For Lu Liangting, drawing an Ability from the lottery page was the best outcome, like the Yin Yang Eyes. As long as he drew it, he could basically enhance his own strength. It was also the most reliable choice, since using it on himself was the most tangible.
Next best was drawing an ordinary ghost, provided the ghost would obey his commands. Otherwise, it was just another problem.
Generally, once its wish was fulfilled, an ordinary ghost would obey and help you fight other ghosts.
The most troublesome outcome by far was drawing a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost.
There were simply too many uncertainties. He had to admit, a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost had the strongest power and provided the greatest foundation of confidence, being many times stronger than an ordinary ghost.
Strong as they were, the problem was that a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost’s resentment was also several times that of an ordinary ghost. This kind of ghost was basically impossible to communicate with and rarely obeyed commands. Whether it helped you or not depended entirely on its own whim.
Even worse, instead of helping, it might just kill you.
Among them, the female Red-Clothed Fierce Ghosts were the most troublesome. Keep your distance, and she’d treat you as an enemy and kill you. Get too close, make her fall in love with you, and she’d choose to “be with you forever”—which also meant killing you.
You had to maintain a perfect balance, something incredibly difficult to achieve.
How could a living person ever guess the thoughts of a ghost?
So, putting reliability aside, drawing a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost was actually the best value. The drop rate of a few tenths of a percent for a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost proved it: the more powerful the ghost, the lower the chance of drawing it.
Lu Liangting held the blood-stained phone, his heart filled with anxiety.
If this ghost was willing to help him, this mission would be a guaranteed success.
If she wasn’t, things would get even more troublesome.
His gaze shifted to Zhao Mingyue. Lu Liangting said in a deep voice, “I don’t know what kind of personality this ghost has, but she’s our chance.”
“I’m going to release her now. Be careful.”
“Ah, this…” Zhao Mingyue rubbed the head of the rabbit doll in her pocket, her smile stiff. She could already feel Bai Yu’s killing intent. If nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected was definitely about to happen.
Lu Liangting, oh Lu Liangting. For once your luck was good, drawing a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost, so why did it have to be here?
For a moment, Zhao Mingyue couldn’t tell if Lu Liangting was lucky or unlucky.
Hmm… perhaps both triggered at the same time, with bad luck gaining the upper hand.
She couldn’t really be blamed for following him out. She genuinely hadn’t considered this point earlier. But even if she hadn’t, this ghost of Lu Liangting’s would still have been eaten—they were only separated by a corridor.
Seeing Zhao Mingyue take two steps back, Lu Liangting continued to hold his breath and focus. After putting the black phone into his pants pocket, he also gripped the other Fierce Ghost items in his pockets.
He opened the flip phone. Before he even pressed the power button, the screen lit up on its own.
Message after message flooded in, the phone dinging incessantly.
“My love, you promised to stay with me forever.”
“Why did you leave me? Was I not good enough for you? Was I not gentle and caring enough?!”
“Don’t leave me, don’t leave me, don’t…”
“You still love me, right? Right right right right right??”
“You must still love me, or else why would you eat my flesh?”
“My love, did my body taste good?”
“Turn around and look at me. Why won’t you look at me? Why won’t you?”
“…”
The text messages came one after another, each saturated with twisted love. Faintly, Lu Liangting seemed to see a pale, ghastly face on the phone screen—a woman’s face.
After dozens of dinging messages, the phone suddenly stopped. It was abrupt, catching him off guard.
About half a minute passed, and the phone rang again.
“My love, why won’t you answer me?”
“Do you still love me? Turn around. I’m right behind you.”
As the last two messages were received, Lu Liangting clearly felt the temperature in the corridor plummet. Something incredibly terrifying had appeared, right behind him, no more than a meter away.
He didn’t even need to turn around. Lowering his gaze slightly, he could see the tangible, black resentment energy spreading out from behind him in his peripheral vision…
His heart hammered wildly. He subconsciously slowed his breathing. Every hair on his body stood on end. An extreme sense of danger stimulated his senses.
As expected of a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost. Its oppressive feeling was double that of an ordinary ghostly monster.
He now had two choices. One: don’t look back, just walk forward. Two: immediately turn around and meet the female ghost’s gaze.
One of these choices would cost him his life. Even if he didn’t die, it would be extremely difficult to use this Fierce Ghost’s power. The moment he dared to release her, her primary target would be him.
Lu Liangting’s heart wavered. His palms and the tip of his nose grew slightly sweaty. His mind raced, frantically extracting crucial information from the Fierce Ghost’s introduction.
Across from him, Zhao Mingyue blinked.
From her perspective, she could only see Lu Liangting’s entire body tense with nervousness, his expression equally grave. Something stood behind him, but unfortunately, Lu Liangting’s body blocked it. She couldn’t see the ghost’s appearance, only the black qi.
For Lu Liangting, this situation wasn’t exactly a daily occurrence, but it happened occasionally. He was used to this feeling.
This was something Zhao Mingyue couldn’t understand. She had many lottery chances. Whether Fierce Ghost or Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost, no ghost would ever stand behind her like this, giving her a life-or-death choice between turning around or not.
Time passed. Another half a minute went by.
This half-minute felt longer than half an hour to Lu Liangting.
He made his decision in his heart. He spun around abruptly, simultaneously taking several steps back.
Behind him, a woman in a red overcoat stood silently. She looked to be in her thirties. Despite her ghastly pale face, one could see she had been quite attractive in life.
Two trails of blood flowed from her eye sockets, dripping down her cheeks and turning into wisps of black smoke upon hitting the floor.
Lu Liangting was extremely nervous. He stared fixedly into the female ghost’s eyes, not saying a word.
He inwardly breathed a small sigh of relief. He knew he had probably made the right bet.
He could tell from the fact that the female ghost hadn’t killed him the instant he turned around. If he’d chosen wrong, she would have lunged at him already.
It seemed the Goddess of Luck was still favoring him.
With a Red-Clothed Ghost like this, today’s task would be much simpler. Future missions would also be much easier. Including this one, he now had two Red-Clothed Fierce Ghosts. As long as he didn’t go to places like Eternal Life Village, he could handle any mission location.
Just as Lu Liangting was feeling fortunate, he noticed the female ghost suddenly shift her gaze, looking past him at Zhao Mingyue.
“Damn it!” Lu Liangting noticed this and cursed inwardly, but it was already too late.
The female ghost saw Zhao Mingyue. Her expression turned from soft to ferocious in a second, ready to pounce. However, a small fist wrapped in two-finger-thick chains struck first, heading straight for the female ghost’s face.
Lu Liangting’s eyes widened. Before he could even say a word, his vision blurred—Bai Yu had already arrived.
Boom!
Black qi exploded outwards. The female ghost was sent flying backwards with a whoosh, her face caved in. She slammed into the wall, practically embedded in it.
Bai Yu stood where the female ghost had been moments before. She glanced back at Lu Liangting. A single look seemed to say nothing, yet seemed to say everything.
This ghost glanced at Zhao Mingyue. She definitely wanted to kill someone!
Why else put on such a vicious expression? To say hello?
Bai Yu hadn’t even used her blade. Her right arm was wrapped with the two-finger-thick chains, making her slender limb look just barely somewhat lethal.
Her attire today was also different from usual: high ponytail, long leather jacket.
The female ghost let out a shriek, rising from the wall. The wall was completely undamaged. Black qi erupted from her body, her black hair stabbing out with her scream, strand after strand like black serpents.
Bai Yu remained silent. She took one step forward, her figure blurring for an instant, then directly appeared right in front of the female ghost.
An uppercut struck the female ghost’s chin. The female ghost was sent flying into the air. Just as she rose, Bai Yu retracted her fist and launched a straight punch into the female ghost’s abdomen. Blood Threads frantically devoured the female ghost’s resentment energy.
Just lifted off the ground, she was smashed flying again by the punch. The female ghost collided with the wall a second time.
The female ghost tried to phase through the wall to escape, but the wall behind her had long been sealed shut by Blood Threads.
The female ghost slammed heavily into the wall. She had just raised her head when Bai Yu’s chain-wrapped arm swung horizontally from her left side, smashing heavily into her neck. Under the immense force, the female ghost’s body toppled to one side.
Bai Yu then drove her knee forward. It looked as if the female ghost’s head was actively slamming into her knee.
Another boom. Black mist exploded outwards like it was worthless, devoured in large quantities by the Blood Threads locking down the corridor.
Knocked back by the knee strike, Bai Yu clasped both hands together and raised them high above her head.
The female ghost looked up, only to see two small fists rapidly growing larger in her vision. This blow carried immense momentum and force, accurately landing on her face.
Smashed to the ground by the punch, the female ghost had no chance to counterattack. Bai Yu’s every move gave her no room to breathe.
Half-crouching over the already downed female ghost, Bai Yu raised her right fist high again. This time, the target was still the head.
“Wait!”
Lu Liangting could finally take no more. He raised his hand, wanting to step forward.
Bai Yu, expressionless, looked back at Lu Liangting. Their eyes met. Then… she slammed her fist down. The female ghost’s head was driven straight into the Blood Threads sealing the floor. For the female ghost, it was like having her head shoved into a meat grinder.
The female ghost’s shrieks became muffled. From Lu Liangting’s perspective, her legs straightened rigidly from Bai Yu’s punch.
“…”
Lu Liangting wanted to speak but held back. He frantically called the name of his other Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost in his mind. It had responded earlier in the room, but now it was like a stone sinking into the sea.
‘Hey, Old Yang, come out and save me!’
‘Go stop her, I’ll talk her down!’
‘Don’t you want Fierce Ghosts as food? I’ll find one for you, tomorrow night for sure!’
‘Hey, Old Yang, answer me!’
No matter what he said or did, the Red-Clothed Ghost residing in his shadow completely ignored him. Not even the slightest ripple of activity. It was so quiet, it was as if it didn’t exist at all.
“Bai Yu, wait a moment!” Lu Liangting didn’t have time to think anymore. If it wouldn’t help, so be it. If he delayed any longer, this newly drawn Red-Clothed Ghost would be beaten to a second death on the spot.
Honestly, every time he saw Bai Yu’s savage fighting style, he was shocked.
In his experience, ghosts didn’t fight like this at all.
Ghosts fought with resentment, competing in the power boosts gained from devouring their own kind.
When ghosts killed humans, their methods were countless, ranging from physical to psychological, an endless variety.
But when ghosts fought each other, what you usually saw were two ghosts intertwining their hair, with the stronger one overpowering and devouring the weaker one through sheer force.
Bai Yu, on the other hand, wouldn’t fight you with hair. If she considered you worthy, she’d use her blade and chop you up in a few cuts. What use was your strength then? If she looked down on you, she’d use her fists. A few booming punches left you unable to retaliate. Even ghosts were left dazed and confused.
Bai Yu stood up. “Leave.”
“Bai Yu, we can talk this out! Let her go first!”
Lu Liangting was on the verge of tears. A Red-Clothed Ghost he had just drawn, and he hadn’t even exchanged a single word.
But what could he do? He’d been careless, knowing full well a female ghost shouldn’t be provoked by another woman, yet he still let Zhao Mingyue be seen by her.
This could also be considered Bai Yu’s emergency intervention.
“No. She wanted to kill.” Bai Yu’s face didn’t redden, nor did her heart race. She’d had this planned from the start anyway.
She raised her small foot and stomped down with full force on the struggling female ghost’s chest. Now, over half of the female ghost’s body was sunk into the Blood Threads. The Blood Threads from other locations also crawled over, slowly enveloping the female ghost’s entire body.
Lu Liangting noticed that the bloodstains on the flip phone were rapidly fading.
This was his first time encountering such a situation, but it wasn’t hard to guess: when the bloodstains completely vanished, the female ghost would have been thoroughly “devoured, body and soul.”
Zhao Mingyue walked over with a complicated expression. She also wanted to persuade Bai Yu, but on second thought, she decided against it. At a time like this, Bai Yu wouldn’t listen.
Who told this female ghost to walk right into the line of fire, giving Bai Yu the perfect excuse?
True enough. Why did you have to provoke her? Couldn’t you just cling to Lu Liangting?
Why did you have to glance at me?
You looked, and then you bared your teeth, ready to kill.
Bai Yu couldn’t not eat you, really.
“Ahem, well, that ghost’s killing intent was too strong. Let Bai Yu teach her a good lesson.”
“Actually, you didn’t really lose out. That phone in your hand is still useful. It can house a ghost. Next time you encounter a kind-hearted ghost, you can let it live in the phone.”
“I have experience with this matter.”
The phrase ‘I have experience with this matter’ explained everything.
Lu Liangting turned back and exchanged a look with Zhao Mingyue. They could both see the bitterness in each other’s eyes. Of course, Zhao Mingyue had much less, because for her, she didn’t need a second ghost, and the ones she drew weren’t SSR-level like a Red-Clothed Ghost anyway.
Zhao Mingyue suddenly wondered: if a Red-Clothed Ghost was an SSR, then what level was Bai Yu?
She felt it more and more now. Just how lucky had she been at that time to summon Bai Yu to her home?
