Chapter 82: Undying Love

“Aaaah!!!”

Tan Xueci and Lu Qi were both focused on their research. When they looked up and saw the gloomy, pale face of the evil ghost, they screamed and nearly jumped into each other’s arms.

“Sorry,” the evil ghost said with a considerate smile, his dark, cold eyes fixed on them. “It seems I came at a bad time.”

As he spoke, his blurry, ink-black figure began to fade into the wall, as if he intended to leave.

“Wait…” Lu Qi’s heart pounded against his chest. Before he could recover, seeing He Xunye about to leave, he nearly jumped again and hurriedly stopped him. “Wait!”

He wanted to call out to He Xunye, but couldn’t remember what to call him. It was all Tan Xueci’s fault for calling him “husband” all day. When Lu Qi opened his mouth, he almost blurted out “husband” too. Thankfully, his brain worked fast and he realized something was off, so he stammered, “Husband… bro! Don’t go, husband bro!”

The evil ghost’s already gloomy eyes turned even darker, staring at him as if he were a dead man.

“Who’s your husband?” the evil ghost frowned, his voice as cold as ice. “Who’s your brother?”

Lu Qi was about to kneel and kowtow to him. Never mind being his brother, He Xunye could be his father. He was terrified that He Xunye would pretend nothing happened, then turn around and strangle him with a sinister look.

Bright heavens, ghost lord, he was innocent!

Tan Xueci: “…”

Tan Xueci wrinkled his face in disgust and pushed Lu Qi away, wondering if he’d ever see Lu Qi show some backbone in this lifetime.

Lu Qi clearly had no backbone. Wrapped in his thick padded coat, he shrank his neck and handed Tan Xueci over to the evil ghost.

The evil ghost’s icy eyes stared at him, but he didn’t bother to argue. He reached out and straightened Tan Xueci’s sweater, then pulled him toward the sofa in the lounge.

Tan Xueci looked at He Xunye’s dark expression. He hugged He Xunye’s arm and coaxed the ghost in a small, pleading voice: “Honey, I’m only pretending to be nice to him. I’m really nice to you.”

But the lounge wasn’t big, so even though he whispered, Lu Qi, who was following behind, could hear him.

Lu Qi: “…”

Lu Qi experienced for the first time what it meant to ‘have a wife and forget your mother.’

The evil ghost’s lips had just curved up a little when he sensed someone watching them. He turned his head gloomily again, and Lu Qi shivered in fear, quickly shrinking into a corner.

Lu Qi felt indignant. He thought Tan Xueci was still no good.

If only he had eaten the lamb penis he bought earlier and shown his prowess, would this dead ghost be able to get out of bed?

After He Xunye sat down, he took out his phone and showed Tan Xueci a video. The cloth doll also climbed from his side onto Tan Xueci’s shoulder. Tan Xueci then noticed that the doll was wearing a tiny outfit exactly like the one he had on today.

The cloth doll proudly lifted its head, happily reached out its little hand to hug Tan Xueci’s face, and rubbed against his cheek.

“Does it look good?” the evil ghost curled his lips, seeking praise from his wife again. He had the demeanor of a devoted husband, as if his wife had gone to work and he had taken good care of the child at home.

Tan Xueci: “…”

Crazy.

Tan Xueci had no idea what this dead ghost was up to. This tiny outfit couldn’t be bought off the rack; he figured He Xunye must have made it himself. The world was falling apart, and the dead ghost was still doing handicrafts.

He Xunye had lived alone at Qilian Temple before, with no one to look after him, so he really could do a bit of everything.

His wife was stingy and didn’t plan to reward him, so He Xunye reached out to pinch his wife’s cheek himself. But Tan Xueci slapped his hand away expressionlessly, turning the pale back of his hand red. The dead ghost just laughed instead.

He leaned on the table, staring at Tan Xueci, and the tip of his black shoe brushed against Tan Xueci’s calf. Tan Xueci blushed and stomped hard on his foot, finally making the dead ghost behave.

Tan Xueci opened the video, and his gaze gradually froze. It was a surveillance video of an alley at night.

A tall, thin man wearing a black mask and a black cloak had his entire face concealed.

He wore dress pants and leather shoes underneath. His black shoes stepped one by one on the muddy alley after the rain, with the wet moonlight hanging in the night sky, making his demeanor seem calm and elegant, if it weren’t for the child he was holding by the hair.

He yanked the child’s hair, suddenly stopped, and swung a knife hard at the child’s neck. The child’s head rolled onto the rain-soaked ground, its pale face covered in tears, blank and terrified.

That ripper posted the video of his murder online. In the past, it would have caused an uproar, but now so many people died every day that everyone was exhausted and afraid they’d be next. The video surprisingly didn’t gain much traction.

“There’s something wrong with this guy. I’m going to look for him,” He Xunye said, looking at Tan Xueci. Then the evil ghost turned to Lu Qi, smiled, took off the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist, and said politely, “Brother Lu, take this. If any ghosts or monsters come, help me keep an eye on Little Mie, okay?”

Lu Qi: “…”

“…, are you serious?”

And who’s your brother?

Lu Qi didn’t dare speak or ask. He took the beads and couldn’t help shivering. He felt a heavy bloody aura on the beads, and as soon as he touched them, it flashed.

He reasonably suspected He Xunye wanted to secretly kill him.

After He Xunye left, Lu Qi crouched beside Tan Xueci, looked around, and whispered mournfully, “Mie, can’t you really change husbands? This is so scary.”

He was already scared.

Don’t love him too much.

“No way,” Tan Xueci said seriously, lifting his face. “We’re husband and wife.”

Earlier, he had listened to a relationship master’s lecture. The master was passionate and fatherly: “If after listening to my lecture you finally find the person you want, then remember this: ‘Before the pillow, we make a thousand vows; to break them, wait till the green hills rot.’ In marriage, running away from battle is not allowed!”

Tan Xueci didn’t understand.

So he connected with the master in a livestream and asked what it meant.

The master told him: It’s like when you and your husband whisper by the pillow before sleep, you vow never to abandon him, until the stars Shen and Shang appear together, until the Big Dipper points south, until Mount Yan rots and the Yan River dries up, until heaven and earth are overturned, from the highest mountains to the deepest abyss.

Tan Xueci tilted his head and asked, “Then can we break up?”

The master smiled mysteriously and said, “No, even then, it cannot be severed. That is love.”

Lu Qi was still talking. He cursed He Xunye a few times, but the dead ghost didn’t come out to strangle him, so it seemed he had really left. He finally relaxed, flopped onto the sofa carelessly, and continued to badmouth He Xunye. But after a long while, Tan Xueci didn’t react, so he puzzledly waved his hand in front of Tan Xueci’s face.

“…” Tan Xueci finally snapped out of his daze, his face a little red. He looked at Lu Qi and whispered, “What should I do, Brother Lu?”

“What should you do about what?” Lu Qi didn’t understand.

Tan Xueci placed his hand over his lower abdomen. That heart came over and rubbed against it like a puppy. The two hearts in his body beat simultaneously. Tan Xueci looked at Lu Qi with pleading eyes and said a little guiltily, “I think I’ve fallen in love with him.”

A little more than like.

Lu Qi: “…”

Lu Qi never expected that his persuasion would instead make Tan Xueci decide to have an undying love with He Xunye.

Lu Qi was heartbroken but didn’t say anything more. It was time to film, so he had to take Tan Xueci to the set.

Tan Xueci had two scenes today. After finishing the first, he had an hour to wait.

He was about to find a spot in a corner of the set to rest when he saw a doll lying on the ground just a few steps away.

Tan Xueci stiffened. He slowly looked up.

Behind the prop boxes, a little girl about seven or eight years old was squatting. The little girl waved at him, her pale ghostly face curving into a red-lipped smile, and mouthed: Big brother, come play.

Tan Xueci pretended not to see.

He had already eaten He Xunye’s heart, yet filthy things still clung to him. Tan Xueci touched his warm lower abdomen. His body hadn’t felt this warm in years; the last time was when he was very young.

Tan Xueci thought if he ignored it, nothing would happen. But unexpectedly, a crew member went to wake up an extra for a scene. The extra was slumped over the table as if asleep, and didn’t get up after several calls.

The crew member was secretly marveling at how great youth was, ghosts everywhere all day, yet he could still fall asleep.

But when he reached out and tapped the other’s shoulder, the other slowly raised his head, a stiff smile spreading across his pale, grayish face. His eyes had become bloody holes.

“Aaaaah…” the crew member screamed and scrambled away in panic.

The lights hanging from the ceiling began to sway, then a few lights snapped off one by one. They were filming in an indoor studio today, and it was raining outside. The entire set fell into darkness, with screams of terror rising one after another.

Luckily, Lu Qi was right next to Tan Xueci. He quickly turned on his flashlight and grabbed Tan Xueci’s wrist, trembling. “Holy shit, what’s going on?!”

Tan Xueci didn’t know either. He planned to hide with Lu Qi, but when he was about to leave, that little girl actually followed, tugging at his clothes and refusing to let go.

Lu Qi let out another yell, clearly not expecting a little ghost here too. His palms were cold. He mustered his courage and raised the prayer beads to smash them at the little girl ghost’s face.

“Wait,” Tan Xueci quickly stopped him.

How to put it? He didn’t sense any threat from this little girl ghost. She felt the same as those kitten ghosts, as if she didn’t mean to harm him.

From somewhere on the set, someone let out a painful scream, as if bitten by a ghost. Tan Xueci didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the little girl ghost and Lu Qi by the wrists and ran.

They ran all the way to the lounge, closed the door, and hid. The two people and one ghost huddled together, squatting by the door.

They didn’t know how long they had been squatting. Lu Qi started to get hungry, and Tan Xueci’s stomach was growling too.

“Big brother, uncle,” the little girl’s eerie, childish voice sounded. From between them, she extended a pale little hand and giggled. “Do you want some?”

Lu Qi lowered his head, thinking it was grapes or something. But when he shone the flashlight, he saw a few slippery eyeballs. He was so startled he almost threw the flashlight. But meeting the little girl ghost’s pitch-black eyes without whites, he held back, not daring to scold a ghost, and reluctantly said, “Uncle doesn’t eat. You eat it yourself.”

First time feeling warmth from the underworld.

Can’t really handle it.

When running, Tan Xueci vaguely saw a tall black ghostly figure enter. At first glance, it looked a bit like that ripper, but there were no children here, only a little ghost.

It wouldn’t even spare a little ghost, would it?

They waited a while longer. The whole set was deathly still. They could only hear footsteps in the corridor outside, pad, pad, calm and unhurried, coming closer.

If He Xunye hadn’t stopped deliberately scaring him lately, Tan Xueci would have almost thought it was his own dead ghost.

Cold sweat trickled down his spine. He had only ever felt such pressure from He Xunye before.

“f*ck,” Lu Qi cursed quietly. That ghostly thing outside seemed to be opening doors one by one. He could hear actors hiding in other lounges being dragged out. Screams rang out, and within minutes, only chewing and swallowing sounds remained. It was almost at their door.

Lu Qi clutched the prayer beads tightly. Husband bro gave him these beads; they should be reliable, right?

If they weren’t, it wouldn’t just kill him; it might also kill his wife. He thought He Xunye probably didn’t want to become a widower.

Lu Qi’s heart pounded like thunder. He turned back, met Tan Xueci and the little girl’s pale faces, steeled himself, and whispered, “You two stay here. I’ll go out and lure that ghost away.”

Tan Xueci wanted to stop him, but before he could grab him, Lu Qi had already run out.

That thing’s footsteps paused, as if it had noticed Lu Qi, then chased after him.

“Big brother,” the little girl whispered behind Tan Xueci, “will that uncle die?”

“Probably not,” Tan Xueci said.

He Xunye’s prayer beads had been with him for over twenty years. Even when He Xunye was alive, they were already a ghost artifact with heavy killing aura. Few ghosts could withstand it. Lu Qi shouldn’t die.

Tan Xueci was very evil, but he still comforted her: “When that ghost goes far away, we’ll be fine.”

“But,” the little girl was silent for a few minutes, then suddenly giggled and said eerily, “But I’m also a ghost.”

Tan Xueci’s eyelids twitched. He looked up and saw that little girl’s head suddenly fall off her neck. The head rolled onto the ground, its eyes still looking at him.

Tan Xueci: “…”

Tan Xueci was completely furious. Everyone was messing with him, right? And he was the easiest target. Today, he would make these dead ghosts know that even a dough ball, when hardened, can kill a ghost!

The little girl ghost giggled and was about to say something, but Tan Xueci, with a grim face, suddenly picked up her head and pressed it firmly onto her neck, saying coldly, “No, you’re not.”

Little girl ghost: “…”

Tan Xueci closed his eyes and randomly attached the head to her neck, not even noticing it was on backwards, the back of the head facing forward.

The little girl ghost squatted on the ground, pitifully hugging her head and twisting it around. “If not, then fine.”

Tan Xueci held his breath, listening to the sounds outside. He thought it should be safe now, so he took the little girl ghost and went out.

The lounge was on the second floor. He wanted to go downstairs and check, but when he reached the stairway, he suddenly felt something wrong behind him.

He turned around abruptly, but it was too late to dodge. A hand reached out from the darkness and pushed him hard on the shoulder.

Tan Xueci fell straight down the stairs.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Bound by Fate, Claimed by Love

BLDramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested