Chapter Seventeen: The Ferocity of the Female Corpse

Ye Zi, Wei Qi, and Long Yu stood at the doorway, their eyes fixed intently on the darkness outside. Yu Fang and I were inside, and from the tense, grave expressions on the three of them, it was clear they were bracing as if facing a formidable enemy.

Outside, the night was shrouded in gloom, with distant lights filtering through the trees, scattering a faint, mysterious glow. The wind stirred, and the leaves around the villa rustled noisily. On any ordinary evening, such a scene would have been common, yet tonight, the tension in the air was palpable—why were the three of them so on edge?

This anxiety seeped into Yu Fang. Even this usually unflappable policewoman now wore a dark, brooding look. The girl had been tormented by spirits lately, one ordeal after another—truth be told, she shouldn’t have come with me tonight.

“Qi, what should we do?” Ye Zi asked Wei Qi in a low voice.

“We’ll stay put unless he makes a move. Xiao Zi, go inside and look after Shang Xiaoyun. Don’t let that malignant ghost harm her again if you can help it.” Although Wei Qi spoke to Ye Zi, his eyes never left the indistinct thicket outside the door, as if something lurked there. I looked carefully, but saw only the tangled shadows of the bushes—nothing more. Yet the absence of anything tangible only made it more frightening.

“Qi, no—Uncle Qi, what should I do?” I gripped the three-foot-long Longyuan sword tightly, fear gnawing at me.

“Protect Yu Fang, and be ready to act as the situation demands.” Wei Qi’s brow was deeply furrowed, his focus intense. Yu Fang clung to my hand, and I could feel her palm slick with sweat.

Suddenly, after several minutes of this standoff, a whirlwind swept past, startling a few roosting birds from the trees. They flapped away with noisy wings, and then the wind died as abruptly as it had come.

Only then did Wei Qi exhale deeply, his whole demeanor relaxing a little. His relief meant the evil spirit had gone—so we too let out our collective breath.

“Uncle Qi, what was that? Why didn’t you go out and catch it?” I couldn’t help but ask. I recalled him once saying he would capture all three ghosts from the tomb.

“This spirit is filled with violent resentment, and besides, it’s Shang Xiaoyun’s husband. So…” Wei Qi clicked his tongue and left it at that.

Back inside, Shang Xiaoyun lay on the bed, her belly growing larger and larger—she looked every bit the pregnant woman now. Seeing us enter, she sat up. “Master Wei, did you catch that wicked ghost?”

Wei Qi shook his head. “No. Its resentment is too powerful. And you must consider: if we do capture it, its soul will be dispersed, and your husband will be nothing more than a rotting corpse and a coffin.” Hearing this, I realized it wasn’t that Wei Qi couldn’t capture the ghost, but that he cared about Shang Xiaoyun’s feelings. From this, I guessed he had feelings for the widow.

“Master Wei, can’t you send him to the afterlife? Isn’t he supposed to drink the soup of oblivion and cross the Bridge of Forgetting? At least help him pass on and be reincarnated.” Shang Xiaoyun said helplessly, revealing her kindness.

Wei Qi took a while before replying, “I had intended to capture him and help him pass on, but his resentment is too strong. With such hatred, he’s become a malignant ghost—he can’t cross the Bridge of Forgetting. So we either destroy his soul or leave him to his own fate.”

Shang Xiaoyun lowered her head, silent. Perhaps the ties of marriage still lingered in her heart; she didn’t want to lose her husband completely. Yet the truth was, her husband didn’t want to let her go and had even done unspeakable things to her last night, leaving her pregnant. Clearly, this spirit was unworthy of her lingering affection.

“Master Wei, do what you must. If he’s become a malignant ghost and poses a threat to the living, he should be punished.” Shang Xiaoyun spoke with great resolve.

“There is no other way. First, we must remove the ghostly fetus from your womb—we can’t delay any longer, or it will end badly for everyone.” Wei Qi took some talismans from his pocket, instructing everyone to close all doors and windows and stick the charms upon them, to keep the evil spirit out.

Once everything was prepared, Wei Qi assigned me, Ye Zi, and Long Yu each to guard a floor of the house, as a precaution. Since I held the Longyuan sword, I was posted on the third floor—the most dangerous spot.

I stood by the window on the third floor, gripping the sword tightly, watching the murky night outside as my heart pounded wildly. If that evil spirit broke in, I had no idea if I could withstand it.

Yu Fang came up from below, her face set in grim determination.

“Why did you come up?” I glanced at her, feeling a surge of relief to have company, though I worried for her—she might be a police officer, but against ghosts, she was just an ordinary person.

“I feel safer with you,” she said, coming to crouch beside me, gazing out the window.

I said nothing more. Since she placed her trust in me, I had to give her a sense of security. It was only a malignant ghost, after all! Hadn’t I slain one just last night? Though I still didn’t know where that other ghost had escaped to.

“Da Chuan, look! Quickly!” Yu Fang suddenly pointed at the flowerbeds outside.

Following her finger, a chill crept over me, my hair standing on end. There, by the flowerbeds under the dim night, stood a woman—a woman whose stiff, wooden movements seemed eerily familiar.

“Da Chuan, isn’t it dangerous for a woman to be out there? What if the evil spirit possesses her?” Yu Fang grew anxious, perhaps out of professional habit, beginning to worry for this stranger. As she spoke, she moved to open the window, but I quickly stopped her.

“Don’t open it.” From the first moment I saw her, she struck me as oddly familiar. She wore a violet dress, her hair obscuring half her face, but I recognized her. “Don’t open the window. I know her—she isn’t human.”

The pale violet dress was one I had changed her into. Her delicate features were ones I’d painted. The high heels on her feet, I’d placed there myself. She was none other than the corpse Wei Qi had brought back for the ghost marriage with Shang Xiaoyun’s husband.

Her appearance chilled me to the bone. How could a corpse turn up in Shang Xiaoyun’s back garden? What was happening?

“Brother Wang, look—look!” As I stood bewildered, Yu Fang called out again, her finger trembling as she pointed outside, panic on her face.

In the mottled light of the dark night, that woman paced back and forth among the flowerbeds. Suddenly, she turned and started walking toward us. Her eyes, in the night, were lifeless as ashes—yet that very lack of vitality made her all the more terrifying.

“Brother Wang, will she climb up here?” Yu Fang clung to my arm, drawing close in fear.

“Don’t worry, she won’t. And even if she did, the talismans will protect us.” But truthfully, I was afraid she might. “You should go downstairs and tell Wei Qi what’s happening.”

“All right, Brother Wang. Please, be careful. If anything happens, call for help.” She looked at me, then slipped away.

I gripped the Longyuan sword with both hands, ready to fight if the corpse tried to climb up. Yet my mind was full of questions—how had she gotten here? Shang Xiaoyun’s villa was dozens of miles away. How could she have made it here? Most crucially, she was a corpse—I distinctly remembered Wei Qi and I placing her in the freezer before we left.

A low, mournful sound arose. The commotion outside had startled the husky tied to the fence; it began to whimper. At the sound, the female corpse turned, hesitated for a moment, then headed straight for the dog.

The once-brave husky, on seeing the corpse, gave a pitiful yelp and collapsed like a frightened kitten, motionless.

But the corpse showed no mercy. She bent over, seized the dog by the neck, and with a sudden, brutal twist—accompanied by a heart-rending canine scream—a spray of blood split the night air. The poor husky was torn in two. Her movements were so swift that both halves of the dog still trembled in her hands.