Chapter 58

This sentence fell into Qi Xu’s ears and sobered her dazed mind a bit, but the previous pain had triggered a severe stress response in her, making it hard for her to understand what the Ghost Bride really meant.

Down below, the Stinky Fortune-Teller heard the Ghost Bride’s words and breathed a sigh of relief—good that she said that, good, as long as she didn’t say anything else, it would be fine.

Qi Xu calmed down a little, the surrounding black fog no longer boiling, and the evil ghost that had been about to take form also stopped moving. At that moment, both the Ghost Bride and the Stinky Fortune-Teller thought Qi Xu had stabilized. The Ghost Bride let out a long breath, feeling like her little life was finally safe.

However, it was also at that moment that the massive hand formed from black fog clenched hard and crushed the Ghost Bride.

The Stinky Fortune-Teller watched from below, his eyes bulging wide: Wait, what the hell? She already said it, so why do this?

Then, he heard Qi Xu’s voice: “You’re lying—it can’t be, she wouldn’t do that.”

—Are you letting your love brain take over or what?!

The Stinky Fortune-Teller was exasperated at her failure to measure up. He really wanted to rush up and snap Qi Xu out of it—Xia Zhiming was exactly that kind of person, and using her to fill in her own early-death fate was totally normal for her. But he had no chance to say it.

Because Qi Xu’s eyes shifted slightly, her gaze landing on the Stinky Fortune-Teller. In that instant, all his hairs stood on end.

It was hard to describe the feeling, like a docile herbivore being stared down by a carnivore—and not just any predator, but its natural enemy. No matter how he hid, he’d be spotted and pounced on. Right now, this weak little herbivore could only hunker down obediently in the distance, hoping this powerful predator might show mercy and let him go.

But he knew the odds of that were slim.

Yet Qi Xu was the type who loved doing the unexpected. She looked down imperiously at the Stinky Fortune-Teller, then muttered to herself, “Living person…” The moment those two words came out, the Stinky Fortune-Teller felt like everything was fine—definitely fine!

When Qi Xu’s gaze finally shifted away from him, the Stinky Fortune-Teller collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Seeing Qi Xu pay him no mind and fly off directly, his mind started racing again—he wanted to run.

Unfortunately, that half-formed evil ghost was still right there. And this evil ghost didn’t seem like something he could easily handle.

Even Xia Zhiming had struggled against this evil ghost, and he couldn’t even beat her.

No matter what the Stinky Fortune-Teller thought, by then Qi Xu had already intercepted Xia Zhiming. Like a puff of smoke, she whisked Xia Zhiming away to a deserted spot in an instant. The Ghost Domain that had belonged to the Ghost Bride vanished completely now that the Ghost Bride was gone and Qi Xu had left.

When Qi Xu’s roommates snapped out of their daze, they found themselves back inside the Ghost House, standing right next to a flower sedan. They exchanged bewildered looks, even wondering if everything that had just happened was a dream.

It was then that a woman a bit older than them walked over, holding up her credentials, which read Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau Third Bureau and her name: Zhang Ziyue.

“It’s okay now. We’re here to rescue you. Please follow us without worry.”

The official rescuers carried weight, so the living girls exchanged glances and chose to obey Zhang Ziyue.

They also told Zhang Ziyue about Xia Zhiming: “That sister in the Pink Daoist Robe got snatched away by a burst of black fog! You have to go save her! And our roommate, Qi Xu—we still don’t know what happened to her.”

Zhang Ziyue’s mouth twitched. If she wasn’t wrong, the black fog that snatched Xia Zhiming was Qi Xu herself. That meant Qi Xu had turned into a ghost again. As for her physical body… Zhang Ziyue thought for a moment, first handed the girls off to other colleagues, then turned back to search for Qi Xu.

Sure enough, she found Qi Xu’s physical body inside the flower sedan. She looked like she was just asleep, head tilted against the side of the sedan, seeming quite comfortable. But Zhang Ziyue called her several times with no response. She realized then that Qi Xu probably wouldn’t wake until her ghost body returned.

Zhang Ziyue thought it over, then teamed up with a senior colleague to carry Qi Xu out of the flower sedan.

“Senior, what do we do? Send her to the hospital?”

Honestly, Qi Xu’s physical condition was pretty bad. Leaving aside other spots, her forehead was swollen with dust and faint traces of dried blood. Clearly, she’d suffered greatly in the Ghost Bride’s Ghost Domain.

The senior pursed his lips. “We’ll deal with it later. Right now, she’s soulless. Sending her to the hospital would just scare the doctors and nurses half to death. Wait until her soul comes back, then send her over.”

“Got it.”

Meanwhile, Qi Xu’s soul had kidnapped Xia Zhiming and brought her back to their apartment. The two sat facing each other. Qi Xu stared blankly at Xia Zhiming with lifeless eyes. Xia Zhiming let her stare for a bit, then, seeing no movement, stood up to pour herself some water.

And to change out of these filthy clothes.

But as soon as she rose, the black fog turned into a rope that tightly bound her waist, forcing her back down onto the seat.

Xia Zhiming sat on the sofa while Qi Xu dragged over a dining chair and sat across from her, looking ready to interrogate.

Sure enough, after holding it in for a while, Qi Xu spoke: “That Ghost Bride said you wanted to use me to fill your early-death fate—is that true or false?”

Just that one long sentence, and Xia Zhiming immediately knew Qi Xu had mostly recovered her senses, not like that dazed state when she first appeared. She looked at Qi Xu and suddenly let out a scoffing laugh. “How do you want me to answer?”

“…” Qi Xu was stunned. How could this woman counter-question her so brazenly?! She pursed her lips. She was still in that black ornate gown, but her aura had completely changed.

Her voice carried grievance: “So is it true or false?”

Xia Zhiming glanced at her, then relaxed completely. Ignoring the black fog around her waist, she leaned back against the sofa and propped up her feet in a casual cross-legged pose. “She said it, didn’t she? That’s right. I have an early-death fate constellation too. Without you, I’d probably croak any second now. So what about you? Wanna part ways amicably and say goodbye?”

“I’m fine either way. Dead is dead. Think about what you wanna do.”

Qi Xu felt even more aggrieved because… Xia Zhiming really was that kind of person. She didn’t treat her own life like it mattered. Wasn’t it obvious when she drove straight into the Ghost Taxi? If she truly cherished her life, would she do something like that?

Xia Zhiming pulled a lollipop from her pocket and stuck it in her mouth. She sucked on it for a bit, then seemed to think of something. Qi Xu thought she might say something different, but instead heard, “I’m filthy right now, but you insisted I sit on the sofa. You clean it later.”

“…Okay.”

This issue hung there for the moment, and Qi Xu didn’t know what to do. She felt utterly wronged, but just as Xia Zhiming said, even if she was using Qi Xu to patch her fate constellation, what could Qi Xu do? Actually run away?

If she ran, never mind herself—what about Xia Zhiming?

Xia Zhiming might not care about her own life, but Qi Xu did. She liked Xia Zhiming so much that if Xia Zhiming really died, Qi Xu would be heartbroken. After mulling it over, she said cautiously, “Xia Zhiming, I… I’ll stay by your side. You can use me to fix your fate constellation if you want, but can you stop casually talking about dying all the time?”

Xia Zhiming rolled the lollipop in her mouth, stared at Qi Xu for a good while, then scoffed again. “You’re not even blaming me and still sticking your nose in? I really don’t know if you’ve gone full saint-mode.”

Xia Zhiming stood up, and this time Qi Xu didn’t stop her. Xia Zhiming kicked Qi Xu’s calf lightly. Feeling a bit aggrieved, Qi Xu tucked her legs in. Qi Xu thought Xia Zhiming wouldn’t respond, but then she spoke up:

“That Ghost Bride wasn’t wrong. My fate constellation is an early-death one. To be precise, both of us have early-death fate constellations.” She looked down at Qi Xu, her eyes even more indifferent than Qi Xu’s.

“Conveniently, yours can patch mine, and mine can patch yours. It looks like we’re always kissing so I can transfer yang energy to you, but actually, I’ve gotten something from you too. In this matter, I don’t owe you, and you don’t owe me.”

In a sense, they were a match made in heaven.

Qi Xu felt a bit shy about her own thinking. Xia Zhiming headed to the bathroom, saying she was going to shower. Qi Xu sat there in a daze, feeling happy and secretly thrilled, but also a bit of inexplicable loss.

The happiness and thrill were simple: they were fated to be tangled together, so her path of shameless clinging got a bit brighter. The loss was because Xia Zhiming’s cuddles and kisses weren’t because she liked Qi Xu, but for her fate.

Qi Xu really understood Xia Zhiming now. She was the type who thought: dying is fine, living is okay too; if she could live, she wouldn’t go seeking death. So normally, she’d keep herself alive.

Turns out she was just a little tool on the same level as a ventilator… Qi Xu felt upset, even a bit like crying.

While she mulled over this and that, Xia Zhiming finished her shower, blow-dried her hair, and came out wrapped in a bath towel. At that point, Qi Xu didn’t know where to look. Xia Zhiming kicked her again. “Come on up. If you don’t absorb some yang energy soon, you’ll turn into a dead person for sure.”

When Qi Xu realized what Xia Zhiming meant, she turned into a happy little puppy. She followed Xia Zhiming upstairs. This was her first time up there, and seeing Xia Zhiming’s bed made her a bit shy.

Xia Zhiming lay down and crooked a finger at her. “Come here.”

Qi Xu obediently went over but hadn’t gotten on the bed when she heard Xia Zhiming’s threat: “If you haven’t been studying well lately, get the hell off.”