Seeing the handprint made of black oil ash, I got goosebumps all over my body. I quickly turned on the ceiling light in the bathroom and carefully checked the situation.
What I saw was astonishing. Not only was there black oil ash on the spherical doorknob, but there were also oil ash footprints on the floor, showing signs of someone walking back and forth.
I quickly called Huang Po, and we checked the situation in the room jointly.
There were no black oil ash footprints in the living room or the other rooms. All the footprints were concentrated in the bathroom, within the short distance from the sink to the door.
Besides, there was no black oil ash anywhere else in the room. It was as if the female corpse had appeared out of thin air and then disappeared without a trace.
There were faint black ash footprints on the sink, and there was also a thin layer of black oil ash on the mirror.
Huang Po and I looked at each other in dismay. Finally, we came to a strange and terrifying conclusion.
It was very likely that the female corpse came out of the mirror. While Huang Po and I were asleep, she climbed out of the bathroom mirror. She opened the bathroom door, did God knows what, and then climbed back into the mirror.
This conclusion was quite absurd. Even the screenwriters of those cheesy domestic supernatural dramas wouldn't dare to come up with such a plot. However, according to the situation in the room, this was the only possibility.
Previously, there were also words written in black oil ash on the mirror in the five - star hotel. For the female corpse, glass might be as easy to penetrate as water.
Moreover, in many supernatural stories, there is supposed to be another world behind the mirror, but ordinary people can't enter it.
We still haven't figured out whether this charred female corpse that escaped halfway through the burning is a ghost or just a corpse.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if she could climb in and out of the mirror. This thing is just too creepy.
The only thing we can be sure of is that whenever she appears, she brings this black oil ash with her.
"What the hell should we do? This thing's been hounding us. Quick, think! Do we have any other aces up our sleeves?" I was really panicked.
In the past few days, we've tried every method we could think of. We went to Dashan Temple to burn incense and pray to the Buddha, and we went to see a witch who could do Walking in the Underworld. But all our hopes turned into despair.
I'm totally out of ideas. Huang Po's the only one I can pin my hopes on. He's been working at the funeral parlor longer than me and has heard all sorts of strange stories. Maybe he has a solution.
"Maybe we should go to our boss and ask for help. Maybe, just like in the novels, there's a special department for dealing with supernatural stuff," Huang Po suggested.
"Go to the boss? Oh, right! Didn't the guy in the monitoring room say he'd report the situation that day? Why hasn't there been any follow - up?" I suddenly realized a problem. The funeral parlor hadn't taken any action regarding the escape of the female corpse.
After checking the surveillance video of the female corpse's escape that day, the funeral parlor should have investigated it thoroughly. After all, the disappearance of a body is, for a funeral parlor, a serious blunder.
But since then, no one in the work group has ever mentioned this matter. It's as if it never happened.
Huang Po and I were so busy looking for ways to save our lives that we didn't ask about it. Now it seems that the boss wants to downplay this matter completely.
Instead of pursuing the escaped female corpse, they decided to suppress the news of this incident completely.
As for the issue of the missing ashes, it was actually quite easy to handle.
Family members can determine if the remains are misidentified through appearance or DNA testing, but once the remains are cremated into ashes, who can tell which ashes belong to whom?
Even DNA testing couldn't tell them apart. Moreover, the family members wouldn't spend money on such tests. Only the police would go to such great lengths for the sake of solving a case.
Actually, there is an unwritten rule in the funeral parlor that outsiders don't know about.
That is, not all of the deceased's ashes are put into the urn. Most of these containers are designed with an average capacity.
People's body shapes vary in height, weight, and build. Especially the size of the bones would affect the amount of ashes produced.
If the urn is too large, some family members might find only a small amount of ashes inside after receiving it. Since they don't understand the reason, they would suspect that the funeral parlor had "scattered the ashes away" and conflicts would occur.
After experiencing many such conflicts, the funeral parlor made an adjustment. They standardized the urn capacities into several sizes, distinguishing between adult and child urns.
When large - sized corpses are cremated, the excess ashes that can't fit into the urns are collected and later thrown away as garbage.
It's easy to scoop up some of these excess ashes to fill an urn and give the family an explanation.
By then, as long as the funeral parlor staff doesn't say anything, the family members who receive the urns naturally won't ask any questions.
Everything will be fine and dandy. Who would care if a female corpse is causing trouble outside?
If I were the leader, I'd definitely do the same. Who'd go looking for trouble dealing with something so creepy?
The current problem is that everyone else is okay, but the female corpse is after me. No matter where I run, she can find me. She even almost strangled me in my dream. I have to find a way to save myself.
Huang Po frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I can't come up with a solution right now. Let's go have a meal and discuss it while eating. We need to be well - fed to have the strength to deal with that thing."
I had no choice but to agree.
The small restaurant nearby that we often go to was extremely busy today. We waited ages before finally finding a spot to sit and chow down.
"Pizi, help me think of other ways to deal with this thing. I'm afraid I won't wake up after going to sleep tonight."
"All I know are those folk remedies, like black dog's blood and urine of an underage boy. Or we could get a master to help. The problem is, we can't find a master now. And even if we did, who can guarantee that they'd be more powerful than that witch?"
That's true. That witch was quite famous in the local area. She could practice Walking in the Underworld and have one's fortune told. In order to help me figure out what kind of trouble I'd gotten into, she lost her life.
What's even scarier is that the statue she worshipped shattered into pieces after being pointed at. The power of that shadow was truly terrifying.
You know, the statues worshipped by practitioners of Walking in the Underworld are either well - cultivated family spirits or spiritual beings that have absorbed a lot of incense.
That statue had a fierce appearance and held a weapon. It was definitely inclined towards combat. However, even so, it was no match for that shadow.
What can we do to resist this kind of power? Can the folk remedies we know handle it?
I ate silently. The once delicious food now tasted as insipid as chewing wax in my mouth.
After finally finishing our meal, Huang Po and I got up to leave, and immediately a diner sat down to order food.
Looking at the crowded snack bar, I suddenly got an idea: "Pizi, I remember the old employees said that when there are more people, the yang energy is strong and can ward off evil, right?"
"That's what they say," Huang Po nodded immediately.
"Then let's find a lively place tonight. I'm afraid if I go back to sleep, I won't even make it through tonight. We'll think of other ways tomorrow."
"Okay."
This isn't a joke. I'm really scared that if I go back to sleep, I'll get strangled in my dream.
But where should we go to find a place that's crowded and lively at night?
Hearing my question, Huang Po immediately flashed a sly smile: "I'll take you to a great place to have a blast and make you feel awesome tonight."