Free Web NovelChapter 4: Chapter 4: Cinerary Casket
Gao Tian recalled that in this bizarre group chat called the Jialan Society, some members would occasionally send out "red packets."
However, the packets they sent were black as a coffin, filled with an ominous aura, and were jokingly called "black packets." Gao Tian had seen them several times before. Every time he tried to open one, the system would ask if he wanted to pay a certain amount of his lifespan.
’Thinking back on it now, those black packets were the last straw I could grasp at before drowning.’
The black packets must represent supernatural items. Otherwise, why would they demand payment in lifespan? For example, that cursed black packet from the Ghost Cave made the recipient get haunted by a vengeful ghost. It wasn’t anything good, so the required payment was zero years of life.
For a young man like Gao Tian, lifespan was something he had in abundance. But this chat group was full of ghosts, and ghosts have no lifespan. To them, a mortal’s life force was more precious than gold.
’Under what circumstances would a ghost use lifespan, something more valuable than gold or diamonds, to trade for the items in these black packets?’
Gao Tian wasn’t sure if his reasoning was correct, but his life was already on a countdown. He had no choice but to take a desperate gamble.
As for paying with a few years of his life, that had become a negligible cost at this point. If he couldn’t survive the night, what good would it be if he was destined to live to be a hundred?
Gao Tian scrolled up through the chat history as fast as he could. He saw a few old black packets from other members, but they had either been claimed by someone else who paid the lifespan cost, or they had expired.
He finally managed to find an unclaimed black packet, sent by a member with the ID [Burning Death Ghost].
They had left several messages below it, each accompanied by a grinning emoji:
This is a supernatural item I just developed.
It’s killer against certain types of ghosts.
Who’s free to help me take it out and test it on a few stray ghosts?
...
His reputation seemed terrible. The black packet had been in the group for two weeks, and not only had no one claimed it, but no one had even replied to him.
Something was very suspicious. Everyone in this group was supposed to be a ghost, so why would [Burning Death Ghost] say something like "this supernatural item is very effective against certain ghosts"?
’Would a ghost really develop something specifically to deal with its own kind? Isn’t that a contradiction?’
The situation was urgent, and Gao Tian had no other choice. He couldn’t afford to dwell on this strange detail, so he grit his teeth and tapped the packet.
The familiar system warning popped up again:
Are you sure you want to claim the black packet [Urn]?
Claiming this black packet requires a payment of 1 year of life.
...
Without hesitation, Gao Tian tapped "Confirm."
He stood there, waiting for a long time.
He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but his body suddenly felt lighter, as if something intangible had been drawn out of him.
Nothing happened.
After claiming the black packet called [Urn], nothing unusual happened to him in the real world.
The red-eyed man didn’t come for him, and the supernatural item called [Urn] didn’t appear before him.
Except for the one year of life that had been taken, nothing had changed.
Gao Tian slumped back down onto the park bench. The surroundings were silent, save for the wind whooshing through the sparse woods like nature’s mocking laughter.
Across from him, the swing set began to creak and sway again in the gentle breeze. It was empty.
With nothing happening, Gao Tian wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
He was drenched in sweat, his nerves stretched to the breaking point. He leaned back against the bench, feeling as if the last ounce of his strength to stand had been drained away.
’I’m not running anymore. Fine, if I’m going to die, I’ll die here. At least it’ll be quiet. If I keep running around, I might get more people killed.’
The night sky was clear and cloudless. If he could forget for a moment that he was about to die, the view from here was actually quite beautiful.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Just like someone knocking on a door, Gao Tian suddenly felt a silhouette behind him, tapping on the back of the park bench.
Then, a muffled, androgynous voice spoke:
"Your delivery has arrived.
"Please sign for it."
Gao Tian could see the massive shadow it cast. Its shoulders, far broader than a human’s, blocked most of the light from the streetlamp. Its very presence seemed to dim the park path.
THUD. The sound of a package landing on the soft grass. Gao Tian forced himself to overcome his fear, slowly turning his head, inch by inch. Even if he was going to die, he had to know what it was. He had to see what was standing behind him.
When he had turned halfway around, he saw that there was no one behind him. There was only a square cardboard box sitting on the empty patch of grass behind the bench.
The enormous shadow had vanished the instant the delivery was made, as if it had never been there at all.
The [Urn] he had paid a year of his life for in that bizarre chat group had been delivered in such a grotesque fashion less than five minutes after he’d placed the "order."
’Ghost Express? Interesting. Faster delivery than Amazon Prime. If I could leave a review, I’d definitely give it five stars.’
He could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he grabbed the armrest, stood up, and walked over to the cardboard box, intending to rip it open with his bare hands.
But his hands were shaking so badly that several times, he failed to tear the clear tape and instead dropped the box. Something like a wooden case, packed with wads of paper, rattled inside with a muffled sound.
Gao Tian thought he would never get the box open. He imagined that before he could, the red-eyed man, who had been absent for so long, would suddenly appear—wearing his exact face—kill him, and then the "new" Gao Tian would take his delivery.
But the red-eyed man never appeared. With his hands soaked in cold sweat, Gao Tian finally managed to tear the box open, leaving it a mangled, crooked mess, as if a dog had chewed on it.
Inside was a small, dark red box, about the width of a palm. It had a slot on the front for a black-and-white photo of the deceased.
It was just a very ordinary urn, no different from those sold in stores.
With trembling hands, Gao Tian turned it over and over, hoping to find some clue to his survival. For a moment, he suspected he’d been tricked. That it was just an ordinary urn, and that bastard [Burning Death Ghost] had swindled him out of a year of his life for a useless box.
’Then again, it’s not completely useless,’ he thought. ’At least after I die, my ashes will fit perfectly in here. Saves whoever collects my body the trouble of buying one online.’
Just as Gao Tian was about to fall completely into despair, he noticed something white flutter to the ground. He hurriedly picked it up. It was a small card covered in densely packed text, which had been tucked into a seam of the box. It must have fallen out while he was frantically inspecting the urn.
Gao Tian clutched the small card and immediately moved back to the center of the path, holding it up to the streetlamp to read.
It was a small instruction manual:
[User Guide]
Target: Vengeful Ghost.
Risk Level: Extremely High. Use with caution. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Instructions:
The user may take this urn to the primary scene of the paranormal phenomenon and wait for the vengeful ghost to appear.
When the vengeful ghost appears, all of its killing rules will be temporarily nullified. The urn will then force the ghost to play a random game with you.
In this game, human and ghost are on equal footing, relying entirely on the luck and willpower of both parties.
If you win, the vengeful ghost will be sealed inside the urn. Not only will it be unable to continue hunting humans, but the owner of the urn will also gain the ghost’s killing rules.
If the vengeful ghost wins, the human will not only die, but their soul will be bound by the urn, becoming the ghost’s puppet. You will be at the ghost’s command, suffering endless torment day and night, unable to even find the peace of utter annihilation.
Therefore, before using this urn, please be sure to read the rules and consequences thoroughly.
Note:
Because the urn is a newly developed supernatural item, it is extremely unstable in use.
The game played between human and ghost is completely random. The specific game depends entirely on your luck at the moment; even the designer cannot predict it.
Ghost Capacity:
One (1) ghost.
The urn can only seal one ghost at a time.
If you wish to seal a new ghost, you must release the previous one, setting it free.
Of course, the designer does not recommend you do this. Once freed, the first thing the previously imprisoned ghost will likely do is kill you.
However, if the urn falls into a ghost’s hands, the number of human souls it can enslave is unlimited.
...
The instruction manual ended there.
The designer of this supernatural item had rambled on and on, but Gao Tian summed it up.
He had to take this box and play a random game with the red-eyed man.
Win, and the red-eyed man goes into the urn, and he gets its killing rules.
Lose, and he goes into the urn, suffering a fate worse than death.
What was the game? Not even the designer knew. It was all up to luck.
No wonder nobody wanted this thing. The reward was huge, but the risk was even greater, and the price of failure was unimaginable.
’Under the rules of this urn, if I lose, I’d have been better off just letting the red-eyed man kill me in the first place.’
The strange thing was, ever since he’d gotten the urn, the red-eyed man—who had been relentlessly hounding him—seemed to have disappeared.
’Is the mechanism of this urn so insane that even the ghost doesn’t want to come out and play?’
