Chapter 143

Chapter 143

Le Ziyou's shout even echoed—he wasn't wrong; he had done what he should. Chen Zui was merely a ghost that had been tormenting him!

At this moment, Le Ziyou appeared far more agitated than the injured Chen Zui, trembling all over with reddened eyes. Only the hand gripping the Celestial Thunder Club remained tightly clenched, showing no sign of retreat.

Meanwhile, Chen Zui, impaled by the Celestial Thunder Club, was enduring countless bolts of thunder coursing through his body, bringing extreme agony. His ghost qi was rapidly weakening.

Ao Tian: "Don’t panic, I’ll go find the authorities!"

Chen Zui’s lifeless eyes fixed on Le Ziyou as he took another step forward. Le Ziyou was forced backward step by step. The Celestial Thunder Club was small, and the distance between them was very close.

So close that Chen Zui could easily grab Le Ziyou with just a slight movement.

"You brought this on yourself, you forced me…" Le Ziyou muttered incessantly. He didn’t realize that, as a human, getting rid of a ghost was perfectly normal—it didn't need any reason or excessive explanation.

"You even made me kill my friend, and you said I’d die if I didn’t fall in love with you…" Le Ziyou, who had been retreating, suddenly stopped and stood his ground, his gaze firm as he looked at Chen Zui.

"I am not wrong."

Chen Zui took another step forward, stopping right in front of Le Ziyou. When he lowered his head, their bangs brushed together, an intimate distance.

They had once intertwined at such closeness, exchanging yang qi and ghost qi, experiencing ultimate pleasure.

Le Ziyou stared unblinkingly at Chen Zui, though those eyes showed no trace of emotion. Chen Zui grabbed his hand holding the club and slowly pulled it away.

Only then did Le Ziyou realize he had forgotten to flee—fear washed over him.

Would Chen Zui kill him instead?

Would he die?

Chen Zui released his hand and slowly raised his own. Not that he meant to—the pain was just too intense. He was someone accustomed to pain, having endured injuries time and again, but this weapon was truly formidable. It hurt enough to make him want to cry. Hah—

Chen Zui curled the corner of his lips into a cold, lifeless smile and raised his hand to rest on Le Ziyou’s head, giving it a gentle pat.

"You did very well this time."

At that moment, Le Ziyou’s expression froze, and it felt as if his blood had stopped flowing, his heart ceasing to beat.

Chen Zui had already withdrawn his hand, brushed past him, and walked out of the house.

A long time passed before Le Ziyou suddenly turned to look toward the door. Chen Zui was long gone. Le Ziyou took two steps toward the door but stopped.

What was he doing?

Chasing after Chen Zui?

Wasn’t his departure exactly what Le Ziyou had hoped for?

Le Ziyou’s emotions were so tangled he felt like exploding. Lost, he paced around the room twice before sitting down on the edge of the bed. He raised a hand to touch his head. He thought Chen Zui would at least try to kill him, drag him down to hell.

But he said he had done well.

After getting rid of Chen Zui, Le Ziyou did not feel the joy he expected. Especially when raindrops began tapping against the window, he walked over and watched the pouring rain outside.

Would Chen Zui vanish silently in this rain?

—

It was raining.

Chen Zui tilted the umbrella above his head slightly back and looked up at the sky. Under the streetlights, the raindrops resembled snowflakes, transforming into fluttering rain butterflies as they hit the ground.

He stood in a secluded alley, his body still flickering in and out of existence due to the Celestial Thunder Club.

The pain made him sway from time to time.

Ao Tian: "I’m back."

Its voice sounded listless, suggesting the situation wasn't good.

Chen Zui: "Thanks for trying."

Ao Tian sighed: "Chen Zui, the higher-ups can’t fix this. The book never mentioned it, so they can’t even alter the data. The only thing they can do now is continuously maintain and stabilize your data to keep this from wiping you out."

Chen Zui: "That’s good enough."

Ao Tian clearly heard the tremor in his voice and felt deeply upset: "Le Ziyou is too ruthless—he actually went for the kill."

Realizing it might have misspoken, Ao Tian quickly comforted Chen Zui: "Don’t be sad."

Chen Zui: "Why should I be sad?"

Ao Tian sounded puzzled: "After what he did to you, you’re not sad?"

"I’m a ghost, he’s human. Resistance is normal—it shows he’s not a spineless coward. Besides, it’s only 10% favorability. And we’ve always known his sweet words were lies."

Chen Zui spoke as if it were someone else’s problem. He wasn’t sad. Le Ziyou had simply made the right choice. If he had disregarded his life just because a ghost made him feel good a few times, that would have been foolish.

On the contrary, he admired Le Ziyou even more. Three times now, and he still remained unyielding.

Chen Zui was not a good person, and he didn’t expect others to be naive or kind. He watched the raindrops falling from the edge of his umbrella, recalling Le Ziyou’s expression.

Was Le Ziyou truly happy?

It didn’t seem so.

Ao Tian sometimes felt Chen Zui was calmer than itself, a system made of code. But it was good that he had this composure—it kept him from sorrow: "So what do you plan to do next?"

"Let me adapt to the current situation first."

His body constantly struck by lightning—this was indeed something he needed to get used to. Chen Zui leaned back against the wall: "Ao Tian, could you get me a cigarette I can smoke?"

He let out a light laugh: "It hurts a bit."

The hand holding the umbrella trembled.

Ao Tian quickly obtained a cigarette for Chen Zui. Deep in the alley, where the streetlights couldn’t reach, a black umbrella sheltered a flickering figure. The smoke dissipated before it could even drift beyond the umbrella’s edge, swallowed by the dampness of the rain.

Chen Zui leaned his head back, taking slow drags from the cigarette. Given time, he would grow accustomed to the pain. As a child, he would cry bitterly over a scraped knee, but later, even a knife slash only made him frown. He would gradually adapt to this pain too—become numb.

His lips, slightly pursed, exhaled the smoke slowly.

His pitch-black eyes suddenly shifted toward the alley entrance. It seemed someone wasn’t going to give him time to adapt. Gritting his teeth, Chen Zui straightened up and turned toward the alley entrance.

The black umbrella in his hand lifted.

Across from him stood a young man holding a white transparent umbrella, his gaze fixed on the club embedded in Chen Zui’s abdomen—the very man who had given the club to Le Ziyou.

Ao Tian: "Attack No.2 Liao Ziqi, what is he doing here?"

Chen Zui: "Seems like Le Ziyou obtained the item from him."

Their eyes met. The cigarette in Chen Zui's mouth glowed and dimmed. The other party was a genuine skilled Taoist priest, and in his current condition... But Ao Tian had said the Dark Transmigration Bureau would stabilize his data—in short, he couldn’t die.

Well, that made things easier.

He held the cigarette between his lips, propped up his umbrella, and walked casually toward Liao Ziqi.

Liao Ziqi was astonished. That was the Celestial Thunder Club—from the time it was activated to when he sensed it and came looking, over an hour had passed, yet this ghost hadn't dissipated.

He even appeared so calm. The Celestial Thunder Club, continuously releasing lightning in his abdomen, seemed more like an ornament, making this ghost look strangely dazzling.

"You should not linger in the mortal world to haunt the living. I, Taoist priest Liao Ziqi, am here to see you into the cycle of reincarnation."

Liao Ziqi drew the sword at his waist. He looked the real deal, completely unlike that fake Taoist priest Le Ziyou.

Chen Zui stopped about two meters away from Liao Ziqi. The cigarette in his mouth was almost burnt out, so he pinched it between his slender fingers and took it out.

He snorted.

"So righteous—did you send Xu Shuhuai into the reincarnation cycle?"

Liao Ziqi’s expression flickered. He hadn’t expected Chen Zui to know about Xu Shuhuai.

Xu Shuhuai was different. He...

As Liao Ziqi tried to make excuses, Chen Zui flicked the cigarette butt in his hand toward him—not aiming at his face, but slightly to the side.

The flying glowing ember caught Liao Ziqi’s attention, making him instinctively dodge away. But Chen Zui had already rushed to that side, swung his closed umbrella at Liao Ziqi.

Behind the umbrella, those pitch-black eyes were dead cold.

Liao Ziqi felt a blast of force. The raindrops swept by the umbrella hit him like ball bearings. He hadn’t expected this ghost, struck by the Celestial Thunder Club for so long without disappearing, to still move like that.

Didn’t... he feel any pain?

But that wasn’t what Liao Ziqi could afford to think about now. Even dodging at his fastest, he was still caught on the shoulder by the umbrella, stumbling backward.

Once steady, he immediately took out talismans, made hand signs, and threw them at Chen Zui.

Fire burst from the talismans. Chen Zui was trapped by the fire. The burning pain layered over the agony of being struck by lightning, and his hand gripping the umbrella tightened so hard it threatened to break.

Liao Ziqi saw the vengeful spirit trapped by the Samadhi True Fire stagger, one knee giving way as he knelt on the ground.

Swinging his sword, Liao Ziqi thrust forward, reciting a spell.

The sword sank through the non-corporeal flames.

It struck the vengeful spirit.

Liao Ziqi’s expression was stern. Such a vengeful spirit must be eradicated—he couldn’t be allowed to remain!

Just as he tried to thrust the sword deeper, it locked in place.

Amid the Samadhi True Fire, Chen Zui gripped the sword that had pierced his shoulder.

Pain canceling pain—it seemed he was already going numb.

The corners of his mouth twitched upward, but his teeth gritted audibly. That smile, devoid of expression yet curling his lips, made him look both crazy yet completely calm.

The muscles in his arm strained, threatening to rip his sleeve. As he rose, he wrenched the sword into his own grasp.

Liao Ziqi lurched forward.

At that moment, the talismans floating in the air turned to ash. As the Samadhi True Fire vanished, Chen Zui brought the sword down toward Liao Ziqi.

The sword was meant for ghosts only—it wasn’t sharpened.

So Chen Zui aimed for Liao Ziqi’s neck. Liao Ziqi couldn’t dodge in time and was struck, grunting in pain as he collapsed to the ground. His neck felt as if it were broken, the pain making his vision swim.

Chen Zui then crashed the sword against his umbrella—his umbrella was unbreakable.

The sword snapped clean through, the tip flying off, the break jagged. Chen Zui gripped the remaining half and swiftly drove the remnant toward Liao Ziqi, who lay at his feet.

Anything could become a weapon for him to kill. Since he couldn't die, all he had to do was push through the pain. The rest—he just needed to drag his opponent into human combat.

Then he—would definitely win.

Chen Zui’s eyes widened.

Die.

Ao Tian: "He’s a main character—you can’t kill him!"

Chen Zui had originally aimed for Liao Ziqi’s neck—a strike that would have pierced through and ended the trouble for good.

Hearing Ao Tian’s words, he changed his target.

He had already given Ao Tian enough headaches. Ao Tian, as a system, had his back, and he wouldn’t make things difficult for Ao Tian.

The broken sword plunged into Liao Ziqi’s shoulder. Blood spurted out, a few drops splattering onto Chen Zui’s face, adding color to his deathly pale features.

Chen Zui then kicked Liao Ziqi, who was writhing in pain, in the leg.

*Crack.*

The sound of breaking bone.

Liao Ziqi lay on the waterlogged ground, the broken sword embedded in his shoulder, the pain making his vision blur. At the edge of his sight was the retreating figure of the vengeful spirit. Gasping for breath, he fumbled for his phone. Rainwater flooded his mouth, nearly suffocating him, as he dialed for help.

Chen Zui staggered forward, his hand sliding down the wall until he weakly collapsed face-first.

Ao Tian anxiously: "How are you?"

At the last moment, Chen Zui braced himself against the ground, avoiding a fall, and sat down leaning against the wall.

He asked Ao Tian for another cigarette, desperately inhaling nicotine: "That Liao Ziqi won’t be a problem for a while."

He had broken both of the other’s legs—enough to keep him laid up for some time.

Chen Zui slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

Le Ziyou.

You’ve really made me suffer.

—

Le Ziyou stared at the doorway, yet ran out anyway. He didn’t necessarily want Chen Zui dead—all he wanted was for him to promise to stop harassing him.

In the pouring rain, Le Ziyou got soaked despite holding an umbrella.

He finally just threw the umbrella away and shouted, "Chen Zui!"

Author's note:

Le Ziyou: Romance drama

Chen Zui: Action drama