Yun Ji wanted to thank the Tornado Inmate.
This was absolutely necessary.
The Tornado Inmate had burned himself to save her—such great kindness deserved more than just words, but she couldn’t even skip saying thank you.
Although he might have been forced.
…He definitely was forced! Who would create a tornado in the Death Row Prison unless compelled?
Yun Ji craned her neck, looking around.
“What are you looking at?” Lin Shu asked curiously.
Just as Yun Ji was about to answer, Wei Sheng suddenly cried out: “Yun Ji! The ground is so dirty, there’s blood everywhere, I’m going to die from the stench! Quick, pick me up, pick me up!”
It seemed that ever since waking up, Wei Sheng had stopped using the self-address “this venerable one” when speaking to her.
Now he was naturally calling her by name.
What did this mean?
It meant the little boat of friendship had finally set sail!
But judging by Wei Sheng’s tone now, he was probably planning a tactical retreat after losing the argument with Shen Yinshuo.
Shen Yinshuo’s disdainful eye-rolling was practically reaching the sky.
As Yun Ji was about to pick up Wei Sheng while marveling at her hard-won peace, a dark shadow suddenly pounced over and hung from her arm, clinging tightly to it.
Looking down, she saw what appeared to be a little boy of only five or six years old gazing up at her with pleading eyes.
The little boy was incredibly beautiful—with smooth black hair, long eyelashes, delicate features, and gray-blue eyes filled with glistening tears.
Only his complexion was excessively pale.
His weight was like a feather, hanging from her arm without any noticeable heaviness.
So Yun Ji glanced downward.
No legs or feet.
To be precise, the lower half of the little boy’s body consisted of those standard Ghost Legs typically seen in comics.
This was a ghost.
This was a ghost!!!
Instantly, all the horror movies Yun Ji had ever watched flooded into her mind.
Her eyes rolled back as she was about to faint.
…But she didn’t faint.
Well, ever since transmigrating, she had not only pieced together human puzzles but also witnessed nail-piercing torture and been revived by a mud man with a pleasant voice. A mere ghost that didn’t even eat people was completely insignificant.
Moreover, anyone who could appear here was probably her inmate.
Since he was an inmate, that made him a chat companion.
Yun Ji hesitantly looked at the little boy: “You are—”
“Lu Xing,” the little boy answered preemptively. “My name is Lu Xing. Hello, Sister Yun.”
Then he fluttered his thin, butterfly-wing-like eyelashes, hanging from Yun Ji’s arm like an accessory while tearfully gazing at her: “Sister smells nice, I like sister, sister hold me.”
Wei Sheng’s temple suddenly sprouted a bunch of anger veins.
Shen Yinshuo watched the ghost expressionlessly, his ghost-catching hand itching to move but unfortunately pinned down.
Lin Shu was frantically overthinking internally, muttering in a voice as beautiful as a lark’s song:
“Why didn’t Yun Ji answer me earlier? Did she not want to answer? Did I ask something that made her unhappy? Did Wei Sheng interrupt us because he’s dissatisfied with me? This little ghost appearing now seems suspicious, but maybe I’m wrong—perhaps he just dislikes me…”
Only Yun Ji stood there dumbfounded, her mouth agape:
“So…”
Everyone turned to look at her.
“So outrageous, right?” Wei Sheng snorted coldly. “This guy obviously looks—”
“So adorable!” she screamed, suddenly hugging Lu Xing. Miraculously, her hands didn’t pass through the ghost’s body like in movies, but instead solidly embraced him.
The only problem was it felt too cold to the touch, like hugging a block of ice.
The moment Lu Xing was embraced, his pupils trembled as if shaken by an earthquake. He looked extremely shy, his pale little face flushing rosy.
Wei Sheng’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he shrieked, “Yun Ji, don’t be fooled by him! This guy looks like the oldest among us—he’s at least a few thousand years old!”
A few thousand years old?
Yun Ji glanced at Lu Xing’s adorable, boyish face.
Lu Xing bit his finger, gazing at her innocently with a naive, clueless, and somewhat bashful expression.
Haha, Wei Sheng really knows how to joke.
Lu Xing quietly turned his head and flashed Wei Sheng a wicked grin, his sharp canine teeth looking demonic.
Wei Sheng nearly fainted from rage.
This creature is pure evil—is he deliberately getting close to Yun Ji just to provoke us?!
Shen Yinshuo narrowed his eyes, looking toward the still-burning Human Cauldron: “When the Human Cauldron can be opened, we’ll see what the body inside looks like.”
Only then did Yun Ji remember that it was Lu Xing’s body burning inside the furnace.
“By the way, thank you. Without you, Shu Shu wouldn’t have been able to save me.”
Yun Ji held Lu Xing’s shoulders and said seriously, “But you only rolled them up and flew around—you’re so kind! You’re such a good person… a good ghost!”
She carelessly bestowed this “good ghost” title, startling Lu Xing so much his eyes widened.
Wei Sheng and Shen Yinshuo’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Lin Shu, whom Yun Ji referred to as “Shu Shu,” suddenly looked over, his expression shocked, incredulous, and with a hint of slight embarrassment.
Then, as if it had nothing to do with him, he continued muttering to himself: “…So that’s what makes someone good? Well, I lit the fire too—why doesn’t she say I’m good? Not a single word Yun Ji said praised me. It must be that I haven’t done enough. Should the fire be even stronger…”
Lu Xing’s eyelids twitched twice.
He quickly snapped back to attention, first glancing swiftly at the other three, then putting on an even shyer expression, rubbing his hands together and saying, “It’s no problem. I’m happy to help you, sister. I like you, sister.”
Who was it again that sent sand and stones flying everywhere in the Death Row Prison, slapping people around?
Shen Yinshuo rolled his eyes again, unable to hold back a sarcastic remark: “Fake.”
Wei Sheng continued to lose his composure: “Yun Ji! Yun Ji! Yun Ji, you can’t believe him! To save you, he rolled me up and tossed me around—how can you do this to me?!”
Yun Ji pretended not to hear.
She was staring at the burning furnace, looking quite worried:
“Is it okay for the furnace to keep burning like this?”
Lu Xing shook his head: “It’s fine. My body is impervious to blades and spears, untouched by water or fire. The flames burning now are just a type of restriction.”
Hearing Lu Xing describe his own body, Yun Ji suddenly felt a strong sense of familiarity.
This sense of familiarity had started when Feng Liansu called her “Despicable bone.”
Where had she heard it before?
She suddenly spaced out.
Before she crossed over, she was a naive college freshman who had just started university. A friend she’d met in the hospital had recommended a novel to her.
It was a pure power fantasy novel from the male perspective. The male lead was born into a top-tier immortal clan, rumored to be a descended heavenly god with the strongest Immortal Bone, equipped with every possible advantage.
He eliminated various antagonists along the way, gathered a group of like-minded friends to form the protagonist’s team, and eventually became the Immortal Emperor who overlooked the world.
However, she was busy with her studies at the time, and the book really wasn’t her cup of tea, so she hadn’t read it very carefully.
After all, it’s pure wish-fulfillment fiction—even skimming ten lines at a glance wouldn’t affect the protagonist squad’s dominance. Some plotlines felt so overused that I simply skipped straight to the finale.
The ending showed all four major antagonists in the book completely overthrown, with no one left to obstruct the protagonist squad. The male lead had also become the most powerful Immortal Emperor.
“Yun Ji? Yun Ji?”
Wei Sheng called her loudly. She snapped back to attention to find Wei Sheng still frowning, looking somewhat anxious. “What were you thinking about? I called you several times. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Yun Ji shook her head. “No, I just suddenly remembered a novel I read before… a storybook.”
“Storybook?” This touched upon Shen Yinshuo and Lin Shu’s blind spots in knowledge.
Shen Yinshuo spent most of her time cultivating, while Lin Shu devoted most of his time to crafting poisons—they had never read any storybooks at all.
Lu Xing didn’t speak, only tilting his head to look at Yun Ji with evident curiosity.
Wei Sheng, having read a few storybooks himself, grew even more puzzled. “What about the storybook?”
Yun Ji pondered before speaking. “That storybook mentioned the term ‘Despicable bone’.”