Vengeful Ghost Puzzle

In the mists of the Nightmare World, a little shop that had no business existing glowed with a faintly warm light.

The boy in the half-dry school uniform looked a little pale, but his figure was tall and slender as bamboo, his face refined and handsome. It made the empty shop seem lacking in greenery and paintings, its bare interior unworthy of his elegant bearing.

On the wooden counter opposite him sat an adorable little boy with fair, delicate features. Perhaps it was because he had just been picked up with both hands and set on the counter, or perhaps for some other reason, but his face was flushed and his gaze wandered, even his ears burning red with embarrassment.

"You looked tired standing on tiptoe with your head tilted up all that time. Why not sit here while we talk?" Su Bai looked with satisfaction at the child, who was now at eye level with him on the counter. Though Xiao Wu looked five or six years old, he was as light as a doll. Even Su Bai, whose strength had yet to recover, could lift him with ease.

"Ahem, thank you, madam." Xiao Wu had been trying so hard to meet Su Bai's gaze earlier, yet now, for some reason, he was terribly bashful. His eyes darted everywhere except toward Su Bai.

Only after the exaggerated flush on his face had faded a little did the child continue, "Boss, Xiao Wu really wants to help, too, but ever since Master sent me to the shop, I've only been able to stay here. And since my power comes from you and this shop, I'm very weak right now, too. Most of the time, I can't even maintain a human form."

"So once you leave the shop, I'll return to my original form and sleep. That saves some energy." Xiao Wu grew more embarrassed as he spoke, but soon looked at Su Bai with eager eyes again. "So you have to work hard to bring in lots of stock, Boss. Then Xiao Wu can do more for you!"

"But I haven't agreed to let you stay in the shop yet." Su Bai had no idea what the child's original form was. Still, talking to him offered a rare chance to relax, which made him want to see more of the child's crumbling composure.

"Huh?" Looking at Su Bai's serious expression, Xiao Wu stiffened even his dangling little feet. With an aggrieved look, he insisted, "Madam, Xiao Wu really is useful!"

"It's Boss, not madam. Besides, haven't you already told me how to run this shop? What else can you do if you stay here?" Su Bai's question was only half-serious. Though he currently looked like nothing more than a frail high school boy, before his rebirth, quite a few people had avoided him like the plague because of his mischievous streak.

"..." Xiao Wu looked troubled. He frowned and thought hard for a long time, as though pondering the value of his continued existence. "Xiao Wu will work hard to look after the shop for you. Sometimes... sometimes, when you're outside and want to come back but can't find a door with a handle, you can try calling Xiao Wu's name. As long as Xiao Wu hears you, I'll open the door for you!"

"That sounds somewhat useful, but won't you be asleep while I'm away?"

"I'll try my best!" Xiao Wu nodded earnestly, though it was unclear what exactly he intended to try his best at.

"I suppose that counts as one. What else can you do?" The handsome high school boy, whose heart was actually a little wicked, wasn't truly trying to make Xiao Wu come up with something. He was just... just strengthening the bond between boss and subordinate.

That was all.

But Xiao Wu swung his feet on the counter, and sudden realization lit up his face, as though he really had thought of some great use for himself. Looking into Su Bai's eyes, he smiled. "Boss, Xiao Wu also knows lots of things about nightmares. And if you want to find something, someone, or some supernatural entity in a nightmare, you can ask Xiao Wu. I'll work hard to find relevant information for you, just like what humans call a search engine! This is a special ability Master secretly gave Xiao Wu!"

"Now that is a little unexpected." Su Bai hadn't expected Xiao Wu to have any other real uses. He had even been prepared to keep the little fellow in the shop purely as a mascot.

"You can give it a try, Boss!"

"Then how much information about this shop's owner is in our search engine's database?"

Su Bai didn't believe in any search engine, but he very much wanted to know how much the supernatural betrothed on the other end of his marriage pact knew about the person called "Su Bai."

The child's expression grew more solemn. He looked straight into Su Bai's eyes and said earnestly-

"Su Bai, human."

"Trait: 'Enhanced Puzzle Ability.'"

"Advanced ability: 'Vengeful Ghost Puzzle.' This ability allows him to incorporate the vengeful ghosts he has subdued into himself as puzzle pieces, borrowing their power while taking on their unfulfilled wishes. Since most of the vengeful ghosts he has subdued are female supernatural entities, his recorded epithets include 'Enchantress,' 'Witch,' 'Demoness,' and 'Siren.'"

It was as though an invisible book lay before Xiao Wu. After reading this far, he stole a cautious glance at Su Bai.

"Judging by his expression, he probably doesn't like these epithets very much."

"You really do know quite a lot." Of course Su Bai didn't like those strange epithets, but his objections couldn't stop other people from talking. Besides, the way he used his ability was indeed rather odd.

"But..." Su Bai braced both hands on the counter and leaned toward the child sitting on it. "You're talking about the twenty-nine-year-old Su Bai, but the Su Bai standing before you is eighteen. Don't you find that strange?"

Xiao Wu shook his head and spoke as though it were perfectly natural. "Master often says time is meaningless in nightmares. Time and space here often become tangled and overlap, so Xiao Wu only needs to know the Boss standing before me. Whether you're twenty-nine or eighteen, madam is still madam."

Su Bai couldn't help smiling, either. Indeed, whether in his previous life or this one, rather than dwell on so many complicated things, he might as well choose a path and keep moving forward. In the Nightmare World, nothing seemed more important than staying alive.

"So, can Xiao Wu stay in the shop?" The child's eyes were full of anticipation.

"I still have to go back to the bus, so naturally, I need someone to stay and watch the shop." Su Bai reached out and ruffled the child's hair. It was far too soft to seem like a creation of the Nightmare World.

"Thank you, Boss." Xiao Wu let out a heavy sigh of relief, then turned and pointed at the two doors beside the counter.

"Boss, the door against the wall leads to your room. I'll show it to you the next time you return to the shop. The other door beside it leads to the Mist Shop's storeroom. Just hold the handle with your left hand and imagine what you need. Whether it's food, clothes, or ordinary items for making merchandise, the storeroom will meet your needs."

"The things the storeroom creates are only empty shells, without any extra powers or functions, so they can't be sold as merchandise here. But things in the human world seem to be like that anyway, so what the storeroom creates is exactly the same as what humans use."

"That's already more than good enough."

Su Bai glanced at the Route 444 Last Bus, faintly visible through the shop window, then turned toward the storeroom Xiao Wu had mentioned.

"Xiao Wu, I have another question." Su Bai suddenly stopped. "Since you know my ability is 'Vengeful Ghost Puzzle,' you might also know that I obtained my first puzzle piece on the Route 444 Last Bus. She was a woman named A Xi, who was sold by her family to Ghost Village for a ghost marriage. After her death, she became a vengeful ghost in the form of a ghost bride, forever trapped on the road to Ghost Village, unable to escape."

"Now, for certain reasons, I'm back on the Route 444 bus, and I've met the ghost bride A Xi again. Now..."

"Madam-no, Boss, your puzzle pieces are still inside your body." Before Su Bai could finish, Xiao Wu explained earnestly, "Perhaps the same puzzle pieces exist in the world outside, but there will always be some differences."

"Perhaps... their experiences and memories?" Xiao Wu tilted his head as he looked at Su Bai. "Xiao Wu after meeting you is different from Xiao Wu before meeting you, too. In any case, the puzzle pieces with those most precious experiences and memories are still inside your body, Boss, so even if you encounter the same puzzle pieces, there's no need to worry. No matter what happens, the Mist Shop will always be there behind you."

"Thanks." Su Bai found himself somewhat at a loss for words.

Just as Xiao Wu had said, Su Bai's "Vengeful Ghost Puzzle" ability allowed him to borrow the power of vengeful ghosts, but at the same time, he had to take on their unfulfilled wishes.

Now that he had accepted the Mist Shop, what would he have to take on in return?

Su Bai had a premonition that the day he learned what he had to give might also be the day he met his supernatural betrothed.

Watching Su Bai leave the Mist Shop, Xiao Wu, still seated on the counter, suddenly shed all the vivid expressions from his face. He let out a long breath as though relieved of a heavy burden. Once he relaxed, his indifferent expression and gaze were utterly unlike those of the lively child from moments before.

"We finally met." Xiao Wu's figure gradually turned transparent, leaving only a murmur in the empty Mist Shop. "I look forward to our next meeting, my... madam."

The child's figure dispersed. In the end, all that remained on the counter was a palm-sized black doll, woven entirely from yarn, like a voodoo doll from legend.