Chapter 95: Plum Dye

It was already late, and most of the shops in the residential complex had closed up, leaving only one mediocre noodle shop still open.

The owner was just about to close early when he looked strangely at the two people who entered one after the other.

The man and woman before him—the woman looked normal enough, but the man had his hands and feet bound, hopping forward in a most comical fashion.

What on earth were they doing?

Seeing the owner’s puzzled gaze, Chu Susu smiled and explained, “He injured his leg earlier, and the doctor said hopping around would help with rehab.”

“…And his hands?”

“To stop him from using them to help.”

The owner fell into deep thought.

It kinda made sense. He wasn’t a doctor, so he wouldn’t know if she was pulling his leg.

As for why Chu Susu hadn’t untied him, it was simply because she didn’t fully trust Luo Yiyi yet and wanted to test his sincerity.

And Luo Yiyi didn’t disappoint her. When Chu Susu agreed to hear him out, he was overjoyed and willingly stayed bound.

They ordered two bowls of noodles, and the owner headed to the back kitchen to prepare them. In the empty front hall of the noodle shop, only the two of them remained.

“Speak,” Chu Susu said. “I hope you can get to the point quickly.”

Luo Yiyi cleared his throat. For some reason, his eyes behind the thick black-framed glasses showed a hint of bitterness.

“I’ll get straight to it then.”

Last time, he’d been detained by the police. There was evidence and witnesses, and the complex’s surveillance cameras had captured it crystal clear: the person knocking on Chu Susu’s door in the dead of night was him.

However, since there were no serious consequences, the police just held him for a few days, gave him a talking-to, and let him go.

But Luo Yiyi felt deeply wronged because he hadn’t done it.

“I’m a pretty stiff guy. As a kid, all I did was study. After growing up, I’ve been swamped with work and haven’t had time for anything else. In thirty years of living, I’ve never done anything illegal,” he said with a bitter smile. “Besides, I’m such a coward I can’t even muster the courage to chat up a girl. How could I possibly go harass someone at their door?”

From Chu Susu’s observations, Luo Yiyi didn’t seem to be lying. He came across as pretty awkward and even got shy holding eye contact with her.

She asked, “So you’re saying the person on the surveillance footage isn’t you?”

“It is me, but… not me.”

Luo Yiyi knew that sounded bizarre and hurried to explain:

“The guy in the surveillance video is definitely me. I can tell from the clothes and other features—it’s me.”

“But that day, I was working overtime. After finishing, I slept right there in the office. I woke up in the same spot the next day and hadn’t left the office once. When I woke up, my body felt unusually exhausted. I thought it was just from poor sleep, but that afternoon, the police showed up.”

Chu Susu couldn’t help widening her eyes slightly. “Oh? Then your office should have surveillance too. Did it catch anything?”

Luo Yiyi fell silent for a moment.

“It caught me leaving after falling asleep, going downstairs, and taking a cab. More crucially, there’s a consumption record on the ride-hailing app.”

“But it really wasn’t me. I have no memory or awareness of it at all. Even sleepwalking couldn’t go that far.”

No matter how he explained, all the evidence lined up perfectly. The police were almost certain it was Luo Yiyi himself, with no room for error.

He had a bellyful of grievances he couldn’t vent, and now it all came bursting out:

“Miss Chu, this might sound far-fetched, but I definitely went through some kind of supernatural event, like being possessed by a ghost.”

“And this isn’t the first time.” Luo Yiyi hung his head, his shoulders trembling as if he could barely control his emotions. “A couple days ago, something similar happened again.”

“What?!”

After an incident like that, Luo Yiyi should have been fired, but he was usually honest and hardworking, plus his technical skills were top-notch—a high-salary hire for the company.

After begging repeatedly, the company didn’t fire him but gave him extended leave instead.

“Yeah. During this time, I’ve read a ton of books on the supernatural, trying to find answers. Three days ago, I went to a library. I fell asleep while reading.”

“When I came to, I was standing at the entrance to your complex.”

“And at that moment, the security booth phone rang—really loudly. I think the noise ‘woke’ me up.”

“I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I wrote you a letter, disguised myself a bit, and left it at the security booth. I hoped we could talk face-to-face.”

Luo Yiyi wrinkled his nose in pain. He knew this sounded utterly unbelievable to a normal person, but it was the truth:

“Miss Chu, can you believe me? Do you think I’m crazy?”

He looked at Chu Susu with hopeful eyes. Seeing only gravity on her face, no shock, his heart suddenly surged.

Chu Susu’s reaction meant she knew something!

Amid Luo Yiyi’s anticipation, Chu Susu finally spoke: “Mm, I know you’re not crazy.”

“You…”

“Because when you came knocking that day, what I saw on the video intercom was my cousin.”

Luo Yiyi was dumbfounded, a chill running down his spine. “This?!”

Chu Susu continued, “If what you’re saying is true, I think I know what’s going on with your ‘possession,’ but I need to think it over and confirm you’re not lying.”

“After all, you could be the ‘ghost’ itself, putting on an act to get close to me, right?”

Luo Yiyi steadied himself, lowering his head a bit dejectedly. “You’re right. Aside from repeating over and over that you should believe me, I don’t know how else to prove it for now.”

Just then, the owner brought out the noodles. Luo Yiyi didn’t ask Chu Susu to untie his handcuffs and instead ate slowly in that clumsy manner.

Chu Susu hesitated, unsure of her decision.

From her own observations, she already believed him about seventy or eighty percent. But she feared trusting the wrong person and harming Han Xuan.

She stepped outside and called Han Xuan, but the other side either busy or otherwise occupied, didn’t pick up.

No reply to her WeChat message either.

Chu Susu looked up at the moonlight overhead, suddenly feeling lost. Then, as if remembering something, she abruptly opened Weibo.

Right, Ursa Major.

That blogger who sometimes took divination gigs on Weibo.

Though he’d gone quiet for a while due to some issue—fans urging updates daily with no response—he surprisingly replied to Chu Susu’s private messages.

They’d chatted idly a few times, like half-friends.

Unsure of this astrology diviner’s reliability, but since he was connected to the “metaphysical” world, Chu Susu opened the chat with Ursa Major on a whim.

@Susu: “I think I’ve run into a supernatural event.”

Whether because the blogger was especially into the topic or just happened to be online, he replied instantly: “Give me the details.”

@Susu: “A while back, a guy came harassing me at my door. Police detained him. But now he’s come to me saying he was possessed by a ghost, that it wasn’t him. His explanation sounds totally legit. Should I believe him?”

After thinking, she added: “Plus, I’ve had some weird stuff happen to me lately too, might be connected.”

@BetaUrsaeMajoris: “Simple answer: Don’t fully trust him.”

@Susu: “Reasons?”

@BetaUrsaeMajoris: “Think through all the possibilities, and you’ll see.”

He seemed to be typing, but seconds passed with no follow-up. Chu Susu pondered along those lines.

Possibility one: No such thing as “possession,” so Luo Yiyi was lying—must be Hunter’s minion.

Possibility two: Luo Yiyi was Hunter himself, faking it to gain her trust.

Possibility three: Luo Yiyi was an ordinary guy telling the truth—but still can’t trust.

After all, he was someone who could be “possessed” by Hunter while asleep. How could Chu Susu tell if the person before her was really Luo Yiyi or Hunter?

Realization dawned on her.

@Susu: “I get it. Thanks.”

@BetaUrsaeMajoris: “…I just typed a huge wall of text.”

@Susu: “Good luck and stay safe. Talk later, 88!”

She didn’t forget to toss him a small red envelope.

Chatting with this online stranger she’d never met was surprisingly fun. For some reason, Chu Susu always felt a sense of familiarity with this blogger.

She felt like he understood her deeply, even down to little speech quirks that matched her own.

Back in the noodle shop, Chu Susu sat down across from the anxious Luo Yiyi and asked:

“You said you went to the library to look up info before?”

Luo Yiyi nodded. “Yeah.”

“Any findings?”

“None.” Luo Yiyi answered dejectedly. “There are plenty of records on ‘possession’ in both Eastern and Western sources. I skimmed a few, but no leads on where to start.”

Chu Susu said slowly, “I can give you one hint, but that’s it. You understand why I can’t fully trust you.”

Luo Yiyi got her concerns. “Got it. I’m already grateful you agreed to meet me.”

“Hunter,” Chu Susu said.

“What?”

“The thing that possessed you isn’t a ghost, but something called a Hunter.” Chu Susu thought for a moment. “As for whether they’re humans or ghosts, I’m not clear on that either. Anyway, they have a unified name—Hunters.”

Luo Yiyi keenly caught the detail: “They? More than one?”

“Mm, it’s a group.”

The information Chu Susu was sharing now was all very superficial. Even if Luo Yiyi was a Hunter in disguise, telling him this wouldn’t cause any harm.

“I only know that specific people become their hunting targets—their methods, you’ve felt them yourself. They have supernatural abilities. If you still want to keep digging for info, you can start from this angle.”

Luo Yiyi nodded vigorously, committing her every word to memory without asking anything improper: “Mm, got it.”

“That’s enough for today. If you find out anything, you can contact me again. Of course, I think it’s best if we stick to online chats from now on and don’t meet in person.” Chu Susu spoke with implication. “After all, there’s no way for me to tell who the person in front of me really is.”

Luo Yiyi nodded heavily again, his body swaying back and forth with the motion: “Got it. Let’s add each other on WeChat, then.”

The two exchanged WeChat contacts. With the late-night snack about finished, Luo Yiyi clumsily got to his feet and asked Chu Susu to unlock the handcuffs for him, promising to let her watch him get in a taxi and leave.

After she watched the taxi drive away and got back home, a WeChat message came from Luo Yiyi.

“Miss Chu, I just thought of something.”

“Oh?”

Luo Yiyi: “You told me earlier that when I knocked on the door, you saw your cousin. The Hunter disguised my face to look like his to trick you into opening up.”

Chu Susu: “Right.”

Luo Yiyi: “If Hunters are so capable, why not just possess your cousin directly? Why pick a stranger like me?”

Luo Yiyi: “The Imperial Capital has tens of millions of people. Your acquaintances would make you drop your guard way more easily, but they didn’t go that route. Doesn’t that seem strange?”

Luo Yiyi: “I figure that out of this vast sea of humanity, they picked me because there has to be some connection between us.”

This message left Chu Susu stunned for a long while—so long that she sat on the sofa, lost track of time, until Pipi wearily hopped onto her lap and snapped her out of it.

She had to admit Luo Yiyi made a good point.

Yeah, why didn’t the Hunter possess Fang Chen? Or go straight for the kill and possess Chu Susu herself?

Chu Susu sensed that Hunters had some kind of limitation.

They weren’t omnipotent like Han Xuan. Otherwise, they wouldn’t only strike during Han Xuan’s moments of weakness, skulking off to some dark corner the rest of the time.

So they couldn’t possess Chu Susu or Fang Chen, but they could possess Luo Yiyi?

Chu Susu had a vague feeling that the difference between herself, Fang Chen, and Luo Yiyi held the key to the answer.