Chapter 30

“Ah?”

When Qi Xu heard what Xia Zhiming said, her first reaction was surprise. For a moment, she couldn’t find the words to say.

Xia Zhiming continued, “The ghost codenamed ‘Ming Zhu’ was trafficked twenty years ago and became a forced wife for more than twenty years. She died full of resentment and became an earthbound spirit. After gaining power, she left that mountain and set off to find the road back to her hometown.”

“She didn’t find her home?”

Qi Xu couldn’t help but ask the question.

Xia Zhiming popped the lollipop back into her mouth. “She couldn’t find it. Back then, her mother had taken her to her maternal grandparents’ home, but Ming Zhu was trafficked as soon as they arrived. She only remembered the place where she got lost and kept heading toward her maternal grandparents’ home. But her parents weren’t there anymore; they were in another city. Plus, so many years had passed, and almost everyone in her family had died.”

“Her parents didn’t look for her?”

“They did. But her parents fell ill from years of worry and even sold their house, yet they still couldn’t find her. They died of illness halfway through.”

“…”

Xia Zhiming patted her shoulder. “Hey, don’t overthink it. After all, it’s been five or six years since this happened. From the time the investigators discovered Ming Zhu until now, even the last fugitive from back then has been brought to justice.”

Qi Xu’s mood was still a bit down. She couldn’t help but think: Even so, Ming Zhu hadn’t hurt anyone; she was just a ghost searching for the way home. No wonder the people from the friendly faction always used Ming Zhu’s story to shut down the hostile faction.

It was as if Xia Zhiming knew what she was thinking. She suddenly revealed a very wicked expression, leaned close to Qi Xu, and said, “Qi Xu, you wouldn’t think that Ming Zhu got this strong without killing a single person, would you?” She chuckled lowly. “Don’t forget, it was originally an earthbound spirit. It was powerful enough to leave the place where it died that it was able to come out and search for its home.”

“According to the investigators’ intel, not long after Ming Zhu turned into a ghost, she slaughtered everyone in the village where she was—sixteen households, nearly a hundred people. She didn’t spare anyone. Neither the children in the village nor the other trafficked women escaped her hands.”

The bit of pity Qi Xu had just felt for Ming Zhu was doused with cold water by Xia Zhiming’s words. She didn’t think Ming Zhu was wrong—the hatred of a trafficked woman wanting to kill her traffickers was understandable. But she couldn’t say Ming Zhu was entirely right, at least not for the other trafficked people…

Xia Zhiming patted her shoulder. “Don’t think about it. You’ll break your head and still not figure it out.”

Even though Xia Zhiming said that, Qi Xu still couldn’t stop thinking about Ming Zhu. But soon after, the end-of-term exam week came at her, leaving her no energy to think about anything else. Qi Xu also had to call her parents and tell them she wouldn’t be going home for the summer vacation.

It wasn’t easy to convince them. Qi Xu had nearly drowned as a child and suffered a serious illness, so her parents were especially worried about her. They paid excessive attention to even the smallest things. Even when filling out her college applications after the national exam, they had hoped she would study in their hometown and not leave them.

But as a fledgling, there comes a time when one wants to spread their wings and fly. Qi Xu had a huge argument with her parents before finally applying to a university in Xintan City. Now that she said she wasn’t going home for the summer, her parents were even more worried. They called countless times trying to get her to come back. Qi Xu argued her case, even showing them proof of her internship with the government, and only after much pleading did they agree to let her stay on campus for the summer.

Even so, her mom couldn’t help but ask worriedly, “You’re not planning to stay in Xintan City after graduation, are you? Mom doesn’t want you to leave me. You were so clingy to Mom when you were little. Mom won’t allow this! Even if the job is good, you’re just a little girl. It’s better to stay in our hometown where Mom and Dad can take care of you.”

“I won’t stay here forever. I feel like this job won’t let me keep doing it anyway. At most, once the internship period is over, I won’t be able to stay.”

Hearing Qi Xu say that, her mom finally relaxed a bit and said reluctantly, “Then you have to call Mom more often.”

After finishing one major exam, Qi Xu’s roommates dragged her to have hotpot and watch a movie. When the movie ended, Qi Xu called a taxi. Her roommates patiently noted down the taxi’s license plate number before waving goodbye to her and heading back to the dorm together.

Once in the car, Qi Xu pulled out her phone to play. She hadn’t been at it long when the driver up front suddenly said, “Little girl, did you go eat hotpot?”

“Yeah, is the smell on me that strong?”

Qi Xu couldn’t help but lift her hand to sniff her clothes. She thought it was okay. When they had left the hotpot place, there was a deodorizing machine at the door. Everyone in the dorm had been curious and took turns spraying themselves. It didn’t help much, but at least the smell wasn’t as bad.

Qi Xu thought maybe the smell really was a bit strong for the driver to notice. Feeling a little embarrassed, she was about to apologize when the driver continued, “You young people are always causing trouble for others. With a smell like that, I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to dissipate after you get out before I can pick up the next passenger. What a hassle.”

Hearing this, Qi Xu’s eyebrows furrowed. She thought of Xia Zhiming—if it were her, she definitely wouldn’t put up with the driver. So Qi Xu got sarcastic too. “Then you’re really unlucky to run into me. You’d better burn incense and pray when you get home to avoid any customers who’ve just eaten hotpot, skewers, barbecue, or grilled fish. Besides, I haven’t even mentioned you yet. Don’t you have cigarette smell on you too? I haven’t complained about your smoking, but you started on me first.”

After saying all that, Qi Xu felt refreshed all over.

Refreshing! So this was what it felt like to clap back! And without caring what the other person thought—just say what you wanted to say and done!

Qi Xu felt great after clapping back, but the driver up front turned ashen-faced. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, and for a moment, he didn’t speak.

The atmosphere turned subtly quiet, with a hint of awkwardness. Qi Xu was, after all, a very well-mannered person. After the silence, she began reflecting: Had she gone too far? Maybe the hotpot smell on her did affect the next passengers.

But getting her to apologize was impossible. She might reflect on her harsh words, but the one in the wrong was still the driver. The current quiet atmosphere was just awkward.

Fortunately, the driver soon turned on the car radio and started listening. But it wasn’t late night yet, and already there was the late night radio. When the broadcast said, “Welcome to 1149 Late Night Radio, I’m your host,” Qi Xu instinctively checked the time on her phone. It was just nine-thirty.

Though they had gone out for hotpot and a movie, they hadn’t stayed out too late. They were all students, and her roommates had to make curfew back at the dorm, so they couldn’t party all night. Nine-thirty and already late night radio? Qi Xu sighed to herself that radio schedules these days were really weird.

She listened seriously for a bit, then felt goosebumps rising all over. It was either gruesome murder cases or ghost stories. There was even one that fit the current situation—a driver picking up a passenger at night, the passenger was a woman, but midway they hit a Ghost Hit Wall, and looking back, the passenger turned out to be a ghost!

Qi Xu felt uncomfortable listening because she herself still couldn’t be considered a complete person.

As expected of late night radio—the content was exactly what belonged in the late night.

Qi Xu put on her earphones. She really didn’t want to hear the late night radio stories. She lowered her head and played on her phone for a while. She watched a movie recap video, a full twenty minutes. When it ended, she suddenly realized she still hadn’t arrived. The school wasn’t far from the apartment. It had been far more than twenty minutes since she got in the car. Qi Xu looked up and was shocked to find the surroundings weren’t familiar—and they were in the suburbs.

At some point, the buildings had disappeared, replaced by endless barren wilderness. Only far on the horizon could she see the lights of skyscrapers in the city. Qi Xu instinctively wanted to call the police, but first she needed to know her location.

At that moment, Qi Xu still thought the driver had bad intentions—at least it was man-made. But when she opened her phone’s location and checked, the map was completely blank, showing nothing. At the same time, the driver up front suddenly said to her, “Passenger, what are you looking at?”

Qi Xu raised her head. At that glance, her soul nearly flew out in fright.

The driver’s head had turned directly around—a full one-hundred-eighty-degree turn. His head was twisted to the back, his eyes bulging out. Under the streetlights outside, Qi Xu could clearly see his eyes protruding like a goldfish’s, with tiny pupils and huge whites, just like a fish dried up from lack of water.

—Haha, haha…

In that instant, Qi Xu even wanted to dry laugh.

She really felt she was unlucky. Just taking a taxi home at night, and she ran into a ghost. The late night radio was still telling its boring story, even joking with taxi drivers to be careful of late-night passengers—not knowing if they were human or ghost.

The driver even asked Qi Xu, “Passenger, are you a ghost?”

That was hard to say.

But Qi Xu didn’t know how to turn into a ghost to take out the driver in front of her, so she just shook her head. “I’m not.” She wasn’t lying; Qi Xu didn’t consider herself a ghost at all.

“Good that you’re not. If you were, I’d be in danger, right?” As the driver spoke, those dead-fish eyes stared tightly at Qi Xu, as if hoping for her agreement.

That was true enough.

Qi Xu nodded. The driver’s mood improved noticeably, and he turned his head back to drive. But what he said was the same question from when she first got in: “Little girl, did you go eat hotpot?” The streetlights outside flashed by one after another, and the lights inside the car flickered on and off. Qi Xu looked forward and saw not even the dashboard lights were on.

“Yes, I ate hotpot.”