Underground resentful spirits

After being possessed by a ghost at Boss Wang's house that night, I didn't sleep well for almost the entire night. The bed in the hotel was as hard as a coffin board, and the sound of the wind outside the window was like a ghost whispering, mixed with the rustling of the branches and leaves of the locust tree, as if something was peeping in the dark. I wrapped myself tightly in the quilt, but the chill that came out of the cracks in my bones could not be dissipated. In the middle of the night, I finally fell asleep in a daze, but fell into a nightmare.

In the dream, the sky was as black as ink, and the ground under my feet was wet, cold and sticky, like stepping on rotten corpse mud. I looked down and saw dark red liquid oozing out of the soil, like blood, and pus, emitting a fishy smell. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the ground, and countless tiny things rushed out from the ground - some looked like mice but had human faces, baring fangs, and their eyes were sunken like two black holes; some looked like snakes but had claws, their scales were covered with mucus, and they were wriggling with broken tails; and some looked like centipedes but had wings, their wings were broken and humming, like a group of evil spirits humming. They pounced on me with their teeth and claws, and uttered piercing screams: "Revenge... Revenge..." The sound was as sharp as a knife scraping glass, and it went straight into my brain.

I was so scared that I wanted to run, but my feet seemed to be nailed. Countless skinny hands stretched out from the soil and grabbed my ankles, as cold as a corpse just crawling out of a grave. I struggled desperately, and the claws of those monsters had already climbed up my legs, and the sharp nails scratched my skin, causing me to sweat coldly. I looked down and saw that those human-faced mice were spitting black blood from their mouths, dripping on the ground, and emitting wisps of white smoke, as if corroding the ground. I screamed, but couldn't make a sound. I watched them crawling towards my chest, and the cold touch seemed to pull my soul out.

"Ah!" I woke up suddenly, sweating all over my head, and my heart was beating as if it was about to explode. The light in the hotel room was dim, and the shadow in the corner of the wall swayed for a moment, as if something was squatting there and peeking. Old Li sat on the edge of the bed, holding a cigarette in his hand, and the smoke swirled around his face, like a blurry ghost face. He stared at me and whispered, "What did you dream about?" The voice was hoarse like an echo from underground, revealing a strange expectation.

I panted and wiped the sweat from my forehead. My hands were shaking so much that I couldn't even hold the cigarette. "How do you know I was dreaming?" He exhaled a puff of smoke, which twisted into strange shapes under the light. He said slowly, "You half-baked people always have some spiritual power. You always dream of hints before doing this job. I told you long ago that you are not an ordinary person." His eyes were shining, as if he was looking at an uncarved jade, expecting me to be of great use.

I told the dream again with lingering fear, and the more I talked, the more I felt something was wrong. The fishy smell seemed to still linger in my nose, and the screams of those monsters were faintly echoing in my ears. I lit a cigarette and suppressed my fear, but my hands were still shaking violently. Old Li scratched his head and pondered for a moment without speaking. I took the opportunity to extort money from him, and said in a trembling voice: "I can handle this, but I need another 20 bills."

He glared at me, his mouth twitched, as if he was in great pain, but he finally nodded: "Okay, you are brave, if you do this job well, we will have a big business in the future." These words warmed my heart, but the temptation of the 30 red bills made me even more jealous. I gritted my teeth and thought, what's wrong with giving it a try? That money is enough for me to feel comfortable for a while, even if the things in the dream are real, I can't be a coward.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Boss Wang invited us to have breakfast. The small restaurant was steaming hot, but I couldn't taste the taste of soy milk in my mouth, and my mind was full of last night's dream. At the dinner table, I told him about what happened last night and the dream, and asked him if he had offended anyone when building the house. Boss Wang scratched his bald head and whispered, "It's true. When building a house, a carpenter secretly replaced inferior wood. I asked the contractor to replace him and paid him the same salary, but he might not be happy."

"Carpenter?" My mind buzzed, and the three words "Lu Ban's Technique" popped up. Grandpa said that this skill can use wood to cast a curse and kill people invisibly. I whispered to Old Li, "It's probably Lu Ban's Technique." He nodded, and his voice was as gloomy as a sigh: "Check it out."

After dinner, I took the tape measure back to Wang's house. The sun shone into the yard, but the cold was still biting. A red shadow flashed under the locust tree again, as if laughing at my ignorance. I suppressed my fear and measured for a long time in the house. The thin frost on the floor creaked when I stepped on it, as if it broke my bones. I pointed to the five directions - metal, wood, water, fire and earth, and whispered, "Dig it up."

Boss Wang called a few strong guys and dug in with shovels. A foul smell came from the soil, like rotten meat mixed with blood. I held my breath and stared at the ground. When the soil was turned over, a broken worm crawled out of the soil, half of its body rotten to reveal its bones, and it was wriggling with mucus. My stomach churned, but the shadow of the 30 red bills made me grit my teeth and stand firm.

As the shovel went deeper, five small jars were exposed, and the jars were covered with cracks, as if something had grabbed them from the inside. The jar was filled with yellow liquid, emitting a pungent stench, and some strange-looking things were floating in it - some looked like toads but had human eyes, their eyeballs bulged out, as if they were dead; some looked like centipedes but had broken wings, their wings were covered with black blood and trembled slightly; and some looked like mice but had human faces, baring their fangs, and spewing tiny bubbles from their mouths, as if whispering.

As soon as the jar was opened, a low hissing sound came out from it, like the echo of the monsters in the dream, sharp as a needle piercing my ears. I took a step back, my heart was beating so fast that it almost exploded, and the scenes in last night's dream flashed through my mind, those skinny hands, the corrosion sound of black blood, as if they were dragging me into hell. I clenched my teeth, my hands were clenched white, and fear flooded me like a tide, but the temptation of the 30 red bills made me hold on and not run away.

I took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice: "This is the 'Five Elements Gathering Yin Formation', which attracts dirty things. That carpenter is really cruel." Old Li sneered, his voice was so low that it seemed to come from the grave: "Fortunately, he didn't use a more poisonous method, otherwise this family would have been finished long ago." He patted my shoulder, his eyes full of expectation: "You did a good job, this formation is not simple, you can see the doorway, you are better than I thought."

I panted and stared at the jars, and the screams rang in my ears again. I felt scared, but Old Li's praise gave me some confidence. I gritted my teeth and said: "Burn it, evil cannot prevail over good, we have to let this family live in peace." But I secretly swore in my heart that after taking the money, I had to live well and couldn't let these ghosts take it away. The screams of those monsters were still echoing in my ears, as if warning me, but I told myself that light would always come.