PD -Chapter 1 I’m Not a Taoist Priest

Ever since I could remember, the world I saw was different from the ordinary, reassuring world most people knew—because I could see Yin entities.

By Yin entities, I mean things associated with dark energy, evil influences, and malevolent forces… including what most people call ghosts, as well as things far more difficult to describe.

These things have always wandered through our world. In fact, they have been appearing more and more frequently, almost as if they are beginning to merge with our reality.

But this ability made me an outcast. From childhood to adulthood, I endured endless indifference and alienation from others.

Everything changed when I discovered an old family heirloom in our ancestral home—a book called The Record of Heaven-Piercing Mysteries.

Through it, I gradually began to understand the secret behind my abilities.

People like me have an official title:

Spirit Mediums.

Even so, I always wanted to live an ordinary life. I didn’t want to become deeply entangled with these dark and terrifying supernatural phenomena.

So after graduating from college, I worked hard to start my own business and opened a design studio, hoping to earn an honest living.

But unexpectedly, my awful landlord dragged me onto a path of no return.

From that moment on, my fate changed forever.

I could no longer escape the hauntings, curses, and entanglements of evil spirits and malevolent beings. For the rest of my life, I would be forced to risk everything in my struggle against darkness and evil.

Early one morning, I was awakened by frantic knocking on my door.

“You once said you were a Taoist priest and could exorcise ghosts, right?”

The moment I opened the door, a cute-faced young woman with a figure far more mature than her appearance anxiously blurted out the question.

Her name was Tang Shanshan—my landlord.

I was just about to explain that I wasn’t a Taoist priest. My ancestors had merely left behind The Record of Heaven-Piercing Mysteries, and I’d only learned a few basic techniques for reading energy flows and dispelling evil influences.

Before I could say a word, however, the girl suddenly began unfastening the buttons on her shirt.

By the time I looked up, she had already exposed her fair neck and delicate collarbones.

Startled, I stumbled backward and slammed the back of my head against the wall with a loud thud.

I’d heard of people having fantasies about police officers in uniform or doctors in white coats, but I’d never met someone who seemed so obsessed with Taoist priests.

Could it be that Tang Shanshan wanted me to repay my rent debt with my body?

Was she planning to accept my virginity in place of the rent I owed?

My face turned bright red, but I couldn’t help stealing a few more glances.

Yet the moment I looked carefully, all thoughts of embarrassment vanished and were replaced by shock.

On the fair skin of Tang Shanshan’s chest were numerous tiny black marks that resembled birthmarks.

But upon closer inspection, I realized that these black marks, each only two or three centimeters across, were actually handprints.

Tiny handprints.

My heart lurched.

Those handprints were far too small to belong to a human. Even a newborn baby’s hands would be larger than the marks on her chest.

Besides, although Tang Shanshan had a rather eccentric personality, she was still an unmarried young woman.

Where would a baby have come from?

“Have you stared enough yet?!”

While I was frozen in thought, Tang Shanshan abruptly pulled her collar closed and fastened the buttons again. Her cheeks flushed red as she glared at me.

I gave an awkward laugh.

“How exactly did these marks appear? Has anything unusual happened recently?”

After buttoning up her shirt, Tang Shanshan’s expression immediately turned pitiful. Her large eyes shimmered as though tears might spill out at any moment.

She nodded.

“Lots of strange things have happened. Didn’t you say you could catch ghosts? That’s exactly why I came to you!”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not a Taoist priest. And driving away evil spirits isn’t as simple as ‘catching ghosts.’ Anyway, tell me exactly what’s been happening.”

I knew there was no point trying to explain further, so I gave up and focused on finding out what had happened to her.

Tang Shanshan sat down at my desk and began recounting her bizarre experiences.

A few days earlier, she’d noticed signs that someone had entered her home.

Yet none of her valuables were missing.

The only strange thing was that the refrigerator door had been left open, and all the food inside had disappeared.

At first she didn’t think much of it.

After all, what kind of thief breaks into a house just to steal food from the refrigerator?

But when the same thing happened several days in a row, she began to feel uneasy.

Every night before bed, Tang Shanshan carefully locked all the doors and windows.

But last night, while half-asleep, she heard rustling noises coming from her room.

Pretending not to notice, she lay still and slightly opened her eyes.

She then saw the blanket stored on top of her wardrobe suddenly fall as though something invisible had pushed it.

And vaguely, she thought she saw a dark shadow dart across the room and catch the falling blanket.

“The shadow started moving toward me while carrying the blanket. I was terrified!”

Tang Shanshan had thought the thing intended to smother her to death with it.

She immediately sprang up from bed and screamed.

Yet the instant she sat upright, the blanket dropped to the floor with a whoosh.

There was nothing behind it.

The shadow carrying it had vanished completely.

“I spent the entire night curled up on my bed, too scared to sleep. Then I noticed these marks on my body. Later I remembered you’re a Taoist priest, so I came to find you this morning and ask whether I’ve run into a ghost.”

“I’m not a Taoist priest!”

I corrected her once again before dragging a chair over and sitting down.

At the same time, my thoughts kept returning to those black handprints on her pale skin.

I had seen them clearly.

There was no mistake.

The black marks were indeed handprints, with distinct fingers and palms.

The only unusual thing was their tiny size.

That ruled out cats or other animals, and Tang Shanshan didn’t keep any pets.

I racked my brain trying to figure out what could have left such miniature handprints.

Then suddenly, a disturbing possibility surfaced in my mind:

A Corpse Infant.

These creatures are exceptionally bizarre, and the name “Corpse Infant” actually carries two meanings.

One theory claims that a Corpse Infant is literally a baby born from a corpse.

According to legend, if a pregnant woman dies unexpectedly, all of her bodily functions cease immediately.

However, for a certain period afterward, the fetus inside her does not die.

Instead, it continues absorbing the remaining flesh, blood, and nutrients from the mother’s corpse.

Naturally, the dead body contains large amounts of corpse energy and baleful Yin energy.

An infant that survives by absorbing such dark forces and eventually emerges from its dead mother’s body is known as a Corpse Infant.

It is said that in remote mountain regions of the past, people occasionally found Corpse Infants crawling out of graves in abandoned burial grounds.

These creatures are roughly the size of newborn babies.

Their heads are unnaturally large.

Their eyes glow red.

Their skin is waxy yellow like that of an ancient corpse.

Behind their naked bodies trails a long, thin, steel-like umbilical cord.

At the end of that cord is a shriveled human figure even smaller than the infant itself—the remains of its mother, whose flesh and nutrients have been completely consumed, leaving behind only a withered shell.

Because Corpse Infants grow by feeding on their mothers’ flesh and blood, they specifically prey upon women.

They bind their victims with their steel-like umbilical cords, then insert the cord into the victim’s abdomen and suck away all flesh and nutrients until the body shrivels dry.

Fortunately, such Corpse Infants are extremely rare.

Nowadays, pregnant women are usually cared for very carefully.

How often do fatal accidents involving expectant mothers really occur?

And even when they do, the chance of the fetus becoming a Corpse Infant is extraordinarily low.

Only someone with unbelievably terrible luck would ever encounter one.

Tang Shanshan’s apartment building, though close to the suburbs, was still within city limits.

There were no graveyards nearby, nor had I heard of any recent incidents involving the death of a pregnant woman.

The odds of encountering this type of Corpse Infant should have been extremely low.

However, there was another theory.

A fetus that was aborted before it fully developed and forcibly expelled from the womb might accumulate immense resentment and also transform into a Corpse Infant.

These Corpse Infants, having been abandoned before they were even born, harbor overwhelming hatred and resentment toward women.

As a result, they specifically hunt women at night.

The moment this thought occurred to me, my heart skipped a beat.

I stared at Tang Shanshan for a long moment.

A question surged from the depths of my mind and reached the tip of my tongue.

But I had no idea how to ask it.