Starting from the folklore forum, making up town objects

Chapter 397 An Unexpected Selection of Underworld Messengers

Bai Xue's shouts attracted the attention of the residents next to Ke Ting's house.

When Bai Xue rushed out to say there was a talking crow in the room, the neighbors looked at her as if she were an idiot.

Seeing that the other person didn't believe her, Bai Xue pulled them into the room.

But there were no crows to be found.

The neighbor sensed that Bai Xue's mental state was a bit off, and because Ke Ting was acting strangely with the tiger figurine hanging on her door, the neighbor didn't say anything more and left in a hurry.

But as soon as the door closed, before Bai Xue could even look for it, the crow reappeared right under her nose.

Just as she was about to scream again, she heard the crow's words.

"Stop yelling, I'm not a ghost, otherwise the tiger in your hand would have already taken effect."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xue was taken aback.

Yes, if it were a ghost, Ai Hu would have already taken effect.

If it's not a ghost, why would a crow talk?

Has she gone mad?

"Don't overthink it. The tiger in your hand comes from our underworld. We came here to ask you if you want to join the underworld and become an underworld official."

Looking at the tiger in her hand, and then at the crow, Bai Xue still couldn't believe it.

"What do you mean it came from your underworld? I wove it myself!"

The Raven Prophet shook his head.

"It was you who wove it, but the one who gave it power was the Lord of the Underworld."

"You can listen to me first. If you still refuse, then I'm leaving."

"Also, don't be so wary. If I really wanted to attack you, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself at all."

As he spoke, the Raven Prophet appeared above Snow White's head, poked his head down, and made eye contact with Snow White.

Sensing that Snow White's body had stiffened, the Raven Prophet jumped off Snow White's shoulder and landed on the television next to her.

"Now, can you listen properly?"

Snow White's body remained stiff and motionless, but the Raven Prophet had already begun.

"I won't go into detail about the existence of the underworld. You'll find out once you join. As for why you were chosen, well, you can consider it a kind of luck, like winning the lottery."

"Hehe, as for why I say that, it's because you don't understand the current situation of Great Xia."

"What your friend encountered is happening in many places in Great Xia. Those people are not as lucky as you, who met the chosen one and learned how to make the artifacts of the underworld."

"You might think that having Ai Hu will ensure your safety, but that's not the case."

"The ghosts that your Ai Hu can deal with are only the lowest level. If you encounter higher level or more ferocious ghosts, you will still die."

"By joining the Underworld, you will obtain more protective items and receive help from the Underworld, thereby gaining the ability to deal with more advanced ghosts and spirits."

"So, you understand now?"

During the time the Raven Prophet was speaking, Snow White's physical condition had returned to normal.

Upon discovering that the Raven Prophet's words were somewhat cryptic and there was nothing else amiss, Snow White gradually calmed down.

Nevertheless, she couldn't bring herself to believe a crow that suddenly appeared.

"I understand what you mean, but I don't intend to join the Underworld, is that alright?"

Bai Xue asked cautiously.

After exchanging glances with the Raven Prophet for a few seconds, just as Snow White's anxiety was growing, she heard a reply.

"Of course, the underworld never forces anyone. In that case, good luck..."

As the Raven Prophet was about to leave after speaking, he suddenly heard a hurried voice.

"I do! I do!"

The sound didn't come from Bai Xue's mouth, but from Ke Ting, who was lying on the sofa.

The Crow Prophet already knew that the other party had woken up, but he did not expect that Ke Ting, who had been pretending to be asleep, would 'wake up' at this time.

Watching Ke Ting roll off the sofa and then stand up again, the Prophet Crow tilted his head and asked curiously, "You mean, you want to become a ghost messenger?"

Ke Ting was about to nod when Bai Xue blocked her way, frantically giving Ke Ting meaningful glances.

But Ke Ting pushed Bai Xue away, took two steps forward, and said to the Crow Prophet, "Yes, I want to join the Underworld, I want to become a Yin Messenger, I want to protect myself!"

The Raven Prophet looked at Ke Ting and slowly nodded.

"Alright, then it's you. But joining the Underworld and becoming an Underworld official requires an assessment. Your assessment task is to independently solve a supernatural event and survive."

Afterwards, the Crow Prophet briefly told Ke Ting about ghosts and talismans, so that she could understand ghosts and talismans and avoid accidentally finding evil spirits and going to her death.

"If you succeed, contact me with this crow feather."

After saying this, the Raven Prophet disappeared, leaving only a black raven feather on the television screen.

Ke Ting ignored Bai Xue beside her, walked over and took the raven feather in her hand, as if she had grasped a lifeline.

"Tingting, how could you be so reckless!"

Seeing Ke Ting's actions, Bai Xue quickly walked up to Ke Ting, wanting her to throw away the raven feather.

But Ke Ting dodged Bai Xue's movements. She opened her eyes, which were still bloodshot despite her improved sleep quality, and looked at Bai Xue.

"Xiaoxue, I know you mean well, but, but, but I really don't want to experience another supernatural event so helplessly."

“I know you mean well, but you haven’t experienced it, you don’t know how desperate it is to be in that state.”

Even though Ke Ting was free from the ghostly possession at this moment, she couldn't help but tremble whenever she thought about it.

So after hearing the conversation between the crow and the snow, Ke Ting made her own decision.

She wants to take her destiny into her own hands!
She doesn't want to experience that despair again!
Bai Xue looked at her best friend, who was so stubborn that she was almost crazy. She wanted to persuade her, but how?
Don't advise others to do good if you haven't experienced their suffering yourself!
But that crow was too eerie, and she was worried.

"Tingting, I know you're scared, but we have this now, it can protect us!"

Bai Xue showed Ke Ting the tiger figurine she was holding.

"If one isn't enough, then two will do."

As she spoke, Bai Xue held up the one from Ke Ting's keychain.

"Two aren't enough, so we'll make a whole roomful!"

Ke Ting looked at the scrawled tiger in Bai Xue's hand. She knew that this thing had saved her life, but she had also heard what the crow had said and seen the crow's strange behavior.

Putting aside everything else, the existence of crows already proves that there are many more things about the Great Xia that they don't know.

At least they couldn't solve the problem with the tigers they had.

Ke Ting pressed Bai Xue's hand and said, "Xiao Xue, I know, but I still want to try. If it really works, at least I can protect you."

Bai Xue opened her mouth, unsure how to persuade Ke Ting.

"Alright, Xiaoxue, I'm a little tired. I'll take a nap. If you want to help me, then make some more of this for me."

Ke Ting raised the tiger-shaped pendant in her hand and said with a smile.

Seeing Ke Ting return to the sofa to sleep, Bai Xue was stunned for a while before returning to her previous position, feeling annoyed, and continued practicing the weaving of the tiger.

As she got into the zone, Bai Xue's anger gradually subsided.

Since Ke Ting has already made up her mind, we should help her as much as possible.

As for the underworld and the underworld officials that the crow mentioned... let's take it one step at a time.

……

Wu Mai received Ai Hu's message from "White Snowflake" half a day after the two had been in contact. He didn't expect it to be so fast, even with expedited service it wouldn't be this quick, unless the two of them were in the same city!

This made Wu Mai somewhat relieved.

If he were to endure another night, he didn't know if he could hold on!
Thinking this, Wu Mai solemnly took out the tiger from the package, as if he were holding a deity.

In the forum, the "Black Fatty" said that it was fine to hang it on the door or put it on his person, but Wu Mai still chose to hang it on the door.

There was no other reason than that the "white snowflake" only worked when it was hung on the door, and he didn't dare gamble on whether carrying it on his person would work, so he could only choose the safest method. Finding the tools, Wu Mai took out a hammer and nails and walked towards the bedroom door.

With a few hammer blows, two more nails were added to the solid wood door.

At this moment, Wu Mai didn't care whether the landlord would cause him trouble later. He was about to lose his life, so why should he care about a door?

Then, he took out the shoelaces from his two shoes and tied Ai Hu between the two nails.

Looking at the firmly secured Ai Hu, Wu Mai put his hands together, bowed three times to Ai Hu, and kept muttering things like "Bless me, bless me to survive this calamity."

After saying that, Wu Mai seemed to receive a blessing, and his whole body felt much more relaxed.

He mistook the psychological effect for the effect of Ai Hu.

It was already 8 p.m.

Even with Ai Hu's help, Wu Mai still wasn't going to sleep.

He took out his phone and started scrolling through short videos to pass the evening.

Looking at the video of a girl dancing in a suggestive way on his phone, Wu Mai swiped it away without hesitation. In the past, these videos could have kept him captivated for three minutes.

Now, he has no interest in looking at these things.

But his account had already been flagged by the short video platform, and all the videos pushed to him were of girls.

So he scrolled up faster and faster, and became more and more irritable.

"Ok?"

At one point, Wu Mai seemed to see something and quickly slid back twice.

The video footage appears to be magnified many times by a mobile phone camera, making it very blurry. Nevertheless, Wu Mai still recognized the familiar scene!

A man clinging to the outside of a window, naked, hesitated for less than two or three seconds before falling straight out of the window!
The video camera followed the figure as it fell from the building before being blocked by other buildings.

Although he didn't see the actual body, the previous scenes flashed through Wu Mai's mind.

His face immediately turned pale.

Most importantly, the person who jumped off the building was clearly not any of the four of them.

Seemingly having thought of something, Wu Mai began searching on short video platforms. Soon, he found the videos he had previously filmed of Xiao Jia and his friend jumping off the building.

Finally, he saw someone say something in the comments section of a video.

User 231123: The person who filmed this video also jumped off a building. It's really weird!

There weren't many replies to this post, perhaps because the hype had died down and nobody was paying attention anymore, or perhaps because nobody believed it at all.

But Wu Mai believed it wholeheartedly after seeing this statement.

He clicked on the user's profile picture and sent them a private message.

"Smog: Hello, did the account owner XX really jump off a building?"

It took a full five minutes to get a reply after the message was sent.

User 231123: Of course it's true, he's my friend, I saw him jump off a building with my own eyes! It's really weird! But who are you, and why are you asking this?
"Smog: I am the friend of the person who jumped off the building in the video taken by your deceased friend..."

Wu Mai poured out his entire situation, just as he would when chatting with Bai Xue.

But this time he didn't get any positive feedback; all he got was a startled stranger.

User 231123: Holy crap, is this for real? This is so creepy! I saw your friend jump off the building, and I saw my friend jump off the building too. Am I going to die soon?

"Smog: I don't know, but at least I've started having nightmares now. If I don't die, you should be fine too. If I do die, good luck to you."

After sending the message, Wu Mai stopped replying and put down his phone to think.

If there really is a ghost, shouldn't they kill the first group, those four people, before killing the people who filmed the rest of the video?

Why did they skip him and go kill the others?

Am I lucky and already safe?
Wu Mai couldn't help but think and analyze.

He didn't want to go at the time, but Xiao Jia dragged him there. He didn't say anything bad about the person who jumped off the building, so he was let go after being scared a few times.

The more Wu Mai thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and the tension he felt when he saw the video earlier dissipated considerably.

Five hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Around 1 a.m., Wu Mai, who had fallen asleep without realizing it, was suddenly woken up by the urge to urinate.

In a hurry, he opened the door and went to the toilet.

After he finished solving the problem, he remembered something.

The tiger was hanging on his bedroom door. When he went out to use the toilet, he was no longer protected by the tiger.

He was immediately taken aback.

But after he finished urinating, nothing happened, which made Wu Mai think of his previous guess again.

Perhaps, he really is alright now.

Thinking this, Wu Mai opened the bathroom door and quickly walked towards his bedroom.

As he entered, he glanced at the tiger figurine, which was hanging there intact, and his heart immediately calmed down a bit.

Back in his room, Wu Mai suddenly felt a cold wind.

I glanced at the window; it was already shut shut.

Strange, where did the wind come from?

Wu Mai shook his head and began to take off his clothes to go to sleep.

After he had taken off all his clothes except his underwear, he collapsed onto the bed.

For some reason, he heard the wind whistling in his ears.

"Can there really be this much wind if you just fall onto the bed?"

……

The next morning, while Bai Xue was weaving a tiger-shaped cloth with Ke Ting, the crow feathers placed to the side suddenly turned into crows again.

The two were just startled, but quickly returned to normal.

Then, they heard the Raven Prophet say to Ke Ting, "I forgot to tell you yesterday, the tiger your friend made can only be used on the one on your door. All subsequent ones should be made according to the standard of the one on the door. If you are unsure, you can ask me to help you identify it."

"But before you become a formal underworld official, you only have one chance for identification."

After saying this, the Raven Prophet disappeared again.

Ke Ting said to Bai Xue, "I don't think the Underworld is some kind of evil organization, otherwise they wouldn't have come to warn us and offer us help."

After Ke Ting finished speaking, Bai Xue did not respond.

Looking up, she saw Bai Xue standing there, stunned.

Feeling Ke Ting's gaze, Bai Xue said blankly, "Yesterday, I sent an Ai Hu to an online friend."

Ke Ting paused for a moment, then realized what Bai Xue meant.

I immediately felt a sense of lingering fear.

If it weren't for that crow, would she have used some unreliable tiger charms to solve paranormal events later on?

Immediately, Ke Ting's senses about the underworld improved even more.

"Why don't you contact that online friend and tell him what's going on?"

Ke Ting said.

Bai Xue nodded, opened her phone, and sent a message to "smog".

Unfortunately, the message disappeared without a trace after it was sent out.

……

P.S.: Thank you all for your monthly votes. The bonus chapter rule for monthly votes is temporarily suspended. I'm not able to afford to add more chapters right now. I'll talk about it again after I've paid off all the bonus chapters. Thank you for your support.

(End of this chapter)