3
“Damn it, who the hell are you cursing?!”
Hoàng Lôi lost his temper, rolling up his sleeves as he charged at me.
But the very next second, a deathly pale hand suddenly clamped around his leg.
He went sprawling to the ground.
“Honey!” Hoàng Kiều Kiều screamed in terror.
The athletic guy landed hard, his face bruised and battered.
He clutched his nose as blood streamed between his fingers.
“Just now… I think something grabbed my leg…” Hoàng Lôi’s face turned deathly pale.
“There’s no need to make such a grand gesture if you want to apologize.” I spoke coolly.
“You!” Hoàng Lôi’s face turned livid.
“Looks like we’ll have to teach this brat a lesson today.”
Lý Diễm’s boyfriend, Từ Cương, said coldly.
“Get on your knees and apologize to us right now. Maybe I’ll let you off.” Từ Cương smirked viciously.
I said nothing.
If Hoàng Lôi just liked beating people up, Từ Cương was even more vicious. I’d heard that once, after getting into an argument with someone, he ran over the other person’s legs with his motorcycle, crushing them. The victim later died, but Từ Cương paid everyone off to keep them quiet.
In the still darkness, the four of them stared at me with malice.
“Tô Nhân, you always act so cold and aloof. But if nude pictures of you were spread all over campus, would you still be able to keep up that act?”
Từ Cương reached out to rip my shirt off, but his hand suddenly stopped in midair, frozen stiff.
The others saw that something was wrong with Từ Cương and asked him what was going on.
His face had gone pale. “My hand… I think it cramped up. I can’t move it…”
I let out a cold laugh.
A cramp?
Clearly, several gray hands were clinging tightly to him.
“Come on, let’s hurry back. I don’t know why, but I’m getting colder and colder…”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều hugged herself and shivered as she spoke. Goose bumps stood out on her bare skin.
She couldn’t see the pale-faced ghost standing beside her, constantly blowing on her neck.
The others were shivering from the cold, too. But Hoàng Lôi and Từ Cương still hadn’t let go of their anger.
Before leaving, they grabbed everything on my stall and stomped on it without mercy. Anything they couldn’t crush underfoot, they smashed to pieces.
After their rampage, nearly everything on my stall had been destroyed.
They laughed at me some more before finally leaving.
I calmly watched them walk away.
“Why do I feel heavier and heavier…” I heard Lý Diễm mutter.
“My whole body aches, too…” Lý Diễm’s boyfriend complained.
They couldn’t see them, but I could see them clearly.
Four ghosts were perched on their backs, their deathly pale hands clamped around their necks.
4
I shook my head, watching coldly as the four of them carried the ghosts back to campus.
By then, the incense stick at the crossroads had burned down completely, signaling that the transaction period was over.
“Esteemed ghost brothers and sisters, I’m sorry I couldn’t serve you properly this time. I hope you’ll forgive me. Next time, I’ll be sure to stock more goods. Everything will be 20% off!”
I quickly packed up my things and headed back to the dorm.
Our dorm had no curfew, so it didn’t matter if I got back late.
When I returned to the room, I found my bed drenched in some foul-smelling, unidentified liquid. The sheets were soaked through and impossible to sleep on.
My roommate, Lý Khả, timidly approached me. “Nhân Nhân, I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t…”
I was just about to sit down when Lý Khả immediately grabbed my arm to stop me.
“There’s a nail on the chair… They put it there on purpose,” she whispered in my ear.
Hoàng Kiều Kiều leaned down from the upper bunk and sneered. “Lý Khả, sticking your nose in other people’s business again? Careful, or I’ll get the school to take away your scholarship!”
Lý Khả went pale and lowered her head in silence.
“This smell really is just like the poverty stench you carry around, isn’t it, Tô Nhân?” Hoàng Kiều Kiều burst out laughing, and Lý Diễm joined in.
I said nothing. I changed the sheets without wanting to argue with them.
Why should I bother with people who were about to die?
But when I went into the bathroom, I saw they’d gone too far.
My toothbrush was covered in yellow stains and stank—clearly, they’d used it to scrub the toilet.
They’d injected superglue into my face wash.
My white washcloth was now so filthy it was unrecognizable.
Hoàng Kiều Kiều’s voice came from outside. “Oh my, was that towel yours? I thought it was a cleaning rag!”
“Exactly. It’s your fault for buying such a cheap towel. We just used it as a cleaning rag,” Lý Diễm said with a laugh.
I wasn’t angry or annoyed. I walked out and smiled at them. “Are your shoulders getting heavier and achier?”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều and Lý Diễm exchanged glances, fear flickering across their faces.
“How do you know?” Hoàng Kiều Kiều rubbed her shoulder, her expression growing increasingly troubled.
The corners of my mouth lifted.
The two ghosts they’d brought back were clinging tightly to their necks, their ashen faces nearly pressed against theirs.
5
But they couldn’t see them; they only felt a crushing weight all over.
“I told you two to get your affairs in order a while ago.”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều and Lý Diễm’s expressions immediately changed, turning extremely grim.
The very next second, a glass cup flew straight toward my face.
If I hadn’t dodged in time, it might have struck my head.
“Tô Nhân, you’re always pretending to be psychic! It’s the modern age—are you still trying to scare people with tricks like that?” Hoàng Kiều Kiều sneered coldly.
I sighed helplessly. “If you two sincerely begged, maybe I could go down there and plead on your behalf.”
“Beg you?” Hoàng Kiều Kiều burst out laughing, as if she’d just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.
Lý Diễm sneered, too. “Maybe in your next life!”
“Then I hope you two sleep well tonight,” I said with a smile.
Normally, every person has three flames on their body, which keep ghosts at a distance.
For a ghost to possess someone, it has to blow out the two flames on their shoulders.
The last flame is at the glabella, between the eyebrows.
When the flame at the glabella goes out, that person is as good as dead.
That’s why these ghosts wouldn’t kill them right away. They would frighten them little by little, waiting until the yang energy in their bodies weakened before making their move.
Tonight was sure to be a night of torment for Hoàng Kiều Kiều and Lý Diễm.
Sure enough, in the middle of the night, I heard Hoàng Kiều Kiều scream in terror.
She squeezed her eyes shut, flailing wildly at the air as she screamed, “It hurts! It hurts!”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều’s screams quickly drew everyone’s attention.
Lý Diễm turned on the light and hurriedly asked what had happened.
Hoàng Kiều Kiều opened her eyes, drenched in sweat and panting. “I just felt someone pulling my hair over and over, really hard, like they were trying to rip my entire scalp off!”
Then she glanced at her pillow and pointed at it in alarm. “There’s really hair here! Someone pulled my hair out!”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều’s pillow was covered in clumps of black hair. Some strands were still smeared with blood, clearly yanked out by the roots.
6
Lý Diễm looked frightened, too. “Kiều Kiều, could you have been sleepwalking? There’s no one else in this room.”
I yawned, smiling faintly as if I were watching an entertaining play.
Hoàng Kiều Kiều trembled as she recounted, “I dreamed of a terrifying woman. She leaned over my bed and kept pulling my hair, again and again. I couldn’t make out her face, but I’ll never forget that horrible feeling. She said I’d taken something of hers, so she was going to take my hair in return.”
Suddenly, as if she’d thought of something, Hoàng Kiều Kiều sat bolt upright and shouted angrily, “Tô Nhân! Did you do something to me?”
She glared at me resentfully and pointed straight at me. “Before we went to sleep, you told me to have sweet dreams. You must have done something!”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều charged at me like a madwoman, but I easily dodged to the side.
“Kiều Kiều, I was only joking. Was I supposed to wish you nightmares?”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều’s expression darkened. Lý Diễm took her by the arm. “Kiều Kiều, go back to sleep. You just had a nightmare. You must’ve pulled the hair out yourself.”
Lý Diễm pointed at Hoàng Kiều Kiều’s hand.
A few strands of hair were wrapped around it, too.
“Right… I must’ve pulled it out myself. I’m sure of it!”
Hoàng Kiều Kiều said, pale-faced. But she didn’t notice the ghost crawling over her back, grabbing her hair and devouring it.