“Ah——! You, what are you doing?” The woman screamed inside the room, but she became silent a few seconds later. I saw blood splashing all over the place.

“Crazy! You’re crazy! Stay away from me! Don’t get any closer!”

The lover was petrified, he was so desperate to run away that he even forgot to put his pants back on. He wanted to escape through the window, but the man didn’t give him a chance, his big hand grabbed the lover’s neck with all his strength, almost choking him to death.

Then the young man lifted his axe and chopped off the lover’s head.

Throughout this process, the young man didn’t say a word. He stared in silence at the messy room soaked with blood. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking about.

Soon after, what the man had done was found out by the villagers. No matter how or where he escaped, the black dog raised by Mr.Wang was always able to find him by following the smell of blood on him.

The man drenched with blood was brought back under the escort of strong men in the village. I heard the villagers shouting curses.

“Son of a bitch!”

“He’ll pay for what he has done! He’s inhuman!”

“How cold-hearted he is to kill his wife! Son of a bitch, dogs have eaten his heart!”

“I tell you, I’ve already known he’s an evil man for a long time! He spends all day doing nothing but paint! He didn’t want to work to buy a house, and he never helped out with the farm work!”

“Have you ever seen his paintings before? He paints naked women and weird signs. He isn’t normal!”

“Demon! He must be a demon!” A woman came through the crowd. Even though she had aged and had wrinkles on her face, I still recognized that she was the man’s mother.

She accused her son loudly while crying, “I knew it! No normal man would obsess with those weird things like him! He’s a demon, a demon took my son!”

Because of the mother’s accusation, more and more people began to scold the young man.

“Kill him!”

“A life for a life!”

“Chop his head off!”

The mother rushed to the front, yelling, “Kill this demon and bring my son back!”

As the crowd was shouting, the man was brought to the front. Some people kept throwing eggs and vegetables at him. The executioner indifferently stood next to him while sharpening a chopping knife that was used to slaughter pigs.

“Well, murderer, your time is up!” The executioner said rudely. “Do you have any last words? Say them now!”

I saw that the man kneeling on the ground looked up. He glanced at the rude executioner, opened his mouth and said,

“If there’s a next life.. I wish to not be born as a human again!”

The crowd burst into laughter and jeers.

“He’s indeed a demon!”

“He knows he’s a monster!”

After that, the executioner’s blade came down while the crowd was laughing. And then the only thing I could see was blood.

At this moment, I was woken up by insistent knocks at the door.

“Du, du, du, du..!” The man who kept knocking on the door seemed anxious.

“Gu Yu, Gu Yu! Are you awake? Get up!”

The voice sounded familiar, it was Shi Yitong. I blinked my eyes, confused for a few seconds before realizing that I was at Wen Jiubo’s old residence. What’s the matter? Why did Shi Yitong come here?

“Hold on, I’m coming!” I jumped out of bed and yelled. But before I could dress properly, Shi Yitong rushed into my room.

“Ay, Gu Yu! You’re really having a vacation here? I went to your dorm room and then to your classroom to find you, meanwhile, you’re hiding here and enjoying your happy time!”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. Shi Yitong didn’t know what I had been through this night. But he looked anxious, did something happen in school?

“What’s the matter?” I looked at my phone. “It’s only seven in the morning, why are you looking for me?”

“I have to tell you!” Shi Yitong anxiously stammered, “Another person died! His heart stopped beating but he’s still breathing!”

I was shocked and asked, “Another? Who is this person?”

“That’s why I tried so hard to find you!” Shi Yitong stomped his feet. “It’s Zhou Lang from your dorm!”

“What?” I was stunned. I quickly put on my shoes and rushed outside the room with Shi Yitong.

Zhou Lang, how could it possibly be Zhou Lang?! Why did this happen to my friend!

I felt angry and guilty. I suddenly recalled that Zhou Lang was drunk last night and he tried to tell me something, but neither the Dorm Head nor I paid attention to what he said. We thought it was just drunk gibberish.

Damn it! If I listened to him, he could still be alive!

While Shi Yitong and I ran through the yard, the front door suddenly opened and we almost bumped into Wen Jiubo.

“Why are you running?” Wen Jiubo said calmly. “Even if you run as fast as you can, the dead won’t come back and the people worrying won’t stop worrying. The things that are doomed to happen will happen anyway.”

I looked at him and then paused. Wen Jiubo was dressed up today. He was again in that black robe, the one he wore when I first met him. His long hair was tied up neatly at the back and he had a paper fan that I had never seen before in his hand. Bai stood on his shoulder, yawning.

“So annoying, waking me up early in the morning. Please finish this annoying request ASAP!”

Seeing this, I suddenly became excited. “Wen Jiubo, your dress, does that mean..”

However, Wen Jiubo interrupted me before I finished, “Gu Yu, go to my room and fetch me three charms, one with ‘Xun’, one with ‘Li’ and one with ‘Kun’. And bring a bowl of water as well, the water level must be precisely parallel to the edge of the bowl, no more, no less. Bring these things and follow me.”

I didn’t ask any questions and nodded. I did exactly what Wen Jiubo told me, however, when I came back, I saw Shi Yitong standing in the yard with his hands on his waist; he seemed to be furious and about to fight with Wen Jiubo at any minute.

“Why do you always act like you’re superior to everyone and give orders to others?!” Shi Yitong gnashed his teeth in anger. “Someone died in our school, why are you acting like you don’t care at all! Let me tell you, if your voodoo doesn’t work, you’ll be in deep trouble!”