Chapter 79: Rare

They quickly lit the 【Test-Gui Charm】, and the 【Test-Gui Charm】 indeed detected Possession in Pangzi.

But the possession seemed to have lasted only a short time, like the sensation of a 【Chu Sheng Gui】 just being born.

"Possession! Kill it!"

"No! He's only just been possessed—he still has a chance! We should wake Deputy Captain Ye first!"

"Stop arguing! Everyone step back—I'll handle it!"

Amid the argument, someone had already moved—it was Li Er'er, the second-in-command of Xiao Hou's team, called A Zhu.

A Zhu drew his waist knife and slashed straight down at Pangzi's neck as he knelt, gagging.

Pangzi clearly wanted to say something, but could not speak—only continued gagging, spitting out more fingernail clippings, as if his entire insides were filled with these things.

"Don't worry, Pangzi—I'll take care of your sister!"

The blade came down!

Swish—the head fell clean to the ground.

Pangzi's body swayed once, then collapsed fully onto the ground; the blackening of his eyes, halfway transformed, ceased spreading.

The rest of the squad fell silent.

Looking at their sworn brother, who had been chatting with them just moments ago, now dead from Possession in the blink of an eye, they felt a chill surge from their spines straight to the crown of their heads.

Even in the sweltering heat, they shivered with cold.

Before the Gui, humans were truly fragile.

"Burn the corpse on the spot, and wake Deputy Captain Ye. You all will serve as witnesses and recount what happened."

A Zhu, the second-in-command, acted more like a leader than Xiao Hou—but after he finished speaking, he suddenly couldn't suppress a cough.

The squad members who had been about to obey froze, all staring at A Zhu.

"What are you all looking at? I'm fine… cough! Cough cough cough cough!"

A violent cough surged up his throat; A Zhu doubled over with a "Wah!"—from coughing to gagging, he vomited a puddle of fingernail clippings onto the ground.

Xiao Hou and the others' expressions changed instantly; they all stepped back sharply from A Zhu.

"It's an infectious Gui!"

"Don't touch him!"

"Kill A Zhu! Burn the corpse immediately!"

No! Wait!

I can still be saved!

Hearing his comrades' words, A Zhu's eyes widened in terror.

But he could not speak—only gagged, endlessly gagging, as if he would not stop until he had vomited out his heart, liver, and lungs.

Unconsciously, black spots like ink spread across his sclera, covering all of it, then oozing out black blood.

"The transformation has begun! Move now—he's not fully turned yet!"

"I'll do it!"

Xiao Hou's spear pierced straight through A Zhu's forehead; when he pulled it back, A Zhu lay motionless on the ground.

"Wake Deputy Captain Ye, burn the corpse, then immediately… cough!"

Xiao Hou froze.

The remaining three squad members all stared at Xiao Hou.

Have I been infected too?

Fear surged in his chest—and Xiao Hou coughed even harder.

"The leader… he…"

"Kill him!"

The three squad members were about to mercifully end Xiao Hou's life when they each took one step—and all three coughed at once, followed by a fit of relentless coughing.

"Why are we…?"

"Are we all…?"

The four of them stared at each other, faces grim.

"Wake Deputy Captain Ye! Hurry to join Captain Lin Ling! Only then can we be saved!"

Compared to the first two, the four of them seemed to have evenly shared the coughing—worsening more slowly.

Xiao Hou immediately proposed the idea; the squad members had no objections.

First, they tried waking Fang Yue—even slashing a wound on his arm with a small knife—but Fang Yue remained as lifeless as a corpse, showing no reaction.

Helplessly, Xiao Hou had them place Fang Yue atop the horse he had been riding, then spurred the horse into a gallop toward Lin Ling.

But after only a short ride, the coughing grew worse, turning into gagging—fingernail clippings spattered onto the horse's back.

After vomiting, Xiao Hou felt slightly better, turned back—and realized his squad members had vanished from his side.

"Where did they go? Could they have already turned into Gui and gone to kill villagers…?"

At this thought, Xiao Hou snapped slightly awake—then noticed the horse beneath him had slowed, slowed, slowed—until now it moved no faster than a human walking, as if each hoof-lift required immense effort.

Xiao Hou dismounted—and his eyes bulged. The horse's mouth was packed with dense, countless fingernail clippings; with a "Wah!", they erupted like a geyser.

After spewing, the horse seemed to relax slightly, collapsed onto its side, its breathing fading, then stopping entirely.

Only long fingernails emerged from its belly, wriggling, dense as spider legs, standing upright.

A bizarre scene appeared.

The long fingernails growing from the horse's belly stood tall like legs, lifting the dying horse's corpse.

The horse's corpse became like the head of the fingernail Gui—it swayed its "head" left and right like a newborn infant, bewilderedly scanning its surroundings.

A shadow as tall as two stories loomed over him, making Xiao Hou tremble all over.

With a shudder, Xiao Hou had no time to think it through. He hauled Fang Yue up from the ground, slung him on his back, and broke into a sprint.

He had no idea where he was going either — he just wanted to get away from that horse, the farther the better!

"Behind us… Deputy Captain Ye has awakened."

At that, Xiao Hou looked at Fang Yue and waited for his order.

Why are you looking at me…

Fang Yue felt a bit sullen and scratched his head.

I just stepped out to grab a bite, fill my stomach — how did so much end up happening?

Long-nail Horse Ghost? Spitting out fingernails?

Could this ghost be connected to the Shi Zhi Gui somehow?

Pushing those guesses aside, Fang Yue asked, "You said you'd already been infected by the ghost and started spitting out fingernails, right? So why is there nothing wrong with you now?"

It was bad enough when Fang Yue didn't say anything, but the moment he brought it up, Xiao Hou was instantly startled.

"Right! I was clearly riding the horse in a foggy daze, unable to sense anything from the outside, but after I spat it out I felt wide awake. I've been carrying Deputy Captain Ye and running this whole time, and there isn't even a sign of me turning into a ghost — could I already be cured?"

At this moment, Xiao Hou showed no signs of turning into a ghost, nor even any injury — his face was just flushed red from the long sprint.

Fang Yue hesitated, then said, "Then maybe… the ghost you ran into wasn't a contagion type, but a Transfer Type!"

Fang Yue was no longer a greenhorn who had just entered the game.

With Lord Han as a knowledge base, Fang Yue had crammed hard on ghost lore.

The so-called contagion-type ghosts carry an infectious quality, like a virus — one spreads to ten, ten to a hundred, a hundred to a thousand; wiping out a village overnight is child's play for them.

Transfer-type ghosts, on the other hand, transfer themselves when the possessed body dies, going through another round of Possession.

This kind of Transfer-type Ghost is characterized by a weak main body, and the possessed shell it buffs up isn't as powerful as other conventional ghosts — it's just hard to find and kill the main body, that's all.

If we're talking about common ground between these two ghost types, there actually is some: both are quite rare.

(End of chapter)