**Chapter 254: The Young Girl and the Evil God**
The Spider, clueless about Bai Yu’s true identity, still wanted to give it a shot, even knowing she was way out of her league. But once she learned who Bai Yu was, her courage fled faster than a cat in a bathtub, and her will to survive was practically glowing.
To her, before knowing Bai Yu’s identity, she thought of him as just another local. She figured that even if she couldn’t win, she could at least survive, right?
“You’re a ghost too! You definitely need these things!” The Spider said, her eyes locking onto Bai Yu’s nervously.
After all her hard work, dying now would be a total waste. Plus, if she kicked the bucket, Little Moon would be toast too—how was she supposed to take care of herself alone?
When faced with reality versus pride, she chose the former. She wasn’t alone; she had someone to care for.
Bai Yu pondered for a moment and then sheathed her long kn*fe. She was definitely interested in this Ghost Gate. During her time in Pinghai City, she had seen way too many Ghost Gates—they all looked so ordinary they could put a rock to sleep. They were like the discount products of the ghost world, boring and not even worth studying.
But this Ghost Gate was a whole different ball game. It had this indescribable aura about it, and one thing was for sure—it was not your average gate.
“Collaboration is on the table.” Bai Yu turned on her heel and entered the room, leaving the Spider behind to calm her fluttering heart.
Who would’ve thought that just a casual probe would snag a big fish—one that could swallow her whole? Was this luck or bad luck?
With a doctor on board, the fight with that guy was almost locked in. The catch was that this doctor was a wild card; anything she did was out of the Spider’s control. Worse yet, she might casually decide to off the Spider just because she felt like it.
Putting those thoughts aside, the Spider walked back into the room, her demeanor doing a complete 180 as she became super polite.
“Look, if you all came to save him, this is a misunderstanding.” The Spider glanced at Li Tianan and then refocused on Zhao Mingyue and Lu Liangting. “He’s made it abundantly clear that I brought him here just to help me seal the Ghost Gate in my house.”
“You guys must have noticed this Ghost Gate is a little different.”
“To put it bluntly, my Ghost Gate can summon Evil Gods.”
Instantly, that one sentence reeled in everyone’s attention like fish to bait.
The intel they got from An Que indicated that most Evil Gods didn’t come about naturally but crawled out from Ghost Gates. For example, the four major Evil Gods of Eternal Life Village—three of them were tied to Ghost Gates. Even the Thousand Eyes Godmother, who had transformed, only completed her metamorphosis thanks to the power of a Ghost Gate.
“I myself came out from this Ghost Gate,” the Spider raised her hand, a thin black thread emerging from her palm. “I’m not an Evil God, but my powers are of the same origin.”
“By identity, I’m also a ghost. Before I came here, my body was always within the Ghost Gate—no one knows the dangers there better than me.”
“I think my sanity is intact because of my ties to that place.”
At this moment, Zhao Mingyue raised her hand to chime in, “So, you’re saying if we don’t close this Ghost Gate soon, an Evil God will emerge?”
“Exactly! Right now, we have only seven days. After the Red Moon in seven days, if this Ghost Gate isn’t shut, an Evil God will definitely crawl out.” The Spider’s six red eyes made Zhao Mingyue shudder. She had encountered many Evil Ghosts, but none were as terrifying as this one.
This thing looked artificially enhanced, making her seem even more unsettling and horrific.
“I’m not going to keep you in suspense. I’ll get straight to the point.”
“Whether the Evil God in the Ghost Gate wreaks havoc on the world or stays hid inside, I don’t care. But I have a pressing reason to eliminate her.”
“Do you all know about souls having yin and yang aspects?”
Zhao Mingyue nodded, “I know that.”
“Good.” The Spider tilted her head towards the door. “That girl you saw earlier, Xia Bingyue, she’s my yang aspect, and I’m her yin aspect.”
“Li Tianan just told you, Little Moon’s situation is way worse than he let on—severe enough that she could drop dead at any minute.”
“Her curse isn’t wholly from the Evil God, or rather, it’s not a curse but a symbiotic connection. Her life is tied to the Evil God in the Ghost Gate, making her kind of like the Evil God’s embryo. Since the day this Ghost Gate opened, the connection has only deepened.”
“The world she sees is gradually collapsing. The curse shows itself most visibly through her diminishing life force—it’s at a pretty dire level.”
“In a mere two months, I’ve watched her go from a head full of black hair to a head full of white. If this continues, only two outcomes await her: either she fully becomes the Evil God’s embryo and her soul dissipates forever, or she dies outright.”
The Spider’s slender body looked quite misshapen, her cracked skull slowly healing.
“If I want her to live, I have to deal with this Evil God and permanently seal this Ghost Gate.”
“That’s my main goal. As for the benefits for you, I can’t promise you anything specific. Once the mission is complete, everything not tied to me or her is up for grabs—anything goes from the Ghost Gate, the body of the Evil God, and the secrets of the Ghost Gate.”
And with that, the room fell into a deep silence.
Lu Liangting seemed to want to say something, but Old Yang yanked him back, frantically signaling it wasn’t his turn to talk.
Zhao Mingyue was discreetly eyeing Bai Yu, not daring to make a decision on this colossal matter unless Bai Yu handed her the reins.
Seeing the silence, Li Tianan cleared his throat, “Ahem, there’s something the Spider didn’t mention, and I’ll just fill that in.”
“You all saw the map I showed you, right? That symmetrical village also has an identical Ghost Gate, but we’re unsure if there’s an Evil God inside.”
“There’s a troublesome guy over there, even stronger than the Spider—a malevolent spirit. He wants to take over our Ghost Gate and abduct Little Moon to serve as an embryo. His goal? A transformation to become an Evil God.”
“He’s got tons of Evil Ghosts at his disposal, boosted by the Ghost Gate, and is backed by the Ghost Domain—he’s no pushover. He even fought last night.”
“It’s like beast fights—you send in a Red Clothes; I send in a Red Clothes. You send in a few Little Ghosts; I’ll send in a few Little Ghosts.”
“They’re just trying to buy time. With each passing day, Little Moon is becoming weaker, which just strengthens her connection to the Evil God. That’s exactly the effect they want.”
Fighting ghosts is a common tactic, especially in turf wars between Gatekeepers and Ghost Gates.
“Alright,” Bai Yu readily agreed, “No need to refuse.”
If all went well, this would definitely be a redemption mission.
No wonder she suddenly had that idea this morning; it seemed like it wasn’t a fluke. This must be one of the talents of the Redeemer—the ability to sense redemption tasks. Otherwise, she’d have to check if her black phone triggered a task every time she moved, which would be a real drag.
Let’s not talk about failing or succeeding; she’d just give it a shot.
Opportunities for redemption tasks were rare. She had already revealed her identity twice to that group of female madmen and clearly told them if they ever encountered redemption tasks and couldn’t trigger them, they could come find her. If they dawdled, they’d risk permanent failure.
This was easy to understand—not every task was like the ones involving Shen Shuyun and Chen Yunshi. For situations like this one, if they exceeded the seven-day mark, it’d probably be an auto-abandonment of the redemption task.
So far, no one had come seeking her, proactive.
Being proactive was inefficient; she could only tackle them one by one.
“Thanks, and if this works out, I owe you a life.”
The Spider looked once more at Bai Yu and Zhao Mingyue, then turned and left. Her body vanished from everyone’s sight, and even the black threads on the roof disappeared.
Li Tianan glanced at the shattered doorframe and inwardly cursed, “Freak.”
The Spider’s condition was stranger than Bai Yu’s—she didn’t fit the typical ghost mold at all. Her power was offensively absurd, easily clobbering ordinary Red Clothes, yet when faced with Bai Yu, she still threw in the towel before the fight even began.
“Let’s wait for nightfall.” Li Tianan plopped down in a chair, stretching out a bit. “During the day, they won’t be active, so we could go right in, but there’s a decent risk since we’d be in their turf.”
He speculated on Bai Yu’s thoughts. If it was about toughening Zhao Mingyue, she’d wait until nightfall. If it was purely task-driven, she’d probably scope out the opponent’s strength tonight and then just charge in tomorrow and take them out.
Zhao Mingyue didn’t linger inside. After exchanging glances with Bai Yu, she stepped outside.
Pulling her mask down to hide her face, she watched the pale-haired girl in a white floral dress gently sweep the yard. She looked so fragile, not saying a word, just silently cleaning up the debris scattered across the ground.
The slight frown showing her anxiety and concern tugged at Zhao Mingyue’s heart.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed the commotion inside; she just didn’t dare to look up.
Zhao Mingyue sighed softly.
This little girl’s projected life was only seven days left, but seeing her state, even if this mission succeeded, how long could she really last?
·
·
I guess I’m just too weak. Sniff sniff.
