Chapter 182: Ghost Assistant (XIV)

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Chapter 182: Ghost Assistant (XIV)

By the time the Yun and Shao families rushed to the hospital, Shang Ke and Shao Feidu had already been brought out of the emergency rooms.

“What’s the situation?” Mr. Yun asked in a low voice, struggling to suppress his anxiety.

The doctor looked around and hesitated. “Mr. Shao’s family still hasn’t arrived?”

Mrs. Yun said coldly, “They might be late. Tell us about the situation first.”

The doctor nodded and did not ask further. He began explaining their injuries in detail. “Mr. Shao’s injuries are relatively minor. He has a mild concussion and several abrasions and impact injuries on his arm and forehead. A few days of proper rest should be enough. As for your son…”

When the doctor paused, tension appeared on every member of the Yun family’s face, and they urged him to continue.

“His left palm is badly fractured, but a full recovery won’t be difficult. The more serious problem is…” The doctor chose his words carefully. “He appears to have fallen into a brain-dead state again.”

“What do you mean, ‘brain-dead again’?” Mrs. Yun demanded. “Brain death isn’t something that comes and goes!”

“No, no.” The doctor hurried to explain. “As you all know, Mr. Yun was previously diagnosed as brain-dead. Medically speaking, that normally constitutes actual death, yet he miraculously awakened two years later. We have never been able to explain it. After repeatedly studying his brain scans, we began to suspect that he may instead have entered an extremely unusual state of suspended brain activity, with neural signals too weak for our current equipment to detect.”

“I don’t care about any of that!” Mrs. Yun interrupted. “I only want to know when my child will wake up.”

“That… we genuinely can’t say. Your son’s case has no precedent.” Seeing Mrs. Yun’s temper rising again, the doctor hurriedly added, “Judging from their injuries, however, there may be something suspicious about the accident.”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Yun asked gravely.

“Mr. Shao’s head injury was caused by repeated impacts to the same location. A normal car crash would not usually produce that pattern,” the doctor explained. “Your son’s fractured left palm is similarly unusual. Even more puzzling, he shows signs of bleeding across his entire body despite having no obvious external wounds or medical condition that would explain it.”

A police officer stepped forward. “Based on the positions in which the two victims were found and the medical report, we have a preliminary theory. Some force may have been repeatedly driving Mr. Shao’s head against the car door. Your son’s palm fracture appears consistent with trying to block those impacts.”

“You’re saying the crash may have been deliberate?” Mr. Yun’s face darkened, his restrained anger carrying an oppressive weight.

“We can’t rule it out.” The officer hesitated before adding, “We’ve already sent people to obtain the surveillance footage. We should have answers soon.”

Yun Kezhao, the eldest son of the Yun family, had remained silent until then. He turned to his father. “Dad, I want to follow this investigation personally.”

Mr. Yun nodded, killing intent in his voice. “Find out exactly what happened.”

Shang Ke and Shao Feidu were placed in the same ward. Shao Feidu woke that very night, bolted upright, and immediately spotted Shang Ke in the other bed. He rushed over, dropped to one knee beside him, and seized his hand.

Keke. Keke… Shao Feidu stared fixedly at the person in the bed, searching for the familiar aura around him. It was still there—but so faint that he could barely sense it without concentrating.

Enormous panic rose inside Shao Feidu. It terrified him more than any evil ghost ever had. His entire body seemed to plunge into an icy pit, cold from head to toe.

Keke, Keke…

“Feidu, you’re awake.” Mrs. Yun entered the ward and forced a smile. She had once considered this man arrogant and impossible to communicate with and had never liked him. If her son had not loved him, she might never have dealt with him again. Only after learning the truth behind his behavior had she truly accepted him.

Mrs. Yun did not mind his lack of response. She set the food on the table, poured a hot drink, and said, “Eat something first. Kexu is right there. He isn’t going anywhere.”

“He?” Faced with someone he was not close to, Shao Feidu’s already-limited verbal ability regressed again.

Mrs. Yun easily understood what he meant. “The doctors say he’s in a kind of suspended brain state, like an extremely deep sleep. No one knows when he’ll wake.”

Shao Feidu fell silent again and kept watching Shang Ke.

Mrs. Yun assumed he simply had no appetite and left him alone. Seeing how deeply he cared for her son made her both heartsick and strangely comforted.

Late that night, Shao Feidu remained in the same position, keeping watch beside the bed.

The ward was unnaturally quiet, broken only by the steady beeping of the monitors.

At that moment, an arm suddenly stretched out from under the bed and grabbed Shao Feidu’s ankle.

Shao Feidu did not move, as though he had noticed nothing at all.

The ghostly hand quickly withdrew. Then a blood-covered head emerged from beneath the bed, two crimson eyes staring directly at Shao Feidu from the shadows.

Shao Feidu still did not react. His gaze never left Shang Ke.

Infuriated at being ignored, the ghost hooked both hands over the bedframe and slowly hauled itself upward, a sinister smile spreading across its face. Before it could fully emerge, however, a talisman slapped squarely onto its forehead.

Shao Feidu slowly turned his head. His hollow eyes stared woodenly at the ghost. He had once been terrified of such things. Now all he felt was disgust and hatred. Any ghost that dared play tricks in front of him would be destroyed.

The ghost released a shrill scream and burst into flame without any visible source of fire. Moments later it dissolved into mist and was strangely drawn into Yun Kexu’s body.

As the ghost’s energy was absorbed, the faint aura around Yun Kexu seemed to grow a little stronger.

Shao Feidu’s eyes brightened as though he had discovered an entirely new continent, and an unusual light came alive in his face…

Disaster had arrived for the hospital’s ghosts.

A dedicated ghost hunter had recently appeared in the hospital, roaming the building and harvesting ghost energy. Any ghost that resisted was beaten until its spirit scattered completely.

Ghosts persisted because of lingering obsessions, and those obsessions generated special power commonly called ghost energy or ghost power. Once that energy was drained away, the ghost could no longer remain in the living world. In a sense, that also counted as being laid to rest. But a living person could not safely absorb too much ghost energy: mild exposure could cause psychological disturbance and physical illness, while severe exposure could be fatal.

Shao Feidu knew none of this. Wanting to gather as much energy as possible for Shang Ke, he became a ghost hunter whose very name terrified the spirits.

Of course, the ghosts he hunted were mostly ordinary spirits with little power. Each contained only a small amount of energy, so he had to make up the difference through sheer quantity.

The more ghost energy Shao Feidu came into contact with, the darker his expression became. A chill seeped from his body, and wherever he passed, the temperature seemed to drop. After a week, not only living people but even ghosts hesitated to approach him.

If not for the progress he had made in cultivation and the strong yang energy within his body, the ghost energy might already have damaged him at the root. Worse, after finally opening himself to the world, he had once again become withdrawn and silent. Aside from Shang Ke, he cared about nothing.

The car accident involving Yun Kexu and Shao Feidu was soon reported by the media. Police speculation that it might not have been accidental only fueled public debate. Two high-profile figures, two lovers plagued by misfortune—and now someone had apparently tried to kill them in full public view.

One lay unconscious; the other had withdrawn into himself again. It was as though they had returned to the beginning, and countless people grieved for them.

Yet even with the combined power of the Yun and Shao families, no culprit could be found. Exterior surveillance captured no suspicious person, and the car showed no sign of tampering. The only anomaly was the vehicle’s internal recording: several minutes were missing, precisely covering the period from the loss of control through the crash.

【Main Mission… 2… complete…】

The System’s voice sounded inside Shang Ke’s consciousness, but it cut in and out as though something were interfering with it.

What puzzled Shang Ke even more was that he had laid only one starvation ghost to rest. Main Mission 2 should not have been complete. Before losing consciousness, he clearly remembered Shao Feidu using a Ghost-Destroying Talisman on the vengeful ghost. It had been annihilated, not laid to rest.

Shang Ke tried to look around, but there was only darkness. No sound, no light—he could not even feel his own body, as though nothing existed except his consciousness.

What was going on?

“System, are you there? What happened?” Shang Ke tried to call out.

【…Additional Mission… stop… stop…】

“Stop what? System, did you get infected with a virus again?”

【Stop…】

Shang Ke waited a long time, but the System gave no further response.

“System, explain yourself! Stop what?!”

He tried to press for an answer, but sudden agony tore through him. His soul seemed to be ripped apart and reassembled over and over until it finally condensed into a single whole again.

Faintly, Shang Ke felt a trace of cold. He slowly opened his eyes and saw snow drifting beyond the window while a thin winter wind slipped through the half-open pane and stirred the curtain beside the bed.

His gaze moved slowly toward the sofa—and landed on a dense mass of black energy.

That was… Shao Feidu?!

Shao Feidu lay slumped awkwardly across the sofa with his eyes tightly shut. Dark shadows bruised the skin beneath them, his face was deathly pale, and he had lost a frightening amount of weight. Worse, ghost energy smothered his entire body, nearly swallowing his natural yang energy.

How had Dudu become like this?

Shang Ke struggled upright. Just as he tried to get out of bed, the monitors erupted into a piercing alarm.

Shao Feidu jolted awake and shot upright. The instant he saw Shang Ke propped halfway up in bed, he froze—then charged over, seized him, and pulled him tightly into his arms.

Feeling the intensity of his emotion, Shang Ke’s gaze softened. He returned the embrace and whispered, “I’m back, Dudu.”

Heat flooded Shao Feidu’s eyes. The heart that had seemed dead for months suddenly came alive again.

Several people rushed into the ward. The moment they saw the scene before them, they stopped short.

Snow drifted beyond the window as the two men held each other tightly. No words were needed; only warmth and affection filled the room…

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