007 Red Spectre

After hearing the driver finish recounting the incident, images of the red-dressed female ghost from the movies instantly flashed into Chen Hao's mind, sending chills down his spine and turning his face deathly pale with fright. He grabbed Ye Yuqiao's hand sitting beside him, and whispered in her ear, "My dear, will you come with me later to capture the mother and daughter Yin Souls? I'm scared to do it alone!"

Ye Yuqiao abruptly pulled away from Chen Hao's hand, and said coldly and mercilessly, "You have two choices, either we break up, or you go catch the ghost on your own."

Recalling the looks of admiration and surprise from others on campus this morning as he walked with Ye Yuqiao, Chen Hao felt very hesitant. It had been difficult to enjoy a moment of glory in front of everyone, and if Ye Yuqiao were no longer his girlfriend, he feared becoming an even greater object of ridicule and contempt. Thus, putting on a brave face, he said, "I'll go catch the ghost then, okay?"

A snicker came from Ye Yuqiao upon hearing his words.

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Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of a construction site on the outskirts of Y City. From inside the car, one could see several yellow excavators parked within the site.

"Miss Ye, we've arrived. I won't be going in; I'll wait for you in the car!" the driver said to Ye Yuqiao, looking at her in the rearview mirror as a reminder.

"Hmm!" Ye Yuqiao took a small wooden hammer out of her bag and gave it to Chen Hao, saying, "Use this wooden hammer to knock on the heads of those two female ghosts, and they'll be sent to the Netherworld."

Chen Hao accepted the wooden hammer with a heavy expression and examined it carefully. A minute later, he was still scrutinizing it, not yet prepared to get out of the car.

"Hurry up and get out of the car!" Ye Yuqiao urged coldly, "Go quickly while it's not completely dark yet, it will be even more terrifying once it's totally dark!"

Chen Hao looked out the window, where the setting sun had already sunk behind the western hills, leaving only a dim twilight lingering in the distant sky. He took a deep breath heavily and steeled himself internally. Before getting out of the car, he leaned his face close to Ye Yuqiao, "Hug me, I need the encouragement of love."

Without hesitation, Ye Yuqiao gave Chen Hao a hug, making the driver who saw them through the rearview mirror feel extremely awkward.

No sooner had Chen Hao stepped out of the car than a gust of chilly wind hit him square in the face. The construction workers had all been frightened away by the haunting in the past couple of days, and the vast site was deserted and eerily quiet.

Shivering, Chen Hao slowly made his way to the entrance of the construction site. Standing before the site's gate, Chen Hao looked back at the car, where Ye Yuqiao sat inside, expressionless. After a pause, he turned his head and continued into the site.

Chen Hao took each step as small as he could, trying not to make any noise with his feet, afraid of startling himself with the sound of his own footsteps. The construction site was too quiet, so quiet that only the sounds of his heartbeat, footsteps, and breathing could be heard. His pace slowed even further, and the sky grew darker.

Five minutes later, it had turned completely dark. Chen Hao looked back to find that the car parked at the construction site entrance had driven off. In the far distance, the lights in the high-rise buildings sparkled like stars in the sky, emitting a faint glow.

When Chen Hao turned back to look at the road ahead, he couldn't help but picture the image of the red-clothed vengeful spirit, which made him extremely frightened. He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.

Suddenly! In the rubble of a building to his left front, he heard a faint noise.

The sound was very slight, yet it resembled the sound of footsteps. Chen Hao couldn't help but wonder what kind of thing would produce such light footsteps; the answer was self-evident.

"Thump, thump, thump!" The sound of Chen Hao's heartbeat in his mind drowned out the gentle footsteps, and his scalp felt numb, as if receiving repeated electric shocks. His heart told him to run, but his legs wouldn't obey, as if locked in place by some unseen force.

"Ah!" Unable to contain his fear, he let out a scream, and at that moment, a chill breeze blew over from the distance, soft and chilling to the bone, as if a woman's cold hand was brushing against his cheek. A strong premonition in his heart was warning Chen Hao: there was something behind him.

Chen Hao's back turned cold, and he shivered inwardly. Slowly he turned his head, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of what was behind him before the beam of his phone's flashlight.

Nothing was there! Chen Hao let out a sigh of relief!

Suddenly!

Then again, from the direction of the ruined building, there came a loud noise. Subconsciously, Chen Hao turned back! A terrifying meow shattered the silence of the construction site, sending a shiver through Chen Hao's heart and causing his body to tremble. He saw a cat with green eyes emerge from the rubble, jumping onto a leaning wall.

Chen Hao let out another sigh of relief, secretly thinking it was just a cat after all! However, at that moment, a chill wind blew by his right ear, followed by a woman's voice, deep to the extreme, "Who are you?"

Chen Hao jerked, turning his head to the right. Instantly, he felt his scalp tingle, his heartbeat erratic, and tears involuntarily spilled over. This was the first time he had seen a ghost so clearly at such close range—a ghost in blood-red clothes with black hair cascading down to her waist. Beneath that long hair was a charred face, with blood still oozing from several burns, and only the eyes, glittering coldly, were discernible among the facial features.

At that time, someone patted Chen Hao on the left shoulder. Terrified into a blank mind, he mechanically turned his head, only to see another red-dressed female ghost, except her left side of the face was not burned. Her face was a sickly green, but much darker than the old lady Chen Hao had seen in the hospital and the little ghosts he had encountered at home.

"A ghost!" It took a while for Chen Hao to come back to his senses and scream loudly.

By then, the hands of the female ghost on the right were already clutching Chen Hao's neck. It felt as if his neck was tightly encased in ice, chilling him to the point of near suffocation.

The left red-dressed female ghost's hand slowly penetrated Chen Hao's body, gripping his heart. After a bout of intense pain, Chen Hao's eyes rolled back as if he were about to die. In the moment before he completely lost consciousness, he saw a purple light appear, just like the one that had flashed in his left eye when he was being beaten in the restroom earlier that day.

"Chen Hao! Wake up quickly!" Ye Yuqiao's voice suddenly rang in his ears, and Chen Hao, groggy, opened his eyes. Seeing the beautiful face of Ye Yuqiao, he instantly became alert and regained consciousness.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" A woman's high-pitched, piercing screams and wailing echoed through the air, the mournful and desperate sound surpassing the limits of human endurance.

Rushing to look at both sides, Chen Hao saw the two red-dressed female ghosts being consumed by a purple flame, so he quickly asked, "What's going on?"

"This is the flame shot out from your left eye; if I'm not mistaken, it should be Nether Fire!" Ye Yuqiao explained, supporting Chen Hao.

"Nether Fire?" Chen Hao was utterly confused, "So, we just wait until they burn to ashes?"

"If you want their souls to utterly dissipate, then just watch them burn. But if you want them to be able to be reincarnated, take a wooden mallet and strike them. The decision is yours to make!"

Thinking of the tragic past of the mother-daughter ghosts, Chen Hao hesitated no longer and walked in front of them, striking their heads. Very quickly, the Yin Souls of the two red-dressed female ghosts turned into wisps of smoke.

But just when Chen Hao thought the matter was over, the two red-dressed female ghosts reappeared before his eyes.

"Ah! Help!" Chen Hao screamed and hid behind Ye Yuqiao.

"Hmph!" Ye Yuqiao glanced at Chen Hao with disdain, "These are not ghost spirits, these are just their resentments. In a few days, the resentments will naturally dissipate."

"Really?" Chen Hao straightened his back, no longer afraid. He hooked his left hand around Ye Yuqiao's waist from behind and pulled her into his arms. The softness of Ye Yuqiao's body and her fresh scent made him feel delighted, momentarily forgetting his fear and exhaustion. After a pause, he quietly asked Ye Yuqiao, "Is there something that can contain them for now and then release them somewhere else later?"

"Yes, where do you want to take them?"

"Hehe!" Chen Hao smirked.

An hour later, Chen Hao and Ye Yuqiao sneaked outside the Y City Demolition Office building and released the resentments of the two red-dressed female ghosts from the Soul-collecting Bottle. Hiding behind Ye Yuqiao, he said to the resentments of the two female ghosts, "The people who drove you to your deaths are all inside. Go find them!"

The resentments nodded and walked through the wall into the Demolition Office building.

"Hey, aren't you being a bit too harsh?" Ye Yuqiao said, chuckling at Chen Hao, "Are you trying to scare to death the people working inside?"

"They brought it upon themselves, they deserve it!" Chen Hao said indignantly, "To be honest, I feel sorry for the mother and daughter. I can only blame this unjust world. It's the people working in this building who should die!"

Ye Yuqiao laughed again, not expecting the person standing before her to actually have such a sense of justice.

"Let's go home!"