New Times, New Hell

Chapter 106 - Facial Garment

After leaving the vicinity of the village, Yu Zhengdu finally asked Shang Que, “What are human face sores?”

“The evil ghosts under Luofeng Mountain who can never reincarnate.” Shang Que’s voice was deep. He stared straight forward. His eyes were bottomless pits. It looked like he was watching a replay of past events that no one else could see.

“I thought that they had already sunken deep into the ground, never to see the light of day again.”

In the past, Luofeng Mountain had kept ten thousand malicious ghosts at bay. Those malicious ghosts were the culmination of the strongest evil energies in the world. Day after day, they suffered through the pain of drowning in the Great Netherworld Sea. They were never to reincarnate.

After an unknown number of years, a hole had suddenly appeared in Luofeng Mountain. Many malicious ghosts took this opportunity to escape. These malicious ghosts needed to escape Luofeng Mountain’s pursuits, but also weren’t allowed to reincarnate. Thus, they became parasites on the flesh of living humans.

The arms, legs, neck, and even face were places evil ghosts could infest. The infected area would slowly form the face of the evil ghost. Some only formed a general shape – these would look ugly, but didn’t really affect the person. Others would slowly grow eyes and a mouth. They could even talk like normal humans. As such, they were called human face sores.

Human face sores started sharing bodies with living humans. They would force their hosts to feed them food and alcohol. If the host didn’t follow their orders, the area that was infected would become numb or rot.

Shang Que had once seen a person who had grown a human face sore on half of his face. Because his family had been poor, he hadn’t been able to satisfy the human face sore’s requests. In the end, half of his face had been a mess of flesh and blood. It had even been possible to see the white of his bones from through the flesh.

Chills crept up Yu Zhengdu’s spine after hearing this. He faintly understood why Si Mountain Ridge discriminated against outsiders so much.

Everyone in this little village wore long sleeves and long pants. There were also many people in Tongkeng who refused to reveal their arms despite the burning heat. This meant that it was very likely that the entirety of the Si Mountain Ridge area was plagued by the problem of human face sores.

It was unknown when this problem had appeared. It was also unknown what had happened in between. What could be confirmed, though, was that this problem was still prevalent. That newborn child had been forced to wear long sleeves despite the warm weather.

And somehow, this problem ultimately hadn’t been exposed. Instead, it had become a common secret for everyone residing in Si Mountain Ridge. A tacit understanding had been shaped between them, one that the outside world couldn’t break. Everyone did their very best to protect this secret.

Thus, they hated all visitors. They owned many precious resources and were being supported by national policies, yet, they adamantly rejected all outside investors.

This was an area that had been possessed by evil ghosts.

Yu Zhengdu’s heart was beating irregularly. He forced himself to calm down and continue asking, “Is there a solution for human face sores?”

“Um……” Shang Que slowly nodded. “In the past, yes.”

A thousand years ago, Luofeng Mountain had dispatched numerous ghosts to chase down and catch the escaped evil ghosts. At that time, there had still been a lot of magical energy remaining. The mortal realm also had endless faith in ghosts and gods. Because of this sincere faith, the power of all the ghosts and gods was enough to help humans chase out the evil ghosts. Then, after using medicine, the victim would be able to completely heal.

“In all these years, I’ve never received any worship from Si Mountain Ridge,” Shang Que lowly said. “No one from Si Mountain Ridge has ever asked me to borrow the power of the ghosts.”

Yu Zhengdu guessed, “Perhaps it’s only because they don’t know about the Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain?”

After all, before he had started working at Luofeng, he had never heard of the Ghost King either.

Shang Que gave him a strange look. However, Yu Zhengdu was in the middle of searching for something on his phone. He didn’t notice this gaze. A while later, he suddenly said with excitement, “I’ve got it! There are hospital records from fifty years ago of someone from Si Mountain Ridge asking for help regarding human face sores!”

The file pulled up on Yu Zhengdu’s phone was an internal case file from a certain hospital in the capital. On it, a very simple record indicated that fifty years ago, there had once been a father from Si Mountain Ridge who had taken his newborn daughter to the capital to ask for medical help. There was something that appeared to be a parasitic fetus – otherwise known as a human face sore – on the infant’s arm. At the time, the hospital hadn’t owned any advanced equipment. However, they had still discussed a plan for surgery. Unexpectedly, two days later, that father had taken his daughter and departed without saying anything to anyone in advance. He had only left a note saying that the growth on his daughter’s arm was only a normal sarcoma and had already fallen off by itself.

This was the only record about human face sores in Si Mountain Ridge that Yu Zhengdu could find. It was from a long time ago, and was also an internal case file. These days, there were explanations about human face sores on the Internet, but those were all normal medical symptoms. Si Mountain Ridge had never mentioned anything related to human face sores after this incident.

It was just like how they had disappeared from the outside religious world back in the day.

Not only so, but as Shang Que had stated, the actual population density here didn’t match the one listed on the Life and Death Accounts. This meant that it was possible that a portion of the population in Si Mountain Ridge was reincarnating outside of Luofeng’s systems.

What had actually happened fifty years ago?

Shang Que lowered his gaze. He seemed to be considering something.

They very quickly returned to the gathering spot. The other religious masters who had gone to investigate gradually came back too. They communicated about their varying experiences. Yu Zhengdu stood off to the side, silently listening.

As expected, because of the orders from the higher-ups, everyone had been politely greeted at their villages. The villagers had seemed to be cooperative, but in actuality, the religious masters hadn’t been able to get any useful information out of them.

There was someone who scratched his head and said, “I feel like something about them is a bit strange, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Yu Zhengdu seemingly casually said, “It’s almost as if the people here aren’t scared of the heat. They’re still wearing long sleeves despite the high temperatures.”

As soon as he mentioned this, everyone became immediately struck by realization. “Right right right. That’s exactly it.”

“Ey, don’t they feel hot?”

Everyone casually chatted about this for a bit. However, this wasn’t technically too strange. Thus, they started talking about other things.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t say anything else. He only lamented to himself, as expected.

A monk told Ming Peiran, “Captain Ming, looks like we’ll have to make a trip up the mountain.”

Ming Peiran had no other options either. He could only nod. “I’ll immediately arrange for professionals to help guide everyone. Please rest for a bit. When everyone’s here, we’ll depart.”

Yu Zhengdu looked up at the sky. He asked Ming Peiran, “If we enter the mountain now, are we going to be spending the night in the mountain?”

“There’s no other solution,” Ming Peiran said helplessly. “I just received the newest report. All the animals in the large-scale farms in the southeast region of Si Mountain Region died today. There have been great losses. Additionally, the water levels everywhere are still dropping. We honestly can’t waste any more time.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. Very quickly, everyone returned. Following Ming Peiran’s orders, they all followed the professional guide and prepared to get into a SUV to head up the mountain. Yu Zhengdu saw that other than the religious masters, there were also several cars filled with mysterious people dressed in camouflage. He couldn’t help cocking an eyebrow.

Yuan Qing whispered to him, “Us socialists are always cautious when we act. This time, we don’t know yet if the enemy is going to be a human or ghost. It’s best to be prepared for both.”

The cars drove up the winding highway. At a place close to the top of the mountain, the road had been severely damaged. Only now did Ming Peiran direct everyone out of the cars. They started walking up the mountain. Fortunately, members of the relevant department had already cleared out a little path that was barely usable. This ensured that the hike wouldn’t be too difficult for everyone.

The entire way, the Wuqi citizen couldn’t help secretly grabbing some dirt and tasting it. He even commented on the taste: “Delicious! The dirt here is silky and dense, filled with great amounts of energy. Chewing it doesn’t leave a strange aftertaste in the mouth. It’s even tastier than before.”

Daoist priest Kou couldn’t help facepalming. He lowly reminded, “Be careful about your image. Stop eating so much.”

“Oh oh.” The Wuqi citizen hurriedly swallowed the dirt in his mouth and cautiously checked his surroundings. Upon noticing that no one was paying attention to him, he once again secretly broke off two pieces of yellow dirt and held them in his hands.

Yu Zhengdu had originally been playing on his phone. After hearing this, he suddenly asked, “The dirt here is full of energy?”

“Yep,” the Wuqi citizen cheerily replied. “Si Mountain Ridge is truly a great place. The energy amounts in soil from other places is slowly decreasing. Yet, the dirt here is getting more and more delicious.”

They had been walking for about half an hour already. Right now, the sky was starting to darken. The sun was like a wheel rolling towards the other side of the mountain. Its light burned from one end of the sky to the other, painting the mountain and everyone on it the color of blood.

“It’s almost night. Be careful, everyone,” Ming Peiran reminded. After, employees started handing out flashlights and other equipment to everyone else.

Suddenly, an employee asked, bewildered, “What is this?”

Yu Zhengdu looked over, only to see that person pull out a square white cloth from his pocket. He unfolded the cloth to look at it. There was a little cut in the cloth.

That person was completely lost. “Why is there a piece of cloth in my pocket? Who put it there?”

The surrounding people made eye contact with each other. They all expressed that they didn’t know. Only to see the Wuqi citizen suddenly point at that piece of white cloth and exclaim, “Isn’t that a facial garment?”

Upon seeing that his expression looked off, everyone instantly became nervous. Ming Peiran walked over and asked, “What’s a facial garment?”

Daoist priest Mu replied, “The white cloth placed over dead people’s faces.”

Historically, some places would put a piece of white cloth over the deceased’s face, then cut a hole in the cloth. This hole would go over the corpse’s mouth. This piece of white cloth was thus called a facial garment.

After hearing this, that employee immediately threw the facial garment onto the ground. He yelled, “Who put such a thing in my pocket?!”

Shang Que had originally been thinking the entire way. Upon hearing this, he finally looked over. He picked up the facial garment that had been thrown on the ground and coldly said, “This isn’t a normal facial garment.”

Nobody knew what he meant. Daoist priest Mu asked, “What do you mean it’s not a normal facial garment?”

Shang Que lowered his gaze. “This is a plague ghost’s facial garment.”

Daoist priest Mu was instantly shocked. A surprised expression appeared on his face. “Doesn’t that mean, doesn’t that mean……”

Shang Que: “It’s an omen of death.”

Ming Peiran hurriedly asked, “What does that mean?”

“I’ve only read about it in the ancient books at our temple,” Daoist priest Mu explained. “In the past, when the Underworld was chasing down spirits, they would give warnings. For example, if a living spirit was chained, that meant that the person wasn’t dead yet, but his spirit had already been chained up. Or, in the case of paper money earrings, paper money symbolizing death would be dangled from a living person’s ear. Facial garments were a type of these warnings. If living people suddenly received strange facial garments, that meant that the Underworld was going to come take their life.”

Not only so, but facial garments were normally linked to plague ghosts. According to legend, if multitudes of facial garments abruptly appeared in a certain area, that was an omen of a plague striking that region.

“That’s just a s-s-superstition, right?” That employee was so scared that he had already started spouting bullshit. But upon thinking of where he worked and then glancing around at the group of monks and Daoists around him, his face instantly paled.

“I’m not too sure about that.” Daoist priest Mu’s eyebrows were knit closely together. “This is my first time encountering such an incident too.”

Yu Zhengdu looked at Shang Que in shock. If facial garments were warnings that the Underworld was chasing a spirit, then Luofeng ought to have noticed. Right now, though, Luofeng was completely in the dark.

Shang Que glanced at Ming Peiran. He said, “Have everyone check themselves. See if anyone else has received a facial garment.”

Ming Peiran didn’t dare to be careless. He instantly ordered everyone to double-check. This act of double-checking revealed a great number of facial garments. Practically the entire special department had discovered facial garments in their pockets. There were also two young Daoists who had found white cloths on their persons.

Now, everyone was extremely terrified. If one person had received a facial garment, it was possible that someone had stuffed it into his pocket when he hadn’t been paying attention. So many people receiving facial garments at the same time could no longer be explained by a tasteless prank, though.

The members of the special department weren’t unsuperstitious. All of them started panicking. They couldn’t help asking Ming Peiran, “Captain Ming, what’s going on? Are we all going to die?”

“Don’t worry. There are so many religious masters present.” Ming Peiran had found a facial garment in his pocket too, but he was very experienced. At this time, he could still keep calm. Originally, he had instinctively wanted to ask Daoist priest Mu for advice. After brief thought, though, he turned around to ask Shang Que instead. “Boss Shang, since you can tell what these things are, do you know how to take care of them?”

“Leave it to me,” Shang Que calmly said. “I’ll make sure you guys don’t die.”

There were no changes in his expression. Even his tone was calm and collected. However, such a simple sentence had actually given everyone a strange feeling of strength. The commotion finally quieted.

As the captain, Ming Peiran needed to confirm with him once more. “Boss Shang……are you sure you can take care of it?”

Shang Que briefly glanced at him. He was slightly impatient. Yu Zhengdu hurriedly stepped forward with a smile. “He’s sure. Our company takes care of this stuff for a living.”

Though Daoist priest Mu didn’t know how Shang Que was going to take care of the facial garments, he had experience in collaborating with Shang Que. Thus, he helped speak up too. “Captain Ming, rest assured and trust Boss Shang. Luofeng’s technology has always been advanced in this regard.”

Daoist priest Mu’s status was very high among the religious masters in their country. If even he was saying this, Ming Peiran naturally couldn’t ask any more questions. He immediately arranged for the employees to gather all the facial garments together. Rather quickly, they had collected a plastic bag full of facial garments.

Ming Peiran handed the bag of facial garments to Shang Que. He politely asked, “Boss Shang, do you need to cast a spell? If you need anything, just tell me. Magical tools, cinnabar, black dog blood, garlic, crosses – we have it all.”

He chuckled smugly. “If you don’t want to use the classics, we have innovative stuff too. Our department just imported an infrared ghost scanner from overseas last month……”

Yu Zhengdu: = = Was he supposed to say “as expected from the national team”? What a big budget!

“No need,” Shang Que said. He casually grabbed the facial garments and flung his hand, directly throwing the facial garments that had previously been neatly folded into the air.

White cloth drifted down around them, just like white streamers.

Everyone’s expressions instantly changed. Ming Peiran agitatedly said, “Boss Shang, you……”

Before he had finished speaking, they heard a boom. In an instant, all the facial garments had abruptly caught on fire. Strangely, none of these balls of fire were falling to the ground. Instead, they were floating in the middle of the air, burning brilliantly: they looked like suspended torches, making everyone’s faces appear red.

Everyone gazed at Shang Que in shock. There were quite a lot of great masters present; there were also some who could summon thunder fire. However, to be able to summon so much thunder fire at once was very impressive.

Not to mention that Shang Que hadn’t prepared in advance at all.

Ming Peiran was similarly shocked. Yu Zhengdu immediately racked his brains for a way to explain this to everyone. Only to hear Yuan Qing start clapping from off to the side. He exclaimed, “I hadn’t thought that even Boss Shang’s magical talent would be so great! As expected from the people at the forefront of scientific cultivation. I knew it! Conquering technology is conquering the future!”

Ming Peiran looked lost. Daoist priest Mu explained, “Boss Shang’s company has always believed in cultivation using scientific methods.”

Yuan Qing added, “You’ve heard of the Zheng Heavenly Masters from Ledu, right? Their inheritor, Zheng Yan, is the product manager at Boss Shang’s company.”

“So the inheritor of the Zheng Heavenly Masters is in their company!” Ming Peiran was suddenly struck by realization. Zheng Yan had successfully embarked on the path of Daoism with the aid of his company’s scientific beliefs and had also had several impressive breakthroughs. This story had been widely spread across the field. Ming Peiran had obviously heard it too.

Apparently, Zheng Yan could directly use his phone to summon a big ghost. Thus, it no longer seemed so strange that his boss could casually summon thunder fire.

Ming Peiran immediately became respectful. The other religious masters quickly gathered around too, asking to add Shang Que on WeChat.

Yu Zhengdu: “……” It seemed like there was no need to explain anything.

The thunder fire burned all the facial garments into ash up in the air. Just as everyone was about to sigh in relief, the sound of thunder suddenly rang out from overhead. Everyone looked up. Everything looked normal on the mountain. They didn’t notice any differences.

Except for the fact that the sky had completely darkened. It was already night.

Yu Zhengdu furrowed his brows. “Could it be that it’s about to rain?”

“It won’t rain. We haven’t located the drought demon yet,” Daoist priest Mu said. His expression instantly became solemn. “We need to start moving faster. I don’t know what the thunder just now meant. However, before we take care of the drought demon, there’s only going to be a dry thunderstorm. It’s very likely that that could start a wildfire. By then, the consequences would be unfathomable.”

Upon hearing Daoist priest Mu say this, everyone immediately went on high alert. They quickly started walking faster.

Only Shang Que stared in the direction of the thunder. Yu Zhengdu instinctively held onto his wrist. “What are you looking at?”

“I burned the facial garments, so someone’s angry now,” Shang Que said.

Yu Zhengdu: “Who?”

Shang Que turned around. At this time, Yu Zhengdu’s phone page had just been refreshed. He had successfully invaded the village head’s phone of the village that they had visited. The village head’s phone contents were very simple. The things taking up the most storage were videos. These were all named “Mom, Where Are We Going?”, “Guo Degang’s Complete Crosstalk Set”, etc.

Yu Zhengdu remembered the auntie’s reaction when he had mentioned the variety show. Without any hesitation, he clicked into《Where Are We Going, Mom?》.

“What’s this?” Yu Zhengdu’s eyebrows were knit together.

“My old friend.” Shang Que abruptly started chuckling lowly in scorn. Then, he reached out and stroked Yu Zhengdu’s face. “Stay with the rest of the group. Be careful. Don’t run around. I’ll be back soon.”

Yu Zhengdu had originally wanted to ask for further details, but after looking into Shang Que’s dark eyes, he discovered a coldness he had never seen in the other’s eyes before. He ultimately transformed all his worry into a faint smile filled with confidence. “Okay. I’ll wait for you.”

Shang Que silently left. When everyone else finally discovered, they only saw Yu Zhengdu calmly following behind the rest of the group, alone.

Ming Peiran was shocked. “Where did Boss Shang go?”

Yu Zhengdu told him the truth. “There was something wrong with those facial garments. He’s gone to investigate in a different location.”

Ming Peiran instantly became agitated. “How could he be so reckless? It’s nighttime, yet he hasn’t told anyone. That’s too dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Yu Zhengdu patted him on the shoulder and drawled out, “Captain Ming, our company can summon dozens of ghosts with one phone call. Who do you think is more dangerous?”

Ming Peiran: “……”

Choking.