Without the female ghost Xiao Lian, Sunshine Apartment was no longer sinister and terrifying. Zhao Mingyue could feel that a massive change had taken place here, but if you asked her exactly what had changed, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Perhaps it was just that it wasn’t so deathly cold anymore, and the air lacked the smell of disinfectant and rot.
Most importantly, that inexplicable sense of psychological oppression was gone.
She went up to the fourth floor, arriving in front of Room 404. Zhao Mingyue fished the key out of her pocket and inserted it into the lock. Just as she was about to open the door, she faintly sensed someone watching her.
Turning her head to look, she saw someone disappearing around the corridor corner. There were two more rooms over there, one of which was occupied. She’d learned that when she was doing Xiao Lian’s quest.
She remembered him as a very strange man. He had asked her to come inside and sit back then, but his place was full of empty liquor bottles and instant noodle cups, with barely anywhere to stand.
“What a weirdo.”
She opened the door and went inside, the lights flickering on. Zhao Mingyue stumbled in and flopped straight onto the sofa. The aches in her body and heaviness in her feet all rushed back at once.
This entire night, she felt like she hadn’t done much useful. She’d just been coasting along, yet she also felt like she’d played a key role. Even if she hadn’t really done anything critical, she was exhausted—truly exhausted.
To coast through an entire operation and still be so tired you can barely walk, she was probably the only one.
“Ah, the sofa is way more comfortable.” She flipped over, leaning her back against the sofa—or rather, collapsing into it in a manner completely unbefitting a beautiful young girl. “So tired… but why does my body feel so weird?”
Zhao Mingyue raised her hand and tried clenching her fist.
Her arm was indeed sore, but amidst that ache, she could clearly feel a warm current flowing through her body, so comforting she wanted to close her eyes.
This feeling was like soaking in a hot spring at the end of a tiring day, while Bai Yu massaged her shoulders beside her.
“It should be a physical boost from completing the quest,” Bai Yu said, standing to the side and looking at the completely inelegant Zhao Mingyue, speaking a word of reminder.
“Oh, right, let me see.”
Taking out the black phone, Zhao Mingyue looked at the rewards on it.
【Quest Complete】
【Eternal Life Village (Front Area), Completion: 30%】
【Quest Completed. Strength +3, Vision +3, Hearing +3, Willpower +3, Reaction Speed +3】
【You have acquired the ability: Ghost God Resonance】
【Ghost God Resonance: Your affinity with neutral ghost-type monsters is slightly increased】
【Ghostly abilities’ influence on your mental strength -2. The damage you deal to ghost-type monsters will be amplified based on your mental strength.】
“So many things. My quest wasn’t even fully completed—just the main quest.”
Looking at these boosts, Zhao Mingyue was slightly shocked for a moment. Completing just thirty percent gave her more than completing both the Sunshine Apartment and Thirteenth High School quests combined. If it had been a hundred percent, wouldn’t she have just rocketed straight to the top?
But then again, it made sense. That quest was incredibly dangerous.
High risk, high reward. That was probably how it worked. She just didn’t quite understand the principle behind her strength increase—how did it happen?
Had she cut down so many wax corpses that she’d simply leveled up?
Or had she absorbed the power of those wax corpses?
Taking the black phone and showing it to Bai Yu, Zhao Mingyue was genuinely overjoyed. She didn’t want to be a decorative flower vase, nor did she want to just coast along, but she couldn’t help it. With her strength, she could handle ordinary quests, but the big ones were beyond her.
“Bai Yu, is this new ability of mine useful?”
“Very useful.”
“Woo-hoo!”
Zhao Mingyue sprang up from the sofa, grabbed her rabbit doll, and headed for the bathroom. She didn’t forget to say at the door, “Bai Yu, want to take a bath together?”
“Not necessary.”
“Alright.”
Soon, the sound of Zhao Mingyue humming and the water running came from the bathroom. Bai Yu glanced at the bathroom, her eyes tinged with a hint of helplessness. She walked over to the TV stand and reached out to pick up a photo on top of it.
This photo was of Zhao Mingyue and her older sister.
It was a normal, heartwarming photo, but her sister’s face had been erased by some kind of power, leaving only a distorted and blurred image.
Her curiosity about Zhao Mingyue’s sister’s identity was growing. From what Zhao Mingyue had said, her sister knew a lot—like she knew everything. She would intentionally or unintentionally mention things to Zhao Mingyue, but it was always surface-level information, nothing truly useful.
Zhao Mingyue’s sister’s disappearance was something Bai Yu had never underestimated.
It definitely wasn’t as simple as just being captured to become a Divine Maiden.
The information learned during this Eternal Life Village quest confirmed exactly that.
Her sister hadn’t been captured; she had voluntarily returned to the Back Village on her own.
She was only three years older than Zhao Mingyue, yet they were complete opposites. She knew and understood so much, while Zhao Mingyue, in contrast, was ignorant and always being manipulated by others, knowing less than the faintest veneer of the truth.
Maybe that was a kind of luck. Knowing too much about certain things wasn’t necessarily good.
There was another point: Bai Yu always felt the Dragon Girl’s attitude towards Zhao Mingyue was off.
During their first meeting, she hadn’t noticed much, aside from the Dragon Girl running away for no reason.
But in the second encounter, many things were revealed. Given that woman’s usual style, she would absolutely never deliberately warn that Zhao Mingyue would die in the Back Village. She would have remained silent, at most advising Bai Yu not to bring a hindrance.
The Dragon Girl was connected to Eternal Life Village, but not on the same side as the Evil God. Upon seeing Zhao Mingyue, she’d acted completely out of character by fleeing, then deliberately reappearing later to repeatedly warn Bai Yu not to take Zhao Mingyue to the Back Village.
All these factors combined made it hard for Bai Yu not to suspect that the Dragon Girl had some connection to Zhao Mingyue.
Of course, these were all just conjectures. She couldn’t yet determine what the reality was.
Emerging from the bathroom still humming, Zhao Mingyue was wrapped in nothing but a bath towel.
As she dried her hair, Zhao Mingyue repeatedly invited Bai Yu to share the bed for the night, only to be ruthlessly rejected by Bai Yu every time.
The night passed without a word, turning into dawn in a blink.
Zhao Mingyue had taken two days off. Today was already Friday.
She got up, tidied up, washed, and ate. But just as she was about to put on her backpack and go to class, she hesitated.
“I… I don’t really feel like going to school anymore.”
A few days ago, a killer had stormed into the school, and it was Bai Yu possessing her that had taken that killer down.
The news had spread long ago. By now, there was probably no one in the entire school who didn’t know who she was. The gossip hadn’t died down yet. If she went to school now, she’d likely be stared at like a monkey in a zoo.
It wasn’t because she was shy or any other reason; she simply couldn’t stand being watched by so many people.
“Bai Yu, do you think I should go to school or to the convenience store?”
“The convenience store,” Bai Yu’s voice rang out in Zhao Mingyue’s heart.
“Okay.”
Putting down her backpack, Zhao Mingyue went downstairs and got on her small bicycle, mumbling under her breath incessantly.
“If I go to school, Lu Liangting is going to grab me and ask questions for sure. So annoying.”
“Say, why is Lu Liangting so concerned about you, Bai Yu? If it’s just simple gratitude, does he really need to go this far? I always feel like he’s got ulterior motives.”
“Can a normal man fall in love with a female ghost?”
“Has he never heard that humans and ghosts walk different paths? He’s not trying to imitate the male lead from some book, is he?”
“Hey, Bai Yu, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“To be honest, I really think my life is pretty good right now. Way better than before. It’s not the same three stops anymore—school, convenience store, or straight home.”
Along the way, Zhao Mingyue chattered on in a mumble, until the convenience store’s entrance came into view, along with the figure standing by its door.
Zhao Mingyue’s hands suddenly clenched the brakes. The bicycle screeched to a halt.
The noise also drew the attention of Lu Liangting, who was standing at the door. He turned his head, his gaze meeting Zhao Mingyue’s. For a moment, an awkward atmosphere settled between them.
“Uh, morning.” Zhao Mingyue skillfully parked her bike by the entrance.
“Morning.” Lu Liangting had just returned the greeting when Zhao Mingyue nimbly darted into the convenience store.
Before he could say anything else, the glass door next to Lu Liangting swung shut. Only the crisp sound of wind chimes from inside the store could be heard.
Lu Liangting looked through the glass door at the wind chime. He wasn’t particularly surprised. He now knew about the relationship between Zhao Mingyue and Bai Yu—that was exactly why he had come this time, to ask about it.
Inside the convenience store, the person standing behind the counter was the Boss. He was wearing his work uniform—an apron bearing the store’s name—and was meticulously wiping something with a handkerchief in his hand.
As Zhao Mingyue approached, she realized he was holding an exquisite, old-fashioned flintlock pistol, carefully polishing it with the handkerchief.
The Boss noticed Zhao Mingyue’s gaze. He raised the flintlock, aiming it behind Zhao Mingyue, his brow furrowed as if zeroing in on a target. Within two seconds, he lowered the gun, a signature smile appearing on his face.
“A collector’s item from my younger days. Brought it back when I was working abroad—kind of a souvenir. Don’t worry, it’s not real; just a replica model.”
He spun the flintlock in his hand once before slipping it into his pants pocket. “So, how’s the situation now? Is that killer still following you? You don’t need to rush. I can manage here for a while. You could wait until the police catch the culprit before going out again.”
“That murderer must have a target on you. You might have skills, but you can’t always guard against sneak attacks.”
“And you live all alone—no one there to help you out. How about I approve another week off for you, with normal pay? What do you say?”
These words genuinely touched Zhao Mingyue. A boss like this was one in a million.
“No… no need, Boss. I’m really fine.”
“Alright, it’s your choice. If you feel unsafe, just let me know. But honestly, I doubt you really need to be afraid of her anyway.”
As he spoke, the Boss took off his work uniform and set it aside. Today, he wasn’t wearing a suit, just ordinary, casual black clothes, yet he still exuded the charm of a mature man.
Zhao Mingyue inadvertently noticed that her boss had a lot of tattoos on his body—they even extended up to the back of his neck.
Ding-a-ling. Lu Liangting pushed the door and entered.
Zhao Mingyue’s attention was immediately drawn to him, her earlier thought forgotten.
When Lu Liangting passed the wind chime, sure enough, it moved again, swaying gently four times.
