Mysterious Awakening - Chapter 60: Capture

Sifting through a store filled to the brim with lifeless bodies to locate the one real ghost was no easy feat. The stakes were high, and their time was limited; every attempt at harnessing the power of an enraged spirit would trim a piece off their own life expectancy.

In such times, bravery and unshakeable resolve were paramount. Miles was known for his courageous demeanor, while Ethan was the embodiment of determination. They decided to face the threat head-on, choosing action over retreat.

As Ethan pressed his bleeding hand onto the body of a middle-aged woman in business attire, the eerily animated corpses suddenly froze, stiffening into stillness. The room fell silent, and all eyes were on the woman’s body, where Ethan’s blood continued to seep in.

This sudden calmness hinted they might have found its hideout in this particular corpse. But could the two of them really be certain?

Neither Miles nor Ethan was convinced. As Miles squinted at the corpse, Ethan responded to his skeptical query with grave uncertainty, “Is this the one? I can’t say for sure. My blood can subdue the ghost but can’t confirm its presence.”

The shop fell eerily silent, save for the subtle sounds of blood soaking into the corpse Ethan held. The stillness was suffocating, especially as Ethan wrestled with the uncertainty of whether he was holding a mere corpse or the actual spirit. If they were wrong, he would undoubtedly pay the ultimate price.

As the seconds slipped away, their uncertainty grew, giving the spirit more time to drain their life force. Ethan, his forehead slick with nervous sweat, pleaded, “Miles, we need to confirm if this is the ghost, and if so, trap it in the box.”

He could feel his blood flow spiraling out of control as he spoke. Miles, meanwhile, was scrambling to piece together the clues, trying to make sense of the dire situation.

If the woman wasn’t the ghost, then the real spirit was likely still lurking in the room, probably standing idle and allowing Ethan to burn out his strength – a form of indirect murder. However, if this corpse was indeed the ghost, the rigid stillness of the other bodies made little sense.

Suddenly, it hit him. The first moving corpse was possibly just a decoy. Like a fisherman, the ghost might be dangling bait to lure them into its trap. But, a wrong guess would cost them their golden chance at capturing the ghost.

After a rapid assessment of their chances, Miles made a calculated gamble: this was not the ghost. With a decisive grit of his teeth, he ordered, “Retreat, let this chance go.”

“Retreat?” Ethan echoed, taken aback by Miles’ unexpected command. Backing down was tantamount to admitting their attempt had failed, squandering the precious, life-shortening power of the wrathful ghost.

“Listen,” Miles urged, his voice laced with urgency, “If this woman was the ghost, the other bodies wouldn’t just stand frozen. Sometimes, an overly perfect scenario is the biggest red flag. We need to retreat. If you die from the ghost’s retaliation, things will go from bad to worse.”

Ethan hesitated, caught in the crossfire of his reluctance to concede and the gravity of the situation. But Miles was unyielding, “There’s no room for debate. Retreat now or I’ll be forced to leave. My ghost domain can’t hold much longer. If we continue this way, we’ll both end up dead.”

Defeated, Ethan grumbled, “Alright… I’m placing my trust in you this once,” before stopping the blood flow from his hands and releasing the body.

“Never turn your back to these bodies, walk back towards me,” Miles instructed promptly.

With an acknowledging nod, Ethan abandoned his plan and began his cautious retreat, heeding Miles’ instruction to move slowly.

As he backed away, the suited woman’s body collapsed to the ground as if the strings holding her upright were cut, causing it to assume a grotesque pose with its head rolling off. Soaked in Ethan’s blood, this previously mysterious corpse had been reduced to an ordinary body.

Despite this, the other bodies maintained their eerie stillness, standing unnaturally upright despite their advanced decay.

“You were right, she’s not the ghost,” Ethan admitted, his voice filled with a mix of surprise and indignation. He’d been duped by the ghost!

Just as he was about to retreat into the safety of the ghost domain, a body abruptly jerked to life. Its head spun around at an alarming speed, revealing lifeless, pale eyes. With a swift motion, it reached out, its hand latching onto Ethan’s arm.

“Crack!”

With an unsettling sound, Ethan’s arm was ripped off as easily as a doll’s limb. No blood spilled; only the raw red of flesh was visible at the severed site.

“It’s the ghost!” Ethan exclaimed, his eyes widening in fear as he took in the ghastly sight. But the ghost wasn’t done. It proceeded to rip off Ethan’s remaining arm, attempting to attach it to its own body as though piecing together a puzzle.

“Miles, stop it now! You can’t let it attach my arm. It’s smeared in ghost blood. If it succeeds, we can’t even begin to imagine the consequences,” Ethan cried out in a panic, his entire body trembling.

Their previous suspicion had been confirmed. They’d walked into a trap. The ghost had targeted them as its prey, aiming to obtain a better body. Since human bodies decay and become useless over time, this ghost constantly switched between bodies, swapping heads in its pursuit of longevity.

But those who wield ghostly powers are exceptions, for they host actual spirits within them. When one ghost commandeers another, the resulting terror multiplies manifold. After all, a ghost… never truly dies.

Before Ethan could complete his warning, a flash of red light interrupted him. The ghost vanished before his eyes, and his severed arm thudded onto the ground.

“I got you now,” Miles said with a victorious smirk, “You’ve been good at hiding, ghost. But now that you’re in my ghost domain, you’re not leaving unless I die.”

Inside the ghost domain, a body stood unnervingly still, its head twisted in an unnatural 180-degree angle. But Miles knew, with chilling certainty, that the genuine ghost was now residing within this corpse.