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The Strange Tattooist
Chapter 11: The Twins

Chapter 11: The Twins

The woman walked into the tattoo shop from the night, wearing a black baseball cap. As soon as I saw her face, I felt my anger rise. It was none other than Su Qing, the woman who had just had the "king tattoo" done earlier that day.

So, she dared to come back? This time, if she doesn't pay the remaining balance, she won't be leaving. If she has no money, she can use her body as collateral—after all, she’s not bad-looking.

"Hello, are you Mr. Tang Hao?" she asked politely, her tone completely different from before.

I sneered. "What’s this? Trying to act like you don’t know me? Don’t play games. When are you going to pay the remaining two thousand?"

Su Qing frowned as if she didn’t understand. "Two thousand? What two thousand?"

Still pretending? How amusing. "You got a ghost tattoo done here earlier today for thirty thousand, and you only paid one thousand. When are you going to pay the rest?"

Suddenly, Su Qing smiled, her expression sweet and innocent, like an angel descending from the heavens. Her demeanor was the complete opposite of what it had been earlier today.

"Ah, so you must be Mr. Tang Hao. My sister has already gone ahead and gotten the ghost tattoo, right?"

Sister? What did she mean?

I began to carefully examine her. She looked almost identical to Su Qing, even down to the clothes they were wearing—except for the baseball cap on her head. The biggest difference, however, seemed to be in their demeanor. The woman in front of me, Su Yu, was gentle and graceful, with a calm, poised attitude and a sweet smile.

"Your sister? Are you two...?"

"Yes, we are twins!" Su Yu politely introduced herself, also apologizing on behalf of Su Qing and promising to make sure she would pay the remaining amount.

So, they were twins. No wonder they looked alike but had such different personalities—Su Qing was fierce and brash, while Su Yu was elegant and gentle.

The twins’ surname was Su, so they couldn’t be my pair of twins. If they were, I’d be a very lucky man. Even if I could only choose one, I’d be happy with the older sister—after all, the younger you are, the more mistakes you make. But of course, in my mind, I’d want both.

Since she wasn’t Su Qing, I politely invited her to sit down and served tea while asking her what brought her here.

It seemed that both sisters wanted a ghost tattoo. What a coincidence. Well, business was business, and I wasn’t going to complain.

Su Yu explained that both sisters had their own issues, which was why their master, Zhang Qing, had referred them to me. Su Qing was having nightmares, and Su Yu had a fear of sunlight.

Su Yu said that whenever she was exposed to sunlight, she felt an intense chill, as if needles were stabbing her skin. She had to carry an umbrella everywhere, even on sunny days, and sometimes she would hide in dark corners like a rat. She longed to experience normal life and bathe in sunlight like everyone else.

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As she spoke, her starry eyes dimmed, and her expression became heavy with sadness. I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.

I asked if it was some kind of disease.

Su Yu shook her head and then opened her delicate hand. When I looked closely, I saw three strange spikes embedded in her palm. These weren’t normal spikes but had a strange, almost demonic shape, with red, blood-like coloring. This didn’t look like a birthmark; it seemed like something was carved into her skin.

Su Yu explained that these were the Six-Star Underworld Nails. They were both a curse and a kind of magical formation. Anyone with these nails would die tragically in the underworld, falling into eternal damnation with no hope of reincarnation.

The Six-Star Underworld Nails were supposed to have six spikes, but only three had been carved into her hand, so she wasn’t dead. If her master, the Old Taoist Priest, hadn’t shown up just in time, she would have already perished, her soul suffering endlessly in the afterlife.

However, even with only three nails, Su Yu’s physical condition and fate had been altered. The balance of her yin and yang had been disrupted, causing her body to be filled with excessive yin energy, turning her into a half-human, half-ghost being. This explained why she couldn’t be in the sun—just like ghosts, she feared the light.

This was a terrible curse. I was curious who had placed such a curse on Su Yu.

Su Yu didn’t hide anything from me, telling me the full story, which began with her grandfather.

Her grandfather had been a wealthy businessman who, in his later years, offended many people. One night, he disappeared without a trace. The family searched for him, and eventually, they found his skin hanging from a tree.

When her father discovered this, he was heartbroken and rushed to stop it. It was then that the Old Taoist Priest appeared.

The Old Taoist Priest explained that if Su Yu’s father had woken her grandfather at that moment, he would have turned into a vengeful blood corpse, attacking anyone nearby. Su Yu’s grandfather had already died, but someone was using witchcraft to control his body. Anyone who got too close would be attacked by the corpse.

Su Yu’s father, terrified, begged the Old Taoist Priest to help. The Old Taoist Priest agreed, but only because it was their fate. He placed several yellow talismans on Su Yu’s grandfather’s body, causing him to collapse, and after exhaling a few breaths of foul air, he stopped moving.

The Old Taoist Priest then asked if there were any other children in the family. Su Yu’s father confirmed that there were two twin daughters, both three years old, at home with the nanny.

Hearing this, the Old Taoist Priest immediately shouted that they needed to hurry, or it would be too late.

They rushed back home, but when they arrived, the nanny had fainted, and there was a disturbance by the window.

The Old Taoist Priest discovered a child near the window—it was Su Qing—but Su Yu was missing.

The Old Taoist Priest slapped his thigh in frustration, realizing they had arrived too late. If they had come sooner, he might have been able to save both children.

Determined, the Old Taoist Priest climbed through the window and chased after the kidnapper. By the time dawn broke, he returned, saying the kidnapper had escaped and the child was no longer in his hands.

Su Yu’s father was desperate, asking where the child could have gone.

The Old Taoist Priest’s face darkened as he calculated, his fingers tracing patterns in the air and consulting his compass. Finally, he asked Su Yu’s father, “Where’s the pigsty?”

Confused, Su Yu’s father led him there. Upon arrival, the Old Taoist Priest immediately noticed a large sow standing motionless. Her stomach was swollen, but it didn’t seem like she was pregnant. When the Old Taoist Priest kicked the sow, it fell to the ground, revealing that it had already died.

Inside the pig's belly, they found a three-year-old girl, barely alive, her body covered in blood, with three Six-Star Underworld Nails embedded in her left hand.

The Old Taoist Priest performed a ritual to save Su Yu, but he couldn’t remove the nails. Only the person who placed them could undo the curse. Su Yu was lucky—if all six nails had been carved, she would have died without a doubt.

Since then, the Old Taoist Priest had taken Su Yu and Su Qing as his disciples.

Now, I understood Su Yu’s reason for wanting the ghost tattoo: to break the curse of the Six-Star Underworld Nails.

But what kind of tattoo would I need to give her to break this cursed formation?