Chapter 32: Since when did you have chest muscles?
Yu Fan lay silently on the couch, leaning against a pillow and covered with the thin blanket Li Mu gave him. He kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
Maybe it was because of the misunderstanding caused by Lin Xi, which made him believe that ghosts were just another kind of human. After losing his fear of ghosts, the danger he faced earlier had become just a matter of time.
“It’s a pity that all of Grandpa’s things were taken away. I didn’t even get to finish reading his notes,” Yu Fan muttered as he turned over and looked at the late-night TV show playing on the screen.
“Those people who took Grandpa’s belongings... Maybe I should try to contact them.”
But he had already asked his dad, and his dad knew nothing about it.
That man had taken the items claiming to be Grandpa’s old friend, and his father hadn’t doubted him.
“So many things to worry about now,” Yu Fan said to himself. “I want to investigate what happened to Lin Xi. The raincoat ghost seems to be randomly killing people at night. There’s that smart house assistant at Li Mu’s place with an unknown background, and that ghost of a middle-aged man who was trying to kill me…”
“Oh, and most importantly, Li Mu is still becoming more and more like a woman,” he suddenly remembered.
As he listed all these troubles, Yu Fan's fear was surprisingly pushed aside. Instead, he felt excitement, nervousness, and even happiness as his heart beat faster.
He knew it was dangerous, but he just couldn’t stop being curious.
Just like how many guys dream about piloting robots or being soldiers, Yu Fan, influenced by his grandfather, had an unusual obsession with ghosts.
“Xiao Jing, turn off the TV. I want to sleep.”
“Let me finish this episode.”
This smart assistant is too smart sometimes.
Yu Fan lay on the couch with his eyes closed. The sound of the drama played in his ears, but all he could think about was the face of that ghost.
It was a middle-aged man, probably wearing a suit. If it weren’t for the black mist around him, Yu Fan might have thought he was just an ordinary office worker walking down the street.
He looked to be in his forties, with a face that showed signs of age and life experience. Appearance-wise, he would be considered a handsome older man. But the cold, emotionless look on his face as he tried to kill Yu Fan made him look more like a clever killer from a crime drama.
Just thinking about those lifeless eyes made Yu Fan shiver. He even had the urge to run away.
“I can’t think about this anymore… If I do, I’ll probably have nightmares.”
Li Mu didn’t wake up the next day until noon.
He was woken by someone knocking on the door outside.
His sleep had been really poor lately, so his sleeping hours had become much longer. He used to be able to read novels until 4 or 5 in the morning, then still get up for class at 7:30. But now, he just couldn’t do that anymore.
His head felt heavy and foggy, and it made him uncomfortable.
“Ever since Lin Xi disappeared, I’ve been sleeping worse and worse.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and took a sip of the boiled water he had prepared the night before.
“What kind of dream did I have last night? I can’t remember it when I wake up… and it feels like a long-running TV series or something.”
By now, he was sure that Lin Xi hadn’t completely disappeared. Most likely, she was still possessing his body.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t keep becoming more feminine, Yu Fan wouldn’t keep mentioning that strange scent, and he wouldn’t be dreaming all night long, never getting into deep sleep.
Maybe Lin Xi didn’t want to disappear, so she stayed in his body on purpose without taking control of it? Or maybe… she still had something she couldn’t let go of?
“So if I think about it like this… was Lin Xi actually really sneaky and calculating?” Li Mu finally felt the fog in his head clear up. He lifted his head and spoke into the air, “Xiao Jing, lower the temperature by two degrees. It’s a bit hot.”
There was no mirror in the room, so he didn’t hear a reply from the ghost in the mirror, but he could feel the room temperature drop slightly.
He stretched, got up from the bed, slowly unlocked the bedroom door, and walked outside. He glanced at Yu Fan and Ren Tianyou, who were sitting on the couch.
The knocking that had woken Li Mu earlier came from Ren Tianyou, he had come to invite Li Mu over to his house for lunch.
After what happened last night with the raincoat ghost, Ren Tianyou didn’t look so well, like he had caught a cold. He sneezed every now and then.
“I knocked on your door this morning but no one answered. Did you guys stay up late playing games?” Ren Tianyou looked curiously at Yu Fan.
He knew that Li Mu wasn’t the type to easily make close friends, so he didn’t expect Yu Fan to be one.
Li Mu usually kept to himself. If someone wasn’t a close friend, he definitely wouldn’t let them stay over.
“Yeah, we played ranked matches until really late,” Li Mu nodded and admitted.
“But you don’t normally play games.”
“He kept begging me to play,” Li Mu lied with a straight face.
As the two chatted, the already half-open door was pushed open again. Auntie peeked in and complained, “Why is it taking so long to call Xiao Mu for lunch?”
“Oh, Yu Fan’s here too? Great, come to my place and have lunch together.”
Yu Fan immediately flashed his signature smile. With his handsome face and sunny expression, most women couldn’t resist, even Auntie who was nearly 50.
Her face lit up with a smile. “Come eat, we’re having hotpot today! Tianyou, go downstairs and buy a bottle of Coke for our guest.”
“Okay,” Ren Tianyou yawned and nodded.
Yu Fan was yawning and rubbing his eyes too. It looked like he didn’t get much sleep either, probably still shaken up by the ghost they saw during the spirit game.
Among the three of them, only Li Mu seemed well-rested.
Auntie ran a small convenience store in the neighborhood. She hired a worker to help, so she usually stayed there all day. But since Li Mu had come home recently, she made an effort to come back and cook meals.
“You two are classmates, so make sure you help each other at school,” Auntie said as she picked up slices of lamb and placed them in Li Mu and Yu Fan’s bowls. She smiled as she started her usual motherly talk.
“Li Mu is actually a very kind boy. If you treat him well, he remembers it deep down, he just doesn’t know how to show it. Yu Fan, you’ll need to be patient with him.”
“This child… life hasn’t been easy for him. A few years ago, he used to smile a lot more. But since then…” Auntie shook her head and sighed.
Auntie, please don’t tell him my secrets! I’m not that close with Yu Fan!
Yu Fan glanced at Li Mu, who was blushing slightly and quietly eating hotpot with his head down. He grinned from ear to ear and nodded. “Sister, even if you didn’t say anything, I would still take care of Li Mu.”
“You make it sound like Xiao Mu is getting married,” Ren Tianyou complained from the side. “Besides, my mom is forty-eight years old, where's this 'sister' coming from?”
Yu Fan laughed even harder. He loved seeing Li Mu being teased like this.
If you were to call them friends, it would be more accurate to say they were frenemies.
And Li Mu didn’t say a word the whole time, just kept eating with a blank face like he didn’t hear anything.
Auntie gave Ren Tianyou a glare. “If you were half as charming as Yu Fan, you’d have brought home a daughter-in-law for me by now!”
Li Mu silently curled his lip. Maybe it was because Ren Tianyou acted so well, or maybe Auntie just believed her son was a good boy. But the truth was, this guy flirted with girls all the time. The only reason he didn’t have a girlfriend was because he still wanted to play around.
When Ren Tianyou noticed he had become the target. His eyes started darting around, trying to change the subject.
Then his gaze stopped on Li Mu’s chest.
“Wait… when did you grow chest muscles?”