Chapter 29: Walking with a Corpse on My Back

"Sakura! Xiumu!"

I banged desperately on the iron wall of the water tank. "Open the lid! Open it now!"

No one answered. Panic consumed me. The air inside was suffocating, and after shouting a few times, I felt lightheaded, my breaths shallow and strained.

My arms weakened, and the phone in my hand slipped to the ground.

The tank wasn't particularly large, but I couldn't find the exit no matter how hard I groped around. My face turned a deathly shade of purple, veins bulging out as I clawed at the iron walls in desperation.

I'd never experienced anything like this. Trapped in this sealed water tank, I finally felt the pure, unadulterated fear of death.

Severely oxygen-deprived, I clawed at my face in agony, my nails digging deep into my skin, leaving bloody streaks. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't scream anymore, my voice completely gone. Like a fish gasping in a dry riverbed, I curled up at the bottom of the tank, my energy drained.

"Why did you kill me?"

In my dazed state, that voice echoed once again.

I struggled to open my eyes and saw a boy with a bleeding pinky finger leaping into the water tank. He sealed the lid with his own hands and slowly sank into the icy, pitch-black water.

Loneliness and fear surrounded him. Facing death, his body instinctively fought to survive. He even cried for help, but no one answered. His struggles gradually ceased, his organs failing one by one, his body growing cold and rigid.

"I didn't want to die. So why did you kill me?" The lifeless, stiffened body drifted beside me. Its swollen, fish-like eyes stared at me blankly. "Why did you kill me?"

Half-conscious, I used what little strength I had left to push him away, but it was futile. I felt an icy pair of hands gripping my neck.

"Why did you kill me?"

Smack!

A sharp slap shattered the darkness like a broken mirror. A delicate, refined face loomed before me.

"Sakura?"

I suddenly realized I was lying inside the iron tank, drenched in cold sweat. The boy and the voice from earlier had vanished, as if they were nothing more than illusions.

"Are you okay?" Xiumu's voice came from above. "Good thing Sakura noticed something was wrong, or you might never have woken up."

I staggered to my feet, clinging to the water inlet as I gulped down fresh air from the outside. "I think I just saw what happened when Guo Junjie died. He was shouting and struggling, accusing you of killing him."

"Everyone at Xinhu High was just trying to survive. Who would care about him? Besides, if we'd been able to kill him first, maybe the tragedy wouldn't have happened." Xiumu's reasoning, twisted as it was, carried a grain of truth. "Guo Junjie has been watching us from the shadows all this time. He won't let you complete this investigation easily."

Xiumu's words made me realize how dangerous my situation had become. At any moment, the vengeful spirit might kill me.

To be honest, I was terrified. That inexplicable vision had shaken me deeply. Even now, shadows of fear lingered in my heart. I doubted I'd be able to enter any small, enclosed space alone for a while. "Sakura, stay with me for a bit. I'm feeling uneasy." Whether Sakura was human or ghost, at least she'd saved me earlier. I owed her a bit of trust.

Picking up the phone that had slipped from my hand, I shone its light into the corner of the tank. The tattered school uniform was still lying where it had been.

"This must be Guo Junjie's possession."

I picked up the uniform and spread it out on the iron wall. The back looked normal, but on the inside, near the chest, there was a dark, dried bloodstain.

"This is odd."

The bloodstain had soaked through the fabric, clearly from a wound on the victim's chest. However, the uniform's even distribution of blood suggested it wasn't caused by a sharp, penetrating injury.

Holding the uniform against my body, I pressed my hand over the darkest part of the stain. "This is where the heart would be."

What kind of wound could cause such steady bleeding without healing?

One word flashed in my mind: "Flaying."

Remembering how Guo Junjie had severed his pinky finger as a gift for Shen Mengting, any sympathy I had left for him vanished.

"He was completely deranged. This kind of person might still have a human appearance, but his actions were like those of a devil—twisted and unhinged."

Searching through the pockets of the uniform, I found a class photo. Unfortunately, it had been soaked for too long, and all the faces were now blurry and indistinguishable.

"If he was still carrying this photo when he died, it wasn't out of sentimental longing. This feels more like a cursed object, a medium for vengeance. He wants every person in this photo to meet a horrible end."

I placed the photo in my pocket, along with Guo Junjie's final letter, and searched the tank one last time. There were no more clues.

"Let's go to the incinerator pit. It's time to put an end to this nightmare."

Climbing out of the water tank, I felt the effort had been worth it. Now, all that remained was to trace Guo Junjie's corpse to its source.

The waste disposal site was located in the deepest part of the campus. The ground was overgrown with weeds, and the further we walked, the more desolate it became.

A cold wind blew through my clothes. The thought of countless bodies buried beneath my feet made me quicken my pace.

"There it is!"

Two small, dilapidated buildings stood beside the school's perimeter wall. The door was padlocked, and the windows were covered with strange talismans.

"Streamer, this is as far as we can go. We can't enter that place."

As we neared the incinerator pit, Xiumu's complexion grew pale, and cracks began to form on his smooth skin.

"Leave it to me."

I guessed Xiumu's reaction had something to do with the talismans on the windows. Upon closer inspection, the talismans were inscribed with strange symbols. Remembering my experience at the Peaceful Inn, I refrained from tearing them off recklessly.

"This is the time to consult an expert," I muttered. Turning to the livestream chat, I asked for advice. As expected, there were plenty of jokers and charlatans, but few serious suggestions.

"Liu Banxian! Is Master Liu from Qingcheng Mountain here?"

At this moment, I genuinely missed Banxian's guidance. Unfortunately, he wasn't online today.

"Yuanchen Spirit-binding Talisman? Just a low-level talisman—tear it off, and that's it?"

Among the flood of comments, one stood out. The username was Daoist Wanyi.

It wasn't because his explanation seemed especially reliable but because his tone was so arrogant—boasting as if he was the supreme authority on the matter.

"Lives are at stake. Fellow viewers, does anyone have real solutions?"

"Call the cops. That's the trademark move of this livestream—if in doubt, report to the authorities!"

"Report it? No way! Listen to me: first, kick the door three times. Then, turn your back and use your inner energy to disperse the evil spirit. As the saying goes, 'A true man dares to knock on the widow's door at night!' Let me educate you."

"What nonsense! Listen to me. I'm a professional—graduate of Harbin Buddhist Academy, Class of Three. I specialize in Guanyin's Sitting Posture..."

...

The comments were flying fast. I stood at the door, hesitant to act, paying close attention to the user Daoist Wanyi.

"Yuanchen is one of the Eight Great Spirit Afflictions, also called the Grand Consumer—a calamity of extreme misfortune. It intensifies disasters and is especially dangerous in declining fortunes. For men, it brings ugliness, confusion, shamelessness, gluttony, and depravity. For women, it causes disaster, masculine voices, impure appearances, promiscuity, and disobedient offspring."

"The corpse within this house carried the Yuanchen affliction during life. After death, it became a vengeful spirit confined to this location, filled with overwhelming resentment. Ordinary talismans are useless. The Yuanchen Spirit-binding Talisman is merely a temporary restraint and not a true solution."

I focused on Daoist Wanyi's comments. Although I didn't fully understand, his words seemed more credible than the rest.

"How can I destroy the Yuanchen affliction? Daoist Wanyi, do you have any solutions?"

"Foolish mortal, do you really think you can defy the Yuanchen Spirit? Laughable, laughable."

Back when Liu Banxian mocked me, he had at least been tactful. This Daoist, on the other hand, was outright condescending.

"Daoist, if you truly possess celestial wisdom, please guide me. I would be eternally grateful."

"Celestial wisdom? Not quite, but in the past fifty years, few practitioners could match me. Fine, I'll teach you a life-risking method to escape certain death!"

Many viewers expressed disdain in the comments, mocking this conceited Daoist. I, too, felt skeptical—was he a delusional fraud or a true expert?

"You're unlearned and untalented. To break the Yuanchen curse, you need unwavering courage to face adversity. Only by confronting death can you seize a slim chance at survival."

"Daoist, spare me the lecture. Just tell me what to do."

"The Yuanchen affliction is ferocious. Without a ghostly presence, one cannot achieve greatness; without slaughter, one cannot grasp authority. You must purge all doubt and fear, identify the corpse carrying the Yuanchen curse among the mountain of bodies, and carry it on your back!"

"Carry... a corpse?"

"Bring it to a place where moonlight is visible. Then, hurl it from a high point. If the body shatters, your troubles will be over tonight. But if the resentment persists and the spirit remains intact, your death is certain."