Chapter 8: Something That Makes Your Heart Race When You See It

Xu Huai was starting to suspect that he had a problem.

After entering Xie Jing’s house, Xu Huai discovered that there wasn’t much furniture and that the decor was minimalist, even a bit empty at first glance. Xie Jing said that he lived alone and that an auntie helped him clean the house on weekdays.

In theory, this type of empty house would indeed attract some homeless wandering spirits to take up residence, causing some frightening disturbances, but not harming people. Homes that were uninhabited for a long time or were always deserted would more or less retain some yin energy.

But this house didn’t.

Not to mention, the ghost that could leave such deep marks on Xie Jing’s body would have a lot of resentment. Even if it were hiding, it would leave some yin energy behind.

Ghosts had obsessions. If their obsessions weren’t resolved, and they couldn’t do anything because of their soul state, they would become psychologically twisted from the constant suppression and try to harm people.

The fiercer the ghost, the more it would resemble fermenting canned herring. The smell from them would only get stronger and stronger, not like this…

From the moment he entered the house until now, almost two hours later, he has circled the entire three-story villa more than twice and hasn’t found a trace of residual yin energy. It was cleaner than if a dog had licked it.

Xu Huai leaned against the sofa, his hand propping up his forehead, using his ring finger to push up the sunglasses on his nose.

But there was no reason for him to be wrong.

His life was yin-aligned, and since childhood, he could sense when things were out of the ordinary because the yin energy that preferred to remain hidden was drawn to him as soon as it noticed him.

Xu Huai was young then and couldn’t stop it, so he had to let the stuff stick to him. Sticking to it would make him ill, and getting sick would prompt Zhang Daoquan to draw talismans and brew medicine for him. Later, he had somehow developed some “antibodies.”

Later, he learned Taoist magic, and those things no longer dared to stick to him.

After being harassed constantly for so many years, Xu Huai was very sensitive to those cold, creepy things that wanted to get close to him.

“Click.”

Xie Jing placed a freshly washed glass, still covered in water droplets, on the table. As the purified water was poured in, the yellow lemon slices inside the glass were jostled by the ice cubes.

Xie Jing picked up the glass in his hand and walked to Xu Huai’s side, handing it over. “There’s only plain water at home. I thought it might be a little bland, so I cut some lemon slices for you.”

The ice cubes had just been put in the glass, and Xie Jing couldn’t feel the cold temperature of the glass when he picked it up. But when his knuckles touched Xie Jing’s, he felt the chill of Xie Jing’s fingers.

“Thank you.” Xu Huai wasn’t polite. His brown eyes behind the sunglasses looked at Xie Jing. “Didn’t you sleep well last night? Your hands are a little cold.”

“Yeah.” Xie Jing said, then withdrew his hand. But as he let it hang naturally, he subtly rubbed it with another finger.

“Ever since the marks started appearing on my body, I’ve been waking up suddenly in my sleep. The intermittent sleep has made it hard to rest.”

Xu Huai raised his hand and placed it on Xie Jing’s forehead.

Xie Jing was stunned by Xu Huai’s sudden action. After realizing what was happening, he controlled himself and didn’t flinch, obediently letting the other person feel the temperature of his forehead.

Where Xu Huai’s wrist concealed it, emotions surged in his ink-like eyes.

After two seconds, Xu Huai lowered his hand. “Xie Jing, you seem to have a fever. Do you have a thermometer?”

Xie Jing nodded and stepped back, bending down to search through the cabinet under the coffee table. He discovered a thermometer gun.

Xu Huai raised his hand and pointed it at Xie Jing’s forehead. With a beep, the LCD screen on the thermometer gun displayed 37.9. He did have a slight fever.

Xu Huai’s expression was a little grave.

He noticed that Xie Jing’s hands felt a bit cold when he helped him read his palm last night. Perhaps Xie Jing had a fever at that time, most likely caused by the yin energy that had been lurking in his body.

But not everyone had “antibodies” like him.

Seeing the person holding the thermometer gun frown, the patient himself comforted the other person. “It’s just a low fever. I’ll find some medicine to take. Maybe I caught a cold when I went for a walk last night.”

Walk…

Xie Jing’s house was clearly in a villa district more than 40 kilometers away. Why would he be walking near his house?

This question suddenly popped into Xu Huai’s mind, and he asked it.

Xie Jing’s expression remained unchanged. “Because a friend invited me to a dinner party near there. I drank alcohol that night, so I didn’t plan to drive back.”

That made sense. That area did have a relatively large business district.

“Okay.” Xu Huai nodded. “Did you encounter anything strange during your walk? Did the marks on your body appear before the walk?”

Since the room was empty, was it possible that Xie Jing had just run into a big ghost while walking at night? If he guessed that way, he could explain why the yin energy he had pulled out of Xie Jing under the overpass was so pure and so abundant…

Unfortunately, Xie Jing quickly killed Xu Huai’s guess.

“…No.” Xie Jing denied. “The business district is not far from that overpass. We met ten minutes after I finished eating. Nothing happened during that time. As for the marks on my body, they did appear before the walk. They appeared while I was sleeping in this villa.”

This was difficult.

This was really difficult.

A little over ten hours ago, he had promised Xie Jing, confidently saying that he would solve the ghost problem. Now, he couldn’t even find a ghost.

Xu Huai subtly took a breath.

“Your low fever isn’t necessarily caused by catching a cold.”

Xu Huai didn’t say everything, and looked down at the time. It was almost 2:00 PM.

“Based on your statement, the thing in this house might be hiding now, and it likely won’t come out anytime soon…”

Xu Huai hadn’t found anything, but the marks on Xie Jing’s body were real. In this situation, he could only guess based on Xie Jing’s statement.

Xu Huai suggested, “Why don’t we go to the hospital to check your physical condition first? Don’t worry about the matter at your house. I’ll help you deal with it.”

“Go to the hospital?”

Xie Jing hesitated. “But the boss said that it’s probably the thing in the house that’s making me sick. Will going to the hospital help?”

The sky outside had been covered with dark clouds at some point, and it was now a dark mass. Noticing that the sunlight was no longer strong, Xu Huai raised his sunglasses, his peach blossom eyes lifting:

“I didn’t say that.”

“If you’re unwell, it’s essential to take medication and consult a doctor. Even the strongest Taoist cannot heal you magically.”

Xie Jing looked at Xu Huai’s upturned eyes and responded after two seconds.

“Okay.”

“I’ll listen to the boss.”

…

Before it rained, there was always an uncomfortable stuffiness. Afraid that blowing air on Xie Jing would make his fever worse, Xu Huai didn’t dare turn on the air conditioning in the driver’s seat.

The nearest hospital to the villa district was ten kilometers away, just over ten minutes by car, so it wasn’t far. From leaving the house to registering and waiting for the doctor to take his temperature, it had been less than half an hour, and Xie Jing’s temperature had risen from 37.9 to 38.9.

Seeing Xie Jing lying in the hospital bed, looking at him with a very innocent expression, Xu Huai said expressionlessly, “Your old, broken thermometer was malfunctioning. You have such a high fever. Can’t you feel it?”

Xie Jing: “I just feel a little weak. Otherwise, it’s no different from usual.”

Xu Huai: “…”

His client’s body was truly heaven-defying. If it were him, he would probably be too weak to speak right now.

Xu Huai placed the palm of his hand on Xie Jing’s forehead again. The temperature under his palm was frighteningly hot.

“Chirp chirp.”

A clear bird song came from outside the window. The sound attracted Xu Huai. Just a glance, and his expression instantly turned cold.

Xu Huai withdrew his hand and turned to Xie Jing. “I’m going out to make a phone call.”

Xie Jing: “Okay.”

Only after Xu Huai left the ward and closed the door did Xie Jing shift his gaze to the little bird by the window.

The poor sparrow was flapping its wings nonstop. There was nothing outside the window, but it couldn’t fly up no matter what, as if something invisible was grabbing its wings.

“Chirp chirp chirp…”

The sparrow’s chirping grew louder. It struggled desperately to escape. Xie Jing, lying on the bed, suddenly spoke. “Who sent you?”

Hearing this, the sparrow stopped chirping. It looked at the person in the ward with fear in its black, bean-sized eyes, then curled itself into a ball, becoming a trembling, furry brown ball.

Xie Jing looked at the brown ball thoughtfully. After two seconds, he raised his hand and hooked his finger at the little sparrow, his voice faint. “Come here.”

As soon as Xie Jing said this, the sparrow stopped trembling. It fell straight onto the windowsill—it had fainted from fright.

Xie Jing: “…”

Heh, its eyes were the size of soybeans, and its courage was only the size of a sesame seed.

The window in Xie Jing’s ward wasn’t tightly closed. A cool breeze and the sound of fine rain seeped through the cracks, dissipating the stuffiness in the ward. Just outside, in the corridor, Xu Huai stood by the window, gazing out at the rainfall.

The phone screen showed that he was on a call, but the person on the other end of the line hadn’t made a sound. Xu Huai waited for a while. “Are you busy?”

Suddenly, the sound of something heavy falling to the ground, causing a series of small objects to fall, came from the other end of the phone. After those loud noises subsided, Song Lianzhou’s voice came from afar. “Wait a minute. I’m looking for something.”

Xu Huai didn’t speak, standing quietly by the window. After about two minutes, Song Lianzhou’s voice finally came. “What’s wrong?”

Song Lianzhou had been busy for a while and was now picking up a cup and drinking mineral water in large gulps.

Xu Huai: “I just saw a bird.”

Song Lianzhou: “?”

Song Lianzhou choked on the water. “Are you sick?”

Xu Huai paused, realizing that just saying that was a bit abstract, so he was silent for a while and began to reorganize his thoughts.

Xu Huai: “Have you ever encountered this situation? The moment you touch the other person, some strange phenomena appear around you.”

Song Lianzhou raised an eyebrow. “What strange phenomena?”

Just now, when he touched Xie Jing’s forehead, he heard a bird chirping and glanced out the window. He saw a ghost hanging by the window, wearing a hospital gown and completely purple.

Just like when he touched Xie Jing under the overpass last night, he could see strange things every time he touched Xie Jing.

The floor where Xie Jing was staying was all high-end single-person wards. Nurses were patrolling the patients’ conditions in the corridor. The nurse who had just walked over was pushing a utility cart.

Seeing someone coming, Xu Huai changed the words “saw a ghost” that were on the tip of his tongue to:

“Some things that make your heart race when you see them appear.”

Song Lianzhou on the other end of the phone: “…”

Their past conversations had all been about events within the department, and the department’s events were supernatural events, related to ghosts.

Touching him made him see ghosts, and seeing ghosts would definitely scare him, and being scared would naturally make his heart beat faster. Xu Huai figured that Song Lianzhou would understand him if he said it that way.

Sure enough, Song Lianzhou was stunned for two seconds and immediately blurted out two words: “I understand.”

Something that made your heart race? It didn’t sound like anything proper.

The signal was full, and he had just recharged his phone bill. Please continue.

It wasn’t that he liked to listen, but he was just empathetic and liked to help his brothers.

Seeing that this matter was extraordinary, Song Lianzhou even sat up straight. “Then what? What other reactions are there?”

Xu Huai thought carefully. “I always feel like that person is very familiar, like there’s a strange sense of familiarity.”

Song Lianzhou: “Okay.”

Xu Huai: “Sometimes, the actions I take are even instinctive.”

Like the action of touching Xie Jing’s forehead earlier, his body had acted before his brain, and it had acted very naturally.

He instinctively kept his distance from people, especially strangers, following his usual habits.

Although he had only known Xie Jing for a day, they couldn’t be considered close. Touching the other person’s forehead was a boundary-crossing action that shouldn’t have happened.

Song Lianzhou instantly raised his voice. “Ah? You’ve already taken action?”

Xu Huai said seriously, “Yes.”

Song Lianzhou gasped, asking in a low voice, “Where did you uncontrollably take action?”

Song Lianzhou understood.

It was common for hot-blooded young people to fall in love at first sight. Even holding hands would make them blush and their hearts beat faster. Song Lianzhou didn’t expect his usually cold friend to get so caught up so quickly.

Xu Huai thought about what this had to do with the location, and said, “At his house. After discovering that he had a fever, I did it again at the hospital.”

The first time was at Xie Jing’s house. After noticing that Xie Jing’s hands were slightly cold, he raised his hand to check Xie Jing’s forehead. It felt completely natural.

And the second time he naturally reached out was just now.

—There was a crash from Song Lianzhou’s side on the phone.

Xu Huai was startled. “What’s wrong?”

“I flipped my chair over. It’s nothing.”

Song Lianzhou propped himself up from the floor, clearing his throat strategically. “You… cough cough… you, can’t you control yourself?!”

Song Lianzhou was yelling, and his neck was flushed.

Shameless!

Xu Huai said righteously, “I told you, it was a reflex. By the time I realized it, I had already done it.”

Song Lianzhou: “…”

Ahhhhh, why did he have to call him to tell him about this?!

Song Lianzhou was silent, silent for a long time.

Seeing that Song Lianzhou wasn’t speaking, Xu Huai said, “Is this situation serious? Has anyone else had it?”

The department received many cases, and he didn’t know if Song Lianzhou had ever handled a case where someone claimed to have seen ghosts after touching someone.

Song Lianzhou straightened the chair and suddenly heard Xu Huai ask this again.

“So you’re at the hospital now?” Song Lianzhou asked.

Xu Huai: “Yes.”

Song Lianzhou: “Okay, I understand.”

Song Lianzhou took a deep breath. “It’s not serious. It’s happened before.”

He had seen many cases of people falling in love at first sight in his life, but he had never seen a case so close to him.

Song Lianzhou: “You shouldn’t be calling me to ask if it’s serious. You should be taking care of the patient, got it, bro?”

A question mark popped into Xu Huai’s head.

Something didn’t seem right.

He was the one with the problem. Why should he take care of the patient?

He was the one seeing ghosts, not Xie Jing.

Xu Huai: “That’s not right…”

Before he could finish speaking, Song Lianzhou interrupted him. “You have to soothe the other person’s emotions first.”

“No. This is a bit complicated. It’s hard to explain over the phone. I’ll send you a message.”

Xu Huai: “Wait…”

The phone was hung up.