IBGSW Chapter 47
Crossing Swords with the Ghost
The two reached an understanding.
Liu Yizhen yielded sensibly, and Zhao Fusheng, understanding the stakes, did not want to break the current balance between the ghosts, so she wouldn't force her way into the temple. Both breathed a sigh of relief.
Under Liu Yizhen's half-wary, half-watchful gaze, Zhao Fusheng cautiously moved forward a few steps to the knee-high threshold of the Confucian temple and peered inside.
The great hall was silent and pitch black.
In the dark, something seemed to be "staring" at her with malice, making her tremble and instinctively want to retreat.
She forced down the unease of being watched, opened her eyes wide, and looked in. After a long time her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she could just make out blurry shapes.
At the far end of the hall there was indeed a shrine niche set into the wall, several feet off the floor and hanging in midair.
Inside the niche was enshrined a "statue." It sat cross-legged on the offering table, with several coils of strange things wound around its body, and a thick, rank stench filled the hall.
In the dark, the "statue" met her gaze with cold eyes.
The malignant ghost's face was half hidden in the shadows, and its pale gray eyes were ill-intentioned. Malice hit her face, carrying blood and rage, and she felt the most terrifying killing intent.
Having confirmed the ghost's whereabouts, she silently backed away several steps.
Only when she was back under the light of the ghost lanterns did the horror of being watched by an evil ghost vanish completely.
"I've seen it."
She forced down the creepy chill and said so.
Liu Yizhen was silent for a long while, then asked, "What are you going to do next?"
"I plan to make a move on it tonight," she said decisively after a moment's thought.
"So soon?"
Liu Yizhen had picked up a bit of her temperament from their several conversations, but he was still startled to hear this.
"That ghost is already Baleful-tier—"
"It's fine. You can dodge the first but not the fifteenth1. If we keep dragging this out, all we do is add casualties."
She had already worked out the ghost's killing methods and rules. Continuing to observe would only waste time, and the more people died, the more strength the ghost gained.
"I don't want to drag it out any longer. Tonight, either it dies, or I do!"
Hearing this, Liu Yizhen still didn't think much of her plan, but he nodded noncommittally.
"In that case, I have other things to do too. I'll wish you success in advance."
Zhao Fusheng smiled.
She couldn't get any more clues out of Liu Yizhen. He might know more secrets, but judging by his expression, he probably wasn't willing to say.
With the ghost calamity in Beggars' Alley at its current stage, she had gathered a lot of information, enough to analyze many things. What remained was her showdown with the ghost.
It wasn't her first time facing off with a malignant ghost.
She had also suppressed the revived corpses of the Zhao couple, but they had only just awakened, which was different from the Baleful-tier ghost enshrined in the Confucian temple of Beggars' Alley.
But things had come to this, and there was no room for her to retreat.
She lost her taste for wandering and went back to the house where she had hidden before.
The door of the house next to hers bore the traces of the ghost's entry and exit, and the broken door, melted open by the ghost's shadow, could not hide the carnage inside.
Blood was spilled all over the floor, and the thick bloody smell stung the eyes.
Zhao Fusheng had known she would have to deal with ghosts in the future, and that a scene like this hell on earth would meet her again sooner or later. But it should not be now.
After thinking it over, she decisively gave up the idea of using that room and turned her attention to the room beside it instead.
The houses of Beggars' Alley were built close together, and the partitions between them were not well made.
Most were mud walls plastered over bamboo lattice below, with woven bamboo curtains above that only blocked the line of sight.
Walls like this should not stand up to heavy blows.
The ghost made its rounds every night, killing by the house. If she broke through the walls between houses and darted back and forth between two rooms when the ghost came, would that count as escaping the 'one house' rule?
Her life was at stake, and though the guess was unmeasured and untested, Zhao Fusheng acted the moment she decided.
She picked up the carrying pole that had been bracing the door and weighed it in her hand. It was useless as a door brace, since a ghost entering a house wouldn't observe any rules of fair play. But for smashing walls it was a good tool.
Since controlling the ghost her strength was much greater than the original host's. Once decided she didn't delay, and she raised the pole and struck the wall beside her with force.
Bang—
With the heavy blow came a rain of sand and stones, and the whole house shook.
"Ah—"
A terrified, desperate scream came from the next room.
She hadn't expected that besides the unlucky neighbor on her left, there was also someone living to her right.
A few more blows and the wall had a big hole in it.
Through the flying dust, broken bamboo strips showed. She stuck her head through and saw a survivor, frightened to the extreme, cowering in the corner of the room.
"Sorry."
She grinned, "I need this room. Go find a spot next door."
After two nights of the terror of a ghost knocking and killing, she knew well what that sound meant to the survivors.
But the survivor was better mannered than she was. Seeing her speak and confirming she was a person, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
A smell of urine drifted over. After a long moment, the survivor, half paralyzed with fright, gathered his strength, silently opened the door, and fled quickly.
"..."
Zhao Fusheng carried on with her work until she had smashed a hole big enough for a person to pass through between the two rooms.
After that she spent the time setting traps and testing escape routes, trying countless directions, and clearing away every bit of debris and sand that might trip her on her escape path.
When all this was done, she began to conserve her energy.
Time passed quickly. When the bronze gong sounded again at dusk for the almsgiving, she had everything ready.
Clang, clang, clang—
Liu Yizhen struck the gong. Zhao Fusheng stayed in the house and did not move, and did not go for the gruel today.
The ghost killed according to the almsgiving's One-Name Register, but not rigidly by the first name in each day's almsgiving. It chose randomly.
Her name was already in the One-Name Register. All she had to do was wait for the ghost to appear and find a way to stop its steps.
And this fight was a matter of life and death.
If she lost, whether she ate this meal or not didn't matter. If she won, she wanted to keep her stomach empty to enjoy the soup the old woman had promised her.
Though she was mentally prepared to face the ghost head-on, as time passed, the string of her heart was drawn tighter bit by bit.
The gong outside faded, footsteps of the crowd receiving alms sounded, and then they each returned to their places.
She used the time to take stock of what she had prepared.
The previous time she had suppressed the revived Zhao couple had confirmed what Fan Bisi said: human brute strength was useless against a ghost, and only a ghost's power could deal with a ghost.
But the price of dealing with ghosts was too great, and she had only one chance, so she had to be careful.
So she still prepared wooden sticks and sharp spikes and set several small traps on the ground to try to block the ghost's steps.
In addition, the human-skin lantern was unfolded, with the lamp oil already placed inside. She had tested the fire-starter ahead of time and it was unaffected and could make a flame.
After taking stock, she calmed her breathing and waited for time to pass.
On the street, the confused footsteps of the crowd gradually disappeared.
In their place came the sounds of doors closing and bracing, one after another. Before long, those sounds too fell quiet.
A moment later the familiar oppressive feeling returned. Black fog spread, and a creepy chill instantly covered the whole of Beggars' Alley.
In the extreme quiet inside the temple, Liu Yizhen sat leaning against a pitch-black coffin. At last he heard a rustling from the shrine niche.
On the offering table where it was enshrined, the revived ghost slowly came down from the altar and climbed down the table to the floor.
With the tapping of its footsteps, it walked out of the Confucian temple and began a new round of hunting.
......
In the shabby wooden house, Zhao Fusheng kept listening to the noises outside. When she heard footsteps coming from the direction of the temple, she knew the ghost was near.
What was coming couldn't be avoided.
The ghost had killed two people in a row, and she had seen with her own eyes that doors could not stop its attack. Thinking this, she simply pulled the door open with a bang.
The noise rang down the whole street and made everyone's breathing heavier for a moment.
In the black fog, a ghostly figure could be faintly made out, slowly stepping out of the mist.
Her heartbeat sped up too, but she kept her eyes calmly on the distance and watched the ghost appear in front of her.
It was the same cold and terrifying figure. The ghost drifted along the street, searching for the person it meant to kill tonight.
It did not turn its head because she opened the door and watched. Evidently the ghost had its own criteria for choosing whom to kill.
Soon it chose its target and was about to turn into another part of the lanes when Zhao Fusheng raised the human-skin lantern and flicked open the cap of the lamp oil with her fingernail.
Then something strange happened.
The moment the cap came off, a stench poured out of the sealed lamp oil box.
The lamp oil needed no flame. With a whump it burst into flame by itself.
The light was a sickly green, and agonized faces appeared on the human-skin lantern, as if screaming in despair and pain.
The scream instantly caught the ghost's attention.
The ghost, which had been about to turn, stopped. It spun around, its pale gray eyes turned toward Zhao Fusheng's position, and it seemed to change its mind and strode toward her.
Zhao Fusheng was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
"..."
As the ghost approached, a terrible suffocating pressure hit her face.
The lantern's unexpected self-ignition and the ghost's chain reaction took her by surprise and threw her into a moment's panic.
Paperman Zhang had tricked her!
She had been on guard against Paperman Zhang again and again, and still hadn't expected to take a fall over the lantern. The human-skin lanterns used for warding off ghosts at the bureau, and Zhang Chuanshi's words, had misled her to some extent.
The ghost lantern this man had given her wasn't a lantern to ward off ghosts. It was a lantern to lure them.
Luckily she had planned all along to fight the ghost tonight, and hadn't put all her hopes on the ghost lantern Paperman Zhang gave her. If she had trusted his ghostly lies, she wouldn't even have known how she died.
The ghost came quickly. She cursed inwardly and was also glad she had taken her revenge first and burned down Paperman Zhang's house, or she'd have felt even more cursed now.
She blew hard on the flame, but the green lantern was strange. She blew several times and it did not go out. Instead the stench got stronger.
The ghost soon climbed the steps. The closer it got, the more the light in the lantern flared.
A black wick burned fiercely in the lamp oil, the flame roaring, lighting up the house in Beggars' Alley, as if lighting the way for the ghost in the dark so that it noticed Zhao Fusheng's presence at once.
That was Paperman Zhang's goal. He wanted to borrow a ghost to kill!
Unable to blow out the light, she gave up trying.
A cold, fishy air came through the open door into the house. The ghost reached the door and its slick pale gray eyes fixed on Zhao Fusheng inside.
It did not step in at once, but stood at the door and raised its hand, and knocked on the door with dull thuds.
Knock, knock, knock.
The ghost's action stunned Zhao Fusheng.
She had watched the ghost for two nights and knew it always knocked before killing. But the doors of those it killed had mostly been shut, so she couldn't tell what the ghost intended: whether it was part of its killing rules or preparation before breaking the door.
Today her door was wide open, and the ghost still knocked, which proved that this was one of its killing rules.
She hesitated, then, carrying pole in hand, stepped to the back of the room and called out.
"Come in."
She knew that even if she hadn't said it, the ghost would forcibly enter the next moment. But when she finished speaking, the ghost seemed not to hear her at all. It raised its hand and knocked twice more, then stepped into the house like someone finishing a ritual.
As soon as it entered, the ghost's presence made the temperature in the room plunge.
The ghost's foot plunged into the trap and it sank halfway down, and at the same moment it stepped into a rope loop that she had prepared long before. She threw down the lantern in her hand.
The lantern did not go out when it hit the ground, and the faces on the human-skin paper twisted.
She pulled the grass rope tight and hauled with all her strength—
Since controlling the ghost her body was much stronger, but this time the heave didn't budge the ghost. Instead the rope she'd laboriously twisted snapped with a crack.
When the first plan failed, she used the second.
She swung the pole she had prepared and brought it down hard on the ghost's head!
With a whoosh of air, the pole passed through the ghost's body. The ghost dissolved into a black shadow and vanished, and she had put so much force into the swing that she was dragged sideways.
At that moment the shadow re-gathered and re-formed into the ghost's pale body.
Aghast, she turned and ran for the other room.
She had tried this route countless times in daylight and her body was accustomed to it. She could slip through in a few seconds.
But fast as she was, the ghost was faster.
She had barely moved when a chill, fishy wind brushed her. Goosebumps rose on her skin, and two withered white arms of mottled blue and purple appeared from nowhere and coiled around her neck.
The cold ghost hands squeezed her like a lump of clay and lifted her off the ground.
