Carrying My Senior's Coffin (GL) - Chapter 32
The summer afternoon heat continued to build.
Everyone stayed indoors whenever possible, and Zhengling Women’s University was no exception. The campus, usually bustling with people, was now completely silent. Not a single figure could be seen.
The scorching sunlight baked every blade of grass and every tree as though they were about to melt, while cicadas shrieked without restraint.
Inside Dormitory 404, Li Ting sat atop the desk with an elegant red laptop resting on her knees.
One leg was bent, her foot planted against the back of the chair, while the other hung lazily over the edge. She rested her cheek on one hand, her phoenix eyes cool and indifferent.
Every so often, she glanced up while her slender, pale fingers tapped across the keyboard.
Fang Yiyi stood upright, holding one broad cymbal in each hand.
She stared solemnly at the freestanding punching bag, which was as tall as a person.
After a while, she drew a deep breath into her core, slowly stepped forward with one foot, lowered herself into a horse stance, and shouted,
“Hiyah!”
Using the cymbal like a palm, she struck the leather punching bag with precision, stability, and force.
Pa!
Bwaaang—
The first sound came from the punching bag.
The second, quieter one was the cymbal’s protest.
Its short reverberation faded as the force rebounding from the strike numbed Fang Yiyi’s fingertips and made her wrist ache.
She inhaled deeply, pulled back, and immediately followed with a second strike.
The two cymbals alternated as they slammed into the punching bag.
Pa, pa, pa—
The blows were loud yet dull.
Five minutes later, Fang Yiyi lowered the cymbals and examined them carefully.
One side of the copper surface had warped.
“…”
This seemed… perhaps a little reckless.
Fang Yiyi wanted to cry.
Her heart bled.
She had checked the order history in the shopping app and knew these things were extremely expensive.
“Senior, the cymbal is broken.”
“Mm.”
Li Ting slowly moved a finger across the touchpad and planted a Peashooter.
She watched expressionlessly as the ridiculous-looking zombie’s head was shot off.
“It’s fine. Keep going.”
As she spoke, she planted a Potato Mine in another lane and waited for the zombie wearing a metal bucket to walk straight into it.
“Oh.”
Fang Yiyi braced herself and continued abusing the copper cymbals against the punching bag’s hard synthetic leather.
By the time she finally stopped to rest, drenched in sweat, the thirty-five-centimeter broad cymbals had been forcibly beaten out of shape.
Their once-smooth edges were twisted and uneven.
The surfaces were covered in dents.
They looked too miserable to behold.
Li Ting remained entirely unmoved.
Calmly, she tossed Fang Yiyi a walnut.
“Crack it.”
Fang Yiyi lamented the tragic fate of the cymbals, but her movements showed no hesitation.
She raised one and brought it down, creating a gust of wind.
Duaaang—crack!
The cymbal and the walnut cried out at the same time.
A fresh dent appeared in the copper surface, while the walnut shattered into pieces.
Fang Yiyi picked out the kernel and offered it to Li Ting with both hands.
“Senior, it’s ready.”
Li Ting did not accept it.
“You eat it.”
“For me?”
Li Ting glanced at her and lifted her chin with cold elegance.
“I don’t need anything to improve my brain.”
Fang Yiyi: “…”
She glanced at the laptop screen.
Huge green letters filled it, with terrifying liquid dripping from every stroke. A giant exclamation mark at the end emphasized the seriousness of the situation:
THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS!
Fang Yiyi: “?”
Li Ting set the laptop aside and asked, “Where are the broad cymbals?”
The battered percussion instruments, no longer resembling cymbals, were presented before her.
Li Ting examined them and said disdainfully, “Not enough force. You’re still far from ready.”
Fang Yiyi desperately wanted to defend the cymbals and explain that musical instruments were not supposed to be used this way.
After some thought, she did not dare.
But she truly could not bear the waste.
After all, they had arrived less than a day ago.
She therefore said tactfully, “They’re badly damaged, Senior.”
“I ordered twenty more for you.”
Li Ting, eldest daughter of a wealthy family, completely missed Fang Yiyi’s point.
Fang Yiyi finally lost control and shrieked,
“How many?!”
The noise made Li Ting’s beautiful brows knit together.
“What are you making such a fuss about? Are twenty not enough for you to practice with? Why are you so useless?”
She raised one finger.
“I’ll add another ten. No more than that.”
“No!”
Fang Yiyi’s head was about to explode.
Was the problem really how many cymbals there were?
Wasn’t the problem that they were burning through money?
Fine, the money belonged to Senior, but…
But these were musical instruments!
Who used instruments as boxing gloves?
The cymbals were crying!
They had cried themselves twisted and deformed!
Fang Yiyi felt certain that when this batch of cymbals had been manufactured, they had never imagined they would be treated like this.
She attempted to save them.
“Senior, I don’t think I’ll need that many…”
Li Ting gave her a long look, sneered, and swept one sleeve through the air.
The soundproof barrier vanished.
Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock…
The sound of knocking immediately reached them.
It was regular and rhythmic, as though it had already continued for a long time.
“Huh? Someone’s knocking?”
Fang Yiyi ran over.
When her hand closed around the doorknob, she froze.
Something…
Did not feel right.
She turned and looked at Li Ting for confirmation.
“Senior, who’s outside?”
Li Ting sat atop the desk with her arms folded and one leg crossed over the other.
Her voice was indifferent and difficult to interpret.
“Why don’t you look?”
Look?
What did she mean?
Open the door and look, or look without opening it?
Fang Yiyi understood what Li Ting meant and considered whether she could see through the door.
The moment that thought appeared, heat spread through her eyes.
A moment later, the world in her vision became hazy once more, as though covered by a thin layer of mist.
Compared to last time, however, the fog was much lighter.
She lowered her gaze and saw wisps of black mist squeezing through the gap beneath the door and entering the dormitory.
There was not much of it, but because the color was so dark, it was especially noticeable.
Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock…
The knocking continued.
Whoever—or whatever—was outside possessed remarkable determination, as though it would never stop unless the door opened.
Fang Yiyi’s head hurt.
She disliked anything that came looking for her, whether human or ghost.
She released the doorknob and turned toward Li Ting.
“Senior, has it been outside for long?”
Li Ting was adding the extra ten cymbals to the order.
Without raising her head, she said, “Not particularly. Only about two hours.”
“…”
So it had already been that long?
As expected of Senior…
Fang Yiyi sighed.
“It’s so persistent.”
Li Ting sneered.
“Things that didn’t die cleanly are always like that. Single-minded idiots dragged around by their obsessions.”
“…”
Senior, did you just insult yourself too?
“What is that look?”
After placing the order, Li Ting set down the phone and frowned.
“Of course I’m no exception.”
“No, no.”
Fang Yiyi hurriedly shook her head.
“Senior doesn’t look like a ghost at all. You look exactly like a living person, and you’re even prettier than most people.”
“Heh.”
Li Ting’s smile turned sinister.
“It’s only a shell. You’ve fed me well.”
Fang Yiyi scratched her head.
For some reason, she felt the conversation was heading in a strange direction.
“Then does Senior have something she’s obsessed with?”
“Yes.”
Li Ting turned her head and gazed out the window, her eyes focused on the distance as though recalling the past.
“If I had no obsession, how could I have become a ghost?”
“But Senior isn’t being dragged around by it like the other ghosts.”
At those words, Li Ting turned to look at her with a faint, unreadable smile.
“How do you know I’m not?”
Fang Yiyi froze.
Li Ting’s eyes were pure black.
Not a single fragment of light could enter them, yet for some inexplicable reason, they reminded Fang Yiyi of a sky overflowing with brilliant stars.
Fang Yiyi understood a little about ghosts’ obsessions.
No one had explained them to her.
She had simply noticed the pattern among the ghosts she had encountered recently.
She remembered Nancy after becoming a ghost.
Until the moment she was burned to ashes, those terrifying eyes had remained fixed on Fang Yiyi.
When the black smoke finally dispersed, even the ashes on the floor had left a trail pointing in her direction.
It had been the mark of Nancy’s outstretched hand.
The knocking continued beside her ears.
Fang Yiyi knew that the ghost outside was also obsessed with taking her life.
She bit her lower lip.
“Senior, how does a ghost’s obsession form?”
“It’s the strongest thought they had before death.”
“…Then how hated am I?”
Fang Yiyi found it absurd.
One after another, these ghosts targeted her.
She was clearly the victim, yet she somehow lived as though she were the true culprit.
It was impossible to understand.
But…
Fang Yiyi became somewhat uneasy.
“What was Senior’s final thought?”
“Mine?”
Li Ting blinked and curved her lips into a nearly invisible smile.
“There was someone I liked.”
“I wanted to watch her… live a safe and happy life.”
Fang Yiyi could not describe what she felt.
It was as though someone had seized her heart tightly.
The sensation was sour, bitter, and faintly painful.
For some reason, she wanted to cry.
She hurriedly avoided Li Ting’s gaze and asked with an emotion she could not name,
“Did Senior find her?”
“I did.”
“Then… congratulations…”
Fang Yiyi closed her eyes briefly and suppressed the discomfort inside her.
Li Ting laughed softly.
“What is there to congratulate me for? She’s unbelievably stupid and living terribly.”
“Huh?”
Fang Yiyi widened her eyes.
“How could someone Senior likes be stupid?”
Li Ting climbed down from the desk and sat in the chair.
She relaxed against the backrest and said helplessly,
“Because my taste is bad.”
“Um…”
Fang Yiyi felt strangely comforted.
She almost wanted to agree:
Senior’s taste really was rather bad.
She even had the thought:
How could a stupid person possibly deserve Senior?
Then she suddenly realized what she was thinking.
Her entire body stiffened.
She began despising herself, unable to understand why she had become so petty and malicious.
Li Ting glanced at her, picked up the two misshapen cymbals, and casually tossed them over.
Fang Yiyi jumped and caught them in a fluster.
“Kill it using what you practiced over the past two days.”
Work had arrived.
Fang Yiyi pressed her lips together and temporarily pushed aside her chaotic thoughts.
She tried to ignore the ache in her heart, tightened her grip around the cymbals, and abruptly pulled the door open amid the relentless knocking.
The back of a head stood outside.
Though calling it the back of a head was not entirely accurate.
The ghost wore a clean, loose white burial robe.
Its body faced Fang Yiyi.
Two rounded curves protruded from its chest, and its toes also pointed toward her.
Long hair hung downward.
Yet its head was unmistakably turned backward.
The ghost lunged at Fang Yiyi.
Without thinking, Fang Yiyi raised a cymbal and swung it exactly as though striking the punching bag, slamming it directly into the back of the ghost’s head.
The ghost reacted quickly.
It raised one hand and firmly caught the edge of the cymbal.
Its other hand reached toward Fang Yiyi’s heart.
Fang Yiyi’s eyes were sharp and her movements quick.
She immediately used the grappling technique she had practiced for an entire day.
Releasing the other cymbal, she seized the wrist of the hand reaching toward her.
The sensation was stiff, soft, and completely lacking elasticity.
It made her acutely aware that she was touching a corpse.
Without hesitation, Fang Yiyi pulled the arm aside and forcibly redirected it.
Then she twisted backward with the momentum—
Crack!
The lower half of the ghost’s forearm came off in her hand.
Fang Yiyi had not expected that.
“…”
In her imagination, the move should have thrown the ghost onto the ground.
But she had forgotten that ghosts were different from humans.
Pain would not trigger an instinctive defensive reaction.
The result was that she had simply taken the ghost apart.
The ghost appeared entirely unconcerned by its missing arm.
The remaining half waved at the same speed and angle as its intact arm, like a machine following a fixed program.
Fang Yiyi dropped the severed arm onto the floor, transferred the cymbal to her other hand, and raised a foot to kick.
The instant she lifted her leg, the severed arm on the floor began moving on its own.
It grabbed Fang Yiyi’s ankle and yanked it sideways.
Fang Yiyi’s stance was unprepared.
The sudden change startled her, and by the time she tried to defend herself, it was too late.
She crashed hard onto the floor.
The impact left her head dazed and her vision darkening in waves.
The cymbal she had released earlier lay within arm’s reach.
Gritting her teeth, she stretched out and had just grabbed it when a flood of hair surged toward her.
The severed ghostly hand still held her ankle and dragged her backward.
Fang Yiyi had no way to escape.
In the next moment, the hair wrapped around her entire body.
The strands were extremely thin, with some split at the ends.
They resembled countless sharp blades.
As they gradually tightened, Fang Yiyi could not breathe or fight back.
Drops of blood appeared where they cut into her neck.
Her face turned purple from lack of oxygen.
She looked at the ghost and discovered that the other side of its head had no face either.
Both sides were the back of a head, covered in thick, abundant hair.
Its hair volume was astonishing.
Seeing that Fang Yiyi was nearly finished, Li Ting asked,
“Do you know how to recite scripture? Say anything.”
Although Fang Yiyi’s ears were already ringing, Li Ting’s words still reached her mind clearly.
Her tone was unhurried, composed, and calm.
It sounded as though she were absolutely certain Fang Yiyi would win.
Fang Yiyi forced herself to focus again and searched for a solution.
The hair had cut through the skin elsewhere on her body as well.
Drops of blood seeped out and were absorbed into the strands.
The ghost’s hair, previously dry and brittle like dead grass, suddenly became much smoother.
Fang Yiyi noticed the change and immediately felt like a human bottle of hair conditioner.
She was both helpless and aggrieved.
She did not know any Buddhist scriptures.
After desperately searching her memory, just before her throat was cut open, inspiration struck.
Using her final breath, Fang Yiyi shouted,
“Life itself is only a play!”
The effect was immediate and remarkably powerful.
The hair loosened.
It suddenly stopped tightening!
Fang Yiyi was delighted and continued loudly,
“Fate is what brought us together!”
That line produced no obvious effect.
Although the hair no longer tightened, it did not release her either.
Confused, Fang Yiyi paused halfway through reciting the Song of Letting Go of Anger.
The hair seized the opportunity and wrapped tightly around her again.
This time, it squeezed harder and added several more strands.
Pain tore through Fang Yiyi’s neck.
Before she suffocated, she hurriedly continued,
“Growing old together is no easy thing…”
As she recited the lyrics, she manually untangled herself.
She first pulled the hair away from her neck.
The ghost refused to give in.
Its hair stirred restlessly.
Every time Fang Yiyi removed some, the ghost replaced it.
However, it could only bind her loosely now and could no longer tighten.
After several rounds of struggling, neither human nor ghost was willing to surrender.
Neither could defeat the other.
Fang Yiyi became furious.
By now, the pain from all the cuts across her skin had fully set in.
Her entire body hurt terribly.
Her clothes were torn into rags and covered in scattered bloodstains.
Her stamina was poor.
The longer this continued, the more disadvantaged she would become.
So Fang Yiyi stopped struggling.
Still wrapped in hair, she grabbed a cymbal and smashed it viciously against the ghost’s head.
She held onto the ghost’s hair to prevent it from dodging.
By the time the ghost tried to retract it, it was already too late.
The weapon it relied upon had become its heaviest chain.
Fang Yiyi struck while continuing to chant,
“Let the children’s troubles go their way! Through hardship and pleasure, stay together!”
Her actions completely contradicted her words.
There was nothing serene or detached about them.
Each blow was steady, accurate, and ruthless.
She recited one line and struck twice, maintaining a regular rhythm identical to the way the ghost had knocked on her door earlier.
At first, the ghost remained standing.
Eventually, its skull cracked open.
The severed arm rolled into the sleeve of its white burial robe.
The ghost shakily gathered the hair scattered across the floor and then unexpectedly dropped straight to its knees.
“Senior!”
Fang Yiyi wiped blood from her neck and shouted over her shoulder.
Li Ting gave her a gentle smile and swept one hand through the air.
Eerie blue ghostfire enveloped the ghost in white.
In an instant, it turned to ashes and vanished completely.
Fang Yiyi dropped onto the floor.
Ignoring the blood smearing across it, she sighed,
“That was exhausting. Physical exorcism isn’t enough. You still need magical support.”
“What on earth were you reciting just now?”
Li Ting sounded uncertain.
“Was that the Song of Letting Go of Anger?”
“Yes!”
Fang Yiyi looked down at her clothing, now reduced to strips of torn fabric, and frowned miserably.
“It ruined my dress.”
“I’m so angry!”
Author’s Note:
The recitation was taken from Don’t Be Angry.
From now on, Fang Yiyi will be a musical magician.
(Not really.)
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