Chapter 5: So, Are You Trying to Get Closer to Me?

Xu Huai finished packing his things and opened the bedroom door, discovering that the sound of water in the bathroom had stopped. Only a small lamp was on in the living room, and even the guest bedroom was dark. It seemed Xie Jing was already asleep.

The bathroom still carried lingering steam. Xu Huai blinked his left eye at the slightly blurred mirror and picked up the eye drops from the shelf.

He wore sunglasses not to establish the persona of a “fortune teller” and make passersby more trusting, but simply because his eyes hurt. Intense light and wind would cause his left eye to sting, and in severe cases, even lead to temporary blindness.

Xu Huai’s health had been poor since childhood. When he grew up, his resistance became stronger, and he rarely suffered from serious illnesses. The eye problem, however, started after Zhang Daoquan left, just recently.

The light pink eye drops relieved the dryness. Xu Huai half-closed his eyes and saw Xie Jing’s figure in the mirror.

The man, wearing his pajamas, was silently standing behind him, holding the black cat. He didn’t know when he had come over, as he hadn’t made a sound.

“Boss, your eyes hurt?”

Xie Jing spoke, and his hand loosened. The black cat quickly jumped out of his arms, darted into the living room, and disappeared from view.

“Yeah.” Xu Huai wiped away the physiological tears that had welled up in the corner of his eye.

Seeing Xie Jing, Xu Huai, who had taken his money, had to pay attention to his boss’s condition: “Why aren’t you resting yet? Are you not adjusting, or…”

Xie Jing shook his head: “I wanted to find a hair dryer.”

Xie Jing had just finished showering and had only briefly dried himself with a towel. His hair was still half-dry, and small, transparent droplets were still rolling down from the ends, leaving a glistening trail on his collarbone.

A hair dryer… Xu Huai opened the mirror, revealing a storage space behind it where the hair dryer was kept.

Xu Huai handed the hair dryer to Xie Jing, casually asking, “Have we met before?”

The vague sense of familiarity he had felt since they met was too difficult to ignore. This situation presented a good opportunity to gather information.

Unless someone had undergone professional training and possessed strong psychological resilience, it would not be easy to control their instinctive reactions. A common tell when someone was lying was shifty, evasive eyes. Therefore, Xu Huai had been paying close attention to Xie Jing’s face since he asked the question.

Xie Jing seemed surprised by the question, his eyes widening slightly. He asked in return, “Met before?”

“I don’t think so.” Xie Jing tilted his head, as if thinking. After a moment, he said, “I first saw you at the overpass.”

Xie Jing’s reaction was normal; he didn’t seem to be lying.

Xu Huai silently tapped his fingers on the sink.

That’s true. There was no need to lie about whether they had met.

Xie Jing: “Why did you suddenly ask that?”

Xu Huai paused: “Because the first time I saw you under the overpass, you looked very familiar. But after thinking about it carefully, I couldn’t recall any memories.”

Xie Jing was taken aback, then couldn’t help but chuckle: “I thought the boss was staring at my face for a long time. So that was the reason.”

Xu Huai nodded: “Asking at the time would have seemed like a forced attempt to get closer, so I didn’t ask.”

Xie Jing: “So, is the boss trying to get closer to me now?”

No, was there any logical connection between those things?

Shouldn’t a normal person ask why he wanted to avoid a forced attempt to get closer back then?!

Xu Huai’s brain short-circuited for a moment.

Something seemed off.

But it also seemed right.

Excluding any sarcastic intent, asking “Have we met before?” in any situation seemed to imply an attempt to get closer.

Xie Jing didn’t expect his casual question to send Xu Huai into deep thought: “I’m just kidding. Boss, you don’t need to dwell on it.”

“To be honest, I was still a little nervous about tomorrow’s events, but after talking to the boss for a bit, I miraculously relaxed.” Xie Jing pointed to the hair dryer in his hand. “I’ll dry my hair and go to sleep. Boss Xu, you should rest early too.”

After speaking, Xie Jing returned to the guest bedroom, and soon the buzzing sound of the hair dryer could be heard.

Xu Huai stood in front of the guest bedroom door for a moment, then opened the door to the master bedroom, which was separated by a wall.

The ball of Yin energy he had taken from Xie Jing was now arrogantly lying on Xu Huai’s pillow. When it saw Xu Huai, it didn’t hide but instead burrowed even further into the blanket.

Xu Huai’s eyelid twitched as he looked at the table beside him. Sure enough, the glass jar that had contained it was open, and the yellow talisman on the jar was torn in two, indicating that its binding effect had failed.

Damn it. There were two balls of Yin energy in there. He could ignore the weirdo on the bed who liked to stick to him, but the original resident of the glass jar was never well-behaved. What if it went to Xie Jing next door?

Xu Huai picked up the bottle and shook it, his heart sinking. It was indeed gone.

Fortunately, there were still ways to find traces of the Yin energy’s activity.

Several yellow talismans were placed on the table. Xu Huai randomly picked one up, tore it into the shape of a small person, and put the paper figurine inside the jar. In less than two seconds, the paper figurine stood up shakily and crawled in one direction.

Xu Huai’s gaze followed the paper figurine, and finally, he saw it stop next to the ball of Yin energy on his pillow.

Realizing something, Xu Huai strode over and pinched the ball of black energy: “Did you eat it?”

The ball of black energy naturally couldn’t speak, but it rubbed against Xu Huai’s fingertip as if to say: Yes, that’s right, it was me.

Xu Huai was speechless. The KPI he was supposed to submit to the department was gone just like that. He wondered how badly Song Lianzhou would scold him.

However, this time it was much easier to stuff the ball of black energy back into the jar. When Xu Huai picked up the jar, the thing even actively stuck to the mouth of the jar, entering without Xu Huai having to do anything.

Now Xu Huai was sure—this ball of Yin energy had previously disliked the original resident of the jar. Now that it had eaten the original resident, it had a single room to itself and was very comfortable.

After closing the lid, Xu Huai added two more talismans to the jar as a precaution, covering the entire jar tightly.

Having finished everything, Xu Huai finally lay down. The intense exercise and mental fatigue caused him to fall asleep instantly.

Therefore, when something strange entered the room, it was surprised to find that the method it had prepared to make someone fall asleep was utterly useless.

Thick, ink-like black energy seeped into the room through the crack in the door, gradually filling the entire space. It coalesced into a ball, carefully avoiding the talismans and books on the table, and headed straight for the young man lying on the bed.

Just as it was about to touch Xu Huai’s body, two muffled thuds suddenly came from the door.

The black energy paused, as if sensing something. The next moment, it scattered in panic, darting out through the cracks at a breakneck speed.

It thought it was escaping quickly enough, but it didn’t expect someone to be waiting on its escape route.

All the lights in the living room were off, and the entire room was pitch black. Only the guest bedroom door was half-closed.

The “guest” who should have been sleeping inside was now leaning against the wall not far from the master bedroom, his eyes half-closed, his foot stepping on a wisp of black energy.

“Daring to follow me here, you’re quite bold.”

The man who said this had his pajama collar half open. After speaking, he lazily yawned.

He looked completely harmless and ready to go to sleep, but it caused the wisp of black energy to struggle and writhe on the ground, emitting a piercing, shrill scream that only those in the living room could hear.

As the black energy gradually dissipated and became almost transparent, Xie Jing released his foot.

Having lost its ability to escape, the wisp of black energy began to reveal an outline gradually.

Although it was almost transparent, it was still possible to see that the one lying on the ground in a disheveled state was the white-clothed female ghost who had been standing under the street lamp at the overpass.

Hearing Xie Jing speak, the ghost trembled even more, wishing she could burrow into the ground. She spoke tremblingly:

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… It’s just that the Taoist priest inside smelled too good, and I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t expect you to be here…”

Xie Jing raised his eyelids.

The female ghost didn’t even have time to defend herself. The moment she met those eyes, she fell silent.

She realized that this person had no interest in listening to her explanation. The reason he had trapped her here was to inform her that she was going to die.

Having already died once, “dying” again meant that her soul would be scattered, and the pain of a shattered soul was far greater than the pain of a mere physical or mental death.

The female ghost subconsciously began to beg for mercy: “I didn’t touch your things. I just happened to pass by, smelled the fragrance, and went in for a look…”

“Oh?”

Xie Jing’s voice rose and fell slightly. “Pure Yin male fate, weak and sickly since childhood, and mostly born into poverty. It’s rare for them to live to be ten years old. And the person sleeping inside is not only twenty-five years old, but also has studied Taoism since childhood and possesses some spiritual qualities. You can’t imagine how fragrant it would be to lick him.”

It was like putting a specially made cake that would allow him to taste flavors in front of someone who had lost their sense of taste for a long time. Who wouldn’t be confused by that?

The female ghost strongly agreed with Xie Jing’s point of view and couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

The moment she nodded, she realized something was wrong. She didn’t dare to raise her head again, and her entire ghostly body trembled like a sieve.

Seeing this, Xie Jing let out a laugh: “You dared to think.”

This laugh also made the female ghost realize that the power restricting her had disappeared.

She tentatively moved forward, and when she realized that the person didn’t intend to grab her back to settle the score, she was instantly overjoyed. She moved forward a few steps, then turned back and kowtowed to Xie Jing.

Xie Jing ignored the words of praise from the ghost’s mouth, lowering his eyes and his expression becoming unclear, as he said in a cold voice, “Get out.”

Hearing this, the female ghost hurriedly scurried out, but the moment she touched the wall, black flames suddenly ignited on her body.

With the soul as fuel, the flames instantly surged onto her face. The female ghost’s face was full of astonishment, and she turned her head in disbelief to look at the man who was still leaning against the wall, never having moved.

Receiving the female ghost’s gaze, Xie Jing slightly raised his chin, brought his index and middle fingers together on his right hand, and flipped them over: “Like this, I changed my mind.”

The living room was dark, but the darkness didn’t affect the ghost’s ability to see. Or rather, the ghost’s vision was clearer in the dark.

Seeing the smile on Xie Jing’s lips, the female ghost’s pupils shrank.

—She realized that this person never intended to let her go. This whole performance was to play with her.

In an instant, the female ghost’s face twisted into a grotesque distortion. Ignoring the growing flames on her body, she screamed and lunged at Xie Jing.

For a moment, even the surrounding scenery seemed to transform. The once white walls began to peel, blood dripped from the ceiling, cracks appeared in the floor, and, accompanied by creaking sounds, eerie white bones protruded from the side.

But these abnormalities only lasted for a very short time.

Because the female ghost who caused this series of events was burned to ashes by the black flames before she even got within a meter of Xie Jing, disappearing into the air without leaving a trace.

Xu Huai’s home returned to its original clean and tidy state, everything in its place, as if nothing had happened.

The quiet living room was silent, even without the sound of breathing.

—”Click.”

The door to the master bedroom made a soft sound at this moment, opening a crack from the inside.

A ball of black stuff poked its head out from behind the door, waving at Xie Jing as if to say hello.

As if saying, ‘Come in, come in.’

If Xu Huai were awake, he would surely notice that the object waving was the ball of Yin energy he had sealed in the jar, protected by several layers of talismans.