The temporary worker didn't want to talk to Qi Heihei, but if he didn't stop him, he would lose all his wages.
The fluorescent light was so pale that it made the temporary worker's face look bloodless. Of course, it wasn't all the fault of the light, because the temporary worker hadn't eaten for a day.
The haunted house was in the suburbs, and there were no restaurants within a radius of three or four kilometers. The company didn't provide meals, and the delivery fee for takeout was too expensive, so he had to endure it.
Qi Heihei looked at the pale and clean face of the malnourished boy, his throat dry and his heart churning, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.
It was the temporary worker who spoke first, his tone calm and cold: "There are ghosts and mirrors on other floors, it's not my business."
The implication was that if you smash other floors, I don't have to pay.
He saw it clearly on the surveillance camera: the ghost before him was incredibly ferocious, devouring all the ghosts on the fifth floor in a flash. He wasn't someone to be trifled with. But considering the old villain had been destroying props along the way, if he continued like that, he'd be outraged, not to mention his salary.
Heihei had no choice but to step out and stop them. Heihei remained speechless, staring blankly at the man through his ridiculous clown mask. After a moment, he spoke, "I'll compensate you."
He remembered that the idiotic Qiang, who had seemed familiar, had interviewed him before, and the temporary worker before him, half a head shorter than him, was his seventeen-year-old self.
The words "new plot" kept echoing in Heihei's mind. Was the so-called new plot about him revisiting his own impoverished seventeen-year-old life as a ghost?
Heihei promised again, "I'll pay for the damage to the mirror." He knew all too well how broke he was as a child, the kind who wouldn't even throw away their underwear even if it had a hole.
After the initial shock, Heihei calmed down. He had been through so much over the years, what had he not experienced? Meeting my younger self by chance was a strange and interesting thing. Maybe he could stay and help me get out of poverty and become rich.
The temporary worker narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at the masked old villain strangely and said frankly, "It's a pity that they don't accept ghost money."
He didn't expect the old villain to be so righteous. He was worried that it was a trap set by the old villain, so he didn't want to get entangled any more. He nodded to the old villain and turned to leave -
"Qi Ye, don't talk to ghosts easily."
"..." The temporary worker paused, his shoulders suddenly tensed. Being called by a ghost was not a good sign.
Thinking this way, he simply accepted reality and relaxed his attitude, teasing back: "For example, right now, I can take your soul."
Qi Ye realized that the situation was not good and was about to run. Heihei's figure flashed, and without seeing how he moved, he appeared behind Qi Ye. One hand was placed on Qi Ye's shoulder, covering the other small black claw. With just a little force, he pulled it, and the owner of the small black claw began to cry. The little ghost was clever. Heihei's presence had been noticed from a moment ago. He was trembling and hiding behind the temporary worker for shelter. Who knew that the other party would come to him and let Heihei catch him red-handed.
These little ghosts just like to bully him because his spiritual power has not yet awakened.
The little ghost: "Big Boss, eating me isn't enough to fill your stomach, so let me go, whining."
Heihei: "How about you get on my shoulders and ride too?"
The little ghost shook his head like a rattle: "No, no."
Heihei laughed: "Even a mosquito leg is meat, not to mention—"
Besides, you've been carrying me on your back for so long, draining so much of my yang energy, I'd be remiss if I didn't eat you.
Heihei deftly extracted the little ghost's soul thread, kneaded it into noodles, and swallowed it. There wasn't much meat in it, so it barely felt like a meal.
Qi Ye, witnessing this ghost-eating-ghost scene, paled even further. His empty stomach churned, and he nearly vomited.
Heihei smiled nonchalantly and rubbed his head: "How's it? Is it easier to carry on your back?"
While these little ghosts won't harm anyone, they act like parasites, constantly seeking out hosts to carry them. Over time, the host will inexplicably feel tired and may even develop frozen shoulder or lumbar disc herniation.
Qi Ye took a step back. He didn't want to get so close to a ghost, especially one with such poor taste and a clown mask. "Thank you." He
was very cold, so cold that it was chilling. Hei Hei reflected, was he so unpleasant as a child?
Hei Hei raised an eyebrow, deliberately teasing himself: "That's it?"
Qi Ye: "We'll write off the money for the damage."
Hei Hei didn't comment, but smiled: "In the future, if you meet such a clingy ghost, don't be polite, just tell him to go away."
"..."
"If he doesn't leave, spray him with boy's urine."
"..."
This sentence carried a lot of information. The nosy ghost in front of him not only knew his name was Qi Ye, but also knew that he was a boy.
At that time, Qi Ye thought to himself, if I spray you with boy's urine, will you leave?
In fact, it's not surprising that seventeen-year-old Qi Ye was indifferent. No one would be willing to make friends with a ghost they met by chance, especially this ghost who was doing bad things and had put him in debt.
Heihei understood his inner thoughts perfectly: "Alright, even if you pee on me, I won't leave."
Heihei's words revealed the boy's true feelings, and the boy's malnourished face heated with embarrassment. Heihei was satisfied. His younger self had been so easy to fool.
He knew his rebellious teenage self all too well. He knew what he was thinking from the way he held back. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, he couldn't fool himself.
He had indeed been more difficult to get along with than most children. His father died before he was a year old, and his biological mother remarried when he was three. Their good life lasted less than five years before even his biological mother died in a car accident.
At eight, he had no family to turn to. His stepfather, whom he called "uncle," had been raising him with great difficulty. His uncle had a child of his own and a paralyzed mother, and the financial pressures were immense. At twelve, Qi Ye began working a variety of odd jobs, from film-making to selling pancakes and spicy hot pot. He was often chased by urban management officers for blocks, and sometimes a single ticket meant a month's worth of work wasted. By the time he was fifteen, he'd essentially refused to accept money from his uncle, even giving him a small monthly stipend for his accommodation.
He was overly strong and independent, never easily revealing his emotions, and particularly disliked burdening others, which gave him the air of being untouchable and unapproachable.
Furthermore, he'd been able to see ghosts since childhood, unable to distinguish between humans and ghosts, often being accosted and bullied by them. From the perspective of passersby, he was just a strange child mumbling to himself. As he grew older, Qi Ye, to avoid such awkward situations, simply shut himself off, rarely interacting with people, let alone ghosts. His
proactive intervention tonight was a complete surprise; either he was driven mad by poverty or had lost his mind.
"Hey, your neck's bleeding."
Perhaps it was the scratch from the ghost's fingernail; Heihei hadn't noticed, and neither had Qi Ye. The wound wasn't deep, stretching from behind his ear to just above his Adam's apple, thin beads of blood seeping out.
"It's okay." Qi Ye raised his hand to wipe it, but Heihei's throat moved. Like a madman, he pressed the wound. The bright red blood stained his pale fingers. Heihei's heart beat violently.
It wasn't an adjective, it was a real beating. As a ghost who had been dead for many years, Heihei's heart had long since stopped working.
But now, it was beating non-stop in his bloodless chest.
Qi Ye wasn't much better off. His skin, where the other man's fingers had touched, burned like fire. He instinctively dodged backward, but his feet felt rooted to the ground, unable to move.
Bang, bang, bang—
the blood from Heihei's fingertips seeped into his flesh. A stream of heat shot from his fingertips to his palm, then coursed through his heart, spreading through his limbs with overwhelming force. The intense sensation, like an electric shock, made Heihei feel as if he were alive again.
Zila, zila, zila—
Heihei's spirit began to flicker as if contact was broken. He suddenly fell to his knees, uncontrollably. Startled by his sudden movement, the young man hesitated for a moment, bent down, and reached out to pull him away. But before he could touch him, Heihei vanished with a zila.
What was going on?
Silence returned to the asylum's prop room. The dim incandescent light stretched Qi Ye's figure, covering the area where Heihei had been.
Was this old villain afraid of losing money and running away? He didn't look like such a cowardly ghost, so Qi Ye shook his head.
Everything had happened so quickly, leaving him feeling a bit disoriented. He was a ghost, and encountering one was never a good thing, especially being harassed and pestered. Now that the old villain had vanished on his own, it was a relief.
With this in mind, Qi Ye rolled up his sleeves and put the broken props back in order. He couldn't replace the mirror tonight, so he'd have to find someone to do it tomorrow morning after the place was cleared.
He'd calculated that there were thirteen mirrors on the fifth floor, and almost all of them were broken. His five hundred yuan daily salary wouldn't cover the damage, meaning another day's work was wasted.
Qi Ye quickly went downstairs to the dressing room to put on his makeup. He was responsible for both the props and the ghost, and his daily salary would increase by two hundred yuan.
His skin was pale from malnutrition, and dark circles from years of staying up late had left him with dark circles under his eyes. The young man's wrist-cutting ghost makeup was incredibly easy to apply. The woman applying his makeup kept praising his good looks, saying he could become an internet celebrity if he cleaned up properly.
The woman was a good sop, so Qi Ye naturally ignored it. With his personality, he'd probably live off his looks in his next life.
Customers lined up to enter the venue one after another. Perhaps because he had not had a drop of water for the whole day, and because he had just had his Yang Qi sucked away and had seen blood, Qi Ye's steps were a little unsteady. The screams of the customers came one after another. He felt a throbbing pain in his temples and nearly fell down several times. His eyelids were heavy and hot, and he saw double.
Before long, a sickly red flush began to appear on Qi Ye's pale face. It was obvious that he had a fever. Although he was malnourished, his physical condition was not weak. He had not caught a cold in two years. How could he suddenly have a fever?
Fortunately, there were no accidents on the first night of opening. Qi Ye thought, thanks to that old villain who ate all the ghosts, and those who were not eaten had already run away. He
finally waited until the last wave of customers left. After the venue was cleared, Brother Qiang settled the bill for him. He had to pay half of the damage to the props on the fifth floor, and then he would give him a 50% discount, a total of 1,500.
Qi Ye was too dizzy to argue, so he just agreed and rushed to catch the early morning bus back to his home in the city. On the way, he leaned his head against the car window, his body shivering with cold. He fell asleep several times and was woken up by the bumps, and his forehead hit the car glass
, leaving a bump. A bump on the head is okay, but he must not break someone else's car window. It would be too bad to lose everything from a job.
Although Qi Ye's mind was confused due to the fever, he also noticed one thing along the way. He was sitting alone on the last bus in the wilderness and was surprisingly safe.
In the past, he would have been disturbed by wandering ghosts. Although the ghosts would not really eat him, they liked to pester him. The more shameless ones would even lie behind him and bite his neck and scratch his ears to suck his yang energy.
It's nice to have peace and quiet in my ears.
Qi Ye couldn't hold on any longer. He wrapped himself in clothes, hunched his neck, and closed his eyes to rest. Half asleep, he heard a few little ghosts whispering in the distance -
"Is the one inside him asleep? How about we go and secretly take a sip?"
"Are you starving? How dare you touch the prey of a boss of that level!"
"Isn't it okay to just lick it?"
"Just wipe it with your saliva. Don't touch the one marked by the boss. It's not our turn."
Qi Ye thought vaguely, boss? Who is the boss? Where is the boss? He didn't think clearly and fell asleep again. The sky was dark.
...
When he woke up, it was almost dawn. Qi Ye found himself lying in his bed at home, with the quilt tucked in tightly. The room was warm. It had been a long time since he had felt warm.
He was startled to find that the air conditioner, which he hadn't been willing to turn on for years, was turned on. The warm air was blowing. Qi Ye sat up suddenly. How expensive must the electricity bill be...