CH 24

Through her perspective, Lu Yingjiu also saw the details of those masks.

Every inch of the texture was extremely delicate, like a real person’s skin, with a sense of luster coming out of it, and a bit of fleshy red and warm orange. If one looked more closely, the capillaries in the skin and the fine hairs on the cheeks could be seen.

It’s impossible for a mask made out of animal skin to have this texture!

Chen Yanyan was terrified for a moment, and said, “These masks are made of real human skin!”

“Ah?!” Ke Yu’s hands trembled again, looking around carefully, every mask seemed to be smirking!

The two became frightened and ran forward desperately. The light of the flashlight swayed in the corridor, and the masks seemed oncoming. 

Lu Yingjiu’s face was serious.

-As early as when he saw the faces of those anchors being taken away, he wondered whether the sheep ghosts might have something to do with the Chen family’s masks. But Lu Yingjiu really didn’t expect that the Chen family would dare to continue doing this kind of thing.

Chen Yanyan and Ke Yu were still running away in desperation.

Fortunately, this time the ghost hitting the wall seemed to have disappeared, after a certain moment , the masks also disappeared, and the corridor became a normal corridor.

They ran out of breath, and saw the entrance of a room far ahead.

The door sign says [Slaughter Hall].

There were no windows, and the door was ajar.

They absolutely dared not go back to the mask, there was no other choice but this room.

Chen Yanyan and Ke Yu stopped, panted heavily, and looked at each other. Ke Yu shone the light from the flashlight and mustered up the courage to open the door.

Squeak–

After being illuminated by the light, there were several sheep hanging on the meat hooks, which had been bled out and cut open in the middle. Their flesh was bright red, very fresh, and seemed to be still with temperature.

But this slaughterhouse has been abandoned for so long, how can there still be freshly slaughtered sheep?

Chen Yanyan grasped Ke Yu’s hand tightly, squinting her eyes to look carefully.

The skin on them also looked like human skin. The skin was also wriggling slightly, as if…slowly drawing blood.

On the other end, Lu Yingjiu suddenly realized, “I know how those sheep ghosts got here!”

“How?” Jing Xian looked at him.

“After pasting the talisman paper, if the human skin is not further processed immediately, it will quickly rot. If they are temporarily pasted on the flesh and blood, this process can be eased.” Lu Yingjiu said, “They should have pasted the human skin on the sheep’s body to preserve it. Over time, Yin Qi accumulated, leading to the sheep ghosts we saw.”

Jing Xian said, “In other words, this slaughterhouse is just a cover for the Chen family, and they are still producing human skin masks.”

However, Lu Yingjiu shook his head lightly, “I can’t make this conclusion now. I have contacted many members of the Chen family, and most of them are extremely bottom-lined. It cannot be ruled out that some people from the Chen family are doing this kind of thing in private.”

Jing Xian responded, however he didn’t believe much. He thought to himself that those so-called exorcist families were really sanctimonious, and they were no different from that Green Lantern Association. To be precise, his overall perception of ghost exorcists was not very good.

……….Of course, Lu Yingjiu was obviously an exception.

How perfect he looks!

His wife is awesome! Can fight and is smart!

Lu Yingjiu was thinking seriously, but when he turned around, he saw Jing Xian staring at him with piercing eyes, as if a large canine had found its long-lost cat, and be full of joy and appreciation.

Lu Yingjiu:?

He subconsciously took half a step back.

Click!

In the memory, those sheeps fell directly from the meat hook and hit the ground.

Then they stood up slowly.

The dissected chest seemed to be pulled together by invisible hands, and then stitched together with fine needles and threads. The skin and flesh connected and became intact and all had a human skin mask over their faces. The human face, combined with the bestial body, created something akin to the uncanny valley effect, enough to scare anyone out of their wits.

(T/n: The term “uncanny valley” is used to describe humans’ rejection of robots that resemble them to a certain degree.)

Amidst Chen Yanyan’s screams, the sheep grew taller and gradually turned into a two-legged sheep ghost.

The movements of the sheep ghost were very fast. Chen Yanyan only felt a chill in front of her forehead, its hooves stained with blood and water stepped down with a strong wind!

However, the talisman hanging on Chen Yanyan’s chest flickered.

The talisman used by the Chen family was so powerful that it directly shocked the sheep ghosts back several steps.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ke Yu pulled Chen Yanyan and turned around and ran wildly.

In the desperate situation, exploded with power to desperately flee, they unexpectedly were able to rush out: The exit is ahead!

Ke Yu slammed the door open, and the sun poured in!

His vision became so white that Lu Yingjiu couldn’t see anything clearly.

This piece of white light lasted for a long time.

After a few seconds, he felt a warmth in his hands.

It was Jing Xian who took his hand with a little strength, which probably meant: I’m still by your side.

Lu Yingjiu actually knew this, but he let Jingxian pull him until his vision returned to normal.

The two of them were back in the corridor again, standing in front of the mirror.

It’s just that it was different from before, the walls of this corridor were densely covered with human skin masks.

It must be the same corridor Chen Yanyan and Ke Yu went through.

Lu Yingjiu simply wrapped the talisman paper around his hands, and gently took off a mask from the wall.

Hiss—

When the mask was peeled off, it made a subtle sound, and then it dangled lightly in his hand.

As thin as a cicada’s wings, very realistic.

It was incredibly thin, and its wrinkles and damages did not affect its delicacy. From the rough outline, it could be seen that it was a girl’s face.

Lu Yingjiu’s expression froze slightly.

It’s actually made of human skin.

He lifted the mask up a little bit, facing the firelight, the human skin showed a warm translucent feeling, as if fresh blood was still flowing in it.

It had to be said that the finished product made of human skin was completely different. Compared with other masks, the tactility and realism were very obvious. No wonder a human skin mask was priceless.

Jing Xian looked towards the end of the deep corridor and asked, “Go forward?”

“En. Wait for me.” Lu Yingjiu quickly took off another five or six masks. These were all powerful pieces of evidence, and if brought out, it would definitely cause an uproar.

Whoever participated in the production of the mask would definitely be held accountable.

After Lu Yingjiu carefully wrapped the masks with talisman papers, they walked in the corridor one after the other.

There was dead silence, and only the sound of footsteps echoed.

Lu Yingjiu gave Xiao Li and Chen Yanyan talismans, since he didn’t feel any reaction from the talismans in the slightest, it proved that the two were safe. He didn’t have to worry about it for now, as long as they meet up as soon as possible.

As he walked, Lu Yingjiu’s hair swayed slightly.

There was a breeze.

There was moving air, perhaps it meant that they were coming to an end.

However, in the next second, a change occurred!

All the masks on the wall trembled in the wind, and a few cockroaches crawled across the wall and fled in a panic.

Hiss…

Hiss—

Hiss…

A piece of human skin mask peeled off the wall and flew up out of thin air!

The facial features of the faces were distorted, and they were all laughing strangely. They were neatly arranged in the air, flying and circling around the two of them, like a flock of frantic butterflies. Lu Yingjiu raised his hand, fire exploded, the human skin was roasted until it sizzled, and the pungent smell of burning immediately permeated the air.

After the encirclement loosened a little, they saw a sheep standing blankly at the end of the corridor. A white goat, about half the height of a man, stared at them with horizontal pupils.

Two metal meat hooks pierced its spine, and blood was gushing out.

“Baa—” it called.

Then it split down in the middle.

It appeared as if its body was cut open by some sharp blade. Its body was not filled with bright red flesh and blood, but countless pieces of human skin mask gushing out!

Just like before, the masks flew in the air in a frenzy. This time, they stacked on top of each other, one by one upwards, and turned back into a sheep in the blink of an eye.

It’s just that this sheep had faces all over its body, and every face was smiling.

Yin Qi surged like a landslide of tidal waves, the temperature dropped below 0 degrees, and the strong wind lifted their clothes. Judging by this intensity, it must be a vicious ghost!

This was the one that’s been possessing Chen Yanyan! The one that’s haunting her for many years!

Lu Yingjiu exhaled white fog from his mouth, and with a talisman in one hand and a dagger in the other, a little black beast rolled around at his feet, showing its fangs.

Afterwards….

The clear knife light pierced the darkness!

The light of the knife spanned the air, like a flying swallow cutting through the rain curtain, it was so fast that it was unbelievable.

The hand raised the knife and fell, accompanied by the sound of leather cutting, a large scar appeared on the belly of the masked sheep. The black fur ball also rushed up and bit it hard on its left leg!

The fur ball was small in stature, but his strength was so strong that it had pulled the entire leg of the sheep down with a sudden force.

And then the masks on the wall peeled off, flew to the broken leg, and formed a new leg.

But at this time, Lu Yingjiu had already stabbed the dagger into its eye.

The short knife lighted up slightly, and the invisible shock wave oscillated. The masks on the sheep’s body showed ripples, which quivered around and around, almost as if it was falling apart. However, a mouth full of blood appeared on top of Lu Yingjiu’s head!

The expression on that mask was ferocious and terrifying, the mouth was split 180 degrees, and aiming to bite Lu Yingjiu’s head straight.

Lu Yingjiu didn’t even raise his head, the black fur ball jumped up high, trying to tear up the mask apart-

Then there was a sudden gust of wind.

All the masks were blown away, the masked sheep was blown into a cloud of blood mist in front of Lu Yingjiu and drifted away along with the wind.

The whole corridor became clean and tidy.

What ghosts, what masks, all disappeared in the blowing wind.

At this moment, Lu Yingjiu thought of the rumors he had heard.

It was rumored that in the ghost world, there was a terrible abyss, and no ghost would dare to step into it. The wind that blows there is called Gangfeng, even if only gently blowing, no matter what kind of ghosts or monsters they were, they would all turn into flying ashes.

The current gust of wind actually had the same effect.

Jing Xian came to his side at some point, with a subtle dislike in his tone, “That mask, it almost dripped a saliva on you just now.” He even patted Lu Yingjiu’s clothes with his hands.

Lu Yingjiu: “…….”

He looked at Jing Xian and asked straightforwardly, “Are you human or not?”

Jing Xian looked sincere, “Why won’t I be? My hands are hot and my heart is beating. If you don’t believe me, you can hold my hand or listen to my heartbeat…….” After he finished speaking, he still wanted to pull Lu Yingjiu’s hand.

Lu Yingjiu interrupted with black lines all over his face, “Thank you, no need.”

Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had indeed experienced all of these.

“What?” Jing Xian said, “What are you still doubting about me?”

“You’re almost riddled with suspicions all over your body, almost like a sieve.” Lu Yingjiu said, “Look at your face, the word ‘suspicious’ is written all over it.”

Jing Xian simply laughed, “Aren’t I allowed to have exceptional talents? In fact, I had a high fever not long ago, and immediately after waking up I felt refreshed and suddenly learned a lot of novel moves.”

“All right, all right, why didn’t you say that you suddenly became a master, and ascended to the immortal world after a thunder calamity.” 

This time, Jing Xian hesitated.

He half-believingly said, “Ah, is it really possible……?”

He only knew the ghost world, is there really a way to go up to that world?

Seeing his expression, Lu Yingjiu suddenly smiled, “I’m talking nonsense, it’s from a Xiuxian novel. Why would you really believe it, haven’t you even read novels?”

Seeing him smiling, Jing Xian also couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve read some. I really like vampire novels, zombie novels are also very good.”

“Why?” Lu Yingjiu said, not really seeing it as Jing Xian’s style.

Jing Xian said, “It is full of imported ghosts that I have never seen before, I find it novel.”

Lu Yingjiu: “……”

Lu Yingjiu: “……”

He was taken aback by this “imported ghost” for a moment, however he didn’t have a high talent for roasting someone, and he really didn’t know where to start roasting.

After the sheep ghost died, a black door appeared in front of them.

Where the sheep ghost died, a human skin mask was left behind.

This was its obsession.

Lu Yingjiu wrapped the mask in talisman paper, opened the door and went out. It was the normal corridor of the slaughterhouse, dimly lit and full of dust. After the door was closed, it automatically disappeared behind them.

With the object of obsession in hand, and the ghost possessing Chen Yanyan, could be said to have been solved.

It’s a pity that Lu Yingjiu still didn’t know why he was treated as a suspect.

Jing Xian seemed to be aware of his anxiety, and said slowly beside him, “Let’s go out first.”

“Mn.” Lu Yingjiu responded.

Lu Yingjiu followed the fluctuations of the talisman to find the way, and soon found Xiao Li and Chen Yanyan on the other side of the building.

These two people were walking cautiously in the dark against the wall, but when they saw Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Li said anxiously, “Brother Lu! We were taken to a corridor just now, and there were all human skin masks hanging in the corridor! Then, for some reason, we came back.”

“I know.” Lu Yingjiu nodded and showed them the mask in his hand, “That ghost has been dealt with, and I got its object of obsession. “

Chen Yanyan’s eyes lit up immediately, “Should be enough to just destroy it?”

“Yes. Then you’ll be safe.”

“Can it be destroyed now?”

“It’s better to go out and talk about it.”

“Then let’s get out quickly.” Chen Yanyan said hurriedly, wanting to go to the exit.

But Lu Yingjiu didn’t follow her.

Chen Yanyan took a few steps, then turned around and asked, “Aren’t you coming with me?”

Lu Yingjiu held the mask and smiled, “There’s no need to hurry for a while.”

“What do you mean?” Chen Yanyan’s face changed slightly, and smiled.

“Before going out, I want to know, what are you hiding in your boots?” Lu Yingjiu asked.

Chen Yanyan froze in an instant.

She left Xiao Li at that time, and went through the window to the women’s changing room by herself, just to get this thing. When Lu Yingjiu came to find her, she quietly hid that something in her short boots.

Lu Yingjiu didn’t say anything, thus she naturally thought he didn’t see it.

Could it be that Lu Yingjiu noticed it from the very beginning?!

Chen Yanyan took half a step back, her heart was beating fast, yet a smile was still on her face.

She already had a pretty face, and this smile looked very soft, which could easily arouse other people’s desire to protect.

She said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, let’s just go out and talk about it.” She bit her lip, “It’s too dark here, and there are ghosts, I’m afraid of delaying it for a second..…”

She could only hope that Lu Yingjiu would be too embarrassed to do anything to her and take off her boots.

Chen Yanyan turned around and walked out as if nothing had happened.

After walking a few steps, she suddenly cried “Ouch!”

The weight on her right foot caused her to stagger a bit and almost fell, but fortunately she supported herself with the wall using her hand. It’s just that her foot was now bare, and that her boot had been pulled off!

Chen Yanyan was horrified in her heart, and when she looked down, he saw the black fur ball biting her boot, grinning at her. It wagged its tail and ran back to Yingjiu’s side.

“Wait! Chen Yanyan shouted.

But it was already too late, the black fur ball shook her boots, and fell out of it…….were few folded pieces of papers?

When these pieces of paper floated in the air, it stretched out naturally and fell to the ground, as thin as a cicada’s wings.

These were clearly several human skin masks.

For a moment, the atmosphere solidified.

Chen Yanyan’s teeth were almost chattering, her mind went blank for a few seconds, and she said in a trembling voice, “I, I don’t know what those are, I thought something was wrong, so I hid them!”

“Oh, really?” Lu Yingjiu smiled, “Then I have another question for you.”

He said, “When the ghost separated us by pairs, why did you stay with Xiao Li? According to your description, if the ghost wants to restore the scene, the one with Xiao Li should be ‘Fan Xin’, but I ‘coincidentally’ was taken as Chen Yanyan.”

“For you, this may be an insignificant detail. But in my opinion, this is not accidental at all, plus the human skin mask you have hidden in private……”

“Ms. Chen Yanyan, can you explain to us?”

****

At the same time.

500 kilometers away, Jiangxiang City.

The smell of disinfectant spread in the air, and the water in the infusion dripped little by little. On the hospital bed, a young boy had a cast on his left foot and was hung up.

He posted on his Moments: [Too unlucky, even walking on the sidewalk, you will still be hit by a motorcycle] 

The bunch of messages below: [Have a good rest]

He pouted, threw his phone aside, and just as he was about to go to sleep, there was a knock on the door of the ward.

A middle-aged man came in with his head, “Hello, this is Mr. Lu Fanghong, right?”

“Yes, you are……?”

The man smiled, “Oh yes.” He came in with a briefcase and sat beside Lu Fanghong’s hospital bed, “How do you feel now?”

“Much better.” Lu Fanghong replied.

The man nodded. “That’s good. I still want to talk to you about the past this time. Say, what do you remember?”

He was a ghost exorcist, and he had been here a few times, always chatting with this Lu Fanghong, Fan Xin’s ex-boyfriend, about the slaughterhouse and the extermination case.

This time, Lu Fanghong did not answer him immediately.

The drips fell slowly, and the silence lasted for a while.

After an unknown amount of time, he let out a heavy breath and said, “Actually, there is something about Chen Yanyan and Fan Xin that I haven’t told you about.”

The ghost exorcist listened in silence.

Lu Fanghong went on to say, “Fan Xin and I have known each other since we were in junior high school. She is an orphan and her family is so poor that they almost have no food and money, but she worked very hard and always ranked in the top of the class during exams.”

“Later, with our excellent grades, we went to a key middle school and met Chen Yanyan there.”

He hesitated for a few more seconds:,”Chen Yanyan’s grades are actually not good. She spent money to enter the school and even as an art student, she is on the verge of failing. After going back and forth, she felt that she couldn’t do it, thus she found Fan Xin, a student with excellent grades, but from a poor family.”

He became silent again, as if wondering whether he should speak or not.

The exorcist said, “It’s okay, there’s no rush, do you need me to fill you a glass of water?”

Lu Fanghong nodded slightly. The ghost exorcist got up, filled him with a glass of warm water and came back.

Lu Fanghong took the water, took a sip, and finally said again, “After a certain day, I felt that Fan Xin was sometimes weird. Her personality, tone, and behavior all changed slightly. To be honest, I have liked Fan Xin for many years. I know everything about her, even if there is a slight difference, she wouldn’t be able to hide it from me.”

“However, whenever I felt something was wrong, she quickly returned to normal, which made me think it was an illusion.” 

“After half a year like this, Fan Xin suddenly told me one day that she wanted to tell me something.”

He closed his eyes. “That was the first time I heard the word ‘human skin mask’.”

The exorcist’s expression changed slightly, “What do you mean?”

Lu Fanghong: “Fan Xin and Chen Yanyan have been exchanging identities.”