Chapter 55: Second Shot Half Price

At that moment, a rift appeared mid-air before her, resembling the shattered surface of a glass mirror, and Mei Mumu’s translucent soul emerged from within.

“Not here, a bit lower,” Mei Mumu’s soul pointed toward his own chest.

Her ex-boyfriend lay on the operating table like a lifeless fish, teetering on the brink of death, while another identical ex-boyfriend popped halfway out of the air in spectral form. The mere fact that Christine hadn’t stabbed the needle straight into him on the spot was proof enough of her steel nerves.

“Ah!” Christine nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of Mei Mumu, instinctively clapping a hand over her mouth and stumbling back, almost knocking over the rack of surgical instruments behind her.

“Don’t panic! And be careful not to prick yourself with the needle,” Mei Mumu tried to reassure her.

Christine’s chest heaved as she struggled to steady herself, suspicion and disbelief flickering across her face. “Mei Mu? What in God’s name am I looking at right now?”

“Uh, a ghost… Something close to a ghost, I suppose? You’re seeing my soul,” Mei Mumu explained helplessly.

“You’re dead already?”

“No! But if you don’t get to work soon, I really will be,” Mei Mumu retorted.

She looked up, down, left, right—Christine now doubted not only her eyes, but the very fabric of reality. Still, it had to be said: to become a ‘night shift nurse’ takes guts. After a few deep breaths, she declared, “Okay! Okay! I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

That air of being driven to the gallows, as if she were facing something even worse than execution, touched Mei Mumu despite himself.

Indeed, she was a good woman. Anyone else might have just screamed and fainted dead away.

“All right, a bit higher…”

Christine approached with the syringe. Mei Mumu slipped two spectral fingers of his right hand into his own chest, gently gathering magical energy. The soft glow of Kamar-Taj’s magic illuminated every blood vessel, every organ in his chest with perfect clarity.

It looked a hundred times clearer than any CT scan.

No matter how sharp a two-dimensional image, it could never compare to this flawless three-dimensional vision.

“Good heavens, Mei Mu, if you could turn this thing into a medical breakthrough, they’d give you another award for sure,” Christine muttered.

“Please, could you just save me first…” Mei Mumu was exasperated.

“Uh. Sorry.”

Just as Mei Mumu was about to say something else, he suddenly sensed a disturbance. He turned his head to feel, beyond the wall of the operating room, the presence of a fallen one.

The soul world’s vision differed from reality. When Mei Mumu laid eyes on the figure, his courage nearly failed him.

Good God! Weren’t you supposed to be dead?

Indeed, it was the very same fallen man whom Mei Mumu had just sliced in half with the Sword of the Vishanti. Now, the wretch was left with only half a soul, his lower body gone, no sign of his manhood, with black soul-blood dripping steadily from his transparent abdomen.

“Did I just cross over into The Walking Dead?”

If Mei Mumu was a mere spirit, this thing was the stuff of true evil—an unclean ghost. Mei Mumu was certain: something was off in this Marvel universe.

Was the dark lord Dormammu really this overpowered?

There was no time to think. He hurriedly tossed back, “There’s an enemy coming! Keep operating. Don’t let me die!”

There was no time to see Christine’s reaction. Mei Mumu, feeling desperate, charged toward the specter.

“Galudoo…” Mei Mumu barely got halfway through the incantation before giving up. Without his body, the spell couldn’t resonate with his mind, let alone be controlled.

Between two souls, only the most primitive form of close-quarters combat remained.

Back and forth, they grappled.

Neither seemed to gain the upper hand.

His opponent was more experienced in fighting, but Mei Mumu had the advantage of being ambidextrous. Against an ordinary foe, he would have taught them a lesson by now. But this one had no lower body, and his upper half floated, making him impossible to pin down. When the specter shamelessly swooped along the floor, Mei Mumu truly couldn’t deal with him.

Ambidexterity was of no use when your legs weren’t involved.

For a while, the two spirits clashed in the netherworld, their fight causing the dimly lit operating room to resemble a haunted house. The collisions and surges of spiritual energy sent medical instruments rattling, making Christine jump again and again.

And yet, amid this chaos, Christine continued to suture Mei Mumu’s wound with surgical thread, gritting her teeth.

“Damn it! Mei Mu, you bastard! Don’t you dare die on me!”

Outside, Mei Mumu’s old acquaintance, Dr. Nick, was at the vending machine, buying snacks. Thanks to the scuffle, packs of snacks tumbled out one after another, all to someone’s benefit.

Seizing a chance to kick his adversary away, Mei Mumu leapt out of the soul realm.

“Ah! I told you, Mei Mu, stop scaring me like that!”

“Uh, sorry, could you shock my heart for me?”

“Why? Your heartbeat’s normal!”

“Don’t ask, just do it!” And with that, Mei Mumu vanished again.

“Bastard! Damn ex-boyfriend! That’s what you get for being mean to me—” Mei Mumu didn’t even notice that Christine was on the verge of losing it. She grabbed the defibrillator and slammed it onto his chest with fierce determination.

Bang! In soul form, Mei Mumu felt as if he’d just been injected with pure adrenaline, his whole being radiating dazzling golden light. The jolt sent his spirit blazing like a miniature sun, causing the half-bodied evil ghost to scream and go flying.

Taking advantage of the opening, Mei Mumu rushed back. “Again! Stronger this time!”

Christine, startled yet again by Mei Mumu’s soul, was even more exasperated. She cranked the voltage up to 250 joules. “Again? What is this, McDonald’s buy-one-get-one?”

Grumbling was one thing, but she did what she had to—her shock sent Mei Mumu’s body arching off the table in a spasm of nerves and muscles.

For a moment, all was still, but Christine could still hear the faint sounds of battle. Gritting her teeth, she muttered, “Hmph! This time, I don’t need you to scare me. Here’s your third shock, on the house!”

She cranked the voltage up to 360 joules and let it rip.

Suddenly, the world fell silent.

Panting heavily, Mei Mumu finally managed to destroy the enemy using his soul’s radiant gold light, with Christine’s timely help. As life returned to his body, he gasped for air.

“Is the enemy… taken care of?” Christine asked tentatively.

“It’s done. Thank you, Christine.”