“You… all of you have to die.”
After Liu Yue spat out her vicious threat, her eyes rolled back, and her body went limp as she collapsed to the ground. The thing inside her body had left.
“She’s gone. Let’s go to a room first,” Jiang Yi said. Then he turned around to leave.
“Wait,” Song Qian called out to him.
Jiang Yi turned back to look at her, frowning in confusion.
Seeing that Yuan Yuan and Lin Sheng were also looking at her, Song Qian raised her hand and pointed at Xu Yan and Liu Yue, who had been forgotten on the ground. “What about them?”
Xu Yan was still okay, but Liu Yue looked like she had been fished out of a pool of blood. There wasn’t a single intact patch of skin on her head or face, and to top it off, she wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.
Jiang Yi: “…”
He glanced at Xu Yan, who was still unconscious on the ground. Jiang Yi made a snap decision, squatted down, and pinched the pressure point on Xu Yan’s philtrum, forcibly waking him up.
Xu Yan opened his eyes in pain. Before he could even figure out what was happening, a hand suddenly covered them, plunging his vision into darkness.
“What are you doing?”
Jiang Yi quickly waved his other hand, signaling for the three girls to head downstairs first.
~~~
“What did you make me carry? Why is it all wet?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just carry it.”
“Then why didn’t you carry it? And if I’m carrying it, why cover my eyes?”
Xu Yan and Jiang Yi’s voices came from outside the door. Song Qian stood up and went to open it.
The door opened, and the two of them walked in in an utterly absurd position: Jiang Yi was walking backward in front of Xu Yan, one hand constantly covering Xu Yan’s eyes, while Liu Yue—wrapped haphazardly in a couple of pieces of clothing—was on Xu Yan’s back.
Song Qian couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up.
Fortunately, Jiang Yi still had some conscience and had contributed his jacket, preventing Liu Yue’s blood from staining the single shirt Xu Yan was wearing.
Once Xu Yan had put Liu Yue down, Jiang Yi finally removed his hand.
“Phew—” Xu Yan let out a breath and glanced back at the floor: “…”
Liu Yue lay there on the ground, covered in blood and looking hideous.
The thing he’d been carrying… wet…
Xu Yan looked down at his hands in disbelief. Even under the weak beam from the flashlight, he could see they were a ghastly red. He broke down, raising a trembling finger to point at Jiang Yi as he stammered incoherently for a long time without getting a single word out.
“You… I…”
Jiang Yi knew he was in the wrong. “Here, use my jacket to wipe your hands.”
“That’s what I said—why make me wear your jacket just to carry something!” Xu Yan shook as he took off the jacket. Seeing the layer of blood on it, he wanted to throw it away, but his hands were still covered in blood. In the end, he gritted his teeth in fear, wiped his hands on it roughly, and immediately jumped to the side, putting as much distance as possible between himself and it.
“You all saw what just happened. I’m sure you each have your own thoughts about it,” Jiang Yi said, standing to one side as he scanned everyone’s expressions. Yuan Yuan and Xu Yan were seeing something like this for the first time, and both had suppressed fear in their eyes—the terror of facing the unknown.
“Ghosts do exist in this world.”
“And there’s one more issue…”
Jiang Yi turned his gaze to Song Qian. This person had been chosen by the jade spirit, so there must be something special about her. Perhaps even the strange events here were connected to her.
“There’s no daytime,” Lin Sheng spoke up first, her tone certain.
Now that she mentioned it, it did seem that way. They had originally planned to stay until dawn and then go down the mountain to find a clinic for Lu Tiantian’s injury. But after all this time, it was still pitch black outside.
Wait…
Song Qian paused. “What about Lu Tiantian?”
She hadn’t seen Lu Tiantian up in the attic earlier. With her foot injured, where could she have gone?
“It was her… it was Lu Tiantian!” Liu Yue had woken up at some point and was struggling to get up, but her weakened body pinned her firmly to the ground.
“What are you saying?”
“It was Lu Tiantian who killed Brother Zhiwen,” Liu Yue said. She seemed to be crying, blood tears streaming down both cheeks. “I saw it. It was her who did it…”
Yuan Yuan couldn’t help but interrupt her, her tone tinged with dissatisfaction. “That’s impossible. When we heard you scream, Lu Tiantian was right there with us.”
She admitted she didn’t like Liu Yue much. After all, Liu Yue was the third wheel between Ma Zhiwen and Lu Tiantian—a scheming little green tea type trying to drive a wedge between them. But now that Ma Zhiwen was dead, how could she still pin it on Lu Tiantian? Besides, Lu Tiantian really hadn’t been there at the time.
“It was her. Believe me,” Liu Yue said, her gaze vacant as she began recounting what had happened in that attic.
She had seen Brother Zhiwen open that cabinet. There was nothing inside it. But! When Brother Zhiwen turned around, she saw it! She saw Lu Tiantian clinging to his back, grinning at her—a smile that was eerie and terrifying.
Then, Lu Tiantian had thrust her hand right through Brother Zhiwen’s stomach, churning it around inside nonstop. Liu Yue had been so terrified that she screamed.
“You’re lying!” It was Yuan Yuan who had opened the door for Lu Tiantian back then. She didn’t believe a word of what Liu Yue was saying.
Was there another Lu Tiantian in the world or something?
Song Qian didn’t want to believe it either, but Ma Zhiwen was dead, and Liu Yue had no reason to lie about this.
Ji Wuxin spoke up leisurely from the side. “Ghosts can take on someone else’s appearance.”
“?”
Song Qian looked at her. That originally deathly pale ghost face slowly shifted before her eyes into Song Qian’s own likeness. Ji Wuxin proudly raised her brows.
Song Qian rolled her eyes at her, but it did convince her of Ji Wuxin’s words. There had probably been two Lu Tiantians back then—one human, one ghost.
“Let me tell you one more thing.” Ji Wuxin nudged Song Qian with her shoulder.
Song Qian glanced at her.
Ji Wuxin’s eyes darted, then she raised a hand and wagged her index finger. “If you don’t show some appreciation, I’ll be at a loss, won’t I?”
Song Qian: “…”
Even a ghost was haggling.
Song Qian murmured in the lowest voice possible. “What, do you want to suck my yang qi?”
The room was very quiet. If Song Qian made any noise, Yuan Yuan would notice. The two weren’t far apart, and Yuan Yuan hadn’t caught what she said, so she reflexively asked, “Qianqian, what did you say?”
Lin Sheng and Xu Yan both looked over.
Yuan Yuan regretted it the moment she spoke. There was a red-clothed female ghost right beside Song Qian—she must have been whispering to the ghost.
“Hahaha, you didn’t say anything? I must’ve misheard. I’m just too scared.” Yuan Yuan kept talking as she shivered and shuffled her legs toward Lin Sheng.
“Our phones have no signal here. You all heard what that ghost said earlier—she’ll be back. Stay alert and don’t let her find an opening,” Jiang Yi reminded them before moving alone to a corner, fiddling with something.
“Kiss me, and I’ll tell you.” Ji Wuxin leaned her face over.
Seeing the disgusted look on Song Qian’s face, she paused. “You don’t like that?”
“No, I just don’t want to hear it.”
A crack seemed to split across Ji Wuxin’s calm ghost face. “You won’t listen?”
“Yeah, I won’t.”
“No, you have to.”
“Fine, I’ll listen. But no kissing.”
Ji Wuxin cracked again. Suddenly, she remembered what Jiang Yi had told her before: Use your body to seduce…
She raised a hand to take off her clothes. She wasn’t afraid of heat or cold and wasn’t wearing much—just this red dress. Taking it off wouldn’t leave much.
Song Qian was so startled by her movement that she hurriedly grabbed her hand, not caring how weird she looked to the others.
Sure enough, at least in Xu Yan and Yuan Yuan’s eyes, Song Qian looked like she’d suddenly gone crazy, reaching out to grab at thin air beside her.
“What are you doing!?”
“Taking off my clothes! You’ll definitely like it!” Ji Wuxin grew more excited. “I get it—you like this kind of thing.”
Song Qian: “…”
Song Qian gripped her hand tightly to stop her from moving. In the dim room, her fair face had turned as red as a ripe crab shell.
“Who said I like it?”
“Don’t take off your clothes. I’ll listen, okay? I’ll listen!” Song Qian had no bottom line left.
How could this ghost be like this! Even if… even if the others couldn’t see her, she couldn’t just strip in public.
Seeing the complicated looks from the others, Song Qian turned her back to them. “Fine, tell me. I’m listening.”
Ji Wuxin leaned her face in close. Seeing no reaction, she started to raise her hand again to undress.
“Kiss! I’ll kiss!”
Though Ji Wuxin wasn’t as hideous as some ghosts, having that stark white, bloodless face shoved in front of her still made Song Qian’s heart race.
No one wanted to kiss a… dead person’s face, right?
She had kissed her before, but that was either because she hadn’t reacted in time or Ji Wuxin had initiated it. To actively kiss her herself…
Song Qian struggled internally for a long time, deciding it was a difficult task.
“…Can I kiss you later when we get back?” She just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Ji Wuxin’s face showed no expression, just staring at her coldly.
“…Okay.”
Song Qian hadn’t expected her to agree and laughed happily for a moment.
Yuan Yuan over there had been staring at her for a while. Her Qianqian was really communicating with that female ghost.
“Do you want to take a look?” Lin Sheng suddenly asked.
Yuan Yuan thought Lin Sheng was going to burn incense again, so she hesitated before nodding.
Seeing her nod, Lin Sheng pressed her index and middle fingers together and swiftly brushed them across Yuan Yuan’s eyelids. “There. All done.”
Yuan Yuan opened her eyes and froze at the sight before her. The room was the same as before, but now it was shrouded in a thin veil of red mist. Beside Song Qian floated the female ghost—and the ghost was staring straight at her.
“…”
“You can see me?” Ji Wuxin’s voice was soft, but everyone in the room heard it clearly—everyone except Xu Yan, who was busy tending to Liu Yue off to the side.
Yuan Yuan swallowed hard and averted her gaze, pretending with all her might that she was blind.
Can’t see, can’t see, can’t see anything at all—
“What are you doing? There’s no way they can see you.” When Ji Wuxin started drifting toward Yuan Yuan, Song Qian grabbed her arm. Ji Wuxin was a ghost, after all. Even if she had no intention of harming anyone, Song Qian couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t lash out at her friends.
“She can see me.” Ji Wuxin had felt it clearly—Yuan Yuan had been staring right at her, just like before.
Yuan Yuan: “…” Don’t come any closer, please.
Song Qian held her back firmly. “Didn’t you have something to tell me? Out with it.”
Ji Wuxin finally settled down and turned back to Song Qian to discuss their earlier matter.
Kissing at home was fine, which meant it wouldn’t be just once. Song Qian clung stubbornly to her principles, and in the end, they reached a compromise: one kiss now, and three more once they got home.
“Lu Tiantian…” As Ji Wuxin spoke, her eyes flicked toward Yuan Yuan and Lin Sheng. Neither of them was looking their way.
“She died long ago.”
The words had barely left her mouth when those two pairs of eyes whipped around to face them. A triumphant gleam sparkled in Ji Wuxin’s eyes.
She knew she hadn’t been imagining it. They could both see her.
Ji Wuxin flashed them a “friendly” smile.
Yuan Yuan and Lin Sheng promptly turned away in unison: “…”
“She died long ago!?”
“When you met her, she was already dead.”
