100 Ghost Collection

Ch 13 ~ Ghost Corpse (Ending)

Editor & Translator: Sonrisa t.n.t

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“Su…” As soon as Huo Yang tried to speak, Su Tai suddenly came back to her senses, she rushed forward and hugged Huo Yang. 

The person who hugged him no longer had the fragrance and softness of the woman from the past. When the cold armors interlocked with each other, a sharp and crisp sound was heard. However, there was no breathing to be heard in his ears, and there was a strong rotten smell coming from her body. As all the senses invaded Huo Yang’s emotions, he became dumbfoundedly absent-minded. 

Su Dai took the opportunity to take off the big fur cloak on his shoulders, and casually threw it on the ground; the armor on Huo Yang’s body was no different from that of an ordinary soldier. With a few steps, Su Tai dragged him into the chaotic battlefield. Thereby, the thirty thousand soldiers could no longer clearly distinguish who was the Great General of Wei Kingdom. 

Huo Yang was dragged away by Su Tai for a length of distance before he came back to his senses: “You killed Liu Yue… To save me?” Su Tai turned her back on Huo Yang and walked ahead of him, he frowned, “Su Tai!” 

The person in front of him stopped. When Su Tai turned around, she waved her hand and a fine white powder scattered about. Huo Yang’s eyes widened and his body immediately softened: “You… Plotted against me again.” Su Tai caught his limp body and heard him murmuring, trying to stay clear-headed: “Nevermind, forget it…” 

This sigh was more desolate than helplessness. As if from now on, his life would be lost in her hands, so he should forget this life. 

Su Tai did not show the slightest emotion, she did not even show the endless struggle she had with Huo Yang. Then Su Tai slowly retreated into an empty tent. She took out a Rong soldier’s attire from inside her clothes and helped Huo Yang put it on. 

Su Tai knew that in such a situation, if she wanted Huo Yang to abandon the three thousand soldiers and escape alone, he would never do it. From the bottom of his heart, this man was both extremely brave and dedicated. She had to kill his horse, to drag him down from under the eyes of the enemy, to turn him into a speck of dust within the crowd, because only in this way could she save him. 

It was because the taste of death was so terrifying. It was a kind of despair that no matter how one repressed it, it would be expressed in one’s eyes. It was a kind of panic that no matter how much one consoled oneself, it would well up in one’s throat. It was a kind of helplessness that no matter how determined one’s heart was, one’s nose would still smell the stench of blood. 

She was softhearted, she did not want Huo Yang to experience that kind of taste. 

Su Tai waited until the sound of slaughtering outside the tent gradually subsided, then she carried Huo Yang out on her back. The three thousand soldiers of the Wei Kingdom were completely annihilated. 

The cold air was filled with the smell of fresh blood. When Su Tai lowered her eyes, she followed a Rong troop out of the camp to go treat the wounded soldiers and quietly left the battlefield. As soon as she got midway through he journey, she killed dozens of wounded soldiers, robbed their horses, and took Huo Yang through the icy snow-covered valleys to find the main camp of the Wei Kingdom. 

She had never been so grateful for this zombified body. If it was the Su Tai from before, the injuries she suffered on the battlefield would have been enough to take her life. This body did not feel pain, did not age, did not die, if she did not say her last words, she could live like this forever. 

However, to live like this forever meant nothing to her. 

She clearly felt that her emotions were gradually disappearing with the death of her body. She no longer felt touched, no longer felt sad, the only thing that remained was her obstinate persistence.

When Huo Yang woke up, all the wounds on his body were bandaged completely. Looking at his surroundings, he seemed to immediately understand what Su Tai had done on the battlefield. He rolled over and got out of the bed. He opened the tent and stepped outside. The soldiers guarding outside the tent immediately saluted him. Huo Yang asked: “Where’s the woman who brought me back?” 

“To answer the General, she seems to be gone.” 

Huo Yang’s face immediately changed: “Without military orders, how dare you let someone in the enemy’s attire go!” 

The two soldiers immediately knelt down and tremblingly said: “When the General came back with that woman… The General appeared very close to her, these subordinates thought that, thought that… So we did not dare to stop her.” 

Huo Yang frowned tightly, but before he could say another word, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a woman dressed in gray standing not too far away, staring at him. The two soldiers who were kneeling were instantly happier than anyone else: “General, she’s back!” 

Su Dai looked at Huo Yang, her eyes were as calm as water. She nodded gently at Huo Yang, then turned around to leave. Huo Yang clenched his fists tightly, there were countless questions in his heart. Back then, he personally watched the military doctor cut open her stomach, so how could she still be alive now? Why was she here? Why… Did she save him? 

He involuntarily followed Su Tai, leaving the military camp. Su Tai slowly walked to a vast ice-covered area. 

The cold wind beyond the Great Wall brought big feather-like snow sweeping across their faces. The two of them, one before and one after, walked quietly in the omnipresent whiteness. Huo Yang suddenly felt that in the next moment, the woman could turn into a feather and fly away. 

“Su Tai.” Finally, he could not stop himself from calling out. However, besides her name, Huo Yang could not find anything else to say for a while. Su Tai continued to take a few steps forward, then suddenly she squatted down and dug out a white herb in the icy snow-covered ground. This herb was extremely effective in treating external injuries. She waved at Huo Yang, motioning him to come over. 

When she placed the herb into Huo Yang’s hand, her icy fingers gently touched his warm palm, which stunned the both of them. 

Su Tai thought that if she could forget the past, how great would it be to let go of everything and stay by his side forever. However, that was impossible. They were divided by betrayal, separated by life and death, interlaced by national hatred, she could not forget, so she could not be with him anymore. 

At this moment, the questions that were churning thousands of times in Su Tai’s heart — “Why did you not accept the letter of surrender? Why did you let the Xu Kingdom perish so tragically? Why did you have to kill until the very last one? You did not want me, nor did you want your child, were you that loyal to your emperor? Was it not okay to take even half a step backward? Or was it because you wanted to take revenge on me for my betrayal, to make me lose face when I come face to face with the soldiers and citizens of the Xu Kingdom in the underworld?” 

At this point, all the questions were no longer relevant. Even if Huo Yang accepted the letter of surrender, in the end, it could not change the fact that he destroyed the Xu Kingdom. 

He was loyal to his country, while she wanted to protect her emperor. 

Su Tai suddenly realized that from the very beginning, fate had already made them strangers. 

Su Tai brushed off the pile of snowflakes on Huo Yang’s shoulder, just like that summer when she wiped the sweat from his forehead under the shade of a tree. She tried to smile, but in the end, she could not do it and gave up. Silence flowed between the two of them, then Su Tai finally took Huo Yang’s hand and pressed his hand against her belly. 

The skin beneath the fabric was unexpectedly uneven. No matter how she arranged those internal organs, they would always pile up into a mess, announcing the fact that she was dead. 

Su Tai gently said: “Huo Yang, it’s a boy.” 

Huo Yang shivered violently and shrunk back like he was scalded. Su Tai willingly let go of his hand, she looked down at her belly and rubbed it gently, even though there was no expression on her face, but the gentleness in her eyes were enough to make Huo Yang breathe with burning pain. 

Su Tai wanted to say that this child was just like him, very healthy and quite beautiful. However, life did not give her the opportunity to speak again. 

She took a step back, while Huo Yang stretched out his hand to pull her back subconsciously. However, as soon as his hand touched her arm, Su Tai seemed to have shattered, carrying the love and hatred that no longer existed, following the cold wind, blending into the snow-covered sky, fluttering away. 

Without even the time to react, Huo Yang had to watch her disappear right before his eyes. 

This scene would later become his nightmare, clinging to him every night, without a shred of tranquility. 

With a “whoosh,” the peachwood comb fell on the snow. Huo Yang stood frozen in place. In the blink of an eye, he saw a pale-white hand picking up the wooden comb on the ground. It was unknown when this woman in white appeared. It was as if her white clothes were blending and fusing into the boundless world. She fished out a writing brush and tapped the wooden comb with it, saying consolingly: “I have collected the demon in your heart.” 

Huo Yang was still despondent. 

Bai Gui raised her head to look at Huo Yang, who appeared to be dejected. Her cold but breathy voice said mercilessly: “Your demon, I can’t take it away.” 

From now on, this man could not let go of his memories nor could he relive his past… 

Only the painful yearning was left to grind into his bones and penetrate his heart.