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Tao Star: Nine Souls
墨書 Inktalez
"We fear what we fear itself." Fear is a human instinct; people are afraid of the unknown while simultaneously being curious about it. But if the terrifying unknown were to come right beside you, would you still gaze at it with curious eyes?
Six years ago, on a sunny afternoon, I wandered aimlessly down the street. For some reason, despite regularly exercising, I felt unusually fatigued that day. "I haven't done anything, so why can't I muster any energy?" I thought to myself. Suddenly, my attention was drawn to something in a shop, and I found myself looking at an antique shop by the roadside. It was a very unremarkable antique shop, with its window and sign covered in cobwebs and thick dust. The lettering on the sign had become somewhat blurred, and I could only vaguely make out the character for "Imperial."
Curious, I approached and pushed open a door that seemed like it hadn't been opened in a century. Inside was empty and dimly lit, with a flower board that appeared rather low. As I stepped inside, the low flower board nearly caused me to bump my head. "Is anyone here?" I asked tentatively. When no one answered, I asked again, only to be met with an echoing silence that made it feel as if I had entered another world. The unusual quietness enveloped me; the noise of traffic outside had completely vanished. Just as I was pondering this, a chill ran down my spine from my feet to my back, causing me to shiver involuntarily.
As I slowly turned around, a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder, startling me into retreating against the doorframe. When I regained my composure and looked up, I saw a gaunt old man standing before me. His eye sockets were so sunken that I couldn't see his eyes clearly. His hair was white, and his face was lined with wrinkles. The dim lighting made him appear somewhat frightening.
Realizing my rudeness, I quickly composed myself and asked, "Are you the boss here?" The old man replied in a deep voice, "Yes, sorry for scaring you there, buddy. Are you looking for something or wanting to buy?" As I scanned the shelves around me, I said, "I want to find something; I'm not sure..." Before I could finish my sentence, that feeling of being drawn in returned. I hurriedly looked around, hoping to find something among the pile of old bottles and jars—though even I wasn't sure what I was searching for.
At that moment, my gaze landed on a box—a very old box. I quickly pointed at it and asked the boss, "Sir, can I take a look at this box?" After pondering for a moment, he nodded. It was hard to read his expression; perhaps he didn't want me touching it. After nodding, he casually pulled over an ancient chair and sat down to smoke.
With his permission granted, I stepped forward and picked up the box, blowing off the dust on top of it. Wiping it in my arms confirmed it: this was what had caught my attention outside. Upon closer inspection after dusting it off, I noticed that this box was made of a peculiar type of wood; it was small yet heavy and bright red as if stained with blood. On one side of the box was a black lock; when I tugged at it, it felt quite sturdy. The top and all around were intricately carved with beautiful patterns that seemed filled with something akin to vermilion; under the light's reflection, they glimmered with an eerie red glow. "Without a key, there's no way to see what's inside," I thought while asking aloud: "Boss, do you still have the key for this box?" The old man replied without looking at me: "It's been ages; who knows where the key went."
"Do you know what's inside?" I pressed further.
"Ghosts..." he uttered softly before coughing twice. A chill ran through me as I wondered if I'd misheard him or if... At that moment, the old man slowly raised his head; in that instant, I saw his left eye had no eyeball—only a deep red socket remained. Shocked, I stumbled back two steps but tripped over a copper pot behind me and fell hard onto the floor. Seeing my reaction, the old man let out a cold laugh and said: "You're not the first one." He then stood up and walked toward me, reaching out to help me up. The moment our hands touched sent a jolt of icy cold straight through me. Though his hand was bony and frail, he had surprising strength; without any effort from me, he pulled me up.
Once standing again and still astonished, I quickly apologized to him and asked if anything had broken that needed compensation. He chuckled lightly: "These things were already broken; it's fine—it's fine! Buddy, are you hurt?" I waved my hand dismissively to indicate that I was okay while brushing off the dust from my clothes and hurriedly picking up the fallen box. Driven by curiosity amidst my surprise, I asked the old man how he ended up with such an eye.
To my surprise, he spoke candidly without hesitation. Sitting back down in his chair and straightening himself up while lighting another cigarette slowly said: "Don't be fooled by my appearance now; you might find it hard to believe that I'm only nine years old." My heart skipped a beat as disbelief washed over my face; calling him an old man... oh no—now it would be more appropriate to refer to him as 'Elder Brother.' He continued without acknowledging my shock: "Back then when I was young, I was extremely curious about supernatural phenomena. Anything related to these matters piqued my interest until my parents passed away; then my obsession with ghosts grew into near madness as I sought every possible way to see them again."
"I began searching for so-called experts who claimed they could communicate with spirits but mostly found charlatans instead. After several years of searching by chance one day—I met an expert named Yin who told me that for mortals to see ghosts requires possessing something called 'Void Spirit' since ordinary people can only rely on external Void Spirit's power temporarily drawn into their bodies."
"But Void Spirit can be both good or bad; just look at how I've turned out—you can tell what kind of Void Spirit I've drawn in..." The boss lowered his head sadly after finishing his story.
I listened without comment; although I'm an atheist at heart, everything before me made disbelief impossible. After pondering for some time, I asked: "Did you ever get to see your family again?"
The boss shook his head with a sigh: "I know you're half-believing right now; it's been ages since anyone talked with me plus you're someone who possesses Void Spirit since birth—that's why I'm sharing all this openly with you. You can't see ghosts yet simply because your spiritual eyes aren't open; my left eye paid the price for leaving behind one such spiritual eye which allows me to see your Void Spirit clearly—the weakness of my body is also due to Void Spirit's erosion that's led me to look like this now."
At a loss for words on how to respond suddenly reminded of something else—I asked: "Will I also be eroded by your Void Spirit until becoming like you...?"
"No," he interrupted quickly: "Since you were born with Void Spirit it'll protect you until death; moreover—the red box you're holding is what that expert entrusted me with before leaving—I've kept it safe all these years but still can't open it—the key has long gone missing too—since you've got fate with it I'll give it to you hoping you'll uncover its secrets."
Hearing this from the boss brought me some relief; seeing his generosity in wanting to gift me this box made me quickly respond: "While we may have fate together—you still need to run your business right? I'll buy this box from you so we can be friends—I’ll come visit often for your stories! My name is Shen Xu—may I ask your surname?"
"I'm Yang Wei; just call me Lao Yang."
I pressed a thousand yuan into Lao Yang's hand thanked him profusely while cradling the box as I left the shop returning back onto the bustling street feeling no desire left for wandering aimlessly—I just wanted to go home and examine this box closely.
I reached out at the curb hailing a taxi: “Driver! Peak District.”
“Sure thing,” replied the taxi driver promptly.
The ride passed in silence as thoughts swirled in my mind replaying Lao Yang’s strange words—believing them felt absurd yet Lao Yang’s appearance compelled belief too—lost in thought before realizing we’d arrived at my apartment complex—I paid the fare thanked him turning back toward home.
This wasn’t exactly high-end single living quarters but decent enough though rent was steep—the landlord intended for two tenants but charged me double since living alone—oh well—I liked this place anyway! Thankfully I'd saved some money from past business ventures so renting alone wasn’t too extravagant for me after all.
I returned home and glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already past five in the afternoon. I ordered takeout and sat on the balcony, starting to examine the Wooden Box. Under the glow of the setting sun, the box appeared unusually vibrant red. Suddenly, I noticed something shining in the Lock Hole. Leaning in for a closer look, I saw a translucent stone wedged inside the Lock Hole. "No wonder Lao Yang couldn't open it with a key, or perhaps he didn't need one?" I was lost in thought when the doorbell suddenly pulled me back to reality. I quickly set the Box down on a nearby table and rushed to check the door monitor. It turned out to be the delivery person.
I opened the door and saw the Delivery Guy panting as he ran up the stairs. I hurriedly took the takeout from his hands and handed him the money. As he fumbled for change, he complained, "I don't know what's going on today; I've delivered to several places in this area, and the elevator is out of order. I'm exhausted!" I thought to myself, "This area just closed not long ago; how could all the elevators be broken? Is there some kind of maintenance? It was working fine when I came up earlier." While I was pondering this, the Delivery Guy handed me my change. I thanked him and closed the door.
Just as I was about to take my food to the balcony to enjoy the sunset while eating, I turned around and saw blood oozing from the Lock Hole of the Box…
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