IMMFBCG Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Painted Skin

Yue Xue suddenly snatched the cup away, her expressionless gaze fixed on Gao Lan.

Gao Lan chuckled, her eyes drifting from Yue Xue to Wei Cai Ning, greedily flicking between the three.

He Si Qi heard Gao Lan’s laughter, momentarily surprised, and turned her attention toward her.

Gao Lan’s smile seemed genuine, but the corners of her lips twisted into a creepy arc, and her expression was rigid as if she was wearing a fake mask on her face; her eyes were dark and hollow.

He Si Qi was more shocked, and she accidentally knocked over the nearby cup, causing it to shatter on the floor into glass pieces, with the liquid inside spilling out, red as blood. A moment later, the red liquid seemed to crawl with strange little insects.

Wei Cai Ning, thinking about almost drinking that thing, immediately gagged.

As the cup hit the floor, Gao Lan’s laughter abruptly ceased.

She looked down at the ground, her smile now restrained, and her emotionless tone asked softly, “Why didn’t you drink it?”

“Why didn’t you drink it?”

“Why didn’t you drink it?!”

Yue Xue’s expression darkened, and she lunged at Gao Lan, pinning her to the ground.

He Si Qi and Wei Cai Ning gasped, instinctively wanting to help but unsure what to do, worried they’d just cause more trouble, so they remained where they were.

Gao Lan also tried to grab Yue Xue, holding onto her arm to control her. Cold fingertips traced Yue Xue’s face, delicately sketching her features, then suddenly, they became sharp and drew a faint bloody line across Yue Xue’s cheek.

Her voice was still melodic as if admiring some beautiful scenery: “You’re very pretty, I like your face. How about I take it for myself?”

Yue Xue shivered from the cold touch, raising her hand to press against Gao Lan’s face, biting her right hand as she retorted, “If you like it, should I just give it to you? I like money too, does that mean everyone should just give me all their money?”

Gao Lan sneered coldly, quickly turning her head away, but Yue Xue held her in place.

Gao Lan’s face twisted into a grimace, her pupils overtaken by a milky white, looking even more frightening.

Yue Xue squeezed out more blood from her fingertips, quickly drawing a protective talisman from Gao Lan’s forehead downwards, Gao Lan let out a pained cry, a strange black shadow was struggling to escape.

She twisted and squirmed, her face contorted in pain, the ghostly figure quickly retreating into Gao Lan’s body.

Seeing the talisman didn’t work, Yue Xue turned to Wei Cai Ning and He Si Qi. “Go find a pair of chopsticks!”

He Si Qi responded, dragging Wei Cai Ning towards the kitchen.

It was their first time there, so it took a moment to find them, but by the time they returned, Gao Lan was almost free, trying to run away.

Yue Xue pulled her back down, pressing down hard on Gao Lan again, finishing the drawing of the talisman.

Wei Cai Ning urgently asked, “Yue Xue, do you have the chopsticks? What do we do next?”

“Pinch her finger, don’t let her get away,” Yue Xue instructed as she completed the talisman.

Both quickly ran over, squatting down, trying to use chopsticks to hold Gao Lan’s finger.

Gao Lan glared at them, only the whites of her eyes visible, her mouth wide open, seeming to want to bite their fingers off.

Yue Xue pressed down harder, almost smashing Gao Lan’s head into the ground.

“It’s fine, just hold her,” Yue Xue said.

He Si Qi nervously swallowed, not daring to look away, using all her strength to clamp the chopsticks down.

At the same time, Yue Xue finished her last stroke.

Gao Lan let out a piercing scream, convulsing in pain, as the room’s temperature dropped further, but the two didn’t dare let go, gripping the chopsticks tightly, and forcing the ghostly form out.

The transparent soul wavered, gradually taking shape into a female figure.

She glared at Yue Xue and the others resentfully then tried to float away.

“Trying to leave?” Yue Xue chased after her, dripping blood onto her forehead, then yanked her arm, executing a quick over-the-shoulder throw.

Although Wei Cai Ning and the others didn’t see the ghost, they could see Yue Xue’s actions, dropping something to the ground, which caused the floor to shudder slightly, forming a thin layer of frost on the surface.

He Si Qi asked in a trembling voice, “Yue Xue, did you catch it?”

Yue Xue’s face was pale, her finger squeezed too much blood, swelling up and turning blue, with the ghost scratching it multiple times, leaving streaks of blood.

Her skin was already so pale that even small injuries looked severe.

She stepped on the escaping female ghost’s face, and wearily replied, “Yes, caught it.”

Wei Cai Ning helped Gao Lan to her feet.

The person on the ground let out a soft moan, opening her eyes and staring at Yue Xue and the others in surprise, asking, “Yue Xue, Cai Ning, Si Qi, what are you doing here?”

Gao Lan recalled the scene just before she blacked out, frantically shouting, “Run, there’s a ghost!”

Yue Xue wiped away the blood with a piece of paper, pressing down on the ghost without moving, explaining, “It’s all okay now.”

Gao Lan appeared dazed, “Okay now?”

Just then, she came to, realizing her face was covered in blood, and everything hurt as if she’d been beaten, “Mom, what happened?!”

He Si Qi and He Si Qi exchanged complicated glances.

Gao Lan took out the first aid kit and started tending to Yue Xue’s injuries, with Wei Cai Ning coming over to help as well.

Gao Lan cleaned Yue Xue’s finger and applied a band-aid. “So I was possessed by a ghost, and then Yue Xue caught it?” she wondered. “Wait…”

Gao Lan was surprised. “Yue Xue, how did you catch a ghost? I thought you believed in science?”

Yue Xue replied, “Sure, I know my philosophy well, but how does that have anything to do with catching ghosts?”

Gao Lan: “…”

He Si Qi couldn’t help but laugh, “Little Lan, you should visit Xuan Zhen Guan sometime, and you’ll know.”

“Xuan Zhen Guan?” Gao Lan was taken aback. She knew Xuan Zhen Guan from the viral koi post, which had over 50,000 shares now. It was well-known in their neighborhood; if people needed to make offerings, they would go to Tian Yi Guan or Xuan Zhen Guan.

Gao Lan put the first aid kit back. “So, Yue Xue, are you a Kun Dao at Xuan Zhen Guan?”

Kun Dao is a term for a female Taoist priest.

Yue Xue said, “Oh no, I’m a Tian Shi, see, I even have the certificate.”

Since the roommates were already aware, Yue Xue didn’t keep it a secret any longer and showed them her Tian Shi certificate.

The ghost noticed they were preoccupied with something else and started trying to escape again, but Yue Xue seemed to have eyes everywhere and kept the ghost pinned to the ground.

The room was a mess, not only with shattered glass but also pools of blood everywhere.

The four of them worked together to clean up the living room, Yue Xue sprinkling salt water over the insects as she muttered a spell to clean things up.

Once they were nearly done, footsteps could be heard from outside.

Gao Lan wondered, “My parents should be at work this time.”

Yue Xue said, “Maybe the noise we made earlier caught the neighbor’s complaint, so the property management is coming by now.”

Wei Cai Ning and He Si Qi nodded in agreement, recalling the commotion just now.

Gao Lan put down the mop, “Then I’ll go explain to the property management that we were just watching TV too loudly.”

She walked to the entrance, but before she could open the door, it was already swung open.

Gao’s father came in with two people in tow, pausing when he saw Gao Lan, his expression changing.

Gao Lan didn’t understand. “Dad, why are you back?”

Yue Xue glanced toward the entrance and saw that behind Gao’s father stood Jian Si Nian and Jiang Zhe from Tian Yi Guan.

She realized that Gao Lan’s unusual behavior these past few days must have raised suspicions at home.

Gao’s father asked softly, “Gentlemen, what do you think?”

Jian Si Nian looked at Gao Lan, who appeared completely normal, then glanced at Yue Xue nearby.

Yue Xue kicked the ghost, pushing it further into a corner.

Jian Si Nian’s expression was complicated. “I think… we probably won’t be needed here.”

Gao’s father: “???”**

After saying goodbye to her roommates, Yue Xue took the ghost back to the Taoist temple.

Bai Liu noticed her coming back with a ghost during class time and curiously asked, “Master Uncle, what’s this?”

He quickly poured a glass of water for Yue Xue.

The ghost shivered with fear under the righteous energy inside the temple, weak and helpless.

She didn’t dare mention swapping faces again, lying quietly on the ground without a sound.

Xu Zhou brought over a ledger and, seeing a ghost inside the temple, approached curiously.

When he got a good look at the ghost, he was slightly surprised, “A skin-changing ghost?”

Bai Liu was stunned, “The one that eats human livers?”

Yue Xue took a sip of hot water before speaking. “Uh, not quite like the one in ‘Liaozhai.’ This ghost doesn’t eat livers; it just likes beautiful things, wanting to possess girls and take their faces. When that skin can’t be used anymore, the skin-changing ghost looks for another target. But…”

Xu Zhou continued her thought, “But skin-changing ghosts usually appear deep in the mountains, rarely in bustling cities.”

Yue Xue nodded.

Bai Liu became even more curious, squatting down to ask, “Hey, so how did you get here?”

The ghost spoke softly, “I don’t know, one day I woke up, feeling a dangerous force calling me. I was afraid I’d be consumed, so I ran away, not realizing I ended up here.”

Yue Xue approached, “Something was calling you? Do you know what it was?”

The ghost shook her head, “I don’t know.”

Yue Xue’s gut feeling told her this might be connected to summoning ghosts, her expression growing serious.

Bai Liu looked over her shoulder in surprise, “Mr. Yu, you’re back early?”

Yue Xue turned to see Yu Qi walking toward them in a camel coat, slightly surprised to see her back.

Then his gaze fell on Yue Xue’s hand, his expression darkened slightly, carefully taking Yue Xue’s wrist as if afraid to hurt her.

Yu Qi asked in a slightly annoyed tone, “What happened to your hand?”

Yue Xue had already applied medicine and it wasn’t painful, but hearing Yu Qi ask made her realize it.

She was about to say she was fine, but Yu Qi’s gaze had already shifted to the ghost.

The skin-changing ghost, already subdued by the temple’s righteous energy, was now feeling even colder, colder than her own chill.

The ghost couldn’t help but wonder, could there be something colder than a ghost’s body temperature in this world?