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2022.09.03
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郭锦泓✎
Avita Guo艺术家及写作者
Artist and writer
行至门前时，四周的烈焰中不间断回响着不再像人的啸叫，那是一遍又一遍在地火里缓慢炼化的人魈。人魈，是介于恶鬼和亡魂之间的人，地府的规条并不仅仅判罚朴素的恶人，多数戒规都针对以下犯上或女犯男尊。身边的亡魂轻蔑地看着地火同我搭腔，你说，这人魈是不是活该，他们怎么敢知罪犯罪，活该受尽酷刑不得超生，不像我们。
不像我们。
我在心里默默接话，不像我们什么，难道我们又有什么高贵的地方值得大书特书吗，我很想提醒他，我们也在地火包围中，三界炼狱里啊。
进门了啊，门口的夜叉机械重复着，饮用孟婆汤是每一个亡魂的职责与义务，请凭死亡证明领取孟婆汤一碗，自然死亡与无辜横死有权领取孟婆汤一碗，举报混于队伍中的漏网人魈是每一个亡魂的职责与义务。
孟婆汤很像一碗浓稠的猪红，故土上的流亡人，沉默如迷的魂魄死生又有什么两样，但今天的我的魂与魄已不再执着于此，都可以，让我们由生至死做一个故乡的叛徒，做家庭的外人，做……地火中的人魈。
As I reach the gate, I hear unceasing howls piercing through the surrounding flames. No longer sounding human, those are the cries of the half-humans, who are slowly, repeatedly tormented in the infernal fires. These half-humans are creatures who exist somewhere between devils and lost souls, having committed sins beyond “ordinary misdeeds.” The rules of the underworld, for the most part, punish those who defy superiors or women who transgress male authority. The lost soul beside me looks at the burning flames in disdain and chit-chats with me: Don’t you think those half-humans deserve it? How dare they knowingly commit such sins? They deserve to be tortured and never be reincarnated, unlike us.
Unlike us.
I respond silently to myself: Unlike us? What makes us so noble or worthy of distinction? I really want to remind him that we, too, are being surrounded by the infernal flames, trapped in the burning purgatory.
Everyone heads inside now, the Yaksha guarding the gate repeats mechanically. It is the duty and obligation of every lost soul to drink the Meng Po Tea. Please present your death certificate to receive a bowl. Those who died naturally or were innocently killed are entitled to one bowl. It is also your duty and obligation to report any half-humans hiding among us.
The Meng Po Tea resembles a thick stew of pig’s blood. For the exiles roaming their native land, death seems no different from life, both silent as mysteries. However, today, my soul and my spirit have let go of everything and anything: From birth to death, let us be traitors to our motherland, outsiders to our families… be half-humans scorched by hellfire.