Chapter 22: The Vacation Villa

Turning her head, she caught only a fleeting shadow.

“It must be Xin Ling. We talked about her, and now the curse is going to happen. She’ll kill us!”

The two men also glimpsed the shadow; their legs gave out and they collapsed to the ground, faces drained of color and hope.

Su Man looked at Xiao Liang, hoping for an explanation. He shook his head, uncertain. “The curse might be real, but whether it’s Xin Ling’s curse—that’s hard to say.”

“Let’s try spirit-calling, then.”

The truth was nearly within reach.

She took out the notebook she’d treated like a scratchpad, flipping to a page where she had drawn a relatively neat formation diagram.

“You’re not really going to be so hasty, are you? There’s no way that’ll work!” Xiao Liang thought she was wasting her time, then glanced at the two men paralyzed and half-crazed by fear. “Maybe we should deal with them first. Otherwise, they might get in the way.”

Su Man had considered keeping them around to confront Zhou Bin, whom she intended to summon, but Xiao Liang’s suggestion wasn’t without merit. They knew almost everything they needed to already.

But before they could act, the two men suddenly clutched their throats and lifted off the ground, their faces contorted in agony.

“I don’t want to die! I didn’t mean to say anything! No, please, no!”

They kicked desperately, trying to break free from the choking sensation, but it was all in vain.

To Xiao Liang’s surprise, it was Su Man—whom he’d thought least likely to save anyone—who acted. She slashed quickly with her dagger across the air before them. But nothing changed.

“What is it? Did you find a clue? Is that why you want to save them?” Xiao Liang moved to help.

“No clue. I just wanted to see if something was at work here.” Su Man put away her dagger. The two men’s eyes had rolled back; it was clear they were beyond saving.

“Perhaps it really is a curse,” she said.

“Is there any way to break a curse?” She wondered what she would do if she ever found herself cursed.

Xiao Liang did know a way. “Curses are tricky. You have to trace them to their origin—find the object or the place where the curse is anchored and destroy it. That’s the only way.”

“So are you going to try to save them?” he asked again.

“No.” The two men had already collapsed, lifeless, to the floor.

Su Man spared the window a glance, then strode out without looking back. “Bad people aren’t worth saving.”

“How do you know they’re bad? Su Man, are you hiding something from me? Do you know something new? Su Man!” Xiao Liang chased after her.

Neither of them noticed, as they left, that a pitch-black figure had appeared in the room, dragging an axe. It hacked into the two corpses again and again, like a heartless butcher.

Outside, Su Man paused as if sensing something, and glanced back at the tightly shut door.

“What is it?” Xiao Liang looked too, unsettled by her gaze.

“Nothing.” Su Man withdrew her eyes and pressed on, asking Xiao Liang about the spirit-calling ritual. “Will Zhou Bin, if summoned, be able to attack?”

That would determine whether she needed Xiao Liang’s help.

Xiao Liang caught her meaning and raised his voice, “Of course! If it’s a true spirit-calling and you aren’t powerful enough, you might end up summoning something unexpected!”

They entered the room. Xiao Liang watched as Su Man rummaged through her notebook. “That probably won’t—”

Before he could finish, Su Man placed her ID card and a notebook on the formation.

Xiao Liang’s heart lurched. It was Xin Ling’s diary—the one Hu Meili had given them earlier.

“Wait, what did you put there?!”

He was beside himself.

“Xin Ling’s diary,” Su Man replied calmly.

“You—you’re crazy! Weren’t we calling Zhou Bin’s spirit?”

“We don’t have anything of Zhou Bin’s here. And besides, I think it’ll be quicker to ask Xin Ling herself.”

She told Xiao Liang to be ready. If the spirit-calling worked, she might not be able to move.

Seeing his continued anxiety, she added, “You don’t have to pretend in front of me. I don’t know what your real purpose is in working with me, but I do know you’re capable of much more than you let on. If Xin Ling’s spirit really appears, and you don’t bring out your real skills, the two of us may both end up dead.”

Su Man herself wasn’t afraid to die; after all, she still had two resurrection cards. She was determined to get some answers. As for Xiao Liang, she trusted he wouldn’t die so easily, either.

Leaving Xiao Liang bewildered, Su Man began her ritual in earnest, muttering and focusing on the notebook.

A flicker of hope lingered in Xiao Liang’s heart. Surely, no matter how skilled Su Man was, this couldn’t possibly succeed.

But no sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a cold wind swept through the room.

Xiao Liang stiffened.

All of Su Man’s attention was on the notebook. She still didn’t know how to wield spiritual power, but she could feel the drawing on her sketchbook pulling something from her. She’d sensed this when making the drawing the previous night—the effort had left her drained, and now she realized that must have been the spiritual energy Xiao Liang had described.

The ritual had begun. Suddenly, the page ignited.

Su Man stepped back from the flames.

She thought she’d failed, but then Xiao Liang shouted, “What is that?! There’s something in the formation!”

Within the swirling smoke, a shape began to appear.

Xiao Liang didn’t even dare to call it human.

It was curled up small, just like the figure in Su Man’s spirit-calling diagram.

Su Man saw it too, neither surprised nor unsurprised. Now, she only wanted to know what she’d summoned and whether it could help her.

Once the whole notebook had burned away, the small shadow grew larger.

“It looks almost like a ball,” Xiao Liang gulped.

Su Man gave a sardonic reply, “Maybe it’s a head.”

Her dagger was already gripped tightly in her hand.

“Huh? Why am I here?” As the smoke cleared, a head really did appear, its face blank and confused. When it saw Su Man, it brightened. “Su Man, Manman, I thought I was dead.”

“You are dead,” Su Man replied, neither disappointed nor otherwise, and stepped forward to prod the head with her blade. “Why don’t you tell me something about Xin Ling?”