Yama Rising

Dark, dreary houses and shops sat right beneath the street lights, shrouded with wisps of misty Yin energy. Jade-green spots of netherflames burned brightly at the eyes of the humanoid paper effigies, even as they stared at Qin Ye from their respective houses and shops. Not a single living person could be seen anywhere on this wide road Qin Ye was on. If he had been any other ordinary human being, he would have been scared out of his wits by now.

It was built in the architectural style of the early 1900’s, replete with white bricks and wooden doors. Nobody could be seen on the streets right now, but the wooden door still opened up.

That said, he couldn’t hear exactly what they were talking about. Everything was hazy to him. He walked along the main street, listening intently as he desperately attempted to pick up clues from the conversations that were carried along with the wind, until… he finally found himself standing right before the massive three-storey structure. Then, he stepped through the external gate.

Instantly, all of the sounds that he heard outside was completely shut off to him. Even the howling winds appeared to have completely ceased altogether.

“A naturally-occuring space…” Qin Ye murmured to himself, “The Yin energy here is so thick that it has even condensed into the exact snapshot of the place as it originally was?”

The lights in the building were still blood-red in colour. He promptly walked up to the door and knocked gently on it.

Knock, knock, knock! Nobody responded. Qin Ye knocked on the door several more times, before the door finally opened with a soft, muffled creak.

Eeeaaaakk… The creak of the wooden door sounded like a cat’s claws on a chalkboard. Yet it only revealed a gaping darkness beyond the frame of the door that appeared no different from the orifice of a terrifying beast. Qin Ye peered in cautiously. He could see that the interior was designed in the style of the 40’s or 50’s. The great hall within had a ceiling that was a whopping ten-meters high. Both sides of the walls were covered with long, draping curtains, while a two-meter wide wooden reception counter was placed right at the front of the hall. A man appeared to be manning the counter.

That said, this man was also a humanoid paper effigy.

“You’re late.” He pushed forward a wooden token, “There shall be no next time.”

Splutter! It looked no different from a bursting head. A fountain of blood instantly sprayed everywhere, and the exploded head instantly transformed into a stack of paper money that scattered everywhere in the sky. Qin Ye watched on with amazement.

Qin Ye couldn’t be bothered about that. He pushed on the door to the dressing room and promptly walked in.

The dressing room was rather large. The length of the dressing room was approximately twenty meters. Then, just as Qin Ye walked along the corridor of closets, he suddenly heard… a terrifying sound reverberate through the corners of the room.

The open closets were filled only with dirty work clothes. They hung within the closets motionlessly, almost as though they were each a corpse that were just hanging around, observing the lonesome human being in this desolate place.

He retracted his gaze and continued walking forward. Everytime he walked past a closet, it would open up with a terrifying creak. Eeeaak… eeeaak… Door after door opened up in the dark, faster and faster in accordance with Qin Ye’s increasing pace. Even Qin Ye couldn’t help but be drawn into the increasingly tense atmosphere in the room. His heartbeat accelerated. He walked quickly to the iron door and turned back vigilantly even as he placed his hand on the handle.

Not a single soul could be seen in sight.

In fact, these footprints appeared incredibly dense and chaotic, almost as though hundreds of people had followed him and were now standing right around him. A stifling, cold nethergale swept by, bringing with it a strong, nauseating stench with it.

“Not bad… You’re stirring up a pretty decent atmosphere over here.” Qin Ye drew a deep breath to calm his emotions. And then, he turned the doorknob, “But you’re not even Operative-class Yin spirits, so what can you possibly do with all of these wandering spirits?”

It was a large room.

Beyond that, there was a massive pond that lay right in the center of the large room. A complex series of pipes ran overhead, replete with several exhaust holes that opened up on the sides. There were a number of mirrors that were hung neatly at the same height, with sinks right below them that were now covered with dust. This was probably where the washroom used to be.

Logically speaking, the temperatures in this room should be incredibly high. However, it was not. In fact, the temperature here was already below zero degrees. Specks of dust were swept about by the rushing nethergale, almost as though the thin veil of the mortal realm were soon to be lifted to reveal an entire factory filled with evil ghosts.

This was undoubtedly a silk factory. He’d seen many of these in the past.

In fact… it was distinct, because this process usually also generated a somewhat salty and otherwise indescribably disgusting stench.

Bzzt! Bzzt! The entire room flickered between darkness and redness, almost as though the entire realm straddled the mortal realm and the world of the dead. Then, moments later, when the lights came back on again, Qin Ye was greeted by an incredibly startling sight. Even he couldn’t help but gasp in horror and feel goosebumps creeping up all over his skin!

The entire factory was now filled with people!

A split second later, the light flickered back on again. It was no different from watching a frame-by-frame horror movie. And this time… all of the women who were working had turned around, and were staring straight at him right now!

Every single one of them had bodies that were completely charred and black - a clear sign of being burnt to death. Their grisly raw flesh peeked out from their cracking, black skin, making each of them look no different like the vilest of spirits of the underworld!

Bzzt. The lights went out again.

This was because he could sense a hand caressing his face in the dark.

Fear was an integral part of the human instinct that nobody could disengage, unless and until they become Yin spirits. Thus, notwithstanding the fact that Qin Ye was also an Emissary of Hell, he, too, felt the emotion of fear and terror. To that end, it had to be said that the sights and sounds he experienced within the pit of a thousand ranked first among all of the supernatural incidents he had ever encountered.

Urrrkkkk… uurrrrkkkkk… The same throaty, guttural sound could be heard right beside him. In other words, more than one ‘person’ had arrived by his side within the last fraction of a second.

In that instant, Qin Ye saw a series of burnt, blackened and bleeding faces staring at him from no more than a foot away. Each of these faces were twisted and contorted in grotesque manners as they did so.

Urrrkkkk… uurrrrkkkkk… The guttural sounds continued almost mechanically. The wall of black eyes looked deep as the oceans. Bzzt… The lights flickered once more, and the next frame that was visible to Qin Ye reminded him of the sight of a prey being surrounded by a ferocious pack of wolves!

Wider, and wider, almost as though they were a python that was poised to devour a human whole. He could even see the grisly teeth within their mouths.

And this time, the lights didn’t come on again.