The Uninvited Jiangshi

Crash! The Cat-Faced Old Woman sprang up onto the dining table, staring in disbelief at the jiangshi before her. Seizing the chance, Li Zhuiyuan hastily spat out the dried fruit in his mouth, hands pressed involuntarily against his own forehead. A moment ago, that one dried fruit had felt as if his mouth were stuffed with star anise and he were chewing on it. And now, he had found he could no longer make sense of the situation. The Cat-Faced Old Woman holding a birthday banquet here — that he could understand, and he had even tried to use the rules of the place to muddle his way through. But what was with this jiangshi that had appeared out of nowhere? This was a special environment, like a dream and yet not quite a dream. Wasn't it supposed to be her home turf? Li Zhuiyuan refused to believe that the old lady, finding her birthday too quiet, had decided that hiring a Tongzi Opera troupe wasn't enough and had hired a jiangshi on top of it to liven things up. At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan felt so stupid — like a student ranked at the bottom of the class. He was still in a fog trying to follow the problem the teacher was explaining, and then the teacher added, "Now let's look at another problem. It's a variant of this one, so we'll work through them together." Li Zhuiyuan felt even more lost. But what Li Zhuiyuan didn't know was that the Cat-Faced Old Woman standing on the table with a grave face was even more bewildered inside... even afraid. Because with the thing merely standing there motionless, the baleful qi it gave off was already enough to make her heart pound with dread. White vapor kept surging from the jiangshi's mouth and nose. It seemed to be sizing up the place with curiosity as well, and at last its gaze settled on the cat-demon old woman. Sensing that this savage terror had fixed on her, the old woman's body shuddered. Her arms drew in slightly, her fingers curled inward, and her whole form crouched low, as if in submission. She had only become a corpse demon a short while ago; suddenly facing an existence that heaven and earth alike abhorred, she naturally felt fear, and could scarcely muster any courage to resist. "Why are you here, in my place? Where have I offended you?" ...... "Eh?" In the Forbidden City, Li Sanjiang, in the middle of leading the jiangshi through their jump-exercise workout, scratched his head in puzzlement. He had just led the formation around a turn. It had been three columns, three jiangshi to a row — so why did the last row now have only two? "How did we come up a jiangshi short? Don't tell me jiangshi get tired too, and went off to slack?" ...... "Roar!" The jiangshi thrust both arms straight out in front, held level, and launched itself at the old woman. Why would it care about the weakness and fawning she had shown? What a joke — it didn't even know why it was here! Seeing this, the old woman could only brace herself and leap to meet it, both claws striking out. The two of them tangled in midair above the table, then landed on it at the same instant — and in a flash the table burst apart, splinters flying in all directions. Fortunately, Li Zhuiyuan had already left the table and was out of harm's way. He ran straight to Qin Liang and, seeing her still watching the fight, grabbed her hand: "Still watching? Hurry and hide!" He pulled Qin Liang to a corner, where tabletop boards happened to be stacked in front of them, offering some sense of safety. Crouching down inside, Li Zhuiyuan watched the battle through the gaps. He saw the old woman slip sideways and, with catlike agility, evade the piercing thrust of the jiangshi's ten fingers, then rake a claw across its right arm. "Rip!" The jiangshi's clothes tore open. Across the black, pitted flesh beneath, five finger-marks appeared, and pus kept welling out of the wounds. But almost at once, the jiangshi swept both arms across like a heavy whip, lashing into the old woman. "Bang!" The old woman was knocked flying and slammed hard into the wall. Sliding down to the ground, she stared blankly at her own fingers, then looked up at the wounds on the jiangshi. "So... it's not as terrifying as it felt to me?" ...... On the second floor, Li Sanjiang, lying on his bed, now had a scratch on his right arm, blood seeping out. "Hiss! That hurts!" In the dream, Li Sanjiang, leading the jiangshi through their jump-exercise workout, lost his balance to the pain and toppled straight over onto his left side — and every jiangshi behind him lay down on their left sides along with him, all perfectly in line. Li Sanjiang turned his head in puzzlement toward the three jiangshi in the first row behind him: "Which of you just sneak-attacked me?" The two jiangshi didn't answer. Instead they too turned their heads to look backward, and all the jiangshi behind turned to look backward as well. "Damn it, does a wound in a dream have to hurt this much too?" Li Sanjiang had no time to bandage the wound. He scrambled up at once and went on hopping. He knew he couldn't give this pack of jiangshi any time to think clearly. If they rested even a little while longer, the jiangshi might swarm over and tear him to pieces. "Come on, keep jumping!" ...... "Roar!" In the banquet hall, the jiangshi sprang at the old woman again. This time she didn't meet it head-on herself. Her gaze swept the surroundings, the eerie green light in her eyes flickering, and every wooden-faced paper effigy standing about charged at the jiangshi. Some hugged its legs, some yanked its arms, and some even leapt onto its head. The jiangshi began waving its arms without pause, jaws snapping and tearing, ripping several paper effigies into scraps with every blow — but it simply could not stand up to the fact that Great-Grandpa's family ran a paper-effigy factory. Using the time the paper effigies bought her, the old woman began circling it on the move. At last, spotting her opening, she lunged forward, came around behind the jiangshi, drove both claws out together, and raked down its back. "Rip!" This time, most of the Qing official robes on the jiangshi's back were torn to strips, and beneath the wounds carved by the ten claw-marks, pus gushed out steadily. ...... On the bed in the second-floor bedroom, Li Sanjiang's body went rigid, and then the bamboo mat beneath him began to soak through with blood. "Damn it all, it hurts!" In the dream, Li Sanjiang had barely launched into a jump when he let out a scream and crashed face-down onto the ground. Behind him, all the jiangshi leapt as one, then dropped prone on the ground in perfect unison, like frogs landing. "Ah..." Li Sanjiang's back hurt so badly he could hardly speak, yet he couldn't see it, so he instinctively reached his right hand back to feel for it. Behind him, every jiangshi propped itself up on its left arm and raised its right arm diagonally. Li Sanjiang drew his hand back, saw it smeared with blood, and his eyes went wide. That shouldn't be happening! Yesterday, in a dream that dangerous, he had been able to leap and scramble all over the place, dodging this pack's hunt without so much as a scratch. So why was it that today, once he'd thought up a good plan, things only got more and more miserable? Today, when he fell asleep and found he had entered a dream — and the same Forbidden City setting as last night, no less — he had immediately flung the orange cat off his legs and sprinted to the archway right in the very center. Once the heavy sound of the doors opening had ended and the "Bang! Bang! Bang!" came from within, he had forced himself calm, screwed up his courage, and when the formation drew near, been the first to start jumping. And just like that, he had successfully become the pace-setter. Such a clever plan — so why hadn't it brought him good results? Just then, Li Sanjiang noticed that the jiangshi lying prone behind him seemed faintly ready to spring up; the formation was starting to fall into disorder. He gritted his teeth. His back hurt too much to bear — he truly couldn't get up — so all he could do was rise onto the tips of his toes, stretch both arms out in front, and begin crawling along the ground. The first row of jiangshi behind him saw the leader moving and followed; the rows further back copied the ones in front, and soon the formation, which had been scattering in panic, became neat and uniform once more. In the Forbidden City, a crowd of jiangshi in Qing official robes crawled along tortoise-fashion, following the fellow at the very front in his torn white boxer shorts. Li Sanjiang cursed as he crawled, utterly wronged inside — crawling was far more tiring than running. If he'd known, he would have been better off playing hide-and-seek like yesterday. He was an old man; back in reality he lived a comfortable life on good wine and meat. He was of an age where he couldn't be bothered keeping his body in shape — when his allotted years ran out, they'd bury him and be done with it. Well, now look at him: come to a dream to work out! But right now he truly had no choice but to crawl. With his arm and back wounded, if he dared stand up and play hide-and-seek again, he'd never outlast that pack behind him. "Little Yuan-Hou, when on earth is your luck going to turn? Your great-grandpa really can't hold out much longer... AH!" Li Sanjiang let out another scream. Turning his head, he saw that his already injured right arm had somehow sprouted five holes, blood pouring out of them fast. Now even crawling wouldn't do. Only the left side of his body could stay pressed to the ground, the right arm hanging limp against his side, while his left arm scrabbled at the ground to pull him forward, legs driving him along. Behind him, every jiangshi changed its movements in step, dropping into tactical low-crawls. ...... In the hall, the jiangshi was furious: the old woman's five fingers had just pierced clean into its right arm, leaving deep, blood-filled holes. It was a proud existence by nature — and to be humiliated again and again in a place like this, how could it not be enraged? The old woman retreated another step, pulling the distance wide, while ordering the paper cats and dogs to pounce in and fill the gaps, keeping the jiangshi entangled. She herself looked down once more at her own nails. After several ambushes had landed, the instinctive dread she had felt before had mostly drained away. However terrifying a thing might be, once you could wound it — once it bled, and could be killed — that instinctive awe faded. Hidden in the corner, Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly. From the look of it, this jiangshi that had appeared from nowhere didn't seem to be the old woman's match at all. So what was he supposed to do next? He turned toward Qin Liang at his side. She had her head half-lowered, seemingly utterly uninterested in what was happening outside, still lost in a daze. For a moment, Li Zhuiyuan even felt a twinge of envy. He squeezed Qin Liang's hand, and she lifted her head and looked at him. "In a bit, once the house servants outside come in too, we look for our chance to bolt. Run as far as you can, and whatever you do, don't stop. Understand?" When the banquet first began, Li Zhuiyuan had wanted to run straight out the main gate, but a crowd of house servants stood outside, setting off double-bang firecrackers while blocking the road — there was no getting out. But by the current turn of things, the old woman was clearly using her paper effigies to stall and grind the jiangshi down. Once the effigies inside were about used up, that batch outside was sure to be called in. And when that happened — run. He refused to believe this dream had no boundary. As for the option of running up to the second floor, Li Zhuiyuan had vetoed it outright. The staircase had reappeared, but what good would running up there do — jump off the building? Qin Liang looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said nothing. "Did you understand?" Qin Liang lowered her head. All right. Let's just assume she had. Just as Li Zhuiyuan turned back to keep watching what was happening up front, he met, head-on, the Cat-Faced Old Woman's gaze looking this way. A chill went through Li Zhuiyuan — and the Cat-Faced Old Woman actually smiled at him. "Roar!" The jiangshi roared again, dragging the Cat-Faced Old Woman's gaze back from Li Zhuiyuan. "Heh heh... no use howling anymore. And here I took you for some truly fearsome thing — turns out you've only got these couple of moves... hm?" The old woman's eyes went wide. She saw thick black qi beginning to seep from the jiangshi's wounds — baleful qi. The paper effigies tangled around it, once stained by that baleful qi, all soaked through with black, losing their human shapes one by one and reverting together to scraps of paper and wood shavings. The house servants outside charged in at just this moment. The jiangshi wheeled around, opened its mouth, and spewed out a great mass of black mist; the paper effigies nearby and far beyond all dropped where they stood before they could even rush forward. In a blink, the whole banquet hall had grown far emptier. The jiangshi raised its arms once more and flung itself at the old woman. By now, corpse qi was seething all over its body, baleful qi wreathing it. Stripped of the paper effigies' help, the old woman had no choice but to rise and meet it. Li Zhuiyuan seized Qin Liang's hand. "Now — run!" He and Qin Liang scrambled out of the corner and dashed for the doorway. "Ahhh!!!" The old woman's agonized shriek rang in their ears — and then they saw the jiangshi gripping her by the neck, slamming her down just ahead, squarely blocking the way to the main gate. The baleful qi wreathing the jiangshi clung to the old woman, producing a sensation like being burned. Before, she had been able to slip in close for her ambushes; now, to draw near was torment. Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to stop short, and Qin Liang stopped beside him. The jiangshi, the old woman pinned beneath it, turned its head and looked at the two children. In those murky eyes, a look of greed actually surfaced. It could sense these two were not paper effigies — they gave off the enticing scent of living blood it could feed on. It opened its mouth on instinct, spewing black mist that came surging at them. Li Zhuiyuan immediately hauled Qin Liang and ran backward, but the black mist came so fast, so fierce, that it soon drove the two of them back against the base of the wall. Qin Liang began to tremble. Li Zhuiyuan felt it, and squeezed her hand hard. At this point, this pale, useless scrap of comfort was all he had to give. "Roar!" All at once, the jiangshi cried out — and the black mist, already all but upon Li Zhuiyuan, began flowing rapidly backward, drawn back in. The view ahead cleared in an instant: the old woman's ten fingers had already buried themselves in the jiangshi's neck. "Hahahahaha! Kill you, kill you, kill you dead!" The old woman's ferocity was fully bared. The fine fur on her body had gone limp and withered by now, her skin charred black — yet some frantic madness shone through her whole being. The jiangshi shrieked madly, arms stabbing down without pause, blow after blow landing on the old woman's body — but the old woman simply kept her fingers jammed into its neck and would not let go. ...... "Damn it... he..." Li Sanjiang clutched his own neck in agony. It hurt so much. But worse than the pain: he could no longer breathe. Pain and bleeding he could find ways to endure — but if this suffocating feeling went on much longer, he was certain he would stop breathing for good. Behind him, every jiangshi had its hands clamped around its own neck. But once the pose had held for a while, one jiangshi lowered its hands — then a second, a third... Little by little, some of the jiangshi began to rise to their feet, blank gazes turning savage as they fixed on Li Sanjiang. Li Sanjiang still clutched his own neck, his face slowly going livid. By now he almost wished those jiangshi would hurry up and pounce, tearing him to pieces — at least that would end him quickly, and spare him the torment of slowly suffocating to death. ...... In the banquet hall, the enraged jiangshi raised both arms high once more and brought them smashing down at the old woman's head. The old woman, who a moment before had looked ready to perish together with the jiangshi, chose exactly that instant to let go cleanly: driving both feet up against its belly, she kicked off and slid smoothly out from beneath it. "Bang!" The jiangshi's nails stabbed into the ground — and for a moment they actually jammed fast, leaving its body rigid in a push-up plank. The Cat-Faced Old Woman rose to her feet, her body swaying, charred black all over; even the whiskers on her face had burned away — plain evidence of how bad off she was. And yet, at this very moment, she could actually spare the attention to turn her head toward Li Zhuiyuan and Qin Liang, standing flattened against the wall. "Little child... heh heh... Granny can't beat it." There was a bone-chilling coldness in her call, and her eyes were brimming with venom. It was just like the first time Li Zhuiyuan had seen her, in the dream at Cuicui's home — she had been lying on Niu Fu's back then too, looking at him with these same eyes. "Roar!" The jiangshi finally wrenched its fingers free of the ground; half a turn in place, and it stood up stiff and straight once more. Wretched as it looked — clothes in tatters, pus streaming everywhere — its ferocity remained undimmed, beyond anything the cat-demon old woman in her present state could match. The jiangshi sprang at the old woman yet again. But now the old woman slipped sideways. She did not rise to meet the jiangshi — instead she came sliding toward Li Zhuiyuan. Seeing this, the jiangshi wheeled around at once and kept pursuing her. Li Zhuiyuan could not understand it: why would the old woman sooner leave her entire back exposed to the jiangshi than come settle him first? Could it be that even before dying, she wanted to drag two more down with her? "Little child..." The old woman came to a stop in front of Li Zhuiyuan, the hair-raising smile on her face deepening all the more. She paid the jiangshi about to close in on her no heed at all — instead she reached out toward Li Zhuiyuan with those claws, long since curled and cracked, a faint eerie glow wreathing them. Li Zhuiyuan felt his body begin to rise and float. And because he was gripping Qin Liang's hand for dear life, she floated up along with him. The feeling was not unfamiliar to Li Zhuiyuan. He had dreamed before: this was the prelude to waking from a dream — he was about to break free! By now, Li Zhuiyuan's vision had begun to blur; even the old woman's face before him was no longer quite real. But her last words still reached his ears: "Little child... Granny will send you off first."