Chapter 85: The First Kill of the Ghost!
The Birth Ghost was a tragedy of two lives lost at once—a mother who had died during childbirth. What she cradled inside that stained cloth bag was her unborn baby, and her endless torment came directly from that loss.
Lin Huai found it hard to raise her weapon against her. In life, this woman had suffered enough; in death, she did not deserve to be cut down like a common monster. Before Lin Huai could speak, however, the Birth Ghost raised her clawed fingers and struck without mercy.
“Living mortals… killed… my child… All of you… must… die!”
The monster unleashed an ear-splitting shriek. The psychic blast slammed into the cavern, making many players stumble as their heads spun with nausea and confusion.
Her twisted body blurred into a vengeful shadow. Gathering dark wind around itself, the shadow dissolved into a streak of black smoke and whistled straight toward the line of vehicles!
“Hold that shadow down!” Lin Huai shouted over the noise. “Brother Long, Old Wang, focus on the main body with me! Everyone else, clear out the small minions!”
On top of the hearse, the jade coffin’s lid opened slightly, and its energy cannon began gathering a dark, pulsing light.
The battle erupted in an instant.
The Birth Ghost summoned an endless tide of dark-green Ghost Infants, which scrambled out from every fissure in the rock.
The vengeful shadow proved even more dangerous. Standard physical attacks passed right through its misty form. To land a solid hit, the squad had to rely on enchanted weapons and mithril rounds. Yet the shadow darted across the cavern walls like a lightning bug, making it nearly impossible to pin down.
The fight quickly turned brutal. The Birth Ghost had massive health and thick natural armor, and her cursed strikes were unpredictable. Several ordinary players from the district died on the spot when the shadowy claws ripped through their lines.
“This isn’t working!” Dragon Emerging from the Sea yelled, firing a heavy rocket into the dust. “Her real core has to be that child in the bag! If we don’t destroy it, she’ll just keep getting back up!”
Lin Huai knew the boss’s mechanics by heart, but she immediately waved him off. “Don’t shoot the bag! If the infant dies, the Birth Ghost will detonate herself, and nobody in this cave will survive the blast!”
In her previous life, Chen Feng had not yet stolen her coffin. He was still playing the role of the devoted partner, and they had fought this exact boss together.
Back then, Chen Feng had destroyed the bundle. The resulting explosion wiped out almost their entire team, and Lin Huai had only survived by sealing herself inside her jade casket. It was that very miracle that had planted the seeds of greed in Chen Feng’s heart, making him obsess over taking the coffin for himself.
Stepping into this den again, she refused to make the same mistake.
From the second she saw the creature, Lin Huai’s eyes had never left the bloody bundle. Inside that cloth lay not just an unborn child, but a mother’s dying love and last tether to the world.
The answer had to be the baby.
Setting her jaw, Lin Huai stepped out of the hearse and walked forward, keeping her war scythe at her side.
While the Birth Ghost darted through the air as black smoke, she had placed the blood-soaked bag safely inside a thick web deep within the bone cavern.
“Brother Long, Old Wang, keep her occupied,” Lin Huai whispered into her comms. “I’m going to grab that bundle. You two draw her fire.”
“On it!” Dragon Emerging from the Sea called back.
“Leave it to us!” Old Wang added.
The two drove their heavy vehicles forward, positioning Old Wang’s massive truck directly between the monster and Lin Huai, shielding her from view.
The surrounding players unleashed a fresh volley of gunfire, successfully pulling the spirit’s attention away from the web.
The moment Lin Huai’s fingers closed around the rough cloth, the Birth Ghost lost all reason. Dropping her misty form, her hideous, emaciated shape reappeared as she dove madly toward the back of the cave.
“My child… my baby… Keep your hands off my baby!”
The shriek tore at Lin Huai’s ears. Wincing against the pain, she clamped one hand over her ear and used the other to lift the heavy bundle from the web.
To her surprise, the sack had real weight and substance. It was not a spirit illusion; she could touch it with her own hands.
Dragon Emerging from the Sea shouted through the channel, “Hit her with everything! Don’t let her break through the line!”
He glanced toward the nest, his voice tense: “Boss, she’s gone completely wild! Did you get the child? Hurry!”
Lin Huai’s hands trembled as she untied the soaked cloth. Inside lay an infant, its skin cold and mottled with shades of deep blue and purple.
She lifted the tiny body out into the open. The second her fingertips felt its cold, still skin, her heart skipped a beat.
This was not an apparition or an evil spirit.
It was a real, physical corpse.
Right then, the Birth Ghost tore through the line of fire, ignoring the bullets ripping through her flesh. But the moment she broke into the clearing and saw the child resting in Lin Huai’s arms, she froze.
She came to a halt barely a meter away, her bloodshot eyes locked onto the small bundle. “My child… give me my baby…”
Having traveled with Old Lin to collect and care for the dead since she was a little girl, Lin Huai had seen plenty of grieving mothers. She had watched women weep until they had no tears left, wishing only to follow their little ones into the earth. Looking at the monster before her, she felt nothing but deep sorrow.
She cradled the quiet infant gently in her arms, looking up at the Birth Ghost with a soft, reassuring smile. “See? He is resting peacefully. I won’t hurt him.”
She gestured toward the vehicle waiting nearby. “I am an undertaker, and I have a proper coffin. I can take your child into my care, put his spirit to rest, and make sure he never suffers the pain of this world again.”
The hatred on the Birth Ghost’s pale face slowly melted into a blank, quiet confusion. She stared at the green jade casket, trying to understand whether the human was telling the truth.
Lin Huai reached into her coat with one hand and pulled out her official undertaker’s badge. “See this? I have an official permit. I can carry him to a peaceful graveyard. I promise you, he will have a proper burial.”
With a gentle wave of her hand, the emerald coffin floated down from the hearse, settling softly onto the cavern floor.
Under the mother’s watchful gaze, Lin Huai leaned down and carefully placed the tiny, stillborn child inside the velvet-lined casket.
“You see? He won’t have to wander as a lonely spirit anymore,” Lin Huai said softly. “Once his soul finds peace, he will be ready to step into the cycle of rebirth, grow up safely, and live a full life…”
The Birth Ghost drifted over the rim of the casket, thick tears of dark crimson streaming down her hollow cheeks.
“He… will grow up…” she whispered, her voice trembling. “My baby will finally… get to grow up…”
Her presence grew fainter with every word. Looking up, she offered Lin Huai a genuine, peaceful smile before her entire body dissolved into shimmering dust, scattering into the gentle mountain breeze.
A moment later, the loud chime of the instance broadcast rang through the cavern:
[Congratulations to players Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice, Dragon Emerging from the Sea, If You’re Bad, Practice More, Old Wang from Building Materials, Cute and Sparkling, and Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar for achieving the First Kill of the Birth Ghost!]
“The Boss did it!”
“Boss Bone Ashes is unstoppable!”
Loud cheers broke out across the cave as the surviving drivers waved their weapons in celebration.
Even after the mother faded away, however, the swarms of pale Ghost Infants crawling across the stone floor did not vanish. The other survivors assumed the battle was over and began clapping each other on the back; even Dragon Emerging from the Sea stepped down from his turret, laughing with Old Wang beside the truck.
Only Lin Huai remained completely on guard.
She kept her eyes fixed on the sea of infants sitting silently around them. The mother was gone, yet the minions had not scattered.
That could only mean one thing: the entity truly controlling this terrifying horde was the tiny stillborn child resting inside her coffin!
