Chapter 181: Ghost Assistant (XIII)

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Chapter 181: Ghost Assistant (XIII)

Laying their first ghost to rest had gone smoothly, but it had given them very little practical experience. A single Spirit Offering Talisman had been enough to resolve it.

Chinese New Year was only two months away. If he could finish the Main Mission before then, it would be one major concern off his mind. Shang Ke decided to lay the second evil ghost to rest two days later.

A despair ghost wandered near an apartment building in the suburbs. He had been only twenty-five when severe depression and hopelessness drove him to suicide by jumping from the building where he rented a room.

It was said that the souls of people who died by suicide endlessly repeated the manner of their deaths. This ghost was no exception. The difference was that every repetition deepened the oppressive despair surrounding him, allowing it to influence the living nearby.

One tenth of the building’s residents had developed symptoms of depression under the ghost’s influence. Over the past two years, seven people had died by suicide. In a building with barely over a hundred residents, that suicide rate was clearly abnormal.

As the despair aura accumulated and merged with the resentful energy of people driven to suicide under its influence, the despair ghost would eventually evolve into a vengeful ghost, changing from passively harming others to actively attacking them.

On a dark, windy night, Shang Ke and Shao Feidu arrived at the apartment building. They had barely gotten out of the car when a figure plunged from the roof and struck the ground with a sickening thud, bursting into a cloud of blood mist. The mist slowly gathered into the thin outline of a ghost lying motionless on the pavement—the despair ghost they had come to find.

Shang Ke thought, Good thing this fellow is more conceptual than realistic. If every jump recreated the actual gore of his death, he’d probably scare Dudu half to death.

The two walked toward the despair ghost, which was pretending to be “dead.” Shao Feidu clutched Shang Ke’s coat with one hand and held a Ghost-Repelling Talisman in the other, following close behind with a solemn, battle-ready expression.

When they came closer, the despair ghost suddenly disappeared from the ground.

Shang Ke and Shao Feidu looked around, trying to locate him.

Just then, a strange noise came from overhead. Shang Ke assumed the despair ghost had begun another repetition of its death, but before he could even look up, a powerful force yanked him aside. A heavy thud followed, and several warm, sticky drops splashed across his face. When Shang Ke wiped them away, his fingers came back red with blood.

This was obviously no illusion.

Shang Ke instinctively tried to look back, but Shao Feidu pulled him tightly into his arms. “Keke, don’t be afraid.”

Listening to Shao Feidu’s pounding heartbeat, Shang Ke’s heart softened. This man was obviously terrified himself, yet he was still trying to comfort Shang Ke.

Shang Ke hugged the man before him tightly, kissed his face and said gently, “I’m not afraid. Why would I be afraid when I have you protecting me?”

Hearing that, Shao Feidu suddenly felt much more heroic, and his courage soared.

Shang Ke turned and finally understood what had happened. The one who had fallen was not the despair ghost at all, but a living person—though no longer alive now. The body lay less than a meter away, half the face smashed beyond recognition while the remaining bloodshot eye stared sightlessly in their direction.

Shang Ke looked away and raised his gaze toward the upper floors, but the entire building above was swallowed in darkness and impossible to make out clearly.

The victim had landed in exactly the same place and posture as the despair ghost before him. If Shao Feidu had not pulled Shang Ke aside in time, the body would have fallen directly on top of him.

Shang Ke had a bad feeling. Normally, a despair ghost would not actively drive someone to suicide, but after what had just happened, it was difficult to believe this was mere coincidence.

“Dudu, let’s go back for now.” Shang Ke suspected the despair ghost had already advanced from an evil ghost to a vengeful ghost. Retreating first was the safest option.

Shao Feidu had no objection. He grabbed Shang Ke’s hand and headed straight back toward where they had parked.

Once they were inside the car, Shang Ke started the engine and placed an anonymous call to the police, reporting that someone had jumped to their death at the apartment complex.

After ending the call, Shang Ke noticed Shao Feidu staring blankly ahead and asked, “Dudu, are you all right?”

Shao Feidu answered, “I’m fine.”

“Good. I’ll make you something tasty when we get home to settle your nerves.” Shang Ke smiled.

Shang Ke did not know whether they had been tainted by the despair ghost’s energy, but the entire car felt unnaturally oppressive.

He switched on the car’s internal camera but found nothing unusual.

The silence inside the car was eerie, as though even the sounds from outside had been cut off.

Shang Ke frowned as a powerful sense of unease rose inside him. He decided to pull over as soon as possible.

As he turned the car, Shao Feidu suddenly made a move Shang Ke had no time to anticipate. He stretched out a leg and slammed the accelerator down. The engine shrieked as the car shot toward a nearby building at terrifying speed.

Shang Ke instantly realized that Shao Feidu had been truly possessed by a vengeful ghost. He knew it had to be that rank because only a vengeful ghost could actually possess a living body. What lesser evil ghosts called “possession” was merely mental manipulation or hallucination. The fact that this one had also evaded Shang Ke’s perception meant it carried the same vengeful-ghost aura he did.

But Shang Ke had no time to think any further.

He did only two things: activated the car’s emergency safety system, then threw himself over Shao Feidu and shielded him with his own body.

Boom! A loud noise broke the silence of the night.

The car slammed violently into the solid wall. A shock-absorbing barrier deployed inside the cabin and wrapped around them, but the impact was still enormous enough to send their blood surging and pain through their bodies until both nearly blacked out.

“Hehehe…”

Through the dizziness, a hoarse laugh suddenly sounded beside Shang Ke’s ear. He looked up and saw “Shao Feidu” wearing a twisted expression, eyes bloodshot and unfocused as he stared out of the car. In one hand he held a shard of glass and was absently drawing it across his own wrist.

“Get out of his body!” Shang Ke held onto Shao Feidu’s wrist tightly and glared furiously at the vengeful ghost that possessed Shao Feidu’s body.

After beginning cultivation, Shao Feidu should ordinarily have been resistant to possession. But he had not been cultivating for long, and his constitution was unusual; if caught completely off guard, a vengeful ghost could still exploit the opening and enter his body.

The vengeful ghost ignored Shang Ke. With its arm restrained, it tilted Shao Feidu’s head and began smashing it repeatedly against the car door.

“I want to die. I want to die. I want to die…” it muttered with every impact. Blood soon streamed from Shao Feidu’s forehead.

“Stop!” Shang Ke lunged forward and shoved his hand between Shao Feidu’s head and the car door. Shao Feidu’s skull crashed straight into his palm, sending a bolt of agony through it.

Shang Ke bit down hard on his lip and stubbornly refused to move his hand, letting Shao Feidu’s head strike his palm again and again.

He thought he heard the bones in his palm crack. Through his blurred vision, his gaze happened to fall on Shao Feidu’s belt pouch, and an idea flashed through his mind.

The pouch contained many talismans, including several high-grade ones specifically meant to deal with vengeful ghosts.

Enduring the pain, Shang Ke reached over and opened the pouch. To avoid alerting ghosts, the talismans had all been stored inside a box made of special material.

The moment Shang Ke opened the box, the talismans’ aura spread through the cabin. The vengeful ghost seemed to sense the danger and finally stopped smashing Shao Feidu’s head against the door.

Shang Ke swiftly pulled out a high-grade talisman. It ignited between his fingers almost immediately.

The vengeful ghost screamed. Shang Ke’s body began trembling uncontrollably as well, his soul feeling as though it had been thrown into fire. The pain was nearly unbearable.

The first talisman burned to ash, but the vengeful ghost still had not been driven out of Shao Feidu’s body.

Shang Ke gasped weakly, sweat and tears sliding together down his face. Dudu, I’m not willing to accept this. I don’t want to leave you. Just once—just once, I want you to live this entire lifetime with me without having to endure losing me again.

Still crying, Shang Ke reached shakily into the box and drew out a second talisman…

“Celestial arts before me—vengeful ghosts, begone!” Pale-faced and gritting his teeth, Shang Ke forced the incantation out one word at a time.

As the talisman burned, a golden light enveloped the two of them.

Shang Ke curled into himself and trembled violently. Sweat soaked his entire body, while beads of blood seeped from his skin until he was quickly drenched red.

Through Shao Feidu’s unfocused pupils, Shang Ke’s suffering figure was reflected. Two trails of bloody tears slowly slid from his eyes.

Keke, Keke…

“Ah—!” A shriek tore through the car. The vengeful ghost suddenly burst from Shao Feidu’s body, twisting and struggling within the talisman’s golden light as it screamed piercingly.

“Celestial arts before me—vengeful ghost, be destroyed!” Golden light shot toward the fleeing ghost, and blazing fire instantly engulfed it.

The vengeful ghost howled in agony within the flames and, within moments, burned to ash.

Afterward, Shao Feidu’s arm fell weakly to his side. The true qi in his body was nearly exhausted. Through the blood clouding his vision, his gaze settled on Shang Ke.

“Keke… Keke…” He carefully gathered Shang Ke into his arms, feeling for his warmth and breath.

Alive. He was still alive…

Shao Feidu gently lifted Shang Ke’s shattered hand, tears streaming uncontrollably from his eyes.

He remembered everything that had just happened. When the crash began, Shang Ke had thrown himself over Shao Feidu without regard for his own safety. When the possessed Shao Feidu smashed his head into the car door, Shang Ke had used his own hand as a shield and refused to move it even after the bones broke. And despite knowing the talismans would injure him, Shang Ke had still risked his life by using his own ghost energy to activate their power.

Watching Shang Ke suffer, Shao Feidu hated himself more fiercely than he ever had before. Why had he been possessed so easily? Why had he been unable to protect him?

“Keke…” Other than repeating Shang Ke’s name, Shao Feidu did not even know what else he could do for him.

At that moment, voices could faintly be heard from outside the car.

Shao Feidu held Shang Ke tightly. Blood from his forehead ran into his eyes, and his consciousness slowly blurred, yet his lips continued calling the same name.

“Keke, Keke, Keke…”

When rescuers finally opened the car door, they found two men locked in a tight embrace. One was covered in blood, his condition unknown; the other’s eyes were half-lowered and unfocused, clearly already unconscious.

No one could understand how the two men had been injured so severely when the car’s safety systems were intact…

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