The Incident

A few dozen minutes later, the two of them arrived at the entrance to a residential complex.

The complex was called Xishan Fenglin. It wasn't exactly upscale, but since it was close to the university district, property prices were still quite high. Li Sanli's father had spent his entire fortune buying a place here, and its value had multiplied several times since. He had no plans to sell it, though; he intended to give it to Li Sanli once he was living independently.

Then Li Sanli had promptly turned it into a hideaway for his lover.

Now that they were at the entrance, Li Sanli kept rubbing his hands together, his face full of hesitation and apprehension.

"I'm telling you, Zhou, maybe we shouldn't go over there..."

"Brother Zhou, how about we wait a little longer? I recently heard that a qigong master surnamed Ma is coming to our city soon. I'll spend my entire fortune to hire him to take a look..."

"Grandpa Zhou, great-grandpa Zhou... Damn it, Zhou You, you bastard! Get back here!"

Seeing that he couldn't talk Zhou You out of it, Li Sanli flew into a rage and reached out to grab him. Instead, he stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face.

Wait, had this guy always been this strong?

Only then did Zhou You turn around, smiling.

"Come on, don't get so worked up. You wanted someone to take a look at that thing, didn't you? What's wrong with me going to have a look?"

Li Sanli took a deep breath, then leaned close to Zhou You's ear and hissed angrily.

"That thing's a malicious ghost! A murderous ghost that doesn't think twice about killing!"

"True, but did it kill you?"

"...No."

"Did it hurt you or your friend with benefits?"

"—She's my girlfriend!"

"Fine. Did it hurt you or your girlfriend?"

"...No."

"Then there you go." Zhou You spread his hands. "Neither of you got hurt, and the only 'master' who ended up in the hospital was scared by his own imagination. It's obvious this ghost isn't very dangerous. And it's the middle of the day. Surely there's no harm in just taking a look?"

"Uh... I guess that makes sense?"

While Li Sanli hesitated, Zhou You continued.

"And, to be honest, I learned a thing or two from my grandpa. I might actually be able to help you."

That was the final straw. Li Sanli gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. I'll take your word for it this once. But let's get one thing straight: if anything happens, we run. I'd die alongside my girlfriend, but I'm not getting buried with a virgin."

What, did my being a virgin put a dent in your rice bowl?

Zhou You rolled his eyes, but quickly let it go and rubbed his chin.

He'd seen plenty of demons and monsters in scripts, but in real life... Could ghosts really exist too?

Whatever. I'll take a look first. From what Li Sanli said, the ghost isn't dangerous; it just refuses to leave and scares people. And it's the middle of the day. Even if there's danger, I can just use the Guyu Qing to drag him out of there.

Li Sanli led Zhou You to a building. He sneaked into the elevator, pressed the button for their floor, then looked around nervously, as if he were a thief. When he saw nothing unusual, he gave a nervous laugh and said, "Zhou, you've been hiding this from us all these years. We've known each other forever, and I never knew you could drive out ghosts and evil spirits. If I'd known, I would've..."

Just then, whether due to a power outage or something else, the elevator suddenly stopped, and the lights went out.

His words trailed off.

A few seconds later, a piercing scream rang out.

It was like a young woman discovering a cockroach in her food, or a frail scholar finding a burly man pressed against him in the shower—an anguished, profound despair that seemed to fill him from head to toe.

Even Zhou You, for all his composure, furrowed his brow at the ear-splitting shriek and clapped his hands over his ears.

After a while, the lights came back on.

No female ghost or monster had suddenly appeared. There was only a gaunt, emaciated fat man huddled in the corner of the elevator, still shrieking in a piercing soprano.

"Um..."

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!"

"Could I ask..."

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!"

"So..."

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Zhou You finally couldn't take it anymore and smacked Li Sanli hard on the back of the head.

At last, the screaming stopped.

Holding his throbbing head, Zhou You said, "Seriously, what was that? It was just an elevator malfunction. Did you really have to scream like that?"

"...It was just an elevator malfunction?"

Li Sanli stared at Zhou You with blank eyes for a few seconds before realizing what he'd done. He quickly stood up, embarrassed.

"So it was just an elevator malfunction. I thought we'd run into a ghost..."

As Li Sanli spoke awkwardly, the elevator started moving again. A dozen seconds later, it reached the selected floor.

By then, the fat man seemed thoroughly spooked. He cautiously poked his head out and looked around. Only after confirming that nothing was amiss did he breathe a sigh of relief and say to Zhou You, "My place is at the very end. Xuanxuan and I have been staying at a hotel lately. Apart from those few masters, no one's gone into the apartment recently..."

Listening to his trembling voice, Zhou You leaned out to look and saw that the hallway was in a shadowy corner of the building. The lighting was dim, and even though it was midday, everything still looked indistinct, as if something were lurking in the corners.

He glanced around, then suddenly spotted a rough piece of paper in the corner.

It was a yellow talisman.

Li Sanli saw it too and gave an awkward laugh.

"Zhou, don't mind that. One of the masters left it behind. He claimed he was a direct disciple of the Shangqing Sect, but he ran out of the apartment less than ten minutes after going in, leaving all his gear behind... If he was that useless, the talisman probably isn't worth much either. Just throw it away."

Zhou You didn't do that. Instead, he examined the piece of yellow paper carefully, folded it up neatly, and tucked it into his pocket before saying with a smile, "All right. Take me to your place."

Li Sanli seemed a little puzzled, but didn't say anything.

He led Zhou You down the hall to the door, took out his key, and inserted it into the lock. Then he began to turn it—

But just then, a string of bells suddenly rang.

Li Sanli froze.

As if he'd sensed something terrifying, he shakily raised his head and looked toward the sound—

It had come from Zhou You's wrist.

Li Sanli immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's just a hand bell... Zhou, don't scare me like that! You know I've been a coward since I was little. I nearly fainted just now..."

Li Sanli rambled on, picked up the key he'd dropped, then bent down and inserted it into the lock again.

So he didn't notice that Zhou You was also staring at the hand bell, which was giving off a faint ring.

And Zhou You's expression was even stranger than his.