Chapter 184: Ghost Assistant (XVI)

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Chapter 184: Ghost Assistant (XVI)

Lately, Shang Ke had taken to secretly observing Shao Feidu. Yet everything about him—from his movements to his words—seemed perfectly normal. There was nothing obviously strange at all.

Whenever Shao Feidu noticed Shang Ke watching him, he reacted as though he had been summoned, happily coming over and leaning affectionately against him.

Shang Ke simply could not bring himself to suspect this version of Dudu, much less distance himself from him. But if he could not resolve the doubts in his heart, how could he stay beside him without fear?

When had these abnormalities begun? Relying on his extraordinary memory, Shang Ke reviewed the past several years in detail and finally narrowed the problem down to the first year after he woke from his coma. During that period, he had used formations to lay several evil ghosts to rest and ensure Main Mission 2 was complete. After that, he gradually stopped thinking about missions and settled into what he expected would be several peaceful, comfortable years with Shao Feidu.

As time passed, he gradually forgot about the System and its missions and simply enjoyed life with the person he loved. Had the System’s Additional Mission actually begun around then? First, Shang Ke had lost the ability to see ghosts. Second, Dudu had forgotten ghosts even existed. Third, the mole in Dudu’s palm had disappeared.

What kind of power could produce changes like these? Shang Ke did not believe any vengeful ghost in this world possessed such ability. The only entity likely capable of altering reality on this scale was the System itself. Yet from everything Shang Ke knew, the System almost never interfered directly with the course of a mission—unless… some outside force had invaded.

The idea was not baseless. The System’s earlier malfunction was the strongest evidence.

Shang Ke had formed theories about the System before. After experiencing so many worlds, he understood that countless supernatural forces existed, along with all kinds of bizarre parallel dimensions.

The System might itself be some special life-form capable of connecting different worlds. He still did not understand why it had bonded with him. He had once suspected it was simply because of the curse cast by his childhood friend’s girlfriend, but by now the truth seemed far more complicated.

If an entity like the System could exist, then naturally forces capable of influencing such an entity could exist as well.

Assuming the System really had been controlled by something else, what was that force trying to accomplish? Increase the difficulty of his missions? Trap him in this world? Replace the System entirely?

There were too many possibilities to judge without contacting the System directly. The thing always looked so omnipotent and mysterious, yet it had a habit of failing him exactly when it mattered most.

“Keke.” Shao Feidu placed a red fruit on Shang Ke’s lips.

Shang Ke opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.

“Sweet?”

Shang Ke nodded. “Sweet.”

A smile spread across Shao Feidu’s face. He leaned in and licked the juice from the corner of Shang Ke’s lips.

A lick became a nibble, the nibble became kissing, and before long Shao Feidu had pushed him onto the bed and the two were making love.

Shang Ke: …So the entire point of feeding him that fruit was to eat him afterward?

In the middle of their intimacy, Shang Ke suddenly sensed killing intent behind him. He turned, but saw only an intricately carved decorative wall. Even so, he could not shake the feeling that something was there.

Shao Feidu pressed down over him and covered his mouth with a kiss, leaving Shang Ke no attention to spare for anything else.

Shang Ke was soon completely surrounded by Shao Feidu’s familiar presence, and the icy murderous aura faded away.

Shao Feidu turned Shang Ke over and kissed down his spine. Then he suddenly lifted his eyes toward the decorative wall, gave it a faint smile, and thrust hard into the man beneath him.

After their brief intimacy, the two cleaned themselves up and prepared to head to the piano room. At the doorway, Shang Ke suddenly looked back, slowly sweeping his gaze across the bedroom.

“What’s wrong?” Shao Feidu asked softly.

“Nothing.” Shang Ke smiled.

Shao Feidu slipped an arm around his waist and walked out with him. The door slowly closed behind them.

In the darkened room, a faint translucent figure gradually appeared. Facing the closed door, he screamed soundlessly: Keke, I’m here! I’m right here!

Shao Feidu did not know what had happened. One day, without warning, he had simply become a ghost. At first he thought he had died—until he saw that his “body” was still alive. Someone else was using it in his place: marrying Keke, having sex with Keke, and living happily at Keke’s side.

He had tried countless times to communicate with Keke, but Keke could neither see nor sense him.

Every time he watched that replacement being intimate with Keke, Shao Feidu felt himself going mad. Resentment, anger, and unwillingness filled him until there was hardly room for anything else.

Keke, look at me.

Keke, don’t be with him.

Keke, I’m the real Dudu.

Keke, save me…

Shao Feidu repeated those words every day. Yet Shang Ke saw nothing and heard nothing…

Just now, watching the impostor possess Keke again had driven his resentment almost to its breaking point. He had nearly succeeded in drawing Keke’s attention—only for the impostor to suppress him.

If becoming a vengeful ghost was the only way to make Keke notice him, then he was willing to let the darkness swallow him whole.

Over the past few days, Shang Ke had constantly felt as though someone were following him. Yet every time he turned to look, there was nothing there. If his suspicions were correct, the presence following him was a ghost—and he had somehow lost the ability to see ghosts.

Knowing with certainty that something was there while being completely unable to see it was deeply unsettling.

And for some reason, Shao Feidu had recently become unusually eager to go out. He either took Shang Ke traveling or accepted performance invitations. In any case, they were away from home every few days.

That day, Shao Feidu had accepted another concert invitation. After they arrived at the venue, Shang Ke realized he had forgotten his portable computer. Since the villa was not far away, he decided to drive back and retrieve it.

After telling Shao Feidu, he drove back to the villa. He entered the bedroom, found the computer, and was about to leave when that familiar throbbing sensation returned.

He looked around without finding anything and started toward the door. Then he stopped abruptly, as though remembering something, turned back to the bed, opened the bottom drawer of the bedside cabinet, and felt around inside.

Still here.

Shang Ke pulled out a small porcelain bottle containing ghost tears—the tears left by the little starvation ghost he had first laid to rest.

The Talisman Compendium had disappeared. The ghosts had disappeared. Even memories had disappeared. Yet somehow this small porcelain bottle had remained.

Shang Ke carefully opened the bottle, dipped a fingertip into the ghost tears, and gently smeared them over his eyelids.

A chill washed over him. Shang Ke slowly opened his eyes and was immediately confronted by dense yin energy. The room that had once looked bright and open was now smothered in ghostly darkness, like a domain of the dead.

Shang Ke shot to his feet. Within the haze of yin energy stood a horrifyingly distorted figure—it was Shao Feidu.

“Dudu!” Shang Ke cried out.

Yin energy coiled thickly around Shao Feidu’s body, and his eyes burned crimson. He was only one step away from becoming a full vengeful ghost.

How could it be Dudu? Dudu was alive and well. Then who was this ghost wearing Dudu’s form? If the ghost was truly Dudu, who was the living man?

Shang Ke’s chest tightened until breathing became difficult.

“Keke…” A cold yet painfully familiar voice reached his ears.

Shang Ke lifted his head and stared at the ghost standing only inches away. His mind went completely blank.

“You finally saw me.” There was no expression on Shao Feidu’s pale face.

Shang Ke stared at him rigidly.

“Keke…”

Do you know how long I’ve been wandering alone?

Watching you smile tenderly at someone else, watching you give him your heart, watching you enter his arms, watching you take pleasure beneath him… every moment felt like a knife cutting into me.

Your Dudu was right here, right by your side. Why couldn’t you find me?

Bloody tears flowed from Shao Feidu’s eyes as resentment surged violently around him.

In that instant, Shang Ke understood. The System’s Additional Mission was to stop… Shao Feidu… from becoming a vengeful ghost.

Shang Ke covered his mouth, unable to accept what he was seeing. The real Dudu had already died? The Dudu living beside him was fake? The man he had shared all these years with was actually an impostor?

No. Shang Ke shook his head. The aura he sensed from the living Shao Feidu was unquestionably that of his lover. Yet the ghost in front of him felt just as intimately familiar.

What the hell was going on? Which one was real? Which one was false?

Just then, the bedroom door slowly opened, revealing the other Shao Feidu standing in the doorway.

“Keke, everyone is waiting for us. Let’s go.” He held out a hand toward Shang Ke.

Shang Ke did not move. He stared at him with undisguised uncertainty.

“Get out!” Ghost Shao Feidu roared. A freezing wind immediately swept through the room, and the lights began flickering violently.

The living Shao Feidu looked at Shang Ke, then at the ghost, and a dark shadow passed through his eyes.

“Who are you?” Shang Ke forced himself to calm down. He needed to get to the bottom of this.

“I’m your lover,” the Shao Feidu in the doorway answered with absolute certainty.

“I am!” Ghost Shao Feidu shrieked, the violent energy around him growing heavier.

Shang Ke was caught between the two possibilities. Both Shao Feidus carried the same familiar aura, and he could not tell which was real. If the ghost Shao Feidu was false, Shang Ke needed to find a way to lay him to rest. But if the ghost was the real Shao Feidu, then Shang Ke had spent all these years living with a stranger right under his true lover’s eyes.

Shang Ke could not imagine how devastating such betrayal and torment would be for the person he truly loved.

Calm down. He had to stay calm.

At that moment, Shang Ke noticed the cold around him weakening. He looked up and saw Ghost Shao Feidu’s figure gradually fading.

“No!” Shang Ke moved almost on instinct, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around the ghost. “You’re my Dudu!”

The real Dudu did not possess the power to alter the surrounding environment and space.

The instant Shang Ke made his choice, Ghost Shao Feidu’s fading body solidified again, and he wrapped both arms tightly around Shang Ke.

The other Shao Feidu watched them in silence, his expression dark and unreadable.

Then he began walking slowly toward them. With every step he took, Shang Ke felt the pressure in the room intensify.

Ghost Shao Feidu moved in front of Shang Ke and glared furiously at him.

The other Shao Feidu remained unmoved and kept approaching.

Ghost Shao Feidu roared and lunged at him—then suddenly sank into his body and vanished.

“Dudu!” Shang Ke rushed forward, seized Shao Feidu by the collar, and demanded, “What did you do to Dudu?”

Shao Feidu looked at him sadly and asked softly, “We’re clearly the same. Why did you still choose him?”

“How could you be the same?” Shang Ke shouted. “My lover would never deceive me!”

“I don’t believe you felt nothing for me after all these years.” Shao Feidu’s entire body was taut, as though he were enduring tremendous pain.

Shang Ke hesitated, then said, “I loved you because you carried his aura.”

Shao Feidu’s expression froze. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and then his body went limp and collapsed.

Shang Ke hurriedly caught him and held him close, whispering again and again beside his ear, “I’m sorry, Dudu. I’m sorry…”

As Shao Feidu returned to his body, the vengeful aura around his soul was gradually suppressed. As long as he had not fully transformed into a vengeful ghost, his soul could still recover its purity.

【Congratulations, Host. Additional Mission complete—prevent Shao Feidu from becoming a vengeful ghost.】

The System’s voice suddenly sounded again, this time perfectly clear.

【The Host has successfully completed all three missions and survived. You may now remain in this world and spend the rest of this life however you please.】

Shang Ke asked, “What happened to you before?”

The System went silent.

Shang Ke asked again, “What was the thing occupying Dudu’s body?”

The System replied: 【I can only tell you this: as long as you survive perfectly through your own strength, you will eventually find the final answer.】

“I can tolerate everything else, but I can’t accept mistaking someone else for him!” The thought that he had spent so many years sleeping with a stranger made Shang Ke feel sick with himself. Even if Dudu forgave him, he did not know whether he could forgive himself.

【In fact, you never mistook him. You have never mistaken him in any world.】

“What do you mean?” Shang Ke asked, confused.

【Believe in your own feelings. Everything will be clear once you find the answer.】

Shang Ke hated it when the System put on this deliberately mysterious act. Would it kill the thing to simply reveal the answer?

【Why not enjoy the rest of your life?】 the System added. 【Surviving perfectly is different from using a Return Key. A Return Key can still expose you to unexpected danger or accidents, but surviving perfectly comes with the blessing of good fortune: a lifetime of safety, health, and prosperity. Even if you drink poison, jump from a building, starve yourself, or try to hang yourself, you will still survive quite happily.】

Shang Ke: Just how obsessed with self-destruction did the System think he was? Poisoning himself, jumping from buildings, starving, hanging himself—seriously?!

At that moment, Shao Feidu stirred awake in Shang Ke’s arms. He looked at Shang Ke, then around the room, then at the clothes they were wearing. “Aren’t we supposed to be performing? Why are we still at home?”

Shang Ke gave a small inward start and stared closely at the man in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” Shao Feidu rubbed Shang Ke’s forehead and muttered, “I’m a little dizzy.”

“…You’re the one who’s dizzy. Why are you rubbing my forehead?”

“Rub mine.” Shao Feidu leaned his head toward him.

Shang Ke laughed helplessly and reached up to rub his forehead.

“Keke, should we make Fate our first piece today?”

“Okay.”

【The souls have merged and the memories overlap. He is “him.”】

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