Midnight Bookstore - Chapter 447
Chapter 447: The Gates of Hell!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ever since the fog shrouded this mountainous area, everything in the village had changed. Even ghost messengers had to be a little more careful here. Zhou Ze and Lawyer An understood the need to be cautious. They had become exceptionally low-key.
However, there were ghost messengers here to catch ghosts despite the fog.
Zhou Ze noticed that the few people who had hanged themselves in this room had already walked out of the door. They gathered on the street. Zhou Ze thought for a moment and suggested, “Let’s go out and take a look too?”
“Yes.” Lawyer An nodded and agreed.
He also wanted to see the impressive group of ghost messengers. However, it was not appropriate to be rash.
Lawyer An found a rope from the kitchen and cut it into two. One was tied to his neck, and the other was handed to Zhou Ze.
“We have our specially-made aura-concealing card in our pockets. When the time comes, we’ll intentionally leak some ghost aura. We shouldn’t be discovered.”
Zhou Ze stretched out his hand and tugged at the rope around Lawyer An’s neck, “But their ropes are facing upwards.”
Indeed, those villagers had all hung themselves. Even after they had escaped from their hanging state, the top of the rope tied around their necks was still raised high. It was as if they were still hanging themselves.
“This is easy to handle.”
Lawyer An found two small tree branches from the kitchen. He wrapped them with rope before inserting them into the collar at the back of his neck. It looked as if the rope had been erected.
“That’s enough, right?” Lawyer An smiled.
“You’re so smart.”
Zhou Ze and Lawyer An walked out with their small tree branches. They both joined the crowd of villagers. Then, they deliberately emitted the aura of death.
They were ghosts, to begin with. At this moment, they were not pretending. They were revealing their true feelings.
There were only a few hundred people in this village. It didn’t seem like much, but there was still a line for everyone to gather in. Zhou Ze and Lawyer An cut in the middle of the line.
There was the sound of a whip in front of them. The line began to advance silently. Everyone was muddle-headed. They walked forward step by step.
This feeling made Zhou Ze feel a little dazed. It was as if he was not in the mortal world but on the road to Hell. Everything was too similar.
Lawyer An kept looking left and right, observing everything. His appearance was pale.
Zhou Ze had a thought. If the crew needed to hire a professional corpse actor, Lawyer An would be the best choice. No makeup was needed. He would blend in perfectly.
Everyone walked out of the village.
Zhou Ze saw the ghost messenger with the whip at the front of the line. He was wearing black clothes and looked like a corpse driver.
As the group did not walk back, the two of them would not be exposed for the time being. At the same time, they would lose the opportunity to observe the ghost messenger.
On both sides of the thick fog, the hands waved non-stop. It was as if evil spirits were baring their fangs and brandishing their claws. However, they parted to open up a path at the lash of the whip. They seemed to not dare to step forward and offend.
The whip would ring from time to time. The slogan would be shouted from time to time. The group advanced steadily. It did not seem like they were chasing corpses. It seemed more like they were chasing (* (oo)) ^ .
He had walked a little too long.
Zhou Ze felt that his feet were a little sore. Beside him, Lawyer An was still at the peak of his acting skills. He perfectly blended into the surrounding environment.
“Hey, it’s not a good idea to just blindly follow along like this.” Zhou Ze said.
Lawyer An didn’t say anything.
“Hello?” Zhou Ze called out again.
Lawyer An still didn’t say anything.
Zhou Ze stretched out his hand and gently poked Lawyer An. He found that Lawyer An’s body had tilted and he was about to fall. Shocked, Zhou Ze immediately stretched out his hand to help Lawyer An up. If he fell, they would be exposed.
Lawyer An was still walking forward mechanically. Zhou Ze stretched out his hand and pinched Lawyer An’s waist.
Lawyer An opened his eyes and sucked in a breath of cold air.
“Are you asleep?” Zhou Ze asked.
“Ah, yes.” Lawyer An twisted his neck and continued walking forward.
“There’s such an effect from meditation?”
“Ah, yes.”
“So I’m just pretending to walk forward but you’re sleeping? Who’s the boss?”
“The ability to meditate is very magical. Someone like you who has a maid to cuddle and sleep with won’t understand.” Lawyer An said sourly.
The two of them continued to argue. Before they knew it, the group had stopped.
“They stopped?” Lawyer An cautiously stuck his head out and looked ahead. “There seems to be an archway up ahead.”
Zhou Ze also stuck his head out and looked. Indeed there was an archway up ahead. Half of the archway was black and the other half was white.
It stood in the middle of the mountain road. It wasn’t very tall and was only the size of an ordinary village house’s gate. However, there was a simple and unsophisticated aura about it.
“This isn’t the gate of Hell, is it?” Zhou Ze asked.
Old An had much more experience in this area than him. In fact, Zhou Ze had never even entered the heart of Hell before. Old An was a member of a well-established system.
“The primary key to the gate of Hell is in the hands of the ghost messenger. This seems more like a teleportation array. I dare say that even the judges can’t handle a genuine gate of Hell.”
“Even the Legendary Ten Yama Kings or the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, can’t handle it.”
The Gate of Hell was more like an abstract expression.
According to legends, it passed through the mortal world and the Netherworld. It was a bridge between the two boundaries. How could such a thing that could decide the two planes be grasped by human power?
It would not be as simple as controlling the passage in and out if someone controlled it. In addition to its practical significance and influence, it was equivalent to truly controlling the boundary between life and death!
“Then what is this thing?” Zhou Ze asked.
“I don’t know. If I knew, would I still be trapped by this fog?”
“Why are you so useless?”
“…” Lawyer An.
Didn’t he just say that he was smart?
The ghost messenger in black put down his whip and knelt down in front of the black and white archway. He seemed to be chanting something loudly.
“What is he chanting? It seems to be a dialect,” Zhou Ze asked.
“I don’t know. Ghost messenger’s accent is usually based on where he was when he was alive. Only the Putonghua of the Yang realm has become popular in recent years. However, it will take some time for it to truly affect the Netherworld. After all, people who can speak fluent Mandarin are still quite young before they reach their 70s or 80s.”
After the chant ended, the black and white memorial archway began to vibrate. Then, a light screen similar to the Taiji diagram appeared under the memorial archway.
The black-clothed ghost messenger stood up again. He picked up his whip, and gave the sky a hard slap as he shouted, “Let’s go!”
For a moment, the group continued to move forward. The people in front had already walked into the archway. They disappeared. The people behind continued to follow.
The whole scene looked extremely strange. It was like everyone was queuing up to go bungee jumping without any safety measures.
It was also like they were queuing up to be shot. In short, they weren’t on guard at all.
Perhaps, this sense of crisis came from the unknown. These villagers who had already died were fine. They were unconscious existences anyway. They were controlled by the whip.
Zhou Ze and Lawyer An were not.
What exactly was behind the archway? Would they be able to come out after entering? Everything was unknown.
The two people who were originally in the middle of the queue began to act like gentlemen. They decided to respect the old and cherish the young ladies by letting them pass first.
“You first.”
“You please.”
“You go.”
“I’m not in a hurry.”
The two continued to retreat. They finally retreated to the end of the line. It was impossible to carry on the style.
Soon there would only be two paths left in front of them. One was to close your eyes and move forward. Since a new storm had appeared, how could they stop moving forward?
The other was to tear off all decorum and start fighting! People with life and work experience all understood one thing, the relationship between colleagues of the same industry was sometimes more complicated than that of fellow countrymen.
Although there were two choices, the first one was instantly rejected. Their choice was the latter.
As two greasy middle-aged men who had gone through life’s hardships, Boss Zhou and Lawyer An couldn’t possibly find excitement in the unknown and new challenges. That was for young people to do.
There were only a dozen people left in front of them. Boss Zhou and Lawyer An got ready to subdue the ghost messenger in the black uniform with a whip in his hand.
Suddenly, Nine Blue Shadows rushed over from the fog. They were the souls of the nine women. They carried a strong sense of resentment!
Zhou Ze had met two before, and there were seven in the room. In total, there were nine.
The man holding the whip suddenly turned around. Zhou Ze and Lawyer An immediately looked at him.
Hmmph. They still couldn’t see his face clearly because he was wearing a black mask.
“You guys have to go in as well. Hurry up!!!”
“Pa!” The whip waved again.
The faces of the nine ghosts showed signs of pain and struggle. They had been forced into this place when they were alive. Now, they were forced to enter other places by whips. This kind of resistance, which was branded deep in their souls, made them not so obedient.
They were the main culprits that caused this village to become a ghost town. The malicious ghosts that had killed so many people were different compared to ordinary ghosts. They were like the difference between veterans who had been on the battlefield and new recruits who had just joined the army.
“Ahhhhhh!!!” Nine shrill screams converged into one.
Then, the nine figures charged directly at the black-clothed ghost messenger. It was as if they were going to attack together!
Eh, was there going to be a fight?
Zhou Ze and Lawyer An looked at each other. They were waiting for a good show.
However, the next moment made Zhou Ze and Lawyer An widen their eyes. The arrogant man who was waving his whip earlier shouted in horror when he saw nine evil spirits charging straight at him.
“Oh my God!!!”
Then, he threw the whip on the ground. He spread his legs and began to run madly into the fog. He didn’t even turn his head. He ran directly.
The guys were only left with a back view that couldn’t be more handsome.
