Seeing the little ghost’s head about to snap off, Xiao Xia couldn’t help but cry out quietly. She immediately recalled the dangerous surroundings and hurriedly covered her mouth. However, she had already attracted the attention of the nearby spirits.
They stopped their search and looked over doubtfully, but they didn’t move. They clearly couldn’t sense any living aura so they were a little confused.
But why could the little ghost see her? Was it true that the younger they died, the more powerful they would be?!
Looking down, she saw the little ghost still looking at her with smile. It had grabbed the hem of her dress with one hand while the other grabbed the back of its head and put it back in place. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too successful. Although the head was back on its neck, the angle wasn’t quite right. It had to look sideways to see Xiao Xia, making its expression even more eerie!
Xiao Xia watched in astonishment, wishing she could immediately flee. However, she couldn’t move at this moment so she could only endure it. When the alerted spirits finally turned their attention away, she hurriedly said in a low voice: “Let go of me, quickly!” She struggled a couple of times but the little ghost was unexpectedly strong. She actually wasn’t able to get free at all!
“Don’t be like this. We have no grudges between us! Why don’t you let me go?” Xiao Xia was afraid she would attract attention if she forced things so she decided to negotiate. She also felt some sympathy for this little ghost since it died so young. She felt that children were easier to convince.
Yet this little ghost seemed uncooperative, shaking its head stubbornly.
“How about this? Tell me where you live.” Xiao Xia tried to bribe it. “I’ll burn some paper money for you in a few days and bring you some good food as offering, ok? Let go of big sis first.”
The little ghost didn’t respond but its expression changed a little. On its half-rotten face, the innocent yet malicious smile was replaced by coldness and viciousness. Xiao Xia’s scalp turned numb at the sight.
Had she said something wrong?
“Well, what do you want to eat? Tell me!”
“Meat. I want to eat meat!” After a few seconds of silence, the little ghost suddenly spoke. Its voice was solemn.
“What kind of meat?” Seeing its appearance, Xiao Xia felt something was off. She tensed up in preparation while sneakily reaching into her fanny pack and gripping a talisman-wrapped stone.
“Human meat.” The little ghost responded. It was already drooling, a flash of green light appearing in its one preserved eye. “I want to eat the meat on big sis’s body!”
“What if I won’t give it?”
“The groom said he only needs your soul. Whoever catches you can have your flesh.”
“Then you’ll have to catch me first!” As she spoke, she mercilessly struck the little ghost’s face with the special stone in her hand.
There was a flash of sparks and the two figures flew apart. One of them fell to the floor and several noises rang out at the same time.
There was a crackle from the sparks when Xiao Xia’s hand made contact with the ghost’s face.
There was a tearing sound as a piece of Xiao Xia’s dress was torn off since the little ghost refused to let go.
There was a snap as the little ghost’s head ultimately ended up getting detached due to Xiao Xia’s use of force.
There was a thump as both pieces of the little ghost flew out and hit the ground.
There was a yelp from Xiao Xia as she fell to the floor.
These sounds were very noticeable in the dark forest. It immediately gave the surrounding spirits a sign: the bride is here!
Xiao Xia could only keep running as the spirits flocked over.
She knew that the beneficial situation she had struggled to create was no more, and she was at a complete disadvantage. Yet she couldn’t get caught no matter what. She had to last the hour! At least half the time had already passed. It was likely she could win!
She ran without caring about her injured foot. Because the talisman of concealment was still on her chest, the spirits could only guess at her position based on the rustling bushes. Therefore, despite the growing number of “good buddies” around her, Xiao Xia was merely scared but not in trouble.
It was quite ironic. The human could see what should have been unseen, while the spirits could not see what should easily be seen. There was only one exception: that little ghost!
After being struck by the talisman-enhanced stone, the head that fell into the bushes swiftly returned to its body. However, the ghost didn’t have time to “re-install” it. Instead, it held its head in its arms as it chased after Xiao Xia.
“Big sis, I found you again!”
Xiao Xia hid behind a large tree and reapplied the eye drops. She had just caught her breath when she felt something cold behind her. A pair of small arms covered in yellow boils reached through the trunk and pushed her, almost making her fall. Xiao Xia had no choice but to run off again.
Yet she had only taken a few steps when a dark shadow streaked over, pouncing at her face. She instinctively raised her hand to block. Before she realized what had happened, an indescribable pain spread from her wrist to her heart, making her scream involuntarily!
It wasn’t the pain of her skin and flesh being cut, or that of her bones and tendons being broken. It was like countless tiny needles burrowing into her heart via her wrist and stabbing with wild abandon!
She raised her eyes and saw the little ghost’s severed head blocking her way. It had opened its mouth wide and was biting her wrist.
She couldn’t think properly due to the pain so she smashed at the head with the stone once again!
The beautiful blue sparks flared and the same smacking sound rang out. The head was once again thrown far away into the bushes, accompanied by a scream of pain. It wasn’t able to immediately return to its body which was standing nearby. It was clearly more severely injured. However, it still didn’t let Xiao Xia off. Using its ability to see her, it started shouting…
“The bride is under the small tree to the left!”
“The bride is running to the right!”
“The bride is trying to pass by Ah Cai and escape!”
The head rolled along and followed Xiao Xia from a distance. It continuously called out directions to those spirits, revealing her location. Therefore, Xiao Xia was having an increasingly difficult time escaping. She was almost caught several times.
The fanny pack’s storage space was limited so she hadn’t been able to bring that much. She didn’t dare use up all the treasures. Yet seeing her situation becoming worse and worse, she realized she may not have another chance if she didn’t do something. Therefore, she took out several stones and held them in her hand. As the ghosts closed in and left her nowhere to run, she treated each of them to a stone.
Along with several tragic cries, her surroundings cleared up again.
The stones were wrapped in talismans drawn by Ruan Zhan. Since her wrist strength wasn’t that good, she had had a flash of inspiration and wrapped the talismans around some stones she picked up. This way, she could throw them further and more accurately.
However, despite the effectiveness of this method, it wasn’t that much of a deterrent. As the spirits retreated, other took their places and caught up again!
This was no game. It was essentially a life-or-death battle!
Xiao Xia suddenly realized something. Ruan Zhan was someone with strong spiritual powers. Although his powers weren’t fully unlocked, his talismans were rather strong. There was no way they weren’t a huge deterrence for these spirits. Yet for the sake of a game, they were willing to ignore this threat? This didn’t make any sense.
Besides, as the number of spirits increased, Xiao Xia was able to see them more clearly. Although the little ghost had proclaimed it wanted to eat meat, these didn’t look like starving ghosts.
Starving ghosts were withered in appearance but these ones weren’t. The majority looked young and vigorous, and there was a pretty even number of male and female ghosts. They seemed very close with each other, as if they had all come from the same village.
They wore the same tribal outfits, they had the same rotted faces and they all had the same yellow boils on their arms.
How had they died? Why were they so insistent on catching her?
Xiao Xia pondered as she ran while reaching into her fanny pack. It was almost empty, yet while her pursuers had lessened, they were still present. What should she do?
In her panic, she suddenly recalled what Ruan Zhan taught her during the Japanese ghost case. She hurriedly dived to the ground and scrambled with her hands, grabbing everything she could. Whenever something approached, she threw everything behind her and shouted: Borrow Mt. Tai’s might, stone general, strike!
The spell wasn’t as effective as the talismans, but it was still pretty good. She also still flung out the occasional stone. Therefore, despite fleeing rather wretchedly and screaming all the while, Xiao Xia still felt the things behind her growing fewer. This gave her the opportunity to check her fanny pack. She was out of talisman-covered stones, and only had a few talismans folded into triangles left. Checking her phone, she had five minutes left before the game ended!
She was about to win!
Yet at this time, she heard the sound of water. It was the sound of flowing water she had heard when the game started.
She once again figured she was imagining it. She had run for so long in the dense forest but had never seen any brooks or waterfalls, let alone a flowing stream!
Yet why was there the sound of flowing water now? It was right in front of her! What was it? A trap? Or her destination?
After hesitating for a moment, she decided it was best to avoid such an unknown place. She decided to turn back, but the moment she did the scene before her made her halt her steps. She almost fainted from fear!
Snakes! There were seven or eight giant snakes!
Ruan Zhan had said the mastermind was good at controlling plants and animals. Yet to make so many snakes obey him was a little too overpowered, right!?
Under the moonlight, those snakes slithered forward slowly in unison. Their beady eyes glowed with cold light as they edged closer. They were close enough for her to see their red tongues as they hissed and smell their fishy scent!
Illusion, it must be an illusion!
Xiao Xia judged, but after a long moment of hesitation she still didn’t dare verify her theory with her body. Instead, as the snakes got within ten meters of her, she screamed and ran the other way!
She would rather deal with ghosts than snakes! Even if there was a trap ahead, she had no other choice!
She ran forwards and felt the snakes weren’t following too closely, though they didn’t leave. They were driving her towards the sound of flowing water.
The sound was growing clearer and clearer. The air had started to turn humid, indicating that the source of water was nearby.
As expected, after running for less than two minutes, she saw a small stream. Under the moonlight, it looked like a strand of beautiful silver lace on the mountain floor.
Before Xiao Xia could react, the snakes suddenly seemed to have been stimulated. They charged over in a frenzy!
Xiao Xia screamed and swiftly leapt into the stream. She had just walked into the middle when she felt a pair of hands around her ankles!
Looking down, she saw a woman lying face up on the bottom of the stream. Her face was exactly the same as Xiao Xia’s!
