CH 11

After Ling Xiao returned from his consciousness, he saw that the boy’s pale face was full of worry and anxiousness. He massaged his temple and asked, “Have you seen any strange ghosts around here lately?”

Chi Jiayan wasn’t paying attention. “Huh? Uh…strange ghosts?” 

Ling Xiao stayed silent, waiting for him to answer.

Chi Jiayan quickly recounted his thoughts. “I’ve never encountered a ghost that wasn’t strange. For example, the one facing the corner in the empty hallway is one that I’ve seen since I was little. It’s been more than ten years, but he hasn’t gotten tired or hungry…Also, there was a time where a few ghosts kept following me, talking about how I was some lord’s child…bride?”

As soon as he had said these words, Chi Jiayan’s voice died, immediately ending the conversation.

It was only then that he realized that the “some lord” the ghosts were talking about was probably just the Grim Reaper. 

The ghosts didn’t dare to say Ling Xiao’s name, because it seemed to represent summoning him, so they all used “that lord” instead.

Ling Xiao didn’t seem to care about these words at all, nor did he pay attention to how Chi Jiayan’s face was once again on fire.

He stared at the 100-yuan bill with a cold expression. Chi Jiayan could see a sense of calmness and prestige from this sternness.

In the middle of it all, someone knocked on the glass outside the window.

No, wait—it probably…wasn’t a person?

This was the third floor, after all.

The man outside the window was wearing gray robes and had bare feet.

He had a pair of little antlers on his forehead, and his silhouette was different from humans, with a noticeable red outline. 

He had been pressed against the glass, looking inside. When he confirmed that the Grim Reaper was inside, he pushed excitedly, shattering the glass.

“Master Ling Xiao!” He sauntered in, bare feet stepping on the shards of glass. “Hey, who is this brat? Is it my new partner? But he looks so small. Does the natal chart rely on child labor nowadays? That’s illegal, right? To be honest, I’m opposed to participating in all illegal activities.”

“…The door was over there…” Chi Jiayan said weakly. He couldn’t follow the brain circuit of this person. “Your feet…are bleeding…”

The man looked down at his feet, and sure enough, there were a few pieces of broken glass stuck in the soles of his feet. He dusted them off casually, letting the blood flow. 

Chi Jiayan’s feet hurt just looking at him.

Ling Xiao said, “Lu Cheng, your speed has dropped by a lot.”

The person who arrived was Lu Cheng. He hopped up and exclaimed, “It wasn’t my fault, the notice you posted was too barren! This location was so hard to find. Also, I’m off the clock right now. I need to rest, too. I already told you I need a partner with manpower. Wandering ghosts are also advancing with the times now, so they’re way harder to catch compared to before! Now ghosts even hide in Taoist temples to escape pursuit, can you believe it? Although their so-called beliefs don’t exist, it’s really funny, those fake Taoists are also ghost hunters—”

“Shut up,” Ling Xiao coldly said. 

Lu Cheng awkwardly tucked away his smile. He quietly looked at Chi Jiayan.

But Chi Jiayan was staring at the well-ventilated balcony window of his house…he would have to spend money again…

Ling Xiao’s black robe fluttered in the night wind. His fair complexion glowed like ice. He handed the 100-yuan bill to Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng snatched the bill with a face full of disbelief. “You called me here on important business tonight, only to tell me to run errands and buy takeout again?” 

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“Possessed by the dead. Attachment to the living,” Ling Xiao said. “There are only two possibilities.” 

Chi Jiayan appeared to follow a little bit about what they were talking about. He couldn’t help grabbing onto Ling Xiao’s sleeve. “Gege? Is Qiuqiu jie’s father dead?”

Lu Cheng watched him grab Ling Xiao’s clothes, eyes widening in shock.

This—this—wasn’t this too intimate?!

He knew this lord hated contact with any creature the most! 

If he rounded up a bit it would be like getting married!

This—this other party was still a child; was the lord actually a pervert?

Ling Xiao could hear Lu Cheng’s thoughts. He stretched out a hand, grabbed the antlers on Lu Cheng’s forehead, and tossed them out the window into the night.

“Animal cruelty—” 

Lu Cheng roared as he flew out.

Ling Xiao seemed to be used to this. He calmly brushed Chi Jiayan’s hand away and answered, “You’ll know if you see.”

With a “bang”, Lu Cheng was back. “Yes. I’ll send a soul-devouring beast to check it out first.”

Chi Jiayan: “Oh.” 

Lu Cheng popped his antlers back into place himself.

From within his sleeves, he grabbed a handful of small, black fur balls and put them on the floor.

If you looked carefully at those little fur balls, you could see that they all have limbs but no head, and it was hard to tell where their mouths were.

The group of fur balls trembled in place, as if reluctant to go. Lu Cheng encouraged them warmly, and they lined up to squeeze through the crack in the door. 

Lu Cheng squatted on the ground like a beggar. He tugged at Chi Jiayan’s hands. “It smells so good. Kid, do you have instant noodles at home?”

It was rare for Chi Jiayan to see someone who was hungrier than he was.

He nodded, the corners of his lips curving up into a smile, revealing his dimples. “I do.”

Upon first impression, Chi Jiayan seemed to be a talkative person. Fortunately, he was well-behaved and quick-witted. He would answer everything asked of him without oversharing. But after Lu Cheng the chatterbox arrived, the two of them seemed to have triggered some strange switch, the conversation flowing without a valve. 

—”Cold water? Hey! Brat, are you sure you make it like this?” 

—”I’m not a brat. I’m Chi Jiayan. You can call me Jiajia.”

—”Okay. Jiajia, could it be that you don’t know how to boil water?!”

—”That…I’m poor, so I don’t have gas…I can still heat it though!” 

—”Huh? Are you praying to the instant noodles? What…it’s hot! You’re a speech spirit!”

—”Mhm.”

—”Ahahaha, I never imagined that I’d meet a speech spirit in my lifetime! Hey, what else can you do?”

Ling Xiao had a headache. “You two. Enough.” 

The conversation came to an abrupt end.

Lu Cheng made a face at Chi Jiayan and mouthed, He has a really bad temper.

Chi Jiayan glanced at Ling Xiao. He smiled and mouthed back, Gege is really nice.

After thinking about it, he added, Gege’s my friend. 

A gust of wind blew by, and Ling Xiao disappeared.

Ling Xiao weaved between the tops of buildings and trees.

Wearing his white mask and black robes, he walked freely through the night.

For him, this was too unusual of a day. 

When his mask was on, he was the Grim Reaper.

When his mask was off, he was Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao no longer remembered how many years he had existed in this world. Roughly calculating, it must’ve been thousands of years. He didn’t remember his age, and he didn’t remember much about his past. Since the beginning of his memory, he had always been the solitary Grim Reaper, dealing with death day after day.

Over the long years, Ling Xiao had also been seen by a few people with spiritual power. 

Some people knelt down and begged for mercy as they trembled. Some people faced their death calmly. Some people wanted to make an evil bargain with him using everything they had.

No one had ever jumped into his arms and asked him to be his friend.

He was not used to such a change, nor used to getting along with such a soft young boy. Ling Xiao felt like he needed some alone time.

He searched the natal chart in his consciousness, wanting to know about what happened in the future. 

The natal chart replied quickly: Your request has been denied.

Ling Xiao was a little annoyed.

He didn’t like how his own trajectory had been changed by this event for unknown reasons.

For the first time in thousands of years, he felt like a thin layer of fog was appearing in front of his eyes. 

Ling Xiao returned to Chi Jiayan’s house on the third floor of the Qingshui neighborhood just when dawn was about to break.

Lu Cheng, this auxiliary god, was actually lying on the sofa and drooling.

The young boy was sleeping on his side in the bedroom. His brows were furrowed, and there was some wetness under his eyes.

He was indeed very small. No wonder Lu Cheng mistook him for child labor. 

Because the temperature in the early morning was a little cold, or because the Grim Reaper had arrived, the young boy curled up on himself, much like a glutinous rice dumpling.

Ling Xiao reached up to take his mask off, and the temperature in the room rose slightly.

Xiao Hei was lying under a cabinet, motionless, as if he was waiting to strike a mouse.

Not long after, a black furball timidly crawled out from the bottom of the cabinet. Xiao Hei struck out. The black fur ball quickly shrank back, a shrill cry of fear coming from under the cabinet. 

The soul-devouring beast had returned, and it was being hunted by Xiao Hei.

Ling Xiao drove Xiao Hei away. He started to listen to the report of the soul-devouring beast.

The fur balls stood on the edge of the bed, chattering endlessly. When Ling Xiao’s face grew cold, they quickly got themselves together, found their place, and lined up neatly.

The first furball fell over, revealing a big mouth on its belly. 

“I can’t die yet.” A thick, middle-aged male voice sounded—this was the soul fragments they devoured speaking.

Immediately afterwards, the second and third hairballs all began to speak.

“If I die, what will happen to Qiuqiu?”

“Everything will get better!” 

“I don’t believe it. I definitely won’t die. I want to watch Qiuqiu get married and have children!”

“My company will not go bankrupt!”

“It’s over. My…My body is rotting…If this continues, others will find out! Perfume—I have to buy perfume…”

Ling Xiao finished listening, looking up to see that Chi Jiayan had woken up at some point. 

The two looked at each other.

Chi Jiayan was smart, so he could already tell what had happened.

His lips trembled uncontrollably. Suppressing the urge to cry, he asked, “Gege, did I bring harm to Uncle Yu?”