“Big brother, open the window, let me in, big brother……”
The hand was still knocking, the voice was still echoing, and Gu Yi could not move. He only felt waves of cold air surrounding him.
The temperature in the room kept dropping lower and lower.
Gu Yi waited for a while, and the hand outside the window disappeared.
The voice by his ear also disappeared.
The room returned to silence.
Gu Yi let out a sigh of relief, but when he raised his eyes, he saw a little girl lying on the ceiling.
Her big eyes were staring at him, and blood was continuously trickling down her face.
Drop by drop, it fell to the floor.
She was still wearing that ragged princess dress, her body reeking of a fishy stench, and water seeped out beneath her feet.
She broke into a smile, her teeth white and neat. “Big brother, if you don’t open the window, I still have a way to get in, hehe……”
Gu Yi backed away. The moment he turned around, that girl was standing beside him again.
She raised her face and looked at him, innocent and harmless. “Big brother, are you really willing to take me home?”
Gu Yi took a deep breath and said, “Big brother doesn’t know where your home is.”
“You don’t know? How could you not know?”
The little girl’s head spun three hundred and sixty degrees, her tone sinister. “You don’t keep your word, you deserve to die!”
The little girl’s face suddenly turned vicious and malicious. She opened her mouth wide, and blood burst out from her mouth, her features twisted and terrifying.
Gu Yi remembered that there was still the evil-warding bead that Bo Si had given him in the drawer. He quickly ran to the desk, opened the drawer, and clutched the evil-warding bead in his hand. He wanted to throw the bead at the little girl, but in an instant, a crying voice rose from the bottom of his heart, “Help…… help me…… Don’t kill me, help me……”
Gu Yi’s hand froze.
At this time, the little girl spun and jumped, advancing toward him step by step.
Suddenly, a small box at the head of Gu Yi’s bed began to glow.
The light was pure white. The box opened, and a crystal-clear stone floated up.
Gu Yi was stunned.
That stone was Bai Nuo.
She was protecting him.
The little girl was very wary of that white light. She was already covered in injuries, and just as she turned to flee, Gu Yi’s room door opened.
The person standing outside the door was Bo Si.
He sensed Bai Nuo’s movement and noticed the abnormality in Gu Yi’s room.
The little girl had suffered a loss at Bo Si’s hands before. Seeing him now, she was scared stiff for a few seconds. When she wanted to run again, Bo Si narrowed his eyes. There was a barrier on the window. The little girl had just touched it when smoke began rising from her entire body, and she screamed miserably.
“Ah……”
The little girl let out a heart-rending wail. “Help…… big brother, big brother save me, big brother save me……”
Bo Si gave a cold laugh. “Even gods can’t save you.”
He reached out, and the little girl’s body was suddenly bounced off that barrier, flying straight into his palm.
Bo Si clamped his hand tightly around the little girl’s neck.
Deep blue flames ignited in his palm. The little girl could not bear it and screamed continuously. Blood seeped from her eyes. She looked toward Gu Yi with great difficulty, crying out hoarsely, her lips also turning blood-red. “Big brother…… big…… brother……”
Bo Si’s gaze was cold, his palm exerting even more force. “It’s useless even if you call him your ancestor. Tonight at the hotel, I didn’t let you turn to ashes, and you still dared to break into my home. Do you think you can still run? A little ghost like you, this old man will send you home right now!”
“Boss!”
Gu Yi stepped forward and pressed down on his hand.
Bo Si turned his head and glared at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve softened.”
If she had been that ferocious before, Gu Yi absolutely would not have softened, but now she was in the shape of a child, with a child’s voice. She was bleeding tears, begging him miserably to save her. Gu Yi really could not not soften.
Even though he knew Bo Si might get angry, Gu Yi still steeled himself and said, “Boss, she’s still a child, let her go.”
“She’s still a child!?” Bo Si was so angered by him that he laughed. “So being a child means she can do whatever she wants? She’s already turned into an evil spirit, and tonight she nearly killed you. You brat, being softhearted toward something like this is being cruel to yourself!”
“I won’t look for big brother again…… spare me…… I just want to go home, I just want to go home……”
The little girl was still begging for mercy.
Gu Yi looked at Bo Si.
Bo Si stared at the little girl covered in blood. After a long while, he hardened his heart and let go.
The barrier on the window was lifted. The little girl turned into a ghostly shadow and quickly passed through the window, disappearing into the night.
After things calmed down, the transparent stone fell back into the box.
The lid snapped shut with a pop.
It lay quietly at the head of the bed.
Gu Yi spoke. “I’m sorry, Boss……”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Bo Si leaned against the desk, lifted the cup on it and took a sip of water, then said, “That little ghost had quite the guts, knowing I was here and still daring to come here looking for you.”
Gu Yi said apologetically, “I was the one who attracted that evil spirit. Tonight, I met her at the hotel, and thought she was some family’s lost child, so I said I could take her home. She remembered that sentence, so……”
Bo Si looked at him and said, “Don’t easily make promises to ghosts. Ghosts are formed from obsession. To put it bluntly, they’re all one-track-minded single-celled creatures. Especially children, whatever you say, they remember it. If you can’t do it, they’ll kill you even at the ends of the earth.”
“That child just wants to go home. If I could find her home……”
Bo Si gave a light laugh. “Forget it, that little ghost already said she wouldn’t come looking for you again. Don’t mind other people’s business too much. If she comes again next time, I’ll definitely make her turn to ash.”
Gu Yi stared straight at him and asked, “Boss, what exactly is your attitude toward ghosts and monsters?”
Bo Si’s motion of drinking water paused. “What?”
“Qing and Wan Er and the others have a very clear stance, they catch ghosts and drive out evil, helping the living people. But Boss, you are very contradictory. You let ghosts go. You said that there are causes and effects in this world, and since ghosts exist, there must be a reason for their existence. But for that wild ghost last time, and the little girl who appeared tonight, you can say to kill them and kill them……”
Bo Si looked at him and smiled. “What contradiction is that? That’s human instinct. Ghosts don’t offend me, I don’t offend ghosts. Some things even ran to my home to provoke me. Do you think I should still greet them with a smile? Don’t joke. Toward those monsters and freaks, I only have one attitude.”
“What attitude?”
“Depends on my mood.”
“……”
That was basically the same as not asking.
Gu Yi gave up.
Bo Si turned around and looked at the box by Gu Yi’s bed. “Looks like you’ve been keeping Bai Nuo’s heart well. Now, she already has some awareness, and can actively protect you. That little ghost came looking for you tonight and set up a barrier in the room. If Bai Nuo hadn’t broken it for you, I wouldn’t have discovered it for the time being. You should thank her properly.”
Gu Yi followed Bo Si’s gaze and looked over, nodding.
Bai Nuo, thank you.
“All right, it’s fine now. Go to sleep early. You still have work tomorrow.”
Bo Si rubbed Gu Yi’s messy hair.
He took one step forward, and the next second, Gu Yi grabbed the hem of his clothes.
Bo Si looked back. “What is it?”
Gu Yi said awkwardly, “Boss, tonight…… can you sleep here……”
Although he had had experiences seeing ghosts before, people were always afraid of unknown things, especially that little girl. Since Bo Si had said that little ghosts attached great importance to promises, there was no guarantee she would not come again tonight. If Gu Yi said he was not afraid at all, that would definitely be a lie.
All his worry and fear were written on his face. Bo Si understood at a glance, and could not help smiling a little, wanting to tease him. “Very scared?”
Gu Yi nodded furiously.
Bo Si was dead serious. “Beg me.”
“……”
“All right, I’m teasing you. Come on, get in bed and sleep.”
Bo Si calmly took off his coat.
After getting into bed, Gu Yi faced Bo Si. Bo Si had his eyes closed, and Gu Yi did not know whether he was asleep.
The surroundings were very quiet, only the two of them’s faint breathing.
Gu Yi had not been very sleepy tonight to begin with, and after the earlier commotion, he was even less able to sleep now.
He quietly looked at Bo Si, thinking about what Bo Si had said.
Tonight he had tasted Bo Si’s blood again. His blood seemed to be万能, able to do anything.
Bo Si was right. Using talismans would injure one’s own vital energy. In the hotel the situation had been urgent and he had not noticed it, but on the way he had felt waves of fatigue. After coming home, with Bo Si’s blood, his spirits had indeed improved a lot.
It had been the same before. His left eye had hurt, and after he had Bo Si’s blood, he would recover.
What exactly was he?
Why did Bo Si’s blood have such an effect on him?
Gu Yi stared at him. Unknowingly, he had already become absorbed.
“Have you looked enough? Aren’t you going to sleep?”
At this time, Bo Si opened his eyes and lightly, not lightly, patted Gu Yi on the head. “You’re not going to work tomorrow? You still want your salary?”
Gu Yi was a little embarrassed and changed the subject. “Boss, do you like children?”
Bo Si laughed. “Why are you asking that?”
“I mean, you’re already at that age, so why don’t you get married? Is it that you haven’t met someone you like, or that you don’t like children?” Gu Yi said. “I saw that most of Wan Er and the others’ classmates are already married and have children.”
“What, seeing other people get married, you want to get married too?”
“That’s not what I mean……”
Bo Si laughed twice, turned over, and faced the ceiling. “You wanting to get married is still too early. Wait until after you’ve had sex first.”
Gu Yi was even more embarrassed. “Boss…… don’t bring this up every time……”
“Didn’t you hear that only women and petty people are hard to deal with? To me, children mean petty people. Besides, I’ve already passed the stage of liking children and wanting to get married. For me, life is nothing more than being alive. As for the person I like……”
Bo Si’s gaze dimmed for a moment.
Although it was brief, Gu Yi still noticed it.
He wanted to say something, but suddenly, a wave of cold air surged up within his body.
This cold air came suddenly. Gu Yi had no power to resist it. He curled his body together and said in a low voice, “Boss…… so cold……”
Bo Si felt the cold air on him and suddenly pulled him to his side. Gu Yi’s hands and feet were ice-cold, his body trembling slightly. Bo Si asked nervously, “Brat, what’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know…… I just feel very cold……”
Gu Yi murmured, and a scene from when he had been with the little girl in the corridor flashed through his mind.
That cold air at the time had also felt like this.
Very cold.
This cold air was strange. Bo Si immediately realized that it had something to do with that little girl. He pulled Gu Yi into his arms and held him tightly. “What happened between you and that little girl?”
Gu Yi trembled and said, “I held her…… and also promised to take her home……”
At that, Bo Si frowned. “You were eroded by her resentment energy. The cold air entered your body. It’s fine, I’ll drive it out for you. It’ll be over very soon.”
Gu Yi closed his eyes.
He seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar.
All around him was cold, only cold.
Even breathing felt difficult.
Gradually, he felt less cold.
He opened his eyes and found himself standing on a patch of grass.
The sky was bright, only, it was close to dusk.
A dream?
Clearly, the previous moment, he had still been sleeping on the bed with Bo Si.
Then, where was this? Why had he come here?
Gu Yi walked forward, and saw a large gate.
Outside the gate were the four big characters Qing Shui Primary School.
A cheerful rubber ball rolled to his feet.
Gu Yi bent down to pick it up, and when he looked up, a little girl was standing in front of him with a smile.
“Big brother.”