Chapter 32: The Smile Beneath the Shadows

Initially overwhelmed by fear, trembling and unable to stop crying silently, he inexplicably felt as though he had eaten a midnight snack, and a very hearty one at that.

It was like he had gorged on spicy crawfish, grilled chicken wings, roasted oysters, grilled squid, meat sandwiches, oden, and stir-fried beef noodles…

It was delicious and incredibly filling. Not the physical fullness of the stomach, but a deep, profound satisfaction in his soul, leaving not a single gap. And with satisfaction naturally came drowsiness.

Unknowingly, Pei Liu forgot to cry. With his eyes closed, in a groggy daze, he was about to fall asleep. He vaguely heard a pleasant voice say something about pretending to sleep. Pei Liu refuted in his mind: I am not, I’m really asleep.

Just as he thought that, his consciousness plunged into darkness. The last sliver of wakefulness vanished as he truly succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.

Naturally, he didn’t hear that low chuckle, nor did he know that he was watched as he slept, the entire night.

The next day.

Pei Liu opened his eyes, feeling confused for two seconds, before abruptly jolting awake, remembering Xie Wuyu… and his lack of a shadow.

His eyes widened in panic and annoyance.

Under such circumstances, how could he have fallen asleep, and so deeply at that? His heart was simply too big.

“Awake?”

A deep male voice sounded above his head.

Pei Liu’s body flinched reflexively, and the hand wrapped around his waist stroked him in gentle comfort.

Xie Wuyu asked again: “Did you sleep well?”

Pei Liu tugged at the corners of his mouth and said dryly: “…Pretty well.”

Then, he carefully slipped out of Xie Wuyu’s embrace, climbed out of bed, and quickly hid in the bathroom.

He couldn’t help but wonder: ghosts don’t need sleep, so what was Xie Wuyu doing lying beside him for that entire night?

Just imagining the scene made his scalp tingle.

He absentmindedly brushed his teeth, his mind racing. He accidentally pushed the toothbrush too far back, triggering a gag reflex that left his throat uncomfortable.

He lowered his head to rinse his mouth, and when he looked up again, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xie Wuyu walk over.

Instinctively, his whole body tensed, secretly going on guard.

But Xie Wuyu did nothing; he merely leaned against the doorframe, just watching him. His eyes were deep and pitch-black, his face devoid of expression.

Under his gaze, Pei Liu felt panicky and immediately sped up his washing, making room for him: “I’m done.”

With that, he made to leave.

But a door’s width is limited, and with Xie Wuyu standing in the doorway, it was hard not to brush against him. He turned sideways, trying his best to maintain a calm expression as he squeezed past.

But just as he stepped out, a force stopped him by the wrist.

Xie Wuyu caught him and asked seemingly casually: “We can leave today, are you happy?”

Pei Liu’s expression froze.

He was indeed rejoicing over this in his heart, but hearing it from a ghost clearly made it a lethal question—literally, not metaphorically.

Pei Liu’s mind raced, thinking about the safest way to answer.

He feigned impatience with a touch of teasing: “Why are you asking again? You’ve asked a hundred times, it’s so annoying. Hurry up and brush your teeth, I’m going downstairs first, be quick.”

Without waiting for Xie Wuyu to reply, he ran out of the bathroom, hastily changed his clothes, and dashed downstairs.

This time, Xie Wuyu didn’t stop him.

Seeing the other guests in the dining room, Pei Liu let out a secret sigh of relief.

“It’s finally going to be over.” Wu Kai was overjoyed.

Zhao Hai and the others felt the same, though they were also a bit worried: “I’ve watched the first two seasons. On the last day, there are the most ghosts and they are the fiercest; it’s the climax of the show.”

Such an arrangement was understandable; otherwise, how could they have a perfect finale and attract more viewers?

Everyone’s expressions were complex, both expectant and apprehensive. But knowing that delaying the inevitable wouldn’t help, they figured it was better to get it over with quickly. Let the storm rage harder!

Footsteps approached.

Xie Wuyu walked into the dining room and smiled: “Good morning.”

The air stagnated for a moment before everyone snapped back to reality and returned the greeting.

Xie Wuyu naturally took the seat next to Pei Liu.

Pei Liu was eating dried scallop and salted bone congee. The white rice was boiled until thick and soft, and the savory aroma of the bones blended perfectly with the sweetness of the scallops, making it very delicious.

He pursed his lips around the spoon, feeling he had to act his part until the very end. He gave Xie Wuyu a bright smile, even scooped a bowl of congee for him, pushed it over, and said: “It’s very savory, try it.”

Xie Wuyu glanced at it, the corners of his lips curving: “Thank you.”

He then picked up a spoon, scooped up a mouthful, and put it in his mouth.

“It’s quite good.”

His table manners were excellent; he ate with refined elegance, pleasing to the eye, like an aristocrat.

Watching him, Wu Kai couldn’t help but restrain himself, feeling a bit boorish in comparison.

Imperceptibly, silence fell over the dining table.

They knew today was the final hurdle of the show and wouldn’t be easy, but they didn’t expect the production team to not even let them finish breakfast in peace.

Without warning.

A head suddenly appeared in the middle of the table. Its skin was bruised and covered in corpse spots, its eyes completely white. It opened a gaping, bloody maw and let out a terrifying roar.

Caught off guard, everyone screamed in unison. Some jumped up in a panic, knocking their chairs over, retreating backward in terror.

Lost in thought, Pei Liu didn’t even notice when the ghost head appeared. Only when he heard the others scream did he freeze, sitting motionless in a delayed reaction.

Xie Wuyu was completely unfazed, continuing to sip his congee unhurriedly, perfectly ignoring it.

Pei Liu glanced at the ghost head, then at Xie Wuyu, and his face immediately paled, quickly realizing what he needed to do.

He stood up stiffly. Due to weak legs, his movements were sluggish, looking incredibly calm and lazy.

To maintain his cover, Pei Liu felt he couldn’t run away alone. He reached out, tugged at Xie Wuyu’s sleeve, and whispered: “Stop eating, run.”

Xie Wuyu nodded, put down his spoon, and stood up unhurriedly.

The ghost head was just the beginning.

Wu Kai and the others fled toward the villa’s main door, but the door handle was wrapped in an iron chain with a lock in the middle. A prompt indicated they could only leave by finding clue fragments to obtain the key.

They were forced to turn back to search.

Suddenly, dense clusters of arms fell from the ceiling, hanging mid-air, pale as dry bones, their fingers still twitching.

If anyone walked past, the ghost hands would reach down and snag their hair.

Tong Jiaqi had long hair. She barely dodged one, but another ghost hand reached out and grabbed it, pulling so hard her scalp ached, feeling as if a large patch of skin on the back of her head would be ripped off.

She cried out in pain.

Wu Kai wanted to help, but his collar was also grabbed by a ghost hand, choking him, leaving him struggling to save himself.

Pei Liu was close by. After freeing himself, he ran over to help, suppressing his disgust to pull the ghost hand away from Tong Jiaqi’s hair. But unexpectedly, the moment the ghost hand saw Pei Liu, it was like seeing a treasure. It immediately dropped Tong Jiaqi, turned to grab him, and, wrapped in a ghostly wind, lunged viciously at Pei Liu’s neck.

Xie Wuyu frowned, feeling displeasure towards the human Pei Liu cared about, then shifted his gaze to the ghost hand; there are actually ghosts who dare covet my possession.

Pei Liu turned his head just in time, narrowly dodging the ghost hand. As it grazed past him, a few strands of his hair were sliced off. However, the ghost hand didn’t get off easily either; Pei Liu unconsciously devoured a portion of its ghostly energy.

Then, under Xie Wuyu’s gaze, the ghost hand turned into a wisp of black smoke.

They finally pushed past the territory of the ghost hands and ran upstairs, sprinting all the way.

Second floor.

Third floor.

Fourth floor.

****

Wait, the villa didn’t have that many floors.

Sensing something was wrong, Pei Liu stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down the corridor. It was the second floor, the floor where their rooms were located. They had run up a flight of stairs around the corner, yet what they saw was still the second floor.

Ghost wall.

They were trapped on this floor.

Realizing this, everyone’s expression changed.

The corridor was pitch black, endless, like a massive abyss waiting to devour everything. From the distance came a thump, thump sound, getting closer and closer.

Pei Liu and the others simultaneously recalled unpleasant memories and decisively turned around to continue running upstairs.

The moment he stepped onto the stairs, out of the corner of his eye, Pei Liu saw Xie Wuyu standing to the side, his face expressionless, like a patch of dead land, completely still, watching coldly from the sidelines.

For a moment, Pei Liu didn’t know what he was more afraid of: the approaching ghost in the corridor, or Xie Wuyu.

Xie Wuyu suddenly lifted his eyes and met his gaze.

Caught off guard, Pei Liu’s heart pounded wildly, nearly leaping out of his chest.

He hurriedly looked away and ran even faster.

Xie Wuyu could only watch his retreating back as it grew further away and disappeared around the corner.

But, as he withdrew his gaze and looked down at the stairs below…

He saw him running back up again.

He was destined not to escape.

Xie Wuyu’s lips curved into a smile.

As Pei Liu ran up, sure enough, he saw Xie Wuyu standing in the same spot again. His footsteps faltered, his scalp numbing under that gaze. That half-smile was even more dangerous, like a trap set, just waiting for the prey to willingly jump into the net, only to tighten, entangle, and imprison them.

The others also ran up. Pei Liu had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow.

Reaching the landing again, facing the corridor, the thump, thump of something hitting the ground grew clearer, and in the darkness, they could even see a blurred ghostly figure approaching step by step.

They had to keep running up, floor after floor, not daring to stop.

Pei Liu couldn’t remember how many floors they had run. His legs were so heavy they were hard to lift; he gasped for air, his throat and chest burning with a fiery sensation. His head was buzzing, ears ringing, feeling nauseous. Gripping the stair handrail, he wanted to throw up.

The others were also tired but not as severely; his weak constitution left him trailing at the very end.

Pei Liu didn’t want to move anymore. He lowered his head, coughed twice, and panted rapidly.

The “stair handrail” he was gripping suddenly moved. It grasped his hand in return, soothingly rubbing the delicate skin on the inside of his wrist.

Pei Liu’s dizzy mind jolted. He realized that what he was holding wasn’t the handrail at all, but Xie Wuyu’s hand. The coldness made him let go immediately, but he failed; he was still held firmly, the icy sensation seeping through his skin into his veins.

“Stop running, it’s useless.” The voice by his ear was magnetic, striking his eardrums, superior to any voice actor, but the words spoken made Pei Liu’s fingertips tremble.

As if to make Pei Liu understand and believe more clearly, Xie Wuyu stood behind him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into his embrace. He placed a finger under his chin, gently lifting it, making him look up the stairs.

Pei Liu’s back was almost pressed tightly against Xie Wuyu’s chest, enveloped in a chilling aura, numbing his entire body. He wanted to lean forward to dodge, but his body completely refused to move; he was frozen.

His eyelashes trembled, his expression panicked.

The skin the fingertip caressed felt like warm jade, delicate and smooth, causing the entity to linger. Moving slowly upwards, it touched his soft lips, rubbing gently, pressing a slight indentation into the red, tender flesh.

It was as if he wanted to crush this gorgeous, fragile flower in his palm, grinding it repeatedly until the wet, sticky nectar flowed slowly between his fingers.