Chapter 135

Chapter 135

8 a.m.

The sleeper on the bed suddenly kicked out a leg and opened his eyes. Le Ziyou, looking somewhat dazed, stared blankly at the ceiling, his breathing ragged. It took him a while to realize he had experienced sleep paralysis again.

He shot up, pressing himself against the wall, and scanned the room with his eyes.

Had that ghost followed him?

Why?

Why was it always following him?

At this moment, Le Ziyou felt both angry and wronged. He had already suffered enough—why did even a ghost have to pick on him? He had even moved to hide…

Yet it still came to bully him.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became!

With a stern face, Le Ziyou got out of bed, stomping his feet with each step as he stormed off to the bathroom to get ready. So it wanted to bully him, huh? Well, he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. Since moving hadn’t worked—

Then he would—

After finishing his ablutions, Le Ziyou headed out. Although the umbrella in Chen Zui’s hand could shield from the sun, as a ghost, he instinctively disliked the overly bright world, so he didn’t follow him.

Judging by Le Ziyou’s demeanor, he was up to something again. Last time, he had secretly moved. Chen Zui was curious about what he planned to do this time.

With nothing else to do, Chen Zui struck up a conversation with Xu Shuhuai, who was still under the bed. The latter clearly had no interest in small talk and quickly steered the conversation toward pleading for his release.

Chen Zui ignored him outright: “What do you think he’ll try this time to get away from me?”

Cramped under the bed in that small space, Xu Shuhuai snorted: “How do you know he’s definitely going to run?”

Perhaps he’ll find someone to get rid of you, this menace. He hoped Le Ziyou would do just that.

Sitting on the chair, Chen Zui leaned back, lifting the front two legs off the ground and rocking back and forth. Hearing Xu Shuhuai’s response made him even more eager to see what Le Ziyou would do.

He hoped he would do something interesting.

Otherwise, he’d punish him.

—

“Dude, what’s up with your lips? Damn! You’ve been secretly dating behind your dad’s back, haven’t you!”

“Ah! I’m pissed!”

Mi Jin exclaimed. If they couldn’t all stay happily single together, why couldn’t he be the first to get into a relationship? He looked at Le Ziyou with a gaze that said, “You’ve betrayed me.”

“Tch, getting your lips sucked into such a state and still strutting around like that… seriously, wear a mask or something!”

Mi Jin was green with envy.

Le Ziyou had left in such a hurry that he’d even put his T-shirt on inside out. He hadn’t even looked in the mirror. Puzzled, he opened the mirror above the passenger seat and looked up.

Holy smokes, what supremely sexy, full lips!

And he used to have thin lips—what had they been sucked into?!

Le Ziyou suddenly let out a groundhog-like scream.

Startled, Mi Jin jumped: “What now?!”

Le Ziyou turned to him, looking as if he had a lot to say but was too embarrassed to spit it out, almost suffocating. Finally, he summarized the whole situation—a ghost suddenly appearing, following him, scaring him, bullying him, secretly kissing him, touching him, and even chasing him after he moved—into two words:

“There’s a ghost.”

Mi Jin: “What?”

“There’s a ghost in my house.”

“The new place you moved to has a ghost?”

“No, the ghost from before followed me. It must be him. So now I’m going to the temple to find a master. Let’s go.” Le Ziyou thought he had to return before dark—tonight would be the decisive battle between him and that perverted ghost!

Mi Jin had many questions and chattered away, asking Le Ziyou all the way.

Even after they reached the temple, he was still asking: “So now you believe ghosts exist? Are we still doing this job in the future?”

Le Ziyou: “Of course we are. We’ve been doing this for years and only encountered one ghost—that means the risk is low. And the profits are so high. What else would we do?”

Mi Jin thought he made sense.

After all, the longer they worked in this field and the older they got, the more trust people would have in them, making them more sought after.

They had to keep sticking with it.

—

The two didn’t return until after 9 p.m.

Le Ziyou got out of the car with his hand on his crossbody bag: “Let’s go. Tonight, we’re catching a real ghost.”

With company, his courage grew considerably. He walked toward Building 2: “Tonight, I’m going to make this ghost show itself and teach him a good lesson. Oh, and don’t forget your phone—see if you can record it.”

No one responded.

Le Ziyou stopped walking. There was no one beside or behind him. He looked toward the entrance of the complex—Mi Jin had turned the car around, wearing a fake smile.

“Um, I… I think we shouldn’t act together. If we get wiped out, who’s going to carry on our business?”

Le Ziyou: …

Mi Jin raised a clenched fist: “I’ll be rooting for you. If anything happens, call me—I’ll be there ASAP.”

Le Ziyou: More like ASAP to run away, I bet.

Clearly, he couldn’t count on him. Flipping Mi Jin the middle finger, Le Ziyou didn’t insist on dragging him along. He entered the elevator and checked the items in his backpack again.

There was a peace charm blessed by a real master, incense ashes, and purified water.

He touched the peachwood sword, feeling much more at ease.

“First, scatter the incense ashes to make the ghost visible. Once I see it, stab it with the peachwood sword. Then purify the area with the water. The peace charm will protect me from the evil ghost getting close.”

Le Ziyou reviewed the master’s instructions.

Making sure he remembered everything clearly, he took out each item and practiced the motions.

Confidently, he stepped out of the elevator and approached the door of his rented apartment.

He eyed the closed door.

He held a bag of incense ash in one hand and a peach wood sword in the other.

After taking a deep breath, he finally opened the door.

Chen Zui looked at the door. As it swung open, a figure burst in. There was a "smack," and then the dark room was illuminated by the light.

It revealed Le Ziyou, who was flinging the incense ash in his hand all around.

Chen Zui narrowed his eyes. The air was filled with a scent he disliked, rousing his violent nature.

Some of the incense ash landed on his clothes, creating a diagonal streak from his left shoulder to his right waist, and some trailing down to his thigh.

The incense ash stopped falling once it touched him. From Le Ziyou’s perspective, it appeared to hang motionless in mid-air.

His pupils dilated, wide with excitement.

Got you!

Without hesitation, he lunged with the peach wood sword.

"Die!"

Since the incense ash had worked, Le Ziyou assumed the peach wood sword would be effective too.

He was full of anticipation.

The peach wood sword halted just short of the outline revealed by the incense ash.

Le Ziyou could only see a bit of the ash lift up and float near the peach wood sword. That bit of ash must have fallen on the other’s hand.

He actually caught the peach wood sword with his hand!

How is this possible?

Logically, ghosts should fear peach wood swords—they should emit smoke and dissipate upon contact...

Le Ziyou didn’t understand, but he refused to give up, pushing harder with all his strength.

The human outline traced by the incense ash gradually rose. Even with just the ash tracing a path from left to right and top to bottom, one could tell the other’s tall and robust physique.

This figure was clearly a male ghost.

Chen Zui’s hand gripping the peach wood sword had indeed been slightly injured, but it was insignificant.

He didn’t care at all.

Holding the peach wood sword, he advanced toward Le Ziyou, forcing Le Ziyou to retreat.

With each step Chen Zui took forward, Le Ziyou took a step back.

Toying with his prey didn’t require an immediate, decisive move.

Realizing that he was bound to fail tonight, Le Ziyou glanced toward the door, deliberately retreating in that direction. Then, abandoning the sword, he opened the door—all in one smooth motion.

But...

The door wouldn't open.

No matter how he jiggled the handle or how hard he pushed.

The door just wouldn't budge!

Le Ziyou started to panic and began throwing himself against the door.

Chen Zui turned the peach wood sword around in his hand and pressed its tip against the small of Le Ziyou's back, who was still frantically ramming the door.

Le Ziyou’s pupils shrank, and he stopped hitting the door.

There was still a bottle of purified water in his bag—whether it would work or not, he decided to splash it first and think later. His hand stealthily crept toward his backpack.

But then that hand was caught and pinned against the door.

Next, his other hand was seized, and soon he couldn't move a muscle.

He couldn’t even turn his head. He couldn’t see anything, but he was absolutely certain a ghost was behind him!

Fear sent a prickle over his scalp and his breath quickened.

He wanted to beg for mercy, but the other had already sensed his intention and gave him no chance to plead. His mouth was blocked by something, so he couldn't make a sound.

Le Ziyou was filled with regret. If only he hadn’t fought back…

Maybe this ghost would have been satisfied with getting a little frisky with him while he slept.

When he thought about it, it wasn’t entirely unacceptable—compared to death, or a fate worse than death.

He was willing to be taken advantage of!

Chen Zui brushed off the incense ash on his clothes, leaving faint traces that pissed him off.

He turned his gaze to the culprit.

From behind, Le Ziyou's ass was hard not to stare at—so round and full compared to his flat back and slender waist.

Chen Zui moved the peach wood sword, sliding it from above into the elastic waistband of Le Ziyou’s sweatpants, then pulled downward, yanking his pants down to his buttocks.

Suddenly left with his ass bare, Le Ziyou panicked, but with his mouth blocked, he could only let out muffled grunts.

Just as he thought this pervert ghost was going to rape him, Chen Zui gripped the peach wood sword horizontally and struck Le Ziyou’s buttocks.

A sharp *smack* echoed.

The impact made his buttocks jiggle, leaving a clear red mark. The ensuing pain made Le Ziyou clench his muscles and let out a silent cry of agony.

It never crossed his mind that he wouldn't be violated—but spanked!

The punishment wasn’t over.

Chen Zui struck him a second time, leaving a cross-shaped red mark on his buttocks.

Tears of pain sprang to Le Ziyou’s eyes.

He wanted to scream, to escape, but his body remained frozen. The helplessness was driving him to the brink of a breakdown.

The spanked area burned with a stinging pain, tinged with an itchy sensation.

The pain was unbearable.

Just then.

Chen Zui's hand landed on the bruised spot—a ghost's hand, icy and cold, like a cold ointment from the fridge, soothing Le Ziyou's pain.

It made him forget it was a ghost's hand, instead making him want more of that touch, wishing it wouldn’t leave until the pain completely faded.

Le Ziyou quieted down.

Chen Zui loosened his restraint slightly. Though Le Ziyou hadn’t yet realized it, his body instinctively pushed the sore spot up slightly, pressing it further into Chen Zui’s hand.

Following the welts from the peach wood sword, Chen Zui grabbed a handful of flesh.

As he toyed with it, he leaned close to Le Ziyou’s ear. As he drew near, the fine hairs on his ear stood on end, sensing danger before he did.

Chen Zui: "You can’t escape."

A voice completely lacking human warmth sounded beside Le Ziyou’s ear, jolting him back to awareness.

He heard the other say:

"Fall in love with me."

"Or die."