The King of Curses

Chapter 67 Unlocking the Shackles
Xiao Liting followed Liu Xiaochuan closely.

But she soon discovered that she could not keep up with the other person with her own physical strength.

The middle-aged man looked thin and moved like an ape, leaping on the vines and moving on the wall that was on the verge of collapse without any impact.

After a while, she could no longer see the man's back.

For a moment, she stood there in a daze, her heart filled with confusion and panic; but soon, the tilt of the building under her feet and the creepy "creaking" sound of breaking coming from behind made her come back to her senses.

Xiao Liting had no other choice but to continue walking in that direction, trying to catch up with the Feng Shui master.

But at this moment, she heard the boy's anxious shouts behind her, and her hand was pulled hard by someone.

"Li Ting! Li Ting, don't walk so fast, wait for me!"

Xiao Liting turned her head and found that it was indeed Yang Chao. She felt annoyed, thinking that these boys would never know what restraint was.

"Have you forgotten? You just told me that you would talk to me alone... Now is a good time, let's get to know each other better."

"Huh? Are you kidding me? Let me go!"

She thought to herself what nonsense this man was talking about and pulled hard.

But the next second, her eyes widened in horror.

——Yang Chao’s arm was dislocated by her, and his whole hand was abnormally stretched, like a noodle.

No, that's not right...she didn't use any strength at all!
"Yes, I'm sorry, but it's because you keep pestering me..."

"It's okay. I forgive you."

The other party seemed to feel no pain at all and said with a smile.

Sticky blood began to seep out of his pupils and nose.

The smile grew wider and wider, almost covering his entire face. His body seemed to have lost its skeletal support and swayed softly like a balloon filled with flesh and bones.

Xiao Liting's hair stood on end immediately, and she finally realized that the other person was not a human at all.

"You, what on earth are you?!"

She screamed in fear and ran forward, shaking her arms vigorously, trying to break free from the boy's hand; however, his body seemed soft, but it was as sticky as chewing gum and she couldn't get rid of it no matter what.

"Yang Chao's" body was swaying back and forth, but his smile remained; his face was deformed like melted clay, revealing broken and distorted facial features, making him look like a character in an abstract painting.

"Have you forgotten me? That's so sad."

His voice began to become low and hoarse.

"That's right. Women like you are born hopeless. After you hurt someone, you will just pretend nothing happened..."

While speaking, "Yang Chao" had already collapsed, lying on the ground with his limbs twisted.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Liting's eyes widened, a flash of lightning flashed through her mind, she realized something, and her whole body trembled with fear.

"Yes, yes, yes, it's you..."

She remembered it clearly. It happened last semester.

Almost half of the people in the building saw the boy jumping off the roof and committing suicide.

His limbs were broken, and he fell in the middle of the flower bed, trembling like a dying insect... It was a psychological trauma for her.

"It seems that you remember me, Xiao Liting."

The evil ghost lying on the ground opened his mouth wide and gave a terrifying smile.

"That night, I saw you lying outside the KTV after getting drunk, so I kindly sent you back home. But because you didn't want others to know that you were a drunk girl, you slandered me everywhere, saying that I got you drunk..."

“No, don’t!”

Xiao Liting's face turned pale. She suddenly shook off her arms, turned around and ran towards the classroom in panic.

The evil spirit didn't care.

The power of the haunted house is weakening, and he might disappear soon.

But there is only one thing it really wants to do——

That's revenge.

It crawled on the ground like a mollusk, slowly chasing the prey in front of it.

*
Tian Jingwen grabbed Wei Yanyan's hand and staggered back to the classroom.

The building they were in was shaking violently, and the ground beneath their feet was heaving and shaking as if on waves, with cracks appearing everywhere.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't be afraid..."

He hugged Wei Yanyan and hid in a corner. He seemed to be comforting the girl, but in fact, he was more like comforting himself.

The whole world was falling apart. He felt like he was going to die. After realizing this, he felt somewhat relieved.

"Don't worry, Yanyan, the teacher is with you."

Tian Jingwen said in a gentle tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not scared when I'm with my teacher."

"That's great... ugh."

The teacher and student hugged each other tightly. In the eyes of the world, this relationship should be a taboo, but at this moment it seemed romantic.

This is what Tian Jingwen originally thought.

Until he noticed that he was soaked from head to toe without knowing when.

Ice-cold water flowed out of Wei Yanyan's body.

Those were not tears, but more like cold rain...

"Are you okay?" Tian Jingwen stuttered. "Is this... sweat? Why are you sweating so much? Do you want to take a rest..."

"No thanks, teacher."

"Wei Yanyan", who had been keeping her head down in his arms, finally raised her face.

It was a pale face with a hideous scar running from the forehead to the lips, deep enough that the skull could be seen.

A chill rushed to Tian Jingwen's forehead. He was so scared that he froze with his mouth wide open.

"Ghost...are you a ghost?!"

"Yeah, I'm a ghost."

"Wei Yanyan" grinned, and cold mud and water flowed down from her facial wounds, nostrils and mouth.

"Wei, where is Wei Yanyan?!"

"She's dead. She was already dead when I first entered this haunted house. I put on her skin."

The female ghost answered grimly.

"The idiot who falls in love with his teacher deserves to die."

Tian Jingwen felt cold all over and suddenly realized something.

After all, he was a teacher, so he knew more than the average student and had heard stories about what happened in the school in the past.

Ten years ago, a tragedy happened. A man and a woman were in a teacher-student relationship. The man wanted to dump the woman because he wanted to marry another female teacher. The girl was not happy and threatened to tell others. As a result, the male teacher killed her and buried her body.

Later, I heard that the male teacher and his wife died tragically at home, and the cause of death was mysterious; even the principal was not spared. Until the end, the police were unable to find any results, and they all said that it was the ghost of an innocent person who was seeking revenge.

Right... right!
This is it!

His brain was working at high speed, and he finally grasped a glimmer of hope before the imminent death crisis came.

"I, I know who you are!"

Tian Jingwen shouted, and he tried hard to force a smile at the female ghost in his arms.

"You, you hate teacher-student relationships because you were betrayed by the teacher you loved!"

"But we are different. Yanyan and I...are true love!"

"...Oh? True love?"

The female ghost did not attack him immediately, but just let out a low laugh.

"The relationship between teachers and students is originally unequal. There is only coercion, deception and impulse. Where does love come from?"

Tian Jingwen felt that he might have a chance to convince her, and tried to force himself to face that horrible face with a sincere smile.

"Yes, it's true! I was planning to marry her after she finished her studies. I'm serious about this, not just playing around!"

"...Are you serious?"

Tian Jingwen nodded desperately. At this time, he had to be serious even if he didn't want to.

"That's really enviable. If I had met you back then, maybe I wouldn't have died."

The female ghost seemed to sigh, revealing a human expression.

"I, I'm sorry about what happened to you..."

"However, since the feelings between you are so deep——"

A ferocious curve appeared at the corner of the other person's mouth.

"Wei Yanyan is dead, can you still live alone in this world?" Tian Jingwen was stunned.

"From your expression, do you not want to continue to be with her? Are all the things you just said a lie?"

"No, I, that's not what I meant..."

Tian Jingwen closed his mouth and looked at the female ghost laughing out loud, as if she was mocking his own pointless struggle. He actually thought that he could persuade a resentful ghost with just his mouth.

He finally fell into despair and realized:

From the very beginning, the other party had no intention of letting me go...

*
Yi Qingyan held the railing with one hand and took cautious steps, walking alone in the violently shaking corridor.

Then--

A figure blocked her way.

It’s Sun Wen.

"...I know you. You are Sun Wen, and you used to be Xiao Liting's friend."

Yi Qingyan said in a low voice.

The two of them had met before. One time, when Xiao Liting was chatting with her friends, she saw Yi Qingyan passing by and sprayed her with a water hose, then laughed with her friends. In their eyes, it was not bullying, but a "joke".

"Are you here to kill me?"

"Oh, you guessed it?"

"You are a ghost." Yi Qingyan said, "Not only you, but also Wei Yanyan and Yang Chao, they are actually dead, replaced by ghosts in human skin. Among the survivors of the first time, only Teacher Tian is a human, and he was deliberately left behind for you to play with."

"And you, classmate Sun Wen, you should be a new ghost created by this haunted house, right?"

"I didn't expect you to be so smart."

Sun Wen seemed a little surprised.

"Yes, in the end I survived, the only one still alive. I kept begging for mercy from them, and they finally decided to let me go and let me become one of them..."

"No, you're dead."

Yi Qingyan shook her head.

"You are no longer the original Sun Wen, but just a monster."

"It's better than being eaten to pieces. At least I can still remember my past as a human..."

Sun Wen took a step forward and her face turned pale.

The true appearance of an evil spirit is often closely related to how he or she died. Sun Wen died because her yang energy was sucked dry, so there is not much difference on the surface. However, the cold aura emanating from her body and the hatred in her eyes show that she is no longer a living person.

"I want to ask a question."

Yi Qingyan sighed.

"Maybe asking a ghost may seem absurd, but I really want to know why you came to kill me? I know some things that happened in the school. That 'Yang Chao' was probably forced to jump off the building by Xiao Liting, and that 'Wei Yanyan' was killed by her teacher, so she attacked Teacher Tian..."

"What about you? I have no grudge against you, right? Is it just because ghosts want to eat people?"

A wry smile appeared on Sun Wen's face again.

It was a weird, twisted smile.

She looked humble and like she was trying to please someone, but there was suppressed anger in her pupils.

"Reason? I don't need a reason. I'm stronger than you, so I can eat you."

Sun Wen approached her slowly, slowly.

“I have always felt that this world is very unfair.”

"When you are a human being, you serve as a follower. No matter what others say, you can only obey them and smile at them, just like a fool..."

"I'm bullied even after I die and become a ghost. I have to look at other people's faces even when I eat a person. Am I really useless?"

"But no matter how useless I am, there will always be people in this world who are more useless and inferior than me. For example..."

"you."

The evil ghost stretched out his hand towards Yi Qingyan.

The girl suddenly found it difficult to breathe, and her heart felt like it was being gripped by an icy hand. A chilly feeling spread throughout her body.

She frowned and covered her chest.

"No one cares about people like you living in this world. You are undoubtedly the lowest class of people."

"Just...just because of this..."

Yi Qingyan bent down with a look of pain on her face, supporting herself with her hands.

"Yeah. This world is very unfair and ridiculous, right? But you have to learn to accept it."

Sun Wen had a very satisfied expression.

"By the way, I can let you go and become a ghost, okay? As long as you beg me."

"Please...you?"

"Yes, beg me. If lowly people want to survive, they have to rely on charity from those in high positions. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Nothing... Nothing's wrong."

Yi Qingyan covered her throat and started coughing.

"...I thank you...for giving me an answer..."

Sun Wen ignored her words, walked straight up to the girl and put his hand towards Yi Qingyan's chest.

I could kill her by piercing her body with this ghost hand and squeezing her heart.

Sun Wen had no intention of letting Yi Qingyan go from the beginning. She liked deception and the sight of hopeful faces of humans being swallowed up by despair bit by bit.

Although it is a fierce ghost, it is still very weak compared to other ghosts of the same kind in the haunted house and urgently needs to eat humans to become stronger.

"go to hell."

it thought.

Then, Sun Wen finally saw Yi Qingyan's face, which had been hidden by her messy long hair.

Even though it is a ghost now, at this moment, it still feels amazing.

How...how could it be...

Such beauty?

If I had such a stunning appearance in the past, I would have lived a life of being the center of attention. Xiao Liting would only be worthy of being my follower.

Why did she dress so sloppily and inconspicuously in the past?
"Cough...cough cough!"

While it was stunned, Yi Qingyan coughed twice.

Then she stretched out a finger and gently touched Sun Wen's forehead.

The evil spirit couldn't see her expression, he could only hear her whisper.

"you are the first."

*
A gentle breeze blew through the corridor, and the collapsed building behind seemed like a frozen background in the photo.

A tragic trace appeared silently in the center of the dark sky, and the sunlight from the real world quietly fell on the ruins.

Yi Qingyan stroked her chest gently and stood up again.

...successfully.

She constantly suppressed her "ability" and the huge murderous intent that came with it, and controlled it for a full sixteen years.

To the extent that this habit itself has become an unbreakable shackle, leaving her with only the ability to be an ordinary girl in her daily life.

But the method to free oneself from the shackles of self-imposed limitations is actually very simple.

Yi Qingyan easily thought of it: she just needed to push herself into a desperate situation once.

The moment you are about to be killed is the time to unblock.

Sixteen years of persistence, given up in one day.

Her mood was not as complicated as she had imagined. She just felt a little regretful that she couldn't let Brother Dongsheng be the first witness.

"So... that's how it is... You are so beautiful... so... strong..."

In the sunlight, the resentful face that was split in half was dissipating like foam on the sea.

At the last moment of her life, Sun Wen felt relieved.

Because she accepted the answer that "the strong can manipulate the weak at will", whether she was a human or after becoming a ghost.

But Yi Qingyan hasn't yet.

She wanted to hear another answer from someone else.

So she stepped forward.

(End of this chapter)