Mixed with the smell of burnt hair, the talisman self-ignites without fire, usually when this phenomenon occurs it is a sign of abnormal change. The Taoist's talismans are pasted in fixed positions, if they can suppress evil spirits, they can last for thousands of years without rotting, even if they are made of ordinary yellow paper; but if there is an abnormal change, when the evil spirit rises and breaks through the controlling power of the drawn talisman paper, the talisman will often be damaged.

  As expected, when the doctor arrived and went to check on him, he was still bleeding from his nose and mouth, convulsing on the ground. Zhang Wenbin quickly pressed down on his Renzhong acupoint, and asked me to pull over the stretcher bed, so we could finally get him loaded onto it.

  At that time, the person was still breathing, and after probing, his breathing was extremely urgent, with a risk of breaking off at any moment. Saving people should be the top priority, fortunately, the elevator on that side finally opened, and a group of seven or eight people rushed down to send the person out, this side is also a hospital, there are many people who understand medical skills, so we didn't have anything to do anymore.

  The surveillance footage that day clearly captured everything that happened before and after, the doctor's abnormal behavior naturally didn't need to be pointed out, everyone knew in their hearts that it was probably a case of being possessed by an evil spirit.

  After this incident, the entire judicial building was in a state of terror. Rumors could be used to boost one's courage, but that accidental live broadcast made the news of the Hong Kong police station being haunted spread like wildfire, and the pressure was immense.

  Back to the villa, Cha Wenbin's suggestion was still to cremate those bodies immediately, but there is a procedure for handling cases. Before the cause of death is determined, some police officers still have to insist on protecting evidence. This Hong Kong person is stubborn. There is no way, can only secretly ask Cha Wenbin again to clean up this mess.

  At that time, a requirement was raised: to transport those few bodies here, where there are fewer people and the place is more open, in case of any unexpected situation, it can be rescued in time.

  I remember when those bodies were sent over, they were still in that box, but the seal on the box was already gone. There's a simple operating room on the second floor of this house, and the box was sent there at the time. Hong Kong is a place that values things, so the things that Zhang Wenbin needed were quickly purchased, incense paper money is ordinary goods, those people even got him horsehair whiskers and a few pieces of black donkey hoof, which are rare items, not easy to find in our place either.

  Then came the clearing of the scene, and everyone present, including me, was driven out. At around 4 or 5 pm, only a few people were left to deliver food to the door of the room, but he didn't eat either. By nightfall, the lights in the room were still on, and I and those police officers smoked cigarette after cigarette in the courtyard, with a thick layer of cigarette butts covering the ground.

  I stared at the window with some concern, after all, so many people had died and the situation was still unclear. About an hour later, the lights went out. Before long, a dim yellow glow flickered to life on the window, it was candles, and I could hear the ancient, intricate chanting from downstairs, it was incantations.

  It was just over ten minutes, and I suddenly heard a "bang" sound. The glass on the second floor suddenly shattered. I looked up to see that Cha Wenbin was now on the windowsill, his body trying to lean out, but quickly retreated back in. I saw that his expression was very painful, his hands still waving wildly, but in an instant he disappeared.

  "Something's wrong!" I hastily shouted to several people beside me: "There's going to be an accident, go up quickly!"

  A gust of wind-like rushed to the second floor, the door on the second floor was locked, the police officer pulled out his gun and shot two shots at the handle, then lifted his foot and kicked hard, after a standard assault action, the door was finally knocked open.

  The room was in disarray, incense sticks were scattered all over the floor, talismans and offerings filled every corner, only when the lights were turned on did they see that Zhang Wenbin had fallen to the northwest corner of the house, curled up there motionless.

  I rushed over to take a look, this guy's eyebrows were tightly locked, and the corners of his mouth kept foaming with white bubbles. I shouted at the police officer with one hand: "What are you still dazing about? An ambulance!"

  There was a clear red mark on Cha Wenbin's neck, about the thickness of ordinary copper wire. This was the only injury found after examination at the hospital. Next came high fever and convulsions. His neck kept moving back and forth, his eyes were closed but his eyeballs kept making left and right parallel movements, looking very painful.

  Facing such a result, the hospital at that time couldn't even come up with a diagnosis because he was accompanied by a high-ranking police officer, so the hospital didn't dare to slack off and assembled almost all of Hong Kong's best doctors for consultation. After an entire night, I remember that Cheung Man Bun's fever not only hadn't subsided but had instead risen higher, a normal person's body temperature is no more than 37 degrees, at that time Cheung Man Bun's highest temperature had reached 41 degrees, several experts asserted that if this continued, he would be finished.

  It just so happened that on that day, early in the morning, a nurse was pushing an old man past the ward. I had been squatting in the corridor for a whole night, my eyes were red and blurry, thinking of going downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes. Unnoticed, I bumped into the old man and apologized repeatedly.

  "Sorry, sir, sorry, didn't hurt you, did I?"

  "It's nothing." The old man spoke in Mandarin, which was not common in Hong Kong where Cantonese filled the air. Seeing that everything was fine, I bowed again to apologize and then walked away. Before I reached the corner, the old man, who had been pushed by a nurse, turned around and shouted behind me: "Young man, wait!"

  I turned around, and the old man looked at me stroking his white goat beard and said: "I see you don't look very well, if your body is not comfortable, this hospital may not be able to cure it. Have you encountered anything recently?"

  "Uncle, I'm fine physically, and I didn't come here for a check-up. It's just that my friend is hospitalized."

  That old man smiled slyly, and I thought he was probably an old swindler at first glance. This kind of trick I've seen a lot on my travels. Sure enough, he said: "I'm just reminding you, if you're not feeling well lately, you can go to Wulang Temple in Ciyun Mountain to find me."

  That day, I was indeed annoyed. I thought to myself, "You old cheat, half of your life is spent sitting in a wheelchair, and you still dare to bluff me?" So I decided to play along with him and said, "Now, can you see that something's wrong with me?"

  That old man beckoned to me, saying: "Come over here." The nurse next to him didn't urge me either, just letting him go, with a very good attitude, which was somewhat unexpected. Is it possible that this hospital is full of acquaintances of this old scammer, or is this woman also a scammer?

  "Give me your hand."

  I stretched out my hand, and the old man placed my palm flat on his, closing his eyes and rubbing it back and forth with his right hand. The old man's fingers were not as rough and thick-skinned as those of ordinary elderly people, but rather soft and smooth like a young girl's. Then he asked me to turn around and squat in front of him, using his hands to touch the top of my head several times. I felt a sudden pain and turned back to scold him: "What are you doing!"

  That old man had a few strands of hair on his hand, which were clearly pulled from my head just now. He placed those hairs on his fingers and slowly separated them, then took out one strand and said to me: "Have you recently encountered something unclean, and been cursed with evil? Have you touched something like a dead person?"

  "No!" I retorted: "Uncle, you're not trying to swindle me out of two red envelopes, are you? I'm from a poor rural area in the mainland, we don't have much money."

  That old man didn't get angry, he pointed at the hair and said: "We have an old saying called 'great disaster on the head', this trouble all started from the head. Look at your hair, it has three forks in total, that's the fire on top of your head. Now look at the three forks again, two red and one black, it means one of your lights has been extinguished. If these two also turn black, your life will be over soon." After saying this, the old man patted his own thigh and said: "I'm already an old man with one foot in the grave, what's the point of scaring you? Young people should take care of themselves."

  I've been following Zhang Wenbin for many years, and I can also hear some Taoist truths. This old man said something that really sounds like the truth. As I watched him being pushed further away by the nurse, I looked at the strand of hair he gave me, and indeed it had three forks, two red and one black. I hurriedly chased after him and asked: "I have eyes but don't recognize Mount Tai, dare I ask if senior is knowledgeable about Taoist arts?"

  The old man nodded and said, "I don't dare to be called a Taoist master. My ancestral home is in Qingcheng, Sichuan Province. I entered the temple at the age of eight and left at twenty-five. Later, during the chaotic years of war, I married a wife, but she disappeared, and I never remarried. When the Nationalist Party lost to Taiwan, old Chiang Kai-shek wanted me to go with him, but I didn't follow him. Instead, I came to Hong Kong and found a quiet place to build a small Taoist temple. Before I knew it, I had grown old..."

  "Old Chiang?"

  The old man replied, "In the past, I was his national teacher for a few days. It's not surprising that all emperors of the dynasty believed in this. But he messed up the Republic and it's time for his luck to run out."

  I don't care if what he said is true or false, I'll just treat this as a dead horse being treated as a live one. I quickly pulled on his arm and said: "Old predecessor, to be honest with you, I have a friend who has encountered something and is lying in this hospital, would you be so kind as to take a look?"

  The old man glanced at his watch and said, "I only have ten minutes left. I need to go for dialysis. My kidneys are no good. I don't have many days left."

  "Go, go!" I quickly pushed the old man towards Zhang Wenbin's ward. His ward was in ICU, where family members were not normally allowed to enter. There were doctors guarding the door, and when I tried to push it open, I was naturally blocked.

  "Except for doctors, others cannot enter."

  I'm too lazy to care about him, I just pushed my way in: "Just for a moment, if anything happens, I'll take responsibility, I'm a patient's family member."

  The young doctor blocked his way forward and said: "That's also not allowed, our hospital has rules!"

  The nurse accompanying the old man also said: "This is ICU, indeed can't enter."

  "Get out of the way!" I pushed that doctor away, it turned out that this country bumpkin didn't understand modern hospitals at all. The alarm sounded instantly, and soon several security guards rushed over while I was struggling with the doctor.

  With such a big commotion here, the high-ranking police officer who came down to have breakfast also rushed over. Seeing that it was me, he explained to the hospital staff that I was one of his own people and was about to pull me out when he glanced at the person in the wheelchair and hastily said: "Mr. Zhang is also here?"

  The old man seemed to know the police officer too, and smiled: "I'll take a look at this little friend's friend."

  The police officer hastily called out to a person who appeared to be in charge at the hospital: "Open the door and let him in, this is our procedure."

  When he spoke, the hospital staff had no choice but to open the door, saying something like "we're not responsible if anything happens" while dispersing with a murmur. The police officer saw that there was no one around and quietly asked me: "How did you get this old immortal out? Do you know him?"