Flowers of the Departed Souls - Chapter 48

Kelou, who had been in a coma in the hospital, suddenly woke up, very clearly. He heard news that Gu Wancheng had died in his home, his body skinned, a gruesome sight.

He dragged his weak body, immediately gathering a group of people and rushing straight to Luoyang Village.

Meanwhile, Guangming, Chi Ziming, Xiao Zhao, and “Gu Wancheng” sat in the same car. By this time, night had fallen. After a day of intense fighting, they were all extremely exhausted. Xiao Zhao was driving, Guangming sat in the passenger seat, while “Gu Wancheng” and Chi Ziming sat in the back.

Except for Xiao Zhao, the other three were dozing off. And Gu Wancheng, no, it should be the real Luo Xiaojie, had secretly followed Guangming and his team back to the city when they left Luoyang Village last time. He had also discarded Luo Bozi’s face and given it to his subordinate, allowing him to play the false role of Luo Xiaojie. He knew that pretending to be someone for too long would eventually reveal his true colors. When he learned that Guangming and his team suspected him of controlling the villagers with hypnosis and decided to seek out a famous psychologist to accompany them to Luoyang Village, he made his move on Gu Wancheng. He thought, Guangming and his team would never dream that the person they invited was the truly heinous individual they needed to deal with. He was very satisfied with his planning on this point.

Yes, he was always successful. After hypnotizing Xia Yimin and Zhong Dan, he set their times, and when they heard the bell chime, they would gouge out their eyes and commit suicide as he suggested. This showed that his hypnosis skills had reached a very high level. And Ge Jianliang’s death also proved that his Departed Soul Flower mutation was very successful. The reason he chose to let his father, Luo Jialiang, manage the inn was that Luo Jialiang had stated upfront: no harm was allowed to any villager. And outsiders dying here would be easy to conceal. He needed living people as test subjects. And he had saved Chi Ziming in Illusion Cliff simply to make this game last longer, because Chi Ziming was the last guest.

He could very easily kill those who opposed him, annihilating them all. But he never imagined that a Ke’er would suddenly appear out of nowhere, a woman from the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom, and the youngest daughter of the Fangfeng clan, who had made truly great contributions to flood control. A warlike woman, skilled in swordsmanship, brave, and intelligent. Moreover, she also possessed the jade yue that he had always wanted. He suddenly felt a little regretful that he had spent too much time researching mutated Departed Soul Flowers, studying shapeshifting techniques and other dubious arts. He had also spent too much time figuring out how to turn Illusion Cliff into his base, his experimental base, which was also the true base of the Divine Bird Cult, and at the same time, a place feared by everyone. He had focused on expanding his forces, making the Divine Bird Cult grow stronger, so that it would eventually become the true ruler, and how to obtain the Taotie. But he had overlooked the old woman who looked so much like his grandma and her vultures. And those vultures, he hadn’t paid any attention to them at first. He himself had an inexplicable fondness for birds, which fatally led him to overlook the resurrection of this mythical creature right under his nose.

If it weren’t for his prior planning, having his subordinate impersonate Luo Bozi as a scapegoat, he thought he would now be dead by that girl’s sword. Although man proposes, God disposes, he still made the first move.

At this thought, Luo Xiaojie’s lips curled into an almost imperceptible smile. At this moment, a neatly folded handkerchief sprinkled with anesthetic appeared in his left hand, and a dagger in his right. Yes, the fate of all who opposed him was—death.

He glanced at Guangming, who was resting with closed eyes, then at Chi Ziming, who was also sleeping soundly with closed eyes. He raised the dagger towards Chi Ziming. Just as he raised his hand, police sirens approached rapidly from a distance. Guangming and Chi Ziming simultaneously woke up. Luo Xiaojie had no choice but to put away his dagger. The car suddenly braked, and they all became fully awake.

It turned out Kelou and his team had arrived, each holding a gun. Guangming and his team didn’t immediately understand what had happened. Kelou shouted, “Luo Xiaojie, stop pretending! We’ve already found Gu Wancheng’s body!”

Luo Xiaojie grabbed Chi Ziming, holding the knife to his neck. “Whoever dares to come closer, I’ll kill him! Hahaha, the last guest, a perfect death.”

However, Chi Ziming was unusually calm at this moment. He had noticed Luo Xiaojie’s overly fair and delicate hands, clearly young and unused to sunlight, which didn’t quite match Gu Wancheng’s age. And when someone suggested removing Luo Bozi’s human skin mask, he came out to stop it. Yes, if it were removed, his disguise would be exposed. There was also a significant mistake: that year, when his book was published, it was very low-key, and he had never sold signed books. As a mature psychologist, he shouldn’t have used such a childish way to flatter himself. But at the time, Chi Ziming only felt very puzzled and didn’t realize that Gu Wancheng was actually Luo Xiaojie in disguise. He could only blame himself for being too careless at the time. However, he still remembered a sentence Xiao Yilian said in her letter: if the Taotie is activated, it will possess infinite power.

However, he didn’t know how to use it. He could only try the most primitive method first, with his mind: Taotie, Taotie, help me kill this utterly wicked person beside me.

The Taotie on his chest suddenly emitted a sharp, sword-like light. Luo Xiaojie’s eyes suddenly saw nothing. His hand trembled. In that instant, dozens of bullets shot directly at Luo Xiaojie. His body convulsed. The knife in his hand dropped. He moved a few times on the ground, then became completely still, his eyes wide open, seemingly still not understanding how he had died.

Chi Ziming stared fixedly at him. He squatted down and removed the human skin from his face. For a moment, he was stunned. Such a beautiful young man: high forehead, thin lips, nose as if carved by a knife. Only his eyes were not melancholic, but bewildered, very, very bewildered. He closed Luo Xiaojie’s eyes.

He suddenly remembered that day by the sea, when this young man, in the guise of an old man, came out and told him that before a person dies, they will always meet such a person, and that person is the God of Death.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang. It was Luo Xiaofeng. She said in a low voice, “Is Luo Xiaojie really dead?”

He was a little surprised. “How do you know?”

“Many, many Departed Soul Flowers have bloomed in the sea. They are sacred, enchanting, and sorrowful, yet very calm, just like before.”

At this moment, Luoyang Village seemed to appear before Chi Ziming’s eyes once more: simple, peaceful houses, stones weighing down the tiles, a pure, clear blue sea, and vast expanses of Departed Soul Flowers blooming in the sea. When shadow-like spirits landed on them, they gently carried them, slowly, slowly drifting to a very, very distant place…

(The End)