Chapter 167: Ghostly Tales at the Construction Site

By the time they returned the next day, each of the men carried a cloth bag in their hands. Fan Debiao’s face especially beamed with delight—it was obvious this kid had indulged in some mischief along the way.

In those days, with all the men gone, the village was left only with women and children. Some of the newlywed wives had barely tasted the sweetness of marriage before being separated from their husbands. Few could endure such hardship. Coincidentally, not far from their village was a construction team, and for these women, this place had become their paradise.

If Fan Debiao ever found out about this, he’d probably run down the mountain three times a day.

“You lot, go ahead and share whatever you have with the brothers. I’ve managed to get some money. Liangzi, go down to the village inn and bring back twenty jin of strong liquor. Listen up, from here to the village is only half an hour. If you’re not back in half an hour, I’ll personally castrate you,” Fan Debiao warned, fearing that Liangzi might cause trouble in the village again.

“Understood, boss!” Liangzi took off with his long strides toward the foot of the mountain, causing the ground to tremble slightly once more.

A large group of men got completely drunk. At night, there was no place to sleep—the straw huts were only half-repaired during the day, unfit for sleeping. So the men simply dozed off outside. The sky shimmered with stars. The construction site was unusually quiet at night—so quiet that even the sound of a fart could be heard clearly.

Just as the sky began to lighten, a sudden scream pierced the air: “Oh no! Oh no! Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead! Come quick!”

Everyone was startled awake and rushed toward the location of the corpse. Seeing the dead body on the ground, some of the more timid men even vomited.

The body was found in the area they called the “big pit.” Since this was a place mostly for men, there were no toilets—just a large pit dug for waste. Over time, the pit had nearly overflowed.

The corpse was submerged up to its waist in feces and urine, completely covered in filth, even oozing from its mouth.

If someone had drowned, no one would have believed it—but the man’s intestines and internal organs were floating atop the pile of excrement.

“Damn it… this… this dead guy…” Fan Debiao was so disgusted he nearly vomited, unable to finish a coherent sentence.

“You lot, go pull this guy out. Damn it, what a miserable death!” Fan Debiao said, nearly vomiting again as he spoke.

No one stepped forward. The corpse was simply too filthy, and with no work points to be gained from handling a dead body, who would willingly risk offending the spirit of the deceased?

“Damn it! Whoever pulls this guy out gets five work points!” Fan Debiao announced.

This offer caused an uproar. Everyone rushed forward, eager to pull out the corpse. Normally, they might not earn five points even after a hard day’s labor. Now, with just one pull, they could earn a day’s worth of points—who wouldn’t be happy?

More and more men pushed forward. Suddenly, with a splash, one of them fell into the pit. Fan Debiao shuddered involuntarily: “Damn it, this is too disgusting.”

Eventually, the corpse was pulled out, though quite a few had fallen into the pit along the way.

“Ten work points for anyone who fell in!” Seeing the men who had been pushed into the feces, Fan Debiao offered additional compensation to pacify them.

With splashes echoing, two or three men actually jumped in voluntarily.

Fan Debiao stood stunned—these men were truly…

Liu Dashao was also greatly surprised. He never expected that people would actually jump into a feces pit for just a few work points.

What could be done? In this era, even a single work point was worth jumping into a fire pit for—such was the poverty.

Looking at the pulled-out corpse, it was completely covered in feces and urine, its intestines spilling out onto the ground, stretching six or seven meters long. Its skull had been gouged out, smeared with a white, slimy substance that made it look like a popped kernel of corn.

“Master Liu, what do you think happened here?” Fan Debiao turned to Liu Dashao for insight. Liu Dashao simply replied, “I don’t know.”

But Fan Debiao seemed satisfied with this answer and nodded: “Damn it, this guy must’ve been crushed by a rock falling from the mountain. Yep, that’s exactly what happened. Dig a hole and bury him.” With that, Fan Debiao turned and walked away.

“And fill in that big pit too! From now on, if anyone needs to relieve themselves, they better run far away!” Suddenly recalling the latrine pit, Fan Debiao turned back to issue the order.

Liu Dashao was puzzled. How could this man have died so gruesomely? He recognized the dead man, a quiet and honest fellow with no known enemies, making it unlikely that someone from the work team had killed him.

“But then who killed him?” Liu Dashao couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

Suddenly, he recalled the two “mountain god eggs.” Hurriedly, he asked: “Where are those mountain god eggs? Oh right, Su Yougui, where did you put the remains of the mountain god eggs?”

Su Yougui replied: “We moved them to Fan Debiao’s office. Want to go check them out?”

Liu Dashao looked closely at the ground and noticed a faint imprint. If he wasn’t mistaken, it must have been left by the mountain god egg.

It seemed the matter was indeed suspicious and needed further investigation. If something else happened tonight, it would be a huge problem. Thinking this, Liu Dashao asked Su Yougui to accompany him to check whether the mountain god eggs were still in the office.

“Ah, my God! Master Liu! Master Liu!” Before the two reached Fan Debiao’s office, they heard Fan Debiao shouting from inside.

Liu Dashao sensed something was wrong and kicked the door open. As it swung open, it hit something with a loud bang, nearly smashing his nose. Luckily, Liu Dashao dodged just in time, though blood still flowed steadily from his nostrils.

He pushed the door open. Fan Debiao was sitting on the floor, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Following Fan Debiao’s gaze, Liu Dashao and Su Yougui nearly jumped out of their skins. There, hanging from the beam, was Liangzi, his head dangling lifelessly.

Actually, seeing a hanged corpse wasn’t particularly shocking—Fan Debiao had seen many deaths. But what made this scene grotesque was that Liangzi had pulled his own intestines out of his abdomen, hanging them from the beam. The intestines were tightly wrapped around his head several times before being tied to the beam.

The sight nearly made Liu Dashao vomit. Su Yougui couldn’t hold it in and immediately threw up.

Fan Debiao crawled out from the floor, staring at Liu Dashao: “Master Liu, tell me what the hell is going on!”

Liu Dashao’s face turned serious: “Don’t make a sound. Don’t tell anyone. This is a vengeful spirit. Liangzi must’ve encountered something impure when he went out yesterday. This office is no longer usable—burn it down.”

Fan Debiao immediately nodded. When it came to life and death, he didn’t care about a small office.

“You lot, come here! Burn this room down!” Fan Debiao shouted, gasping for breath as he commanded.

Hu Beikang looked at the intact office with concern: “Boss, if we burn this office down, where will you stay? This is the best building we have—it’s our pride. If we burn it, won’t we lose our face?”

“Face? What face? If we lose our lives, what’s the point of having a face? Burn it! Burn it down!” Fan Debiao was nearly out of his mind, shouting at Hu Beikang to set the place ablaze.

Unable to resist, Hu Beikang finally lit a roaring fire that consumed the entire office.

Watching the flames rise, Fan Debiao finally felt a bit relieved.

But soon, a smell of burning filled the air. Then, the roof collapsed, revealing a human figure inside.

“Oh my God! I killed someone! There’s still someone inside!” Hu Beikang crouched on the ground, staring at the burning figure, nearly overcome with grief.

“Nonsense! That big guy committed suicide—he hanged himself. It has nothing to do with you!” Fan Debiao shouted at Hu Beikang, who looked pale with fear. If Hu Beikang admitted guilt now, his life would be in danger.

Realizing his mistake, Hu Beikang quickly corrected himself: “Boss is right! Liangzi committed suicide himself, almost killing you in the process!”

The false alarm finally passed. Two deaths in one day—rumors of ghosts began to spread rapidly.

Fan Debiao turned to Liu Dashao and asked: “Master Liu, according to you, what should we do next?”

Liu Dashao’s eyes flickered as he thought, then he said: “Alright, go prepare some chicken blood and donkey hooves. Tonight, I’ll perform a ritual to see if it helps. We must exorcise the spirits of these two men, or else their vengeful ghosts will disturb this place, causing chaos.”

“Alright, let’s do it. Huang Shitou, go down and buy some supplies. We’ll perform the ritual. If anyone asks, say it’s for replenishing blood for an injured brother,” Fan Debiao ordered. If the workers found out they were performing a spiritual ritual, they might be labeled as superstitious and face public criticism.

“What if they ask what the black donkey hooves are for?” Huang Shitou asked.

“Tell them someone’s hand is injured and needs treatment with black donkey hooves.”

“But why specifically black donkey hooves?” Huang Shitou still had many questions.

“Damn it! When have you ever seen donkey hooves in any other color?” Fan Debiao shouted.

Huang Shitou immediately ran off. Suddenly, Fan Debiao remembered something: “Half an hour! Be back in half an hour!”

That night, Liu Dashao neatly arranged the materials on a small round table. He picked up a peach-wood sword, dressed in Taoist robes, and had his coworkers stand at the four directions to guard the ritual.

In truth, these men were useless. But to prevent them from spreading news of the ritual, Liu Dashao involved everyone—ensuring that each had a role and thus wouldn’t dare to betray the secret.

Liu Dashao picked up the peach-wood sword, swung it randomly a few times, then splashed chicken blood onto it, scattering it around.

Soon, the ground began to react, emitting a faint sizzling sound.

Liu Dashao turned to Fan Debiao: “Don’t panic. This is just the burnt spirit of Liangzi reacting to the blood. It won’t harm us.” Then he turned to Liangzi’s spirit: “Liangzi, we didn’t mean to hurt you. You know, you were possessed by an evil spirit when you hanged yourself. Don’t worry—we’ll definitely avenge you. Rest in peace.” Saying this, Liu Dashao picked up a stack of talismans from the table with his peach-wood sword, then spat a mouthful of the chicken blood onto them, setting them ablaze.

Seeing the red flames rise, Fan Debiao’s expression finally relaxed slightly.

“Liangzi, this is a guiding light. Follow it and find your way to peace.” As he finished speaking, Liu Dashao’s peach-wood sword suddenly extended, shooting out a faint blue light. The burning talismans shot straight toward the village like meteors.

The white smoke also trembled violently, chasing after the talismans, as if a person were running in that direction.

Clang! Clang!

Suddenly, Liu Dashao felt the altar behind him shaking violently. He quickly turned around and saw one of the altar’s legs no longer touching the ground.

Liu Dashao immediately panicked. This was the dead man trying to lift the table to crush him. Spirits who did this usually wanted the table to trap their souls, keeping them eternally bound to this place, causing endless trouble until the area became completely deserted.

Liu Dashao realized clearly—if the table leg touched the ground, the ghost’s soul would be trapped here forever, and this construction site would never know peace.

Panicked, Liu Dashao flipped off the altar and landed beside the table, shouting: “Hey, come help me lift this table! Don’t let any corner touch the ground—if it does, we’re all in serious trouble!”

Fan Debiao immediately stood up, rushing to the table, using all his strength to lift it without letting any corner fall.

But for some reason, the table leg that had lifted seemed to be pressed down by an immense force, as if thousands of people were pushing it. Liu Dashao couldn’t budge it at all.

“Come on! Put some effort into it! It’s just a table! Push harder!”

Liu Dashao exerted all his strength, but after struggling for a while without success, he had to give up. He told everyone to step back and said: “Alright, watch me now.” He grabbed the peach-wood sword, smeared it with chicken blood, and stabbed it fiercely at the table corner.

But with a “puff,” a red mist erupted, enveloping him completely.

Feeling the faint glow around him, Liu Dashao felt as if his body had been torn apart. After a while, he managed to sit up again and saw the table corner had deeply sunk into the ground.

“Damn it! Now we’re in serious trouble.” Liu Dashao approached the table and saw numerous red blood handprints on its surface. He stared at the table in shock, unable to say a word.

At this moment, Fan Debiao also stood up and approached the table, staring at the fresh red handprint on the corner. His hair stood on end.

“What… what should we do now…” Fan Debiao stammered, looking at Liu Dashao. He, too, realized that something dangerous was about to happen at the construction site.