It was precisely because his eyes were covered by a ghost that Zhong Qing used his own student card—this little ghost had caused him to hallucinate, leading him to make the gravest mistake.
After completing the task, the little ghost perched on Zhong Qing’s shoulder let out a sinister chuckle, released its hands, and gradually faded away.
At this moment, Zhong Qing, caught in shock and terror, didn’t notice any of this. He first stared in disbelief at the red machine, then... his furious gaze turned to Li Cuinian!
“It’s you, isn’t it! You did this, didn’t you! You want to kill me, don’t you!”
“Are you crazy? How could it be me!” Li Cuinian was startled, seeing Zhong Qing’s manic eyes fixed on her, and couldn’t help but feel a bit scared, stepping back two paces.
“If it’s not you, then why are you acting guilty?” Zhong Qing’s face twisted, his expression ferocious as he pressed forward step by step.
“Guilty? I haven’t harmed anyone, why would I feel guilty?! Besides, we’re a team—why would I want to hurt you!”
“Because you want to shift the ghost’s hatred, kill me off, get the signed card, and then enter the principal’s office alone!” Zhong Qing sneered. “Li Cuinian, stop pretending. From start to finish, you were the only one nearby. If not you, then who? No matter what you say, I won’t believe a word!”
“But even if I’m marked by a ghost, you won’t survive! Since you want to harm me, let’s die together!”
With that, he suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Li Cuinian by the neck and slamming her hard to the ground.
“You bitch, daring to set me up—let’s go to hell together!”
Li Cuinian’s face turned red as she struggled, desperately opening her mouth as if to explain something, but Zhong Qing’s eyes were bloodshot, despair driving him mad.
After who knows how long, feeling the struggle gradually subside, Zhong Qing finally released his hands and slumped to the ground. Once the anger had been vented, he now felt only emptiness and numbness.
When the madness and rage sparked by despair faded, reason slowly began to return to him.
Looking down at his hands, then at Li Cuinian’s unclosed eyes and the marks on her neck, Zhong Qing’s mind suddenly grew calm.
What did I just do?
I killed Li Cuinian!
Yes, I suspected Li Cuinian set me up, but even so, why did I go so crazy? Without even asking how she supposedly framed me, I just killed her outright.
It was like I was possessed by a ghost!
Possessed by a ghost?
A terrifying thought suddenly flashed through his mind—could it be... it really wasn’t Li Cuinian, but her?
In the radio station, there are indeed items that can control ghosts, but the danger of such objects is even greater than that of seed ghosts. To use them, you have to summon the ghost directly into the real world—a true malevolent spirit. One wrong move, and it will kill you instantly.
Could it be... someone used ghost-controlling techniques to make a ghost possess me, causing hallucinations and driving me to kill Li Cuinian in a frenzy? That person using such a technique would be terrifying.
Could that person really be her...
No, it should be said, it could only be her!
“What a cunning woman... So I was fooled by her... No, I should say, we were all fooled by her...”
“Too bad I didn’t see through her true face sooner. Am I about to die now? How frustrating.”
Just then, a rustling sound, shasha, shasha, suddenly came from deep in the corridor.
Is it here?
Hearing this sound, Zhong Qing’s hair stood on end, and he immediately stood up from the ground. Even though he knew he was marked by the execution ghost, he wouldn’t just wait to die!
Shasha, shasha, accompanied by footsteps, a dim yellow light appeared at the corner of the hallway.
Is this the ghost?
Is this the one that’s going to kill me?!
In that instant, Zhong Qing desperately wanted to turn and run, but he knew all too well that once marked by a ghost, even fleeing was useless... It would lock onto its target until it killed him!
There was no other way.
As the dim yellow light rounded the corner, the ghost’s form finally revealed itself. It looked like a night-patrolling teacher, its face shrouded in a black mist, holding a faint yellow flashlight, walking slowly toward him through the dark corridor.
When the ghost drew near, Zhong Qing gritted his teeth, pulled out a coil of hemp rope, and threw it at the approaching specter!
This wasn’t ordinary rope. It came from an old Japanese mansion called the Ice Room. The black marks on the rope were said to be bruises left by the master when he was strangled, carrying his deep resentment! As long as it touched the aura of a spirit, the resentment on the rope would awaken, and it might even summon the ghost of the Ice Room master!
As soon as the rope hit the ground, it writhed like a venomous snake and immediately coiled around the flashlight ghost!
At the same time, in the darkness behind the flashlight ghost, the faint figure of a man in a loose robe emerged, shrouded in black mist, lunging at it.
This time, using the sacrificial rope, he was lucky enough to summon the master’s ghost!
Great, this should buy me a lot of time, Zhong Qing thought with joy, about to turn and run. But what happened next completely caught him off guard.
The flashlight ghost suddenly raised its light and shone it at the ghost behind it. The moment the dim yellow light hit it, the ghostly figure from the rope let out a piercing scream and vanished into black mist.
With the ghost gone, the hemp rope shattered inch by inch, turning to ash!
“This...”
Zhong Qing was stunned. Was this flashlight ghost immune to item attacks?!
Before he could react, a dim yellow light suddenly fell on him!
Then, Zhong Qing found his body frozen, as if bound by some mysterious force, unable to move or even flee.
“This... this...”
Fear filled his heart, but all he could do was watch as the ghost, holding its flashlight, walked toward him unhurriedly.
Immune to exorcism items, immobilizing anyone caught in its light... This was the ability of the execution ghost in this mission—an unsolvable spirit!
Once the killing trigger was set, death was inevitable. Zhong Qing only understood this now. What infuriated him was why the flashlight ghost moved so slowly—it was deliberately making them, the participants, fully experience the terror before death!
Finally, the malevolent spirit raised a pen in its hand and stabbed it into Zhong Qing’s chest, over and over, indifferent to the blood splattering. At last, it killed him completely.
Glancing at Zhong Qing’s corpse, then at Li Cuinian’s beside it, the ghost dissolved into a black mist and disappeared. In the vast hall, only two bodies with wide-open eyes remained. Thus, all four participants of the fourth program group in this mission were dead.
Tap, tap, tap. Just then, footsteps sounded from the darkness of another corridor.
“Heh... They’re all dead.”