Taboo Mage - Chapter 76 - Nightmare Ghost

Li Jianjun was speaking when his eyes suddenly glazed over, as if he were trapped in some terrifying memory.

As I listened to him, the scene I had witnessed last night flashed through my mind, sending a shiver down my spine.

“Not good, wake him up!” Jue Chi, who was sitting beside us, suddenly shouted.

Mr. Cao immediately stood up from behind the table and walked over to Li Jianjun, slapping him repeatedly across the face.

Li Jianjun’s eyes gradually regained focus. He leaned on the table, gasping heavily, drool dripping from his mouth onto the surface.

I felt nauseous watching him and pulled a few tissues from the table to hand to him. Li Jianjun took them unconsciously, his thoughts still seemingly immersed in the horrifying memories.

The interrogation continued, and seeing that there was nothing left for me to do here, I pulled Jue Chi aside and we left together.

Jue Chi had been worried these past few days, more so than I had ever seen him, even with the most troublesome spirits we had encountered before. We weren’t even sure what we were dealing with now.

Although I wasn’t overly optimistic, I wasn’t as visibly worried as Jue Chi, whose brow was furrowed like a chrysanthemum.

After all, creating a ghost wall mostly depends on chance; perhaps the adversary was just an ordinary spirit.

Jue Chi followed me to the dining area on the other side of the fast food restaurant, where I fetched two bowls of instant noodles and placed them on the table-one in front of Jue Chi and one in front of myself.

Jue Chi sat there, lost in thought, showing no interest in eating. I chuckled and teased, “You monk, if you don’t eat now, there will be no one to cook for you when you’re hungry later.”

Jue Chi looked up at me, “After seeing that thing last night, how can you still have the appetite to eat?”

I almost choked on my noodles, glaring at him. This bald monk always brought up the worst topics.

As I was considering whether to eat Jue Chi’s portion too, my gaze inadvertently swept toward the service area entrance, where I saw a man in a dark blue uniform being stopped by the police.

I thought he was just a driver coming to use the restroom and didn’t pay much attention, but then a pair of black leather shoes stopped right in front of me.

“Mr. Gu, there’s a delivery person here to see you. Does this belong to you?”

I looked up to see a police officer placing a neatly packaged parcel in front of me. I reached out and touched it-it was a book. I thought to myself about the efficiency of the delivery service; I had placed the order just last night, and it was already here.

I was just about to call Lin Huan to have him leave a five-star review for the delivery person when the police officer handed me a form, along with a pen.

“The delivery person said this parcel is cash on delivery. You’ll need to pay for the postage,” he said.

I took the form and glanced at the amount listed, nearly spitting out my instant noodles again.

“What? Five hundred? Are you crazy? Five hundred for just this old book?” I blurted out, standing up abruptly and clutching the form in disbelief.

“Mr. Gu, this was delivered to a service area on the highway. Five hundred is not too expensive.”

The officer looked at me with a smile. I closed my eyes for a moment, silently pulled out my wallet, and counted out five hundred RMB to him. My gaze drifted back to the parcel, cursing inwardly.

Lin Huan, that little rascal, I’m definitely deducting this amount from his salary!

After mentally scolding Lin Huan, I sat back down. Jue Chi was already devouring his instant noodles while unwrapping the parcel and eagerly perusing the ancient book.

“What, does reading my book make your meal taste better?”

I couldn’t help but let my irritation show towards Jue Chi. As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them a bit.

Jue Chi didn’t respond but continued to scan the page he had opened. I took a sip of my noodle soup. Let him read; after all, the book contained information on how to make life amulets, something only members of the Gu Family could understand.

Jue Chi flipped through the book for a while, then paused abruptly, put down his spoon, and turned the ancient book towards me, “What is this?”

I glanced over, “Oh, those are notes written by my Grandfather.”

I casually responded, pointing at the section he was indicating.

Jue Chi frowned, “I’m talking about this picture. What is depicted here? I can’t make out the words next to it.”

Hearing Jue Chi’s words, I put down the spoon I was holding and looked closely at the spot he was pointing to. As my gaze shifted to the annotations next to the picture made by Grandfather, I suddenly coughed.

The picture depicted a monk clad in a Kasaya, holding a whisk in his hand, and stepping on something strange beneath his feet. The thing lay prostrate under the monk’s feet, eyes closed, and it was unclear what it looked like.

The annotation next to it read, “Nightmare ghost, long hair and sharp teeth, lips like those of a torn creature, ugly face, and a penchant for blood.”

Those few words triggered the memory of what I had seen the night before. I looked up at Jue Chi and could tell from his eyes that he had made the connection too.

“The thing that the monk is stepping on in the picture is exactly what I encountered yesterday.”

“Do you know what this is?” I read the annotations aloud and then looked at Jue Chi.

Jue Chi furrowed his brow and after a long pause, he slowly said, “My master once told me about many unknown entities in this world, one of which is this nightmare ghost. According to legend, nightmare ghosts feed on the flesh and bones of the deceased and then project the process of them tearing open their stomach and digging out their heart into the dreams of people nearby, scaring them into leaving their habitats.”

“So, they just scare people? Does that mean they aren’t actually harmful?” I frowned, thinking about such a grotesque creature being inherently benign-this was hard to believe.

Jue Chi shook his head, indicating he wasn’t sure yet, but they probably weren’t very aggressive; otherwise, it wouldn’t have fled after being stabbed by the copper coin sword yesterday.

I thought so too; even if it wasn’t benign, it was certainly cowardly.

“Does this nightmare ghost have anything to do with Da Liu’s death?” I pondered, running my fingers over the ancient book’s picture when the thought struck me.

“We can’t be sure yet, but what we can be certain of is where there is a nightmare ghost, there will be a presence of departed spirits. Nightmare ghosts prefer to feed on the flesh of spirits with strong resentment. The stronger the resentment, the more they relish it.”