Let's Talk About That Time I Was Followed by a Ghost

A while ago, I got sick.

I wanted to die.

But when I went to the riverside, ready to jump, I gripped the railing and looked down. On the pitch-black water, I saw face after face, bloated and pale, staring up at me with their eyes rolling back.

The people in the river beckoned to me, grinning warmly.

They said, "Li Zhen, you're here! Come on, just jump in. Don't be scared."

I was terrified at once and fled home in a panic.

But from that day on, the house gradually became crowded.

I lived alone, yet I always felt that people were crammed onto the sofa, in the bathroom, even in my bed.

I couldn't breathe.

I kept thinking I was going crazy again.

I was anxious because I didn't want to go to a psychiatric hospital. The conditions there were awful. Four or five people had to sleep in a single bed, packed in like sardines. At night, someone would hide under my covers and talk nonstop. My sleep was already poor, and I could never get any rest there.

Luckily, after my older brother saw what was happening, he comforted me and said I wasn't crazy.

Most likely, I'd disturbed something when I tried to jump into the river that day, and a ghost had latched on to me.

My brother told me to stay home and not go out. He was afraid that, with my luck so low, I'd be taken as a substitute if I went outside.

I knew my brother wouldn't hurt me. I should have listened.

But there were so many things in the house. So many, so many, so many, so many...

The ghosts want to eat me.

I ran out of the house.

I went to a spiritual practitioner and begged him to save me.

But he only stared at my shoulder, his face turning deathly pale by the second.

He said I couldn't escape.

...Those ghosts were standing one behind another, each with a hand on the shoulder in front... right behind me.

These are two protagonists I came up with a long time ago while writing "Eating Ghosts."

I promised a friend I'd write their story, and after calculating the schedule, I have to finish it before Ghost Festival.

I should be able to wrap it up in about 150,000 words.

P.S. The romance will probably be very light.

Theme: Believe in justice and believe in the light.