The sound of cracking echoed. I whimpered in agony, letting out a howl that no longer sounded human. In my mind, twisted faces kept flashing—faces of the Evil Ghost. I screamed, my eyes glowing with a green light.
I knew very well it was the power of the ghost, trying to devour me completely. The part of me that was human, my so-called humanity, could feel a suffocating, despairing aura relentlessly assaulting everything inside me.
"A ghost is evil. Since it is evil, anything it does is permitted. No matter what it is, it acts freely, following only its own will."
My mouth moved, and a cold, low voice came out. I was losing control over the Evil Ghost’s consciousness. All of this reminded me of the scenes at Ghost Mound Mountain, images leaping out from my mind.
I was painfully aware of my current situation. Everything before my eyes started to twist and blur. John Chou’s figure grew fainter and fainter, almost disappearing. At that moment, a powerful hand pressed against my back.
"Brother, where did that momentum from earlier go? He wants to devour you completely, so you have only two choices: either devour him, or be devoured by him."
I stared wide-eyed, still resisting everything inside my body. It felt like a deadly illness erupting all at once—I was nearly at my limit. It was just like before: the power of the ghost wanted to kill everything human in me. Back then, I survived because of something Rachel Lan said. But this time, the backlash was far fiercer—the ghostly power within me had grown much stronger.
The accumulated ghost energy was about to explode. I had to do something. Gradually, my body grew tighter and began to swell slightly. Streams of green ghost energy seeped from my skin—every moment was pure agony.
This power had already far surpassed my imagination. The ghostly power was swelling, increasing at an unstoppable rate. I couldn’t control this amount of ghost energy. From the start, I had only used Deathbane Aura—a blend of human and ghost power. The ghost energy, aside from keeping my strength stable, was something I’d never actually wielded.
The green ghost energy, which at first looked like steam, grew darker and mixed with black. The ghost energy drifting around me was like a thick fog, multiplying rapidly. My body’s surface was changing fast, and my consciousness was barely holding on.
In a daze, I snapped back to consciousness. My eyes widened as I recognized everything around me—this was the home I'd grown up in since childhood. But what shocked me most was that every object in the house was covered in green, vine-like tendrils. I knew all too well this was the work of ghostly power.
"Coexistence, what exactly do you want from me?"
I roared in anger, desperate to escape this house, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out.
A bizarre, sinister laughter echoed through the air, growing louder and more piercing by the second. The sharpness of it made my head throb as if it would split open. Wracked with pain, I clutched my head and collapsed in this tiny home—just a living room, bathroom, half a kitchen, and two small sleeping rooms. This sixty-square-meter place was where I'd lived after rescuing my father, until I was ten. The memory was vivid: my old home in Wisteria Estates.
"What do you really want, Coexistence?"
I shouted again, and finally, the cruel laughter stopped.
"Do what you've always wanted to do—completely abandon your humanity, and become a ghost in full."
"I've never wished for that, Coexistence. Obey my will."
I shouted loudly, but a chill swept through my mind—a malicious, deep, and hopeless evil. It wanted to tear apart my humanity, to recklessly wield ghostly power and do as it pleased.
I stood up and walked to the wall, pounding on it with my fists. I couldn't get out. This was my greatest fear. Gradually, my consciousness began to blur, and I started forgetting things—especially those tied to my humanity. The power of the Evil Ghost was devouring my human memories, and it was happening at an unstoppable pace. Piece by piece, my memories vanished from my mind.
“Give it back to me. This is mine. You are my instinct—obey my will.”
I slammed the wall in fury, my heart sinking to its lowest depths. All I could think of was that town where Zhang Zhiqing went, and how Lenny Lee looked when he turned from man to Evil Ghost—so wretched. I knew I was about to become just like Lenny Lee. As Zhang Zhiqing said, no one can save me, no one can help me. Only I can overcome the Evil Ghost inside my body.
Everything now was hopeless, unbearably sad. I could no longer remember my parents’ faces, anything about them, not even the image of Rachel Lan whom I loved most, nor anything about myself as a human. Things kept getting worse. My hand, which had been pounding the wall, finally paused. I had no idea what to do next, where to go, who I was, or what I should become.
Gradually, my pounding stopped. Everything around me faded away in the green currents. The swirling green water wrapped around me, lifting me upward bit by bit.
The world turned blackish-green. A long, narrow face appeared—white, with pointed ears, twisted features, skin shriveled and dark like old tree bark. It was the Evil Ghost. He stared at me in silence, spewing foul green gas from his mouth.
I stared, stunned, at the Evil Ghost before me. He grinned, and the moment his mouth split open, it was terrifying—chilling to the bone. I watched in horror as his head lunged toward me, his hands gripping my body like iron, his nails slicing my skin with razor sharpness. I was about to be devoured by the Evil Ghost.
“Answer me—what are you?”
“A... ghost...”
Suddenly, my eyes widened. I didn’t know why the word ‘ghost’ came from my mouth. I had lost everything that made me human. Now, I was about to be devoured by the Evil Ghost and become one myself.
“Good. You finally understand, don’t you? The essence of a ghost is evil. Only evil is what a ghost should follow. Again and again, you’ve tried to suppress your own evil, the evil of being a ghost, restraining your true nature. But now, there’s no need to resist this primal instinct. Accept everything that comes with being a ghost. Become the Evil Ghost, and you’ll have everything—no matter what it is. Accept all that you are.”
With a harsh sound, the Evil Ghost exhaled a burst of green vapor, then opened his mouth wide and bit my shoulder. The pain was excruciating. I felt my whole body go numb. The Evil Ghost’s fangs pierced into me, gnawing at my flesh, trying to consume me bit by bit.
“Why do you exist in this world?”
Suddenly, my eyes snapped open wide. The Evil Ghost kept gnawing at my flesh, trying to devour me piece by piece. In a daze, I seemed to remember something.
The scene before my eyes changed. I saw a city ablaze with lights beneath the mountain, bustling streets full of people. I watched them—humans, wondering what they truly were, what humanity meant to me.
That’s it—humans are warm. Always so warm.
I quietly recalled the day I was born. I seemed to feel it then—the light of humanity shining from the city. It was these lights I’d never seen before that drew me in, compelled the three of us to often descend from the mountain into the human world, observing and imitating everything human.
Then John Chou appeared. He began teaching us intelligence, and I increasingly felt a warmth in humanity that I couldn’t comprehend.
“Wake up, brother. You didn’t come into this world by accident, and everything I taught you wasn’t by chance either. Because you’re a counterfeit, you want to be better than the real thing—perfect, more human, isn’t that right?”
Suddenly, I pressed both hands hard against the Evil Ghost’s head. He roared in fury, but I stared at him coldly.
No matter what you do to me, you’re my power—nothing more than the other half of coexistence. The power of a ghost, no matter how much time passes, means nothing to me. Because in my memory, my body already bears the mark of being human. No matter how long, no matter where, I know exactly what I want to do—it’s what humans do. You’re just my power.
I closed my eyes. For a moment, I felt something. When I opened them, I spoke in a low voice.
Instinct... coexistence... Evil Ghost and human...
With a crash, my eyes widened in disbelief at what was happening to my body. Like a hard scab, the Evil Ghost’s skin began to peel away, shattering and falling off. With a whoosh, a streak of black-green light separated from my body.
“You manifested so quickly, brother. This is a tough battle. When a ghost’s power reaches a certain level, it awakens its most primal desire—evil. That desire is the opposite of humanity. Now you must understand: it’s irresistible. Even we went through this ourselves.”
I nodded, quietly watching the distant street. There, a nearly two-meter-tall Evil Ghost, pitch black and radiating black-green light, blood-red eyes, mouth spewing green vapor, walked toward me.