you talking about!”
“Third brother,” Lu Shen clenched his hand, and his bottomless pitch black eyes almost sucked him in. “I’m not a human being.”
“What are you…what are you talking about?” Bian Shengjian felt as if his throat was being pinched, and the moment he looked at Lu Shen, his mind went blank.
“I’m a spiritual envoy.” Lu Shen curled his lips suddenly, “To be precise, a soul emissary, isn’t it awesome?”
Bian Shengjian didn’t speak, and his expression became a little numb because he was overly frightened.
“… emissary?”
“Of the fifty-six people who died that year, ten of them became resentful spirits because of their deep grievances, that’s why they need a spiritual envoy… that is, me, to resolve their resentment, so as to help them reincarnate.” Lu Shen said .
Bian Shengjian looked at him with a bewildered expression.
“Of course, in addition to them, I also have myself.” Lu Shen’s tone carried a faint trembling. “Only after finding the ten resentful spirits and resolving their resentment can I successfully reincarnate…because I— also died ten years ago.”
Bian Shengjian’s body shook violently. He opened his mouth but he couldn’t utter a single syllable.
“..Can you understand that feeling?” Lu Shen raised his head, his eyes suddenly turned red. “Actually, there are many things…..that I lied to you about—I have been without a family for a long time. “
“I have been in the world for more than ten years, just to collect those ten resentments, but after a long time, I have only found six…until I met you.”
Lu Shen’s grip on Bian Shengjian’s shoulder gradually tightened. “Third brother, you are born with a spiritual body.”
Bian Shengjian felt numb all over, even though he couldn’t understand what Lu Shen was saying in his current state, every word he said still clearly reached his ears.
“A spiritual body attracts resentful spirits….but that’s just my guess, I’ve never met someone like you before.”
As he was talking, he suddenly reached out and pulled out the black longevity lock from the depths of his collar. He hooked the corners of his mouth with a wry smile.
“Remember the first time I met you? At that time, you clearly saw me and even touched me, but my body is completely maintained by this lock, and if it was away from me, ordinary people wouldn’t see me at all! You…except you, you are special…”
“What are you talking about… I really don’t understand.”
Bian Shengjian suddenly took a big step back, his eyes full of disbelief.
“Don’t, don’t touch me.”
“Can you understand that feeling?” Lu Shen’s tone was very low. “Not being seen, not being heard, even if you are standing there, others always subconsciously ignore you,”
“I am such a person.” Lu Shen’s voice was a little hoarse, “Can you believe it, I have lived in this school for more than ten years, but no one remembers me, even if we have been classmates for three years. In the end, no one will still remember my name…you see, this is the duty of a messenger.”
“Lu Shen, are you crazy!” Bian Shengjian finally shouted.
“Yes! I’m crazy!”
Lu Shen suddenly roared, his tone was full of great struggle and pain, which directly shocked Bian Shengjian on the spot.
“Why did I become like this? Why should I bear all this? Why do they not see me? Who can tell me! Why!”
Although he didn’t know clearly why Lu Shen suddenly turned mad, but when Bian Shengjian turned his eyes to the lake, he almost bit his tongue in an instant—
He finally saw the white shadow clearly, or rather, a person with blisters that was swollen and ulcerated, with long black hair. This should be a woman?
“Wuwu—”
In the silence, two small whimpers suddenly came from the mouth of the thing that climbed up from the lake.
“Is that… a ghost?” Bian Shengjian said with difficulty. “Or….. a resentful spirit?”
Lu Shen took a deep breath to stabilize his emotions. He looked at the person crawling on the ground with his head lowered. Every inch of exposed skin was as pale as paper, with faint blue blood vessels. Because it was submerged for too long, festers have appeared in many parts of the body, especially when it lifts its face.
“Ah!” Bian Shengjian roared in horror.
The resentful spirit grinned at them, and a large piece of red flesh was exposed in front of the two, and because this action involved twitching of the face muscles, Bian Shengjian helplessly watched as a large piece of skin fell from the bloody face and was quickly caught by a swollen paw.
After a pause for two seconds, the resentful spirit smiled slightly, and while chewing the skin into its mouth, it continued to laugh in their direction. However, laughing caused more ruptures, eventually the facial features could not be seen clearly…..it was really tempting to think that it was made of a pile of fragmented dead flesh.
Bian Shengjian couldn’t take it any longer. He bent down and vomited on the ground, but after vomiting for a long time, he only vomited out some transparent mucus.
“I’m… I am having a nightmare…” He closed his eyes in despair and let himself lean against Lu Shen weakly.
“This is not a dream.”
Lu Shen took out a tissue from his pocket and carefully wiped the corner of his mouth. He watched the resentful spirit eat its own face with cold eyes, then carefully licked every swollen finger of its own afterwards. The white eyeballs turned twice in the half rotted eye sockets, and suddenly stopped at Bian Shengjian.
“Wu—”
It was lying on the ground on all fours, its eyes staring at Bian Shengjian, but there was a look of longing on its bloody face.
“Please…”
Bian Shengjian’s eyes darkened, but he really heard a small voice in the midst of his chaotic mind.
“Please…”
“Help me…”
“I’m in such pain…”
The voice sounded from below.
“Please…”
The resentful spirit used both hands and feet, and crawled to Bian Shengjian’s feet with difficulty. Along the way, the rough grass leaves grazed its fragile skin, leaving a lot of dirty blood along the way which emitted an indescribable stench.
The resentful spirit finally climbed to a few steps away from Bian Shengjian and stopped, grabbed the grass blade on the ground with both hands, raised its head, and gave him a big smile from a close-range angle. It almost split to the base of the ear, and even the scarlet tongue stuck out.
“Please, brother…”
Bian Shengjian closed his eyes subconsciously, but the ghostly voice still lingered in his ears.
“Lu Shen.” Bian Shengjian trembled. “Go…… let it go away!”
“Don’t be afraid,” Lu Shen held his hand soothingly, “I will protect you.”
“Brother….”
The thing on the ground was still making noises, but the next second, something unexpected happened. The resentful spirit suddenly became manic after a long time of hearing no response. The upper body suddenly flew into the air and rushed towards Shengjian with a shriek, “I like you, come down and accompany me!”
“I’m sorry.”
In an instant, Lu Shen’s body moved, and a spell quickly popped out from his fingertips, firmly attached to the mass of flesh and blood. “I also like this brother very much, so he can’t come down to accompany you.”
“Ah ah ah-–!!”
The spirit screamed, grabbed its hair with its hands and rolled on the ground, like being burned by an invisible flame. Its noise was shrill and desperate.
“I ‘m going to kill you… I’m going to kill you!”
Lu Shen supported Bian Shengjian, whose face was numb with horror, and slowly sat him down on the ground. He took a few steps forward, and immediately grabbed the spirit’s hair with one hand. He swung it to the ground, which created a loud thud, then he said coldly. “Shut up.”
The resentful spirit struggled frantically, but did not dare touch Lu Shen. After being smashed to the ground twice, it finally managed to calm down and shrank itself into a ball, its body trembling slightly.
“Tell me,” Lu Shen looked directly at it, “what is your resentment?”
The resentful spirit didn’t respond, but just squeezed itself even tighter.
Lu Shen took a deep breath and waited patiently for a few seconds before he could only raise his head helplessly.
“…Third brother.”
Bian Shengjian raised his head, and under Lu Shen’s gaze, he found that he stood up uncontrollably, took a few steps towards his side unsteadily, and finally crouched down beside Lu Shen tremblingly.
“I’m sorry…” Lu Shen lowered his head, “I’ll explain a lot of things to you later after we go in.”
“Go in? Where?” Bian Shengjian’s voice was so hoarse and he hardly dared to look at the mass on the ground, yet he could still smell the strong smell of stench, or in other words, the smell of death.
“Give me your hand.” Lu Shen took his hand, held it slowly and gently, and placed it on the head of the resentful spirit. “…Can you feel it?”
Bian Shengjian didn’t speak, but his breathing suddenly stopped. At this moment, a lot of fragmented scenes suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, and the combination was like a grand kaleidoscope, flickering with light that made him dizzy–
But these scenes were so messy that he couldn’t see even one of them clearly, however even if he couldn’t see clearly, some emotions emerged in his heart. An unfamiliar pain that was not his own and full of icy water shocked him .
He couldn’t help but groan.
“Tell me, what is your resentment?” Lu Shen’s tone was flat, but there was a hint of joy on his face.
The resentful spirit gradually quieted down, and then a shimmer of light rose from its body and snaked along the overlapping palms of the two. As time passed, the light gradually became dazzling–
“Third brother, you are unique.” Lu Shen’s voice sounded in Bian Shengjian’s ear, but he couldn’t hear the second half of his sentence clearly.
“If, if you can come with me…..”
“What?” he asked with difficulty, but suddenly he felt his whole body slacken, and the pain disappeared, as if there was a gentle warm wind blowing through him.
Bian Shengjian closed his eyes unconsciously, until the gentle white light that rose up completely enveloped them both.
