She Makes Me Believe in Science - Chapter 25

“Do you really think that ‘Guardian Spirit’ or whatever is going to show up?” Ji Wuxin leaned against a nearby tree, her eyes closed as she feigned sleep.

Lin Qing was ducked behind a large, abandoned wooden vat, keeping a close eye on the activity at Song Fu’s house. “Whether it shows up or not isn’t the point. The main thing is to give the family peace of mind. When a person’s spirit is unstable, it’s the easiest time for those dirty things to find an opening.”

Ji Wuxin opened her eyes and stared down at him, speaking slowly, “Dirty things?”

“Er…” Lin Qing gave an embarrassed chuckle. “I certainly didn’t mean you.”

A cool night breeze blew in gusts. Technically, the weather in July shouldn’t have been this cold. Lin Qing’s expression shifted, and his gaze turned heavy as he looked toward Song Fu’s house.

Ji Wuxin caught a glimpse of a flickering red light out of the corner of her eye and immediately shot up like a streak of white light to give chase. “You actually called it.”

“Hey!” Seeing her vanish, Lin Qing scrambled to his feet, grabbed his gear, and ran after her. Why won’t she follow instructions!

In the pavilion, Song Qian was playing on her phone when the two people beside her suddenly started shouting.

“Look, look! It moved, it moved!”

What moved?

Song Qian put her phone away and looked up, catching sight of a white blur followed by Lin Qing running past.

Lin Qing’s belongings seemed to be in a mess; things kept falling out of his pockets, and he had to keep turning back to pick them up, looking both frantic and pathetic.

Watching his retreating back, Song Qian suddenly felt that bringing Ji Wuxin along had been a wise choice.

The light coming from Song Fu’s window flickered erratically. When it brightened, a silhouette could be seen tumbling and leaping about, its limbs flailing as if the person were afflicted by a seizure.

Song Qian was nearsighted to begin with, so through the blur, she couldn’t tell who the silhouette belonged to.

“A snake! The Guardian Spirit! it’s really a snake!” Wang Dachuan suddenly pointed in that direction and shouted, earning himself a slap from Xiuhe.

“Why are you shouting so loud? Are you trying to make sure it finds its way over here!?”

Wang Dachuan immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. He had forgotten they were here tonight to hide from the female corpse.

“I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

Xiuhe glared at him, but then her gaze froze. She suddenly realized someone was standing under a tree up ahead.

Parts of Weishui Village’s dirt roads had just been replaced with cement, and the streetlights hadn’t been installed yet. Xiuhe had excellent vision, and she was certain a person was standing under that tree—a woman with long, flowing hair.

“Ah!”

“And you scold me! What are you screaming for!” Wang Dachuan finally had a chance to get back at her, though he only gave her shoulder a light nudge.

“Over! Over there!” Xiuhe closed her eyes, not daring to look, her hand trembling as she pointed in the direction she had seen.

“Wha… what is it?”

Wang Dachuan was a coward; seeing her this terrified, he didn’t dare look either. He leaned against Xiuhe’s shoulder, shaking just as hard as she was. The two of them trembled until they were both crouching at Song Qian’s feet.

Song Qian gripped the last talisman tightly. It was the one folded into a triangle that she always kept in her pocket.

She saw the woman under the tree as well. Normally, her vision wouldn’t allow her to see that far, but the woman was moving toward them! She was practically running!

Within a few breaths, the woman, who had been a blurry silhouette, was now directly across from the pavilion, barely ten meters away from Song Qian.

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. There’s a ritual array here. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…” Song Qian’s lips quivered as she silently psyched herself up.

The clouds were exceptionally heavy tonight. It took a while for the moon to peek through a gap, finally illuminating the surroundings.

The woman walked slowly toward the pavilion, appearing to hold something resembling a rope in her hands.

Song Qian’s mind went blank, and her imagination ran wild. Could that corpse have been strangled and thrown into the well? Is she now coming to strangle others with the very rope used to kill her…?

The woman stopped three meters away from the pavilion. Her hair hung loosely over her face as she stood there, ramrod straight, facing the pavilion.

“Dachuan!?” Xiuhe suddenly let out a loud cry.

Song Qian didn’t dare look down, fearing the ghost would pounce the moment she took her eyes off her.

“Dachuan! Dachuan, wake up!” Xiuhe slapped Wang Dachuan’s face repeatedly, trying to wake him up.

Watching the ghost outside, Song Qian asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

Xiuhe was busy slapping him and seemingly didn’t hear Song Qian’s question.

Seeing that the ghost outside still hadn’t moved, Song Qian began to wonder: Did Lin Qing’s ritual array actually stop her?

She slowly lowered her gaze to check on Wang Dachuan. The tall, sturdy man had his eyes squeezed shut, his cheeks were bright red from the slapping, but a closer look revealed his hands were clenched tightly at his sides.

He was faking it.

Song Qian let out a sigh of relief and turned around, only to find herself face-to-face with the ghost pouncing on her. The ghost’s hands were raised, rope in tow, looking as if she intended to strangle her.

Terrified, Song Qian scrambled back and reflexively delivered a powerful kick.

She kicked quite high and felt her foot connect with something very soft.

“Ah… oof!”

Following a pained cry was the thud of a heavy object hitting the ground, then the sound of soft sobbing. The ghost seemed to be crying in pain.

Song Qian opened her eyes. Her leg was still raised high; she had kicked the ghost back about two meters, nearly sending her into the lake.

The ghost was sprawled on the ground, crying and groaning as she occasionally wiped her eyes.

Song Qian: “?”

She kicked a ghost into tears!?

Turning to look at the stunned Xiuhe, Song Qian could hardly believe it.

She had taken some Taekwondo classes, but surely she couldn’t kick a ghost until it cried.

The ghost continued to sob, clutching her chest in pain, unable to lift her head. Song Qian realized what the soft thing she’d kicked was. She had kicked a ghost right in the chest.

An awkward silence followed, and Song Qian reflexively wanted to apologize, but she bit back the words.

Apologizing to a ghost? Have I lost my mind?

Just then, the moon broke through the clouds, and the pavilion was momentarily bathed in light. Song Qian clearly saw a shadow beneath the ghost.

She had a shadow! She wasn’t a ghost!

“You aren’t a ghost!?” Song Qian was bewildered. If you aren’t a ghost, why are you out here scaring people?

“Song Qian.” The person on the ground spoke through gritted teeth. She pointed a finger at Song Qian and slowly lifted her head, tossing her messy hair back.

Song Qian clearly saw the tear tracks on Ji Shixing’s face, her eyes and nose red from crying.

“I thought you left.” Song Qian still remembered who had screamed and run in the opposite direction earlier that afternoon.

Ji Shixing propped herself up with her hands, her voice still thick with tears. “So what!? Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I can’t even stand up!?”

The more she thought about it after she went back, the angrier she got. she felt Song Qian was just messing with her. She had held her breath until dark to follow them, and she finally found a chance to scare Song Qian. Who knew this woman would kick so hard, and right in the chest!

As Ji Shixing rubbed her chest, she felt like it had been kicked flat. So violent! Good thing we broke up early!

Knowing she had perhaps used a bit too much force, but considering the girl had dressed up like a ghost to scare her, Song Qian had no choice but to walk out of the pavilion and offer a hand to Ji Shixing.

“Get up. You brought this on yourself.”

Ji Shixing grabbed her hand to stand up, intending to straighten her back and look down on Song Qian with her height, but as soon as she exerted force, the pain in her chest became unbearable.

“Song Qian.”

Song Qian: “What?”

“I think you broke my rib.” Ji Shixing pressed a hand against the ribs below her chest; a section there felt like it had sunken in.

Meeting an ex-girlfriend for the second time and having her break your ribs was a pretty explosive piece of news. Ji Shixing could hardly believe this was actually happening to her.

 Song Qian’s eyes went wide. “You aren’t trying to scam me, are you?”

“I…” Ji Shixing pointed a finger at her, her chest throbbing with pain. Song Qian’s remark nearly made her lose her breath from anger.

As if she needed to scam anyone!

Song Qian looked at her skeptically, but seeing her bent over with a contorted expression, it didn’t look like she was faking. “Maybe you should rest in the pavilion for a bit. Once Lin Qing is done, we’ll take you to the hospital.”

Ji Shixing was dissatisfied. “Why can’t we go now? Can’t you drive?”

Song Qian shook her head frantically. In this situation, with a Guardian Spirit in front of her and a female corpse that might show up at any moment, and without Ji Wuxin by her side, she didn’t dare wander off. If she ran into something, her life would be forfeit.

Ji Shixing gave a loud “Hmph,” which only resulted in more tears from the pain, and bypassed Song Qian to enter the pavilion.

At this point, Wang Dachuan stopped faking. He and his wife huddled in the corner, silently watching the two. It seemed they had just learned some incredible news.

Auntie Song’s granddaughter and Ji Jiusheng’s niece were actually an item! How could two women be together? Wasn’t that against the natural order? So, when Ji Shixing entered, the two of them moved to the furthest possible spot with rare synchronization, as if she really were something “dirty.”

Ji Shixing merely spared them a glance before finding a seat. She didn’t care about their stares.

Seeing the moonlight slowly moving toward the center of the lake, Song Qian also turned to enter the pavilion.

Just as she took her first step back, Song Qian felt a sharp pain in her face. It felt as if liquid was flowing from her nose; the pavilion seemed to have an invisible wall built around it, blocking her out.

Song Qian clutched her nose and reached out to feel. The moment her hand touched the air, the entire pavilion suddenly glowed with golden light, and numerous sigils began to swirl around the structure. This was the ritual array Lin Qing had set up.

Song Qian was initially relieved that the array actually worked, but a moment later, her heart sank. Why was the array blocking her out?

Panic started to set in. Song Qian hammered on the air a few times, but how could a mortal body move a wall formed by a ritual array?

She was truly locked out.

A soft chuckle came from inside. Song Qian looked over to see Ji Shixing laughing happily. “Oh, what are you pretending for? That’s a pretty good act. It’s just a little pavilion, and you can’t get in?”

Song Qian bit her lip. It seemed they couldn’t see the sigils.

Lin Qing had said the array would only react to ghosts. So now…

Her pupils dilated involuntarily. Song Qian turned around, pressing her back against the invisible wall, facing the only path to the pavilion while holding up her protective talisman.

Sure enough, a hunched woman stood at the entrance of the path, her long hair dragging on the ground. Song Qian shuffled her feet, trying to back away, but the wall blocked her completely.

What a useless array! For the first time, Song Qian began to doubt Lin Qing’s competence.

Ji Shixing also realized something was wrong. If nothing were blocking her, Song Qian’s movements should have caused her to fall backward, yet she stood firm, her feet moving back but her body staying perfectly in place. This didn’t look like an act.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

This time, it was Song Qian’s turn to be on the verge of tears. “She’s coming.”

“She’s here! She’s here!” Hearing Song Qian, Wang Dachuan and Xiuhe hugged each other tightly before diving under the benches.

Ji Shixing’s face turned pale. There seemed to be something here that she couldn’t see.

The woman moved slowly. Song Qian watched her sluggishly take one step after another toward her, her legs feeling like jelly.

The woman stopped and tilted her head. “Sen… Sensen?”