PWE – Chapter 55  The Horrible Truths

“You come down too,” Xiao Wange said, glancing at the head.

The head nodded quickly and floated down from the wall.

As it descended, its full body gradually appeared—
but its belly was hollow and empty inside, nothing within it at all.

Qin Xiuwan’s heartbeat quickened at the sight, nausea rising in her throat.

She quickly averted her eyes, refusing to look again at the two ghosts—one large, one small.

Mu Yunhao, however, stared at them both, his tone low and grave.

“So this is what they looked like when they died.
They were tortured like this before death—
that’s why they appear this way after death.”

Xiao Wange nodded.

“That’s right. The form a ghost takes often mirrors how they died.”

At that, Mother Qin, filled with both sorrow and fury, turned toward Xu Gaoyi and shouted:

“How could you be so cruel?! Even if they were strangers, you shouldn’t have done such things to them!
But they were your wife and child!
How could you lay such a vicious hand on your own flesh and blood?!”

Especially the child—
the little one didn’t even look three years old!
A father who could kill his own child, cut open its tiny body—
what kind of monster could do such a thing?
How could Xu Gaoyi be so utterly heartless?!

“No—no, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”
Xu Gaoyi panicked, his voice trembling as he scrambled to defend himself.
“I don’t even know them, I’ve never seen them before!
That woman’s lying—she’s lying to you all!”

But no one in the room believed him.

Father Qin glared at him, furious.

“You vicious, deceitful creature! Still denying it even now?
Xu Gaoyi, you’re beneath contempt!”

“Dad, he’s trash—absolute trash!”
Qin Xiuwan spat, hatred twisting her features.
“I must’ve been blind to have ever fallen for someone like him!”

She looked gentle on the surface, but deep down, she was a woman who could not tolerate a grain of sand in her eyes.
Once that “grain” entered,
even the deepest love would turn into disgust.

“Our family must be cursed,” Mother Qin said angrily.
“To have ever gotten involved with scum like this!”

But as she thought of how her daughter’s life had been ruined by this man, grief filled her chest.
Her poor daughter—
she could’ve married a good man and lived happily,
but now…

“Dad, Mom, I—”
Xu Gaoyi tried again, his voice trembling with false emotion,
but Xiao Wange cut him off.

She frowned slightly and turned to the two ghosts.

“The way you look now might frighten people.
Restore your human forms.”

As she spoke, she waved her hand, releasing a spell.

A soft light fell over the ghosts, and their bodies began to change.

In an instant, they looked like ordinary people again—
their hollow stomachs, the intestines coiling around their bodies—all vanished.
Even their ghostly aura dissipated.
Now they appeared almost like living humans.

“Great Immortal…”
The woman ghost led the child ghost forward, ready to kneel.
“I know you’re kind. Please… help me avenge us!”

As she spoke, blood-tears streamed once more from her eyes.

Xiao Wange quickly stopped her.

“I already know everything about your suffering.
Don’t worry—he’s done too many evil deeds.
His retribution is certain.”

The ghost wiped her tears, her voice shaking with hatred.

“I have no other wish—just that he suffers his punishment in the deepest hell!”

Xiao Wange looked at her steadily.

“Not only the Eighteenth Level of Hell awaits him—
the Beast Realm does too.
In his next life, he’ll lose the right to be reborn as a human.”

At those words, both the woman and child ghosts brightened.
Xu Gaoyi would become a beast, fit only for slaughter—
that was justice.

Still, part of the woman ghost thought bitterly—
if only his memories could remain,
that would be a far crueler punishment.

As if reading her mind, Xiao Wange added,

“He murdered his own child. Heaven itself will not forgive that.
So when he’s reborn, the underworld won’t let him drink Meng Po’s soup.
He’ll reincarnate as a beast, with all his memories intact.”

“Really? That’s perfect!”
The voice wasn’t the ghost’s this time—it was Qin Xiuwan’s.

She glared venomously at Xu Gaoyi.

“That’s exactly what he deserves!
Anyone who could kill his own child doesn’t deserve to be called human!”

“He’ll be a rat in his next life,”
a small voice said suddenly—Zhao Zhao, from his father’s arms,
staring straight at Xu Gaoyi.

Xu Gaoyi’s face twisted in rage.

What nonsense!
Did these people really think they could decide his fate?
Who did they think they were—the King of Hell himself?

But Xiao Wange blinked in surprise at Zhao Zhao’s words.

She turned toward him.
How did he know? She hadn’t said anything about what form Xu Gaoyi would take next life.
Could it be… he was just guessing?

“Zhao Zhao, how do you know he’ll be a rat?” she asked, brow furrowed in curiosity.

The boy replied simply,

“Because I saw the shadow on him.
He has a rat’s shadow.”

As he spoke, Zhao Zhao fixed his eyes on Xu Gaoyi again.
He really could see it—the dark, twitching outline of a rat clinging to the man.

Xiao Wange drew a sharp breath.

So the boy really could see it.
He wasn’t guessing at all.

But how could that be possible?
He was just a child—how could he see such things?
Unless…

“You little brat, shut up!” Xu Gaoyi suddenly roared,
his anger exploding.

He felt utterly humiliated—
even a child was insulting him now!
His rage boiled over, and he couldn’t stop himself from lashing out.

But before he could say more, Mother Qin snapped coldly,

“Watch your tone! Xu Gaoyi, from this moment on,
you are no longer part of our Qin family!
Since you are not, you have no right to speak that way to our guest!”

“Mom—”

“Don’t call me that!” Mother Qin shot back in disgust.
“I don’t dare acknowledge such a cruel man as my son-in-law!”

Just looking at him made her skin crawl—
like staring at a venomous snake.

Tong Ningxiang wanted to defend Xu Gaoyi,
but before she could speak,
Xiao Wange looked at the woman ghost and said,

“Tell us everything about you and Xu Gaoyi.
Let everyone here know exactly what kind of monster he is.”

The ghost nodded, hatred flickering in her blood-red eyes.

“Xu Gaoyi and I grew up in the same village,” she began.
“We went to school together.
But my grades were poor, so I stopped after middle school.
He was smart and wanted to keep studying—but his family was so poor they couldn’t afford the fees.
He begged me for help.

“I pitied him… so I secretly gave him the money my mother had saved.
When she found out, she nearly broke my legs.
But seeing how happy he was to go back to school—I was glad.

“After that, I worked odd jobs everywhere to earn money.
Most of what I earned went to him.

“Later, he got into a university in the provincial capital.
He told me so many sweet things then…
I thought he truly loved me.
So I followed him there.

“In the city, I worked day and night.
I sent a little money home, but the rest—all of it—went to him.
Looking back, I was a fool.
I worked myself half to death, while he took my money to live in luxury—
chasing girls, showering them with gifts.

“I only learned the truth when I died—
that by his second year of college,
he was already pursuing the Qin family’s daughter—you, Comrade Qin.”

She turned to look at Qin Xiuwan.

Qin Xiuwan’s breath hitched, her chest tightening painfully.
When Xu Gaoyi had courted her, he’d spent generously,
claiming the money came from part-time jobs.

She had admired his “diligence and ambition.”
But now she knew—
all his wealth came from another woman’s suffering.

Her glare toward him grew even more venomous.

Xu Gaoyi clenched his fists.

“You’re lying! I don’t even know you—how could I have spent your money—”

But the ghost cut him off sharply.

“When he was in his third year, I got pregnant.
He told me to get rid of it.
I couldn’t—so I had the baby.
I went back to work when my child was barely a month old—
because otherwise, we’d starve.

“When he finally graduated,
I thought our good days were coming.
But instead, he hid us away in a remote house,
saying his salary was too low,
that he’d marry me once he saved enough.
I believed him, foolishly.

“But the day I’d waited for never came.
What came instead—was him,
and that woman Tong Ningxiang.

“They broke into our house.
She said my child and I couldn’t be allowed to live—
that we’d ruin their plans.
So Xu Gaoyi took a knife and killed us both.

“I tried to run with my baby,
but I was too weak—malnourished for months.
I could only watch as he plunged the blade into me and my child.
And that woman stood by,
coldly watching it all.”

The ghost turned, glaring at Tong Ningxiang, hatred burning in her eyes.

Tong Ningxiang’s breathing grew ragged.

“You’re lying! You’re making this up—”

“Tong Ningxiang!”
Father Qin suddenly grabbed a pillow from the bed and hurled it at her.
“How could you be so vicious?!
You actually urged him to kill?!”

He was truly shaken.
He’d thought she was kind and gentle—
but now, she was nothing but a snake in human skin.

“Uncle, it wasn’t me, I didn’t—” Tong Ningxiang started,
but the little ghost pointed at her, shouting angrily:

“It was you! You and Daddy came to kill us!
After Daddy killed us, you told him to cut us open—
you said if he wrapped my guts around me,
I’d be tied up forever, trapped in that house!
You told him to cut off Mommy’s head too—
said without a head, the underworld wouldn’t recognize her,
that she’d never reincarnate!
You’re evil! You’re just as evil as Daddy!”

Though small, the child spoke with startling clarity.

Everyone in the room drew sharp, horrified breaths.

Mother Qin broke down, sobbing as she glared at Tong Ningxiang.

“How could you become like this?
I treated you like my own daughter—
I thought you were kind and gentle—
and yet you…”

Her voice caught, choked by grief.
Earlier, when she’d learned Tong Ningxiang and Xu Gaoyi were together,
she’d merely felt disappointed.
Now, she felt heartbreak.

The girl she’d raised as her own child—
had become something even more terrifying than a ghost.

Tong Ningxiang clenched her fists, her mind in chaos.
She wanted to explain—but the woman ghost gave her no chance.

“Comrade Qin,” the ghost said, turning to Qin Xiuwan,
“do you know who told Xu Gaoyi to pursue you?
It was Tong Ningxiang.

“She said that if he married you,
they could move into the Qin household and take over the factory.
Once inside, they’d slowly drain every bit of your family’s wealth.

“Last night, the two of them were dismantling machines in your factory to sell.
And today, they took your parents’ IDs to the bank—
to withdraw all your family’s savings and disappear.”

Qin Xiuwan’s delicate face hardened with fury and disgust.

She ground her teeth, glaring at Tong Ningxiang.

“Tong Ningxiang, you ungrateful wretch!
We gave you food, clothes, an education—
and this is how you repay us?!
You plotted with an outsider to destroy us—
even to steal every cent we have!
You’re just like that bastard Xu Gaoyi—
you’re both beasts!”