Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Mr. Ghost usually lived in a villa on the mountaintop, the villa was a gift a rich businessman bought for his lover, but who knew, in less than two days, the lover was hanged in the villa, and everyone deemed the place haunted, so it was left to fall into ruins. Mr. Ghost just wanted to say, that was complete nonsense, he had witnessed the lover get strangled to death by the businessman’s wife, without getting out a full sentence.

Mr. Ghost’s coming to this villa was purely accidental, during its construction, his grave was disturbed, and since he died prematurely, he couldn’t enter his family’s ancestral tomb. As time went by, he didn’t even know where the tomb was anymore, so he wandered the lonely mortal world, forgotten by all.

The villa had everything one could need, so Mr. Ghost learned all the modern ways, and it’s hard to imagine that Mr. Ghost, floating in white, was particularly interested in the internet.

Mr. Ghost liked to play a couple of rounds of games, then add a few friends, chatting about everything under the sun until the break of dawn. Ghosts couldn’t come out under the sunlight, that’s common knowledge, so during the day, Mr. Ghost would lay in the basement playing single-player games with really slow internet speed.

As the sun set, Mr. Ghost did what he always did and posted a recruitment message in the game’s chat channel: Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost looking for a team, come on, instant start.

Mr. Ghost’s gaming nickname was Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost, he believed the virtual world was a place where even truths were treated as jokes, so he feared nothing.

The dungeon Mr. Ghost wanted to play wasn’t very difficult, and soon enough, a full team had joined.

Mr. Ghost played as a Ghost Assassin, he felt that a ghost was the closest thing to himself.

A seemingly weak Little Zombie was killed four times, and Mr. Ghost used medicine to save him four times.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Little Zombie, did you just crawl out of the grave or what? Not quite adept at using your fingers yet?

The people in the team felt their captain had quite a funny bone, and joined in the joking. Little Zombie didn’t respond, and it wasn’t until the dungeon was almost complete that they saw a message from him in the team chat.

Invincible Little Zombie: How did you know?

Mr. Ghost found this Little Zombie quite interesting, so he added him as a friend, dragging the noob Invincible Little Zombie with him through dungeons.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Are you here to mess around? Zombies are supposed to be immortal, yet you need me to save you.

The fifteen-minute dungeon run didn’t provoke any conversation from Little Zombie, but the number of times he needed saving was decreasing, which Mr. Ghost found reassuring. That was progress, wasn’t it?

Mr. Ghost would wait every day for Invincible Little Zombie to come online so they could level up and play dungeons together, but one day, Invincible Little Zombie didn’t log in until midnight.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Were you fed donkey hooves?

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Or suppressed by a Taoist?

Mr. Ghost waited impatiently for a response, knowing that Invincible Little Zombie was slow at typing, but this time it seemed excessively slow.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: I’ve been waiting for you for ages.

Invincible Little Zombie: I almost didn’t make it back.

Seeing Invincible Little Zombie’s reply, Mr. Ghost wasn’t in such a rush anymore.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: So, compared to zombies, ghosts are still more powerful, at least we don’t fear donkey hooves.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: I’ve never seen a Taoist, but they say on TV that ghosts are afraid of black dog blood, I don’t know if that’s true.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Nowadays, Taoists are just scammers, aren’t they? That’s what everyone says online.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Did you get lost again?

Invincible Little Zombie: My home is gone.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Come over to me, I’ll take you in.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: After all, I’m a Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost, are you not afraid I’ll devour you?

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Coming to keep me company wouldn’t be so bad.

Mr. Ghost was just joking, after all, he was a ghost, what real person wouldn’t be scared out of their wits upon seeing one?

Like those kids who said they’d venture into the Haunted House, they couldn’t see him either; he’d just blow a couple of chills at them, and they’d run off crying and screaming, the house reeking of urine. Mr. Ghost had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, and would begrudgingly clean it up at night.

By the time Mr. Ghost snapped back to reality, Invincible Little Zombie had already gone offline.

In the following days, he would only see Invincible Little Zombie once in a while, always logging off without saying much.

But Mr. Ghost discovered that recently, the villa felt especially oppressive, as if something was lurking about, causing him to dare not leave the basement at night too casually.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Little Zombie, I feel my end is nearing, I’ve been feeling quite anxious lately.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: I really am a ghost.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: What do you think becomes of a ghost when it dies?

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Is it like smoke disappearing into thin air?

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Little Zombie, what do you want to be in your next life?

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Little Zombie, you aren’t also dead, are you? Then we could keep each other company.

Invincible Little Zombie miraculously logged in.

Invincible Little Zombie: Don’t be afraid.

That day, snow was fluttering outside the window, and even though it was daytime, Mr. Ghost felt his life might end there. So, he opened the game channel.

Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost: Abyss Dungeon, anyone coming?

With Invincible Little Zombie nowhere to be found, and uncertain if he would ever be, Mr. Ghost sent all of the Divine Artifact gear he had played with for so long to Invincible Little Zombie through mail.

Fighting through the dungeon, feeling a chill he had not felt in many years, Mr. Ghost felt somewhat nonchalant. Perhaps living too long had made him no longer wish to live?

”What monster dares to oppose, show yourself and meet your demise!” A voice came from outside the villa, and a Golden Light cleaved open the door. Mr. Ghost, engrossed in the dungeon, thought this was probably both the first and the last time he’d be doing this dungeon, right?

”Brother, allow me to check inside!”

Listening to the footsteps, Mr. Ghost felt extremely relaxed, his fingers nimbly clicking on the mouse.

Just as he was about to stab the dagger into the boss’s heart, the door burst open, and a Yellow Talisman struck him.

Mr. Ghost sighed inwardly; he was so close to killing the boss that no one on the server had successfully defeated yet.

Then he closed his eyes slightly regretfully, ready for whatever came next.

Instead of the anticipated pain, he only felt a bit of heat. He faintly heard the chanting of the Nine Syllables ’Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, Qian’, and then darkness enveloped Mr. Ghost, the warmth dissipating. Mr. Ghost thought to himself that this must be passing on, right?

Unfortunately, he was abruptly roused moments later to find a gray, rigid, round face slapping his handsome face.

Mr. Ghost thought to himself, ”This Taoist is quite skilled, capable of capturing both ghosts and zombies. He must have a thousand years of Taoism under his belt, huh?”

Looking around, he was in his own villa, surrounded by scattered Yellow Talismans. Mr. Ghost jumped three feet in the air, ”Little Zombie, run! These talismans are super powerful.”

Little Zombie swept the Yellow Talismans aside with his rigid hand, dragging several Taoists out the door, then looked at Mr. Ghost, ”You, didn’t, say, you, would, shelter, me?” His voice was hoarse, but Mr. Ghost barely made out what he said.

”Invincible Little Zombie?” Mr. Ghost was surprised, watching as Mr. Zombie nodded. He floated next to Little Zombie, ”You’re much worse off than I thought, no wonder your skills are so poor, you’re quite stiff, aren’t you?”

”Shelter?”

”Come on, come on, I’ll take you dungeon raiding. How could you be so strong and still almost not make it back?” Mr. Ghost was full of curiosity, because being able to throw out someone who injured him easily was proof of Mr. Zombie’s strength.

Mr. Zombie shook his arm, and something fell from his sleeve. Catching it in his hand, he showed it to Mr. Ghost.

Mr. Ghost recoiled three meters away at the sight of the object, ”Eight Trigrams Mirror! What kind of zombie are you, not afraid of the Eight Trigrams Mirror?”

Mr. Zombie tilted his stiff neck and looked at Mr. Ghost, ”Taoist.”

”Then you won’t hurt me, right? I’m a ghost, you’re a zombie. Even if you’re a Taoist, you shouldn’t hurt me, ’Why be in such a hurry to hurt each other, when we are all creatures of the same root?’” Then Mr. Ghost saw the Eight Trigrams Mirror shatter.

Mr. Zombie tilted his head, ”Give, candy.”

”Huh?” Mr. Ghost was puzzled.

”No candy, trick or treat,” Mr. Zombie pointed at the large pumpkin monster on the computer screen.

”I don’t eat candy, how about I take you dungeon raiding instead?” Mr. Ghost logged into his account skillfully. After a while, he turned to Mr. Zombie, who was facing the laptop, ”Could you return the Divine Artifact to me?”

”No,” Mr. Zombie held onto the computer keeping a good distance from Mr. Ghost.

Mr. Ghost: ”I am a Thousand-Year Handsome Ghost, if you don’t give it to me...”

Mr. Zombie: ”Then, what, sheep?”

Mr. Ghost: ”Great Spirit, I seek your protection.” Mr. Ghost clung spinelessly to Mr. Zombie’s legs, afraid of the people waking up outside.

Mr. Zombie looked at the people outside and threw the Jade Pendant out the door. Hitting the ground before them, he said, ”Scram.”

The people on the ground scrambled away quickly, ”Ancestor, please calm your anger,” they said before leaving.

”Your descendants attacked me, yet you came to save me?” Mr. Ghost found the world incredibly wonderful.

”Good boy.” Mr. Zombie took out a candy, which was picked up along the way.

”Then I won’t play tricks, let’s go kill the boss.”