Lakeside Ghost Story 17

Zhou Wu knocked on the door, his heart in his throat.

The exorcists had not told him much, and he had not managed to pry any useful information out of that damned mayor. He did not even know what was inside the cabin. It could be a person, a drowned revenant... or even the boss.

But circumstances left him no choice.

Zhou Wu swallowed. His heart felt ready to leap out of his throat. Please don't let it be the boss, he screamed inwardly. Please, anything but the boss. If he saw that crocodile face again, this movie might well be his last.

With a creak, the wooden door opened a crack.

A chill shot straight through the crown of Zhou Wu's head, and clammy sweat broke out all over him. He closed his eyes on instinct, resigning himself to his fate, but instead of the whistle of a blade slicing through the air, he heard a familiar voice.

"Zhou Wu?" Zhuo Yu smiled at him. "Why did you run away when you saw me last time? I didn't think we'd meet again so soon."

The weight in Zhou Wu's chest finally settled back into his stomach. He opened his eyes and saw that it really was the cripple. And somehow, the cripple was still alive!

It was inconceivable.

"Either I'm seeing a ghost, or you're one lucky bastard..." Zhou Wu muttered, wiping the cold sweat from his brow.

"You're definitely not seeing a ghost." Zhuo Yu regarded him curiously. "Where's Mu Ying? You all survived, right? The only death announcement I saw was Li Mingfeng's."

After wandering through a world full of black-hearted people, with Mu Ying impossible to communicate with, Zhou Wu had finally encountered someone normal again. He felt an overwhelming sense of kinship. He had a bellyful of things he wanted to say, but now was not the time. He had not forgotten the exorcists' warning.

Guiltily, he glanced from the corner of his eye at the priest lying in ambush among the bushes. They were probably going to be disappointed. It was not the boss who had come out, only a useless actor.

"We can talk later. Come with me. It's not safe here. Let's get in the truck first." Zhou Wu grabbed Zhuo Yu's hand and tried to pull him along, only to discover, to his surprise, that Zhuo Yu was much stronger than he looked. Zhuo Yu broke free with ease.

Zhuo Yu frowned to himself, faintly repulsed, but concealed the emotion beneath a show of consideration. "Brother Zhou, I can manage on my own. Just lead the way."

Zhou Wu did not give it any more thought. He got up and started toward the pickup the exorcists had arrived in. He might have abandoned Zhuo Yu before, but the kid did not seem the type to hold a grudge. Besides, Zhuo Yu was the only person Zhou Wu felt safe talking to, so he decided to "generously" save his life.

The exorcists lying in wait, however, saw things differently.

"He took the bait. Piece of cake."

"See? I told you that mayor was worrying over nothing. He kept insisting Zhuo Yu was the most treacherous, cunning evil spirit he'd ever seen, but our guild took him down without breaking a sweat."

"He's just an ignorant NPC. Zhou Wu's even dumber, though. He still thinks Zhuo Yu is his good teammate."

"Hahaha, too bad it wasn't Crocodile Man who came out."

"A ghost thrall who helps a monster prey on others deserves to be sent back to the Flame Source."

They spoke in hushed voices, brimming with confidence and certain of victory.

One more step would take Zhuo Yu straight into the trap they had prepared. No matter how powerful a vengeful spirit might be, a dousing in holy water would obliterate its soul. No, as they said in the West, it would send the spirit back to hell!

Zhuo Yu slowly rolled his wheelchair forward. In the hunters' eyes, he was nothing more than a frail lamb, prey all but delivered into their hands.

At last, a wheel rolled over the tripwire.

Snap! The transparent fishing line tugged a plunger, and the glass bottle filled with holy water abruptly shattered, splashing the highly concentrated liquid all over Zhuo Yu's lower legs.

But the expected shriek of agony never came. Zhuo Yu merely stared at the ground in mild confusion and asked Zhou Wu, "What is this?"

Zhou Wu slapped his thigh. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. The mayor hired some exorcists. They're all actors, so you don't need to be afraid."

He nudged the shattered holy-water bottle with his foot. "This thing was part of a trap for the boss. By the way, how did you escape from him?"

"The boss doesn't enjoy killing weak prey like me." Zhuo Yu gave him an inscrutable smile. "Only a powerful man like you is worthy of becoming his prey."

Even someone as slow as Zhou Wu could tell that there was something off about Zhuo Yu's words. Why did that sound so much like mockery?

Before he could think about it, however, someone interrupted him.

"So you are human. My apologies for the offense." An elderly man approached at an unhurried pace. He wore a priest's robes and a warm, gentle smile, the sort that made people want to confide in him and confess everything they had done.

Ma Yuan'an had activated every one of his character skills. His passive trait, "Father's Mercy," was taking effect.

"And you are?" Zhuo Yu inclined his head politely to Ma Yuan'an.

"My role is an exorcist hired by the mayor. The holy water didn't hurt you, which proves you're innocent." Ma Yuan'an's voice brimmed with compassion for all living things. "That puts my mind at ease. I'm glad you're all right."

The Soul Hunters members watching from the bushes: Ugh. The boss is conning someone again.

But there was no helping it. Their intelligence had been wrong. That damned mayor had told them Golden Lake was occupied by two evil spirits. Based on his description, they had all concluded that Zhuo Yu had drawn an evil-spirit character card and joined forces with the boss. That was why they had planned to use Zhuo Yu's teammate as bait, lure him out of the cabin, and execute him with holy water. If the boss came out instead, so much the better.

Reality, however, was nothing like they had imagined.

Not only had the holy water failed to harm Zhuo Yu, he seemed exceptionally mild-mannered. He was nothing like the person the mayor had described.

So Captain Ma had no choice but to step in and smooth things over.

They all knew how formidable their captain was at fooling people. Plenty of people had believed their captain's lies, only to be exploited by the group and die without ever knowing what had killed them.

That Zhuo Yu looked so young. He was bound to fall for it.

"So the mayor thinks I'm an evil spirit?" Zhuo Yu seemed genuinely moved by the priest's accepting manner. "That's not true. I'm not an evil spirit! It's just that Golden Lake and I have... a history."

His gaze turned melancholy and tender. He looked out over the lake, his voice overflowing with nostalgia.

Ma Yuan'an's heart jolted. The kid's mind was unstable. His character had taken over his body, and even his thoughts were muddled. As expected of a helpless cripple, he had succumbed to his character's influence in no time at all.

Ma Yuan'an smiled faintly. Was this not the perfect opportunity to gather intelligence?

"Don't worry. In these Studios, my duty is that of a priest, so I will take responsibility for eradicating the evil here. Have you been falsely accused?" Ma Yuan'an asked with righteous conviction.

"Father... would you be willing to hear about my past?" Zhuo Yu tucked a loose lock of hair behind his ear, revealing eyes that seemed to belong to a bygone time.

In a husky, solemn voice, he slowly unfolded a tragic tale of destiny before Ma Yuan'an.

First came Zhuo Yu's meeting with Asha, then their growing understanding and the life they built depending on each other. Then came the curse of possessing something others coveted, and the loss of even their right to live with dignity.

"I dragged my broken legs behind me and crawled across the grass, following the trail of blood to find Asha." Zhuo Yu's voice trembled, and the anguish in his words inspired sympathy from the depths of the heart. "Stones and branches dug into my wounds, but I couldn't feel the pain. All I could think about was Asha. I was afraid he would suffer the same things I had. That child had suffered enough already. I didn't want his final moment in this world to be filled with hatred for its ugliness."

"I had almost bled dry, and my flesh was nearly scraped away. Clinging to my last hope, I found Asha on the shore. A dagger this long had been plunged into the child's chest. How much must that have hurt..."

Zhuo Yu buried his face deep in his hands. The slight tremor of his shoulders proved that he was crying.

Even Ma Yuan'an began to waver. He might be a thoroughly rotten bastard, but after hearing of something so horrific, even he could not stop a sense of justice from welling up inside him. Combined with the influence of his character, it gave him a sudden urge to call the police and have the mayor arrested.

"But we still couldn't escape. What awaited me wasn't rescue, but the muzzle of a gun." Zhuo Yu stared at Ma Yuan'an through bloodshot eyes. "I was given the chance to live my life again, but what about Asha? He stayed here for fifty years, all to stop the mayor from getting what he wanted!"

The sudden surge of resentment in his voice shook Ma Yuan'an. He unconsciously took several steps back, but when he looked up again, his gaze collided with a pair of bottomless black eyes.

"Justice delayed is no justice at all. What good does it do for me to tell you any of this? If God were truly so loving, He never would have let this happen to Asha and me."

Zhuo Yu leaned forward and seized Ma Yuan'an by his priestly robes. "What sort of salvation do you people offer? Aren't Asha and I children of God too?"

For some reason, the more Ma Yuan'an listened, the guiltier he felt.

His role had been assigned directly by the debugger, and he was not particularly compatible with it, so he had never feared being influenced by his character when using his skills. Yet after only a few words from Zhuo Yu, he could feel his own instincts compelling him to confess his sins to God.

Guilt flickered across Ma Yuan'an's face. "No, that's not it. There's still time. As long as you..."

"Still time?" Zhuo Yu burst into crazed laughter. "Because you weren't the one who died. You weren't the one who was violated. As a priest, you bask in other people's love and respect. What right do you have to pass judgment on those trapped in the mire?"

"I... No, wait. I'm not a priest..."

"Are you denying your own duty now, merely to shirk responsibility?" Zhuo Yu thundered. His eyes bored into Ma Yuan'an, the condemnation within them so intense it was nearly tangible. "Not only have you failed to cleanse God's kingdom and rid it of the evildoer who has run rampant here, you accepted that same evildoer's commission to murder those of us who suffered at his hands. Is that what a priest is supposed to do?"

Agony split Ma Yuan'an's skull. The more he tried to deny it, the more he felt the soul of the "priest" reel in shock. Beneath Zhuo Yu's unrelenting stare, he felt as though he truly were the one who had committed these wrongs.

"And what if I really were a spirit? Did God teach you to wield power to erase benevolent souls? If I hadn't been reincarnated, I wouldn't even have had the chance to tell you this. I would have died beneath that holy water, and you would never have learned what happened here. You would have helped a tyrant commit evil, killed two innocent souls, and then smugly congratulated yourselves on what righteous people you were. Am I right or not?"

"Stop. Please, stop!!" Ma Yuan'an's weathered face twisted in anguish. He felt as though his character were fighting him for control. His eyes filled with tears of remorse, and under Zhuo Yu's gaze, the last of his reason crumbled away.

"Oh, I understand now. The fact that you could collude with the mayor means you're no good either. Isn't that right, Captain?"

Ma Yuan'an shuddered from head to toe and nearly fell to his knees.

He was a priest renowned throughout Florida, a man who had spent his life doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, asking nothing more than to guide lost souls back into the Lord's embrace. He was a good man. Of course he was a good man. If even a priest did not deserve to be called good, then he...

"You've survived so many movies and gained so much experience killing ghosts and monsters. How righteous of you. But search your conscience. Did you truly destroy those creatures for God?"

Zhuo Yu's tone turned uncanny. He began to blur the line between Ma Yuan'an and the priest, mingling their separate memories until they became one. His pitch-black eyes grew deeper still as he poured the full force of his gaze into Ma Yuan'an, dragging at the man's wavering eyes like a whirlpool.

"As a priest, you slaughter lives in these movies without asking right or wrong, all for profit and personal gain. You have shamed a loving God and disgraced the faithful who placed their trust in you. Your sins are unforgivable!"

Zhuo Yu's voice struck like thunder. Ma Yuan'an's tears pattered onto the ground. His mind had fallen completely under Zhuo Yu's control. At that moment, he was the priest, and the priest was him. He was a wretch who had cast aside God's teachings for money. His very existence was a disgrace to the Lord.

Yes. He had committed evil. So much evil. He had used other actors and caused dozens of deaths. He had cared only about Flame Points, slaughtering every target without ever asking whether there was more to the story.

These were vile sins the "priest" could never accept.

Ma Yuan'an stared blankly at the sky and murmured in despair, "I am unworthy. I am unworthy of entering heaven, unworthy of being received by the Lord. I am a sinner..."

Zhuo Yu revealed the same beatific smile Ma Yuan'an had worn before, and his voice held the same compassion for all living things. "But you can still redeem yourself."

He pointed to the holster beneath the priest's robes.

"Don't you have your ticket to redemption right there?"