Mirror Ghost

The darkness before dawn was at its thickest, the Blood Moon sinking in the west, painting the horizon a murky, dark red.

Fang Gang, like a leopard in the night, sped towards the old campus of Linjiang University.

On his arm, the black yin line had spread to his elbow after devouring the remnant soul of the Green Zombie. It was as deep as ink, emitting an icy, bone-chilling cold, and was locked in a fierce struggle with the Dragon-Elephant blood energy surging within him.

Each surge of blood energy brought a tearing pain, but it also slowed the spread of the yin line by a fraction.

"Hold on! The Vajra Indestructible Divine Art is up ahead!" Fang Gang gritted his teeth and growled, a fierce glint in his eyes.

The abandoned workers' dormitories on the old campus stood like silent tombstones in the dim dawn light, exuding a dense, eerie aura.

Just as he reached the alley entrance, the piercing sound of sirens grew closer. Several black SUVs marked with "Special Affairs Bureau" roared to a stop beneath the old dormitory building, their flashing red and blue lights casting bizarre shadows on the dilapidated structure.

Field agents in black combat uniforms were quickly setting up a cordon, evacuating the few students who were either early risers or late returners, their faces etched with terror.

"Seal the scene! Evacuate civilians! Energy readings are abnormal! Something's inside!" a team leader-like figure barked urgently into a walkie-talkie.

Fang Gang frowned. The Special Affairs Bureau was certainly efficient.

He didn't want any trouble. With a flicker of his body, he ghosted past the cordon and silently slipped through a hole in the side wall.

The interior of the old dormitory building was a mess, filled with the decaying smell of dust and mildew. Emergency lights flickered erratically in the hallway, casting dancing shadows.

The chilling aura was even heavier than outside, carrying a faint scent of blood?

[Warning! Detected Yin energy aggregation reaction (Ghoul-level)! Threat level: D!]

[Detected minor mental interference fluctuations!]

The system's alerts confirmed Fang Gang's perception. He followed the direction of the densest yin energy, silently making his way to the third floor.

At the end of the corridor, a slightly ajar door emitted a faint, unnatural yellow light.

Fang Gang held his breath and crept closer, peering through the gap in the door.

The room was covered in dust, and the furniture was decaying. The only anomaly was a large, dust-covered full-length wardrobe mirror directly facing the door.

The mirror clearly reflected the room's scene beneath the dust, but Fang Gang's reflection was conspicuously absent!

And before the mirror, with his back to the door, sat a figure in an old security guard uniform.

He had his head bowed, his shoulders slightly hunched. In his hand, he held a wooden comb stained with dark red blood. He was slowly, meticulously combing his sparse, graying hair, again and again.

Ssssh... Ssssh...

The faint scraping sound of the wooden comb against his scalp was unnervingly clear in the dead silence of the room, possessing a chilling rhythm.

A potent aura of death and resentment emanated from the figure, who was identified as "Uncle Wang."

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

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

He slowly, stiffly turned his head.

In the mirror, a bluish-gray, swollen face covered in corpse spots was reflected!

His eyes were cloudy and lifeless, but his mouth was stretched into an exaggerated, grotesque smile!

The wooden comb in his hand had strands of gray hair still attached to the scalp, along with dark red scabs, caught in its teeth!

"Hee... hee hee..." a scalp-crawling, shrill giggle emanated from the mirror, sounding as if it were directly in Fang Gang's mind!

Simultaneously, Uncle Wang's corpse in reality also turned its head abruptly!

That swollen, dead face turned towards Fang Gang at the doorway, revealing the same eerie smile as the reflection in the mirror!

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

[Warning! Target locked: 'Mirror Ghost (Ghoul-level)'! Threat level: D+!]

[Abilities: Mirror Travel, Mental Interference, Physical Attachment!]

As the system's alarm blared, Fang Gang felt a slight pressure in his head, as if countless icy needles were trying to pierce through, but they were instantly dispersed by his mental strength and the roaring furnace of blood energy within him!

"Playing spooky tricks!" Fang Gang's eyes sharpened. Instead of retreating, he stepped into the room! His perfected Bronze Skin gleamed with a hard, metallic luster in the dim light.

"Screeeech—!" The ghost face in the mirror let out a sharp screech, seemingly enraged by Fang Gang's potent yang energy and fearlessness!

Uncle Wang's corpse in reality lurched to its feet, moving stiffly yet swiftly. It brandished the blood-stained wooden comb like a venom-tipped dagger, a gust of chilling wind accompanying it as it lunged directly for Fang Gang's throat! At the same time, the ghastly claw from the mirror violently pierced through the glass, ignoring the spatial distance, and clawed viciously at Fang Gang's back! He was attacked from both sides!

"Good come!" Fang Gang uttered a low cry, neither dodging nor evading! The perfected Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill roared to life, the might of the elephant surging through his flesh and blood!

He forcefully brought his left arm up to block, like an iron gate, precisely parrying the wooden comb thrust by Uncle Wang's corpse! The comb struck his bronze-colored forearm skin, emitting a crisp clang like metal on metal! It couldn't penetrate even a millimeter!

Simultaneously, he twisted his body and swung his right fist like a cannonball, carrying a sonic boom that tore through the air and a low elephant's roar, smashing fiercely at the ghost claw that had pierced the mirror and was reaching for him from behind! The fist wind was scorching, his blood energy a blazing furnace!

CRACK!!!

A sickening bone-cracking sound and a horrific ghostly wail erupted simultaneously!

That ghost claw from the mirror, under Fang Gang's ferocious elephantine might, was as fragile as a withered branch!

Its five fingers, along with its forearm, were forcibly twisted and deformed, shattering inch by inch! Sticky, foul-smelling black ghost blood splattered out!

"Aow—!!" The ghost face in the mirror let out an excruciating, agonizing howl, its features contorting!

Uncle Wang's corpse in reality also staggered as if struck by a heavy blow, its swollen face contorting in pain!

"Now!" Fang Gang's eyes blazed with sharp light!

Ignoring Uncle Wang's stiff corpse in front of him, he stomped his foot, sending dust exploding from the ground!

His body shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow, propelled by an unstoppable momentum, charging towards the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror! His target was the core of the painfully distorted ghost face within the mirror!

His right fist clenched, all his strength concentrated into a single point. Beneath his bronze skin, his blood and qi surged like raging waves! Above his fist, a tiny, illusory ancient elephant, letting out a sky-shattering roar, vaguely appeared!

"Go to hell... BREAK!!!"

His roar was like thunder! This ultimate punch, imbued with the perfect refinement of his skin, the mastery of his Bronze Skin, the might of the Savage Elephant, and the augmentation of his Qi and Blood Furnace, landed unadorned and with brutal force upon the dusty mirror surface!

BOOM—!!!!!!!!

Like a thunderclap from a clear sky!

The resilient glass mirror, under absolute power, shattered as if made of paper! Countless fragments shot backward like a torrential downpour! The frame twisted and deformed, the entire mirror instantly reduced to dust!

"No—!!!" The ghost face in the mirror let out a despairing, ultimate shriek. The moment the mirror shattered, it was like a pricked balloon, twisting, disintegrating, and transforming into a dense black smoke, laced with countless fragments of resentment and bone-chilling cold, which then violently dispersed!

In reality, Uncle Wang's corpse, at the exact instant the Mirror Ghost was smashed, collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The wooden comb in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter."

[Ding! Killed 'Mirror Ghost (Evil Ghost Rank)'! Gained 60 Evolution Points!]

[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 rejoiced inwardly!

But just as the dense black smoke of the Mirror Ghost's dispersion was about to dissipate, the dark ink line on his arm began to stir again! A greedy suction force erupted!

Several black silk threads, thinner than a strand of hair, shot out from the ink line. Like leeches catching the scent of blood, they instantly pierced into the core of the dispersing black smoke!

Gulp... Gulp...

A horrifying sucking sound arose! The residual essence, resentment, and Yin energy of the Mirror Ghost were frantically devoured! The black smoke thinned and vanished at a visible rate!

And the dark ink line on Fang Gang's arm became more viscous and deep in color, like congealed oil. It instantly spread upwards, covering his entire forearm!

At the end of the ink line, near his shoulder, an extremely tiny, needle-tip-like dark red protrusion vaguely appeared, resembling a... closed eye!

A chilling aura, far colder and more bizarre than before, as if possessing the Mirror Ghost's characteristic of 'peering,' violently erupted! The impact force far exceeded anything before!

Fang Gang grunted, his face instantly turning pale. His body swayed, almost losing his balance! The Qi and Blood Furnace within him violently vibrated!

[Warning! Unknown Yin Energy Erosion intensifying! Merged with Mirror Ghost's core resentment, causing mutation! Threat level breakthrough! Threat Level: B+ (Threshold of Fierce Soul)! Extremely Dangerous!]

[Strongly recommend immediate cleansing or finding a potent Yang object for powerful suppression!]

"Damn it!" Fang Gang cursed under his breath, forcibly steadying himself. He mobilized all his Dragon-Elephant Qi and Blood to suppress the erupting, alien cold force.

He looked at his arm. The dark ink covered his forearm, the red dot at the end like a brand, radiating an ominous presence.

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

He rushed in with several team members, just in time to witness Fang Gang's punch obliterating the giant mirror, the Mirror Ghost dissipating, and Uncle Wang's corpse falling.

And the more ferocious dark ink line on Fang Gang's arm, now covering his entire forearm!

Chen Tao's gaze fixed intently on Fang Gang's arm, especially the tiny red dot at the end. His face changed drastically, and he exclaimed in disbelief, "Soul... Soul Devouring Yin Line?! And the nascent form of a 'Grudge Pupil'?! Brother! You... you've been marked by 'that thing'?!"

Fang Gang turned sharply, his eyes piercing Chen Tao like blades. "You know what this is?!"

Chen Tao felt a jolt from Fang Gang's fierce gaze. He swallowed, pointed at the blood-stained wooden comb beside Uncle Wang's corpse on the ground, and his voice carried an unprecedented solemnity:

"Uncle Wang... he wasn't just an informant... His last report before he went missing... said that in the deepest level of the funeral home's morgue... he saw... a body wearing a red wedding dress, sitting on an ice coffin... combing its hair while looking in a mirror..."

"That thing... is very likely the source! And this Yin line of yours... is the 'trigger' it planted! It's... watching you through this... devouring the power you gain from strengthening yourself!"

Chen Tao's words were like ice water poured over Fang Gang's head!

Fang Gang lowered his head, looking at the dark ink line on his arm, which seemed to writhe like a living creature, the red dot at its end appearing to 'stare' at him. An unprecedented, bone-chilling killing intent, mixed with the fury of being treated as 'prey,' exploded in his chest!