Chapter 142: Liu Shenglong
《Internet addiction is dangerous! A 21-year-old man suddenly dies after being online for nearly 30 hours at home.》
Liu Shenglong looked silently at the news on Yu Fan’s phone, his eyes still full of confusion.
“That’s you, right? You really did die,” Yu Fan said helplessly while eating breakfast. “Didn’t you try it last night? You can walk through walls, and no one can see you. Isn’t that right?”
The thin young man stood to the side, looking sad and nothing like the carefree guy from the night before.
“And stop hanging around me. It’s cold. Go find somewhere else to stay,” Yu Fan said with a wave of his hand, clearly annoyed.
This ghost was similar to Lin Xi from before, harmless and able to talk. He didn’t seem to have any strong regrets, so most likely he would just disappear in about a week and wouldn’t turn into an evil spirit.
Yu Fan wasn’t too worried about this kind of ghost. He even joked to Li Mu beside him, “I told you, you’re like an MC in a novel.”
“Achoo!” Li Mu rubbed his red nose. “I caught a cold…”
Even though it was 30 degrees during the day, the temperature at night was still around 20 degrees.
And with a ghost nearby, the temperature dropped even more, almost to single digits. This silly ghost couldn’t even control the cold around him, worse than Xiao Jing.
So, Li Mu and a few of his roommates all ended up getting sick.
Their colds might have been from being too close to the ghost.
“Why did you bring him to the dorm last night? Wouldn’t it have been better to take him home?” Li Mu asked with a blank expression.
“I was worried about you being in the dorm,” Yu Fan replied. He hadn’t felt safe leaving Li Mu alone in a guys’ dorm, so he had moved in without asking.
“So you brought the danger into the dorm?”
“If they find out it was me, they should be thanking me!” Yu Fan said confidently.
Thinking about how their dormmates had all caught colds, taken sick leave, and were probably now gaming together in a party match, Li Mu stayed silent.
He changed the subject and asked Liu Shenglong, “So how did you end up joining our hide-and-seek game after you died suddenly?”
Liu Shenglong looked just as confused. “I had been sitting at my computer for too long. I just wanted to stretch my legs and maybe buy something to eat.”
“But the nearby supermarket closed early last night, so I climbed over the wall and came to your school’s convenience store instead…” he scratched his head and looked upset. “I saw you guys playing and asked your classmates if I could join. They ignored me, so I thought it was okay…”
“You're really something,” Yu Fan sighed. “If only all ghosts were as straightforward as you.”
“Wait, that’s not right. Normal people shouldn’t be able to see me, but you guys…” Liu Shenglong suddenly realized, “Do you have ghost-seeing eyes?”
Yu Fan didn’t want to explain.
Actually, his equipment had gotten an upgrade. He now wore something like a hearing aid in his ear that let him hear ghosts, and the glasses he wore were a special pair left by his grandpa that allowed him to see them.
“During class time, stay out on the sports field. Don’t go where there are lots of people,” Yu Fan warned him. “If you cause trouble, I’ll report you to the police.”
Liu Shenglong looked even more confused. “But I’m already dead…”
“If a ghost hurts people, the police can still do something about it. If ghosts exist, then there are also ways to kill them…”
Yu Fan turned to look beside him, but noticed Li Mu had already left. When he glanced at the cafeteria entrance, he saw Li Mu’s back as he walked out.
Yu Fan paused, suddenly losing the mood to keep talking with Liu Shenglong. He quietly lowered his head and continued eating.
“But I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t want to become a ghost,” Liu Shenglong said nervously. “So what should I do now?”
“Just go somewhere without people.”
Yu Fan stood up, cleaned up the trash on the table, and walked out of the cafeteria.
The ghost followed behind him, still lost, and asked, “So if I don’t hurt anyone, the police won’t come after me, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I stay close to you?”
The ghost’s first impression on Yu Fan was very bad. He still remembered how Liu Shenglong had acted so loudly and carelessly last night.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Fan decided that it was probably better to let the ghost stay close to him than to let it wander out of his sight.
“Okay, but don’t get closer than ten meters to anyone else.”
Yu Fan entered the classroom and turned to look out the window. He could see Liu Shenglong sitting helplessly in the distance on the sports field.
With that, Yu Fan finally relaxed and shifted his attention to Li Mu.
The early morning sunlight wasn’t too strong, and it gently bathed Li Mu’s profile. The warm golden sunlight made his smooth skin look like it was glowing.
When Li Mu was reading seriously, his usual cold expression disappeared. His brows furrowed slightly, and his lips pressed together in a soft, gentle expression.
“Stop staring, you look mesmerized.”
Yu Fan was nudged on the shoulder. He quickly turned around and realized it was his rival, Wang Chen.
“What’s so interesting about a guy?” Wang Chen mumbled, glancing at Li Mu. “Although, he does look more like a girl than a guy.”
“Heh.” Yu Fan walked straight to his seat. As he passed by Li Mu, his steps paused briefly, but he helplessly continued to his seat.
Over the past couple of days, Yu Fan had clearly noticed that Li Mu was intentionally distancing himself.
Every time he tried to talk to Li Mu after class, Li Mu would give him cold looks and send him away with all kinds of excuses.
By the end of yesterday, they’d barely exchanged a few words.
Yu Fan sat at his desk, feeling a little confused.
“Yu Fan, want to play a game?” The big, chubby guy, Xu Ze, saw Yu Fan looking down and quickly came over. “Why are you so down today? Did you fight with your girlfriend?”
Most of the class still thought Yu Fan’s girlfriend was Li Mu’s sister, and only a few knew the truth, but they weren’t ones to gossip.
“Sort of,” Yu Fan replied, pulling out his phone.
Seeing the two of them were going to play mobile games, the girls in class gathered around Yu Fan, chattering excitedly about gossip and the game.
Yu Fan was a little annoyed but still smiled back at them with his usual sunny demeanor.
Li Mu was struggling with his vocabulary, and when he glanced up, he looked over at Yu Fan.
This guy seemed to be enjoying playing with the girls.
It seemed like the tactic of deliberately being distant from Yu Fan had worked. It had been a while since this guy played games with the girls in class.
But for some reason, Li Mu felt a bit down.
It felt like someone had taken something that was his.
His heart felt empty, and it was a little painful.
Maybe he had gotten used to having Yu Fan always around? Maybe he had started to depend on him.
Li Mu knew this wasn’t great, but after so many years without anyone he could truly trust, when Yu Fan showed up, he had naturally started relying on him.
He looked down at the English textbook in his hands, no longer feeling like studying. He closed the book and laid his head down on the desk.
If I ignore you, that’s one thing, but you’re really ignoring me too?