Hearing the eerie high-heel clicks at the door, we both jolted in terror. Zhang Xiaoman shoved me forward as a human shield, then peeked out from behind me with her head tilted.
"Chicken heart—trying to scare me like a ghost? Bah!" I grumbled. This scheming woman always used me as a shield, which pissed me off.
"Stop whining, sorcerer! Go check if that's Xue'er," Zhang Xiaoman urged, pushing me harder from behind.
"Don't fucking push me—I can walk!" I snapped, inching cautiously toward the door.
Stepping out, I saw Lin Xue standing at the corridor's end, belly swollen, glaring at us with icy resentment in her eyes.
"Every grievance has its owner. Avenge yourself on that bastard and his mistress, not Lin Xue," I shouted, pointing my peachwood sword at her.
Lin Xue stroked her belly as a sinister woman's voice emanated from her: "I need this woman's body to bear my child. Leave now while you can, or I'll take your lives." As she spoke, Lin Xue's hair stood up like iron wires, her lips turned seductive red, cheeks purpled, and her bulging eyes shone pale with horror.
"You... you're a ghost, and Lin Xue is human—how can she bear your child?" Zhang Xiaoman trembled, retreating behind me again.
"Hmph, little brat—since when do you dictate to me? Keep talking, and I'll rip your mouth apart!" The ghost snarled, summoning a gust of cold wind that fluttered Lin Xue's clothes, revealing her slender white legs and pure white panties beneath her skirt.
"Hmph, shrew! No wonder your husband cheated even when you were pregnant," Zhang Xiaoman snapped back, her stubbornness flaring as she squared off against the ghost.
This completely enraged the ghost. Lin Xue's hair suddenly lengthened by meters, lashing toward Zhang Xiaoman like serpents.
I reacted swiftly, twirling my peachwood sword to entangle the hair, then yanking it back.
"Ghost, don't you dare bully my wife!" I roared.
From behind me, Zhang Xiaoman spat: "Bah, shameless sorcerer—always taking advantage at times like this!"
"Then go down and be lovebirds in hell! I hate adulterers most!" the ghost shrieked. The house lights began to flicker, and the gale lifted tables and chairs into the air, hurling them at us.
I didn't flinch, pulling out a string of copper coins like a coiled snake: "Break all curses; no evil shall escape—disperse!"
As the incantation fell, the coins flew like blades, colliding with the incoming furniture. Every object shattered upon impact, the gale vanished instantly, and the lights stabilized. When I looked around, all furniture stood undisturbed—the entire scene had been an illusion.
The copper coins clattered to the floor, now pitch-black as if scorched by fire.
This ghost is no ordinary being. Everything that just happened was a mix of illusion and reality—unlike common ghosts that only bewitch the mind, this is a genuine malevolent spirit capable of turning half of her illusions into tangible existence.
By the way, her grudge isn't solely her own. There's also the unborn infant. Though it never took form, its death in the womb has endowed it with lingering resentment.
"Sorcerer, you've got some skills! Keep at it—I support you morally! Go smack that ghost and save Lin Xue already!" Zhang Xiaoman shouted from behind me. I nearly keeled over in exasperation—since when did I need her backseat directing while she hid?
Seeing her trick failed to harm me, the ghost suddenly yanked the extended hair when I wasn't looking, almost pulling me and the sword toward her in one go.
Sensing danger, I braced my stance immediately and clung desperately to the peachwood sword tangled in her hair.
The ghost tried to lengthen her hair further, but upon touching the peachwood sword, it wilted like a shriveled eggplant, hissing and giving off a burnt smell. If this were Lin Xue's real hair, would she end up bald?
No time to worry about that now. I pulled out a yellow talisman, chanted the incantation, and with a "poof," it caught fire. Pressing the burning talisman to the hair, it ignited like flame on dry grass—whoosh!—turning all the hair to ash.
But on closer inspection, it wasn't ash at all—just disgusting rotting worms. The stench of roasted worms was overwhelming and nose-searing. Relief washed over me seeing Lin Xue's hair intact; the rock in my heart finally dropped.
This strike seemed to deal a heavy blow to the ghost. She staggered back, clutching her belly and waist, trying to flee downstairs. Like hell I'd let her escape! I flipped the peachwood sword in my hand and hurled it like an arrow—dead on target, piercing her shoulder. With a wail, she collapsed to the floor.
Just then, a wisp of black spirit floated from Lin Xue's body. I tried to chase after it for the finishing blow, but it vanished into the ceiling in a blink.
"Damn it, she got away!" I cursed. I'd almost exorcised that malevolent spirit, and now I'd have to face Zhang Hu empty-handed.
As soon as the ghost fled, I rushed to check on Lin Xue. After pulling out the peachwood sword, I saw her wound wasn't serious—it was as if the sword had been consecrated, harmless to humans. Only her shoulder bore a bowl-sized hole in her clothes, singed black as if burned.
But then Zhang Xiaoman and I noticed a horrific problem: Lin Xue's belly was still swollen. My heart sank—shit, the ghost's unborn infant had latched onto Lin Xue.
"Sorcerer, what do we do? If Lin Xue gives birth to this thing, what the hell will it be?" Zhang Xiaoman fretted, her forehead beaded with sweat.
"A ghost infant," I said gravely.
That baby had died in the womb, its spirit bound to its mother's. If born, it would be a ghost infant—one so resentful it might even devour its human host.
Just then, Lin Xue's brows twitched, and she woke up.
"What happened? What's wrong with me?" She pressed her forehead, gazing at us in confusion. Then her eyes fell on her watermelon-sized belly, and she let out a piercing shriek.
"Why is my stomach like this? What's happening?!" She stared at her belly like a frightened fawn.
Zhang Xiaoman soothed her, then recounted everything in detail.
"No! I won't give birth—especially to a ghost baby! You're lying! There's no such thing as ghosts!" Lin Xue's eyes reddened like tomatoes, tears streaming. She pounded her belly, but when it didn't budge, her sobs turned hysterical.
"Stop crying," I said. "How did the ghost possess you? Do you remember?"
Lin Xue sniffled and sobbed, "I remember when I went to flip the main switch, there was a pair of red high heels under it. They were so gaudy, giving me the creeps. I don't usually like high heels, especially spooky ones like that, but I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to put them on. Next thing I knew, I'd slipped them on and blacked out."
After speaking, Lin Xue angrily kicked off the heels and slammed them to the floor.
I forced a wry smile. Venting now wouldn't help—these must have belonged to the ghost. To be safe, I set the heels on fire.
As they burned, thick black smoke billowed, reeking of dizzying stench. Strangely, the ceiling echoed with "woo-woo" sounds—half cat-like, half woman's sobs—sending chills down my spine. The other two women paled, too terrified to look up.
"Xiaoman, I don't want to give birth to a ghost baby! Save me!" Lin Xue wept, collapsing into Zhang Xiaoman's arms.
"Sorcerer, do something! She can't have this abomination!" Zhang Xiaoman pleaded, panic rising.
I shrugged helplessly. Since the ghost left the infant in Lin Xue, we'd have to let her give birth first, then exorcise it.
Zhang Xiaoman wouldn't relent. Biting her lip, she pressed, "Lin Yuan, are you really going to abandon her? Where's your loyalty? She's your classmate! If you save her, I'll call you 'husband' forever!"
Her words jolted me—not because of the title, but the thrill of conquest was intoxicating. But then I realized: taking advantage of her desperation was despicable.
I waved her off. "Cut it out. Do I look like that kind of guy? If you call me 'husband,' it should be voluntary, not a bargaining chip."
Zhang Xiaoman huffed, "Fine, but hurry up and think!"
Pacing the second-floor corridor, I finally snapped my fingers. "Got it—we need to 'abort' the ghost fetus."