A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Page 178

The corpse lay down in the dark wooden coffin and immediately revealed a hideous and painful expression, filled with resentment.

"Quickly put the lid on."

Santa Karina made eye contact with the corpse one last time, and together with the deliveryman, they lifted the nearly 200-pound coffin lid, completely sealing the body in darkness.

The moment the coffin lid was closed, a violent banging sound erupted. Driven by resentment, the bus ghost's corpse kept sending out signals that it wanted to escape, muttering, "Let me out."

Lately, she's been witnessing more and more strange things, and Saint Karina is gradually building up her tolerance for paranormal events. Things that she would have been terrified of before seem utterly powerless in the face of her impoverished life.

Dealing with ghosts is the duty of a ghost tamer, and the feeling of easily making money by solving cases is not bad either.

Can't go back anymore.

She sat on the coffin lid, using her body to suppress the corpse inside, took out her phone, and found Yan Yi, the squad leader of the Ghost Countermeasures and Defense Department whom she had met before, on QQ.

I haven't given her a reply since the library incident ended, but now I have a clear answer in my heart, and it's not appropriate to keep dragging her along.

Unfortunately, I have a better option for myself and have decided to stick to my original plan, so I won't be joining the defense department. Thank you for your invitation, and I hope you can find someone more suitable.

The official ghost-taming organization offered too little money. Fifty thousand sounds like a lot, but compared to the commissions posted on the "paranormal revival" website, those tens of thousands of yuan are pitifully small.

She had carefully read the document from beginning to end. The official Ghost Tamers did not have any clearly defined days off. Holidays were given on a case-by-case basis. After signing the agreement, it was equivalent to selling oneself to the Defense Department. All actions had to be carried out in accordance with the arrangements. Without permission, one could not even leave Tianying at will.

Not only that, but they also had to write down their daily schedules in detail, down to the smallest things, even dates with their girlfriends. The defense department would station people near their residences to monitor them, ostensibly to prevent the demon tamers from being influenced by the evil spirits and thus harming innocents, but in reality, it was a form of tight control.

You risk your life to kill evil spirits, but your income is fixed, and you lose your personal freedom. Over time, this can easily lead to burnout and a sharp decline in motivation. You become like a work machine every day, not knowing when you will be devoured and killed by the power of the evil spirits...

A life of utter darkness is worse than being a folk ghost tamer, taking on jobs everywhere.

Yan Yi was still awake and immediately replied to the message.

"That's such a pity. Are you really not going to reconsider? The Defense Department has a secret formula; mixing potions according to it can counteract the damage the demon's power does to the body. You've probably already noticed that excessive use will harm the body. Demons directly consume the contractor's life force; if you continue, you will die."

Yan Yi was still unwilling to give up and tried to persuade him to stay.

Although the success rate is only fifty percent, failed attempts won't harm your body; at most, it'll just be a waste of materials. But don't worry, we provide a monthly subsidy, so the Ghost Tamer only needs to pay a small portion, about 30%.

Saint Karina woke up the Black Book and fed it a little blood.

What is the success rate of your method?

[Of course it's 100%. That official ghost tamer's words are all lies. Perhaps she herself doesn't know that a failed concoction may seem to have no side effects at first glance, but drinking too much can easily cause a mental breakdown. The deceased official ghost tamer eventually becomes a cold, hard number, quickly forgotten. Do you want to become one of them? Do you know how much 30% of the cost of concocting a potion is? It's easily tens of thousands of yuan a month.]

"It's more comfortable to be a leisurely person."

The black book's words only strengthened Saint Karina's resolve to refuse. Her mind was made up, and Yan Yi, not wanting to persuade her further, quickly logged off as he had work to do.

The deliveryman took them, along with their coffins, to the designated location on the map—a dense, lush forest.

The dense foliage blocked out the sun, rendering the faint moonlight blinding, and the tree-lined path pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Fortunately, the road was wide enough for the car to drive all the way to the end. Saint Karina's strength was insufficient to move the coffin, which weighed several hundred pounds; a means of transportation was essential.

At the edge of the dense forest stands a rectangular stone tablet over ten meters high, behind which lies Ningchuan Mountain, the third highest peak in Tianying County. This mountain was once a favorite spot for cultivators, with its tranquil environment, pure earth veins, and crystal-clear pools at its foot, perfect for using as ingredients in alchemy to cleanse impurities.

Those are all legends, perhaps not true, but the legend of the rectangular stone tablet is not entirely unfounded. The entrance to the underground palace is right beneath the stone tablet; you need to tap a few characters on it to trigger a switch.

Ye Shiyu still remembered which few words they were; they had no pattern and their combination was meaningless, like a combination lock string.

The touched text lit up instantly, and the ground beneath their feet began to shake, accompanied by heavy scraping and moving sounds. Directly in front of the stone tablet was a patch of wasteland, the turf torn open in the middle, revealing a rectangular entrance three meters long and one meter wide.

The dark passage stretched underground, with a smooth slope in the middle and evenly spaced steps on both sides; the bottom was not yet visible. A blast of stuffy, dry dust hit her cheeks, making Santa Karina's nose itch and almost causing her to sneeze.

"Ye Shiyu, is the slope used to transport coffins?"

"Exactly. The wooden coffin was too heavy, so the craftsmen who built the underground palace took into account the difficulty of moving it and specially made a slope that would allow the coffin to slide down by itself. There is also a device underneath to pull the coffin. I don't know if it can still be activated after so many years of no one using it. If we are unlucky and the device breaks down, we will have to push it ourselves."

A cold wind blew into the underground palace. Wei Xin stood to the side, not daring to go down. She took two steps back, trying to appear calm, but her body was trembling like a leaf.

"Are there a lot of... corpses or something inside?"

"There must be at least a thousand skeletons."

Ye Shiyu answered with a smile.

"Thousands..."

It's a terrifying number. The average person's tolerance limit is no more than two digits, but the number in the underground palace is as high as four digits, enough to make anyone hesitate to venture there.

Santa Karina knew she had to go down, while the other two were indifferent; they were ordinary people and it might be safer for them to stay up there.

“Wei Xin, why don’t you stay up there with this young man? I’ll go down with Ye Shiyu. The situation inside the underground palace is dangerous. Even the forensic doctor couldn’t explain what it’s like inside. For your safety, it’s better not to come along.”

When someone offered him a way out, Wei Xin was overjoyed and immediately hid back in the truck's cab, pulling out a talisman from his pocket as if doing so could ward off evil spirits.

The deliveryman wasn't brave enough; he only helped push the coffin down before immediately slipping back into the truck and locking the doors and windows.

Ordinary lamplight couldn't illuminate the entrance to the underground palace, so Ye Shiyu lit her lantern and led the way, with Saint Karina close behind. Unknown things slumbered in the boundless darkness, and unease brewed in their hearts; the suffocating silence easily conjured images of death.

Saint Karina stepped forward and grabbed Ye Shiyu's cold hand, squeezing it tightly.

282. Harmony

"What, you're scared too?"

Ye Shiyu grasped Saint Karina's hand in return and slowed his pace.

The bluish-green candlelight inside the lantern flickered in the wind, as if it might go out at any moment. In such a strange place as an underground palace, the extinguishing of a candle was often an ominous sign, foretelling the appearance of a ferocious monster.

Countless tomb raiding novels have described plots related to underground palaces in detail. Saint Karina has read at least seventy or eighty of them, if not a hundred. Whenever she sees the part about exploring underground palaces, she always saves it for the daytime.

She has an instinctive fear of the underground world.

Entering the underground is inextricably linked to death; after death, a person must be buried in the soil. Just imagining one's body surrounded by solid earth, unable to see the outside light, unable to breathe, and unable to move one's limbs makes one's heart begin to tremble uncontrollably.

"No. There's only one thing I'm most afraid of—poverty. I've had enough of the horrible experience of being banged on the door in the middle of the night to collect debts, and having to hide under the bed in fear. I'm not that afraid of going down into the underground palace."

These were the original owner's memories, and Saint Karina appeared quite composed. Darkness was the best disguise, just as no one could see Wei Xin's trembling teeth and lips.

How much longer until we reach the bottom?

"Five more minutes. The Ming Dynasty Feng Shui master said that the closer the Zhensha Underground Palace is to the ground, the less influence the earth veins have on it. He suggested that it be built deeper, and the vertical height from the ground to the underground should be increased from the initial plan of 20 meters to 40 meters."

"Are you familiar with this place?"

"After death, I came back several times, as a ghost to bid farewell to several old friends who were suppressed. Many people who served in the palace did not have a good end. Emperor Yongle was suspicious by nature and had a perverse temperament. Those who were executed by him did not dissipate their resentment after death and turned into evil ghosts to cause trouble."

The emperor, left with no other choice, summoned folk feng shui masters to suppress the evil spirits. These masters were essentially modern-day exorcists, using even more powerful ghosts to eliminate the ghosts in the palace. The bodies were then placed in coffins, nailed with seven soul-suppressing nails, and sealed away in this evil-suppressing underground palace. At that time, my cultivation was too shallow; even knowing they were innocent, I could only watch helplessly.

Ye Shiyu's tone was filled with regret.

Descending the last step, you see the coffin sliding down to the bottom, resting on a metal track. The coffin is intact, and the corpse inside has become still, no longer banging on it or making any eerie noise.

The underground palace is a proper rectangular structure, with many open spaces on each side resembling pharmacy cabinets. Each open space corresponds to a sealed corpse.

Some corpses were placed in coffins, while those that were slightly less well-dressed were simply wrapped in tattered straw mats and left lying around. The densely packed corpses and coffins resembled the scene of some kind of evil ritual.

"It's a good thing we didn't let Wei Xin come along, otherwise she would have been so scared that she would have nightmares for several nights in a row."

Following the steps taught to her by the forensic doctor, Saint Karina drew symbols on the coffin with her own blood. Finally, using a pulley system and relying on metal tracks, she moved the coffin into place, completing the placement in one breath.

The underground palace was filled with pure yin energy, capable of suppressing any restless evil spirits. They stood beside the coffin for a while, and finding no movement inside, they returned along the same path.

After resolving this matter, the eastern sky was already beginning to brighten.

The once dark and gloomy funeral home no longer seemed so frightening; it just looked like an ordinary building. Everyone was exhausted and had no energy left to think about anything else; all they wanted was to go home and sleep.

Passing by the convenience store at the entrance of her neighborhood, Santa Karina bought two cocktails, something she hadn't done in a long time. Cocktails have a low alcohol content, but they warm the body after drinking them, and the alcohol creates a slight buzz, making people drowsy and promoting sleep, which in turn improves sleep quality.

Her current appearance was reflected in the glass window of the convenience store.

He looked no different from a dead person lying in a coffin, his face even darker than the ashes on the wall, his wounds throbbing, the blood seeping out sticking to his shirt, and any movement was torture.

A faint taste of blood lingered in his mouth; the consequences of overusing the demon's power were gradually becoming apparent.

She, who forced herself to exercise regularly to save money on medical treatment, was so weak that she had difficulty walking. She was out of breath after climbing up to the fifth floor and almost couldn't even hold her keys.

The person who entered collapsed onto the sofa, barely able to get up. The sunlight streaming through the glass doors of the balcony made her feel inexplicably uncomfortable, so Saint Karina quickly drew the curtains, darkening the living room and leaving only a few warm rays of sunlight in the air.

"This is terrible... I feel like I'm turning into a vampire."

No normal person would like to hide in a place without sunlight, and the morning sun isn't particularly strong. Usually, the first thing I do after getting up is go to the balcony to take a deep breath, stretch my limbs, and spread out the bedding to air out.

She wasn't in the mood for that today; she just wanted to hide in her room.

Her shirt was soaked with blood that had repeatedly spilled out. Fortunately, the color was dark, so others couldn't see the mottled bloodstains. Otherwise, she might have been mistaken for a mentally ill patient with self-harm tendencies.

"We've only caught one ghost so far; we need to find the remaining four quickly."

Suddenly, she coughed violently, spitting out thick blood. A dull pain shot through her chest, and black smoke billowed from the blood. Santa Karina dared not think any further; the fear of death surged like a tidal wave, threatening to overwhelm her.

She turned on her computer and logged into the "Supernatural Revival" website's commission posting section, searching for new prey. Ye Shiyu appeared from behind, wrapping his arms around her body with practiced ease.

"What's the rush? Let's do some things we should do during the break. I've helped you so much, it's time for a reward. You won't make excuses to renege on your promise to mediate, will you?"

The love letter ghost brazenly sat on her lap, wearing a nightgown she had bought while shopping.

The store's nightgowns are characterized by simplicity, lightness, and sexiness. They are made of minimal and transparent fabric, allowing you to see your body curves when you wear them, making it almost as if you're not wearing anything at all.

Wearing underwear under a nightgown is fine, but if it's completely open...

"How long have we known each other?"

Santa Karina stared at the face that was almost touching hers, desperately trying to come up with a line to reject her. After all, going all the way to base before any feelings had even developed was too fast.

And it's with ghosts.

Ye Shiyu cupped her face and rubbed against her with his body.

"It has nothing to do with the length of time. Girls in our generation basically didn't have the right to free love. It was all arranged by their parents and matchmakers. They were to marry someone of equal social standing. So how could we talk about the length of time they had to date? There's no need to be so fixated on such trivial data. Feelings can be gradually cultivated through getting to know each other over time."

Fingers circled around the collarbone, quickly unbuttoning a few buttons, bringing the two one step closer to being completely honest with each other.

"Hey……"

Saint Karina tried to push her away, but found that her body was immobilized, just like the first time they met.

Then, her body broke free from her brain's control, and she followed Ye Shiyu into the bedroom, drew the curtains, washed her hands, trimmed her nails, and tied her hair in one smooth motion.

These are not actions that are performed spontaneously.

"I've never seen a ghost like you before..."

This was the first time Saint Karina had felt her body was out of her control.

"I haven't showered yet."

Saint Karina reminded her.

"Take a shower? You've known me for so long, do you think I care whether you're natural or have an artificial fragrance after washing?"

"That's a strange thing to say... I meant the smell of sweat."

Saint Karina couldn't help but complain.

Besides sweat, there were also various indescribable smells she picked up after going to the underground palace. For example, the long-unseen smell of dust, the smell of ghosts, and the smell of corpses.

The funeral home has been abandoned for so long, so the food probably isn't very good.

"You humans are so particular! I'm a ghost now, I'd completely forgotten about that. It's impossible for you to take a bath now, but I have to make peace with you. However, I can help you clean yourself~"

At this point, a sharp glint flashed in Ye Shiyu's eyes.

Saint Karina had a very bad feeling that the other party would strip her naked.

Taking off clothes to take a shower is a perfectly legitimate reason.

"Hey, don't do anything reckless."

"It's over."

Ye Shiyu's words were somewhat perfunctory, but he was quite serious when it came to actually doing things.

She got a bathtub from the bathroom, filled it with hot water, put a wet towel in it, and began to wipe Santa Karina down.

Touched by the warm, steaming water, and wiped with a damp towel, the skin felt not only the normal warmth but also a tingling, itchy electric sensation.

"Thank you."

Saint Karina was genuinely grateful to Ye Shiyu for taking things so seriously and not deliberately teasing her.

However, she also had a feeling that it was like a chef preparing her ingredients, which must first be cleaned.

"You're welcome."

Ye Shiyu accepted Saint Karina's thanks as a matter of course, but when she gently touched Saint Karina's eyes, her eyes were covered by something like a black cloth, and she could see nothing.

"What did you do? I can't see anything anymore!"