Chapter 156

Chapter 156

◎Retrieving the Account◎

Xia Ying's problem wasn't too hard to solve. As soon as she finished speaking, Xie Paner immediately came up with an idea: "The reason it was difficult before was because no one could see you, and you couldn't find a computer to use. But now we can help you! First, think about how you want to write the obituary. We'll log into your account and post the obituary straight away to let everyone know you're no longer here. That should do it!"

After saying this, Xie Paner brought over the tablet. At first, the Young Celestial Master put a talisman on it, so she could use it. However, after using it for so long, it had been influenced by her ghostly aura for too long. The Young Celestial Master said it had turned into a semi-yin object, so she no longer needed the talisman to use it.

Since she could use it, Xia Ying, who was also a ghost, could definitely use it too.

Xie Paner opened the tablet: "Let's post the obituary. That way, your friend at least won't be able to use your account to post new works."

Xia Ying couldn't touch anything before unless she expended the little ghostly energy she had managed to cultivate. But she used up all her energy helping Lin Shan, the scatterbrain, clean up her mess. So even though there was a computer at Lin Shan's place, Xia Ying couldn't use it.

When she was caught and brought back, she was in despair, thinking she'd probably be sent off for salvation. She never thought things would turn out so well.

Xia Ying glanced at the two young men and, seeing they didn't object, cautiously raised her hand: "Can you untie me? I ran away earlier because I was afraid you'd force me to leave. I promise I won't run away again."

Xie Paner reached out to try and untie her, but the rope was a tight knot that wouldn't come undone no matter what. She then looked at Ji Nanxing: "Young Celestial Master, please help untie her. I'll keep an eye on her; she definitely won't run away."

As she spoke, she even reached out to hold Xia Ying's arm. She really liked this beautiful girl.

Ji Nanxing merely extended his hand and gave a gentle tug. The rope, which they couldn't untie, broke instantly.

Xia Ying couldn't help but glance at the rope on the ground and then at the young Taoist, feeling relieved that she hadn't confronted him head-on back at the hospital. Otherwise, he would have easily overpowered her.

Xie Paner wasn't afraid of Ji Nanxing. After spending so much time together, she knew exactly what kind of person he was. So she curiously looked at the broken rope on the ground and asked, "Did you just snap it like that? Isn't it a magical tool to catch ghosts? Can it still be used after breaking?"

Ji Nanxing chuckled: "What magical tool? It's just twisted paper."

Just like a small paper figure, a living person could easily rip it in half with a gentle tug. But for a ghost, an ordinary ghost couldn't defeat a paper figure.

So this rope made of twisted paper appeared as a real rope to ghosts, making it impossible for them to escape. But to the living, it was just a paper rope.

Xiao Ye couldn't help but comment: "No wonder she had a piece of white paper around her hand and couldn't get it off. Turns out what ghosts see is different from what the living see."

Xia Ying, rubbing her wrist, nodded: "It's different. When I was alive, I couldn't see the aura around people. Like you—your Yang Energy is so strong, it's bright and hot."

If it weren't for the Taoist keeping her here, she wouldn't have been able to stay. Her instincts would have made her stay far away.

After breaking the rope, Ji Nanxing also casually removed the seal on the ground. Xia Ying immediately felt relieved and smiled at Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye.

Xie Paner opened the website of the writing platform and handed the tablet to Xia Ying: "Log into your account first."

When Xia Ying's fingertips touched the tablet, she felt a little dazed. After floating around for months, no one could see or hear her, and she couldn't touch physical objects. She couldn't help but feel the stark contrast between life and death.

Now that someone was talking to her and she could interact with electronic devices again, for a brief moment, she even felt like she had come back to life.

But before she could fully enjoy this feeling of being reborn, a "password error" message popped up, drenching her like a bucket of cold water.

Huang Xu wasn't just using her account—he had also changed her password.

Xie Paner frowned at the "password error" message: "Try again. Make sure you're entering it correctly."

The second attempt also resulted in a password error.

Xia Ying stared at the screen, her heart was filled with mixed emotions. Xie Paner, however, slammed her fist on the coffee table: "That guy is unbelievable! He even changed the password! How could he do that?"

Xiao Ye took the tablet and looked at the option to change the password, asking, "Is your phone also in his hands?"

Xia Ying nodded, "It should be. I was very sick in my final days, and I had a premonition that things weren’t going well, so I made arrangements for after my passing. I entrusted Huang Xu with handling my clothes and belongings. I also told him that there was some money left in my card, and if there was any refund from the prepaid medical fees, he could take it as a thank-you for helping me with my posthumous affairs."

But she didn’t ask Huang Xu to use her writing account, nor did she ask him to deceive readers for donations.

Previously, Xia Ying thought that although she had many misfortunes in her life, she was lucky to have met many good people—those who encouraged and supported her, and friends she could entrust with her final affairs. Who would’ve guessed it’d end up like this?

She could only sigh, "You can’t judge a book by its cover."

Xiao Ye turned to Ji Nanxing, "To change the password, you need to verify the phone number. I guess Huang Xu took the phone and changed the account password, and even replaced the linked phone number."

Xie Paner, "So, what do we do? Should we scare him?"

She then turned to Xia Ying, "Let me tell you, I’m a pro at scaring people. I’ve helped a few ghosts scare their enemies before, scaring them so badly they finally settled their grudges!"

Xie Paner bragged about her scaring skills like a seasoned pro—sneaking into the bed at night to pull legs, standing eerily behind someone in the bathroom while they looked in the mirror, or blowing cold air into their ears and asking, "Are you happy using my money?" A scaredy-cat would be terrified in seconds.

The successful cases she mentioned left Xia Ying stunned. After seeing the password changed, she had already started to lose hope, thinking that even if they confronted Huang Xu, he might deny it, or even move away, making it impossible to find him.

But after hearing Xie Paner’s words, she suddenly felt a new hope. She didn’t care about the money anymore—she was dead, and cash meant nothing to her. She just wanted to get her account back and publish all the things she had worked so hard to write, at least giving the readers closure.

She also wanted to contact the editor to help make her previous articles free, though the platform might lose some revenue, and she wasn’t sure if they would agree.

As they discussed how to scare Huang Xu, Ji Nanxing said, "We live in a society with laws."

The two female ghosts turned to Ji Nanxing. Xie Paner, "So...?"

This wasn’t her first time scaring people, and she knew where to draw the line. She definitely wouldn’t scare anyone to death. If she could scare people before, why not now?

Ji Nanxing, "If the living can handle it, no need to waste ghost power."

Xie Paner’s thinking had completely fallen into a supernatural misconception, believing that ghostly matters should be resolved by ghosts. She couldn’t quite grasp it, "How can the living resolve it? If we confront him and he denies it, what then? The account is in his hands. Forcing him to confess would be illegal, right?"

"Or we could secretly follow him and watch him enter the account password, then steal the account!"

Xiao Ye chuckled, "Are you kidding me? The account isn’t his, and the articles weren’t written by him. Now he’s using a deceased author’s account to continue making money. We can totally sue him."

Xie Paner let out an "Oh," then looked at Xia Ying and grinned, "Since becoming a ghost, I keep forgetting we’re in a world of science and laws."

Just as dawn was breaking, Huang Xu walked out of the internet cafe, rubbing his swollen eyes from playing all night. He yawned loudly and wandered around for a place to eat breakfast. Seeing a noodle shop with a line stretching out into the street, he thought it must be good since so many people were waiting, so he joined the queue.

When it was almost his turn, he glanced at the price list behind the owner. A bowl of raw beef noodles cost 28 yuan. In the past, he wouldn’t have dared to even look at such a price, but now, not only did he order a bowl of raw beef noodles, he also generously added two braised chicken feet and a braised egg, and casually grabbed a bag of iced soy milk.

A breakfast that cost over 40 yuan, Huang Xu ate with gusto. He had never tried raw beef before—it turned out to be so tender.

Watching some men and women in formal suits hurriedly buy a bowl of noodles or some fried dough sticks and buns before rushing off to work, Huang Xu felt a sense of contentment.

He didn’t have to slog through boring work every day, nor did he have to hustle for a living. They say big cities offer opportunities, but only those who live there know how exhausting the grind can be.

Huang Xu even started planning to move to a more remote small town, finding a place with good mountains and water. He knew he couldn’t rely on Xia Ying’s account forever, but he could make the most of it while it lasted. At least the money he had extracted from her account over the past few months would allow him to live comfortably in a small town for a year or two.

There were still over 200,000 words left to finish the story. Publishing chapter by chapter, it could still be serialized for at least two months. He saw that Xia Ying’s cloud drive had another book, though it wasn’t finished, it was more than halfway done. Huang Xu planned to continue writing it himself. If he could finish it, it could be serialized for another half a year.

With that, his income for the next year was secured.

He would try writing a book himself to test the waters. After all, Xia Ying’s account had a reader base. As long as it wasn’t complete garbage, he could make some money. If the reviews weren’t great, or if he really couldn’t continue, he would announce a temporary hiatus due to illness, selling a wave of sympathy. Xia Ying’s wealthy readers would surely give a lot of donations.

When he could no longer make money, he would announce Xia Ying’s death as a friend, which would bring another wave of traffic.

The person was dead, but the completed works remained in the account. As long as there were readers, there would be a steady stream of income, even if it wasn’t much. It would be enough for a simple life in a small town.

Huang Xu initially felt genuine sympathy for Xia Ying. They were high school classmates, and he remembered how thin and small she was back then. Her parents had divorced and abandoned her, so she would buy extra buns and steamed bread from the school canteen every noon. The prices at the school canteen were slightly cheaper than outside.

Once, he saw Xia Ying carrying a bag of buns and steamed bread and curiously asked her about it. Xia Ying said she took them home for breakfast or dinner. She could eat at the canteen for lunch, but she had to manage on her own for breakfast and dinner. That was when he found out that Xia Ying's parents had divorced and neither of them cared for her.

During high school, he didn’t have much interaction with Xia Ying. They only became desk mates in their final year, so he knew a bit more about her than others. However, after graduating, they went their separate ways.

It wasn’t until last year that he ran into Xia Ying again. That once thin and small young girl had grown up and become noticeably more attractive.

When he first reconnected with her, he actually thought about whether they could develop a relationship. Girls in the big city didn’t take him seriously, and he wasn’t interested in those from rural areas either. Approaching thirty, he was stuck in limbo—neither here nor there. Meeting an old classmate like Xia Ying felt like a stroke of luck, someone he knew well and could potentially build something with.

However, he soon found out that Xia Ying was sick, and those thoughts quickly vanished. He wanted a wife who could take care of herself and contribute to their life together, not someone who was ill and might drag him down.

Although he abandoned those ideas, he still kept in touch with Xia Ying. At the time, he pitied her—she had been alone for so many years, and now she was seriously ill with no one to care for her. He thought that as a classmate, he could lend a hand. It was just a simple act of kindness.

As they interacted more, perhaps due to the filter of being old classmates, Xia Ying trusted him deeply. When she was hospitalized during her final days, she even handed her bank card to him. Huang Xu swore that up until that point, he had never harbored any ill intentions.

But soon, Xia Ying passed away. Initially, he genuinely intended to follow her wishes—post her writings online and announce her death due to illness.

However, when he saw the earnings from Xia Ying’s online novel account, which easily brought in tens of thousands of yuan each month, he began to entertain dark thoughts. After all, Xia Ying was dead, and the money in the account was just a string of numbers. He had helped Xia Ying run around before, so even if he didn’t have merit, he had put in effort.

Withdrawing money from the account every month didn’t bother Huang Xu’s conscience. Xia Ying was dead, and she had no relatives to handle her affairs. If he didn’t take the money, it would just end up lining the pockets of the platform’s capitalists.

After finishing a bowl of noodles, Huang Xu bought two fried cakes on his way out. Having a hearty breakfast meant he could sleep until the afternoon. Later, he would grab a quick bite and head back to the internet café.

He was renting a place here—a small single room he had rented for convenience when he was still working. He avoided buying too many things for the room because moving them would be a pain. So, he only had a laptop.

When he was working, he was so busy with his job that he just wanted to sleep whenever he got home. Now that he had plenty of time, he could play games, but gaming on a laptop wasn’t as enjoyable as on a desktop. He planned to settle down somewhere first before buying a proper computer. For now, he would just play at the internet café.

The lease on his room had just over a month left, and he had already informed the landlord that he wouldn’t be renewing it. Once the lease ended, his new leisurely life would begin.

Since acquiring Xia Ying’s online novel account, Huang Xu had quit his previous job. His old job paid poorly—less than what Xia Ying made in a month from her novel updates. He also had to put up with his boss’s temper and handle sales himself, working tirelessly just to scrape by.

Now that he had quit his job, he could eat, drink, and play all day while still having plenty of money. His overall mood had visibly improved. Indeed, as long as he didn’t have to work, all his troubles disappeared.

Returning home in a relaxed mood, he ran into another tenant who was leaving with a bag in hand. The place he lived in was a converted apartment, with one room divided into three or four small single rooms. The larger rooms had private bathrooms, while the smaller ones shared a public bathroom in the living room, which was also communal.

This was why Huang Xu had been sleeping during the day and going out at night. During the day, everyone was at work, so he could do as he pleased at home. At night, when everyone returned, the bathroom was always in use, which was a major inconvenience.

Huang Xu greeted the tenant with a smile, “Heading to work?”

The tenant nodded with a smile, “Yeah, you just got back?”

Huang Xu gestured to the fried cakes in his hand, “Just bought some breakfast. Want one?”

After being politely turned down, Huang Xu didn’t push. He watched the tenant squeeze into the packed elevator during the morning rush, then swung his keys and entered his room. He turned on the air conditioner, took a shower, and by the time he was done, the room had cooled down. He flopped onto the bed, rolled around, hugged his blanket, played with his phone for a bit, and then fell asleep.

Just as he was sleeping soundly, Huang Xu was woken up by the doorbell. He didn’t have many friends here, and after quitting his job, he had cut off most of his social connections. He didn’t think anyone would come looking for him, so he assumed it was one of his roommates who had forgotten their key.

Muttering to himself, he put on his slippers and went to open the door, only to find a man in a suit standing at the entrance.

Huang Xu was puzzled, “Who are you looking for?”

The man replied, “Mr. Huang Xu, right? Hello, I’m here on behalf of my client. I’m a lawyer. Regarding your illegal use of someone else’s online novel account and the unauthorized withdrawal of funds, I’d like to know if you’re ready to accept a lawyer’s letter and go through legal proceedings, or if you’d rather settle this privately.”

…

“You should’ve seen it! Huang Xu’s face instantly went pale. I’ve never seen someone’s complexion drain so quickly—it was completely gone. I could clearly see his pupils dilate and his lips begin to tremble uncontrollably.”

To witness the scene in person, Xie Paner specifically pleaded with Ji Nanxing to have the visiting lawyer bring a small wooden plaque. She and Xia Ying hid within the plaque, as the sun outside during the day was too intense for them to venture out.

At first, they figured Huang Xu wouldn’t be a pushover, expecting him to either face a lawsuit or act scared and run away. They heard he wasn’t from around here, and although Xia Ying was his high school classmate, they didn’t know his exact home address.

If he were to run away, they would have to find a way to obtain Xia Ying’s death certificate, help her close her bank account, and contact her editor. They didn’t need to know the account password; the editor could manage it from the backend.

However, none of the anticipated scenarios occurred.

Xie Paner shook her head: "Compared to the people we’ve encountered before, this Huang Xu is really too weak. Remember how tough Wan Qing’s husband was? It wasn’t until he was severely sleep-deprived and mentally disoriented that he broke. That murderer’s psychological resilience felt like he could pass a lie detector test without a hitch. This Huang Xu, we didn’t even do anything, just sent a lawyer, and he confessed everything."

Ji Nanxing said: "He’s just an ordinary person, with kindness to pity the weak, but also the evil forced by reality. His mental resilience is pretty average. He probably has never even been to a police station in his life. The moment he heard about being sued, coupled with his guilt, naturally scared him before anything was done."

Since the Young Celestial Master didn’t go to the scene, Xie Paner chattered on, eager to reenact Huang Xu’s reaction for him: "At first, he tried to deny it, saying he didn’t know anything about the web novel account. But when the lawyer presented the update times and some of the painful treatment-related posts, and clearly stated Xia Ying’s time of death, he got scared. He didn’t know that his immediate reaction to the lawyer’s intent was already a confession. It’s a pity we didn’t record it; this real reaction could be textbook material for Beijing Film Academy, for people to imitate frame by frame. Acting should be this authentic; I’m really tired of those bland performances."

Seeing Xie Paner veer off-topic, Ji Nanxing directly skipped her words and looked at Xia Ying: "Now that the account has been taken back from him, and the password has been handed over to your editor, you’re not concerned about the income from the VIP chapters, only asking him to return the reader donations after your death to the readers, which he has complied with one by one. Shouldn’t your lingering obsession fade away?"

Xia Ying, who had been silent, looked somewhat bewildered: "Should it?"

She had also gone with Xie Paner to confront Huang Xu today. She didn’t have much emotion towards Huang Xu; although what he did later made her a bit angry, he was, after all, the last person by her side.

So she didn’t intend to take back the money Huang Xu withdrew from her account, but she definitely had to make him return the large donations from Lin Shan. As for the other donating readers, she could only have the editor contact them through the backend and transfer the money back.

Seeing her account post an obituary and the remaining chapters published and marked as completed, Xia Ying also felt a sense of closure. She had taken care of everything she was concerned about; she had bid farewell to her readers and helped Lin Shan through her death crisis. There should be no lingering obsession.

Xie Paner looked at her strangely: "So why haven’t you vanished? The ghosts whose obsessions dissipated before would gradually disappear. Why are you still here?"

Xia Ying looked around and shook her head: "I don’t know either."

Xiao Ye couldn’t help but ask: "Then what do you most want to do now?"

Xia Ying: "Write!"

Xie Paner was surprised: "What?"

Ji Nanxing chuckled.

Xiao Ye was also somewhat speechless: "Your account already posted an obituary. What are you going to write?"

Xia Ying was a bit embarrassed: "I just really want to. These days as a ghost have been quite legendary. I’ve seen many people and many things. They act one way in front of people and another way behind their backs. Watching them, I’ve had so many ideas and inspirations, and I just really want to write!"

Xie Paner propped her face with one hand and looked at her: "Then, sister, why don’t you stay and be a lingering ghost with unresolved obsessions like me?"

Staying was naturally impossible. Everything that human effort could solve for her had been taken care of. Since her obsession still hadn’t dissipated, she could only be sent to the management bureau to see if she could be sent away during the Ghost Festival or given a job within the bureau.

After all, ghosts with intact limbs, good looks, and clear minds aren’t that common. Keeping her at the front desk could also be a good look for the bureau.

While they were discussing how to handle Xia Ying, Lin Shan, who had already been discharged from the hospital, habitually logged into the reading platform and found an unread backend message. Upon opening it, she saw it was a refund. She had only donated such a large amount to one person, so she quickly clicked into Xiao Yingdeng’s column.

The moment she saw the obituary, her mind went blank.