Why… why had things turned out like this?
Lan Yu truly could not understand.
He had bought quite a few sets of bowls and chopsticks. Even though his rental was small, it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t host friends if he ever made any. Lan Yu had bought the extra sets with that hope in mind. Besides, Zhou Heseng might come over in the future.
But absolutely, absolutely none of this should’ve been happening right now!!
At his small dining table, on his right side, sat a towering black shadow.
Lan Yu genuinely wanted to cry. The figure’s enormous body blocked the doorway, cutting off his only escape route. He was forced to sit side by side with it. The only tiny blessing was that out of sheer terror, he had gone past shaking and arrived at a strange, numb calm.
The rental was far too cramped. There were boxes piled near the entrance and because the shadow was massive, it couldn’t physically sit on the opposite side of the table. So now, the two of them could only sit together on one side.
Originally, Lan Yu had been ready to devour his delicious meal in peace. Now, he had no choice but to share half of it with the black shadow.
Thankfully, he had steamed extra rice. He’d been planning to use the leftover rice from lunch to make fried rice for dinner. Now it looked like the pot was going to be scraped clean in one go.
Lan Yu sneaked a sideways glance at the enormous shadow beside him. From the shape alone, it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female. Even though it was trying its best to form a humanoid figure, it was only a rough outline. The “hands” weren’t fully formed, there weren’t even proper fingers and any detail that could hint at gender was completely absent.
This thing was precisely the type of monster that would appear in a horror movie and yet…
It was actually rather harmless.
He wouldn’t say that meeting ghosts a few times had made him braver but after repeatedly encountering spirits that were all thunder and no rain… having this giant shadow straightforwardly appear beside him and eat his food, his fear really did start to fade little by little.
“Are the bones… good?” Lan Yu tried speaking to it. He’d been watching and the shadow hadn’t spat out a single rib bone.
Where on earth was it putting the food? It looked like it was bringing the food to where its mouth should be but that area was pure darkness, no face, no features, not even the movement of a jaw. Couldn’t it at least show a hole or something?
Lan Yu felt the shadow look at him, its head turned slightly and then it picked up a rib, placed it into that pitch black area and under Lan Yu’s bewildered gaze, “spat” out a bone.
The bone was laid neatly on the table. It was clean, so clean there wasn’t a single shred of meat left. Not even saliva. It was eaten too cleanly.
Lan Yu said, “It’s not like you have to spit the bones out. If you can eat them, it’s fine to swallow them too.”
The black shadow gave no response.
Lan Yu didn’t want to share his lunch but in reality, the shadow didn’t eat much. After a few bites, it stopped altogether. Then the entire bowl was absorbed into its body and when it reappeared, the rice was perfectly gone and the bowl was spotless, cleaner than after washing.
Lan Yu looked at the remaining half of his lunch. “Are you full?”
Still no sound.
Even without an answer, Lan Yu discreetly drew all the dishes toward his side. They were all his now.
After the meal, Lan Yu stood up to wash the dishes. He glanced at the bowl the shadow had cleaned and decided to wash that one too. Even if it looked clean, maybe it was entirely covered in ghost spit.
Should he wash dishes with his back to the shadow or facing it? Watching it was scary. Not watching it was also scary.
“So…” Lan Yu decided to wash with his back to it but kept turning around to check. As he scrubbed, he said, “You ate my food, so you can’t call ghosts to scare me anymore, okay?”
In front of him, the faint humanoid shadow suddenly expanded at its feet. Lan Yu, so tense he could hear his own heartbeat, watched as his plaster covered leg was wrapped entirely in blackness.
The shadow that had been sitting beside the table suddenly collapsed like sand and right before Lan Yu’s eyes, it gathered into a new form. A gigantic humanoid silhouette knelt before him, holding his plastered leg in both hands, its head slightly lowered, like a big golden retriever affectionately nuzzling its owner.
A bizarre, indescribable sensation, nothing like a human touch, spread along his calf. The shadow’s overwhelming yet untouchable “stroking” froze Lan Yu completely. He couldn’t even run.
“If you’re still hungry, I can cook more. This, this hasn’t been washed in seven or eight days. You’ll get sick eating it.” Lan Yu was so scared his eyes filled with tears and he rambled uncontrollably. “I think it smells bad too. Give it a few more days and it’ll spoil. Spoiled human meat tastes bad.”
The blackness covering his leg slowly receded downward. Lan Yu watched as the shadow seemed to seep into the floor bit by bit, its massive outline sinking away. His calf emerged from the darkness and the last thing to disappear wasn’t his plaster cast, it was the humanoid shadow.
“Puh, ha…” Lan Yu exhaled sharply, only then realizing that he had been holding his breath the entire time.
The shadow was gone!
He didn’t know why it vanished but it was gone and that was enough!!!
It was too strange. Why did he have to see ghosts in broad daylight? Didn’t ghosts need atmosphere to scare people? Were they so confident now that they thought they could make him mentally collapse right out in the open?
The clinking of bowls and chopsticks against running water echoed through the small room. Lan Yu let out a helpless sigh. He truly admired himself sometimes, his first instinct after such a terrifying encounter was still to wash the dishes.
When Lan Yu returned to his little bed, he suddenly felt that something about his leg seemed… off.
It felt… refreshed?
Curious, he studied his plaster covered leg carefully. It really did look much cleaner than before.
He leaned down to sniff it. The faint unpleasant odor that had slowly been accumulating over the past days was completely gone and the heaviness he had grown accustomed to had become unusually light.
Lan Yu even rubbed at the area where the plaster met his skin. To his surprise, it was entirely clean, not a speck of grime came off.
Could it be that the black shadow was… some kind of cleaning spirit? He remembered reading about similar things in novels, latrine gods, mud ghosts, impurity spirits.
Lan Yu sat on his bed thinking for a long time. Then, out of nowhere, an extremely inappropriate idea popped into his head.
If and this was a very big “if”, the shadow truly had cleaning abilities, maybe they could even become friends and form some sort of long term cleaning arrangement. Lan Yu liked things being clean; he simply didn’t enjoy doing the cleaning himself.
Wait. Did the shadow clean his plaster cast as an equivalent exchange for the meal he gave it?
Then the suggestion he made earlier, that the shadow couldn’t call other ghosts to scare him anymore, had that been ignored entirely? If so, that was way too sneaky.
Lan Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully but if things were really as he suspected, if the shadow could communicate and understood exchange, then maybe Lan Yu could use the same method to escape this endless haunting.
But what would the shadow want from him? He had no idea at all.
Lan Yu’s eyes drifted and suddenly fell on his offering table.
His expression froze.
Oh no…
Had the spirit discovered it?
Those ghosts originally came to harass him to force him back home. If the shadow had seen the offering table, wouldn’t it realize that the original owner was already dead…?
No, no, no, that was too far fetched. Even a ghost wouldn’t jump to that conclusion so easily. If the shadow really had noticed, it would probably go look for the original owner’s spirit instead. Maybe then Lan Yu wouldn’t get haunted anymore?
Actually… maybe not! What if the spirit misunderstood and thought he was the one who killed the original owner? He definitely could not handle a vengeful ghost storyline.
Lan Yu ruffled his hair in frustration. Why was everything happening so suddenly?!
After a full minute of collapsing inside, he looked toward the offering table again. From now on, no matter who asked, that table was for himself, his personal ritual for wishing for a bright and happy future!
The real reason would be buried in his heart forever. Covered with soil. Cemented shut.
Something felt strange.
His body felt heavy.
So hot.
Lan Yu opened his eyes. One nostril felt dry, the other was completely stuffed. His eyes were burning, his limbs felt weighed down and every muscle in his body ached.
He sat up, grabbed a thermometer and checked his temperature.
As expected, 38.7 degrees.
He was feverish.
He had only wanted to rest for a bit, take a nap but he didn’t expect to wake up burning with fever. No wonder he, who usually didn’t sleep much, had slept so deeply. After sleeping half the afternoon… would he even be able to sleep tonight?
Lan Yu sighed.
He glanced at the groceries he had bought earlier.
Should he cook dinner himself or order takeout? Even though he was running a fever, he actually felt fairly energetic.
But… he kind of wanted takeout.
Since he was sick, eating takeout was completely reasonable!
Filled with anticipation, Lan Yu ordered a nourishing chicken soup rice bowl. Just looking at the picture made him hungry.
Clatter,
Suddenly, a familiar pattering sound pierced his ears, jolting him upright. He snapped his head around, terrified.
The small room was dry. The sound came from outside. Only then did Lan Yu realize, it wasn’t a ghost.
It was raining.
Ever since coming to this city, he had mostly seen snow. Now that the weather was warmer, rain had arrived. It felt strange and a little new. No wonder the room had seemed unusually dim when he woke up.
The rain had come suddenly and even more suddenly it turned into a heavy downpour. Lan Yu listened to it. Normally, he found rain soothing but right now, for some reason, it felt eerie. He couldn’t stop recalling that night in the dormitory when water poured down like a waterfall.
Please stop raining soon.
Lan Yu lay in bed watching online lecture videos. When he finished a forty minute lesson, he suddenly sat upright.
Was his takeout… taking too long?
He opened the app. His order was right on the verge of timing out.
Was it because of the rain?
Lan Yu pressed the “hurry order” button and closed the app, deciding to wait.
But after finishing a second lesson, he frowned, opened the app again and saw that his takeout was still wandering somewhere on the map. He couldn’t help sending another reminder.
Fifteen minutes later, there was still no response.
Lan Yu finally sent a message: My order has been overdue for a long time. It’s been almost two hours, right? Even with heavy rain, it should’ve been delivered by now.
After waiting for a long time, he only received one reply from the delivery rider:
The rain is too heavy. I’ll hurry.
Lan Yu: “…”
Maybe because he was sick, he really was getting a little irritated.
✦ ✧ ✦
Cresvynia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
(￣ω￣;) the translator is staring at the coffee button
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Who wants to go back to be a minor plot device?Chapter 2 · StartChapter 3 · I’m terrified of ghostsChapter 4 · Do ghosts exist in this world?Chapter 5 · ShadowChapter 6 · There’s something wrong with how this book is dressedChapter 7 · The ghost drew a heart for himChapter 8 · Make troubleChapter 9 · Don’t scare me!Chapter 10 · I’d rather be scared to death than go backChapter 11 · Want to eat together?Chapter 12 · A cleaning ghostChapter 13 · Regret it now?Chapter 14 · ParentsChapter 15 · Find FaultChapter 16 · Ghostly photos?Chapter 17 · Nickname: White ShadowChapter 18 · A haunted taxi?Chapter 19 · Extreme fear turns to angerChapter 20 · I used to be a messChapter 21 · Best friendChapter 22 · Turning pointChapter 23 · The threat of ghostsChapter 24 · It’s not a ghost, it’s eerinessChapter 25 Part 1 · First time entering the eerie houseChapter 25 Part 2 · First time entering the eerie houseChapter 26 · Borrow moneyChapter 27 · He’s jealousChapter 28 · RetributionChapter 29 · Revenge from a Strange SourceChapter 30 Part 1 · How could you be so carelessChapter 30 Part 2 · How could you be so carelessChapter 31 Part 1 · What would happen if I ran away from home again?Chapter 31 Part 2 · What would happen if I ran away from home again?Chapter 32 Part 1 · Firmly uphold the right to privacyChapter 32 Part 2 · Firmly uphold the right to privacyChapter 33 Part 1 · The brother who brought down death to protect his belovedChapter 33 Part 2 · The brother who brought down death to protect his belovedChapter 34 Part 1 · Being secretly massaged by a shadowy figure in publicChapter 34 Part 2 · Being secretly massaged by a shadowy figure in publicChapter 35 Part 1 · Go to my dear older brother and sister’s bedroomChapter 35 Part 2 · Go to my dear older brother and sister’s bedroomChapter 36 Part 1 · Being favored by everyone in the eerie houseChapter 36 Part 2 · Being favored by everyone in the eerie houseChapter 37 · We must protect our precious childChapter 38 · It’s too tragic, I can’t bear to watch anymoreChapter 39 · Because of the unique companionshipChapter 40 · The first meeting with the admirer of the protagonistChapter 41 · It’s eerie, but they’re all real family members!Chapter 42 · Using the eerie house to get a cheat codeChapter 43 · The baby’s crying after getting drunk is so cute!Chapter 44 · A traitorChapter 45 · All family members can help the baby.Chapter 46 · When the family is happy, they will hug their waistChapter 47 · Ear piercings were adornedChapter 48 · Treasure are the most precious itemsChapter 49 · Revenge is not an easy thing to doChapter 50 · Because I couldn’t see his faceChapter 51 · One of his brothers is a continuous mountain rangeChapter 52 · How could we possibly run into characters from the original storyChapter 53 · The gems my brother gave me piled up into a small mountainChapter 54 · One can feel an overwhelming sense of superiority.Chapter 55 · Sleeping with a shadowy figure means you won’t be afraid of ghosts at allChapter 56 · The fireworks display to celebrate my baby was absolutely devastating!Chapter 57 · It wasn’t this restaurant that treated us; it was another oneChapter 58 · His super-rich older sister paid for his treat!Chapter 59 · He’s different from beforeChapter 60 · It’s all so weird, isn’t it normal for people to want to disappear?Chapter 61 · Wen JieChapter 62 · Has the identity of this strange child been discovered?Chapter 63 · Those who make their child angry are unforgivableChapter 64 · Being too inquisitive about other people’s private affairs will bring you troubleChapter 65 · A person not to be covetedChapter 66 · Can you bridge the racial divide by staying close to your family?Chapter 67 · What to do if my child doesn’t want to celebrate their birthday?Chapter 68 · The baby is also a second-generation, a bizarre second-generation!Chapter 69 · We are clearly each other’s only friendsChapter 70 · The House of Eeries really did throw a ridiculously huge birthday partyChapter 71 · Why would he feel competitive towards his friend?Chapter 72 · Try to appease the jealous shadow.Chapter 73 · If you’re going to take revenge, you should do it in front of him!Chapter 74 · Now that things have come to thisChapter 75 · My baby’s travel is strange and worryingChapter 76 · One of the older brothers who crawled into the suitcase and followedChapter 77 · He resolutely refused to leave his abandoned brotherChapter 78 · I don’t want my baby to see my terrifying true formChapter 79 · I love hugging you like this.Chapter 80 · It’s a good thing to know you.Chapter 81 · Does my brother also want to go out and have some fun?Chapter 82 · His Older brother?Chapter 83 · Xiao Ming!Chapter 84 · I’m doing great as long as the original text doesn’t go crazyChapter 85 · What’s there to be afraid of when everything’s shrouded in eeriness?Chapter 86 · Let’s have a fight for the sake of the original ownerChapter 87 · How did they know he wasn’t the original owner?Chapter 88 Part 1 · Was the shadowy figure injured?Chapter 88 Part 2 · Was the shadowy figure injured?Chapter 88 Part 3 · Was the shadowy figure injured?Chapter 89 Part 1 · To inflict countless severe emotional blows on someoneChapter 89 Part 2 · To inflict countless severe emotional blows on someoneChapter 91 Part 1 · He was like a human in a supernatural taleChapter 91 Part 2 · He was like a human in a supernatural taleChapter 92 · Someone is secretly using underhanded tacticsChapter 93 · The right people I once followedChapter 94 · Let go of your prejudices against the protagonist.Okay! How come on one complain that we can’t right click the link and open a it in a new webapge??Chapter 95 · Favoritism from his current friendsChapter 96 · The baby is going to marry into our familyChapter 97 · The idea of falling in loveChapter 98 · Want to replace your baby?Chapter 99 · What’s wrong with double happiness?!Chapter 100 · It’s just a matter of raceChapter 101 · I need to balance dating and studying!Chapter 102 · After the shadowy figure gained a physical bodyChapter 103 · Confess your love to the eerie house!Chapter 104 · Even with such pampering, your baby still lacks a sense of security.Chapter 105 · How much help did he receive that he didn’t know about?Chapter 106 · You are not worthy to be the middlemanChapter 107 · Is there anything wrong with me being petty?Chapter 108 · You can have both love and studies!Chapter 109 · Suppressed and restrained desiresChapter 110 · What does an unforgettable yet ordinary date need?