We're All Brothers

Deng Xiaolin possessed an ability ordinary people did not have.

She could receive the voices of souls and ghosts from an extremely great distance.

Deng Xiaolin had never tested the limits of this range, but the farthest distance over which she had ever communicated was a full eight kilometers.

Ever since she was little, she had often dealt with wandering ghosts. She also enjoyed the things and experiences they told her about; it felt just like listening to stories.

Moreover, Deng Xiaolin could directly see wandering ghosts, and most of them bore her no ill will and would not harm her.

That was precisely why she was so obsessed with searching for ghosts.

In her eyes, helping these wandering ghosts counted as doing good deeds.

Yet before she could do any good deeds, she ran into two men who did not look like good people at all.

"Run... run toward the utility pole..."

So, upon hearing the voice echoing beside her ear, Deng Xiaolin immediately took off running.

Like a startled rabbit, she did not give the two men even a moment to react.

Seeing Deng Xiaolin suddenly dash far away, the two men seemed to hesitate over whether they should chase after her.

Before Deng Xiaolin could even celebrate, she had just turned to look back when she slammed headfirst into something.

"Ow!"

The young woman was knocked straight to the ground by the recoil, while the person she had hit staggered as well.

"Don't come any closer!"

Startled, Deng Xiaolin instinctively pulled out her Peach Wood Sword. But when she opened her eyes, she realized that the person she had run into was none other than Liu Haoyu, who had come to investigate.

"Xiaolin, why are you here?"

"Brother Hao?" The moment Deng Xiaolin saw Liu Haoyu, she relaxed. "There are two guys over there who don't look like good people!"

"Oh, I'll go take a look."

Liu Haoyu took Deng Xiaolin's hand and returned to the two middle-aged men.

The two men seemed about to say something, but the moment they saw Liu Haoyu's sturdy build, they immediately behaved themselves and said with forced smiles.

"Brother, sorry for scaring your girlfriend. We were just fishing here, nothing else."

"Fishing?" Liu Haoyu looked at their kind, harmless faces and pretended not to know anything. "Well, isn't that a coincidence? I came here to fish with lures. We're all Brothers here, aren't we?"

With that, Liu Haoyu walked over, handed them each a cigarette, and said, "Here, have one. It's strong."

The two men looked at the cigarettes in Liu Haoyu's hand, nodded, and laughed.

"Haha, right, right, we're all fucking Brothers! By the way, bro, how many did you catch today?"

"Don't even mention it. Got skunked."

Liu Haoyu put on a pained expression and patted the two men on the shoulders.

"My girlfriend came to pick me up, so I can't keep you two company. I'll be going now."

"Yeah, yeah. See you around, brother."

Amid mutual waves, Liu Haoyu left with Deng Xiaolin.

But not long after Liu Haoyu left, the two men, who had still been chatting idly, suddenly widened their eyes in terror. Their stiff, mechanical hands clenched their phones as though someone else were controlling them.

"H-Hello... is this 110?"

"Brother Hao, what did you put on them?"

Faced with Deng Xiaolin's question, Liu Haoyu said, "Just a few hairs. But... you were right. Those two really are murderers. Don't come out alone at night again."

Ghosts were certainly frightening, but the human heart was even more terrifying.

"I'll take you back to your dorm first."

Deng Xiaolin had also heard that Liu Haoyu had bought a house in the outskirts, so she said, "Can I stay at your place for the night?"

That haunted house was good in every way, except it had not been renovated yet. He had only cleaned up one room, so if Deng Xiaolin stayed the night, she would have to squeeze into the same room as him.

More importantly, he needed to perform a Ghost Sacrifice tonight. It was an extremely dangerous matter; even he had no idea whether he would live or die.

Seeing Liu Haoyu's somewhat troubled expression, Deng Xiaolin looked at him with a touch of pitiful vulnerability. Like a younger sister acting coquettishly, she asked, "Can't I?"

"No."

Naturally, Liu Haoyu rejected her without mercy.

Even if she acted cute like the adorable little girl next door, no meant no.

"Okay."

Deng Xiaolin's gaze grew even more dejected.

By the time Liu Haoyu had taken her back to her university dorm and returned to the haunted house, it was already eleven at night.

Setting up the Ghost Sacrifice ritual at this hour was rather rushed.

But Liu Haoyu had no choice. He knew perfectly well that the resentment within the haunted house was simply too heavy—the longer he delayed, the greater the danger would become.

Even if it was a little rushed, Liu Haoyu still chose to perform the Ghost Sacrifice today.

Compared to Ghost Questioning, the Ghost Sacrifice ritual was far more complicated.

Liu Haoyu placed the blue candle on the left and the red candle on the right.

In the center of the candles, he carefully set down the item meant for the Ghost Sacrifice.

A pair of suspender stockings.

He had no idea whether that Fierce Ghost would like them, but Deng Xiaolin had said that all girls loved this sort of thing, so he would trust her for now.

After arranging everything, Liu Haoyu began sealing off the scene.

He sealed every window in the room with talismans, leaving only a single door.

That door had been left open for the Fierce Ghost of this haunted house.

Once the Ghost Sacrifice began, the Fierce Ghost would enter the room through that door.

Moreover, Ghost Sacrifice differed from Ghost Questioning. Once the ritual failed, given the gap in strength between himself and that Fierce Ghost, if she wanted to kill him, he would have absolutely no chance of surviving.

But for Liu Haoyu, from the moment he entered this line of work, life and death had long since been cast aside.

He had no one to rely on. If he died, then he died. There was nothing to regret.

With that thought, Liu Haoyu looked at the clock.

It was already 11:55.

The ritual was about to begin.

Liu Haoyu placed a small dish between the two candles. Then he took out a dagger and sliced across his palm.

The sharp dagger immediately cut open Liu Haoyu's palm. The sudden pain made him grimace uncontrollably.

Bright red blood flowed like water, constantly dripping into the small dish between the two candles.

As he bled, Liu Haoyu kept repeating two words.

"Qin Liu..."

That was the name of the Fierce Ghost in the haunted house, and also the true target Liu Haoyu had been searching for these past few days.

If the ritual went smoothly, he should be able to meet her tonight.

Blood quickly filled the entire small dish. Even then, Liu Haoyu did not withdraw his hand. His blood continued to flow, not stopping even after it overflowed from the dish.

There was one final minute until midnight.

After losing so much blood, Liu Haoyu's lips had already turned somewhat pale.

"Ticktock... ticktock..."

There was no clock in the room. No one knew where the ticking sound had come from.

Not even Liu Haoyu knew.

Perhaps it was the death knell from hell?

Finally, the moment the ticking stopped, the time froze at midnight.

At that instant, all the candles went out.

In the dim room, only the red and blue candles before Liu Haoyu still flickered with a faint light.