Chapter 21

As soon as she thought about how this guy had been following behind her just like this for that previous period…

The mere idea made Qi Xu feel like she was going to scare herself to death. In that instant, her legs really went soft. She had just thought this guy was a tasteless thing, but reality told her: even a tasteless thing was a terrifying thing!

Arguing with it about photoshopping photos to spread rumors was wrong, but that could wait—this was no time for it. The priority was: escape first.

Qi Xu turned her head, ready to run, but she halted her steps. Because that ghost had appeared right in front of her in an instant, facing her head-on. It was a real face-to-face. It hung upside down, its feet still planted on the ceiling, while its head dangled straight down, almost no distance between them at all.

Though inverted top to bottom, Qi Xu’s eyes and its were on the same level. She could clearly see its eyes, which had lost their luster and resembled dead fish orbs. Those eyes even swiveled a bit, as if appraising her.

Because they were so close, the face she hadn’t been able to make out clearly before now appeared in stark detail.

Under its hair—er, now upside down, so above, around the forehead area—a patch of ghastly dark red stretched out, mixed with all sorts of whitish and yellowish fluids. But those fluids had all dried up, forming streaks with some bulging outward, looking utterly repulsive.

The thing didn’t smell good either—a bit like the bloody stench from the crime scene she’d visited the day before, mixed with the rotting odor of a garbage dump.

Being this close, Qi Xu nearly passed out from the stench.

Qi Xu bit down hard on her lower lip. Even at this moment, she couldn’t help thinking: why not just faint outright? If she fainted, maybe she’d turn into a ghost and come back out. Then she’d see who really needed to run.

She quickly found the reason she hadn’t fainted—because she’d been scared like this before. On the second day after arriving at Xia Zhiming’s place, that crazy woman had dangled her head from upstairs while looking at her.

Haha… maybe Xia Zhiming was even scarier.

At this moment, Qi Xu was finding a bit of bitter amusement in it all.

But aside from hanging upside down, the ghost made no other moves, which let Qi Xu breathe a little easier. She took a small step back, and the ghost didn’t press closer. Only then did Qi Xu bolt like mad. Thumping sounds echoed from behind again, and she ran even harder, for all she was worth.

But this corridor was too long, seemingly endless. She recalled how she’d escaped before by opening a room door, so now she shoved open a room door and dashed inside.

What Qi Xu didn’t expect was that, although she’d pushed open a room door, once inside the room, she stood at the main entrance of the Vivid Red Hotel. The soft carpet under her feet had turned to concrete ground.

Qi Xu was stunned. She even let out an “Eh?” She instinctively looked back but saw no sign of the door she’d come through—only the main gate where Xia Zhiming had driven in two nights ago. Turning forward again, there was the Vivid Red Hotel’s front door, its “Vivid Red Hotel” sign lit up, and the entrance hall inside ablaze with lights.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Xia Zhiming had indeed flipped the circuit breaker to give the Vivid Red Hotel power, but she’d never turned on the sign or the entrance lights—to prevent clueless people from seeing the glow, thinking it was still open for business, and wandering in.

Qi Xu frowned, realizing what was happening. Right now, she was still inside this ghost’s ghost domain.

From the looks of it, this ghost was far more powerful than the stone spirit from the temple fair. The stone spirit could only alter the interior layout of its ghost domain, but something high-tech like opening a door to switch locations? It couldn’t manage that. Otherwise, back then, wouldn’t it have just opened a door to escape instead of running outright?

Qi Xu turned around and wandered toward the entrance for a bit. She remembered the temple fair—walking out that path had been fine. Now, she had the same idea: just walk straight through this door.

But the next moment, her hand was grabbed. Qi Xu turned her head to see Xia Zhiming, dressed in the pink daoist robe from their first meeting, though without the fox mask. Her usually loose hair draped behind her was now tied into a ponytail at the back of her head.

In that instant, Qi Xu threw herself straight at Xia Zhiming. “Where did you go? How did you just vanish like that? You have no idea how scared I was! That ghost even did a face-to-face kill on me!” She clung to Xia Zhiming like a koala.

Xia Zhiming wasn’t one to indulge Qi Xu, but since Qi Xu was clinging tighter than last time, it took more effort to pry her off.

Xia Zhiming rolled her eyes at Qi Xu. “Did I want to leave on my own? Don’t you know what it was like when you woke up? When I woke up, I was inexplicably in a corridor too—second floor. It took real effort to get here, and now I have to listen to your chattering little mouth right off the bat.”

Qi Xu grew even more upset: calling her mouth chattery? Xia Zhiming clearly talked more than she did!

But upset or not, she still had to hand over what she’d gotten. She pulled the white envelope from her pocket and shoved it into Xia Zhiming’s hands. “Here, this is what I found in a room. Take a look. That ghost is so evil—it even fakes photos to spread rumors!”

Hearing Qi Xu’s words, Xia Zhiming took it and pulled out the photos to glance at them, then curled her lip.

She cursed, “Tasteless thing.”

On this point, Xia Zhiming and Qi Xu saw eye to eye. Photoshopping a girl to spread rumors—did that ghost have any shame?

But Qi Xu stayed quiet because, while Xia Zhiming had been flipping through the photos, Qi Xu had been watching her closely and noticed something—why was she wearing the pink daoist robe? They’d gone to bed at the same time; Qi Xu clearly remembered what she’d been wearing before sleep.

She’d been too excited at their reunion earlier to notice, but now that she had, her mind raced with questions.

Her first thought: could this Xia Zhiming in front of her be impersonated by another ghost? Horror movies were full of ghosts posing as people to sow discord in small groups! But when she’d hugged her just now, she was warm, and Xia Zhiming’s scent was unmistakable.

This was definitely Xia Zhiming. No doubt!

Qi Xu dismissed her first suspicion, then wondered: why would Xia Zhiming put on the daoist robe? They’d been together for a month, and Qi Xu knew Xia Zhiming never wore it daily—not even for these past couple days’ missions.

She hadn’t been wearing it before they slept, but now that they’d met up, she was…

Qi Xu wrinkled her nose, looking at Xia Zhiming as she asked, “Did you know that ghost was going to cause trouble tonight, so while I was asleep, you snuck out of bed and put on the daoist robe?”

Qi Xu asked bluntly. Xia Zhiming had just put away the photos and, hearing the question, looked up at her with a toothy grin. “Oh? Didn’t expect you to be so clever.”

Her guess confirmed, Qi Xu widened her eyes in disbelief. “You knew and didn’t tell me?! You have no idea how scared I was when I woke up! You could’ve at least said something!”

“What’s there to say?”

Qi Xu felt she’d be scared to death by Xia Zhiming someday. She pouted and decided to skip the topic. “Why’d you pull me just now?”

“If I hadn’t pulled you, you’d be dead.” Now it was Xia Zhiming’s turn to glance irritably at Qi Xu. “You dare barge into anywhere. Step out that door, and you might kick the bucket right after. Back at the temple fair aftermath, that path was the life gate I’d calculated, so it was safe. Someone like you charging into a ghost domain clueless and just opening doors? You’ll get yourself killed sooner or later.”

“…I see.”

Qi Xu felt a bit embarrassed. Recalling the corridor, she pressed on. “So the corridor works the same way—if you just run randomly, you might enter different doors?”

Xia Zhiming didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled Qi Xu along inside. She led Qi Xu to the main entrance of the Vivid Red Hotel and peered through the glass door at the scene within. Qi Xu looked as instructed and froze for a moment.

“What do you see?”

Qi Xu swallowed and looked at Xia Zhiming, then back inside before answering. “I see… you and a man standing inside, in front of the counter, talking to someone behind it.”

And that’s exactly what she saw reflected in her eyes. Inside the glass door, another Xia Zhiming stood at the counter, occasionally turning sideways to say something to the man next to her, whose back was to Qi Xu.

After Qi Xu described it, the “Xia Zhiming” inside turned around and glanced at Qi Xu. But her expression was eerie—part mocking, part disdainful, like she looked down on Qi Xu.

That expression was pretty much Xia Zhiming’s style.

Qi Xu felt a bit speechless. If she didn’t know the real Xia Zhiming was right beside her, she’d be utterly convinced that was her and would doubt which one next to her was real.

Hearing Qi Xu’s words, the Xia Zhiming beside her couldn’t help but scoff coldly. “Oh? So, between me and the one inside, which do you think is real?”

Qi Xu turned her head, meeting Xia Zhiming’s gaze. Xia Zhiming smiled, but it brimmed with sarcasm. Her question was odd, but Qi Xu answered honestly.

“You’re the real one.” Her certainty actually made Xia Zhiming’s smile fade a touch. “How can you be so sure?”

Beyond the warmth and scent, Qi Xu had a feeling—as long as she was with Xia Zhiming, she felt utterly at ease. It was strange, but she instinctively knew Xia Zhiming wouldn’t harm her. In this bizarre place, Xia Zhiming was the only one she could trust.

Even back in the apartment daily life, just being with Xia Zhiming brought a soul-deep peace.

So she answered honestly. “Because being with you feels comfortable.”

“Hmph.” Xia Zhiming shook her head. “Looks like you’re really like a little dog—your instinct to seek fortune and avoid disaster is spot on.”

Qi Xu didn’t see herself as a little dog, but picking the right person made her quietly smug.