The dim red lights in the corridor flickered intermittently, and the chilling air felt almost frozen. The little boy’s resentment had reached its peak after being toyed with by a human.
But when he saw Chu Ci standing behind Qing Li, his face twisted. Blood poured out from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears like crimson streams. His entire body emanated an aura of vicious malice, but he stood paralyzed, unable to act.
—
[Hahaha, the village girl used her life to prove how reliable the safe house is!]
[That little boy’s so furious he’s bleeding from every orifice. Is he about to become the first ghost to die from sheer anger?]
[This is supposed to be a terrifying scene, but I can’t stop laughing.]
Thanks to Qing Li’s absurd actions, the livestream saw another surge of gifts and donations.
However, Qing Li didn’t have time to celebrate…
Bang!
“Ow—!”
A dull thud was followed by a pained yelp.
The boy had scratched at the door earlier, leaving a small puddle of filthy blood on the floor. Qing Li accidentally stepped on it, slipping and landing hard on her backside. She winced in pain, her face contorted.
In that instant, several rotting ghostly hands emerged from the corridor’s floor and grabbed her legs, clawing at her as though they wanted to tear her apart limb by limb.
Everything happened so quickly that even the livestream viewers didn’t have time to react.
—
“Dr. Chu, hurry up and help Miss Qing Li!” Lin Zizhou shouted anxiously.
But Chu Ci remained unmoved, watching coldly as everything unfolded.
Zhou Ya’s lips curved into the faintest of smirks, as if feeling Qing Li’s predicament was well deserved.
“Got you.”
A rotting face leaned in close to Qing Li. The little boy’s mouth stretched to his ears, his eyeballs bulging out of their sockets. His raspy voice carried a twisted sense of excitement.
Qing Li wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ugh, your breath stinks! Can you step back a bit?”
The eerie atmosphere the boy had painstakingly created was instantly shattered. He froze.
“I really hate dirty kids,” Qing Li continued, wrinkling her brow as if deep in thought. “Little brother, you’re so filthy and smelly. Not cute at all!”
Her expression was perfectly serious, which only made the boy’s rotten, grotesque face tremble with rage. Worms wriggled free from the decaying flesh, falling to the ground.
“I’ll kill you. I’ll turn you into a toy even filthier and smellier than I am.”
The boy lunged forward, his maggots nearly landing on Qing Li. Her pupils shrank in shock, and she lashed out with a sharp kick, landing it square on his face.
“Crack—”
The sound of bones breaking echoed in the air.
Her kick sent the boy’s head flying clean off his shoulders.
The head, freshly reattached not long ago, tumbled to the ground once more.
“Oops, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to.”
Without knowing when it happened, a wet wipe appeared in Qing Li’s hand. She casually wiped away the filthy blood and bits of flesh clinging to her shoe.
Although she said she was sorry, her face showed no trace of remorse.
“Miss Qing Li, come back quickly!”
Seeing Qing Li escape danger, Lin Zizhou immediately stretched out his hand to pull her back.
Qing Li was just about to reach out…
Bang—
The door slammed shut with a heavy thud.
“I didn’t mean to,” Zhou Ya said innocently, her expression flustered as she tried to explain. “I was just trying to pull Qing Li in, but I accidentally twisted my ankle and bumped into the door.”
“Move aside!”
Lin Zizhou didn’t have time to ponder whether Zhou Ya’s actions were intentional. He shoved her aside, trying to open the door and quickly bring Qing Li back inside.
Zhou Ya’s face was full of guilt and self-reproach, but in her heart, she was eagerly anticipating the moment the door opened—hoping to see Qing Li’s mangled corpse.
Shen Ruo glanced at Zhou Ya, not missing the faint trace of amusement hidden deep in her eyes. He silently retracted his gaze.
When Lin Zizhou finally opened the door, the scene outside left him stunned.
Where was Qing Li?
Where was the ghost?
Why was the corridor completely clean, as if nothing had happened?
Thud-thud-thud—
The sound of a bouncing ball echoed from the depths of the corridor.
Lin Zizhou swallowed nervously and hesitantly stepped out of the operating room.
“So cold…”
He shivered, his breath instantly turning into a misty white vapor.
Thud-thud-thud—
The sound of the ball bouncing off the ground grew closer.
Lin Zizhou’s nerves were stretched taut. Fear began to seep into his heart, and he instinctively tried to retreat to the operating room—only to find the door behind him had vanished into thin air.
Panic surged through him. With no other choice, Lin Zizhou gritted his teeth and forced himself to move forward.
Thud—
A red ball suddenly bounced toward him. Instinctively, he reached out and caught it. The ball landed firmly in his hands.
A faint, eerie voice rang out from the ball:
“It hurts so much—”
The ball had a human face printed on it. Its mouth opened and closed, and blood flowed from its eye sockets.
“Ahhh~”
In an instant, countless streams of blood soaked Lin Zizhou’s hands. He screamed miserably, trying to throw away the human-headed ball in his grasp, but it clung stubbornly to his hands.
A searing pain, as if his skin was being flayed and muscles pulled, made Lin Zizhou’s screams even more gut-wrenching. He could distinctly feel the skin on his palms being peeled away.
“Step back.”
A soft voice reached Lin Zizhou’s ears. He widened his eyes abruptly, only to see Qing Li standing before him without him noticing. A yellow talisman fell onto the human-headed ball and instantly burned to ashes.
“Ahhh—”
This time, it was the ball’s turn to scream.
The piercing sound made their scalps tingle, and their eardrums ached.
“Why didn’t you save me? Why did you abandon me?”
“Save me! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…”
The human-headed ball wailed resentfully, and Lin Zizhou finally recognized her—she was Lin Xue’er!
“Ugh, I hate people like you, still dragging others down even after death.”
A trace of disdain flashed in Qing Li’s eyes. Her fingers swiftly formed a hand seal, and a bolt of palm lightning struck Lin Xue’er’s head, reducing her to smithereens in an instant.
“Q-Q-Qing Li… Miss Qing Li, y-you…”
Lin Zizhou was stunned, his eyes wide and his jaw slack. Was he seeing things, or just hallucinating?
“What?”
Qing Li tilted her head slightly, her bright eyes clear as water.
“N-nothing.”
Lin Zizhou shook his head, but the way he looked at Qing Li now burned with fervor.
If his guess was correct, Miss Qing Li must be one of those legendary mystical experts.
If he weren’t afraid of scaring her off, he would have slid forward on his knees, hugged her golden thigh tightly, and shouted two words—”Take me!”
Meanwhile, the livestream exploded with excitement.
[Did I just see that? That looked like lightning.]
[Question: can humans summon lightning?]
[I strongly suspect this village girl isn’t human, because she keeps doing inhuman things.]
[Get lost, you above, but I can confirm the village girl definitely isn’t human. From now on, she’s a goddess in my heart.]
[Village Goddess, I’m obsessed with you, crazy for you, crashing headlong into walls for you.]
[Idiot, her name is Qing Li. Stop calling her Village Goddess—no one, not even a dog, would want that nickname.]
“Miss Qing Li, where’s that little boy?” Lin Zizhou asked curiously.
“He ran away.”
Qing Li glanced up at the ceiling, her small face looking frustrated.
Lin Zizhou didn’t understand why Qing Li was looking at the ceiling, so he followed her gaze. The instant he looked up, an icy chill swept down from the top of his head, freezing him to his core.
No wonder the hallway looked so clean. It turned out all those things were hiding on the ceiling…