The shadow was weak — let alone encountering a red-robed ghost, it would have to steer clear of even a half-red-robed one.
To put it bluntly, it was the lowest existence in this entire school, pinned to the wall, unable to move, unable to speak, nothing more than an unremarkable stain.
That was right — compared to the whole school, the shadow was like a tiny blemish inside a castle.
No one had ever bothered with it, let alone believed in it. Even it itself thought so.
"We made too much noise just now. We need to leave immediately." Chen Ge noticed the shadow was still standing there and stepped forward to remind it.
At that moment, the shadow was like a wolf cub out on its first hunt with its parents — it possessed the instincts of a predator but hadn't yet adapted to its new role.
"Every carnivore has a day it's weaned. If you don't eat meat, you'll be the one eaten." Chen Ge lightly patted the shadow's shoulder. His hand passed through the shadow's body and landed on its chest. "Nobody wants to grow up, but you need to understand — you can't stay a child anymore."
These words seemed to make sense. The shadow's body trembled slightly. It cupped the heart — the one that looked like a ruby — in both hands, then swallowed it whole in one gulp!
"Hey!"
In that instant, the shadow lost all reason. The instincts of a vengeful ghost drove it to swallow that heart.
"This is bad! That female ghost should be slightly more powerful than this shadow. Swallowing a vengeful ghost stronger than itself is certain to put it into a deep sleep." Chen Ge knew the shadow had great potential and might even possess a special talent, but no amount of talent could compare to Zhang Ya. Even Zhang Ya fell into a deep sleep after devouring a red-robed ghost — there was no way this shadow would be an exception.
"Why are you so reckless!" Chen Ge had just found himself a new helper, and in the blink of an eye the thing was about to drop into a coma. It gave him a splitting headache.
His original plan had been to split the red heart into several portions, allowing the shadow to grow without falling into slumber.
The moment it swallowed the heart, the shadow's body swelled up by a size. It clutched its head with both hands, frantically clawing at its own mouth and cheeks as though trying to tear itself apart.
Chen Ge could see that the shadow was in tremendous pain, but he had no idea how to help it.
"Calm down! If you really can't suppress her, then accept her — accept her powers, shoulder her dying wish, and help her fulfill her final obsession!" Chen Ge shouted at the top of his lungs. At last the shadow moved. It walked over to the tree hollow, crouched down, and plunged both hands inside, as if digging for something.
"Something's not right. Even Zhang Ya would fall into a deep sleep within a very short time after devouring a ghost of the same rank, yet this thing is still holding on. Is it something special about itself, or are the ghosts inside this school different from those outside the Door?"
The shadow dug beside the tree hollow for a long time before finally pulling out a rusty kitchen knife.
"Is this the murder weapon that killed the female ghost? Her obsession has been attached to this weapon all along?" Ordinarily, a vengeful ghost's anchor object was closely tied to its obsession in life. The female ghost's anchor being the murder weapon meant the obsession that consumed her heart was revenge.
The shadow's body had doubled in size. It stood before Chen Ge gripping the kitchen knife, its twisted arms swinging up and down as though trying to gesture something.
A few seconds later, the shadow sank into Chen Ge's shadow, and the kitchen knife clattered to the ground in front of him.