New Times, New Hell

Chapter 67 - Ghost Calling a Spirit

Yu Zhengdu gave Fan Li a brief explanation of the situation. Then, he and Shang Que took Fan Li’s spirit with them and rushed to the hospital.

Along the way, Fan Li was still a bit bewildered. He couldn’t stop asking, “Ey, I really haven’t died yet?”

“Hard to say. Depends on if your body is still there or not,” Yu Zhengdu stated. “If your family acts fast and has already cremated you, then you’ll be forced to remain dead.”

“That can’t be. Don’t novels frequently write about how when the wrong people die and are about to come back to life but their bodies are already decomposed, Hell will arrange for them to resurrect into a fresh corpse nearby?” Fan Li asked.

Shang Que: “Un, previously, borrowing a corpse to come back to life did occur.”

“It’s real?!” Fan Li instantly started daydreaming happily. “Then if my body can’t be used anymore, can you guys arrange for me to possess a tall, rich, handsome instead? It would be best if he could have a beautiful girlfriend too……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Shang Que drawled out, “That practice has long since been restricted by the law.”

Question marks popped up above Fan Li’s head. “……This stuff can be r-restricted by the law?”

Yu Zhengdu, however, instantly understood. “This truly should be restricted. Otherwise, what if someone woke up one day and randomly started saying they were the deceased dad of the richest person on the planet come back to life? Everything would be a mess.”

“That’s exactly the idea,” Shang Que nodded.

In the early years, there were plenty of people in the mortal realm who had pretended to be spirits come back to life through other bodies to take over other people’s wealth and wives. Dealing with such cases gave officials headaches too. During Emperor Shizong of Jin’s rule, a case about Xi’er from Liangxiang County borrowing the corpse of Zhang He from Wanping County for resurrection found its way to the Shangshu Department. Ultimately, Emperor Shizong decided, “The government is in charge of judging cases based on physical bodies and not spirits. That which is physical has evidence, but spirits do not.”

Meanwhile, the normal officials had actually reached an agreement much earlier on. Everything in the mortal realm should be based off a physical body, not a spirit.

Following this, the Underworld also created a law in accordance that banned the practice of borrowing bodies for resurrection.

“A pity.” Fan Li sounded very regretful. “Seems like my death-to-instant-riches dream has been shattered.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

“……I’m just joking. I actually still want to resurrect into my own body quite a bit,” Fan Li said. After all, the ones he couldn’t bear to part with the most in the mortal realm were his parents and relatives.

After completing this thought, Fan Li became uncontrollably angry. He asked, “Who could be so evil? Daring to harm me like this!”

“It’s uncertain,” Yu Zhengdu said. He thought about the switching fate methods Shang Que had brought up and came up with an idea. He asked again, “Have you encountered any strange people during this period of time?”

“No.” Fan Li went over his memories in detail. “I only travel the same path between two locations every day. I don’t even have time to get to know a possible girlfriend, much less strange people……”

Shang Que suddenly spoke up, “What about your neighbors?”

With this reminder, Fan Li really did think of something. “Ah, right. The owner of the apartment below mine lives out of the country. They asked an agent to rent it out. I think a new renter happened to move in last month, but we’ve never even seen each other before……”

He asked curiously, “But what does this have to do with my neighbors?”

Yu Zhengdu instantly figured it out. He said, “I understand. Is this similar to when police go to arrest someone but need to confirm the name and address? If they have the same name and the addresses are similar, the probability of arresting the wrong person is increased?”

Fan Li widened his eyes. “There’s such a concept?”

Shang Que: “……You could also put it like that.”

He said, “If the new renter is the other Fan Li, he probably placed a guiding talisman in your house. This way, he could guide the fate that should originally be his onto you.”

Fan Li looked completely lost. “What’s that……”

Shang Que didn’t bother explaining further. If Fan Li had known what a guiding talisman was, he also wouldn’t have had his fate so easily switched by someone.

As they spoke, they reached the hospital Fan Li had been taken to. Fortunately, Fan Li’s corpse was still in the ICU room and hadn’t been sent for cremation yet.

Because Fan Li had suddenly fallen extremely ill last night, the doctors had tried to save him for the entire night. After stabilizing his condition with great difficulty, they had sent him to an ICU room in the morning. But unexpectedly, his vitals took an abrupt downturn. Eventually, his heart stopped beating and he was declared as dead.

Fan Li’s parents had watched with wide eyes as their originally alive and energetic son died out of the blue. They temporarily couldn’t handle such a shock, especially Fan Li’s mother. She held onto his body and refused to let go for anything, adamant that the doctors continue trying to save him.

Initially, according to the hospital’s rules, after death, patients’ bodies needed to be immediately sent to the morgue. However, Mother Fan stayed by his side, refusing to let them take him away, which wasted some time. After, the doctor discovered something strange. According to usual circumstances, rigor mortis would start to set in about one to two hours after an adult passed away. Yet, Fan Li’s body maintained a normal condition. Even the spot over his heart was still faintly warm.

Because of this out of the ordinary phenomenon, in addition to the fact that Fan Li was staying in a one-person room – meaning that his presence wouldn’t be disturbing anyone, the hospital’s attitude was no longer so strict. The doctor gave them an additional observation period.

Unfortunately, though he had stayed in the room for an additional half a day, Fan Li’s vitals remained unchanged. And, the original warmth faintly emanating from his body was slowly disappearing as time went by. As such, the hospital could only classify this case as a unique one in which rigor mortis was setting in unusually slowly.

Mother and Father Fan ultimately weren’t unreasonable people. After being faced with the fact that their son had already stopped breathing and that he no longer had a heartbeat, in addition to all the diagnosis reports from the hospital, they couldn’t help but accept this reality, even though it was extremely difficult to do so.

With Fan Li’s spirit leading the way, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que made their way to his ICU room.

“Uncle, Auntie, hello.” Yu Zhengdu walked in after knocking on the door.

Because Fan Li’s death had been confirmed, all the medical staff had already left. Only Fan Li’s parents remained with the body, saying their last goodbyes.

When Yu Zhengdu and them pushed open the door, they saw Mother Fan kneeling by the bed. Both her hands clutched onto Fan Li’s hand, unwilling to let go. Tear tracks covered her face; her eyes were impossibly red. It was obvious that she had just cried a lot.

Father Fan, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair off to the side. He cradled his head in both hands, as if trying to hold up his quivering body.

“Dad—— Mom——” Upon seeing how his parents looked, Fan Li’s nose soured too. He shouted in despair.

But his parents couldn’t hear his shouts. They could only hear Yu Zhengdu’s voice.

Father and Mother Fan looked up together in the direction of the door. Upon seeing two young men randomly standing there, they seemed perplexed. Father Fan asked in a hoarse voice, “Who are you?”

Yu Zhengdu: “We’re Fan Li’s friends. We heard he was sick, so specially came to visit him.”

His excuse was actually extremely poor. Fan Li had suddenly fallen ill. Even his parents had been unprepared. How could his friends have found out that he was sick?

But Fan Li had passed away too suddenly, causing his parents to be in great shock. Their brains had practically stopped working. In that moment, they had no energy to take this into consideration.

“Oh, it’s Xiao Li’s friends ah. You’re quite kind.” As she spoke, Mother Fan stood up. However, because she had knelt for too long, her feet were numb. She almost sprained her ankle, causing her to shout in shock.

“Be careful, Auntie.” Yu Zhengdu hurriedly took a step forward to help hold her up.

“Thank you.” Mother Fan sat down with his help, but started crying once more. “Unfortunately you guys are too late. Xiao Li has already, already……”

She ultimately couldn’t finish her sentence. It was Father Fan who added on from the side, “Xiao Li has already died.”

Yu Zhengdu made eye contact with Shang Que. He couldn’t say too much, so only asked, “Uncle, Auntie, then can we see Fan Li?”

“Go ahead, go ahead.” Father Fan waved his hand while looking completely devastated. “His body is going to be taken away soon. Just consider it as your last time seeing him.”

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que walked up to the bed, only to see Fan Li’s corpse quietly laying there. His eyes were closed and his face was a bloodless pale. There wasn’t anything about him that seemed alive.

“I look so at peace,” Fan Li’s spirit suddenly said.

Yu Zhengdu: “……” It had to be said that this Fan Li was truly quite optimistic.

He quietly rushed, “Hurry and go back.”

Fan Li rubbed his chin and asked sincerely, “How do I go back? Do I just lie down?”

This was his knowledge blind spot. Yu Zhengdu naturally turned to look at Shang Que.

“Un.” Shang Que reached a hand out and lightly tapped the spot between Fan Li’s eyebrows. He softly said, “Time of death has not been reached; allowed to return to life.”

Following his voice, Fan Li’s expression slowly became transfixed. “Ah, I can feel the oxygen!”

Shang Que expressionlessly stated, “Lie down.”

“Okay, then I’ll go back now.” As he spoke, Fan Li crawled onto the bed. He continued muttering, “Do I need to aim? Or is any position okay? If I lie down face first will I be a backwards-man when I come back to life?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Shang Que emotionlessly pressed him down. “Whatever.”

“Ah ah ah, I’m crooked.” Fan Li’s spirit yelled as he flopped onto his body. A while later, he vigorously performed a sit-up and shot straight up. Then, he lifted a hand, followed by a foot. “What happened what happened? Did I resurrect?”

Only to see that his raised hand and foot were still spiritual. They were completely separate from his physical body.

“Yi? I haven’t.” Fan Li discovered this problem. He scratched his head in bewilderment. “Was my position wrong?”

Upon seeing this, Yu Zhengdu was very confused too. He softly asked Shang Que, “What’s wrong?”

“Someone did something to his body.” Shang Que slightly furrowed his brows. “That person was very careful. Not only did he switch their fates, he also made sure that Fan Li’s spirit wouldn’t be able to return to his body.”

After hearing this, Fan Li cupped his face in terror. “Then what should I do? Does that mean I can’t be resurrected?”

Shang Que ignored him, only explaining to Yu Zhengdu, “All we have to do is find what he did.”

Shang Que had a brief understanding of these evil methods. Only, different people used different methods. He needed to look over the entire body to be certain.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Yu Zhengdu found this situation slightly difficult. He glanced at Father and Mother Fan out of the corner of his eye and whispered, “If we dared to touch his body, wouldn’t his parents kick us out?”

Fan Li said, “I think you guys won’t even need to touch me. My parents are already starting to suspect you.”

As expected, probably because they had stayed too long beside the body, Father and Mother Fan regained their wits. Their gazes seemed filled with the beginnings of suspicion as they fell on Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que. Father Fan asked, “Oh right, young men. We haven’t asked which friends of Xiao Li you are. How come we haven’t seen you before?”

Yu Zhengdu instantly knew things were going downhill after hearing this question. This beginning often indicated that someone was suspicious. Fan Li’s spirit was on scene with them, so it wouldn’t be hard to come up with matching testimonies, but with Father and Mother Fan’s eyes locked on them, it would be impossible to do anything to Fan Li’s corpse.

Just as Yu Zhengdu was considering whether or not to tell Father and Mother Fan the truth – and whether or not they would believe this truth – the door to the room got opened once more. A worker wearing a hospital uniform and a mask walked in. In a low, muffled voice, he told Father and Mother Fan, “You guys have already wasted enough time. The deceased can’t continue to take up a room. I’m here to send him to the morgue.”

Father and Mother Fan knew too that the hospital had already been extremely generous to them. Now, they couldn’t keep being stubborn. Mother Fan covered her mouth and leaned against Father Fan’s shoulder. Father Fan could only heave out a long sigh. He waved his hand at that person. “We’ve troubled you. You can take him away.”

That person nodded and walked toward Fan Li’s bed. Only now did he notice that there were two other people in the room. Thus, he instinctively glanced at them.

At the same time, Shang Que told Yu Zhengdu in a whisper, “He’s the one who switched fates with Fan Li.”

Yu Zhengdu was slightly shocked. “How do you know?”

Shang Que revealed a cold smile. “An air of death is emanating off of his body.”

Though he had found someone to die for him, his body had already reached the end of its life. Mortals couldn’t tell, but Shang Que could see that air of death on him.

Yu Zhengdu instantly came to a realization. “Is he here to confirm if Fan Li’s dead or not?”

Shang Que nodded. “Un.”

This was something that many who found death replacements couldn’t resist doing. Only after confirming that the person who had replaced their death had truly and completely died, with no other chance of resurrection, could they truly relax.

Shang Que was a bit excited. “How wonderful that he’s revealed himself. Let me beat him up……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Yu Zhengdu hurriedly stopped him. “Wait a moment.”

Shang Que was perplexed, only to see Yu Zhengdu give Fan Li’s spirit a meaningful look. He mouthed, “Go face him.”

It turned out that after that person entered the room, though he was confused as to why there were suddenly two other people inside, he was actually more interested in checking on Fan Li’s situation. So, he ignored the people around him and headed straight to Fan Li’s bedside. However, his movements seemed a bit strange. He very purposefully showed his back to Yu Zhengdu and them, blocking their field of vision completely.

A pity. He could cover mortals’ lines of sight, but couldn’t prevent a ghost from simply standing in front of him and watching.

Fan Li stood directly facing that person, not bothering to hide at all. He watched the other’s actions while using an extremely exaggerated tone of voice to give Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que a live rundown.

“Fuck!” Fan Li’s eyes were as round as circles. He pointed at that person and loudly shouted, “He pulled a needle out of my nose!”

“This long——” Fan Li pointed to his index finger. “Fuck, when did he stick it in? Too evil!”

Shang Que nodded as if he had expected this. “He was sealing off that aperture.”

The supposed sealing off of apertures entailed using silver needles to seal off the seven apertures of a corpse. If the seven apertures weren’t unblocked, the spirit wouldn’t be able to return to its body.

“I understand now.” Yu Zhengdu fell into thought. “Seems like not only does he want to check and see if Fan Li is dead or not, but he’s also here to destroy any evidence.”

Fan Li had originally been saved last night; his condition had even stabled. That person had probably been scared that things would change, so had dressed as a member of the hospital staff and entered the room during a time that nobody else had been in the room. He had sealed off Fan Li’s seven apertures, causing Fan Li to suddenly die this morning.

Now, after confirming that Fan Li had truly died, he naturally needed to remove these needles to prevent the truth from becoming exposed.

Fan Li stood next to him, watching this person yank a needle out of his nose. In a fit of anger, he made to hit the other.

At the same time, Shang Que reached a hand out and tapped. “Spirit Fan Li’s time of death has not been reached; allowed to return to life.”

Fan Li’s spiritual fist had just passed through that person’s head when, with a sound of “Ah——”, his entire soul uncontrollably fell into his physical body.

The next second, his physical body’s eyelids fluttered open. He made direct eye contact with that person who was pretending to be a hospital worker.

Fan Li: “……”

That person: “……”

That person’s eyes instantly widened. He unconsciously shouted, “You’re not dead??!!”

Still in a daze, Fan Li propped his head up. His gaze was extremely lost. “What’s wrong with me?”

To humans, the spirit leaving the body was like a dream: an adventure through the Underworld that ended after the person came back to life, just as someone would wake from a night of dreams.

Fan Li woke up from this long sleep and felt completely lost, as if he had entered an extremely long and complicated dream. After being shouted at, that dreamlike scene instantly disappeared.

He could only faintly remember something, but not anything specific.

These two people’s voices were like a clap of thunder in an otherwise silent environment. Father and Mother Fan had originally been dismally waiting for their son’s corpse to get taken away when suddenly, they heard these two sentences. They instantly jumped in place and charged over. “Xiao Li!!!”

“Xiao Li!!! Is that you talking?!!”

After seeing that Fan Li had truly opened his eyes, the Fan parents were in complete disbelief. They immediately pushed that staff member away and threw themselves in front of their son. Mother Fan instantly grabbed Fan Li’s hand, expression ecstatic. “You’ve woken up? You’ve really woken up?!”

“Hurry and call a doctor, hurry!” Father Fan still retained a bit of logical thinking. He excitedly pressed on the alarm, then ran to the door and yelled, “Doctor! Doctor—— Hurry and come take a look! My son woke up!”

Rushed footsteps sounded from outside the door. Upon seeing that Father Fan had already alerted almost the whole hospital, the one whose death had been replaced became scared of being exposed. With no more energy to confirm whether or not Fan Li had died, he quickly ran out of the room while Father and Mother Fan were focused on Fan Li.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que looked at each other and silently followed.

The one whose death had been replaced was probably shocked out of his mind. The entire way, his stride was panicked, making him appear moments away from falling over.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que followed behind him, quite relaxed and confident.

“He doesn’t seem all that brave,” Yu Zhengdu said with disdain. “He wasn’t scared when he was murdering someone, but after seeing that person come back to life, he’s so terrified.”

Shang Que: “Because Fan Li has come back to life. That means he has to die.”

Yu Zhengdu’s expression was dark. “Doesn’t seem to me like he’s about to die soon. See how energetically he’s running?”

Shang Que suddenly turned to look at him. “Have you heard of ‘ghost calling a spirit’?”

Yu Zhengdu shook his head.

Thus, Shang Que turned back around and gazed at that person’s back. He slowly called out, “Fan Li.”

Only to see that person pause in his motions and reflexively turn around to look, directly meeting Shang Que’s eyes.

Those close to the end of their lives shouldn’t, under any circumstances, turn around upon hearing a ghost calling their name. As soon as they turned around, their spirit would immediately get taken away.

Only to see that person widen his eyes abruptly. The next moment, he clenched the spot above his heart and slowly fell onto the ground.

“Save me——” With a twisted expression, he reached a hand out to try and tug at the passersby. He shouted with extreme difficulty, “Save me——”

The people around him discovered something was wrong. Immediately, doctors and nurses started charging over. In a flurry of motion, they carried him into the emergency room. The scene was a complete mess.

Shang Que said, “This is ‘ghost calling a spirit’.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Literally ‘ghost calling a spirit’?! This was a real ghost calling ah!

The author has something to say:

Yu Zhengdu: Boss, in the future, unless it’s for actual business, please don’t call me.

Shang Que: “……” I’m going to!