Chapter 10

After dealing with those foolish troublemakers, Yue Yin’s good mood lasted until she entered her own room.

On the balcony by the window, there lay a quiet letter.

The envelope was familiar, no signature, no sender, just the same elegant script.

The letter read: “This is a warning. If you don’t return to us, you’ll face unimaginable nightmares.”

Yue Yin looked at the letter, then up at the open curtain by the window.

The unusually silent neighborhood felt unsettling, and in the dark of the night, it seemed as if someone was watching her every move from the shadows.

She smirked, unmoved, flicked her fingers, and the letter’s fragments drifted, scattering into the endless night.

With a calm gaze, she looked toward the lurking figure in the darkness and curved her lips, mouthing, “Come at me if you dare.”

“Useless trash.”

…

Yue Yin was given a punishment for standing.

The grade supervisor caught her reading manga in class, and she was told off. She shuffled out of the classroom, leaning against the corridor wall.

Raindrops started to fall again. Oddly, it seemed like nothing good ever happened when it rained.

It was the last class, a self-study session, so the classroom was quiet as everyone focused on their books and practice exercises.

The once-bustling hallway gradually fell into an eerie silence. The muffled sound of reading voices in the classroom faded further and further.

Unconcerned, Yue Yin leaned against the wall, head down, lost in thought, wondering about the scolding she just received from the teacher.

Then, suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed, coming closer and closer.

Yue Yin looked up and saw a pair of feet floating before her.

She lifted her gaze to see a girl in a school uniform standing in front of her.

The girl’s face was ghostly pale, her uniform soaked, her shoes wet. She moved slowly, yet in the blink of an eye, she stood right before Yue Yin.

“I’m so hungry… so hungry.”

“It’s unfair… Do you feel anger too?”

“I’m really starving. Do you have a wish? Let’s make a deal, please, please?”

The schoolgirl clasped her hands together, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle as she smiled unnervingly, “I won’t take much, just a little… and you’ll be happy.”

She leaned in closer, her face pallid and waterlogged, so close Yue Yin could see worms wriggling in her pupils.

A normal person would’ve screamed by now, but Yue Yin didn’t flinch.

She stroked her chin thoughtfully, then said, “A deal, huh? Sure.”

After a moment’s thought, she solemnly wished, “I want world peace!”

The ghost girl paused, visibly taken aback, “…Are you serious? You have a middle-school complex?”

Pulling back her water-swollen head, she replied slowly, “That’s way too difficult. Choose something else.”

Crossing her arms, Yue Yin raised an eyebrow, “Fine, then I wish to become a god.”

The ghost girl looked at her for a long while before responding, “Next.”

Annoyed, Yue Yin regarded her with a look that screamed, “You’re useless.”

This isn’t working, that’s impossible too—what a useless ghost, trying to pull off wish-granting scams like some minor demon.

Seeing the blatant disdain in Yue Yin’s eyes, the ghost girl’s temper flared.

Damn it! She had been oppressed enough while alive, and now in death, she had to endure this contempt?

She finally snapped, “Just pick something simple! I can handle simple!”

Yue Yin really thought about it, then leaned in and said loudly, “I want the author of The Great Detective to finally finish the series!”

The Great Detective was a long-running overseas manga that updated only sporadically. At the current pace, fans weren’t even sure they’d live to see the conclusion.

The ghost girl froze, then thought, What the hell? You’re not following the rules at all!

One minute it’s world peace, the next it’s godhood, then you’re begging for a manga ending—why don’t you just ask me to go die?!

An awkward silence fell over the girl and ghost.

Yue Yin raised an eyebrow, “So, you can’t do that either?”

Growing bored, she sighed, “Forget it, you’re too useless to be of any help.”

After a moment of silence, the ghost girl muttered, “…I can hear you, you know.”

Honestly, you’re kind of insulting ghosts here.

Yue Yin reached out, patted the ghost girl on the shoulder, and proposed, “How about this, help me finish my homework tonight. I’ve got games to play when I get home, and I can’t be bothered with it.”

The ghost girl looked mortified, feeling utterly humiliated.

This was too much. Too much! She was a powerful spirit, feared by all. Those she dragged into nightmares either begged or ran in terror, but this was the first time someone had ever mocked her!

Furious, she raised her claws, about to lash out at Yue Yin and teach her a lesson, when the girl’s face split into a strange smile.

Yue Yin murmured softly, “Every ghost in this world stems from negative emotions—fear, hatred, greed…”

Her gaze turned toward the ghost girl, and she asked, “As a nightmare incarnate, you’ve pulled me into your domain, and this is the best you can do?”

The ghost girl froze, unsure of how to respond. “What…what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

It was strange.

Though the girl was clearly smaller, her presence bore down on the ghost like an insurmountable force.

Yue Yin’s voice carried a note of disappointment, “If this is the extent of your fear and threats, I can’t even be bothered to close my window.”

She smiled and whispered, “Let me show you what true, indescribable terror looks like.”

In the next moment, Yue Yin’s human form melted away, and countless grotesque tentacles shot upward, filling the sky.

The ghost girl recoiled, horrified. She saw the girl’s face, expression blank, a sinister grin spreading across her lips.

Each enormous tentacle writhed with countless eyes, and from each eye, the faces of trapped souls screamed in agony.

Madness crept into her mind as voices in her head urged her to run!

Though she sensed the overwhelming danger, her body moved toward Yue Yin, drawn like a twisted acolyte of a forbidden deity.

Every eye stared at her, each with a manic expression, shouting, “Come join us.”

“Come join us.”

“Become one of us!!!”

The cacophony grew deafening as blood dripped from Yue Yin’s mouth, eyes, and nose, turning her into an even more terrifying sight.

In the pitch-black void of her eyes, a glimpse of a horrifying abyss filled the space behind her.

Screaming, the ghost girl reached out, trying to crawl away from the horror, but she was already being consumed by the dark muck beneath her.

She crawled desperately, her fingers breaking as she clawed forward. In the grip of overwhelming fear, her pallid hands scratched at the muck, oblivious to pain.

But soon, she was entirely absorbed into the mire.

The sound of dripping blood echoed as the monstrous girl stood above the remnants, her tentacles winding around the walls and floors of the school, raising her into the night sky.

Yue Yin looked down at the remains of the nightmare spirit, her voice soft, “Come, be one of us.”

“Become one of us.”

The Many-Faced Moon.

If you looked from afar, you’d find yourself drawn to her, convinced no light could be as pure or beautiful as this moonlight.

Yet if you got closer, you would only find despair and death.

You would realize that she was no moon, but a vast, murky sea of trapped souls.

With a cracking sound, the sky above fractured.

As the deity descended, the dimensions of this space shattered, and the world splintered.

Then, Yue Yin opened her eyes and found herself back in her bed.

Behind her, countless tentacles emerged, reaching out to fill the room. Stretching lazily, she muttered, “Get back.”

The tentacles vanished instantly.

Yue Yin licked the blood from her lips thoughtfully, “Humans are fragile. I barely used a bit of my true power, and this body almost broke.”

She glanced at the clock, the darkness in her eyes fading, “Four o’clock already?”

Yue Yin ruffled her hair in annoyance. She had to get up at seven for morning classes!