Taboo Mage - Chapter 55 - A Terrifying Night on the Train
If it weren’t for her eyelids twitching occasionally, I would have seriously doubted whether she had turned into a statue while I was asleep.
It was strange to encounter someone like this on a train at midnight. I turned my head to chat with Jue Chi, only to find him staring out the window, his eyes wide open and unblinking.
“Don’t sleep,” the auntie suddenly spoke, her wrinkles bunching up like a blooming chrysanthemum.
I thought she was talking to Jue Chi. I had already fallen asleep, and for all I knew, Jue Chi and the auntie might have exchanged some words while I was out.
When I didn’t hear Jue Chi respond, I looked over and was surprised to see the auntie staring unblinkingly at me. As I turned my head, she even smiled briefly before her expression turned serious, as if bracing herself.
“Auntie, are you talking to me?” I asked, pointing to my nose, puzzled.
“Yes, you, young man. You absolutely must not sleep on this train at night, or someone could die,” she said, leaning closer to me with her eyes wide open and her thin hands reaching out as if to grab me.
Encountering such a person in the middle of the night could scare someone to death!
I quickly recoiled and grabbed Jue Chi, preparing to change seats. With so many empty seats on the train, I definitely didn’t want to sit next to an old woman going through menopause and acting neurotic.
Scaring people can indeed scare someone to death!
Just as I touched Jue Chi’s sleeve, he suddenly asked, “Why would someone die from sleeping on the train?”
Jue Chi… he couldn’t be going mad, could he?
With so many trains running at night, if everyone on them was going to die, then China would have run out of people long ago.
The auntie, as if finding a kindred spirit, rummaged through her bag for a while and eventually pulled out a bag of Sunflower Seeds. She tore open the package and placed it on the small table, signaling if we wanted some.
Jue Chi shook his head. I was going to refuse as well, but seeing the auntie’s expression, as if she wanted to engage in a long conversation, I thought, how could we pass the long night without some entertainment?
So I thanked the auntie and grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds to start eating.
“I’m telling you, have you noticed how few people are on this train? That’s because this train is not clean. It would be alright during the day, but at night, nobody dares to ride it.”
I chuckled, “Auntie, aren’t you riding it yourself? Aren’t we also on it? It’s just a train; it’s not as mysterious as you make it sound.”
Auntie shook her head, expertly pinching a sunflower seed to her lips, “My daughter-in-law is due early tomorrow morning. I had no choice but to take this train; otherwise, I wouldn’t ride it if you paid me. However, I’ve heard that the unclean spirits on this train only come out when people are asleep.”
I understood then, “Oh, no wonder you’re not sleeping and won’t let me sleep either.”
Honestly, I’ve heard plenty of these odd statements from Auntie, so I’m quite used to it by now. Many people, especially in remote areas and the more superstitious mountain villages, still hold many superstitious beliefs.
But superstition is not just a simple belief in ghosts and gods. It’s about attributing all unexplainable events to the supernatural powers of these spirits.
Even more so, some people would interpret any minor incident in their lives through the lens of ghosts and spirits, which completely traps them in a vicious circle of thought.
Do ghosts and gods exist? Of course, they do. Otherwise, what’s the point of making life amulets? But spirits are like Halley’s Comet; you might encounter them once in several hundred years.
If you could encounter one every time you step out or fall asleep, then you might as well go out and buy lottery tickets!
I scoffed at what Auntie said, but out of politeness, I didn’t voice my thoughts, even though I couldn’t quite control my expression.
Auntie rolled her eyes at me, saying, “You’ll regret not listening to the elderly,” and then she stopped paying me any attention and started chatting with Jue Chi, who had been silent all along.
Thinking of the reticent Jue Chi now facing off with a complicated and mysterious group like the Chinese aunties, I couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement.
Auntie chatted animatedly with Jue Chi, who smiled throughout the conversation. Auntie ranged in her topics from the creation of the world by Pangu1 to Liu Bei2 slaying a snake, from old man Liu’s affairs in the east of the village to her own disagreements with her daughter-in-law.
I was genuinely impressed by Jue Chi’s ability to maintain the same posture throughout, unmoving.
Auntie, her throat dry from talking, had just taken a sip of her bottled water when Jue Chi suddenly reached into his backpack and asked seriously, “If I told you that this train is not clean, would you be scared?”
What? My eyeballs nearly popped out, and the sunflower seed shells in my hands scattered all over the floor.
Could my luck really be this good, encountering ghosts as soon as I step out?
The seed shells lodged in auntie’s throat made her cough violently until she expelled them.
“You young man, you look decent, why do you learn to scare people…”
Before auntie could finish her sentence, the lights on the train suddenly went out. My heart pounded faster and faster, and instinctively, my hand reached into my bag where I kept my peachwood sword and wooden amulet for protection.
Suddenly, a crackling sound of electricity followed by an announcement in accented Mandarin came from the speaker overhead.
“It’s lights-out time now. Please remain seated and do not move around.”
It turned out to be just lights out, which gave me quite a scare. Relieved, I took my hand out of the bag.
Just as I was considering whether to say something to lighten the mood, Jue Chi leaned closer and whispered, “Did you bring your peachwood sword?”
My scalp tightened, sensing trouble, “Yes… I did…”
“That’s good, take it out, we might need it soon.”
No sooner had Jue Chi finished speaking than the overhead lights flickered back on, only to dim again within a minute, and then abruptly started flashing rapidly, like a scene from a horror film.
Auntie was already slumped in her seat like a lump of clay, terrified.
It must be said, art imitates life, and unusual situations often accompany unexpected events. The flickering lights were caused by an anomalous magnetic field interfering with the electric current of the lights.
I swiftly pulled out the peachwood sword from my bag, glancing out of the corner of my eye at the people next to me. Jue Chi had already taken out his prayer beads and closed his eyes, his lips moving slightly.
Footnote:
- Pangu(盘古):Pangu is a deity in Chinese mythology credited with creating the world. According to legend, he separated the sky and the earth, creating the universe.
- Liu Bei(刘备):Liu Bei was the founding emperor of the Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. His story is extensively depicted in the historical novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and is a significant figure in Chinese history and literature.
