(hellos) -------------------------------------- First, recite a passage from the Heart Sutra to ward off evil, hoping that little Xuan and I won't encounter ghosts, oh dear tofu... Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, perceives that all five skandhas are empty, thus relieving all suffering and distress. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form. So too are sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness; they are neither born nor destroyed, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, perception, volition, or consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas; no realm of eyes, up to no realm of mind-consciousness; no ignorance and also no cessation of ignorance, up to no aging and death and also no cessation of aging and death; no suffering, cause of suffering, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment. Because there is nothing to be attained, Bodhisattvas rely on Prajnaparamita and their minds have no hindrance; having no hindrance, they have no fear and are far from deluded dreams, ultimately reaching Nirvana. All Buddhas of the three times, relying on Prajnaparamita, attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Therefore know the Prajnaparamita is the great mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the unequaled mantra, capable of removing all suffering, real and not false. Therefore, the Prajnaparamita mantra is spoken, the mantra is said: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Heart Sutra of Prajnaparamita -------------------------------------- Category: Horror Story Provided by: King Nigu The wind blew coldly like a sharp blade, chaotically scraping against Manager Wang's skin. Manager Wang exhaled a cloud of white breath, rubbed his hands, and wrapped his coat tighter, leaning against the streetlamp and waiting for a taxi to arrive. Manager Wang worked at a company, his salary was good, and he was reasonably handsome. He had been on dates with several girls, but none met his standards. He was still single, nearly 30 years old. It was deep winter, and Manager Wang carried a bag of items, carefully wrapped in white cloth, as if afraid they would be ruined by the cold. He lifted a corner of the bundle to check the contents, then wrapped it up and continued waiting for the taxi, his lips curling slightly. It was really cold. Manager Wang lit a cigarette and looked around. The environment around him was covered in a layer of gray, losing color and life, frighteningly silent, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind strikingly clear. The streetlights along this street were all broken; only the dim light behind him flickered, seemingly worn out over the years, and finally went out. Manager Wang was completely immersed in darkness.He looked up at the sky. The moon was completely hidden by thick clouds, and only the stars could occasionally peek through the gaps in the clouds to look down on the earth. All around was still—frighteningly still; and it was cold, bone-chillingly cold. Manager Wang shivered involuntarily, his back feeling icy.
A beam of light pierced the darkness in front of him. Startled, Manager Wang saw a red taxi silently appear from the shadows. As the engine sound abruptly stopped, Driver Li stepped out of the car with a chuckle. Old Li was a native local. After some small talk, he enthusiastically helped Manager Wang put his things in the trunk.
Old Li had been in this line of work for over ten years. Since his child entered high school and fell in with a bad crowd, constantly asking for money at home, things had been difficult. Later, when he heard that a new head teacher was assigned, his child finally became better-behaved and more diligent with studies. Now Old Li worked harder, earning more for his child's university tuition. That's why Old Li was still hustling for rides in the middle of the night. Today, he had been busy for a long time and earned a good amount. He was just thinking about finishing work and going home when he coincidentally met Manager Wang. He thought he was having good luck today and felt cheerful, though that cheerfulness didn't last.
Although the destination Manager Wang had was far away, and the return fare had also been agreed upon, which meant a good earning, Old Li didn't feel quite right. The place was a transition station for the living to enter the grave—the crematorium.
The crematorium was far in the suburbs, sparsely populated, and nearby there was a cemetery. Many strange and eerie stories came from that area. Old Li had heard from colleagues that there was once a driver named Liu, who, due to a struggling household, would take passengers late at night. One night, he picked up a passenger going to the crematorium without much thought. When he arrived, the passenger handed him a red bill. Liu didn't think much of it and even gave her some change. It was only on the way back that he realized the paper money he received was ghost money, used by the dead. Furious, he returned to confront the woman. But the crematorium was empty; in the central hall of mourning, there was a coffin with someone lying inside. When Liu approached to look, it was that same woman, clutching the coins he had given her. This terrified him.
Later, Driver Liu disappeared. Some said he had died, others said he had moved away; in any case, there was no further trace of him.Now, in this same car heading to the crematorium, Old Li began to feel a vague fear. Earlier, when he was helping Xiao Wang move things, he had some doubts; that package, both in size and in feel, made Old Li feel uneasy. There was definitely something strange about Xiao Wang in the back seat. Moreover, from then until now, Xiao Wang had been completely still, as if dead.
He began to regret it. When Xiao Wang was moving things earlier, the size and the feel of them had seemed strange and shocking to Old Li. He thought that the Xiao Wang behind him might be a murderer, because no matter how he thought about that package, it could only be a corpse. Old Li shivered as he secretly glanced in the rearview mirror, and that glance nearly made his heart jump out. A wave of chill spread through him, from his heart to his whole body. In the back seat, Xiao Wang's face was as white as paper. His eyes, without pupils, stared straight at Old Li. Without lips, his pale teeth rattled, producing a creepy chuckle, which felt like cold claws scraping at Old Li's heart.
Then came the sudden sound of an emergency brake. Manager Wang looked at Old Li, sweaty and startled, with a surprised expression. Everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. Old Li rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and with trembling hands barely held onto the steering wheel. After a long time, Old Li calmed down and forcibly maintained his composure to continue driving.
Once Old Li left the urban area, he was heading towards the crematorium. Since there were no forks in the road, it would take nearly 30 minutes to reach. The road, unchanged from several years ago, was still unpaved, still without streetlights. The plane trees by the roadside had long since shed their leaves, leaving bare branches that danced eerily in the cold wind like the claws of demons. The full moon, previously hidden by clouds, peeked out, casting a pale light that made the surroundings even more sinister and terrifying. Lifeless and inanimate, Old Li was unsure if he could still consider himself alive. Time passed slowly, and he felt anxious. Could this road be this long?
Time had long exceeded Old Li's expectation, yet the road seemed endless, as if it had no end. Fear silently surged in his heart. Old Li kept rubbing his eyes, trying to calm himself. Thump! Thump! Thump! Suddenly, knocks came from the trunk, and Old Li's heart raced more violently with each thump. "We can stop now!"The cold hands, reduced to nothing but bare bones, gently rested on Old Li's shoulders following a faint, hellish voice that seemed like a ghostly ferryman of souls. Old Li let out a heart-wrenching scream, “Ah!” which staggered out of the car. He could endure no longer, and a thought immediately crossed his mind: “I am going—to die here!” He leaned back against a large tree, his trembling legs no longer able to support him, staring in horror at the car. Manager Wang looked at Old Li with a strange expression as if nothing had happened. He slowly approached and helped Old Li up, his face full of concern.
Old Li was utterly terrified of Xiao Wang. Was he a human or a ghost? He accidentally realized that he was already at the crematorium gate. Just a moment ago, no matter how he drove, he could not reach the end, but now he was finally able to calm down a little, taking several deep breaths to confirm he was still alive. Xiao Wang handed Old Li several hundred-yuan bills, seemingly including the return fare, then picked up his package and walked straight toward the crematorium.
The moon still shone brightly over the land, and the tree branches, like ghostly claws, still swayed. Old Li carefully checked the bills and exhaled—it was not spirit money. As he looked up at Xiao Wang's back, a cold wind swept through with the rustling of leaves, and a faint corpse stench from Xiao Wang seemed like the hand of a teasing ghost, carrying a subtle cold laughter that lifted the white cloth behind Xiao Wang. A face, even paler under the moonlight, appeared before Old Li—it was a face with only whites of the eyes grinning viciously. It was this face that had almost shattered Old Li's soul moments ago; it was the face that had been staring at him ever since; it was the face that would forever be a nightmare in Old Li's heart.
It was Manager Wang's face, still giving Old Li a sinister smile. Old Li could take it no longer. He went mad, rushed to the car, and left the crematorium as fast as he could, wanting to escape this nightmare. But the nightmare continued. Old Li finally understood why Xiao Wang had paid for the return fare. In the back seat, Manager Wang held a delicate small box, his face twisted into a sinister smile…
