Chapter 118: If You Don’t Behave, I’ll Leave You Here

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“You... want to send me over there?”

I was terribly frightened. Perhaps I was overthinking things. Although I knew perfectly well that he would not do that, I still found myself asking.

Wangchuan smiled faintly and put an arm around me.

“Of course not. I only need you to do something. I promise you won’t get hurt.”

My hand instinctively moved to my stomach.

When I was in human form, there was almost no sensation there.

Wangchuan covered my hand with his. “He’ll be fine too.”

“I’m supposed to run into Youluo, aren’t I?”

“Not necessarily.” Wangchuan shook his head. There was still a trace of anger in his gaze. “If you encounter a ghost officer instead, that’s fine too. Go back with him. Don’t be afraid.”

“Go back with him?” I leapt to my feet. “How can I? I’m not going back with him!”

“Relax. Trust me. Nothing will happen.”

He held me as he spoke with such absolute certainty that I finally nodded, accepting the arrangement.

To be honest, my mouth felt completely dry. The demon’s sudden attack had frightened me half to death, and now I had been handed this utterly baffling assignment.

I was probably as pale as a ghost by then.

But the warmth of Wangchuan’s hands comforted me greatly. If he guaranteed something, there was nothing he could not accomplish. I trusted him.

So after Wangchuan bundled me up until I looked like a fat penguin and made certain I would not be cold, I barely used the front entrance. Just as he had tricked me that previous time, I slipped through a tiny crack he drew open with one finger and hurried toward the human world.

As I left, I sighed once more.

A multipurpose finger really was a useful thing.

When I arrived in the human world, snow was falling. It was somewhere I had never seen before.

But whether I knew the place or not hardly mattered. My goal today was merely to wander around; I had no intention of going anywhere special. I could simply pretend I had come out for some sunlight and a stroll.

And so I wandered aimlessly through the streets and alleys, looking here and there. There was not much excitement to see. It was the dead of winter, and everyone hurried along with their heads down. I was the only one walking without purpose, which made me look rather strange.

After a long while, I still had not encountered the so-called ghost officer. Instead, I came across an old man who looked as though he were about to die.

An idea struck me. Perhaps there was no ghost officer because no one had died yet. This old man, however, seemed close to the end. If I followed him, surely I would meet one eventually.

Having made up my mind, I slowly fell in behind the old man as he took his walk. The dark aura around him was growing increasingly intense. He would probably die within the next ten or twenty minutes.

Yawning, I followed him until, without warning, something fell from the roadside.

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It was a large slab of concrete. Since I knew it would be inconvenient to stay too close to someone who was about to die—if something dangerous happened, I might not even have time to dodge—I took several unhurried steps backward when the slab came crashing down.

The concrete did not hit the old man. It landed beside him with a heavy bang.

Because it had missed him and merely struck the ground at his feet, the old man, seeing such a huge slab crash down beside him, staggered in shock. Then, as though he had suffered a heart attack, he collapsed onto the ground.

The people nearby had not even had time to cry out before his soul drifted free.

It was a fairly clean soul. He had done nothing particularly evil. Before long, two ghost officers arrived.

Their forms were indistinct: two figures in enormous cloaks, swaying as they approached. With leisurely movements, they slipped something resembling a rope over the old man’s head.

He had only just died and seemed barely to react, as though his mind had gone completely blank. He simply let them do as they pleased.

So I pretended not to see a thing and walked past.

To be honest, this was not the first time I had seen ghost officers, but it was the first time I had encountered them from such close range—and I still had to deliberately approach them.

I had always thought I must be terrified of ghosts, the sort of person who would flee the instant I saw a ghost officer.

Unexpectedly, after being dead for so long and weathering every kind of danger, I found that seeing the legendary ghost officers did not frighten me very much at all. I merely straightened my clothes slightly and walked toward them.

When I waddled past the two ghost officers like a fat penguin, they visibly froze for a moment. Then they turned their faceless heads toward me, as if curious—or as though they had just discovered a new continent.

Since they had no faces, I had no way of knowing what they were thinking.

After seeing them, I deliberately pretended that I could see ghost officers. I let out a quiet shriek, then turned and ran.

Ordinary humans certainly could not see ghost officers. Once they realized that I could see them, they froze again. The one carrying the iron chain remained where he was, while the other nodded and charged straight at me.

I had never intended to run very far, so I managed only a few symbolic steps. Besides, I was dressed so heavily that running quickly was impossible. It took only moments for him to chase me into a narrow alley.

The ghost officer did not speak to me. He seemed to know who I was, and simply stood across from me without moving.

We faced each other like that for about ten minutes. Neither of us moved, until Youluo appeared at the entrance of the alley.

It was still the same red sports car. He wore an ordinary T-shirt and faded jeans, looking no more remarkable than a college student with a slightly commanding presence.

The moment the ghost officer saw Youluo, he immediately withdrew, as though eager to claim credit for what he had done.

Who knew? Perhaps the one who had left earlier had hurried back to inform him.

Youluo frowned slightly. I imagined he must be wondering why I had appeared here all alone.

“You—you—you! Don’t move! Wangchuan will be here soon! You—you stay away from me!”

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Of course, Wangchuan had instructed me to return to the Netherworld with Youluo, so he would not actually be coming. I had to go back to the Netherworld with Youluo.

But it was impossible for me to have come to the human world alone, so I could only pretend that Wangchuan had brought me out for a walk and that I had somehow gotten separated from him. In a panic, I shouted Wangchuan’s name.

Seeing me in that state, Youluo naturally did not think too much about it. He strode forward and seized my arm.

The next thing I knew, a foul-smelling cloud of smoke wrapped around my body. With a whoosh, I had no idea where I had landed.

Wind—terribly strong wind—whipped against me so fiercely that I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt myself falling, though not very quickly.

I was frightened, so I forced my eyes open.

All around me was darkness. On the things resembling walls, countless savage ghosts writhed and clawed, their forms twisted and feral.

The last time I had come here, I had been unconscious. I remembered only the room where I had been imprisoned.

Later, when Wangchuan took me back, I had been too busy watching him speak with Pei Mu to pay much attention to our surroundings.

Only now did I understand why Wangchuan had covered my eyes with his robe when we left—and why he had told me not to open them.

It was horrifying.

Those ghosts were far more terrifying than the ones that had attacked the Netherworld. They looked like real human beings, their faces drenched in blood. They stretched out severed limbs, screaming in anguish as they clawed at me.

Seeing me standing there in a daze, Youluo smiled and spoke.

“Are you afraid?”

What sort of question was that? His voice was cold, as though he were simply waiting for me to admit that I was terrified.

So even though I was scared out of my wits, I forced my deathly pale face into a shake of the head.

“No.”

“Interesting, isn’t it? These are incomplete souls, doomed to suffer here forever. But if one of them manages to seize your soul and tear it apart, they will become a little more complete.”

As he spoke, Youluo suddenly shoved me forward. A ghostly claw nearly caught me in the chest.

“Ah!”

Naturally, I screamed uncontrollably, cursing him inwardly as a bastard, a petty villain, and a despicable wretch.

Seeing how frightened I was, he added with another laugh, “So if you don’t behave, I’ll leave you here.”

I glared at him, still cursing him in my heart.

Bastard, bastard, bastard!

Even when Wangchuan was furious with me, he still remembered to cover my eyes. And you’re threatening to throw me in here?

Do you really think I’m heartless and blind, unable to tell kindness from cruelty?

A man like you could be as smooth-tongued as you pleased, and no woman would ever give you her heart.

No wonder no one worships you!