Chapter 19: Buddies
Deng Xiaolin possessed an ability that ordinary people did not have.
That was, she could receive the voices of souls and ghosts from extremely far distances.
Deng Xiaolin had not tested this range, but the furthest she had communicated was a full eight kilometers.
Since childhood, she had often interacted with lonely souls and ghosts, and she enjoyed listening to the stories and experiences they recounted, feeling as if she were listening to stories.
Furthermore, Deng Xiaolin could also see wandering ghosts directly, and most of these ghosts were well-intentioned and would not harm her.
This was precisely why she was so obsessed with finding ghosts.
In her opinion, helping these lonely souls and ghosts was also a good deed.
As a result, she didn’t get to do a good deed and instead encountered two fellows who didn’t look like good people.
“Run… run towards that utility pole…”
Thus, upon hearing the echoing voices in her ears, Deng Xiaolin immediately took to her heels and ran.
Like a startled rabbit, she didn’t give the two men any chance to react.
Facing Deng Xiaolin, who had already run quite a distance, the two seemed to be hesitating whether to chase after her.
Before Deng Xiaolin, who had run away, could even feel happy, she was about to turn back to take a look when she bumped into something.
“Ouch!”
The girl was thrown back by the impact and fell directly onto the ground, while the person she bumped into staggered.
“Don’t come over!”
Startled, Deng Xiaolin instinctively took out her peachwood sword, but when she opened her eyes, she realized that the person she had bumped into was none other than Liu Haoyu, who was investigating.
“Xiaolin, what are you doing here?”
“Hao-ge?” Seeing Liu Haoyu, Deng Xiaolin immediately felt at ease, “There are two guys over there who don’t look like good people!”
“Oh, I’ll go take a look.”
Liu Haoyu took Deng Xiaolin’s hand and returned to the two middle-aged men.
The two were about to say something, but upon seeing Liu Haoyu’s sturdy physique, they immediately became honest and said with a smile.
“Brother, sorry for scaring your girlfriend. We were just fishing here, we didn’t mean anything else.”
“Fishing?” Liu Haoyu looked at their kind faces and pretended to be unaware, saying, “What a coincidence! I’m here to do some lure fishing. Who are we to each other?”
After speaking, Liu Haoyu walked up to the two men, offered them a cigarette, and said.
“Here, have this, it’s strong.”
The two men looked at the cigarettes in Liu Haoyu’s hand, nodded, and said with a laugh.
“Haha, that’s right, buddies all the way! By the way, brother, how many did you catch today?”
“Don’t even mention it, skunked.”
Liu Haoyu pretended to be dejected, patting the two men on the shoulders.
“My girlfriend is here to pick me up, so I can’t keep you two company. I’ll be going ahead.”
“Mhm, mhm, see you again if we’re fated, brother.”
As they waved goodbye to each other, Liu Haoyu left with Deng Xiaolin.
However, not long after Liu Haoyu left, the two men who were still chatting suddenly widened their eyes in terror, their stiff, mechanical hands clenching their phones as if controlled by someone else.
“Hello… is this 110?”
———
“Hao-ge, what did you put on them?”
Facing Deng Xiaolin’s question, Liu Haoyu said.
“Just a few strands of hair. But… you’re right, those two are indeed murderers. Don’t go out alone at night next time.”
Ghosts might be terrifying, but human hearts are even more so.
“I’ll take you back to your dorm first.”
Deng Xiaolin had also heard that Liu Haoyu had bought a house in the suburbs, so she said.
“Can I stay at your place for the night?”
The haunted house was good in all aspects, but it hadn’t been renovated yet. He had only cleaned up one room. If Deng Xiaolin wanted to stay for the night, they would have to share a room.
More importantly, he needed to perform a ritual to appease the ghost tonight, which was extremely perilous, and even he couldn’t guarantee his survival.
Seeing Liu Haoyu’s slightly troubled expression, Deng Xiaolin’s eyes showed a hint of pitiable helplessness, like a sister pouting, and she said.
“Can’t I?”
“No.”
Liu Haoyu naturally refused her without hesitation.
Even though she acted like a cute little sister next door when she pouted, if the answer was no, it was no.
“Okay.”
Deng Xiaolin’s expression became even more dejected.
By the time Liu Haoyu sent her back to the university dormitory and returned to the haunted house, it was already past 11 PM.
Setting up a ghost appeasement ritual at this hour was somewhat hasty.
But Liu Haoyu had no choice. He knew that the resentment in the haunted house was too strong, and the longer it dragged on, the greater the danger.
Even though it was a bit rushed, Liu Haoyu still chose to appease the ghost today.
Compared to questioning ghosts, the ritual for appeasing ghosts was more complicated.
Liu Haoyu placed the blue candles on the left and the red candles on the right.
In the center of the candles, the items for appeasing the ghost were placed steadily.
A pair of suspender stockings.
He didn’t know if the fierce ghost liked them, but Deng Xiaolin said girls liked these, so he would trust her this time.
After arranging the items, Liu Haoyu began to seal the area.
He sealed all the windows in the room with talismans, leaving only one door.
This door was specifically opened for the fierce ghost of the haunted house.
As soon as the ghost appeasement ritual began, the fierce ghost would enter the house through this door.
Moreover, ghost appeasement was different from ghost questioning. If the ritual failed, given the difference in strength between him and the fierce ghost, if the other party wanted to kill him, he would have no chance of survival.
However, for Liu Haoyu, the moment he stepped into this line of work, life and death were no longer his concern.
He had no one to rely on, and if he died, he died. There was nothing to regret.
Thinking of this, Liu Haoyu looked at the clock.
It was now 11:55 PM.
The ritual was about to begin.
Liu Haoyu placed a small dish between the two candles, took out a dagger, and cut his palm.
The sharp dagger directly created a wound on Liu Haoyu’s palm, and the pain in that instant made Liu Haoyu grimace uncontrollably.
Scarlet blood flowed like water, incessantly dripping into the small dish placed between the two candles.
While bleeding, Liu Haoyu also repeated two words.
“Qin Liu…”
This was the name of the fierce ghost in the haunted house, and the person Liu Haoyu had been searching for these past few days.
If the ritual went smoothly, he should be able to see the other party tonight.
The small dish was quickly filled with blood. Even now, Liu Haoyu had not withdrawn his hand. His blood continued to flow, not stopping even as it overflowed from the dish.
There was only one minute left until midnight.
After bleeding so much, Liu Haoyu’s lips had turned a little pale.
“Drip… drip…”
There was no clock in the room, and no one knew where this ticking sound was coming from.
Not even Liu Haoyu knew.
Perhaps it was the death knell from hell?
Finally, when the “drip” sound disappeared, the time also froze at midnight.
At this moment, all the candles extinguished.
In the dim room, only the red and blue candles in front of Liu Haoyu still flickered with a faint glow.
