Chapter 7

The shock didn’t end there. When they turned their attention back to the small plate, they were astonished to see that it was moving on its own, its speed increasing with each passing moment. However, no matter how fast it moved, whenever it reached the word “death” on the paper, it would stop for a few seconds before continuing its movement. “Zhang Dong, what should we do now?” Mei Yi said in terror. “The path the plate is following clearly indicates that the spirit is warning us—it wants us to die!” At this moment, Zhang Dong was sweating profusely from fear, but he knew even more clearly that if he couldn’t think of a solution, the three of them would likely meet their end right there. His mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. After a while, he finally thought of something. “Mei Yi, we should try to send the spirit away!” “Can we still send the spirit away now?” Mei Yi asked in disbelief. “No choice,” Zhang Dong said, his face tense. “In this situation, even if we have to try something desperate, we have to act!” He quickly reached out his finger and pressed it on the small plate, whispering, “Disc spirit! Disc spirit! Please return to your place! Please return to your place!” He called out several times, and eventually, Mei Yi joined in, but it still had no effect. Eventually, they gave up, and to their surprise, after they completely gave up, the small plate mysteriously stopped moving. However, this time, it didn’t stop at “death,” but at “danger.” “Danger? What does that mean?” Zhang Dong asked in confusion. Mei Yi didn’t pay attention to Zhang Dong’s confusion. At that moment, she suddenly noticed that something was wrong with Chen Xue, who had been standing nearby with her head lowered, seemingly in a trance. “Chen Xue, what’s wrong? Chen Xue!” “Hehehe!” Chen Xue let out three cold laughs and slowly raised her head. As she did, Mei Yi was horrified to see blood flowing from all seven of her facial orifices. “Chen Xue, what happened to you?” Mei Yi exclaimed, shocked. “Why is blood coming out of your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth?” “Are you sick?” Zhang Dong also saw Chen Xue’s condition and asked with concern. Chen Xue’s lips moved, and after a long while, she finally managed to utter a few words, “Let… me… go…” Her voice was not only slurred, but sounded like a man’s voice, completely different from Chen Xue’s usual tone. Seeing this, Mei Yi, who had read many supernatural stories, immediately realized that Chen Xue was likely possessed by a spirit. Panicking, she turned to Zhang Dong. “Zhang Dong, let’s leave this place right now! This place is too haunted!” “Okay!” Zhang Dong strongly agreed with Mei Yi. They turned to Chen Xue and said, “Chen Xue, let’s go!” They quickly grabbed her hand and rushed outside. Perhaps due to their extreme fear, when they finally ran out of the factory, they were gasping for breath. Mei Yi suggested they take a break before leaving, and Zhang Dong agreed. They rested in front of a nearby house. After catching her breath, Mei Yi turned to Zhang Dong and said, “That was too close! I almost thought we wouldn’t make it out alive!” “Yeah!” Zhang Dong replied, still shaken. “I’ve never experienced anything so terrifying before!” “This is all Chen Xue’s fault!” Mei Yi said angrily. “If she hadn’t asked the spirit how it died, we wouldn’t have been in such a mess. That question is a major taboo for the spirit! Chen Xue, are you listening? Next time we play the disc spirit game, don’t ever ask that question, understand? Chen Xue? Chen Xue!” After speaking for a while, Mei Yi realized that Chen Xue was no longer beside them. She quickly turned to Zhang Dong and said, “Zhang Dong, where’s Chen Xue? You were holding her hand, weren’t you?” “I was holding her hand!” Zhang Dong said, turning around. When he saw that Chen Xue was nowhere to be seen, he was shocked. “Where is she? Where did she go?” “I should be asking you that!” Mei Yi said irritably. Zhang Dong thought for a moment and said, “If I’m not mistaken, Chen Xue must have been controlled by the spirit and returned to the factory.” “If that’s the case, what are we doing here? Let’s hurry back and find her!” Mei Yi yelled. They rushed back to the factory, to the very spot where they had been playing the disc spirit game. To their relief, they found Chen Xue there. She seemed strangely familiar with the place. Not only did she find a rope about the size of a finger, but she also found a half-rotten chair. She took the rope and the chair, walked under a high support frame, placed the chair, and then stood on it, slowly wrapping the rope around the frame. It was clear she was preparing to hang herself! Seeing this, Zhang Dong and Mei Yi rushed to stop her, but suddenly, Chen Xue’s strength had increased significantly. Despite using all their strength, they couldn’t stop her. In desperation, Zhang Dong bit his middle finger and pressed the blood from his finger onto Chen Xue’s forehead. Those familiar with folk exorcism methods knew that blood from the middle finger carried a strong yang energy and could drive away evil spirits. By pressing his blood on Chen Xue’s forehead, Zhang Dong managed to expel the spirit that had possessed her. Indeed, just a few seconds later, there was a sharp crack, and the small plate they had used for the game suddenly exploded. Mei Yi glanced at it and saw a small patch of blood on it. The blood was bright red, as if it had just flowed from a human body. After the plate shattered, Chen Xue let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed, her strength draining away. This allowed Zhang Dong and Mei Yi to pull her down from the broken chair. Once she was down, Chen Xue began to vomit violently. Mei Yi glanced at what she had thrown up and nearly fainted. What she had vomited wasn’t stomach acid, but piles and piles of maggots, the kind usually found on corpses. “What are you two doing here?” Just as Mei Yi and Zhang Dong were horrified by what Chen Xue had vomited, a loud voice suddenly came from outside. Mei Yi and Zhang Dong froze in fear. “Could it be that the spirit has returned?” Mei Yi cautiously turned toward the voice and was relieved to see that it was one of the factory’s guards, Uncle Fu. “Uncle Fu, thank goodness you’re here! Please tell me, what’s wrong with my friend?” She quickly explained the events of the day to him. Uncle Fu didn’t hold back and immediately gave her a slap on the head. “You three are too bold! How dare you play with the disc spirit here! Do you know that one of the workers here hanged himself? The spirit you summoned is his restless soul!” “We know we were wrong, but what should we do now?” “What to do? Of course, you need to buy some paper money and candles and make an offering to him!” Following Uncle Fu’s instructions, Mei Yi and Zhang Dong bought a lot of paper money and candles and burned them at the spot where the worker had hanged himself. After that, Mei Yi and the others never returned to the factory, and they never played any more spirit games.