Chapter 123 - Extra—Iron Hook (Part One) (2/2)

The juniors all had on complicated expressions, both frightened and wanting to let out a breath of relief. However, the waitress continued, “After he killed his wife, he cut his face too and pulled his tongue out, but his resentful energy didn’t perish. From then on, he killed every beautiful woman he saw!”

Lan JingYi was shocked speechless, “Now that is not right. Revenge would be fine, but what had the other women ever done to him?”

The waitress, “That’s right. But he didn’t care about that. With how he face looked, he thought of his wife whenever he saw a beautiful woman. What could he do? Anyways, a long time afterwards, young girls wouldn’t dare walk alone the moment the sky darkened the slightest bit. Even if they didn’t go outside, they wouldn’t dare sleep without their fathers, brothers, or husbands staying at home with them. Because once in a while, a female corpse without a tongue would be tossed out onto the streets…”

Jin Ling, “Can’t anyone catch him?”

The waitress, “They can’t, though. The blacksmith also disappeared after he killed his wife, leaving his original house. He also came and went with so much prowess that it almost seemed as if he was possessed by a ghost. How could an ordinary person catch him? Well I heard that he wasn’t stopped until a couple of years later, anyways. Only after the matter was completely suppressed were the folks finally able to have some good nights’ sleep! Amitabha*, bless the Heavens.”

After they left the tea shop and returned to the coffin home, Lan SiZhui asked, “Senior Wei, the Hook Hand you suddenly wanted to investigate is related to the spirit of the Bai residence, is it not?”

Wei WuXian, “Of course it is.”

Jin Ling had also somewhat guessed it, but he still had to ask, “How are the two related?”

Wei WuXian opened the coffin lid again, “On the body of the thief’s corpse.”

The group covered their noses again. Jin Ling, “I’ve looked at the thief’s corpse a bunch of times.”

Wei WuXian grabbed him and pulled him over, “But you didn’t look carefully enough.”

He patted Jin Ling’s shoulder and suddenly pressed it down. At once, Jin Ling was face to face with the dark-faced, wide-eyed corpse. The stench effused. Wei WuXian spoke, “Look at his eyes.”

Squinting, Jin Ling scrutinized the corpse’s lifeless eyes. With only one glance, his body was cold from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Lan SiZhui knew that something was wrong. Immediately, he went over and bent down.

He saw that the figure reflected against the corpse’s black pupils wasn’t his own.

It was an unfamiliar face that took up almost the entire pupil, with uneven skin that was covered in scars and no eyelids or lips.

In the back, Lan JingYi hopped a couple of times, appearing as though he wanted to look but didn’t have the guts to do so, “SiZhui, what… what did you see?”

Lan SiZhui waved his hand without turning around, “You should not come near.”

Lan JingYi hurried, “Oh!” And immediately took a few large steps back.

Lan SiZhui looked up, “Speaking of it, I have indeed heard of these folklore. Sometimes, the eye would ‘record’ what the person sees before they die. What a surprise that it is true.”

Wei WuXian, “This is only the rare case. Because the thief was scared to death, no matter what he saw, it must’ve made quite an irremovable impression on him, which is why this works. In another situation, most likely nothing would be recorded, and in a few days, when the corpse deteriorates completely, we’d likely never see this again.”

Jin Ling still had some doubt, “If it’s folklore, let alone how unreliable it is, should we really trust it?”

Wei WuXian, “Whether we trust it or not, let’s first investigate further and try things out. It’s better than doing nothing, after all.”

No matter what, they finally made progress. Lan SiZhui decided to go search in the graves of city west, while Wei WuXian said that he was going to accompany him. The rest of the people went to investigate the Hook Hand. After all, they couldn’t base anything on hearsay. The more information they had, the better.

First of all, Jin Ling had some mild spurn for Lan JingYi, and second of all, he felt that where Wei WuXian was going had to be better for the purpose of gaining experience. However, he remembered that the others weren’t familiar with the Lanling area, which meant they might encounter some difficulties without him leading. And thus, he agreed without further complaint, and the group arranged to gather at the Bai residence. After some investigation, the information they obtained was not much different from what was described by the waitress in the day, likely because the versions floating around were mostly the same. And thus, Jin Ling and the rest went ahead and returned to the Bai residence.

At close to dawn, Jin Ling had already walked a few circles in the Bai residence’s main hall and argued a few times with Lan JingYi, but Wei WuXian and Lan SiZhui still hadn’t come back yet. Just as they prepared to search for them west of the city, somebody suddenly crashed through the door with a bang.

The one who barged in first was Lan SiZhui. He seemed as if he was holding some smoldering object in his hand. The moment he came in, it fell out of his hand and onto the ground.

The object was the size of a palm, covered in layers and layers of yellow talisman paper and oozing something wet and red. The talismans were smeared with blood. Following him, Wei WuXian sauntered across the threshold. Seeing how everyone had crowded beside it like a pool of water, he immediately drove them away, “Shoo, shoo! Watch out!”

And so everyone parted again like a pool of water. Perhaps because it was corrosive, the layer of talisman melted away to reveal what was inside.

It was a rusting iron hook!

It was not only rusting, but the vibrancy of the blood also made it seem as if it had just been extracted from human flesh. Jin Ling asked, “The hook of the Hook Hand?”

Burnt marks and blood can be seen on Lan SiZhui’s uniform. He was panting slightly, his cheeks vaguely pink, “Yes! Something has possessed it. You must not touch it with your hands!”

Suddenly, the iron hook began to tremble fiercely. Lan SiZhui, “Shut the door! Do not let it get out! I might not be able to catch it again if it gets away once more!”

Lan JingYi hurried to be the first one there. With a bam, he slammed the door shut, pressing his back tightly against the door as he yelled, “Talismans! Use your talismans on it, everyone!”

At once, hundreds of talismans crashed down on it. If not because everyone of the Bai residence had already been notified by Jin Ling and hidden at the eastern courtyard, they would’ve been truly shocked by the shooting lights and thundering sounds. Soon, the talismans were used up. Before anyone could even let out a breath, blood seeped from the hook again.

They couldn’t stop even for a single moment!

Lan SiZhui couldn’t find anymore talismans on him. Suddenly, he heard Lan JingYi yell, “The kitchen! Go to the kitchen! Salt salt salt! Get the salt!”

With his reminder, the boys dashed into the kitchen and grabbed the jar of salt. With a flick of the hand, snowy white crumbs of salt sprinkled onto the hook. This was a bold move. Almost as if it were being simmered in a pot of oil. Steam and white foam dripped from the rusting iron.

An odor that smelled like rotting flesh being charred wafted through the main hall, while the blood on the hook was slowly being absorbed by the white salt. One of the boys cried, “The salt is also about to be gone! What should we do now?”

Seeing that the hook was about to bleed again, Lan JingYi knew that this couldn’t go on, “If all else fails, we can just melt it!”

Jin Ling, “You can’t melt it!”

Lan SiZhui, “Yes, we will melt it!”

Immediately, he took off his outer robe and flung it over the hook. Wrapping the item, he dashed to the kitchen before hurling it into the hearth. Watching the scene unfold, Jin Ling seethed with flaming eyes, “Lan SiZhui! It’s no surprise that Lan JingYi is such an idiot, but why are you being idiot too!? You want to melt it with just this much fire?”

Lan JingYi raged, “Who are you calling an idiot?? What do you mean it is no surprise that I am an idiot!?”

Lan SiZhui, “If the fire is too small, we can lend it some help!”

He quickly made a hand sign, and the flame immediately burst with a whirlwind of hot air!

The others understood at once, imitating him one by one. Jin Ling and Lan JingYi couldn’t keep on arguing either, focusing on the maintenance of the hand sign. The flame at the bottom of the hearth grew so rapid that it lit the room a fierce scarlet, reflecting the red onto their cheeks as well.

For a long time they waited, prepared for anything. Finally, the iron hook disappeared into the burning firelight. With not a single incident having happened, Lan JingYi spoke nervously, “Is it finished? Is it finished?”

Lan SiZhui let out a breath. A moment later, he went forth to examine the situation before turning around, “The hook is gone.”

If the hook was gone, then, naturally, the resentful energy should be gone as well.

Everyone was relieved, especially Lan JingYi, who turned out to be the happiest, “I knew you could melt it! It clearly worked, hahahaha…”

He was happy, while on the other hand, Jin Ling was quite miserable. Somehow, he wasn’t of much help throughout this night-hunt, let alone gained any experience. He quietly regretted his decision. During the day, he should’ve insisted on searching for the iron hook along with Wei WuXian and the others. He definitely wouldn’t do any of the backstage work again, next time.

Yet, Wei WuXian spoke up, “Your resolution is the absolute opposite of cautious. How can anything be determined at this point in time? Won’t you have to validate things?”

Hearing this, Jin Ling perked up, “How should we go about it?”

Wei WuXian, “Spend a night inside, someone.”

“…”

Wei WuXian, “Only after you spend a night inside and find that nothing bad happens, can you truly say with confidence that everything’s finished, right?”

Lan JingYi, “Who would do such a thing, though…”

Jin Ling immediately volunteered, “I’ll go!”

Wei WuXian knew what he was thinking even without looking at him. He patted his head and smiled, “Put up a good show, if you happen to come across the opportunity.”

Jin Ling complained, “Don’t touch my head. You can’t touch a man’s head, don’t you know?”

Wei WuXian, “It’s definitely your uncle who said it anyways, so there’s no point in knowing.”

“Hey!” Jin Ling was shocked, “Who was the one that told me to ask him if I’m having trouble with anything?”

The Bai residence had arranged for everyone’s accommodations, and thus that night the group settled down at the eastern courtyard. Jin Ling went to the western courtyard alone.

As usual, the GusuLan Sect strictly obeyed their schedule, waking up early next morning. Before he went out, Lan SiZhui was reminded by Lan WangJi to make sure he dragged Wei WuXian up in time for breakfast. For this, he spent almost an hour and did everything he could before he finally hauled Wei WuXian downstairs. When he arrived at the main hall, Lan JingYi was in the middle of helping the Bai residence’s servants distribute the congee. Lan SiZhui was just about to go and help when he saw Jin Ling walk over with heavy eye bags.

The entire circle of people stared at him in silence. Jin Ling sat down at the left-hand side of Wei WuXian, who greeted, “Morning.”

Jin Ling forced calmness onto his face, nodding, “Morning.”

The others nodded as well, “Morning.”

Soon, seeing that Jin Ling didn’t seem like he was going to say anything, Wei WuXian pointed to his own eyes, “Those are…”

After having made sure that he looked just barely unruffled, Jin Ling finally opened hi mouth.

He began, “As expected, it wasn’t cleaned up properly.”

The crowd grew nervous.

Last night, after Jin Ling went in the white room, he looked around his surroundings.

The furnishing of the room was extremely simple. There was almost no furniture, with only a single bed. The bed was next to the wall, covered in dust.

After only one stroke was Jin Ling unable to take it any longer. No servants dared to approach this place, and he himself definitely couldn’t lie on top of such a thing either. Left without a choice, he could only fetch the water himself and clean the place up. Finally, he was able to sleep.

With his face to the wall, his back to the room.

And a mirror hidden in his palm.

Turning the mirror, he could have a rough view of the room.

Jin Ling waited for more than half the night, yet all that appeared in the mirror was a dark gloom, which was why he began to turn the mirror around in his hand. Just as he was about to feel some fun from performing the act, a harsh white suddenly swept across the mirror’s surface.

Immediately, icy water doused his heart. Composing himself, he slowly turned the mirror around.

Something finally appeared in the mirror’s reflection.

At this point of the story, Lan JingYi spoke up with a trembling voice, “What did the mirror reflect—the hook hand…?”

Jin Ling, “No. It was a chair.”

Lan JingYi was just about to ease up when, thinking about it some more, he felt his hair rise.

Why on Earth would he ease up? Jin Ling clearly said that the room was ‘extremely simple. There was almost no furniture, with only a single bed.’ If this was the case…

Then where did the chair come from!?

Exiled Crew Note:

Check out this awesome artist and some of her works featuring GDC!

Wedding.

Sex Appeal.

Exchanging cups.

Lunar New Year.

Kisses.

As we are getting closer and closer to the officially end of our translation of GDC, we would love for everyone to send in their fan-art so we can post all of it with the very last chapter (127). Please send in your fabulous art to  so we can celebrate the last English chapter of GDC in 4 weeks time. All entries will need to be submitted by August 21st, 2019.