Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 79: Rabbit

Wang Zhou looked at the transformed ghost fetus in front of him with fear.

Soon after Zhong Chengshuo entered, its expansion suddenly stopped.

The fleshy pillars connecting to the sky vortex withered and shattered as the dark, pitch-black ghost fetus gradually shrank. The intense evil qi dissipated, and the sense of oppression disappeared without a trace. Guo Laifu’s world of consciousness became day, and they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The campus in front of them returned to its original state once again.

Bao Linlin patted her face vigorously. “Reporting. Should we continue to rebuild the ‘artificial gap’?”

There was a little more relaxation in her voice.

“Continue.” Fu Xingchuan wrinkled his brows. “Lu Xiaohe, Zhao Shiyin, try rebuilding the pass—”

“Minister Fu, I received communication from Yin Ren.”

Lu Xiaohe’s unilateral communication interrupted Fu Xingchuan. She sounded shocked and confused, without any drowsiness in her voice.

“What?”

“Yin Ren claimed that Kong Wanqing from Sunken Society was involved in the matter, and they will give a detailed investigation report after they get out. His voice sounded quite confident, so maybe he found something.”

“Yin Ren also said that Kong Wanqing has been eliminated. He and Zhong Chengshuo are safe now and only need to take a short rest inside.”

Fu Xingchuan instantly rubbed his stubbled chin. “Can you be sure the other side is in a normal mental state?”

“To be honest, not really.” Lu Xiaohe reported dreamily. “Since it’s Yin Ren reporting, his voice pattern, speaking habits, and characteristics match perfectly. Communication is gradually restored, and they are also wearing their wristbands, so I was able to get some physiological indicators.”

“Then what is the basis for your ‘unconfirmed mental state’?” Fu Xingchuan raised his brows.

“Emotional index.”

Lu Xiaohe sounded even more confused.

“The wristbands that Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo are wearing didn’t return any malicious emotions, but…”

Zhong Chengshuo not having any negative emotions was fine, but Yin Ren’s emotions were relatively normal. At this moment, that person’s “Expectation”, “Nervousness”, “Relaxation”, and “Anxiety” were all mixed together, and “Like” was so overwhelming it made her eyes hurt.

Combining Zhong Chengshuo’s “Like” with Yin Ren’s, it was like someone adding two chopsticks to her bar chart.

They exceed the typical threshold of “love”.

…When combined with the fluctuation of the two’s previous “like,” the development of this thing could be traced.

“Minister Fu, I think there are three possibilities.”

Lu Xiaohe briefly described the situation and then came to a conclusion with difficulty.

“First, the intruder did something. Second, they were bewitched by some kind of abnormal phenomenon. Third, uh, they fell in love.”

All three options sounded completely ridiculous.

The intruder didn’t come to the Archive just so he could release pink love waves. Anomalies would preferentially induce lust, so the emotional reading wouldn’t be so… innocent.

But who the hell would fall in love in this kind of shithole? Lu Xiaohe roared inside. Those who didn’t know would think those two bastards were visiting an aquarium.

Fu Xingchuan was silent for a long time. He found a pile of rubble and sat down, staring at the void inexplicably.

…This was really the most confusing class of newcomers he had ever brought. Even the knowledgeable Fu Xingchuan couldn’t think of a reason.

But he wouldn’t be stupid enough to believe what he was told.

“Xiao Lu, keep in touch with Yin Ren.” Minster Fu helplessly exhaled a ring of smoke. “Just in case, I’ll stay here and guard. I’m not going anywhere. There’s no need to increase troops on Shian’s side. Call someone to pick up Xiao Ge and Xiao Huang first.”

“Yes.”

“In addition,” Fu Xingchuan narrowed his eyes. “Have Shian do a full set of tests to ensure everyone in Unit 9 receives the most comprehensive internal medical examination.”

“Understood.” Lu Xiaohe’s tone became serious.

“What did Lu Xiaohe say?” Wang Zhou approached curiously—the internal situation was strange, and Lu Xiaohe and Fu Xingchuan were using a one-line call.

“Nothing.” Fu Xingchuan continued puffing out smoke. “I just suddenly felt that Unit 7 is quite worry-free.”

At least breaking an arm or leg was still within the comprehension of normal people.

Bao Linlin and Wang Zhou: “……”

……

On campus.

Yin Ren cut off the communication and let out a long sigh of relief.

After all the ups and downs, his physical condition was surprisingly good, but he was mentally tired. It was just that the exhaustion was mixed with sweet excitement. Yin Ren stretched out beside Zhong Chengshuo, and his eyes couldn’t help but fall on him involuntarily.

He had helped lay Zhong Chengshuo down from the head of the bed and was now lying on the single bed. The man was sleeping heavily; his appearance was the same as always, but Yin Ren felt something was different.

For example, the man’s features suddenly became more pleasing to the eye.

Yin Ren couldn’t help but poke his hand. His fingertips slid down the side of Zhong Chengshuo’s face. Zhong Chengshuo seemed to recognize his aura. The man turned his cheek sideways toward Yin Ren’s hand. His brows stretched as he murmured vaguely.

Lord Ghost King froze in place.

Partner, accomplice, lover. Through the invisible, intangible role transformation, the touch of this person’s skin had changed a lot. It felt more lively and hot, as if something was about to invade his fingertips, causing his fingers to tingle and become numb.

An evil thing and a mortal had become lovers. Yin Ren had seen countless similar stories. Until now, he had a unique… lack of confidence in his own control.

Mr. Yin had never eaten pork but had seen pigs run*. How wonderful. His pig had started to run, and in the process, it had turned 360-degrees and done ten consecutive backflips.

*(没吃过猪肉，也见过猪跑) Metaphor referring to having not experienced things personally but have heard/seen them so you have some understanding || In this context, it’s basically saying, he has seen relationships but has never been in one, but he has some understanding of them. The author then uses the pig allusion from the metaphor to basically say, now he has experienced it, and on a much greater scale than he had imagined.

Yin Ren had never seen this scene before.

It was completely different from what was in the script, and it wasn’t at all similar to the feelings he imagined.

Was “like” such a tricky and hot thing?

His own experience of “taking care of everyone as a junior” was no longer applicable—rather than stripping away secrets and teasing mortals, he now had no idea how to get along with them. Lord Ghost King’s face was burning.

Guo Wei watched Yin Ren move around in confusion.

Yin Ren lay down by the side of the bed, burying his entire face in the sheets. He and Zhong Chengshuo were squeezed side by side on the single bed, one facing up, the other facing down, like two pieces of rice cake waiting to be turned over.

Somehow, Guo Wei felt that the long-haired brother exuded a sense of shame.

“Guo Wei.” Yin Ren’s voice was muffled by the bed sheets.

“Nn.”

“I still have some snacks in my suitcase. You can eat them,” Yin Ren whispered. “By the way, go around the campus and see if you can restore some memories. If you can’t, we’ll help you after our break.”

Without the corruption and its source, Guo Wei had returned to his honest appearance. “Okay, thank you, brother.”

When the boy left, Yin Ren was still slumped inside the sheets, like a rice cake, until a hand touched his long hair.

Suddenly, Yin Ren almost bounced like a live fish.

“Yin Ren.” Zhong Chengshuo’s voice was low, beside him.

“You’re awake?” Yin Ren didn’t turn over and stubbornly kept facing down. “It’s only been a while. Get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep well. I’ve been thinking about our affairs in a daze.”

Our affairs.

Yin Ren slowly turned his head sideways and found half a shiny red ear sticking out from the edge of the nightcap. The piece of light red looked like shallow scratches, making Yin Ren’s hands so itchy that he couldn’t help but rub them as presumptuously as before.

“Oh, mm.” Yin Ren thought for a while and responded primitively.

The two were silent for a moment.

“Actually, I have a question to ask.” Zhong Chengshuo turned to his side and stared at Yin Ren with his bright, black eyes.

Sure enough, a science post was a science post. Seeing such a scene, it was impossible for Zhong Chengshuo to easily let him go. Yin Ren put away his scattered thoughts and held his breath.

Zhong Chengshuo: “How old are you this year?”

Yin Ren: “…” What kind of weird entry point is this?

Yin Ren: “One—one hundred and eighty years old.”

Zhong Chengshuo was silent, but his black eyes held a lot of suspicion and a little condemnation.

Yin Ren’s gaze wandered. “…Actually, I’m three hundred and sixty years old, but I have been asleep for a while, so I cut it in half.”

Zhong Chengshuo continued his starring attack.

Lord Ghost King quickly gave up resistance. “Fourteen hundred years old… but I didn’t lie to you. I have slept for more than a thousand years, so it really can’t be counted. You should treat me as three hundred and sixty.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Okay.”

There was another burst of silence.

Yin Ren couldn’t hold back. He turned and poked Zhong Chengshuo’s face with the tip of his hair. “Do you have any other questions?”

That memory, that mountain village, his own huge body, Kong Wanqing’s weird death… With the insight of King Yama, he probably guessed that “Yin Ren is most likely an Evil Spirit”.

But Zhong Chengshuo didn’t ask.

Zhong Chengshuo was a person who used his broken hair for research. Now that they were getting closer, he had become more reserved.

“Are there really no other questions?” Just in case, Yin Ren asked again.

“There is, but that’s your worst memory.” Zhong Chengshuo pondered for a moment. “I don’t want to pry into… you because of my own curiosity. You’re now not only my object of observation, but also my lover.”

“The book says that it’s better to let things go with the flow.”

“…I see.” Yin Ren’s expression softened a little.

Zhong Chengshuo moved and leaned toward Yin Ren. His forehead gently rested against Yin Ren’s forehead. He closed his eyes again, and there was a fresh smell of mint on his breath.

“I actually bought two packs of chocolate chips.” Zhong Chengshuo spoke with his eyes closed. “There’s another bag in the luggage.”

“That brand tastes good.” Yin Ren felt the body heat and heartbeat of the other. Strangely, he developed a hint of sleepiness. “Let’s go back, and buy… some later…”

“Okay, wait until we go home.” Zhong Chengshuo also had some drowsiness in his voice.

“I want to go home now…” Yin Ren sighed softly, rubbing the tip of his hair against the bed sheet, and gently hooked Zhong Chengshuo’s thumb.

The absurd and bizarre night was over, and the sky outside the window gradually lit up as dawn was coming.

Warm breaths intertwined. On the small single bed, two people fell asleep together.

……

When the two woke up again, the sky on campus was already bright.

The main teaching building was safe and sound. Guo Wei repaired part of the campus by himself. However, the small part that remained—especially the areas that Zhong Chengshuo blew up—was still a mess. Zhong Chengshuo was debugging his equipment not far away, preparing to speak with Shian.

Yin Ren, on the other hand, sat with Guo Wei on the edge of the flower bed. The pomegranate flowers were in full bloom above their heads.

The dark hair swam across campus, hooking up the building rubbles and quickly putting them back together.

The twisted gate was restored to its original state, the hole in the wall fence was intact again, and the senior high school building and bathrooms gradually returned to their original appearance. The flattened building “healed” under Guo Wei’s powers, and the campus became closer to the day when Unit 9 had just arrived.

The phantoms of students came and went on campus, and above the campus was a clear morning sky.

“The specifics are this. Guo Wei, have you thought it through?” Yin Ren asked seriously.

Shian would continue to look for the cause of Guo Laifu, and he would be executed after he recovered. If Guo Wei continued to stay here, when Guo Laifu died, he would disappear as well.

Yin Ren looked at Guo Wei.

Guo Wei had completely returned to his original appearance, but his eyes were still clouded with the peculiar characteristic of death. At that moment, Guo Wei looked at the gate of the campus not far away. His baggy school uniform swayed in the wind.

“Mm, I’ve made up my mind. Even if I go with you, if I want to become a ghost, I still have to give up these things.”

Guo Wei stared at the campus, which was slowly returning to its original appearance.

People he knew well had come. Compared with before, there were a few more yellow flowers on the green lawn, looking like melting sunlight.

Yin Ren: “Yes, you will have to give them up.”

After all, pure obsession was the essence of a ghost, and this couldn’t be changed.

“But I won’t use a brutal method like Kong Wanqing. I’ll only seal up your memories.”

…But what should be forgotten must be forgotten. To forget or disappear, Guo Wei could only choose one.

“Yin Ge, do you know?”

Guo Wei didn’t directly answer him and kept staring at the campus gate not far away.

“When I was young, my mother was beaten so much by Guo Laifu that she had no choice but to escape to a foreign country. I don’t blame her, though. She still hugged me and cried for a long time before she left. I have thought many times that even if she can start a new life, I will always be a thorn in her heart.”

Yin Ren patted the boy on the back. Guo Wei was very thin, and he could feel the joints in his spine.

“After that, I went to school, and my grades were average. At that time, I thought, the world is more than me, and it won’t miss anything without me.”

“It’s meaningless to live. If only I could choose not to be born—I’m a nuisance to my mother, the village, and the school.”

Guo Wei’s eyes were a little red. He straightened his back stubbornly and didn’t wipe his eyes.

“But I have such good teachers and classmates. For the first time, I thought it’s a good thing to be alive… I also properly said goodbye to them, it’s great.”

Guo Wei looked at the blue sky in his memory and twitched his nose. “…Really great.”

“So, Yin Ge, this time, I want to choose ‘not to be born’ on my own.”

“……Okay.”

The phantoms of the students were playing around on the sunny campus. Several students in Class 2 and 3 stepped into the main teaching building with their backpacks and passed the two of them in front of the flower bed.

Guo Wei looked at the phantoms gently.

After a long time, Guo Wei took out a black ballpoint pen from his pocket.

“If you want Guo Laifu to return to normal, destroy this.”

The black ballpoint pen was simple in shape. Yin Ren had seen it with his own eyes. Guo Wei once used it to switch between day and night outside the campus.

“This is the memory that drove Guo Laifu crazy—it was the center of the outside world before and was particularly conspicuous.”

Guo Wei handed the black ballpoint pen to him with both hands, with such firmness that it couldn’t be rejected.

“In order to make sure you come to my school, I listened to Kong Wanqing’s suggestion and turned it into a pen and took it with me…As long as you give it a little stimulation, Guo Laifu’s head will be confused for about half an hour. Destroy this memory and he will regain his sanity.”

“In fact, when you were in the hotel, I deliberately caused the night. At that time, I ran to see you, but I was accidentally discovered by Zhong Ge.”

Having said that, Guo Wei lowered his head a little embarrassedly.

Yin Ren was slightly stunned.

…Zhong Chengshuo had seen Guo Wei before entering the school?

But he didn’t report this to Shian. Even though this information was of little value after entering the school, this wasn’t at all like Zhong Chengshuo’s style.

Guo Wei didn’t notice Yin Ren’s distraction. He continued in a low voice, “Before destroying it, if you want, I can take you in and have a look.”

“Then I’ll trouble you.”

At that moment, Yin Ren collected his thoughts.

Zhong Chengshuo was rightfully his lover, so he could just ask directly. Yin Ren reached for the pen, but his hand was grabbed halfway in mid-air.

It was Zhong Chengshuo’s hand.

Zhong Chengshuo had finished messing with the communication equipment. At some point, he approached. At this moment, he looked at the pen in his hand in silence, and his fingers moved slightly as he rubbed it repeatedly.

For a moment, Yin Ren almost thought he was going to snap it in half.

After a few seconds passed, Zhong Chengshuo seemed to have made some determination. He released his fingers and solemnly stuffed the pen into Yin Ren’s hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’ll know later,” Zhong Chengshuo said as he lowered his eyes.

Guo Wei looked at Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo. In the end, he decided to give up guessing Mr. Zhong’s charades. Guo Wei tapped his fingertips on the pen and directly activated the memory inside.

Like a dark room that was erected on the campus, the surrounding scene quickly dimmed. Guo Wei’s memory operation was much stronger than Kong Wanqing’s. The picture in front of the three of them was as clear as a movie.

Rapid gasping echoed in the room as Guo Laifu looked at his own body.

His hands, feet, and torso were all wrapped around an office chair. The person who bound him was very professional, and specially selected thick tape and cloth that wouldn’t leave strangulation marks. Not to mention struggling, Guo Laifu couldn’t even use his strength.

There was a gag in his mouth, and saliva kept sliding down from its corners.

Frighteningly, Guo Laifu quickly glanced around.

This was a fairly dim space, roughly forty square meters.

There were no windows, and the air was a bit humid. There were multi-layer shelves on both sides of the room, and the stainless-steel round cans on the shelves were tightly packed and neatly stacked. They were all the size of a human head, and each had a small label on it.

There was a long table in the middle of the room.

Guo Laifu’s gaze was fixed…

A figure was leaning on the edge of the long table. There were neat little objects piled up beside the man’s hand. They were blurred by the shadows, but they exuded a different kind of cold aura.

“You’re awake,” the figure said.

The figure stood up from the table and stepped out of the shadows. At the same moment, Yin Ren held his breath subconsciously.

He recognized the figure.

It was a young man wearing a creepy cartoon rabbit mask that Yin Ren was very familiar with. He was flipping through a small, hard-covered notepad in his hand.

“Guo Laifu, 47 years old, serial murderer on the run, a fringe member of Sunken Society. You came to Haigu four days ago. You killed five people with your own hands, sacrificed and dismembered the victim while they were awake, and the last victim was your own son.”

That person’s voice was distorted by a voice changer, but his calm tone remained unchanged.

“A very suitable research object.”

Guo Laifu’s eyes were glued to the ominous rabbit mask. He struggled frantically, but he couldn’t even move the chair.

“Mmmmmm—” His bound hands trembled slightly.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” The man put on black gloves carefully. “Murder is against the law.”

“Mmph!!!”

“When everything is over, I’ll help you pick a suitable city to surrender to.”

“Mmph!!!” Guo Laifu’s voice was full of shock and disbelief.

“Because in the end, you’ll always understand. Compared to being on the run, the police station is the place that will give you complete peace of mind.”

The eye holes in the rabbit mask were as black as the void, as if there was only an abyss under the mask.

---

The author has something to say:

Xiao Zhong: The book says go with the flow, so let’s take a look at the memory together.

Xiao Yin:

Xiao Yin: It was actually me who was complicit (x

So there is a reason for the lack of psychological descriptions of Xiao Zhong in this arc (?

On the first day of dating, Xiao Yin was shocked.jpg

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This chapter is too bittersweet. I was hoping Guo Wei would become a ghost and join Yin Ren, but he chose not to be born himself. That’s so sad.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 78: Gifts

‘What a beautiful creature,’ Zhong Chengshuo thought.

It exuded the smell of Yin Ren, and its appearance was much more regular than that Evil Spirit dog under Shian.

It—no—he knelt quietly in the center of the village, wearing countless dimly colored seals.

Embroidery, shackles, wooden runes, jade pieces—all kinds of spiritual seals were stacked layer by layer. They covered the huge monster like a mottled red veil, encompassing most of its body.

But they had a strange texture, not like foreign objects, but a texture of blood and keratin, as if they grew out of it.

The monster’s upper body still retained a little human structure, and the hanging “red veil” covered his “waist and abdomen”, hiding his head and torso underneath.

There was no flat skin under the red veil—hundreds of human arms that were slender and pale and covered in scars protruded out. The fingers at the end of the arms were much longer than ordinary people, with sharp black nails.

At this moment, they slammed into the ground fiercely, trembling violently; only one of them had their arms tightly curled around his chest.

From below his waist and abdomen, at the root of the arm, his skin gradually turned into a void-like darkness, without layers of the red veil.

The sealed red veil was scattered in all directions, and underneath it, it kept bulging, poking out countless sharp shrouds of unknown structures. The edge of the red veil was extended under Zhong Chengshuo’s feet, and he could see the little things underneath.

Those were countless tangled, translucent wings.

They had a shadowy ink color, an irregular structure, and fleshy “feathers”. These wings seemed as if they were melted at high temperatures, drawing and sticking to each other with a fluid texture like oil and filled with twisted, unknown runes.

Under the red veil, they twitched and trembled in pain.

Swish, swish.

Countless wings rubbed gently against each other, probing in all directions like the tide, creating a velvety sound.

Even for such a short time, Zhong Chengshuo could find that Yin Ren was still “expanding”.

Around him, the mountain village was looming in the thick fog, and the procession of evil beings kept circling around them. The green and red lights circled one after another, with Yin Ren precisely at the center.

Yin Ren trembled violently, but he didn’t have any murderous intent or hostility.

[If a person in a non-science position directly observes an Evil Spirit’s body, on the light side, they will lose their ability to think, and on the heavy side, they will die of cerebral hemorrhage on the spot.]

Li Nian had emphasized this to him in the underground where Shian’s Evil Spirit was before.

Kong Wanqing, who looked directly at Yin Ren, exploded on the spot, obviously suffering a more serious consequence than cerebral hemorrhage.

Though Kong Wanqing was dead, Guo Wei was still tied up with the red rope and was floating nearby. As partly a fierce ghost, Guo Wei was unharmed—the power of the Evil Force was purer than evil qi, so there was no reason for evil things to be affected.

Yin Ren was likely an unusually powerful Evil Spirit.

…And he was frantically suppressing his own power at this moment so that the surroundings wouldn’t be affected. There was no doubt that this was Yin Ren’s style.

Zhong Chengshuo looked away. He took off his glasses and carefully put them in his pocket.

He went straight to one of the giant hands and patted Yin Ren’s finger. “Yin Ren.”

The touch of the monster’s skin was warm; it could even be considered scorching.

That hand stopped trembling.

The bulge of the head under the red veil deflected slightly, facing Zhong Chengshuo.

Yin Ren seemed to want to say something but couldn’t. There was silence all around, with only the sound of wings rubbing against each other.

……

Not so long ago.

The balance collapsed, and it was about to get out of control.

Yin Ren suddenly understood the madness of Evil Spirits back then—his feelings were all confused, his negative emotions were completely out of control, and his thinking was like a boat braving a storm. His thoughts no longer seemed to be his own, and the whole world became a miserable mess.

From the moment he woke up under the seal, he began to suppress his power. He would… never become a complete Evil Spirit.

But now, in his chaotic thoughts, he understood.

Something inside him was solidifying while something else was decaying. It was raging out of control. Like a larva turning into a moth, his body was undergoing some kind of ominous transformation.

Perhaps he was no different from Guo Wei.

Perhaps before, he wasn’t really an Evil Spirit.

His thoughts were stirred up by storm-like emotions. The Evil Force in his body was out of control, disordered, and exuding an almost toxic rage. The rage triggered his instinctive fear, and Yin Ren’s thinking became more fragmented.

It was a vicious cycle.

It was like an organ that was originally functioning well in the body suddenly decayed at a certain moment. It frantically eroded the adjacent healthy parts, constantly attacking his body. Those forces turned into thousands of whirlpools, dragging his shattered thoughts into darker depths.

Was it because of the special environment of the Archive that made them particularly sensitive?

Or was it because of his momentary confusion?

Yin Ren couldn’t or didn’t want to think anymore. Just suppressing the Evil Force without letting it leak was consuming all his energy.

In the endless pain, Yin Ren thought dimly, ‘Zhong Chengshuo should have escaped by now.’

That person was rational and would come to the right conclusion—take away the members of Unit 9 and stay away from this place. Even Yin Ren himself couldn’t figure out the current situation, so there was no information for Zhong Chengshuo to speculate…

Even if Zhong Chengshuo “likes” him, he wouldn’t be dazzled by that kind of feeling…

“I’m here to pick you up, Yin Ren.” Yin Ren heard, tasted, and smelled a voice.

The scent of Zhong Chengshuo stopped in front of him.

There was a very subtle, warm touch on Yin Ren’s fingers.

“Yin Ren.” The man stroked his fingers and called to him confidently.

[Why?]

Yin Ren lowered his head, struggling silently in the whirlpool of thoughts. He couldn’t make a sound… He forgot how to make a sound, like he couldn’t find his vocal cords and tongue.

[Why did you come back?] He couldn’t convey his thoughts to that person.

“Kong Wanqing’s ability is to induce negative emotions and stir them out of control.” As if Zhong Chengshuo had guessed what he was asking, he answered him on his own. “In the Archive, it’s very dangerous to have a wavering mind.”

Yin Ren held on to his last sobriety. He stretched out his hand and pushed Zhong Chengshuo gently.

[So you need to get out of here…] He thought to himself.

“So I don’t think you should be ‘alone’ especially at a time like this.”

The smell of Zhong Chengshuo approached again. The warm body heat touched the scarred giant hand.

“I don’t want you to leave now.”

[…Are you trying to get yourself killed…]

Yin Ren commanded that hand with difficulty, gently pushing Zhong Chengshuo away again.

Once he completely lost control, Zhong Chengshuo would definitely die.

The weaknesses of a science post were clear. Being an Evil Spirit with a physical body, even if Zhong Chengshuo was strong enough to be immune to his Evil Force, he could still physically turn him into minced meat.

“I won’t do things I’m not sure about. If I die here, that means I made a wrong judgment.”

Zhong Chengshuo seemed to be able to read his mind. The man’s soft voice was gentle and tasted like slightly sweet tea.

“People die every day for this reason,” he said. “It’s just a very ordinary ending.”

He walked back again, his steps as firm as ever.

[……I don’t…understand……]

“Yin Ren, you’re the most humane, most appreciative of life, and the strongest person I have ever seen. You’ll struggle until the last moment.”

The air vibrated as the tone of voice changed. In the blurred colors, Yin Ren could vaguely feel Zhong Chengshuo speaking with a smile.

“I will never leave you ‘alone’, until you give up.”

This time, Zhong Chengshuo closed his eyes and relaxed his body slightly.

He leaned on Yin Ren’s palm; his soft hair brushed between his fingers, and his cheek rubbed against the skin of the palm. The man’s breath was small and light, but it was so distinct in the chaos.

Calm, peaceful, even reassuring.

Zhong Chengshuo leaned on Yin Ren’s palm. The atmosphere around him was exceptionally tranquil.

[……]

The expansion of his body stopped. His rusty mind began to turn, and a trace of wind blew into the suffocating pain.

Yin Ren suddenly remembered the moment on the rooftop not long ago.

[Aren’t you going to ask?] Before negotiating with Guo Wei, he couldn’t help asking this.

[I wouldn’t like someone that didn’t surprise me.] Zhong Chengshuo, who had forgotten his “like” replied like so. [As I said, I want to witness it for myself.]

At this moment, you also want to witness this with your own eyes, right?

In the face of the gradually collapsing Evil Force, a science post couldn’t do anything. Yin Ren miraculously felt a trace of calmness. Zhong Chengshuo’s body temperature soaked through his palm, and his breathing rose and fell.

Yin Ren thought of Zhong Chengshuo, who had been waiting for him in the office a long time ago and had fallen asleep.

The man was lying on the table, sleeping soundly, and his breath was warm and moist.

And that rainy night, much longer ago.

For a long time, Yin Ren only wanted to live day by day without looking back, but at this moment, he never wanted to go back to the past like that.

If the ending was doomed, at least… He at least wanted to say goodbye.

A trace of fire flashed faintly in the boundless darkness.

In the vicious cycle of loss of control, there seemed to be something more.

The waves of fear and despair washed away, gradually taking away his broken thoughts, but it couldn’t wash away the weakest and most instinctive thoughts.

Why did he want to go along with Zhong Chengshuo and tell him he’d “give it a try”?

Why did he want to explore the secrets of that person and compete in terms of “care”?

Yin Ren couldn’t remember.

But he still… recalled something that should have been smaller and less worthy of mention than these…

The arm that was curled up in his chest trembled and stretched out. It gently probed in Zhong Chengshuo’s direction as it opened its clenched fist.

In the palm of the giant hand, something glowed with a soft light. Compared to the huge palm, it looked like a piece of crumb…

A pack of slightly deformed waterless cleansing wipes with a minty fragrance.

He didn’t know why, but he still remembered to keep them for him.

Zhong Chengshuo’s movements froze for a few seconds. He put his knee on the other hand and grabbed the pack of waterless cleansing wipes. The man’s breath turned; he should be looking at him again.

At the bottom of the vortex of fear, under the abyss of despair, there was a little senseless anxiety and curiosity.

Yin Ren wanted to see Zhong Chengshuo’s expression. I wonder if he likes mint or aloe vera?

In order to facilitate his action, he could only carry one pack.

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t use it right away.

The air was flowing as Zhong Chengshuo held it carefully in his arms. Then the man moved beside his hand for a moment, as if he was taking something out of his pocket.

“What a coincidence,” he said. “I also bought you a gift.”

Zhong Chengshuo put it in the palm of the giant hand.

In his chaotic thinking, Yin Ren desperately squeezed out more clarity and tried to explore what it was…

A pack of colorful chocolate chips printed with exaggerated smiley faces.

In the dim mist, it was quite dazzling.

[……]

The man’s movement was solemn, and he didn’t care about how absurd this scene looked.

[……You’re such a person……]

In that short moment, Yin Ren wanted to laugh.

Although he couldn’t find the corners of his mouth, or even his face, helplessness, pleasure, and tranquility poured into his heart. In an instant, colorful emotions overshadowed the darkness.

A bit of clarity had returned. Yin Ren didn’t give up on this opportunity. He tried his best to stay awake.

Restrain. Sort… Order.

The huge monster got up slightly. The wings under the red veil swished open, causing the seals around them to rattle without wind. All of Yin Ren’s fingers twitched frantically, except the one holding Zhong Chengshuo, which trembled with restraint.

To tame, to fuse… to dominate.

The light in the darkness became brighter, and the chaos and corruption gradually faded. The Evil Force in his body reluctantly bowed down, and the vicious cycle was completely broken.

The mist faded, and the red veil danced gently. The surrounding environment became clearer, and various perceptions gradually returned to place.

But Zhong Chengshuo seemed to be thinking about other things.

Seeing that Yin Ren didn’t withdraw his hand, after thinking for a few minutes, Zhong Chengshuo said, “I see. It’s not easy for you to open the packaging.”

[No such thing.]

Unfortunately, Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t hear what he was saying. The man climbed into Yin Ren’s hand, tore open the bag of chocolate chips, and poured out the colorful candy into the center of the palm.

The next moment, they fell deeply into the flesh of the palm, as if sinking into a swamp.

‘A sweet and bitter taste,’ Yin Ren thought. He liked it very much.

…He also liked the person who gave them to him.

In the bloody mist, hundreds of arms stopped trembling.

The hand clutched slowly, holding Zhong Chengshuo in the palm of his hand. Zhong Chengshuo leaned on Yin Ren’s finger. He could feel Zhong Chengshuo’s body didn’t tense up; his posture was relaxed even, as if he were resting.

The folded arm was like a cascade of petals, and the hand that was holding Zhong Chengshuo came closer to his chest….

Almost like a hug.

Out of control and wretched, but unprecedented peace and relief.

“Zhong Chengshuo…”

Under the red veil, a faint and distorted voice came from the outline of the head.

“We… um, we…”

“Let’s ‘give it a try’.”

Through the faint “red veil”, in Yin Ren’s distorted vision, he saw Zhong Chengshuo’s solemn face.

“Okay.”

Zhong Chengshuo put his hands at the root of Yin Ren’s thumb and replied seriously.

He then moved for a moment and pulled out a small notebook, pen and paper from the inner pocket of his suit.

“Then today is officially the first day of our relationship,” Zhong Chengshuo said happily as he jotted down a few words in the notebook.

“Yeah.” Yin Ren wanted to laugh again.

He stretched out his arms and gently placed Zhong Chengshuo on the ground.

The last bit of chaos was overshadowed by sobriety.

The red veil flew up and swirled in the mist. The wings gathered together, and the arms retracted. The huge figure shrank as if it were collapsing and contracting, and countless colors were sucked into a human-sized figure.

The Evil Spirit named “Yin Ren” didn’t succeed in descending into the world after all.

Yin Ren slowly fell to the ground, regaining his human appearance. The ruins collapsed, and the shadows of the mountains melted. The phantoms of his memory dissipated, and the surrounding area became the dark campus again.

It felt as if a lifetime had passed.

Yin Ren’s head was sore, and his limbs were slightly numb, but he was in a particularly comfortable mood…

After this battle, his control over his Evil Force had greatly improved, and he could now safely use about one-third of his power instead of pulling it out little by little.

And he harvested his first lover in a thousand years.

…Except for the long tunic he was wearing that failed to be restored, everything else was fine. Yin Ren silently wrapped himself in his hair.

Lord Ghost King’s size shrank too much, and the distance between him and Zhong Chengshuo had suddenly widened by a lot.

The sound of leather shoes stepping on the ground and tiles sounded as Zhong Chengshuo quickly walked over to Yin Ren.

He opened his arms slightly toward Yin Ren.

“What? You want me to fly you?” Yin Ren spoke a little jerkily.

“No,” Zhong Chengshuo said. “I want a hug.”

“Hug…”

Yin Ren brushed away the long hair in front of his face and hugged him somewhat carefully.

Through the thin layer of hair, he could feel Zhong Chengshuo’s warm body, and his heartbeat was fast and strong, with the tendency to gradually speed up. Just now, in the palm of his hand, Zhong Chengshuo looked so fragile, but holding him in his arms at this moment, he exuded a vitality that couldn’t be ignored.

In the dark consciousness, in the silent embrace, Yin Ren quietly turned his head and kissed the other’s blushing ear.

Zhong Chengshuo suddenly stiffened under his embrace, and his ears instantly turned red.

“You caught me.”

Yin Ren took advantage of the situation and grabbed the back of the other party’s suit, sighing in relief.

“Let’s go home, Zhong Chengshuo.”

“Nn.” Zhong Chengshuo buried his face into the crook of Yin Ren’s neck. “This report is going to be a bit troublesome…”

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: “…Don’t say that. I almost lost control again.”

Despair came so suddenly that his heart stopped for a moment.

……

Sure enough, the journey home for the two of them wasn’t going to be smooth.

Fifteen minutes later, the campus returned to the night scene—Yin Ren untied the red rope and used his Evil Force to wake up Guo Wei, who was unconscious.

The three of them sat in silence in the staff dormitory.

The four packs of waterless cleansing wipes were used by the two partners. Yin Ren had put on Zhong Chengshuo’s pajamas. Sure enough, the pajamas quickly turned into a black tunic.

Right now, the two were sitting on the edge of the same bed. Yin Ren was carefully wiping the mud off of Zhong Chengshuo’s face.

That was the last trace of Kong Wanqing left in the world, and it must be completely destroyed.

“Kong Wanqing directly looked at my body and exploded.” Yin Ren swallowed and confirmed in a low voice.

“Yes.” It was about 5 in the morning. Zhong Chengshuo yawned.

“It’s possible Minister Fu is setting up an exit outside and we’ll bump into it when we go out.”

“I see…”

“If you guys want to go out, I can send you out in a while.” Guo Wei had changed from his previously sinister look. He was looking at the ground awkwardly. “I didn’t know that Mr. Kong was a bad guy, sorry. I caused so much trouble for everyone…”

“It’s okay, classmate. You must not open the campus completely.” Yin Ren rubbed his head painfully. “We have to think of an excuse first. Zhong Ge, ahem, Chengshuo, do you have any ideas?”

Unfortunately, at just this time, Zhong Chengshuo had already fallen asleep at the head of the bed.

Yin Ren: “!!!”

Yin Ren: “……”

Lord Ghost King sighed for a few seconds, then he turned to the nightcap in the suitcase and gently snapped it on his boyfriend.

‘Forget it,’ he thought.

“’The situation is too complicated. It’s best not to lie and just distort the details’… right?” Yin Ren rubbed the tips of Zhong Chengshuo’s hair with his fingertips, imitating the other party’s tone. “Classmate Guo, help me out and close the campus for a little longer.”

Then Yin Ren returned to the suitcase and pulled out a spare headset and wristband.

“Hello, Special Investigation Unit 9. Xiaohe Jie, can you hear me?”

---

The author has something to say:

Out of control refers to physically out of control (……

Xiao Yin, don’t rush to wear the wristband. Xiao Yin, your Lu Jie hasn’t prepared her heart-attack medicine…

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Ah, I love this chapter. As always, Nian Zhong writes beautifully when it comes to awakening the feelings of her characters. Love it in Stray and Happy Doomsday, and now this.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 77: Meeting

Kong Wanqing wasn’t in a good mood.

After cooperating with Guo Wei, he planned to sit back and watch the tigers fight*. In the past few days, Kong Wanqing had been hiding in the “radio station” constructed by Guo Wei, observing the two peace talks.

*(坐山观虎斗) Idiom referring to a third party benefiting from two other parties’ conflict and struggle.

It shouldn’t be like this.

Wasn’t Yin Ren an evil being? This guy’s behavior was thousands of miles away from that of an evil being. He even wanted to save a dead guy.

Wasn’t Zhong Chengshuo an ordinary person? How could an ordinary person be this indifferent to such a place, and nothing happened after he lost his memories.

The risk posed by these two people was too high. He couldn’t see through either of them, so there was no point in peace talks. It was more like he was sent to test them.

Kong Wanqing wanted to stimulate the evil thing first, then come up with a scenario where the evil thing went crazy and killed his teammates. Unexpectedly, the evil thing reacted extremely quickly, and the other three were pushed to the school gate…

That was where the fluctuation of spells was the strongest.

“Idiot.” Kong Wanqing spat out pus and blood as the red rope shot out.

They formed cobwebs in the dark, trying to stop the three of them. A cluster of blade-like black hair pierced out from Zhong Chengshuo’s chest and shattered the red net into several large pieces.

Then they trembled and retracted in Yin Ren’s direction.

At the same time, a burning door frame appeared at the school gate. In the dim light of the fire, Zhong Chengshuo rushed towards the door, one arm holding Ge Tingting and the other holding Huang Jin.

How?

Kong Wanqing gritted his teeth. His mouth was full of sweet pus and blood.

Ordinary evil things couldn’t easily destroy a corruption source of an Evil Force.

Shadows flickered around. The evil thing “worst memory” was slowly appearing. An unspeakable sense of oppression spread, causing Kong Wanqing to feel as if his back was constantly being scraped by the blade of a knife.

Almost instantly, the red rope was ejected, pushing Kong Wanqing nearly a hundred meters away.

The temperature sharply dropped, and the darkness dissipated into a turbid mist. The real campus was covered by a wide illusion, and in the mist, the illusion quickly extended into the distance.

Green and red lights swayed in the thick fog. The lights were gloomy, and the green mixed with white was like the junction of Yin and Yang. In the distance, there were distorted mountain cliffs with wet and rotten mud at the bottom. Low and dilapidated houses loomed in the mist.

Those architectural styles were very old, holding green and red lanterns that sat windless under the eaves.

Every door and window were closed. Carrion corpses leaned against the remains of the earthen wall, and the air was filled with the smell of corruption and burning. There were piles of rotting food debris in front of every house, and the vague sound of songs reverberated throughout the illusion.

[When the red light is on and the green light is burning, every household close their door.]

[Speak carefully with your back to the door for three more days, when the fruits and melons ripen.]

[Pray for tranquility, wish for good fortune, and shut your eyes so you can’t see.]

[The rooster sings, with footsteps far away, come back next year and report in peace.]

The tune of the ballad was sharp and weird, causing Kong Wanqing’s scalp to explode as the mist rushed all over the ground. As a veteran ghost master, he had an instinctive intuition about the level of danger from evil things.

Something was wrong.

Swish.

A soft scraping sound came from the center of the village… which was exactly where Yin Ren was.

The scene in front of him was calm, and the sound was also very peaceful, but the abyss-like fear bit Kong Wanqing fiercely. His internal organs seemed to be grounded by icy fangs.

Swish.

The sound spread around the village, as soft as the tide… Perhaps he was going crazy. Kong Wanqing felt that “Yin Ren” had become huge.

The poisonous panic penetrated deep into his brain, twisting his thoughts into pieces that he couldn’t even maintain his flying skills.

What exactly is Yin Ren?!

Kong Wanqing gritted his teeth and ran towards the exit created by Shian.

Swish.

The soft noise kept going as fear pierced him from head to toe. Kong Wanqing stiffened his neck and didn’t dare to look back.

It was too late to create an escape array. He would rather face Shian head-on than stay in this hellhole.

Must leave. He must leave.

The thick fog in front of Kong Wanqing kept rolling. The mud road stretched into a maze. The tinkling of small bells kept ringing, and across from him, something was stumbling in the middle of the road, its shadow shaking stiffly in the fog.

He immediately held his breath and instinctively stood against the wall, but the thing didn’t let him go—it stopped abruptly in front of Kong Wanqing and turned around slowly.

Kong Wanqing was numb in place. Cold sweat drenched his back in an instant.

This was just a phantom of a memory of that evil thing, but it had a terrifying aura. Just getting close, Kong Wanqing’s heart almost exploded with unprecedented fear…

In front of him was a three-meter-high, blood-red mass.

That thing was covered with a red cloth and yellow talismans of different shades. They were full of sealing techniques, and there were spots of old blood all over them. The black jade pieces engraved with mantras collided with each other, and there was a bone chain that circled around the red cloth, covered with black and red stains.

It looked like a deformed chrysalis.

At the bottom of the layers of seals, a pair of human feet were exposed on the edge of the dilapidated red cloth. The feet were pale and beautiful, with warning bells tied around their ankles, ringing with each faltering movement.

It stopped in front of Kong Wanqing for a while, tilting its body slightly. Kong Wanqing trembled and closed his eyes…

“Bang!”

The thing tilted forward and slammed into the wooden door next to Kong Wanqing. The wooden door swayed three times, and the green light in front of the door trembled frantically.

This is an illusion. Just an illusion. Kong Wanqing kept repeating himself.

Swish. The sound of the mist gradually became clear, and the soft tone was accompanied by a chill that could freeze one’s heart.

Kong Wanqing scrambled away, almost losing the red rope in his hand, but he didn’t go far when he encountered a strange thing…

Behind the “human chrysalis”, there were several monsters in the shape of children. They were dressed up as men and women, wearing the hoods of big-headed dolls, and bouncing around the houses. The dolls were crudely made, with chapped surfaces and stains with suspicious dark blotches.

There was a clear sound of breathing and laughter coming from their hoods.

“Bang!” The human chrysalis finished banging on the door and went to bang on the next house.

Swish, swish, swish.

The breath of “Yin Ren” slowly approached. Kong Wanqing’s limbs were as heavy as a corpse. There seemed to be countless invisible hands scratching and tearing at his back.

The fog was faintly bloody. Kong Wanqing squeezed the red rope in despair. He forcibly moved his legs and continued to flee towards the edge of the illusion.

The human bones condensed into tall and short beasts, with the tops of thin limbs and empty eye sockets forming a string; their non-existent line of sight rained down like a shower. The grotesque ghosts lined up silently in a line, all of them lowering their heads as they followed behind the chrysalis.

Kong Wanqing ran desperately.

He bucked through huge arrays of evil creatures, roughly piercing through one phantom after another.

Half-human-tall, mummified corpses kicked and stomped, with beautiful eyes on the edge of the vine. The dark lights fluttered in the air, and the snow-white banners were spotless, staggering one by one in front of the fugitives. The bag-like beast turned its only eyes, reflecting Kong Wanqing’s wretched escape in its pupil.

Swish, swish.

Behind him, the weird voice was still spreading. There was a steady stream of phantoms from the evil team that continued to flow. The stench of corpses in the air was thick as soup, and that damn song echoed continuously.

Kong Wanqing lost his shoes while running. As he stepped into the mud with both feet, his eye bulged and his mind shattered.

Must… escape…

……

On the other side of the “artificial gap”, Fu Xingchuan’s expression was solemn.

He guarded in front of the “door”; his hands moving constantly as one after another protective array lit up, firmly protecting the artificial gap.

The ghost fetus had drastically changed again.

It was different from the previous home-like campus elements. It seemed to be contaminated by something, and the surface became flat and opaque. It no longer twitched but fell into an ominous, dead silence.

The blood vessel-like filaments on the surface of the ghost fetus skyrocketed, turning into black, fleshy pillars the size of tree trunks. Tens of millions of meat pillars poured into the vortex in the middle of the sky, causing the speed of the vortex to suddenly accelerate.

The “campus tumor”, which originally covered a small area, greatly expanded and spread in all directions. Fu Xingchuan had to adjust the position of the “artificial gap” at any time.

The voice of Guo Laifu’s consciousness almost disappeared, and there was only a slowly growing black hemisphere on the street. It gradually ate away at the neighborhood, like a slow-motion explosion. Dense evil qi overflowed from the surface of the black ball, and the terrifying pressure made it difficult to breathe.

Fu Xingchuan’s fire cage spell was shattered in an instant. Among the embers floating around, none of the monsters outside the cage rushed forward.

They froze in place like sculptures, motionless.

“Someone’s breath. Prepare!” Bao Linlin yelled.

Wang Zhou leaned into the artificial gap and caught a thin little girl’s wrist. The person on the other side was supporting her body as Wang Zhou pulled Ge Tingting out, then he grabbed Huang Jin’s arm with his other hand.

Huang Jin was much heavier than Ge Tingting, so Bao Linlin came to help. A rescue spirit weapon unfolded a protective barrier around the two people from Unit 9, quickly protecting them.

“Quick!” Wang Zhou was sweating all over as he poked his hands into the “door”. “Something’s not right. We have to get out quickly!”

But this time, he caught nothing.

Zhong Chengshuo’s head and shoulders protrude from the artificial gap, and his pair of eyes looked at Fu Xingchuan.

“The transfer of the injured has been completed. I’ll go back first.” Zhong Chengshuo spoke as if he was making a report.

What the hell are you going back to? Paradise? Wang Zhou almost choked. Bao Linlin frowned. She was about to say something but was stopped by Fu Xingchuan’s gesture.

“My partner is still in there,” Zhong Chengshuo said calmly.

“The situation is unknown. Shian won’t go in to rescue.”

Fu Xingchuan’s tone was stern, sounding like Professor Li.

“The artificial gap can only last for a few more minutes, and we need six more hours to complete the next one. In addition, the situation here is unstable. We may have to abandon you to evacuate at any time—do you understand the risk?”

“I understand.”

Zhong Chengshuo raised his eyes. “I won’t do things I’m not sure about.”

He didn’t wait for everyone’s reaction. As soon as his voice fell, Zhong Chengshuo plunged back into the darkness.

On the other side of the darkness, he was greeted by weird, thick fog and dim illusions. Zhong Chengshuo walked on the muddy road; his suit looked completely out of place in the ancient village.

…Was this Yin Ren’s “worst memory”?

A song with strange accents lingered in his ears, and green and red lights were stained in the mist. The terrifying sense of oppression was strong, but Zhong Chengshuo seemed to be unaware. He crossed the broken walls and ruins, passed the spoiled cold food and corpses, and headed all the way in the direction where the fog was thickest.

In terms of location, this was the center of the village where Yin Ren was originally located.

Gradually, shaking shadows began to appear in the mist. Zhong Chengshuo took a closer look. He saw a wretched man rushing towards him like a boar…

Kong Wanqing lost control and was running madly. His pants were full of dark water stains. The red rope that was wrapped around his wrist was dragging Guo Wei, who was floating at the end of the red rope, like a humanoid balloon.

“Get lost!”

The corners of Kong Wanqing’s mouth were overflowing with pus and blood. His eyes were bloodshot as they trembled in their sockets.

“Let me out—!” He rushed over desperately.

“No.” Zhong Chengshuo stated. “You know too much, and your memories need to be wiped.” Here and now, only Yin Ren could modify his memories.

The muddy, narrow road was tightly blocked by Zhong Chengshuo.

“You have to come with me to see Yin Ren,” Zhong Chengshuo said solemnly.

“You’re fucking crazy!” Kong Wanqing roared.

He braked sharply not far from Zhong Chengshuo. Before he could fully stop, he grabbed the void with his hand. At the end of the red rope, Guo Wei twitched in pain. At the same time, the red rope quickly entangled Kong Wanqing’s hands, turning roughly into a red gun.

So what about being immune to spells?

The Archive was a special situation. Guo Wei was the master of this consciousness, so he could influence Zhong Chengshuo. He only had to borrow some of his power.

Worry, hatred, fear… As long as negative emotions were magnified tens of millions of times, no matter how rational a person was, he would go crazy. This was the ability given to him by the Evil Force!

Kong Wanqing pulled the trigger.

A rope-knot bullet hit Zhong Chengshuo’s brow, causing him to lean his head back. However, under Kong Wanqing’s expectant gaze, the man slowly turned back and rubbed his forehead with a calm expression.

“That hurts a bit,” Zhong Chengshuo said sincerely as he took a step forward.

Kong Wanqing stumbled back a few steps, and behind him, the terrible “swish” sound came faintly.

Can’t go back.

Kong Wanqing shook his head vigorously. He concentrated his strength, and more than a dozen knotted bullets were shot at Zhong Chengshuo. Under the corruption of the Evil Force, his seven orifices gushed out pus and blood.

However, Zhong Chengshuo didn’t stop.

The man took off his suit jacket and instantly covered his relatively fragile features. In the next instant, the black fabric swayed, and all the dark red knotted bullets scattered all over the ground.

In front of him was the abnormal and appalling science post. Behind him was a weird, soft sound soaked in ice. His body was overdrawn and mixed with fear. Silver stars appeared in succession in Kong Wanqing’s vision.

…Absolutely can’t go back!

At this moment, the bell penetrated the thick fog, jingling, and the faint singing of song and footsteps on the mud sounded. The mighty procession of evil things kept passing through the memory illusion.

They’re coming.

This time, the queue of evil things came from behind Kong Wanqing. They bypassed the two people in the middle of the road, and their weird limbs stuck out of the fog, falling beside them from time to time. The cloth strips of the streamers brushed the tops of their two heads, and floating lights reflected the surroundings with a ghostly aura.

The cold air circled endlessly, distracting Zhong Chengshuo for a moment.

A chance!

Negative emotions were magnified and matched with “the worst memory that could materialize”. Guo Wei’s convulsions almost formed an afterimage as Kong Wanqing vomited a large amount of blood as he fired dozens of shots at Zhong Chengshuo’s chest.

In a trance, he had the illusion he was shooting out all his life. This time, the two of them were close to each other, so Kong Wanqing didn’t waste a single bullet.

But unlike the time with Yin Ren, Kong Wanqing wasn’t able to manifest any memories.

This person… Doesn’t have any negative emotions and not even a single bad memory?!

Zhong Chengshuo turned his gaze back and took the last step…

With a flash, he spun in front of Kong Wanqing and punched him in the stomach. Before Kong Wanqing could recover, his back slammed into the mud and he slid a few steps away.

Zhong Chengshuo’s blow was extremely heavy, causing Kong Wanqing to spew out a large pool of pus and blood, nearly unable to breathe. As soon as he was about to raise his gun, a foot wearing leather shoes stepped down steadily. Kong Wanqing’s right wrist made a muffled sound.

The red rope was scattered in a mess, and he immediately let out a scream.

However, this wasn’t enough.

Zhong Chengshuo ignored Kong Wanqing’s collapse and picked him up. He decisively dislocated his joints in a series of frighteningly skilled movements.

Tears and pain filled Kong Wanqing’s eyes. As he struggled, he tried to connect the red rope to Zhong Chengshuo’s body. Who would have thought the man would casually grab the source of corruption directly with his hand?

“It’s pretty strong.”

Discovering that this person planned to tie him up with the source of corruption, Kong Wanqing almost collapsed.

“That evil thing is out of control. You don’t understand. We’re seeking death if we go… You don’t understand…” The soft sound got closer to them. Kong Wanqing endured the severe pain of his dislocated joints and retreated like a worm in mud.

Zhong Chengshuo hummed perfunctorily, dragged Kong Wanqing back, and tied up his limbs.

After making sure that person was tied up, he dragged Kong Wanqing like a suitcase and continued to the center of the thick fog.

“I’ll negotiate with you! I was a bit rough just now. I was wrong… Zhong Chengshuo, stop! I’m your cousin!”

In the wet and cold mud, Kong Wanqing twisted his body desperately. “I’m your cousin! Your uncle is the manager of the Haigu Sunken Society… You… ack.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s footstep stopped.

Kong Wanqing raised his head expectantly but didn’t find even the slightest shock on the other’s face.

“I know. So what?” Zhong Chengshuo asked curiously.

“You… In the end…”

Seeing that the other party didn’t give an answer, Zhong Chengshuo lost interest. He turned around and continued dragging Kong Wanqing like a corpse.

They passed through the ranks of countless evil beings, through deformed bodies and limbs, and through tall and short evocation banners.

Zhong Chengshuo’s steps weren’t slow, without the slightest hesitation or evasion. His hard leather shoes stepped on the rotten mud, emitting a blood-like sticky gurgling sound.

Kong Wanqing refused to give up the struggle. After a moment of silence, Zhong Chengshuo took the initiative to speak.

“Kong Wanqing, second son of Kong Yao. A ghost master of Sunken Society, mainly acting as support, carrying out activities across the country, directly or indirectly leading to the death of 216 people.”

He was speaking as if they were having a chat.

“You have hurt countless people. Why are you so scared when it’s your turn?”

“Isn’t this, ack, bullshit?”

“In other words, you understand the fears of others but decide to ignore them.” Zhong Chengshuo concluded. “…How common.”

Kong Wanqing: “……”

Perhaps they all underestimated this person, he thought in a daze. Kong Wanqing had come into contact with many lunatics, but this cousin of his particularly creeped him out.

Swish.

The strange sound was close at hand. In the middle of the chaotic village, at the end of the procession of evil things, a huge silhouette faintly appeared in the thick fog.

Zhong Chengshuo still moved forward without any hesitation in his steps.

“No, no!!!” The sense of chaotic oppression almost pulverized him. Kong Wanqing screamed uncontrollably. “Please, don’t…”

Zhong Chengshuo stopped again.

Kong Wanqing gasped frantically and instinctively raised his face…

The moment he saw what was in front of him, his pupils suddenly dilated.

“Pop.”

With a very light sound, Zhong Chengshuo felt the rope around his hand loosen, and something splashed on his cheek.

He turned his head suspiciously and saw only bloody clothes.

Kong Wanqing’s clothes were scattered among the red rope and covered with a light red thick liquid. Looking closely, it looked like meat sauce that was so delicate it was almost liquid. They flooded into the mud, leaving no bones or hair behind.

Like a punctured water balloon, Kong Wanqing exploded on the ground.

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Ah.”

He turned around and raised his head.

“The reaction is more serious than looking directly at an Evil Spirit.”

In those dark eyes, the figure of a behemoth was reflected.

“I’m here to pick you up, Yin Ren.”

---

The author has something to say:

Big cousin, take a lunchbox*, goodbye.jpg

*Reference to when an actor makes their exit (after their death scene is filmed), they’re given a lunchbox as a goodbye from the set and crew.

Xiao Zhong: Ah, my cousin exploded.

Xiao Zhong: But I finally know why my partner doesn’t get fat after eating so much (×

Xiao Yin: Sobs—

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 76: Out of Control

Lei Xiurong was the first person to call the police in Guo Laifu’s serial murder case.

Six months ago.

Lei Xiurong didn’t wait for Guo Wei’s call. After the child transferred to the new school, she never heard back. A month passed, and she couldn’t help but find the contact information for his new school.

“The transfer procedures have been completed, but that person has never come, so he’ll be automatically dropped from school,” the school staff said.

“Sorry, the phone number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please try again later…” She had never been able to get through to the number left by Guo Laifu.

“Isn’t that Guo Laifu doing business? Maybe he’s letting the child follow to help.”

Facing Lei Xiurong’s reaction, the principal of No. 16 High School didn’t take it seriously. Their school wasn’t very good in the first place, so there were always students who would drop out for various reasons.

“The class you’re leading is about to enter their senior year. Don’t be distracted. You’re going on like this endlessly. If other people’s children are fine, you’re going to get sued for harassment, okay?”

Lei Xiurong pursed her lips and spat out, “I want to call the police.”

“Hey, don’t. Teacher Lei, you’re overreacting. He is his legal guardian.”

“I want to call the police,” she repeated. “I know that kid Guo Wei. He wouldn’t give up studying. Something must have happened to him.”

“After nine years of compulsory education, who cares? Even if he dropped out of school, Mr. Guo didn’t do anything harmful…”

“We can talk about it after we find him. His father has a criminal record, so it’s not a good thing.” Lei Xiurong raised her brows and was as aggressive as ever. “If this matter has no results, I will not let it go.”

“If it’s true that Guo Wei doesn’t want to continue schooling, I want to hear that from him, personally.”

Without the support of the school, Lei Xiurong went to the police station by herself.

……

The police found Guo Wei in a suitcase.

The boy’s body was mutilated beyond human form. Mixed with his backpack and luggage, it sank at the bottom of the most remote reservoir on the Qingjiang River. Along with Guo Wei, there were four suitcases of the same style, filled with mangled corpses.

The case was so horrifying that it shocked the entire country. The media, large and small, picked up wind and online platforms were filled with various reports. There was no airtight wall in the world. Class 2 and 3… Or rather, Class 3 in the high school quickly learned the truth.

Lei Xiurong said nothing.

Just like in the past, under the name of the “Old Witch”, she walked to the podium with her head held high to give her lecture, shaking the students’ test papers while cursing. When it was time to get off work, she would rush home aggressively, as usual.

This night, like always, Lei Xiurong swallowed some sleeping pills.

This had become her new habit over the last six months.

After the incident, she would occasionally get hallucinations. It was supposed to be a dark night outside the window, but she could always see the sunset on that day. On the day Guo Wei left, the rosy glow was like blood, lingering in her dreams.

What a bright color, but it could only awaken her pain and self-blame.

But tonight was different. She had a strange dream.

She dreamed that she was standing on the roof of the main teaching building. In addition to her, there were four students in the class. Like an ordinary nightmare, the scenery around the teaching building was chaotic and distorted.

“Everyone, come here!” Before Lei Xiurong could take a closer look, she instinctively called out to the students. “Come here!”

Several students clustered together in a daze.

Floating in front of them was a figure of a long-haired man. The man turned his head; his face was blurred, and his eyes were red like coals.

“Everyone is here. Thank you, Xiaohe Jie,” Yin Ren said.

“You’re welcome,” Lu Xiaohe responded weakly. “Promise me, don’t screw it up.”

“They’re good at stabilizing Guo Wei. This is my judgment as the rear commander.”

Five familiar figures appeared on the rooftop. The chaotic vortex froze, and the crazy attacks stopped.

Guo Laifu’s face disintegrated into the dark clouds, and the carnival of phantoms was hidden in the shadows. The giant knives that kept going up and down disappeared out of thin air, and all the entrails all over the ground turned gray and the bloody school uniform ropes loosened.

Outside the main teaching building, all abnormalities suddenly became harmless. Just now, the raging animosity and malice faded away and were hurriedly hidden.

Inside the projection screen, Guo Wei covered his face almost instantly.

He lowered his head deeply, and the bone-deep wound on his hand quickly closed. However, his blood-stained school badge was exposed and could be clearly seen at a glance.

“Guo Wei?” Li Xiaoya was the first to react and was shocked immediately.

“Yeah, just say what you want.” Unlike usual, Yin Ren’s voice was extremely gentle. “He can hear everything you say here.”

Li Xiaoya nodded in a daze.

Unlike in Guo Wei’s memories, the girl had cut off her long hair, and her face had lost its carefree innocence. It became a bit more bitter and mature.

“It turns out it’s not a nightmare,” she said.

Disregarding Lei Xiurong’s attempts to stop her, she ran to the edge of the rooftop.

“Da Guo!” Li Xiaoya raised her voice. “We’re in our senior year of high school! Did you know?”

There was crying in her voice.

“…That pen is for you. Don’t worry about returning it. Do you hear me?”

“I’ll do good and pass the exam. I’ll buy gifts for everyone, so you should accept them in advance!”

Guo Wei didn’t make a sound. He firmly blocked his face as the deep wounds on his chest and abdomen disappeared.

He didn’t want her to see this.

“Our brother is different.”

A tall and thin boy followed in Li Xiaoya’s footsteps and walked to the rooftop.

Guo Wei’s roommate’s eyes were flushed, but he held back his tears with a deliberate smile on his face.

“Ya Jie turned grief and anger into motivation. We’ve all gone through psychological counseling as a group.”

“Lao Si, why are you covering your face? Are you giving us the cold shoulder?”

“Just you wait. When the time comes, we’ll burn the college entrance exam papers for you! We can’t just suffer—”

“We found a shop outside that can print out the photos. We’ll burn that for you as well.”

The three boys gathered not far from Li Xiaoya. Their eyes were red as they were laughing and chattering.

The ghostly presence gradually faded away, and the internal organs and blades on the campus disappeared. The blood-stained school uniforms fell to the ground as countless twisted phantoms stood silently, their heads turning towards the direction of the main teaching building.

Small alien monsters started being repelled and were suspended in the air.

The wound on the back of Guo Wei’s hand slowly closed as he put it down. He revealed a blue, intact face. The bloodstains on his body were gradually fading.

He wanted to see them.

Those eyes showed turbidity from corruption, but the tears were no longer pus and blood. Guo Wei grabbed the red rope on one side of his temple and tremblingly pulled it out.

The Evil Force in the red rope corroded his hands, but Guo Wei still pulled hard, trying to make himself look more normal.

The desire to be born a ghost, the bitter hatred for his biological father—they were like extra-curricular books in a bucket that he carefully pushed into the darkness.

Guo Wei’s gaze turned to Lei Xiurong with a vague apology and expectation in his gaze.

He still wanted to hear her speak.

Lei Xiurong was extraordinarily strict with them and stubborn. Her voice was sharp, and she spoke fast, with a natural sense of acrimony. Once she scolded someone, she could talk endlessly without taking a single breath.

Half a year later, what would she say?

However, there was only silence that answered him.

Lei Xiurong wasn’t like her students. At this moment, she wasn’t pretending to be okay. The middle-aged teacher walked step by step to the edge of the rooftop. Her usually well-tended curly hair was a mess, and the wrinkles in the corner of her eyes were much deeper than he remembered.

Time passed minute by minute.

Lei Xiurong stared at Guo Wei. She was expressionless, but her face gradually wetted with tears. The first time the students saw their head teacher like this, they stood awkwardly looking at each other.

After a few minutes, Lei Xiurong finally spoke.

“Good boy,” she said. “Don’t be so bitter in your next life.”

On the projection screen, Guo Wei was silent for a long time.

After a while, he raised his head completely and directly looked at the five people on the rooftop, showing a faint, unskilled smile.

“Okay,” Guo Wei replied to her.

He clenched his fists and made a sudden effort, pulling the red rope full of Evil Force out of his head.

……

Outside the campus, it was 1:45 a.m.

In Guo Laifu’s consciousness, the nearby neighborhood was in a mess. The buildings staggered, and there were no pedestrians left on the street. A high-rise building broke in the middle, and the ruins were scattered everywhere. The entire scene was like a disaster movie set.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this thing. It’s so big.”

Fu Xingchuan stood on the orange cone monster and lit a cigarette, as if he were evaluating the seafood at a supermarket.

He was wearing a long red tunic like a wedding outfit, with a single red tassel earring wobbling on one side. The dark circles under his eyes were frighteningly heavy, but there were no signs of fatigue.

The cone monster fell sideways on the street. Its entire body was scarred and unconscious, with holes protruding from all its eyes. Around it, tall humanoid monsters twitched on the ground while small monsters crawled aimlessly. They were gathered in a haphazard heap, obviously beaten to a pulp.

The “Ghost General” was a title for higher-class ghost masters and corpse servants. Their abilities were completely suppressed here.

However, it seemed this didn’t apply to Minister Fu.

The space outside the school was still “night”. Around the small campus, orange-red spells soared into the sky, intertwining into a protective net like a raging fire. More monsters were blocked outside the protective net. They bared their teeth and claws to get closer, but they were still unable to break through Fu Xingchuan’s defenses.

“It’s almost cleaned up now. Wang Zhou, Bao Linlin, what’s the status of the ‘artificial gap’?”

Fu Xingchuan patted the dirt off his sleeves and blew out a smoke ring. The white smoke didn’t spread, but turned into tiny chains, wandering near the cracks in the ghost fetus.

Next to the deformed school gate, the smoke gathered together.

Not far from the school gate, there was a “door” composed purely of runes hanging in the air. The flame-like runes flowed continuously along the door frame, and behind it was abyss-like darkness.

The “artificial gap” of Shian.

While Unit 9 destroyed the core memory the ghost fetus would become unstable, which could open up two spaces as a temporary exit.

Bao Linlin was squatting by the door, confirming the location of the spirit weapons, one by one.

“Reporting. All interference has been eliminated.” Bao Linlin’s voice was crisp. “The ghost-binding spirit weapon is in normal condition. Unit 6 is on standby by Guo Laifu. No matter where the ghost is born into the world, we can deal with it.”

“Nn.” Fu Xingchuan’s face didn’t relax. “Xiao Zhao told you, right? There are signs of Evil Force in there. Saving people takes priority over catching ghosts. Don’t get attached to the battle.”

“Yes!” “Understood!”

With the brilliance of the magic fire cage, Fu Xingchuan added a series of protection spells near the door frame. Seeing that the runes on the door frame were running more smoothly, he took a few steps back and looked up and down at the “ghost fetus” in front of him.

“Just now, its appearance changed again.” Wang Zhou, the science post, was busy sketching, writing down a series of numbers from time to time. “This thing doesn’t look very good.”

He stopped his pen and flipped through the album schematically.

The first one was at 7:30 yesterday morning. When they discovered it, it was just a “tumor” protruding from the street.

The tenth one was around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. It became more distorted, and countless “filaments” that looked like nerves and blood vessels grew on the surface.

Wang Zhou quickly turned back dozens of pages. The pages alternated quickly, and the picture seemed to move.

He didn’t know how many sheets he had flipped through, but just ten minutes ago, the ghost fetus in the sketch was exactly the same as the one in front of them.

Tens of millions of filaments stood upright, leaned into the sky, and stretched into the deepest part of the huge vortex. They suddenly deflated from time to time, quickly absorbing something. At the same time, the entire ghost fetus pulsated weakly, like an ominous heartbeat.

Even if Wang Zhou was a science post, he could still see that…

Something was about to be born.

It wasn’t that Wang Zhou hadn’t ever been into the Archive before; after all, he had to put on women’s clothing and play out a palace drama resulting in a broken leg. Compared to the outrageous encounter that Unit 9 stumbled upon, Unit 7’s trip to the Archive was like a vacation.

“Minister Fu, is it really all right?” Sweat gathered around Wang Zhou’s forehead.

“It’s okay. Put away your sketchbook. It’s almost time.”

Fu Xingchuan glanced at the time. There were still two minutes left before 2:00 a.m.

Bao Linlin stood at the activation point of the spirit weapon, while Wang Zhou put on protective clothing and waited obediently by the door. Shian’s number one Ghost General cracked his neck and knuckles and was about to move forward—

When the pulsation suddenly stopped.

Without warning, tens of millions of filaments quickly withered. The “tumor” full of campus elements slowly unfolded, revealing square corners, like a flower first blooming.

Not far away, the “door” prepared by Shian was functioning normally, and there was no sign of rejection. Bao Linlin and Wang Zhou exchanged glances before the two turned to Fu Xingchuan in unison.

Before they could exert their strength, the thing had wilted by itself. Could it be that Unit 7’s long overdue good luck has finally surfaced after all their time accumulating bad luck?

“What did Unit 9 do?” Fu Xingchuan connected to Lu Xiaohe.

“Yin Ren recruited five people to ‘dream’ in order to stabilize Guo Wei’s emotions,” Luo Xiaohe slowly reported.

“The effect is too good to be true.” Fu Xingchuan rubbed his forehead and switched communication partners. “The plan remains the same. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, commence the countdown. Prepare to destroy the core memory all at once. There are probably people from Sunken Society in it. Don’t dawdle…”

Sss.

Before he could wait for a response from the two people in Unit 9, the signal was suddenly interrupted. It wasn’t cut off because of shielding or turned off, but the signal just suddenly disappeared.

“Unit 9, come in!”

“The channel is fluctuating abnormally. Something’s wrong!” Lu Xiaohe’s report came almost simultaneously.

Boom boom.

The ghost fetus twitched violently, with greater force than before. The original withered filaments surged quickly, and an abnormal silence spread along the block.

Wang Zhou gulped. “Minister F…”

“Forcibly open the door!” Fu Xingchuan sharply shouted.

……

Fifteen minutes ago.

Considering the complexity of the situation, Yin Ren didn’t let the ordinary people stay for too long.

After a simple exchange, the figures of the teacher and students on the rooftop gradually faded. Guo Wei said goodbye to the most important people in his life through the projection screen.

“Goodbye.” His tone was extremely solemn, and his eyes remained reluctant to leave the ground.

When the five figures disappeared completely, Guo Wei raised his hand. The memories that Ge Tingting and Zhong Chengshuo had lost turned into light spots and drilled back into their bodies.

After that, he clenched the red rope in his hand and turned his gaze to Yin Ren.

For the first time, Yin Ren saw a clear expectation in those eyes. After watching for a moment, Guo Wei seemed to come to a determination. He turned around and handed the red rope to the edge of the projection screen.

“Mr. Kong,” Guo Wei said softly. “I don’t need you to help me increase my hatred.”

“I want to suspend our transaction. I want to talk to these people first…”

Halfway through speaking, the red rope in his hand suddenly moved like a snake. It rushed to Guo Wei’s temple again and then coiled frantically, wrapping Guo Wei’s head tightly.

In just an instant, Guo Wei didn’t even have time to raise his hand to stop him.

The projection screen split into several pieces in an instant, and the illusory radio station was destroyed.

Like egg whites leaking out of an eggshell, a gloomy man with a straight face “dripped” from the projection screen. A circle of red rope was wrapped around his right wrist. Without the cover of the master’s will, the Evil Force on the red rope spread quickly, and it was so sharp that it was hard to ignore.

At the other end of the red rope, Guo Wei’s head was completely entangled in the red rope. His head was down and his feet were up, looking like a poor-quality balloon floating in mid-air.

The boy’ hands and feet were stiff against his torso, and there was no response.

“Turn off the lights,” the man said with a smile. There were traces of blood and pus coming from all his orifices.

In the next instant, the entire campus sank into dull darkness.

Before the man’s voice fell, Yin Ren had already rushed out. He stretched out his wings again, firmly protecting Zhong Chengshuo and the two cocoons by his side. A protective spell wrapped around the four of them, layer by layer…

Sure enough, in the next instant, dozens of small objects collided against him.

It was a bullet tied in a knot.

These knots carried Evil Force and were so aggressive that even the protective spell couldn’t stop them.

It shouldn’t be a problem when the Evil Force from the outside world entered his body. His Evil Force would devour these “foreign forces” on its own, but it would cause a small imbalance for a moment.

At this moment, Yin Ren felt as if a hammer had struck his head.

The out-of-control dizziness didn’t disappear as before.

The Evil Force in Yin Ren’s body seemed to have been awakened and was violently colliding with the power he used to suppress it; they were boiling, and the difficulty of controlling it was a thousand times higher than before. The vicious dog at the end of the leash became a crazy elephant.

The balance was crumbling.

[It’s different here. Don’t use your power so casually.] Dog Thing once warned him.

He was already very careful, but…

At the same time, anger, sadness, worry, and the fear of losing control magnified exponentially, causing something to drill uncontrollably out of his heart. Coupled with the relentless assault from the Evil Force, Yin Ren’s consciousness was about to be torn apart.

Can’t lose control. Can’t lose control. Fu Xingchuan and the others were nearby, and Guo Wei was here. The members of Unit 9 were here. His partner… Zhong Chengshuo, was here…

Zhong Chengshuo was still here. He at least couldn’t—no, absolutely couldn’t—in front of Zhong Chengshuo.

Yin Ren twitched and tightened his wings, panting for breath.

“How does it taste? Outside, my emotional ‘resonance’ is no better than ‘Charon’, but here, I can magnify your negative feelings hundreds and thousand times, and force you to commit suicide in front of me.”

Hearing Yin Ren’s unsteady gasp, the man laughed.

“I forgot. With your authority, you still can’t get this kind of information, right?”

The man’s voice was like boiled porridge, mixed with a tremor. It seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him… No, everything was getting farther and farther away from him.

“…What a pity. If this kid can become a ghost, it can match my abilities. This consciousness is still inconvenient to use…”

“Take away the best memory… Only children play this kind of trick. How about seeing the effect of ‘manifesting your worst memories’ and ‘emotional amplification’… What will the effect be?”

Blurred light began to appear in the surrounding darkness.

Yin Ren was half kneeling on the ground. This thinking seemed to be mixed with magma, and his vision began to quickly melt. His five senses went wild with confusion.

[Be careful of yourself.]

“Zhong… Chengshuo…”

Yin Ren groped Zhong Chengshuo’s arm and spoke with difficulty. His pronunciation was flat and chaotic, giving people the creeps.

“Escape…”

Yin Ren loosened the cocoons.

At 2:00 a.m. sharp, he used his last strength to throw his three companions in the direction of the school gate.

---

The author has something to say:

Kong Wanqing: Let me use this nuclear reactor to show the performance of my newly bought lighter.

There is hell ahead.jpg

——————

Xiao Zhong is absolutely accumulating strength!

The glorious moment of the Science Post—

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>