Chapter Thirty: The Specter of Resentment

Clang.

At that critical moment, Qin Mei threw her phone to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

Her friend, who was still in the restroom, immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Qin Mei? What's going on?"

There was no response.

She instantly knew something bad had happened.

She quickly stood up, pushed open the door, and saw Qin Mei already wrapped up by that disgusting, putrid hair, looking just like a huge black dumpling!

She was being dragged toward the wall, and was about to be pulled in completely! Her eyes were filled with despair, and tears streamed down her face.

"A ghost! Help!"

Her friend screamed in terror...

Fu Yang had been pacing restlessly outside the restroom, wondering why it was taking so long. Suddenly, he heard Qin Mei's friend's piercing scream.

"Something's wrong!"

Fu Yang was startled, realizing that the ghost of Lin Xinhu had finally made its move. He immediately crushed the "messenger charm" Ah Huang had given him in his pocket, then dashed headlong into the women's restroom.

He shouted, "Qin Mei, I'm here to save you!"

By now, Qin Mei's head was already close to the wall, about to be pressed against it. Fu Yang looked at the snake-like, writhing hair, sneered coldly, and extended his right hand, revealing the ferocious beast's mouth in his palm.

"Time for me to show my power again!"

But, contrary to his expectations, the spell showed no effect.

Qin Mei was still being dragged by the hair emerging from the wall, and those clumps of hair were not being devoured by the beast’s mouth in his palm.

Qin Mei’s friend broke down instantly!

She had thought their savior had arrived, but it turned out to be a fool.

"Are you an idiot? Think you know magic? Hurry up and save Qin Mei!" she shouted tearfully.

"Damn! Why isn’t it working?"

Fu Yang cursed inwardly, then had no choice but to rush forward for a physical struggle.

He grabbed Qin Mei tightly and pulled with all his might, refusing to let her be dragged into the wall—if that happened, it would truly be over!

But the hair was vicious, writhing up Fu Yang’s body, trying to drag him into the wall as well.

“Damn, it’s so strong!” Fu Yang thought, alarmed. He was lifted off the ground, bracing his feet against the wall as he strained to pull Qin Mei back. His heart pounded with anxiety—he silently cursed Ah Huang ten times over for not showing up yet.

Suddenly, several strands of hair shot out, splitting into countless fine threads like iron wire.

They swiftly coiled around Fu Yang’s neck, tightening, tighter and tighter...

They were going to strangle him to death!

“What evil spirit dares act up here!”

With a thunderous shout, Ah Huang burst in, wielding a peach-wood short sword. With a sweeping motion, he slashed downward.

Strangely, the hair, as tough as steel wire, turned soft as tofu before the peach-wood blade.

Slice after slice, great clumps fell to the floor, writhing for a moment before dissolving into foul-smelling black liquid...

“Don’t worry about me! Save Qin Mei first!”

Fu Yang shouted hoarsely.

Ah Huang hesitated briefly, then began cutting at the hair binding Qin Mei. It was thickly wrapped, and would take about ten seconds to slice through it all.

But Fu Yang couldn’t hold out for ten seconds!

His face was pressed hard against the cold wall. He felt the solid stone soften, his body beginning to merge in, as if he would soon be embedded in the wall...

“Damn! I haven’t lived enough yet, and I’m still a vir—!”

In this desperate moment, his flailing hand felt a lighter in his pocket, not knowing when it had ended up there.

Fire? Fire!

A flash of inspiration—he pulled out the lighter and set the hair alight.

It worked! The hair binding him screeched with bizarre sounds, part rodent, part insect.

Then, as if terrified, the hair recoiled swiftly, retreating into the wall.

Thud.

Qin Mei fell to the floor.

Ah Huang finally severed all the hair binding her. Fu Yang, relying on his quick wit and decisiveness, had escaped death, standing there gasping for breath.

Meanwhile, Qin Mei’s friend stood off to the side, looking as if her soul had left her body—motionless, speechless.

For a long time, she only managed to wail out a cry.

This set Qin Mei off crying as well. Fu Yang hurriedly embraced her, gently patting her back in comfort. "Don’t cry, don’t be afraid. It’s over, it’s over now."

“Wu wu, Fu Yang, thank you. If not for you, today, today I might have... wu wu.”

No matter how clever or beautiful a woman may be, faced with such unimaginable terror, she would surely be overwhelmed with fear—it was as if she’d walked through the gates of hell.

Ah Huang looked at the two embracing, shrugged and pouted. “I did most of the work, you know? Hmph~”

After calming Qin Mei and her friend, Fu Yang quickly called Zhao Shanshan to report the situation, warning the police to be extremely careful—these ghosts were impossible to guard against.

That night, Qin Mei dared not return to her dorm.

The three of them rented a two-bedroom suite off campus, with Ah Huang and Fu Yang guarding her closely, only then did she manage to fall asleep.

Fu Yang and Ah Huang sat in the living room.

“What was that thing that attacked Qin Mei today? So disgusting, and so hard to deal with.”

Ah Huang looked grave. “It was a Grudge Wraith. I didn’t expect that the ghost lord in the forest had control over so many supernatural entities.”

A Grudge Wraith? What’s that?

“A Grudge Wraith isn’t a ghost. It’s formed from countless fragments of negative emotions, gathering and fusing in a place of extreme evil. It’s more like what folklore would call... a demon. Of course, it’s the lowest class of demon.”

A demon, then...

“Then why didn’t my spell work?”

Fu Yang sighed and stared at the savage beast’s mouth in his palm, which only he could see, puzzled.

Ah Huang frowned as well. “I find it strange, too. It worked on the fierce ghost in the campus infirmary... Wait! I get it now.”

He suddenly leapt up, as if he’d realized something crucial, and paced around the coffee table.

“Fu Yang, the thing you absorbed in the infirmary restroom was a low-level fierce ghost—a formless, pure spirit entity. That’s why you could devour and absorb it. But a Grudge Wraith is a tangible, physical existence! So your hand has no effect on it. In short, your bizarre spell only works on spirit bodies!”

Oh?

Fu Yang began to understand.

In other words, the beast’s mouth could only devour intangible things—at least for now.