Chapter 8: Mistake
"Hmph," Gao Shan didn't respond to Feng Fan, but followed behind them.
Not long after, Ma Chen's room came into view.
The door opened by itself, and a person dressed in all black emerged. It was the same outfit a widow would wear at her late husband's funeral. Her face was hidden under a black veil.
If it weren't for the fact that her feet hovered a few inches above the ground, anyone would have thought she was a harmless widow heading to her husband's funeral.
But the setting and the atmosphere were completely off.
"Luo Li!" Feng Fan shouted, his eyes fixed on the door to the room closest to Ma Chen.
Luo Li immediately understood and put both her arms ahead of Feng Fan. Feng Fan felt the air shift again, this time he knew it was from Luo Li using her ability.
As Feng Fan moved closer to Ma Chen, she advanced as well. The veil on her face lifted as if blown by a strong wind, revealing a distorted, grotesque face.
Her skin was a sickly gray, stretched unevenly over her skull, with deep cracks running across her cheeks like shattered porcelain Her nose was half-erased, as if decay had eaten away at it.
Thankfully, Luo Li's barrier held her in place long enough for them to escape.
"Fuck off, you're too old for me!" Feng Fan yelled before dashing into the room next to Ma Chen's.
The others followed his lead. Those with guns in the boxes quickly tossed them as close as possible to Ma Chen, then entered the room and slammed the door shut.
Everyone who was still alive entered the room, gasping for breath. Their eyes remained fixed on the door, tense as the screams outside grew louder.
"It's her!"
"Kill the Ma!"
"Take their life!"
The vengeful spirits of those killed by the Ma family's guns shrieked as they swarmed Ma Chen. Their cries echoed through the halls, filled with fury and pain.
But as time passed, the screams began to fade, growing weaker and weaker until, at last, silence fell.
"Is it... over?" Ding Qing asked, her body slowly relaxing.
"No!" Luo Li snapped, her face pale from overusing her power just moments ago. "Ma Chen is still alive. If she had died, the ghost zone would have disappeared!"
The revelation sent a fresh wave of fear through the group. Those who had believed the nightmare was over tensed once again.
Their eyes darted around the room, scanning the walls, dreading that Ma Chen might emerge from them—just as she had before, when she first appeared and slaughtered so many of their classmates.
They never expected Ma Chen to attack from the ceiling instead of the walls.
A clawed hand burst through the ceiling, long, jagged nails aiming straight for Luo Li, who was still on Feng Fan's back.
Unfortunately for Ma Chen, she chose the wrong target.
Just as her hand closed in on Luo Li's unprotected head, Feng Fan's sixth sense flared. Without a second thought, he lunged forward, barely dodging the attack by a hair's breadth.
"Luo Li, the ceiling!" he shouted, twisting around to face Ma Chen.
As he turned, Luo Li's gaze locked onto their enemy.
Ma Chen, though she had survived the vengeful spirits, was now even more battered. One of her legs and an arm were missing, leaving her a gruesome, half-formed nightmare.
Luo Li gritted her teeth, summoning every last bit of her spiritual energy. A barrier surged around Ma Chen, trapping her inside.
Ma Chen shrieked and clawed at the barrier in a frenzy, slamming her remaining limbs against it, but Luo Li held firm.
Blood dripped from her nose as she screamed, "Gao Shan, now!"
She didn't need to say it twice. Gao Shan already had two blue fireballs swirling in his hands. He hurled them forward, their heat distorting the air.
The moment they reached the barrier, Luo Li released it, then collapsed unconscious on Feng Fan's back.
The two fireballs struck Ma Chen squarely.
Before, she might have been able to suppress Gao Shan's flames with her strong spiritual energy, but after battling the vengeful spirits, she had exhausted most of her power.
A high-pitched scream tore through the room as Ma Chen's body twisted in agony, consumed by the fire.
The others instinctively scrambled to the edges of the room, pressing themselves against the walls to stay as far from Ma Chen as possible. No one dared to leave, fearing they might run into another ghost lurking outside.
Gao Shan's flames weren't ordinary, they were Soul Fire. Unlike regular flames, they didn't just burn flesh; they scorched the soul itself, making him a deadly threat to ghosts.
The flames slowly faded, revealing Ma Chen's charred remains. Her already disfigured body had deteriorated further. Most of her gray, rotting skin had burned away, leaving only bones and wisps of spiritual energy holding her together.
Seeing Ma Chen's charred body motionless on the ground, Gao Shan sneered and stepped closer. "Damn ghost, you gave us so much trouble."
Feng Fan's instincts screamed at him. 'Something is wrong.'
Then, Luo Li's warning echoed in his mind, and his eyes widened in horror.
"Gao Shan, she's still alive!"
Too late.
Gao Shan had always been reckless. Unlike Luo Li, he didn't come from a family of Hunters.
He was a commoner who had been lucky enough to awaken his spiritual energy. His raw talent had pushed him to near Luo Li's level, but he lacked her discipline, her trained instincts—her ability to make the hard calls.
The moment he realized his mistake, Ma Chen's bony hand shot forward, her skeletal fingers locking around his ankle like a snake.
A chilling energy surged through his body, spreading like poison in his veins. His breath hitched, his muscles stiffened, and his limbs turned numb.
"N-No—"
His words choked off as the icy energy reached his heart. It stopped beating. His vision blurred, his body convulsed, and in the next moment... he was dead.