Chapter 47: Getting Ready
“You’re not staying at my place anymore?” Li Mu turned his head as he opened the door. Then he looked seriously at Zhang Hui, who was sitting on the steps.
“There’s really no ghost in my house. You shouldn’t believe in superstitions.”
Yu Fan gave Li Mu a strange look, then thought about the ghost in the mirror at Li Mu’s home.
You carry a ghost with you, and there’s one living in your house too, but you're still saying there are no ghosts?
Zhang Hui calmly shook his head and said, “It’s fine. I found another place to sleep.”
“You’re such a coward, acting like a sissy,” Li Mu said casually to tease him.
In truth, normal people can’t just see ghosts so easily.
But Zhang Hui had seen one, and since Xiao Jing was a ghost with a strong sense of territory, she had scared him on purpose. That was exactly what she wanted, to scare him away.
Once Li Mu understood the situation, he decided to go along with it and give Zhang Hui a scare too, just to vent a little.
After all, Zhang Hui had looked at him with obvious judgment the moment they met.
Sure, he might look a bit girly on the outside now, but inside, he was still a very manly man, okay?
They say only people with weak bodies and very bad luck can see ghosts, so Zhang Hui’s situation probably matched what shamans call a “darkened forehead,” which means very unlucky.
“Sissy or not, I don’t care.”
When Li Mu heard that, he instantly felt better and more cheerful.
Zhang Hui covered his face with one hand. This was exactly the kind of creepy stuff he feared most.
When he was a kid, he actually used to be very brave. It was even him who led the group when they danced on graves, something Li Mu used to do.
But after Li Mu disappeared, Zhang Hui once went alone to play near those graves. That’s when he saw floating blue-green flames. The next day, he came down with a fever and a cold so bad he couldn’t get out of bed.
Now he knew it was just hallucination, and the sickness was probably because he got cold outside at night. But he was still scared, like the saying goes, “Once bitten by a snake, you’ll be scared of ropes for ten years.”
Li Mu went inside, picked up Zhang Hui’s suitcase, and brought it back to the hallway. He casually asked, “Where are you staying?”
“That’s my business. Don’t worry about it,” Zhang Hui replied. Then he stood up, took the suitcase, and left in the elevator.
But as soon as he was gone, Li Mu’s expression dropped.
He usually looked emotionless, but now his face seemed even more gloomy.
Yu Fan noticed the change and stopped joking around. He quietly walked into the house, closed the door, and went straight to the kitchen to get a bowl, a pair of chopsticks, and two kitchen knives.
“This time... it’s actually pretty dangerous,” Li Mu said as he leaned against the couch, blankly staring at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window.
This wasn’t like his past encounters with dumb ghosts. This time, he knew they were going after a truly evil ghost, one that had killed people without a second thought.
“I even made a special trip back to the countryside to visit my grandpa,” Li Mu said with a bitter smile. “Later, I plan to visit the aunt next door, Brother Tianyou, and Lin Xi’s mom.”
These were the people he still cared about the most.
“What’s there to be scared of?” Yu Fan said in a relaxed tone. “I almost died in your bathroom last time, remember? I’m fine, and I’ve got a strong body. I was the city’s long-distance running champ last year. As long as I can run faster, I’ll be okay.”
Most ghosts, besides having a creepy aura, being able to possess people, and walk through walls, weren’t that different from humans.
When they met Lin Xi’s ghost, she didn’t show any crazy powers. And the ghost in the bathroom who almost killed Yu Fan had taught him one thing. Ghosts might be scary, but their strength was still something a regular person could fight back against.
If ghosts could teleport like in movies and TV shows, then Yu Fan might as well buy life insurance right now.
There was a knock at the door. Yu Fan jumped off the couch and ran to open it.
Uncle Chen Yi walked in carrying a metal toolbox. He looked seriously around the room at the two of them, then asked Yu Fan, “Do you know what’s going on now?”
“Yeah,” Yu Fan nodded.
But Li Mu spoke up, “There’s a change in plan. Yu Fan will attract the corpse ghost using a spirit-calling game.”
Chen Yi paused for a second, then quickly responded, “Isn’t that a bit too risky? I can just take down the mirror in your house, and you two can stay out of this.”
He crouched down and opened the box, which held tools like nylon wire and screwdrivers for taking apart the mirror.
The small mirror sat on the table. Inside it, the ghost looked at Li Mu with a scared and pitiful face.
“Xiao Jing can’t join in either,” Li Mu said as he stood up and blocked Chen Yi.
“So only I’m allowed to do this, huh?” Yu Fan complained. “Why does it feel like I’m not even as important to you as a ghost?”
“If you don’t want to do it, I will,” Li Mu said, glancing back at him.
It’s just a game where you knock on a bowl with your eyes closed at midnight, right? I could do it too.
It’s just kind of embarrassing.
Seeing the two of them staring at him with confused looks, Li Mu paused, then explained, “Xiao Jing might be my sister.”
He turned to Chen Yi and asked, “Maybe my parents trapped her in the mirror. Uncle, is that possible? Is there a way to trap a ghost in a mirror?”
Chen Yi scratched his head. “I’ve heard of it. Some people use ghosts to do things normal people can’t.”
Li Mu understood right away.
Like the smart voice assistant at home, or the air conditioner that works without power, weren’t those things done with Xiao Jing’s help?
So if his parents could use other ghosts to trap Xiao Jing inside the mirror, then that didn’t seem too crazy.
“Well, if you say so, then fine. But just remember, once someone becomes a ghost, they’re no longer the same person they were when they were alive,” Chen Yi said as he closed the toolbox. He looked at Yu Fan. “So you’re going to do the spirit-calling game tonight?”
“Yeah,” Yu Fan nodded, but then asked a little worriedly, “Will it be dangerous?”
“There’s always some danger, but don’t worry. The police will be standing by nearby,” Chen Yi said with a smile. “You didn’t think I was some kind of selfless hero, did you? Willing to risk my life for nothing?”
Seeing the confused look on Yu Fan’s face, he explained, “The police hired me for this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother doing it.”
In this country, the police are already short on people. Fights, arguments, neighbor problems, even if a kid gets hit, people call the police. So when it comes to ghosts or strange events, they hire people like Chen Yi. If there’s a case that might involve ghosts, they make an order and bring in outside help.
It’s similar to licensed hunters. They have guns and get a yearly hunting quota from the government.
Chen Yi was like a ghost hunter. But instead of hunting animals, he hunted ghosts.
“Alright, after this, you both need to stop getting involved with ghosts,” Chen Yi said as he sat on the couch. He gave Li Mu a serious look. “No matter if your body recovers or not, you can’t touch this world anymore.”
“I know,” Li Mu replied lazily.
“What about me?” Yu Fan pointed at his own face.
“If you’re really interested, after this is over, I can take you to register with the provincial department. Your grandpa used to do this too. With his background and my recommendation, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Chen Yi said with a smile, trying to tempt him. “If you’re lucky and get a few jobs, maybe you can even get a legal gun license like me.”
Yu Fan lit up with joy.
He was already super interested in ghosts, and guns are every guy’s dream. Putting those two together, it was like the best thing in the world.