Ghosts Behind You

Chapter 30

Li Hong took another step back and shouted, "Don't come any closer!"

“Yang Yunhui is a bastard, you can’t be with him,” Liu Yun continued, taking a step closer. “He’ll kill you one day.”

“He won’t harm me; it’s you who killed those innocent people,” Li Hong said.

"Innocent?" Liu Yun chuckled. "They betrayed me, so I'll punish them."

"They have their own choices, and you have no right to interfere."

"A choice?" Liu Yun burst into laughter. "I had choices before, but I gave them up for them. Now that they've betrayed me, don't they deserve to die?"

"That's wishful thinking on your part. If you had made the right choice back then, the outcome certainly wouldn't have been like this."

"What would it be like?" Liu Yun pressed closer. Li Hong suddenly smelled a disgusting, rotten odor.

"Back off quickly and hit her with the peach wood board!" Zheng Zhihao's voice suddenly entered Li Hong's mind.

"Yang Yunhui?" Liu Yun seemed to hear the voice in Li Hong's mind, stopped in her tracks, and lowered her hands. She stood there motionless.

Taking advantage of Liu Yun's momentary daze, Li Hong jumped aside. She grabbed the small piece of peach wood from the table, ready to defend herself at any moment.

"As expected, Yang Yunhui is still bothering you." Liu Yun chuckled again. "So he's actually with you. I thought he was just following you around."

"What exactly do you want?" Li Hong asked, slightly out of breath. The board was quite heavy. "You gave me the talisman just to tell me this?"

“I wanted to make a deal with you…” Liu Yun stopped moving forward. “You drive Yang Yunhui away, and I’ll let Xu Feifei go. I can’t communicate normally with people, and I discovered that only you can see my afterimage, and only you can lead me to Yang Yunhui, so I let you find that talisman. It’s all destined.”

"What if I don't agree?" Li Hong asked in a trembling voice.

“It’s simple. I can make Xu Feifei crash into a wall and die right now. And you won’t be able to escape either.”

"Are you threatening me?" Li Hong said, now looking around to see if she had a chance of winning if she made a move.

“It’s not a threat, it’s a fair trade,” Liu Yun said. “Promise me, it will all be over.”

"I'm sorry, I can't!" Li Hong said, then suddenly swung the peach wood board in her hand at Liu Yun. She didn't use her full strength, afraid of hurting Xu Feifei.

Liu Yun clearly hadn't expected Li Hong to act so suddenly, and since she still couldn't fully control Xu Feifei's body, the peach wood board slammed solidly into Xu Feifei's head. Li Hong saw blood flowing out.

"Smash her forehead! That'll force Liu Yun to come out!" Zheng Zhihao shouted.

"You'll regret this!" Liu Yun screamed hysterically. Now she raised her head, a stream of blood flowing down her forehead, making Xu Feifei's originally delicate face look ferocious.

Without hesitation, Li Hong gritted her teeth and smashed the peach wood board against Xu Feifei's forehead again.

With a thud, Xu Feifei fell backward. Li Hong saw that the peach wood board had left a black mark on her forehead, and wisps of black smoke seemed to be rising from it.

Li Hong took a step forward, preparing to attack again. However, unexpectedly, Xu Feifei suddenly stood up straight from the ground. She stretched out her hands, her face filled with a furious and terrifying expression, her dark eyes glaring as she lunged forward. This sudden attack caught Li Hong completely off guard; Xu Feifei's hands gripped her neck tightly. An unusually strong force struck, making it immediately difficult for Li Hong to breathe.

Xu Feifei's terrifying face was right before her eyes; Li Hong could even see the blood flowing from her forehead into her eyes. Li Hong had no way out. She felt her body growing weaker and weaker, and she could barely hold onto the peach wood board. But she couldn't give up. With all her might, she used her knee to brace Xu Feifei's body, then slowly raised the peach wood board and smashed it down on her forehead again.

The blow wasn't very forceful, but it hit the mark precisely. Li Hong saw wisps of black smoke rising from Xu Feifei's forehead, and the hand gripping her neck gradually loosened. Li Hong kicked Xu Feifei away and then pressed the peach wood board against her forehead.

Xu Feifei began to convulse. Li Hong quickly moved the wooden board away, afraid of actually harming Xu Feifei. Li Hong squatted down, patted Xu Feifei's face, and then pried open her eyelids to examine her. Her eyes were slowly returning to normal, the black smoke on her forehead had disappeared, and even the black marks from the blows were beginning to turn red. Xu Feifei had now fainted.

Li Hong plopped down on the ground, panting heavily with lingering fear...

2.30 Argument

Li Hong moved Xu Feifei to the bed and checked her condition again. Thankfully, aside from a few bruises from the impact, Xu Feifei was currently unharmed. Li Hong treated the wounds while blaming herself for hitting Xu Feifei so hard. It seemed she needed to go to the hospital for a checkup; she hoped there wouldn't be any long-term effects like a concussion. Poor girl…

While waiting for Xu Feifei to wake up, Li Hong tidied up the table, as the sight of the candles and incense burner had instilled a sense of dread in her. To be honest, she hadn't realized Liu Yun was just trying to make a deal with her, instead of mistakenly believing it was trying to tell her something. Now, however, she regretted her impulsiveness and preemptive action; she should have been more patient and perhaps obtained more clues. But the thought of Xu Feifei's appearance after being possessed by Liu Yun sent a chill down her spine. She realized she didn't have the mental fortitude to calmly converse with Liu Yun.

"Do you regret it?" Zheng Zhihao suddenly asked.

"Regret what?" Li Hong snapped out of her reverie and asked.

"Of course, we lit that talisman. Now, are you regretting not listening to me?" Zheng Zhihao's voice sounded somewhat gloating.

"Are you laughing at me?" Li Hong was a little angry after hearing the sarcasm in his tone. "How was I supposed to know it would possess Xu Feifei and catch me off guard?"

"Because it's not a bound spirit, it no longer has a corpse. It can't communicate with you like Ya Chaolan does. It can only talk to you when it possesses Xu Feifei's body," Zheng Zhihao said.

"Hey! Why didn't you say so sooner?!" Li Hong was angry. "What exactly do you mean? Saying such sarcastic things at a time like this."

“I told you all this a long time ago, and I didn’t want you to light that talisman. I said if you’re going to do it, do it yourself, I won’t get involved.”

"How could you be like this?!" Li Hong said, frowning. "If you weren't going to get involved, you could have told me sooner so I could prepare! Liu Yun just said you're a bastard and that you'll definitely get me killed. I think she's right." Li Hong was furious.

"Calm down." Zheng Zhihao didn't expect Li Hong to be really angry and was a little anxious. "Can you believe what it says? It even said it would leave Xu Feifei, but in the end, we were the ones who drove it away."

"Come on!" Li Hong stood up, her voice rising. "If you hadn't been urging me to act, I definitely would have asked a few more questions, and maybe the outcome would have been different. You just don't want me to talk to it, do you? There must be something between you and it, and you're putting me in the middle. You say its words are unreliable, but it says your words are unreliable too!"

"When have I ever lied to you?!" Zheng Zhihao also became agitated. "I've saved you so many times, big and small, why would I need to lie to you? Otherwise, you would have died countless times over."

"You've never lied to me before?" Li Hong snorted softly. "Back at the hotel in Shandong, you told me that the mark wouldn't be fatal for a year. You were lying to me, weren't you? And when Li Li was possessed, you didn't tell me that either."

"You still remember such a trivial matter?" Zheng Zhihao didn't expect Li Hong to bring this up and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

“Maybe you’re doing this for my sake, but I still want you to tell me the truth. I can accept whatever the truth is, just don’t lie to me,” Li Hong said sternly. “Tell me the truth, and even if I don’t participate or help, I won’t blame you—did I ever blame you for getting involved in this?”

“You’re definitely blaming me, and you think I’m a liar.”

"I didn't say anything." Li Hong sat down again, puffing out her cheeks. She decided to ignore him. She felt that Zheng Zhihao must be hiding something from her.

"Okay, okay." Zheng Zhihao sighed. "I really shouldn't have dragged you into this. I'm sorry."

Li Hong pretended not to hear and tidied Xu Feifei's hair while she was still asleep.

“You don’t need to worry about this anymore. I won’t bother you,” Zheng Zhihao said in a low voice. “I apologize again for any unease or inconvenience caused.”

Li Hong wanted to say something, but she held back; she was still angry.

A chill ran down Li Hong's right hand; she realized someone was standing next to her. Zheng Zhihao had slipped from her grasp. Li Hong glanced at him, then ignored him completely.

Soon, Zheng Zhihao disappeared.

********************************

When Xu Feifei woke up, Li Hong was fast asleep, slumped over her. It was already broad daylight. Xu Feifei woke Li Hong, complaining of a headache. Li Hong briefly told her what had happened the previous night and then apologized.

"It's alright, Sister Li." Xu Feifei forced a smile. "You did it to save me too."

"Let's go to the hospital!" Li Hong said, pulling Xu Feifei up.

*******************************

"Mild concussion," the doctor said. "We'll need to observe him for a week or two to see if there are any other problems."

“Oh…” Li Hong said softly. She knew the consequences of a mild concussion. Although she could fully recover with normal rest, her guilt only intensified. If there were other problems, such as chronic headaches caused by the concussion, it would be even more troublesome, and Li Hong would find it even harder to forgive herself.

Her mind was in turmoil; she couldn't concentrate on anything, as if she'd lost her anchor. But she resolutely refused to admit it was a consequence of her argument with Zheng Zhihao. She stared blankly out the window, carefully recalling every word spoken the previous night. She had indeed felt annoyed by being dragged into this, but she hadn't meant to blame Zheng Zhihao. But he was so infuriating! Was it really okay to just say "I won't get involved"? What if she really did get strangled to death by Liu Yun? Wouldn't that have been a pointless death? Thinking of this, she became angry again.

"Sister Li, what's wrong?" Xu Feifei asked, sitting on the hospital bed.

"That's all," Li Hong said.

"Are you upset?" Xu Feifei said with her big eyes. "You don't need to worry about me anymore. I can take care of myself."

"No, it's not that I'm bothered by this," Li Hong said. She really didn't know how to talk about Zheng Zhihao, but she felt uncomfortable if she didn't say it.

"Tell me, did Sister Liu say anything to you?" Xu Feifei asked patiently. "I can't remember anything about last night, I don't even know when I fell asleep."

"You want to hear it, don't you?" Li Hong asked.

"Of course, I feel like I'm just a pawn, being moved around by you and Sister Liu. I want to know the whole story, and what exactly caused Sister Liu to become like this."

“Because of a man,” Li Hong replied softly.

"Because of a man?!" Xu Feifei was extremely surprised. "She would become like this because of a man?"

“I don’t know the specifics of what happened between the two of them. This man is the wizard master I told you about,” Li Hong said. “But he’s dead too. His soul once resided in my palm.” Li Hong opened her right hand and pointed to the wound for Xu Feifei to see. However, the wound was beginning to heal; the redness and swelling at the edges had disappeared, turning a dark brown color.

Xu Feifei was speechless for a long time, then she suddenly reached out and touched Li Hong's forehead, "You don't have a fever..."

"Who has a fever!" Li Hong shoved Xu Feifei's hand away. "I'm not talking nonsense."

Xu Feifei pried Li Hong's hand aside to take a look, and then asked, "Is it still inside?"

“He’s gone.” Li Hong shook her head. “He’s gone.”

Xu Feifei stopped talking, frowned, and scratched her hair, feeling utterly puzzled. Just then, her phone rang.

"Sister Li, it's Wang Xiaoxin on the phone. She said she's encountered something strange," Xu Feifei said after hanging up.

"Who? Wang Xiaoxin?" Li Hong didn't react for a moment.

“Yes, he’s the other survivor among the five of us who didn’t get into an accident,” Xu Feifei reminded her.

"Oh, oh, oh, I remember now, the girl whose house had so many swords hanging up," Li Hong said quickly.

"It's her. Something strange happened to her."

2.31 Past Events (Part 1)

When Li Hong appeared before the resident doctor with Xu Feifei, the doctor exclaimed in surprise, "It's you again!" Li Hong could only awkwardly offer a brief explanation and request to take Xu Feifei home. The doctor had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The two sat in the taxi. Li Hong inquired in detail about the content of the call. Xu Feifei, covering her head, replied that Wang Xiaoxin hadn't said anything about the matter on the phone, only that she wanted to meet her at home and that she would bring Li Hong along if it was convenient. Li Hong then asked what Wang Xiaoxin's tone was like. Xu Feifei said her voice was low and terrified. Li Hong nodded.

They arrived at Wang Xiaoxin's building again, rang the doorbell, and the door opened quickly. Li Hong saw that she was pale and haggard, as if she hadn't slept for many days, and was simply and casually dressed in a long nightgown. She gave the two of them an awkward smile, then led them inside.

The house was a mess, with clutter strewn everywhere. The kitchen table was piled high with instant noodle containers, and a sour, foul odor permeated the air. Li Hong had no idea what had happened to Wang Xiaoxin; the house was so different from when she last visited. She looked around, wondering what had happened, and followed Wang Xiaoxin into the living room. The living room reeked of tobacco. Although it was summer, none of the windows were open, and the air conditioning wasn't on, making the whole house feel incredibly stuffy.

"What's wrong with you?" Xu Feifei's tone revealed obvious unease.

"I don't dare go out, and I'm not in the mood to tidy up," Wang Xiaoxin said with a wry smile. "I just couldn't hold back anymore, so I bothered you two."

Li Hong sat down, while Xu Feifei went straight to the windowsill and began opening the windows one by one. Although the sunlight outside was strong, opening the windows refreshed the stale air in the room, making the three people present feel invigorated. Li Hong was initially startled when she saw Wang Xiaoxin, but gradually calmed down, and her complexion improved noticeably.

"What happened to you?" Li Hong asked softly, staring intently at Wang Xiaoxin's face as if searching for something.

“I…” Wang Xiaoxin paused, “I have the same dream for three or four days in a row.”

Li Hong and Xu Feifei both breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Feifei immediately said, "Oh dear, I thought it was something serious, just because of this?"

Wang Xiaoxin nodded: "It's Sister Liu's dream. Every night she tells me her past stories, and she also tells me about a stranger. The story sounds terrifying, and there have been unusual noises in the house at night. I'm afraid to sleep. When I'm extremely tired and close my eyes, I have this dream again."

“I understand that this has increased your psychological burden,” Li Hong said. “The unusual noise may be due to Liu Yun’s dream causing your senses to be misled.”

"Is that so? Then what should I do? I don't know how to end this situation." Wang Xiaoxin's eyes reddened as she spoke. "Now I can't do anything. I'm afraid to sleep at night. Every time I close my eyes, I see her face..."

"What did she say to you? Do you still remember?" Li Hong asked.

“It’s terrifying, I remember everything about ghosts,” Wang Xiaoxin said. “But I can’t wake up at all.”

“Then tell me about it,” Li Hong said, taking out her notebook at the same time.

"Okay. I came to you for two reasons: first, to ask if you have any solutions, and second, to talk to you about something. I feel really uncomfortable if I don't say it out loud."