Chapter 03 Late-night funeral cortege

　　It's beyond belief, truly beyond belief!

　　The fact that Ling 'er's father looked very much like that old man driving a Passat kept me awake.

　　In the still of the night, my ears became extremely sensitive. I could hear the chirping of insects outside the window with perfect clarity.

　　Suddenly, my ears perked up. I actually heard sobs. The sobs were coming from afar and getting closer, heading in this direction. Not only were there sobs, but I also heard the sound of gongs and drums clearing the way and the chants of a Taoist priest.

　　These were definitely not my hallucinations; they were real, distinct sounds. I looked out the window and realized it was shut.

　　Quietly, I opened one window. There, I saw a group of men and women dressed in mourning attire following behind a coffin, wailing in a singsong manner. In front of the coffin was an old man holding a white banner. Every few steps, he would scatter some joss paper into the air and chant a few lines of scripture that I couldn't understand, only managing to catch a phrase like "The Supreme Old Lord, act with utmost urgency!"

　　The old man was wearing a dazzling white long gown and had a shiny, bald head. He walked extremely fast, and it was hard to tell whether he was a monk or a Taoist priest. His bald head made him look like a monk, but the scripture he was chanting, "The Supreme Old Lord, act with utmost urgency!", was clearly from Taoist scriptures.

　　Eight burly men were carrying the coffin, keeping up closely, while the deceased's relatives were almost running.

　　The entire funeral procession seemed so eerie and mysterious. I had never heard of a funeral taking place at midnight. In my hometown, the dead had to be buried during the day and before noon.

　　My professional instinct told me that there must be something strange going on here. So, I quietly got out of bed and followed after them.

　　The night in the mountains was chilly, with a cold moon hanging high in the distant sky. I kept a distance and trailed behind the funeral procession. There was no need to deliberately hide myself; these people were walking so fast that no one noticed me following behind.

　　It didn't take long to leave the village. After walking for a while, they turned onto a narrow path.

　　The eight burly men carried the coffin side by side. The road was rough, and the coffin was extremely heavy, so they naturally needed to take a break. When resting, they propped the coffin up on two long benches. Before burial, the coffin wasn't supposed to touch the ground. This was also a custom in my hometown.

　　This mountain path was extremely difficult to traverse. The funeral procession stopped and started, taking quite some time to make it through the narrow path before finally coming to a stop in a mountain hollow.

　　I hid behind a huge boulder and peered in that direction. I saw that a pit had already been dug in the mountain hollow. After simply identifying the orientation, the coffin was lowered into it. The eight burly men who had carried the coffin, along with the deceased's relatives, immediately picked up the shovels placed aside and started filling the pit with soil.

　　They were in such a hurry, appearing extremely anxious and flustered inside.

　　"Woo-wah—"

　　Suddenly, a strange cry from some bird rang out abruptly, giving me a fright.

　　The group of people in the mountain hollow seemed to be scared out of their wits too. They all stopped shoveling and looked around. The bald old man urged, "Hurry up!"

　　The bald old man himself joined in, taking a shovel from a woman and quickly filling the pit with soil.

　　About half an hour passed, and the pit was filled, forming a small mound. The bald old man chanted a few lines of scripture that I couldn't understand again. Then he led the group in bowing, burning joss paper, and setting off firecrackers before leading them away in a hurry.

　　The group came and went like the wind, as if they were all afraid of something.

　　After they had gone far away, I walked into the mountain hollow. This newly built grave, without a tombstone, looked lonely in the hollow. I had no idea who was buried there.

　　"Woo-wah—Woo-wah—"

　　The strange cry sounded again. It was from a bird I wasn't familiar with. Its figure appeared on a crooked tree within my line of sight. It looked like an owl, but half of its feathers had fallen off, making it extremely ugly!

　　Its two black, shiny eyes rolled around, and then the bird stared motionlessly at me. In such a night, in front of this new grave, facing such a bird, even I, a police officer, felt a bit creeped out.

　　"Woo-wah—" The bird let out another loud cry.

　　I really didn't have the courage to stay any longer. I ran back in a panic.

　　"Creak!"

　　Just as I was about to push open the door, it opened. Ling's father glared at me angrily and shouted, "How could you run out? Don't you know that watching a night burial is extremely unlucky!"

　　I never expected this seemingly honest old man to be so furious. I felt a bit guilty and said, "I was just a bit curious, that's all."

　　"Curious? Curiosity can kill the cat!"

　　Ling's father's loud voice woke up the whole family. Ling ran over and asked what had happened. Then she said to her father, "Dad, don't be so superstitious! Jay is a police officer. He's even shot people at gunpoint. What's the big deal about watching a funeral..."

　　Actually, I had never shot anyone. That was why Jing teased me, and Ling was obviously trying to speak up for me by saying this.

　　"You silly girl, you don't know anything! Whenever someone dies, they're buried during the day. But the Wang family, in order to cheat the cremation fee, went against the taboo and buried the dead at night. The yin energy is heavy at night. Without drinking the talisman water cast by Taoist Priest Jiang, Jay followed them and might very well attract ghosts."

　　Ling's father had a grave expression on his face. After saying that, he kept sighing. Seeing her father like this, Ling didn't dare to say anything else.

　　"I think we should ask Taoist Priest Jiang to chant a ghost-dispelling spell for Jay tomorrow." Ling's mother suggested in a low voice.

　　"That's the only way." Ling's father sighed and said.