Chapter 5 Damn Charlatan

I had always imagined a master to be composed and knowledgeable, but then I heard a distinct trembling sound. It was evident that this quivering wasn't coming from either myself or Er Gouzi, but rather from the master himself. Hurriedly, I shone my phone's light on the master's face, revealing a pallid countenance, wide eyes, and an abrupt, panicked cry: "Ghost! Ghost! Help! Help!"

In the very next moment, I witnessed him frantically spring up from the ground, scrambling desperately towards the exit. But no sooner had he stepped outside than the door slammed shut with alarming force. The master furiously tugged at the door, yet it refused to budge. Realizing that something sinister was afoot, I shouted to Er Gouzi, "Er Gouzi, run!"

Both of us sprinted towards the door in a mad dash, all three of us straining to wrench it open. However, the instant my hand touched the door, I felt an immense force pulling at my back, determined to drag us backward. It dawned on me that the issue wasn't the door being stuck, but rather our inability to exert any strength.

I implored the master, "master, think of something!"

"I'm just a damn street exorcist, living off scraps!" he wailed in terror. "I saw you two dolts and thought you'd be easy marks, never dreaming we'd actually encounter a real ghost! Help! Help! I don't want to die!"

Er Gouzi, livid, roared back, "You damned con artist! You're going to get us killed!"

Although it was only shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the outdoor temperature lingered around 10 degrees Celsius. Inside, however, the chill was bone-deep, driven not only by the plummeting temperature but also the chilling realization of our dire situation. With the door unyielding, escape seemed impossible, leaving us at a loss for what to do.

This was downright eerie. My gaze involuntarily drifted toward the flowerpot, where the incense stick on the far right was nearly consumed. Despite the master's unreliable claims, the phrase "incense extinguished, life extinguished" inexplicably flashed across my mind. I surmised that the incense must not be allowed to burn out, as it was likely that the reason the ghost hadn't attacked us yet was that it was feeding off the incense smoke.

While there was no scientific basis for this theory, the events unfolding were well beyond the realm of science. As the third incense stick finally expired, the room plunged into an icy chill, the sudden drop in temperature akin to transitioning from autumn straight into winter. An overwhelming wave of cold swept over us.

To my horror, my hunch proved accurate. With the third stick extinguished, a blue speck of light materialized, rapidly hurtling toward us. When the light enveloped me, I felt my body levitating, and the excruciating sensation of it trying to penetrate my flesh was unbearable, like being hooked by a fisherman's line.

Despair and helplessness overwhelmed me as the blue light relentlessly dragged me along. Faced with the prospect of death, I refused to surrender to the unknown fate awaiting me at the end of this spectral journey. Suddenly, Er Gouzi lunged forward, seizing my leg and fiercely pulling me backward. Although dragging two of us slowed the light's progress, my arm still throbbed with pain. I kicked wildly and struck at the light with ferocity, though it was futile against this non-human entity.

In a last-ditch effort, I clung onto the nearby sofa with all my might. The combined weight of myself, Er Gouzi, and the sofa did slow the light's advance, but the pain was now searing, like being sliced by a razor-sharp blade.

In desperation, I bellowed, "Con man, throw over whatever talisman or Bagua diagram you've got!"

In sheer desperation, I grasped at any potential solution, hoping that even a mere talisman from Taoist practice might subdue the entity within the room. The master, finally snapping out of his shock, fumbled in his bag and tossed a Bagua diagram in my direction. I caught it and pressed it against the blue light.

Thinking that the light might fear the diagram, I felt a glimmer of hope as I applied it. But immediately, there was a sizzling sound, and the diagram burst into flames, clearly ineffective. A quick glance at the flowerpot revealed that the remaining two incense sticks were also nearing their end, instilling in me a foreboding sense that if they burned out, our fate would be sealed.

The blasted charlatan was still rummaging through his backpack, tossing over items like mirrors and small flags that proved utterly useless. I reckoned his paraphernalia was as cheap and ineffective as the malevolent entity plaguing us. Desperate, I yelled at him, "Quick, light the incense! Once it goes out, we're all done for!"

By now, the fraudster was thoroughly panic-stricken, his earlier pretense of spiritual prowess replaced by a frenzied dash to the flowerpot. He lit the remaining three unburnt incense sticks, all three now aflame. Mercifully, the blue light released its hold on me as soon as the incense was lit.

However, the room reverted to its earlier state of dread, with the incense burning fiercely like a grim harbinger of our demise. The sole silver lining was that the light was no longer fixated on me. I gasped for air, my entire back drenched in sweat from the harrowing experience.

We three panted heavily, and I instructed, "Er Gouzi, see if you can open the door. Con man, you yell your lungs out and see if anyone hears us. I'm calling the police."

In our hour of need, I turned to the people's protectors, despite the absurdity of the situation. We split up to tackle our respective tasks. Er Gouzi strained to open the door, but it remained stubbornly immovable, trapping us inside. Meanwhile, the charlatan bellowed for help, only to discover that our phones had no signal. I cursed in frustration, "Goddamn Mobile Unresponsive!"

Nonetheless, I remembered that a phone without signal could still send out distress signals, so I attempted to dial 110.

But despair soon set in as the door remained locked tight, the charlatan's cries went unanswered, and my phone showed a constant busy tone when I tried to call 110. We were on the verge of madness, the incense burning furiously, and I repeatedly dialed 110, unsure how many times I'd redialed in a minute, each attempt met with the infuriating busy signal. I was ready to throttle whoever was monopolizing the line.

It was Er Gouzi who came up with another idea. "Brother Sheng, stop dialing the same number. Try 120, 119, or even 911!"

Clutching at this last straw, I began dialing other emergency numbers. But my hopes were dashed as every call resulted in the same busy signal. I now concluded that this wasn't a simple issue of network congestion; it was the malevolent force at work. Having attended university, I could explain it scientifically: the entity must have blocked all electromagnetic fields within the room...

This malicious force was determined to drive us to our deaths, trapping us in this enclosed space as the incense burned perilously close to halfway. Without finding a way out, we would all meet our end here.

The charlatan suddenly recalled, "These ghostly entities are yin in nature. We can urinate, using our yang energy to repel them."

Remembering movies where children's urine was used to ward off evil, we disregarded propriety and relieved ourselves, filling the room with the stench of urine. Yet, to my utter despair, it had no effect on the incense's rapid consumption.

The room had grown unbearably cold, and if this continued, I would soon join my grandfather in the afterlife. Overwhelmed with fear, I sobbed, "Grandpa, wait for me. Your grandson will be with you soon. We can look out for each other on the journey."

But nothing changed. The incense burned down to the end with merciless precision, and the blue light reappeared. To my surprise, however, it targeted not me but the deceitful charlatan this time. The light engulfed him instantly, pulling him several meters across the room before he collided with the sofa with a resounding thud.