The King of Curses

Chapter 186 Ancestors
"...!"

Despite the intense and exciting metal music playing in the background, Jiang Yunmei only felt drowsy.

She's used to it. She's been listening to this harsh music lately. Compared to the annoying noise that echoes in her head, artificial music at least follows a certain range of beauty and rules, and doesn't make her mentally debilitated.

Jiang Yunmei was planning to go all out. Anyway, from what her third uncle said, the Jiang family couldn't control her anymore, so it didn't matter when she left.

Come to think of it, judging from Jiang Zhifeng's reaction, he was completely frightened by that big shot...

Fortunately, she had known for a long time that the Jiang family was unreliable, so she didn't feel disappointed at the moment.

At this moment, the girl heard a sharp noise again -

It was like the pain was coming from deep inside the eardrum, surging up from the inside rather than being felt from the outside.

"…What the hell, can't you stop this?"

Jiang Yunmei woke up from her half-sleep again and had to open her eyes and take off her headphones.

She looked around warily.

The corridor in the distance was quiet, and the Jiang family gathered outside the ward were chatting with visitors.

Business as usual.

The bright sunshine shines through the glass onto the ground, casting colorful spots of light.

It was daytime, there were familiar people around, and it looked lively, which could be said to be the most reassuring environment...

But she felt vaguely uneasy, as if some evil force was approaching the building and was about to descend upon the hospital.

……

Jiang Yunmei's life goal has always been to live a peaceful and leisurely life.

Grow up normally, get married and have children normally, and then die normally.

But she realized long ago that in order to pursue a smooth and happy life, she always has to make unexpected efforts.

For example, if she wants to reassure her parents, she has to study hard and get into a good university;
For example, if you don’t want to be drawn into the vortex of the Jiang family, you must first figure out what will happen, so you must take the initiative to participate.

Jiang Yunmei had always had a feeling that she was out of control, and this feeling reached its peak just now - after she heard the news that someone was targeting her.

She found that no matter how she hid, it seemed meaningless. Maybe this was what was called "fate."

When Jiang Yunmei was fifteen years old, she learned from her elders that she could not become a real curse-master. At that time, she felt relieved deep in her heart.

She doesn't want to attract attention, but what is innate always follows her:

Recently, Jiang Yunmei discovered that some changes were taking place in herself.

For some reason, her hearing ability had improved. Just now, when Jiang Huijun and her family were chatting privately, she could hear everything clearly while sitting on a bench ten meters away.

At this distance, coupled with the noisy ambient noise near the special care ward, it is impossible for ordinary people to hear it.

It would be fine if they were just real sounds, but the problem was that she could always hear some weird and strange whispers that didn't sound like they were coming from real people or creatures.

Sometimes it is profound, sometimes it is mournful; sometimes it comes from the distant other side, sometimes it is close to the present.

Sometimes it is the roar of a man, sometimes it is the cry of a woman, sometimes it is simply an inhuman cry.

Just like switching between different channels on a radio, others can only hear the sounds in reality, but she can listen to the echoes from both the reality and the spirit world at the same time.

Since realizing that she has this talent, Jiang Yunmei began to try to understand and master it:
When she "heard" the strange noises coming from the campus, she felt that she could not just leave it alone, so she conducted an in-depth investigation into the matter, and during this period she got to know Song Yutang.

Afterwards, she took her schoolmate to search for the sorcerer, also relying on her own "hearing".

However, this ability was not stable, and it was necessary to find the target amidst a lot of noisy background sounds; sometimes one had to rely on luck to hear a specific sound, so that day I walked around the mountain several times before I found the cultists' settlement.

And, it is precisely because of this ability that she has the confidence to find out the secrets of the Jiang family on her own.

To be honest, Jiang Yunmei didn't know what the awakening of this strange talent in recent times meant, nor did she have the intention to explore it in depth.

The reason is simple. This special ability can allow her to discover hidden monsters and demons, but it cannot protect her. If she follows the sound every time to find out the truth, it would be like delivering meat to someone's door.

Therefore, Jiang Yunmei only cares about the problems that happen around her and have to be solved. At other times, let them quarrel.

"...Maybe that big shot was attracted by my ability?"

But so far, this is a secret that only she knows in the world.

"Well, let's say he (she) can predict the future..."

The girl felt it was ridiculous after thinking so much and couldn't help laughing.

Jiang Yunmei patted her face and calmed down.

Let her future self worry about the future. Now it’s time for her to put some oil on her feet.

……

Just as Jiang Yunmei got up, she heard a commotion coming from the ward, and someone was shouting in surprise:
"Wake up, the old man is awake!"

"Finally woke up!"

*
Fifteen minutes ago.

Jiang Zhifeng looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar old man on the hospital bed, with mixed emotions in his heart.

Jiang Dechang, his biological father.

In the eyes of his brothers and sisters, Jiang Dechang is not a qualified father, but it was this man who handed the family over to him and taught him earnestly how to exercise his responsibilities.

He was not the original heir to the Jiang family, and according to the order, it was not his turn as the third son to become the head of the family; and now, he was the only one left in this generation of the Jiang family, because Jiang Zhifeng's previous two sons had chosen to leave voluntarily or were forced to do so.

One went to another city, and the other went to a foreign country.

Autocratic and energetic, he still refuses to let go of family affairs even after retirement...

Jiang Dechang's descendants hated this; but from Jiang Zhifeng's perspective, he privately envied his father's energy, which was even greater than that of young men.

He once wondered if this was the effect of some kind of spell or forbidden object, but he also knew that Jiang Dechang himself, like his child, was only a third-class spell master.

It was not until this moment that he realized that his father was really old.

Jiang Zhifeng looked at the skinny old man lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, and it was almost impossible to tell what he looked like before.

He felt heavy-hearted and sighed for the Jiang family's ill-fated fate. He tucked up the quilt that covered his father.

Suddenly, as if awakened by this movement, the old man on the bed's eyelids trembled slightly and opened little by little.

“Who…?”

With a hoarse voice and cloudy eyes, Jiang Dechang wanted to move after waking up, but seemed to be shocked by his own weakness and looked ahead blankly.

"Father, are you awake?"

Jiang Zhifeng was very surprised. The doctor told him that the daily drug injections had the side effect of promoting sleep, and the patient was old, so it was easy for him to fall asleep without waking up. Waking up at this time actually meant that something was wrong, so he hurriedly planned to call the nurse to come over and ask about the situation.

"Zhifeng...it's you...you're here..."

Now he could only turn his neck with difficulty, and even raising his arms seemed very difficult.

One hand, as dry as a chicken claw, slowly grabbed the railing beside the bed.

"Well, I'm here."

At this time, the news that Jiang Dechang had woken up had spread outside the ward, and Jiang's family members, waiting to show their filial piety, flocked into the ward one after another.

"Old man, you're awake!"

"Grandpa, you finally woke up. Everyone was so worried about you!"

Before Jiang Zhifeng could reply, several people had entered the room without permission and surrounded the bed; he immediately showed anger on his face. But before he could speak, Jiang Dechang had already reacted violently.

"What are you doing here?! Get out... ahem, get out!"

Halfway through his hoarse words, the old man started coughing violently, so seriously that it seemed as if he was going to cough out his lungs. Seeing this, the Jiang family members looked at each other, at a loss.

"You guys go out quickly, my dad just woke up, let him rest for a while. Wait until the doctor comes."

Jiang Zhifeng waved his hand, drove everyone out, and sat back next to his father.

"Zhifeng."

"Hey, I'm here."

“Cough… cough cough…!”

There was another violent coughing fit, and the old man on the bed finally caught his breath. He almost lost his life, but he still tried to raise his trembling hand and hold his son's wrist.

"You... do you know why I still insist on our family traditions even though I know the Jiang family is in such a situation?"

Jiang Zhifeng's heart moved.

I'm afraid all the Jiang family members are curious about this question. The two older brothers before him left mainly because they had disagreements with their father in this regard.

We are not fools. We have no strength and no confidence, but we insist on getting involved in the affairs of the Curse Master. Everyone can see how dangerous this is.

However, the final decision-making power of the Jiang family does not lie with the head of the family, but with the old man, so that the two previous heads of the family were driven away, and in the end, only the third son had to take over the burden.

"If it weren't for your persistence, we wouldn't be here today."

Jiang Zhifeng answered in a low voice.

"You have always told us that 'the world will undergo a great change one day'. My brothers do not believe it, but I do. However... if it is to achieve a higher position, it seems that we are not fully prepared."

"That's why I asked you to try to win over others. When troubled times come, the first thing you need to do is recruit soldiers and win over the people's hearts..."

"But they - those people from all walks of life who were summoned here, only know how to use their fists, and they won't listen to us at all."

"Haha, this is what I want to talk to you about today... Zhifeng, your two brothers are frogs in a well and can't tell good from bad. You are different. I am very pleased with your work in the past few years. I think... it's time to tell you the secret."

A fanatical light emerged in the old man's cloudy pupils.

"Our Jiang family has survived for hundreds of years, and has gone through the ups and downs of several dynasties, but it has never disbanded. Our ancestors did not leave us nothing... Come, put your ear over here."

Jiang Zhifeng lowered his head and listened to his father whispering in his ear. After a while, he raised his head again with an expression of disbelief.

"Father is saying that we still have an 'ancestor'...who has lived for more than two hundred years and is still in this world?"

"Yes... cough, cough!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man began to cough violently again, gasping weakly.

"It's just... I was seriously injured in the past, so I haven't shown up yet..."

The expression on Jiang Zhifeng's face kept changing between surprise and suspicion. He collected his thoughts and asked in a low voice:
"Then, the strength of this ancestor..."

"He is stronger than all the curse masters I have ever seen in my life." Jiang Dechang laughed in a low voice, "If the ancestor can recover from his injuries, no one can be his opponent."

"..."

Jiang Zhifeng, who had seen the strength of some of the high-level officials of the Chaogong Committee, half believed it and half didn't. But in any case, the Jiang family had a pillar from then on... It seemed to be true.

"Father, who else have you told this to?"

"I've talked to Xiaohao. You two have been taking care of family affairs recently, right?"

"...Jiang Hao? He knew it earlier than me?"

"The last time he came, I was still awake, so I took the opportunity to tell him about it."

Jiang Dechang lay back down again. After talking for a while, he looked exhausted.

"Zhifeng, I can't do it anymore. You and Xiaohao...you must pass on the Jiang family well..."

Jiang Zhifeng was about to agree when he saw his father once again sitting up, holding his chest and coughing hard at the ground.

This time, the intensity was greater than any previous one, and it made people wonder if the old man would faint in the next second. Jiang Zhifeng hurried forward to support him, but...

"Pooh!"

The old man opened his mouth and what came out was not blood or phlegm, but black water.

The smelly black water sprayed all over Jiang Zhifeng, leaving the middle-aged man frozen in place.

……

At this time, doctors and nurses hurried over and rushed in with the Jiang family members who were anxiously waiting outside the ward.

What caught my eye was an old man lying on the hospital bed, vomiting black water like crazy. The liquid seemed to be pouring out of Jiang Dechang's stomach and throat endlessly, and the amount was almost greater than his hunched and thin body; it soaked the bed and dyed the floor of the ward into an ink-like color...

Such a surreal and weird scene made everyone stunned and panicked; amid screams, the situation suddenly became chaotic.

……

When all this happened, Jiang Yunmei had already left the corridor, walked up the stairs, and arrived at the entrance of the inpatient building.

She heard the screams from the people upstairs; but mixed in the noise, there were creepy moans that no one else could hear, like the devil's sharp nails extending out and scratching against the glass bit by bit, so loud that it made people want to rip the top of their heads off.

Just as she had expected, some invisible evil force descended upon the hospital, covering the building like a shadow;

Through her "hearing", she could even hear how that thing pushed open every window and door on the corridor, crossed the entire corridor, shouted in ecstasy, lingered around everyone upstairs like the wind, and greedily stared at their confused and ignorant faces...

The girl took a deep breath, quickened her pace again, and left the place without looking back.

This Jiang family... is really a sick place.

Moreover, the illness is not mild.

(End of this chapter)