What Kind of Ghost Development Is This!

Li Xue took out the manuscript while thinking about what words to use to persuade Tang Yao later.

The manga in the file bag had no cover.

The first page, the beginning of the manga.

Li Xue lowered her head and looked at the first page with a scrutinizing gaze.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone was knocking on the window.

On the drawing paper, a girl was curled up in the corner of the room, trembling.

Cold sweat covered her, her face full of terror. It was just an ordinary knock on the window, yet it sounded like a death knell.

The next panel showed the girl hugging her knees, leaning against a cabinet. A sound came from outside the window again. This time it wasn't a knock, but a voice identical to the girl's, seeming to urge or tempt her: "Come out quickly, open the window, Kazuko. If you don't eat soon, you'll starve to death."

The girl named Kazuko listened to the knocking and calling from outside the window, tiredly hiding beside the desk, already feeling numb.

This situation had been going on for a week... She had been shut in her house for nearly a week.

Everything edible had been finished.

Kazuko didn't know what the thing outside was, only hoping that if this was a nightmare, she could wake up soon.

Li Xue finished the first page, somewhat surprised.

Because unexpectedly, this was not something that could be drawn by an amateur... Although she was responsible for Shoujo Manga, it didn't mean she wasn't interested in other types of manga.

On the contrary, she was very interested and had extremely strong appreciation skills.

And the manga in her hand, judging by the first page alone, was undoubtedly of a very high standard. Setting aside the plot, the drawing skill was excellent!

What surprised her most was that Tang Yao hadn't drawn in the current most popular style in the industry, the moe style she was most familiar with.

Instead, she had adopted a very bold realistic style. The characters' faces, hair, expressions, movements, and poses were meticulously depicted. Their dignified and serene faces made the characters in the manga seem like perfectly normal humans.

This was not easy to draw. Why did she choose this style? She was so cute herself.

And a voice exactly like her own... Was it a fantasy genre?

So bold? How would this short story unfold?

With many doubts, Li Xue looked up at Tang Yao.

Tang Yao blinked at her.

Li Xue could only temporarily suppress her doubts and turn to the next page.

The next page.

The plot continued.

The girl named Kazuko fell into a memory.

Why she had fallen into this strange situation all started a month ago, with the death of a female celebrity...

A female celebrity named Terumi committed suicide by hanging herself in her apartment, but it was a strange death. She was found hanging outside her second-floor window, the rope around her neck tangled with an electrical wire. It seemed she had climbed out of the room's window to commit suicide.

Due to her body weight and her feet dangling while hanging, when the rope and wire were untangled, the celebrity's neck looked as if it was detached from her body, about to be torn off.

The scene of death was extremely gruesome.

This incident caused a huge stir, with reporters, fans, and onlookers flocking to the apartment, wanting to find out what happened.

Kazuko was very sad about this because she was not only classmates with the celebrity but also very good friends.

However, she didn't know why the other person wanted to commit suicide.

Not long after.

The celebrity's family held a large memorial service for her, and many fans rushed to attend.

Kazuko also went.

After leaving the memorial service, Kazuko and a few friends were walking on the road when they encountered a classmate, Shiraishi.

He was the celebrity's boyfriend and seemed to be attending the memorial service as well, but he was being surrounded and beaten by Terumi's obsessive fans.

Because the fans believed he was the prime suspect in the death of the celebrity Terumi.

Kazuko rushed forward upon seeing this, threatening to call the police. Only then did the group calling themselves fans grudgingly leave. Kazuko then wanted to comfort Shiraishi, but in such a somber atmosphere... Shiraishi blamed himself, believing he might have caused the celebrity's suicide. He didn't respond, just cried sadly, and then walked away.

"..."

The celebrity died.

The fans refused to accept it, and her boyfriend became the target of their anger.

Did this have anything to do with the voice outside the window...?

Li Xue stopped turning the pages upon reading this, suddenly realizing something was wrong, because this didn't seem like a fantasy development...

Moreover, Tang Yao didn't shy away from depicting the scene of hanging.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

However, this time Li Xue didn't look at Tang Yao. After a moment of hesitation, she turned the page and continued reading.

Although it felt very wrong, she was very interested in the subsequent plot development.

In the manga.

The story continued.

After the female celebrity Terumi died, many young people followed her in death, all committing suicide by hanging. There was even an incident of mass fan suicide.

Not only that, but rumors of the female celebrity's ghost appearing also began to spread... A reporter interviewed several members of the public who claimed to have seen the female celebrity's ghost. They all stated that about a week ago, around midnight, they saw a giant face floating high in the sky above a large tree, and then it drifted north and disappeared.

Such supernatural events were dismissed by experts as mere illusions caused by unstable mental states, so the matter was not taken seriously.

But before long, a creepy, spine-chilling photo taken by an eyewitness was released on television—the female celebrity's giant head was floating high in the air.

Seeing the giant human head floating in the air on the page, Li Xue was stunned. Her fingers stiffened slightly, and her heart skipped a beat.

The art style of the entire manga was very clean and concise, with hand-drawn backgrounds and a realistic style, as if constantly emphasizing that the world within the manga was a perfectly normal place.

And because of this realistic style, coupled with the unpleasant scenes of the female celebrity's suicide and fans following her in death, the beginning of the manga always gave her a gloomy feeling, making her feel like a storm was brewing as she flipped through it.

This was why Li Xue felt something was off.

And now... it was even more off!

No way...?

No way.

Tang Yao was so cute, how could she draw such a strange manga?

Hmm.

After a moment of hesitation, Li Xue managed to convince herself and turned to the next page again.

The topic of the female celebrity's head floating in the air caused a stir at school, but most people expressed disbelief, saying it must have been a photoshopped image.

Kazuko didn't believe it either.

At school, she met the female celebrity's boyfriend, Shiraishi, again. She thought Shiraishi wouldn't believe such an absurd story.

But to her surprise, Shiraishi did believe it. He even said that the female celebrity's head often floated into his yard, constantly watching him with those vacant eyes, as if calling out to him.

Kazuko naturally didn't believe this, thinking Shiraishi was hallucinating from exhaustion.

Shiraishi didn't explain, merely leaving a cold remark, "You'll know when you come to my house next time," before turning to leave.

That night, Kazuko received a call from Shiraishi... Shiraishi said the female celebrity's balloon had appeared and was drifting north, telling her to come quickly.

Kazuko hesitated, but eventually sneaked out of her house.

Then, she found the female celebrity's head in the woods...

The female celebrity's giant head was indeed floating in the dim night sky... like a balloon, and a rope was tied below the swollen, giant head, just like ordinary balloons tied with colorful strings.

Kazuko watched the scene in terror, then instinctively chased after it.

She chased the human head balloon into the forest and saw Shiraishi, the female celebrity's boyfriend, hanging from a tree, shouting hysterically at the human head balloon floating in the sky, begging the female celebrity for forgiveness and asking her to stop looking at him with those dead eyes.

At the same time, whether it was because he heard her call or for some other reason, the female celebrity's head balloon began to slowly approach Shiraishi.

It was then that Kazuko realized that what was tied below the female celebrity's head was not some colorful string, but a noose!

As the female celebrity's head balloon got closer, the noose dangled forward, as if waiting for Shiraishi to put his neck into it.

Kazuko was terrified and was about to warn him, but it was too late. Shiraishi, who was excitedly begging the female celebrity for forgiveness, hugged the tree trunk and leaned forward, unconsciously sticking his head out, and then... his head went into the noose.

The next scene.

Shiraishi's feet left the tree, his neck directly caught in the noose, and without a struggle... he became still.

Kazuko witnessed this scene and screamed in terror. As she turned to find help, she suddenly saw Shiraishi's body fly up... he was hanging in the air, suspended by the rope, and at the end of the rope... another human head balloon slowly floated up.

In an instant.

Immense fear exploded in Kazuko's heart!

Because that balloon looked exactly like Shiraishi's face!

In the sky, another human head balloon had appeared!

And then.

In the dimly lit forest.

Under a sky covered in dark clouds.

Two human head balloons, who were lovers in life, slowly approached each other, then... with dead eyes, their lips slowly touched.

And below Shiraishi's human head balloon, his headless body hung from the rope, swaying in the wind like a puppet...

Kazuko let out a desperate scream upon seeing this bizarre scene.

!!!!!

Seeing this panel, Li Xue's right fingertip clenched the roughly half-flipped original manuscript, and she too despaired!

Human head!

Balloon!

Kissing!

What kind of twisted development is this! What kind of twisted development is this! What kind of twisted development is this!!!

Is this something a human could come up with!!?