I was so terrified I almost lost my soul. Just as the thought of closing my eyes crossed my mind, my eyelids seemed to lock up, refusing to shut. This unexpected twist forced me to witness a miracle unfold. Inwardly, I wondered: Could my bad luck have reached such a peak that even ghosts avoid me?
Looking down, I noticed that the protective mirror hanging on my chest had turned black in large patches, its talismanic inscription barely legible. It dawned on me that this "insurance" from the ghostly girl had just saved my life. At that critical moment, the mirror nearly failed, and I almost received the Grim Reaper's invitation. I owed her a thank-you for that.
"Wow... that move was tough," the ghost girl panted. "Flipping you over drained a lot of my energy."
"Thanks!" I blurted out, forgetting that Xiao Ying was still pinned beneath me.
"No, I should thank you..." Xiao Ying gasped, struggling to catch her breath. "But... could you get up first?"
Realizing the situation, I quickly rolled off her, and she followed, getting to her feet. I couldn't help muttering to myself: That flip just now would've left any guy wetting himself—women really are more resilient.
The forest around us was eerily quiet, as if the life-threatening danger we had just faced was a hallucination. The ghost fetus had fled in fright, and the shadow of Feng Lan that had possessed Wu Long had disappeared without a trace. Who would've thought this dark forest, once a death trap, would turn into a peaceful haven in an instant?
"Stop dawdling; get out of the woods!" the ghost girl urged. "The protective setup is ruined. The ghostly energy under the coffin is leaking out—it's harmful to her body."
Acknowledging her, I moved to stand, but Xiao Ying extended a hand to help me up. I took it without hesitation and used her support to get to my feet.
"Thank you!" Xiao Ying's eyes were filled with gratitude. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably be the next victim tonight."
"We're classmates—no need to be so formal." I smiled and took her hand as we walked out of the woods.
The moment we stepped out, a piercing scream shattered the night's stillness. Xiao Ying and I froze in place, our bodies trembling. She stared in the direction of the sound, whispering, "Could it be… someone else…"
Her sentence trailed off, as if she didn't dare finish her thought. But we both knew the scream unmistakably meant another person had died.
"The ghost fetus has killed someone!" the ghost girl's voice was as cold as ice. "It has fully emerged now, and from this point on, the school will be bathed in blood. Of the seven people marked with ghostly energy, one will die every day, along with unexpected casualties. Wu Long's meddling has caused a disaster for everyone, including himself!"
"Who died?" I mouthed to her, a sense of dread washing over me.
"Not Xiao Xiang—it's Liu Yan."
Though relieved it wasn't Xiao Xiang, my heart still ached at the thought of a classmate of three years falling victim to the ghost fetus.
"Is there still a way to stop it?" I asked in a low voice.
"If Wu Long hadn't interfered, we would've resolved the situation with Feng Lan and her child already," the ghost girl said, her tone filled with frustration. "Wu Long used the Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces Shift, trying to turn the Coffin Ground's Death Gate into a Life Gate. He planned to use the ghostly energy on the students to avert his own blood calamity. But his ritual failed, and instead, he created a powerful ghost fetus. Unless..."
"Unless what?" I pressed.
"Unless I resurrect myself. But that's impossible," she said with a hint of self-mockery.
My heart sank, but remembering the ghost fetus's earlier behavior, I couldn't help but say, "It doesn't seem as invincible as you claim. Didn't we almost defeat it together just now?"
The ghost girl let out a cold laugh. "You're clueless! The glutinous rice wine on it hadn't fully dissipated earlier. Otherwise, we'd have been wiped out. Now it has drained Liu Yan's life force and purified itself of the wine. Even the Ghost Sect wouldn't dare confront it now!"
"Ghost Sect?" I picked up on the term, noticing a hesitation in her tone.
"Did I say that?" she quickly denied it, sounding uncharacteristically unnatural.
"You did!" I pressed on. "What is the Ghost Sect?"
"You misheard," she interrupted, her voice turning sharp.
Frowning, I knew further questioning wouldn't yield answers. Resigned, I asked, "So what now? We can't just watch the school descend into hell."
"There's nothing I can do," the ghost girl said tiredly. "I'm out of energy. Bye."
Her voice cut off abruptly, leaving only silence. I sighed deeply, feeling a crushing sense of defeat.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Xiao Ying asked, her voice tinged with concern.
"I'm thinking of a solution."
"Have you found one?"
"Not yet." I shook my head bitterly, slumping to the ground and pulling out my phone. It was nearly 1 a.m.
"Should we find the others or head back to the dorm?" Xiao Ying sat beside me, her voice soft.
"No need. Nowhere's safe," I replied, exhaling heavily. I just wanted to sit quietly for a moment.
She stayed silent, seemingly understanding my mood, and sat with me until dawn.
As the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, news of a grisly death spread across campus—Liu Yan was dead, her corpse horrifyingly mutilated.
Witnesses said her chest had been hollowed out, her organs gone, her blood drained, and her tongue and eyes removed. Her death was ten times more gruesome than Li Dezhi's.
Hearing this, my heart sank to the bottom. Though I hadn't seen her body, the vivid descriptions haunted my mind. Several girls fainted on the spot, and some boys locked themselves in their dorms, too afraid to leave.
Despair consumed me. Not just for Liu Yan, but for all of us left behind. Death felt inevitable, like a sword hanging over our heads, reminding us every moment that it was inching closer.