Chapter 46

Xiaoxue and her friend took a long time in the bathroom. Qi Xu and Tiger Granny stared at each other awkwardly—Tiger Granny’s eyes were quite large and lacked whites—wary of one another, but Qi Xu still couldn’t help but daydream.

She sat on the ground, bored out of her mind. With two people gone, Honghong stopped talking and instead pulled out her phone, ready to play for a bit. But then she noticed something off. “Huh? That’s weird, no signal on my phone.”

The girl next to her heard that and pulled out her own phone. “You’re right, it shows out of service area. What’s going on?”

The two of them huddled their heads together, chattering for a while, but Qi Xu didn’t even bother taking out her phone. First time shy, second time familiar—she knew exactly what was happening. They’d entered a ghost’s Ghost Domain; having a signal would be the real ghost.

And it wasn’t just no signal; even emergency calls wouldn’t go through.

As an experienced “veteran,” Qi Xu looked at the newcomers with a touch of pity in her eyes.

To reassure them and prevent them from panicking and doing something irrational, Qi Xu spoke up with an excuse. “It’s probably the fog. Mist can interfere with signals.”

“That makes sense.”

Since the topic turned to fog, Honghong went over to examine it closely, then grew even more surprised. “Huh? There’s black fog too? It’s right behind you, and it stops right there. So magical—you must be sitting right on the boundary line.”

“Is this black fog heavier than the white fog? It’s closer to the ground.”

As they chatted, Qi Xu’s body suddenly stiffened. She slowly turned her head and sure enough, black fog had spread there at some point, right behind her. She wasn’t very familiar with white fog, but black fog? She knew it inside out.

Especially that night with Xia Zhiming, when the black fog shifted into all sorts of shapes, twisting around her hair and binding Xia Zhiming’s wrists and ankles tight. This made Qi Xu feel a bit guilty at the sight of the black fog, and a bit incredulous too.

‘Aren’t you guys supposed to be sealed? How did you get out?’

She was still in human form, hadn’t turned into her Ghost Body—she was just an ordinary college student. Why had they come out?!

Qi Xu actually wanted to pretend she didn’t know this black fog, that it wasn’t hers at all—maybe Tiger Granny had made it. But the black fog seemed guilty too upon seeing her, quietly retreating a bit. That retreat made it impossible for Qi Xu to play dumb.

Nailed it—it was her black fog.

And this black fog gave Qi Xu an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Even if she claimed it wasn’t hers, no one would believe her.

Qi Xu couldn’t help but pinch her cheek. Good, it hurt; she was still alive.

Honghong was still saying, “Qi Xu, why don’t you come over here by us? Get away from the black fog. This fog is so weird—who knows what it is. What if it’s poisonous? Better to stay a bit farther away.”

Qi Xu didn’t dare move. She was afraid that if she did, the black fog would follow, and then they would definitely notice how strange it was—and how it might be connected to her. That could scare them even more.

So Qi Xu shook her head. “It should be fine. I’ve been sitting here so long; if something was wrong, it would’ve happened already.”

Seeing Qi Xu ignore the advice—though it made some sense—Honghong didn’t push. They turned to chatting about why Xiaoxue and her friend had been gone so long.

Some people you just can’t mention. Speak of the devil—the words had barely left their mouths when Xiaoxue and her friend returned. But Xiaoxue’s friend kept giving Qi Xu a strange look.

Qi Xu was baffled; that gaze held intense scrutiny and a hint of fear. She couldn’t figure out why they were looking at her like that.

Once Xiaoxue and her friend sat down, the atmosphere fell silent. Even when Honghong tried to chat, Xiaoxue didn’t respond like before. A moment later, the one who’d gone with Xiaoxue stood up again and dragged Honghong away. “I need to use the bathroom too. Come with me.”

The two left again, leaving the rest with even less to say. The scene grew silent, almost deathly still.

A while later, Honghong and her companion returned. Then Honghong started looking at Qi Xu with the same gaze, leaving Qi Xu even more baffled.

Soon after they sat, a similar scene repeated: Honghong stood up, pulled the remaining girl away, and said she needed the bathroom. With all this commotion, claiming nothing was wrong felt like self-deception. Qi Xu perked up mentally, thinking: Had they noticed something off? Like Tiger Granny’s weirdness?

The thought excited Qi Xu. If her guess was right, the remaining girl should now invite her to the bathroom!

But Qi Xu waited left and right—no invitation came. Her excitement turned to silence as she comforted herself inwardly: Maybe they’re just sharing among themselves and don’t plan to tell an outsider.

Yet their occasional glances at Qi Xu fueled her expectations. They must still care about her; they were hesitating whether to tell her!

Qi Xu began speculating how far they’d gotten. Had they fully seen Tiger Granny’s true form, or just suspected? Were they unsure how to bring it up? After all, telling a stranger “there’s a ghost/monster with us” sounded crazy.

Qi Xu wasn’t entirely wrong—they were indeed hesitating about telling a stranger they’d spotted a ghost.

But she’d guessed the wrong target. They wanted to tell Tiger Granny that Qi Xu was actually a ghost. After the four took turns leaving under the “bathroom” excuse to swap info secretly, Qi Xu looked more and more suspicious.

Forget the black fog, which treated Qi Xu as a strict boundary without crossing it—that alone was eerie. Plus, plenty of other oddities.

Qi Xu was clearly a female college student, coming to Rowboat Mountain for the first time and walking this path today. Yet she’d led the way so confidently, without a hint of hesitation.

But following her lead, they’d gone deeper into the fog and had to stop in the thick mist, sitting in place.

On top of that, Xiaoxue’s hurried glimpse of Qi Xu—not looking like a living person—still gave her chills thinking back. All signs pointed to it: Qi Xu wasn’t human.

Among the four, Honghong was the boldest. She glanced at Xiaoxue opposite her. Xiaoxue shook her head in disapproval at first, but Honghong nodded with death-defying resolve. They were true best friends; a look said it all.

Honghong was set; they could only follow her lead, step by step.

“By the way, I’ve read some ghost stories before.”

Honghong spoke up, but Qi Xu frowned. ‘Why tell ghost stories now? Hurry and pull me aside to talk so I can warn them about Tiger Granny.’

But Honghong had started, so Qi Xu listened. What if Honghong had spotted Tiger Granny’s oddity and wanted to clue her in?

“Mountains shrouded in fog year-round can have ghosts posing as humans, pretending to know the way. In truth, they lead travelers deeper into remote areas, to cliffs, then push them off. They kill to take the victim’s place, so they can reincarnate.”

A bit of a hint, but not very useful. Honghong and the others hadn’t figured out Tiger Granny yet.

Seeing no reaction from Qi Xu, Honghong thought she’d guessed wrong about her. She glanced at Tiger Granny, who showed no response, and gave the same exasperated look Xiaoxue had earlier.

From that glance at Tiger Granny, Xiaoxue knew Honghong wanted to grab Tiger Granny and run. The girl next to Honghong tugged her sleeve—she’d already used the bathroom excuse; repeating it would arouse Qi Xu’s suspicion.

So she stood up.

Qi Xu’s eyes lit up. Here it comes! Finally—this time to take her to the bathroom? But against expectations, the girl turned to Tiger Granny instead. “I need the bathroom. Can you come with me?”

Tiger Granny ignored her, fixated on Qi Xu. Those yellow eyes gleamed with greedy green light, drool practically forming. Its teeth chattered as it nearly refused.

Qi Xu didn’t know it meant to refuse; her scalp tingled at the thought of a living person alone with Tiger Granny. She stood up. “No, I’ll go with you. I need the bathroom too!”

Qi Xu didn’t notice the four girls’ faces turn stiff and pale as she rose. They swallowed hard, exchanged looks, then steeled themselves, grabbed their bags, and bolted in the opposite direction from Qi Xu.

They didn’t forget to drag Tiger Granny along on the way out.

Tiger Granny didn’t resist. Honghong and Xiaoxue each grabbed a hand, and it followed the group as they ran off. After such ample rest, their stamina had recovered; they ran fast.

Qi Xu hadn’t processed the scene when she saw the four humans and one ghost already far away.

“???” Left behind, Qi Xu was full of question marks, clueless about what they were doing. But she couldn’t leave four living people alone with a ghost! Frowning, she moved to chase—but after one step, something felt off.

Looking down, her body collapsed limply to the ground, travel bag still in its arms. And she… had turned into her Ghost Body again.