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Zhong Kui's Diary
墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
In the midsummer, at one o'clock in the morning, in the monitoring room on the basement floor of the Star City Building.
I sat with three security personnel around a nearly 40-inch monitor. The screen displayed nine images, constantly switching as a Bearded Security Guard operated the controls, showing various floors and stairwells of the Star City Building. This surveillance system captured every corner of the Star City Building.
A Muscular Man raised his hand to check his watch and said, "It's about time; it usually comes out around this hour." His voice trembled slightly, as if something terrifying was about to happen.
"It's coming out... look... you all... look!" The thick-lipped security personnel, who had been leaning close to the screen, shouted incoherently while pointing at the upper right corner of the monitor.
I followed his finger and looked over. It was an image of a floor, showing it was the 19th floor. In the direction the camera was facing, there was a faint shadow moving. Indeed, it was a faint shadow because we could see the floor number through it.
"Hiss—" I took a deep breath, "This is definitely not human; at least, I've never seen a transparent person."
The shadow seemed to be flaunting something, not moving elsewhere but swaying right in front of the camera.
"Can you enlarge the image?" I asked the Bearded Security Guard.
"Y-yes!" The Bearded Security Guard trembled as he controlled the monitor. The nine images merged into one, showing the parking lot.
"Wrong... wrong! Wait... wait!" The Bearded Security Guard stammered as he pressed several buttons. The image switched back to the 19th floor, where the faint shadow continued to sway in front of the camera. The image was so large that I could even see that this shadow had long hair and a long tongue hanging down.
"This is a ghost who hanged itself; I'm going to subdue it!" I stood up and grabbed the Peach Wood Sword beside me, turning to Captain Zhou and said, "You come with me! I need a helper!"
"What? Me... go?" Captain Zhou exclaimed in shock.
"Yes! Don't be afraid! I'm here!" I reassured him.
"I'll... go." Captain Zhou hesitated but seeing his two subordinates looking at him, he swallowed his unfinished words and changed his tone. Taking a deep breath as if trying to control his fear, he moved his neck with a cracking sound and grabbed a Glue Stick, looking at me with flickering eyes, unsure if it was fear or resentment.
I smiled and walked towards the door of the monitoring room. Behind me, I heard Captain Zhou's voice: "You two keep a close watch. If anything seems off, come to support immediately!"
The two of them got into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the 19th floor as the elevator began to ascend slowly.
Captain Zhou's face was somewhat pale, his eyes darting around, but his gaze was vacant. It was clear that he was very resistant to what was about to happen; he was just forcing himself to hold it together for appearances. I felt both amused and exasperated, ready to say a few comforting words when suddenly the elevator lights went out, and with a clunk, it stopped.
I could hear a series of choking sounds coming from Captain Zhou's throat; he was clearly terrified and wanted to scream but couldn't.
"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath, took out my lighter, and lit it. The flickering flame illuminated Captain Zhou's bloodless face. Not only did I not get scared by a ghost, but I almost got scared by you instead, I thought angrily. I shifted the lighter towards the elevator buttons and pressed the emergency call button.
The call connected to the security monitoring room, where Bearded Security Guard's voice inquired about the situation. I reported what was happening, but there was no sign of any abnormalities on their end. Before I could ask further, the call was cut off. At the same time, the lights in the elevator began to flicker continuously, creating an eerie atmosphere.
"What... what is this?" Captain Zhou trembled as he squeezed closer to me.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Look! Look... look at this!" Captain Zhou stammered, pointing at the mirror inside the elevator.
I turned my head and saw a floating shadow in front of the mirror; it was unmistakably the same shadow that had floated in front of the camera earlier.
"Damn! Take this!" I put away my lighter and drew my Peach Wood Sword, swinging it fiercely. In the flickering light, I couldn't tell if I hit anything. After a while, I took out a Cloth Bag, murmured a few incantations, and shouted: "Capture!"
Waving the Cloth Bag in the air, when I pulled it back, it seemed like something inside was jumping around. I tied up the Cloth Bag and cleared my throat: "Captain Zhou, it's done!"
As if to verify my words, the elevator immediately returned to normal. Captain Zhou looked at the Cloth Bag in my hand that was still twitching with disbelief and stammered: "This... this is all it takes?"
"Want me to take it out for you to see?" I shook the Cloth Bag in my hand and smiled.
Inside the Cloth Bag came a series of squeaking sounds.
Captain Zhou quickly shook his head and waved his hands, looking greatly relieved.
...
After coming out of Star City Building, I walked over three hundred meters along East Wind Road when a motorcycle roared up beside me and came to a sudden stop. The driver, Fatty, whistled at me and asked, "Ghost Brother, they didn't suspect anything, right?"
"It's Brother Kui! What the hell!" I laughed and cursed while pulling out a stack of cash from my pocket. "Suspect my ass, I've already paid!"
"Let's find a place to celebrate!" Fatty said with a strange grin.
"Wait, let me release this guy first!" I opened the Cloth Bag, and a mouse jumped out. The mouse bounced twice on the ground before darting into the sewer. I grabbed the Peach Wood Sword and hopped onto Glasses Youth's motorcycle, speeding away.
That's right; I was scamming people. The ghostly shadows on the building floors were just projections from a Mini Projector that Fatty had secretly installed in the ventilation shaft. As for how Fatty managed to climb into the ventilation shaft, I won't disclose that. My lighter was also a type of Projector used to fool Captain Zhou. The elevator malfunction? Fatty had already secretly prepared a key for the elevator control room.
My name is Zhong Zhengnan, and the legendary Zhong Kui is also called Zhong Zhengnan. According to my ancestors, I really am Zhong Kui. Because of this, people in the underworld call me Zhong Kui. Of course, don't expect them to be cultured; most of them can't even recognize the character and often call me Zhong Gui instead.
Fatty is my assistant and friend; his name is Ding Shaocheng. I met him while boxing illegally; he has decent Kung Fu skills and often brags about having mixed with Shaolin Temple.
I have a storefront in a wholesale market in the eastern part of the city, with a sign that reads "Zhong Kui Will Help You" in black letters on a white background. There’s a display rack at the entrance listing our main services and pricing standards: "Vengeful Spirit 00, Wandering Soul 000, consecrated talismans all 00," etc. Every so often, we create some ghostly events in certain districts or buildings in Star City and then collect the spirits. Thanks to our careful planning, we've gained some notoriety within Star City.
In the shop, there's a girl named An Ran. Besides answering phone calls, her most important job is to put away the display rack when someone comes to check on us since we don't promote superstitions.
I drank too much last night and didn't wake up until four in the afternoon today. After washing up, I bought half an onion pancake from a street vendor on my way to the shop. As I walked in eating it, An Ran looked up when she saw me, greeted me briefly, and then returned her focus to her online world.
I casually asked if there were any calls for me. An Ran exclaimed as if she just remembered something and handed me a note she found on her desk with a name written on it: Jin Yang.
"This person came looking for you at nine this morning; he wants you to call him back. You know his number," she said.
"Okay!" I finished off the remaining onion pancake in a few bites, wiped my hands with a napkin, and took out my phone to dial the number.
Jin Yang is my high school classmate and a very good friend of mine. His father, Jin Zhenzhong, is the most successful businessman in Star City, without exception. You could say that in every profitable industry in Star City, there are shares owned by Jin Zhenzhong. However, the most authoritative figure in the Jin Family is his grandfather, Golden Prosperity, a mysterious old man who single-handedly built the financial empire of the Jin Family.
As for me, I am just the son of Zhong Dexin, a frontline worker at the Gear Factory. In their world, it would be impossible for us to intersect, yet he is my friend, and a very good one at that. He might not always invite me to gatherings, but he will definitely call me when he’s eating barbecue at a roadside stall.
What is this guy up to? Why didn’t he call my mobile but instead called the store phone? Then I remembered that I had set up call forwarding on my phone yesterday.
The call went through, but no one answered. At that moment, I didn’t think much of it; there are many reasons someone might not answer—using the restroom, taking a shower, getting a massage or health treatment—all possible. I figured he would call me back later.
It wasn’t until the next day that Jin Yang still hadn’t called me. I had almost forgotten about it myself when I was at the store playing cards with Ding Fatty and An Ran. While cleaning up the table, I saw that note again. With nothing else to do, I decided to give Jin Yang another call.
Still no answer. How strange, I frowned and hung up. Ding Fatty noticed my expression and curiously asked, “Ghost Brother, what’s up?”
“Nothing much. A buddy of mine, Jin Yang, is trying to reach me but isn’t answering when I call back.”
“Oh come on, you haven’t reached him yet?” An Ran laughed while eating. “Maybe he’s looking for you two shamans to catch ghosts; you might have missed out on a big deal!”
An Ran knows our background well enough, and since we were all familiar with each other, we spoke freely when there were no outsiders around.
“Come on now, you’re a girl; what do you know? We’re shamans; aren’t you a witch?” I joked back.
Ding Fatty furrowed his brow and muttered, “Jin Yang, Jin Yang… that name sounds familiar; I feel like I just saw it somewhere!”
Jin Yang is my good friend; Ding Shaocheng is also my good friend, but they don’t know each other. There’s no rule that says a friend’s friend must also be known to them. Curious about what Ding Fatty was thinking, I looked at him.
“Jin Yang! Right! Isn’t he Jin Zhenzhong’s son?” Ding Shaocheng suddenly exclaimed.
“Yes! That’s right! What’s going on?” I asked in surprise.
“Check the news! It was in today’s Star City Daily! I flipped through it while bored on the bus this morning; it was about him—Jin Yang.” Ding Shaocheng pulled out his phone and quickly swiped on the screen. The internet seemed a bit slow as the page didn’t refresh immediately. He then leaned over to An Ran and said, “An An, Angela, can I use your… computer for a moment?”
Angela is An Ran's online name. Seeing Ding Fatty shamelessly posting, An Ran shot him a glance and got up to move aside.
Before long, Ding Shaocheng found the news article and pointed it out to me. The headline was quite eye-catching: "Rich Third Generation Loses Morality for Family Wealth, Golden Prosperity Scared to Death by Grandson."
The article was lengthy, filled with vague terms like "according to," "possibly," and "seemingly." In over two thousand words, it could have been summarized in one sentence: Jin Yang had been playing tricks at home and scared his grandfather, Golden Prosperity, to death.
At the end of the article, it was added that Jin Yang had been detained by the police yesterday.
My first reaction was disbelief. The Jin Yang I remembered was a sunny, handsome, kind-hearted person who would never commit such a heinous act. Moreover, there was no benefit for him in doing this; he was just a rich third generation with a father, an uncle, and an older brother above him. According to the inheritance order, he wouldn't stand to gain anything.
He called me, surely to tell me something important, possibly related to this incident.
I contacted a powerful friend, Lingfeng, who helped me find a police officer at the detention center. Finally, I met Jin Yang in the visiting room. Normally, Jin Yang couldn't meet anyone except his lawyer at this time, but Lingfeng managed to arrange it. I owed him a big favor for this.
When I saw Jin Yang, I almost didn't recognize him. His eyes were sunken, his face haggard, and he looked dull and lifeless. Upon seeing me, Jin Yang's dim eyes began to shine as if he were a drowning person spotting a piece of driftwood. He rushed forward and started banging on the glass while shouting something. I shook the microphone in my hand to signal him to pick up the one below the glass; we could only communicate through the phone in this isolated visiting room.
Jin Yang grabbed the microphone and shouted hoarsely, "Zheng Nan! You have to save me; only you can save me! I'm innocent!"
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