Forbidden Land – CH 065

In the afternoon, Chen Rong had to go to work, so she gave Zhang Chao a lot of magazines and novels to help him pass the time. The gates of the mental hospital were like impenetrable fortresses; he didn’t have the spirit or strength of an American escaping from prison, and naturally, he didn’t expect to fly out of the asylum.

After reading a novel for a while, he was still incredibly bored. He thought of the old man who raised ghost children. Although the old man’s experiences were a bit far-fetched, what good were they? He was still firmly sent to a mental hospital. Could he really use magic to escape? If he really had that ability, he would have been studied by the Chinese Academy of Sciences long ago.

Although he was currently living in a mental hospital, he felt much more at ease than living alone in his dormitory.

Thinking this, he stepped onto the balcony. He glanced to his left; the balcony door of the intimidating old man who always called people “Father” was closed, which reassured him slightly. He walked to the right and saw that the balcony door seemed open, so he called softly, “Uncle, Uncle, are you there?”

After a while, the old man indeed came out, looked at Zhang Chao, and said with a smile, “Young man, did you need something?”

Zhang Chao said, “What you said this morning, was it true?”

The old man gave a bitter smile. “I’m a dying man; why would I lie to you?”

“Ah, dying?” Zhang Chao looked at him; he seemed quite healthy, only fifty or sixty years old. He said, “What do you mean? Who curses themselves?”

The old man shook his head slightly. “Young man, I won’t live past next week.”

Zhang Chao said, “Are you sick? You sound like you’re talking nonsense.”

The old man said, “Young man, are you sick?”

Zhang Chao said, “I was detained as a mental patient. Anyway, it’s no big deal to tell you. I really did encounter some kind of evil spirit, and now my family all think I’m mentally ill.”

The old man chuckled and said, “I know. The evil spirit you encountered wasn’t just any ordinary one.”

Zhang Chao was shocked and said, “Could you tell me more about it?”

The old man said, “As for what exactly you encountered, I haven’t seen it before, so I can’t say. Looking at the black aura on your forehead, hmm, quite powerful.”

Zhang Chao asked, “How powerful?”

The old man shook his head and didn’t say anything.

Zhang Chao cursed, “Even you are in a mental hospital, and you’re still thinking about how to make money, are you? Just do me a favor and explain it to me clearly.” He gave a thumbs-up. “I have connections; I can get out anytime. Do you want to get out too and continue being your fortune teller?”

He had initially thought he could fool the old man. These rural fortune tellers, with their limited knowledge, would be overjoyed to hear they could be released.

However, the old man shook his head and smiled bitterly, “I don’t want to go out. I won’t live more than a week.” He rolled up his sleeve and pointed to his arm. “Young man, do you see this? This black line reaches my heart, and then I’m gone.”

“A black line?” Zhang Chao examined his arm closely. His forearm seemed somewhat black, but not the kind of black seen on television from poisoning; it was just a slightly duller color compared to other parts of the body. Zhang Chao wouldn’t have noticed it if the old man hadn’t pointed it out.

But the black line the old man was referring to on his arm was completely invisible to Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao asked, puzzled, “Where’s the black line?”

The old man shook his head. “You can’t see it? Most people can’t see it either.”

Zhang Chao grew impatient. “Fine, fine, even if there is a black line, you haven’t finished yet.”

“Do you know about raising ghost children?”

Zhang Chao was startled. This old man actually raised ghost children! He said, “Yes, I heard you even have a child’s skeleton?”

The old man sighed, seemingly saddened. “The villagers smashed the skeleton and buried it. The ghost child had nowhere to go, so it lives inside my body now. It used to drink chicken blood every day, but now it has nothing left but my blood.”

Zhang Chao was surprised, but he couldn’t understand how a ghost child could live inside his body. The old man didn’t seem like a bad person, so he asked again, “Why do you raise ghost children?”

The old man said, “When I was young, I apprenticed under a fortune teller. It was my master who taught me how to raise ghost children. He said ghost children could see a person’s past, making the fortune-telling more accurate. Fortune-telling has always been a lowly profession, but to make a living, I had to raise ghost children to tell fortunes. As a result, I never married and never had any children.”

Zhang Chao asked, “What does raising a ghost child have to do with not getting married?”

The old man sighed bitterly, “It’s cursed, cursed! If a living person allows a ghost to enter his house, he’ll surely die.”

Zhang Chao asked, “Then why did you still raise it?”

The old man said, “Once you raise it, you can’t stop. If I don’t feed the ghost, it’ll possess me and suck my life force.”

Zhang Chao was skeptical of everything the old man said. He didn’t seem mentally ill, nor did he seem to be lying, but it was all too mystical for a scholar like himself.

The old man continued, “The ghost originally possessed the original skull. Once the skull was destroyed, it possessed me. I have a human body; what I eat is directly digested, and there’s no life force for it to eat. It can only feed on my life force. I estimate I’ll be gone in about a week.”

Zhang Chao asked, “What about the ghost? If you’re gone, will the ghost still be alive?”

The old man said, “The ghost child, of course, will die too.”

Zhang Chao felt a little relieved. He hadn’t asked the question because he was worried about the old man’s life or death; he wanted to know if ghost children were immortal. The old man seemed reassured that the ghost child would die as well.

Zhang Chao asked again, “Then tell me, what did I encounter?”

The old man looked Zhang Chao up and down and said, “Fierce, fierce, incredibly powerful!”

Zhang Chao said, “Tell me, where exactly is this powerful thing?”

The old man said, “What exactly did you encounter?”

Zhang Chao said, “I don’t know. By the way, didn’t you say you raised a ghost child that could see past events? How come you don’t know?”

The old man said, “The ghost child can only see your name, age, and the situation of your parents, siblings, etc. Actually, it isn’t very useful.”

Zhang Chao said, annoyed, “Then how did you know I encountered something really tough?”

The old man smiled and said, “I guessed. Otherwise, why would you be locked up in a mental hospital? An ordinary person, if they bump into something like that, at most they’ll get a minor illness or joint pain for a few days.”

Zhang Chao frowned, feeling quite frustrated by his answer, and could only ask, “Is there any solution?”

The old man shook his head and didn’t speak.

Zhang Chao said impatiently, “Just tell me clearly!”

The old man smiled and asked, “Do you want to raise a ghost?”

Zhang Chao immediately cursed, “Are you crazy? I’m a college student; why would I do something like that!”

The old man sighed and muttered, “If a ghost is around, it can protect you. But what you said makes sense; learning this kind of thing is indeed bad, really bad.”

Zhang Chao’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “You don’t mean you want to take me as your apprentice, do you?”

The old man chuckled. “I’m almost dead, and I just want someone to learn things from me.”

Zhang Chao was practically speechless. “I don’t want to learn anything. Do you have any way to help me ward off evil?”

The old man shook his head. “I can’t ward it off; it’s up to you. The ghost child I raise is different from the ghosts people talk about. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained. Some things, like someone getting sick somewhere or being possessed, might actually be due to a yin place that could be harmful to their health, not necessarily a ghostly encounter. When I first said you had a black aura on your forehead, fortune tellers could see it, but only you know what it really is. Ultimately, if you don’t believe, it won’t work. If you don’t believe, no one can stop you.”

“If I don’t believe, no one can stop me? In the end, you don’t even know what I’ve encountered?” Zhang Chao was utterly bewildered. He’d rambled on for ages, only to arrive at this conclusion. Thinking about how long he’d spent discussing this topic with someone who seemed a bit mentally unstable, he found it unbelievable.

It seemed the only solution was hypnosis, hoping he could recall what had happened that day.

“Am I really going crazy?” he wondered.

“Why did I even bother talking to him about this stuff?” Zhang Chao’s head started spinning again. It seemed that although he’d rested for the past few days, his headache and weakness hadn’t improved. He said, “Uncle, my head hurts. I’ll talk to you another time. I’m going inside now.”

The old man looked at him, smiled knowingly, and casually said, “Be careful sleeping tonight.”

Zhang Chao glanced back at him, still confused.