◎Chen Du, burn the money for me◎

The apartment door closed, and the living room returned to silence.

Shi Li looked strangely at Chen Du and floated a circle around him in a full 360 degrees.

He kept his eyes closed, waited until the cigarette in his hand burned out, then lit another one. The layers of smoke covered half his face.

Chen Du seemed completely indifferent to the fact that his girlfriend had just left in sadness.

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate.

He looked more like someone who no longer cared about anything. Whatever was happening inside or outside the window right now, whether it was the glaring sunlight, his strange “sleepwalking,” the nosebleed, or the medical tape on the back of his hand—none of it seemed to interest him at all.

Tsk.

Time really is like a butcher’s knife, turning a once positive and kind-hearted college student into someone lifeless and indifferent.

Shi Li harshly criticized him a few times, but at the same time, she felt a little lost.

This apartment was actually quite empty. There weren’t many things that belonged to the girl. Even the white electric toothbrush in the bathroom looked so new, as if it had never been used.

So Shi Li had always thought Chen Du and his girlfriend were in a long-distance relationship.

But now, it turned out they lived in the same city. No matter how busy their work was, couples would reunite from time to time…

This was a bit awkward.

Now she was trapped in this apartment and couldn’t leave. If the couple got intimate, she wouldn’t even have a place to hide.

Shi Li suddenly thought of a horror movie she’d seen while alive.

In the movie, the heroine’s soul remained trapped in the villa after death. She had to watch helplessly as her husband quickly found a new lover, had a baby, and formed a perfect and happy family.

The woman, overwhelmed by sadness, saw her anger and resentment grow over time. Finally, on a stormy night, while the man and his new wife were engaged in deep “academic discussion”…

Shi Li recalled the bloody and terrifying scenes from the movie and felt a chill in her heart.

Of course, she wouldn’t do something like that.

She was a “good ghost.”

And Chen Du never owed her anything. Even though their breakup had been a bit messy, it had been mostly peaceful in the end—

But still, Shi Li felt a bit awkward. From Chen Du’s perspective, if he knew her soul was still in this apartment, he would probably be creeped out too.

This couldn’t go on.

She had to quickly find the unresolved regret or obsession from her life, fulfill it, return to the underworld, and leave this place.

Shi Li scratched her head.

What exactly was her obsession?

Why didn’t she know?

She remembered that in the few minutes before she died, she felt quite calm—maybe even—

Relieved.

At that time, studying and part-time jobs had drained too much of her energy. She had already been staying up for several days.

Her heart gave a sudden abnormal signal. What followed was her body collapsing quickly. Losing consciousness actually came a bit later. She had been slumped over her desk, vaguely realizing she might die suddenly.

“Ah, looks like I won’t have to take the exam. I won’t have to finish that article due tomorrow either.”

That was Shi Li’s last thought. There was a sigh of relief and a hint of worry.

“I live alone here. I have no friends, no boyfriend, and barely talk to my parents… What if my body isn’t discovered until the landlord comes to collect rent after half a month? That would scare the landlord badly.”

Right after that, she lost consciousness.

The whole process was very quick. Shi Li actually didn’t feel much pain.

She didn’t seem to have much attachment to this world, let alone any obsession.

The underworld supervisor’s eerie yet firm words echoed in her ears.

“You do.”

Shi Li squatted on the coffee table, puzzled to the point of scratching her head.

She began to count on her “fingers.”

Studying, exams, job hunting… Her short life of just over twenty years had been filled with these “main tasks.” Could her obsession be getting into graduate school?

That didn’t seem right.

And in her current state, how would she even take the exam?

So what was it then…

Family?

Shi Li actually didn’t like thinking about them.

To be honest, it made her sad.

In the underworld, every “newborn” soul automatically gets an account. The balance comes entirely from money sent by family members still alive—so-called “burned money.”

When Shi Li first arrived, her account balance was zero, and she could barely survive.

But compared to some ghosts who had no one in the living world, she felt lucky. She had parents and an older brother.

She had people who would burn incense for her.

So, back then, Shi Li went to the “bank” every day, happily telling the supervisor that her parents and brother must have sent her money.

One day, one week, one month, one year…

Her account remained completely empty.

In the five years that followed, Shi Li lived a hard life as a “wandering ghost.”

She never told anyone again that she had a family.

Since childhood, Shi Li had known that her parents favored her brother.

Even though her grades were better than his, even though she got into Lin University, her parents still prioritized her brother.

Shi Li paid for her college tuition and living expenses by applying for student loans herself.

The year she graduated, her brother got a girlfriend from Beilin.

Her parents used up most of their savings and pulled every string they could to get her brother a job in the big city of Beilin. They even planned to buy him a small apartment in the suburbs.

But even so…

Shi Li hadn’t expected that they wouldn’t visit her even on Qingming Festival.

She had felt truly wronged and angry at the time.

Later, those feelings even got projected onto Chen Du.

They had dated for more than two years. Even if they had broken up, now that she was dead, did he really feel nothing at all?

Chen Du probably never even visited her once, nor had he burned even a single coin for her.

Maybe he didn’t even know she had died.

But five years is a long time. Even ghosts change their mindset. Shi Li had been an optimistic person when alive, and she remained an optimistic ghost after death.

She had figured it out.

Chen Du didn’t owe her anything. She shouldn’t keep expecting things. Their relationship had been very average. If even her family didn’t care about her, why should he?

Shi Li blinked indifferently.

She had gotten off track again.

Come on, let’s get back to figuring out her obsession…

Wait.

Crap.

She suddenly remembered something.

Something big!

Shi Li felt that if she still had a heart, it would be pounding right now.

She swallowed a nonexistent gulp and, eyes gleaming, floated up and flew straight into the bathroom.

If she remembered correctly, it should be in the hidden layer of the drawer under the sink…

Shi Li floated through the cabinet door, compressed herself flat, and slid into the gap to take a look.

Whoa, the envelope was still there!

It looked a little yellow and crumpled, maybe from getting wet, but it clearly hadn’t been touched.

Shi Li rushed out of the cabinet excitedly and spun several circles in the bathroom air, dancing a ghostly version of the waltz.

Her savings were still there!

Back in university, Shi Li had applied for student loans every year. To reduce her burden after graduation, she started working part-time from freshman year, saving money.

Tutoring, working at bars, internet café assistant… She did everything except skip classes.

This was something Chen Du did too. After they got together, they even shared part-time job tips.

So by the time she graduated, she had saved a decent amount, planning to use it to repay her loans.

It totaled 120,000 yuan.

After Chen Du moved out, Shi Li felt insecure. She was afraid of thieves breaking in, so she stuffed the bank card into an envelope and hid it in the compartment under the sink…

Later, her parents wanted to help her brother buy a house in Beilin and asked her to lend them the money. Shi Li agreed.

But before she had the chance to transfer the money, she died.

So this money probably had never been touched.

Nowadays, the underworld is overpopulated with ghosts. Reincarnation slots are in short supply. The waiting list is eighty-two years long, and during that time, ghosts must work endlessly. Otherwise, they lose their “permanent residence” and get thrown into the incinerator, vanishing completely.

On the black market, scalpers charge six million ghost coins for a fast-track reincarnation spot.

The current exchange rate between the living and the underworld is forty to one. If that 120,000 yuan were converted into ghost currency, that would be… 4.8 million.

If she worked a bit harder, maybe in ten or twenty years, she could afford a reincarnation pass. There was hope!

Thinking of this, Shi Li almost started “breathing heavily.” The student loan, the borrowed money—none of that mattered anymore.

As long as Chen Du was willing to burn this money for her…

That’s right!

This had to be her obsession!

Shi Li whooshed out of the bathroom and floated beside Chen Du, shouting loudly.

“Chen Du, Chen Du, Chen Du!”

“I’m Shi Li, Shi as in time, Li as in leave—do you still remember me?!”

“I have money! I have 120,000!”

“Please help me, burn the money for me, okay?”

The man on the sofa lay there quietly. Before Shi Li could come down from her excitement and realize that he couldn’t hear her at all, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He lifted his eyelids quickly, and his gaze swept toward Shi Li’s direction.

With pinpoint accuracy.

At that moment, Shi Li almost thought he was looking directly at her.

The next second, Chen Du suddenly sat up straight. He furrowed his brows, turned off the TV, threw away the cigarette, held his breath, and reached out into the air—as if trying to grab something.

……He heard it?

Shi Li got excited and moved her “body” closer to his hand.

Unfortunately, just as expected, his long fingers passed through her body without any resistance.

As if passing through a wisp of air.

Sunlight streamed through the dirty glass window and dappled his eyelashes. Chen Du’s hand stayed frozen in midair in that position for half a minute.

Shi Li was startled by his reaction and didn’t dare to make another sound. The room was completely silent.

Until he finally withdrew his hand.

She swore that in that instant, she saw an unhidden sorrow in the depths of Chen Du’s bottomless eyes.

He pulled back his hand and leaned his head back against the sofa.

Shi Li could no longer see his eyes.

He covered his eyelids with the back of his hand and stayed motionless for a long, long time.

In the crystal-clear silence of the early morning, his breathing suddenly became slightly rapid. His chest rose and fell. His other hand gripped the sofa armrest tightly, veins bulging and knuckles turning pale.

Shi Li was so frightened that she took a step back and looked around helplessly.

She heard it.

Chen Du, the calm and indifferent Chen Du, the all-powerful Chen Du—

Actually cried.