The two ferocious ghosts floated over menacingly. I reached out and patted Xu Guangsheng’s butt, urging him, “Hurry up and leave! There’s danger!” Xu Guangsheng, unable to see the footless ghosts, asked me, “Is he here to take me away?”
I said, “No, just run!”
Without hesitation, Xu Guangsheng bolted away, swift and decisive.
I deliberately yelled, “Damn it! Next time I catch you peeping at the female residents bathing, I’ll beat you up every time I see you!”
I stood up and walked straight toward the two footless ghosts. As I got closer, I realized they were the same thugs who had died the same day as Ma Shuangxi, their long knives gleaming in their hands.
Not good. They had come back with Ma Shuangxi for some “fun.”
As I walked, I hummed, “Today is a good day, everything I wish for will come true.”
I pretended not to see them, though my heart pounded. The jade ruler at my waist emitted a faint blue light. I took it out and calmly said, “Wow, these concert glow sticks are really bright.”
The ghosts floated past me swiftly, and I slipped between them. They didn’t seem intent on killing me, letting me pass through.
The moment we brushed past each other, I suddenly turned and grabbed their shoulders. “Hey, big bros, can I ask you something? Is there a restroom nearby? I’m really desperate.”
The two ghosts turned their heads, their cracked skulls still bearing the marks of their deaths—one had a metal shard embedded in it, while the other had a wriggling worm crawling across his forehead. Their mouths opened, revealing shattered teeth spinning inside.
The ghosts hesitated, exchanging glances. “How can he see us? Aren’t we supposed to be invisible?”
I said, “Never mind, I’ll just find a place to pee.”
The two ghosts, looking dumbfounded, turned back and continued on their way. But as they walked, smoke suddenly rose from their backs, their teeth chattering as they muttered words I couldn’t understand. I guessed they were saying something like, “Fire Tongs, are you trying to burn yourself for dinner?”
“Liu Ming, aren’t you doing the same?”
I had secretly stuck ghost-catching talismans on their backs when I grabbed their shoulders.
I knew they had noticed. Without a word, they turned and fled.
The wind howled past my ears as the two ghosts shrieked and gave chase. Their piercing cries shattered streetlights along the road, glass raining down in their wake. I circled a building and dashed back to the dorm entrance.
Little Rascal was crouched in the grass like a scout, his front paws dangling, not daring to breathe loudly.
I scooped him up and kicked open the door to the security dorm. Inside, the DVD was at its climax—a fierce battle on screen. Ma Shuangxi, sitting at the table, was flushed with excitement. The floor was littered with spilled drinks, empty liquor bottles, and a withered willow branch.
Ma Shuangxi seemed to have drunk his fill. He wasn’t here for vengeance—just to relive some simple pleasures: drinking, eating, and watching movies.
When he saw me enter, he instinctively reached to turn off the DVD. I stopped him. “It’s fine. Keep watching. But those two thugs are coming. Hide.”
Ma Shuangxi nodded obediently, climbed onto his bed, and pulled the covers over himself. Even under the blanket, I could see him trembling.
Kind in life, he remained meek even in death, never learning to be wicked.
I grabbed a pig’s trotter from the table, smeared some grease on my face, and put on a security uniform hanging on the wall. Sitting stiffly in a chair, I stared blankly at the screen.
“Too brutal… How is this elderly Western woman so strong?”
I couldn’t bear to watch.
The two ghosts, half-dead from my talismans, slithered through the door crack. I slowly raised my head, gave them a cold glance, and then lowered it again, ignoring them.
They hesitated at the door before raising their knives and lunging at me—mistaking me for Ma Shuangxi.
Finally, I heard their words:
“Fire Tongs died unjustly!”
“Liu Ming died unjustly!”
“It’s all because of you, that damn security guard, blocking our path to riches!”
Fire Tongs and Liu Ming, unwilling to rest, had blamed Ma Shuangxi for their deaths. Returning on the same night, they sought to kill him again.
As the saying goes, “New ghosts weigh only three taels.” These two were so light that a strong wind could scatter them, but their hatred kept them intact.
“You’re coming after me even though I didn’t hold a grudge when you killed me?” I said. “If you want revenge, go after the people who tampered with your car, not me.”
Fire Tongs hesitated, but Liu Ming charged forward. “We’d never betray our boss!”
I dodged the knife, uncapped a bottle of virgin boy urine (bought for five lollipops), and splashed it in a circle on the floor. When Fire Tongs and Liu Ming leaped at me, they were trapped inside the circle, unable to escape.
Little Rascal, who had been cowering in fear, suddenly started barking, as if regaining his courage. These were just new ghosts—compared to Bai Yu, who had lingered for a decade, they were nothing.
I poured two cups of liquor and handed them to the ghosts. Then, I turned the DVD back on. “Stay still. Watch the movie, drink, and leave at dawn.”
The effects of the virgin boy urine wouldn’t last long. By sunrise, they’d be free—but they’d have to return to the underworld anyway.
I pulled Ma Shuangxi out from under the covers. “Is there anything left unfinished?”
He gestured vaguely—first at his chest, then his butt—probably indicating some buxom woman.
I asked, “Do you want to see Sun Junliu?”
Ma Shuangxi nodded eagerly.
“I’ll take you to her. But she won’t see you, and you can’t interfere with her.”
He agreed.
Outside the compound, Xu Guangsheng was trembling in the security booth, chatting with night-shift colleagues. Seeing me in a security uniform, he asked, puzzled, “Master, are you switching careers?”
I shrugged. “Jobs are hard to find. Being a guard isn’t bad. Don’t go back to the dorm tonight—wait until noon tomorrow. Got it?”
Xu Guangsheng nodded. “I already planned to stay with friends tonight.”
A new guard scoffed. “What’s there to be afraid of?”
I warned him, “If you go back, don’t clean up the virgin boy urine on the floor. Remember that.”
Leaving the compound, I hailed a taxi to the psychiatric ward. On the way, I called Xie Lingyu. “I might be back late.”
“Be careful,” she replied. “Hurry back—I need to deal with the Flying Centipede again.”
I sighed inwardly. Poor Flying Centipede—out of all people, why did he have to fall for Xie Lingyu?
The driver, Shi Dake, chimed in, “Is Flying Centipede a new video game? I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s not a game,” I said. “It’s a Taoist who can fly and burrow underground.”
He laughed. “What nonsense! Unless he’s a plane or a missile, how can he fly or tunnel?”
As the car pulled up, Shi Dake glanced into the rearview mirror and shuddered. “Damn, why does it feel so eerie? Feels like there’s a ghost back there.”
I chuckled but didn’t reply.
At the psychiatric ward, the night nurse hesitated when I asked to see a patient. “It’s against the rules, especially for someone with schizophrenia and mania. The doctor strictly forbids it. You’re putting me in a tough spot.”
I handed her two hundred yuan.
She sighed and handed me a white coat. “Fine. You seem sincere. Just this once.”
I beamed. “Sister, you’re as kind as you are beautiful—a living Bodhisattva.”
Through the isolation window, I saw Sun Junliu asleep, her limbs seemingly restrained.
“She’s sedated,” the nurse explained. “Tomorrow, she’ll be evaluated again. If nothing changes, she’ll be sent to a mental hospital. But the director says… she’s probably incurable.”
I thanked her. “You can go. I’ll just stand here for a while.”
Blushing, the nurse left.
Ma Shuangxi stood at the door, gazing silently at Sun Junliu from afar. He didn’t enter.
Even love for a ruined flower is noble. Few in this world would take a knife for the one they adore.
I asked Ma Shuangxi, “Do you want to say anything?”
He stared for over ten minutes. Suddenly, his expression softened, and his form dissipated like scattered lotus petals.
Sun Junliu, still beautiful in her madness, slept peacefully—free from pain, untroubled by worldly bonds.
I turned to leave but froze in terror.
A pair of eyes was pressed against the glass, the face behind them grotesquely twisted. In the dead of night, in a psychiatric isolation ward, the sight nearly stopped my heart.
Sun Junliu grinned triumphantly at me. A little ghost perched on her shoulder.
The soundproof glass muffled her voice, but I could read her lips.
“I succeeded. I succeeded. I succeeded.”
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