Chapter 18 The Cherry Blossom Red-Clad Ghost
Upon hearing that Lu Yibei had a way to summon the deceased Hu Chuan, the Decapitated Senior suddenly became flustered.
Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming emotion, as bl**d oozed from her severed neck and surged up along with her rising chest.
“Eh? Right now?”
If someone told her that a dead person’s soul could still be summoned, she might have some doubts, but since it was Lu Yibei who said it, she believed it without hesitation.
Lu Yibei looked at the Decapitated Senior, rolled her eyes, and silently reached out to grab her head, lifting it and securely placing it back on her neck before pressing down firmly on the top of her head.
“Of course not right now…” She said, glancing at the unconscious Jin Yecheng. “Do you think Brother Jin hasn’t been through enough shock today?”
“When he wakes up and sees us, one holding a human head, squatting on the ground and calling out Hu Chuan’s name, performing spell formulas, and if we are lucky enough to actually see the summoned Hu Chuan, it might just send him off.”
Moreover, it was still uncertain if Ancestor would even teach me!
Even if he was willing, I probably wouldn’t be able to learn it in a short time.
To be safe, at least… I’d need to spend one or two nights learning, Lu Yibei thought.
After studying with Qing Ji for so long, as her understanding of spell formulas and alchemy deepened, she gradually understood why there were many spells that Qing Ji was reluctant to teach her.
Because some spells were truly dangerous!
Take the spell for directional summoning, for example. It involves using someone’s relic to summon their spirit, which, in a way, is akin to creating a lower-grade urban legend.
Such ritual-type spells are quite particular during the performance process—relics, incantations, ritual materials… any slight deviation in any of these steps could lead to failure.
And failure is already the best outcome.
Ritual-type spells are typically used to communicate or summon distant urban legends. If there’s a mistake in the spellcasting steps, and the ritual succeeds, that would be truly terrifying!
That would mean an unknown urban legend felt the ritual and came looking.
Although there’s a very small chance that an urban legend that comes looking could bear goodwill, clinging to optimism would surely lead to a miserable ending.
Lu Yibei felt that her “luck” in such matters was absurdly good; if she had learned the directional summoning spell early, she might have inadvertently summoned some powerful unknown entity and gotten herself into a shape that couldn’t be provoked.
But now, she was that unknown powerful entity (restricted to Huacheng).
Just as Lu Yibei was pondering, the Decapitated Senior looked at Jin Yecheng, placed her hands on her head, and nodded, saying, “Oh, that makes sense! So, what should I do next?”
Lu Yibei thought for a moment and said, “Let’s split up. Uh, I mean it literally, not in a physical sense.”
The Decapitated Senior glared at her and said mournfully, “I know!”
“Just emphasizing, to avoid any misunderstandings,” Lu Yibei replied. “You think of a way to see if you can find Hu Chuan’s relic, and I’ll take Brother Jin to the security room first, then make an emergency call.”
“A relic?”
The Decapitated Senior’s eyebrows drooped, as if recalling some sad past, then she pondered for a long time, her gaze gradually becoming firm, as if arriving at some important decision.
“I think I know where to look.”
For some reason, as she said this, a hint of conflicted emotion flashed in her eyes.
Lu Yibei frowned and assessed the Decapitated Senior, who seemed deep in thought. “Tsk, you’re not still keeping something from that scumbag, are you?”
How big could her heart be to keep a foe’s belongings!
What a silly girl, is her head malfunctioning? Lu Yibei internally criticized.
The Decapitated Senior shook her head and adjusted her tilted head, “No, it’s just that when we were in a passionate relationship, we buried a time capsule at school. Besides a letter written to each other for the future, we also put in a little thing I loved most as a gift for him, so…”
“Alright, I got it. That should do.” Lu Yibei interrupted with a grimace.
How romantic! Maybe I’ll ask Miaomiao Sauce to set something up!
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Lu Yibei shook her head.
She already had one that looked very much like a cemetery, which indeed was a cemetery: an underworld version of a time capsule.
Inside, it contained a Bai Xiaohua printed T-shirt, Bai Xiaohua bedding set, and some item with Jiang Li that she hadn’t had time to clearly see.
Based on her understanding of Jiang Li, he would definitely refuse her invitation and coldly tell her, “Lions Mountain Cemetery has buried you well; in fifty years when the grave’s usage period is over, you can dig it out.”
————
After discussing with the Decapitated Senior to meet in the small storeroom at Gate Four in twenty minutes, and watching her drift toward Sakura Avenue, Lu Yibei hefted the unconscious Jin Yecheng onto her shoulder and hastily made her way to the nearest security room.
Sneaking into the security room, the duty elderly man was sound asleep, drunk.
Lu Yibei walked over to the small bed inside the security room, gently pulled back the covers, and carefully laid Jin Yecheng down, making sure to cover him with the blanket afterward.
This security uncle and Brother Jin were both quite thin, so squeezing them together shouldn’t be a problem.
As for how she would explain to the security uncle why he found Jin Yecheng in his bed later, that would be her own business.
Thinking this, Lu Yibei left the security room, closed the door, and immediately got out her phone to dial an emergency number.
“Hello, I have someone who has fainted. Yes, in the Huacheng University College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building security room. Uh-huh, alright…”
After hanging up, Lu Yibei let out a slight sigh of relief and turned to head towards the main road at Gate Four.
She wasn’t particularly worried about what kind of urban legend the emergency call might attract; first of all, Huacheng had no urban legends related to ambulances.
Moreover, while going out at night had become very dangerous since the darkness extended, this situation didn’t have much impact on emergency and fire personnel.
In hospitals and fire departments, there were often Special Action Teams stationed, and when they went out on duty, they would also go along. If they sensed any lingering spirit energy fluctuations at the scene, they would immediately notify the operators on night duty.
As for other professions that needed to work at night, they weren’t so lucky; quite often there was no safety guarantee at all, and encountering an urban legend incident would be like calling for help but getting none.
However, this wasn’t absolute; the delivery drivers and security uncles in Z Country formed a mysterious group whose combat power fluctuated wildly. In the event of an urban legend incident, it was hard to say who would be unlucky.
Oh, right! There are taxi drivers too! Lu Yibei thought of Uncle Zhang Shan and added in her mind.
————
At Huacheng University, on Sakura Avenue, in a corner far from the main road and near the old building, a lush cherry blossom tree stood tall.
The cherry trees planted along Sakura Avenue were early cherry blossoms typical of Z Country, nearing the end of their bloom in late spring and early summer, with the branches filled with pink petals on the verge of falling, and the air filled with a fading floral scent mixed with an air of decay.
A gentle breeze rustled the branches, and a few petals drifted down, lingering in the air reluctantly before ultimately succumbing to their fate of turning to mud.
The girl dressed in a thin white dress stood dazed under the cherry blossom tree, gripping a rusty shovel in her hands as she violently dug into the damp soil beneath the tree.
The shovel pierced the earth with a “puff!” resembling the light sound of flesh being torn, as if it had killed something.
Then, she stopped, reminded of various memories.
She recalled that saying, “Now let’s bury our memories together, and we’ll dig them out again in thirty years.”
She remembered, for the first time in her life, leaving home to report to university, her mother’s reluctant gaze.
She thought of her father’s last visit to the school, holding her favorite magenta umbrella, wandering alone for a long time under the rain-shrouded main road at Gate Four, before finally discarding the umbrella in his hand, crying out and fleeing as if escaping.
……
Immersed in memories for a long time, the girl silently leaned the shovel against the trunk, removed her own head, and placed it on the stone steps nearby, then picked up the shovel again, excavating with all her might.
Then came the second scoop, the third.
She moved quickly, no longer hesitating.
The moist soil and wild grass were continually shoveled away.
Gradually, the spirit energy fluctuations surrounding her began to intensify, and several crimson chains appeared out of thin air, piercing through her chest and wrapping around her body.
These chains stood stiff in midair, shrouded in a layer of ominous black mist, seemingly alive as they writhed, constantly dragging her, as if trying to pull her back to where she belonged.
She desperately resisted the tug of the chains, her detached head furrowing its brows; bl**d poured from her severed neck, gradually staining her thin white dress, and her fair skin began to rot and decay, as a chilling scent of bl**d permeated the air.
In the distance, sensing the spirit energy fluctuations, Lu Yibei hurriedly made her way, hiding behind a cherry blossom tree, secretly observing the Decapitated Senior. Upon witnessing this scene, she quietly clenched her pink fists.
When she saw the Decapitated Senior being dragged around by the crimson chains, almost pulled back to the main road at Gate Four, she almost rushed out to help, but ultimately restrained herself and silently cheered her on from the shadows.
Lu Yibei had long known that something was binding the Decapitated Senior at this school; she was initially taken aback when she discovered it.
Later, from the memories of the Great Serpent God, she learned about the detailed categorization within the malevolent spirit type urban legends, including earthbound spirits, and realized that what bound the Decapitated Senior were the properties born with the powers of the earthbound spirit.
The reason for this property’s existence could be artificial, like a certain sealing spell, or it might just be a significant object or a memory.
“……”
No wonder she seemed a bit odd when she first mentioned the time capsule; it was likely her psychological evasion of the past that became her constraint, and the time capsule was a key item linked to her past.
Now it seemed that what bound her was this thing? However, should that be considered a significant object or a memory?
I can’t help her with this! Lu Yibei thought.
According to the knowledge from the Great Serpent God’s memories, for earthbound spirits severing their constraints was akin to a level-up; it was hard for anyone else to assist, and they might even complicate things.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, the shovel seemed to hit something, producing a light sound akin to metal striking metal, echoing in the air.
After digging a pit about half a meter deep under the tree, two egg-shaped stone spheres came into the Decapitated Senior’s line of sight; they were the time capsules she had initially buried with Hu Chuan.
She gazed at the two time capsules for a moment, just about to bend down and pick them up when the crimson chains behind her suddenly tightened, emitting a light “zing” sound.
Sensing the overwhelming force coming from the chains, her head resting on the stone steps frowned, and with all her might, she stepped forward and grasped the two time capsules.
“Ding——!” The sound of metal shattering suddenly erupted, and the crimson chains broke apart, disintegrating into powder.
In that moment, a sinister wind swept through the cherry blossom grove, and clusters of petals danced chaotically with the violently swaying branches, as if a rain of flowers had begun.
Amid the swirling fallen petals, the girl in the long dress stained red floated in mid-air, her limbs gracefully stretching as she descended slowly, her head took flight from the stone steps and settled back onto her neck, merging smoothly together.
She had successfully killed the past, and the intensity of the spirit energy fluctuations surged greatly.
Seeing this, Lu Yibei extended her spiritual perception to probe, tilting her head slightly.
The spirit energy level was at least… 0.8992 old rabbits! In simpler terms, the senior should now be considered a malicious ghost, right?
But after the level-up, did her head just grow back?
So what should I call her from now on? Red-Clad Senior? Jiang Yuzhen?
“Ah——! A ghost, a ghost——!”
Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed on Sakura Avenue.
A patrolling security uncle, hearing the commotion in the grove, swept his flashlight over and saw that scene, scaring him out of his wits as he bolted.
Watching the security uncle-turned-sprinter’s back as he stumbled while running, Lu Yibei’s eyes twitched, hand on her forehead.
This…
Could you not be so dedicated? Why not be like that security uncle from the College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building, sip some wine, and go to bed early?
That way, perhaps when you wake up, a hunk would appear in your bed! Lu Yibei thought.
She could almost foresee that within a week, a legend of the “Cherry Blossom Red-Clad Ghost” would spread throughout Huacheng University.
Hearing the security uncle’s scream, the Decapitated Senior abruptly turned her head, her head spinning 183°.
Then…
“Crack!” It fell off and traced a pretty arc, rolling into the nearby grass.
Lu Yibei, “……” Alright, we can still call her the Decapitated Senior.
