A nearby police officer, unable to tolerate this scoundrel’s shamelessness, kicked him from behind and sneered, “You’re acting quite well. But this excuse is too low-level. Would Young Master Luo lack money?”
Everyone around laughed, but midway through their laughter, they suddenly seemed choked, their expressions simultaneously becoming serious, standing at attention.
Luo Yingbai didn’t even look, saying, “Xia Yanning, you’re here. Is the matter over there handled?”
“Mm, don’t worry.”
Xia Yanning walked up from behind, nodded to the captain, and looked at Qi Dashuan on the ground, asking, “What’s going on?”
Luo Yingbai said, “He sexually harassed…”
Xia Yanning immediately frowned, “Harassed who?”
Luo Yingbai: “…Who do you think?”
Xia Yanning angrily said, “Seeking death.”
Luo Yingbai: “…”
He really didn’t dare to think about what image he had in Xia Yanning’s mind, to the point of making his junior so worried.
Luo Yingbai pushed Lu Lu into Xia Yanning’s arms, turning to Captain Zheng, “By the way, there’s a QQ group on this driver’s phone with many people discussing things. They’re probably not good people.”
Xia Yanning coldly shouted, “Shut up!”
“
This dark world of official protection was too oppressive!
Luo Yingbai glanced at Qi Dashuan and said, “You’re just a… ah, forget it. Next time I’ll bring someone to curse you out.”
He originally wanted to say something vicious, but Luo Jiao had been strict since childhood, never allowing him to say such “crude words”. So Luo Yingbai hesitated and didn’t say it. At times like these, he really missed his friend known as the “Poison Tongue King”.
The anesthetic Lu Lu was exposed to wasn’t severe and quickly lost its effect. When she finally returned home and recalled the night’s events, it felt like a dream.
She poured two glasses of water, handed them to Xia Yanning and Luo Yingbai sitting across from her, rubbed her throbbing temples, and gave a bitter smile, “Thank you.”
Luo Yingbai smiled, “No problem, the important thing is you’re okay.”
Xia Yanning glanced at the time. He had already notified subordinates to consult relevant departments, temporarily setting up an array on the roadside and preparing to renovate the road section. The fierce ghost problem was also resolved. It was around one in the morning now, and he wondered if the legendary suona sound would still come.
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Luo Yingbai was already asking about the suona.
Lu Lu then understood and said, “No wonder.”
So you’re here for this. You’re police, right?”
She paused, and her previously indifferent face finally showed a hint of fear: “I don’t know when those sounds will come. I’ve been completely unaware of all these strange events. If many people hadn’t told me, I would never have believed it… Because once it’s that time period, I won’t wake up. I guess it might be between two and four.”
Luo Yingbai recalled the Weibo content: “Having nightmares?”
Lu Lu nodded. Her sleep had always been poor. Recently, no matter what she was doing, she would definitely fall into a deep sleep at exactly two o’clock and never wake up before four. As for what happened during those two hours, even if the house was burning down, she wouldn’t know.
She was immersed in a nightmare.
Lu Lu recalled: “Every day’s dream is the same content. I sit in a white sedan chair, carried by four people, with long processions surrounding me before and after, with horns and suona blowing all around, continuously bringing me to a piece of open ground where I dismount.”
She described a scene that Luo Yingbai was not unfamiliar with, which was a typical ghost marriage. In some rural areas, if an unmarried man dies, his family fears he will be lonely in the underworld, so they try to arrange a marriage for him in the netherworld.
Most often, they find an unmarried woman’s corpse for joint burial. In rare cases, when no suitable corpse can be found, they use a living person’s birth details as a substitute.
The beginning seemed ordinary, but the problem lay in Lu Lu’s subsequent narrative. She said: “There was a huge coffin on that open ground. After I dismounted from the sedan chair, a crack would open on the coffin, and then everyone would stretch out their hands, desperately pushing me inside, until I was forcibly stuffed into the coffin…”
Lu Lu murmured: “I struggled and screamed, telling them I was alive… I was truly alive, but everyone looked at me indifferently, saying I was already dead! No one would believe me!”
Luo Yingbai pondered for a moment and asked: “What happened after you went in?”
Lu Lu steadied herself and continued: “After I went in, I could feel someone lying beside me. It was stuffy and cramped inside, and no matter how I struggled, I couldn’t escape. I desperately scratched at the coffin lid, telling myself I couldn’t die… until I felt I was about to suffocate, then I would feel a hand push me, and then I would wake up.”
She told the story with a calm and indifferent expression, until the end, when a slight confusion appeared on her face.
She finally said: “I experience this every night, that sense of absolute helplessness where I can’t explain myself. I will never forget it.”
Xia Xianning pondered her words.
Luo Yingbai leaned close to him and whispered: “Isn’t it strange? I initially thought it was a ghost marriage, but now it doesn’t seem like it.”
Xia Xianning understood Luo Yingbai’s meaning. Lu Lu entering and then being pushed out suggested something else.
Luo Yingbai saw this scene and stopped joking with Xia Xianning. They exchanged a glance, both somewhat puzzled.
According to Lu Lu’s description, they had originally judged this situation as a case of soul separation. But now it seemed they might have gone off track – if Lu Lu’s soul had truly been taken away, Xia Xianning and Luo Yingbai would not have been unable to see it.
Luo Yingbai’s expression turned serious: “I have a guess.”
Xia Xianning: “?”
Luo Yingbai said: “What if all these wedding attendants are actually… actors?”
“
Xia Xianning: “…Why are you asking me? Can’t you tell if they’re your own kind?”
Luo Yingbai laughed.
Xia Xianning took out a talisman, skillfully tearing it quickly into a palm-sized paper figure. He bit his finger and dabbed fresh blood on the paper figure’s forehead, murmuring: “I open spiritual wisdom, thoughts become reality.”
The procession seemed to have successfully received the bride and turned to leave with music and fanfare, but their path was blocked.
The music suddenly stopped, and irritation appeared on everyone’s faces. The thin, gaunt man asked: “Who are you, and why do you block our path?”
Luo Yingbai noticed that among the many white-clad people, this person’s clothing and appearance were almost abnormally normal – a simple short-sleeved shirt with shorts, holding a mourning stick.
But this person seemed to be the core of the group, guiding everyone else’s actions.
The paper spirit created by Xia Xianning’s talisman, after receiving his command, immediately grew to human height and stood blocking the group’s path. Upon hearing the challenge, it slowly turned around.
At that moment, golden light descended from the sky, auspicious clouds rising from the ground.
“
All ceremonial and funeral objects in the procession fell to the ground, and within the light, a solemn and dignified face materialized, wearing a yellow dragon robe and holding a large peach wood command arrow, instantly chilling the surrounding air.
The thin man was shocked and blurted out: “North Tai Jinxuan Cave Jade Qing Demon-Destroying Great King?”
