Chapter 33 The Fox

The group had already started getting used to Li Ang's occasional joking around, and even if they grumbled inwardly, they showed no expression on their faces.

After laying the mines, the task force stepped out of the cellar to see Li Ang take out an electric motor, a welding machine, and a heap of pieces of steel, quickly assembling a vacuum cleaner. He used it to suck up dust from the ground and then spray it back into the cellar to cover their tracks.

Next, the team went to other locations within the Solitary Cold Temple and set up various types of hidden mines. The day of the banquet for the monsters was approaching, and the temple would soon be filled with all sorts of creatures, so these mines were to be triggered remotely to avoid accidental detonation.

Then, based on the intelligence provided by Chai Cuiqiao, combined with the terrain of the Solitary Cold Temple, the task force formulated a plan to ambush the Mountain Demon, which also included strategies for dealing with monsters that had attended in previous years.

Time passed, and another five days went by without incident. It was just as calm as usual.

On the sixth night, with battle preparations in place, each member of the task force went back to their assigned rooms to rest.

In the middle of the night, Li Ang was lying in bed chatting with Chai Cuiqiao, discussing the world as seen by ghosts.

Li Ang asked, "After people die and become ghosts, are there not emissaries from the underworld, like the black and white guardians of hell, the ox-head and horse-face, tasked with taking the ghosts away?"

Chai Cuiqiao replied, "Under normal circumstances, that's correct. However, just like how government officials can't cover every area, the black and white guardians also have blind spots. Some lone ghosts who have died unexpectedly remain uncollected for a long time. Fed by resentment and malevolent energy, they either become fierce ghosts that torment the living, ascend to great ghosts, Ghost Kings, or get preemptively liberated by roaming Taoists and monks."

Chai Cuiqiao paused, seemingly afraid that Li Ang might misunderstand, and explained further, "Of course, there are also ordinary ghosts whose resentment isn't so overwhelming, merely because their bones are buried in a blessed land with flowing yin energy, unable to dissipate. These ghosts coexist peacefully with the living, not interfering with each other. In special cases, ghosts may even help the living."

Li Ang nodded upon hearing this. Observations from the Thatched Cottage contained a story about a ghost helping people:

In the southern part of Guangdong County, there was a man surnamed Liao, who gathered and buried the unclaimed skeletons at the edge of the village, building a tomb for them and calling it the Righteous Mound.

Afterward, an epidemic broke out around Guangdong County. Liao dreamed of a group of about a hundred people standing at his doorstep, where one of them stepped forward to tell him, "The plague ghost is coming. We hope you can burn about ten paper battle flags and a hundred wooden swords wrapped in tin foil, so we can fight the plague ghost and repay the kindness of the village."

Liao, who had always been public-spirited, followed the instructions from his dream, burning the paper battle flags and tin foil-wrapped wooden swords,

A few days later, one evening, villagers heard a commotion outside the village, sounds of clashing swords and battle, as if an army was fighting, continuing until the morning when it finally stopped,

In that epidemic that ravaged Guangdong County, not a single villager was infected with the disease.

Stories of such peaceful coexistence between humans and ghosts, which one might call 'fresh and light-hearted,' abound in Observations from the Thatched Cottage, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Miscellanea of Youyang, and other supernatural anthologies. Chai Cuiqiao also added some context to the setting of the afterlife, letting Li Ang know that humans and ghosts are not necessarily always at odds.

Just as Li Ang was engrossed in listening to ghostly tales, sounds of poetry recitation echoed from outside the temple, along with the voices of two people debating and arguing, followed by insults and, after a while, the sounds of fighting.

Ghosts?

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, and a ghost outside the wall shouted with a strong voice, "This guy criticized and refuted my poetry, and it made me so angry that I gave him a good beating. How about this – let the gentleman inside listen to my work and give it a fair evaluation."

With that said, the ghost began reciting his own poetry aloud, clapping and keeping time for himself as he went,

The verses numbered over a hundred, and another ghost, while listening to the recitation, simultaneously groaned in pain and mocked the poor quality of the writing.

Li Ang listened from the window and, to be fair, found that the piece really was quite mediocre - it felt as if an uneducated but wealthy landlord had wrung out his brain to piece together some fancy phrases in a pretense of elegance.

"So sir, what do you think of the piece after all?"

Li Ang smacked his lips and chuckled, "My body isn't in the best shape, I'm afraid I might not be able to handle your strong fists."

No sooner had his words fallen than the beaten ghost burst into excessive laughter, while the poem-reciting ghost was so choked up that he couldn't speak and stormed off, still muttering indignant exclamations of "How preposterous!"

After the two ghosts had left, the temple returned to silence, and Li Ang and Chai Cuiqiao exchanged glances.

After tonight, it would be the seventh day, the last day specified by the system for the task, and all the ghosts and monsters coming to the banquet would arrive tomorrow….

Early the next morning, while everyone boiled water and prepared breakfast in the temple, they noticed that Wanli Fengdao had particularly severe dark circles under his eyes. Xing Hechou asked, "Did you not sleep well last night?"

"Don't even mention it," Wanli Fengdao said laboriously, "Last night, I had this dream where I saw a graceful figure in palace attire cleaning up my room,

That figure had an excellent physique, and I instinctively got up from bed, intending to take a look at her face—to see if I could turn this into a wet dream.

But when she heard footsteps and turned her head, sure, her figure was curvaceous and well-defined, but her face was that of a dark, plump, and ruggedly bearded man, rivaling Zhang Fei, comparable to Li Kui.

I was scared limp right then and there and lay in bed without sleeping all night."

What was supposed to be a wet dream turned into a nightmare. Xing Hechou and Monk Hui Bin barely smiled, but Li Ang nodded thoughtfully, "It might not have been a dream."

"What?" Wanli Fengdao was startled, not because he was afraid of any ghosts or monsters, but because if last night's half-male, half-female monster was real, then heaven knows what it wanted to do to him.

Pick up the soap…?

He shuddered at the thought and was about to ask for clarification when he saw Li Ang dash to his room.

Everything in Wanli Fengdao's room was as usual, except for the faint scent that lingered in the air.

Sniff, sniff,

After careful analysis, that weak fragrance seemed to be mixed with a hint of... mustiness?

Li Ang's brow tightened slightly as he stamped his foot on the floor, propelled off the wall with both feet, hooked his palms, and clung to the beam overhead.

He climbed onto the beam like a cat and found that he was not the only gentleman up there.

A dark grey-furred fox with long whiskers was also lying on the beam.

"Hello?" Li Ang greeted first.

"...." The black fox was stunned for a moment, then after a long hesitation, he replied in a rugged uncle's tone, "Hello?"

Li Ang blinked and inquired, "Are you the fox from Hu Jian?"

"Eh?" The black fox exclaimed in surprise, "How did you know I'm a fox from Hu Jian?"

Hehe, because your Mandarin pronunciation isn't standard.