Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 66: Observation Diary

After setting up the human nest, Bai Shuangying officially began his grand observation plan.

Fang Xiu clearly liked the location. He heated up a can of food by the stove and ate it while watching some TV.

After a warm dinner, everyone smoothly split into two groups. Fang Xiu and Blondie took the first half of the night watch; in the second half, when the yin energy faded, Guan He, Cheng Songyun, and Mei Lan would take over for exploration.

This was only the first night. They planned to start with a defensive battle indoors.

Blondie idly took charge of combat defense, Fang Xiu focused on observing the evil spirits, and Bai Shuangying focused on observing Fang Xiu.

In the stillness of the night, the courtyard was indeed a “carnival of demons”. Evil spirits darted around like rabbits. But to Fang Xiu’s surprise, none of them were particularly strong, their main tactic was psychological horror.

For example, at this very moment, a group of evil spirits was forming a human pyramid outside the main room’s window. They pressed their faces hard against the glass while their butts were comically sticking up in the air, an indescribable pose.

Fang Xiu guarded with great enthusiasm for over ten minutes and finally complained, “Why aren’t they coming over?”

Such fresh ghost feed! Unfortunately, they had all targeted the newbies’ bedroom. They wouldn’t even approach the side wing, and barely a few gathered near Jiang Xun either.

Truly, how unfair. Some get nothing, while others drown in surplus*.

* The drought is too severe, you’ll die of thirst; if there’s too much rain, you’ll drown. (旱的旱死，涝的涝死。)  It’s an idiom describing extreme unfairness of two sides, where one side suffers from one extreme while the other suffers from the extreme opposite of the extreme. In this case, Fang Xiu’s group barely have any ghost haunting them, while the newbies are flooded with them.

Bai Shuangying couldn’t help glancing at the ghost jerky hanging on the wall and said nothing.

Blondie gloated, “All crammed up like that, those brats must be scared to death. How long do you think before they come begging?”

“I don’t think they will,” Fang Xiu replied casually, popping a candy into his mouth.

If they were truly smart, they’d never give up on contacting them. Even if the newbies didn’t fully believe Cheng Songyun’s explanations, they should at least understand the value of an experienced “ragtag team” in a brutal ritual.

But the newbies had still chosen the seemingly stronger lone wolf.

In other words, “decisive, ruthless strongmen” better matched this group’s preferences.

And such “strongmen” had an interesting trait: when weaker allies suffer nearby, they might not intervene; but if those weaker ones turned to others for help right under their noses, they might feel offended.

So unless it was absolutely necessary, the newbies wouldn’t rashly come asking for help.

Fang Xiu watched as a flickering light came from the west wing of the main room. After some muffled arguing, two figures finally opened the door. They were leaving the main room.

The moonlight revealed their faces: the couple who had drawn so much attention during the day. The moment they stepped into the yard, all the evil spirits melted into the shadows and countless glints of cold light flashed in the dark.

Even Blondie was shocked. “Wait, they’re going out in the middle of the night?!”

Even their own team, which had survived three rituals, stuck strictly to indoor defense the first night!

Fang Xiu stood up. “You stay here and keep watch. I’ll go see what’s going on.”

“Fang Ge, you’re going out to save them? Isn’t that unnecessary?” Blondie was stunned.

Fang Xiu blinked. “Their behavior’s too weird. I need to see what’s going on.”

Knowing Fang Xiu was good at staying hidden, Blondie thumped his chest. “Fang Ge, don’t worry! If any evil spirit comes, I’ll twist their necks myself!”

And so, a few minutes later, under the moonlight, a man and a ghost silently followed the couple.

“Leaving the house at night: no abnormality.”

“Leaving the yard at night: no abnormality.”

In hiding, Fang Xiu murmured observations, “But this forest at night… Haa.”

The moonlight was bright, the trees rustled, and the sound of insects was unusually clear.

Equally clear were the rising and falling murmurs. Countless voices were chanting incomprehensible syllables, forming waves of chill in the darkness. The distant town lights shone brightly as if they were from a different world.

Unlike in the yard, no evil spirits jumped out to startle them.

The shadows of trees swayed constantly, their silhouettes showing suspicious protrusions. The farther from the yard, the stronger the needle-like chill became. As the night wind passed through the treetops, Fang Xiu could barely tell if it was yin energy or just normal wind.

Fang Xiu instinctively tensed his back and gripped Bai Shuangying’s hand. Bai Shuangying, now warmed by Fang Xiu’s body heat, gave off a deceptive sense of warmth.

But the couple walking ahead showed no fear, as if the outside world had nothing to do with them.

Seeing the man’s movements grow increasingly stiff, Fang Xiu frowned. “That guy…”

“He’s dead,” Bai Shuangying said succinctly. “He was already a corpse when he left the main room. What moves now is a body possessed by an evil spirit.”

Fang Xiu drew a sharp breath. Since the ritual began, this was his first encounter with such a classical evil spirit.

As they spoke, the curly-haired woman was playfully asking the corpse to carry her on his back. The autumn night was chilly, and she hadn’t yet realized her boyfriend was cold as ice.

The corpse obediently carried her and headed straight for the wind barrier. Even as they approached the edge, it didn’t slow down.

Fang Xiu’s brow furrowed tighter.

He had no intention of saving the newbies, but he also couldn’t stand watching someone die right before his eyes. This situation looked far too unnatural. He still had questions for the curly-haired girl.

Just as Fang Xiu was about to speak up, a cold hand clamped over his mouth.

Bai Shuangying held him tightly, his arms like iron bands. His ghostly chest didn’t breathe. In that moment, Fang Xiu felt like he’d been locked inside a steel coffin.

The next second, the couple rushed into the wind.

The curly-haired girl’s scream was cut off instantly.

Fang Xiu watched with wide eyes as they collapsed. Within seconds, moisture drained rapidly from their bodies, and they shriveled into desiccated corpses. Then, with a gust of yin wind, the corpses were gently pushed back inside the wind barrier.

Their eyes sank; mouths slightly open. Their clothing had been torn to shreds by the wind, shoes and backpacks tossed aside. Under the hazy moonlight, they looked like two dead branches.

Fang Xiu held his breath, not daring to move.

The moment they stepped into the wind, he understood why Bai Shuangying had restrained him. Countless evil spirits emerged from the shadows, racing past him in a frenzy.

The wind barrier had barely spat the corpses back when the spirits swarmed like starving wolves, tearing the bodies to pieces. Flesh, soul, even their clothes—everything was devoured. Not even a strand of hair remained.

When they were done, the evil spirits even picked up inedible remains, like metal and plastic, and flung them outside the wind barrier.

No blood, no remains. The two had vanished as if into thin air. If Fang Xiu hadn’t witnessed it himself, he never would have guessed such a brutal form of “disappearance”.

Fang Xiu lowered his eyes, as if in mourning.

Bai Shuangying still had a hand over his mouth. His fingers nearly blocked Fang Xiu’s nose; Fang Xiu’s warm breath puffed onto his fingertips, soft and hot.

Bai Shuangying squeezed his human experimentally. What kind of reaction would he have after a failed rescue?

After a while, Fang Xiu sighed.

“Looks like the evil spirits here aren’t treated very well, huh.”

Bai Shuangying took a few seconds to confirm he hadn’t misheard.

“Thanks for holding me back. Otherwise, they could’ve trampled me to death.” Fang Xiu patted his chest in lingering fear. “…So, want to take a walk with me? The moon’s gorgeous tonight. It’d be a waste not to go on a stroll.”

Bai Shuangying: “……”

The reason he’d agreed to accompany Fang Xiu outside was so he’d see firsthand the consequences of leaving the yard, to make sure his human would firmly stay put.

…You can’t escape, but look, I can protect you. Only I can protect you.

…You don’t need to leave. Everything you need is here. In exchange, give me all of yourself.

It was a perfect plan, but what was with this relaxed reaction?

Those evil spirits just ate two people right in front of you! And you still want a moonlight stroll?!

Seeing Bai Shuangying unmoving, Fang Xiu offered, “If you don’t want to, we can just go back…”

Bai Shuangying gritted his teeth. “I want to.”

Fang Xiu’s eyes lit up. He grabbed Bai Shuangying’s wrist and led him toward the brightest moonlight.

Bai Shuangying followed behind in confusion, questioning everything he knew about humans, and about Fang Xiu. He just couldn’t make sense of it.

Despite Bai Shuangying’s concealment, plenty of evil spirits still wandered the night.

Fang Xiu calmly stepped over snake-women, ignoring the one-eyed birds crouching in branches. He stretched under the moonlight, basking in its glow, and casually slapped a giant moth flying at his face.

“This is my favorite ritual so far.” Fang Xiu pushed a skull spirit off a stump and sat down.

The skull, unable to see hidden Fang Xiu, spun its head around in confusion. Fang Xiu reached out and patted its head twice.

The skull sizzled, yelped, and literally rolled away.

Fang Xiu marveled, “So timid.”

Bai Shuangying said nothing, sitting slowly beside him.

Fang Xiu clearly misunderstood Bai Shuangying’s sullen look. “Don’t worry. That wasn’t the evil spirits’ doing. I’m not going to suddenly drop dead in the house.”

Bai Shuangying already knew what had happened. Since he hadn’t spoken up earlier, now all he could do was grunt awkwardly.

Fang Xiu, thinking he didn’t understand, explained patiently, “So far, the evil spirits in the yard are the weakest. If they could kill silently, they’d have gone on a rampage already, not fled outside.”

“And the choice of possession was interesting too. The pierced-lip guy kept violating taboos and wasn’t well liked. Even if he started acting weird, the others wouldn’t stop him. At most, they’d suspect something ritual-related.”

Bai Shuangying stayed silent and continued to play dumb.

“This feels less like evil spirits killing on their own and more like someone using the newbies to test the death taboo. At least now we know: ‘Don’t walk into the wind or you’ll die’.”

“Most likely,” Bai Shuangying admitted helplessly.

The possession trick had indeed been Jiang Xun’s doing.

Bai Shuangying had smelled the foul magic of a dark Taoist on the pierced-lip guy. He hadn’t spoken up immediately, wanting to confuse Fang Xiu’s understanding of the taboo… How long did that last? Maybe the time it takes to burn one incense stick?

It was only the first day, and Fang Xiu had already figured out the death taboo.

Why couldn’t his human be a little dumber?

Bai Shuangying slumped slightly, part of his body beginning to melt back into his true form.

Direct interference wouldn’t work. How could he make this human stay in the den willingly?

Beside him, Fang Xiu looked up at the stars. “Wow, you can see Orion so clearly.”

“Orion?” Bai Shuangying echoed blankly.

“In ancient time, they call it Shenxiu, referring to those three stars in the middle.” Fang Xiu pointed upward. “City lights are usually too bright. I can’t even remember the last time I saw it.”

“They’re just stars.” 

Bai Shuangying looked up at the sky. He’d been with these stars for so long but never cared about their names. Stars were just stars. Even if humans gave them strange names, they wouldn’t respond.

Fang Xiu had long been accustomed to his ghost’s cold way of speaking. He continued calmly, “The light from those stars takes over a thousand years to reach us. So what we see is what they looked like a thousand years ago. Isn’t that interesting?”

Bai Shuangying froze. “?!”

This was news to him. He’d thought stars were just smaller than the moon.

“…Even if a star died now, we’d still see its light for a thousand years.” Fang Xiu gazed at the sky. “Would you say that its ‘lingering light’ means it still exists?”

Bai Shuangying didn’t know how to respond. He was still stuck on “stars are really far away”.

But Fang Xiu looked at him earnestly, as if this trivial question were incredibly important.

Bai Shuangying was silent for a long time, then replied, “It still exists.”

“Why?”

“Because I can still see it.” Bai Shuangying answered honestly, “Like how souls linger after death, they’re like fading starlight. Until their obsessions fade, they still exist.”

Fang Xiu: “That’s not a great analogy. They can become evil spirits or cultivate into a ghost immortal.”

“Even if stars go out, they might not disappear,” Bai Shuangying said uncertainly. He just had a feeling they wouldn’t vanish.

Fang Xiu looked at him silently with some complicated emotion in his eyes.

Suddenly Bai Shuangying had a flash of insight. “Don’t tell me, you’re already dead?”

If Fang Xiu were a well-disguised evil spirit, it would explain his calmness toward death and his ease with ghosts.

Bai Shuangying pressed his hand to Fang Xiu’s chest, trying to find flaws in his heartbeat.

Fang Xiu: “……”

He burst into laughter. “…Touch all you want… I guarantee you, I’m alive.”

He grabbed Bai Shuangying’s hand and moved it directly over his heart.

Bai Shuangying felt for a while and detected no yin energy or spells. Fang Xiu was indeed a genuine living soul. His heartbeat was strong, albeit a bit fast.

“I see,” Bai Shuangying muttered, reassured by the warmth under his palm.

Fang Xiu let go of his hand, and the complicated look in his eyes was replaced by a smile. He leaned against Bai Shuangying and resumed stargazing.

Bai Shuangying, however, stared at the sky suspiciously. He now suspected he was seeing the souls of dead stars.

Soon enough, Fang Xiu shifted his gaze from the stars to Bai Shuangying, and Bai Shuangying heard him trying to stifle laughter.

Finally, after their fourth interruption by clueless evil spirits, Fang Xiu stretched. “Let’s head back.”

Bai Shuangying gave a muffled grunt.

After a whole night, Fang Xiu had discovered the death taboo. Meanwhile, all Bai Shuangying had learned was some weird astronomy knowledge, which wasn’t worth it at all.

Maybe next time he shouldn’t agree so easily, he thought.

But as they left, Fang Xiu looked back at the woods. “This place is perfect for walks. There are more evil spirits here than in the courtyard… I’m already starting to miss it, haa.”

Maybe next time, let’s just go out again, Bai Shuangying thought.

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The author has something to say:

A romantic night stroll for the young couple!!

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