“Let’s go. I have some questions for you.” Bai Yu started walking away, glancing back over her shoulder.
Lu Liangting initially thought she was talking to him, but then he saw Shen Shuyun rise from the ground and follow. A strange smile played on her lips. She glanced sideways at him, placed her right index finger vertically against her lips, and whispered very quietly.
“Don’t follow. This is a matter between us girls. If you have any doubts, you can visit me at home after we get out. You know the address. I’ll tell you everything in detail.”
“Of course, the premise is that I have to get out alive.”
She had gotten the answer she was looking for. But before that, she had done something desperately dangerous: she had proactively exposed the Doctor’s identity.
Afterwards, the Doctor would likely kill her to silence any loose ends, but that no longer mattered.
On the contrary, even if she really was killed, she would thank the Doctor. Without her help, she wouldn’t have been a match for Zhang Dahai at all.
When the roles of hunter and prey reversed, the one dying would have been her.
Death was indeed not fearsome, but it also depended on the circumstances.
Between being killed by the Doctor and being humiliated then killed by Zhang Dahai, she chose the former.
Noticing Shen Shuyun’s look, Lu Liangting said nothing, simply watching her leave with Bai Yu.
He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that Shen Shuyun had become a completely different person in this short span of time. The change was enormous, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. He wasn’t even certain if this change was for better or worse.
“Going to her house… I’d probably die, wouldn’t I?” Once Shen Shuyun and Bai Yu had both vanished from sight, Lu Liangting leaned against the doorframe, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
He took out the pen and the red hairpin, holding them in his palm.
“Her secrets are far too many, far more complex than I imagined. She probably didn’t die at Sunshine Apartment. She likely went there sensing the aura of the Fifth Floor Female Ghost, worrying it might harm people, so she showed up there.”
“That explains it—why she saved me again and again, and why she’d fight the Fifth Floor Female Ghost the moment she appeared.”
“Sigh. I actually really wanted to help her. Back then, I was thinking, since she’s at Sunshine Apartment, I’d have to find her remains somehow, give her a proper burial, and help dispel her resentment.”
“Now I haven’t got the slightest clue. I don’t know her secrets, I don’t know her past. I don’t even know her name.”
“But, it’s fine. There will be another chance someday. Besides, she took the initiative to speak to me just now. That’s a good start. At least I’ve left some impression on her.”
“If all else fails, I’ll just go ask Shen Shuyun.”
Lu Liangting had made a monumentally huge decision.
He knew exactly what kind of heart lay beneath Shen Shuyun’s sweet exterior. If he went over, he’d either be forced into something or killed.
If he really did go, he’d at most stand in the living room—not eating anything, not drinking anything, taking every precaution, asking his questions, and leaving immediately.
The pen and red hairpin in Lu Liangting’s hand remained perfectly still, as if deliberately avoiding the topic.
Completely unaware of this, he continued muttering to himself.
“Oh right, just now, when she asked me about the talismans, I didn’t finish explaining.”
“Chen Yun isn’t much of a talker, but she’s actually a good person. Too bad one’s human and the other’s a ghost. And it seems Chen Yun knows some ghost-catching techniques, so she’s not too friendly towards Ghostly Monsters.”
“I told Chen Yun I was coming here. I wonder if she followed me. I hope not. At the very least, I hope there’s no conflict.”
·
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“I’ll kill you!”
On the third floor of the Children’s Palace, Chen Yun was furious beyond belief. Deep down, she looked down on Zhao Mingyue.
Yet she lost to Zhao Mingyue every single time—in sports, in grades, in looks.
Besides family background, Chen Yun felt she had one more thing that made her nobler than Zhao Mingyue: she could access another world, while Zhao Mingyue was just an ignorant, pitiful worm who still needed to work part-time to support herself, unaware of how narrow her own world was or how vast and mysterious the world outside truly was.
Recently, she’d learned from her sister that Zhao Mingyue, through a series of coincidences, had also begun to touch that world, alongside Lu Liangting.
However, she wasn’t particularly in the mood to compare wins and losses. Her current thinking was simple: turn Zhao Mingyue into a part of that world, and then control her herself.
Zhao Mingyue had absolutely no idea what Chen Yun was thinking internally. Seeing her so enraged, she assumed it was because of that hammer strike.
Before she could even finish speaking, a paper talisman painted with a strange eye symbol was thrown out.
The talisman floated mid-air. As Zhao Mingyue looked at it, her vision blurred, and she instantly felt a wave of dizziness.
Amidst the agonized wails of the surrounding Imps, Chen Yun raised her hand. Another paper talisman flew out from her wide sleeve, sticking to the center of her palm.
The difference was, this talisman had no eye pattern on it, only streaks of black mist.
A flash of venomous cruelty crossed Chen Yun’s eyes. She thrust her palm fiercely towards Zhao Mingyue’s stomach.
This talisman contained the Residual Grudge of a certain Fierce Ghost. Once this residual grudge was driven into someone’s body, they wouldn’t die immediately. Instead, they’d be plagued by Resentment.
The result would be countless illnesses clinging to the body, growing weaker day by day, finally ending their life in agony. Then, because of this residual grudge, they’d turn into a ghost themselves, continuing to be tormented.
The method was simple, the effect brutal.
One had to know that ghosts were the extreme opposite of humans. A normal person merely making contact would bring about numerous misfortunes, let alone having a ghost’s residual grudge driven directly into their body.
Illness was just one aspect. The real killer was the psychological torture.
With this residual grudge inside them, the victim would see a “ghost” that didn’t exist. A ghost they could never shake off, never escape, tormenting them day and night.
Just as this talisman was slapping down, a slender, sickly pale little hand suddenly appeared, firmly gripping Chen Yun’s wrist. It stopped the talisman dead in its tracks. No matter how hard Chen Yun pushed, she couldn’t move it even a millimeter closer to Zhao Mingyue’s body.
An extreme, bone-chilling cold shot through her wrist, piercing deep into the marrow and soul.
Chen Yun instinctively glanced sideways and saw a young girl, a head shorter than herself, who had appeared at some unknown moment and seized her wrist.
In that first instant she laid eyes on Bai Yu, Chen Yun truly didn’t recognize her as a ghost. She had never seen a Wraith so clean and prettily dressed. It was the icy aura on her wrist that finally made her realize.
Unfortunately, her other hand had been smashed useless by Zhao Mingyue’s hammer and couldn’t be lifted. The hand she was using now was clamped in an iron grip she couldn’t break free from no matter how hard she struggled. The sensation was like having her hand caught in an iron vise that had been frozen in liquid nitrogen.
She couldn’t even believe it. How could a ghost that looked so slender and frail possibly possess such tremendous strength?
·
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