Chapter 24: All Puffed Up—What Are You Doing, Uncle?
Learning that her precious grandson had been harmed by a “familiar face,” and had nearly lost his life because of it, Auntie Zhou’s anger overwhelmed her fear.
“Why would you hurt our Shuai Shuai? He always greeted you as Sister Huihui whenever he saw you! How could you try to kill him? How can you be so vicious?” Auntie Zhou shouted angrily at the faintly trembling talisman.
The water ghost felt wronged and said to Su Keke, “I didn’t hurt Shuai Shuai. His luck was too low—after being frightened, he lost his soul on his own.”
“But you were trying to take over his body just now,” Su Keke said bluntly.
The water ghost paused, then explained, “I only wanted to borrow Shuai Shuai’s body for a bit, to say a few words to my parents.”
Su Keke pursed her lips. “You think I’d believe that ghostly nonsense?”
Water ghost: …
“Once you realized that after dying you couldn’t reincarnate and could only stay in that icy cold water, you regretted it, didn’t you?”
Su Keke snorted. “I really hate people like you who kill themselves the moment they can’t think things through. Life is the most precious thing in the world—everyone only gets one. Since you didn’t cherish it, you deserve to be stripped of the right to reincarnate.”
Seeing everyone in the room looking at her—including her uncle—Su Keke explained, “Souls of those who commit suicide cannot reincarnate, because suicide is a form of disrespect toward life, a refusal to take responsibility for it. Unless—”
She fixed her gaze on the water ghost. “Unless they find a substitute within a certain period of time. Otherwise, they can only remain wandering spirits forever, never reincarnating, until their souls grow weaker and weaker and eventually dissipate into heaven and earth. And among all ghosts who died by suicide, water ghosts are the most likely to find substitutes. They only need to drag a replacement into the water and cling to them tightly. In eight or nine cases out of ten, the substitute will drown alive.”
Chen Yujuan and Auntie Zhou both broke out in cold sweats.
If the adults hadn’t warned the children not to play by the river lately, wouldn’t this water ghost have already found a substitute?
“I haven’t harmed anyone!” Xue Hui said urgently.
Su Keke pointed at the ghost-suppressing talisman stuck to her. “If you had harmed someone, what’s stuck to you wouldn’t be a ghost-suppressing talisman, but a Five Thunder Talisman that could reduce you to ashes on the spot.”
Of course Su Keke knew she hadn’t killed anyone.
If she had, she would be tainted with baleful energy. But this female ghost only had yin energy, not killing aura.
Besides, if she really had harmed someone, she would have already found a substitute and gone off to reincarnate. There’d be no reason for her to still be here.
Whether this ghost never had the chance to harm anyone, or simply didn’t want to, Su Keke chose not to judge for now.
Her master often said that many ghosts, after wandering too long, would lose all traces of humanity and turn into evil spirits.
If you encountered something like that, you could eliminate it even without taking payment—because that was doing good, earning merit.
“I really only wanted to borrow Shuai Shuai’s body to say a few words to my parents,” Xue Hui pleaded. “Master, could you please grant me this one wish?”
Su Keke’s little face turned cold—very cold—as she gave a curt answer: “No.”
“This child is already frail and unlucky. If you possess him again, aren’t you afraid that a surge of yin energy will overwhelm him and kill him outright?”
“…I—I didn’t think that far.”
“Selfish ghost. Suicide is selfish, and ignoring others just to get what you want is selfish too.” Su Keke puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
Suddenly, Qin Mochen reached out and poked her puffed-up cheek.
The swollen cheeks instantly deflated.
“What are you doing, Uncle? I’m educating a ghost here,” Su Keke said, pouting as she looked at him.
