New Times, New Hell

Chapter 55 - Hundred Ghost Night Procession

While I was translating, I found a Chinese website that contains pictures and backstories of these ancient ghosts/monsters which was really cool to look at. It’s too much to link each page to each ghost that was mentioned in this chapter, but in the TN’s I’ve included the original Chinese names for these ghosts (that are on the site, as the site doesn’t contain every ghost ever) so that you can copy/paste them into the search bar on the site and look at the pictures if you want. They may not be 100% the same as the author’s descriptions because after all, these are mythological beings that no one has ever seen, but it’s still nice if you want a visual aid. Also, Google translate doesn’t do a terrible job translating the backstories if you’re interested in those. Link here: http://www.cbaigui.com/

Though the hangwoman still looked very creepy, after seeing that she was even more cowardly than him, it was quite difficult for Gao Duidui to feel that kind of fear again.

He slowly crawled to his feet and looked at the children with a smile. “Little buddies, thank you for helping me up earlier.”

The little girl spun around in a circle. “You’re welcome. My gege taught me that when I leave the house, I need to get in the habit of doing lots of good things.”

She was wearing an Elsa gown and appeared extremely cute.

Gao Duidui was instantly taken. He put his hands up to his face and cooed, “Wow, kiddo. You’re a little fairy, right?”

“No.” The little girl shook her head and very seriously stated, “I’m Little Belly Spirit.”

The little boy wearing a pumpkin costume standing next to her added eerily, “I’m Kuman Thong.”

The little girl also said, “He’s an immigrant from Thailand.”

Another little boy wearing all black and carrying a sword butted in, “I’m Guilong.”

After the three of them finished speaking, another voice suddenly sounded out from the direction of the tree. “I’m Bei……”

Gao Duidui turned around to look, only to see a young girl with long hair hiding behind the tree trunk, shyly poking a head out.

Gao Duidui politely nodded at her. “Hello.”

Upon hearing this, the girl’s face collapsed and she hurriedly hid herself away again.

He heard the little kid cosplaying the guilong say, “Aiya, don’t talk to her la. She’ll start to feel self-pity.”

Gao Duidui: “????”

“Gege, you dropped your phone,” the little girl said while pointing to somewhere close by.

“Oh oh, right.” Gao Duidui finally remembered that he was still livestreaming. He hurriedly picked up his phone. After doing so, he wanted to thank the kids, but when he turned around, he found that they had already completely disappeared.

Gao Duidui: ……Do kids these days run so fast now? And without making any noise.

He scratched his head but didn’t have time to keep wondering. He urgently needed to check on the livestream situation. When he looked, he immediately became shocked. The viewer count of his livestream channel had actually risen to the top, becoming the number one most viewed currently running livestream on Big Eye Livestream.

Gao Duidui checked the comments and app back end system in a daze. He finally understood what had happened.

It turned out that after he fell, his audience couldn’t see what was happening. They all thought he really ran into a ghost. This was the first time a supernatural livestreamer had run into a ghost on stream. And, the ghost he had run into was the legendary evil ghost of a hangwoman wearing a red dress and red heels.

His popularity that night had originally been quite high. After this fall, there was something for audience members to focus on. Not only did the livestream app use his stream as promotion on the front page, netizens on other social media apps also got to work. The screenshot of those red heels and ashen white calves had already spread everywhere, successfully scaring a majority of netizens. More people rushed to join in, waiting to see what would happen next.

The comments were full of anxious messages awaiting his reply:

【Duidui, are you okay?】

【Fuck fuck, I really cried out of fear】

【What to do? Should we help Duidui call the cops?】

【Wait a bit, it’s only been a few minutes. We still don’t know what’s happened……】

【How would you explain this to the cops? Tell them that you’ve run into a ghost?】

Gao Duidui hurriedly pointed the lens at his own face. “Don’t worry everybody. I’m fine.”

The comments immediately heaved a sigh of relief. Then, they instantly started asking him about what was going on.

Gao Duidui was abashed for a moment. He didn’t know how to explain things to the audience either. He could only lift his head and give the hangwoman a rundown of the situation, then ask her if she could join him in his livestream.

The hangwoman slowly rolled her eyes down. Her face was cold. Gao Duidui thought that she wasn’t willing. He was just about to tell her that she didn’t need to if she didn’t want to, when he heard her drawl out, “Film from the left side. My left profile looks better.”

Gao Duidui: “……Okay.”

After saying this, he lifted his camera up, filming the hangwoman while explaining to the audience. “Actually, I didn’t run into a ghost just now. She’s a worker at the garden party. Take a look, everyone……”

In the camera, the hangwoman revealed an eerie smile filled with death to the audience.

Comments:

【???】

【…………………………Fuck!!!】

【Duidui you’ve been lied to, right! This is clearly a ghost!!】

【I’m in complete awe of this garden party……】

【Actors can hang from trees like this? I don’t see any wire harnesses????】

【Even if it’s fake, I still cried out of fear……】

The audience hadn’t expected at all that the ‘encountering a ghost’ story would end in this way. For a moment, some even started cussing in agitation; others still couldn’t help being scared. Either way, his livestream had become completely famous this time. Additionally, Gao Duidui and the garden party successfully exited the circle.

Especially the screenshot of the hangwoman’s calves and her red heels, along with her creepy smile. It eventually became a common picture used in posts designed to scare netizens……

Of course, these were the only two screenshots that could fool those people who didn’t know the entirety of the situation. Because shortly after, Gao Duidui started to casually converse with the hangwoman. The hangwoman was pretty chatty too. She even knew how to interact with the audience.

“I hanged myself over a decade ago. A love wound, because of a love wound. Ey, it really wasn’t worth it. After dying, that asshole wasn’t even sad for long before finding someone new&#k2026;&#k2026;”

“Wearing a red dress and heels when hanging yourself doesn’t actually help at all. Because the Underworld has very strict laws, so we can’t go seek revenge on mortals……”

“Can you find your deceased relatives in the garden party? No. There are rules about that. Ghosts that have been dead for less than a decade need to wear makeup and change their appearance before coming out. Otherwise, there would be no order left……”

“The product most worth buying from the ghost market? I recommend the calligraphy sold by the grandpa at the seventh stall. He used to be a pretty famous calligrapher in life. His works should be pretty valuable……”

The audience couldn’t help laughing while interacting with her:

【233333 this little jiejie is too professional. Good ratings for how in character she is】

【In the past, I heard that the staff at theme parks outside the country were required to stay in character at all times. They can’t ever break character so that the guests really believe they’re in a fairy tale world. Didn’t know that these exist in our country too】

【Exactly. I almost truly believed that this little jiejie really did hang herself】

【And it’s a perfectly bug-free background story. I trust that nobody has encountered a ghost of someone they knew before because the newly dead can’t use their own faces 2333】

【A famous deceased calligrapher grandpa hahaha……this garden party has built such a realistic world. I’m in love, in love】

While everyone was in the middle of happily chatting, an uproar suddenly sounded out in the direction of the Eight Underworld Mountain Views. Gao Duidui turned his head to look, only to see a large swarm of people making their way over. The hangwoman glanced in that direction too. She said, “Oh, the procession is about to start.”

Gao Duidui asked in shock, “There’s also a procession?”

Hangwoman: “Yes. During zishi, the Gate of Hell opens and the Hundred Ghost Night Procession begins.”

Gao Duidui was immediately captivated. Though the audience didn’t want to part with Ms. Hangwoman, they also wanted to see the procession. This was a rare opportunity, so Gao Duidui reluctantly bid farewell to the hangwoman and ran in the direction of the Gate of Hell.

Gao Duidui got there a bit late. When he arrived at the main street the procession was going to be held at, both sides were already filled with people. There were also workers of strange shapes and sizes maintaining order, ensuring that the path was clear.

Gao Duidui had no other options. After finally finding a relatively closer spot on the Bridge Over Troubled Water, he aimed his camera in the correct direction. Fortunately, the procession only officially started after he finished fiddling with his phone.

He heard a loud “bang——”. In the distance, a thick cloud of smoke rose into the air, accompanied by the festive and loud sound of firecrackers. A group slowly made their way out of the thick smoke.

The Zhongyuan Festival Procession officially began.

Previously, Gao Duidui had specially done research on the customs related to the Zhongyuan Festival. Now, he could use all this knowledge. As he watched, he explained to the audience, “These are called incense firecrackers. They’re also called burned buns……”

A young tourist nearby didn’t understand what was going on and was also asking a staff member about it. The staff member patiently clarified.

It turned out that the first half of the procession would be a performance of the customs of the Zhongyuan Festival. Aside from incense firecrackers, there would also be sacrifices to the land and other similar acts.

The procession was very long. Each group had different costumes and equipment coinciding with different themes. After a certain distance, the groups would stop at their predetermined locations, set up, and begin their performances.

Gao Duidui was on the Bridge Over Troubled Water. Following the appearance of the groups releasing sky lanterns and wishing for good harvests, he saw a group of young women wearing dresses with narrow sleeves slowly make their way over.

The young women were all very attractive. Their dresses were elaborate and their faces were covered in makeup. They walked delicately and rhythmically, garnering pleased reactions from tourists.

In their hands, they carried lotus lanterns. When they got to the end of the Bridge Over Troubled Water, they got into a straight line and, accompanied by the drawling tones of a guqin, gently placed the lanterns into the Troubled Water.

Gao Duidui explained to his viewers, “The release of lanterns is a fairly important custom during the Zhongyuan Festival. It’s also called ‘Passing Along Lonely Ones With Lanterns’. Scholars believe that it originated from the customs of the Shangyuan Festival, otherwise known as the Yuanxiao Festival. Because the Shangyuan Festival is for humans, people fly lanterns on the earth. But the Zhongyuan festival is a ghost festival. Thus, they release lanterns into the water……”

The people believed: humans were yang, spirits were yin, the earth was yang, water was yin.

The world underwater was mysterious and eerie, just like the Underworld and Hell. Ghosts and spirits spent their days there.

The purposes of releasing lanterns into the river were to bless spirits and help them peacefully travel to the other side. The people believed that if ghosts in the Underworld carried a lantern with them, they would be able to reincarnate.

The audience listened to Gao Duidui’s explanation while watching the scene unfolding along the Troubled Water.

Speaking of, the Troubled Water of this garden party was very strange. It actually wasn’t true running water, but the event organizers had used some mysterious material to create the illusion that it was. Earlier, when Gao Duidui had taken everyone on a tour of the Eight Underworld Mountain Views, he had taken a close look at it. It appeared to be some optical illusion created by special lighting effects.

But through the lens, it truly looked like a real river. What was different, though, was that the water was the color of a thick, reddish black. From afar, it even seemed to be flowing rapidly.

According to legend, the Troubled Water was a river flowing from the sea of the Underworld. Endless black water, rolling red currents, possibly cold as ice, possibly hot as fire; in reaction to each individual, it changed its depth.

Currently, the lanterns slowly drifted off. The hazy lights covered the surface of the river, subtly revealing the world under the water.

There seemed to be spirits drowning and evil ghosts struggling.

It made people feel sorrow and pity.

For a moment, not only did the tourists physically present sigh, but the audience members watching the livestream couldn’t help but also sigh.

Of course, a majority of the reason was that they were praising the event organizers for a job well done.

A further distance away, closer to the Gate of Hell, Shang Que was also in the middle of explaining these customs that had been passed down for thousands of years to Yu Zhengdu.

Many more visitors had shown up than they had expected. Though it was very late, the amount of people visiting after learning about the event hadn’t diminished at all. The two sides of the procession path were filled with tourists. At first, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que had been standing shoulder to shoulder. But later on, it got more and more crowded. The two of them were forced to stand one in front of the other.

Shang Que was scared that someone would bump into Yu Zhengdu again. Thus, he gently rested his arm on Yu Zhengdu’s waist.

Yu Zhengdu was a bit embarrassed, but very soon, the first half of the procession ended. The clock hands exactly pointed to midnight. The Zhongyuan Ghost Festival was officially here.

From the darkest parts of the night, a soft shout sounded from afar:

“Seventh Month of the mortal realm, the Earth Official pardons all sins——”

“Open the doors of the Earth Palace, let the spirit lights guide the way——”

“Hundred Ghost Night Procession, living people stay away——”

“Pardon——”

That voice seemed distant and faraway. No one could tell where it originated from, but it fell into the ears of everyone present.

Shortly after, a deep “zhiya——” sounded. The large and exquisite Gate of Hell slowly opened. A thick stream of smoke drifted out from the darkness behind the gate. In only an instant, audience members felt that they had been sucked into the Underworld.

Following the opening of the gate and the dissipation of the smoke, faint lights suddenly appeared in the doorway. A while passed before everyone could finally tell what those lights were.

An innumerable amount of sky lanterns flew out from inside, and, like that shout stated at the beginning, spirit lights were guiding the way for the hundred ghosts.

The spirit lights rose into the night sky as inside the Gate of Hell, a loud “hongran——” sounded out.

The Hundred Ghost Night Procession had officially begun.

The originally drowsy crowd suddenly became alert. They started cheerily excitedly and desperately tried to push their way forward, terrified that they would miss anything interesting.

And then, Yu Zhengdu, who had originally been a bit embarrassed about being held, performed a perfect fall, tripping directly into Shang Que’s arms.

He looked up and saw that Shang Que didn’t appear unhappy at all. Thus, he decided to simply scoot closer to the other’s chest. He said, “Xiao Shang, hurry and protect me. Whether or not I can return home in one piece tonight depends on you!”

Shang Que suddenly smiled and made a noise of acknowledgment. The hand that had originally been delicately wrapped around the other’s waist now tightened its hold.

The two of them leaned against each other. In the noisy crowd, they seemed separated in their own world. Everything seemed to suddenly quiet down.

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t tell what he was feeling in this moment. He only lifted his head to continue looking forward.

Under the guidance of the spirit lights, the thick smoke around the Gate of Hell dissipated, revealing the first figure.

Only to see four short little creatures appear first. They carried a palanquin on their shoulders as they waddled out. The palanquin didn’t have a roof. A stunningly gorgeous young woman with a great figure sat in it, slightly revealing her shoulders. Her expression was seductive as she leaned against the palanquin. Her gaze travelled across all the audience members; her thin and long eyes seemed capable of trapping people’s souls. She immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.

There were some slightly sleazier men who couldn’t help themselves from shouting, “Beauty——look here——”

As expected, the beauty on the palanquin’s lips quirked up in a smile. She lazily looked over in that direction. That area immediately erupted in screams and shouts. Those less civilized had even started yelling profanities. This caused all the other visitors to look over with displeasure. Some also couldn’t help but furrow their brows——this was supposed to be the Hundred Ghost Night Procession, so how come it was like this?

But before they could express their suspicions, that beauty twisted from her waist and gently turned toward that group of people using improper language. That group of people became even more excited. They started furiously whistling. If not for the staff holding them back, they probably would’ve directly lunged at her.

In the next moment, though, they saw that beauty use both hands to press down on her temples. She used her fingertips to pinch at the edge of her skin. With a gentle tug, she lowered her hands slowly——tearing the skin of her face, neck, and chest off just like that.

Underneath the skin was a white skeleton covered with snakes, rodents, and insects.

The first ghost to appear: painted skin ghost.

Those sleazy men had been in the middle of whistling when they were faced with this sudden plot twist. All of their jaws dropped, unable to make another sound. Those who were less gutsy felt immediate nausea. Some even vomited on the spot, spraying the contents of their stomach over their friends.

In comparison, it was those tourists who had been upset at their behavior who suddenly started cheering. Thunderous applause sounded out, both for this plot twist and also for this performance.

Shang Que looked at the painted skin ghost who was first to appear, then looked at Yu Zhengdu. “Your idea?”

Yu Zhengdu nodded and laughed, quite pleased with himself. “In accordance to the original order, the first to appear should be lonely ghosts. But I felt that since the Hundred Ghost Night Procession is the climax of this event, we needed to be able to capture guests’ attention immediately. Painted skin ghosts fulfill this requirement.”

Shang Que nodded.

Painted skin ghosts were a combination of human and ghost, beautiful and horrendous. This unexpected contrast truly made it easy to capture people’s attention.

Most importantly, due to the influence of movies, painted skin ghosts were very well-known among the general public. They were truly the A-list celebrities among ghost-kind.

As expected, after the painted skin ghost’s impressive performance, the visitors became completely excited.

After the painted skin ghost, all other ghosts officially appeared.

Only to see a large swarm of ghosts surging out. They were of all shapes and sizes, forms and colors. One couldn’t exactly describe how terrifying or strange they were. Following the last wisps of smoke, in the cold, night air, they emerged in everyone’s lines of sight.

There were ones that looked like three year old children with red eyes, long ears, and bodies covered in a blackish-red. These ghosts could make enticing sounds and were called wangliang ghosts.

There were ones surrounded by fierce gusts of wind and large raindrops. They screamed and spat out purplish-black smoke. These were daolao ghosts.

There were ones dressed in vibrant clothes, hair standing straight up like needles. These were messy hair ghosts.

There were ones with two horns on their foreheads. They looked beautiful but cold, their gazes disdainful and uncaring as they scanned the tourists. These were dragon women.

There were also qilangs, yakshas, rakshasas, birds with hurt souls, Dufujin gods, needle-mouthed hungry ghosts, eat-then-sleep ghosts, ghosts that lived in dirty alleyways……

……

A hundred ghosts of a hundred different appearances. Some took large strides forward; some towed chains along; some wore strange clothing; some barely wore any clothing; some appeared jubilant, like they were finally able to leave Hell and see the mortal realm again; some had empty gazes, like they no longer belonged to the world of the living……

Those stories that once only existed in folklore, TV shows, movies, and art, were now appearing in front of them, one by one, group by group.

The roar of a hundred ghosts, accompanied by gusts of Underworld wind and the howls, moans, and whimpers of Hell found its way into the ears of listeners.

The term “a hundred ghosts” was naturally only a generalization. The Gate of Hell was open. The spirits passing through it numbered over ten thousand. After those strangely shaped famous ghosts, more spirits of different forms floated by too. The long procession covered the Eight Underworld Mountain Views and the roads of the mortal realm.

There were those holding onto money on the Rubbish Money Mountain, refusing to let go. There were those being chased around by evil dogs at the Evil Dog Village. There were also those struggling not to drown in the Bloodstained Pond.

These were the multiple facets of the Underworld, but weren’t they also the multiple facets of the mortal realm?

The tourists were astounded by the appearance of the hundred ghosts, but were also touched by the varying scenes. There were also those still in a daze, lost in the procession they had just witnessed.

The worlds of yin and yang, at this moment, were completely unified as one.

Along the Troubled Water, lotus lanterns gently floated down the currents……

A hundred ghosts proudly made their way along the procession route, slowly disappearing from guests’ lines of sight.

But that scene became clearly engraved into each person’s memories, forever.

It also became engraved in Yu Zhengdu’s heart. He watched the three little children and one young girl mixed in with the group, happily parading along, then silently glanced at Shang Que. “That appears to be Peppa, Guilong, and them……”

Shang Que calmly answered, “They’re ghosts too. It’s not illegal for them to participate in the procession.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……You’re right!”

A drawn out voice sounded from the faraway void. “The Hundred Ghost Night Procession has officially ended. The garden party will continue to carry on until the Zhongyuan Festival officially ends. Tourists are welcome to move about freely. Please be careful and watch out for yourselves……”

The tourists recovered from the astonishing performance. All of them excitedly huddled in groups to discuss the procession they had just witnessed and to upload pictures and videos to their Moments.

For everyone, this was destined to be a sleepless night.

For the people able to view their Moments, the revelry was only just starting.

Gao Duidui had also only just managed to recover from his shock. He looked at the wildly increasing number of viewers and comments in his livestream and felt that his career path had already reached its climax at this moment.

“Too amazing, too amazing——” Now, he could only say these two words. But nobody in the livestream felt that he was being too stingy with his speech. On the contrary, everybody could understand his behavior.

After all, the current comments were surprisingly simple too. They were all: Fuck! Badass!

Gao Duidui’s heart was beating erratically. He couldn’t help walking down the procession path once more. Now that the tourists had all left, he finally had a chance to walk to the front of the Gate of Hell. He held up his phone to get a detailed shot of the entire gate so that the audience members could get a better look at the place the hundred ghosts had erupted from.

After he finished filming, all the visitors around him had basically left too. He was just about to head back when a deep “huhu——” sound suddenly sounded by his ear.

Gao Duidui felt confusion arise in his heart. He turned around to look, only to see something small suddenly hop out of the enormous Gate of Hell.

A single backwards foot, covered in black hair, and owning a long, sharp mouth. It was alone and jumped out merrily.

Gao Duidui immediately relayed in shock, “Ah, there’s also a mandrill here.”

Mandrills were also one of the hundred types of ghosts. They were quite common and easy to recognize. Thus, Gao Duidui managed to name it immediately.

There had been too many ghosts in the Hundred Ghost Night Procession previously, so he couldn’t remember if he had seen the mandrill among them. Could this possibly be one that got left behind?

Gao Duidui felt curious, so stepped closer to get a better look. Coincidentally, that mandrill suddenly looked up too. In an instant, his blood red eyes stared straight at Gao Duidui. Gao Duidui jumped in fright.

“Aaaah——” Gao Duidui was so scared he took several consecutive steps back. “It’s real——This is a real mandrill——”

“This isn’t a human in costume, nor is it a model——It’s real——It’s real——” Gao Duidui was in complete shock. Several thoughts suddenly flooded his mind.

If this mandrill was real, then what about the hundred ghost procession previously???

What about those realistic ghosts and monsters……

In that moment, Gao Duidui’s worldview threatened to crumble.

But instantly, a young man ran out from the Gate of Hell and lunged forward to grab the mandrill.

“Running off again!” Zheng Yan was about to start scolding the mandrill when he suddenly looked up to meet Gao Duidui’s horrified gaze.

Zheng Yan: “……”

Gao Duidui pointed at the mandrill in his hands. He stuttered out in panic, “That’s a ghost, a ghost——”

Zheng Yan calmly stood up straight and held the mandrill up. He stated, “You’re mistaken. This is a high-quality replication. It’s a toy.”

Gao Duidui: “……???”

Gao Duidui’s expression clearly read are you fucking with me. He said, “It it it, it clearly can move. It even glared at me——”

“It’s powered by electricity ah.” Zheng Yan held the mandrill up in front of him and said, “Come take a look if you don’t believe me. It was only made to appear extra realistic.”

As he said this, he squeezed the mandrill forcefully to signal that it should be more obedient.

Mandrill: “……”

Under Zheng Yan’s ever so sincere gaze, Gao Duidui started doubting his own judgment. Finally, he got over the fear in his heart and slowly approached.

Only to see the mandrill in Zheng Yan’s grip remain immobile, as expected. Though it’s red eyes were extremely terrifying, on second glance, they were truly blank and unspirited, almost as if they were made from plastic.

“It really is only a replica toy?” Gao Duidui exclaimed. He reached a hand out to squeeze the mandrill’s arms and stomach. Desire was evident in his voice. “It’s so realistic. Where did you buy it?”

Zheng Yan’s expression didn’t change. “The factory has already gone out of business.”

Gao Duidui felt great pity. He tugged at the mandrill’s sole foot again and said, “Why isn’t it moving anymore?”

Zheng Yan: “Oh, it’s out of batteries.”

Mandrill: “……”

Feel wronged, but don’t dare to move.