Chapter 27: The Shadow Behind Pei Liu

He could clearly feel that this was entirely different from the mechanical trap on the wall. The human face merely popped out when he was off guard, offering a slight startle. But the moment this little girl appeared, the temperature plummeted. The bone-chilling ghostly energy seeped into every pore, feeling as if it could corrode his very organs.

The little ghost under the table glared at him venomously, her deathly pale hands gripping his leg and slowly crawling upward.

“Give it to me.”

“Give it back.”

“I want my doll.”

She grinned. Her childish voice was high-pitched and sharp, like an iron awl stabbing at his brain over and over, inducing a splitting headache. Where she gripped him, the icy cold pierced his thin clothing, seeping deep beneath his skin.

Pei Liu wanted to step back but was firmly held by the little ghost. The cold numbed his bones, and his whole body shivered.

With great effort, he managed to pull the cloth doll from his pocket, wanting to toss it to the ghost child, hoping she wouldn’t bother him again. But unexpectedly, the moment he took it out, the doll suddenly moved. It raised its cotton-stuffed hand and waved vigorously at the little girl, as if rejecting her, or rather… telling her to run away?

Pei Liu didn’t notice this, but the ghost child was completely baffled. She stopped crawling and tilted her head, looking at her best friend in confusion.

A ghost tilting its head is not cute at all!

Pei Liu’s entire body went rigid; he only wanted to run as far away as possible.

Soon, the little ghost understood what the doll’s waving meant. Her eyes widened as she saw the shadow behind Pei Liu elongate. Black mist surged, slowly forming a tall figure exuding an aura that terrified ghosts.

The cloth doll immediately dropped its frantically waving hand, playing dead in a second.

The little ghost also swiftly slid down Pei Liu’s leg, hit the ground, and scurried away. Her panicked back seemed to scream: Scared the hell out of a ghost!

Pei Liu froze.

Why did she run?

Recalling the little ghost’s bizarre reaction just now, he nervously looked over his shoulder. Fortunately, he didn’t see anything he shouldn’t. The room was dark and narrow, and the shadow on the floor was just a small clump, looking perfectly normal.

Pei Liu breathed a sigh of relief. Holding the ugly-cute cloth doll, he was unsure whether to throw it away or keep it.

In the end, he hesitantly put it away, thinking it might be useful later.

The others had also finished marveling at the human face. “Let’s go exchange this for the clue.”

Pei Liu said weakly: “…Okay.”

Tong Jiaqi was observant. Noticing his pale complexion, she asked again: “Little Pei, are you really okay? You don’t look well.”

Pei Liu shook his head, clutching the badge tightly: “I’m fine. Let’s hurry and claim the prize.”

Zhao Hai was the one among them who understood the situation best. Having guessed something, he gave Pei Liu a meaningful look, essentially saying: You’ve had a tough time.

Pei Liu felt mentally exhausted, only hoping this clue would be useful so they could uncover the truth and finish recording the show as soon as possible.

Pei Liu handed the badge to the ghost wearing a burial shroud. Once the ghost took it, it tossed it into its mouth, chewed it with a loud crunch, and swallowed it.

Pei Liu: “…” Great teeth.

The ghost looked ravenous, its eyes glowing green as it stared at Pei Liu. If it weren’t for the restrictions, it would have devoured the delicious living human alive long ago.

Under that scalp-numbing gaze, Pei Liu accepted the clue.

The ghost left unwillingly.

Pei Liu and the others examined the clue.

It was still photographs.

Taken at different times, they told a story.

On the left were twin newborn girls—tiny, joined at the abdomen, their four arms and four legs tangled together, heads on opposite sides, looking like a large heart.

“Conjoined twins,” Wu Kai exclaimed in surprise.

The probability of conjoined twins is extremely low, and survival is difficult. Even those successfully delivered tend to have shorter lifespans than normal people. Such unique deformities easily evoke emotions, so naturally, directors include these rare conditions in horror movies. Pei Liu had seen a thriller where the protagonist was a conjoined twin.

The sisters in the photos were relatively lucky. Although their separation was incomplete, they shared very few organs, making the difficulty and danger of separation surgery manageable. At age three, they underwent a series of surgeries and were successfully separated into two independent children.

The older sister was healthy, while the younger sister was frail and prone to illness. But fortunately, both children survived. Their parents were overjoyed, took commemorative photos, and happily wrote: Two precious gifts bestowed upon us by heaven.

This clearly seems like a beautiful story, so how did it turn into a murderous horror plot later?

Tong Jiaqi sighed with pity: “They managed to survive with such difficulty, only to end up…”

But it was just a sigh. After all, it was only a background story; finding out more about the ghost’s past was more important.

They walked forward along the corridor.

The group subconsciously centered around Pei Liu. Jian Yongge walked at the very back, gradually marginalized. He remained silent, his presence significantly diminished.

However, his expression was gloomy and dark, like a cold-blooded animal hiding in the shadows.

His eyes were pitch black, without a trace of light, and the darkness was still spreading, gradually turning the whites of his eyes black. He turned his head, casting a vicious look at the female ghost beside him, his voice hoarse, like a venomous snake’s hiss.

“I want him dead…”

The female ghost covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes crinkling as she laughed. She said seductively: “What a wonderful thought. I can help you, as long as you…”

It wasn’t easy for ghosts to kill someone directly. Ordinary people had yang energy protecting them. For someone as frail as Pei Liu, it should have been simple, but he seemed to have a powerful protective amulet, making it difficult. In this case, having a human help from the inside would make things much easier.

During the next round of the game, when the guests were separated, Jian Yongge found Pei Liu. He suddenly stepped forward and gave him a hard shove.

Caught off guard, Pei Liu stumbled and fell forward. Right in front of him was a window. He hurriedly reached out and grabbed the windowsill to steady himself.

Then, he turned around angrily.

But Jian Yongge just looked at him, suddenly revealing an eerie smile.

A living person—someone he had spent days with—looking so ghostly and sinister was even more terrifying than a ghost.

However, Pei Liu was momentarily blinded by anger. Forgetting his fear, he wanted nothing more than to roll up his sleeves and start a fight.

“I’ve put up with you for a long time…”

Two small flames ignited in his eyes, and even the yang fire on his shoulders seemed to flare up slightly due to his agitation. For his frail body, this was a rare moment of it burning so brightly.

Pei Liu had his back to the window, unable to see what was behind him, but Jian Yongge saw it clearly.

A pair of feet covered in corpse spots appeared above the window and slowly descended, revealing calves, thighs, waist, all the way up to the neck, which was tightly wrapped with a coarse rope stained with black blood. Finally, it revealed a ghastly, bruised face grinning hideously, its eyes filled with ravenous hunger for living soul food.

The hanged ghost dangled mid-air, directly facing Pei Liu’s back, reaching out a swollen, blackened hand.

Jian Yongge was thoroughly excited, craning his neck to watch.

The ghost hand moved forward and rested on Pei Liu’s shoulder. Just as it was about to succeed, the hanged ghost’s grin widened.

But at that very moment, a sudden anomaly occurred.

Where it touched Pei Liu, the ghostly energy was suddenly sucked away and devoured, plundered without any hesitation.

The hanged ghost’s expression changed drastically. Instinctively sensing danger, it frantically tried to retract its hand, but it was as if glued by superglue. For a moment, it couldn’t pull it back, panicking so much it almost broke into a cold sweat.

Finally, when it managed to yank its hand back, half of it was gone.

The hanged ghost was stunned.

I’ve only ever heard of ghosts eating people. I’ve never heard of… what the hell is this?!

The hanged ghost was in disbelief, utterly shocked, and completely enraged.

Unable to accept it, its eyes widened. It looked at Pei Liu, then at its own hand, and back at Pei Liu. After staring for a long time, it finally deciphered two words written all over the back of Pei Liu’s head—Ghost Eater!

The hanged ghost felt deeply insulted and terrified internally. Seeing Pei Liu about to turn around, it panicked, running blindly, and actually… jumped out the window.

Downstairs, Zhao Hai happened to look out the window and saw a terrified ghost screaming as it plummeted. He was startled and completely baffled.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Afterward, the hanged ghost fearfully told its fellow ghosts that the human could eat ghosts. As expected, the prettier something is, the more poisonous it is. Everyone must stay away from him!

The other ghosts, however, didn’t believe a word and sneered.

How can an underworld resident scam other underworld residents? So unethical. It’s obvious he wants to hoard it all for himself. Bah! What a dirty heart, full of ghost lies. Like hell we’ll believe you.

From then on, the hanged ghost’s reputation among the ghosts plummeted to bankruptcy. It was ostracized and not even invited to graveyard raves—truly pathetic.

Meanwhile, the “culprit” behind all this, Pei Liu, was completely oblivious.

He suspected he felt a cold draft behind him and warily turned to look, but seeing nothing, he turned back, ready to settle the score with Jian Yongge.

However, he only saw a retreating back fleeing in panic.

Pei Liu: “…?”

Is he out of his mind?

Why is he acting like he saw a ghost and went crazy with fear?

Shouldn’t I be the one who’s scared?

Pei Liu shook his head, confused and innocent. Unable to figure it out, he had no choice but to continue his task.

As he walked forward, the shadow on the ground didn’t follow. Black mist slowly emerged, condensing into a tall, slender figure, with ink-black hair cascading like a waterfall, standing upright.

Xie Wuyu stood by the window, his hand resting casually on the windowsill right where Pei Liu’s waist and hips had been leaning. His fingers curled slightly, tapping gently. The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, and recalling the scene just now, he let out a soft chuckle.

When the hanged ghost reached out to touch Pei Liu, he had originally intended to stop it, but sensing Pei Liu’s unusual state, he paused and was indeed treated to a spectacular scene.

Makes sense.

Pei Liu can even devour my energy; how could a mere wandering ghost be an exception? It’s just a randomly triggered passive skill, not something that works every time. I wonder what Pei Liu will become after consuming too much yin energy.

Half human, half ghost? Or perhaps… a ghost god?

Xie Wuyu tapped the windowsill, making a faint sound.

Suddenly, he lifted his eyes, glancing indifferently at the corner of the wall.

A child’s foot frantically shrank back into the shadows, trembling violently.

It was the very same little ghost who had crouched under the table and scared Pei Liu earlier. She had just witnessed Pei Liu devouring the ghostly energy, and now she had accidentally stumbled upon an unknown, dangerous entity.

As the ghost owner of this villa, she was scared stiff, curled into a tight ball, hugging her scrawny self securely.

Weak, pitiful, and helpless.jpg

Xie Wuyu remained expressionless, completely disregarding a minor ghost, and walked away.

Not long after, in the dining room.

Pei Liu and the others, just preparing to eat, suddenly heard a deep, smiling voice.

“Good evening, everyone.”

Startled, everyone turned toward the sound.

Not far away stood a tall figure with a pale, handsome face, and silky, jet-black hair reaching his waist. He looked as if he had just stepped out of an endless snowy landscape, carrying a biting chill. He smiled slightly, his demeanor elegant and noble. His deep gaze swept over everyone present, finally locking onto Pei Liu. The curve of his lips deepened, gaining a touch of sincerity.

“Pei Liu, I came to find you as promised.” His pale, thin lips slowly enunciated the words, sounding profoundly meaningful.

As if to say:

Now, it’s your turn to fulfill my request.