Chapter 127
Lin Yi stretched out his hand and pointed slightly next door.
Cheng Yang was stunned for a moment before he suddenly realized. He showed an expression of “Why didn’t I think of that?” and said with admiration, “As expected of our Lin Yi Xiong!”
Xia Hui was a participant and would never refuse the express delivery from Cheng Yang.
In order for a curse letter to be mailed, it must be laced with filth.
Judging from the curse letter Cheng Yang received, the filth contained the smell of blood and the next person to be cursed.
Obtaining the scent of the person to be cursed was easy enough to handle. The paint used to write Xia Hui’s name on his door was still there.
The hard part was blood.
‘It’s your turn to hide your life’, these words were written in blood.
But whose blood it was, Cheng Yang had no idea.
The note was floating in the sewer right now. Cheng Yang said regretfully, “I would have kept it if I had known.”
“It’s no use keeping it.”
Lin Yi said, “The curse letter you received was specially sent to you by the last person. Your scent is on that note. There is no way to forward it to the next person.”
Cheng Yang thought about it and while thinking about it, he wondered, “But whose blood could it be?”
Although Cheng Yang was mumbling to himself, Lin Yi next to him thought for a moment and then answered him, “The blood of a cat or that thing.”
Cheng Yang quickly asked, “Why do you say that?”
Lin Yi said, “There are two kinds of filth in that curse letter. One is the scent of the cursed person. This is to accurately locate the cursed person.”
Cheng Yang nodded, he could understand this.
Not only did he understand, it also gave him an idea. He raised his hand and said, “Lin Yi Xiong, I know now.”
Lin Yi stopped and waited for Cheng Yang to speak.
Cheng Yang tried, “Blood is used to summon the killer. The only things that are summoned at night are cats and that thing, so the blood on the note must either belong to the cats or that thing, or both.”
After he finishing speaking, Cheng Yang asked Lin Yi in a tone of begging for praise, “Lin Yi Xiong, am I understanding it correctly?”
Lin Yi nodded, “But the blood should only belong to the cats.”
Cheng Yang, who rarely managed to follow Lin Yi’s thoughts, lost the trail of thought once again. Lin Yi said, “The essence of the curse letter is called ‘transmission’ in Fangshu.”
Cheng Yang reminded, “Lin Yi Xiong, you said that already.”
“I know.” Lin Yi continued, “The specific method used to perform transmission is to tie a charm and a dead man’s hair to a pigeon fed with chronic poison, and then release the pigeon. Pigeons fed with chronic poison will die in flight. The pigeon dies and then falls onto someone’s house. Once the pigeon falls, it will drop its filth there and the family’s bad luck will come one after another.”
“The pigeon is equivalent to the curse letter. The dead man’s hair, the blood on the curse letter and the charm is your scent.” Lin Yi paused for a moment, and then asked Cheng Yang, “Cheng Yang Xiong, can you understand?”
Cheng Yang nodded affirmatively. Lin Yi’s analogy was very clear. Even if he had low IQ it wasn’t to the level of being defective.
Lin Yi continued, “The reason why the hair of a dead man is used is because, while the deceased rest in eternal sleep, by using the dead man’s hair, there is no way for the dead to rest in peace. In this way, the dead man will feel resentful and take revenge onto the family on whose house the pigeon had fallen on. In the same way, the blood on the note must also be the blood of a dead thing.”
Having said this, Lin Yi stopped to look at Cheng Yang again.
He needed Cheng Yang to fully understand, so that he can carry out the subsequent main plot exploration. Also, this will, to a certain extent, allow Cheng Yang to grow.
Cheng Yang lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then nodded. “Yes.”
“But so what if the blood must be from a dead thing? What does this have to do with the blood belonging to the cats?”
Cheng Yang couldn’t understand this logical causal relationship.
Lin Yi asked Cheng Yang, “Did you hear the sound of the cats scratching the door last night?”
Cheng Yang nodded. The cat scratching at the door last night made him panic, as if the cat’s claws were scratching his very nerves.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Could you detect the cat’s anger?” Lin Yi asked.
Jtfcu Tjcu cbvvfv, “Yo mbegrf. Ojra cluta, atbrf mjar rbecvfv ilxf atfs’v rmgjamt bea j ofk tbifr lc atf vbbg obg wf.”
Olc Tl rjlv, “Gb sbe atlcx atf atlcu ifv ys atf mjar lr gfrfcaoei?”
“P vbc’a xcbk.” Jtfcu Tjcu rjlv, “P tjnfc’a fcmbecafgfv la sfa.”
“Ktja’r gluta.” Olc Tl tjv yffc kjlalcu obg Jtfcu Tjcu ab rjs atlr. “Po atja atlcu gfrfcar lar gfra yflcu vlraegyfv, la kbeivc’a wbnf atja ribk.”
Cheng Yang was stunned for a moment and then said, “Fuck.”
Lin Yi told Cheng Yang about the confrontation between him and the thing last night. The thing’s state was obviously opposite to the cats’. The cats had obviously already pointed out that there was someone with the same scent as the one on the package inside Room 202 but the thing first pushed the door a crack and peered in quietly.
Lin Yi continued to educate Cheng Yang, “The person who released the pigeon would have a frog with its left leg tied up that corresponds with the released pigeon. The frog will also have the same dead man’s hair and charm attached to it. If there is a pregnant female member of the cursed family, the frog will be jumping around and want to run around. Otherwise, it will close its eyes and rest without food or water.”
“If it’s the former, the person who sent the pigeon will use a piece of bluestone to beat the frog to death and then eat it while it still has breath left. After that, the fetus in the belly of the pregnant woman will become a stillbirth because the child’s yang energy and longevity would have been taken away by the person who released the pigeon.” Lin Yi said, “Moreover, the appearance of the stillborn child will be infinitely close to that of the dead man. Do you know why?”
Cheng Yang: “I want to know, but I don’t dare to know.”
Lin Yi said, “Because the person who released the pigeon has disturbed the deceased’s rest and is afraid of being retaliated against by the dead man, that person will usually give the deceased a sweet treat to appease the dead’s grievances. If it were you, what sweet treat would you give the dead man?”
Cheng Yang said, “Money?”
Lin Yi: “…He’s already dead, he can’t use money.”
Forget it, he decided to end this meaningless Q&A with Cheng Yang and said directly, “Yang energy and longevity.”
Cheng Yang was stunned for a moment. “You can still give yang energy and longevity to the dead? But how? Will he give the yang energy and longevity stolen from the fetus to the deceased?”
“Similar to how someone would be unwilling to share a hard-won treasure with others. The deceased will actually be deceived.” Lin Yi said, “The period of time when the fetus is in the mother’s belly is the longevity they give to the deceased.”
Cheng Yang paused and looked next door, “Lin Yi Xiong, I think I understand now.”
Lin Yi nodded.
If the pigeon is the curse letter, the dead man’s hair is the cats’ blood, and the talisman is the paint used to write the name on the bedroom door, then the murdered Xia Hui is the fetus that was robbed of its yang energy and longevity.
It was also because Lin Yi heard the ‘meow’ in Xia Hui’s throat that he thought of ‘transmission’.
“Then what about that thing?” Cheng Yang quickly asked after digesting the information. “Is it equivalent to the one who released the pigeon?”
“No.” Lin Yi said, “The person who released the pigeon doesn’t need to show up at all. If that thing is the person who released the pigeon, he would have done it himself, so why bother to write a curse letter?”
When Lin Yi said this, Cheng Yang felt that he had asked a question that made him sound mentally-challenged, but he couldn’t help but ask Lin Yi another such question, “Then is it the stone used to kill the frog?”
Without waiting for Lin Yi’s answer, Cheng Yang immediately said, “That’s not right. The stone and frog are both with the pigeon releaser. They wouldn’t appear directly at the curse scene.”
In fact, Cheng Yang’s doubts also troubled Lin Yi.
Cats actually have no ability to kill people; just like the hair of the dead, they only serve to spread filth.
The person who can really kill people should be the person who released the pigeon. He can pick up a stone at any time and hit the frog that is bound to the dove.
But the situation they were encountering now was that thing was killing people.
Lin Yi thought for a while, walked to the desk in the room, took out a piece of paper and wrote what he just told Cheng Yang included pigeons, the hair of a diseased, charms, fetuses, pigeon releasers, stones, and frogs.
He connected these words to the current situation.
Pigeon – curse letter
Hair of the deceased – cat’s blood/cat
Charm – Paint on door of the cursed person
Fetus – the person participant (Xia Hui)
The pigeon releaser——?
Stone–?
Frog–?
Lin Yi tried to fill in the blanks but he couldn’t.
That thing didn’t correspond to any of these words. It seemed to be completely redundant and even gave Lin Yi the false impression that the curse letter would be more complicated.
However, Lin Yi had no intention of confronting a problem he couldn’t resolve at the moment. The most important thing right now was to get Cheng Yang’s curse letter sent out.
Lin Yi put away the paper in his hand, took out another piece of paper and wrote “It’s your turn to hide your life” with the pen in his hand.
Lin Yi then wrote “It’s your turn to hide your life” twice. When Cheng Yang was about to ask Lin Yi why he wrote it twice, Lin Yi put down his pen and said, “Let’s go.”
Cheng Yang let out an “Oh”. “Where are we going?”
Lin Yi said, “To look for cat hair.”
Saying so, he walked out.
Cheng Yang hurried to follow him. As soon as he followed him out, he saw Lin Yi enter Room 204. Thinking of what was in Room 204, Cheng Yang made mental preparations for a while before entering.
When he entered, he saw Lin Yi squatting under the bed, using the paper in his hand to stick it to Xia Hui who was hiding under the bed.
Some fleshy residue came away on the paper.
Xia Hui said sadly, “Meow.”
Cheng Yang was so frightened that he trembled all over but Lin Yi still kept rubbing Xia Hui with the paper. After rubbing for a while, he stood up and carefully cut the paper into two pieces.
“I’ve used this to wipe at the paint outside the door so that takes care of the charm.” Lin Yi gave Cheng Yang one of the pieces of paper he’d split into two. “We’ve now also got the dead man’s hair.”
Cheng Yang hated his lack of brains. He couldn’t keep up with Lin Yi’s rhythm at all and could only put on a blank expression.
Lin Yi saw this and explained, “The fetus is bound to have a close connection to the dead man.”
So, right now, Xia Hui was, to a certain extent, equivalent to a cat. The blood on Xia Hui’s body was the cat’s blood needed to make the curse letter take effect.
It took Cheng Yang a long time to react, “Is this still possible?”
Lin Yi nodded and said, “It should be okay.”
This was related to his life. Cheng Yang asked, “Lin Yi Xiong, how sure are you?”
Lin Yi said truthfully, “Seventy percent.”
There was still 30% uncertainty, because the extra existence of that thing prevented Lin Yi from directly confirming that the 8-4 Rule was about ‘transmission’.
“Okay, 70% is enough.” Cheng Yang took the paper from Lin Yi and looked at the remaining paper in Lin Yi’s hand. “But why two?”
Lin Yi said, “There’s also my share.”
No one could tell whether a package would be sent today or to whom. Lin Yi simply sent a curse letter preemptively to ensure that he would not violate the second Rule of Death.
Cheng Yang: “OK.”
The two people waited until all the other participants had left for class before coming out of the room. They did not go to the mailroom immediately to send the packages. Instead, they went to the public toilet to wash off the smell on their bodies. They had stayed in Room 204 for too long and their bodies that been tainted all over with the rancid stench.
If the mailroom auntie caught whiff of it and went to clean Room 204, they would have no way to escape the first Rule of Death.
After washing, they went to send the package.
Sure enough, the mailroom auntie could accept packages for sending out. After Lin Yi and Cheng Yang filled out the shipping forms, the mailroom auntie said, “Just leave the parcels here. The guy who will deliver them will pick them up in a while. Aren’t you already late?”
Lin Yi quickly said, “We’re going now.”
The two people left the dormitory building and went down the road to the teaching building.
After walking for a while, Cheng Yang said, “The delivery address is the dormitory building but the mailroom auntie has to ask the courier guy to pick up the package.”
Lin Yi didn’t say a word. Cheng Yang repeated what he said but Lin Yi still didn’t say anything.
Cheng Yang closed his mouth.
He thought that Lin Yi must thinking deeply and the content of his thoughts must be the match-up list that Lin Yi had written just now.
There were still several items that have not found their corresponding connections.
After a while, they arrived at the classroom of Class 1, High School 2.
This was not the first time that they were late. After announcing their arrival, they walked into the classroom.
The female teacher was still counting people. “One, two, three, four…twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five…”
At the end of the count, she clicked her tongue and muttered, “Why is there still one missing?”
This weird scene has become less weird after repeated watching. Lin Yi stared at the female teacher.
Next to him, Cheng Yang cursed in a low voice. Cheng Yang was scolding the participants who were looking back at the two of them. The participants looked at the two of them with eyes filled with suspicion.
The female teacher’s voice mixed with Cheng Yang’s voice and fell into his ears.
For some reason, Lin Yi suddenly thought of what Cheng Yang had said to him.
Cheng Yang has always thought that the way the female teacher kept emphasizing the missing person was a trap deliberately set by the 8-4 Monster.
This was based on the general rule he discovered in many horror stories. Generally, a horror story will start with a mystery that attracts people to solve it. When the characters in the story become curious about the mystery, they are not far away from receiving the lunch box.
Teacher: “Why is there still one missing?”
Why is there one missing?
The female teacher’s brainwashing repetitions were still ringing in his ears.
No wonder even Cheng Yang felt that it was deliberate. The female teacher was really emphasizing, as if she was deliberately letting everyone find out that there was one missing person in the High School 2, Class 1, so that they would become curious about the missing person and lure them to look for this person.
Lin Yi set his sights on the empty seat in the class. That desk should belong to the missing person.
There were books on the desk and a pencil bag. This was also the reason why none of the participants chose this desk. They chose seats where there were no personal belongings on or around the table.
Lin Yi had no idea where the missing person was and whether it had anything to do with the ‘transmission’.
Because Cheng Yang was being targeted by the Rules of Death and was stumbling, Lin Yi had basically zero information on the main plot so far.
Moving his gaze downward, Lin Yi turned his gaze to the drawer of the table.
Personal belongings can reveal the owner’s condition, so Lin Yi looked deep into the drawer.
He had good eyesight and saw an open notebook deep inside. There was something written on the inside pages of the notebook.
Maybe it’s a daily or weekly diary. A lot of Chinese teachers tend to assign this kind of homework.
With this in mind, Lin Yi moved his chair back so that he could have a wider field of vision and see the content on the inner pages.
Year 20xx, X month X day, rainy
The school is having general cleaning today.
Principal Wang said it should be cleaned up.
It must be spotless outside and inside.
But I don’t have the tools.
I’m not talking nonsense.
I didn’t manage to borrow a broom until school was almost over.
But it’s no use if you don’t have enough time to run.
That’s all Lin Yi could see. It was indeed a diary. He knew every word but couldn’t understand them all together.
Not to mention that this was a diary written by a high school student, even one written by an elementary school student wouldn’t be so incomprehensible.
He lowered his head.
After a while, Lin Yi’s face darkened.
What is this cliffff! So exciting 😫
Need to let it marinate for a while then 😭
Thanks for the update!!!
Would you mind changing the language from “retarded” to something else? I’m not sure if that’s the best translation, but seeing that sort of ableist language especially without warning can be upsetting. Thank you for the translations, I really like this story!
Thank you for pointing that out. Noted and changed.
Thank you, that’s really appreciated!!
Why is there 1 person missing when Xia Hui is in the room? Shouldn’t 2 people be missing 🧐
Exactly what I was thinking
I was wondering the same thing!!
There are no differences between me and Cheng Yang, we both rely on Lin Yi’s explanation 😭😭