Judge of Souls-Chapter 30 - Third Night

What would you do if you saw a face pressed against your window at night, especially if you live on the third floor?

Zhang Yangyang: “I… I’d definitely start crying!”

Jiang Feng couldn’t understand his fear at all and pushed his head back down.

Zhang Yangyang jumped up and said, “I really can’t sleep! Who knows if it might suddenly drift through the window crack! Everything in your place is so old and worn out!”

Jiang Feng, his drowsiness finally gone, sat up reluctantly and moved to turn on the room light.

“Don’t!” Zhang Yangyang grabbed his hand and said, “Insects are attracted to light, who knows if ghosts are too. Don’t turn on the light!”

Jiang Feng said, “Haven’t you seen the lanterns outside? No ghost shadows are chasing those, are they?”

Zhang Yangyang: “Huh?”

“Ghosts attracted to light? Hah,” Jiang Feng said, “Have you ever seen ghosts running around in broad daylight?”

“…” Zhang Yangyang replied, “You have a point.”

The two got up from the bed and walked to the window to check.

However, the ghost face firmly occupied the glass, blocking their view. Seeing them approach, the ghost face split into a grin, revealing a row of sharp, jagged teeth.

Zhang Yangyang’s hair stood on end, and he shuddered.

Zhang Yangyang asked, “Damn, why is this ghost so ugly?”

Its face was pale blue-white, with flat features showing no contours, and round rouge painted on its cheeks. It looked exactly like a peeled-off face mask.

Jiang Feng said, “Isn’t that how corpse makeup usually looks?”

Zhang Yangyang: “I’ve never seen it!”

Jiang Feng: “Neither have I.”

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As they talked, the ghost face began moving toward the edge of the window. It seemed to be searching for a way to enter the room.

“Holy sh*t! Brother Jiang, save me!” Zhang Yangyang squeezed Jiang Feng’s hand tightly, “It’s really trying to come in!”

Jiang Feng didn’t mention that the door to the balcony was still open, afraid it would scare him to death.

“Go get a lighter and some useless clothes or paper.”

Zhang Yangyang immediately said, “I’ll give you whatever you want!”

They cleared everything away from around the window, tightly tied the curtains to the wall to ensure they wouldn’t fall, and then lit a fire at the edge of the window.

Glass heats up easily, and when exposed to fire, it quickly became hot.

The ghost face apparently couldn’t stand it, and after a while, it reluctantly detached from the window, looking quite resentful.

Zhang Yangyang almost wanted to kneel before Jiang Feng: “Bro! You’re a genius!”

Jiang Feng: “Put out the fire.”

The room was full of smoke that couldn’t disperse, making it particularly suffocating.

Zhang Yangyang fetched a basin of water and poured it over the fire. Even so, the burnt ashes began to float around, inevitably landing on the nearby bedsheets. The dirty water flowed all over the floor, mixing with the ashes and making the entire room filthy.

Jiang Feng looked very uncomfortable.

Zhang Yangyang quickly said: “I’ll sleep on this side, I’ll sleep here!”

Jiang Feng continued looking outside without responding.

The streets and buildings were still the same as before, even the flickering streetlights were in the same positions.

Countless orange lanterns floated in the air, drifting with the wind toward the pitch-black horizon.

There were no cars on the road, nor any human figures; the entire city seemed like an empty ghost town.

But Zhang Yangyang was certain that there were things hiding in concealed places, just like the ghost face he had just seen.

Zhang Yangyang asked. “Can we go back?”

“Shh.” Jiang Feng said, “Look over there.”

At the end of the street, a large truck was driving straight toward them. Its headlights were on, and despite being on a completely empty road, it was moving forward slowly.

When it passed through the main intersection, it suddenly braked hard. Because the truck was carrying too much weight and had too much momentum, the braking caused the vehicle to flip over. The entire truck crashed to the ground with a thunderous noise.

Both Jiang Feng and Zhang Yangyang were startled. They continued watching.

There was definitely no movement ahead; the truck just lay there silently.

Zhang Yangyang asked: “Did it hit something just now?”

Jiang Feng shook his head and said, “I don’t know. Want to go check it out?”

Zhang Yangyang quickly begged for mercy: “Great hero, spare my life! Who knows if that’s a ghost truck or what!”

Jiang Feng: “Would a ghost truck look like a cargo truck?”

“Do you know what the scariest vehicle on the road is? A large cargo truck! The phantom vehicle series! Especially when you’re on the highway, you’ll notice there’s always no cars next to a cargo truck.” Zhang Yangyang said, “I’ve seen cargo truck drivers turning corners, overtaking, getting stuck in traffic jams, cutting in, holding the steering wheel with one hand while talking on the phone, driving extremely recklessly. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if a ghost truck appeared that looked like a cargo truck!”

Jiang Feng: “Then you stay here, and I’ll go take a look?”

Zhang Yangyang’s legs went weak and he fell to his knees. “No, please don’t!”

Jiang Feng: “…”

Jiang Feng looked outside again and said, “It’s gone.”

Zhang Yangyang got up to look: “Huh?”

Jiang Feng lost interest and walked back to the bed. “Forget it, let’s sleep.”

Zhang Yangyang: “At least leave a light on for me…”

Jiang Feng: “Whatever.”

Zhang Yangyang kept watch by the dim bedside lamp, clutching the blanket, lying stiffly.

Zhang Yangyang didn’t dare sleep all night, only feeling drowsy when dawn came. Just as he was about to close his eyes, Jiang Feng woke him up.

“What?”

Jiang Feng: “Buy a computer. It’s Saturday today.”

“You still remember that!” Zhang Yangyang sat up and said, “You still dare to play games?!”

Jiang Feng said: “What’s there to be afraid of?”

Zhang Yangyang looked at him suspiciously, “Is that why you were willing to let me stay overnight?”

Jiang Feng: “No. Are you coming or not?”

Zhang Yangyang thought for a moment, then sighed. “Let’s go, I’d just be anxious and scared staying here anyway.”

Zhang Yangyang changed his clothes and washed his face. The two went downstairs for breakfast, then headed to the computer mall in the city center.

Zhang Yangyang was quite familiar with the owner there, having helped classmates buy several computers from him. The owner didn’t bother with formalities and let him choose for himself.

Zhang Yangyang led Jiang Feng to the components section at the back, and they started selecting items like monitors.

By the time they had everything organized, it was already noon.

The owner asked them to write down their address, took the order form and said, “Alright, Harmony Community near A University, right? We’ll deliver it this evening. Delivery fee is twenty yuan.”

Zhang Yangyang: “Then we’ll be going.”

The two left the store and walked along the flood embankment.

Zhang Yangyang saw him fiddling with his phone and asked, “Who are you calling?”

Jiang Feng: “A Taoist priest.”

Zhang Yangyang’s crisis alarm went off. “So you’re just—using me and throwing me away?!”

“…” Jiang Feng said, “I’m asking him to help figure out why you’re encountering ghosts.”

Zhang Yangyang sighed in relief. “Oh, that’s fine then.”

After walking a short distance, they saw a crowd of people gathered ahead, bustling about. Zhang Yangyang pulled Jiang Feng into the crowd.

There were four or five young men in the water, apparently searching for something. People watching from the riverbank were either holding phones or anxiously pointing and giving directions.

One of the young men in the river asked. “Where’s the person?”

“Just to your left!”

The man dove down again, and after a few moments resurfaced, saying, “There’s nothing there!”

Another swimmer nearby wiped his face and said, “Damn, are we seeing things? I can’t see anything either!”

Someone on the shore urgently said, “It’s right there on the left! Right there! They’re barely moving now!”

One of the men began swimming toward the shore, exhausted. “I can’t do it, I’m out of strength, someone else needs to take over!”

“Four people have gone down already, if we don’t pull the body up soon it’ll be too late!”

“How can they not see it? It’s clearly right there!”

“Ah! It’s sinking!”

Zhang Yangyang, like everyone else, could see a black head bobbing on the water’s surface, but couldn’t understand why those men couldn’t see it. He began taking off his jacket and said, “Brother Jiang, wait here, I’ll go check it out!”

Jiang Feng stopped him. “This river isn’t right. Be careful you don’t encounter a ghost. I’ll go.”

Zhang Yangyang froze, then looked at the river surface again and realized something was wrong. That’s right, how could they not find such an obvious person?

A chill ran down his spine, and his mouth twitched. Before he could recover, he heard a “splash” beside him as Jiang Feng jumped into the water.

Zhang Yangyang shouted anxiously. “Jiang Feng, be careful, don’t be reckless! If there’s a problem, call out or reach up!”

Jiang Feng took a deep breath and dived into the water. Through the emerald-green lake water, he saw an evil ghost and a woman sinking toward the bottom.

The ghost looked very similar to the evil spirit he had encountered yesterday, with a tongue over a meter long, white clothes, a white hat, only its face was different. It was using its long tongue to tightly wrap around the woman’s arms and waist, not letting go no matter how much she struggled.

Jiang Feng swam over quickly and grabbed the tongue with one hand.

The evil ghost clearly hadn’t expected anyone to be able to touch it, let alone that Jiang Feng’s grip would be so strong. It widened its eyes, feeling that this human before it was ferocious and vicious, and instinctively backed away.

Jiang Feng snatched the drowning person from its grasp and continued to try to grab the ghost’s neck.

The ghost moved through the water as nimbly as a fish, flicking its long tongue and instantly retreating to a distance.

Jiang Feng couldn’t catch up, and since the person in his arms seemed to be in critical condition, he had to let the ghost go and swim toward the surface.

He broke the surface to breathe, just as he heard Zhang Yangyang shouting, “Brother Jiang! If you don’t come up, I’m going down!”

Right after that, the crowd cheered. “They’re up, they’re up!”

The men nearby came to help, taking the woman from him, and together they swam toward the shore.

People immediately gathered around to check on them.

A doctor stood next to the drowning victim, performing abdominal compressions.

Jiang Feng spat out a mouthful of river water, shook his head, and pushed through the crowd to the back.

Zhang Yangyang praised. “Brother Jiang, you—you’re truly invincible!”

Jiang Feng had water in his ears, then he took off his undershirt to wring it dry.

A slender waist, broad shoulders. His physique formed a perfect inverted triangle. He had just the right amount of muscle and fair skin.

Zhang Yangyang heard several female voices screaming nearby, followed by non-stop photo-taking.

“The shirtless guy is so handsome! Handsome, handsome, handsome!”

“Damn, so handsome!”

“Is the cute guy looking at me?”

“I’m dying! Who is he? I want to touch his abs!”

“Last time my idol took off his shirt and showed his little belly, I almost unfollowed him. He even said it was ‘bulkier muscle,’ and I believed that nonsense!”

Jiang Feng used his wrung-out undershirt to dry his hair, water dripping down his neck and from the tip of his nose. A string of droplets hung from his long eyelashes as he slowly walked to Zhang Yangyang’s side.

“Ah! I can’t take it!”

“Hold me up!”

“I—can’t—”

“I want to be friends with that guy!”

Jiang Feng turned back to ask. “Is everything alright?”

A chorus of voices asked in unison. “Is everything alright?!”

The drowning woman had already coughed up the water, and someone nearby answered for her. “She’s fine. We’ve already called an ambulance. Do you want to go to the hospital too to get checked?”

Jiang Feng: “No need.”

A nearby aunt came over with napkins and said, “Young man, you should take off your pants and wring them out too. Wearing wet clothes will make you catch a cold. Besides, those are jeans, they’re so heavy when wet. Look, the belt is already leaving red marks on your waist.”

The surrounding crowd instantly went wild. “Ahhh——!!”

Jiang Feng: “??”

Zhang Yangyang: “!!”

“Take them off, take them off, take them off!”

Zhang Yangyang quickly grabbed him and said, “Let’s go, brother! If we don’t leave now, your innocence will be crying!”