Chapter 19

Perhaps noticing that Qi Xu was looking at her, Xia Zhiming glared at Qi Xu. “What are you looking at.”

Her tone was somewhat harsh, but Qi Xu heard a slightly different flavor in it. Unlike her usual steady demeanor where everything was under control, Xia Zhiming now showed a bit of helplessness.

It turned out she wasn’t skilled at it either, and was quite clumsy.

Qi Xu felt even less at a loss. When she saw the redness at the corners of Xia Zhiming’s eyes, and even that little mole becoming more vivid, she felt utterly satisfied. They had already kissed, and there was nothing else to do next. Qi Xu and Xia Zhiming each got into their beds, said goodnight to each other, and went to sleep.

The sky brightened, and it was June 18th, one of the nationally famous 618 shopping festivals. During breakfast, even the people at the next table mixed local dialect with standard Mandarin, talking about “what to buy for 618.”

That day, Qi Xu felt a bit nervous and also a bit excited. She knew that tomorrow was the fourteenth, and the ghost might very well come looking for trouble tomorrow night. As an ordinary person, Qi Xu was afraid. But thinking that Xia Zhiming, such a powerful person, was by her side, and that she herself had a particularly formidable ghost body as backup, Qi Xu thought: maybe it wasn’t so scary after all.

During the day, Xia Zhiming took Qi Xu to visit the town.

Throughout the process, Qi Xu was like an accessory, standing beside Xia Zhiming and letting her mind wander. She couldn’t understand the local dialect, and even guessing couldn’t piece together a complete sentence. Although Xintan City wasn’t far from her hometown, their area was famously different in accent every ten li and in customs every hundred li, so not understanding the dialect was normal.

Strangely, Xia Zhiming didn’t know the local dialect either, yet she chatted with the local elders—she spoke standard Mandarin, they spoke dialect—and the two communicated without barriers. Xia Zhiming asked some seemingly ordinary questions, mostly about family trivia, and only occasionally about people who had died in recent years.

After finishing the conversation, Qi Xu couldn’t hold back and asked during a break in walking, “Can you understand what they’re saying?”

“I can’t understand.”

“Huh?”

Qi Xu always felt like Xia Zhiming was teasing her, but Xia Zhiming looked like she had gotten the information, and she wouldn’t put on an act right in front of her. But she really seemed like she couldn’t understand what the other person was saying.

Qi Xu buried this question in her heart and listened even more attentively. Fortunately, some of the younger locals spoke standard Mandarin with Xia Zhiming.

“The biggest thing in recent years was that high school girl. Such a pity for the little girl—she came back to visit relatives, but those beasts in town dragged her to the hotel, and later she jumped into the river and killed herself. It caused a huge uproar at the time, and then those little beasts mysteriously died too, which was greatly satisfying.”

“Mm, I’ve heard about that.”

Xia Zhiming said this and casually asked about other things. “What else?”

Xia Zhiming pretended to be a writer there for inspiration, so asking these things wasn’t strange. She even said she was staying at the hotel for inspiration, and the person praised her for being dedicated. As for whether there was anything else, the person went on to talk about the deaths at Vivid Red Hotel.

“Those who died weren’t good people either. One owed gambling debts, even pawned his wife to others and ran away himself. Rumor has it he made a fortune outside these years and came back to get his wife. But before he could see her, he died in the hotel.”

The person chattered on about a lot, and after listening, Xia Zhiming took Qi Xu and left. If Qi Xu hadn’t known in advance about that particularly famous case, which had already been concluded, she might have thought it was the girl who turned into a fierce ghost seeking revenge.

After Xia Zhiming mentioned the forum had this case, Qi Xu had specifically searched online, using the local area as keywords, and indeed found related reports. The investigator who handled it was a kind person—they had sent the female ghost on to reincarnation instead of scattering her soul.

Asking like this, Xia Zhiming wouldn’t get any useful information.

She simply changed tactics and started asking the townsfolk she met later about a few names she suspected. Hearing those names, Qi Xu was a bit surprised. She had seen the files too and knew those names were from the police reports, confirmed as accidental deaths.

There was plenty to say about these people—everything under the sun, including linking two who had nothing to do with each other and died at different times: “Those two must have had something going on, so they made a suicide pact in the hotel.”

This was about the woman who fell from the building and the man who fell down the stairs to his death.

Besides that, the one who hit his head was said to be “definitely because he made too much money and even drove someone in the village to death, so he got revenge.”

A pile of information mixed together, completely disorganized.

After listening for so long, Qi Xu only felt dizzy and confused. This time, Xia Zhiming took her back to the hotel.

Qi Xu couldn’t hide her curiosity and asked, “Xia Zhiming, did you get the information you wanted today?”

“I got it.”

Qi Xu was even more baffled: weren’t they together? What exactly had Xia Zhiming gotten? On the way back, they met some townsfolk too, men or women, old or young, all looking at them with strange eyes.

Qi Xu vaguely heard, “These two young girls look all dressed up fancy and driving a big car, but they’ve been staying at Vivid Red Hotel for days. That Vivid Red Hotel isn’t fit for people—dirty and unclean, who knows if wandering tramps from elsewhere sneak in at night…”

The words were filthy, and Qi Xu frowned upon hearing them, but she didn’t plan to do anything. Unfamiliar place, no need to clash over a few words. Moreover, they deliberately spoke in standard Mandarin just to make sure they heard.

Qi Xu could tolerate it, but Xia Zhiming wasn’t one to tolerate.

She stopped in her tracks, and Qi Xu almost bumped into her. She saw Xia Zhiming take a lollipop from her pocket, unwrap it, put it in her mouth, then abruptly turn back. Xia Zhiming was crazy; it was best not to provoke her.

The person who had gossiped just verified that. He was leaning on the roadside railing, looking about twenty-six or seven, wearing slippers, a slovenly guy. Seeing Xia Zhiming walk toward him, he even whistled at her.

This behavior made Qi Xu’s fists itch too. Talking behind backs and acting like this to the face—utter scum! Although Qi Xu thought she should follow what her mom always said, just let it pass and protect herself well, she couldn’t let Xia Zhiming go alone. They were out together, so they had to support each other.

So Qi Xu walked over too. If Xia Zhiming really argued or fought with him, she had to help Xia Zhiming.

But there was no need for Qi Xu.

Before Qi Xu could see what happened, Xia Zhiming had subdued the slovenly guy. She pinched the back of his neck like grabbing a chick, pressing her hand so low that he had to hunch his back extremely low to avoid falling flat on the ground.

“Filthy mouth—didn’t anyone at home teach you that disaster comes from the mouth?” After saying that, she raised her other hand and slapped him twice. The man yelped in pain and struggled, but for some reason, his body went limp without strength, unable to break free from Xia Zhiming.

After scolding him thoroughly, Xia Zhiming shoved her hand holding his neck forward. The man staggered and fell to the ground, nearly eating a mouthful of dirt. After a moment, he crawled up, glared at Xia Zhiming, then ran off, cursing as he went, “Just you wait!”

Qi Xu was a bit worried if he would gather others to cause trouble for them, but then she heard him say, “I’m going to call the cops right now!”

“This old lady fears you? Go! If you don’t, you’re a dog bastard!”

Xia Zhiming had the lollipop in her mouth, looking exceptionally tough.

“What if he really calls the cops?”

“Afraid of him? I’m a public servant; if he’s got the guts, get me fired.”

According to what the Vice Bureau Chief said about the job difficulty… the Third Bureau definitely wouldn’t fire Xia Zhiming.

Xia Zhiming walked ahead, and Qi Xu jogged two steps to catch up, bouncing along, feeling a bit happy. Xia Zhiming glanced back at her but ignored it.

Back at the hotel, just like yesterday, there was nothing much to do. The two holed up in room 301, played on their phones for a bit, kissed, and to conserve energy for tomorrow, they lay down early to sleep. Thinking of Xia Zhiming’s heroic and valiant appearance during the day, even in her dreams, Qi Xu couldn’t help smiling.

But Qi Xu woke up.

Yes, she woke up again.

After waking, Qi Xu was dazed for a while. She always felt like she kept facing this “sudden awakening” situation, and in the future, there would probably be many more times.

The strangest part was that Qi Xu didn’t wake up in bed, but in the corridor.

The hotel corridor was long, almost without end, much longer than in reality. She could only vaguely see a bit of white light, seemingly moonlight leaking in from a window at the far end.

She turned her head and found the same scene behind.

Qi Xu looked down at herself and saw she was still wearing the clothes from before sleep; she reached for her phone but found nothing.

Realizing this, Qi Xu got angry.

‘Damn ghost, not playing by the rules at all—clearly said it’d come on the fourteenth, how come it couldn’t wait and showed up on the thirteenth night?!’