"All the incidents happened during the day, but the spooky feelings always come at night."
Niannian and her second brother Yusheng were not in the same class, so she didn't know the details. However, she did know about the incident where a student suddenly rushed out of the school and got into a car accident. After all, the school was so big, and the news had spread like wildfire among the students. Although the teachers and parents had tried their best to suppress it, there were simply too many eyewitnesses, and it was impossible to cover it up with just a few words.
Niannian pouted, grabbed the book in her hand, and jumped off the stool.
"Call me up tomorrow. I'll take this book with me for now."
When she first looked at the book, there seemed to be nothing strange about it. But after hearing what her second brother had said, the little girl felt that she needed to study it more carefully.
Back in her room, Niannian opened the book and began to read the contents seriously. She had only skimmed through the table of contents before and hadn't read a single word about the detailed methods recorded in it.
The first few methods, such as peeling an apple in front of a mirror and pressing elevator buttons, were all baseless and meaningless words. The little girl could tell at a glance that they were fake, and she even felt sleepy.
But when she turned to the middle of the book, Niannian suddenly perked up.
The Four - Corner Game.
This was the very game that her second brother's friend had been forced to join.
This game needed to be played in a square - shaped room. At night, turn off all the lights. Four people should stand in each of the four corners respectively. The first person starts counting and walks forward. When they reach the end, they pat the person in the corner on the shoulder and shout out their name.
After the other person responds, they stay where they are, and the person who responded then walks forward to find the next person in the corner.
If someone pats the shoulder of the person in the corner, calls out their name, but gets no response, it means that a ghost has come and joined their game.
Niannian studied this passage carefully and roughly understood the principle of this game for summoning spirits.
Nighttime was a period when the yin energy was relatively heavy. In some remote places, it was easy for lonely ghosts and spirits to linger. In such an environment and at this time, patting someone on the shoulder could easily extinguish the two fires on a person's shoulders that represented yang energy. As a result, the person's yang energy would weaken, and they might be able to see ghosts.
If there were some curious or playful ghosts, they might join the game.
This game was also very dangerous. If a ghost was really summoned, whether it was intentional or not, when it imitated humans and patted others on the shoulder, its yin energy would involuntarily flow into the person's body. This could easily cause the soul to leave the body.
If the ghost was a bit more mischievous and didn't want to stop playing the game, it might keep the person's soul to play with it.
Niannian curled her lips in disgust. In her eyes, this kind of thing was all heresy. It didn't teach people anything good.
When she turned to the next page, it was the Midnight Hair - Combing.
In simple terms, at midnight, one should comb their hair in front of a mirror and keep calling their own name. If successful, the person in the mirror will show a strange smile. At that time, the person in the mirror is no longer their own reflection but a form transformed by a ghost.
This method had been passed down in the folk, but no one had ever succeeded.
Niannian looked at it carefully for a long time and thought this method was not worth trying, so she continued to turn the page.
The next few games and methods all seemed unimpressive. Only the last two were extremely evil.
One was the Ouija board game. This method was the most widely spread and also the most dangerous.
Because what the Ouija board summoned was not a spirit but a ghost. The ones summoned could be the lonely ghosts and wild spirits around, or it could be a fierce ghost. It all depended on chance.
The so - called answering questions and predicting the future were all just gimmicks of this spiritual game. They were all fake. How could a ghost have such powerful abilities?
Moreover, the method of sending the Ouija board ghost away was also a lie. Once the ghosts around were summoned, whether they wanted to leave or not was entirely up to them. Without knowing some Taoist magic, it was impossible to send them away.
The other one was the grave soil. One could go to someone else's grave or some cold and damp places, dig up the soil, make it into mud, and apply it on their eyes. Then they could communicate with the yin and yang worlds.
This method was really immoral. If one went to a cold and damp place, it might just be a matter of the terrain, and the soil inside might be ordinary. But if one dug soil from someone else's grave, made it into mud, and applied it on their own eyes, they would form a feud with the owner of the grave. They would either die or be seriously injured.
Niannian recalled what her second brother had said. Those people had tried all the methods in the book. That meant they had also tried these two most dangerous ones.
They were really asking for trouble.
Niannian shook her head repeatedly and thought that there was a high probability that something had gone wrong with one of these three games.
They had really summoned a ghost, but since most of the people participating in the game were boys, full - of - vigor teenagers in their late teens with strong yang energy, they couldn't see the ghost. But the ghost they had summoned had been following them invisibly.
Niannian actually didn't really want to interfere in the affairs of these people who were so self - destructive. But when she recalled the worried and anxious look on her second brother's face, she thought that she could help. At least one of them, Guan Peng, had been forced and didn't really want to do such a crazy thing.
Having an idea in mind, Niannian started to prepare talismans. She burned the midnight oil all night and quickly drew dozens of talismans. When she finally put down her pen, it was already dawn outside.
Yusheng saw a little Niannian with dark circles under her eyes, yawning non - stop.
Seeing his sister like this, he was startled. Without thinking, he blurted out, "Sister, did you go out to be a thief last night?"
"Ah? I was drawing talismans all night. Didn't you say we were going to help second brother's friend today?"
Niannian's gentle and soft - tempered appearance instantly made Yusheng feel regretful.
"Sorry, sorry. Second brother shouldn't have made fun of you. Let's go now. You can sleep in the car, and I'll wake you up when we get there."
Yusheng lightly slapped his own mouth. This habit of speaking without thinking seemed to be ingrained in him. Even after so many years, it was still the same.
Niannian watched her second brother's sudden crazy actions and thought that her father was right. No matter how you looked at him, her second brother was just so silly.
Just as Niannian was thinking about her father, Yu Shanhe appeared in front of them aggressively, as if he had a psychic connection with her.
Seeing the dark circles under Niannian's eyes, a flash of heartache crossed his eyes. He transferred all his anger to his son.
"Yusheng! If you don't hurry up and go to school, you'll be late for morning self - study!!"