He Yu rolled over and flung back the mattress.
Under the mattress there was also a water stain, dripping and still spreading. A twisted black shadow was crawling out of the water mark, its movements eerie, giving off a cold, damp chill. It was utterly terrifying.
Punch. Beat it!
The utterly terrifying ghost turned into an utterly terrifying ghost pancake.
The ghost that had just crawled out of the water stain hadn’t even had time to react before it was grabbed and dragged out again. Five long, thin fingers drove into its body like long nails, and it couldn’t escape.
He Yu’s gaze was ice cold. Finding the ghost too wet and slippery to hit comfortably, he casually grabbed the doll beside him and stuffed the ghost pancake into it.
A tiny shriek seemed to come from inside the doll, and something scrambled out in a hurry, yielding the doll to the ghost that had been stuffed in. It hopped all the way to the windowsill and ran off together with the presence that had earlier been peeking in through the gap in the curtains.
He Yu, with a cold expression, pressed a hand down on the doll, and the ghost that had been frantically trying to escape was trapped inside it. He gave the doll a good beating, and when he was done, tossed it into a corner, laid the mattress back down, turned over, wrapped himself in the blanket, and went to sleep!
The next morning, He Yu opened his eyes, spaced out for three minutes, and looked at the clock. It was already 8:13. The good routine of waking at seven, which he had kept up ever since transmigrating, was broken. He Yu recalled that he had been woken up twice last night after falling asleep. Once by the noise from the floor above, and once by the evil spirit of the haunted house causing a ruckus in the middle of the night.
The first time he was woken, he lost ten minutes; the second time, he beat the evil spirit for an hour. That was why he woke up an hour and ten minutes late this morning.
He Yu sat up. His body didn’t move, but his neck turned his head, slowly, toward the old doll in the corner.
The doll began to tremble.
He Yu’s expression was unfriendly.
This thing was what had disturbed his sleep, and it might even affect his salted fish life!
There really was a ghost in the haunted house. If it attracted people from the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, and they investigated, his identity might be exposed. Or if it attracted people from some other villain organization, and a bit of conflict arose, then his identity as someone who was not an ordinary person would be exposed!
Haunted house evil spirit = trouble.
But as long as the haunted house stopped being a haunted house, he could continue disguising himself as an ordinary person.
He Yu’s expression grew more and more fierce, and the doll trembled harder and harder.
He Yu picked up the doll and pulled the evil spirit out of it.
The moment the evil spirit hit the floor, it lay flat and began to wail. “Boss, I was wrong, I’ll never dare again! Spare my life, and from now on, if you say east, I won’t dare go west…”
“Shut up!” He Yu said fiercely.
The evil spirit shuddered, obediently closed its mouth, and lay on the floor trembling without making a sound.
“I’m just an ordinary person. Don’t call me boss!”
“Boss” meant trouble. He had no wish to get involved in the plot. Wasn’t staying far away from the plot and being a low-key, salted fish rich man much better?
The evil spirit thought of the hour it had been beaten last night and shivered.
If you say you’re an ordinary person, then you’re an ordinary person.
“Were you the one who scared off all the previous tenants?” He Yu asked.
“Y-yes, but I’ve never harmed anyone. I only scared them away. Last night I didn’t mean to harm you either…” the evil spirit said pitifully.
He Yu could tell this wasn’t a lie. The evil spirit had no blood-baleful qi on it, which showed it truly had never harmed anyone. He Yu had a slight headache; he was pondering how to deal with this evil spirit. Last night he had been extremely sleepy and had gone to sleep right after beating the ghost, and only when he woke this morning did he realize this was a problem.
The evil spirit had never harmed anyone, so beating it into scattered soul and dispersed spirit outright wouldn’t be appropriate. But the evil spirit had been here a long time, and it might well have been noticed long ago by people such as those from the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, who simply hadn’t yet had the time to deal with it. If they remembered later, that would be trouble again.
“Have any spirit exorcists ever come here?” He Yu asked.
“Yes, but they found nothing and left.” The evil spirit hurriedly explained. “I can lower my presence to almost nothing, so they can’t detect me, and they assumed the earlier tenants were scared off because the place has a bad environment and heavy yin-baleful qi.”
If that was the case, then this place was actually better than other places. Once the Paranormal Affairs Bureau had investigated once, they would be even less likely to suspect there was anything wrong with it.
This evil spirit’s presence really was abnormally faint. It had been hiding in the bathtub, and when He Yu had walked around yesterday, he hadn’t sensed its aura at all.
“Are you the only ghost here?” He Yu asked.
The evil spirit gritted its teeth and said, “Yes, it’s only me.”
It was pretty loyal to its friends.
He Yu neither confirmed nor denied it. “I just want to live a quiet, peaceful life. I have no wish to meddle in other people’s business, but I also don’t want to be disturbed.”
The evil spirit nodded frantically. “I understand, I understand!”
“Do you know how to clean?” He Yu asked.
“Huh?”
“Before I come back, tidy up the house, and I’ll spare you,” He Yu said.
“Yes! Yes! I’ll definitely clean it well!”
After He Yu went out, the evil spirit suddenly collapsed onto the floor, gasping desperately for breath.
The curtain shook, and a string of damp little plum-blossom footprints walked over next to it. Another one slipped into the plush doll, moved close to the evil spirit, hugged its face and nuzzled it. A red telephone cord popped out from somewhere and patted its shoulder soothingly.
The evil spirit finally recovered, muttering, “So scary… so scary…”
“I told you not to scare that person. He said yesterday that he only wanted to live a stable, peaceful life,” the doll said in a soft, thin voice.
“You believe his blather…” The evil spirit glared, and the telephone cord slapped the back of its hand with a “pa!” It changed its words. “his… his bold talk.”
People and ghosts aren’t suited to living together. The living are harmed by a ghost’s aura, and ghosts fear being affected by the aura of the living. Of course, powerful spirit exorcists and great ghosts are exceptions.
The few of them were too deeply bound to this house and had almost become earthbound spirits, so it was hard for them to leave. Since they couldn’t leave, they could only make the living people leave, which was why it had scared off the tenants who came, again and again.
Besides this, there was one more reason:
“A character like him would settle down and live an honest, quiet life? Who knows what his purpose is! Maybe he went out just now to find a bunch of bad guys to make our place their hideout, and then what would we do?” The evil spirit still glared fiercely.
The little doll wasn’t afraid of it at all and complained, “Can’t someone be allowed to retire? He sewed my eyes back on. Look at me now, I’m about to fall apart. He promised to wash me clean, and I don’t know whether he will.”
The old telephone cord cut in. “All right, stop arguing. He said he wants to see the house tidied before he comes back, and we don’t know when he’ll be back, so let’s start cleaning first.”
The old-style telephone cord patted it and was about to manifest, when it was suddenly pressed down by the evil spirit.
“Whatever you do, do NOT show yourselves.” The evil spirit’s hands and feet were still trembling. “Act as if you don’t exist. Whatever you do, don’t pop out!”
“Why?” the little doll asked, puzzled. “If we all help you clean, it’ll go much faster.”
“That person is too terrifying!” The evil spirit’s voice rose uncontrollably.
The little doll was startled and quickly patted the little footprints beside it, and the little footprints hopped into the evil spirit’s arms. The little doll went over to comfort it too, saying softly, “Did he hurt you a lot when he beat you last night?”
It took a while before the evil spirit calmed down. “You haven’t faced him. That aura is too terrifying. I feel… if I fell into his hands, he could make me beg for death and be unable to die.”
It hadn’t been this afraid even when it died.
The evil spirit shivered again. “Anyway, hide well, and whatever you do, don’t manifest.”
They were trapped because of their deep bond with the house, and for the same reason, their auras were much better concealed when they hid inside objects in the house. The evil spirit also had an ability called “Unknown to All” that could help the others hide even better. But if they manifested, this ability would be broken.
Seeing the state it was in, the others all became serious.
“Fine,” the little doll said, “even like this, I can still be of some help.”
“Then you’ll have to face him alone. Be careful.”
..
An April morning, inside a house with the curtains not drawn.
The terrifying evil spirit rolled up a current of water to wash away the dust, the telephone cord curled itself into a broom head to clear the cobwebs from the ceiling, the little doll held a toothbrush to clean the crevices, and the little footprints on the floor stepped on a rag and walked backwards to wipe the floor…
Meanwhile, after leaving, He Yu bought soy milk and fried dough sticks at the breakfast shop downstairs. After eating his fill, he asked the shop owner about nearby home renovation companies. He planned to find a renovation crew to redo the house.
Before that, however, he intended to first buy groceries for Granny Sun, and then go mooch a lunch from her.
He carried the groceries to Granny Sun’s home. When she opened the door and saw him in one piece, unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Granny Sun frowned and pulled him inside. “I asked around again last night. I heard the thing in that haunted house is really fierce.”
“I’m really fine. Look, aren’t I doing great? It’s probably just rumors getting exaggerated as they spread,” He Yu said with a smile.
Granny Sun didn’t know that the “really fierce” haunted house ghosts were at that very moment cleaning the house. She sighed, pulled open a drawer, rummaged out a notebook, and took a small card from inside it.
“Take this. If anything happens, be sure to call the number on it for help,” Granny Sun said.
He Yu’s pupils contracted.
It was a business card of the Paranormal Affairs Bureau.