The Beauty with Terrible Luck Falls in Love with a Ghost - Chapter 26

After the hand emerged, it began to grope around, as if searching for something.

Han Hai’er walked over with light steps, bent down, her long hair cascading to her side.

She gave a sweet smile, her flawless white arm reaching out to clasp fingers with the bloody hand.

“Good evening, Master,” she said softly, her voice a low murmur like a lullaby.

The next moment, thick black mist seeped from Han Hai’er’s arm, coiling around the hand like a venomous snake. The instant it enveloped the hand, it turned into a withered black branch, crumbled into dust, and scattered with the wind.

Han Hai’er straightened up, examining the hand she had just extended in the twilight. The sunlight filtered through her fingers, her delicate skin faintly translucent.

A moment later, Han Hai’er let out a soft laugh.

“Hee hee…”

The sound was carried by the wind deep into the forest. Along the path, the tombstones began to stir restlessly.

Zuo Lihua tightened her grip on her knees. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt that the current Han Hai’er was a little bit twisted.

“Guh-puh,” A soft sound came from her side.

Zuo Lihua quickly turned her head.

Sure enough, something had emerged from the tombstone on the other side. It wasn’t an arm, but a round, bald head.

His flesh was firm, without the slightest sign of decay. His skin was dark, and the head, dotted with ordination scars, was even a little reflective.

But his blood-red eyes were fixed on Zuo Lihua, as if he wanted to swallow her whole.

He spat out a mouthful of dirt and began to cackle strangely.

The laughter made Zuo Lihua’s scalp tingle and her hair stand on end.

“Hey, this, this one…”

Zuo Lihua tugged on Han Hai’er’s pant leg, signaling her to stop posing and pay attention to what was behind her.

“Ha, what a shiny bald head!”

Han Hai’er said, lifting the bald head up.

From Zuo Lihua’s perspective, she could clearly see the human tissue at the severed neck.

“!” She quickly lowered her head and covered her ears, trying to erase the visual shock from her mind.

It was too scary. A model student and exemplary youth like her, who had grown up under the red flag, couldn’t adapt to this so quickly.

“Get up, let’s go up,” Han Hai’er, in a good mood after dealing with the bald head, called to her.

Zuo Lihua looked at the path they had come from. In the distance, things were faintly crawling upwards, numerous, looking very much like windblown leaves.

Zuo Lihua also wished they were just leaves, but reality didn’t allow her to deceive herself.

“Aren’t we going to wait?” she asked Han Hai’er. She didn’t believe Han Hai’er hadn’t seen them.

“No rush,” Han Hai’er said, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and lifting her up entirely.

“I’ll get up myself, cough, I’m getting up!” Zuo Lihua scrambled to save her own neck, almost getting strangled by her own collar by Han Hai’er.

But before she could stand firm, she was thrown forward by the force.

“Aiya!” Zuo Lihua cried out, landing heavily on the stone steps. Thanks to her bag cushioning the fall, it didn’t hurt too much.

She turned her head. Han Hai’er stood there gracefully, her outstretched arm surging with black mist. Countless broken limbs were blocked in front of her. They roared, glared, and struggled, crashing against the black mist, not hesitating to be sucked in and turned to dust, madly surging towards Zuo Lihua.

Zuo Lihua’s pupils dilated slightly. She covered her mouth, watching this scene in terror.

If Han Hai’er hadn’t pushed her just now, she would have been swallowed by the dismembered limbs by now. Zuo Lihua refused to imagine what the consequences would have been.

Compared to her post-disaster shock, Han Hai’er was very happy. She even burst into loud laughter.

“Hahaha, look, Lihua, how wonderful you are! They, these indecent old monks, are all coming for you! They’re going crazy for you! What a magnificent scene!”

Zuo Lihua was numb. She swore that the expression on these ghosts’ faces when they saw her was the same as Han Hai’er’s expression when she saw ghosts.

Watching these ghosts being devoured by the black mist in an instant, Zuo Lihua squeezed her eyes shut.

Han Hai’er’s entire ghostly being was now glowing with health, a stark contrast to her pale and sickly appearance when they were climbing the mountain.

She patted Zuo Lihua’s cold face and said, “I’m full. That’s it for now. Let’s find a place to camp.”

“Camp?” Zuo Lihua repeated blankly, as if she couldn’t comprehend the meaning.

“You brought biscuits, right? Just eat something to replenish your energy.”

Zuo Lihua pouted. “Are we really going to sleep here tonight?”

Han Hai’er frowned. “What? You still need to sleep?”

Zuo Lihua: “…”

Han Hai’er offered a rare piece of sincere advice: “Sleep tomorrow night. A person has so much sleep in their lifetime, one less day won’t make a difference.”

Zuo Lihua: “…”

Resigned, she took out the biscuits and crunched on them. After a while, her mouth felt dry. She rummaged through her bag and found a squeezable jelly pouch.

Han Hai’er was pulling up radishes.

She went along the tombstones, pulling up a human organ from each one.

Zuo Lihua, her cheeks puffed out, watched while chewing. Suddenly, a wild thought occurred to her. She wondered if all sorts of organs were under the tombstones, and if she would pull out a [BEEP].

After finishing her food in a few bites, she shook her head, trying to get rid of the messy junk in her brain.

The ones that could be pulled out were obviously attached to bones. That thing didn’t have bones, how could it have survived until now…

As she was thinking this, she suddenly heard a string of curses from ahead: “I #￥%[BEEP], *&^%…”

Then, Han Hai’er vigorously shook her arm, as if she had touched some filthy garbage.

Zuo Lihua looked up at the sky. “…”

Fine. How could one judge ghosts by common sense? Beyond science, within metaphysics, anything is possible.

Han Hai’er screamed as she flung the piece of meat away, then stomped on it with a sickening squelch, crushing it into pulp. She whipped her head around to glare at Zuo Lihua.

Zuo Lihua froze under her gaze, clutching her bag tightly, her entire body stiffening.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

Han Hai’er’s face was as dark as a pot bottom. “You…”

She uttered that single syllable and fell silent.

Zuo Lihua shook her head vigorously. “I didn’t see anything! Nothing at all! I was just looking at the sky, see how beautiful the clouds are!”

As she spoke, she raised a hand to point upward.

The orange sunset painted the sky, clear and cloudless as if washed clean.

Han Hai’er: “…”

Zuo Lihua: “…Ahem.” She withdrew her hand, scratched her nose, and stared fixedly at the tips of her shoes, focusing inward as if in meditation.

A moment later.

“Hmph.” Han Hai’er turned around and walked away without another word.

Zuo Lihua quietly let out a sigh of relief and hurried to catch up.

As they walked, Zuo Lihua’s steps faltered slightly. A sigh-like voice whispered beside her ear, calling her name over and over, seeming to come from all directions, sometimes close, sometimes distant.

“Lihua…”

“Zuo Lihua…”

“…”

The incessant repetition grated on her nerves, making her head throb.

She mentally repeated to herself that she must not look back and quickened her pace to walk beside Han Hai’er. The moment she drew level with the ghost, the calling abruptly ceased.

She stole a glance at Han Hai’er, and a delayed wave of fear made her heart pound so violently it seemed to reverberate in her eardrums.

Han Hai’er moved forward step by step, and after about thirty minutes, the roof of a temple became faintly visible.

As they ascended the final step, something rippled like water, and the faint scent of sandalwood incense mingled with the deep, muffled toll of a bell washed over them.

Freedom at last…

Zuo Lihua felt as if she had been granted a reprieve, the tension in her muscles finally easing.

She glanced back at the path they had climbed.

Only the nearest stone steps were visible. The trees and grass were already indistinct, shrouded in a white haze up close, while farther down everything was pitch black, as if the entire mountain had been swallowed whole, devouring like a beast.

“Two benefactors, what brings you here?”

A monk emerged from a side gate, looking at them with surprise.

Zuo Lihua quickly stepped forward, smiling. “Hello, we’d like to stay here for the night.”

The monk studied them curiously, then glanced at the path they had come from, hesitating. “What is your room number, female benefactor?”

Yinshan Temple occasionally accommodated guests, but reservations were required in advance.

Zuo Lihua offered an apologetic smile. “We don’t have a reservation. It’s too late, and we’re too scared to go down the mountain. Could you make an exception, Master? We’ll pay for the room, money is no issue.”

The monk rubbed his smooth, bald head. “Then come with me to check if there are any available rooms.”

“Thank you, Master.” As she spoke, Zuo Lihua reached out to take Han Hai’er’s hand.

Perhaps because she was full, Han Hai’er allowed herself to be led without any fuss, silent and compliant as if her soul had been swapped.

After the monk had led them a short distance, he suddenly turned back and stared intently at Zuo Lihua’s face.

Zuo Lihua responded with a smile.

“Benefactor, you look very familiar!”

Zuo Lihua rubbed her cheek. “Many people say that. I suppose I just have a common face.”

The monk widened his eyes in astonishment. “Benefactor, what misconception do you have about common looks?”

“So, Master, who do you think I resemble?”

The night concealed the monk’s expression as he glanced at his phone. “You look like a celebrity.”

Zuo Lihua replied, “What a coincidence.”

As they spoke, the two humans and the ghost entered the main hall.

In the center of the hall stood a statue of the Buddha, its eyes half-lowered in a compassionate gaze upon those below.

As Zuo Lihua passed beneath its gaze, she inexplicably felt a prickling sensation on her back, as if she were being intensely watched, a feeling identical to what she had experienced earlier on the path.

She turned to Han Hai’er and saw her standing still before the Buddha statue, arms crossed, her head slightly raised as she locked eyes with the statue.

Her tightly pressed lips and the upward tilt of her eyes revealed her displeasure.

Zuo Lihua: “…”

A ghost confronting a Buddha statue, no matter how one looked at it, the scene felt surreal. The world truly was a strange and wondrous place.