C7 Lighting Man

I croaked, "Where am I? How did I end up here?"

The little girl whispered, "Brother, can you check the time?"

I numbly unlocked my phone, squinting at the screen until the digits came into focus: eleven o'clock on the dot. The little girl urged, "Brother, you need to get back to work." But the thought of work was the furthest thing from my mind; I'd rather stay far away from that building, motionless. Seeing my hesitation, she said with a sense of resignation, "Brother, you must listen to me. Trust no one. Anyone who offers to save you has their own agenda."

I questioned why I was here. The little girl explained that what Wang Tao gave me wasn't a talisman to ward off evil but a Soul Devouring Jade, an object of malevolence that consumes a person's spirit. In as little as a few days or up to half a month, it could drive a sane person to madness, stripping away their three souls and scattering their seven spirits. She confessed she had no idea how I ended up here, but after I had parted ways with Wang Tao, she saw me get into a cab heading for the outskirts. By nightfall, I was already at the Unmarked Common Graves.

As I stood up, my legs tingled with numbness, and my mind was still foggy. Once I had a moment of clarity, I reminded myself not to trust anyone. I asked the little girl if she knew why Wang Tao would want to harm me. She shook her head, clueless.

In my confusion, I noticed someone approaching from a distance. The little girl clutched my hand and instructed, "Brother, keep your mouth shut to prevent your life force from escaping. We need to leave quickly, and remember, do not open your mouth."

I nodded mechanically, weaving through the graves, desperately trying to steady my breathing and maintain my crumbling mental defenses. An elderly man carrying an antiquated kerosene lamp approached us. The glow of his red lantern was striking, and despite myself, I stared a moment too long until the little girl's pinch snapped me out of it. I focused straight ahead, feigning ignorance of his presence. I thought to myself, "What's an old man doing here at this hour, carrying a lantern to the Unmarked Common Graves?" I knew well the adage about curiosity killing the cat, so I kept my lips sealed tight as we passed him, not even daring to draw a breath.

As midnight approached, Xiaoyao got up to work. She didn't find it strange that the ground was dry; if it were wet, she wouldn't have touched it. Xiaoyao took the narrow path, while Dayao walked the main road. It wasn't that she didn't know the way... The old man suddenly started speaking in a dialect, and although I couldn't understand him, it sounded like some kind of spell. The thought of being in such a haunted place made my legs shake with fear, and I couldn't help but wonder if the old man might be a ghost himself.

No sooner had we left the chaotic burial ground than a flock of crows flew overhead. Initially, I feared we had encountered something unclean. It wasn't until the little girl told me to duck and cover my head that I heard a sound like a child's wail and realized it was the crows. I recalled how, in the countryside, adults would caution us to steer clear of crows, labeling them as bearers of bad luck and warning against antagonizing them, lest they bring misfortune. Looking back, I saw not just one group but a whole swarm of crows converging on the burial ground, darkening the sky with at least a hundred of them. The place seemed overwhelmingly sinister. Just as I stood up, a sharp pain shot through my knee as if something had latched onto it. Looking down, I was shocked to see a dark, long-beaked crow pecking at my leg. I cursed and kicked it away, and as the crow took flight, it swooped at me, flapping its wings and cawing loudly.

The little girl let out a cry of alarm, shouting that this was bad, and urgently pulled me to run toward the main road. Despite her slight frame and height of just over 1.6 meters, she seemed to outpace me effortlessly. After a breathless chase, we finally reached the main road. Before I could even ask what was happening, the girl, without showing any sign of distress, insisted we keep running, fearing we were being targeted.

Another ten minutes of running left me exhausted. I crouched on the ground, barely able to catch my breath, and asked her what was happening. Why were there so many crows in the Unmarked Common Graves, and why would they attack people? The little girl looked back for a long time before responding with unsettling calmness, "Brother, those aren't ordinary crows. They feed on human flesh. Had that flock of man-eating crows caught up with us, we wouldn't have wanted to imagine the outcome." Seeing her face devoid of fear, I was secretly impressed, though the mention of man-eating crows sent chills down my spine.

The little girl said, "Brother, have you ever heard a saying about the chaos of unmarked graves and a ghost that lights the way?"

I shook my head and asked her what it meant. With a playful smile, she replied, "You're such a blockhead. That person holding the lamp wasn't human!"

"Are you saying he was a ghost?"

She shook her head.

"If not human or ghost, then what?"

Pouting, the little girl said, "Wang Tao isn't human, and neither is anything locked up in that building in the east. But as for what they actually are, I don't know."

"And what about you?"

She opened her mouth, furrowed her brow, and after a moment's thought, admitted, "I don't know either."

I recalled how in movies, ghosts often don't realize they're dead. The main storyline of the American film "The Sixth Sense" revolves around a protagonist who doesn't know he's passed away until he sees his own body and relives the moment, finally finding peace. I suspected the little girl's subconscious was denying her own death, which is why her spirit lingered.

Suddenly, the little girl asked, "Do you know what a corpse driver is?" I paused, then said I'd read about them in novels. They're the ones who transport corpses, right? A chill ran down my spine as I asked, "Do such things actually exist?"

She explained that the old man with the lantern was akin to a corpse driver, but his specialty was guiding lost souls. "Brother, consider this: are those who frequently interact with corpses or spirits really normal?"

I was momentarily at a loss for words and nodded. A nagging question surfaced: Was the little girl truly on my side? I looked at her intently. "Tell me, what's your agenda? From our first encounter until now, you must have had your own reasons. Ms. Liu wants to renovate the building to turn a profit, Wang Tao used me to escape via the spiritual staircase, but you?"

She didn't answer directly, instead covering her mouth with a giggle. To be honest, if she weren't a ghost, I would have been convinced by her innocent charm that she couldn't be deceptive. Yet, given her knowledge of the 'Ghost Lamplight,' the 'Man-Eating Crow,' and the affairs within the building, she was far from a typical girl. The little girl's laughter intensified. I waited, frowning, until she finally spoke, "Brother, you're finally starting to catch on."

I looked at her with confusion and she chuckled, "Don't trust anyone. As much as I want you to believe in me, at this point, being too trusting can only put you in greater danger... Brother, this is the third time I've saved you."

Surprised, I asked, "What do you mean 'third time'? Besides the incident with the elevator, when else did you save me?"

The little girl replied, "Remember, all the weird events started the day you forgot to close the elevator?"

I nodded eagerly as she continued, "The spiritual staircase must be shut before 12:05 AM, or it will go straight to the 14th floor, and then... unimaginable things happen. The man who used to work in this building and two other guys met with misfortune because of it. That night, the elevator was supposed to pass the 13th floor on its way to the 14th, but it didn't. Brother, do you know why?"

I was overcome with a sense of hysteria, feeling dazed as if sedated, and I managed to ask, "Why?"

"Because someone pressed the button to go down, so the elevator didn't go directly to the 14th floor; it descended instead," the little girl explained. "Brother, do you know who the woman in white is?"

I paused, then shook my head. The little girl's smile widened as she said, "Including her, I guess I've saved you four times now."

I felt like I was drowning in a vat of wine, anxious and uneasy. Everyone said that the 14th floor harbored a malevolent presence. Wang Tao, Liu Rong, and Wu Yi all agreed it was a place no one should venture into. Wu Yi's severed arm was a harsh reminder of that. The little girl warned, "Brother, you must remember not to give away your personal items so freely. That woman is my stepmother... She treats me poorly and constantly fights with my dad. Yet, she's also bound by a curse and can't leave this building. That day, she and I took the elevator down at the same time. The difference is, she went straight for you... It's not surprising, considering you're the most sought-after person here, and the only living soul in the whole building. Who else could she turn to but you? Just when she thought she could take your belongings and escape with them, I tampered with the elevator on her return trip. And that wicked woman was sent straight to the 14th floor."

My heart raced as I inquired, "And then what happened?"

The little girl gave a mischievous smile and replied, "And then she ceased to exist forever."