Qi Cheng opened his mouth slightly as if he was about to speak, but he gave up.
After a moment of silence, Zhu Yaoguo quietly wiped away his tears, straightened up, and said:
"Child, you must be curious about how I got this ability. Let me change places and tell you about it."
"Okay." Qi Cheng nodded in response, and followed Zhu Yaoguo to the shade of a big tree on the other side of the graveyard. A dozen or so ghosts around also accompanied them.
Leaning against the tree trunk, Zhu Yaoguo recalled:
"I still remember that day clearly. When I was 25 years old, my grandfather passed away. My grandfather... he was very kind to me. When I was a child, my parents went to the nearest big city to work and left me in my hometown. It was my grandfather who raised me. For me at that time, compared to my parents whom I could barely see a few times a year, my grandfather was more important to me. When I heard the news, I was just like Wang Yue..."
As he spoke, Zhu Yaoguo paused, and then continued:
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said all this nonsense. Ahem. I got my ability one night after I returned to my hometown. I remember it was two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. That night, while I was keeping vigil for my grandfather, in a daze, I seemed to hear someone talking in my ear. When I turned around, I saw my grandfather floating there.
"To be honest, when I saw my grandfather, my first thought was that I was seeing a ghost. I was so scared that I almost went to accompany him. Fortunately, although I was really frightened at that time, I could still clearly see my grandfather with a smile on his face, floating out of the house. It was only later that I understood what was going on. I think... my grandfather just wanted me to see him one last time. That last bit of obsession made his soul stay until I saw him, and then that obsession dissipated."
Having said this, Zhu Yaoguo showed a faint smile, as if he was glad that he hadn't missed that real last moment with his grandfather.
Surrounding Qi Cheng and Zhu Yaoguo were the ghosts. The little boy stood in front of them, listening patiently to the story.
Among the ghosts, besides the old man and the child, there was also a young couple, a man and a woman, who looked no more than thirty years old. They were hiding behind another big tree, only poking their heads out. Even though they were in a spiritual state, Qi Cheng could still tell that their faces seemed a bit red.
This made Qi Cheng understand that the young couple still retained their sense of shame from their living days. When they saw that a stranger could see them, they would cover their exposed bodies.
Zhu Yaoguo continued to tell his story:
"After my grandfather's soul flew away, I gradually calmed down. At the same time, I realized that I was flying. When I looked down, I could see my own body.
"I tried to call out to the relatives who were keeping vigil with me, but they couldn't hear me at all, and I couldn't touch them either. After being in a state of confusion for a while, I gradually realized that my soul had left my body. So I tried to get back into my physical body, and I successfully returned to it.
"I told my relatives about my experience, but they didn't believe me at all. They thought I was just dreaming. To be honest, I also thought I was dreaming at first. Even for a long time after the funeral, I still thought so. It was only later, when I returned to Shanglu and my soul left my body again, and after I returned to my body, I could still make my soul leave my body again with my will. Then I believed that I really had superpowers."
"I didn't take this superpower seriously at first. I just regarded it as a form of entertainment, being able to fly around and look at the scenery in my soul state. It was not until the Qingming Festival of the next year, when I went back to my hometown to sweep the tombs, that I saw the souls of several old people who stayed in the human world because their obsessions hadn't been resolved."
"So you're chatting and telling stories to them to resolve their obsessions?" Qi Cheng guessed.
At the same time, this also answered another question that had been in his heart for a long time, "Why do some people's souls fly up into the sky directly after they die, while others turn into ghosts and stay in the human world?" Now this question was answered. The answer was "obsession".
If a person still had an obsession in their heart after death, they would turn into a ghost and stay in the human world until the obsession was fulfilled or they actively gave up that obsession. "Sort of. But my ability is limited, and there are actually many obsessions that I can't do anything about." Zhu Yaoguo sighed.
"That's not true. We're really happy that you can chat with us, Little Zhu." An old man in his seventies or eighties, who was a ghost, said beside them.
"Yes, those obsessions aren't really that important. Just a few days ago, several friends flew away contentedly and were reincarnated." An old woman added.
Zhu Yaoguo didn't express his gratitude. After his soul returned to his physical body, he couldn't hear the voices of the ghosts. He continued without stopping:
"At first, I didn't have any special thoughts about the souls of those old people. But after I returned to Shanglu, I kept thinking about it. Then one day, I came to this graveyard...
"Here, my soul left my body again, and I saw these friends around me now. But this time, they discovered me...
"Regarding me as an outsider, they originally thought I was just a wandering spirit. I originally planned to pretend to be one, but unfortunately, my physical body was discovered before I could start. Helplessly, I had to tell them about my ability.
"After I confessed, they didn't react as expected. Instead, they even asked me to listen to their stories and also asked me to tell them about the things that had happened in recent years. Before I left that night, they also asked me to come and visit more often if I had time. I think you can probably guess what happened next..."
"Okay." Qi Cheng nodded gently.
After hearing Zhu Yaoguo's story, Qi Cheng truly admired him from the bottom of his heart.
As the sun set, Qi Cheng became familiar with the ghosts in the graveyard and generally understood what their obsessions were.
Among them, the obsession of the little boy named Tongtong made him feel the most sympathetic.
He just wanted to see his parents one more time. But since he died of illness two years ago and his parents buried him here in a hurry, they never came to visit him again.
It was unknown whether his parents were heartless or if something unexpected had happened later.
Qi Cheng secretly made a decision. After asking for the little boy's full name, he waved goodbye to them.
He walked back to the slope and called "Soul Devourer" to return the way they came.
On the way, Qi Cheng asked the tricolor cat that could understand human language, "Soul Devourer, did you bring me here just to let me see all this?"
"Soul Devourer" nodded and then shook its head.
"What do you mean? It's not completely for that?" Qi Cheng didn't understand what the cat was trying to express.
"Meow." "Soul Devourer" didn't answer anymore. Instead, it let out a meow and then dashed into the grass beside the dirt road, disappearing from sight.