Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Wei Xi was confused but followed them into the house, unable to resist licking the vinyl shard in his hand. It tasted bitter, so he casually threw it away.

Ruan Shihang felt that the eerie atmosphere around them was beginning to dissipate, and his fear was turning into something odd. Silently, he led the group along the same path as before, recounting the tale of the villa's tragic past. Lu Wenqing, upon learning that an entire family had once perished there in one night, turned pale with fright. "How could you still dare to come in knowing such a story?"

Ruan Shihang was indignant, wondering why he alone would encounter trouble when so many others had entered without incident. Lu Wenqing was initially puzzled, but hearing about Ruan Shihang's recent misfortunes, he wished he could strangle his reckless childhood friend. "I get it now. You must have offended something by speaking carelessly, and now your luck is down. If you had just waited for that phase to pass, supernatural entities wouldn't have easily affected you. But you insisted on coming here during this vulnerable time, and with your low luck, who else would they target?"

Ruan Shihang's face paled at these words. Lu Que, overhearing their conversation, frowned as he surveyed their surroundings. "A family was slaughtered – it must be the work of a vengeful spirit. But this house doesn't exude that heavy aura of malevolence."

Indeed, after thoroughly searching the entire house, Wei Xi even checked the kitchen fridge, but found nothing suspicious.

Ruan Shihang, still recovering from his illness and exhausted from lack of sleep, was struggling to keep up. As a result, they decided to let Lu Wenqing stay in the living room with him while Wei Xi and Lu Que continued their investigation.

Lu Que walked ahead for a while before abruptly stopping and turning to look back at Wei Xi coldly. "You lead the way."

Wei Xi was disappointed; he had been admiring Lu Que's back all this while, finding him increasingly appetizing. The last person who had stirred such desire in him was the formidable Shuo Zong. If not for the fact that Lu Que was human and he didn't want Wei Dedao to mourn, he would have lunged forward to devour him.

As Unity Yi followed Wei Xi, he once again sensed Lu Que's guardedness, which seemed directed specifically at them. Amidst his confusion, he couldn't help but appreciate Lu Que's beauty. After taking a closer look, he cautiously asked Wei Xi, "Master, I wasn't mistaken, right? He looks incredibly similar to our Shuo Zong husband!"

As the words echoed, Unity Right felt a chill down his spine and couldn't help turning back.

Lu Que looked at him with such loathing that he seemed to wish he could build a wall to separate them.

Fortunately, just as Unity Right was almost expecting Lu Que to suddenly rush forward and kick him out of the house, Lu Que finally made a discovery and stopped to open a door.

Peering inside, Unity Right saw a room that resembled a study, complete with bookshelves and a desk. The bookshelf wasn't filled with many books, and there was a computer on the desk, making it seem like any ordinary study.

The room was empty, but not particularly eerie. After staring for a while, Unity Right failed to see anything unusual. "What's wrong with this study? It looks perfectly normal."

Lu Que didn't seem keen on responding to him and replied coldly, "It's too normal."

Unity Right didn't understand at first, but after a moment, an idea dawned on him. The room indeed appeared too normal, as if someone had been living in it all along. Yet, it didn't resemble an office for the haunted house staff!

Unable to resist, he instinctively leaned closer to his master's back. Wei Xi, on the other hand, was thrilled because he could faintly smell food. He asked Lu Que, "Is it in here?"

Looking into Wei Xi's sparkling eyes, Lu Que hesitated before reluctantly acknowledging with a barely audible 'mm'. Before Lu Que could say more, Wei Xi had dashed into the room, starting to roughly search around.

He picked up every item in the room one by one, inspecting them closely. If he found nothing, he would toss them aside carelessly, behaving like a bully who had broken into someone's home. In a matter of minutes, the desk lamp and cabinets in the study were toppled, books littered the floor, and drawers were emptied in chaos. Unity Right couldn't shake off the feeling that he heard a faint sobbing in the air. Simultaneously, the atmosphere in the room became overwhelmingly sorrowful.

Lu Que might not have sensed it, but he simply crossed his arms and turned to look out the window with an expressionless face, as if wanting to avoid seeing anything unpleasant.

Wei Xi searched the entire house fruitlessly before finally directing his gaze towards the last untouched sanctuary – the desk.

It was a simple desk with a deep black computer standing silently, accompanied by a pure white gaming keyboard in front.

After Wei Xi's first encounter with the biting incident, he had once avoided such mystical artifacts, but now, he was no longer the same Wei Xi; he had learned how to use a smartphone!

With justified determination, he lunged forward and toppled the monitor!

The monitor, connected by wires, tumbled to the ground with a thud, its screen shattering into a web of cracks. The sobbing sound that Unity Yi initially thought was an illusion immediately became clearer. Lu Que closed his eyes for a moment before stepping forward. In front of Wei Xi, who was contemplating where to start gnawing on the screen, he reached into the shattered fragments and grabbed hold of a translucent figure.

The figure stretched and struggled relentlessly, but ultimately, it could not resist Lu Que's strength and was completely pulled out of the monitor.

Only then did Unity Yi see what Lu Que was holding – it was a plump male ghost!

The male ghost had its head gripped by Lu Que while its limbs flailed desperately. It let out a loud wail, and despite its form being rather distinct, Unity Yi could even discern that it wasn't wearing any shirt. Estimating its size, he reckoned its chest circumference was well beyond a B-cup.

He leaned against the door, letting out an "ah," unsure if he was exclaiming over the ghost or its chest size. Nevertheless, this ghost seemed much gentler than Fengyangxian, and with his master present, Unity Yi wasn't particularly scared.

His master had already pounced on the male ghost with a fierce look in his eyes, but Lu Que reached out and, surprisingly, lifted Wei Xi up by the back of his collar despite his young age. How could Wei Xi give up so easily? He immediately counterattacked fiercely. His fighting style was ruthless, leaving no room for mercy, every move aimed to kill. Compared to him, Lu Que seemed to have reservations, and as a result, he was caught off guard and was tackled by Wei Xi, who bit down on the male ghost.

Male Ghost: "AHHHHHHH!!!" What's going on here?! Exorcising is one thing, but why is this guy using his mouth??

Seeing this, Lu Que's expression turned stern. To his surprise, after Wei Xi bit down, he stopped moving. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at the head he was holding.

The male ghost was frozen in fear, his eyes filled with tears as he nervously met Wei Xi's gaze.

Staring at him, Wei Xi's expression grew increasingly dissatisfied and unwilling to accept this. It wasn't until the male ghost trembled with fear that he finally threw him to the ground irritably, "Bastard!"

The aura of this ghost was incredibly pure, and its appearance was translucent. Apart from being excessively plump, it seemed to have never taken a life before!

Wei Xi's expression fluctuated, wishing he could devour the ghost in one bite, but he was held back by concerns for Wei Dedao. He hesitated, unable to take the bite.

Lu Que, who had intended to stop Wei Xi from feeding, was also taken aback by the situation. He seemed astonished and looked at Wei Xi with curiosity, "Why aren't you eating?"

"What nonsense!" Wei Xi finally gave up and approached the male ghost menacingly, giving him a kick. "Aren't you a malevolent ghost who harms people?"

The male ghost was quite chubby and rolled several times from the kick before he could crawl up, clutching the spot where he was hit, sobbing pitifully, "Who... Who said I'm a malevolent ghost..."

Wei Xi's face was grim, seemingly still intent on attacking the ghost. Unity Yi couldn't bear to watch and came forward to pull at his arm, trying to mediate. "Master, Master, let it go, let it go."

"..." Lu Que fell silent for a moment before deciding to shift his gaze away from Wei Xi. He looked at the weeping Little Fatty in the corner and found the scene eerily familiar, as if he had just seen it in the banquet room of the State Guesthouse. He asked coldly, "You said you're not a vengeful spirit, so why are you here?"

The male ghost sounded even more wronged by the question. "This is my home, of course I'm here."

Unity Yi sighed, his face full of confusion. "Didn't the last owner of this house die suddenly overnight? How did it become your home?"

The male ghost spoke angrily, "I was the one who died suddenly! So what? Is that not allowed?!"

Wei Xi raised his hand and threw something at him. "You're courting death! How dare you speak to the Great Disciple of Taicang Sect like that!"

Unity Yi glanced at his master with gratitude and moved closer, holding onto the edge of his master's sleeve.

Lu Que: "..."

The male ghost wasn't hit by the object; it passed through his body and fell to the ground. Nevertheless, he was still frightened and trembled all over when shouted at. He pouted and explained, "I, I just played video games for too long without sleeping for days, and then suddenly, I died."

So, he was an unexpected death spirit... Unity Yi looked at him with sympathy but still felt something was off. "But didn't they say that the whole family died suddenly overnight?"

The male ghost smiled sheepishly, "I'm too much of a homebody and still don't have a girlfriend. I'm the only one in my family."

United Right glanced at his plump, fair chest and said, "..."

Upon closer consideration... it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to be unable to find a girlfriend...

Meanwhile, Lu Que asked from the side, "Since you're not a vengeful spirit, what's the story with this haunted mansion?"

The male ghost hummed in response, "Oh, this? It's just marketing. As a bachelor, no one burned paper money for me after I died. So, I discussed with a few stray ghosts around here and decided to start our own business. Such a big house, it would be a waste to leave it empty, right? They suggested turning it into a haunted house, which could also provide some job opportunities. You have no idea, there are plenty of unsupported stray ghosts in the capital, and the wealth gap is significant. The market economy here is quite underdeveloped, and some of them have it even worse than me."

Lu Que fell silent, and Unity Yì was at a loss for words as well: "Then... what about those figures that were seen passing by during the nights?"

The male ghost scratched his head and said, "We definitely need to hold a mobilization meeting before starting a business."

Lu Que spoke with a stern expression, "Do you know why we have come here today?"

The male ghost was taken aback, his gaze sweeping over the room that had been smashed to pieces by Wei Xi. Clutching his still-aching arm, he looked fearfully at the fiercest figure in the room, Wei Xi, and stammered, "Is... Is it about investigating our tax evasion? We admit our mistake on this, but, but sir, how much should the tax rate be paid according to? And we've just opened for business, honestly, we haven't made much profit yet..."

"..." Lu Que could no longer bear to listen and sternly interrupted, "You didn't know that someone encountered an evil spirit in your haunted house, and the ghost followed them all the way home, disturbing their peace?"

Instantly, Little Fatty's expression changed drastically as he defended himself heavenward, slapping his thigh in disbelief. "Impossible! Impossible! How could we do that? Customers are gods!"

No sooner had he finished speaking when Lu Wenqing's voice echoed from outside the door, "Ruan Shihang! Ruan Shihang! Wake up!!"

The male ghost stood there, dumbfounded, while Lu Que, ignoring him, hurriedly turned and rushed out the door. Wei Xi gave him a cold glance before following with his apprentice. Upon reaching the living room, they saw Ruan Shihang tightly embracing Lu Wenqing, who was flailing the peachwood sword in his hand, lost in panic. The scene was filled with an indescribable, passionate tension.

United Righteousness was greatly alarmed. "What's going on?!"

Upon seeing them, Lu Wenqing immediately shouted his explanation, "I have no idea what's happening either! Ruan Shihang was just sitting here, then suddenly he wanted to get up and go inside. Of course I tried to stop him! But then he started fighting me. As soon as I pulled out the peachwood sword, he...he hugged me – Ah!!"

He let out a shrill cry as Ruan Shihang had sunk his teeth into his shoulder. The pain caused him to struggle even more fiercely. Ruan Shihang laughed, his handsome face taking on an inexplicable tenderness and allure as he whispered repeatedly, "Let's go in and play~"

Lu Que's expression darkened. "He's possessed."

Little Fatty, the ghost, muttered in disbelief nearby, "This... This... How is this possible?!"

Wei Xi quickly approached and kicked Ruan Shihang in the back.

The possessed Ruan Shihang yelled in pain, turning his head with resentment. Upon seeing Wei Xi's appearance, his expression instantly became ferocious. "Where did this blond brat come from..."

Before his words faded, there was a loud thud as Wei Xi's fist struck his face. The punch was fierce, fueled by the frustration of not being able to catch Little Fatty earlier. It sent Ruan Shihang's entire facial muscles contorting to one side. Ruan Shihang immediately cried out in pain, releasing his grip on Lu Wenqing and focusing on fighting Wei Xi.

Free once more, Lu Wenqing, unwilling to harm his childhood friend's physical body, threw the peachwood sword at Wei Xi while covered in blood from the bites. "Wei Xi! Use my peachwood sword!"

Wei Xi indeed caught the sword but followed up with an unexpected move –

He slashed the sword across Ruan Shihang's face.

Lu Wenqing: "...."

Ruan Shihang was sent flying, and Wei Xi discarded the sword, pouncing on top of him to rain down blows. His punches landed with force, showing no regard for the fact that it was a human body he was attacking.

Ruan Shihang couldn't possibly match him. In the blink of an eye, he had taken countless punches, his clothes and hair disheveled, his face distorted, and blood flowing freely from his nose. He opened his mouth to scream wildly, attempting to bite Wei Xi, only to have his head grabbed and pulled fiercely upward!

Ruan Shihang: "Ahhhhhhh!"

After tugging for a moment, Wei Xi remembered that this was indeed a person. With a resentful abandonment of his idea to remove the head, he opened his palm and slapped Ruan Shihang's face repeatedly. Taking advantage of Ruan Shihang's dizziness from the blows, he reached up and pulled something directly out of Ruan Shihang's body – a black shadow!

This shadow had an eerie shape and let out a piercing cry. Its face was terrifying, undoubtedly that of a vengeful ghost.

Lu Wenqing was already injured and weak. Upon seeing the creature, he immediately fainted with his eyes rolling back.

Food!

Wei Xi ignored the creature's desperate cries as he seized one of its legs and violently slammed it onto the ground until it was knocked unconscious. Then, he rubbed his hands together and bit off its head.

Everyone present: "..."

The ghostly Little Fatty, watching from the sidelines: "..."

Despite having its head bitten off, the ghost continued to struggle wildly. Wei Xi tore off a piece and yelled, "Disciple! Disciple!"

Tuan Jieyi knew what was about to happen but didn't faint this time. However, he still looked ashen, his entire being radiating resistance. "I... I don't want to eat..."

Wei Xi clicked his tongue. His disciple was excellent in every way except for his picky eating habits, which were quite frustrating.

Wei Xi said, "Since you've become my disciple, why are you still so willful? You won't eat this, and you won't eat that."

Tuan Jieyi felt utterly defeated by the criticism. "No, it's not that, I, I, I... Master, who eats such things?!"

Wei Xi frowned, wondering if that was the case. His gaze swept to Lu Que, who stood with a cold expression, and he couldn't help but covet the other's yang energy. Recalling that Lu Que hadn't stopped him like he did when he encountered Little Fatty earlier, Wei Xi held out his hand. "Want to try?"

Lu Que looked at him with a complicated expression, seemingly assessing the motive behind this action. After confirming that Wei Xi genuinely wanted to share the food, he finally reached out to take it, albeit reluctantly. With a disdainful look on his face, he took a small bite.

Unity Yi: "...."

W-Wait... Could it be that I'm the one who's not normal??

Just as Wei Xi was about to use this opportunity to educate Unity Yi, a moan echoed from above. Lowering his head, he realized that Ruan Shihang had slowly come to consciousness.

His face was now a disastrous sight; his cheeks were swollen high, his mouth crooked to one side, and blood was gushing from his nostrils. No matter how hard he tried to open his eyes, they could only manage a narrow slit.

Unity Yi: "..." To be honest, this looked even worse than being possessed by a ghost.

Ruan Shihang had no recollection of what had just happened. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Wei Xi sitting on top of him, holding a wriggling black object with an expressionless gaze.

Silent for a moment, Ruan Shihang opened his mouth. Strangely, he felt his heart pounding like a drum, and through his slitted eyes, a shimmering glint appeared: "Wei Xi, you..."

Wei Xi: "Are you ready to get the card?"

"{Ruan Shihang} paused for a moment, "No, I'm actually..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly tilted his head and fainted again. {Wei Xi} looked at {Lu Que} in confusion as he suddenly moved to attack.

{Lu Que} fell silent for a while, then withdrew his hand that was aimed at Ruan Shihang's neck. With a frown, he urged, "Hurry up and eat before someone sees."

{Wei Xi} immediately squeezed the ghost into a thin strip and took a large bite, leaving only two legs squirming in his hands.

The little fatty ghost, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, was finally terrified to the point of collapse. Afraid that he would be next, he knelt down, weeping bitterly, and swore to the heavens, "Master! Master! Believe me! I swear on Guan Yin Bodhisattva, I have no idea who this guy is! I wasn't in charge of the hiring! Besides, our shop has just opened, this vengeful spirit must still be in the probationary period – just a temporary worker!"

{Wei Xi} continued chewing with a blank expression, eyeing the plump, white flesh of the little fatty ghost.

The little fatty ghost trembled all over, assuming that {Wei Xi} didn't believe him. He cried until he was almost exhausted, "I'm just a fat shut-in! I'm already happy playing games! I don't even dare to sneak kisses from female customers, how could I possibly harm anyone?! You have to believe me!!"

Unity and Righteousness: "..."

It seemed that his colleague usually sneaked kisses from female customers...