Luo Yingbai, preoccupied with his thoughts and not intending to buy two paper hairpins, was about to refuse when his words suddenly changed, and he said, “Okay.”
He reached for his pocket and realized he had no cash. Xia Xianning had already handed over ten yuan from behind, whispering, “I’ll buy them for you.”
Luo Yingbai took the money and handed it to the stallholder, his fingers intentionally or unintentionally brushing her wrist.
The female stallholder was stunned, then lightly pushed him, coyly saying, “Oh, you.”
Xia Xianning: “…”
Luo Yingbai stood up with the hairpins, smiling apologetically, “Sorry, my hand slipped.”
The stallholder swept back her hair and threw him a flirtatious glance.
As they walked away, Xia Xianning asked casually, “Felt good?”
Luo Yingbai pretended to rub his fingers, savoring the moment, “Not bad, a bit thicker than chicken wings.”
After he said this, Xia Xianning also realized: “Are the people also made of paper?”
Luo Yingbai nodded. Xia Xianning sensed for a moment and said, “This is still the human world.”
Master, I have an idea.”
Luo Yingbai played with the small floral clip in his hand, also having an idea and pondering how to implement it, casually said, “Speak.”
Xia Xianning said, “When I walked here earlier, there was a moment when I could sense a trace of ghostly energy, and then it suddenly disappeared. Now that I think about it, this strange place appeared after that.”
Luo Yingbai’s gaze involuntarily drifted to his hair, saying, “Hmm, you mean this is the boundary between yin and yang. Liao Zhong’s six lost souls might have attached themselves to these paper people.”
The boundary between yin and yang refers to the chaotic area where the underworld and the human world intersect. Here, souls reincarnated midway or accidentally lost in the human world, and items burned for the deceased by the living, might get stuck in between, preserved in this new space.
Each yin-yang boundary has a fixed form of existence. Luo Yingbai suspected that a paper mill or funeral supplies factory might have existed here before, leaving behind many paper items, so souls unable to enter the underworld exist by relying on these paper objects.
Xia Xianning inexplicably felt a chill down his back, said, “Hmm.”
