Chapter 286 Ghost on A Rainy Day 3
"Miss Zhuang, did the spirit disturb you last night?" Ye Shaoyang had a sudden thought and asked her this.
"No. Since you came, the feeling of being peeped on by someone has disappeared. I can finally have a good night's sleep again. Thank you so much, Mr. Ye." Zhuang Yuning said gratefully.
Ye Shaoyang asked for her Protection Talisman and sensed it with his Gang Qi. The Spirit Qi inside had thickened. The spirit came last night! It seemed like it had not given up on weakening the power in the Protection Talisman. Although the spirit's action shocked him, he was not worried as the matter had basically gone according to his plan.
However, he did not reveal his findings to Zhuang Yuning. He did not want to frighten her. He spoke to her while looking at the thunderstorm outside, "The Yin Qi is stronger during a rainy day. You'd better be careful tonight." Then, he grasped her wrist.
"Mr. Ye, what…." Zhuang Yuning jumped with a start. Ye Shaoyang said nothing and reached out for a cinnabar pen from his belt and drew a Thunder Curse on her palm.
Only then did Zhuang Yuning understand his intentions. A strange feeling appeared in her heart when she looked at his serious look as she felt the temperature of his palm.
"I drew a Thunder Curse on your palm. In times of emergency, you can blow at the curse and smack the spirit. The curse will repel it and protect you temporarily. Remember, don't wash it off."
Zhuang Yuning opened her palm and stared at the Taiji symbol and asked curiously, "Blow at the curse? Why?"
"The Yang Qi in your blow will activate the curse. Bear in mind, you can only use it three times as the Yang Qi is produced by the three mortal lamps in a human. Use it only when it is really critical."
"What would happen after three times of use?" asked Zhuang Yuning.
Ye Shaoyang smiled, "I will be here before you use up the curse."
The rain stopped after two hours. The sky was still murky; it was a bad weather for an outing. So, the three decided to stay at home. Zhuang Yuning played the piano. Although Ye Shaoyang did not understand music, he could sense frustration and sadness through the music; he did not know if it was the song or her emotions expressed in the melody.
After eating dinner, Ye Shaoyang went back to his bedroom and drew more talisman papers until midnight. Suddenly, the room blacked out. A power outage! Ye Shaoyang was started. Immediately, he ran out to the balcony to check on other villas. He felt relieved when he saw the surroundings were pitch-dark; he concluded that a power failure in the electricity network had occurred after the thunderstorm. Knowing that people would not repair it this late at night, he shut the windows and went to sleep.
It rained heavily after half an hour of his sleep.
Bang! Thunder woke Zhuang Yuning. She sat up and reached out for her phone. It was half-past twelve. Outside, it was raining and blowing hard.
Power cut?
Zhuang Yuning reached out for the television remote control from her bedhead and tried to switch on the television to test if it was a power cut or merely a problem with the light bulb. The television switched on and displayed a snowy blank screen.
Zhuang Yuning was puzzled, Poor signal? But her television used the internet; it was not a CCTV or an old fashion television that would display the snowy type of blank screen when it had a poor signal.
While she was stunned by the screen, it slowly changed into an image. She heaved a sigh. She was wide awake now, so she leaned against the bedhead, waiting for the image to turn clearer:
It was a black and white image. A dark sky. A group of people carried a lantern and walked on a mountain road. The video was captured from far and had low resolution, so Zhuang Yuning could only differentiate their genders through their body figures and the length of their hair.
Some of them were playing with a suonlike musical instrument. The mood of the music was almost funeral, which horrified Zhuang Yuning. She simply changed channels at once, but it was still a black and white image. It looked like the exact same group of people carrying a coffin and preparing to bury it. Again, she switched to the next channel.
The screen changed to an old, broken house. A long-haired woman sat on a small bench. She was carrying a baby in her arms. She held a needle as big as an awl, suturing the face of the baby.
The room was dimly lit and due to the low resolution, Zhuang Yuning could not see the face of the baby clearly. She suspected that the baby was a doll. The video kept playing for quite a long moment before Zhuang Yuning sensed that something was wrong and changed to a next channel. However, the screen did not change no matter what she pressed; nothing happened even when she clicked the power button.
What happened?
Zhuang Yuning stared at the screen and realized that there was no TV symbol.
She hurried to the TV and tried to remove the plug. When she looked at the socket, she was stupefied. She blankly stared at the empty socket and the plug that was hanging free from the back of the TV.
The TV was unplugged!
Zhuang Yuning slowly retreated and fell onto the bed. Her face appeared expressionless as she gazed at the screen. Now the image had drawn closer, only focusing on the baby doll. It was the face of a young boy; his eyes were shut, and scars and sutured wounds covered his face.
The black suture thread resembled a centipede resting on its pale skin.
The lady held the same needle, piercing the doll's face again, and again to close the wound. As the image grew closer, the lady turned to face the screen, lifting up her long hair and smiling to Zhuang Yuning. No way! She looked exactly as Zhuang Yuning! Or rather, it was her face!
Before Zhuang Yuning could react, the baby doll opened its eyes. Its pair of blood-tinged eyes glared at her. It stretched its mouth open widely and laughed in a spooky manner.
The laughter not only sounded from the TV, but also from behind her. Turning away from the TV quickly, she saw a pale-looking boy standing in the rain, outside her window hammering the glass with its both hands.
"Help!!"
Zhuang Yuning screamed involuntarily. She retreated as the pale-looking boy extended its arm and opened the window. The Spirit Repelling Bell shook vigorously and rang out loud once the boy squeezed in and touched the red thread. The laughter disappeared, the TV turned off, and the room returned to pitch-black darkness.
It was as though nothing had happened.