WQW: I’m telling you he’s not possessed!
QQQ: What are you talking about?! We can literally see a whole group of ghosts clinging to him with the bare eye!
WQW: I tested him with every sword, he’s not—
LQG: Well if he’s not possessed then what is this?
YQY: Don’t worry Xiao-Jiu, I’m sure we’ll figure out how to fix this….
MQF: Hey hey hey let’s all stay calm… please…
QQQ: And what’s up with you, ah? You can barely keep your babbling mouth shut most of the time and all of a sudden you’re quiet as a mouse.
All eyes turned to Shang Qinghua. All of them carried expectant gazes like he could magically fix this bizarre situation. A very strange group of ghosts had made their way onto Cang Qiong Mountain. They were neither malicious nor resentful; actually they didn’t really do anything but stick to Shen Qingqiu. It was truly a strange sight to behold. They were almost entirely white in color, faces distorted or gone entirely, bodies far too small and dressed in the simplest of garments.
They looked like children who had died before they even understood the concepts of life and death and their identities. Well, they looked like that because that’s exactly what they were.
SQQ: You do know something don’t you? Spit it out already, you rat!
SQH: Ah— that— so I— Shen Shixiong, they’re harmless I promise!
YQY: Shang shidi, if you know how to resolve this…
SQH: Oh no. No no no. Let’s just— let’s just wait and see? They really are harmless so—
SQQ: What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just wait and see?
MQF: Shang shidi, please.
LQG, QQQ & SQQ: Shang Qinghua!
SQH: Okay, look. You won’t like what I know about them and it doesn’t really help to get rid of them anyway so how about we—
SQH: Okay okay okay but you gotta promise to not kill me!
SQQ: Urgh I promise. Now talk.
SQH: Well, okay, so… I can’t— I don’t really remember what they’re called right now but… I have actually, unfortunately encountered them before. They really are harmless. These ghosts they… stem from children who died very young. Like really young. Usually in slow, brutal ways… torture, assault, those things…. All they really do is cling to each other for comfort and flow from place to place.
The room stayed quiet for a moment.
SQQ: And? Why are they sticking to me?
SQH: That— I— You really don’t want me to say it, Shixiong…
SQH: Allright, fine. Don’t blame me. Sometimes… they’ll consider living people one of their own and kling to them. Only difference being, the living person survived the kinds of things that killed them…
