29: Shadow

There is truly no star that shines particularly bright.

Qin Yan looked up at the starry night while smoking. The faint white smoke slowly rose, blurring his vision, and his attention shifted to the smoke.

He tried to blow out a cool ring of smoke.

Zhou Shurong had done it before, and Qin Yan had secretly seen him.

It was a coincidence. Zhou Shurong was dressed in pure white, his face half-tilted, the yellowish light falling on his eyelashes. He squinted slightly and blew out a ring.

The white ring expanded as it rose, like a mushroom cloud. Even Zhou Shurong found it amusing, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.

… Qin Yan didn’t know the technique and blew out several puffs of smoke, but none of them formed the ring he wanted.

“You’ve learned to smoke,” Zhou Shurong said, “I led you astray.”

Qin Yan exhaled another puff of smoke.

“Ah Xing wants to take you out for a drink. He also wants to lead you astray,” Zhou Shurong continued, “I remember you once said, drinking is bad, it causes trouble. Smoking is bad, it leaves a smell, and kids don’t like it.”

Qin Yan succeeded; he exhaled a smoke ring. Zhou Shurong stretched out his hand and waved inside the ring, but it didn’t dissipate. Watching it continue to expand, Qin Yan suddenly reached out and broke the ring.

He withdrew his hand and murmured, “Cool.”

Zhou Shurong slowly withdrew his hand.

He said, “Because you touched me, my whole body is cool. Summer seems fine, but in winter, you have to be careful. If you accidentally touch me, you might catch a cold.”

There was still a little bit of cigarette left. Qin Yan took a deep drag, preparing to finish it and go home.

Suddenly, Zhou Shurong looked up and fixed his gaze on the woman crawling across the street.

Her hair was long, her head drooping, her face unseen. She crawled with both hands, leaving a long trail of blood behind her.

She crossed the road and approached Qin Yan.

When she was three meters away, Zhou Shurong heard her mumbling something, probably saying she was hungry. Then, one eye appeared from the dark hair, and when it saw Zhou Shurong, it emitted a cold gleam, as if it had found its prey.

Zhou Shurong chuckled, “What, does every cat and dog think of me as a meal?”

He clenched his fists and walked over. “Perfect. I have nowhere to release all my strength.”

The female ghost let out a scream, and the eye showed a slight retreat.

Her rationality returned; this wasn’t a ghost she could mess with.

She was half-crawling, clutching the floor with blood-soaked fingers as she tried to retreat.

Her speed was slow.

Suddenly, a foot pressed down on her back. She had no legs and could only frantically twist her head.

Zhou Shurong smiled, locked her head with both hands, and yanked—blood exploded, splattering in all directions.

The blood splattered on him, and he felt a surge of power within him.

“Spare… my life…” The female ghost’s head spoke.

He looked at the head in his hands, speaking softly, “You’ve only been a ghost for a few days, and your consciousness isn’t fully recovered. You can’t even speak properly.”

“Save… me…” She stopped begging for mercy and started asking for help.

“Sorry, I haven’t had dinner yet, but you brought it to me,” Zhou Shurong started to contemplate, “How should I eat you?”

One bite at a time?

How troublesome. He didn’t have a food fetish. It was difficult, emotionally.

“Forget it. I’ll spare half your life.”

Zhou Shurong threw the head with force, and it rolled onto the street, disappearing from sight. There was still half of the ghost’s body left. He looked down and saw that the two hands hadn’t given up. Unable to turn its head, it flapped its hands in desperation.

Zhou Shurong raised his fist and started punching the half-body ghost.

With each punch, the ghost’s body struggled fiercely.

After three punches, the hands reached straight toward the road.

By the seventh punch, it stopped moving.

Zhou Shurong continued to punch expressionlessly, until the body was a bloody, mangled mess.

Once the blood and flesh touched him, they turned into invisible Yin energy, filling his body. He could feel the power increasing, and it was addictive.

On the other side of the street, the female ghost’s head peeked out again before retreating.

Zhou Shurong was pleased and stopped looking at the blurred mess of blood and flesh. He had just taken a few steps back when the mass of blood turned into invisible Yin energy and rushed into his body.

Zhou Shurong froze, looked back at the clean street, and was confused for a moment.

He remembered a few nights ago, when he had collided with a ghost trying to scam him, shattering its body into pieces.

“That shouldn’t be, if I had smashed it like that, the blood and flesh on the ground would have turned into Yin energy.”

If that were the case, no ghost would dare to risk scamming using this method.

There was only one possibility—that the blood and flesh were illusions.

A ghost that can use illusions is powerful enough not to need to scam. Indeed, that ghost had a bit of kindness.

Qin Yan threw the cigarette butt into the trash can and stood up to leave.

Zhou Shurong floated behind him, muttering to himself, “Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, even the ghost world is so cruel.”

Survival of the fittest.

It seemed that not only was it dangerous to go out during the day, but the night was unsafe as well.

When they reached the gate of the residential complex, Zhou Shurong suddenly recalled the sirens he had heard in the grilled fish shop. That was likely related to dealing with Ah Ling.

What happened to that woman now?

Ah Ling… Ah Ling was on the run. As soon as she left the restaurant, she abandoned everything, grabbed her phone, ID, and other belongings, and immediately booked a car to leave the city.

It wasn’t until she got into the car that she had the mental space to process the situation. She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t commit suicide, and every time she opened her eyes, the environment changed.

She slowly thought it over, and eventually, she suspected it was that child causing the trouble.

She wouldn’t spare her!

On the way, her heart trembled, especially after nightfall, when her body began to shake.

The driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror several times, finally unable to resist asking, “Do you… have a problem?”

“You have a problem!” Ah Ling cursed loudly.

The anger she released onto someone else made her fear subside, and she glared, continuing to curse, “Damn! Your mouth is filthy!”

“Ah—”

The car suddenly screeched to a halt with a horrific scream.

Looking into those dark, murderous eyes, Ah Ling’s sanity returned instantly. She shrank back and weakly said, “I-I’m sorry… big brother… I just had a brain malfunction. Please forgive me. Or, you can yell back!”

She swallowed nervously, then secretly glanced outside. After driving for hours, the car had left the city and entered a remote mountainous area, surrounded by mountains. The eerie wind howled like a ghost.

She started recalling reports of drivers killing and dumping bodies in the wilderness, her heart pounding wildly. Even facing the baby ghost, she hadn’t been this afraid. Because she vaguely realized she could play the emotional card with her daughter.

She couldn’t stop here. Someone had reported to the police, and she couldn’t withstand a detailed inspection. She didn’t want to go to prison!

“Big, big brother…” she choked, “I’ll pay half of the fare, please drive quickly, okay?”

The driver withdrew his frightening gaze, snorted, and continued driving.

Normally, he liked chatting with passengers while driving at night, so he wouldn’t get too tired. But now, he had no mood for anything.

This woman was really sick!

The car grew colder and colder. Ah Ling nervously curled up. “Big brother, can you turn up the heat?”

The driver, feeling cold himself, strangely turned off the air conditioning. But the temperature didn’t drop; it got colder and colder.

“Is my air conditioning broken?”

Ah Ling’s face looked like she was about to cry. “There, there’s a ghost…”

The driver jumped in shock and looked back, only to be further horrified— the woman’s entire body was pale, and her two black eyes stared directly at him.

“I think you’re the ghost!”

Suddenly, Ah Ling felt her legs gripped by cold, icy little hands. The thing grabbed her legs and started crawling up. She didn’t dare look down, frantically getting up and jumping around. The door wouldn’t open, so she rushed to press the front buttons.

“Don’t move! Are you crazy?”

“There’s a ghost! Stop the car! I want to get out!!!”

With a loud crash, the van hit a tree on the side of the road. Thankfully, both people inside the car were unharmed.

However, the baby ghost was terrified.

She started crying loudly.

While crying, she called out for her mother and reached out her hands as if wanting her mother to hold her. Ah Ling dared not hold her, crying out for her to go away.

The driver came to his senses, hearing the crying and babyish babble, and, shocked and terrified, said, “Where did this child come from?!”

He wasn’t supposed to hear this, but after being so frightened earlier, the three flames on his shoulder dimmed.

TN: “肩上三把火” (jiān shàng sān bǎ huǒ) Literal meaning: “Three torches (or flames) on the shoulders” one on each shoulder, one on top of the head. In superstitions, it’s said that you shouldn’t turn around too quickly or too often, especially when someone calls your name in the dark — because turning too fast might extinguish one of the flames, making you vulnerable to ghosts or evil spirits.

Ah Ling said nothing, frantically pulling at the car door.

At first, the crying had no effect on the living, but gradually, both Ah Ling and the driver felt dizzy, their heads spinning. The world went black, and they lost consciousness.

After a while, the road, which had suddenly become quiet, was filled with the sound of police sirens.

…

Zhou Shurong’s power had grown stronger.

He had absorbed Ah Ling’s yang energy and the crawling ghost’s yin energy. Now, his body appeared almost like a living person. However, no one could see him. He couldn’t even see his own reflection in the mirror.

The elevator was finally fixed. Qin Yan walked in, but there was no one inside.

When the elevator doors closed, he absentmindedly looked up and was suddenly startled. He saw a blurry figure in the mirror, but when he turned his head, there was nothing behind him.

He looked around the empty elevator, three of the walls covered with posters.

He stared at the mirror in front again, looking for a moment before turning his head suddenly.

Zhou Shurong lowered his eyes, meeting his gaze.

The amber eyes were empty, not holding anything.

Qin Yan still didn’t notice. His heart was uneasy, and he cautiously turned his head. The blurry figure in the mirror hung above him, as if standing behind him, showing part of its body due to the height.

Zhou Shurong raised an eyebrow in surprise. He bent down, extending his head from Qin Yan’s shoulder. He carefully examined the mirror but only saw Qin Yan’s nervous face.

“Strange, what did you see?”

Qin Yan became even more anxious, his eyes widening. He saw the blurry figure bend down and extend a head.

There’s a ghost!

He instantly remembered the elevator ghost story. Someone had died here once, tragically, almost crushed to pieces. Later, someone saw a ghostly face in the elevator.

He had initially thought it was a ridiculous ghost story.

Even though he missed Zhou Shurong very much, wanted to see him, wanted him back, he was certain that there were no ghosts in the world. He believed in science.

Now, his worldview was crumbling.

“Did you see me?” Zhou Shurong asked calmly.

Of course, Qin Yan didn’t respond.

So Zhou Shurong moved in front of Qin Yan, bending slightly and staring into his beautiful, anxious eyes.

“Take a closer look at me.”

Qin Yan bit his lip, afraid he would scream. He saw it—he saw the strange, thin figure stepping closer.

He suddenly understood!

That figure was in the mirror, moving forward, pressing against the mirror, looking out!

Even though it had no facial features and its hands and feet were unclear, its body outline was vague, Qin Yan felt it was staring at him.

“Thump, thump, thump!”

Qin Yan took three steps back in quick succession.

When the elevator opened, he ran out without looking back.

The elevator slowly closed. Zhou Shurong stood frozen in place. It took him a moment to realize—Qin Yan had really seen him. He saw a blurry figure in his pupils.

Joy blossomed in Zhou Shurong’s heart.

He couldn’t wait to float out of the elevator and into the room, where the lights were bright. Qin Yan had turned on all the lights and was now drinking water, wrapped in a blanket.

He was tense and afraid.

Zhou Shurong’s desire to approach faded, and the joy disappeared—Qin Yan was afraid of him!

Zhou Shurong stood behind the door, not daring to approach. Qin Yan drank several cups of water. When he was nervous, he would drink, and then wrapped in his blanket, he picked up the remote control from the tea table, turned on the TV, and raised the volume.

He stared intently at Qin Yan.

On the TV, people were laughing loudly. Qin Yan felt a little relieved. After that, he took a bag of incense from the TV cabinet and brought out the incense burner.

He lit three sticks of incense for Zhou Shurong, muttering as he did:

“Shurong, there might be ghosts in this world!”

“I think I just encountered one. It was an elevator ghost. It scared me to death. When I ran out, I must have bumped into it. It was so cold!”

“I suspect Zhou Langxing encountered it. After that night, he got sick. The doctor said he caught a chill. I was puzzled, he seemed so healthy, how could he get so weak?”

“I think I might get sick too. Should I take a day off tomorrow?”

Qin Yan said, touching his forehead.

Because this was for Zhou Shurong’s worship, the incense smoke naturally drifted toward Zhou Shurong.

Qin Yan followed the movement of the incense smoke and looked toward the door.

Zhou Shurong’s body froze for a moment.

But now, Qin Yan could no longer see him.

Zhou Shurong relaxed his body, feeling a mix of emotions that he couldn’t quite define. It was hard to tell whether his happiness outweighed the feeling of loss. As he inhaled the incense smoke, he slowly walked toward Qin Yan.

The path of the incense smoke naturally changed once again.

Qin Yan’s eyes sparkled as he stared at the smoke and asked the question he had asked many times before:

“Shurong, are you here?”

“Ah Yan, I’m here.”

Qin Yan didn’t hear it, still smiling, his face a bit pale, but his spirit seemed well.

“That’s good, I can deceive myself again, you’re here.”

At night, Qin Yan really did fall ill.

It was another fever, so intense that he lost consciousness, his awareness blurry. Zhou Shurong called him for a long time, but he couldn’t open his eyes.

Suddenly, he remembered that Zhou Langxing had once bought a first-aid kit and placed it in the TV cabinet.

Now, he had the ability to open the TV cabinet and even open the first-aid kit to take out fever medicine—it was no longer difficult for him.

He could even make a cup float and fill it with water from the water dispenser.

But… opening the medicine box and carefully taking out the capsules was an intricate task he couldn’t manage. Those seemingly insignificant tasks before had already consumed a lot of his energy.

He had to lower Qin Yan’s temperature, but he no longer dared to use his own hands like before. Things were different now, and he feared making Qin Yan’s fever worse.

No, he couldn’t let the fever continue, his brain would burn out!

Zhou Shurong had no choice but to focus on Qin Yan’s phone. He could trust only the hospital or his younger brother Zhou Langxing.

Naturally, Zhou Shurong called an ambulance.

What use was Zhou Langxing? He lived so far away, by the time he arrived, it would be too late.

“Hello, this is the medical assistance center. How can we help you?”

Zhou Shurong still couldn’t physically interact with objects, so he infused his yin energy into Qin Yan’s phone, connecting it to the hospital’s phone line.

Zhou Shurong said one sentence.

“Hello, speak! Can’t you speak?”

He had forgotten that detail. Zhou Shurong frowned and hung up the phone, then edited a message and sent it.

Twenty minutes later, medical staff broke down the door, found the patient, and did a quick check-up.

“Eh, it’s a fever. He’s lost consciousness.”

Zhou Shurong had already set the scene, moving the medicine box and cup to Qin Yan’s bedside table. The cup was knocked over, and the phone had fallen to the floor, creating the illusion that Qin Yan had tried to take medicine while calling for help but had suddenly fainted.

“Wow, the fever’s severe, best to give him an injection!”

So, Qin Yan was still carried away. Zhou Shurong, uneasy, followed the ambulance.

When Qin Yan slowly regained consciousness, the first IV bag was almost empty. He stared blankly at the needle in his hand, confused about his surroundings.

What happened?

Where am I?

He looked for a long time before realizing he was in a hospital. The nurse came in late, reassuring him, “Thankfully, you sent the message while you were unconscious. That’s how we knew where you were and managed to bring your fever down in time.”

She skillfully and gently changed the second IV bag.

Qin Yan muttered, “I sent a message?” He couldn’t remember at all.

“Yes,” the nurse pulled out a phone from her pocket, “Here, we even brought your phone with us, so you can settle the payment.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Your voice is hoarse, here, drink some more water.”

The nurse fed him a glass of water, “Do you want more?”

Qin Yan shook his head slightly.

“It will take some time to finish the IV drip, it’s late now, so go ahead and sleep. There’s no rush for a bed, sleep peacefully. When the drip runs out, I’ll come to change it.”

Qin Yan closed his eyes, feeling very tired. He didn’t want to think about anything. If there was anything he didn’t understand, he’d think about it tomorrow.

Qin Yan fell into a deep sleep, not noticing when the nurse came to change the IV bag.

When he woke up again, he felt much better, though still weak. The needle on his hand was gone.

The room was bathed in moonlight, not too dark, so he could make out the shapes of everything.

He saw someone sitting on a chair.

“Who are you?”

This room was only for Qin Yan, so this person couldn’t be a family member of someone else.

The person didn’t respond.

The room was dim, and he couldn’t even make out the person’s features. Qin Yan pursed his lips, then turned on the bedside light.

With a “sizzle,” the room brightened.

But the chair was empty.

Qin Yan sat on the bed for a long time, his eyes nearly bloodshot. He swallowed, his throat hurting a little, then slowly fiddled with his phone, not daring to turn off the light, too afraid to sleep.