Chapter 21

He stared obsessively at the woman, who appeared before him like a celestial being descending from the heavens. Seemingly blind to the cold, icy expression on her face, he rambled incessantly about the things he had done over the years.

Due to his unstable mental state, his speech was disjointed and lacked coherence. He started by claiming he had found a way to resurrect Qin Jinhua, then abruptly shifted to expressing his deep remorse over her death. Before he could finish, he jumped to the day of the incident: "I didn't know your leg was cramping... Qin Yijue kissed me, and I didn't have time to dodge..."

Fortunately, Qin Jinhua was in no rush to act. She quickly pieced together the sequence of events and learned the truth. However, having transformed into a Ghost, she had long since lost her humanity. If she were still alive, she might have softened and perhaps even forgiven He Yushuo, but now... her heart was devoid of any emotion. It was as if she were listening to the experiences of a total stranger. Her gaze toward He Yushuo remained as cold and stagnant as dead water, as deep and fathomless as an abyss.

"Jinhua, today is our joyous wedding day. Mom and Dad are waiting for us downstairs. Let's go back." As He Yushuo spoke, he reached out to take Qin Jinhua’s hand. A bone-chilling cold seeped under his skin from the point of contact. No living person could have such a low body temperature—not even a corpse would be this frigid—but He Yushuo stubbornly ignored this glaring anomaly, or perhaps, he simply did not care.

As long as Qin Jinhua was back, that was all that mattered.

Qin Jinhua lowered her eyes to look at the man’s hand, which had interlaced its fingers with hers. In her vision, invisible black mist was flowing continuously into his body.

She was already a Great Ghost, and now that she had stitched together the wedding gown of the Ghost Bride, she had formed the configuration of the Red and White Dual Malice: the Red Malice representing those who died unexpectedly during happy occasions, and the White Malice representing young people who died sudden, violent deaths. Both types of death were sources of extreme resentment. When combined with the extreme emotions of joy and mourning, the resulting superposition of resentment was far greater than the sum of its parts.

Not to mention that both Qin Jinhua and the Ghost Bride were of a high rank.

If Lou Yingqian were here, his wristwatch would have instantly been destroyed—the concentration of ghostly energy detected was so high that it would have burned out the device’s internal sensor.

As for this watch, it had been developed by the Institute for Ghostly Research just recently, relying on fragments of the Pig-Headed Ghost's domain. Every ghostly domain had fragments that looked like glass and emitted a faint golden light. The more dangerous the domain, the larger and brighter its fragments. Previously, the government had only recovered fragments from B-grade domains, and to this day, they had not figured out how these fragments were formed, where they came from, or what use they could be to humanity.

However, two months ago, an A-grade Pig-Headed Ghost was killed in the Market Domain by another "Great Ghost." Qi Mingxu had been on the scene—in fact, he and a few other unfortunate souls were among the first to be dragged into that domain. Qi Mingxu knew of the Pig-Headed Ghost; the government had sent five teams into its slaughterhouse domain, but all had failed. Out of 35 people, only six returned alive. They were the ones who provided the intelligence on the Pig-Headed Ghost.

In short, Qi Mingxu recognized the Pig-Headed Ghost and, after discovering it had been killed, reported to his superiors upon leaving the domain. They sent a team to investigate, found the Pig-Headed Ghost was indeed gone, and seized the opportunity to sneak into its lair and retrieve the fragments locked in a cabinet. Thus, the nation's first liberated A-grade domain was born. The researchers found that these A-grade fragments were vastly different from those previously collected: they were highly useful, capable of enchanting ordinary items and manually upgrading them into ghostly artifacts.

However, because it had only been two months, the artifacts created by the institute were neither stable nor numerous, so they could not yet be issued to personnel.

After walking a few steps, He Yushuo’s arm suddenly went rigid, and he felt resistance. He turned back to look at the exquisitely made-up, pale-faced woman and asked softly, "What’s wrong?"

"Life and death are worlds apart, separated by a chasm. Do you truly believe in the nonsense of resurrecting the dead?"

"Of course. Aren't you standing right in front of me now?"

Qin Jinhua lifted her eyes to the man’s handsome face. She could no longer recall the feelings she had for him while she was alive; at this moment, even her hatred had faded, leaving her as bland and tasteless as plain water.

"You are going to die."

Yes, even if she didn't lift a finger, He Yushuo wouldn't live much longer.

In Qin Jinhua's eyes, He Yushuo’s soul was already pitch black, completely corrupted by ghostly energy, neither human nor ghost. The source of this energy was identical to the master of the newly formed domain beneath their feet. Connecting this to what He Yushuo had said earlier about a "ghostly artifact that looked like a ring"... Hah, that wasn't an artifact at all; it was an Object-Ghost. The Object-Ghost had seduced He Yushuo, using his popularity to mask its own ghostly aura, thereby achieving its goal of escaping the domain.

Nowadays, the Heavenly Dao’s shackles on ghosts and monsters were loosening, and the Object-Ghost had seized the opportunity. It had truly succeeded, plucking the first peach.

Too bad it had encountered her.

And it had been foolish enough to try and devour her. Likely, it was because she had restrained her aura and was exuding the ghostly energy belonging to the original owner of the red wedding dress (from the scraps of cloth on her body), which the blind Object-Ghost had failed to recognize.

"What?" He Yushuo froze.

Qin Jinhua had no desire to explain. She pulled her hand away and vanished right before He Yushuo’s eyes.

He Yushuo’s expression instantly turned to panic, and he shouted in a trembling voice, "Jinhua! Jinhua, where are you? Don't leave me!"

Only the pale moonlight from above answered him.

After standing dazed for a moment, He Yushuo suddenly began to bite his fingernails nervously, pacing back and forth while muttering something unintelligible. Finally, he inexplicably turned toward the edge of the rooftop. The anxiety on his face vanished, replaced by a blissful smile, and he ran toward it.

The hotel had nearly sixty floors.

During the fall, time seemed to slow down. He Yushuo clearly saw the scenes inside each floor’s windows... Images gradually appeared on the glass: his past with Qin Jinhua, those sweet, frustrating, and happy moments. In the dream woven for him by the Object-Ghost, the final thing He Yushuo saw was himself and Qin Jinhua standing on a stage, kissing under the witness of the crowd.

*Thud!*

Limb and bone shattered, splattering everywhere like a mosquito swatted to death, leaving a pool of blood on the ground.

...

"Sister Qin, are you there?"

14th floor.

Xia Lingze still hadn't found his Sister Qin. After circling around and returning to the stairwell, he prepared to continue climbing when a sudden, rapid sound of heavy breathing interrupted his pace.

He instinctively looked up. In the pitch-black, unlit stairwell, through the gaps in the railings, a pair of bloodshot eyes watched him with excitement. Having finally seen a person—he didn't know why there were so few people in such a large hotel—Xia Lingze greeted him warmly: "Hello."

The eyes immediately vanished from Xia Lingze’s field of vision, replaced by the sound of heavy panting that grew closer and louder.

Three seconds later, a black shadow rushed down the stairs. Its fur was coarse and golden, matted into clumps in places, and its four legs stood as high as an adult's knees. Its eyes shone with a sinister light, looking at Xia Lingze as if he were food, and saliva dripped from its jaws.

When Xia Lingze saw its appearance, he felt both disappointment and delight. Disappointed that he hadn't found a person, but delighted that although it wasn't a human, it was a dog—a Golden Retriever at that! It looked exactly like the Golden Retriever Uncle Tiedan used to have—though, come to think of it, dogs of the same breed all look pretty much the same.

The Golden Retriever lunged at Xia Lingze, and he opened his arms to catch it. The dog opened its mouth to bite Xia Lingze’s head. Xia Lingze, who was protective of his hair after having it messed up earlier, tilted his head to dodge, then locked his arms firmly around the dog's neck and began petting its head vigorously.

"Good dog, good dog!"

Dog-Man Ghost: "???"

A look of human-like disbelief appeared on its furry face. Due to the angle, Xia Lingze didn't see it, but even if he had, he wouldn't have found it strange.

After petting the dog's head, Xia Lingze reached toward its body. The Golden Retriever let out an "Awoo!"—its voice cracking—and struggled violently to break free from his embrace. However, Xia Lingze held it too tightly, and the Dog-Man Ghost began to question the meaning of its ghostly existence, realizing it couldn't break free from the shackles of a mere human.

"Huh? What's this?" As he petted, he felt a bumpy area. Xia Lingze released his grip on the dog's neck, pushed aside the fur, and leaned in to inspect it closely.

The snow-white neck came into the Dog-Man Ghost's view. With it delivered right to its mouth, the ghost didn't have time to think about anything else and instinctively lunged to bite.

The next second, a scream of "Ow!"—Xia Lingze reflexively gripped its throat and pushed it away. He might have been a bit too strong, and for a moment, the Dog-Man Ghost’s brain glitched, entering a state of suspended animation.

Xia Lingze, completely unaware that he had almost choked the dog to death, saw it go quiet and still, and thought it was being very obedient. He praised it as a "good dog," scratched its chin, and continued observing the uneven patch he had found earlier.

His excellent vision (exaggeratedly described as 10.0) allowed him to quickly identify the cause of the unevenness: it was a seam. This seam encircled the Golden Retriever's waist entirely, and there were stitches near the tail as well.

Had it undergone surgery?

Looking at the dog’s terrible condition, with its matted fur, Xia Lingze guessed that the dog might have been very ill, taken by its owner for treatment, and then either abandoned or lost, becoming a stray. Or perhaps the owner simply didn't care.

"Do you know where your owner is?" Xia Lingze asked.

Hunter Hu in the village owned a big yellow dog, a mutt that could understand human speech and was incredibly perceptive. Xia Lingze hadn't seen many other dogs, so in his perception, dogs understanding human speech was normal.

The Dog-Man Ghost, tongue lolling out as it caught its breath, heard the teenager ask something about where someone was... It hadn't heard clearly, but it was asking about a person, right? It was genuinely terrified of the boy, so it nodded vigorously to indicate it understood.

"Let's go, then," Xia Lingze said.

***

Banquet Hall.

The only national security agent had chased after the ghost, leaving the crowd in panic, with faint crying sounds rising and intensifying the fear. The Qin and He families hadn't found their children and were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

In the midst of their burning anxiety, the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing suddenly came from outside. Everyone instinctively retreated away from the main entrance. Li Manqian also retreated, but seeing the half-open door, she had a sudden impulse, ran over, and slammed it shut.

Li’s mother turned pale with fright, crying in a trembling voice, "Manqian!"

Li Manqian quickly retreated back into the crowd after closing the door. Hearing her mother call, she looked toward the source of the sound and hurriedly replied, "I'm fine!"

Li’s mother wanted to say more, but the door that had just been closed was pulled open from the outside, and two figures—one tall, one short—gradually appeared before everyone.

The tall one looked very much like a human, wearing a white robe with a lifelike golden dragon embroidered on the waist. If not for the timing, he might have been mistaken for someone’s child. The short one was a Golden Retriever, but it inexplicably gave off a lecherous vibe; if you looked at it for too long, you would feel terrified. Tracing the reason... perhaps it was because it looked too much like a human? The classic uncanny valley effect.

Everyone was huddled against the wall. No one spoke; even the crying had stopped. They all stared wide-eyed, vigilantly watching the uninvited guests at the door.

"Wow, so many people." The teenager scanned the crowd, a fake smile on his delicate face, and sighed in a voice devoid of emotion, making everyone’s already tight hearts tense even further.

It really wasn't a human!

No one dared to answer him.

The boy wasn't annoyed. He looked with interest at the petals on the floor and the various romantic props, then continued, "It looks like a wedding is being held. Speaking of which, a bride jumped off the building earlier."

Hearing this, Mother Qin's tears surged out instantly. Their family was the only one holding a wedding at the hotel; it went without saying who this bride referred to.

"Fortunately, I saw it and saved her."

Mother Qin let out a long, ragged gasp, a crude sound escaping her. The people around her looked at her reflexively.

Mother Qin: "..." So embarrassing, but at least Little Jue was fine. She wanted to ask where Little Jue was now and if she was okay, but remembered that the person speaking was a ghost—as the saying goes, ghosts speak nothing but lies. Furthermore, even if it were true, she didn't dare ask.

Because no one responded to the boy, the atmosphere in the hall became stagnant and awkward.

The boy added, "Anyway, congratulations to the newlyweds. By the way, have you seen a person? She..." He described the appearance of the person he was looking for.

The most prominent feature was the red and white wedding gown.

As soon as these words were out, someone gasped. This confirmed it: they were definitely ghosts! What normal person gets married in a red and white wedding dress? How unlucky.

Seeing that no one answered, the boy’s disappointment was evident on his face. "Fine..."

Before he could finish, the boy suddenly tilted his body. A dinner knife flew past his ear and embedded itself into the wall, the blade sinking in a third of the way before the force was fully spent. Fortunately, no one was standing there, and no one was hurt.

The boy turned around unhurriedly, locking eyes with a young man with a wolf-cut hairstyle who wore a grave expression.