Buyout

Seeing Qin Liu's silly reaction, Liu Haoyu was a little stunned.

He repeated himself.

"I mean, you should know whether there's somewhere like a basement in this house, right?"

"I don't know."

Faced with Qin Liu's complete ignorance, Liu Haoyu could only cover his head. He began to suspect that Old Wang's words might not be true.

Did this haunted house really have a basement?

"Then what was that blood-red iron door I saw in my dream?"

"How would I know what you dreamed about?"

Qin Liu replied speechlessly.

She could indeed control people's dreams, but that control came with certain limitations.

Moreover, Liu Haoyu's willpower was extremely strong. Even Qin Liu could only alter part of what he experienced.

"Urgh... What a headache."

Liu Haoyu covered his head. He had thought he could directly find out the source of the resentment in the house through Qin Liu.

Unexpectedly, Qin Liu truly knew nothing. She had not even figured out what was going on with her own house.

It seemed this path was a dead end.

Did he really have no choice but to honestly follow the Black Book's instructions?

While Liu Haoyu was thinking, Qin Liu continued.

"So why are you looking for the basement?"

"Why..."

Liu Haoyu looked around the room, trying to find Qin Liu's true body. Unfortunately, he could not see anything and could only answer,

"Since you still seem rational, I'll be frank. Judging from the current concentration of resentment in this house, your spiritual consciousness will completely dissipate within a year, and you'll turn into a mindless evil ghost.

"What I'm doing now is investigating the source of the resentment in this house, so you don't turn into a Fierce Ghost that kills and burns at will. Understand?"

After hearing Liu Haoyu's explanation, Qin Liu was shocked.

If what Liu Haoyu said was true... losing her mind and going mad—wouldn't that be practically the same as dying?

But after thinking about it carefully, Qin Liu felt that something was wrong.

Although she did not know exactly how long it had been since she reincarnated as this ghost, it had been at least several years.

If the yin energy—in other words, the resentment—could affect her, she should have gone mad long ago.

After figuring this out, Qin Liu spoke skeptically.

"You're not trying to trick me into leaving this house, are you? Let me make this clear: there's no way I'm leaving this house."

In truth, even if Qin Liu wanted to leave, she could not do so.

She could only reach the outside world with Red Jade's help, and Red Jade itself had restrictions. It was extremely troublesome.

"I'm definitely not tricking you," Liu Haoyu said thoughtfully. "Besides, Miss Qin Liu, hiding from someone while talking to them is very rude."

"..."

Qin Liu had never imagined there could be someone so shameless in this world.

"Bah! I think you're up to no good!"

Qin Liu had personally seen it in the dream. Although this man looked righteous and honorable, he was definitely a lecher!

Especially when she had dreamed of wearing white stockings—she had nearly made him drool.

Of course, things had not actually been as exaggerated as Qin Liu claimed.

At the time, Liu Haoyu had examined the situation with a critical attitude.

After all... who didn't love white-stocking ice cream?

"Forget it. Why don't we sit down and talk this over slowly?"

Liu Haoyu knew that haste made waste, so there was no need to rush.

"Want something to eat? Snacks from the twenty-first century taste pretty good."

As he spoke, Liu Haoyu rummaged through his backpack and pulled out an Albes lollipop and some potato chips.

Seeing the snacks, Qin Liu, who had no idea how long it had been since she had eaten any, naturally began to crave them.

She stared blankly at the snacks in Liu Haoyu's hand. Just as she hesitated over whether to accept them, she saw that Liu Haoyu had already placed a lollipop and a bag of chips in front of the shrine.

"Give them a try."

Looking at the chips and lollipop in her hands, Qin Liu finally said in an awkward, embarrassed tone, "...Thanks."

"You're welcome. Consider it payment for letting me see your legs."

"..."

Why did this man always have to bring up the exact things she did not want to hear!?

At the time, she had only wanted to test whether using seduction could break through Liu Haoyu's mental defenses, allowing her to control him and hint that he should leave this place.

She had not expected that although this guy really was vulnerable to seduction, his willpower would be so absurdly strong. Under those circumstances, she had still been unable to control him and could only let him wake up from the dream.

So, looking at it this way, wasn't she the one who had ultimately suffered?

Once she realized this, Qin Liu grew furious. She turned her frustration into an appetite and stuffed the chips into her mouth.

Her taste buds, which had not tasted salt in who knew how many years, exploded at that moment.

It could be said that to Qin Liu, a mere bag of chips was like sampling a delicacy from some food anime.

"How does it taste?"

"Not bad!"

Qin Liu answered Liu Haoyu's question instinctively, but quickly realized what she had done.

"Don't think you can bribe me with this stuff."

Liu Haoyu could not see Qin Liu eating, but judging from her reaction... this little ghost seemed to like them quite a lot, didn't she?

With that, Liu Haoyu took a can of Sprite from his backpack.

Worried that Qin Liu would not know how to open a can, Liu Haoyu opened it for her before placing it on the altar.

"Chips are a little dry by themselves. Have some of this."

Before Liu Haoyu could finish speaking, a "glug, glug" sound rang out in the air.

Clearly, Qin Liu had already started drinking on her own.

"Ah~" Qin Liu exhaled in satisfaction.

The corners of Liu Haoyu's mouth lifted slightly.

This little ghost was quite powerful, but perhaps he could bribe her with snacks?

"You can freely enter Red Jade, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Qin Liu spoke somewhat indistinctly, the lollipop still in her mouth.

"But I can't use that thing for too long. If I stay in it too long, it'll break."

"That's fine. Do you want to eat more delicious things?"

Hearing Liu Haoyu's tone, which sounded just like that of a suspicious old man, Qin Liu immediately became wary.

"What are you trying to do?"

"What could I do to you? You don't even have a body."

"That does seem true..." Qin Liu said, suddenly enlightened. "But there's a saying: when someone offers you something for no reason, they either have ulterior motives or are plotting something."

"Actually, it's nothing. I just want you to come with me and investigate this basement that no one can find. Once it's done, I can help you accomplish one thing, or take you out for more delicious food. What do you think? That's a pretty good deal, right?"

Although Qin Liu really wanted to refuse, she truly could not.

She wanted to go to Jiangquan City to see her younger sister. Without someone else's help, she had no way to leave this house.

Besides, this man was an exorcist with great strength, so there was no need to worry about encountering danger.

After weighing it over, Qin Liu said,

"Fine!"