Wang Liang stared fixedly at the corpse in the earthen pit. The torn envelope proved nothing; it was a letter meant for Li Lengmei.
He hadn't acted immediately because he needed to be one-hundred percent certain that Li Lengmei's corpse was the vessel for that unknown cinematic ghost's descent.
Only after confirming it would he immediately suppress it with supernatural force, pin it down with a coffin nail, and subdue the fierce ghost.
He hadn't suppressed it beforehand out of fear that nailing it too early would cause the cinematic ghost to change locations at the last moment, abandon appearing here, and go somewhere else instead—only creating more trouble in the end.
Otherwise, wouldn't it have been simpler to just nail the coffin nail directly into Li Lengmei's corpse before throwing the envelope? That was the most likely place for the descent to occur.
The mountaintop was deathly silent. No one made a sound, all tensely waiting for the fierce ghost to appear.
The descent count had already changed to 2, but several seconds passed with nothing happening.
This made Wang Liang wonder—had that unknown cinematic ghost simply chosen not to descend here?
"Hah~"
Fang Rui, who had been holding his breath, couldn't help but exhale and spoke hesitantly:
"Looks like nothing's wrong?"
"It's here!"
The moment Fang Rui finished speaking, Wang Liang's gaze sharpened, staring intently at the earthen pit ahead.
Li Lengmei's corpse in the earthen pit was actually fading rapidly, eerily as if it were about to completely vanish into the air.
'Ghost Domain!'
Wang Liang sensed something was wrong and immediately controlled the dozen or so derivative Sadakos surrounding the corpse to pounce forward, while gripping the coffin nail in his hand, ready to find an opportunity to nail it in at any moment.
Black blood flowed from the palms of the derivative Sadakos. In strange, twisted postures, they extended blood-stained hands toward Li Lengmei at their center.
Zhou Kun, standing slightly further back, also watched this scene intently, wondering if this unknown fierce ghost could withstand Wang Liang's terrifying supernatural assault.
But in the next moment, Zhou Kun's eyes widened, as if he had seen something unbelievable.
The fierce ghost hands extended by the derivative Sadakos stabbed into Li Lengmei's body, but it was as if they had grabbed empty air. They had no effect on Li Lengmei whatsoever, passing right through her and pressing against the ground.
They were no longer in the same space as Li Lengmei. This was the power of the Ghost Domain.
Black blood flowed, covering the bottom of the pit. The derivative Sadakos crowded together, filling the earthen pit. The yin-cold chill was something the people standing several meters outside could clearly feel.
But when the Sadakos dispersed, Li Lengmei had already vanished into thin air from within the pit.
"She vanished?!" Seeing this scene, Fang Rui exclaimed.
Zhou Kun said with a grave expression, "It's probably a Ghost Domain. Things have gotten troublesome. The classification for this incident is at least a roaming Class B, maybe even Class A. Wang Liang, can you handle it?"
"No matter what, we must contain it. Everyone, step back."
Wang Liang took a deep breath. Seeing that the descended cinematic ghost showed no signs of attacking them, he had no choice but to take out another white candle from his backpack.
"A candle? No, that's a Ghost Candle! A white Ghost Candle!"
Zhou Kun's expression changed. He had fairly high authority on the headquarters side and recognized that the candle Wang Liang took out was one of Professor Wang's laboratory products, one whose effects were widely criticized.
"The white Ghost Candle attracts fierce ghosts. You're trying to forcefully lure a ghost! Isn't that too risky?!"
"Quickly step back. I can't let this fierce ghost get away. It must be contained as soon as possible, or it'll only become more troublesome." Wang Liang said coldly.
He knew the risk of luring a ghost was immense—it would immediately draw the fierce ghost's attack.
But this cinematic ghost, surrounded by them, showed no intention of attacking whatsoever. It opened a Ghost Domain and left, not giving him any chance to confront it.
He didn't know whether it was because no one here had triggered this cinematic ghost's killing rule, or because of some other, more special reason.
Hadn't they said the cinematic ghost would target him for death?
Did the cinematic ghost also know to seek out puzzle pieces to grow stronger before making its final move?
No matter what, even if he had to take risks, Wang Liang was going to lure this ghost back out.
However, Wang Liang didn't light the white Ghost Candle himself. Instead, he tossed the Ghost Candle and a lighter together to a nearby derivative Sadako. This was also why he had taken out a Ghost Candle rather than a Ghost Bell.
Seeing that Wang Liang had already decided to act this way, Zhou Kun gave Wang Liang a deep look, nodded, and retreated backward.
The three messengers didn't dare to flee directly, but by now they had already spontaneously retreated to a place over thirty meters away.
The hunchbacked old man had also been dragged behind by them—not to save him, but to have one more person nearby to share the risk when suffering a fierce ghost's attack.
Wang Liang didn't retreat a large distance like the others; he only moved a few steps away from the Sadako holding the white Ghost Candle.
Currently, Sadako's supernatural power was incomplete, and the individual supernatural power of each derivative Sadako wasn't strong.
If they couldn't withstand even a bit of that unknown cinematic ghost's supernatural assault, then he would have to personally take the coffin nail, endure the supernatural attack head-on, and nail it in himself.
The derivative Sadako lit the white Ghost Candle in its hand.
Whoosh.
Firelight sprang up, but the flame of this white Ghost Candle after being lit wasn't a normal bright orange—it was a strange gray-black color.
The already dim surroundings were instantly engulfed by an even denser layer of darkness.
The others could barely even see the figure of the derivative Sadako holding the white Ghost Candle at the center—it was practically swallowed by the darkness.
The white Ghost Candle had taken effect. Before the fierce ghost even appeared, Wang Liang felt a yin-cold aura eroding over from the surroundings, and an inexplicable tremor rose in his heart.
Where?!
Wang Liang rapidly scanned ahead, then focused his gaze on a certain spot, his pupils contracting.
There, the corpse of a woman wearing tattered clothing, her body swollen and her skin covered with large and small livor mortis spots, was gradually emerging from the air.
It was Li Lengmei!
Her corpse transformed from transparent to solid, standing seven or eight meters in front of the derivative Sadako holding the Ghost Candle.
In Li Lengmei's originally dead and turbid eyes, there was now a heart-chilling madness and ferocity.
Facing a fierce ghost at this distance was no different from being face-to-face up close. The terrifying killing rule of the unknown fierce ghost immediately took effect on the derivative Sadako holding the Ghost Candle.
Li Lengmei's stiff face twitched. The corners of her mouth split toward both sides, as if pulled by an invisible force, unnaturally twisting upward in a savage grin that didn't stop even as her flesh tore.
Her lips tore open in large swaths, completely ripping both cheeks all the way to her earlobes, revealing yellowed teeth stained with dried blood and bloody gums. Her mouth was hideously split as if cut by a sharp weapon, forming a terrifying gash.
In the darkness of night, the fierce ghost's smile was utterly ghastly and bizarre.
And as the fierce ghost grinned savagely with its split mouth, beneath the black hair of the derivative Sadako shrouded in darkness, its mouth also uncontrollably curved upward. It quickly reached its limit and—rip—tore all the way to its earlobes.
Poof.
This derivative Sadako exploded into a cloud of ash, and the Ghost Candle in its hand dropped to the ground.
The dark flame burning on the white Ghost Candle suddenly swelled, then went out. The intangible supernatural influence caused dense cracks to appear on the wax body, as if it would shatter at a touch.
Too fast. A single derivative Sadako simply couldn't withstand such targeted supernatural assault.
The other dozen or so derivative Sadakos around her had just crawled to Li Lengmei's position when Li Lengmei's form began to fade again, vanishing into the air.
Such a fierce ghost image and attack method finally allowed Wang Liang to know at this moment which cinematic ghost had descended.
'Kuchisake-onna!'
Kuchisake-onna is one of Japan's urban legends. It has very early origins, and in the previous life, one could find similar shadows in many folk tales.
Kuchisake-onna was originally a beautiful woman, but due to some reason, the corners of her mouth were torn all the way to her ears, forming a terrifying gash.
This wound not only ruined her appearance but also plunged her into extreme pain and despair.
Her resentment and pain caused her to transform into a fierce ghost after death, wandering the mortal realm, searching for new victims.
—
Be careful of the easter egg image on the next page!!!
Haha, you all thought it would be Chu Renmei, didn't you? Didn't expect that—it's Kuchisake-onna. I borrowed from the movie version of *Kuchisake-onna Returns*, magically altering some of the plot background.
Wangshan Village, Li Lengmei, the opera stage—at first glance it really looks like Chu Renmei, but haha, it really is a coincidence.
Wangshan Village at least has a mountain in that Kuchisake-onna movie version too; the opera stage was just something necessary for funerals, mentioned casually.
As for Li Lengmei, this was really just randomly named, thought up casually in my head. I felt the character *Leng* was pretty nice, so I used it. It was only later when reading comments that I realized—whoa, Mei! Aunt Mei! I suspect Chu Renmei is already influencing reality through supernatural means, hinting at me.
You all know that in *Mysterious Revival*, there's also a sign-in book that writes about cinematic ghosts. I even got the idea to write this after reading that book. That book focuses on Chu Renmei, so for this book I wanted to focus on other things, which is why I didn't choose Chu Renmei for the second one.
As for Kuchisake-onna's abilities, including Sadako's abilities from before, you've all been guessing which movie version's abilities they are. But honestly, if we really followed the movie versions, things like telekinesis, gravity, hair, mind, dreams, fear, curses—a single ghost would cover many abilities of other cinematic ghosts. If they were really all attributed to one ghost, it wouldn't be very interesting.
So, the abilities of the cinematic ghosts I write are all based on what the public remembers most deeply about them—like Sadako's image crawling out, Kuchisake-onna's slit mouth. At most, they derive some movie abilities. If you have to describe it, it's the *Mysterious Revival* version of cinematic ghosts! The abilities each have their own focus.
Finally, there's an easter egg image attached after this chapter. If you're reading at midnight, please mentally prepare yourselves, over.