It was still dark outside the window.
Wen Yaozhi opened his eyes and slowly sat up from the single bed. A sliver of light peeked through a gap in the curtains; he glanced at the sky, which remained pitch black, and pulled the curtains tight.
In the corner by the window, a layer of debris had accumulated, along with a talisman paper that had only half a corner remaining. After a quick cleanup, Wen Yaozhi stepped into the bathroom to take a shower.
The warm water pouring from the showerhead washed away the sweat brought on by his dreams. The man arched his back slightly and brushed back the stray hairs on his forehead, his heterochromatic eyes flickering.
Upon waking, the contents of the dream had already become somewhat blurred. However, the two large characters on the school desk remained clearly etched in his mind: Du Ye.
A memory of a tall, sturdy young man surfaced, followed by another face, finer, more delicate, and hauntingly familiar. Wen Yaozhi finally pieced together some fragmented memories.
After his shower, he checked the time and called Meng Yili. She was on the night shift and sounded surprised to receive his call.
“Did something happen?”
Wen Yaozhi fiddled with the ashes of the talisman with two fingers. “He sent me a dream.”
Meng Yili froze, reacting instantly. “Was it Lu Xincheng?”
“It was him,” Wen Yaozhi paused for half a second. “The talismans you gave me are gone.”
“What!” Meng Yili’s voice rose involuntarily. She paused, trying her best to suppress her shock. “That was ten whole talismans? Did a whole platoon of spirits enter your dream?”
Wen Yaozhi replied flatly, “Not quite. Just a nearly god-like evil spirit.”
Meng Yili remained silent.
She knew Wen Yaozhi had not called her in the middle of the night just to share a bizarre dream. Even though she was incredibly curious, she held it back. “So, what do you want to do now?”
“I need you to help me summon a soul.”
Meng Yili asked tentatively, “Is it Lu Xincheng?”
The voice on the other end remained emotionless. “No. A living soul.”
Meng Yili was quite surprised but quickly agreed. “When?”
“Right now. I am coming over to find you.”
Just as Wen Yaozhi was about to hang up, he heard Meng Yili hesitate. “If Lu Xincheng’s spirit is indeed still around, does that mean he did not make a deal with the evil spirit? Did you misunderstand him?”
The man’s cold, sharp lips pressed together tightly. He did not say a word.
After the call ended, Wen Yaozhi cast his gaze upon the table. Only one packet remained in the large box of instant coffee at the corner of the desk. He boiled some water and made himself a cup.
The coffee had been a gift from Lu Xincheng.
Over a month ago, Lu Xincheng had visited his dormitory carrying two large shopping bags filled with snacks, various brands of instant coffee, and ice cream. He had even brought an expensive bottle of champagne.
Wen Yaozhi had found it strange. “Did you win a bet?”
Lu Xincheng smiled so widely his eyes disappeared, not taking offense. “What are you thinking? I am celebrating joining a production!”
“Congratulations,” Wen Yaozhi said, his lips twitching slightly. “Playing a villain again?”
Lu Xincheng poured two glasses of wine and proudly held up two fingers. “This time I am the second male lead, and it is a major script. The kind that is guaranteed to be a hit!”
Wen Yaozhi looked up. “I thought you had not had any acting offers for a long time?”
Lu Xincheng’s eyes flickered slightly, but his smile remained unchanged. “I submitted my resume to the director. It just so happened that my image and age were a perfect fit, so I was cast.”
The keen Wen Yaozhi immediately sensed something subtle. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Lu Xincheng’s left hand; the watch the other man usually wore on his right hand was now on his left wrist. Noting Wen Yaozhi’s gaze, Lu Xincheng uncomfortably covered his wrist with his sleeve.
“Why were you asking me about the Evil God some time ago?”
“No reason, just pure curiosity,” Lu Xincheng joked.
“I do not need to remind you of the consequences of touching those things,” Wen Yaozhi’s face darkened.
“You and my family were all victims of them. I cannot get away from them fast enough,” Lu Xincheng laughed lightheartedly, raising his glass. “Come on, let us have a toast.”
Wen Yaozhi stared at him and, in the end, did not reach for the glass in front of him. Lu Xincheng’s smile faltered; he gave a few dry laughs, touched his glass against the one on the table, and drained it in one gulp.
At that moment, Wen Yaozhi guessed that Lu Xincheng had crossed a boundary he should not have touched. He barely saw Lu Xincheng for the next month, until he received the phone call.
There had been an accident on set. He died on the spot before he could be taken to the hospital.
When the news reached him, Wen Yaozhi was finishing a difficult assignment and had Meng Yili take over the arrangements for his friend’s funeral. Until now, he had not yet gone to see Lu Xincheng.
While waiting for the water to boil, Wen Yaozhi searched the internet. The television drama was extremely popular, with a high level of discussion even during the filming stage. However, compared to the attention given to the show, the accident had almost entirely vanished from public view.
After searching for a long time, Wen Yaozhi finally found an entertainment gossip account.
“Fatality on the Set of an S-Tier Potential Hit”
When he clicked on it, the article had already been deleted by the author. He searched for Lu Xincheng, but he could not find a single relevant message, as if the person had never existed.
Wen Yaozhi pulled up a selfie Lu Xincheng had sent him from the set. The gray-haired youth was smiling brightly. Wen Yaozhi’s gaze lingered on the background of the photo, zooming in on a man in the distance. The middle-aged man was slightly portly, wearing a baseball cap and black-framed glasses perched on his nose, pointing a hand toward the side.
Wen Yaozhi zoomed in to the maximum. Under the pixelated, blurred quality, he distinguished a faint, ghostly black line on that wrist.
Another person with a contract with an evil spirit.
Inside the funeral home during the latter half of the night, the air was bone-chilling. The sound of a woman’s intermittent sobbing echoed in the mortuary. A young man lay on a cold platform, the white cloth pulled down to his chest, revealing his lifeless face.
“Let A-Ye go,” said the middle-aged man standing beside the woman, reaching out to pull up the white cloth.
“No!” the woman screamed, suddenly pushing the man away. “Do not touch him.”
After struggling for a day and a night, the man was also exhausted and on the verge of an emotional collapse. The person lying there was also his son. “He is already here. What more do you want? Can you not just let him go in peace?”
The woman threw herself over the cold body, refusing to let go. “A-Ye is only twenty; he was such a good child. Karma exists; he saved people. Why did no one save him this time? Why could I not trade my life for his? If he dies, I do not want to live anymore! I do not want to live! Ahh!”
The man’s eyes were bloodshot. He remained silent for a long time before reaching out to gently comfort the woman’s back.
Lu Xincheng silently watched this scene of parents grieving for their child, feeling as if a stone were pressing on his heart. The little girl stood obediently by his side.
“The evil spirit is dead. Can Big Brother still come back?”
“I hope so,” Lu Xincheng sighed.
After leaving the dream, Du Ye’s spirit had disappeared and had yet to return to his body. It was late summer, and the body would decompose quickly.
“Is Big Brother lost?”
“Now we can only pray that someone can point out a path home for him.”
Before the words had finished, the sound of footsteps came from the hallway. The door was pushed open from the outside. A tall woman scanned the people in the room and introduced herself, “Hello, I am the mortician.”
Without waiting for a response, she walked in and checked the name at the foot of the bed. “Du Ye.” Meng Yili briskly put on her gloves. “I would like the family to wait outside, please.”
“What are you going to do?” The man pulled his distraught ex-wife away.
“I called her here to let the child leave looking beautiful,” the man said firmly, dragging and carrying the woman out. He closed the door behind them and nodded. “We will leave it to you.”
The room finally became quiet.
Meng Yili took off her medical gloves. She skillfully arranged the talismans and candles, moved the body from the bed, and placed it in the center of the room.
“What is this pretty sister doing?” the girl asked softly. “Is she not going to apply makeup to Big Brother?”
“She is going to summon his soul,” Lu Xincheng said, his eyes bright. “Wen Yaozhi sent her. Du Ye can live.”
“Summoning a soul?” The girl was confused. “Is it okay for us to be here?”
Receiving no answer, the girl turned to look; the person beside her was lost in thought.
Meng Yili sat in a corner and closed her eyes, her red lips moving slightly. A sudden gust of wind rose within the sealed room. The candles flickered incessantly. The wind was laced with cries and screams, as if an invisible door connecting the human world and the underworld had been opened.
Meng Yili’s long hair blew in the wind. Her closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and her pupils had turned a grayish-white. They spun rapidly in their sockets, looking particularly terrifying.
Lu Xincheng stared unblinkingly at the formation.
“Brother Lu,” a male voice suddenly sounded from the side.
Du Ye looked at Lu Xincheng in surprise. “Are we out of the dream?”
Lu Xincheng turned around. At some point, Du Ye had appeared beside him. “Welcome back,” Lu Xincheng said, his lips curling into a smile.
Du Ye shifted his gaze to the girl beside Lu Xincheng, his eyes showing a hint of bewilderment. “Who are you?”
The girl bit her lip. “Big Brother, do you not remember me?” Her face was unfamiliar, not a relative or friend he knew, but Du Ye felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
“Big Brother saved me,” the girl smiled shyly. “But it has been too long; you might have forgotten me.”
A memory seemed ready to surge into his mind. At the same time, Du Ye’s figure flickered, looking like a holographic projection about to lose its connection.
“Go back,” Lu Xincheng patted his shoulder. “If anyone asks you about me, tell them…” Lu Xincheng lowered his voice near his ear.
The soul was about to return to the body. Du Ye’s consciousness gradually blurred. He heard a crisp female voice in his ear. “Big Brother, hurry back. I wish you good health and a long life.”
Du Ye lay on a hospital bed.
The doctors were shocked when they received him from the ambulance. They had seen ambulances take people from the hospital to the funeral home, but this was the first time they had seen one come from the funeral home back to the hospital. A few hours ago, the young man who had been declared dead suddenly regained vital signs.
Du Ye lay on the bed, looking at the bright sunshine outside the window. His eyes were misty, and he felt as if he were looking at a mirage. Lying on the sickbed felt like a lifetime ago.
Suddenly, the sunlight was blocked. The person blocking it was a man. He wore a black baseball cap, his eyes hidden in the shadow of the brim, revealing an exceptionally handsome nose and cold, tightly pressed lips. He reached out and decisively pulled the curtains shut.
Du Ye was somewhat dazed as a calm female voice reached his ears. “It is better for someone who has just returned from the darkness to avoid the sunlight for a while.”
The woman was dressed in all black, her long hair falling over her shoulders. She was cold and beautiful, holding a bouquet of lilies. Du Ye recognized her.
“Teacher Meng, why are you here?” Du Ye’s father stepped forward and took the flowers from Meng Yili.
When Du Ye’s mother saw Meng Yili, she wanted to kneel and kowtow to her again. “Teacher Meng, if it were not for you, our Xiao Ye!”
Meng Yili pulled her up. “It was just a small effort. Anyone would have done the same in that situation.”
“But Xiao Ye was almost in the incinerator!” Du Ye’s father quickly stopped his ex-wife before she could continue.
Meng Yili’s expression was very calm. After the greetings, she got straight to the point. “I came this time because a friend of mine wants to meet Du Ye and has some private questions to ask.”
Du Ye’s father looked at the man who had been standing by the window since he entered and took the hint. “Of course. The doctor says Xiao Ye is recovering well and will be discharged soon. We will step out for a bit. Please, take your time.”
Once the door closed again, the private VIP ward became exceptionally quiet.
Wen Yaozhi sat in the chair by the bed and did not beat around the bush. “Where is the spirit that entered the dream with you?”
The person on the bed stiffened. Since waking up, Du Ye’s intuition had become very strong; he could feel an invisible pressure forcing itself upon him. He quickly focused his mind, remembering Lu Xincheng’s earlier instructions.
“I have not seen him since I came out.”
As Du Ye spoke, his gaze instinctively shifted slightly toward the bottom right. He had recognized the man in front of him at first glance. Even though his features had matured and he had grown taller, he could not mistake Wen Yaozhi’s distinctive, handsome face.
“But he said before that you must not worry about him or go looking for him.” Although Lu Xincheng had warned him, Du Ye did not expect the person to find him so quickly.
Du Ye was not sure what their relationship had been, but it seemed Wen Yaozhi cared deeply for Lu Xincheng. If that were the case, why was Lu Xincheng hiding from him?
Wen Yaozhi’s eyes were dark and unreadable. “What else did he say?”
Du Ye thought seriously for a moment. “Nothing else.”
Wen Yaozhi was silent for a while. He took a black card from his pocket and placed it on Du Ye’s bedside table. “If you see him again, please give me a call.” Before leaving, he added, “If you encounter any other unusual things in the coming period, you can also call this number.”
Du Ye picked up the black business card.
[Occult Inquiry Agency], Wen Yaozhi.
Below was the contact information. The card was black with gold lettering, exuding a somber aura. Du Ye carefully put the card away.
Watching the man’s back as he left, Du Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to his teenage appearance in the dream, the adult version of this man had a much stronger sense of detachment; there was no breath of a normal living person about him. After speaking with him, Du Ye’s entire back was covered in a layer of cold sweat.
Du Ye’s parents thanked them profusely as they saw them to the hospital gate.
Meng Yili took a call as she walked out. After hanging up, she asked, “How do you plan to handle Lu Xincheng’s body?”
Wen Yaozhi paused on the steps.
Meng Yili stared at his expression. “The funeral home is set to follow the normal process and cremate him today.”