Chapter 34

Everyone was confident, not sensing anything amiss.

In no time, the day of Li Shushu’s birthday arrived. Being a weekend, she didn’t have to worry about school, so she waited at home as planned for Yue Yin’s arrival.

At 8:30, Li Shushu called Yue Yin excitedly, “Have you left yet? We’re meeting at my house this morning, then heading to the amusement park. After lunch, we’ll go sing karaoke…”

She deliberately revealed the itinerary, hoping it would make Yue Yin eager and prompt her to come quickly.

There was no immediate response on the other end, which helped Li Shushu regain her composure. Frowning, she asked, “Did you even wake up?”

Yue Yin often cut it close at school, so Li Shushu wondered if she’d be late today as well.

After a pause, Yue Yin finally mumbled, “I’m up, I’m getting ready to leave.”

Relieved, Li Shushu said, “Alright, I’ll be waiting.”

Meanwhile, Yue Yin, still lying in bed, lazily pulled up her blanket, closed her eyes, and continued to sleep.

Back at Li Shushu’s house, she smiled with excitement and reassured the other followers around her, “She’ll be here soon.”

Just then, the doorbell rang.

It was other classmates arriving. To avoid arousing Yue Yin’s suspicion, Li Shushu had invited others to her birthday gathering as well.

Li Shushu signaled to the followers in the basement, then put on a cheerful smile and glasses to greet her classmates at the door, chatting about the day’s plans.

Half an hour later, friends arrived one after another, bearing gifts, but Yue Yin was still absent. The association members in the basement were fully prepared, waiting to release the forbidden item as soon as Yue Yin arrived.

Near nine o’clock, there was still no sign of Yue Yin. Li Shushu rolled her eyes and called again.

When Yue Yin picked up, Lei Shushu asked, “Where are you now? Why aren’t you here yet?”

Lying in bed, Yue Yin stifled a yawn and casually replied, “Almost there, I’m on the way.”

Li Shushu tightened her grip on her phone, her voice filled with irritation, “Alright, hurry up.”

Despite her dislike for tardiness, she held back her frustration for the sake of luring Yue Yin in.

Yue Yin, still cozy in bed, stretched lazily. “Mm-hmm, I’ll be there soon,” she said with feigned sincerity.

She hung up, kicked off her blanket, and decided to go grab a snack.

Meanwhile, the other members exchanged worried glances. Someone asked, “What did she say? It’s already nine. Why isn’t she here?”

Li Shushu responded irritably, “She said she just got on the road.” Holding back her temper from venting on Yue Yin was taking its toll.

An older member, Old Sun, scoffed, “Young people today have no concept of punctuality. Disgraceful!” He eyed Lei Shushu with contempt, muttering, “Like attracts like, I suppose.”

Since his nephew Sun Hao had been arrested, Old Sun had been openly hostile, constantly accusing Li Shushu of being a spy whenever he got the chance.

Irritated by his sneering, Li Shushu shot back, “You’re no saint either.”

Old Sun retorted angrily, “You traitor!”

“Enough!” another member snapped, tired of their ongoing bickering.

“Is she really coming?” someone muttered. “It feels like she’s stringing us along.”

Li Shushu thought for a moment. “I don’t think so…”

Another hour passed, and patience had run out.

Li Shushu made one last call to Yue Yin, barely holding her temper as the call finally connected.

“Yue Yin, you’re really crossing the line!”

To her surprise, at the exact same moment, she heard Yue Yin’s voice angrily echo, “Li Shushu, you’re really crossing the line!”

Both girls paused, surprised.

Li Shushu stared at her phone in disbelief, glancing at the followers around her, equally stunned.

Was it an echo?

She had planned to scold Yue Yin the moment the call connected, but Yue Yin beat her to it, speaking first.

Yue Yin’s voice, brimming with annoyance, snapped, “You keep calling and bothering me! Can’t you see I’m busy? Ever heard of respecting other people’s time?”

Li Shushu felt utterly confused—this situation didn’t seem quite right.

It was supposed to be her birthday, and Yue Yin had repeatedly promised to come. Yet somehow, it was now framed as if the fault was hers. While she was bewildered, Yue Yin’s impatient voice came through, “You’ve been bugging me since eight in the morning. I said I’d come, didn’t I? Do you think I’d lie? If you don’t trust me, why are we even friends? There’s no mutual trust between us.”

Following Yue Yin’s logic, Li Shushu began to reflect. Maybe calling her repeatedly had been annoying… halfway through the thought, she suddenly realized, This was familiar—it was classic emotional manipulation!

Fuming, she tried to control her temper, but she wanted to shout at Yue Yin.

Only yesterday, she’d thought Yue Yin was just an innocent girl neglected by her family, a little pitiful. Now it seemed Yue Yin was actually a master manipulator!

On the other end, Yue Yin continued, with a heavy tone, “Li Shushu, I thought of you as my best friend. I never imagined you’d act like this. I’m really disappointed.”

Li Shushu clutched her chest, furious and wanting to expose Yue Yin’s shamelessness. Luckily, the other followers saw her agitation and quickly covered her mouth to prevent an outburst.

A fellow believer pointed to the basement and mouthed, “Sacrifice.” Li Shushu finally calmed down—she had to prioritize the ritual.

If she let her anger blow up at Yue Yin now, the girl would never come to the gathering.

Suppressing her frustration, she pretended not to notice Yue Yin’s manipulative tone and said as calmly as possible, “Yue Yin, I only invited you to celebrate my birthday because I thought we were close. But you promised you’d come and kept lying, and now you’re scolding me for it.”

As she spoke, her emotions surged again.

How could someone have such twisted morals? Every time she asked, Yue Yin would say she’d left or was on her way, but she hadn’t moved at all. And to top it off, she had the audacity to turn the blame around!

In the art of driving others mad, Yue Yin clearly had talent—even Li Shushu, with all her experience in sinister rituals, was stunned by her audacity.

Surprisingly, Yue Yin, on the other end, didn’t argue back.

Perhaps she felt guilty; her voice softened, and she said, “I’m sorry, Shushu. I was wrong. But something came up, so I probably can’t come now.”

Li Shushu had been calling to test if Yue Yin might have guessed the truth about their plan, suspecting that’s why she was standing her up.

But after Yue Yin’s apology, she hesitated. If Yue Yin really knew, why would she still be talking to her and stringing her along?

Little did she know, Yue Yin was just having fun.

After a brief pause, Li Shushu said, “Why can’t you make it? Did something happen?”

Sensing Yue Yin’s softened tone, she decided to half-heartedly scold her, partly pretending, “It’s my birthday, and I was really looking forward to spending it with you. Don’t you think it’s a bit heartless not to come?”

Yue Yin’s voice was somber, “I really wanted to be there, but my stepfather just passed away, and I have to go to the hospital.”

Li Shushu: …Is she serious?

That’s a huge claim. Surely she wouldn’t joke about her family. Li Shushu, who was almost certain she’d been played, now doubted herself.

The next moment, Yue Yin added, “You and the others go have fun, I’ll join you in the afternoon.”

Sounding genuine, she added, “Don’t worry, Shushu. I’ll be there.” And then hung up.

Looking around at the other followers, Li Shushu hesitated, “She said Shen Hao Ping died, so she has to go to the hospital and will come later tonight.”

This news threw the group, who had waited for hours in anticipation, into an uproar.

“Are you kidding me? She’s obviously playing you! If you wait for her until dusk, she still won’t come,” one sneered.

Another muttered, “Shen Hao Ping died? I better sell my shares in the Shen family’s company!”

Their suspicions raised, Li Shushu dialed back, but now Yue Yin’s phone wasn’t answering.

Realizing they’d been tricked, they fumed.

“Your friend is something else—breaking a promise and wasting everyone’s time,” someone snapped.

Frustrated and nearly in tears, Li Shushu protested, “I had no idea she’d be like this!”

Someone asked, “If Yue Yin isn’t coming, what about the ritual? Are we postponing it?”

“We can’t postpone!” A middle-aged man finally stepped forward, silencing the group. “If she won’t come willingly, we’ll go get her ourselves.”

Yue Yin tossed aside her phone, still glued to the TV.

Her younger stepbrother, Shen Xiaodi, glanced up from his homework, unimpressed. “Yue Yin, if you keep acting like this, you’ll end up with no friends.”

Without looking up, she replied, “I don’t need friends.”

Snacking as she watched TV, she added, “I’m a ruthless and cold-hearted killer. Those who look down on me will one day kneel before me!”

She still remembered how Li Shushu had looked at her yesterday—disdain mixed with a hint of pity. It was as if she thought Yue Yin was a fool.

Yue Yin crunched on her snack, proclaiming, “They’ll all regret it—those who wronged me and thought little of me. They’ll all pay dearly!”

Her younger stepbrother, looking distressed, begged, “Sis, please stop reading those novels. If you can’t, at least take your medication!”

He couldn’t fathom how Yue Yin could recite such cheesy lines from novels with such a straight face.

Noticing his gaze, she glanced nonchalantly toward the window.

The breeze fluttered the white curtain by the open window, revealing no one there. But a thick, malevolent presence hung in the air.

She narrowed her eyes, her attention fixed on the empty space by the window.

This feeling was familiar—similar to what she’d sensed when she first awoke in this body, in that place of sacrifice.

Shen Xiaodi, who had been arguing with her, noticed her sudden distraction. “What are you staring at?” he asked curiously.

“Just looking at an idiot,” she replied casually.

He looked around, puzzled. “Huh?”

Without answering, she watched the outside tree, where a shadowy, vile presence lurked, seemingly waiting.

Standing up, she grabbed her coat.

Seeing her head out, her brother asked, “Where are you going? It’s supposed to rain tonight.”

Yue Yin shrugged. “Out for a late-night snack.”

He blinked. “Are you hungry?”

She nodded matter-of-factly. “Of course.”

With their parents away, her stepbrother had been clinging to her. Now, hearing she was going out, he quickly stood up, mumbling, “I’m coming with you.”

Yue Yin refused him outright. She walked to the door and said casually, “Listen, Xiaodi, I’m going out for a while. Make sure tonight that you…”

For some reason—perhaps because of Yue Yin’s strange behavior or due to a child’s natural sense for danger—Xiaodi felt an eerie presence outside the window. Swallowing nervously, he said, “Make sure to lock all doors and windows and stay inside?”

The mention of this made him even more afraid, as his father had recently been attacked at home during a robbery.

Yue Yin gave him a flat look and said, “Make sure not to snore tonight when you sleep.”

With that, Yue Yin, satisfied with her little prank, headed out of the villa. Darkness had fallen unusually early, and by seven or eight o’clock, the sky was pitch black.

The moment she stepped out, several shadowy figures hiding in the darkness began to follow her. Glancing at her watch, Yue Yin decided to end this quickly and started walking toward the nearby park.

The area around the villa was rather secluded, and it was now evening, so there were few people around. A couple strolled on a path here, and a few people fished by the lake under the cover of night, accompanied by the calls of frogs and cicadas.

Under the dim park lights, Yue Yin was seen standing by a bike-sharing rack, figuring out the app on her phone.

She hadn’t lied about wanting a late-night snack—she was indeed planning to ride to a food street five kilometers away. Though she was quite wealthy, she still believed in not spending needlessly. If luck had it, she might even get a free ride.

The lively atmosphere of the park gradually fell silent. The sounds of people, cicadas, and frogs all receded, and an unnatural stillness filled the surroundings.

A strange presence drew closer, accompanied by the sounds of heavy breathing—one, two, three, four…

Oblivious, Yue Yin continued to fiddle with her phone, muttering, “A deposit just to rent a bike? And the signal here is awful!”

As she angrily tried to report this “rip-off company,” something approached her from the shadows.

Still looking down, she didn’t notice a pair of dangling feet appearing right in front of her, the figure waiting for her to lift her head and react in shock.

Yue Yin, however, yelled in exasperation, “199 for deposit?! You may as well rob me!”

“What a money-sucking company this is. I’m going to file a complaint against you.”

The figure: …

Hollow footsteps sounded again as Yue Yin finally became aware of a presence.

In front of her was an enormous, grotesque figure—human in outline, but bloated and decayed, with a stench of rot. Its flesh was split and peeling, and its face was swollen beyond recognition.

“So hungry… so hungry…” it wheezed, lumbering forward as if to consume anything in its path.

Despite its seemingly slow pace, the creature appeared before Yue Yin in an instant. It leaned its head down, baring its rotting teeth in a sinister grin. “Is it you? My lucky one?”

The stench and sight of the bloated ghost’s face brought no reaction from Yue Yin. She stared at it with disinterest, then shifted her gaze to the stillness of the lake beyond.

The ghost dangled severed heads in front of her, maliciously asking, “Is it this man’s head, this woman’s head, or this child’s head?”

The waterlogged ghoul pressed its face right up to her eyes, a writhing worm visible in its milky eyeball.

Most people would’ve screamed in horror, but Yue Yin didn’t even blink. Hands in her pockets, she said dismissively, “How about your own big head?”

Before the ghost could respond, Yue Yin punched it hard in the stomach.

With a resounding thud, the creature was sent flying several meters, crashing down with a heavy impact that scattered dust into the air.

Wiping away the corpse fluids from her face with a tissue, Yue Yin said coldly, “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

She kept wiping her face as she strolled toward the fallen creature.

The bloated ghost lay in agony, feeling as if its body had been ripped apart. It lay stunned on the ground, unwilling to move.

Yue Yin stared down at the monster in disbelief. “Look, we’re in a new era now, buddy. Even monsters should have some standards, right?”

She shook her head. “You’re out here eating people, fine, but spitting on people’s heads? Really? That’s just disrespectful.”

The ghost struggled to rise, wobbling before collapsing again halfway.

Yue Yin raised an eyebrow. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

Casually wiping her hands, she said indifferently, “If you all keep being so useless, I might actually get angry.”

All this trouble, and they couldn’t even put up a fight—she was starting to feel her time was wasted.

Then, from behind the ghost, Li Shushu appeared, adjusting her glasses. “Yue Yin, we didn’t want things to come to this.”

She continued, “If you’d just cooperated, we could’ve avoided this mess.”

A voice echoed from the lake, “Stop wasting words on her! She’s too cunning—she’s made us wait all day and almost ruined tonight’s ritual.”

The lake’s water began to churn, opening a path.

Several people emerged from the water. At the front stood a man in a black jacket, a cap, and a mask, hiding his face.

Yue Yin sniffed a familiar scent, a memory from long ago, from the time she first awoke in this body during a sacrificial ritual.

In a flash of recognition, Yue Yin realized that those who had once kidnapped this body were all hiding with Li Shushu.

But as she mused over this revelation, the others assumed she was frozen in fear, unable to grasp the situation.

The man with the hat sneered, “Don’t recognize me? Let me give you a hint. When we first grabbed you, you were crying, begging us to spare you…”

Yue Yin interrupted, “Beer Belly?”

The man blinked in confusion: ^^?

Yue Yin continued, “Or maybe Balding Middle-Aged Guy?”

The others behind him, fighting to keep a straight face, lowered their heads, pretending to search the ground.

The man ripped off his hat in anger. “You blind or something? Those ugly fools? You’re mixing me up with them?”

Yue Yin squinted at him thoughtfully. “Oh, right, it’s you… the ugliest one—the skinny monkey.”

The man was speechless, his face twisting in disbelief.