Chapter 204

Chapter 204

◎Unable to Find the Cause◎

As soon as Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye had just arrived home and set down their belongings, Cai Yantao called.

Cai Yantao was the man from the supermarket earlier. If the supermarket hadn’t called an ambulance for him, he would’ve followed Ji Nanxing right away. After dealing with the ambulance, Cai Yantao couldn’t wait and immediately contacted Ji Nanxing.

Ji Nanxing sent him an address, which was at a barbecue restaurant downstairs from his house. Xiao Ye had been complaining about being hungry since school ended, and since someone was coming over to resolve an issue, there wouldn’t be time to eat at home.

By the time Cai Yantao arrived, the two had already eaten half of their skewers. Ji Nanxing smiled at him: "Come and have some. You look like you haven’t eaten properly in days."

Cai Yantao sat down and introduced himself: "Hello, my surname is Cai, Cai Yantao. I’m 25 years old and a local."

Xiao Ye glanced at his face: "25? You look like you just started university."

Cai Yantao smiled sheepishly: "My face is quite deceiving." He then turned to Ji Nanxing: "You said earlier that if I had any issues of that nature, I could come to you?"

Ji Nanxing put down his skewers, took out a tissue, and wiped his hands: "You’re surrounded by a layer of dark mist, and the Grudge is very strong. You should be able to feel it yourself. Your fainting today wasn’t caused by a physical problem, because that Grudge is almost completely covering you. Once it reaches its peak, you’ll be finished."

Cai Yantao could indeed sense it. As his condition worsened with each passing day, he truly felt he was getting closer to death. But who would believe in something like running into a ghost? If he told his family, they'd probably think he was under too much work pressure and had mental issues.

Now that someone could immediately see his condition, Cai Yantao felt as though he had grabbed a lifeline: "Can you help me? I’ve worked for a few years, and though I don’t have much savings, I do have some. Since you can see my problem, can you help me?"

Xiao Ye, sitting nearby, said: "First, tell us exactly what’s going on. What did you do to bring this Grudge upon yourself?"

Cai Yantao shook his head: "I really don’t know."

Xiao Ye was surprised: "You don’t know what you’ve done? Could this Grudge have latched onto you for no reason? At this point, even if you committed murder or arson, you should tell the truth. Otherwise, how can we save you?"

Cai Yantao was anxious: "I’m not hiding anything because I’m afraid people will find out about some bad deed I’ve done. I really don’t know. My family situation is pretty ordinary. My dad works as a bank security guard, from 8 to 6, with weekends off. My mom cooks at a kindergarten, just preparing lunch, and in the afternoon she plays cards and dances in the square at night. I graduated from a regular university and have been jumping from job to job since then, none lasting very long. Finally, I landed a job in advertising planning, which I’ve been doing for two years now. I don’t deal with clients; I only handle project optimization, so I mostly deal with colleagues. I haven’t had any conflicts or issues with my colleagues; we all get along pretty well."

Cai Yantao gave a brief overview of his life. His life was really ordinary, typically working from 9 to 5, occasionally overtime, but not often. Even when he did work overtime, he’d leave by 7 or 8 PM. At that time, there were still many people in their office building, so it wasn’t like he was walking alone at night and encountering ghosts.

He wasn’t very old, and after finally stabilizing his job over the past two years, he wanted to save some money. His family didn’t have high expectations of him, nor did they pressure him to get married or go on blind dates.

His circle of friends was even simpler. He lost touch with his high school friends, went to university out of town, and didn’t have any childhood friends locally. He occasionally went out for meals with colleagues, and that was pretty much his entire social life.

So he truly had no idea how he ended up seeing a ghost, and he had no idea what the reason behind it was.

Xiao Ye asked: "Then when did you start feeling off? You should have some sense of that, right?"

Cai Yantao quickly replied: "Yes! It was after that fall. There’s a lot of old building renovations in my area, so there are scaffolds on the walls for painting the exteriors. About a week ago, I was heading home after work, around 8 PM, feeling a bit hungry, so I took a detour to the market and bought half a roast goose for a late-night snack. On my way home, I tripped over a scaffold and fell, hitting my head on the frame. It wasn’t serious, just a light fall, but ever since that day, I’ve felt like I’ve encountered a ghost."

Xiao Ye said: "So before that fall, everything was normal?"

Cai Yantao nodded: "Yes, it was after that fall that I started feeling like something was watching me at home. When I slept at night, I always felt like someone was standing by my bed. I’d open my eyes, and there’d be nothing there, but the feeling was very strong."

Thinking about the events of the past few days, Cai Yantao couldn’t help but rub his arms: "The feeling was so real, and it happened more than once. Can you understand? There’s no one in my house, but I can feel a gaze from behind. Besides that feeling, I’d suddenly feel a chill all over my body, and goosebumps would cover me."

Xiao Ye asked: "Besides that, what else? Any other sensations?"

Cai Yantao: "Sleep paralysis. I experience sleep paralysis almost every night."

If it weren’t for the bustling crowd around him, giving him some sense of security, Cai Yantao wouldn’t dare to recall these past few days: "My consciousness is very clear, but my whole body is paralyzed. I can hear the sound of the room door opening, like in TV dramas, the doorknob slowly turning, and the door being pushed open bit by bit. The thing pressing on me is very cold, right on my chest, very heavy. No matter how much I struggle, I can’t wake up. I’ve tried many folk remedies, like putting a knife under the pillow, cursing, wearing gold jewelry, even covering the bed with cash, but nothing worked. I thought it was a problem with my house, so I sent my parents on a trip and stayed in a hotel myself, but that thing seems to have latched onto me. No matter where I go, I can’t escape it."

During the day at work, perhaps because it was daytime or because there were many people around, the situation was slightly better, but he could still feel that gaze from behind. At night, Cai Yantao felt especially fearful, especially after sending his parents on a trip and being alone at home. This fear was magnified even more.

When many folk remedies failed, he didn’t even dare to go home. He went to crowded internet cafes to stay overnight. The first time he stayed overnight at an internet cafe, he slept well, but later it stopped working. Besides sleep paralysis, he also had constant nightmares.

In his dreams, he was either at school or in some abandoned factory, with the sound of tap-tap-tap footsteps chasing him. Instinctively, he started running, even though he couldn't see what was chasing him. He knew that if he didn't run and got caught, he would die. These days, he had been fleeing for his life almost every night.

Enduring this torment for two or three days was too much to bear, and Cai Yantao didn't know how he had managed to survive. He had visited several Buddhist temples and Taoist shrines, seeking many Peace Talismans, but they were completely ineffective.

Such mysterious forces had always been labeled as feudal superstitions in Cai Yantao's mind. Having never encountered anything like this before, he didn't even know where to turn for help. He was afraid that if he went to the police, they might think he was mentally ill and arrest him.

Ji Nanxing: "Is your home far from here?"

Cai Yantao: "Not far at all, just two streets away!"

If it were too far, he wouldn't have run into them at the supermarket.

Seeing that Xiao Ye had almost finished his meal, Ji Nanxing said, "Then let's check out your place. If you haven't done anything to harm others, the Grudge wouldn't cling to you for no reason. The problem might lie within your home."

Cai Yantao hurriedly stood up as well: "Thank you! I really can't thank you enough!"

Whether they could resolve his issue or not, at least Cai Yantao felt that someone was on his side. These days, he had started to doubt whether he was suffering from mental health issues and having hallucinations. As long as someone believed what he said, he wasn't completely isolated.

Cai Yantao took them to the roast goose shop first. He pointed to the shop with a huge line of people: "That day after work, I bought half a roast goose here. I even suspected that the lingering spirit of the roast goose I ate was haunting me."

Ji Nanxing glanced at the shop and said, "This shop is fine."

Xiao Ye chuckled: "Even if it were the ghost of the goose, it wouldn't follow you. You're not the one who killed it or prepared it as a dish."

Cai Yantao grimaced: "But I'm the one who ate it."

Because of this suspicion, he hadn't dared to eat meat recently. Even when eating vegetables, he would nervously think that vegetables also have life, and wondered if they would come to seek revenge on him.

Due to all these paranoid thoughts, he hadn't been eating or sleeping well, and had lost so much weight that a gust of wind could knock him over. Even his company, seeing his condition, had forced him to take annual leave, fearing he might suddenly die at work and bring liability to the company.

After checking the roast goose shop, Cai Yantao took them to his home. Passing by the building, he pointed to one of the scaffolding poles: "This is where I tripped."

Ji Nanxing took a serious look and said, "It's been several days. Even if there was something left here, the sun would have dried it up by now. Let's go straight to your house."

Cai Yantao quickly led them upstairs.

As soon as the door opened, before Ji Nanxing could say anything, Xiao Ye hissed lightly: "Your house is so gloomy."

He couldn't see anything, but he could feel the difference between normal and abnormal room temperatures. Cai Yantao's house felt like an air-conditioned room in the middle of summer. The temperature inside was unnaturally low.

Cai Yantao also felt the cold: "I've been staying in a hotel these past two days. I also think there's something wrong with the house. It's too cold."

Cai Yantao's house wasn't big, just two bedrooms and a living room. The living room had only one window, and the balcony was in the larger bedroom. The orientation was quite good, not the kind of dark layout that doesn't get sunlight. Usually, such a well-ventilated house wouldn't easily attract dirty things.

But in Ji Nanxing's eyes, Cai Yantao's house was filled with dark mist, gloomily shrouded, not even letting in a bit of moonlight or streetlight.

Ji Nanxing walked into the house, casually took out a talisman, and with a light shake, it caught fire. He walked around the house with the burning talisman.

Cai Yantao wasn't sure if it was just a psychological comfort, but after the talisman burned out, he really felt like the whole house had brightened up a bit.

After a quick inspection of the house, Ji Nanxing said to Cai Yantao: "There's nothing wrong with your house. If your parents haven't noticed anything unusual while traveling, then the problem must be with you."

Cai Yantao's face turned pale: "With me? But I really don't know what I've done to provoke anything. I basically live a routine life, and I've been especially careful to see if there were any funerals nearby, but there weren't any."

He hadn't been to any special places, just between work and home. There were no funerals near his house, and he hadn't said anything disrespectful to provoke anyone. He took the subway to work, and nothing unusual happened during his commute. He hadn't had any conflicts or friction with anyone.

Cai Yantao really couldn't figure out what he had done to provoke anything.

Ji Nanxing said, "Then let's wait tonight and see what exactly is pressing on your bed. Just do what you normally do, and we'll borrow your parents' bedroom."

Waiting in the living room was clearly not an option. Xiao Ye's yang energy was too intense, and his presence there would be too conspicuous. In the bedroom, Ji Nanxing could use talismans to create a boundary, effectively blocking Xiao Ye's yang energy.

Cai Yantao nodded: "That's fine. You'll keep an eye on me, right? When I'm being oppressed by a ghost, I can't move or make a sound, and I can't even call for help."

Ji Nanxing: "Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you."

After everything was arranged, it was still early. Perhaps because he felt there was hope, the burden in Cai Yantao's heart eased a bit. His anxiety finally subsided, and he started to feel a little hungry. He looked at Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye: "Do you want to eat something?"

Xiao Ye waved his hand: "No need. Go ahead and eat if you're hungry."

Cai Yantao went to the kitchen and cooked a bowl of noodles. Sitting on the floor by the coffee table, he ate while curiously asking: "Is this a family legacy? You both look quite young, so ghosts really exist in this world, right?"

Xiao Ye: "You've already experienced it firsthand, and you still have doubts?"

Cai Yantao: "It's not doubt, but even though I've experienced it, I haven't actually seen it. Have you handled cases like mine before? Is my problem serious?"

Xiao Ye couldn't answer that. He didn't have as much experience as Ji Nanxing. This was the first time he had come across someone like Cai Yantao, who couldn't figure out what he had provoked no matter how he looked at it.

Ji Nanxing: "As long as you haven't made a promise to someone and failed to keep it, then the problem isn't serious."

Cai Yantao ate his noodles while trying hard to recall, even going over some dreams he had before. He was certain in his memory that he hadn't promised anyone anything.

Not long after finishing his meal, Cai Yantao felt sleepy. He had been struggling for over a week, not eating or sleeping well. Now that he had someone to rely on, his mind relaxed, and he couldn't hold on any longer.

He shuffled towards the bedroom, still calling out to them: "There's food and drinks in the fridge. The bed sheets and covers in my parents' room are freshly changed. Feel free to make yourselves at home."

Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing Cai Yantao so defenseless, Xiao Ye smiled: "He's not even worried we might rob his house. This guy really has no sense of caution."

Ji Nanxing: "Let's head to the room and wait."

Xiao Ye turned off the living room lights and casually opened the window to make it easier for the haunting entity to enter. Then he asked curiously: "Have you figured out anything about the problem with this guy?"

Ji Nanxing: "I already said it at the beginning—it's resentment."

It wasn't Yin energy or death energy, but resentment. The only question was whether it was the resentment of a living person or a dead soul.