Edited—

Xiaomi appeared before the two of them. She was still carrying that long knife, her entire person looking utterly ferocious.

However, Zhou Jiayu noticed that the few black shadows originally circling above her head had now vanished without a trace. He didn’t know whether they had disappeared or gone somewhere else.

“Kill you, kill you!!” Although she saw Lin Zhushui, Xiaomi clearly didn’t take him seriously. Seeing Zhou Jiayu standing in place without fleeing, she raised her knife and charged at the two of them.

Although Zhou Jiayu was full of confidence in Lin Zhushui, seeing this scene still inevitably made his heart race. He said, “Sir, her strength is especially great.”

“Mm.” Lin Zhushui’s tone was light. With a casual wave of his hand, a wall of flames constructed itself before them. Because of inertia, Xiaomi didn’t have time to stop her footsteps and plunged headfirst into the flames.

“AAAHHH!!!” She let out a miserable scream. The flames ignited the moment they touched her body, wrapping around Xiaomi and burning.

But what was very strange was that Xiaomi’s body didn’t show any changes. The flames seemed to be burning not her flesh, but her soul.

“AAAAHHH—” Xiaomi’s screams were initially miserable, then gradually grew weaker, finally falling completely silent. Her body, which had been rolling on the ground, also gradually stopped moving.

Zhou Jiayu was just about to ask if she was dead when he actually saw Xiaomi’s body begin to rapidly wither as if drained of moisture. In less than a moment, she turned into a skeleton.

“This…” Zhou Jiayu was startled.

“She should have been dead long ago.” Lin Zhushui said, “Let’s go downstairs first.”

Zhou Jiayu said okay.

This time, Lin Zhushui took Zhou Jiayu in the elevator, directly descending from the twentieth floor to the third floor.

Xu Jian was still waiting for them in the conference room. Shen Yiqiong was also inside. Beside him sat four people trembling with fear—the four who had played the game with them. It seemed that during this time, Shen Yiqiong had already found the remaining people.

Seeing Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui enter, Shen Yiqiong showed a delighted expression: “You’re back!”

Lin Zhushui nodded. Then he took out a small cloth bag from his pocket and casually tossed it onto the table, saying, “They’re all here.”

Xu Jian picked up the bag. After opening it, he shook out several dozen thumb-sized wooden plaques from the cloth bag. Zhou Jiayu stood close by and clearly saw that names of people were written on the wooden plaques.

Xu Jian counted them: “That’s right, sixty-nine.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Burn them?”

Xu Jian said, “Okay.”

As the words fell, flames ignited on the wooden plaques. Zhou Jiayu clearly heard that as the wooden plaques burned, faint miserable screams seemed to come from within them, as if what was burning was not the wooden plaques but trapped souls.

“That Xiaomi didn’t have any accidents when she first started playing the games.” Xu Jian watched the burning wooden plaques and sighed lightly. “Later, she probably had an accident and was targeted by a dirty thing.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “She signed a contract with that thing?”

“Yes.” Xu Jian said, “I estimate that the dirty thing demanded she continue playing the games, but during the process, once she failed, she needed to pay with the lives of offerings as the price. So Xiaomi found two groups of people. One group provided her cover, appearing together in the livestream room. The other group was sacrificed in secret.”

“Then these people are…?” Zhou Jiayu looked at the souls in this room. After the wooden plaques were burned to charcoal, they all began to fade, looking as if they were about to disappear.

“These people were also tricked by Xiaomi into signing contracts.” Xu Jian said, “But it’s still better than losing their lives. Burning the contract wooden plaques should mean they’ll be fine.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “That makes sense.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Let’s go.”

As he said this, he took out a talisman from his bosom and directly burned it. The ashes of the talisman paper danced in the air, forming the shape of a door. Inside the door was all fog, with no end in sight. Lin Zhushui made a “please” gesture, indicating for them to go first.

Those few young people who had been dragged into this because of the game entered the door first. One had to say, their expressions were all somewhat dazed. Judging from their faces, every one of them looked as if they were wondering whether they were dreaming.

Zhou Jiayu stepped through the door. Darkness fell before his eyes. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t hear anything. His body had a sensation of floating up from underwater, as if being supported by something, continuously rising, until finally he broke through the water’s surface…

“Cough cough cough…” The awakened Zhou Jiayu coughed. He struggled to open his eyes and saw that he was lying on the ground. Beside him lay several others who had played the game together.

These people had also just woken up. Their reactions were similar to Zhou Jiayu’s; they were all coughing nonstop.

“Wuwuwu, I’ll never play this kind of game again.” After the people in the room recovered, a sorrowful emotion spread. A girl wiped her tears and said grievously that from now on she would believe in science, never be superstitious again, and never play these messy things. The boy beside her deeply shared her feelings. Everyone was still shaken with fear.

Shen Yiqiong woke up a bit later than Zhou Jiayu. He opened his eyes, saw Zhou Jiayu, coughed a few times, and called out to Zhou Jiayu: “Guan’er.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “You’re awake, Hei-zai.”

Shen Yiqiong climbed up from the ground and looked around, asking why he didn’t see Xiaomi.

Zhou Jiayu said, “It seems we don’t see her…”

As they were thinking about this matter, the door opened with a creak. Because of the previous aftereffects, everyone’s scalps clearly tightened. Fortunately, the person who entered was Lin Zhushui and not something strange.

“Let’s go.” Lin Zhushui said, “What are you all lying on the ground for?”

So the six young people in the room climbed up from the ground and walked out crying and sobbing. When passing by downstairs, the hotel front desk even cast strange looks at them, not knowing what odd associations they were making.

After going out, Zhou Jiayu helped the four of them call a taxi. After sending them off, he went to rendezvous with Lin Jue, Xu Ruwang, and the others.

When they reached the rendezvous point, Xu Ruwang told them that the hospital had just called, saying that Xu Jian had already woken up. He also asked them whether things had gone smoothly.

Zhou Jiayu told Xu Ruwang about their game-playing experience, also saying that after Xiaomi turned bald, she chased them with a knife for several floors.

Shen Yiqiong also didn’t look very well, his expression listless as he said, “Is combat strength inversely proportional to the amount of hair?”

Xu Ruwang said, “…My hair has grown back now. You can’t hurt me.”

Shen Yiqiong sighed regretfully.

“What about the mastermind?” Lin Jue said, “Did you let him escape?”

Lin Zhushui gave a faint “mm.” “I could have kept him, but if I wanted to keep him, the lives of those sixty-something young people in the room wouldn’t have been saved.”

Lin Jue frowned upon hearing this and let out a light sigh: “Forget it. You can’t have everything.”

Lin Zhushui said, “After some time has passed, I’ll settle this matter.”

Settling the matter probably meant Lin Zhushui planned to catch all those people in one pot. It was just unknown how he would find them. But since it was Lin Zhushui, if he was determined to make a move, he definitely had his own methods.

After leaving the hotel, the group went directly to the hospital to check on Xu Jian’s condition.

Upon arriving at the ward, Zhou Jiayu saw that Xu Jian had indeed woken up. He was resting on the hospital bed, with several people sitting beside him who looked like they should be members of the Xu clan.

“Master.” Xu Ruwang was quite excited and directly rushed to his side. “Are you alright?”

Xu Jian nodded. His face showed a paleness that came after a serious illness. Clearly, having one’s soul leave the body was something that would make anyone seriously ill no matter who encountered it: “Mm, I’m fine.”

Xu Ruwang breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mr. Lin, thank you this time.” Clearly, in the world of souls, Xu Jian had acted quite familiar with Lin Zhushui. But now that they were out, he was acting tsundere again. “Our Xu clan owes you a great debt.” When he said this, his chin was still slightly raised, an expression of hmph, I didn’t ask you to save me, but since you saved me, I’ll reluctantly repay you.

Xu Ruwang watched with a laugh that wasn’t quite a laugh: “Master, Mr. Lin expended tremendous effort this time. I previously made the decision on your behalf and promised Mr. Lin that if we saved you, our Xu clan would agree to three conditions.”

Zhou Jiayu had originally thought Xu Jian would deliberately act a bit angry or something. But he hadn’t expected that after sighing, Xu Jian made a fist-and-palm salute gesture toward Lin Zhushui. They say great kindness needs no thanks; speaking the word “thank you” would instead cheapen it.

“You all go out first. Mr. Lin and I have some matters we’d like to discuss alone.” Xu Jian said this.

Everyone prepared to go out upon hearing this. Before leaving, Lin Jue was still a bit worried and added, “Zhushui, watch your words. After all, he’s a patient. If you really anger him into having a relapse, wouldn’t all your hard work be for nothing?”

Lin Zhushui gave an indifferent “mm.”

Xu Jian also said, “I’d be angered into a relapse by him? Haha, don’t joke.”

Lin Zhushui didn’t make a sound either. As a result, the moment Zhou Jiayu and the others left the ward and hadn’t walked far, they heard a burst of Xu Jian’s roaring coming from inside the ward: “Lin Zhushui, what the hell did you say? Who are you saying isn’t as good as you? Let me tell you—”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t hear what came after, because Xu Ruwang pulled them and quickly left.

The four of them stood outside the hospital. Thinking that the matter had been dealt with, they all breathed sighs of relief.

Zhou Jiayu asked Xu Ruwang for a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it: “Where are we going now?”

Xu Ruwang suggested, “How about we go get a midnight snack?”

“No no no no.” Shen Yiqiong shook his head frantically. “With Guan’er’s constitution, if he eats a midnight snack, something will definitely happen. It works a hundred percent of the time.”

“Really?” Lin Jue didn’t quite believe in this superstition. “Is it that extreme?”

Shen Yiqiong gave several examples, from mushroom poisoning to being forcibly hit by a scammer and forced into a ghost marriage. The accidents caused by eating midnight snacks were practically enough to become a horror novel.

As a result, it would have been better if he hadn’t said anything. Once he said it, Lin Jue instead became interested. She rolled up her sleeves and said, “Now I really want to try it.”

Xu Ruwang said, “I also want to see what kind of thing could happen.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Wow, are you guys poisoned? You want to try even this?”

Lin Jue said, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s get a midnight snack. Is there a hot pot place? I suddenly want to eat hot pot.”

Xu Ruwang very cooperatively said he knew of a twenty-four-hour hot pot restaurant. The taste was not bad, and it was only a half-hour drive away. He also asked whether they should have Lin Zhushui come with them.

“Forget it, he doesn’t like eating outside anyway.” Lin Jue waved her hand grandly and settled the matter.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t have a chance to speak from beginning to end. Finally, seeing that they were all planning to get in the car and leave, he couldn’t help it: “Hey, aren’t you going to ask for this party’s opinion?”

“Oh, what do you want to say?” Xu Ruwang asked.

Zhou Jiayu had always felt that Shen Yiqiong saying something would definitely happen if he ate a midnight snack was pure superstition with no scientific basis. But for some reason, now that they were really going to try it, he actually felt a bit weak in his heart. He said, “I feel a bit sleepy. Can we not go?”

Xu Ruwang saw through Zhou Jiayu’s hypocritical soul: “Then we’ll eat while you doze off beside us.”

Shen Yiqiong and Lin Jue nodded from the side.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Are you guys human? Are you devils?

And so, just like that, unwillingly, Zhou Jiayu was forcibly dragged into the car and sat listlessly in the back.

Lin Jue looked at his appearance and laughed straight away, saying, “Hey, Guan’er, don’t make that expression. You haven’t removed your makeup yet; you look too silly.”

When she said this, Zhou Jiayu suddenly remembered something: “W-wait, Yiqiong, when we were in that building being chased by Xiaomi, was I still in my current appearance?”

Shen Yiqiong didn’t understand why Zhou Jiayu was asking this, but he nodded.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He painfully covered his face.

Seeing Zhou Jiayu’s expression, Shen Yiqiong said, “What is it?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Nothing.” He didn’t want to say anything now. The first time he and Lin Zhushui looked at each other from such close distance, he had been maintaining his intellectually disabled appearance. Honestly, even he found this appearance funny when he looked at it. It was quite something that Lin Zhushui had been considerate enough not to laugh out loud at the time…

Romance did not exist. Zhou Jiayu could even imagine his own appearance in Lin Zhushui’s eyes—that of a silly-smiling idiot, one step away from pulling out a silk scarf to wipe drool for him.

Zhou Jiayu lay dead inside on the back seat, no longer wanting to care about midnight snacks or anything else.

The remaining three people in the car were all baffled, feeling that Zhou Jiayu’s expression was simply like a plastic doll that had suddenly been deflated. His entire body was emanating a single character: defeat.

“It’s fine, he’s probably just hungry.” Shen Yiqiong looked at Zhou Jiayu with motherly affectionate eyes. “He’ll probably be fine after eating some hot pot.”

It was four in the morning now, still more than two hours before dawn. It was the quietest time in the entire city.

They arrived at the hot pot restaurant Xu Ruwang mentioned and were surprised to discover that there were actually two other tables of people in the hot pot restaurant.

“Looks like we’re not the only ones with business.” Xu Ruwang said this, then went upstairs to a private room and began ordering.

Red broth, mild spicy, beef tallow hot pot. The few of them also wanted a case of beer, saying they wouldn’t stop until they were drunk.

Zhou Jiayu was soft like a sheet of skin on the chair. Shen Yiqiong went over and picked him up, saying, “Guan’er, what’s wrong with you?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “That… forget it… nothing.”

The other three: “…”

Shen Yiqiong scratched his head and laughed: “Zhou Jiayu, you really look like a young girl in love.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…”

Shen Yiqiong laughed heartily.

Zhou Jiayu was laughed at until he became angry from embarrassment and said, “Shen Yiqiong, were you really not a virgin at fourteen?”

Shen Yiqiong: “…”

Xu Ruwang let out a “wow,” while Lin Jue raised an eyebrow: “Yiqiong, fourteen?”

Shen Yiqiong didn’t make a sound.

“I do remember that when you were fourteen, you were indeed in school.” Lin Jue propped her chin and took a gulp of wine. “But I remember you went to an all-boys middle school…”

Shen Yiqiong’s face instantly turned red.

Zhou Jiayu deliberately shouted loudly: “Shen Yiqiong, you must have been lying to me!”

Shen Yiqiong’s eyes widened: “How can you slander my innocence… A feng shui master’s business, how can that be called lying?” Then followed a bunch of hard-to-understand words, things like “had a wet dream” and “thought about pretty girls every day,” causing everyone to burst into laughter. For a time, the hot pot restaurant was filled with cheerful air.

Lin Jue ruthlessly tore apart Shen Yiqiong’s lie. The atmosphere of everyone’s chatting became lively. Empty wine bottles on the table appeared one after another. Zhou Jiayu drank three or four bottles, and his head began to spin.

Xu Ruwang and Lin Jue were playing finger-guessing games. Shen Yiqiong was pouring wine from the side: “Xu Ruwang, you lost. Drink, drink, drink.”

Xu Ruwang also had a great capacity for alcohol. He picked up the cup and glug-glug-glugged it down.

“Heroic!” Lin Jue praised. She then looked at Zhou Jiayu, who was about done for: “Guan’er, your alcohol tolerance is this bad?”

Zhou Jiayu lay on the table shaking his head, his words slurred: “I-I’m going to the bathroom…” He staggered up from the side of the table and fumbled in the direction of the bathroom.

After taking care of his physiological needs and washing his face with cold water, Zhou Jiayu finally felt somewhat better.

He rubbed his eyes, casually took out the tissue in his pocket to wipe the water stains off his face, and then slowly walked out of the bathroom. But when Zhou Jiayu turned the corner and saw the scene in the private room, his previously drunken haze instantly sobered up. A thin layer of white sweat broke out on his back.

The private room that should have had several people sitting in it was completely empty. The pot in the center of the table was also completely empty, showing no signs of having been used at all.

Zhou Jiayu softly called out the names of the few people but received no response.

“Where are they?” Seeing this scene, Zhou Jiayu immediately remembered Shen Yiqiong’s words about him absolutely not being able to eat midnight snacks.

“I don’t know.” Jiba said, “Go see if the other people in the restaurant are there?”

Zhou Jiayu said okay.

They had eaten too late and had chosen a private room on the second floor. Besides when the food was served, they had almost never seen the waitstaff. Zhou Jiayu rushed downstairs with heavy steps and glanced toward the front desk near the exit in the main hall. His heart relaxed slightly. There was someone at the front desk—a long-haired girl sitting there, looking as if she was dozing off.

Zhou Jiayu walked over and said, “Miss…” He had only said half his sentence when it got stuck in his throat, because the girl sitting before him slowly raised her head. Where her face should have been, it was covered by black hair.

Zhou Jiayu was so frightened that goosebumps broke out all over him. He turned to run, but loud laughter came from behind him. He turned his head and saw Shen Yiqiong and Xu Ruwang standing nearby laughing heartily. And that faceless girl at the front desk ripped off the wig covering her face, revealing Lin Jue’s face: “Hahahaha, Guan’er, were you scared?”

Zhou Jiayu was shocked: “You guys deliberately scared me?”

“We just wanted to give you a surprise.” Xu Ruwang said this, slowly walking toward Zhou Jiayu. “Was it fun?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “People scaring people can scare people to death! Where’s the ‘pleasant’ in ‘surprise’…”

Xu Ruwang laughed and said, “Looks like you were quite scared. Come on, let’s go back.”

Zhou Jiayu showed a helpless expression. He was just about to follow Xu Ruwang forward when he felt his back being heavily slapped. This slap was extremely forceful, causing Zhou Jiayu to directly stumble a few steps.

“What?” Zhou Jiayu turned back baffled and saw that Xu Ruwang, who should have been standing before him, was actually standing behind him.

“Who were you talking to?” Xu Ruwang’s expression was strange.

Zhou Jiayu said, “I…” He suddenly felt his head growing somewhat dizzy. He shook his head heavily. “I was…” The surrounding scene suddenly twisted. By the time Zhou Jiayu became clear-headed again, he saw that he was actually still standing in the bathroom on the second floor. Everything that had happened on the first floor just now seemed to have been merely his hallucination.

“I… I think I drank too much.” Zhou Jiayu was a bit uncertain whether he had drunk too much or encountered something supernatural. He said, “Are you guys still eating?”

“We’re eating.” Xu Ruwang said, “Seeing that you hadn’t come back for so long, they were afraid something had happened to you, so they had me come check on you. As a result, I saw you standing in front of the mirror in a daze.”

Hearing this, Zhou Jiayu looked into the mirror and indeed saw his own and Xu Ruwang’s reflections inside.

“Oh.” Zhou Jiayu said, “Then I probably drank too much.”

Xu Ruwang smiled. He took out a cigarette from his bosom and handed it to Zhou Jiayu: “Sober up a bit?”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t stand on ceremony. He took it and put it in his mouth. He was just about to ask Xu Ruwang for a lighter when he saw Xu Ruwang directly lean over and use the already lit cigarette in his own mouth to light the one Zhou Jiayu was holding.

The two people’s faces were very close. The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous. Zhou Jiayu involuntarily took a step back and said somewhat uncomfortably, “Let’s go back.”

Xu Ruwang didn’t speak. He exhaled a puff of white smoke and said softly, “Zhou Jiayu, do you really like him?”

Zhou Jiayu hesitated for a moment and gave a soft “mm.”

Xu Ruwang sighed: “Why bother?”

Zhou Jiayu swallowed, not quite certain what Xu Ruwang meant by this “why bother.”

“A person like Mr. Lin, presumably it’s not easy to be together with him, right?” Xu Ruwang said everything Zhou Jiayu was worried about. “If he knew your feelings for him…”

Zhou Jiayu’s brain, already muddled by alcohol, became even more chaotic hearing Xu Ruwang’s words: “I-I don’t plan to let him know. Don’t tell him.”

Xu Ruwang: “He’s so astute. How long can you hide it from him?”

Zhou Jiayu pressed his lips together. For the first time, he showed a stubborn expression before Xu Ruwang. In Xu Ruwang’s impression, this person before him had always been soft and gentle. He hadn’t expected there was also such an obstinate side to him. Zhou Jiayu said, “I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. In any case, I won’t take the initiative to give up.”

Xu Ruwang said, “Then would you consider me?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “You?”

Xu Ruwang nodded: “I think we’re quite suitable.” He looked at Zhou Jiayu, his expression very serious.

But this serious expression gave Zhou Jiayu a sense of oppression. He took another step back: “Xu Ruwang, sorry, we… it’s impossible.”

Xu Ruwang pressed step by step: “Why is it impossible? We’re clearly very compatible.”

Zhou Jiayu no longer wanted to continue this topic. He said, “Stop talking. They’re still waiting for me. I’ll go back first.” He extinguished the cigarette, threw it into the trash can, ignored Xu Ruwang, and walked around him toward the outside.

When he was about to go out, he heard Xu Ruwang say with a bitter laugh: “That’s right. The one who can protect you is also only him.”

Zhou Jiayu’s mood was very complicated. He hadn’t expected that Xu Ruwang actually still had this kind of feeling toward him. If he hadn’t encountered Lin Zhushui, Zhou Jiayu might have thought about giving it a try. But now his entire heart was occupied by Lin Zhushui. If he were to settle for second best, it wouldn’t be a good thing for either him or Xu Ruwang.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: Sir, someone is trying to dig up your corner.

Lin Zhushui: I’ll go shave his head bald.

Xu Ruwang: You two dog men!!!