The woman emerged from the night and stepped into the tattoo parlor. Wearing a black duckbill hat, when I got a proper look at her face, I was instantly furious.
It was none other than Stella - the same woman who'd gotten the Bully tattoo earlier today.
"Good, you dare to come back?" I thought. "This time you're not leaving without settling your payment. If you don't have money, you'll pay with your body - not a bad deal considering your looks."
"Hello, is this Mr. Roger?"
Before I could speak, Stella asked politely, her demeanor completely different from before - like a different person entirely.
I sneered. "What's this? Pretending you don't know me? Cut the act. When are you paying the remaining 20,000?"
Stella frowned, appearing genuinely confused. "Twenty thousand? What twenty thousand?"
"Still pretending? How amusing." I said. "You got a Gods and Ghosts Tattoo here today - price was thirty thousand. You only paid ten. You've got the guts to return but not to admit it?"
Suddenly, the woman laughed sweetly, her smile radiant like a fairy descending to earth. Her entire bearing was completely different from Stella's this morning.
"In that case, you must be Mr. Roger. My sister has already beaten me to getting a Gods and Ghosts Tattoo, hasn't she?"
"Sister? What do you mean?"
I examined her more carefully. She looked exactly like Stella - not the slightest difference, even wearing similar clothes except for the duckbill hat. The biggest difference was her demeanor - this woman spoke softly, used proper language, and smiled sweetly.
"Your sister? You two are..."
"That's right, we're twins! I'm Luna," she introduced politely, then apologized for Stella's behavior, assuring me she'd make sure Stella sent the remaining payment.
So they were twins. No wonder they looked identical but had completely different personalities - one fierce and brash, the other gentle and refined.
The Jennings twins were surnamed Zhao, while these sisters were surnamed Su - definitely not my pair of twins. If my twins looked like this though, I'd be thrilled.
Even if I could only choose one, having the sister would be a good deal. But of course, why choose when you can have both?
Since this wasn't Stella, I politely invited her to sit, served tea, and asked her purpose for visiting.
Both sisters wanting Gods and Ghosts Tattoos seemed quite a coincidence, but more business was always welcome.
Luna explained they were both troubled by supernatural issues, which was why their elder brother Philip had referred them. While younger sister Stella suffered from nightmares, Luna herself was afraid of light.
As soon as Luna saw sunlight, she got chills all over her body, and her skin tingled as if being stabbed by pins and needles. Therefore, since childhood, she had to carry an umbrella everywhere she went. She avoided going out on sunny days as much as possible, sometimes forced to hide in dark corners like a mouse. How she wished she could be like a normal person, bathing freely in sunlight.
When Luna said this, her starry eyes dimmed. She looked so despondent that it pained me to see her.
I asked her the reason—did she have some kind of disease?
Luna shook her head, then spread out her delicate palm. That's when I saw three nail-like objects embedded in her palm. But these nails looked peculiar—their heads resembled tiny ghost shapes, and their blood-red color suggested they weren't birthmarks but deliberately carved markings.
Luna explained these were the Six-Star Hades Prison Nails. They served as both a curse and a spell—those bearing them would die horribly in the netherworld, forever trapped in hell without hope of reincarnation.
However, the complete set consists of six nails. Only three had been carved into her hand, which kept her alive. That year, had her master Raul not appeared in time at the fountain, Luna would have been killed and condemned to endless suffering in hell.
Yet even three nails altered Luna's constitution and destiny. The balance of yin and yang in her body was broken, flooding her with yin energy until she became half-human, half-ghost. Like spirits who fear light, she could no longer endure sunlight.
This seemed unbearably cruel. I wondered what kind of person would inflict such a curse on Luna.
Luna concealed nothing and told me everything. The tragedy began with her grandfather's generation.
Her grandfather had been a wealthy businessman whose fortune inevitably made him many enemies. In his later years, he suffered terrible retaliation.
One late night, Grandpa Luna suddenly disappeared. During the family's frantic search, they found his skin hanging from a tree.
Somehow, the perpetrator had completely flayed Grandpa Luna—not a trace of flesh or bone remained. Blood had soaked the entire tree, dripping from its branches.
Most horrifying of all, Grandpa Luna wasn't dead. Skinless, he walked the roads beating a night watchman's gong, chanting: "Here comes the mother-in-law, the human skin is peeled off, grandparents and grandchildren shall perish, the family line ends here."
The scene was utterly macabre—this skinless figure moving like the walking dead. Terrified witnesses barred their doors; even dogs could only whimper fearfully.
A flayed man beating a gong and chanting prophecies—this was no different from encountering a ghost. Who wouldn't be terrified?
When Luna's father saw this, he was overcome with grief. With tears streaming down his face, he rushed forward to stop it—but then, Raul Master appeared. He is Luna's current master.
Raul Master said it was fortunate he had passed by in time. If Luna's father had woken up Grandpa Luna, the corpse would have instantly mutated into a bloodthirsty zombie, and Luna's father would have had his throat torn out.
In truth, Grandpa Luna was already dead. Someone versed in dark sorcery had manipulated his corpse, implanting something inside it to trigger a zombie transformation. Anyone who got too close would immediately provoke the mutation.
Upon hearing this, Luna's father broke out in a cold sweat. What kind of deep-seated hatred would drive someone to take revenge like this? he asked.
Raul Master admitted he didn't know—only the family could answer that. But judging by Grandpa Luna's words, it seemed the grudge stemmed from stealing another man's woman in the past. Now, that man had returned for vengeance—and by the looks of it, he was a formidable sorcerer.
Luna's father dropped to his knees and kowtowed before Raul Master, begging for his help.
Raul Master said personal grudges were not his concern, but given the circumstances, he would do this one good deed.
With that, he placed several yellow talismans on Grandpa Luna's body. Immediately, the corpse collapsed onto its back, spewing several mouthfuls of foul air before finally lying still.
Then, Raul Master asked if Luna's father had any children. He nodded—he had twin daughters, both three years old, currently at home under the care of a nanny.
Raul Master's face darkened. This is bad, he said, urging Luna's father to lead him home before it was too late.
Seeing Raul Master's grave expression, Luna's father didn't dare delay for even a second. He rushed the master straight to his house.
When they arrived, just as Raul Master had feared, the nanny lay unconscious—and there was movement near the window.
Raul Master investigated and found one child left behind: Stella. Luna was gone.
He slapped his thigh in frustration. I was one step too late, he muttered. Had he arrived earlier, the kidnapper couldn't have taken both children.
Still, Raul Master refused to give up. He leaped out the window and gave chase—but by dawn, he returned empty-handed. He had caught up to the man, but Luna wasn't with him. The culprit was highly skilled, using the cover of night to escape once more.
Luna's father panicked. If the child isn't with him, then where is she?
Raul Master, too, was deeply troubled. Frowning, he began calculating something with his fingers before consulting a compass.
Soon after, he abruptly asked where the pigpen was.
Luna's father didn't understand why Raul Master suddenly needed the pigpen, but he led him there without hesitation.
Upon arrival, Raul Master immediately spotted an old sow standing unnaturally still, its belly grotesquely swollen—far too large for a normal pregnancy. He kicked the sow, and it toppled over with a thud. The pig had already been gutted.
Raul Master ordered the pig's stomach cut open—and inside, they found a three-year-old girl stitched into the cavity. Barely alive, she was drenched in blood, her left palm bearing three of the Six-Star Hades Prison Nails.
Raul Master used his magic to stabilize Luna, but he couldn't break the curse of the nails. Only the caster could undo it, he explained. Still, Luna was lucky—had all six nails been carved, she would have died. Her survival was only thanks to Raul Master's timely return.
From that day on, Luna could no longer endure sunlight. Raul Master explained that her body was now half-human, half-ghost—her yin energy so overwhelming that even light feared her.
Later, Raul Master performed a divination for Luna and Stella, taking both sisters as his disciples.
Having heard Luna's story, her purpose for pursuing Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts became clear to me: she sought to break the accursed Six-Star Hades Prison Nails.
But what kind of Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts could I possibly give her to shatter this vile curse?