Chapter 123: Respond to Me. Fixated on the Origin of the Severed Hand

Upon hearing this, those present wore varied expressions.

But how else to explain the boldness of American high schoolers? After a brief hesitation, everyone’s eyes lit up with eagerness—they clearly wanted to experience for themselves just how incredibly, incredibly, incredibly satisfying Helie’s description had been.

Nancy, sitting on the sofa, suddenly felt the urge to leave, for this description reminded her of a drug—addiction.

Moreover, for some reason, she harbored a persistent sense of dread, a feeling urging her to flee this place.

At that moment, a beeping sound interrupted the atmosphere; Vice President Rebecca suddenly received a call, “What? My brother?”

After hanging up, Rebecca rushed out in a panic, clearly frantic.

Nancy had planned to leave with her, but saw her friend Patricia, the Student Council’s treasurer, still eager to try, clearly intending to be the next one.

She hesitated, then sighed—fine, take Patricia with her.

Meanwhile, Helie gave Christina a glance; Christina understood and moved near Nancy.

Helie continued explaining, “This arm has one taboo: it must not be used for more than ninety seconds, or the soul will refuse to leave. So someone must time it and blow out the candle promptly.”

“Alright, Mia, are you truly ready to begin?”

Mia was frightened, but seeing everyone’s gazes, she took a deep breath for the first time under such attention, forcing a carefree smile, “Of course, come on, my babies! Watch closely!”

“Ooooh!”

“Mia! You’re amazing!”

“After this event, I’ll invite you for a drink.”

“Mia! Hurry up!”

“…”

Those cheering, feigning praise, joking, and delighting in chaos…

The crowd shouted all kinds of things.

Mia, immersed in the crowd’s adulation, sat down with a grin; Helie strapped Mia to the chair with a belt.

Then, the candle was lit.

At this moment, Nancy was still desperately trying to pull Patricia away, but Patricia found the game fascinating—she even wanted to expose the organizer, Christina, and make her lose face.

Finally, Mia tentatively grasped the ceramic severed hand.

“Respond to me.”

In the next blink, a dying old man with glazed eyes suddenly appeared before Mia; he extended his hand to shake hers, his terrifying face startling her into instinctively releasing her grip—the old man vanished.

“Mia? You’re not scared, are you?”

“If you can’t do it, let Nancy from the Student Council demonstrate for us,” the students began chanting again.

Meeting the onlookers’ stares, Mia suddenly retorted, “No need—I’ll go first!”

Saying this, she gripped the hand again.

“Respond to me.”

This time, a bloated, rotting female ghost oozing pus appeared—drenched, unmistakably drowned; she grinned with a gaping mouth.

“I permit you to possess me.”

Though terrified, Mia spoke the words.

WHOOSH!!

As she spoke, Mia collapsed onto the sofa, pupils dilated, as if unconscious; moments later, she shook her head, wearing a meaningless grin and shouting at the crowd—completely euphoric, as if her soul had soared to heaven.

The crowd marveled, cheering like spectators at a spectacle.

Suddenly,

her shaking head stilled; her gaze locked onto Nancy. “Behind you, there are many people.”

“The scent… is delicious.”

“They all love you.”

Faced with these bizarre words and the crowd’s stunned stares, Nancy suddenly felt an indescribable suffocation; waves of inexplicable dizziness surged through her mind. She violently yanked her hand free from Patricia’s and fled out the door like a hunted animal.

But Christina blocked her at the door.

Patricia now felt regret—this didn’t seem good for Nancy at all, and this game… was it real? Did souls truly exist?!

But the game had already begun; the atmosphere was heated—she couldn’t stop it now.

She could only stand up and help Nancy struggle against Christina.

At this moment, time had reached eighty seconds; Helie rushed forward to remove the hand.

But an accident occurred—whether due to Mia’s weak will or the drowned ghost’s strength, the ghost clung tightly to the hand with terrifying force, refusing to let go.

Only after three or four students joined in could they finally pry it loose; Helie blew out the candle at that instant.

But… time had exceeded ninety seconds…

Everyone stared at Mia; Mia slowly came to, looking somewhat drained but clearly unharmed.

She grinned, “Hah! That was amazing!”

“Woooh!!”

“Ooooh!”

“My turn! My turn!”

Christina forcibly pushed Nancy forward, trying to make her participate, but Nancy was genuinely furious—she slapped Christina across the face.

SLAP!

A bright red palm print swelled rapidly on her cheek.

“You hit me?”

“You dare hit me?”

“Bitch! You’re asking for death!”

The two women began fighting—shoving, pulling hair, slapping, tearing clothes, scratching faces…

Meanwhile, most others ignored them entirely, engrossed in their own games, savoring the euphoria of soul departure—faces ecstatic, bodies swaying as if floating in the sky.

One after another, they took turns—enjoying it, enjoying it, enjoying it!

The entire scene descended into utter chaos.

Suddenly,

Christina at the door shoved hard, sending Nancy stumbling forward; she fell to the ground and, from the outside, grabbed the severed hand’s fingers.

Seeing this, Christina gritted her teeth and shouted, “Respond to me!”

“…”

Nothing strange happened. Nancy stood up expressionlessly. “Bitch!”

She picked up the hand and hurled it at Christina—THUD!

Blood spattered everywhere.

Aaaahhh!

Screams, shouts, euphoric cries—all sounds merged.

The scene finally plunged into absolute chaos.

No one knew how that night ended, only that Christina was carried out sideways, beaten by Nancy—Nancy’s combat prowess was monstrous; no one could hold her back. Rumor had it that in the end, Christina begged on her knees in tears before Nancy finally released her.

Also, the severed hand vanished during the chaos.

…

The next day, Louis, having just returned from the Rebirth Prison and preparing to order large quantities of peach wood to craft tools against evil spirit phasing, saw Yulencan waiting for him at his door.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked as he sat on the sofa and turned on the TV.

Yulencan sat naturally beside him; since the curse was cast, she no longer feared Louis and appeared casual.

“I attended the Student Council event last night—Christina, that idiot…”

“Now several of my followers are telling me about last night’s incident—the spirit summoning game was real; it actually summoned souls. But Christina, that idiot, failed—instead, she got beaten senseless by Nancy and now seems to have taken leave to go home.”

After hearing Yulencan’s words, Louis narrowed his eyes.

“You mean this severed hand can summon souls?”

“Yes—if they didn’t lie to me,” Yulencan confirmed.

Louis instantly became interested.

Summon souls? Is there such a thing?

Since acquiring the Ghost-Eating Witchcraft, Louis had been searching for evil spirits—but unfortunately, they were hard to find.

As his grandfather said, not all souls remain in the mortal world; even those who choose to stay due to various reasons are mostly soothed unconsciously by church masses.

Besides, Louis couldn’t possibly drip cow’s tears and scour the world—efficiency and practical conditions made it impossible!

Until now, Louis had only absorbed two recently corrupted souls.

Even so, those two freshly corrupted souls had left him deeply euphoric, his spirit invigorated, his cultivation pace slightly accelerated. If he could obtain more and stronger evil spirits, his cultivation speed would accelerate further—perhaps even noticeably!

Thus, Louis was deeply interested in this hand that could summon souls.

“Tell me everything.”

Seeing Louis interested, Yulencan smiled and began speaking slowly.

After listening, Louis said, “So the hand is probably still with those partygoers. Yulencan, have your sisters investigate.”

“Also, find out who brought the hand—and trace its origins.”

With that, Louis began making calls.

While Louis searched for the hand, in a certain neighborhood,

Mia locked herself in her room, clenching her palm, whispering “Respond to me” over and over, trying to find someone.

Her father’s voice rang from outside, but she ignored it completely.

Finally, after an entire night of effort, she found it.

Looking at the gentle woman across from her, Mia burst into tears, “Mother.”

“Mia.”

A hollow reply came from across.

She had seen her mother again, for the first time in years.

“Mother, I permit you to possess me.”

She felt the bliss of heaven itself, and the warmth like her mother’s embrace.

Clutching the severed hand, she collapsed onto the table, face radiant with happiness as she sank into a sweet dream—while beside her, the drowned spirit she had first possessed watched her coldly, lips curled in a smile.

And beside the drowned spirit, other ghosts gathered—various souls swirling, drifting, licking, greedily staring at her body.

They lacked the strength to seize living bodies, yet craved new flesh—so they devised this plan.

Now, all they needed was to manipulate Mia into becoming their ally, so each of them could possess her and feel the sensation of being alive!

The drowned spirit leaned down and whispered into Mia’s ear, “Sleep, sleep, my dear child~”

Mia’s smile grew even happier.

Sunlight filtered through the half-closed window, bringing no warmth—only coldness… and a watching gaze.

Across from Mia’s house, a telescope was pointed directly at her window.

A plump white woman, expressionless, reported into her phone, “F-Zone, Point R5, host body successfully located.”

“Continue surveillance. Report status immediately.”

“OK!”

The call ended; the woman kept watching through the telescope.

Until afternoon.

Mia woke up. She heard her mother’s voice—her mother told her her body couldn’t withstand possession, and she must find another host.

And the suitable host for Mother was…

Mia’s eyes shifted constantly.

Looking at her mother, whose body now seemed damp with moisture, Mia hardened her resolve—she would speak to Nancy, and beg her to allow possession—just once.

“Mother, I’m going to find Nancy.”

At that moment.

Her father returned, opening the door. “Mia? I think you owe me an explanation—why didn’t you eat, why didn’t you go to school? Oh, you’ve been sleeping this whole time?”

Looking at her father, Mia blurted out the question burning in her heart: “Dad… was Mom really suicidal?”

Her father sighed. “I’ve told you many times—your mother took a large dose of sleeping pills. She killed herself from depression.”

“No! You’re lying! There were wood splinters under her fingernails! Scratches on the door! Mom begged for help—and you just lay on the couch, oblivious!” Mia’s emotions erupted.

In her vision, her mother’s ghost was whispering the truth to her.

And her father’s face twisted into something monstrous, monstrous as a criminal exposed.

“No, Mia, I have a letter—from your mother—”

Her father stepped forward, trying to calm her.

But—

Plop!

A knife plunged into her father’s abdomen.

Mia staggered out the door, head shaking, heading for Nancy.

She had to… she had to… make Nancy agree—just once… No!

She wanted her mother back! Forever!

The car sped wildly, crashing through intersections, running red light after red light without slowing.

At that moment, Louis had also discovered who took the severed hand.

In his hand, the photo showed Mia clearly.

Yulonka drove while speaking: “My sister tracked down a security guard who was patrolling the campus that day. He said this person left in a hurry, carrying a backpack.”

“Prime suspect.”

Louis said nothing, lost in thought about the report his subordinate had just sent him—the severed hand had a history.

Its power was unmistakable. After comparison and research, it likely belonged to a Vodou witch of Native American descent.

At first, the witch appeared suddenly as a medium, gaining fame in Florida for his ability to let people see the dead through handshakes.

Then one day, he announced he was heading to New York to make great wealth and improve the lives of his Native brothers—only to vanish without a trace.

His abilities matched the severed hand’s perfectly. It was almost certainly his hand.

But his origin remains unknown—insufficient data.

(End of Chapter)