He Yu was startled, and instinctively wanted to throw a punch.
But if there happened to be ordinary people around, and someone saw him, they might think he was having a fit. So He Yu held back for a moment.
He couldn’t hold back.
He threw a punch.
The twisted ghost dodged in advance. He Yu didn’t hit it, and his mood turned very unpleasant.
That thing was both ugly and terrifying, only barely recognizable as human-shaped, and the moment he turned his head, it stuck itself right behind his neck.
He stood on the road, observing the street. There was no mistake — that thing was the source he had been tracking along the yin-baleful qi earlier. After what had just happened, He Yu had figured it out — that thing was an earthbound spirit. An earthbound spirit is affected by the obsessive fixation, fear, and so on from the moment of death, and can only be trapped near the location where they died. This earthbound spirit was active on the sidewalk and a stretch of the road on either side of it; once he stood on the sidewalk, the earthbound spirit couldn’t cross over.
He Yu returned to the shop with a dark expression on his face. He could still feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck.
Chen Shi cautiously watched his expression, not daring to breathe too loudly.
“When did that thing stick itself onto me?” He Yu asked.
“The moment it appeared, you turned around.” Chen Shi said.
He Yu’s mood improved slightly. If he’d been followed the whole way by something like that, he’d have been creeped out for a whole day.
“Do you know what’s going on with that earthbound spirit?” He Yu asked.
Chen Shi shook his head. “I don’t know much. I generally don’t leave the house. It’s trapped on the road, and normally we just mind our own business and don’t interfere with each other. Its baleful energy is very fierce — it’s a vicious ghost, and I don’t dare provoke it.”
“Does it usually chase after people like this?”
“No. It usually doesn’t make a move.”
He Yu’s expression darkened again.
“Boss, it might have sensed that you’re extraordinary, and fixated on you.” Chen Shi said cautiously.
“What do you think is extraordinary about me?” He Yu stared at him heavily.
Chen Shi shook his head frantically. “No, no! You’re just an ordinary plush toy shop owner!”
He Yu snorted.
But this matter really was strange.
He Yu had hidden himself very well; at first Chen Shi had genuinely taken him for an ordinary person. It was only after seeing him locate the rag doll, the corded telephone, and the old tennis ball that he began to think this might be a naturally perceptive ordinary person. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to risk his life trying to scare He Yu that night.
The Jiang siblings also hadn’t noticed anything unusual about He Yu — so how had this earthbound spirit noticed?
And if it hadn’t noticed, then why would it suddenly take an interest in He Yu?
Outside, the sky was gradually darkening. He Yu stared at the stretch of road where the earthbound spirit was, and couldn’t help but flex his wrist.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t just tear up the road…
But that would cause too much commotion and would easily be noticed by people.
He’d wait a bit longer. If that earthbound spirit insisted on disturbing his peaceful life… then it couldn’t blame him for what came next.
At ten in the evening, He Yu returned to his bedroom to get ready for bed. The mattress was custom-made for him, big and soft, and extremely comfortable. There was also a large body pillow on the bed, shaped like a shark on the upper half and bird claws on the lower half, with a pair of bird wings as well. This was something he had specially kept back when stocking the shop, named: Shark-Hawk.
He Yu lay down on the big bed, rolled over to hug the Shark-Hawk, and happily narrowed his eyes.
At half past ten, the sound of things being smashed and a child’s screaming came from upstairs.
He Yu opened his eyes, his pitch-black eyes staring intently at the ceiling, his slender fingers digging into the body pillow, and the poor Shark-Hawk grew more and more twisted, more and more distorted…
An oppressive, terrifying aura spread out along with it, from the bedroom to the living room, enveloping the entire residential complex, and then reaching the shop and the back courtyard…
The rag doll hugged the old tennis ball, trembling, while Chen Shi shrank back beside the old-fashioned telephone, nearly in tears.
The presence on the road seemed to sense something, and shadows gradually began to seep out across the road surface…
Just as this terrifying aura was about to spread beyond the house, the old telephone’s cord suddenly shot through the wall, extending up into the bedroom ceiling. The bright red telephone cord frantically stretched out, weaving itself into a thin blanket, and a faint electric current flowed through the cord, forming a soft white noise.
When the racket from upstairs met this layer of white noise, it was as if it had run into a soft, pliable blanket — the white noise blocked it all out.
Before the Shark-Hawk could be twisted apart entirely, quiet returned to the bedroom.
He Yu closed his eyes, and before long, his breathing grew slower and slower, deeper and deeper, and the terrifying aura gradually withdrew back into his body.
Chen Shi let out a breath of relief, eyes brimming with tears, and hugging the old-fashioned telephone, said quietly, “Uncle, I’m going to have to trouble you to save us every night from now on.”
The old-fashioned telephone patted him comfortingly.
These past few days, every night there had been things being smashed and a child screaming from upstairs, but a few days ago the house had been under renovation, and the great one hadn’t been living in the house.
The renovation crew had even specially reinforced the soundproofing — who would have thought the racket from upstairs would only grow more penetrating?
Once the noise from upstairs finally stopped, the old-fashioned telephone withdrew all its cords.
Chen Shi finally relaxed. He looked at the exhausted old-fashioned telephone and said hesitantly, “Uncle, the boss is pretty formidable. And he’s quite generous too — the vessel I’m inhabiting now is almost as good as a living person’s body. Don’t you all want to follow the boss too?”
There were four ghosts in total in the haunted house. Aside from Chen Shi, the other three and He Yu existed in a state where both sides tacitly understood the situation but never broke it open. He Yu allowed them to keep staying in the house, and in turn they behaved themselves honestly, not causing trouble, not interfering with or affecting each other.
At first, Chen Shi had been afraid that He Yu might harm the other ghosts, so he had been using his own abilities to hide them, and none of them would manifest. But now that he was following the boss, in just a few days he had already obtained a vessel to inhabit. To be able to move about freely like a living person, unafraid of sunlight — just imagine how rare a spirit puppet like that must be! Not to mention that the vessel’s material was merely a plush toy.
Whatever the boss let slip through his fingers was more than enough for them to benefit from endlessly.
The old-fashioned telephone, however, declined.
If it had been before, he might have been tempted. But tonight, having witnessed the terrifying might He Yu displayed after being woken up, he gave up the idea entirely.
Too terrifying. Following a figure like that, one careless moment could mean being smashed to pieces.
His old bones couldn’t take that kind of tossing about anymore. It was enough to have a peaceful place to rest.
The next day, the plush toy shop opened as usual.
He Yu sat in the shop, lost in thought. He had gotten up at ten past seven that morning. Ever since he had transmigrated, his biological clock had become frighteningly precise, needing a full nine hours of sleep every day. Last night he had been woken up again for ten minutes, still because of the upstairs problem.
He Yu had looked into it — autism sometimes came with manic episodes caused by loss of emotional control, and he couldn’t forcibly demand that the person be quiet. Should he adjust his schedule, and take a one-hour nap every day at noon?
Just as he was thinking this, Chen Shi suddenly grew excited. “Boss, a customer’s here!”
Outside the glass door, a small child was leaning against it, thin and small, hands pressed against the door, peering in.
Yesterday, Granny Sun’s visit had been a friendly opening-day gesture; counting seriously, this child was the first real customer to their shop!
He Yu opened the door, welcomed the child in, and asked gently, “Are you here by yourself? Where are your mom and dad?”
The child didn’t speak. The clothes on his body were quite clean, but wrinkled, and badly worn.
“Whose child is this, running off and getting lost? Not being watched properly at all.” Chen Shi muttered, fetching a chair and placing it somewhere clearly visible right from the doorway.
He Yu opened the door and had the child sit down in the chair. But as he turned to walk away, the child suddenly reached out and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
He Yu stopped, and had Chen Shi bring over another chair. He looked at this child — a pair of eyes, black and white sharply defined, clean and innocent-looking.
“What’s your name?”
“How old are you this year?”
“How did you end up here?”
“Oh, I see. Then where are your mom and dad?”
“I understand.”
The child didn’t say a single word — it was entirely He Yu asking and answering his own questions.
Chen Shi went back behind the counter, watching He Yu and the child talk through the gaps between the plush toys, and got goosebumps all over.
He poked the rag doll hanging on the counter with the “Not For Sale” tag, and said quietly, “That child — he really is human, right?”
However he looked at that child, something about him felt unsettling — the eyes on that small face were the largest feature, without the slightest expression, and no emotion in them at all. No matter what He Yu asked, he showed no reaction whatsoever.
How had the boss even managed to strike up a conversation with him?!
The rag doll badly wanted to roll his eyes at him, but alas, button eyes couldn’t do that.
You yourself are already a ghost — why are you still afraid of people?
“No, I’m serious, something’s off about that kid.” Chen Shi murmured. “Don’t you feel like there’s something eerie about him? He doesn’t feel like he has the presence of a living person.”