Chapter 50: The Coffin

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Wang Hu’s pupils constricted as he pointed tremblingly at the objects inside the room, stammering, “Th-this…”
“What’s going on?” Zhou Liping asked, his face pale. As he spoke, an unpleasant odor seeped from his pants—he had been so frightened that he had wet himself.
But Zhang Hua had no time to scold him; she anxiously said, “Let’s get out of here first.”
Zhang Xiaofan frowned and looked inside. His pupils suddenly shrank. There lay a large red coffin, and inside it was a woman dressed in bright red. Her complexion was terrifyingly pale, yet her eyes were wide open, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling.
“Restless in death!” Zhang Xiaofan suddenly recalled this phrase in his mind.
The room’s furnishings were extremely eerie—there was no furniture, only the large red coffin. Intricate patterns were carved on the coffin’s surface, and the floor beneath it was inscribed with numerous lines and symbols, resembling a formation.
A formation—Zhang Xiaofan had seen this word in novels before. Though he did not understand it in reality, upon seeing these markings, the thought naturally came to him.
Suddenly, the lights on the ceiling blazed on, blinding everyone with their harsh glare.
A girl screamed, “Isn’t this the same lighting from the other room? I circled around and ended up back here!”
“What’s going on? How did we end up here without realizing it?”
“Damn, why is there a corpse here?” Wang Hu spoke fearfully. Although they had experienced many strange occurrences, it was the dead of night in a desolate wilderness, and their mental endurance was limited. Naturally, everyone felt some fear.
Zhang Hua said, “Thankfully, it’s a dead person. If it came back to life… ugh…”
Before she finished, the corpse in the coffin suddenly stiffened and stood upright. Her wide eyes fixed on the doorway, and then she emitted a terrifying laugh unlike anything they had heard before.
“Cluck cluck cluck…”
“Run!”
Zhou Liping turned and fled immediately, Zhang Hua and several girls sprinted away as well. Zhang Xiaofan would not stay behind; he grabbed two girls and dashed toward the door.
Their urgency was not out of fear of ghosts but because this spirit was ranked forty-first among the Red Fiends, and was using a mysterious formation to refine corpses and souls. Its level was unquestionably high, and none of them could hope to stand against it.
Zhang Hua and Wang Hu had also realized this and fled at once.

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“Bang!” Zhou Liping was the first to collide with the door, hitting it so hard that he felt dizzy. Looking closely, the wooden door was as immovable as iron.
“Ah, we’re done for, we can’t get out. We’re all going to die here!” Zhou Liping shouted in terror.
“Bang!”
Zhang Hua kicked him aside, scolding, “You coward, get up!”
Zhang Xiaofan and Wang Hu reached the door as well. He pushed with all his might, but the door would not budge.
“You’re all going to die here!” The female corpse in the coffin slowly stepped out, a smile on her face. Seeing her expression, Zhang Xiaofan’s heart clenched painfully.
“So familiar... she is… Li Ting! The Li Ting whose records disappeared, the girl reported in the newspapers to have died in the dormitory boiler room!”
Zhang Xiaofan’s head throbbed as he stared at the approaching corpse in shock, and somehow blurted out, “Li Ting!”
Li Ting stopped suddenly, her pale eyes fixed on them, almost suffocating them with their intensity.
“You… know me?” Li Ting murmured.
Since this Li Ting was a high-level spirit, she had developed some consciousness. She looked at Zhang Xiaofan, red patterns appearing around her eyes as she scolded, “Tell me, how do you know me?”
Without warning, she reached out and dragged a female student beside Zhang Hua over, then viciously plunged her claws into the girl’s chest. Soon, she pulled out a beating heart.
Chewing on the heart, Li Ting threatened, “If you don’t tell me, I’ll make you suffer!”
Zhang Xiaofan knew this ghost far surpassed any spirit he had encountered before, both in rank and kind. He dared not delay and said, “We’re from your old school. I saw you in a newspaper—old staff dormitory, boiler room—you died there.”
Boom…
A fierce chill radiated from Li Ting. Her clothes fluttered wildly in an invisible wind, but she calmly studied Zhang Xiaofan.
Suddenly, she spoke again, “I died a cruel death. I have grievances.”
Zhang Xiaofan hurriedly responded, “I know you have grievances. Tell me, and I will help you.”
“Do you really want to help me?” Li Ting suddenly smiled, revealing sharp teeth.

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Zhang Xiaofan said, “I definitely want to help you, but you must let us leave first.”
Chewing on the heart, Li Ting said, “Fine. If you lie to me, I will come to your school myself and then…” Her pale eyes suddenly flicked toward Lin Rou and Su Qianqian. “The things inside your bodies are quite interesting. If you lie, I’ll turn these two into beings like me!”
Indeed, Li Ting’s power was extraordinary. With just one glance, she discerned certain conditions in several of them. Zhang Xiaofan knew now was not the time to anger such a formidable malevolent spirit. It was best to leave first.
He quickly said, “Don’t worry, I won’t lie.”
Li Ting sneered, “Very well. Tomorrow night at midnight, come to No. 38 Seaside Road.”
“No. 38? Isn’t that the crematorium?” Zhou Liping said fearfully.
“Shut up!” the ghost Li Ting roared at him.
Terrified, Zhou Liping cowered behind Zhang Hua, who trembled in her calves and pleaded, “Please spare me, Sister Ghost. My man doesn’t understand.”
“Hmph!” Li Ting ignored him and said, “In the morgue, in cabinet number ninety-eight, there is a corpse. I want you to find it and take the item from its chest. Do you understand?”
Zhang Xiaofan nodded. “Don’t worry. But what about my other classmates?”
“They trespassed on my territory, so most were killed by my corpses. As for the rest, maybe they’re hiding somewhere,” Li Ting said disdainfully.
“Can they leave with me?” Zhang Xiaofan asked anxiously. Many were his friends, so he had to save them.
“Don’t worry. Since you agreed to help me, I will let them go. They should be outside by now. Dawn is near. Let’s go.” Li Ting gestured, and the door behind her suddenly swung open. The group rushed out as though fleeing for their lives.
As Zhang Xiaofan exited, he glanced back at Li Ting. Her figure gradually dissolved into a beam of light before vanishing completely.
“A soul!” Zhang Xiaofan’s expression turned grave. This ghost had refined her soul to the point of physical presence.