“Tap…”
“Tap, tap—”
The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, empty and lonely.
An Xiangbei walked with his head down. His heart was preoccupied with something else, so he didn’t notice an additional figure standing in front of him.
“Oh—”
An Xiangbei reacted belatedly with a gasp. His eyes widened, and he squeezed out an awkward smile as he said, “Good evening, guest. May I ask…”
The man standing in front of him was tall and broad. His long hair flowed gently with the night wind, and with the addition of the moonlight shining down on him, his entire bearing gave off a bitingly cold and baleful look.
It was Baili Wuchang.
Baili Wuchang faced An Xiangbei coldly. He got straight to the point and said, “When the chandelier fell during the charity event, that was your doing, was it not? I’m here to take you back to the Underworld.”
“Guest?” An Xiangbei took a step back, his smile faltering. Hardening his resolve, he responded, “Guest…What are you saying? How come I don’t understand?”
Bailu Wuchang remained unconcerned, not at all falling for his sophistry. He raised his right hand. His index finger and middle finger joined together and drew a line in the air in front of him.
A red glare of light appeared in a flash. Bailu Wuchang’s hand held a phantom double-edged sword, faintly piercing through the cold air.
An Xiangbei’s explanation got caught in his throat. Afraid, he continuously stepped backwards. From head to toe, he shuddered, and he shook his head uncontrollably. “No…I won’t go…I can’t go back. You all don’t know anything…I need to stay here; I have a reason to stay here…I…”
Baili Wuchang was like a block of detached wood, not caring at all for An Xiangbei’s fear.
Baili Wuchang said calmly, “I don’t know about your business, nor do I care to know. My duty is to take you back to the Underworld. That and nothing more.”
Baili Wuchang was a ghost envoy. An Xiangbei appeared on his list of runaway ghosts. He was a target, so apart from this, Baili Wuchang didn’t care about anything else.
“I won’t go back…”
An Xiangbei kept retreating step by step, muttering, “I’m not supposed to go back. I’m not supposed to belong there!”
“Lord Baili! Please listen to me, I…”
“Ding—”
“Elevator going down…”
In his frenzy, An Xiangbei kept walking back. He had reached the end of the hallway where the elevator door was. Without meaning to, his hand hit the elevator button.
Nobody could’ve imagined that coincidentally, the elevator came down to this level. The elevator door slowly opened with a ding…
“Wen Nuan?!”
The elevator going down wasn’t empty; in fact, there was someone standing right at the door.
An Xiangbei’s gaze was surprised and delighted. He immediately streaked across with determination, grabbing onto Wen Nuan’s neck and holding him up in front of him.
“Cough cough cough—” Wen Nuan looked at An Xiangbei. He hadn’t gotten a word out before he almost started choking. His face turned red in seconds, and he couldn’t help starting up a coughing fit.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Djlil Qemtjcu’r lcvloofgfca fzqgfrrlbc mgjmxfv. Lf rjlv klat j rafjvs nblmf, “Ofa tlw ub!”
Qfc Rejc’r revvfc jqqfjgjcmf kjr j regqglrf cba bcis ab Cc Wljcuyfl, yea jirb ab Djlil Qemtjcu.
“Cough cough cough, An…Senior An?” Wen Nuan was being held by the neck. Speaking just one sentence was truly effortful. “What…are you trying to do?”
“Vbggs, Qfc Rejc.” Cc Wljcuyfl revvfcis jqbibulhfv, yea tf vlvc’a gfifjrf tlr uglq, raeyybgcis tbivlcu bcab Qfc Rejc’r cfmx. “P’w jirb ecvfg qgfrregf. Ktfgf’r cb batfg kjs.”
“Let him go!” Baili Wuchang berated again. His patience had already worn thin. “Don’t make me say it a third time.”
“Let him go?” An Xiangbei laughed coldly. “Lord Baili, you seem to give Wen Nuan special treatment. He’s my saving grace. Why on earth would I let him go?”
“I’ll make you regret it.” Baili Wuchang tightened his grip on his sword, which emitted a nonstop gurgling noise.
“Lord Baili.” An Xiangbei had a hostage now, but he was still fearful of Baili Wuchang. “Please don’t make things difficult for me. As long as you don’t stop me, I absolutely won’t hurt Wen Nuan. I know this has nothing to do with Wen Nuan…Injustice always has debt on someone’s head; everything is…is all because of him…It’s he who caused my death, taking away my everything. Don’t tell me…don’t tell me I shouldn’t take revenge?”
Speaking up to here, An Xiangbei’s friendly facial expression became twisted. His entire person emitted vapors of black smoke.
Wen Nuan was right at An Xiangbei’s side. The black smoke curled in the air in front of him and blocked everything in front of his eyes, and it also blocked An Xiangbei’s voice of reason.
An Xiangbei seemed to crumble. His lips quivered when he talked. “Why…why did he treat me like that…Why? He…he clearly…clearly said that he likes me…”
Wen Nuan took a couple of breaths to alleviate himself with difficulty. He suddenly said, “He? Su Mu?”
“Su Mu…” When An Xiangbei heard this name, he started laughing, his laughter echoing down the hotel hallway and pittering out.
It was as if An Xiangbei had heard the funniest joke of his life. “Su Mu? Su Mu…I’m Su Mu! My name is Su Mu. Su Mu was the name I had when I was alive! That person…no, he’s not a person. He’s nothing, but he took away my everything!”
The legends started years ago when people said that on this earth, there were some born with all-seeing eyes. When they were born, they could see ghosts and gods. Su Mu was one of these people. While this was an ability that cultivators would be envious of having, it consequently meant that Su Mu grew up being ostracized and bullied.
Su Mu could see things that other people couldn’t. As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, the first things he saw were ghosts with no heads or missing limbs.
Just about every day, Su Mu would be frightened out of bed in tears. His parents, relatives, teachers, classmates, and acquaintances all didn’t believe his words. From a young age, he was reprimanded for lying and jeered at for having eyeballs that saw nonsense. He was even taken to see a psychologist and to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
Day by day, Su Mu grew older and older. He gradually learned to be uncommunicative. Even if he came across something strange, he wouldn’t share it with anyone.
He would fear and panic and feel anxious, but he couldn’t say anything. At most, he would secretly cry by himself to vent.
On his birthday every year, Su Mu only had one wish…
—I wish that when I wake up tomorrow, I won’t see any more strange things, so that I can live like a normal person.
That way, he wouldn’t have to be afraid of others accusing him of having a mental disorder…
But every morning after, Su Mu would still see bloody, horrible, and unfathomable ghostly events. His dream amounted to nothing year after year.
Su Mu loathed himself for being different from the masses. Never did he think that one day, he would find this difference to be a cause for celebration.
Su Mu had no friends; he never did. All he had was a shadow.
Perhaps it was because of Su Mu’s obsession, but Su Mu was really too lonely, so there were a couple times he stood under the streetlight to face his own shadow and sigh…
“If you could talk to me, that would be great…”
His dream suddenly came true, as Su Mu’s shadow unexplainably gained its own conscience. It stood in front of Su Mu in a lifelike manner.
From that day on, Su Mu had his first friend, Ying Zi.
Ying Zi was pitch black. He couldn’t turn into a human, and others didn’t notice him, but that was okay. Su Mu thought this was more than enough.
Ying Zi always followed him, inseparable as form and shadow. He listened, he chatted, and he was very, very kind. He was the kindest person Su Mu had ever met in the world.
Around that time, Su Mu’s personality brightened day by day. He didn’t have to be anxious by himself anymore, nor did he have to hide alone to cry.
Every time Su Mu turned his head, Ying Zi would be standing behind him, quietly saying…
—I’ll stay with you.
—I like you.
Su Mu had never been this glad before. He had never before celebrated how he was different from other people. His eyes were a blessing; otherwise, how else could he have seen Ying Zi come to life?
But one day, Su Mu found out Ying Zi was disappointed.
Ying Zi told Su Mu that he wanted to become a real person. He wanted to experience for himself what it was like to be a human. Even if it was just for a day…that was fine.
“Ha ha ha…”
“An Xiangbei” mockingly laughed, laughing until tears sprung forward. He said, “The next day…The next day, I died…”
Su Mu had an “accident”. He lay in a pool of blood, pain paralyzing his consciousness. His entire body felt stiff and cold. The last strand of his strength left with the flow of his blood.
His eyes were blurry, and the only thing he saw was Ying Zi standing in front of him. He wasn’t moving, only calmly staring fixedly at himself on the brink of death.
Finally, Su Mu’s consciousness submerged into a sea of black. His pulse stopped. He felt ice-cold. His soul separated from his flesh.
Su Mu died…
“An Xiangbei” narrated, and as if he had died a second time, his energy depleted as well. “At that time, I could tell I really died…Things happened so quickly. Why was I killed, and who killed me…”
Afterwards, something even more shocking awaited him.
Su Mu’s spirit left his corpse, carried to the Underworld to get ready for reincarnation. Who would’ve expected, the Underworld employee told Su Mu that his corpse had an issue. Though his soul had left his flesh, his body hadn’t died.
Su Mu didn’t understand a thing at the time. This kind of situation usually only happened to people in a vegetative state, but once their souls returned to their bodies, the person could wake up.
But Su Mu’s case was a special one. When Su Mu’s spirit left his corpse, his corpse was taken over by some other spirit, reviving him.
“An Xiangbei” said faintly, “Simply speaking, someone killed me, then taking advantage of the time that my soul had left, someone took over my body.”
It was Ying Zi…
Ying Zi entered Su Mu’s body. Covered in blood, Su Mu was sent to the hospital, and was miraculously saved.
None of the doctors, relatives, classmates, or acquaintances knew that the Su Mu who had woken up wasn’t Su Mu at all.
The only thing everyone knew was that Su Mu’s personality underwent a huge change. He became cold, callous, and unkind when unprofitable to him, which was completely different from before.
“But what about me?” “An Xiangbei”’s face grew sinister. “What about me? I’m the one who’s the real Su Mu! He’s a swindler! A cheat! Ying Zi used my body to keep on living. I reported it to the Underworld, but the Underworld employee told me my predestined lifespan hadn’t been used up, so there was no way for me to be reincarnated. I could only…only remain in Hell, waiting day by day…waiting…wandering…”
Loathing…
Eventually, Su Mu came to a preposterous idea. He wanted to find Ying Zi. He wanted to stand in front of Ying Zi and ask from his own mouth if it was he who killed him, and why he would do it.
Fortunately for him, the ghost gates had an issue. The middle of the seventh month hadn’t arrived, but the gates had opened. Su Mu seized the opportunity to steal a Hell Chain Hotel employee’s passport, escaping the Underworld to the living world. He easily entered the hotel, undertaking the one they perceived as “An Xiangbei”.
“Clearly…” “An Xiangbei” looked absentminded, probably reminiscing about something in the past. He muttered to himself, “Clearly, we were best friends. Why did he do this to me? He clearly said he liked me…”
“Like?” Wen Nuan looked fine. The color had come back to his face. Though he was still being held by his neck, he was unperturbed, saying, “The word ‘like’ really is thought-provoking. For example, if you like a flower, you could choose to give it soil and water. If you like a flower, you could also choose to pick it for yourself. Senior An, you should guess…what kind of ‘like’ does Ying Zi have for you?”
“An Xiangbei” was stunned. He slowly turned his head towards Wen Nuan.
Wen Nuan wasn’t done talking. “After hearing your story, that Ying Zi doesn’t sound great. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I’m not in a position to lecture you about being magnanimous. If I was in your shoes, I wouldn’t rest in peace, and I would absolutely find him and ask him to clarify.”
Perhaps because of Wen Nuan’s words, “An Xiangbei”’s bewildered gaze suddenly steadied. At the same time, the black smoke around him became thicker and thicker.
“Find him…ask him to clarify…”
“An Xiangbei” violently shoved his hands, ruthlessly throwing Wen Nuan in Baili Wuchang’s direction.
“My god…”
Wen Nuan exclaimed in a dizzy spell. He thought he would fall down in a miserable state, but he fortunately fell into Baili Wuchang’s embrace in the next second as Baili Wuchang firmly caught him.
Wen Nuan once again smelled that familiar scent. He covertly snaked his arms around his waist.
Baili Wuchang ought to have chased after “An Xiangbei”, but he still paused. Looking down at Wen Nuan in his arms, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Hiss…” Wen Nuan covered his face and said, “My nose…I hit my nose.”
Besides the fact that Wen Nuan had hit his nose and it was red, he wasn’t hurt at all.
Baili Wuchang let out a breath of relief. In this moment of distraction, “An Xiangbei” had disappeared without a trace.
Baili Wuchang furrowed his brow. He lowered his eyes to look at Wen Nuan, who was still stubbornly hugging his waist. “Why did you provoke him? And now you’re purposely restraining me to let him go.”
“An Xiangbei”’s mood wasn’t stable. Wen Nuan’s words had been a blade, purposely cutting into “An Xiangbei”’s scars.
Wen Nuan rubbed his nose, embarrassingly releasing his freeloading hands. He said plainly, “There are some words that when spoken, aren’t at all graceful. But if they’re restrained in your stomach and left unsaid, they’re bound to form a lump of crap. So, it’s best to give people an opportunity to speak, isn’t it?”
The author has something to say: [Mini Theater]
Wen-Little-Nuan: There are some words that when spoken, aren’t at all graceful. But if they’re restrained in your stomach and left unsaid, they’re bound to form a lump of crap…
Lord·Mountaintop Flower·Baili: (Intense psychological activity: What should I do, does he want to confess? Should I accept? Should I be colder, or should I be gentler? Or should I pretend not to care a little? If I don’t care a little, will I offend Wen Nuan?)
Wen-Little-Nuan: Guest, we are an upstanding hotel; we don’t provide special service!
Lord·…·Baili: …
Didn’t freak at the ghost part and helped his friend…good boy! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️👻
Wen nuan is such a chad XD but wow, poor su mu… I’m rooting for him to kick his shadow’s butt!!
Thanks for the chapter
My bad, I didn’t mean to reply to you
Honestly never would have seen “An Xiangbei” being the runaway ghost coming 😭 I hope Su Mu gives his shadow a good punch!
Oh my gosh, my reply in the previous chapter was sooooo far off the mark 😭
😳😳😳