TFOD Chapter 132

Jin Ling said, “This chair was placed at the head of my bed, very close. At first, it was empty, but after a while, a person in black clothes suddenly sat there.”

Jin Ling wanted to see the face clearly, but the person had their head lowered, and half of their long hair fell down, covering their face. Only a pair of snow-white hands were exposed, resting on the armrests.

He quietly adjusted the position of the mirror, but as soon as his wrist moved, as if sensing something, the woman slowly raised her head.

Her face was covered with dozens of bloody knife marks.

Wei Wuxian was not surprised, but the younger ones were all dumbfounded.

“Wait?” Lan Jingyi placed a bowl of porridge in front of Jin Ling, saying, “A female ghost? How could it be a female ghost? Could it be that you were so scared that you saw wrong…”

Jin Ling slapped the table, “I don’t want to hear you say I’m stupid, of all people. Although it’s hard to make out the features because of all the blood and hair, the hairstyle and clothing are those of a young woman, definitely not wrong. We were looking in the wrong direction.” He said, “Although there is indeed residual resentment on the iron hook, the one haunting the white room is probably not the Hook Hand.”

Lan Jingyi said, “You could have taken a bit more time to look carefully, to see her face clearly…maybe we could have checked her identity based on facial features, like moles or birthmarks.”

Jin Ling irritably said, “You think I didn’t want to? I originally did, but that female ghost noticed the moonlight reflected from the mirror and immediately looked this way. The mirror reflected her eyes, and I accidentally made eye contact with her.”

When being spied on, if you are discovered by an evil spirit, you absolutely can’t keep looking. You must immediately put down the mirror, close your eyes, and pretend to be asleep. Otherwise, it might provoke the evil spirit’s ferocity, greatly increasing its murderous intent. Lan Jingyi said, “That was close…”

Those at the table chimed in, “But we didn’t see a woman in the thief’s eyes.”

“Not seeing doesn’t mean she wasn’t there, maybe the thief’s position was off…”

“No, this female ghost, why would it be a female ghost, who is she?”

Lan Sizhui said, “This woman’s face was slashed dozens of times, so she is very likely one of the Hook Hand’s many victims. What Jin Ling saw must be a residual image of her resentment.”

A residual image of resentment is the constant reenactment of a scene filled with deep resentment. Usually, it’s the moment before death or something that makes it hate the most.

Jin Ling said, “Mm. Last night, the white room reflected in the mirror was completely different from what it is now, it looked like an inn. Before the White House was built, there was likely an inn here. The woman was killed in that inn.”

Lan Jingyi said, “Oh, oh, speaking of which, someone in the things we looked into mentioned that the Hook Hand could easily break into inn locks. He often sneaked in at night and targeted women who were traveling alone!”

Lan Sizhui said, “And the room where this young woman, or lady, was killed is exactly where the white room in the White House was built!”

No wonder the White family owner insisted that there were no old secrets or unnatural deaths in the White House. It wasn’t intentional deception, but because they were truly innocent; it really had nothing to do with them!

Jin Ling picked up his porridge and took a sip, pretending to be calm, “I knew things wouldn’t be that simple. It’s fine, we have to solve it anyway.”

Wei Wuxian said, “Jin Ling, you should catch some sleep, you’ll need to work tonight.”

Lan Jingyi glanced at his bowl, saying, “Senior Wei, you haven’t finished eating, don’t leave leftovers.”

Wei Wuxian said, “I’m not eating it. You eat more, Jingyi, you’re taking the lead tonight.”

Lan Jingyi was shocked, nearly dropping his bowl, “Ah? Me?? Take the, take the lead in what?!”

Wei Wuxian said, “Didn’t Jin Ling not finish watching last night? Tonight, we’ll watch it together, get a good look. You’ll lead the way.”

Lan Jingyi paled, “Senior Wei, are you mistaken? How did it end up being me?”

Wei Wuxian said, “There’s no mistake. Training, everyone gets a share, everyone gets an opportunity, everyone has to do it. Sizhui and Jin Ling have already done it, you’re the next one.”

“Why is the next one decided to be me…”

Of course, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t say directly that he only remembered Lan Jingyi’s name amongst these kids besides Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling. He just patted his shoulder, encouraging him, “This is a good thing! Look at the others, they all want to go.”

“What others? They all already ran away!”

No matter how much Lan Jingyi protested, at midnight, he was still pushed to the front of the white room.

Several benches were placed outside the white room, filled with people sitting in a row. One person poked a hole in the paper, instantly making the paper window riddled with holes and a terrible sight.

Lan Sizhui poked his window hole, thinking, “It feels like… this can’t even be called ‘peeping’ anymore, poking it like this, it’s better to just take this paper window down…”

As expected, Lan Jingyi was placed by Wei Wuxian at the very front. From this position, he could see the most, the most fully and the most clearly. If this was a play, it would be a top-tier seat that was hard to come by, but Lan Jingyi didn’t want it at all.

He was sandwiched between Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui, trembling, “Can I sit somewhere else…”

Wei Wuxian kept pacing around, saying, “No.”

Hearing this, everyone felt that Wei Wuxian’s tone was very much like Lan Wangji’s, and some even chuckled. Wei Wuxian said, “Good mindset, so relaxed, good, good.”

Lan Sizhui, who couldn’t hold back earlier, immediately became serious. Wei Wuxian then said to Lan Jingyi, “Look, I don’t even have a seat, don’t take a blessing for granted.”

Lan Jingyi said, “Senior, can I give you my seat…”

Wei Wuxian said, “No.”

Lan Jingyi: “Then what can be?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Asking questions is okay.”

Lan Jingyi had no choice but to say to Lan Sizhui, “Sizhui, if I pass out later, you, your notes have to be for me to copy.”

Lan Sizhui was both amused and helpless, “Alright.”

Lan Jingyi breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “Then I’m relieved.”

Lan Sizhui encouraged him, “Don’t worry, Jingyi, you’ll definitely be able to hold on.”

Lan Jingyi just showed an expression of gratitude when Jin Ling patted him on the shoulder, looking very reliable, saying, “Yeah, don’t worry, if you pass out, I will immediately wake you up.”

Lan Jingyi was alarmed and immediately slapped his hand away, saying, “Get away, get away, who knows what method you’ll use to wake me up.”

While they were whispering, a faint, blood-colored light appeared on the paper window, as if someone had suddenly lit a red lamp in the dark room.

Everyone immediately fell silent, holding their breath.

Red light also came out of each tiny window hole, making the peeping eyes look like they were covered in blood.

Lan Jingyi trembled as he raised his hand, saying, “Senior… why, why is this room so red? I, I’ve never seen this before, a blood-red residual image. Could it be that there was a red lamp lit in the room at the time?”

Lan Sizhui whispered, “It’s not a blood-red lamp, it’s because this person…”

Jin Ling said, “It’s because this person’s eyes are filled with blood.”

In the red light, something new suddenly appeared in the room.

A chair, and a “person” sitting on the chair.

Wei Wuxian said, “Jin Ling, is this what you saw last night?”

Jin Ling nodded, saying, “However, I didn’t look carefully last night, she wasn’t sitting on the chair…she was tied to the chair.”

Indeed, as he had said, the woman’s hands on the armrests were tightly bound by hemp ropes.

As everyone was about to look closer, a black shadow flashed by, and another figure appeared in the room.

There was actually another “person”.

And this second person, the eyelids and lips of the face had been cut off, unable to blink or close their mouth. Bloodshot eyeballs and bright red gums were exposed, which was a thousand times more terrifying than the legends!

Lan Jingyi exclaimed, “Hook Hand!”

“What’s going on? Wasn’t the iron hook melted? How is the Hook Hand still here?”

“Are there actually two evil spirits in this room??”

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian said, “Two? Is there one or two evil spirits in this room? Can anyone say it clearly?”

Lan Sizhui said, “One.”

Jin Ling also said, “One. The Hook Hand in the white room is not a real ferocious spirit, but a residual image of the dying scene that this woman created with her resentment.”

Lan Jingyi said, “Even if it’s a residual image, the eeriness hasn’t diminished at all!”

As they spoke, that face slowly moved towards the wooden door. The face was getting closer, and clearer, and more ferocious. Even if everyone knew that this was only a residual image, and that the iron hook with the Hook Hand’s remaining resentment had been refined, and this residual image would never actually pass through the door, there was always a chilling thought that lingered:

He’s been discovered!

If that unlucky thief happened to see this scene while peeking into the white room in the middle of the night, no wonder he would be scared to the point of heart attack.

That face came right up to less than a foot from the paper window, stayed there for a long while, then turned and walked briskly towards the chair.

Everyone breathed again in unison.

Inside, the Hook Hand walked back and forth in the room, the old wooden planks creaking under his feet. Outside, Jin Ling suddenly felt strange.

He said, “Ever since just now, there’s been one thing that’s been bothering me.”

Lan Sizhui said, “What thing?”

Jin Ling said, “The residual image of resentment must be the scene of this woman’s death, right. But, would a normal person be so calm when facing a serial killer, without making a sound at all? In other words,”

He said, “This woman is clearly conscious, so why didn’t she shout for help?”

Lan Jingyi said, “Was she scared silly?”

Jin Ling said, “Even if that was the case, she wouldn’t be completely silent. She wouldn’t even cry. Shouldn’t most women cry when they are extremely afraid?”

Lan Sizhui said, “Is her tongue still there?”

Jin Ling said, “There’s no blood at the corners of her mouth, so it should be there. And even if she didn’t have a tongue to speak clearly, she wouldn’t be unable to make any sound at all.”

Lan Jingyi, sandwiched between them, seemed like he was about to die, “Can you guys stop discussing such terrifying things in such calm tones next to me…”

One of the youths said, “Could it be because this inn is abandoned, or there’s no one else around? So she knows that yelling wouldn’t do any good, so she simply didn’t?”

Lan Jingyi, who could see the clearest, had something to say, “No way, look at this residual image, the furnishings in the room aren’t covered in dust, it’s clearly still in use. There can’t be no other people, or she wouldn’t be staying there.”

Jin Ling said, “It’s a good thing that you’re not completely beyond hope. Besides, whether or not there’s someone else around is one thing, and whether or not she would yell is another. Like being chased in the wilderness, even if you know that there won’t be a third person coming to save you, wouldn’t you still be so scared that you’d cry for help?”

Wei Wuxian clapped softly from the side, whispering, “Oh my god, worthy of being Sect Leader Jin.”

Jin Ling’s face flushed, angrily saying, “What are you doing, don’t distract me like that, okay!”

Wei Wuxian said, “If you get distracted like that, it shows you still need to train your focus. Quick, look, it seems like the Hook Hand is going to do something!”

Everyone quickly turned to look. They saw the Hook Hand take out a circle of hemp rope and put it around the woman’s neck, slowly tightening it.

The sound of tightening hemp rope!

So, this was what the White family owner was talking about, the source of the “squeaking” sounds in the white room every night.

The dozens of scars on the woman’s face were bleeding profusely from the pressure, but she still didn’t make a sound. Everyone watched anxiously, and someone couldn’t help but whisper, “Yell, call for people!”

But contrary to their expectations, the victim didn’t move, but the killer did. The rope suddenly loosened, and the Hook Hand reached behind him and pulled out a polished iron hook.

The group of youths outside the door were so anxious that their hair stood on end. They wished they could jump in and replace the woman and scream loudly, waking up the whole city. The Hook Hand’s back was blocking their view, and a hand was reaching forward. From where they were, they could only see the back of a hand on the armrest, and the veins on that hand suddenly popped out.

Even at this point, the woman still didn’t utter a single sound!

Jin Ling couldn’t help but start to wonder, “Is she mentally abnormal?”

“What do you mean by mentally abnormal?”

“Maybe just…stupid.”

“…”

Although calling someone stupid didn’t sound very polite, according to the situation, it seemed that this was the most likely scenario. Otherwise, if it was a normal person, how could they still be completely unresponsive at this time?

Lan Jingyi’s head ached from watching and he turned his face away. Wei Wuxian, however, whispered, “Watch carefully.”

Lan Jingyi looked pained, saying, “Senior, I…I really can’t watch anymore.”

Wei Wuxian said, “There are things a thousand times worse than this in the world, if you don’t even dare to face it, then there’s no point in talking about anything else.”

Hearing this, Lan Jingyi steeled himself and turned back, clenching his teeth, continuing to watch with a pained expression. But just at this moment, an unexpected change occurred –

The woman suddenly opened her mouth and bit the iron hook!

This bite shocked the group of youths outside the door to jump up.

And the Hook Hand inside also seemed to get a big shock, immediately retracting his hand, but upon pulling, he actually couldn’t pull the iron hook from between the woman’s teeth. Instead, the woman, along with the chair, pounced on him, and the iron hook that was originally meant to take someone else’s tongue, somehow sliced open his own lower abdomen!

The youths all exclaimed in a mess, almost all of them plastered against the door. Each of them wanted to poke their eyeballs through the window holes to see clearly. The Hook Hand, hurt and in pain, suddenly paused as if remembering something. His right hand grabbed straight at the woman’s chest, as if trying to rip her heart out. The woman rolled again with the chair, dodging this heart-gouging attack. With a ripping sound, the clothes on her chest were torn.

At this moment, the youths couldn’t care about the rules that required one to look away.

But to their astonishment, the “woman’s” chest was completely flat.

This was not a “woman”—this person was a man dressed as a woman!

The Hook Hand lunged forward, trying to strangle his neck with his bare hands, but forgot that the hook was still in the other person’s mouth. That person jerked his head to the side, and the iron hook instantly cut into his wrist. One person was trying his best to twist off the other’s neck, while the other was trying his best to draw the most blood, and for a moment, the two had reached a deadlock…

It wasn’t until the rooster crowed at dawn that the red light in the room disappeared, and the residual image finally faded away.

The group of youths surrounding the door of the white room were all stunned.

After a long time, Lan Jingyi said haltingly, “These, these two…”

In everyone’s heart, there was only one thought:

Neither of these two will have survived this…

They had never expected that the evil spirit that had been causing unrest in the White House for decades was not the Hook Hand, but the hero who had eliminated the Hook Hand.

Everyone discussed excitedly.

“I never thought, never thought that the Hook Hand was defeated like that…”

“Thinking about it, that seems like the only way, right? After all, the Hook Hand appeared and disappeared without a trace, no one knew where he actually was. If he didn’t pretend to be a woman to lure him out, there would be no way to catch him.”

“But it’s so dangerous!”

“It is dangerous. Look, this hero was caught by his trick and was tied up, which put him at a disadvantage right from the start. Otherwise, if the two had faced off directly, how would he be so disadvantaged!”

“Yeah, and he couldn’t call for anyone to help him. The Hook Hand had killed countless people, he was extremely brutal, and even if ordinary people were called in, they would most likely be walking into their death…”

“That’s why he refused to make a single sound!”

“Died together…”

“The legends didn’t mention this hero’s righteous act! It’s really incomprehensible.”

“That’s normal, compared to heroes, everyone finds the legends about serial killers more interesting.”

Jin Ling analyzed, “The deceased is unwilling to be reborn because of unfinished business. And the deceased with incomplete bodies are unwilling to be reborn because they haven’t found the missing part of their body. The root cause of why he’s haunting is this.”

Even an extra trinket that one carries for decades would be hard to let go of, let alone a piece of flesh in one’s mouth.

Lan Jingyi had already become completely respectful, “Then we must quickly find the tongue and burn it for him so he can be reborn!”

Everyone rubbed their fists, rising suddenly saying, “That’s right, how could we let such a hero die without a complete corpse!”

“Look, look, start from the burial mounds in the west of the city, the graveyards, the entire White House, and also the old house where the Hook Hand lived, don’t miss anything.”

The group of youths were full of energy, rushing out of the door. Before leaving, Jin Ling looked back at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian said, “What is it?”

During the discussion, Wei Wuxian had remained indifferent, not saying a word, causing Jin Ling to feel uneasy, suspecting that something was wrong. But after carefully thinking it through, he felt that he hadn’t missed anything, so he said, “It’s nothing.”

Wei Wuxian smiled, “If it’s nothing, then go look for it. Be patient.”

Then Jin Ling left with high spirits.

Several days later, he finally understood what Wei Wuxian meant by “be patient”.

Previously, the iron hook was found by Wei Wuxian with Lan Sizhui, which only took half an hour in total. But this time, Wei Wuxian didn’t intervene and let them slowly do it on their own, they searched for a full five days.

By the time Lan Jingyi jumped up holding something, everyone else was nearly exhausted.

However, although they had been messing around in the wild burial mounds, looking disheveled, with dirty clothes and body odor, they were very happy. Because after listening to their explanation, Wei Wuxian very seriously told them the truth: it was already amazing that they had found it in five days, that many cultivators would look for ten to fifteen days and end up giving up.

The group was extremely excited, gathered around the dead man’s tongue. It was said that things with malevolent energy would turn blue, but this thing was not just blue, it was practically black and blue, hard and rough to the touch, exuding malevolent energy and didn’t look like it had ever been a piece of human flesh. If not, it would have rotted a long time ago.

After some rituals, they burned the tongue, and it seemed that a major event was finally over.

After accomplishing this much, they should be at peace.

So, Jin Ling was quite satisfied with this night-hunt.

Who would have known that before he was satisfied for even a few days, the White family owner came to Golden Carp Tower again.

It turned out that after burning the hero’s tongue, it was indeed peaceful for two days. But, it was only two days.

On the third night, strange noises actually came out of the white room again, and they were getting more rampant every day. By the fifth night, the entire White House was completely unable to sleep.

This time, it was much more fierce than before. The strange noises were neither the tightening of hemp ropes nor the cutting of flesh – they turned into human sounds!

According to the White family owner, the sound was very hoarse, as if using a tongue that hadn’t been used for many years, the words were unclear, but it was definitely a man screaming miserably.

After screaming, he would cry, mournful and tragic, first weak, then gradually louder, until finally, he was almost hysterical. It was very pitiful, and very terrifying. Not only the White House, but people could hear it from three blocks away from the White House, and the pedestrians were terrified and their souls were scattered.

Jin Ling was also very troubled. Near the end of the year, he was too busy to handle it personally, so he sent a few disciples to investigate. They reported back that besides the screaming being truly miserable, there weren’t any other harmful effects.

Disturbing the peace doesn’t count.

When handing in the night-hunt report, Lan Sizhui told Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian about this matter. After listening, Wei Wuxian took a piece of pastry from Lan Wangji’s desk and ate it, saying, “Oh, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Lan Sizhui said, “Screaming like that and there’s nothing to worry about…?” Logically speaking, after resolving their obsession, the souls of the deceased should be sent to be reborn.”

Wei Wuxian said, “It is true that resolving an obsession can send souls to be reborn. However, have you thought that maybe that hero’s real obsession wasn’t to find his tongue to be reborn?”

Lan Jingyi finally got an “A”, and thinking that he didn’t have to copy anymore, was secretly tearing up with joy at the side. At this moment, he couldn’t help but say, “Then what is it? Is it just howling so that others can’t sleep every night?”

Unexpectedly, Wei Wuxian nodded, “That’s exactly it.”

Lan Sizhui was stunned, “Senior Wei, what does this mean?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Earlier, you all hypothesized that this hero didn’t want to endanger the lives of innocent bystanders. That’s why he tried his best to endure when being tortured by the Hook Hand, and wouldn’t make a sound, right?”

Lan Sizhui sat upright, saying, “That’s right. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Wei Wuxian said, “It’s not that it’s wrong, but I’ll ask you all a question—if there was a serial killer, waving a knife around in front of you, drawing your blood, cutting your face, choking your neck, hooking your tongue, wouldn’t it be scary? Wouldn’t you be afraid? Wouldn’t you want to cry?”

Lan Jingyi thought about it, his face paled, saying, “Help me!”

Lan Sizhui said righteously, “The sect rules state, when facing danger…”

Wei Wuxian, “Sizhui, don’t pull other things on me, I’m asking you if you’d be scared, just tell me.”

Lan Sizhui’s face flushed, and he straightened his back even more, saying, “Sizhui would not—”

Wei Wuxian: “Not?”

Lan Sizhui said honestly, “Cannot say that I’m not afraid. Cough.”

After speaking, he glanced nervously at Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian was delighted, “Why are you so shy? When people are in pain and fear, they are afraid, they want people to come to their aid, they want to shout, they want to cry, isn’t that just human nature? Isn’t that so? Hanguang-Jun, look at your Sizhui, afraid of getting punished by you, he’s secretly looking at you. You quickly say ‘yes’. If you say ‘yes’, then you also agree with my point of view, and won’t punish him.”

He nudged Lan Wangji’s stomach a few times with his elbow while he was sitting upright, reviewing the night hunt reports. Lan Wangji said without changing his expression, “Yes.”

After speaking, he wrapped his arms around his waist, locking him tightly, not allowing him to move around, and continued to review the reports that were handed in.

Lan Sizhui’s face was even redder.

Wei Wuxian, after struggling twice to no avail, maintained the position and continued to say seriously to Lan Sizhui, “So, forcing oneself to not make a sound is indeed heroic, but it goes against human nature, and that’s the truth.”

Lan Sizhui tried hard to ignore his position, thinking about it, he felt slightly sympathetic towards the hero.

Wei Wuxian said, “Is Jin Ling still bothered by this?”

Lan Jingyi said, “Yeah, Grand…uh, Young Master Jin doesn’t know what exactly the problem is.”

Lan Sizhui said, “Then, in that case, how should we handle such an evil spirit?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Let him yell.”

“…”

Lan Sizhui said, “Just, let him yell?”

Wei Wuxian said, “Yes. After yelling enough, he’ll naturally leave.”

Lan Sizhui’s sympathy immediately went half to the people of the White House.

Fortunately, although the hero had frustration and grievances, he had no intention of harming people. The strange sounds from the white room continued for several months before gradually ceasing. It must be that the hero finally shouted enough from his previous life, went to be reborn satisfied.

But the people in the White House suffered, tossed and turned in pain for a long time, and couldn’t sleep at night. And the white room once again gained notoriety.