Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Wu Heng glanced at Lai Yin Chai, who was still standing there, and immediately knew what he was up to. This guy's lazy streak was acting up again.

Wu Heng avoided the camera and beckoned Lai Yin Chai over, whispering a few words to him in the language of the dead.

Lai Yin Chai was overjoyed, rubbing his hands excitedly. "Got it, I'll go back and apply for field duty with my supervisor right away. When I return, the code on my lantern will definitely reach a high two-digit number."

Wu Heng scrutinized the yin emissary and said, "You alone won't be enough. A haunted zone has already formed over there."

Lai Yin Chai's already pale face grew even longer at these words. Was Wu Heng hinting that he should call in his colleagues? Sharing the workload with colleagues wouldn't kill him, but there was still competition among colleagues. Getting promoted at the same time would mean no real progress, which wasn't ideal.

Wu Heng reassured him, "Don't worry, I'll call in a couple of out-of-towners. It won't affect your ranking among the yin emissaries in Province C."

Lai Yin Chai gave an OK sign, picked up his lantern and floated toward the window. He was jolted awake by the exorcism potion at the window and then hurriedly exited through the front door.

Wu Heng immediately sent a message to Yuan Song.

"Baby Heng Heng: If you're not busy, take Yin Emissary Zero-One-Four on a business trip."

"Yuan Song: Got it! Thank you, Dr. Wu!"

It was nearing the end of the term, but such opportunities were rare. He still wanted to visit the underworld to see his girlfriend, Tang Xueshan.

After Yuan Song became a living impermanence officer, he gradually understood why Yin Emissary Zero-One-Four had said that no matter how hard he tried, it would be difficult to reach the fourteenth rank. In peaceful times, it's not like the old days when dead bodies were everywhere. Occasionally seeing a few ghosts and demons was already good, and large-scale haunted zones hadn't been seen since the founding of the country.

Yuan Song immediately informed Yin Emissary Zero-One-Four about wanting to go on field duty together. Upon hearing this, Zero-One-Four turned and walked away.

"Senior, senior, please do me a favor. I really want to be in a relationship! Long-distance relationships are too hard."

Zero-One-Four looked at the intern impermanence officer tugging at his robe and angrily retorted, "Little Yuan, work is already annoying enough, and now you want to go on a business trip? Only a fool would volunteer for that. I'm not going!"

"I'll send you wedding candy when Xueshan and I get married in the underworld, and I won't ask for gift money. I'll also give you an extra 20% of the credit for this trip."

Zero-One-Four paused for a moment, then suddenly swung his soul-hooking chain and grinned. "What are you talking about? It's our duty as yin emissaries to work hard and build a new underworld."

Yuan Song breathed a sigh of relief. Mission accomplished.

-

"D-Dr. Wu, what should I do about this illness?" Sun Zhengtao asked, trembling, clearly terrified by the blood-stained fur coat.

Wu Heng glanced at the barrage of comments that had exploded with the shop's name and said, "They're looking for scapegoats. Netizens who have bought from this store should try burning the clothes and promise to perform rituals for them."

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhengtao immediately rushed back to the inn and brought over the black hoodie he had bought from the store. He threw it on top of the blood-soaked fur coat, took out a lighter from his pocket, and lit it.

The two sets of clothes emitted a foul stench resembling that of a dead rat. The blood on the fur coat seemed to boil under the pale green flames, bubbling with blood until the fire eventually died out. Despite some edges being singed, both sets of clothes were still wearable.

Sun Zhengtao and his wife, Li Jing, instantly collapsed to the ground, crying out in fear.

"Damn, these clothes won't even burn. Did I hit the jackpot? Is the resentment that strong?"

"I also bought second-hand clothes from this store. I just kowtowed and begged for mercy, and the clothes did burn away. No wonder I've been feeling unwell lately."

"Ah, my friend bought clothes from this store before. He went on a business trip today and hasn't replied to my messages. I don't know if it's because there's no signal on the train or if he's already asleep."

"Isn't the person upstairs talking about G4044? My husband also bought second-hand clothes from this store to save money and took that train back to his hometown."

"Let's not even talk about that fur coat, but the hoodie the guy was wearing doesn't look great either. Why would someone trying to act rich buy such a cheap-looking black hoodie? I don't get it."

Sun Zhengtao didn't understand either. Why did he want to buy that seemingly cheap hoodie? It was as if he had been bewitched into adding it to the cart along with the fur coat his wife had chosen and placing the order.

"Because these two items are part of a set."

Sun Zhengtao didn't quite understand and asked, "Were the original owners of these clothes a married couple?"

Dr. Wu sneered, "Without a marriage certificate, they can't be considered a married couple."

They were probably just a couple. The two of them didn't care about others' relationships at all, only about whether this strange illness, which seemed to scrape out bone mud, could be cured.

Sun Zhengtao grew more and more frightened and muttered to himself, "Seeking a scapegoat... Could it be that the male ghost was reduced to ashes? Why would he, having been reduced to ashes, seek me as a scapegoat? Dr. Wu, please prescribe me something, I beg you, just to keep the condition under control for now."

"Flies don't land on a seamless egg. If you two hadn't only refunded, making it seem reasonable for him to choose you as a scapegoat, the hoodie wouldn't have been unburnable just now," Dr. Wu said, seeing the couple's deep regret. "Alright, I'll prescribe some medicine to stabilize the condition first."

While only asking for a refund is pretty shameless, it shouldn't cost someone their life. The couple had no one to blame but themselves for being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Sun Zhengtao anxiously asked, "Can it be fully cured?"

Dr. Wu glanced at him, "If the male ghost lets go of his obsession and spares you, a complete cure would only cost a few hundred yuan. I could cure you right now, but it would take a huge amount of my spiritual energy, and the fee could run into the millions."

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhengtao immediately said, "Let's just keep it under control for now. I've been dealing with this stench for more than a couple of days anyway."

The couple acted wealthy but weren't actually rich heirs. At worst, they could just not bathe and stink others.

"I run an online shop and have been plagued by these refund-only requests for a long time. It's truly a case of 'what goes around comes around,' and retribution is swift."

"So this medicine only eases the symptoms temporarily, it doesn't cure the root cause, right? What should we do? Should Mr. Sun go and bow down to the male ghost, begging for mercy? The problem is, we don't even know where the ghost died!"

"Checking the real-time trends at Chengde Medical Hall, many customers who bought 'Peace Second-hand Clothes' got on the G4044 train. I'm asking if anyone has managed to get in touch with them?"

Some worried netizens saw a wave of 'no's in the comments and felt their hearts sink.

Those who bought second-hand clothes weren't well-off, but they were still living their lives earnestly. Was buying second-hand clothes wrong? How did they end up in this mess! They were hoping Dr. Wu could help, since lives were on the line.

Just as they were thinking this, Dr. Wu in the live stream said, "Folks, I need to get ready to wrap up the stream."

He Yunxiao immediately checked the live stream time. What? It hasn't even been an hour. Why end the stream? The check-in task isn't done yet.

Before he could remind Dr. Wu, the screen went black, showing that the streamer had gone offline.

He Yunxiao quickly sent a message to remind him, and Dr. Wu replied, "I know, I'll start a second session later, I will complete the check-in."

*

The young woman packed her suitcase at the fastest speed possible. Before she could get to the door, her fiancé grabbed her wrist and said urgently, "Chen Ying, what are you doing? Nie Wei has been missing for five years. Are you going to pick her up now? Don't you know we're about to get married? What if something happens to you?"

Chen Ying was the woman who had just urgently reached out to Dr. Wu online. She tightly held the suitcase handle, looking around the newly moved-in marital home.

The house was packed with wedding preparations. Hundreds of red candy boxes filled with wedding candies were placed in large cardboard boxes. Stacks of leftover wedding invitations were on the table, and festive double happiness characters were pasted on the glass windows, clearly indicating the wedding was near.

Chen Ying's tears fell, "Vivi is my best friend. She's been missing for five years, and this is the first time I've had any news of her. I'm really afraid of missing this chance, I might never see her again in my lifetime. I would regret it forever."

"Believe me, I will bring her back safely, and then we'll get married happily. We agreed that whoever gets married first would be the other's bridesmaid."

Her fiancé had a complicated look on his face. He had gotten together with Chen Ying largely thanks to Nie Wei's matchmaking. "Then I'll go with you."

Chen Ying looked at the message from Chengde Medical Hall, "But there's only one ticket."

Her fiancé looked at the ticket Dr. Wu had sent over, his face filled with tension because the station shown was the abandoned train station in the north of their city.

Her fiancé tightly hugged his fiancée for a while before saying, "Alright, I... will send more gifts to Dr. Wu, waiting for you to come back." He knew that even if he didn't agree, Chen Ying would still go.

Dr. Wu hadn't had any mishaps since his debut with the snake fetus. He could only place all his hopes on Dr. Wu to help out when the time came.

The fiancé went to the kitchen to grab some ginger slices, a staple in every household, and tucked a few pieces into each pocket of Chen Ying's clothes. With one hand pulling her suitcase and the other holding her hand, they headed to the basement to drive her to the station.

Chen Ying sat in the car, quickly downed the herbal medicine brewed from Wu Heng's prescription, and then got out of the car with her fiancé outside the platform of the abandoned north city station.

The north city station had been abandoned for many years, and the platform was visibly rusted. They both wondered if a train would actually come.

The winter night was already cold, and a chilly gust of wind made Chen Ying shiver.

Maybe it was the medicine she’d taken, but Chen Ying vaguely saw a shadowy figure with a lantern approaching from afar.

Lai Yin Chai brushed the dried grass off his head, muttering to himself, "So that's why Wu Heng goes to Beijing from time to time—he must’ve stolen the Dragon King of the Well’s pass token. Who’s the real villain here?"

As soon as Lai Yin Chai finished speaking, the distant rumble of an approaching train could be heard. The blinding headlights made it hard to keep their eyes open, and on the side of the train was written the batch number G4044.

Many passengers, seeing the train had stopped, jumped up in excitement, leaving their luggage behind and fighting back tears as they rushed to the door.

They needed to get off the train!

Some passengers were still groggy or asleep, but others had already noticed something was wrong. They’d bought a boxed meal on the train, only to find human finger bones inside.

The train attendant let out a strange laugh. Get off? You can’t get off before reaching the destination.

"Open the door, why isn’t the door opening when we’ve arrived?" a passenger shrieked hysterically.

The door opened, and some passengers rushed towards it only to find they couldn’t get off no matter what.

An elderly woman in tattered clothes, seeing a young couple standing outside the station with the woman holding a suitcase, anxiously shouted, "Girl, sweetie, don’t get on—this train’s not right."

Chen Ying and her fiancé hugged one last time, then she dragged her suitcase towards the train door, her heart nearly stopped when she saw the ticket inspector with a head that could swivel 180 degrees.

Lai Yin Chai swiftly possessed her, and the nervous look on Chen Ying's face disappeared. She looked at the ticket inspector and impatiently shouted, "Why are you twisting your creepy head instead of checking tickets?"

The ticket inspector froze, "...Oh sorry. Please come in, do you need help with your luggage?"

Chen Ying glanced at the ticket inspector's thin arms and legs, disdainfully saying, "Move it."

Her fiancé watched as Chen Ying hooked her suitcase with her pinky and stepped gracefully onto the train, which then departed.

Along the way to find her seat, concerned passengers looked at Chen Ying with heartache, "Young lady, why did you get on? Didn’t you listen? There’s something wrong with this train."

Lai Yin Chai, through Chen Ying's body, let out a strange laugh and quickly found the sleeper according to the seat ticket.

Upon entering, he heard "First Blood", "Double Kill". Wu Su was gripping his phone, intensely focused on the game, his face unusually excited.

His little Heng rarely came to visit him in spirit form, so such a thrilling gaming opportunity was rare.

"Another new passenger on the train?" a girl who had been gaming until her eyes were sore looked up at the newcomer Chen Ying in disbelief.

Earlier, an uncle had tried to climb out the window but to no avail, and was pulled back by Uncle Wu to continue gaming.

Lai Yin Chai poured the ashes from the lunch box into the trash, then floated out of Chen Ying's body into the lunch box, saying to Wu Su, "Uncle Wu Su, your son hired this companion to keep you from getting bored."

Chen Ying shivered and opened her eyes in confusion, "I’m on the train?"

Before she could react, a middle-aged man eagerly asked her, "Miss, do you know how to play PUBG? The underworld version."

Chen Ying: "..."

Later, Wu Su found that the companion was indeed a great hire, with smooth, god-like operations and the ability to chat simultaneously. Upon inquiry, he found out the person was a gaming blogger by profession.

Chen Ying was freaking out: "The destination is Peace Village. Why would Nie Wei head to this village?"

Wu Heng kicked off his second live broadcast, and the screen turned gray and white right away, with not many viewers online.

"Why is the video quality gray and white? What's wrong?"

"I suddenly remembered Tang Xueshan, that female ghost patient. Could Dr. Wu’s second live stream have tapped into something spooky?"

"Isn’t the person on the call the friend of the leather jacket owner? Is she also a ghost?"

"This looks like it’s on a train, doesn’t it? Could it be G4044? I checked the train info, and this one’s stopped updating."

"I think I saw my dad. Is this live stream only for family members of G4044 passengers?"

Wu Heng smiled at the camera, "Dad, how’s the buddy I got for you?"

Wu Su gave a thumbs up and sincerely praised, "Awesome!"

Wu Heng changed the topic and looked at Chen Ying, "Once we get off the train in the village, there’ll be no signal. We can only use the ghost network."

The girl who’d just asked for help finally got it. No wonder she could now chat and connect with Dr. Wu. It’s probably because they’re all on the underground network.

"Can we get off this train soon?" A middle-aged man lying above Wu Su immediately propped himself up, somewhat excited.

Deep down, they knew something was wrong with this train. As long as there was a chance to escape, they could contact the police for help outside.

Wu Heng said, "You can get off, but if you don’t, they’ll force you. So stay strong and don’t let them scare you."

Everyone was stunned, and a sense of unease began to grow in their hearts. Is getting off really the right move? It feels less like escaping and more like stepping into a trap.

Chen Ying, well-educated as she was, didn’t catch on right away and trembled, "Dr. Wu, are you saying staying on is safe, but getting off is dangerous?"

Seeing Wu Heng nod, Chen Ying’s heart sank. Could that so-called Peace Village actually keep Nie Wei safe?

Chen Ying knew about the G4044 train. Nie Wei had taken this train to visit her, but who knew that such a major accident would happen? Several cars derailed, throwing out and killing countless passengers.

However, Nie Wei's body was never found, so in official reports, Nie Wei was listed as missing.

At this moment, a voice came over the train’s intercom: "The train is about to arrive at the final destination, Peace Village. Please exit the train in an orderly fashion. Welcome to ride the G4044 train again."

Many passengers looked at the dark scenery outside the window gradually changing, vaguely seeing a village, and they were overjoyed.

Although they didn't know what village it was, as long as they could get off the train and leave, everything would be fine.

Even if they didn't know each other, passengers immediately woke up their sleeping companions.

The middle-aged man sleeping above Wu Su heard the noise in the carriage and, without even putting on his shoes, jumped down and shouted, "Everyone, don't get off yet. Dr. Wu said not to get off. It's dangerous!"

"There's no internet on this train. How could there be a live broadcast from Chengde Medical Hall? You're all ghosts, trying to deceive me." A panicked college student pushed to the door and yelled.

"Exactly, your broadcast is in black and white. Only the underworld uses black and white broadcasts. You're just frauds."

The other passengers, in their panic, couldn't think too much. They only wanted to escape, leaving their luggage behind, clutching their valuables.

Some netizens, looking at Wu Heng on their phone screens, thought for a moment and, after a brief hesitation, chose to sit back down.

"Oh my god, I saw my mom. Mom, believe me, this really is Dr. Wu."

"Wow, they're exploiting the passengers' psychology. These ghosts are really clever."

"There’s gotta be at least a thousand people on this train, huh? What exactly are they trying to do? Is this gonna turn into some big mess?"

When the train stopped, the doors flew open at an incredible speed. A passenger hesitantly stuck their hand out, found they could extend it outside, and immediately jumped out.

More passengers started doing the same, running out and checking their phones only to find there was still no signal. They tried to reassure themselves, "No signal in the mountains is pretty normal. As long as we can see people! As long as we can see living people, we can go to the police then."

"There, there’s smoke from chimneys and lights, it must be the villagers," a guy with sharp eyes pointed toward the not-too-distant village, yelling excitedly.

A bunch of people bolted toward the only village in sight. Even though some were unsure, thinking of the terrifying train attendants, they sucked it up and went with the crowd.

At least with more people around, it’s not as scary.

Some ran out through the doors, others, fearing they might be left behind, climbed out through the windows. In no time, more than half of the people on the train had fled.

The few left sat there, all jittery, only to see the attendant selling those creepy meal boxes approaching again with a ghostly smile, "You guys still here need some grub to keep your energy up?"

The girl who’d been gaming with Wu Su kept her head down, tears streaming down her face, and whispered, "What should we do, Dr. Wu? They’re here again, they’re here again!"

"Man, this is freaking terrifying, staying on the train is scary, and getting off is the unknown scary."

"Ugh, I wish the cops were here, can’t they do something about these evil ghosts?"

"Hengbao, what do we do now? My dearest mother is on this train, she just bought a second-hand dress and didn’t commit any crime, can’t poor people just live? Why are they treating us like this?"

Wu Heng reassured them, "Don’t be afraid, this is just the yin emissaries doing their job."

The cremation box on the counter just fell open, and Lai Yin Chai, all rested up, popped out of it. He’d been recharging in the meal box and had heard the footsteps of twenty-five ghosts. Lai Yin Chai pulled out a soul-hooking rope from his waist and with a swift throw, caught the train attendant’s neck: "It’s you."

The ghost attendant stared, totally shocked, as the yin emissary emerged from the meal box, screaming in disbelief: "Cops are here undercover!"

Lai Yin Chai grinned eerily, dragging the soul-hooking rope as he sprinted through the carriages. With each carriage he passed, the rope entangled seven or eight ghosts, like countless flowers on a vine, all of whom were the working ghosts of this train.

Yuan Song was among the disembarking passengers when he heard the ghostly screams from the train. He turned back to look through the window and saw Lai Yin Chai’s extremely excited face, faintly hearing the yin emissary muttering about achievements.

Yuan Song’s heart stirred slightly; there was a difference in guiding ghosts, guiding virtuous ghosts and those who had committed crimes could yield higher achievements than ordinary ghosts.

They had boarded this train with a pass and hadn’t gained any achievements yet. Hearing Lai Yin Chai’s voice, he couldn’t help but feel tempted.

The yin emissary Zero One Four crossed his arms, a lantern tucked under his arm, listening to the excited ghostly screams of Lai Yin Chai behind him. Without turning his head, he advised Yuan Song: "Little Yuan, if you’re going to work hard, do it thoroughly. Let go of the small achievements, the big ones are in that village."

"That guy on the train is a negative example, unable to choose and foolishly becoming Yanjun’s cheap labor."

A few passengers still sat dazedly in their seats, vaguely seeing a gray figure moving through the carriage. The train attendants who had been arrogantly intimidating them earlier were now screaming in terror, and soon they were all tied together.

"This net caught twenty-five achievements, not bad!" Lai Yin Chai stuffed the ghosts into the lantern, counting them like banknotes, and said excitedly.

Wu Heng smiled as he looked at the stunned girl and uncles, "Now you shouldn’t be afraid to sit on the train."

Damn, they’ve all been caught in one net, what’s there to fear!

"Dr. Wu has invited the underground cops, no wonder. It’s just blurry, can only see the outline, not the face."

"Isn’t that worse, a few people are safe on the train, but most have run to the village."

"I’m puzzled, what could be so terrifying about a village? Could the entire village be ghosts?"

"Ugh, thankfully my mom is disabled, her hands and feet are not agile, she got off slowly, now she doesn’t have to get off and can just sit on the train, great!"

Chen Ying looked out the window at the distant village, the faintly rising smoke from chimneys giving off a strong rural life atmosphere, her best friend lived there.

She had already come this far, so she had to get off. However, her phone was connected to Wu Su's ghost network Wi-Fi hotspot. If she got too far from Wu Su, the connection would drop, and she wouldn't be able to voice chat with Wu Heng, leaving her completely stranded.

She hesitated, glancing at Wu Su, unsure how to ask such a risky favor of her uncle.

Wu Su seemed to sense her dilemma and asked, "Can you still play with me after getting off the train?"

Chen Ying was taken aback but nodded, "Sure, I'll add you as a gaming buddy."

Wu Su immediately stood up and headed toward the train door, then turned back to look at the still-stunned Chen Ying, asking, "What are you waiting for? Let’s roll, gaming buddy."