Chapter 33: Qian Family Village (3)

Xiao Ke’ai slammed on the brakes just outside Qian Family Village. With a puzzled expression, she turned to Wu Zui and asked, “Is something wrong here, Master?”

“There’s a spirit’s confinement space forming ahead. We need to be careful!” Wu Zui replied, producing a small magnetic field device. He placed it into the square recess on the car’s dashboard, making it easy to activate whenever needed.

Once the device was secured and switched on, the two continued their drive into Qian Family Village. Overhead, a thin layer of black mist hung in the sky, enveloping the entire village. Though the confinement space had yet to fully materialize, its scale already surpassed that of the three-star lizard anomaly by far.

As Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai entered the village, a ghostly image appeared outside the forming confinement space—a vengeful spirit from a car accident that had been following them. The spirit gazed at the growing barrier with a hint of fear in its expression. After some hesitation, it chose not to enter, instead crouching just outside. It still hungered after the newly awakened magnetic energy in Xiao Ke’ai and Wu Zui.

Inside the village, the houses were deathly silent. There were no human voices, not even the sounds of animals; the whole place was a desolate ghost town. Wisps of black smoke seeped from beneath the houses, hastening the formation of the confinement space.

Wu Zui didn’t get out to search. Instead, he took out his phone and dialed the number of the person who’d reported the incident. An automated voice informed him the phone was switched off. He surmised there were probably no survivors left in Qian Family Village.

According to the regulations of the Spirit Anomaly Division, those who reported such incidents were responsible for guiding spirit investigators to the scene, and any details unclear over the phone would be explained in person. The fact that the phone was off meant the odds of finding any living people here were slim.

“Master! The vengeful energy is forming a much stronger confinement space now!” Xiao Ke’ai exclaimed as the resentment in the air surged after their arrival.

From their perspective, black smoke now seeped not only from the houses but even from cracks in the road. The previously incomplete barrier was now rapidly solidifying.

“Let’s check if anyone’s left alive. If anything seems off, we’ll retreat immediately! The spirits here are clearly more dangerous than expected—this is not just a three-star anomaly. We may be outmatched,” Wu Zui said, eyeing the surrounding houses.

His vision worked differently from ordinary people’s—in every house, he saw plumes of smoke rising above as if from human heads. But given the circumstances, there was no way so many living people remained. The meaning was clear: these were traps set by the spirits to lure them in. Such a vast illusion and complex confinement space was far beyond the capability of a three-star ghost.

“That house! Let’s go!” Wu Zui pointed at a nearby wooden door.

With a stomp on the gas, Xiao Ke’ai crashed the car straight through. Inside were three people with vacant stares—two elderly and a child, likely grandparents and grandson.

The moment the car’s magnetic field touched them—

Piercing screams erupted from their throats, and black smoke poured from their bodies. As newly formed spirits, they were powerless against the small magnetic device; the impact alone was enough to annihilate them.

The three nascent ghosts in front of Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai quickly dissipated into wisps of smoke.

Their suspicions confirmed, Wu Zui urged, “Turn around—let’s get out, quickly!”

“Understood!” Xiao Ke’ai responded, spinning the car around and speeding toward the village entrance.

Their attempt to escape instantly provoked the other spirits lurking in Qian Family Village. Ghostly figures, visible even to the naked eye, poured out from courtyards, trailing thick streams of black smoke as they chased the fleeing car.

At that moment, in the center square of the village, a monstrous black-silk ghost revealed itself. A massive, pitch-black coffin floated abruptly in the air, countless threads of darkness stretching from it to every corner of the village, ready to seize full control.

The entire Qian Family Village was now under the black threads extending from the coffin. Controlled by these threads, innumerable spirits surged toward Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai—each a newly transformed, human-shaped phantom, drifting in relentless pursuit.

Xiao Ke’ai raced the car ahead, but the uneven roads slowed her down; the spirits behind gained ground with every bump. At last, they neared the village gate—just as they were about to escape—

Bang!

The car slammed into something invisible and stalled, the engine dying instantly. The sudden jolt nearly sent them flying, but their seatbelts and the sturdy, investigator-issued vehicle kept them safe.

But the confinement space was now complete.

“Master, I don’t think we can get out!” Xiao Ke’ai said, her face falling with worry as she looked at the black energy sealing off the entire village.

Clang, clang, clang—

Attacks struck the car from all sides. The blue magnetic field rippled with each impact. Without the magnetic device, they wouldn’t even have time to speak, much less fight; they’d be overrun by the spirits in an instant.

“We’ll deal with the ghosts chasing us first, then see if we can find a way out!” Wu Zui said, watching the relentless phantoms outside.

He drew a fresh golden longsword and slashed his wrist, blood spurting onto the blade. “Hand me your hammers!” he told Xiao Ke’ai.

“Here you go, Master. And the bandages!” she replied, passing over both her hammers and the medical kit’s bandage.

Wu Zui smeared his blood on the weapons, then filled a mineral water bottle with his own blood before binding his wound.

“Take this. Don’t hold back—your master has plenty of blood!” he said, handing the bottle to Xiao Ke’ai.

“Alright,” she replied softly, glancing at his pale lips.

“After killing the spirits nearby, get back in the car immediately—no chasing, understood?” Wu Zui reminded her, seeing she was still distracted.

“Yes!” Xiao Ke’ai straightened, responding obediently.

[Come on! I can’t always let Master bleed for us!]

They stepped out. As soon as they left the car’s protective field, the spirits lunged. The small magnetic generators woven into their trench coats activated, forming a faint blue membrane around them.

In a situation like this, technique was meaningless; against so many enemies, brute force was all that mattered. The sword and hammers swung in wide arcs.

With Wu Zui’s blood on their weapons, the ghosts—though bolstered by the confinement space—stood no chance. Any spirit struck by his blood was engulfed in red flames within three seconds, and within thirty, consumed entirely.

The phantoms around them were swiftly dispatched. Breathing heavily, Wu Zui and Xiao Ke’ai still had plenty of magnetic energy left, thanks to his blood.

They dared not use too much magnetic power, wary that if their coat’s defenses ran out before the ghosts were all destroyed, they might be caught off guard and possessed—then their deaths would be tragically meaningless.

Once the area was clear, Wu Zui approached the edge of the confinement space and slashed at the black wall with his blood-smeared golden sword.

A hissing sound, like red-hot iron plunged into water, filled the air. A burst of red flames bored a fist-sized hole in the wall of resentment, but the black energy quickly retaliated, snuffing out the flames and sealing the breach in less than five seconds.

At this rate, even if Wu Zui drained himself dry, the holes would never be wide enough for a person to escape—perhaps not even a child.

For a moment, it seemed they were truly trapped. Wu Zui’s resolve hardened.

“Get in! We’re heading to the center of the village—where the resentment is strongest. The most powerful spirit must be there. If the barrier is this tough, I refuse to believe its true body is as durable. No matter how much resentment it has, it can’t withstand everything!”

He climbed into the car, Xiao Ke’ai following him as they charged toward the massive black coffin at the village’s heart. They stopped a little over ten meters away, remaining inside with the magnetic field running, observing but not stepping out.

The center of Qian Family Village was a circular square paved with cement, surrounded by exercise equipment—likely used by villagers for leisure and activities.

Now, at the very center, ten meters in the air, hovered the black coffin. Countless dark threads spilled from its seams, feeding into the weaker spirits nearby, drawing in resentment to nurture and strengthen itself.

“Master, it’s too high up—we can’t reach it!” Xiao Ke’ai said, disheartened after estimating the distance.

“Do you have any hair ties or clips?” Wu Zui asked, eyeing her pigtails.

“Yes,” she replied, puzzled, but handed over her small box of hair bands and clips.

Wu Zui set the box aside in the car, then carefully got out. Strangely, the black threads from the coffin didn’t attack him. He quickly picked up two branches by the roadside and returned to the car.

Soon, he had fashioned a slingshot from the hair ties, clips, and branches. It wasn’t especially powerful, but it could definitely reach ten meters up.