Chapter 31

Chapter 31

When Xu Muchan woke up, he found himself sitting on a bench.

He vaguely remembered his brother coming to find him... but where was his brother now?

Xu Muchan looked around blankly, realizing he was still in Rose Garden, and not far ahead was Building Nine. The white light above the unit door was still dim and sickly, only illuminating a small area.

For a moment, he almost thought he was still in the ghost domain.

Could everything before have been just a dream?

Xu Muchan looked down at himself and found that the Mountain God Amulet that had been removed was hanging around his neck again. His fingernails were neatly trimmed, back to a normal length. He instinctively reached up to touch the ends of his hair and found the length had changed—the hair that had been cut to his ears now reached the back of his neck, with blunt, straight ends, as if someone had hastily trimmed it.

At that moment, faint traffic noise and voices drifted in from the streets outside the complex.

Only then did he confirm he had escaped the ghost domain.

But where had his brother gone? And what about Yan He and the others?

Xu Muchan rubbed his sore eyes and reached for his phone, only to realize it had been in his school uniform pocket—and he wasn't wearing his school uniform now. The phone was gone.

Xu Muchan: "..."

Just as he was wondering what to do, three people walked out of Building Nine. The light was too dim, and before Xu Muchan could make them out, Wei Yao and the others had already recognized him.

Wei Yao shouted and rushed over. "Xu Muchan?!"

He ran to the bench, bent down, and circled around Xu Muchan, looking him over: "You're not dead? How did you get out?! You have no idea how long we looked for you in the ghost domain. Halfway through, we ran into this really powerful ghost that looked exactly like you, you know? We thought it had eaten you... And this ghost had a weird quirk—it didn't eat people, it just loved stripping their clothes. It stripped off my school uniform, and what I'm wearing now is borrowed from He Jiaqi's dad..."

He droned on like a mosquito, buzzing without stopping.

Xu Muchan's head was spinning from all the chatter, but he vaguely recalled some hazy memories... What Wei Yao was talking about actually seemed vaguely familiar. He guiltily glanced at Wei Yao's ill-fitting middle-aged-man polo shirt and changed the subject: "How did you guys get out? Where's He Jiaqi?"

Wei Yao's attention was immediately diverted, and he started talking about the He family: "After the ghost domain collapsed, we brought He Jiaqi out with us. She woke up as soon as we got out, but she looked really weak. Then we found her parents unconscious in the room, so we called an ambulance. We were waiting outside for the ambulance when we spotted you."

As they were talking, they heard the wail of an ambulance siren.

The ambulance arrived quickly. They didn't have time to keep talking. After the medical staff loaded He Jiaqi's family into the ambulance, they hailed a cab and followed.

At the hospital, the three He family members were sent for examinations. Wei Yao, Wen Dajiang, and Yan He split the duties—paying fees, handling admission paperwork, and staying with the patients. Only Xu Muchan, with his poor eyesight, was told to rest in the lobby.

After a short wait, He Jiaqi came out of her examination first. She was still very weak, and the doctor had ordered an IV drip. Wen Dajiang took the prescription to pay and pick up the meds, while He Jiaqi was temporarily left in Xu Muchan's care.

She sat down next to Xu Muchan and softly said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Xu Muchan turned to look at her, then took the chance to ask the question on his mind: "Were you still conscious while you were possessed?"

He Jiaqi thought for a moment and said, "I think I had a vague sense of awareness, but it came and went. It felt like sleepwalking. Occasionally, when I was conscious, I wanted to find a chance to call for help..."

But she didn't have any close friends, and the He family wasn't originally from Jiangcheng—they had no relatives here either. She didn't know who she could turn to.

But just when she was feeling lost and helpless, she thought she saw Xu Muchan.

She couldn't quite explain whether it was a hallucination or if she had really seen Xu Muchan for some reason. After thinking it over, she said: "I think I saw you, but it wasn't very clear. It felt like I was underwater and you were on the shore. I could vaguely see you from beneath the surface, but I wasn't sure, so I tried calling your name a couple of times..."

Xu Muchan suddenly understood—the cries for help he'd heard in the black river really were from He Jiaqi.

He figured it was because the Judge had the Black Taisui inside it. After being possessed by it, He Jiaqi had formed some kind of connection with the Black Taisui, and since the Black Taisui came from the black river, Xu Muchan had been able to hear her cries for help through it.

But there was no need to explain all that to He Jiaqi. He just said vaguely: "Maybe your survival instinct was so strong that you sent those messages in the group chat. If we hadn't thought those messages were so weird, we wouldn't have thought to check on your house."

He Jiaqi smiled. Her face was still pale, but she looked much better in spirit: "Thanks to all of you. I don't know what I would've done otherwise."

Wen Dajiang soon came back with the meds, and the nurse started He Jiaqi's IV.

Meanwhile, the test results for He Jiaqi's parents came back. Yan He and Wei Yao walked over and sat down, looking like they'd eaten something sour, and said to He Jiaqi: "The reason your parents are unconscious is that they have a lot of foreign matter in their stomachs. The doctor induced vomiting, but the meat chunks they threw up had human characteristics... They suspect it's human flesh, and they've already called the police."

He Jiaqi was stunned for a moment, then asked hesitantly: "...Was it my grandma... or my little brother?"

"I don't know... But when we were at your house, we really didn't see your grandma or your little brother."

And in the ghost domain, they had truly witnessed Grandma He being dismembered and eaten, with her head still frozen in the fridge.

As for He Jiaqi's little brother, he'd probably been eaten by the Hungry Ghost.

Wei Yao thought to himself that it was lucky they'd left in such a hurry and hadn't thought to check the He family's fridge, or they would've suffered another shock.

He Jiaqi fell silent and didn't say anything else.

Wen Dajiang, however, looked hesitantly at He Jiaqi, thinking about how they'd watched all three He family members eat the meat in the ghost domain. Now that He Jiaqi's parents had meat chunks in their stomachs, could He Jiaqi have some too?

But seeing how pale He Jiaqi looked, he hesitated and went back and forth, ultimately deciding not to scare her further.

Anyway, He Jiaqi would be hospitalized, and if there really was a problem, the doctors would find out. No need to scare her tonight.

By the time He Jiaqi was moved to her ward, the police had arrived.

Originally, Wei Yao and the others needed to give statements as witnesses, but it was already too late at night. Wei Yao, being the drama queen he was, played the sympathy card, saying they'd been scared out of their wits all night and still had to get up early for school tomorrow—could they do the statements during tomorrow's lunch break instead?

Seeing that the three of them were indeed quite young, and Wen Dajiang was still in his school uniform, the police made an exception and told them to come to the station tomorrow at noon for their statements, keeping only Yan He behind.

The others waved goodbye to Yan He and bailed without any sense of loyalty.

Xu Muchan also took a cab home.

Since his phone was missing, Wei Yao had helped him call the cab.

It was already past three in the morning when he got home.

But surprisingly, the Xu family villa was all lit up. Xu Muchan thought it was because he'd come home too late and was trying to figure out how to explain himself, but as he got closer, he saw that Xu Qingming's face was barely concealing his anger, while Xu Wangchuan beside him had a faint air of schadenfreude.

Only Xu Zhifei came forward, grabbing Xu Muchan and looking him over from head to toe. She noticed his clothes weren't the school uniform he'd worn when he left that morning, and his hair was messily hanging down to his shoulders—hadn't he just gotten a haircut? Had it been this long before?

These doubts flashed by in an instant. Now was clearly not the time to dwell on such trivial matters. Xu Zhifei asked softly: "Muchan, where have you been so late? Your father, your brother, and I were all very worried about you."

Xu Muchan briefly recounted the He family's situation, skipping over the supernatural stuff that defied logic. He only said that after school he'd gone to visit a classmate, only to find something had happened to the classmate's family, so they'd helped send them to the hospital, which was why he was so late.

And his phone had been lost on the way, so he hadn't been able to notify his family.

"Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang were with me—they can vouch for that."

They'd already coordinated their stories at the hospital. Wei Yao didn't need to worry, since the Wei family was still worshipping Lady Golden Flower.

But Xu Muchan and Wen Dajiang would have to pick and choose what to tell their parents.

Xu Zhifei's expression did soften a bit at that. She patted her husband's arm and said gently, "Muchan stayed out so late helping his classmates. Talk to him nicely—he's got school tomorrow."

Xu Qingming's anger didn't go away. Clearly, he wasn't mad about Xu Muchan coming home late.

Xu Muchan frowned slightly, waiting for him to speak.

Xu Qingming's eyes swept over Xu Muchan, and after a long moment, he spoke in a low voice: "What is that thing in your wardrobe?"

Xu Muchan froze, then snapped his head up.

Seeing his startled expression, Xu Qingming repeated: "What is that thing in your wardrobe?"

Xu Muchan finally understood. They weren't up late because he hadn't come home—they had discovered the shrine dedicated to his brother.

His gaze turned cold, and he met Xu Qingming's eyes expressionlessly: "You went into my room and went through my stuff without asking?"

Seeing Xu Muchan dare to talk back with zero guilt, Xu Qingming's anger only grew: "You were gone in the middle of the night. Wangchuan was worried about you, so he went to your room. You didn't even close your wardrobe door properly, and that thing was just sitting there in plain sight. And you're blaming people for seeing it?"

But Xu Muchan was sure he'd closed the wardrobe door before leaving for school.

He turned to Xu Wangchuan, who looked at him apologetically: "Sorry, I got spooked, so I called Aunt Shao over. She got scared too, and that's what tipped off Mom and Dad."

Xu Qingming said: "You don't need to explain yourself to him." He stared at Xu Muchan, his tone already impatient: "What the hell have you been worshipping in this house?"

He'd been having some business trouble lately, and combined with the earlier incident of the God of Joy statue being disturbed, the second Xu Qingming found out Xu Muchan had some kind of shrine in his room, he immediately connected the two.

Xu Muchan lowered his eyes: "It's just a village thing—worshipping the mountain god. I've been doing it since I was a kid, so I brought it with me."

Xu Qingming got even angrier: "I don't care what mountain god or earth god you're talking about. The Xu family already worships one deity. Throw out all this superstitious crap of yours."

But Xu Muchan, who'd been totally calm, suddenly looked up and stared straight at him: "I won't throw it away. You call what I worship heretical—but is the God of Joy you worship any better? That thing's a demon. It almost ate me when I was a kid. If you hadn't sold me off back then, I might not even be alive today!"

"Muchan, what are you saying?" Xu Zhifei's face went white, and she stared at him in shock.

Xu Qingming's eyes were blazing, and he suddenly raised his hand—

"You want to hit me?"

Xu Muchan stared right at him, not a hint of fear on his face. Instead, he smiled, tilted his head a little, and asked: "What right do you have to hit me?"

"Because I'm your dad!"

Xu Qingming's hand came down, but Xu Muchan grabbed his wrist.

He looked pale and skinny, but he was actually in great shape and really strong.

Growing up in a remote mountain village, he got up before dawn every day and walked three or four kilometers of mountain roads to school, then walked the same distance back in the afternoon. Back in the day, Leigong Village didn't even have running water—they had to carry every drop of water from the river behind the village.

It was tough, but it made Xu Muchan tough too.

Xu Qingming's wrist hurt from the grip. He stared at his son like he didn't know him, eyes wide, face red, looking totally ridiculous.

Xu Muchan pushed his hand away, a smirk still tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Dad, you might not know this, but my adoptive dad used to beat me all the time when I was a kid. Even though he's dead now, I still hate being hit. You understand, right?"

Xu Qingming's hands were shaking with rage, and he couldn't say a word.

Xu Zhifei's eyes were wide, hand over her mouth, tears welling up as she stared at her son like he was a stranger.

Only Xu Wangchuan, acting like an innocent bystander, hid his glee well and fake-scolded Xu Muchan: "Muchan, how can you talk to Mom and Dad like that?"

Xu Muchan finally acknowledged him. The smile at his lips faded, and he looked at him coldly: "Going into my room and going through my stuff without asking is really rude."

He brushed past Xu Wangchuan and headed to his room, but after taking a step, he turned back and said with malice: "Are you secretly relieved the God of Joy hasn't come for you lately? Don't get too excited. It'll come for you soon. You made a wish to it, and sooner or later, you're gonna pay the price."

Xu Wangchuan's face went pale, and he forced himself to watch Xu Muchan walk away: "What are you talking about? I don't get it."

But Xu Muchan didn't bother with anyone else. He went into his room and slammed the door shut with a bang.

The once tidy room was now a mess from being searched. The old shrine and stone statue had been tossed on the floor—whoever found them had clearly been spooked and bolted without even picking them up.

Xu Muchan silently picked up the shrine and the statue, hugged them to his chest, and pressed his forehead against the shrine, staring blankly into space, totally lost.

He probably shouldn't have burned bridges that fast. He was a stranger in Jiangcheng, his eyes weren't fully healed, and he'd just started getting used to school.

Besides, Nanming's tuition was probably expensive, and he couldn't pay for it himself.

Xu Muchan stared blankly, wondering how he'd even go to school if he really left the Xu family.

A pair of hands reached around from behind and lifted him up. Cold fingers brushed the corner of his eye, and a voice that sounded almost helpless said: "Achan, why are you crying?"

Xu Muchan turned his head and glared at him: "I'm not crying."

Wei Xilou smiled: "I was gone for just a moment, and look how you've gotten yourself into such a mess."

Xu Muchan said: "It's all your fault."

If the shrine and the statue hadn't been discovered, Xu Qingming wouldn't have told him to throw them away, and he wouldn't have gotten angry and argued with him.

Judging by the shocked expressions on that couple's faces, they probably thought he was possessed.

Wei Xilou was uncharacteristically quiet. He gently brushed the stray hair from the boy's cheek. His hair, which had once reached his waist, had been cut short—but back then, Wei Xilou had been in a hurry to return to Yundong to retrieve his body, so he'd only had time to hastily trim the boy's nails and hair before leaving him on the bench.

A blunt, one-cut hairstyle would have been a disaster on anyone else, but Xu Muchan was simply too handsome. His head and face were small, yet his features were large and delicate. The slightly rustic haircut only made him look even more exquisite than a finely crafted doll.

"Keep your hair this length from now on," Wei Xilou said, seemingly out of nowhere.

Xu Muchan secretly rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Wei Xilou continued: "Does Achan want to stay with the Xu family, or come with me?"

Xu Muchan said gloomily: "Come with you where? Aren't you still living in the Wei family's house?"

Back in Leigong Village, at least there had been the mountain god's cave.

The superstitious villagers had sent Xu Muchan there, and when they found him alive and well, even coming and going freely from the cave, they believed the mountain god had claimed him, making him the god's person.

As a result, they treated him with reverence, and after consulting the mountain god, they built him a simple room inside the cave, giving him a place to stay.

The cave was crude, but Xu Muchan had lived there for years and had actually tried to make it a bit more livable—at least it looked something like a home.

Unfortunately, he had left home and come to Jiangcheng to treat his eyes.

He had thought that even if the Xu family wasn't his home, it could at least serve as a temporary refuge. But now it seemed he had overestimated even that.

"I brought some things back from Yundong, but it'll take time to convert them into cash. Stay at Jiahe Garden for now, and we can move to a better place in a while," Wei Xilou said vaguely.

But Xu Muchan assumed he meant the mountain god's cave, and he knew all too well what was in there. So he shook his head and said: "Forget it, I'll figure something out myself. Living under someone's roof at the Xu family's or at the Wei family's—there's not much difference."

He placed the shrine and the idol into the backpack he had brought from Yundong, neatly packed his meager belongings, and then washed his face and went to bed.

Despite going to bed late, Xu Muchan still woke up early the next day.

Perhaps because a vague idea had already formed in his mind, Xu Muchan felt none of last night's gloom after a good night's sleep. It was only when he got up to wash that he suddenly realized the world before his eyes seemed to have become clearer.

Previously, although he could vaguely make out objects, everything looked doubled—warped and distorted, wrapped in a hazy glow, making him squint and strain to see anything clearly.

But now, it was as if his two-thousand-degree nearsightedness had gone down by a thousand degrees overnight. The world before Xu Muchan's eyes had become much clearer, and the distortion, blurriness, and halos were gone.

Though it was still far from the clarity of normal vision he once had, he was no longer half-blind.

In fact, Xu Muchan even thought that with his current eyesight, wouldn't a pair of glasses make everything perfectly normal?

It seemed the Black Taisui he had eaten had taken effect. Xu Muchan widened his eyes in delight, curiously turning his head to look around, taking in his bedroom clearly for the first time.

He walked to the window and pushed it open to look at the garden outside.

Though the distance remained blurry, he could clearly see the petunias blooming in competition up close, their colorful flowers swaying gently in the breeze, as if cheerful.

Xu Muchan was happy too, so much so that when he saw Xu Qingming and Xu Wangchuan at breakfast, he even managed a smile.

But Xu Qingming clearly did not share his good mood. His expression was grim, and he let out a cold snort, ignoring Xu Muchan's gesture of goodwill; Xu Wangchuan, meanwhile, looked somewhat haggard.

Xu Muchan didn't mind. After finishing breakfast and before heading out to school, he informed them, "When I get to school today, I'll apply to the teacher to live on campus."