Hua Qi’an’s body suddenly froze, as if she had been plunged into an icy abyss.
She didn’t even dare to breathe, fearing that the owner of that voice would appear in front of her with the rise and fall of each breath.
In the moment when terror and confusion overwhelmed her, an icy embrace silently closed in around her from behind.
It was not the warm, soft hug of the girl from her memories…
But a kind of deathly restraint, cold to the bone.
The chill pierced right through her thin clothes, pressing coldly against her skin… It felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen in an instant.
Hua Qi’an held her breath sharply.
She didn’t dare turn around, didn’t dare make even the slightest unnecessary movement.
She could clearly feel a pair of arms encircling her waist, pinning her in place.
The force was so great, she felt as though she might be snapped in half.
[Qi’an… your scent… it’s so sweet.]
Cold lips and tongue delicately licked the sensitive skin at the back of her neck, leaving behind winding trails of moisture.
That damp voice was laced with a satisfied sigh.
Then, those hands began to roam.
Through a thin layer of clothing, cold, slender fingers started wandering over her body with a sick, almost greedy obsession.
They slid slowly upward from her waist, glided over her flat abdomen, then traced the curves of her body, climbing up to the gentle swell of her chest, separated only by her white shirt and the padding of her underwear…
Roughly kneading the softness of her chest…
Then maliciously pinching the soft flesh at her waist…
Wherever they passed, they left burning pain and chilling cold behind.
Hua Qi’an couldn’t help but tremble all over.
The owner of those hands seemed very pleased with her reaction, letting out a muffled, delighted hum from the throat.
Hua Qi’an’s cheeks burned bright red, a mix of shame and fear twisting together.
She could see the hands clasped before her.
The skin was deathly pale and bluish, with neatly trimmed nails, but faint bruising showing between the fingers…
That was absolutely not the hand of a living person.
Before, she’d only ever seen this in her dreams…
Why, even though she was clearly awake now, could she still feel her so clearly?
Was it because the hospital was full of yin energy?
Had that made her power so much stronger…
Strong enough to disturb her in reality with such clarity.
No, this couldn’t go on.
Amid endless fear, Hua Qi’an’s mind—always a little calmer than others’—began to whirl madly.
She knew that this “female ghost” clinging to her was one of them—Xia Wangui.
Every time there were water plants or strange scents, it was always her… And Xia Wangui, for some reason, had an obsession with her that ran bone-deep.
[Did you forget me?]
[Liar…]
[Are you trying to leave me again?]
…
Those words that haunted her dreams now rang out, crystal clear, in her mind.
Obsession…
If it’s obsession, then maybe…
She could use it against her.
A wild, reckless idea rapidly took shape in Hua Qi’an’s heart.
She would gamble—that Xia Wangui’s “love” for her in that obsession outweighed the “hate.”
After all, they used to be close…
Xia Wangui probably still liked her more than hated her, right?
She took a deep breath.
Hua Qi’an forced her rigid body to relax, little by little.
She stopped struggling, even leaned back a bit, pressing her back deeper into that icy embrace.
“Wangui…”
Her voice was soft, carrying a hint of deliberately crafted trembling and grievance.
“Is it you?”
The hands that had been moving wildly over her suddenly paused.
It worked!
Delighted, Hua Qi’an continued in that tearful, trembling tone, murmuring: “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to forget you…
“I just… I was too scared…”
“I missed you so much, Wang… I really… missed you…”
She pretended to be a pitiful, helpless girl who hurt her best friend by accident because she was too afraid to face her.
Every word seemed filled with genuine regret and longing.
The icy embrace behind her seemed to shudder slightly at her words.
The arms around her slackened just a little.
Those hands, which had roamed with such reckless abandon, now became gentle, simply stroking her arm with a trace of lingering affection.
[You… really… missed me?]
There was less venom in that damp voice now.
“Mm.”
Hua Qi’an nodded heavily, even reaching out to cover that deathly cold hand with her own.
Taking a deep breath—Xia Wangui was behind her.
Though she wasn’t alive anymore… she could do this.
“I’ve always thought of you. I never forgot you.”
She felt the hand holding her suddenly tense up.
At once, an overwhelming, almost frenzied wave of joy surged from behind her.
[Qi’an… I knew it… I knew you wouldn’t really forget me.]
The voice was full of twisted, heart-thumping joy.
[We can finally be together…]
Hua Qi’an’s heart leapt.
Had it worked?
She was about to keep going, to soothe her further and completely take control of the situation, when everything suddenly changed.
“Wangui, we—”
Before she could finish, the embrace that had seemed so gentle tightened abruptly.
…
A force even stronger than before clamped down on her, suffocating, unrelenting.
It felt like her bones were about to be crushed.
“Ugh…”
Hua Qi’an let out a painful groan.
[That’s right. We can finally be together… forever.]
Xia Wangui’s voice sounded by her ear.
There was no hint of grievance or hope left—only madness, and a chilling possessiveness.
[Qi’an Qi’an Qi’an Qi’an.]
[As long as you die, we can be together forever…]
Cold fingers, without hesitation, closed around her slender neck.
This was no hazy oppression from a dream, but a real, deadly, icy intent.
The fog thickened instantly, growing as viscous as something tangible.
Everything around her seemed to vanish.
Dots of static flickered madly before Hua Qi’an’s eyes.
That crazed, joyful [We can finally be together] was like a poisoned needle, stabbing deep into her eardrums.
Her blood seemed to surge in reverse, her limbs frozen.
She had made a fatal mistake.
She thought she could restrain a powerful ghost’s obsession with words and false warmth.
She forgot that death itself was the most extreme, unreasonable obsession of all.
Her so-called “longing” and “reluctance” sounded, to Xia Wangui, like the most enchanting invitation to die together.
She didn’t want her to remember—she wanted her… to accompany her.
“Ugh…!”
…
The hands at her neck squeezed tighter.
No longer was it a touch of desire or possessiveness—it was pure, cold-blooded intent to take her life.
The icy bones dug mercilessly into her fragile neck; Hua Qi’an could almost hear her own vertebrae creaking under the strain.
Air was sucked away in an instant.
That familiar, drowning sensation she’d faced in countless nightmares now swept in, more real than ever.
Her lungs felt clamped by invisible hands, desperate for oxygen.
…
Yet all she could inhale was that cold, salty, distinctly Xia Wangui scent.
At the same time, from the dense, unyielding fog, a multitude of slimy, clammy sensations wrapped around her from every direction.
Water plants.
Those water weeds that had appeared in her dreams, on her clothes, in the things she vomited up—Xia Wangui’s trademarks…
Now, they bared their “fangs.”
Like living venomous snakes, slick and strong, they wound tightly around her wrists and ankles.
[Liar… you promised me forever…]
[Leaving me… to make friends with others…]
[Fickle.]
Venomous whispers mingled with urgent, satisfied pants, hissing in her ears.
Shame, terror, peril…
Countless emotions exploded in Hua Qi’an’s mind, until everything dissolved into a powerless blank.
Her body no longer belonged to her; resistance was meaningless.
She was like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, forced to watch herself be consumed, unable even to cry out.
No…
She couldn’t just die like this…
Just before her consciousness was swallowed by darkness, a primal survival instinct—the last flicker of fire in the abyss—suddenly flared up, illuminating her muddled thoughts.
She had to do something!
Hua Qi’an struggled desperately, knowing it was probably futile.
The pain from her limbs bound by water weeds was like tearing flesh, but it jolted her oxygen-starved nerves awake.
Her hand clawed wildly at the air, fingers scraping through the void.
She tried to grab something, anything—a lifeline, a sharp stone—when suddenly, her fingertips brushed against something hard and cold in her pocket.
It was a key.
The key to Dorm 227 she’d stuffed in her pocket before leaving…
With all her remaining strength, Hua Qi’an curled her fingers and clutched the cold metal key.
The sharp edges dug deep into the tender flesh of her palm.
Gripping it tightly, she stabbed the key behind her.
It probably wouldn’t help… but anything was better than doing nothing.
As expected, before she could finish, her hand was seized midair by that powerful, bluish-white hand.
Pain flared at her wrist where it was gripped tightly…
But the hand at her neck loosened just a bit because of her action.
“,….…”
Then, an agonizing pain shot up her finger.
The sharp edge of the key sliced her pinky, and fresh blood surged forth.
One drop, two drops…
The vivid red beads stood out sharply in the gloomy fog, burning with the heat of life.
The blood slid through her fingers, dripping directly onto the ghostly, bluish hand that clamped her wrist.
The metallic scent of blood spread in the cold, salty air, abrupt and jarring.
The icy body behind her seemed to freeze.
The grip on her neck faded, air rushing in—Hua Qi’an immediately felt like she’d come back to life.
But then, she felt her wrist seized in an icy grasp…
Her hand was yanked up to eye level by an irresistible force.
Hua Qi’an saw the face from behind leaning into view—half-transparent, bluish-white, nothing like a living person.
Those features she’d always found somewhat familiar finally matched a name in her mind… The ghost gripped her bleeding finger, bringing it to her lips.
Then, a cold, slippery tongue stretched out, carefully licking the blood welling from her wound.
“…….”
Hua Qi’an shuddered all over, her mind shutting down completely.
The scene was suggestive to the point of intimacy, yet unspeakably eerie.
Warm blood and cold tongue intertwined, producing a bizarre sensation—a blend of pain and tingling numbness.
She licked with great care and focus, almost with reverence, as if tasting a rare delicacy.
She seemed utterly absorbed in savoring Hua Qi’an’s body…
Completely oblivious to Hua Qi’an’s other hand, which was now, in this gap, silently and shakily reaching into the side pocket of her backpack.
There, she kept the talismans sent by the “Company,” said to ward off evil.
Only now, in this dire moment, did she remember she always kept these in her bag…
She’d packed them for a previous trip to a haunted house.
She never expected she’d need them here.
Her fingertips brushed against the rough yellow paper etched with cinnabar runes.
Now was the time.
She yanked out a talisman and slapped it fiercely onto the cold, ghostly shadow gripping her hand and licking her finger.
“Pa!”
A crisp sound.
[Uu—]
It seemed to work.
A pained, needled cry rang out.
But the voice was full of shock and disbelief… Hua Qi’an felt a flash of guilt toward Xia Wangui.
But since the other wanted to strangle her, she had no choice but to fight back.
The cold touch faded a little, and the fog, once thick as soup, began to thin before her eyes.
This was her chance—
Ignoring her bleeding finger, Hua Qi’an mustered all her strength to break free from the restraints, then dashed madly toward the hospital entrance as she remembered it.
As she got further from the hospital, Xia Wangui’s presence was gradually swallowed by the mist.
But that possessive gaze still clung to her like maggots on bone, refusing to let go.
Fortunately, as soon as she burst free from the fog, she spotted a taxi idling by the curb.
She checked the time—she’d been in the mist so long, yet only five minutes had passed?
It was the ride she’d pre-booked with an app.
The driver was poking his head out, scanning around.
“Driver, over here—!”
…
Hua Qi’an dashed over, yanked open the door, and climbed in.
“Last four digits, 5436.”
She rattled off her phone number at top speed.
The driver, startled by her bedraggled appearance, instinctively stomped the gas.
As the car sped away, Hua Qi’an looked out the window.
The sun was shining.
There wasn’t a hint of fog in sight.
The street outside the hospital looked perfectly normal—people coming and going, cars streaming past.
“Young lady, you… what happened?”
The driver glanced at her uncertainly in the mirror.
Hua Qi’an didn’t reply. She just slumped back in the seat, gulping in huge breaths, trying to calm her racing heart.
Where had she just been, really?
“Um… young lady, your clothes… are you okay?”
The driver’s voice was hesitant, careful.
Clothes?
Hua Qi’an dazedly looked down at her chest.
Her white shirt was now stamped with two bright red, still-bleeding…
Handprints.
Slender and elegant, clearly a woman’s hand.
They were right there, pressed over her chest—Xia.
Wang. Gui…
Murmuring that name, Hua Qi’an couldn’t help but grit her teeth.
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