Grandpa Nova felt immediate regret, yet couldn't suppress the dark desires consuming him. To satisfy his unnatural cravings, he continued committing these profane acts.
The parchment's stipulations no longer concerned him - the four grave robbers were dead. Who would come to claim the corpse now? No one. The contract was merely the female corpse's method of binding the Nova family to her will, destined to remain with them forever.
This realization eased Grandpa Nova's conscience. As long as he kept his secret, who would ever know? Would the corpse tell? Impossible!
However supernatural the female corpse might be, she couldn't speak. Had she that power, she'd have risen from her coffin long ago.
Some doors, once opened to darkness, can never be closed again.
First came the initial transgression, then repeated violations. Grandpa Nova surrendered completely to his obsession. But secrets inevitably surface - Grandma Nova discovered his profane affair.
No wife could tolerate such betrayal. That her living husband preferred a dead woman's embrace? This perversion shattered marital dignity beyond endurance.
Furious, Grandma Nova threatened to burn the corpse. Family members restrained her repeatedly, but her rage simmered, erupting in frequent threats of immolation.
The wrath wasn't Grandma Nova's alone. The desecrated corpse also seethed with anger. Being violated was one matter, but destruction by fire? This demanded retribution.
Aunt Nova died first. They found her kneeling in the ice chamber, head tilted back, an icicle speared through her mouth and throat into her skull.
Her frozen blood formed a macabre ice sculpture.
Fate intended this for Grandma Nova - it had been her turn to offer incense. But consumed by hatred for the corpse, she'd refused to go. Aunt Nova had taken her place.
The murder wasn't the only horror. The women's clothes had been exchanged - the missing corpse now wore Aunt Nova's red dress. Only a jade pendant remained in the coffin, stained with blood.
As netherworld merchants, the Novas recognized this immediately - blood jade, an artifact of darkest omen. None dared touch it, leaving the cursed object undisturbed.
With the corpse vanished, panic gripped the Nova household. Their desperate searches proved futile - the woman's body had disappeared without trace.
Three days later, something even more horrifying occurred. A man clad entirely in black arrived at the Nova estate under cover of night. His form was completely concealed - a black suit covered every inch of his body, his face hidden behind a mask.
From his voice, he appeared male. In his gloved hand, he clutched the parchment scroll. He had come to claim the zombie.
But with the corpse missing, how could the Novas fulfill their obligation? Grandpa Nova had never imagined someone else would arrive bearing the contract. He'd assumed the document vanished with the grave robbers' deaths.
When the family failed to produce the corpse, the black-clad visitor flew into a rage. After delivering a scathing rebuke, he departed with a final ominous warning: "The Nova family will reap what they've sown!"
Three days after this encounter, a woman in a red skirt materialized within the Nova mansion. She vanished as quickly as she appeared, leaving behind only a bloody message scrawled across the wall:
"The Novas broke their vow. I shall make their household suffer - exterminating their lineage down to the last chicken and dog!"
The bloody words defied all attempts at removal. Only when Grandpa Nova procured black dog's blood and doused the message could the crimson writing finally be cleansed.
The curse took immediate effect. Nova men began dying violent deaths one by one. The women developed an incurable chill that seeped into their bones.
Grandpa Nova recognized this as the promised retribution. The female corpse had infiltrated their home. Though he burned paper offerings and kowtowed daily to atone, his efforts proved futile. Within decades, nearly every Nova male had perished.
In desperation, Grandpa Nova paid exorbitant sums to consult powerful Erebus profiteers. Their verdict offered no hope: "This is the Nova family's sin to bear. That corpse's power exceeds all - interference means death." However, they revealed two crucial omens:
When the female corpse appears, Nova men will die.
When the jade pendant appears, Nova women will perish.
This was the family's great calamity. Survival meant weathering the storm; failure meant complete annihilation.
This explains Grandma Nova's terror upon seeing the jade pendant. Its appearance signaled death for Nova women.
The pendant had remained undisturbed in the coffin for generations. No one dared touch it - certainly not Grandpa Nova, who would never have given it to Nova voluntarily.
This suggests Grandpa Nova committed one final evil act before dying. The pendant's mysterious appearance in his possession couldn't have been his doing. Some other force orchestrated this.
When Grandma Nova uncovered this truth, sheer terror drove her to feign madness - her desperate attempt to escape the curse's grasp.
Ghosts spare only two types of people - the mute and the mad. Grandma Nova didn't know whether she faced a ghost or some other supernatural entity, only that it was profoundly evil.
Had the vengeful spirit sought to kill Nova women first, Grandma Nova would have been the prime target after her threats to burn the corpse. Yet ironically, despite feigning madness to escape this fate, she ultimately became the first to perish - sacrificing herself to save Zephyr.
With this, the Nova family's dark history was fully revealed. Surprisingly, it was Grandma Nova's spirit speaking through Zephyr's body that disclosed these secrets. Nova sat dumbfounded - she'd never heard any of this before.
"Only the older generation knew," Grandma Nova explained through Zephyr's lips. "We never spoke of it to the younger ones. The damage was done, and revealing our shame could change nothing. Better to remain silent about our family's... disgraceful legacy."
This raised an obvious question: why had Grandma Nova's spirit returned specifically to tell us now?
At this point, Zephyr turned to me. His eyes - deep, pale, and clearly those of an old soul - betrayed the ghostly presence within him. "Because you," the voice rasped, "can save our Nova family. That's why I risked appearing to tell you everything."
"Me?" I asked incredulously. "How could you possibly know that?"
"I met your grandfather... there. He said you could help."
"My grandfather?" I straightened immediately. "You saw him? Where? What did he say? Is he alright now?" The questions tumbled out in a frantic stream.
But just then, Zephyr's face twisted in sudden terror. His whole body trembled as he stared at the doorway - though strangely, there was nothing there. What could possibly frighten a ghost?