Chapter 36: Chen Yi
Chen Yi’s car was parked on the street outside the neighborhood.
Li Mu and Yu Fan sat in the back seat, while Chen Yi sat in the driver’s seat. He turned on the air conditioning, then took off his suit jacket and put it aside.
He lit a cigarette and smoked slowly. The smell quickly filled the car, but since the windows were closed, the smoke didn’t go out, making both Li Mu and Yu Fan frown from the strong smell.
Yu Fan was the first to lose patience. He asked directly, “Are you from some kind of… special ghost-catching department?”
Chen Yi didn’t answer. He just turned his head and smiled, asking, “Have you been reading too many comics or novels?”
“Then you…” Yu Fan started again.
“I’m just a hobbyist, really. To be honest, I’m not much different from you two,” Chen Yi said, shaking his head. “I’ve already noticed what’s going on with Lin Xi. You two kids shouldn’t get involved, it’s dangerous.”
Yeah right, just a hobbyist? Yu Fan rolled his eyes silently and glanced at Li Mu.
“You know my grandpa?”
“Your grandpa was like a guide for me,” Chen Yi replied, tapping the ash into the car’s ashtray. He continued, “I also used to work with Li Mu’s parents, so I’ve met Li Mu a few times.”
Li Mu nodded. “It’s been a long time.”
“I left the job after your parents passed away,” Chen Yi said, turning to look at Li Mu again. Then he added with surprise, “You look even younger than you did a few years ago.”
“......”
At least he didn’t say “prettier,” so Li Mu could accept that.
“It’s because of Lin Xi,” Yu Fan explained. “Normally, when someone meets a ghost, they catch a cold or feel sick, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But with Li Mu… he’s slowly starting to look more and more like a girl…”
Li Mu turned to look out the window, a faint blush appearing on his face.
“Tell me everything from the start,” Chen Yi said, frowning and shaking his leg impatiently.
So, with a nod from Li Mu giving him the go-ahead, Yu Fan slowly told the story of how they met Lin Xi a week ago.
He explained how they helped solve her lingering regrets, and shared some guesses about why Li Mu’s body was changing.
To keep it short, he only talked about things related to Lin Xi and Li Mu, and didn’t mention any other ghosts.
As Chen Yi listened, his face grew more serious.
“So, you’re now trying to stop Li Mu’s body from changing? That’s why you’re investigating ghosts?”
“Yeah,” Yu Fan said with a smile, spreading his hands. “If he fully becomes a girl, the Li family won’t have anyone to carry on the family name.”
“I’m just doing it because I find it interesting, and my grandpa trained me a bit too.”
Chen Yi looked at Li Mu with a complicated expression. He realized he couldn’t stop the two boys.
He sighed deeply, put out his cigarette in the ashtray, then lit a new one before slowly speaking again.
“Yu Fan, it’s fine for you to be involved. But not Li Mu.”
“Why not?” Yu Fan asked, confused.
Li Mu also looked at him with curiosity.
Chen Yi looked into Li Mu’s eyes and said, “Your parents were ghost hunters. Actually, your whole family has been doing this kind of work for generations. I was their partner, their friend… maybe even like a teammate.”
But Li Mu had never seen his parents doing anything supernatural, no amulets, no spells, nothing. Other than the fact they traveled a lot for work, they always acted just like normal parents.
“Your parents just wanted you to live and work like a normal person. That’s why they kept it all a secret from you,” Chen Yi said. He no longer looked at the two boys and leaned back in his seat as he continued, “But three years ago, they ran into a very dangerous ghost... Your parents originally wanted to keep things peaceful, but they didn’t expect the ghost to come after them and kill your little sister in a car crash.”
“Maybe they went missing to take revenge for her,” Chen Yi said, shrugging. “Your parents didn’t want you to get involved in this kind of thing. So do you still want to keep digging into what happened with Lin Xi?”
“My parents... aren’t dead?” Li Mu was shocked and found it hard to believe.
He had tried so hard to accept that his family was gone. He had even started to forget their faces. But now he was being told that they didn’t die, they disappeared.
“Then… we can’t just wait for them to come back and find out their son has turned into a girl, right?” Li Mu asked quietly, looking down.
“Will they really come back? It’s already been three years. Besides, I’ve never heard of anything like what’s happening to you. Are you really sure that helping Lin Xi get revenge will stop the changes? Honestly, that’s just something you two guessed, right?”
“Turning into a girl isn’t such a big deal. At least you won’t have to pay bride price when you get married. If paperwork is a problem, I can help you fix that too.”
“And anyway, it’s better than hurting your family like your parents did, isn’t it?”
Li Mu’s mouth twitched. He lowered his head and stayed silent.
If this had happened before, maybe he would’ve given up. But after meeting Lin Xi’s mother and seeing Auntie Cai in so much pain, all he felt now was anger. He wanted to get rid of that ghost that ruined so many lives.
Yu Fan stood up for Li Mu and said, “Once we help with Lin Xi’s situation, even if nothing changes, we won’t mess with ghosts anymore.”
Chen Yi’s smile disappeared. He looked serious and said in a low voice, “After investigating, I found out that the ghost who killed Lin Xi is the same one behind the recent dismemberment cases.”
“You mean the one wearing a raincoat and holding a chopping knife?”
“What?” Chen Yi turned his head. “There’s a ghost like that? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Then was it the one in the suit?”
“??”
“Or the ghost in the mirror at Li Mu’s house?”
“???”
Question marks seemed to pop out of Chen Yi’s head. He couldn’t help but ask, “Did Lin Xi mess with your mind? Are you seeing things? How can a small town have so many ghosts?”
Yu Fan was also confused. “Aren’t you supposed to be a professional? How do you not know any of this?”
He and Chen Yi stared at each other in surprise.
But then Li Mu suddenly asked, “Why did that ghost kill Lin Xi?”
In the end, that ghost was the real reason behind his changes. If the ghost hadn’t killed Lin Xi, she wouldn’t have become a ghost, and wouldn’t have stayed inside him, slowly turning him more and more like a girl.
Chen Yi pushed aside all the question marks in his head for now and explained to Li Mu, “Yu Fan probably mentioned this to you before, right? Ghosts can be divided into two types: weak spirits and evil spirits. The weak ones aren’t dangerous and usually disappear in about a week. But the evil ones can stay forever if they still have strong feelings or regrets.”
“Evil spirits care most about finishing their ‘unfinished business.’ Until they complete it, they won’t rest in peace. So, they do everything they can to eat other spirits and extend their life.”
Yu Fan suddenly understood and said, “But ghosts are really rare, right? So they grow other ghosts on purpose just to eat them?”
In other words, they find ways to make people have strong emotions, then kill them so there’s a chance they turn into a spirit.
“Exactly. But those weak spirits aren’t very useful. Evil spirits would rather wait for a weak spirit to become stronger, then eat it while it’s still changing,” Chen Yi said with a bitter smile. “That’s what happened to Lin Xi. She was being raised like food. But before she could become an evil spirit, her regrets disappeared, and the ghost went crazy, killing people to try to eat another spirit before it was too late.”
“The problem is... I don’t know where that ghost is now.”
There was just too much information, about his parents not being dead, and the new facts about ghosts.
Li Mu stared out the window, feeling lost. He started to wonder if maybe this was all just a dream.