Possessed by a Ghost

Wherever there are three people, there must be a ghost.

Midnight.

At the village chief's house.

The slim girl hadn't changed into clean pants, and blood was flowing down her legs as she walked to the village chief's house, staining the ground.

The village chief said, "Wipe your pants. It's disgusting."

The girl stared at the village chief with unmoving eyes and uttered a low voice from her dry throat, "Don't bother about me. I want him!"

"You can't." The village chief firmly refused. "I've said it before, the village can't do this anymore. Otherwise, the village will perish, and Changshou Village will cease to exist!"

The girl glared at the village chief with resentment. "You don't understand my pain. I hate it! Why did I suddenly get sick? If I wasn't dying, I wouldn't have ended up like this! Since someone came to the village anyway, we shouldn't refuse the opportunity!" Her expression was ferocious, and there were grains of sand stuck to her sharp tiger teeth, making her look rough.

The village chief smoked, and circles of white smoke surrounded the room. His rugged face looked somewhat indifferent and cold. "I've said no. We can't do this in the village anymore! It hasn't been allowed for a month now. Otherwise, how do you think the curse came about? We provoked an evil spirit, and all we can do is appease its grievances, not light another fire! Do you know how many people have died in the village?"

The girl was unconvinced, and her finger joints crackled.

"That college student isn't suitable for you; he will fail. You should know the consequences of failure; you'll become a lunatic. Isn't that why your sister went crazy? It's better to die of illness than become a ghost." The village chief said sternly.

"Then what about my mother!" She exclaimed loudly. "You have to do something about my mother! She's your own sister, Miaomiao is still alive and dead! No more deaths in our family!"

"No!" The quiet room echoed with the village chief's reprimand. Finally, the girl left the village chief's house helplessly, casting a resentful glance at the direction of the small building.

She put her hand into her pocket, flipping through the guest registration form, biting her lip as she contemplated what to do next.

Meng Lan woke up at noon.

Zhang Yizhi, worried, shook her awake with a flushed face.

Meng Lan looked at him and asked, "How long have I been sleeping?"

"You couldn't wake up no matter how I called you just now!" He said anxiously. "I was so scared. I thought something happened to you!"

Meng Lan tried to sit up but found that her hands and feet were bound with torn sheets.

Meng Lan: ?

Hastily, He untied her. "Sorry, sorry. I was really worried just now, so I had Zhang Yizhi tie you up. What if you also committed suicide! I was so scared!"

Meng Lan: ...

Alright.

But it was embarrassing to sleep like this and be tied up by someone.

Why did she have such strange dreams?

Because of that photo?

That was the only possibility.

The ghost's sister should be the female student in the photo.

The three of them hadn't seen Qi Huan and Zhao Che, guessing they had gone out. Meng Lan decided to go back to the house where the dead person was yesterday to see if she could find new clues.

Hesitant and anxious, He followed behind Meng Lan without a smile on her face. She wore a worried expression, like a little white cat with its tail between its legs.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yizhi knew that He had encountered something last night, and she must have been mentally exhausted.

Pulling at her clothes, He finally asked the question buried in her heart, "Do you think there's something wrong with me? Even I feel like there's something..."

"No." Meng Lan interrupted her. She had thought about this question last night. "If you were the killer, we two would have been dead last night. Even if you were the killer, Zhang Yizhi and I didn't violate any taboos, so you couldn't kill us. Logically speaking, it's like this. Otherwise, why didn't you kill us on the first day?"

He's face relaxed, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva, nodded, "You're right, I should trust myself. Thank you, Lanlan."

"Tonight, you'll sleep with me." Meng Lan said, her tone not enthusiastic at all, but the words were heartwarming. She felt sorry for He, and looking into her moist eyes, she unexpectedly felt the urge to protect her.

"Okay."

The village showed no signs of change from yesterday, with every household still tightly closed.

He Wǎnwǎn had a strong intuition, and today she felt a chill down her spine.

Continuously looking back, she whispered softly, "I always feel like someone is watching us. It's so strange, but every time I look back, there's no one there."

"Of course not," Zhang Yizhi said. "And when you look back, there's definitely no one there, just like in horror movies."

"Don't talk nonsense! Are you trying to scare me?" He Wǎnwǎn rebuked, pinching Zhang Yizhi's arm. Her cheeks flushed with anger. "I'm serious. I've felt like someone is watching me these past few days. It's more noticeable during the day than at night, even though something terrifying happened at night. I don't know why."

"And now?" Meng Lan asked.

"It's like... I feel a chill down my spine," He Wǎnwǎn said, rubbing the back of her neck. "For example, right now, I feel like Zhang Yizhi is looking at me."

"I am definitely looking at you! Hey! Don't scare people! Did you forget what happened to Meng Lan yesterday? We can't have one of us turning into something else!" Zhang Yizhi exclaimed, jumping in panic. "It's not me! I'm still Zhang Yizhi. I'm not a ghost or anything weird!"

"I didn't say it was you!"

His reaction relieved He Wǎnwǎn somewhat, but she still didn't dare to meet the man's eyes. His eyes didn't show the typical anxious expression one would expect from fear but rather a sense of indifference, desolation, and even a hint of resentment.

She had locked eyes with Zhang Yizhi many times, but today was the only time she felt goosebumps all over her body.

"Are you still looking at me?" Zhang Yizhi asked.

"I'm not looking at you." He Wǎnwǎn moved closer to Meng Lan. She felt it was too much to say that her companion might not be human at this moment. But she really felt that Zhang Yizhi had a problem, as if those eyes didn't belong to him!

Before the three of them reached the front of the house, they suddenly heard laughter and screams not far away.

Meng Lan stopped and looked back, having a premonition that the clue she had been waiting for might appear.

However, at that moment, Zhang Yizhi suddenly grabbed her arm!

The surroundings fell quiet again, as if the madness just now had all been her imagination. Zhang Yizhi's nails scratched her fair skin, leaving red marks on Meng Lan's skin.

Meng Lan: ?

"Are you scared?" Meng Lan looked at Zhang Yizhi in disbelief.

—Why does this straight guy's actions seem a bit... like a girl's...

He Wǎnwǎn was startled by Zhang Yizhi's sudden movement. "Ah! What are you doing! Let go!"

Zhang Yizhi didn't move, his deep gaze fixed on Meng Lan. Meng Lan didn't turn her head, but gently pulled He Wǎnwǎn's clothes, asking her to stand behind her.

But this time, He Wǎnwǎn didn't move. She even stood sideways in front of Meng Lan.

He Wǎnwǎn was not a brave person, and she had never done anything heroic. She had always been protected by others. But yesterday, Li Xiaoyan, who had been sheltering her, died in front of her, which was something she couldn't accept!

She was born into a family that favored boys over girls. If she hadn't threatened suicide and promised not to burden the family with tuition fees, she would have been forced to go to a normal school and become a teacher, not having to pay any fees. Later, she worked while studying, giving all her wages to her younger brother, and her family never thanked her.

It was shameful to say that, in Li Xiaoyan's presence, she had felt the first sense of needing and longing to be valued. Actually, when she begged to sleep together, she was already prepared to be rejected by Li Xiaoyan.

He Wǎnwǎn trembled as she grabbed Zhang Yizhi's arm, her legs trembling but still protecting Meng Lan. "Y-you go first!"

"I can't leave. He's gripping me too tightly." Meng Lan said calmly. "You go call for help first. He seems to be unable to attack at the moment."

She guessed the method the ghost used to kill people.

She was safe now.

"W-what if I leave and he kills you? What should I do? His condition is not right now! Definitely not right!" He Wǎnwǎn screamed. She couldn't put someone who had been good to her in danger!

Before she could finish her sentence.

Zhang Yizhi suddenly reached out to grab Meng Lan's throat. Meng Lan quickly pushed He Wǎnwǎn aside, dodging swiftly. She dove to Zhang Yizhi's side, grabbing his wrist and pulling it behind his back while viciously kicking his knee with her right foot!

Zhang Yizhi's knee bent, and he fell to the ground with a thud, his mouth filled with yellow soil!

Meng Lan stepped on his back, pressing down firmly on his writhing body. But unexpectedly, Zhang Yizhi went crazy, his eyes bloodshot as he leaped up and charged at Meng Lan!

"Bang!"

He Wǎnwǎn grabbed a liter Coke bottle filled with sand from somewhere and smashed it fiercely on the man's head!

Zhang Yizhi collapsed stiffly to the ground again.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! H-he, he, he won't die, right?" He Wǎnwǎn rushed over in a panic.

Meng Lan: ...

Alright.

"G-Ghost, ghost possession! We, we can't do this!" He Wǎnwǎn didn't dare to speak out. Was the ghost the killer? Were they supposed to kill their own companions? Her mind was in chaos!

"We, we should run!" He Wǎnwǎn shouted.

Meng Lan frowned and said firmly, "He won't kill anyone."

If the ghost wanted to kill, the three of them would have been dead by now.

The ghost... seemed to be giving them hints.

"You... you said you've seen my sister..."

"My sister... give me back my sister..."

"You killed me, but you won't spare my sister..."

Zhang Yizhi passed out again, but not really. Although all his bodily functions had ceased, his limbs were limp as he lay on the ground, his eyes still wide open with black pupils, his lips unmoving but emitting an indistinct female voice, almost identical to the voice Meng Lan heard in her dream yesterday.

He Wǎnwǎn finally understood why she felt like she was being watched. The ghost had been watching them three all along!

"Where's your sister?" Meng Lan asked from above. "A month ago, you came to the village to find your sister?"

"Sister... my sister..."

"Did you find her?" Meng Lan asked.

Ghost possession was a good thing. She could almost be sure now that the killer and the ghost were two different people, interconnected. The sister was kidnapped to the village, and the sister's elder sister came here despite all odds. So the killer was either the one who killed the elder sister or the one who killed the younger sister. She still had one clue ["She is him"] that didn't match up with anything, but it should eventually help to confirm.

"Found... found her... still alive..."

"N-no, she's not my sister... not!"

"I heard her voice! I heard it! Help me, please help me!"

Meng Lan took out the middle school girl's portrait she took from the warehouse and shook it in front of "Zhang Yizhi."

"Zhang Yizhi" suddenly became excited. He wanted to grab the photo, and his joints made strange crisp sounds. Meng Lan was afraid that the female ghost would damage the body, so she considerately placed the photo in her palm.

"Zhang Yizhi" held the photo and slowly closed his eyes.

"Sister... my sister..."

Holding the photo, she didn't say another word.

"Zhang Yizhi" sat in the sun, holding the photo with reluctance, a posture that looked very eerie.

Five minutes later.

Two women and one man.

Zhang Yizhi lay sprawled on the ground, basking in the sun.

Meng Lan and He Wǎnwǎn hid in the shade against the wall.

He Wǎnwǎn asked mournfully, "Meng Lan, why isn't he moving anymore? Did I hit him with the bottle so hard that he got a concussion or his soul left his body?"

Meng Lan said, "I can't see souls, but I'm sure his soul hasn't left his body."

He Wǎnwǎn blinked and looked at Meng Lan wide-eyed. "Why do you say that?"

Meng Lan answered seriously, "Because when you hit him with the bottle, the ghost didn't run away. It's still here talking to us, which proves that your bottle isn't that powerful. He'll probably wake up in a while."

"Oh..."

—Very scientific.