A woman emerged from the dark of the night and entered the tattoo parlor. She wore a black baseball cap, and as soon as I recognized her face, I became angry.
It was none other than Su Qing, the very woman who had gotten the domineering tattoo earlier that day.
Well, she had the nerve to come back. I was determined not to let her leave until she settled the outstanding payment. If she didn't have the money, she would have to find another way to make up for it, and she certainly wasn't unattractive.
"Hello, are you Mr. Tang Hao?"
Before I could even speak, Su Qing asked with a polite tone, as if she was someone totally different.
I let out a cold laugh and asked, "What's the act for? Pretending not to recognize me? When are you going to pay the remaining twenty thousand yuan? If you can boldly return without recognizing your debt, what's next?"
Su Qing frowned, seemingly confused by my words.
"Twenty thousand? What are you talking about?"
Still pretending? How interesting. "You got a ghost tattoo here today, which costs thirty thousand yuan. You only paid ten thousand, and now you have the guts to come back without the rest?"
Su Qing suddenly laughed, a sweet, celestial smile, a stark contrast to her attitude this morning.
"It seems you must be Mr. Tang Hao. My sister got ahead of me to get a ghost tattoo, didn't she?"
Her sister? What did she mean?
Now I examined the woman before me more closely. She strongly resembled Su Qing, down to nearly identical clothing except for the baseball cap on her head. The biggest difference was probably their aura; the Su Qing before me now spoke gently, was polite, and her laughter was incredibly sweet.
"Your sister? You two are…"
"That's right, we are twins! My name is Su Yu," Su Yu introduced herself politely and apologized for her sister Su Qing's behavior, assuring me she would make sure Su Qing brought me the rest of the money.
So, they were twins. That explained the identical appearance but contrasting personalities: the sister was fierce and rash while her twin was gentle, cultured, and polite.
Zhao Donglai was a Zhao, and they were Sus, so they weren't the twins I knew. If they were and they looked like this, I'd be in luck.
Even choosing just one would be great, but, naturally, why choose at all when I can have both?
Since she wasn't Su Qing, I politely invited her to take a seat, poured her some tea, and inquired about her reason for visiting.
Both sisters getting a ghost tattoo seemed a little too coincidental, but clients were always welcome.
Su Yu explained that both she and her sister had their own troubles, which is why their senior brother, Zhang Qing, suggested they reach out. While her sister Su Qing was plagued by nightmares, she herself was photophobic.
Whenever she was exposed to sunlight, she would feel cold and suffer a painful, stinging sensation on her skin, as if being pricked by needles. That's why she always had to carry an umbrella and preferred to stay indoors on sunny days, sometimes hiding in dark corners like a rodent. She wished she could enjoy the sun like everyone else.
Su Yu's eyes dimmed as she talked about her condition, her expression forlorn, and I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for her.
I asked her what caused this. Did she have some kind of disease?
Su Yu shook her head, then stretched out her delicate palms for me to see. I noticed three nail-like marks in her palm, except these marks were strange—the heads looked like little demons and were blood red in color. These didn't seem like birthmarks but rather something that had been engraved intentionally.
Su Yu told me they were Six-star Netherworld Nails, both a curse and a kind of magic formation. Anyone marked by them would die a painful death in the underworld and be condemned to hell for eternity without a chance of rebirth.
However, there should be six nails in total, and only three were inscribed on her hand. If it weren't for the timely arrival of her master, the Old Heavenly Master, Su Yu would have died and suffered endlessly in hell.
Even though only three nails were inscribed, it changed Su Yu's physical condition and fate. The balance of yin and yang in her body was shattered, and she was overcome with yin energy, practically half-human, half-ghost, which explained her inability to tolerate sunlight, much like how ghosts fear the light.
This situation was severe, and I grew curious about who could have cursed Su Yu with such a malicious enchantment.
Su Yu did not hide anything and told me everything exactly as it happened, tracing the origin of the issue back to her grandfather's generation.
Her grandfather was once a wealthy businessman who had made quite a few enemies due to his affluence. In his later years, he suffered reprisal.
One deep, dark night, Su Yu's grandfather suddenly disappeared, and the family searched everywhere for him. They eventually found his skin hanging from a large tree.
Somehow, someone had managed to skin Su Yu's grandfather completely, without leaving any flesh attached; his blood stained the entire tree, dripping down its trunk.
Most eerie of all, Su Yu's grandfather wasn't dead yet. He was seen walking slowly on the road, beating a gong, as if he was sounding the watch, chanting, "Wife taken, skin flayed, both grandfather and grandchild shall die, the lineage shall end."
The sight was extremely bizarre. Su Yu's grandfather looked like a walking corpse. Families were afraid to open their doors upon seeing him, and even dogs could only whimper helplessly.
A skinless man, beating a gong and shouting—how could it not seem like an encounter with the supernatural? Who wouldn't be frightened?
When Su Yu's father witnessed this, he was overcome with grief. Tears streamed down his face as he approached to intervene, but that's when the Old Heavenly Master—Su Yu's future master—appeared.
The Old Heavenly Master announced that it was fortunate he passed by at that moment. Had Su Yu's father awakened the grandfather at the time, he would have instantly transformed into a ferocious blood corpse, likely killing Su Yu's father by biting through his throat.
In reality, Su Yu's grandfather was already dead, his body being manipulated by witchcraft. A force that triggers corpse transformation had been introduced into his body, which would activate upon contact with the living.
Su Yu's father, now terrified, questioned why someone would harbor such a deep grudge to carry out such vengeance upon his family.
The Old Heavenly Master replied he did not know the specifics—that was for their family to unravel. However, judging by what Su Yu's grandfather had been chanting, it seemed related to a woman taken from someone in the past, and now revenge was being exacted. Moreover, the expertise behind the act suggested it was the work of a highly skilled individual.
Su Yu's father, on the spot, kneeled before the Old Heavenly Master and begged for his help after giving him several kowtows.
The Old Heavenly Master stated that such personal vendettas were not for him to meddle in, but seeing as they were fated to meet that day, he agreed to do a good deed.
With that, the Old Heavenly Master placed several talismans on Su Yu's grandfather. Immediately, the grandfather collapsed and stopped moving after exhaling a few puffs of foul breath.
The Old Heavenly Master then inquired whether Su Yu's father had children. Upon learning of the two three-year-old twin daughters watched over by a nanny, the Master urged haste; otherwise, it would be too late.
Fearing for his children, Su Yu's father hurried the Old Heavenly Master home. Upon arrival, they found the nanny unconscious. Then came a noise by the window.
By the time the Old Heavenly Master got there, one child—Su Qing—was found near the window, but Su Yu was gone.
Bemoaning their late arrival, the Old Heavenly Master suggested that had they been slightly sooner, the perpetrator couldn't have taken even one of the children.
Nevertheless, the Old Heavenly Master did not give up and chased after the suspect. It wasn't until daylight that he returned to report having followed the person, who had high sorcery skills and had eluded him using the cover of night.
Anxiety-stricken, Su Yu's father queried the fate of his child, to which the Master grew increasingly worried while calculating with his fingers and consulting a compass.
Before long, he urgently inquired about the pigsty.
Although Su Yu's father was puzzled by the Old Heavenly Master's sudden interest in the pigsty, he quickly led the Master there. Inside, they discovered a sow standing immobile, bloated yet clearly not pregnant. The Old Heavenly Master kicked the sow, which fell and was revealed to have already expired.
The Master instructed them to cut open the sow. Inside, they found the three-year-old Su Yu stitched into the animal, weak with faint breathing, her body covered in blood, bearing three of the Six-star Netherworld Nails on her left hand.
The Old Heavenly Master performed a ritual to revive Su Yu but couldn't lift the curse marked by the nails. Only the one who cast it could undo it, and despite being fortunate to survive, Su Yu would never be the same—cursed to be half-human, half-ghost, for her body was now overwhelmed by yin energy.
Since then, she could not withstand the light, and the Old Heavenly Master, who had since taken her and Su Qing under his wing as disciples, said she must live like a ghost that scorns the sun.
Having heard Su Yu's story, I understood why she needed the ghost tattoo—to break free from the odious Six-star Netherworld Nails curse.
Now, the task before me was to contemplate what kind of ghost tattoo would be potent enough to break such a cursed formation.