Chapter 103

Caw caw caw—

Crows circled above and landed on a nearby branch, their calls lingering in the mountain forest, deeply unsettling.

It was a deep night with heavy dew, the moonlight clear and tranquil, shadows layering upon one another.

Chuzheng looked at her almost transparent hands, struggling to come to terms with it.

What was happening to her?

Had the Bastard’s transmission lost data, only sending half of her over?

[Little sister, you’re a ghost now.]

Ghost…

Ghost?? A ghost aah!!!

With her face as still as water, Chuzheng calmly asked, “Fine, how does a ghost spend money extravagantly?”

[Hee hee, you’ve got Joss Paper currency. Little sister, let’s aspire to become the Netherworld’s number one extravagant spender! Let’s go!]

No!

I don’t want to at all!

[Then, little sister, receive your memories.] King’s Account skillfully employed its ‘ignore what you don’t want to hear’ feature.

Chuzheng: “…” Bastard!

–

The original host’s surname was Qiao.

After graduating from university, she should have married her long-time boyfriend, Murong Yi. However, on the eve of their wedding, she discovered that Murong Yi was involved with her best friend.

Unable to restrain herself, the best friend gloated, informing her that she had been with Murong Yi since university.

It was just that Murong Yi didn’t have the heart to hurt her and hadn’t broken up with her.

Following an argument, the best friend accidentally pushed her.

As a result, the original host hit her head and died on the spot.

To cover up the true nature of their crime, the pair secretly dumped her body in the wilderness overnight.

They destroyed all evidence and fabricated a story of her running away from home.

The original host had died, but she turned into a ghost. Unwilling to accept her fate, she went back to haunt the two, only to find that several years had passed. They had married, had children, and even a cute little kid.

The resentment in the original host’s heart prevented her from being reincarnated; she followed her ex-boyfriend and best friend day in, day out.

Gradually, she discovered she could control some objects and began to scare Murong Yi and her best friend.

Filled with guilt, they were naturally frightened, but they quickly sought a Heavenly Master to capture her.

Fearing her continued revenge, Murong Yi and the best friend heeded the advice of the Heavenly Master and used a vile method to subdue her, ensuring she would never be reincarnated.

And then…

There was no ‘and then’.

At the timeline Chuzheng had arrived in—she had already been dead for a year, her body decomposed to the point of being skeletal.

At this time, Murong Yi and her best friend Tang Yiyue were already married, living in marital bliss.

The original host had drifted some distance away; she was no longer at her body’s location but in a graveyard…

She might have wanted to find Murong Yi and Tang Yiyue, but due to her partial memory loss, she couldn’t find her way home.

The graveyard seemed to have been abandoned, and besides her, there were no other ghosts around. Vines covered the ground, and the trees grew in a twisted fashion, creating a fearsome sight.

It was best to leave this ghastly place.

To think they sent such a Little Cutie like her to a place like this, the Bastard truly was heartless.

Chuzheng bounced a little, and immediately floated upward. She tried drifting forward a few meters, and after confirming there would be no mid-air collisions, she wafted outwards.

[Main quest: Please spend ten million Joss Paper within two hours, sent to your Spatial Bag.]

Chuzheng: “…”

In the middle of nowhere!

Not a soul around!

Pitch darkness!

You damn thing, where am I supposed to spend ten million Joss Paper?

Hmm… wait a second.

Chuzheng looked down at her wrist, the Spatial Bag totem was still there—was it permanently bound to her?

[Map navigation activated.]

All of a sudden, something like a map entered Chuzheng’s mind, with a green line marked on it. The destination was—246 kilometers away?

How am I supposed to get there?

[Float!] King’s Account’s voice was cheerful: [Little sister, ghosts are very fast. I’ve done the calculations; if there are no accidents on the road, you’ll have at most 30 minutes to spend money.]

That ‘right’ at the end, as if she had plenty of time.

“Had an accident?”

[No worries, just double the trouble.]

Chuzheng: “…”

[Miss, you’ve already wasted a minute.]

Chuzheng: “…”

I’ll endure!

That bastard, this damn thing!

Once I catch his weakness, I must kill it!

[…]Regret giving her the map, wondering if it’s still possible to take it back now.

Chuzheng noticed the map started flashing, she stared blankly at a crooked tree in the distance: “Bastard.”

The map soon stabilized, and the Bastard didn’t show up again.

Chuzheng followed the map towards the destination, the “accident” the Bastard talked about was probably—encountering a group of ghosts in a brawl?!

If this could be considered a brawl…

She had never seen such a spectacle before, a bunch of ghosts lined up in a row on a street, facing each other, each one a grisly sight, struggling to appear more frightening, more ferocious, more bloody.

“I can take my eyeball out!”

“I can dislocate my arm!”

“My head has been flattened!”

“My intestines…”

Chuzheng watched the ghosts in front of her desperately competing in a misery contest, remaining unusually silent.

She might have some prejudice against ghosts!

“It should be my turn this year! I’m the scariest!”

“I am the scariest!!”

“Scary, what’s scary about you! I’m the scariest!”

Chuzheng planned to bypass this group of ‘terrifying’ ghosts, continuing on her way, but before she had floated a few meters, a ghost with his eyeball halfway out stopped her.

“Where are you going? What can you do? Show us!”

Chuzheng pointed at herself.

“Yes, indeed.”

“…” Do you believe I’m just passing by? Chuzheng glanced at the ghosts who had stopped and were looking at her.

Why are you looking at me!

I really am just passing through!

I’m not joining your silly game!

I wouldn’t stoop so low!

Chuzheng with a composed face: “What are you doing?”

“Whoever wins gets a pass,” said the ghost: “What can you do?”

“What pass?”

“A Ghost Market pass.” The ghost replied amiably, adjusting his eyeball, then asked with confusion: “Don’t you know?”

“I know now.” And it’s very likely that the map the Bastard gave is for going there.

Ghost: “…”

“Why don’t you just fight for the pass? Competing here for who’s scarier, are you nuts?”

“Fight? That’s such a waste, we finally accumulate a bit of strength, we can’t squander it like this!” The ghost rolled his eyes—at which his eyeball fell out.

Chasing after his eyeball, the ghost picked it up and pressed it back into his socket: “You’re just passing by? Then why aren’t you leaving?”

Chuzheng: “…” Weren’t you the one stopping me? Do you have memory issues?

The ghost waved and floated back to the ‘brawl’ to continue the competition.

Chuzheng hurried away, keeping her distance from these nutcases.

The green line on the map was getting shorter and the ghosts around her increased in number.

Further ahead she saw lights, a quaint and majestic gateway standing at the foot of the mountain, lights spreading from the gateway all the way up the mountain.

There were guards under the gateway, and to enter, one had to show a small black wooden token.

The token taken by the people under the gateway would be crushed and turned into a wisp of smoke, wrapping around the wrist of the entering ghost.

Chuzheng noticed that there were not only ghosts, but also people.

Those people all wore masks, and the tokens they showed were different from the ghosts’, white ones, so the smoke around their wrists was also white.

[Miss, you have ten more minutes.] The King’s Account suddenly reminded her, [You’re about to double!]