With the muzzle of Hu Bingbing's gun aimed at us, we dared not move. Any resistance would mean death. If I had known she had a gun, I would never have dared to act so recklessly.

But at that moment, something strange happened. Hu Bingbing’s face changed. Her hand, which was holding the gun, bent back at an impossible angle, and the barrel was suddenly aimed at herself.

"What... what's happening? Who is this?" Hu Bingbing screamed, but no one answered. It was as if someone invisible was holding her hand.

Could it be her boyfriend? No, that couldn’t be—it was impossible. The red lotus night demon should have kept the ghost away. It was all my fault. If I had listened to the warnings and not trusted Hu Bingbing, none of this would have happened.

"Zhu Li, help me!" Hu Bingbing shouted in desperation.

Zhu Li rushed over, but then something even more bizarre happened. It was as if something had grabbed hold of Zhu Li's feet. She couldn’t move an inch, no matter how hard she tried.

"Bi... Bingbing, what... what’s going on? Something’s holding my foot!" Zhu Li’s face turned pale, her voice tinged with fear.

A moment of confusion passed, but then, in the dim light, we saw countless small white shadows crawling across the floor. These shadows were tiny fetus-like figures, wriggling and squirming on the ground. They were the ones controlling Hu Bingbing’s hand and Zhu Li’s feet.

"Ai... Boss, this... this is what I was telling you about—the Grudge of the Unborn!" Aizi Xing exclaimed excitedly.

The Grudge of the Unborn? Was it possible that Hu Bingbing’s excessive consumption of fetal blood had created the Grudge? How clever. It was karma. You reap what you sow!

If only Hu Bingbing had listened to me when I advised her to get the tattoo of the Grudge and the ghost child. She wouldn’t have gotten into all this trouble.

This was poetic justice. What goes around, comes around.

"It’s impossible! This... this fetus thing is a lie! Get away, you ghosts! Get away! Who are you to show off here, unborn little fetuses? Go away!" Hu Bingbing screamed madly.

But just as she finished speaking, there was a sudden bang, and a bullet entered her mouth, passed through her throat, and exited through the back of her head, spraying blood all over the wall.

Hu Bingbing was dead. As she lay on the floor, her eyes were wide open, bigger than copper bells. Her death was horrific.

Once Hu Bingbing died, the white shadows of the fetuses started to laugh, their laughter echoing eerily, "Hee hee hee..." It was creepy, but the shadows disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

With Hu Bingbing's death, the Grudge vanished. I saw the figure of a man in a white shirt standing in the hallway, smiling. But when I blinked, he was gone.

The authorities arrived soon after, and we were all taken in for questioning. After a full day and night, we were finally cleared of suspicion.

Hu Bingbing’s boyfriend’s body was retrieved, his organs replaced, and he was properly buried. Meanwhile, the news of Hu Bingbing’s death was all over the media.

I thought that was the end of it, but three months later, something unexpected happened. Zhu Li inherited everything from Hu Bingbing—the company, the mansion, the wealth—and she used these to pave the way for her own future. She would become the next top star, the next Hu Bingbing!

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

By the way, Zhu Li was Hu Bingbing’s best friend. She was the one who introduced Hu Bingbing to the South Asian dark magic, to the entertainment industry master. It was she who had come up with the plan to have Hu Bingbing kill her boyfriend and turn his organs into a five-element feng shui array.

Hu Bingbing kept Zhu Li close because everything Hu Bingbing achieved was partly thanks to her. And the child Hu Bingbing had been pregnant with wasn’t even her boyfriend’s. Hu Bingbing’s boyfriend had been unknowingly cuckolded and paid the price with his life. It was tragic, a true horror.

All of this was something Zhu Li told me later. She felt she owed us, for without us, she would never have gotten to where she was now. She had been plotting from the start, waiting for the right moment to replace Hu Bingbing. Thanks to our actions, she succeeded in taking everything from Hu Bingbing.

I never imagined that there was an even more terrifying woman lurking behind Hu Bingbing. But these events no longer had anything to do with me. There were many such stories of people competing for fame and wealth, and the evil actresses and their devious best friends were just part of the game. The depths of the human heart were something I didn’t want to delve into. I had no interest in getting involved in such matters; all I wanted was to make money in peace.

I didn’t find out about any of this until three months later. When I reflect on it now, after Aizi Xing and I were released from the police station, we breathed a sigh of relief. If Hu Bingbing’s death had been blamed on us, it would have been truly unfair. It was the Grudge that killed her, but in the end, she brought about her own demise. Of course, Zhu Li, the woman who had schemed against her, was also an accomplice in her death.

You reap what you sow. The saying couldn’t be more true!

When we returned to the tattoo shop, we quickly took showers. The time spent in the police station felt worse than death, having been locked up for a full day and night.

Just then, a woman entered the shop. Her face was unfamiliar, but her body seemed oddly familiar. For a moment, I couldn’t place her.

"Do you not recognize me?" the woman asked with a smile.

Do we know her? I racked my brain, looking closely at her figure. Then, suddenly, it hit me.

Could it be... Cui Meixi?

I was right. Cui Meixi nodded and told me she had come specifically to thank me.

I couldn’t believe it. Just two days had passed, but Cui Meixi seemed like a completely different person.

She wasn’t exactly beautiful, but her features were now normal, and compared to her previous unattractive face, it was as if she had been reborn. With her new, fuller figure, she was now undeniably attractive. She could easily capture the attention of a group of men.

The effect of the "mask" tattoo was indeed overwhelming. The dark tattoo was no longer just "magical"—it was transformative.

Cui Meixi thanked me profusely, telling me that I had given her a second chance at life. Now, she could live normally without facing rejection. She had even kicked out her lazy, good-for-nothing boyfriend.

Now, she could find a "normal" boyfriend, one who would treat her properly. The 300,000 yuan she had spent on the tattoo was totally worth it!

I told her there was no need for such gratitude—it was just business. I did my job, and she paid for it. All I asked was that she help me promote my work and remember to come back to get the tattoo removed after the fifteenth day.

Cui Meixi nodded eagerly, but… she didn’t follow through. The fifteenth day passed, and she didn’t show up.

Five days later, she came back.

This time, she was even more beautiful—her features sharper, her aura more enchanting—but there was something strangely alluring about her, something unsettling.

She still wasn’t satisfied. She told me she wanted to become even more beautiful. She wanted to be breathtaking, world-class, a beauty that could bring a city to its knees. This was completely different from what she had said at the beginning—she just wanted to look normal, but now she wanted everything.

She couldn't stop. Since she became more beautiful, more and more men had flocked to her. The benefits kept increasing. She relished the attention, the feeling of all eyes on her, the men turning in circles around her.

At work, all the male colleagues adored her, showering her with favors, but none of that mattered to her. She only wanted the boss. She used her beauty to get money, power, and fame.

She had boyfriends—several of them. Handsome ones, wealthy ones. She had been ugly before, but now she was determined to make up for everything she had lacked. But even that wasn’t enough. She wanted more, and more. She wanted to make the men who once turned their noses up at her now beg for her attention.

Something was wrong with her, and I quickly reminded her that the dark tattoo was extremely dangerous, that she had to remove it after the fifteenth day. But she ignored my warning, and she didn’t show up as agreed.

I knew something bad was about to happen.

Human greed was like a bottomless pit. Once you taste sweetness, you can never stop.