Chapter 47
Chapter 47
The Bride in Red still needed a little time to arrive.
That was enough time for Xie Qingling to make some preparations.
She planned to use the two bound ghosts to shake off the Bride in Red.
The immediate priority was to leave this studio apartment.
Both bound ghosts, however, came with certain restrictions.
The Swiftstride Ghost could only be used five times in succession. Each Swiftstride had to stay within sight; once it reached the limit of the user’s field of vision, the ghost could go no farther.
The Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s Lost Path could only be used three times in succession, and each change of location could span no more than a thousand meters.
These limits left Xie Qingling with less freedom to act.
Every chance to use a bound ghost was precious, and she did not want to waste one lightly.
At the very least, she did not need their power just to leave the apartment building.
Xie Qingling wavered between taking the front door and jumping straight out of the building. In the end, she decided to jump.
Going through the front door would mean taking the elevator down. Her instincts told her that when facing the Bride in Red, she had better not let herself be shut inside an enclosed space.
Especially somewhere as cramped as an elevator.
It would only take an instant to dye such a small space completely red, wouldn’t it?
As for jumping… Chai Yuhu’s studio apartment was on the seventh floor, and the stories were fairly low. With her current physical constitution, a fall from that height would not kill her. But the constant stabbing pain from the embroidered shoes greatly reduced her agility. She might sprain her ankles when she landed.
Still, she already could not walk normally. Another sprain hardly mattered. It would hurt either way, and she would have trouble moving either way.
As long as she could see Ye Anran soon, no injury would be a problem, however severe. One Rejuvenation would take care of it – if Ye Anran knew what Xie Qingling was thinking, she would definitely start scolding her again.
Xie Qingling took a deep breath, picked up the chair beside the bed, and smashed it hard against the apartment window.
Crash! Crash!…
After several deafening blows, Xie Qingling succeeded in smashing the window to pieces.
Just as she braced both hands on the sill, gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes to jump, a rustling came from the doorway.
Then came a beep, and the door opened.
Dai Xingyu and Ye Anran rushed in.
Only when Ye Anran saw Xie Qingling standing safely inside the room did she sigh in relief. “Thank goodness you’re all right!”
Xie Qingling silently drew her hands away from the doorframe and forced a smile.
It was a little early to call her all right.
But with her teammates here, their odds of winning were much better.
At least she no longer had to worry about hurting her ankles in a fall.
Seeing Xie Qingling’s bizarre gait and pale face, Ye Anran understood at once.
She cast a healing spell on Xie Qingling to restore her condition, but it had no effect whatsoever.
Startled, Ye Anran asked, “What’s going on? Why can’t you walk? You should be better now that I’ve healed you.”
Xie Qingling shook her head with a bitter smile, a suspicion forming in her mind.
“Leave my feet for now,” she said. “Medicine can’t cure this. It’s a curse.”
Ye Anran nodded, quickly understanding what had happened.
It seemed Xie Qingling had already fought the malicious ghost before they arrived.
Ye Anran was utterly impressed by Xie Qingling’s composure.
Any malicious ghost capable of making the Director’s face turn that grim could hardly be easy to deal with. As they raced here, they had all been praying that nothing would happen to Xie Qingling.
And in the end, hardly anything had.
At most, her feet were a little hurt and she had been cursed.
But come to think of it, where was the ghost? Had Xie Qingling dealt with it alone?
Ye Anran was about to ask when Dai Xingyu, who had been surveying the room and feeling for ghosts, suddenly widened his eyes.
“Sister Anran, there’s something there!” Dai Xingyu pointed to a small corner of the bathroom.
Ye Anran immediately sent three black needles flying.
Three sharp swishes sounded, as though something unseen had been destroyed.
“There too! And on the ceiling…”
As Dai Xingyu spoke, two throwing knives flew through the broken window, each shooting toward a spot he had indicated.
Xie Qingling turned her head and saw Yu Wei and Shen Huaizhou leap through the window.
With five people inside, the tiny studio apartment was suddenly packed.
Outside the seventh-floor window, Ling Fang was somehow suspended in place. He poked his head through the opening, his gaze settling on Xie Qingling’s oddly positioned feet. “What’s the situation? We just learned that the ghost Chai Yuhu truly attracted may be another one altogether. The Hair-Eating Ghost is only a smokescreen. Are you all right?”
Xie Qingling shook her head and quickly reported what had just happened.
“It’s a Celebration Ghost – the Bride in Red. She’s targeted me and cursed my feet. I can’t move normally now.”
“We’d better leave here quickly. She’ll be here soon.”
“She’s skilled at killing through rituals and curses, and she can follow a Killing Field’s guidance and use it as a foothold. Be careful. We’d better not deploy a Killing Field.”
Without deploying a Killing Field, only Dai Xingyu among those present could glimpse even the tip of that world’s iceberg. For everyone else, it would be like fighting an enemy blindfolded.
The situation had suddenly become very bad indeed.
Ling Fang nodded, tossed her a new earpiece, and said, “Give me your hand.”
Xie Qingling hooked the earpiece over her ear first. Though she did not understand, she held out her hand to him.
“I’ll take Xie Qingling out first. The rest of you cover our retreat. Remember, don’t get drawn into a fight. We can’t subdue this ghost by conventional means. We need a new battle plan,” Ling Fang ordered.
Just then, Xie Qingling felt a tug on her hand. She looked down as Ling Fang pulled hard, hauling her out of the studio apartment.
Only now did Xie Qingling see why Ling Fang could remain suspended in midair: a pair of hawk’s feet gripped his shoulders – or, more precisely, the feet of a hawk made of wood.
That was how he had been standing in midair – or rather, hanging from the hawk’s feet – while speaking to them.
Xie Qingling froze for a moment. Then Ling Fang gripped her wrists with both hands, and she was hanging in open air as the Wooden Hawk carried them away.
The Wooden Hawk looked astonishingly lifelike. Beating its wooden wings, it left the apartment building far behind in an instant.
“Xie Qingling.” Ling Fang’s low voice came from above her. “Now that she’s targeted you, she won’t give up easily. Celebration Ghosts like this are the most troublesome kind. You could call them some of the fiercest ghosts in existence. An ordinary person who encounters one is certain to die. To be safe, what you need most right now is somewhere secure to hide.”
“I can only take you part of the way. This Wooden Hawk’s curse is too strong to use it for long. Soon my whole body will stiffen, and I won’t be able to move. Once I’m immobilized, use the Swiftstride Ghost and find a way back to 221 Central Street.”
“The office has the protection granted by the qilin, a divine beast. Ordinary ghosts can’t get in. Until we’ve dealt with this ghost for good, you can’t leave the office, just like Chai Yuhu.”
Xie Qingling thought for a moment, then asked, “Director, how are we going to subdue her?”
“I’ll request a powerful cursed object from headquarters to suppress her. Then we’ll capture her.”
After a pause, Ling Fang added with some vexation, “We’ve never encountered such a vicious ghost in Future City before, so we don’t have any particularly powerful cursed objects.”
Come to think of it, hadn’t there been rather too many special incidents this year?
With the wind rushing past his ears, Ling Fang looked into the distance. Specks of neon glittered in the boundless night, while the lights of countless homes glowed among the high-rises. It was peaceful and still, and worry could not help but crease his brow.
He hoped this peaceful life could last a little longer.
Suddenly, the Wooden Hawk lurched in flight and skimmed diagonally along the wall of a building, nearly slamming both Ling Fang and Xie Qingling into it.
Ling Fang felt the Wooden Hawk sink, as though something had landed on it…
[The Bride in Red has finally traveled from the River of Forgetfulness to this unfamiliar mortal realm. Following her curse, she is pursuing you.]
[The Wooden Hawk that dropped Lu Ban’s wife and child to their deaths bears his powerful curse. Using it allows a person to transcend human limits and walk through the sky, but a price must also be paid. This fellow cursed object makes even the hastening Bride in Red wary. She had wanted to tear the enormous thing apart, but its feathers burned her hands, and in the end she could only abandon the attempt.]
[The Bride in Red stands above the Spirit Wielder. Nourished by yin energy for years, her hair has grown down to her ankles. Now it hangs down, drifting before your eyes.]
[Perhaps she need only wait patiently a little longer before the Spirit Wielder, out of options, is hers to reap.]
Xie Qingling lifted her head and looked up.
The night sky, with its bright moon and sparse stars, was like the surface of a still lake. There was nothing before her eyes.
“Director, she’s come after me,” Xie Qingling said. “She’s standing right above us now.”
Ling Fang clenched his teeth hard, his face turning ashen.
“I’m out of time,” Ling Fang said. “The Wooden Hawk will land soon. Once we touch down, she may attack. Get your bound ghost ready. Use the Swiftstride Ghost and run immediately!”
Xie Qingling nodded. She was already clutching both clay statues.
The Wooden Hawk glided down, lower and lower. Just as it was about to skim the ground, Ling Fang let go and shouted, “Go! Back to the office!”
At his words, the Swiftstride Ghost’s ability whisked Xie Qingling away with a whoosh.
She vanished from Ling Fang’s sight in an instant.
The immense momentum hurled Ling Fang hard against the ground. His palms scraped across the surface, drawing several drops of bright red blood, but he had no time to attend to them.
He could feel that the heavy weight pressing down on the Wooden Hawk had vanished as well.
The Bride in Red had also left.
But Xie Qingling had bound ghosts. Now it was a question of who was faster.
As long as Xie Qingling could step inside the office before the Bride in Red, then…
Wait.
Ling Fang’s face suddenly went livid.
He stared in the direction Xie Qingling had vanished, his entire face trembling.
That was not the way back to the office at all.
He finally swore aloud. “Xie Qingling, what the fuck are you doing?!”