When I opened the antique-colored wooden box, there was a long bamboo tube inside. On its surface floated a swollen woman's face - yellow and wrinkled. The moment I saw it, it grinned cheekily at me, startling me so badly I nearly threw the whole thing away. But in the blink of an eye, the face inexplicably vanished.
I had no idea what it was. Only after a long hesitation did I dare touch it. Picking it up, I noticed an inscription on the bamboo tube: "Yin-themed Tattoo Pigment - Ghost!"
The other side bore another inscription: "Date of death: April 8, 2019. Cause of death: drowning. Betrayed by boyfriend and pushed into water by girlfriends. Drowned with unresolved grievances, became a water ghost."
This... contained an actual ghost? A water ghost was trapped inside this bamboo tube!
Terrified, I immediately put it back, not daring to look again. While Yang-themed tattoo pigments used corpse blood, cremated remains and corpse oil, Yin-themed pigments actually used ghosts. This ghost in the bamboo tube must be grandfather's pigment ingredient.
I knew the Yin-themed tattooing method but had never practiced it. I didn't dare handle the ghost in this tube - an inexplicable fear of spirits gripped my heart.
Besides the ghost-containing tube, there was a black box inside containing a key and a slip of paper with two addresses: one for the Vervecity tattoo parlor, and one for Jennings' residence.
Grandpa said Jennings had promised his daughter (or rather, twin daughters) as my future wife. The thought was... pleasantly exciting, though I wondered how reliable this arrangement was.
Twins - every man's dream!
After indulging in some private amusement, I began packing to leave for Vervecity, a major city requiring a six-hour bus ride.
Bored during the journey, I pondered grandpa's most puzzling instruction: if my parents ever sought me out, I should kill them and burn their bodies.
What could this mean? Why would I kill my own parents? This was utterly outrageous! After their disappearance all these years, I'd be overjoyed at a reunion. Killing them would be insane!
Unable to make sense of it, I eventually dozed off.
I awoke nearing Vervecity. After disembarking, I went straight to the tattoo parlor's address.
The shop stood in a gloomy alley - a two-story structure showing severe age. The walls bore peeling yellow paint and moss, clearly uninhabited for years. A weathered sign above the door read "Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts," so decrepit it swayed dangerously in the wind, threatening to collapse any moment.
The door's rusted lock resisted stubbornly, taking considerable effort to turn. Truthfully, such a derelict building hardly needed locking - resembling a haunted house that would deter any sensible visitor.
After entering, I spent half a day cleaning before daring to sleep—otherwise, everything was covered in dust. The next day, I scrubbed the exterior walls and did some simple renovations. I set up the ground floor as a tattoo studio and the first floor as my living quarters. Then, I was ready to open for business.
The main issue was that I was almost out of money. Forget about making 100 million—if no money came in soon, I'd starve to death. I couldn't find a single cent of Grandpa's savings, not even a bank card or passbook.
I waited by the door for half a day, but not even flies showed up, let alone customers looking for tattoos. The alley was so remote that no one passed by during the day, though at night, it was crowded with prostitutes.
Just as I was about to despair, my phone buzzed with a WeChat message. It was a girl from my village named Chloe. She asked where I'd moved to, saying she wanted to get a tattoo but couldn't find me.
My heart leapt—was business finally coming my way? I quickly sent her the address.
Chloe said it was a coincidence—she was in Vervecity too. Luckily, she'd asked around the village first.
Sure enough, not long after, a car pulled up at the alley's entrance, and a stylishly dressed beauty walked in.
"Hey, Ror, why'd you move to this dump?" Chloe complained, wobbling on her high heels as she eyed the shabby surroundings.
She said the countryside was backward, but even that was better than this hellhole.
I ushered her inside, serving tea and water attentively—I couldn't let my first potential customer walk away.
Soon, Chloe asked where Grandpa had gone. I lied and said he was traveling. After sipping her tea, she asked, "Do you know the Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts?"
Overjoyed, I slapped my thigh. "Of course! It's my family's specialty!"
Ordinary tattoos cost around a thousand yuan, with larger pieces going for a few thousand. But Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts were different—they started at tens of thousands. This was my first business deal, and a big spender had walked in. How could I not be thrilled?
Chloe asked, "Ror, can these tattoos really ward off evil spirits?"
I nodded eagerly. "Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts can do everything—ward off evil, transfer luck, ensure safety, attract wealth, bring prosperity, even enhance romance. Whatever you need, I can ink it on you."
Chloe still looked skeptical. "Is it really that magical? Don't oversell yourself."
I firmly patted my chest and said, "If it doesn't work, full refund - no questions asked." Then I asked what exactly made her seek out the Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts.
Most customers come through word of mouth - after all, who would get these tattoos unless something was wrong?
Chloe didn't answer directly. She kept glancing around nervously before asking, "Did you see anything following me when I came in?"
She didn't mean people, but something else, which confused me.
I shook my head. "Nothing was following you. You were completely alone."
Chloe seemed slightly relieved. She explained that recently she kept feeling something "dirty" was following her. Sometimes when she looked in mirrors, she'd see a man standing behind her who disappeared when she turned around.
Another time, she entered a dark bathroom only to find a man squatting over the toilet. When she turned on the lights, he vanished. That night she'd been too terrified to use the bathroom.
Her story sounded bizarre. Was she haunted? I asked if anything unusual had happened recently.
Chloe admitted that not long ago, a man had died in her bed. Ever since then, she'd felt this presence.
Here's what happened: Chloe worked at a nightclub (I won't specify her job, but it paid well for easy work). One night, a client became overexcited - within minutes his eyes rolled back and he "hiccuped" (died). The police quickly cleared her, but since that night, she'd felt followed with increasingly strange occurrences.
Chloe, one year my senior, had a tragic life. Her gambling addict father had his limbs chopped off by loan sharks when she was ten, dying soon after. Her mother, unable to support three daughters, remarried a fifty-year-old man.
That old bastard wasn't any better - he'd beat them when drunk. At eighteen, he violated Chloe during her prime youth. Her mother silenced her, calling him the family's breadwinner.
Heartbroken and furious, Chloe fled to Vervecity. Two years later, she returned home driving a nice car.
Think about it - a young girl with no money, connections or education succeeding so quickly? The village guessed her profession and gossiped mercilessly.
But Chloe didn't care. "The world mocks the poor, not prostitutes," she'd say. She moved her mother and sisters to the city. As for that old man? He drank himself to a stroke. Nobody cared for him, and when they finally found his body, it had already rotted.
I'm an open-minded person - I don't discriminate against any occupation as long as the client pays. Besides, Chloe is kinder than most; she regularly sends money back to help starving orphans in our village.
After hearing Chloe's story, I had a theory. Whether it was truly supernatural or not, I knew giving her an evil-warding tattoo would solve her problem.
I recommended a specific Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts called "Ghost-Eating Yaksha." Yaksas are malevolent spirits from Buddhist lore, one of the Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings. While ordinary yaksas devour humans, the Ghost-Eating Yaksha specializes in consuming other ghosts. I priced it at 20,000 yuan.
Though both belong to the Eight Classes, Yaksha tattoos are more challenging to execute than Rakshasa, hence the doubled price.
Chloe frowned upon hearing this. In her line of work, how could she have an evil spirit tattooed on her body? Wouldn't that scare away clients? Moreover, the price seemed steep - while she earned good money, it didn't come easily.
Her hesitation grew. Maybe she wasn't actually haunted - perhaps just paranoid.
Damn. Would my cooked duck really fly away?