Because we stayed in the mountains for a day, the people from the astronomy club had already gone we couldn’t get a ride, we had to charter a car to go back to school. My friend looked very upset.
On the way back to school, I saw expressions of confusion, questioning, and disbelief on everyone's face. I knew they felt something was wrong, but they couldn't tell what exactly was wrong.
It was not until the senior with the chicken-coop hair counted the supplies that he realized that something was missing.
"Where's our tent?"
The tents and equipment we borrowed from the astronomy club were supposed to be in a bag that we took turns carrying, but now they were gone.
It seems that when Sister Liu hypnotized them to walk down the mountain by themselves, she didn't let them take it with them, perhaps because she thought it would be troublesome.
Chu Yucheng tried to smooth things over without changing his expression: "Have you forgotten that we temporarily discarded all those things when we got lost because the load was too heavy!"
The senior with the messy hair scratched his head and looked at me in disbelief: "In order to reduce the weight, we threw away the tent and other things?"
I nodded at him despite feeling guilty.
The senior with messy hair pulled his already messy hair, making it even more messy.
"What should we do? We borrowed those things from others!" The senior with chicken-coated hair looked as if the sky had fallen. "It's over. Those stingy people in the Astronomy Club are going to give me a good beating."
I still remember how much effort the senior with the chicken-coated hair put in to borrow those tents.
"I even promised them that we would return it in good condition!"
I breathed a sigh of relief, as long as I no longer doubted that there was something wrong with my memory.
Chu Yucheng spoke up: "It's okay. I was the one who suggested giving up the tent, so naturally I will bear the responsibility."
The senior with messy hair, whose face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, finally smiled. While saying "I'm so sorry", he took out his mobile phone to collect the payment code.
Seeing this greedy look, I feel a little embarrassed.
"Fortunately, we only lost the tent and didn't forget the camera." The senior with the messy hair flipped through the camera and asked another question:
"Hey, when was this pair of short boots taken? Why don't I have any recollection of it at all?" The senior with messy hair started to feel confused again as he flipped through the photo album.
But he really couldn't figure it out. He thought about it all the way until he was about to reach the school. He slapped his forehead and exclaimed: "We must have encountered a ghost!"
This sentence scared the driver so much that he slammed on the brakes.
At the same time, booing sounds were heard in the carriage.
Xu Gao even slapped him twice.
The senior with the chicken-coop hair complained: "I don't have any recollection of taking these photos. This boot is even more strange. How could there be such a pair of brand new shoes in the wilderness? If this is not a ghost, what else could it be?"
This issue was not discussed to a conclusion because we had already arrived at the school gate and everyone was in a hurry to go back to the dormitory to wash up and rest.
……
I heard that later, Jiwotou posted these photos on the Internet, and many people who had climbed the mountain like us had an impression of it and said they remembered seeing this shoe.
Of course, there are also many people who left malicious comments under the post such as “Photoshop to attract attention” and “It’s a different era now and you’re still believing in feudal superstition”.
Of course, this is all for later.
There was no one in the dormitory, so I closed the door and walked into the bathroom. I looked at the mirror in the bathroom and my face darkened.
"Why don't you dare to see Taoist Master Chen?"
I'm talking to the demon inside me.
No voice answered me.
"I know you are here, don't play dead."
"If you don't pay attention to me anymore, I will tell Master Chen about you being in my body."
I saw that my reflection in the mirror suddenly changed and my eyes became contemptuous.
"Why shouldn't I be afraid to meet him? I just haven't figured out how to meet him yet."
Perhaps because of my experience in his life, it is difficult for me to simply regard him as an evil ghost who harms people's lives. Because I know that he will not take my body for the time being, I am less vigilant.
I raised my eyebrows: "You can hide for a while, but not forever. You can't stay in my body forever. Besides, Taoist Chen is now a staff member of the underworld. Unless you just disappear like this, you will eventually meet him."
Ou Bingjun was silent for a long time, then said, "I can't see him."
Me: “Why?”
"Because...he is a Taoist priest."
I don't understand: "Taoists are not monks. They can also marry and have children!"
Ou Bingjun was anxious: "What are you talking about!"
"Hey, you're still shy?" I tested.
"No." Ou Bingjun looked a little lonely: "I... have hurt people."
I thought of the confusing formation on the mountain.
The person in the mirror lowered his head slightly, lowered his eyes and said to himself:
"The formation I set up is not for saving, but for screening."
"The Yin-gathering area on the mountain is so dense that anyone who enters it basically has no chance of coming out alive. Some of those who go up the mountain are just curious and want to try climbing at night, while some are determined to reach the summit."
"Once you reach that place where ghosts gather, you will definitely be devoured by the lonely ghosts there."
"Instead of feeding those ghosts, it is better to let them be devoured by me to increase my strength."
"So I set up that formation on the only way to get there. First to confuse them, then to scare them. If they still have no intention of turning around and leaving, then I will..."
He didn't say anything more, but I understood what he meant.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to cultivate to this level in just 60 years."
I now fully understand what he means by screening.
I don't know how to comment on this matter.
No matter how unforgivable his evil deeds were, if it weren't for Ou Bingjun, none of those people would have survived.
But he didn't do anything wrong, and none of those people would have died.
I didn't know what to say, so I just kept silent.
"I can't see him." Ou Bingjun repeated word by word.
"…There is no way to make up for what you have done, but you still have to meet him."
“At least let me make amends…” I saw the person in the mirror sighing, “But I don’t know how I can make amends.”
I thought about it and said, "There is no way for the dead to come back, but at least you can do something good."
Ou Bingjun raised his eyes again and asked, "What's your idea?"
"Work for me." I suddenly thought of the evil ghosts that were suppressed by the formation in the small teahouse.
Before, they forbad me to empathize with those evil spirits because they were afraid that my body would be taken away by them.
But if Ou Bingjun were with me, things would be different.
He is in my body, how can I allow anything else to take over my body?
"If you can help me resolve the obsession of these ghosts, you will be rewarded with points. These points will be divided equally between me, Taoist Chen, and Sister Liu. If you resolve one evil ghost, you can help Taoist Chen earn at least tens of thousands of points."
I saw Ou Bingjun's eyes, which instantly became bright.
I know that this matter is probably not a big problem.
I secretly sighed, no matter how powerful a ghost you are, when you come to real life, you still have to work! (End of this chapter)
