Chapter 2: The Faceless Ghost

  Today, under multiple requests from the captive, I started my ghost-catching operation. However, judging by my current expression, it's enough to scare a ghost to death - my whole body is stiff, and even walking feels awkward. I can clearly feel my heart beating rapidly, with both hands clenched in front of my chest, and the pulse on my hands racing wildly. This is a remote area without streetlights; only a few households have dimly lit small lamps, and the old houses are scattered, emitting eerie sounds carried by the wind. Occasionally, dog howls like wolf cries can be heard from afar. I'm walking alone, and even my own footsteps echo through the air.

  The prisoner said that in order for me to become a true Dreamweaver, he would only give me hints in the pendant and wouldn't appear unless it was extremely urgent. I vowed that this time, next time I wouldn't come out again. Indeed, I couldn't take it, although it was just my split soul, the fear brought by the night was unbearable, when the Dreamweaver - the prisoner's voice interrupted me.

  "Be careful ahead, there's a situation." The prisoner whispered to remind me.

  I told myself not to be afraid, it should be the ghost who's afraid of me instead. It's nothing, I'm just trapped in here.

  "Crunch, crunch……" I heard the sound, just behind the pile of grass, it was the sound of someone chewing something. I couldn't stop my feet from moving forward, as if some kind of power was driving me to walk towards him. Then I saw him, a figure crouching down, with long black hair hanging down his back, and the sound was coming from him. He seemed to have sensed my presence, and slowly turned his head around.

  "Mom!" I exclaimed.

  "Shh, do you want to attract other ghosts?"

  It's not that I'm a coward, but even the person in front of me couldn't calm down. The ghost stood up, his face had only one mouth, and there was still blood dripping from it, his pale hands were grasping a piece of rotten flesh full of blood, he might have felt that my breath was different from ordinary people, so he just stood there without any movement. I looked at him and almost vomited, really couldn't take another step.

  "This is the lowest level of ghost, what's there to be afraid of, he should be afraid of you instead, act quickly." The prisoner's voice rang out again.

  I remembered what the prisoner said, that the lowest level of ghost has incomplete five senses and they can't harm humans. They can only enhance their magical powers by eating some animals from the human world. Indeed, the faceless ghost's body was trembling, making "uuu" sounds with its mouth, shaking its head vigorously. This low-level ghost had just escaped from hell after death, like a human infant, so it didn't have the ability to speak human language yet, and I couldn't understand what it meant at all.

  Just as I was still in a daze, the faceless ghost suddenly rushed towards me. It seemed that he would rather die than escape. He opened his bloody mouth wide and stretched out his two blood-stained hands. I could smell the nauseating stench of rot on him. I was stunned and didn't know what to do. As the faceless ghost rushed towards me, I couldn't move at all.

  Suddenly a silver light enveloped me, blocking the faceless ghost's attack. He let out a frantic howl, and his featureless face twisted into a terrifying grimace as he tried to break through this defensive line.

  "What's wrong with you, don't make such a low-level mistake." The silver light is the prisoner's release to protect me. No way, I won't let the faceless ghost off, it'll be too late when he grows up, fight!

  "Faceless ghost, you know your wrong! Ignoring the laws of heaven and earth, harming innocent lives. Now I will punish you, send you to hell." Suddenly it became quiet, in this cold night only my voice echoed, I was startled by myself, my usual soft voice tonight was so shocking, full of majesty.

  Looking at the ghost with no reaction, I started reciting the incantation: "Respected Hell God, the 100th generation of Dream Soul Master, Mo Meng, is performing his duty today, sending the faceless ghost to hell. The night is chanting, the moon is dancing, all things are no longer silent, light covers darkness, dawn is approaching. The gates of hell, open."

  A green light shot out of my left eye, splitting the space apart. A door appeared, encasing the faceless ghost's body. No matter how hard it struggled, it was no use. The final scream ended tonight's action. Was I successful? My heart racing wildly, I stared blankly at the spot where it disappeared.

  "Let's calculate how unlucky this little ghost is," the prisoner said suddenly.

  "What's wrong?"

  "He had just snuck out and hadn't even started hunting on his own before you caught him."

  "But he was clearly eating something just now!" Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.

  "No, it's just that he picked up a stray dog corpse by the roadside."

  Another flash of green light appeared, and it was a small black-and-white dog. It wagged its tail at me, seemingly very happy as it circled around me. "What's going on, prisoner?"

  "It was your own strength, its soul had almost been eaten by the faceless ghost, it was you who saved its soul. Originally, such a weak and small soul should have dissipated long ago, but it wanted to see you."

  "Will it disappear forever?" The fingers stroked over the small creature that had passed by.

  "Every living thing has its own soul, it's just that the species determines the strength of the soul. It's like this tiny soul was eaten and will never be reborn. If it were earlier, its soul might have been able to be reborn."

  It's my fault for being too weak, if I had found the faceless ghost earlier, it could have been reborn by now. "There are countless stray animals in this world, how can you save them all? Don't forget your greatest responsibility, once those ghosts grow up, they'll start eating humans." A prisoner patted my shoulder, I don't know when he appeared.

  *Sigh*... I must be strong.

  "Get up, little dreamer." I sat up abruptly. It was my mom calling me to get up and go to school as usual. I suddenly had a feeling of being in a different world, everything that happened before must have been just a dream, it was all just my wild imagination, and once I woke up, everything would be fine. I kept telling myself that those things weren't real, I just couldn't accept them.

  However, the chill on my neck kept reminding me of Xi Meng and Dream Soul. I arrived at school in a daze, unable to think of anything else except for Dream Soul.

  "Good morning, Xiao Meng." I sat down in my seat, and my deskmate greeted me. She was the only one who knew that I could see strange things but didn't laugh at me, although this didn't mean she believed what I said.

  "Good morning, Little Yan."

  "What's wrong, didn't sleep well yesterday? You look listless."

  "There's nothing, it's just some things that can't be accepted for the time being." I simply closed my eyes and lay on the table.

  "What's wrong? Got something on your mind?"

  After a while, I weakly opened my eyes and asked: "Do you believe there are ghosts in the world?"

  "Don't say that, you won't be seeing ghosts again, will you?" Xiaoyan's voice rose slightly.

  It's even more frightening than seeing a ghost, but I didn't say it out loud. Although this matter isn't some major secret, there are still some concerns about it.

  "You're thinking too much, I'm just casually asking you."

  "Oh, yeah, you've always been like this since you were little, following what I say, you're just thinking too much. If it's really seeing a ghost or something, wouldn't you be scared to death? Hehe." Please, I really did see it.

  "Whatever, I'm just bored anyway." Sighing, I turned my head to look out the window, it's really unbelievable.

  "Xiao Meng, actually I'm not doubting you. This world is too big and we are so small. The most important thing is to do well on our own. Just like some things that we can't change, we can only choose to accept and adapt, at least try." Xiao Yan's voice sounded behind me. I didn't respond, today was a day when I wasn't in the mood, just occasionally recalling this sentence.