894 A Million Times for You 256 (1/2)
The footsteps lasted for an entire minute. Just as Jin Qingyan was about to speak, he heard a faint wailing and bawling, which added to the spookiness of the rainy night.
There was a mix of male and female voices, as well as that of the elderly, all of which were rather unsettling.
This time, the voices lasted for a whole five minutes.
Once the voices began to fade, An Xiaoning pulled him out of the canal.
She quickened her pace and walked forward.
Jin Qingyan didn't dare to ask about anything and instead sped forward with her.
He could tell from the sounds that they were approaching a search crew. Just as Jin Qingyan was worrying about being discovered, An Xiaoning stopped in her tracks and hid in an obscure spot with him.
At this moment, Jin Qingyan heard the rumbling of a car!
Once the car drove away, An Xiaoning looked at him, after which they both moved away from the darkness.
She whipped out her phone and pinned her current location on the maps app, only to discover that they were at a place called Liuchuan Dam North Road.
”Qingyan, do you know where we are right now?”
”No idea.”
”This is the transit station to the netherworld.”
”Were those voices earlier from the reapers?”
”Yes.” An Xiaoning stuck her hand beneath his raincoat and grabbed his hand while walking away. ”No wonder I didn't see any spirits along the way at all. I reckon the reapers must have nabbed all the vengeful spirits and sent them to a common holding ground before sending them to the netherworld in batches.”
”Can you still perform rituals, then?”
”We'll see if there are still any wandering spirits that haven't been caught yet. If there are, I definitely must perform the ritual. If they've all been gathered, what's the point of performing the rituals? They can't feel it anyway.”
”Xiaoning, what was going on when we heard the voices just now?” he asked curiously.
An Xiaoning answered while walking, ”The uniform voices we heard at the start were from ghost children who were just following orders. The wailing and shrieking came from the vengeful spirits who were split into two batches. One batch had their necks chained together while the other was tied together using ropes. The ghost children were dragging them along.”
”Why were they separated into two batches?”
She explained, ”Those who struggle vigorously will have to be subdued by chains while those who don't retaliate and simply comply will be bound to ropes. I only managed to catch a glimpse, I didn't look closely.”
”Turns out there's a bus to the netherworld too…”
”Even Heibai and Wuchang are now dressed in suits. The netherworld is just as advanced as the human world, alright?”
”You've seen them in suits before?”
”Yes. They sometimes don suits.”
”If you chance upon buses to the netherworld, can you board them?”
”I can, but it'll only be my soul. Let's go search for other vengeful spirits.”
”Alright. Xiaoning, are there many bus stops to the netherworld?”
”There should be plenty.”
”…”
The two of them returned, after which the rain began to dissipate gradually.
An Xiaoning and Jin Qingyan headed to the site.
An Xiaoning did not think of heading to the morgue first because she thought the corpses had already been sent to the crematorium.
She rushed to the corpse collection site immediately upon hearing from one of the rescue members that the corpses were yet to be cremated.
She stared at the spacious rooms with a heavy heart, for she knew that there were corpses inside.