Cataclysm Chapter 3: Human Skin Painting 3; Scapegoat

Chapter 3: Human Skin Painting 3; Scapegoat

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor:  Girl from the East

 

Han Jiashan led them to the second floor, stopped at the door of Han Ke’s room and knocked on the door. The door opened, and a middle-aged lady glanced at Chen Yang with red eyes, her face unhappy.

Mrs. Han, “Why did you invite these quacks?”

Han Jiashan pulled Mrs. Han aside and asked Chen Yang to come in with a smile. Then he scolded Mrs. Han, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Mrs. Han, “KeKe is just under a lot of stress, go find a doctor to treat her. Every day you say that KeKe is possessed. It’s no use inviting so many charlatans.”

Han Jiashan was embarrassed and said, “This is the last time, okay?”

Chen Yang looked sideways at Mao Xiaoli, who shrugged her shoulders. “It’s common for us to ‘carry the pot’.”

“You don’t mean to ‘throw the pot away’? “

Mao Xiaoli, “No. We usually ‘smash the pot’ back in the employer’s face.”

“What if you can’t ‘smash’ it back?”

“It’s all up to our peers to smash it for us.”

Chen Yang shook his head slightly, “Your business ability is not good.”

Mentioning this, Mao Xiaoli thought of Chen Yang, who had just suddenly stepped out and the professional mode within seconds, she put on a tone of praise, “Brother Chen, you are eloquent. Just now, Mr. Han’s eyes changed, and his attitude became respectful. In the past, when we went out to do business, those people turned a deaf ear at us, preferring to believe those cheaters who did not have a license than believe us. As a result, we have been refused more orders, and our wages are almost zero.”

Chen Yang, “… You have exposed your salary status.”

Mao Xiaoli said quickly, “There is still a base salary.” With a smile, she rubbed her hands as if a fly was there, “Brother Chen, are you a religion major?”

“No.”

“Finance?”

Chen Yang shook his head, “Majored in marketing. My minor was folklore.”

Mao Xiaoli applauded, “Brother Chen, you look more professional than me.”

Chen Yang smiled and began to look at the room.

The whole room was beige, typical of a girl’s bedroom. There was a big bed in the middle where Han Ke was lying with her eyes closed, motionless, and her arm still had an IV. There was a big bookshelf beside the wall, where many unopened figurines rested. The walls were full of posters, basically anime characters, so the single portrait of a beauty in a pile of anime posters was particularly conspicuous.

Chen Yang took a few steps to look at the portrait of the beauty that was one meter long and half a meter wide. The portrait showed a beautiful woman in a sleeveless crescent white cheongsam. The lady looked out of the picture with her hands crossed, her arms were white, her face like that of a beautiful picture, her teeth white and glistening, and her lips red. The picture was the spitting image of alluring beauty.

“Wow, she’s beautiful.”

Chen Yang looked back and saw Mao Xiaoli standing beside him as she gasped.

“What a lifelike portrait… Hm? The date… Barren Moon of year WuXu So [/efn_note] 1 this has been painted quite recently. But why doesn’t it have a seal of authentication?” Mao Xiaoli seemed very interested in this painting, so she wanted to touch it.  ¹

Chen Yang stopped her, “It’s best not to touch other people’s belongings.”

“Ah, yes.” Mao Xiaoli quickly retracted her hand.

“Go and see what happened to Miss Han.”

Mao Xiaoli looked back and found that Master Lu and Master Luo had gathered around Han Ke to check the situation, and she immediately ran over hoping to win the 400,000 yuan. Chen Yang also raised his feet and went over, suddenly he heard a faint female voice by his ear.

[My honorable scholar…] ²

Chen Yang turned a deaf ear and went straight ahead. Master Luo said, “Miss Han may have been haunted by a female ghost who wanted to be reincarnated, replacing her premature death with Miss Han’s rich and long life.”

“What do you mean?” Han Jiashan and Mrs. Han didn’t understand at all.

Master Luo explained, “The so-called ghost’s scapegoat in fact means stealing the life of the living and replacing it with the short life of the ghost. The scapegoat will bear the suffering in the ghost’s stead, while the ghost will replace the living’s identity and continue to live in the world of the living. Miss Han’s body was taken from her by a ghost who died prematurely and wanted to replace Miss Han.”

Han Jiashan was startled, “What can we do to save KeKe?”

Master Luo said, “You can rest assured that since we have noticed it, Miss Han will naturally be saved. We have police in the land of the living, so of course there are Hell servitors in the realm of the dead. Malicious ghosts that harm the living will be captured and sent to the Northern Hell Emperor before being banished to the 18 floors hell  l³. That ghost wanted to replace Miss Han and avoid the Hell servitors, ⁴ and coincidentally, Miss Han’s destiny is blessed with longevity and prosperity, truly someone born under the lucky star. Her constitution should have natural resistance against possession, if it wasn’t for Miss Han’s random words that the ghost used as a loophole, she would never suffer from this uncontrollable disaster.”

Han Jiashan believed in it, but Mrs. Han did not believe it. Compared with Han Jiashan, who grew up in the land of gods and ghosts in Western Guangdong, Mrs. Han was a native city folk and a strong science believer. “Nonsense, can a ghost replace the living? What a joke, if that’s the case, isn’t it possible for everyone to be replaced by a ghost? Then all the people around me are likely ghosts.”

“Be quiet.”

Mrs. Han shook off Han Jiashan’s hand and pointed to his nose and scolded, “KeKe is sick, you didn’t call for a doctor, but instead brought this group of charlatans! KeKe’s body is so worn down. If you had only listened to me, we could have sent KeKe to a foreign hospital earlier and she wouldn’t turn out like this.”

Master Lu and Master Luo were unhappy when they heard the word ‘charlatan.’

Chen Yang looked at Han Ke lying in bed. The young lady was bony, her cheeks were sunken, dark rings under eyes; she really looked terrible. As he was looking at her, Han Ke suddenly opened her eyes and looked straight at Chen Yang.

Chen Yang crept two steps to the side and found that Han Ke’s vision did not follow him, instead her stare was directed onto the painting behind him. No one noticed that Han Ke had woken up, her face gloomy and dull, like a fierce ghost.

Master Lu said, “Mrs. Han, let me ask you some questions. You just need to answer yes or no. You can see if I’m right.”

Mrs. Han, “Alright.”

Lu Tianshi, “Has Miss Han changed her temperament so much that she seems to have become another person completely?”

Mrs. Han hesitated for a moment. “Yes.”

Master Lu, “What about life habits, like the way she dresses herself and daily behavior, has those changed drastically as well?”

Mrs. Han retorted, “But some paralytic neurological disorders can also lead to great changes in one’s temperament.”

At this time, Han Ke in bed suddenly said, “The noise is killing me. If you want to argue, go outside.”

The bedroom was quiet for a moment.

Chen Yang opened his mouth, “Mrs. Han, has Miss Han ever lived in Western Guangdong?”

Perhaps Chen Yang’s look was able to give people comfort, Mrs. Han replied gently, “Only last month, when we went to pay respects to our ancestors. She didn’t like going there before. Only this time when she heard that western Guangdong is a place where people believe in ghosts and gods did she desperately want to go. But she stayed for five days only.”

“So, after five days, even her accent changed?”

Mrs. Han’s face contorted, and it seemed only at this moment that she noticed her daughter’s accent had changed into a Western Guangdong accent. Her daughter had always lived in the capital city since she was a child and spoke an authentic Beijing dialect. Why did it suddenly change?

Even if she could explain a significant change in temperament with a neurological disease, it was impossible to change even one’s accent.

“Mrs. Han, please let us try again. Trust us. After tonight, if Miss Han’s condition still does not improve, then we will take her to the hospital. It’s just one night anyway.” Chen Yang suddenly thought of something and said, “By the way, will Miss Han sing tonight?”

Thinking of the tragic and heart-chilling Cantonese opera, Mrs. Han could not spit out her objection when it reached her throat. She just randomly nodded her head, “Only tonight…”

“Okay. I promise I won’t let you down.”

Han Jiashan’s eyes towards Chen Yang were full of gratitude, but Chen Yang was silent, mysterious, and elegant.

Master Lu and Master Luo spent so much effort to win over them, yet still lost to Chen Yang’s smile, and now that they saw Chen Yang’s smiling face, they became somewhat depressed. They looked at each other and decided to deal with him first.

Han Jiashan and Mrs. Han left the bedroom, leaving Chen Yang and others with Han Ke.

Master Lu and Master Luo stood at this time to jointly deal with Chen Yang.

Master Luo first said, “Tonight, that ghost will come again, first, to Miss Han’s room to possess her, and then to the living room to harm people. We only have two chances to catch the ghost. We are all on the same road, so we should cooperate.”

Chen Yang smiled and refused.

Master Luo smiled imperceptibly, he had been waiting for this. Young people were proud and arrogant. When they came out to take a job, they wanted to be alone and were not willing to cooperate with others. They didn’t know the older the ginger, the spicier it got, ⁵ no matter how good their talent was, one still had to go through a lot of training.

“In that case, we will separate. Whoever catches the ghost and saves Miss Han will claim the reward. We won’t mess with your business. I’ll be in the living room with Mr. Lu; you guard the bedroom. If you can’t deal with it before it leaves the room, it’s up to us. If we do solve it, this means you can’t get the reward.”

Chen Yang smiled and laughed, “Aren’t you giving yourselves a handicap?”

“Do you disagree?”

Chen Yang nodded, “Agreed. I’ll take advantage of it.”

Mao Xiaoli frowned, but Chen Yang held her back.

Master Lu and Master Luo, along with the apprentice, went downstairs together and waited in the living room until the evening came.

Mao Xiaoli, “Brother Chen, why did you agree? They obviously joined hands to fight against us. They said that we should stay in the bedroom. But who doesn’t know that an evil spirit will be the most ferocious when they first wake up? This is a three-star task, we can’t deal with that ghost alone. When the ghost gets out of the bedroom, it’s their turn to catch the ghost. Yet the job of expending the ghost’s strength falls in our hands.”

Mao Xiaoli sighed. Brother Chen still didn’t know much about these things, so he thought it was an advantage to deal with the ghost first.

Chen Yang smiled and borrowed Mao Xiaoli’s cell phone and took a picture of the portrait on the wall, then returned it to Mao Xiaoli.

“Xiaoli, can you show this to Mr. Han for me? Ask him if he knows the woman in the portrait. Also if this was the one on the tombstone.”

Mao Xiaoli, “You mean-“

“Not necessarily.”

“Okay, I’ll ask now. Wait for me.”

Mao Xiaoli left, she left Chen Yang and Han Ke in the room. Chen Yang found a place to sit down, took out his cell phone, and played with it.

After a long time, Han Ke suddenly turned her head to the side and stared at Chen Yang.

Chen Yang perceived this and looked over.

Han Ke, “I advise you not to meddle.”

Chen Yang said earnestly, “Don’t fool around, go back to where you should go. Otherwise, I will banish you to the Six Palaces of Luofeng.”

 

The author has something to say:

Year WuXu: 2018. 

Barren Moon: April in the lunar calendar, May in the western calendar.

To avoid misunderstanding and explain, Tianshis need to be awarded a blessing and earn a wooden token for authentication. Chen Yang is not granted a token or a blessing, so he is not really a Tianshi. And he always thought that he was not a Tianshi, so he would deny it later as well. 

 

 

 

This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.