Mirror Ghost

The darkness before dawn was at its deepest. The Blood Moon sank westward, staining the horizon a murky dark red.

Fang Gang raced toward the old campus of Linjiang University like a panther in the night.

After devouring the remaining soul of the Green Zombie, the inky-black line on his arm had spread to his elbow. Dark as ink, it radiated bone-piercing cold as it fiercely clashed with the surging dragon-elephant qi and blood within him.

Every surge of qi and blood brought tearing pain, but it also slowed the spread of the Yin Line by a fraction.

"Hold on! Vajra Indestructible is right ahead!" Fang Gang growled through gritted teeth, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

The abandoned faculty dormitory buildings in the old campus stood beneath the dim dawn light like several silent tombstones, thick with Yin energy.

Just as he reached the alley entrance, piercing sirens drew closer. Several black SUVs marked "Special Affairs Bureau" screeched to a halt beneath the old dormitory building. Red and blue police lights flashed, casting bizarre shadows across the dilapidated structure.

Field agents in black tactical uniforms swiftly set up a cordon, evacuating the scattered students who had either risen early or returned late, their faces full of terror.

"Seal off the scene! Evacuate the civilians! The energy readings are abnormal! There's something inside!" A captain-like figure barked urgent orders into a radio.

Fang Gang frowned. The Special Affairs Bureau worked quickly enough.

He did not want any trouble. With a flicker of his body, he slipped around the cordon like a ghost and silently crawled through a hole in the side wall.

The old dormitory building was a complete mess, filled with the rotten stench of dust and mold. The emergency lights in the corridor flickered on and off, casting swaying shadows.

The cold aura inside was even heavier than outside, carrying a faint... smell of blood?

Warning! Detected Yin energy aggregation reaction (Evil Ghost Grade)! Threat Level: D!

Detected minor mental interference fluctuations!

The system prompt confirmed Fang Gang's senses. Following the direction where the Yin energy was thickest, he silently made his way to the third floor.

At the end of the corridor, a half-open door leaked a faint, unnatural yellow light.

Fang Gang held his breath as he approached and peered through the crack in the door.

The room was covered in dust, and the furniture had decayed. The only abnormal thing was a huge, dust-covered full-length mirror directly opposite the door.

Beneath the dust, the mirror clearly reflected the room—but Fang Gang's reflection was nowhere to be seen!

In front of the mirror sat a figure in an old security guard uniform, its back facing the door.

Its head was lowered, its shoulders trembling slightly. In its hand was a... wooden comb stained with dark-red blood. Stroke after stroke, it slowly and carefully... combed its sparse gray-and-white hair.

Scrape... scrape...

The faint sound of the wooden comb dragging across its scalp was especially clear in the dead-silent room, carrying a bone-chilling rhythm.

A dense aura of death and resentment seeped from that "Uncle Wang."

"Uncle Wang?" Fang Gang's gaze sharpened. This was definitely not a living person!

As though sensing the aura of the living, "Uncle Wang" in the mirror suddenly stopped combing his hair.

He slowly, incredibly stiffly turned his head.

The mirror reflected a bluish-gray, bloated face covered in corpse spots!

His eyes were cloudy and vacant, yet the corners of his mouth split into an exaggerated, utterly bizarre smile!

Several gray-and-white hairs tangled with scalp tissue and dark-red blood scabs clung to the teeth of the wooden comb in his hand!

"Heh... hehehe..." A shrill laugh that made Fang Gang's scalp crawl came from within the mirror, as though it were ringing directly in his mind!

At the same time, Uncle Wang's corpse in reality suddenly turned its head as well!

That bloated dead face wore the exact same eerie smile as the one in the mirror as it faced Fang Gang in the doorway!

Inside and outside the mirror, two identical ghostly faces stared at Fang Gang at the same time!

Warning! Target locked: 'Mirror Ghost (Evil Ghost Grade)'! Threat Level: D+!

Traits: Mirror Traversal, Mental Interference, Physical Attachment!

As the system alarm sounded, Fang Gang felt his mind sink slightly, as though countless icy needles were trying to pierce it. But his mental strength and the vigorous Qi and Blood Furnace within him instantly scattered them!

"Stop playing ghost!" Fang Gang's eyes turned cold. Not only did he not retreat, he stepped into the room instead! His Bronze Skin at peak skin tempering glinted with hard metallic light in the darkness.

"Hiss—!" The ghostly face in the mirror let out a piercing shriek, seemingly enraged by Fang Gang's vigorous qi and blood and his utter fearlessness!

Uncle Wang's corpse in reality abruptly rose to its feet. Its movements were stiff yet swift as it swung the bloodstained wooden comb like a poisoned dagger, stabbing straight at Fang Gang's throat with a gust of Yin wind! At the same time, a bluish-gray ghost claw in the mirror suddenly pierced through the mirror surface, ignoring the distance of space as it viciously grabbed for Fang Gang's back! An attack from both sides!

"Good!" Fang Gang shouted. He neither dodged nor retreated! The perfected Dragon Elephant Prajna Art roared into motion, and Savage Elephant Power bellowed through his flesh and blood!

His left arm swept across like an iron gate, precisely blocking the wooden comb thrust by Uncle Wang's corpse! The comb struck the bronze-colored skin of his arm with a crisp metallic clang! It could not pierce him in the slightest!

At the same time, he twisted around, his right fist shooting out like a cannonball. With an explosive crack that tore through the air and a deep elephant's bellow, it smashed viciously into the ghost claw reaching through the mirror behind him! His fist wind was scorching, his qi and blood like a furnace!

Crack!!!

The sickening sound of bones breaking and a shrill ghostly howl rang out at the same time!

That Mirror Ghost claw was as fragile as a dead branch before Fang Gang's violent Savage Elephant Power!

Its five fingers and forearm were smashed into twisted shapes, breaking inch by inch! Thick black ghost blood reeking of decay splattered everywhere!

"Aaargh—!!" The ghostly face in the mirror let out an agonized scream, twisting out of shape!

Uncle Wang's corpse in reality also seemed to have suffered a heavy blow. Its body suddenly stiffened, and pain appeared on its bloated face!

"Now!" A sharp light burst from Fang Gang's eyes!

Ignoring Uncle Wang's stiffened corpse in front of him, he stomped down, blasting the dust off the floor!

His body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, charging at the massive full-length mirror with unstoppable momentum! His target was the core of the twisted, agonized ghost face in the mirror!

His right fist clenched tightly as all the strength in his body condensed into one point. Qi and blood surged like raging waves beneath his bronze skin! A tiny phantom of an ancient savage elephant, raising its head and trumpeting toward the sky, faintly appeared over his fist!

"Break for me... SHATTER!!!"

His roar was like thunder! This supreme punch, gathering peak skin tempering, Bronze Skin Mastery, Savage Elephant Power, and the reinforcement of the Qi and Blood Furnace, struck the dust-covered mirror without any flourish!

Boom—!!!!

It was like thunder exploding from level ground!

Before absolute power, the tough glass mirror shattered like paper! Countless fragments shot backward like a rainstorm! The mirror frame twisted out of shape, and the entire mirror instantly disintegrated!

"No—!!!" The ghostly face in the mirror let out a shriek of utter despair. The instant the mirror shattered, it twisted and collapsed like a punctured balloon, turning into a dense cloud of black smoke filled with countless fragments of resentment and biting Yin cold as it violently burst apart!

Uncle Wang's corpse in reality also collapsed stiffly to the ground the instant the Mirror Ghost was destroyed, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The wooden comb in its hand fell to the floor with a slap.

Ding! Killed 'Mirror Ghost (Evil Ghost Grade)'! Evolution Points +60!

Ding! Absorbed Yin energy and resentment fragments, converted into Evolution Points +5.1! Current Evolution Points: 121.9 + 65.1 = 187 points!

187 points! Fang Gang was overjoyed!

But just as the dense black smoke from the collapsing Mirror Ghost was about to dissipate, the inky-black Yin Line on his arm stirred again! A greedy suction force erupted!

Several black threads finer than hair suddenly extended from the Yin Line. Like leeches that had smelled blood, they instantly plunged into the core of the dispersing black smoke!

Gulp... gulp...

A scalp-crawling sucking sound rang out! The remaining essence, resentment, and Yin energy of the Mirror Ghost were devoured madly! The black smoke visibly thinned and vanished!

The inky-black Yin Line on Fang Gang's arm became even thicker and deeper in color, like solidified petroleum. It instantly spread upward and covered his entire forearm!

At the end of the Yin Line, near his shoulder, an incredibly tiny dark-red bulge like the tip of a needle faintly emerged, like a... closed eye!

A chilling aura far colder and stranger than before suddenly erupted, seemingly carrying the Mirror Ghost's ability to spy through mirrors! Its impact was far stronger than before!

Fang Gang groaned, his face turning pale in an instant. His body swayed, and he nearly could not remain standing! The Qi and Blood Furnace within him shook violently!

Warning! Unknown Yin Energy Erosion has intensified! Fused with the Mirror Ghost's core resentment, causing a mutation! Intensity breakthrough! Threat Level: B+ (Fierce Soul Grade threshold)! Extremely dangerous!

Strongly advised to eliminate it immediately or find an object of extreme Yang energy to forcibly suppress it!

"Damn it!" Fang Gang cursed, forcibly steadying himself as he mobilized all his dragon-elephant qi and blood to suppress the erupting Yin power.

He looked at his arm. The black line covered his forearm, and the strange red dot at its end resembled a brand, radiating ominous intent.

"Brother! Are you okay?!" Chen Tao's breathless voice came from the doorway.

He rushed in with several agents, arriving just in time to see Fang Gang's final punch shatter the huge mirror, the Mirror Ghost dissipate, and Uncle Wang's corpse fall.

As well as the more hideous black line covering Fang Gang's forearm!

Chen Tao stared fixedly at Fang Gang's arm, especially the tiny red dot at its end. His expression changed drastically as he cried out, "Soul... Soul Devouring Yin Line?! And the embryonic form of a 'Resentful Eye'?! Brother! You... you've been marked by that thing?!"

Fang Gang abruptly turned, his gaze stabbing toward Chen Tao like a blade. "You know what this is?!"

Chen Tao shuddered beneath Fang Gang's fierce stare. He swallowed and pointed at the bloodstained wooden comb beside Uncle Wang's corpse, his voice carrying unprecedented gravity:

"Uncle Wang... he wasn't just an informant... His last report before he vanished... said that in the lowest level of the morgue at the funeral home... he saw... a figure in a Red Wedding Dress, sitting atop an ice coffin... combing its hair before a mirror..."

"That thing... is very likely the source! And this Yin Line of yours... is the 'seed' it planted in you! It is... watching you through this... devouring the power you gain as you grow stronger!"

Chen Tao's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over his head!

Fang Gang lowered his head and looked at the inky-black Yin Line on his arm. It wriggled faintly like a living thing, while the red dot at its end seemed to be "watching" him. An unprecedentedly icy killing intent, mixed with the fury of being treated as prey, exploded in his chest!