Are you forcing me to sleep with you?

Before transmigrating, Jian Ran had actually worked two jobs.

Being a celebrity was only his side gig. His main line of work was still the mystical arts.

He had been sent to the Mystical Sect for advanced training at thirteen. Even after completing his studies and leaving, then entering the film industry through a chance encounter, he could hardly forget his major.

Mainly, this sort of thing was part of Jian Ran's fate. He could neither avoid it nor escape it. Even if he gave it up completely, he would still be forced to run into it.

Besides, his fellow disciples always had "situations" they couldn't handle and often begged him to step in. They belonged to the same sect and shared deep bonds, so how could he bring himself to refuse?

And so, one thing led to another, and Jian Ran earned a little extra money on the side.

After all, when it came to money, more was always better.

He had already been an old hand at catching ghosts in his previous life. After transmigrating into a melodramatic novel, it naturally came even more easily.

Take right now, for instance. Jian Ran had chased the gray figure out of a second-floor guest room and thundered up to the third floor. As he passed Lu Yanting and Ji Yuanming,

he didn't forget to tell them, "Keep an eye on this guy. Don't let him run around!"

Lu Yanting nodded slowly, registering what he had heard and preparing to carry it out.

Ji Yuanming, however, hadn't paid attention to what Jian Ran said. His gaze was completely caught by the gray figure flying past. He raised a hand to point and stammered, "Holy shit-"

"What is that?!"

Then his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Hearing the thud as he hit the floor, Jian Ran spared a moment to glance back, then curled his lips disdainfully. "Useless!"

For the people in the dining room, the night was especially long.

They sat around the dining table, hearing the female ghost's howls one moment and Jian Ran's angry shouts the next. Everything around them felt utterly unreal, as though they were in the safe zone of a horror movie.

It would have been a lie to say they weren't scared.

But they weren't quite that terrified, either.

Mainly because there was a badass upstairs chasing a ghost around...

Qi Rui worked up his courage and cautiously asked Li Yuan beside him, "Assistant director, are we keeping the livestream going? I'm worried we'll get content that violates the rules in a minute."

Li Yuan remained expressionless and perfectly composed, except that the hand he held out with a soup spoon kept trembling. "Turn, turn it off for now. We'll talk when Jian Ran comes down."

At a time like this, no one questioned whether the mountain villa was really haunted anymore.

The main feed and the individual feeds went dark at the same time. The livestream stopped without any warning.

This made Yu Fengyi, who was climbing the stairs with a tablet in hand, briefly furrow his brow. He asked the secretary beside him, "What's going on?!"

The secretary glanced at it and said cautiously, "The signal might be poor in the stairwell."

Yu Fengyi stopped and shot her a sidelong look. "Doesn't the stairwell already have Wi-Fi coverage?"

"The telecom provider may not have broken through the barriers yet," the secretary said with a straight face, secretly twisting her feet in her high heels.

If they kept taking the stairs like this, she would have to wear sportswear to work.

The thought left her a little dejected.

The president's the one who can't take the elevator. Why does he have to drag me along?

Can't I just wait by the door?

She suddenly missed having Jian Ran around a little.

At least his talisman paper had been pretty useful...

Before she could finish that thought, a custom ringtone suddenly rang out. The secretary jolted and adopted a look of solemn readiness.

From that cheesy, sickly-sweet ringtone, she could tell it was that player Zhong Fanrui calling...

"Is something wrong this late?" Yu Fengyi answered the call.

"Can't I call you if nothing's wrong?"

The sound leaked from the earpiece, and the secretary behind him heard every word. Her capable, cautious face actually twisted into a comically disdainful expression.

As though sensing something, Yu Fengyi whipped his head around.

She immediately resumed her serious expression.

Finding nothing amiss, Yu Fengyi turned back in frustration. "That's not what I meant. I was just surprised to get a call from you."

"Looks like I'll have to contact you more often, Fengyi, or you'll forget all about me," Zhong Fanrui said with a laugh, though there was a trace of something complicated in his voice.

Yu Fengyi fell silent for a moment, then asked in a low, husky voice, "When are you coming back?"

"I still have a few more days of classes before the break. Once it starts, I'll come back to see you, okay?" Having said that, Zhong Fanrui waited expectantly for an answer.

Yu Fengyi seemed a little irritated. He lowered his eyes to the now-dark screen and gave an absentminded "Mm. We'll talk when you get back."

"I still have something to do. I'm hanging up."

Staring at the phone after the call ended, Zhong Fanrui felt a sense of foreboding rise in his heart.

Yu Fengyi had never treated him like this before.

Whenever he took the initiative to contact him, although Yu Fengyi always did his utmost to restrain his emotions, joy and longing could still be heard in his tone.

But tonight...

His thoughts paused, and Zhong Fanrui looked at his laptop again. In the variety show's introduction, "Ji Yuanming" was indeed listed as a newly joining guest.

"Why would he join? Doesn't he hate Jian Ran? Why join when he knows he's there?" he muttered to himself. The screen reflected features that bore some resemblance to Jian Ran's, his brows tightly knitted.

His phone rang again. Zhong Fanrui glanced down, unhurriedly pressed the answer button, then turned on speakerphone. "Is something wrong, calling this late? I'm staying up to work on my thesis."

"Am I disturbing you?" A voice barely suppressing its excitement came from the other end. "I, I don't need anything else. I just wanted to tell you I won the competition. I'm coming back home."

"What about you? When are you going back?"

"Hard to say. It depends on the professor's arrangements," Zhong Fanrui replied slowly.

The caller's spirits clearly sank, and he said nothing for a long while.

Zhong Fanrui had been about to hang up when something suddenly occurred to him. In an inscrutable tone, he asked, "Do you know Jian Ran?"

"Jian Ran!" The caller froze, then said, "No!"

"Oh, I was just asking. I still have to finish my thesis, so I'll leave it there."

Without waiting for a response, Zhong Fanrui hung up. The melancholy between his brows finally eased.

"Nothing but a poor imitation. He's destined never to make any real waves."

And so, at that same moment, in another time and space.

The person destined "never to make any real waves" grabbed the blue-gray figure by the collar and flung her hard, smashing her straight into the wall.

Bleeding from all seven orifices, the woman gave up struggling in utter despair and slowly slid down. She didn't even have the strength to beg for mercy anymore. All she could do was stare resentfully at Jian Ran as he approached step by step, hands in his pockets and an eminently punchable expression on his face.

"Why aren't you running anymore?"

"Where's Li Zongsheng? Isn't he coming out to save you?"

At that name, the woman, who had been ready to give up, twisted her face again. "Don't mention that bastard to me!"

"Oh? Got a grudge?" Jian Ran rubbed his chin with one hand and considered for a moment. "What, a romantic debt?"

As though he had hit a sore spot, the woman suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. Her piercing voice shattered the glass in the room, bursting it with a bang.

Jian Ran darted aside, nimbly avoiding the shards. By the time he looked back, that blue-gray figure had vanished.

The room instantly fell deathly silent. Only the curtains at the open window danced wildly.

Jian Ran had no intention of giving chase. He stood where he was, lost in thought.

But a cool, detached voice came from behind him.

"Wrecking the room like this-are you forcing me to sleep with you?"