Chapter 6 Sending His Soul Off

• My heart trembled suddenly. Why was there a cat meowing in the booth? The purpose of setting up a booth was to separate the cat from the corpse, not to lock the cat and the corpse together!
• I thought it was the workers who accidentally locked the cat inside when they were building the booth. I was so scared that I pushed Cassius away, turned around, and ran inside.
• Due to time constraints, the booth was not large. The black coffin was placed in the middle and it was surrounded by wreaths, leaving only a passageway for people to pass by. There were eternal flames, candles, and braziers at the head of the coffin.
• It wasn't big, and everything could be seen at a glance. There were no cats at all. Afraid that I would miss it, I searched around again with caution, but still found nothing.
• "I heard a cat meowing," I said to Cassius. "Did I hear it wrong?"
• After glancing at me, he coldly demanded, "Open the coffin."
• "Huh?" I was puzzled. "The coffin has been shut all this while. There's no way the cat would've gone in, so I don't think it's necessary."
• Before I could finish my sentence, Cassius showed an eternal flame lamp into my hands and insisted, "Take this. Once I have opened the coffin, shine the light of the eternal flame on the deceased's head."
• Even though it was called the eternal flame lamp, it was not an electric lamp but rather, a thick, white candle.
• When Cassius passed the candle to me, the wind caused the flame to dance around. I was worried that the flame would be extinguished, so I hurriedly took the candle over and held it in one hand while shielding the flame from the wind. In the meantime, he had already walked to the side of the black coffin. He glanced at me, and although he didn't speak, I understood that he was urging me to go over.
• This time, I really felt like I had no choice as I bit the bullet and walked over. As soon as I walked over, there was a clicking sound and Cassius pushed open the coffin lid with a gap of about eight inches wide, which should be enough to expose the deceased's head.
• I knew I shouldn't have looked, but I was so curious that when I shoved the candle in my hand to the coffin, I glanced at the coffin. That in itself almost scared me to death.
• The old man was lying with his eyes closed and his head seemed to have shrunk. His skin was glued to the bones while his cheeks were sunken and protruding his mouth and nose. A small layer of white hair grew around his ears as well. That image made him look like a big rat.
• That scene frightened me so much that the candle in my hand fell, so I hurriedly reached out to grab it.
• Then, a big hand grabbed the candle, placed it in my hand, and firmly held my hand. "Hold it tight."
• His hand was freezing, but for some reason, my mind was at ease after he had tightly held me and dispelled most of the fear in my heart.
• I held the candle tightly and reassured him, "Got it."
• Hearing what I said, Cassius let go of his hand.
• I didn't dare to look into the coffin anymore and turned my head to look elsewhere. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Cassius reaching into the coffin, as if taking out something. Then, he raised his hand and pushed, and the coffin lid was closed again.
• "Light a candle," he instructed.
• After humming, I placed the eternal flame lamp in its original position and lit three candles.
• White smoke wafted in the air and what came as a surprise was that in the candle tray, two of the candles didn't burn while the third one burned at a rapid rate. Now, there were two long candles and one short one! Although I didn't know what that meant, it definitely did not seem like a good thing.
• Hiding behind Cassius' back, I inquired, "Why are the candles like that?"
• Cassius ignored me but he glared in the direction of the coffin and shouted sharply, "Aren't you going to leave yet?!"
• Looking in the direction of Cassius' gaze, I saw nothing but the coffin. However, I was certain that Cassius was talking to someone. Suddenly, a scary thought popped up in my mind. "Is he… Is he there?"
• "Do you want to see him?" He tilted his head toward me.
• I shook my head quickly, but before I could reject him, I suddenly felt lighter. I was quickly shoved into a small, dark room. There was a window in the room and I could see what was happening outside, but my body was no longer listening to me.
• Cassius had possessed me.
• Once he had entered my body, a skinny old man appeared on top of the black coffin that was originally empty. He was tip-toeing on the coffin and above his pointy mouth, flushed cheeks was a pair of green eyes on his rat-like face that stared straight at me!
• Goodness!
• If it wasn't for Cassius controlling my body, I reckoned that I would have fainted from fright.
• "You're already dead. You shouldn't stay in this world anymore. Go ahead and reincarnate when you can turn back now." Cassius' voice came out of my mouth.
• The old man stared at me and made a sound that resembled an angry wild animal.
• Cassius continued, "I came here to let you live. If you persist in your obsession, I will kill you once and for all."
• As if horrified, the old man retreated and tried to escape. With a raise of the hand, a strong burst of wind shot out of my palm and forced the old man to the ground.
• He controlled my body and walked over while saying, "So what if you kill your children? Once you turn into an evil ghost and kill someone, the grim reapers will not let you go. Do you want to be a lonely ghost, or do you want to die once and for all? You're dead now, and all the grievances you have in this life should be gone! Besides, even if you turn into an evil ghost, you will not be able to hurt anyone while I am here."
• The old man looked puzzled by his words, then he let out a cry and started wailing like a child. Ghosts didn't have tears, so their cries were dry howls. A real ghost's cry was gloomy and piercing, not to mention how ugly it sounded.
• After howling for a long time, the old man finally stopped. He got up and kneeled before he respectfully bowed to me. Then, he raised his head to look at me as his green eyes showed his plea.
• Cassius looked at him, and after a moment of silence, he uttered coldly, "They will end up in misery."
• Hearing that, the old man smiled and bowed three more times before his body gradually became transparent and disappeared finally.