Chapter 7

Chapter 7

◎A Midnight Cry for Help◎

When Fang Li returned home, she saw Xiao Ye sprawled on the sofa in a twisted position as soon as she entered. The large living room was empty except for him and the sofa. She glanced at her watch and asked curiously, "Is Grandpa not here?"

Xiao Ye, still lying horizontally on the sofa, turned his head toward her from where it rested on the armrest. "No, he went hiking on Maple Leaf Mountain with Grandpa Li and the others. They won't be back for a couple of days. I asked Qingjie and Wang Ma to join them for a little vacation."

Fang Li chuckled as she walked past the sofa toward the stairs. She lightly tapped Xiao Ye's head as she passed. "No wonder you're lounging around like this in the living room. Sit up properly; you'll strain your neck twisting like that. What do you want for dinner? Should we eat at home or go out?"

Xiao Ye, tired from school, sat up obediently after being scolded. He stretched his back and moved his limbs. "Is my brother coming back?"

Fang Li replied, "Your brother has a big meeting later, so he won't be back for dinner tonight."

Xiao Ye grunted, "Let's order takeout. How about hotpot for dinner?"

Normally, when Grandpa was home, they weren't allowed to order takeout. Even the hotpot base had to be homemade, as Grandpa always said outside food wasn't clean. But breaking the rules made it taste even better, didn't it?

Fang Li agreed, "Alright, you order. I'll go change clothes."

The takeout arrived quickly. Once the broth boiled, the spicy aroma filled the air. Xiao Ye tossed in the ingredients that needed longer cooking time, and Fang Li came downstairs after changing into more comfortable clothes.

She tied her long hair up simply and wore a frog-shaped headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes. This softened her otherwise sharp demeanor.

Seeing Xiao Ye dumping an entire plate of meat into the pot, Fang Li reminded him, "Be careful not to overcook the meat; it'll get tough."

Xiao Ye stirred the meat in the pot, "Don't worry, it won't last long enough to get tough, will it?"

Fang Li prepared her dipping sauce in an empty bowl and sat down next to Xiao Ye. While waiting for the meat to cook, Xiao Ye looked at her and asked, "Sister-in-law, is heart disease a really serious illness?"

Fang Li shook her head, "You can't generalize how serious an illness is. Even a cold can be fatal. It depends on the diagnosis. With today's medical technology, heart disease can be treated with minor or major surgeries. Even severe cases requiring heart transplants have high success rates. Why do you ask?"

Xiao Ye poked at the cooked beef in his bowl, "My new deskmate has heart disease. I've never been around someone like that before, so I'm not sure how to interact with him."

Xiao Ye grew up in a military environment, surrounded by tough, physically strong people since he was a baby. Someone like Ji Nanxing was entirely unfamiliar to him. Learning about his condition today was as shocking as when he had to deal with Ji Nanxing fainting. He was at a loss.

Seeing his distress, Fang Li suggested, "I don't know the specifics of your classmate's condition or how severe his heart issues are. If you're really worried about getting along, I can contact your homeroom teacher and see about changing your seat."

Xiao Ye put his bowl down abruptly, quickly refusing, "I didn't say I wanted to change seats! I was just asking if there's anything I should be careful about. Besides, I just found out he has heart disease today. If I change seats tomorrow, wouldn't that be bullying him? He hasn't done anything to me. How could I do that? And it's not like he chose to be sick. If I changed seats, he'd feel so wronged."

As a man, he couldn't do something like that!

Fang Li laughed, "Alright, no need to change seats. I was just asking. You're already feeling sorry for him."

Xiao Ye stuffed a large piece of meat into his mouth, puffing out his cheeks and staying silent.

After dinner, as Fang Li was about to head back to her room, Xiao Ye spoke up, "Sister-in-law, do you have any materials on heart disease? If you do, could you give me a copy? Like what to do in emergencies and stuff."

Fang Li gave him a suspicious look. A deskmate was just a normal person to interact with. Even if something happened, it would likely be at school, and it probably wouldn't be up to him to handle an emergency. Why would he need such specific information?

But she agreed anyway. It was just a set of materials, not a big deal. However, this deskmate of his had already left a deep impression on her before she even met him.

While Xiao Ye was staying up late reading the materials, Ji Nanxing had just finished his shower. He was preparing to perform his daily ritual of offering incense to his ancestors when a paper crane made of condensed yin energy flew in through the window.

Ji Nanxing reached out, and the crane dissolved into three letters in his palm: "SOS." The letters lingered for about a second before the yin energy completely dissipated, leaving only a small, used corner of yellow paper.

In a basement surrounded by walls, cobwebs covered every surface, and the floor was littered with the remnants of furniture that had been abandoned for who knows how many years. The walls, tightly sealed, still bore traces of damaged talismans, their cinnabar long faded. The sound of rustling paper filled the air as a cold, eerie wind blew through.

In the darkness, two young men clung to each other, trembling with fear, their eyes tightly shut. No matter how much they regretted their actions now, it was too late. If they managed to survive this, they vowed never to do anything so reckless again.

Apart from them, another figure stood amidst the swirling yin energy.

A young man holding a wooden sword chanted incantations, his hands swiftly forming seals. But he had run out of talismans, and the one he had sent for help was just a fragment of paper. He wasn't even sure if it had made it out.

Glancing at the two terrified individuals who were of no help, Xia Junyan cursed inwardly. Gritting his teeth, he bit his middle finger until it bled.

With the final stroke in the air, a blood talisman formed, and a powerful force erupted from Xia Junyan, illuminating the dark basement with a crimson glow. The broken flashlight on the floor flickered back to life as if it had a loose connection.

The basement was filled with a chilling wind, and the shattered furniture was lifted into the air, hurled with tremendous force toward the two cowering in the corner.

Seeing that the female ghost was still intent on taking lives, Xia Junyan shouted, "Move!"

Hearing his voice and sensing the approaching wind, the two instinctively rolled away. The spot they had just occupied was smashed to pieces by the flying furniture.

Terrified, they scrambled toward Xia Junyan, "Taoist, save us! My dad is rich! Please, take me out of here, and I'll pay you anything!"

Xia Junyan thought to himself that even he wasn't sure if he could make it out alive today, let alone them.

The female ghost, having missed her target, summoned another gust of wind, this time aiming directly at Xia Junyan.

Xia Junyan smeared his blood on the wooden sword and slashed toward the area with the heaviest yin energy.

Having used up all his Heavenly Eye talismans, he couldn't see the ghost's location and had to rely on his innate spiritual senses as a Taoist.

But this female ghost was incredibly difficult to deal with, especially since they were trapped in this basement with no exit. The entire basement was her domain, and fighting her here was like delivering themselves to her doorstep.

Realizing they couldn't keep being on the defensive, Xia Junyan turned to the two, "I'll hold her off. You two, search the walls for her corpse!"

The two nearly wet themselves at the thought. Searching for the ghost's corpse? They didn't have the courage for that!

Jia Qiuyu, the one who had been crying about his family's wealth, wailed again, "No, Taoist, I... my legs won't move!"

Xia Junyan coldly replied, "If we don't find her corpse, we're all going to die here!"

Jia Qiuyu genuinely couldn't move, not because he didn't want to live, but because his limbs refused to obey.

Lu Yizhuo, on the other hand, didn't want to die. Thinking of his mother in the hospital, a strong will to survive surged within him. Grabbing a broken table leg from the ground, he rushed to a wall and started smashing it.

He didn't know where the ghost's corpse was, but if the Taoist said it was in the walls, he would smash every wall if it meant surviving and escaping this nightmare.

Seeing that at least one of them was willing to help, Xia Junyan focused on dealing with the female ghost, slashing at the areas with the strongest yin energy to buy time for Lu Yizhuo and to hold off the ghost while waiting for rescue.

Watching Lu Yizhuo desperately smashing the wall, Jia Qiuyu, though his legs were weak, struggled to get up. He picked up something from the ground—whether it was a steel pipe or an iron rod, he didn't know—and started poking at the wall while sitting on the floor.

Just then, the yin wind in the basement stopped. Under the flickering light of the flashlight, a dark shadow appeared in the corner.

Even without the Heavenly Eye, Xia Junyan could see it, as could the two smashing the wall.

Jia Qiuyu, who had always prided himself on his bravery in exploring the supernatural, was truly terrified now that he had actually seen a ghost. His screams of terror echoed throughout the basement.

Lu Yizhuo, standing nearby, also saw the shadow. His heart was pounding in his throat. The female ghost was right beside him, and though he couldn't see her clearly, the slow movement of the shadow toward him intensified his fear with every inch it advanced.

But he couldn't stop. If they didn't find the ghost's corpse soon, they were doomed.

The ghost's manifestation was a bad sign—it meant she was determined to kill them.

Xia Junyan charged forward with his blood-stained wooden sword, but the female ghost, enduring the pain of her soul being burned, grabbed the sword with one hand and reached for Xia Junyan's heart with the other.

The clothes over Xia Junyan's chest were instantly ripped open by the female ghost. Just as her hand was about to pierce into his flesh, a flash of light streaked through, and a string of prayer beads shot forward.

Xia Junyan was thrown back by the ghostly energy, his entire body slamming to the ground, his face pale with pain. But he breathed a huge sigh of relief—help was here.

The prayer beads were inscribed with talismanic symbols, usually placed before the ancestral master for incense offerings and prayers. As a sacred object infused with incense and spiritual power, it wasn't something any ordinary ghost could handle.

The female ghost shrieked as the beads repelled her. When she saw another Taoist priest arrive, her hatred grew deeper. With a burst of ghostly energy, everything in the basement was caught up in a chilling wind and thrown at the newcomer.

Ji Nanxing lifted his hand, and the prayer beads that had just shot out returned to his hand. Even with the powerful ghostly energy around him, Ji Nanxing stayed calm, gently shaking the golden bell on the beads.

Bright spiritual light burst from the golden bell, lighting up the whole sealed basement.

In the midst of the golden light, Ji Nanxing murmured an incantation, his eyes downcast. With a flick of his wrist, a yellow talisman sliced through the swirling ghostly wind and hit the female ghost, sticking to her body.

Jia Qiuyu's terrified screams had stopped, and now the basement was filled with the female ghost's painful cries.

Lu Yizhuo and Jia Qiuyu quickly got up and hid behind Xia Junyan, who was still on the ground, sore all over from the fall.

Xia Junyan made sure to complain, "We tried to talk to her nicely, offering sacrifices and paper money, even promising to come back and tear this place down after we got out, so her body could be buried properly. But she wouldn't budge and insisted on fighting."

Ji Nanxing said coolly, "If she wouldn't listen, then there's no need to talk."

With that, two more talismans shot from his hand. He lightly touched the talismanic symbols on the prayer beads, and a soul-binding array was cast right onto the female ghost.

As the female ghost howled in pain, the golden bell on the prayer beads rang out by itself, clear and sharp. The ghost, covered in black energy, was quickly pulled into the bell by Ji Nanxing.