Chapter 178: Ghost Assistant (X)

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Chapter 178: Ghost Assistant (X)

When Shang Ke woke the next morning, Shao Feidu was still sound asleep. Hair hung over his forehead, a faint snore escaped his nose, and he looked like a lazy cat thoroughly satisfied with life.

Shang Ke reached over and pinched his nose shut. Shao Feidu merely frowned, automatically switched to breathing through his mouth, and remained completely unaffected.

Shang Ke’s eyes widened. What kind of skill was that?

Just as Shang Ke was considering whether to cover his mouth as well, the man beside him woke. His eyes were still hazy with sleep, but the moment he saw Shang Ke, he pulled him into his arms and rubbed against him affectionately.

“It’s late. Get up!” Shang Ke peeled Shao Feidu off himself like a strip of stubborn plaster, then climbed out of bed with an aching waist and sore back and walked naked toward the bathroom.

Shao Feidu threw off the blanket and followed, equally naked.

After washing up together in an embarrassingly clingy fashion, they changed into matching lounge clothes and went downstairs for breakfast.

Shang Ke intended to take Shao Feidu into the city center and use a certain someone’s ghost-attracting constitution to locate evil ghosts he could lay to rest.

It was also time to train Dudu’s courage. Shang Ke sipped his porridge and smiled at the man beside him.

Shao Feidu assumed Shang Ke wanted his sausage, so he generously brought it to his mouth.

Shang Ke: “…”

After breakfast, Shang Ke first took Shao Feidu out for a walk to aid digestion, then the two rode a hovercar into the city center.

Their first stop was Mandy Mall, rumored online to claim at least one mysterious death every year and to be cursed by the God of Death. One might expect such a place to be deserted, but most people treated the stories as nothing more than ghost tales and scoffed at supernatural claims.

As Shang Ke understood them, ghosts were essentially remnants of thought left behind after death, without a complete consciousness of their own. Ordinary ghosts usually dissipated within seven days. Only those with exceptionally powerful obsessions or resentment remained in the living world. Those residual thoughts formed a kind of psychic field that followed certain patterns and sought targets on which to vent.

A ghost’s most common ability was interference with the brainwaves of the living. Nightmares, hallucinations, sleep paralysis, supernatural disorientation, brief memory loss, or sudden emotional loss of control could all be caused by ghostly influence.

An evil ghost could, under certain conditions, manipulate electrical currents, signals, magnetic fields, and similar phenomena. Shang Ke stood one rank above evil ghosts: he was an extremely dangerous vengeful ghost, capable of devouring the energy of other ghosts.

That thought made Shang Ke curious. He had no idea how the original owner had become a vengeful ghost. Reaching that rank normally required at least several centuries of accumulated energy.

When the hovercar reached their destination, Shang Ke suppressed his vengeful-ghost aura and got out with Shao Feidu.

The mall was crowded. Online shopping might have been extremely convenient, but plenty of people still enjoyed going out and browsing in person.

Crowds made Shao Feidu uncomfortable, but as long as he stayed beside Shang Ke, he could tolerate them well enough. The two entered the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor.

The number four had traditionally been considered unlucky, but apparently this world had no such taboo.

The elevator rose. The trip should have taken only a few seconds, yet it felt strangely prolonged. Oddly enough, none of the other passengers seemed to notice anything unusual. They chatted and laughed as comfortably as ever.

Just then, an arm came around Shang Ke’s waist and pulled him close.

Shang Ke turned—and immediately saw several corpse-pale fingers creeping over Shao Feidu’s shoulder.

He leaned back, trying to see what they belonged to, but found nothing. When he looked again, a woman with her head bowed and hair hanging loose had somehow appeared beside Shao Feidu. She stood among the passengers without drawing the slightest attention.

Then she lifted an arm, slowly placed it over the shoulder of the man in front of her, wrapped herself around his neck, and hung from his back.

Ding. The elevator doors opened. Completely unaware of the ghost on his back, the man walked out while chatting and laughing with his girlfriend. The instant he crossed the threshold, the female ghost suddenly turned her head, revealing half a face burned beyond recognition, and gave Shao Feidu a sinister smile.

Shao Feidu wrapped both arms around Shang Ke’s waist and positioned him squarely in front of himself, wearing an expression that practically declared, I have almighty Keke. You can’t scare me.

Shang Ke: “…”

Their first scouting trip went smoothly. They had barely entered the mall before confirming the presence of an evil ghost. With that settled, Shang Ke temporarily put the matter aside and began strolling through the shops with Shao Feidu.

As for the man haunted by the evil ghost, he clearly carried enough resentment around him to attract one in the first place. He had probably done plenty of rotten things, so Shang Ke did not mind letting him suffer for a while. Judging from the man’s vigorous life force, he was in no danger of dying anytime soon.

Besides, this evil ghost was an earthbound spirit. During the day she could not leave the mall and could only go outside to frighten people after nightfall.

Shang Ke and Shao Feidu spent the entire morning wandering the mall, ordered several sets of menswear, then ended the trip happily with an ice cream in each hand.

Over the next few days, Shang Ke and Shao Feidu visited several similar places and encountered a starvation ghost, a despair ghost, and a malevolent ghost. Together with the mother-and-son spirits attached to Dr. Xu and the water ghost that had caused Shang Ke’s failed revival attempt—now replaced by the drowned boy—he had identified six ghosts in total.

Shang Ke investigated them one by one, first ruling out the water ghost and the mother-and-child spirits. The former required a substitute victim in order to reincarnate and could not simply be laid to rest. As for the latter, Shang Ke had selfish reasons for leaving them alone. Dr. Xu had committed enough evil that dying would hardly be unjust. Worse, he had colluded with Mu Zhen and secretly prescribed Shao Feidu medication that could induce depression. Long-term use would make Shao Feidu increasingly withdrawn, unwilling to communicate with others, and potentially even suicidal.

The discovery infuriated Shang Ke. If he had not cleaned out Mu Zhen’s people in time, Dudu would undoubtedly have continued taking the medication exactly as they instructed.

It had taken Shang Ke so much effort to coax Dudu into opening his heart and slowly engaging with the outside world. How could he possibly let those bastards hurt him again?

Originally, Shang Ke had intended to stop after forcing Mu Zhen to return the money he had taken. Now he decided the man deserved a much harsher lesson. As for Dr. Xu, the mother-and-child spirits could entertain him properly.

Among the ghosts Shang Ke had found was a malevolent ghost capable of stirring violent impulses in the living. An ordinary argument might normally end after a few harsh words, but under its influence the slightest conflict could escalate into bloodshed.

Many assaults and murders reported in the news began with a moment of uncontrolled violence, and some of those cases had been influenced by malevolent ghosts.

Before laying the malevolent ghost to rest, Shang Ke could let it “play” with Mu Zhen for a while.

“Keke!” Shao Feidu’s shout sounded behind Shang Ke.

“What?” Shang Ke looked up from his computer just as Shao Feidu strode over. Completely naked, he planted himself in front of Shang Ke and solemnly tapped the electronic clock. The meaning was obvious: bedtime.

Shang Ke’s eyes happened to be level with Shao Feidu’s lower abdomen. He kept his gaze perfectly straight and replied calmly, “Mm. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Ever since Shang Ke had walked around naked in the room a few times, Shao Feidu seemed to have fallen in love with that carefree state of complete undress as well. Every night after bathing, he did not even bother putting on underwear.

At least Shang Ke only went naked inside his own bedroom. Shao Feidu was more shameless—he roamed the entire second floor without restraint.

Shang Ke decided some etiquette lessons were clearly necessary, lest Shao Feidu start treating nakedness as an ordinary household custom.

First, Shang Ke had to lead by example. Shao Feidu often copied him, remembering every word he said, every movement he made, and every habit he displayed. He learned through imitation, then gradually shaped those lessons into his own way of behaving.

So beginning today, Shang Ke decided there would be no more sleeping naked.

When the completely naked Shao Feidu saw Shang Ke neatly dressed for bed, his mind visibly stalled. The accusing look in his eyes instantly transformed the cold, aloof male god into an aggrieved puppy.

Under that stare, Shang Ke calmly unbuttoned his pajama top, pulled Shao Feidu into his arms, and soothed, “It’s late. Go to sleep.”

“You’re wearing clothes!” Shao Feidu remained unmoved and pointed out Shang Ke’s mistake resolutely.

“It’s more comfortable to sleep with clothes on. How about we both wear something to bed from now on?” Shang Ke coaxed.

“No.” Shao Feidu rejected the proposal without hesitation.

“Then… how about pants but no shirt for now?” Shang Ke decided gradual reform might work better.

Shao Feidu stared at Shang Ke in silence for a long while before saying, “Wear the top but not the pants.”

Shang Ke narrowed his eyes at him.

…You’ve actually been pretending to be stupid this entire time, haven’t you?

In the end, under Shao Feidu’s stubborn insistence, Shang Ke still took off his pants. He did, however, issue a special warning: “Tomorrow, we are sleeping in pajamas.”

Shao Feidu’s eyes were distant as he automatically filtered out the information he was not interested in.

That night, with Shang Ke wearing nothing but a shirt, a certain someone naturally encountered no obstacles to doing this and that to him…

While Shang Ke gathered information on the evil ghosts, he and Shao Feidu lived like newlyweds, sweetly attached to each other every day. Whenever Shang Ke was in the mood, he would suppress his vengeful-ghost aura and let Shao Feidu attract a few ghosts over for a round of hide-and-seek.

After a month of Shang Ke’s intensive fright training, Shao Feidu could now face almost any horrific apparition with composure. Shang Ke was pleased—but also faintly disappointed. He had rather enjoyed the sight of Dudu obviously terrified yet desperately pretending to be calm…

Once he had investigated the evil ghosts thoroughly, Shang Ke officially began preparing to lay them to rest.

He intended to use the Daoist arts he had learned in the cultivation world and lay the ghosts to rest with talismans.

Unfortunately, he ran into trouble when making the talismans. Although he had revived as a human, his essence remained that of a ghost. Any talisman effective against other ghosts would therefore affect him as well.

Ordinary talismans did little to him, but spirit-release talismans made him feel as though his soul were trying to leave his body—the classic out-of-body experience.

If he increased their power any further, he might end up laying himself to rest before his targets.

The talismans could not be too weak, either. He would be dealing with evil ghosts, and spirit-release talismans alone would not be enough; he also needed several offensive talismans powerful enough to suppress them. Those talismans would pose a threat to his own ghost form as well.

Most importantly, he could not cultivate Daoist arts in a vengeful-ghost body. Any talismans he created might end up strengthening ghosts instead.

This… what was he supposed to do?

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