"Huh? What are you guys doing?"
Lily returned to the living room, only to see both William and me poring over the charms that Lam Ching Ying was drawing. We both straightened up and shook our heads.
"Nothing. Just getting into the spirit of things. Mr. Lam was teaching us how to draw charms for an exorcism movie."
"Exorcism movie?" Lily repeated incredulously, raising an eyebrow at me. I nodded.
"Didn't I tell you? Mr. Lam is famous for his roles in Mr. Vampire, often playing the Daoist priest. Why do you think he's dressed like this? It's his signature role."
"Oh, yes! Now I remember!" Lily laughed. I deliberately went to her side to show her a clip from Mr. Vampire on a video streaming site, and she nodded when she saw the actor playing the Daoist priest. There was quite an uncanny resemblance between the actor from the late twentieth century and the Lam Ching Ying currently in front of us.
So much so that Lily accepted my explanation without any doubts. She looked amazed, her eyes lighting up as she imagined herself becoming famous for a signature role of her own someday. I tried not to smirk.
Then, when I saw the nod from Lam Ching Ying, I immediately grabbed Lily's arm without any hesitation, preventing her from moving. Lily Bai was stunned by my abrupt movement, but she was more annoyed than alarmed. She turned to glare at me.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Helping me," Lam Ching Ying replied before poking her chest with his peach wood sword. The yellow charm with mixed blood and ink drawn in an arcane symbol glowed as it made contact with the front of her blouse.
There was a huge glow and then an explosion flung me aside. I hit the ground and rolled, automatically drawing the plasma pistol that I kept on me for personal security. With all the assassins sent after me by my business rivals, you would never know when I needed them. That was why I carried a weapon with me wherever I went.
The plasma pistol carried enough firepower to burn through an exosuit and the flesh and bone underneath in one shot, so I had to restrain myself from reflexively firing upon Lily. Even if she was being possessed by Lily Bai right now, her body belonged to Lily Ling. Like hell I would allow any harm to befall my friend.
Lily, for her part, was rolling about on the ground, writhing and screaming as smoke rose from her chest. Lam Ching Ying mercilessly jumped forward, poking her with his peach wood sword again, his other hand drawing more charms to paste it onto her body. More glowing light burst from Lily's body, illuminating the entire interior in an eerie glow.
"Good heavens!" William was cowering behind a couch. "What the hell is going on?!"
Then he gasped when he saw Lily Bai's ghost being forcibly dragged out by Lam Ching Ying. By now, the Daoist priest had used the eight trigrams mirror to shine it upon his patient, reflecting her with arcane magic and driving out the ghost. I didn't recognize the phantom woman who was being expelled from Lily Ling's body, but I was sure that was none other than Lily Bai.
"Isn't that Lily Bai?!" William blurted out. When I glanced at him, he shrugged. "She's a pretty famous actress. But I heard she died? I can't be sure, but there were malicious rumors about her taking part in a sadomasochistic play with some rich guy and she ended up overdosing and committing suicide."
"That's a lie!" Lily Bai's ghost screamed. "I was murdered! That man dragged me into his room in Hotel C and tried to rape me! Before he tried to rape me, he engaged in sadomasochistic play in a one-sided affair, completely against my will! He strangled me to death!"
Ghostly light continued to pour out of her as she resisted Lam Ching Ying, who was gritting his teeth as he was slowly being driven back. He tried to use more charms, but Lily Bai knocked him away with a swipe of her phantom hand. Whirling around, he parried her next strike with his peach wood sword. There was a huge spark and Lily Bai's spirit recoiled with a shriek, smoke pouring out of her scorched arm.
"She's too strong! This ghost has too much resentment!" Lan Ching Ying was perspiring, his face pale as he blocked and deflected Lily Bai's ghostly attacks. She had resorted to ranged attacks, her hair turning into spikes and stabbing at him. The Daoist priest brought up his eight trigrams mirror and conjured a spiritual shield to block the attack, but it was clear that he was being pushed back.
"Oh no! What should we do?!" William was panicking. It was strange to see my highly capable secretary trembling in fear, but this was beyond either of us. After all, this was the first time we had actually seen ghosts or an exorcism in action.
Hell, this was the twenty-second century and we had mechs, energy shields, laser rifles and plasma weapons. How the hell did a ghost fit in with this?!
Also, come to think of it, before the 2000s, wasn't this the correct and usual response to someone occupying somebody else's body? Sometime after the 2010s, it became standard to treat the forcible seizure of someone else's physical body and consider it "reincarnation." Now that I thought about it, that was simply a convenient plot device for the heroines to get cheats while enacting their revenge and slapping antagonists' faces.
Whatever the case, the reality was that Lam Ching Ying was under heavy pressure right now and was in danger of losing against Lily Bai's ghost. That was not good. If he was defeated, the vengeful spirit would turn her resentment and fury upon us for trying to exorcize her out of Lily Ling's physical body – never mind it didn't belong to her in the first place.
"How dare you get in the way of my revenge?!" Lily Bai screeched. "All those who hinder my revenge will die!"
"Fool!" Lam Ching Ying snapped. "The human world and the spirit world coexist, but they must never mix! A ghost must never spend too much time in the human world, or her yin qi will pollute material reality and bring harm to all the people around her! The body of the person you possessed – the longer you maintain your hold on her, the more she will suffer! Eventually, her soul will be destroyed because of you! And her family will suffer misfortune and illness the longer they spend time in your presence because of all the negative yin qi you emanate!"
He swung his peach wood sword with a flourish, batting away Lily Bai's spiky hair and phantom claws.
"The dead must not be allowed to remain in the world of the living! You must return to the spirit world at once and enter the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth! Such is the natural order of the cosmos! If you defy it, you will only invite misfortune and disaster!"
"Hah! I'm already suffering from disaster!" Lily Bai barked out in harsh laughter. "The bitch not only tricked me, she had me murdered by that bastard! And my reputation was ruined! Have I not already suffered several lifetimes' worth of misfortune? Why should I be the only victim who suffers? I must make them pay for it!"
"Oh, sure. I'll definitely take revenge for you in your place." I was holding Lily Ling and studying her. She was unconscious, but she seemed to be alive. I was worried that she would never wake up again. Did the possession damage her soul? Or was she in a coma, somehow ending up in a vegetative state after the combination of drowning and having her body possessed? I hoped to the heavens that her soul wasn't displaced by the process.
"I don't trust you! And I must take revenge with my own hands!"
With unprecedented ferocity, Lily Bai launched a flurry of attacks, forcing Lam Ching Ying back. He parried her claws with his sword and blocked her hair with his eight trigrams mirror, but he was clearly tiring. Unlike the vengeful ghost, Lam Ching Ying had a body of flesh and blood. He was prone to the frailties of the material world.
"Oh no! Ninth Uncle won't be able to hold on for much longer!" William cried.
I glanced around anxiously, wondering what I could do. Even though I had watched some old movies about ghosts, I couldn't do anything Daoist or religious – I had neither the training nor the knowledge. All I knew were Christian prayers that I learned during my youth, but I doubted they would have any effect on a non-Christian ghost like Lily Bai.
This was no way for a non-spiritualist like me to interfere.
Wait, I might not know anything about religion or the paranormal, but I specialized in technology. Perhaps there was something that I could use to fend off ghosts…to help Lam Ching Ying before he was defeated!
"Hang in there, Ninth Uncle!" I shouted before rushing out of the living room and toward the back. I stumbled toward my garage, unlocking the door with my keys before staggering inside. Glancing around, I spotted the experimental proton pack that I had been building during my spare time, as a side effect of designing a particle projectile cannon for the Hunter.
Sliding the straps over my shoulders, I carried the proton pack like a backpack and hurried back toward my living room. Lily Bai had her hands around Lam Ching Ying's neck and was slowly struggling him to death. The Daoist priest was struggling, flailing about with his peach wood sword, but Lily Bai had strands of hair wrapped around his wrist, keeping the deadly blade at bay.
I flipped on the particle accelerator system, which fired a stream of concentrated polarized protons – basically positive subatomic particles – that curled around the negatively charged yin energy that composed a ghost's existence. Lily Bai turned around with a snarl, only to be caught in the charged particle beam. She shrieked and flailed about, but was unable to break free of the chain of positively charged protons, which neutralized the negative yin qi that she was emanating.
Without her ghostly powers, Lily Bai was not that much stronger than a normal human.
Coughing as he staggered away from Lily Bai, who had let go of his throat, Lam Ching Ying threw out a hand and grabbed one of his yellow paper charms. Wrapping it around the tip of his peach wood sword, he practically danced about and performed sacred gestures with his hands murmuring an incantation that I didn't understand at all. He then surged forward and stabbed Lily Bai in the chest with the sword.
"Rest in peace, and reincarnate safely," he ordered. "May your next life be blessed and without misfortune. Let go of your resentment and embrace the joy of a new beginning."
"No! you…!
Lily Bai never finished her scream. Her body exploded and she literally ceased to exist, her very essence exiled back toward the spirit world.
Slumping down, Lam Ching Ying coughed and rubbed at his throat, looking weary but triumphant. He nodded at both William and me, who were staring at the unbelievable spectacle in shock.
"The exorcism is a success," he declared hoarsely. He then nodded at my proton pack. "That's quite the interesting device you have there. I would like to buy it if you don't mind selling."
"We can discuss that later." I was rushing toward Lily Ling's prone figure. "In the meantime, we have to take care of Lily! Is she all right?"
Despite the exorcism being successful, Lily Ling had yet to wake up. Watching her, I couldn't help but worry.
The only thing I could do now was to bring her to hospital and hope she regained consciousness soon.