15.
Đỗ Linh let out a piercing scream that could shatter the heavens.
The ghost was right behind her, moving incredibly fast.
By the time she screamed, it had entered through her mouth and nose and finished possessing her.
This was a particularly nasty ghost.
It drained people's spiritual energy and organs.
People possessed by this kind of ghost usually died horribly, reduced to dried-up corpses.
But Đỗ Linh was very lucky.
Because I was here.
I pressed my index finger to my lips, preparing to use the spoken exorcism.
Kim So So suddenly pulled out a talisman and slapped it onto “Đỗ Linh.”
“Don't be afraid! Everyone, get behind me!” Kim So So said.
Sure enough, “Đỗ Linh” stopped moving and let her head droop.
“Wow, Master Kim is amazing!”
The guests were all impressed as they watched the exorcism.
But I frowned.
No!
Kim So So hadn't just failed to save Đỗ Linh—she was hurting her!
Kim So So's talisman wasn't meant to exorcise a ghost!
It was meant to immobilize its victim so the ghost could drain all her energy!
That was why Đỗ Linh couldn't move!
Without stopping to think, I immediately peeled off Kim So So's talisman.
“Trần Tuyết Điềm, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill Đỗ Linh?!”
“Which one of us is really trying to hurt Đỗ Linh?” I shouted.
That was how this spoken exorcism worked: the more fiercely I scolded, the steadier my spiritual power became.
Every word I spoke turned into an invisible talisman that bound the ghost to “Đỗ Linh's” body.
Three minutes later, it screamed and rolled out of Đỗ Linh's body.
“Help! You're all picking on someone who's done nothing wrong!”
I kicked it. “Speak properly. Are you even human?”
“Well, I'm not human…”
The ghost crouched down and hugged its head.
The motion looked familiar, as if it had been caught and punished plenty of times before.
I was about to ask it what was going on when Kim So So shouted from behind me, “Look! Look!”
“Trần Tuyết Điềm really is talking to a ghost! She's not normal! She's a ghost too!”
I was furious when I heard that.
No matter how good-natured I was, I'd reached the end of my patience!
I raised my hand and slapped Kim So So across the face.
“Had enough?!”
16.
Kim So So stared at me in shock. “You dare hit me?!”
I slapped her again. “I hit you. So what?”
“Trần Tuyết Điềm, don't think you'll be able to work in this industry anymore!”
“Fine, then tell me—why did you immobilize Đỗ Linh?”
“Immobilize her?”
Kim So So's eyes flickered. “Immobilize what? I don't know what you're talking about.”
I raised my hand, the torn talisman falling into my palm. “Your talisman was an immobilizing talisman. It would keep Đỗ Linh from moving so the ghost could drain her completely!”
“Trần Tuyết Điềm, you're slandering me! That's obviously a talisman for saving people!”
Kim So So was so stubborn that instead of getting angry, I laughed. “Fine. I'll stick this talisman on you, and we'll see what it does.”
“No!”
Before she could finish saying no, I turned my hand over and stuck the talisman to her forehead.
She was like a puppet, eyes glaring furiously, but unable to move.
The guests behind us were all stunned by the sight.
“So it really is true…”
“Trần Tuyết Điềm wasn't lying.”
After I removed the talisman, Kim So So's bravado had diminished considerably.
She said, “Maybe I grabbed the wrong one. There are so many talismans—I must have picked the wrong one by accident…”
“The wrong one? Aren't you supposed to be so good at this? How could you make such a stupid mistake?”
Kim So So bit her lower lip, then quickly burst into tears. “This is my fault. I meant to save her, but almost ended up hurting her. When Đỗ Linh wakes up, I'll definitely apologize to her.”
She really was an actress.
I couldn't keep up with how quickly she changed her tune.
But I still felt there was more to this than met the eye.
Just as I was about to investigate further, Kim So So pointed behind me in alarm. “That ghost got away!”
Damn it.
I'd been so busy questioning her that I'd forgotten what mattered.
17.
I hadn't been able to deal with the ghost on the spot.
It could very well seize a chance to launch a surprise attack.
To keep everyone safe, I had to capture it.
Besides, I had some questions it needed to answer…
I left the main base and followed its ghostly aura to pursue it.
The night in the deserted village was pitch-black and silent.
The village's power system was broken, so there wasn't even a glimmer of light.
But I'd been in this line of work for years. Darkness didn't affect my eyes; I could make out everything.
The ghost was very fast.
I chased it for over twenty minutes before I caught it.
It begged me, “Great one, please go easy on me. Let me go.”
I looked at it.
Its face wasn't frightening.
It even looked a little human.
I said, “You can speak like a person and you're still rational. Why be an evil ghost instead of going off to reincarnate?”
It looked miserable. “I wanted to reincarnate, but I can't.”
“Why not?”
It acted as if it didn't want to talk.
I had no choice but to threaten it. “Want me to start cursing you out? With insults and profanity?”
It: “…I'll tell you! I'll tell you, all right?!”
It wasn't very complicated.
This deserted village had always been home to a group of ghosts.
They'd been hiding here and were supposed to dissipate or reincarnate on the full-moon night six years ago.
But they all failed.
It was as if something were keeping them trapped in the village, unable to get out or leave.
Until a month ago.
Someone appeared here.
She said she'd bring them a bunch of “food” to possess and drain dry.
Only then could they leave the village.
“And then you came here.”
It said pitifully, “Great one, you can't blame me. We were just following our agreement and taking delivery of the goods.”
I asked, “What did that person look like?”
“I couldn't tell. She was all covered up.”
“What about the gravestones?”
“We didn't make the gravestones. She did! When she came, she built them for you.”
After a brief silence, it added quietly, “The second time you came and the gravestones were gone, she was the one who told us to hide them…”
“Told you?”
How modern of her.
“That's right. That person communicated with us using spiritual power and gave us orders.”
I thought for a moment.
Anyone who could use spiritual power must be part of the occult world.
Kim So So fit the description best.
But I'd seen Kim So So's gravestone with my own eyes.
She couldn't have killed herself.
Maybe the production crew was trying to hurt us?
Wait.
I studied the ghost closely.
Its appearance looked a little like Đỗ Linh's.
“Did you always look like this?”
I asked abruptly.
18.
“I've almost forgotten what I look like,” the ghost replied.
But I didn't miss its evasive gaze, even though it had no pupils.
I smiled faintly, at ease. “I understand.”
“Good. Great one, if I'd known you were coming, I never would've dared disturb you. I'll be on my way…”
“You're not going anywhere.” I gripped it by the neck like a chick and lifted it up.
Then I hurried back to base.
If my guess was right, this ghost had been lying.
It was working with Kim So So.
They'd teamed up to get me out of the circle so Kim So So could complete the final “sacrifice”!
This ghost thought it was clever and made up all kinds of lies.
But it had let slip one important detail: six years ago.
They'd been imprisoned here for six years, unable to leave.
Why was that?
The cycles of the Heavenly Way wouldn't keep any benevolent ghost from reincarnating.
After thinking it over, I could come up with only one possibility.
They'd used forbidden magic.
Do you remember what Kim So So said?
“Maybe there's magic on the paper that drains spiritual energy…”
That's right. That was the magic!
Kim So So had just made her debut six years ago.
She wasn't famous at first. Then, despite having no work to her name, she suddenly became famous overnight.
I knew some celebrities secretly kept child ghosts.
But they were the ones who suffered the consequences.
Kim So So was different.
She drained other people's luck and stole their lives. She was utterly vicious!
She couldn't have performed that kind of forbidden magic alone.
The ones helping her were the ghosts in this deserted village.
This ghost probably looked like Đỗ Linh because it had drained more of Đỗ Linh's luck than anyone else's.
I thought back to the ghost I'd encountered earlier.
The ghost in the clinic room hadn't fully formed, but it still looked a little like Qi Meng.
These people had once been famous, but now they were all in dire straits.
Their luck had been drained away.
I looked up at the night sky.
It was the night of the full moon.
Perhaps Kim So So and the ghosts had made a “contract.”
After six years, she was to give them one grand sacrifice.
Otherwise, the magic would turn on her.
As for that gravestone, it was nothing but a smokescreen to hide her guilt.
Once I'd figured everything out, I returned to base.
Too late.
I'd missed my chance.
The sacrifice had already begun.
19.
A dense, inescapable miasma of ghostly energy swirled above the base.
Kim So So was changing, too.
The whites of her eyes were gradually disappearing, and her face was becoming more and more distorted.
These were signs of the magic turning against her.
Qi Meng, Phó Siêu, and Đỗ Linh had all failed to complete the sacrifice.
The ghosts were furious and began to turn on her.
The way they turned on her was simple.
In this deserted village, there was a demon king who stood above all the rest.
This demon king was the one who had made the contract with Kim So So.
When the time ran out and Kim So So broke the contract, the demon king would possess her and devour her.
When the whites of Kim So So's eyes vanished completely,
the demon king descended.
The abandoned streetlights all around us flickered to life with a pale, white glow.
The guests screamed in terror.
I exclaimed excitedly, “Oh, this ghost's pretty clever. It even knows how to use electricity!”
Great. I'll take it back for my master to study.
“Kim So So” grabbed one of the guests by the leg.
It opened its mouth, ready to eat.
I cleared my throat and called out to it amid the chaos. “He hasn't bathed in three days. Are you sure you want to eat him?”