INHA Chapter 77

Sun Tian’s terrified scream immediately put the police officers on alert. They quickly surrounded her, but there was nothing around. Yet, Sun Tian was staring in horror out the window, as if something terrifying was out there.

Sure enough, her fear was validated in the next moment.

Surrounded by so many police officers, Sun Tian felt a bit safer but was still overwhelmed with fear. She pointed to the spot outside the window and shouted, “It’s here! It’s looking at me from outside!”

The officers followed her gaze, but there was nothing there. However, the keen-eyed officers noticed that water stains were spreading across the clean glass, eventually forming what looked like a handprint.

It was as if an invisible ghost, or some resentful spirit, was really there, its wetness leaving marks on the glass.

They could almost imagine it dressed in tattered, waterlogged clothes, its body bloated like a bun about to burst, with skin pale and translucent from being soaked, the texture of the flesh faintly visible beneath.

This thought sent a shiver down the officers’ spines, and then fear started to creep in because they saw it too—the ghost. It was indeed pressed against the glass, staring in.

And the ghost’s appearance was exactly as they had imagined: a grotesquely swollen body, almost bursting through its ragged clothing, a deathly pale, bloated face squished together, revealing dark, hollow eyes.

The sight chilled everyone to the bone, forcing them to take a few steps back.

It was even more horrifying than the female ghosts in horror movies, making them feel a deep sense of disgust and fear.

“Stay calm, don’t move! If it hasn’t come in yet, that means we’re still safe!” the veteran officer, who had participated in exhuming bodies and had actually seen resentful spirits before, quickly reminded everyone.

Xiao Shan and Sun Tian were already overcome with fear, screaming uncontrollably, until the officers beside them quickly covered their mouths and whispered, “Don’t move!”

The two of them were trembling uncontrollably, their eyes wide open as they stared at the ghost outside the window. The ghost’s thin figure seemed to merge with the darkness of the night, while a sinister smile still hung on its deathly pale face.

They wanted to close their eyes, but they didn’t dare, gripped by a fear that if they closed their eyes and opened them again, the ghost would be right in front of them.

“Just hold on a bit longer, the people from the Bureau will be here soon,” the oldest police officer reassured everyone once again. Although his face was also grim, he tried hard to think about why this ghost had suddenly appeared.

He, along with the other officers, had watched the official live-streamed documentary clips many times and had gained some basic understanding of ghosts and resentful spirits.

According to the streamer, there are two types of ghosts in this world: resentful spirits and even more evil ghosts.

Resentful spirits, driven by lingering attachments, seek revenge and kill specific people. While they have fewer limitations, they also don’t harm the innocent too much.

Evil ghosts, however, are different.

Evil ghosts kill not because they target specific people, but because someone has unwittingly triggered the spirit’s killing rules. Unless the source of the evil, known as the “evil source,” is found, there is almost no way to stop it.

The old officer, suppressing his own fear, carefully observed the ghost, while reflecting on what Xiao Shan and Sun Tian had said earlier. He had a nagging feeling that something was off.

For instance, the first point of doubt: ghosts generally harm people due to lingering attachments. If the ghost followed them here, it means it has targeted Xiao Shan and Sun Tian.

But based on Sun Tian and Xiao Shan’s reactions and behavior, it didn’t seem like they knew this ghost, nor did they show any signs of having done something they felt guilty about.

Except for the fact that when they mentioned abandoning Ah Tao while driving down the mountain, they displayed some guilt and even instinctively tried to justify their actions.

So the question is, why did the ghost target Sun Tian and Xiao Shan?

In addition to this, there was a second point of doubt, which made the old officer feel uneasy.

Sun Tian was the first to notice the ghost clinging to the window, followed by Xiao Shan. The other officers, including himself, also looked out the window, but none of them saw the ghost.

It wasn’t until the water stains appeared on the glass that the ghost manifested before all the police officers—

Something’s not right.

The old officer suddenly noticed another inconsistency. He looked directly at a young officer, who was also filled with terror but had confusion in his eyes. Without hesitation, he quickly asked, “Xiao Zhang, did you see it?”

Xiao Zhang snapped out of his daze, his face still showing fear and bewilderment, and replied, “I-I didn’t see anything. Please don’t scare me.”

He looked around at everyone’s serious expressions as if they had really seen the ghost.

But he was the only one who couldn’t see it, and this realization made him even more frightened.

As soon as Xiao Zhang said this, all the officers became filled with doubt and uncertainty. The ghost was clearly standing right there, so why couldn’t Xiao Zhang see it?

“Alright, everyone who saw it, raise your hand,” the old officer quickly instructed.

In unison, all six officers on the scene, except for Xiao Zhang, raised their hands, including the old officer himself.

After all, they were police officers, and their mental resilience was stronger than that of the average person. Though they had been momentarily panicked, they quickly regained their composure. Since they could only wait for the responders to arrive, they might as well analyze the situation further.

The old officer described the exact time when he first saw the ghost, and the others followed suit, sharing their own experiences.

They then realized that everyone who had seen the ghost shared a common factor: they only saw the ghost after noticing the water stains on the glass and mentally picturing what the ghost might look like.

Xiao Zhang also spoke up, saying, “I saw the water stains too, but I was just wondering where they came from and why they appeared. I didn’t imagine anything like what you all described—”

Before Xiao Zhang could finish speaking, his expression changed, and he quickly said, “I see it now too. It’s standing there, pressed against the glass, completely covered in water stains, and it looks very thin.”

It seemed like it was just skin and bones, with a face so blurry that its features were indistinguishable.

“Did you just imagine it in your mind?” the old officer immediately identified the real cause.

Xiao Zhang nodded quickly.

“Wait a minute, the ghost I saw didn’t have legs; it was stuck to the glass and looked swollen like a balloon,” one of the officers said.

Others chimed in, “What I saw was a man, covered in wounds and water plants.”

“I saw a bloated giant, with maggots crawling on it,” another added.

The old officer also described what he had seen. After speaking, he turned to Xiao Shan and Sun Tian, asking them to describe what the ghost looked like in their eyes.

Despite her fear, Sun Tian cooperated with the old officer, knowing that she could only rely on them for help now.

As for Ah Tao, he was likely already…

Holding back her sorrow and fear, Sun Tian described the ghost she saw as a woman with long hair, very thin, with an unnaturally pale face. It looked a lot like Mingming—the first person who had been killed by the ghost.

On the other hand, the ghost in Xiao Shan’s eyes was a woman with a face smeared with something greasy, wearing a creepy smile. Her face was swollen as if it had expanded.

She was dressed in red, looking very much like an evil ghost.

Everyone saw a different version of the ghost. The old officer realized an even more terrifying truth: the appearance of the ghost was being shaped by the way each person imagined it.

There was no fixed form.

Perhaps because Xiao Shan and Sun Tian mentioned that the ghost was drenched in water, the police officers imagined it as a water ghost, with a body likely bloated from being soaked.

Only Xiao Zhang, who didn’t have time to imagine more details, saw the ghost with an indistinct appearance.

The old officer had a hunch that this so-called water ghost might not be a ghost at all; it seemed more like an evil spirit. After all, none of them had any connection to this water ghost.

Realizing this, the old officer felt less panicked. He instructed everyone to stay calm, remain still, and avoid letting their imaginations run wild, as that could lead to even more terrifying consequences.

The police officers could manage to do this, but Xiao Shan and Sun Tian could not, especially Sun Tian. She was already deeply fearful of ghosts and such things. When she thought about the likelihood that Zhao Mingming and Ah Tao were dead, her fear only grew.

And since she had noticed the female ghost even before Xiao Shan did, did that mean she would be the ghost’s next target?

She was going to die!

Sun Tian’s fear intensified. She hadn’t seen how Zhao Mingming and Ah Tao had died, but thinking of this ghost as a water ghost, she was terrified that she might mysteriously drown.

“Stop thinking about anything related to it! Do you really want to die?” the old officer shouted as soon as he saw the look on Sun Tian’s face.

Sun Tian’s spiraling thoughts were immediately interrupted, and she couldn’t help but start crying. “I shouldn’t have abandoned Ah Tao and run away.”

The thought filled her with guilt.

She and Xiao Shan had essentially survived by using Ah Tao’s life, even though Ah Tao had fled on his own.

But she still felt overwhelming guilt and was even more terrified that she would be the next to die.

Xiao Shan, not wanting his girlfriend to be killed by the resentful spirit, gripped Sun Tian’s hand tightly. “I was the one driving the car. If anyone abandoned Ah Tao and used him, it should be me. Besides… when Ah Tao fled the car, he didn’t even look back to call for us. In a way, he abandoned us first.”

They and Ah Tao owed each other nothing.

Sun Tian lifted her tear-streaked face, sobbing uncontrollably. “But… but I’m about to die.”

Xiao Shan looked at Sun Tian’s face and somehow mustered the courage to say, “If it really comes to kill you, I’ll stand in its way. If we die, we’ll die together.”

Sun Tian shook her head repeatedly, crying even harder.

The old officer didn’t stop the young couple because, at least, this seemed to be a way to keep Sun Tian from spiraling into her own terrifying thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity, the distant glow of headlights appeared through the glass window, signaling that a vehicle was slowly approaching.

The old officer immediately straightened up, and the other officers did the same. Soon, the car stopped at the entrance, and out stepped a young man, so strikingly beautiful that he almost didn’t seem human.

Yet, rather than frightening the officers in the dark of night, his presence was calming. His eyes were clear and pure, making people instinctively want to draw closer to him.

On the driver’s side, another door opened, and out came a burly man with a somewhat fierce appearance. As soon as he got out, his deep, booming voice echoed across the area, “Why’s everyone hiding inside? Did a ghost block the door?”

He chuckled afterward.

Xu Dongyou quickly turned around and tugged on Tian Ze’s sleeve, a bit exasperated. “Captain, this is no time for jokes.”

Couldn’t he see how pale everyone’s faces were?

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Moonlit: Tian Ze, read the room please ‘-‘