I'll Risk My Life if Worst Comes to Worst

I felt the girl staring malevolently at me with sharp eyes.

I took a deep breath and couldn't help clenching my fists.

Where did Ming Si go? He said he would be by my side, didn't he?

Can he keep his words? He's making a fool of me...

"Sixi, you have to save me!"

A faint female voice came from behind me.

It was Xu Zixi's voice.

I guessed it was her, but I couldn't muster my courage to turn my head and look at her face.

I couldn't help but think of the scene where Xu Zixi jumped off the building. My scalp went numb when I thought of the twisted and distorted posture of her body.

"Shut up!"

The class teacher raised her voice and shouted.

The noisy classroom was quiet down in a moment. Everyone was stunned, looking at the class teacher on the platform. She bent down to pick up the blackboard eraser on the floor and threw it back on the table. She asked in a stern voice, "How come you all are so superstitious? How old are you? How can ghosts exist in this world? If anyone keeps talking about ghosts, you will be punished to stand for a whole afternoon."

One afternoon... A powerful threat.

No one made any more sound just as expected.

I also wanted to behave myself and sit still, but Xu Zixi suddenly rushed towards me. Her badly mutilated face pressed close, until it was right in front of me. Sticky blood was dripping down her chin and dropped exactly on my forehead giving off a rotten smell. I could feel the drop of blood running down my forehead.

I pretended to look straight ahead forcing a calm attitude. I wanted to ignore Xu Zixi's existence, however, Xu Zixi did not stop trying to bother me. Her arm tightly wrapped around my neck exerting force little by little, wishing to strangle me to death.

My throat became tighter and tighter, and I was almost unable to breathe.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't let Xu Zixi kill me like this.

I grabbed her arm and struggled vigorously. My body dropped from the chair to the ground and caused dozens of pairs of eyes to stare at me in shock.

"Ji Sixi, what the blazes are you doing? Get back to your seat."

The class teacher yelled at me.

I wanted to get back to my seat, obediently. Xu Zixi won't let it!

She wanted to strangle me to death...

"Leave me alone, is there anybody who can help me..."

I asked for help while I was holding Xu Zixi's arm. However, I knew that no one could see Xu Zixi's except myself.

"What the hell is this! It's too scary. I want to transfer schools," A boy exclaimed.

Immediately after, everyone left their seats frantically and rushed out of the classroom.

The class teacher's face turned pale with fright. She approached me cautiously.

"What's wrong with you? What's troubling you?"

"Teacher, help me..."

I'm still struggling for help, knowing that she couldn't help me at all.

The teacher looked terrified, "How can I help you?"

"…"

I don't know!

"Come with me."

Xu Zixi leaned in my ear and said viciously.

She did not loosen her arm but dragged me out of the classroom.

The students in the corridor were so frightened that they gave way to me one after another, but none of them dared to approach me.

I was almost dragged out of the classroom by her in a rolling and crawling posture up the stairs.

"What do you want to do? Leave me alone. I will not be easy on you if you don't let go of me."

I yelled at her arduously. I couldn't get away from her even though I was struggling with all my strength.

"I can't wait for next year. I want you to die now."

Xu Zixi's voice was extremely faint. She lost her mind.

She had her eyes on me and wanted me to be her next substitute.

But I didn't want to die yet.

No!

What would happen to my aunty if I died? She did not have any children. She took care of me with all her heart and all her might. Who would take care of her when she was old without me? Even though he had never visited me once, my father was still my biological father after all. I have to take care of him until the end of his life...

Tears filled my eyes as my thoughts raced through my head.

I bit Xu Zixi's arm madly, but she didn't react at all.

She didn't feel pain as she was a dead person.

How should I deal with her to save my life?

I knew that Xu Zixi could still get close to me even though I was wearing a blindfold. But she didn't get close to me before. It was probably because Ming Si had been dangling by my side that she didn't dare to come over but now that Ming Si was nowhere to be found, she finally had the chance that she wanted to kill me, the person who had saved her once.

She was so heartless!

It didn't take much effort for her to drag me to the rooftop.

She dragged me to the edge of the rooftop.

The wind on the rooftop was so strong I could hear the whistling of the wind in my ears.

I gritted my teeth and with both hands grabbed at the safety fence, but Xu Zixi kept pushing me down.

I didn't think she could control me like how Ah Zi controlled her by possessing her mind. She could only force me to fall off the rooftop.

"Fall down," She yelled at me frantically. Her hideous face looked terrifying.

I gritted my teeth and kicked her hard, but my leg just went through her body.

"Fall down!"

She pushed me hard. I felt myself approaching death little by little.

I remembered the ghost subduing talisman in my pocket that Shang Yi gave me, but I didn't have any time to reach out and grab it. I definitely was not able to stand her great force pushing against me once I let go of my hand.

"Xu Zixi, listen to me. I know a master. He is a powerful man. I will ask him to help release your soul from purgatory and send you into reincarnation, okay? You will be tortured in the underworld and can't get into the cycle of reincarnation smoothly if you kill someone. Trust me, just trust me."

I persuaded her with pleasant words. I didn't even know if what I said was true or not, but I thought that since Ah Zi had harmed Xu Zixi, it was a sin. Right now, she was probably facing her inferno-like punishment on the eighteenth-floor underworld where Ming Si was in charge.

"Don't try to fool me, just get down."

She stared at me fiercely, and pried my fingers from the fence one by one tirelessly.

I was plagued by the fear of death.

"Elder brother, come and save me. Save me, I don't want to die..." I shouted desperately.

I didn't know if Ming Si could hear my voice. I was at my wit's end and Ming Si was my last hope.

"Asking for help won't be of any use to you ."

Xu Zixi chuckled coldly. She had successfully made one of my hands lose grip and then grabbed my other hand. I forced myself to put that hand into my pocket and grabbed the ghost subduing talisman. I pasted several pieces of them on her forehead without thinking about it.

" I'll risk my life if worst comes to worst," I yelled with almost all my strength.

Her eyes widened with horror. She didn't seem to expect that I would have a talisman. She lifted her foot and kicked me in the stomach. At that time my grip on the fence loosened unexpectedly.

All of sudden, I tumbled backward as my body lost its support, and fell headfirst toward the ground.

I screamed and my brain went blank.

The last image of Xu Zixi I saw was that she had been taken down by the ghost subduing talisman, but I had already fallen off the roof...

This time I was afraid that I would surely die. All I was left with was a sense of despair and powerlessness.