Li Yang snapped, "Can you stop making those creepy gestures?"
Tong Suo shrugged. "Lin Xia's maternal instincts infected me in the vision. I couldn't help it."
"Wait," I said. "If Lin Xia had such a strong resolve to raise her child alone, why would she commit suicide? A double loss—mother and child."
"Only I can answer that," Li Yang said bitterly.
Tong Suo asked, "What did you see in your vision?"
Li Yang's expression was odd. After a long pause, he said, "I think I saw Ma Danlong."
"You saw Ma Danlong? What happened?" we asked eagerly.
He sighed, stood, and walked to the balcony, gazing into the dark night through the window.
He spoke softly. It was nighttime, though the exact location was unclear. He was in a courtyard surrounded by dilapidated high-rises, each about six or seven stories, with broken windows letting in drafts—clearly abandoned.
The night was deep, with howling black winds like ghostly wails. The only light came from a round moon overhead, making the place feel like a ghostly realm.
He wondered, "Where is this?" It didn't seem like a city—urban land was too valuable to leave such a large area of rundown buildings unused. Nor did it feel like a rural town, lacking any rustic charm, only exuding urban decay.
As he pondered, a shadowy figure beckoned from a building's doorway.
The figure was blurry, its face unclear, but instinct suggested it was a man. Without much thought, he walked toward it.
The place was pitch-black, the ground littered with debris, making each step treacherous.
Though the distance seemed short, it took ten minutes of stumbling in the dark to reach the entrance. In the faint moonlight, he saw the man.
He was short, maybe 1.7 meters, wearing a black jacket and tattered jeans, chubby with an oddly approachable vibe.
Li Yang said, "I got a jolt. My first thought was Ma Danlong. His appearance matched Peng Gang's description perfectly, and the eerie feeling was spot-on."
Before he could act, "he" spoke uncontrollably: "I'm here. Did ta send you?"
"Yes, ta told me to wait for you," Ma Danlong replied gently, his smile unsettlingly creepy.
The "ta" in their conversation remained unidentified; for clarity, we'll use pinyin for now.
They entered the dilapidated building, climbing the stairs.
Li Yang realized this wasn't real—it felt like a dream. He was attached to someone else, unable to control their actions, only experiencing them.
The building was empty and lifeless, corridors lined with doorless rooms like deep black holes. It felt like a place ravaged by a massive fire, leaving only a hollow shell, with no trace of habitation. Exposed rebar and concrete peeked through, and looking down from the stair's edge, the darkness was terrifyingly devoid of light.
They climbed to the top floor—seventh or eighth, Li Yang wasn't sure, too caught up to notice. The person he was attached to was gripped by intense anxiety, infecting him with unease.
Ma Danlong led them down the top-floor corridor to a room at the end. Inside, it was bare, with peeling walls exposing raw cement, and the windows and doors long gone, leaving dark voids.
In the room's center was a table with two chairs. On it lay a planchette map covered in mysterious text, with an ancient copper coin at its center. Eight white candles were placed around the table in the eight cardinal directions, flickering faintly.
Stranger still was a chipped bowl at the table's edge, adorned with ancient patterns, looking centuries old. A fine wolf-hair brush rested on it.
Most bizarrely, a cage on the floor held a large rooster, flapping its wings wildly.
Ma Danlong gestured for them to sit. Li Yang, through the person, sat and saw their hands—delicate, pale, female hands with a ring on the left ring finger.
It was a married woman. He thought, "Could this be Lin Xia's experience?"
Ma Danlong asked kindly, "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Lin Xia replied through Li Yang.
Ma Danlong opened the cage, grabbed the rooster, and with one hand on its head and another on its body, snapped its neck. The bird didn't even squawk as blood poured into the chipped bowl.
Li Yang watched, horrified, as the scene turned gruesome.
Ma Danlong tossed the dead bird out the window, sat down, picked up the brush, dipped it in the blood, and began writing a talisman on yellow paper.
Whether it was an illusion or psychological effect, as he started writing, the room's temperature dropped sharply. A chilling breeze blew in from the window, raising goosebumps.
Clouds obscured the moon, and the howling wind grew shrill. The room felt like a boat in a stormy sea, creaking as if it might collapse.
Ma Danlong finished the talisman. As he drew the final stroke, it briefly glowed before the eerie atmosphere seemed to be sucked into it like a black hole.
Holding the talisman's top, the paper fluttered without wind, its symbols dancing like spirits.
He placed the talisman on the planchette map. "Put your right index finger on the coin," he said softly.
Li Yang, through Lin Xia, complied.
"Now you can ask."
Lin Xia hesitated before asking, "Immortal Lady, does Guan Feng love me?"
The coin moved slowly, stopping on "no." Lin Xia's eyes reddened.
"But I'm carrying his child. I love him so much—why doesn't he love me? Why?" she sobbed.
Li Yang felt her overwhelming grief, like arrows piercing her heart.
After sobbing, she asked, "Does he have someone else he loves?"
The coin moved to "yes."
Her lips trembled. "If he doesn't love me… why did he… do that with me?"
The question was too raw, too human. Even the Immortal Lady didn't know how to answer; the coin stayed still.
Lin Xia gasped, "How can I win his heart back?"
The coin moved, forming a sentence: "Let him go to hell with you."
Tears streamed down her face. "Will he love me then?"
The coin moved to "yes."
"What about my child?"
The coin formed four words: "Reunion in the underworld."
Lin Xia was about to ask more when the eight candles went out with a "whoosh," plunging the room into darkness.
"She's gone," Ma Danlong said softly.
Li Yang realized the "ta" they'd mentioned was the Immortal Lady.
Ma Danlong looked at the sobbing Lin Xia. "Life is full of eight sufferings. Living is suffering. Shed this mortal coil, and you'll find eternal happiness."
Lin Xia looked up, her resolve clear despite Li Yang not seeing her face. "I can die, but you must ensure Guan Feng dies with me. I want to see him in the underworld."
Ma Danlong's smile was chilling. "I'll go home with you to set up the ritual. Don't worry, I'll make sure you reunite in the underworld."
Lin Xia touched her belly. "Child, you'll meet your father soon."
The scene was a twisted mix of gore and tenderness, love and eeriness. Li Yang, overwhelmed by her complex emotions, felt a chill and nausea, wanting to drink and vomit.