Chapter 68

Not only did it lack enough yin energy to give to the middle-aged male ghost, but after the yin energy on Qi Xu’s body decreased, she even felt much more relaxed all over.

This was very normal, after all, which living person would find being entangled by yin energy comfortable?

Living people needed yang energy! More yang energy made one feel comfortable, just like when she kissed Xia Zhiming. Being wrapped in yin energy only made her feel like her whole body was covered in a layer of icy mist. It was somewhat comfortable in this weather, but it still gave people a strange sticky sensation.

It wasn’t heavy when she wasn’t a ghost.

When she was a ghost, there was no sticky feeling; instead, it felt cool and refreshing, very comfortable.

In short, when she maintained her human form, having the yin energy removed actually made her feel very relaxed.

So after the initial pain for a moment, Qi Xu instead felt refreshed and invigorated, especially when she looked up and saw the middle-aged male ghost, who had been smug on his face moments ago, now looking unpleasant. This made her even happier.

However, Qi Xu didn’t stay happy for long.

Because ghosts were evil.

Good people were mostly held at gunpoint in most situations, and now was no different. The middle-aged male ghost’s face stiffened for a moment before he quickly smiled again. “Little girl, do you have any other desires?”

“No.” Qi Xu answered in one second.

“…Won’t you think about it?”

Qi Xu actually started thinking, mainly because she needed to stall for time. She was still in human form now and couldn’t handle the middle-aged male ghost. The best way was to stall until Xia Zhiming, who had gone who-knows-where, came back and KO’d the middle-aged male ghost in front of her.

Since the middle-aged male ghost was giving her time to think, she thought a bit longer to avoid him acting against her if they disagreed later.

After thinking, she still shook her head. “No. Even if there were, you couldn’t help me.”

The middle-aged male ghost frowned. He sized up Qi Xu for a moment and offered some bargaining chips. “Do you want beauty?”

Qi Xu shook her head. “No, I’m pretty enough as I am.” Qi Xu truly thought so. Compared to those top beauties, she definitely wasn’t as good, but her current looks were enough to outshine eighty-eight percent of humans. Plus, with her kind personality, everyone was happy to be around her.

Besides, there was no need to be even prettier. She was just right like this, and Qi Xu had no plans to debut in entertainment anyway.

The middle-aged male ghost fell silent. Qi Xu guessed that he had probably used this trick to kill many young girls like her. Girls wanting to become more beautiful was very normal. Qi Xu had reaped many benefits from her looks and naturally knew how much favor this world bestowed on the beautiful.

It favored the beautiful greatly, while being harsh and acerbic toward the unattractive. Even society sold beauty anxiety, being especially demanding of women, so a girl’s desire to become beautiful was beyond reproach.

The middle-aged male ghost was very good at grasping human hearts, starting with such a sharp question.

But it didn’t work on Qi Xu because she was already good-looking and had no desire to become even prettier.

“What about wealth?”

“No need, I earn plenty now.”

Qi Xu wasn’t wrong. As a student, her material desires weren’t that strong. From childhood, her parents had spoiled her greatly. Anything she wanted within their financial means, they bought for her. Even if they couldn’t afford something expensive right away, they promised to get it for her once they had a little money.

Most importantly, they never went back on their word. They sent her living expenses on time every month, ensuring she never lacked clothes or food.

With such parents, Qi Xu had little thirst for money. Plus, after becoming an investigator, her monthly base salary was high, with occasional bonuses, more than enough for her expenses.

So Qi Xu’s pursuit of wealth was also low.

“Knowledge?”

She didn’t need that either. Qi Xu didn’t aspire to be a top student; graduating smoothly was enough, and her IQ allowed her to scrape by with low scores easily. So she shook her head again.

“Do you want a man? Which big star do you like?”

“No.”

“Jewelry?”

“Status?”

“Long life?”

The middle-aged male ghost asked one question after another until he drove himself crazy. Qi Xu’s life was truly pretty good. Her close family was healthy, with no illnesses, and up to now, her only trouble was becoming half-human half-ghost.

The middle-aged male ghost was truly stunned. It was his first time encountering someone so desireless.

And Qi Xu’s lack of desire wasn’t feigned; she genuinely had few wants.

After a long while, the middle-aged male ghost gave up and asked a question that exposed he actually knew information about Qi Xu. “Then, do you want to become human again?”

“Yes.”

The middle-aged male ghost perked up, feeling he had finally grasped one of Qi Xu’s weaknesses. He was about to say something like “As long as you trade with me, you can become human again,” but Qi Xu interrupted him. “But you can’t do that either, because you’re just a liar. All that stuff about beauty and wealth before was just to deceive people. You only use extremely low prices to make others hand over their precious things.”

“How can you think of ghosts as so sinister?”

“Then why bother with the life-borrowing red packet? Why not just set up a scale and tempt more living people that way?”

“…”

Qi Xu wasn’t just desireless; she was also quite smart. Although Xia Zhiming always called her a fool and a waste, in reality, a true fool couldn’t get into a good university. Her actions were always methodical, and she knew exactly when to do what.

She knew she was quite unlucky, often targeted by ghosts who coveted her, so she easily linked things to herself and absolutely avoided dangerous, eerie places that sounded problematic.

Self-awareness was key, and Qi Xu had plenty of it.

The middle-aged male ghost still didn’t give up and continued. “You’re different. I can give you what you want, and all you need to do is kneel to me and offer your loyalty. Do that, and you can definitely become human again.”

The middle-aged male ghost wasn’t that smart either…

Qi Xu sighed inwardly. He had so easily revealed information she didn’t know, which surprised her. So that’s why the ghost bride had insisted on making her kneel earlier—not for marriage, but to gain her loyalty?

Weird. Kneeling didn’t mean she’d be loyal to it.

With that thought, Qi Xu suspected the middle-aged male ghost had deliberately let it slip to deceive her.

Hearing the middle-aged male ghost’s promise, Qi Xu shook her head. “I don’t believe you can do it. If you could turn me back into a human, why haven’t you turned yourself back first?”

“…Can’t I just prefer being a ghost?”

Qi Xu paused. She couldn’t deny that some ghosts might prefer it. There were benefits to being a ghost: great strength, at least much better physical qualities than humans, and no worries about illness or death.

But if asked if she wanted to be a ghost, she’d definitely say no. Why be a ghost if you could be human? Qi Xu wasn’t willing anyway.

If this middle-aged male ghost was willing, she couldn’t argue.

No matter what the middle-aged male ghost said, she didn’t believe him. When he said too much, she even replied, “Even if you truly had that ability, I wouldn’t need your help. Xia Zhiming promised me; she’ll help me. As long as she’s here, I’ll eventually recover my human form.”

In a credibility contest, the middle-aged male ghost couldn’t compare to Xia Zhiming at all, so Qi Xu wouldn’t make any deal with him.

The middle-aged male ghost stared at Qi Xu in a daze. Whether in life or death, he found it hard to believe such a person existed in the world. He even sowed discord by saying that the one called Xia Zhiming might not help her, spewing a basketful of words to drive a wedge between them, but Qi Xu remained unmoved.

Did such desireless, hundred-percent trusting people really exist? The middle-aged male ghost didn’t believe it. After thinking long and hard, he finally found a point he could exploit.

“You trust that Daoist called Xia Zhiming so much, why?…” As soon as he asked this, even though Qi Xu tried to mask her expression, the middle-aged male ghost caught it. He realized something: Qi Xu wasn’t without desires; she had them, and they were clear.

“Oh— so you like her.”

The middle-aged male ghost had already figured out how to use this as a breakthrough to shatter Qi Xu’s psychological defenses. He thought to himself that girls this age would feel embarrassed if their feelings were exposed, denying it vehemently. Relationships were usually like that, especially since Qi Xu liked someone of the same sex.

This country was tolerant of homosexuality, but intolerance existed too. The older general public mostly viewed it with disdain and rejection.

While the middle-aged male ghost pondered, he heard Qi Xu’s crisp voice. “Yes, I like her.”

The middle-aged male ghost was stunned and looked at Qi Xu, seeing her eyes sparkling like a radiant pearl. She wasn’t ashamed to admit her feelings. Though she didn’t want to come out publicly, now that it was pointed out, there was no need to hide it like she was deeply closeted.

Qi Xu’s attitude was somewhat unexpected, but after a moment’s hesitation, the middle-aged male ghost continued. “But from what I see, her attitude doesn’t seem to like you that much. Do you want to date her? I can help you…”

Before he finished, Qi Xu’s resolute voice rang out. “Yes, she doesn’t like me that much. I don’t even know what she feels toward me. I want to date her and build a healthy, positive romantic relationship.”

The middle-aged male ghost was ecstatic inwardly, thinking he had grasped Qi Xu’s weakness. But what Qi Xu said next was beyond his expectations.

“However, I don’t want to achieve this relationship through others or other means. I hope that one day, Xia Zhiming will like me of her own will and respond to me. That’s the best outcome for me.”

—Help, she’s into pure love.