Qian Luo stood frozen, watching the beautiful girl struggle to evade the Vengeful Spirit, her heart twisting with a complicated ache.
She knew that if Ye were here, the cat-spirit wouldn’t even hesitate. Ye would force her to stand back, let the spirit devour the soul, and only then deal with the “problem” of the strengthened Vengeful Spirit.
Ghost-tamers were, by nature, the antithesis of ghosts. From the moment a spirit appeared, it was meant to flee from a tamer—and from the moment a tamer entered the sect, they were destined to hunt and slay every soul they encountered.
Qian Luo worried for the girl, yet she knew this worry was “sinful” for someone of her calling. For a fleeting second, amidst the dust of the skeletal building, the voices of her past rose like a tide to drown her: “Traitor!” “Kick her out!” “The ghost she let go killed the Fourth Senior Brother!”
She had made mistakes… terrible mistakes.
In that moment of doubt, she almost subconsciously wanted to just sit there and let the two entities tear each other apart, using the time to wait out the clock.
However, as she watched, she suddenly recognized the girl being hunted! That face—like a flower, those eyes—like shimmering water. It was her! It was Zhou Xiaoming!
Relief washed over Qian Luo. She had found the perfect excuse to save a ghost: she was investigating a case! Zhou Xiaoming must know the truth. If the girl died here, the case died with her. She had to save her. Ha!
Qian Luo quickly scanned the sealed building. Every exit was blocked, the main door was locked, and neither she nor the ghost could phase through walls or survive a blind jump. Her only option was to use the terrain to stall, weaken the spirit, and find a way out after sunset!
The Vengeful Spirit—Zhuo Zitong—had been dead for less than two days. Her soul was still fractured and tied to the site of her death. She shouldn’t be able to leave this building yet.
Qian Luo cursed her own negligence. If only she had brought her tools! She could have subdued Zhuo Zitong, waited for her soul to coalesce the next day, and interrogated her about her death. Now, if she missed this chance, who knew when she’d catch her again?
She glanced at the window. The sunlight was weakening. Once night fell, they could try to climb out a second-story window. But—this ghost was unnervingly powerful. To become a Vengeful Spirit before the second day… if she managed to break the tether to her death-site, they’d be in real trouble.
“Mirror!” a crisp female voice cut through the air.
Qian Luo snapped out of her daze. “Huh?”
Zhou Xiaoming was still dancing a deadly ballet with the spirit, her form glowing with a faint, pure white light. She shouted, “Hurry! It’ll be too late once the sun goes down!”
Qian Luo didn’t have time to process the logic, but she began frantically searching. In a dark corner, she found a shattered mirror. Ignoring the glass slicing into her palms, she grabbed the largest shards and turned toward the last sliver of slanting sunlight.
“If you want to help me, use the mirror!” Xiaoming panted as she ran.
Qian Luo moved fast. She caught the sunlight with the glass and angled it toward the two figures. A cry of agony immediately rang out.
Xiaoming’s shoulder smoked as the light hit her. “Why are you hitting me?!” she wailed.
Qian Luo panicked. Her hand shook, and the beam of reflected light chased Xiaoming like a spotlight. The girl was now pained, furious, and still running for her life. The Vengeful Spirit gained ground instantly.
“You…!” Xiaoming growled.
Finally getting the hang of it, Qian Luo shifted the light onto the Vengeful Spirit. A hole hissed open in the ghost’s shadowy form. Qian Luo shuddered; if she had kept that beam on Xiaoming for a second longer, the girl would have been scorched away.
Enraged by the heavy blow, Zhuo Zitong let out a guttural roar, abandoned Xiaoming, and lunged straight for Qian Luo.
Qian Luo wasn’t afraid of the charge, but since this ghost had died by falling flat on her face… She was hideous!
The sheer revulsion nearly made Qian Luo gag. She leaped aside just as the ghost tore through the space where she’d been standing. Qian Luo spun back, caught the light again, and—Flash!
The light hit the ghost squarely in the face. In the dim building, the features had been blurred, but the mirror’s beam illuminated the carnage of the ghost’s face in high definition. Qian Luo nearly cursed out loud: It’s not your fault someone killed you! It’s not your fault you hit the ground! But coming out to scare people like this is just wrong!!
Green smoke billowed from the ghost’s face. Though its mind was fractured, the pain was real. It recoiled into the deep shadows, afraid to show itself.
Qian Luo searched with the mirror, but the ghost had vanished into the gloom. Xiaoming looked on in shock. The spirit was fast, able to run on air; there was no telling where it was hiding now.
Qian Luo couldn’t stray from the beam of light, so her range of vision was severely limited. She spun in circles, heart hammering. Where is she?
The building grew darker. Objects blurred into indistinct shapes. The deathly silence of the empty skyscraper pulled a deep, nameless dread from the pit of her stomach.
Suddenly, Xiaoming screamed: “Watch your head!”
Qian Luo’s scalp tingled. She looked up just as the ghost plummeted from the ceiling, claws outstretched, less than a meter away!
Qian Luo tilted the mirror to reflect the light, but in that split second, the sun dipped below the horizon. The last ray vanished.
Total, absolute darkness.
Qian Luo’s eyes hadn’t adjusted. She dove instinctively, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow to her skull, but she wasn’t fast enough. A searing pain erupted in her shoulder as sharp claws tore through her flesh. Blood gushed, followed by a sickening numbness.
She crashed into a concrete pillar, the impact leaving her dazed and seeing stars. In her hazy vision, she saw the ghost, glowing with a faint, malevolent aura, pouncing again.
Great… she thought bitterly. I’ve hunted ghosts for years, only to die at the hands of a rookie. The sect will never let me live this down…
But the killing blow never came. Instead, a soft, white glow enveloped her as a pair of slender arms caught her and pulled her away.
I was just saved… by a ghost?
Xiaoming panted, struggling to support Qian Luo’s weight as she leaped across the floor. “What do we do? What’s next?”
Qian Luo’s head throbbed. “Leave… she can’t get out… we have to go…”
With all her spiritual strength, the girl-ghost leaped toward the one open window on the second floor. For a moment, the brilliant starlight of the deep blue sky filled their vision. Through the narrow gap they went, jumping out into the open air—
But the Vengeful Spirit was right behind them. Its long, jagged nails raked across Xiaoming’s back just as they cleared the frame.
The strength drained out of Xiaoming instantly. She went limp, falling like a broken doll through the air with the heavy Qian Luo in her arms. And behind them, bathed in the silver moonlight, the Vengeful Spirit clung to the window frame. It struggled against the invisible barrier for a heart-stopping second before the barrier shattered, and the creature shrieked, diving down after them into the night.