All living beings in hell

Chapter 16 - Heart Locked

After I returned to the human world, I realized that I had been seriously injured.It was as if a hole had been torn open in the chest, the muscles, blood, and atrium were all exposed to the air.I collapsed on the floor of the rented house, shaking, my limbs were cold, and the fear spread from the depths of my spine to my brainstem.

I thought that the wounds of my youth had been healed in time, but I never thought that the wounds were so delicate, as powerless and confused as a newborn chick.why am i so weakIt's just that the ghosts have seen through a little bit of their thoughts, and they are so powerless. Writing, writing, what is going on with you?

The feeling of self-blame along with the fear was pounding in the body, and the internal organs were trembling.I lay on the floor for a while, and when my body calmed down a bit, I pulled myself onto the bed with the remaining strength.

The curtains are closed, and my heart is beating heavily in the dark bedroom.

To heal, I closed the office for two days.Whenever I have free time during the day, I go to the bathhouse to soak.The warm water filled the void in my chest. I closed my eyes and visualized my appearance as a teenager—a serious child who kept everything in his heart.One incident after another, each emotion, cut the atrium in mutual friction.

Let go, let go, you're not the kid you used to be, I said to myself.

Sadness evaporates with the hot water in the bath.The wound slowly grew a layer of film in the comfort, and the film thickened layer by layer, forming new skin.Two days later, the wound has basically closed, and it seems that some part of my heart has been changed in essence, but everything is still familiar, the pain has subsided, and maybe it is almost time to return to writing.

NO.12 guests have been lingering at the door for several days.Even when I was soaking in the bath, I could feel it flashing past me occasionally.The time has come, the lotus lantern at the door is lit up, and the office welcomes No.12 guests.

"Master Writer." A dull metal sound sounded from the door, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps, as if dragging a heavy iron chain on the feet, and a heavy lead ball was tied to the other end of the iron chain.The heavy vibration made my newly healed wound shudder a few times.

"Please come in." I spread my pen and ink, and everything was ready.

Heavy footsteps approached step by step, and a brass-colored humanoid creature appeared in front of me.Rather than calling it a living thing, it would be more appropriate to directly call it a "sculpture".The movements of the sculpture are stiff, and the whole body looks like a handsome man made of brass (the lines of muscles remind people of the victims in ancient Greek sculptures).

Around the men's necks are heavy collars, also made of brass.Starting from the collar, circles of iron chains were wrapped around his body, tightly binding his arms to the sides of his body.The chain went all the way down to the shackles on the feet, and at the other end of the shackles was indeed attached a huge brass ball.

There was a huge brass lock on the man's chest, hanging there, so heavy that he couldn't straighten up.The weight of his whole body made his movements very slow. Just walking from the door to my desk and sitting down, this series of movements made me tired.

After he finally sat down, I picked up the sapphire pen.

"Hello, what should I call you?"

"Yange."

"Okay, Yan Ge," I wrote the word "Yan Ge" on the rice paper, "what can I do for you today?"

"I am very tired."

"It can be seen that with so many iron chains on his body, it is very inconvenient to move."

Yan Ge nodded lightly, but even this tiny movement seemed to take a lot of effort to do it.

"My lord, I'm tired and I want to be relieved."

"I won't help you get rid of it. I am a civil servant who writes. If you want to get rid of it, you should go to Hades." I replied truthfully.

"I saw that you helped other lonely ghosts to be freed. That, boy, when I became a star, I saw it."

He should be talking about predators, I quickly recalled.

"It was also a coincidence, so I will help you. But as you can see, my job is just to write. I am a mortal, and I don't know any spells or rituals. After all, what do you think is liberation?"

Yan Ge looked at the chains on his body, and said slowly, "Take these off."

"How do I take it off?"

"Need, a key." Yan Ge reluctantly raised his forearm that was not bound by the chain, and pointed to the giant lock on his chest, "Need, open it, here."

"Who has this key?"

Yan Ge raised his right hand, stretched out his index finger, and pointed at me: "You have the key."

"I have?" I recalled all the clues related to the key in my brain, but there was no answer. "I think you made a mistake. I don't have the key to open this lock."

"You, yes. You opened the lock on your heart."

"I don't understand what you're talking about." I was a little confused.

"Open it, your heart is locked, that key can also open it, mine."

"How did you hang such a heavy lock on your chest?"

"I..." Yan Ge lowered his head and took a deep breath, "I don't want others to see what I'm thinking. Many beings in hell can read minds. I really don't like it."

"Isn't that lock very good? It protects you from being read?"

"It's too heavy, I can't take it anymore." After he finished speaking, he took another deep breath.

"But after the lock is opened, the mind will be read, what should I do?"

"Then, let's read it. Me too, I can't stop it."

I thought about the key again, but still no answer came to my mind: "But I don't have the key, and I don't know who has the key. Sorry, I can't help you."

"You can't see it yourself, but I can see it. The key is on you."

"Even if I have the key, it's not my job to give you the key to unlock the lock. I can't do anything other than write."

Yan Ge lowered his head, put his hands on his knees, and made the sound of brass rubbing against each other, which was harsh.

"Then, I have a few questions, I would like to ask the writer, is that okay?"

"As long as it's not my personal matter, please ask."

"Is it wrong to protect yourself?" Yan Ge rubbed his hands on his knees again.

"No."

"Then why do I have to bear such a heavy punishment?"

"Punishment? Who punished you?"

"I don't know. The lock has grown bigger and bigger since I hung it on my body. The chain on my body is getting heavier and heavier."

"Where did you get the lock?"

"Over there."

"Why did Hades give you this lock?"

"When I first came to hell, I heard ghosts and ghosts whispering in my ears every day, talking about my sins and the deepest shame in my heart. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went to the king of hell, hoping to be relieved. The king of hell gave me , this lock. The lock has a chain and is tied to my body by a bull's head and a horse's face. Since then, my skin has also become stiff, like brass, and the lock and chain have grown together."

"So you asked for this lock yourself."

"……Yes."

"So this is not a punishment, but also the relief you want. Hades gave it to you."

"I don't want it now."

"The things given by the King of Hades don't mean that you can pick them up if you pick them up. You have to discuss this with the King of Hades."

"The discussion is over. The King of Hades said that the time has not yet come."

"That's fine, the time has not yet come, that is, one day it will be able to take it off, but that day has not yet come."

"My lord, I just want to not be read."

"What if my mind is read?"

"Yes, restless. The secret will be known."

"The secret is known by others, so what?"

"I'll be laughed at, humiliated...I don't want to be treated like that..."

"Yange, how did you come to this hell?"

"I..." Yan Ge's eyes began to go blank, as if he was lost in memory, "I stole the royal candlestick, was hanged in public, and then came here."

"Why steal the royal menorah?"

"I'm so hungry... I don't have anything to eat... Royal things are very valuable."

"So is this the secret you most want to keep? Going to hell for theft?"

"No. It's the most, insignificant, crime."

"No matter what other crimes you have committed before, this hell itself is a place where all living beings suffer, suffer, and be punished. Being humiliated by ghosts and monsters is also a punishment; carrying this lock is also a punishment. You choose one. By."

"I don't know what I did wrong, what. I have to suffer such a heavy punishment."

"Maybe when you know the real reason for your punishment, the lock will fall off."

"What if, I never know, what to do."

"There is no concept of time in hell, and eternity is just a moment."

"My lord, please...please open it for me...I see the key...it's on you...it's on you..."

As Yan Ge said, he had already stood up and was about to reach out to touch me.But his speed is really too slow, so slow that I can see how greed flows out of his eye sockets little by little.I knocked off his outstretched hand with a sapphire pen.The moment the green-emitting sapphire pen touched the back of his hand, the brass faded away, revealing the human skin on the touched part.

Yan Ge let out a cry of pain, then hugged the back of his hand in surprise, and looked around carefully.

"Skin...skin! Human skin!" Yan Ge yelled, "My lord! Look! It's your sapphire pen!"

"Sit down," I ordered, "you know the rules."

Yan Ge knocked away the chair behind him, and knelt on the ground with two metal knees.This loud noise made me worry about the safety of the floor.His voice was hoarse, but he was shouting: "My lord! My lord! Please! Please!"

"This is your karma. I shouldn't tamper with your karma. The time has not come, and the karma will not be removed. Even if I help you now, what can I do? If it is locked, one day, you will still suffer. The ghosts can't be humiliated. At that time, who do you ask to take the lock for you?"

"But Master Writer! I don't know what to do! I don't know..." The lock on Yan Ge's chest became bigger again, his upper body was pressed to the ground by the increased weight, and his lower body remained kneeling. attitude.

"You ask this lock, how will it leave you."

Yan Ge closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the lock.

"Shuo said, as long as I want, I will leave..."

"Oh, so you're not really willing to lock away."

"My lord, I'm afraid. I want it and I don't want it."

"Then ask this lock, is there any way to make you feel better?"

"The lock says... what is locked is the self I don't want to see."

"So you need to accept yourself. Once you accept yourself, the lock will leave, right?"

"Yeah." Yan Ge nodded on the ground.

"Then do you accept Suo's answer? Do you want to accept yourself?"

"I...I've done too many wrong things...I can't...I can't help it, accept, I am like that."

"No one makes mistakes in life, don't be so strict with yourself. You made a mistake, learned it, and just don't do it next time."

"I... have no way... to forgive myself." When Yan Ge said this, the lock on his chest actually shrank a little.His upper body could finally leave the ground and stand upright.

"What do you think forgiveness is?"

"Let things... pass. Mistakes, go away."

"This is not forgiveness, this is evasion. For so long, you have been escaping. Escaping from your own heart, so ghosts and sprites tell you the truth you least want to hear. To escape the truth, just put a heavy lock on yourself and completely seal yourself off Get up, you can’t hear it, you can’t see it. Now you have to escape this weight again, where do you want to escape to? You are already in hell, where else can you escape to?”

Yan Ge lowered his head and stared at the floor: "My lord, what should I do?"

"Escape is a choice. You can also choose not to escape, just stand here and accept everything you have done in the past, everything in the present, and everything that will happen in the future."

"If you don't escape, will the lock fall off?"

"You can try."

Yan Ge hesitated, and slowly stood up with his heavy legs.The weight of his whole body dragged him staggeringly, and it took a lot of effort to finally stand still.

"I... don't want to run away," Yan Ge said.

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure."

"Okay, now you are here, all of you in the past are standing in front of you. You look at yourself, whatever you look like, what you are doing. You tell yourself, I accept you, you are a part of me. "

Yan Ge's metal eyeballs began to roll jerkyly, and a few transparent tears flowed from the corners of his eyes: "I, accept you. You are...you are...you are...a part of me."

"Repeat it a few more times."

"I, accept you. You are a part of me. I accept you, you are a part of me." A lot of tears began to well up from the corners of Yan Ge's eyes, his voice choked up, and the metal eyeballs were even covered by the tears Flush to turn up.His voice grew louder, and he even began to shout: "I accept you, you are a part of me. You are a part of me. A part of me!"

A gust of hot air emerged from his body, like metal under the scorching sun, and heat waves rolled over his body.The heat wave set off a stench of brass, rushing into my nostrils unceremoniously.

Yan Ge was still repeating it over and over again, the lock on his chest began to shrink, and the chains on his chest also began to shrink.I watched him without saying a word, watching his body steaming in the heat.

After about half a stick of incense, the heat wave subsided a little.The lock on Yan Ge's chest shrank to the size of half a fist, like a delicate pendant.

"My lord..." Yan Ge's voice was not as heavy as before.

"Ah."

"I feel great."

"Ah."

"I actually like this chest lock, it can protect me, and it's not as heavy as before."

"Then keep it, after all, it was given by Hades."

"My lord..." Yan Ge walked to the table and sat down again, his steps became much lighter and his speed became faster, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Free me."

"I didn't intend to do this. As I said, I just wrote, recorded, that's all."

"Is that... that's all?"

"You freed yourself."

Yan Ge was stunned for a moment, stood up, and bowed to me: "I'm leaving."

"What's your plan after that?"

"I want to spend some time in hell...I want to see myself again."

"Okay, bless you."

Yan Ge bowed to me again, turned around and walked towards the door.

"Goodbye," he said.

"Goodbye." I said.

Yan Ge's figure disappeared at the door, and the lotus lantern dimmed.

I looked at the injury on my chest, and it has basically recovered.

Work is back on track, and my heart is as stable as ever.

(End of this chapter)