There is a trick

Chapter 9 Awakening
"Zhou Chang!"

In the desolate darkness, a cry of an odd tone that was difficult to tell whether it was male or female suddenly rang out.

Following this cry, many noisy sounds rolled in Zhou Chang's ears. These noisy sounds eventually turned into the mournful cry of an old man.

"Sheep... Two sheep..."

Zhou Chang's nickname is Shuangyang. When he heard the old man crying, his heart began to ache.

"Don't go, Yangyang..."

"How will Grandpa live in the future?"

"Achang! Yangyang!"

The noisy sound of gongs, drums, suona, human voices, and firecrackers rolled up again, drowning out the old man's grief-stricken cries. The darkness of the deep pool seemed to have been thrown into it by several large rocks, rippling chaotically, and Zhou Chang saw many blurred images in the layers of ripples.

Many people in colorful clothes, wearing Nuo masks with different expressions, surrounded the tomb covered with red lines - Yinsheng Laomu, jumping and beating gongs and drums.

They moved stiffly, and their joints seemed unable to bend, as if there were strings hanging behind them, controlling their every move.

These people wearing colorful clothes and Nuo masks gathered around a black lacquered coffin in front of Yin Sheng's mother's grave.

Several people used bamboo poles to prop up the four corners of a black cloth sheet and put it over the black coffin that had not yet been closed and nailed, so that the deceased in the coffin would not be exposed to direct sunlight;
Six figures dressed in black carried the wooden poles and lifted the coffin from the bench.

Often, only the people who were closest to and most trusted by the deceased during his or her lifetime can carry the coffin and support the spirit of the deceased.

Zhou Chang didn't recognize any of the six slender, dark figures that looked like tall poplar trees.

They turned their backs to Zhou Chang and carried the coffin.

Amid the bustling crowd, an old man shouted at the top of his lungs: "Seal the coffin—"

As soon as the call ended, someone held a wooden hammer and coffin nails close to the edge of the coffin, and someone lifted the coffin lid and slowly closed it.

People wearing colorful masks pushed a panicked old man to the side of the coffin. They urged and shouted, "Mr. Zhou, please take another look at Achang..."

"Take another look..."

"The deceased is about to go on his way, so don't cry and don't let him worry about you..."

"Let's go, Achang, go with peace of mind..."

The old man who was pushed by the crowd and staggered towards the coffin gang was like a lonely little boat in the vast ocean, which could capsize at any time.

Zhou Chang looked at the old man's back and suddenly felt a great pain in his heart.

He was a man with little affection. He had lived for more than 20 years and had no real friends. So when he looked at the six people who came to bear his coffin, he felt that he didn't know any of them. The pallbearers were put together at the last minute, so how could he know them? He didn't have any close friends.

Even towards his parents and closest relatives, Zhou Chang didn't seem to have much affection.

He often stays away from everything and lives like an outsider.

But until now, when he saw the originally tall old man with a slumped back and his hair trembling in the wind like weeds, he suddenly felt a real pain!

"grandfather……"

He shouted quietly in his heart.

None of the dangerous experiences he had experienced before, such as being chased by Li Xiamei, had touched him more deeply than seeing his grandfather's hunched back.

He wants to go home.

He has a hometown.

Hometown is a place that has passed away and can never be returned to.

Because it cannot be recovered, I cherish the memory desperately.

Grandpa chased the black coffin. Some people tried to pull him back, while others tried to stop him.

The crowd became confused.

The coffin was about to be closed, but due to the pushing and crowding of the people, the lid was opened again.

Some people hurriedly pushed the coffin lid, while others reached out to hold the side of the coffin.

The black coffin also became a lone boat in the crowd.

"Achang!"

"Don't abandon Grandpa!"

"Sheep, sheep, sheep!"

Zhou Chang didn't care about the noise and chaos of the crowd. He looked at his grandfather's hunched back and listened to his grief-stricken cries. He kept shouting in his heart: "Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa——"

No one could hear his words.

With everyone working together, the coffin lid finally slipped off completely.

Some people were busy moving the coffin lid that had fallen to the ground, while others were trying to support the shaky coffin body.

The six people responsible for carrying Zhou Chang's coffin were like six pillars standing in the crowd. The coffin they were carrying had no lid to cover it, and the situation inside was completely revealed to Zhou Chang's eyes.

Inside the coffin, the darkness was as thick as asphalt.

There seemed to be nothing else inside except that pure darkness.

There was no body as Zhou Chang thought, nor any other dead people. When Zhou Chang saw the darkness in the coffin, the chaotic crowd suddenly fell silent.

These people wearing colorful clothes and Nuo god masks suddenly turned their heads in unison and looked in the direction of Zhou Chang!

The six dark figures who had their backs to Zhou Chang all the time also turned their heads 180 degrees at this moment, and the six blank faces 'looked' in the direction of Zhou Chang!
hum!
The "wall" between Zhou Chang and the people at the funeral was broken at this moment!
The eyes of those people at the funeral passed through the broken wall and stared straight at Zhou Chang!
Among the six dark figures with no facial features, Zhou Chang's face slowly emerged!

Zhou Chang felt like his scalp was about to explode!
He stared at the funeral. The only person who didn't turn around to look at him was his grandfather. He was surrounded by so many strange people in the center. His grandfather was unaware and continued to chase after his coffin, calling out mournfully, "Yang Yang, Yang Yang..."

Cold fear and raging rage overwhelmed Zhou Chang's mind at the same time!

"Let me go back!" he howled angrily.

"Let me go back!" he begged bitterly.

"Let me go back!"

……

As he called out, people who were looking at him from all directions grinned.

Amidst the laughter that was as loud as the ocean tide, there was a strange voice howling at the top of its lungs: "Rise up - spirits -"

Everything in Zhou Chang's eyes gradually darkened with the strange tone.

The six figures clustered around the coffin, people wearing colorful clothes and Nuo masks, were nailed like pillars in the iron darkness. They stood like trees, and also like tombstones in front of the grave of "Yin Sheng Lao Mu".

In this deep darkness, only the grave of Yinsheng’s mother stands lonely.

Around the grave mountain, there were coffins of different materials, some made of gold, some made of wood, lined up in a trance.

The tombstones in front of each coffin all sounded a call. They seemed to be calling out to Zhou Chang, but it also seemed that the person they were really calling out to was just a name that was somewhat similar to Zhou Chang's: "Zhou Chang!"

"Zhou Chang!"

"Zhou Chang!"

"Zhou Chang!"

"Zhou Dangyang!"

"Zhou Shuangyang!"

Countless names similar to Zhou Chang's were loudly called out by the tombstones in front of the coffins.

All the shouts merged into a strange tone, rolling back and forth in Zhou Chang's ears - until a certain moment, Zhou Chang could not even see the scene in front of Yin Sheng's mother's grave, and the sound rolling in his ears suddenly became clear: "A Chang!"

"A Chang!"

Zhou Sanji's call exploded in Zhou Chang's ears.

He suddenly opened his eyes -

The faint moonlight passed through the paper-framed window and sprinkled on his pillow.

The furnishings in the room were dimly illuminated by the yellow-white light, seeming both real and illusory.

Zhou Chang lay straight on a single bamboo bed, his hands tightly clasped around his neck, a strange smile on his pale face.

This body, which originally belonged to Zhou Chang, was clearly only strangling Zhou Chang's neck, but it made Zhou Chang feel strongly suffocated. He felt that his consciousness was strangled at this moment, and his mind began to blur!
A kerosene lamp was stuck above his face.

In the light and fire, Zhou Sanji shouted while reaching out to pry away the two hands that were around Zhou Chang's neck.

The flickering flames illuminated Zhou Sanji's panicked and helpless face.

Zhou Chang looked at Zhou Sanji's face, which was sometimes bright and sometimes dark. Two pale and transparent threads flowed out from between his eyebrows and wrapped around the two wrists that were around his neck.

He exerted force in his heart, and felt a pain like needles pricking his brain. The two silk threads extending from his eyebrows stretched straight, pulling the arms and slowly detaching from his neck.

"Let me go back! Let me go back!"

At this time, an expression of resentment appeared on his pale face, and he roared loudly!

The fierce roar made the beams shake off the dust!
Hearing this voice, Zhou Chang's mind was shaken.

These were not words he uttered, but a cry coming from Zhou Chang's body itself.

This body wants to lie back in that mass grave and become a 'ghostly treasure' guarded by 'Old Feng's family'?
“Where are you going?
My dear grandson, this is our home, this is your home!
Where do you want to go?!" Zhou Sanji looked at his youngest grandson's face full of resentment and unwillingness. He was horrified, holding Zhou Chang's wrist tightly, and gave helpless advice.

Strands of transparent silk threads continuously flowed out from between Zhou Chang's eyebrows and wrapped around Zhou Chang's arms again and again.

The strength of Zhou Chang's body's struggles became weaker and weaker until it became completely quiet.

Zhou Chang opened his eyes and looked at Zhou Sanji, who looked confused. "Those words I just said were not mine. They were spoken by this body itself."

His words were extremely difficult to understand and most people would not be able to understand them.

Zhou Sanji was also stunned for a while after hearing the voice, and then he let out an "ah". He looked at Zhou Chang with a complicated look, mixed with strangeness and alienation: "A Chang's corpse... body, has started to have "thoughts" so quickly.

It's not Ah Chang...

If it's Ah Chang, this is Ah Chang's home, he won't want to go anywhere else..."

After the old man had spoken, the two men fell silent, watching the flickering light of the fire in the room.

(End of this chapter)