Red Skeleton's First Battle

The footsteps drew closer and closer.

Xiao Ran turned to Yang Kai. Seeing his bewildered expression, he asked, "You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Xiao Ran couldn't explain in time, but the Black Swan Brooch beneath his cloak had already started warning him.

And this time, the warning was clearly much more urgent than it had been on the bus.

"Go!"

He didn't have time to see what was coming down. Without looking back, Xiao Ran turned and ran.

"Hey, why are you running??"

Yang Kai stared at him in confusion, but seeing Xiao Ran run made him panic too. He couldn't spare a moment to ask questions and hurried after him.

The lights in the stairwell flickered a few more times. Then, with a sharp "click," the entire dormitory building plunged into darkness.

Yang Kai's heart raced. He could practically hear it pounding in his ears. He stopped and looked back toward Wang Jun and the others. Several blurry figures stood there, seemingly waiting for something.

"Old Wolf, have you lost your minds? Run!" Yang Kai shouted. His voice echoed through the empty stairwell, harsh and grating.

Wang Jun didn't respond. His eyes were fixed on the stairs.

When Wang Jun and the others still didn't respond—and even silently raised their weapons, as if ready to fight to the death—Yang Kai started to wonder if they'd been possessed.

"Is this guy really that brave?? How come I never knew?"

Just then, light footsteps came from above. It sounded as if something was running down. Though he couldn't see it, the crisp patter of its steps brought to mind little leather boots with thick soles.

A chill crept up Yang Kai's spine. He knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Xiao Ran, who had been running ahead, suddenly stopped and turned to stare at the stairwell.

Seeing him stop running again left the three of them at a loss.

Yang Kai wanted to leave at once. The safe house wasn't far, but the stairwell ahead was pitch-black, lit only by a few emergency lights that cast a sickly green glow. It made his skin crawl.

Seeing Xiao Ran stand perfectly still, Yang Kai gritted his teeth and decided to wait with him.

"Kai!"

"Hm?"

Xiao Ran took a deep breath. The chill radiating from the [Black Swan Brooch] on his chest was growing stronger. He gripped the cleaver at his waist, while the dark red curse patterns quietly began to merge with the Mourning Ring.

The [Mourning Ring], activated by the [Corpse Stitcher], began to glow with an eerie red light.

"Go. Quietly," Xiao Ran whispered to Yang Kai in the darkness, his voice barely audible.

"What about you?"

"Brother Jun and the others haven't left. How could I leave?" Xiao Ran pointed at Wang Jun and the others standing by the stairs.

Yang Kai was surprised. He hadn't expected Wang Jun to have not only good luck but also a decent character. Even his newly recruited lackeys were so loyal.

Yang Kai had been about to say something to show his support, but the footsteps on the stairs were drawing closer. Each step seemed to land right in his chest, making his whole body go cold.

He looked up and saw a pair of pink Embroidered Shoes at the stairway landing. He could see only the shoes, not the person wearing them.

They were tiny, with heels a foot high. From a distance, he couldn't make out whether the embroidery depicted a tiger or a lion. They looked a little like the high heels worn by palace maids in Qing-dynasty dramas.

Yang Kai felt as if something had lodged in his throat. He tried to speak, but couldn't form the words.

Beside him, Xiao Ran gripped his cleaver even tighter, his face taut with tension. The red glow from the [Mourning Ring] grew brighter.

"Click." The emergency lights suddenly went out, plunging the stairwell into bottomless darkness.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The next moment, hurried footsteps rang out.

Xiao Ran's pupils contracted. At a thought from him, Wang Jun and the other three charged forward as if they'd received an order, weapons raised.

But the next second, the tiny Embroidered Shoes lifted forward and suddenly grew larger than a door. One stomp came down on the student at the front.

The sole twisted a few times, like someone crushing out a cigarette out of habit. A series of crackling sounds followed as his bones shattered, crushing him into a pulp.

At the same time, the other Embroidered Shoe stomped down.

Its upper split open, revealing a cavernous maw. It swallowed two more men whole and chewed them up. They were devoured on the spot, leaving not a trace of their remains.

"Ah!"

Under Xiao Ran's control, Wang Jun quickly raised his axe and brought it down hard on the Embroidered Shoes. He couldn't even leave a mark. Instead, the shoes shrank rapidly, then darted between his feet like two pink mice.

Wang Jun's toes jerked forward, and Xiao Ran immediately lost control of him.

"Run!!" Yang Kai no longer cared about saving face. He let out a shriek and turned to flee.

His two lackeys heard him scream and snapped out of it. By then, he was already five meters away, running at the speed of a second-level athlete. Neither of them cared about the other; they just pumped their arms and sprinted.

"Why is it this thing?!"

Xiao Ran had imagined all sorts of things when it came to the so-called Night Ghosts, but now that he'd encountered one, he realized he'd still been thinking too simply.

As the saying went, ghosts came in four kinds of evil: Malevolent Objects, Enchanted Locust Trees, Red-Clothed Ghosts, and Green-Faced Ghosts.

These were the four kinds of ghosts most feared among the people.

Malevolent Objects referred to old things that had been around for years. Left untouched by human presence, they absorbed the Spiritual Power of heaven and earth. If they happened to become tainted with Malevolent Qi, they turned into evil ghosts.

Xiao Ran couldn't understand why something like this would be in the school.

But there was no time to dwell on it. After putting on the Embroidered Shoes, Wang Jun looked more and more bizarre. His body hung in midair as if suspended by a rope, with only his toes touching the ground.

His face had turned a terrifying gray, and only the whites of his eyes showed.

He lurched toward Xiao Ran at a quick pace.

"Your turn!"

Xiao Ran swiftly raised the [Mourning Ring]. The gem on its face flashed with dazzling red light, and in the next moment, a red skeleton emerged from the ring.

The skeletal evil spirit looked even stronger than it had when it was in Xue Hongling's hands.

When its gaze fell on Xiao Ran, it noticed that he was warily watching it at the same time.

Xiao Ran hadn't forgotten what the [Mourning Ring]'s description said: this thing was born rebellious. No matter when he used it, he had to keep his guard up.

Xiao Ran pointed at Wang Jun and said, "Why are you looking at me? If you can't even handle a pair of lousy shoes, I'll toss you straight into the latrine!"

The skeletal evil spirit froze. Flames flickered in its hollow eye sockets. It stared straight at Xiao Ran for a moment, then abruptly turned and lunged at Wang Jun.

Wang Jun was nearly floating as he charged. He crossed half the distance of more than ten meters in the blink of an eye, but he was clearly no match for an E-rank Cursed Object like the skeletal evil spirit.

When Wang Jun was only a few steps from Xiao Ran, the Red Skeleton had already appeared in front of him in a single blink.

A dazzling red light shone from the Red Skeleton. Ghostly green flames burned in its hollow eye sockets as it swung its enormous hand and slapped Wang Jun.

The blow unleashed a fierce gust of wind, lifting Wang Jun off the ground and smashing him against the ceiling.

Wang Jun's body struck the ceiling, then crashed back down onto the floor with a dull thud.

Cracks spread across the ceiling like a spiderweb, and dust and rubble rained down. Before Wang Jun could even get back up, the Red Skeleton slammed a fist into the back of his head.

But this time, Wang Jun's legs bent backward at the knees. The Embroidered Shoes on his feet slipped off in an instant. One of them grew as large as a door and smashed toward the Red Skeleton, while the other split open its cavernous maw and lunged from the side, teeth bared.

The sudden attack caught the Red Skeleton off guard. One shoe stomped it heavily to the ground, while the other seized the chance to bite down on its shoulder. Xiao Ran could even hear the bones in the Red Skeleton's body crack.

Just then, Xiao Ran flicked the [Mourning Ring] on his finger. A scarlet whip shot out of the ring and lashed the Red Skeleton.

"Crack! Crack!!"

After two explosive lashes, the Red Skeleton's body shuddered. Then the blood-red light around it suddenly flared, and its strength surged to a new level. It glared viciously at Xiao Ran before a long, slender bone blade extended from each arm. One blade pierced a hole through the Embroidered Shoe in front of it. Then it punched the other shoe on its shoulder with such force that the shoe's crisscrossing teeth flew straight out of its mouth.

One tooth shot past Xiao Ran's eyes like an arrow. He dodged to the side, and the tooth embedded itself in the wall beside him.

That was some force. If it had flown just a little closer, it would have left a hole in him.

Xiao Ran glanced at the tooth embedded in the wall, then at the Red Skeleton. He could clearly feel its resentment toward him growing, which didn't surprise him.

The ability he'd just used was the second privilege of the [Mourning Ring].

Privilege 2: Painful Whiplash

Painful Whiplash can be used on the ring spirit, greatly increasing its strength for a short time.

However, each use increases the ring spirit's displeasure with you.

Still, the Red Skeleton was undeniably powerful. The Embroidered Shoes didn't seem suited to fighting head-on, especially against a Red Skeleton boosted by Painful Whiplash.

Before long, the shoes were being pounded into the ground. The Red Skeleton seemed intent on taking out all its pain on them.

In no time, it had twisted the pair of Embroidered Shoes into knots. If Xiao Ran hadn't stepped in and forcibly recalled the Red Skeleton into the [Mourning Ring], the creature would likely have torn the shoes to shreds the next moment.

After putting the Red Skeleton away, Xiao Ran went over to the Embroidered Shoes and gave them a close look. The Malevolent Qi that had once radiated from them had nearly been beaten away.

The left shoe in particular had been pierced by the Red Skeleton.

"Well, they're rare things too. What a shame to ruin them."

Xiao Ran thought it over, then took out the shoebox where Wang Jun and the others had kept their badges. He placed it over the shoes and scooped them into the box with a quick scrape.

Looking toward the stairwell, he saw that the old man who had warned him earlier was gone.

But screams continued to ring out from the other floors.

"Guess I'll go see what's happening."

Xiao Ran tossed the shoebox into Micheng Space and headed for the second floor. He reached the door to his dorm room, quickly took out his key, and unlocked it. With a quick step, he climbed onto the bed, hopped onto the coffin, and pushed the lid open. He lay down inside. Before long, a thin, bony hand slowly reached out from the coffin...