On the street, Lu Liangting massaged his temples.
Lately, his stress had been off the charts. A batch of girls like Shen Shuyun had appeared out of nowhere, pursuing him relentlessly. The key was, these girls were different from the others, especially in terms of personality. Every single one seemed to operate on a “if I can’t have him, I’ll destroy him” mentality.
They disregarded their own well-being, their families, their schools, and even their own bodies.
The word to describe their actions was madness.
Don’t think for a second that being pursued by girls like this was a good feeling. Lu Liangting could tell you with absolute certainty: the result of being chased by these lunatics was living in constant fear of the day someone would throw a sack over your head, knock you out, and drag you to an abandoned factory or a grove in the woods.
And he couldn’t even reject them outright. If he gave a direct refusal, it wouldn’t be a simple matter of getting dragged into the woods. He’d have to seriously think about where he wanted to be buried.
Take Shen Shuyun, for example. She’d invited him to go shopping this time. If he’d said no, there was an extremely high chance he wouldn’t have walked out of her front door.
When he was leaving, he distinctly saw a fruit knife tucked into the waistband of her pants.
What normal person keeps a knife hidden in their pants while at home?!
The silver lining was that these girls did have some kind of principle. Just like Shen Shuyun, she wouldn’t directly force him into shopping. She’d make him agree to a favor in exchange for a benefit she provided, and only then would she make her demand.
And if he agreed to her demand but failed to follow through… well, the consequences would be…
“No, I still need to see if anyone else is free. Going alone is still too risky.”
Lu Liangting took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He searched for a long time but couldn’t decide who to message.
He actually had very few friends. Most of the contacts in his phone were girls.
These girls were certainly not his friends. From a certain perspective, they were pursuers.
Lu Liangting wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly why these girls were chasing him. Ninety-five percent of them were just after his family’s wealth. How many truly liked him, Lu Liangting, for who he was?
So, after adding their contact info, he never chatted with them.
“Xiaokang, you free tomorrow?”
“Ah, Bro Lu, what’s up? You’ve been pretty busy lately, haven’t seen you around. I went by your place, but you weren’t home.” A reply came back quickly from the other end.
“Yeah, I have some stuff to deal with. I wanted to ask, are you free tomorrow to hang out and go shopping?”
“Shopping? That doesn’t sound like you. Did a girl ask you out? (Shifty Eyes emoji)”
“Just a friend.”
“Tsk, I knew it. No way, I’m not going. I’m not about to be the third wheel.”
Seeing his friend’s response, Lu Liangting felt helpless.
Well, it looked like he was on his own tomorrow.
“I’ll deal with tomorrow’s problems tomorrow. Tonight, I still need to make a trip to the Thirteenth High School. I have to find that female ghost’s child, first.”
He wasn’t a man who went back on his word, not even to a ghost. Since he’d promised to help her find her child, he had to go.
~
~
Nighttime. After busying herself dressing Bai Yu up, Zhao Mingyue casually tossed the lighter onto the nightstand and lifted her blanket, planning to sleep.
She didn’t care at all that the male ghost in the lighter had been dealt with. She only needed Bai Yu. Besides, she had no fondness for carrying a male ghost around; she always felt it would violate her privacy.
So, this lucky draw wasn’t a complete loss. The lighter could be used later; maybe she could even capture a ghost from a mission location. Plus, Bai Yu had devoured the guy, which meant she’d grown stronger.
“Good night, Little Sister Yu. I hope we can have a great time tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
The light in the room went out, and the entire apartment sank into darkness.
Bai Yu didn’t need to sleep. She sat on the chair in the room, tilting her head to quietly gaze at the world outside the window.
After all this time, most of the game participants were finally starting to become active.
These lunatics weren’t all like Shen Shuyun. A few of them were absolutely insufferable, such as that Dragon Girl.
That girl possessed a possessiveness for him beyond normal imagination.
It was as deadly as her love.
To her, love wasn’t about staying together for life; it was about chopping off the other person’s head and wearing it on her person. That way, they could never betray her, would always listen to her, never talk back no matter what she said, and they could be together forever.
But now that they’d all come to this world, their appearances and identities changed, that freak probably wouldn’t hunt him down and kill him anymore.
Her target should logically switch to Lu Liangting. Let her restless, unhinged heart latch onto Lu Liangting instead.
“There are still quite a few people watching from the shadows. I really do want to see the day when all their identities are exposed and they start fighting over Lu Liangting.”
“Since I’m now some so-called Redemption Executor, I wonder if I’ll get a chance to interact with those few individuals in the future.”
As she murmured to herself, Bai Yu listened to Zhao Mingyue’s smooth, rhythmic breathing. She looked at the girl’s stunning side-profile and suddenly felt a sense of good fortune.
Lucky that her target was this silly girl and not Lu Liangting.
If it had been Lu Liangting… just imagining the scene sent chills down her spine. Truly terrifying.
Time passed quickly in the silent night.
Bai Yu could sense the restlessness of the wraiths on the fifth floor. She paid them no mind, simply guarding Zhao Mingyue until dawn.
Ding-a-ling-ling~ The alarm clock rang promptly at 6:30 in the morning.
A fair arm emerged from the blanket, grabbed the phone on the nightstand with practiced precision, and shut off the alarm.
About a minute later, Zhao Mingyue sat up with a whoosh, the covers sliding off her. She yawned and stretched, rubbing her eyes as she spotted the figure sitting by the window.
Groggy and still half-asleep, the moment she saw Bai Yu, she thought someone had broken into her room. She froze for a second before remembering.
“Morning, Little Sister Yu.”
“Good morning.”
Zhao Mingyue went through her morning routine: washing up and eating breakfast. Since today was indeed special, she even put on a bit of light makeup and dressed up a little.
With the day off, she wasn’t in a hurry. It wasn’t until 7:30 that she finally headed out, grabbing her carnation on the way.
“Let’s go, Little Sister Yu.”
It was her first time going shopping with the real Bai Yu. Her heart couldn’t help but pound with excitement.
They went downstairs. Today, she didn’t ride her bicycle. It wasn’t like she could ride up front while Bai Yu sat in the back, right?
Bai Yu followed behind her, a large pair of sunglasses resting on her face.
After being a ghost for so long, she felt a little unaccustomed to suddenly having the status of a “living person” and walking on the street like one.
~
~
Before 8 AM, the streets were already bustling with pedestrians, all hurrying about their business.
But whenever those pedestrians passed by the pair of girls, they couldn’t help but turn their heads for another look. The two of them were simply dressed far too adorably. Bai Yu’s Lolita maid-style outfit spoke for itself—it was basically cosplay, the blue-and-white combination naturally drawing the eye.
The sunglasses on her face didn’t detract from her cuteness in the slightest; instead, they made her face look even more petite.
As for Zhao Mingyue, her very aura overflowed with youthful vitality. The high-school girl’s uniform she wore added an extra layer of innocent charm.
This pair, one human and one ghost, walking side-by-side naturally caused passersby to repeatedly glance back, struck as if by celestial beauties.
“Hmm… I might not be able to resurrect you, but isn’t this kind of like a half-resurrection?”
Zhao Mingyue took the initiative, grabbing Bai Yu’s hand. She skipped a few steps ahead, then turned around to face Bai Yu, walking backward with a brilliant smile.
“I think this way, you might be able to reclaim some of the feelings of being alive.”
It had to be said, the infectious power of Zhao Mingyue’s smile was truly remarkable.
Even Bai Yu was somewhat touched by it. Though only in mood; the corners of her mouth showed absolutely no sign of rising.
It wasn’t that Zhao Mingyue’s smile lacked impact; it was what she’d just said.
“When I was alive… I didn’t have experiences like this.”
She hadn’t worn skirts when she was alive. She’d never strolled idly through the streets. And she’d certainly never had strangers sneak photos of her.
If someone had dared to snap a candid photo of her in her past life, she would’ve probably chopped them to pieces.
“Ah… this…” The smile on Zhao Mingyue’s face froze. “You never went shopping?”
“No. At least, not this leisurely.”
“Then this can be a first for you! You can experience all the things you never had the chance to do when you were alive. Maybe you’ll fall in love with this feeling. We can buy lots of pretty clothes, eat lots of delicious food, and we don’t have to worry about being killed by anyone. We can just play to our hearts’ content.”
“We still shouldn’t let our guard down.”
“Oh, come on!” Zhao Mingyue tugged Bai Yu’s hand. “We finally got a chance to go out. Relax a little.”
This was a rare opportunity, and she had to seize it. She absolutely couldn’t let Bai Yu change the subject, and she had to correct him at crucial moments.
In Zhao Mingyue’s view, people like Li Nan might exist, but it wasn’t a big deal.
They definitely wouldn’t choose to make a move in a busy urban area. Even if they did, they’d wait for the dead of night when no one was around. And if an accident did happen, if they were bold enough to attack in broad daylight, it’d be fine. Bai Yu was here, so she’d definitely be safe. At worst, she’d call the police and stall for time.
Her internal calculations clicking away perfectly, Zhao Mingyue knew exactly what she should do.
“Let’s go to the convenience store first.”
They followed the street, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at Tomorrow Convenience Store.
Zhao Mingyue pushed the door open, holding the carnation as she walked inside. The copper bell on the doorframe swayed gently. As for the wind chime, nothing happened when Zhao Mingyue entered. But the moment Bai Yu stepped inside, the wind chime began to swing.
Bai Yu frowned. She’d known from the very beginning that this wind chime could detect the appearance of ghosts and monsters. What intrigued her more was this: what was the background of the boss who’d hung this chime here?
This convenience store was full of unusual things. Like that time with the ghostly monster that had escaped from Dongcheng Number 13 High School.
According to him, after escaping, the entire world had been hazy and completely dark. This convenience store was the only source of light, so he’d followed its glow here.
Normal wraiths could still see the world. That imp that escaped from the Thirteenth High School was different from regular wraiths. Considering the special nature of the Thirteenth High School, could she interpret it as meaning that special locations like the school were different from ordinary places?
Ghosts that escaped from ordinary locations would encounter no issues. But the Thirteenth High School was a specific individual’s memory, so ghosts that escaped from there couldn’t affect the outside world. It was a sort of protective mechanism.
Then the question was: why could these special ghostly monsters see this convenience store?
“Boss!”
Zhao Mingyue’s voice pulled Bai Yu’s thoughts back to reality.
Her hand was still held by Zhao Mingyue as they walked to the counter.
Behind the counter, the Convenience Store Boss was wiping a watch with a handkerchief. Hearing Zhao Mingyue’s voice, he stopped what he was doing and pulled two red envelopes from a drawer. “This is your salary for last month. Take it. Go out and have fun today. I’m giving you the day off.”
Zhao Mingyue didn’t count the money inside. She trusted the Store Manager. Taking the red envelopes, she beamed. “Thank you, Boss!”
“You’re welcome. You did earn it, after all. Mingyue, and this is…” The boss wore a kind smile, his tone steady and unhurried. His gaze shifted to Bai Yu.
“Ah, this is my younger cousin, Ruoxi. She’s going out to play with me today.” Zhao Mingyue hurriedly spoke up.
“Hmm, a very pretty young lady.” The boss nodded slowly. “Be careful when you’re out having fun. Two young girls like you need to be cautious out there.”
“I know. But thanks for the concern, Boss.”
“Alright, you two go and enjoy yourselves. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Mm! Bye, Boss!” Not wasting any words, Zhao Mingyue pulled Bai Yu away.
At the entrance, Bai Yu glanced back. She found the old Store Manager was also looking at her. Their eyes met.
The old Store Manager gave a slight nod. His gaze was profound, completely unreadable.
After Bai Yu and Zhao Mingyue had left, the boss looked in the direction they’d gone, then raised his head to glance at the wind chime, which had just stopped moving moments before.
“It actually rang six times… I’ve never seen that before.”
~
~
After leaving, while waiting for the bus, Zhao Mingyue counted the money in her salary envelope. It was the same as always: 2,800 yuan. As for the smaller red envelope, it contained 400 yuan—an extra little bonus.
“Today, we can finally go out and have a good meal!”
She put the red envelopes away with satisfaction. Holding her carnation, the smile hadn’t left her face. It was clear she was genuinely happy.
For Zhao Mingyue, today was a triple blessing!
She’d gotten paid, she had the day off, and she got to go shopping with Little Sister Yu.
The bus arrived quickly. Zhao Mingyue pulled Bai Yu on board and tossed two coins into the fare box.
She guided Bai Yu to a seat at the back. Before Zhao Mingyue could even start whispering, she suddenly spotted three disheveled, delinquent-looking youths stumbling out of an internet cafe, arms slung over each other’s shoulders.
“Ugh… this is bad…”
