Chapter 158: An Unexpected Turn
The hotel was so dark that they couldn’t see their own hand.
If it had just been a normal power outage, at least the phone’s flashlight would still work. But in this haunted area, everyone found that their phones had somehow turned off and couldn’t be used at all.
Yu Fan and Li Mu walked through the hallway, one in front of the other. From time to time, they saw a few guests rushing past. In the distance, they could faintly hear the hotel manager angrily yelling at the power company.
This hotel had already experienced several power outages in just one week, which had seriously hurt its business. Although the power cuts also caused phones to stop working each time, most people didn’t think it was anything supernatural.
Li Mu and Yu Fan arrived at the guest lounge on the second floor. Using the dim light from an oil lamp, they started checking the paintings on the walls to see if anything was unusual.
Since the evil ghost had already been pinned to the wall earlier, they weren’t in such a rush now.
“Yang Ye must have called you, right?”
“Yeah, several times.”
Li Mu had skipped class to come help, since he was worried about Xiao Jing and Yu Fan. Even though, to be honest, he didn’t feel very helpful.
“He’s going to be so mad,” Yu Fan said, sounding pleased.
But Li Mu just shook his head and replied, sounding a little guilty.
“He just wants what's best for us. After this, you should stop getting involved with ghost stuff. Focus on your studies instead.”
When they reached one of the paintings, Yu Fan didn’t bother to check it too carefully. He looked around to make sure no one else was nearby, then took the painting off the wall and handed it to Li Mu.
“This one?”
“Better to burn a wrong one than miss the right one. It’s just a few paintings, the hotel can afford it.” Yu Fan said.
“What if one of them is a real valuable piece...” Li Mu looked at the painting in his hands, worried. “We couldn’t pay for that.”
“It’s fine. Earlier today I was thinking we should just get the police to take all the paintings and burn them at once. But then I realized that would be too obvious, and the ghost might escape.”
After checking the whole second floor, Li Mu was now holding three paintings in his arms.
They found a restroom, broke open the frames, took out the three canvases, and threw them all into the sink. Then Yu Fan lit them on fire without hesitation.
As the paintings turned into ash, he finally felt satisfied.
“Confirmed, not the real body.”
“......”
Li Mu thought human lives were definitely more important than paintings, but he still felt a little bad about it.
He and Yu Fan didn’t have any ghost helpers with them. So even if they found the real ghost’s body, they wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from the other decorations. Especially if it was disguised. Burning all of them really was the safest option.
As the power outage dragged on, there were fewer and fewer guests and staff around the hotel, so the two of them started acting more boldly.
The hotel had over ten floors. They walked from the ground floor all the way to the top. Both of them were panting by the end, having burned every hallway painting they could find. But none of them turned out to be the ghost’s real body.
“I wonder how things are going with Xiao Jing.”
Yu Fan held the oil lamp higher. The warm orange light lit up Li Mu’s face, and Yu Fan noticed the slight worry between Li Mu’s eyebrows.
“Don’t worry. Uncle Chen Yi is with her,” Yu Fan said, walking beside him. “And the ghost is already under control, right?”
“I’m just worried my cousin won’t handle things well.”
“He’s brave. It’ll be fine.”
Yu Fan glanced down at Li Mu’s hand.
Now that they had finished their task, his mind began to wander.
In the darkness, while Li Mu was slightly anxious and nervous, wouldn’t it be comforting if a warm hand could give him a sense of strength and safety...?
Nervously, Yu Fan swallowed and slowly reached out his hand, gently holding Li Mu’s.
But the moment he did, Li Mu suddenly stopped walking. Without hesitation, he grabbed Yu Fan’s wrist in return.
Yu Fan’s heart jumped in excitement.
Wait… is Li Mu actually this bold?
Li Mu was startled. Without thinking, he pulled his wrist back, spun around, bent his elbow, and slammed it down like a heavy hammer.
“You pervert ghost!! You dare come again?! You think I’m that easy to mess with?!”
“???”
Yu Fan only felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck, everything went black.
The oil lamp fell to the floor with a loud metal clink, and the person beside him collapsed softly.
Breathing heavily, Li Mu’s heart was pounding fast. He looked down at the oil lamp on the ground, then froze, staring in disbelief at Yu Fan, who was now lying there.
“Huh...”
Li Mu blinked, looked at his elbow, then at Yu Fan, and nervously tried to blame him.
“Are you crazy? Why would you grab my hand in a situation like this?”
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Did I hit you in the neck?”
Panicking, he squatted down and pushed Yu Fan’s shoulder.
“Wake up! Yu Fan!”
“Did I... accidentally kill him?”
The neck and back of the head are very dangerous places to hit, and an elbow strike is one of the strongest ways to attack.
Li Mu became even more nervous. He carefully lifted Yu Fan’s upper body and cradled his head, trying to check if he was hurt.
But he couldn’t really tell, he didn’t study medicine.
“No way... seriously?”
Yu Fan hadn’t moved for a while, and Li Mu was so worried he was about to cry. He looked around, hoping to find someone to help, but the top floor was already completely empty. Not a single person, not even a ghost.
“Chen Yi! Xiao Jing!” he shouted a couple of times, but no one answered.
His voice was shaking now. He lifted Yu Fan’s arm over his shoulder, held it with one hand, and wrapped the other around Yu Fan’s waist, trying hard to lift him up.
It took a lot of effort, but he finally managed to stand. Step by step, he dragged Yu Fan toward the stairs.
But Yu Fan, though he looked skinny, actually weighed over 140 pounds. And lately, Li Mu had gotten weaker and didn’t have much strength. After just a few steps, they both fell to the ground together.
“Ow!”
Li Mu’s eyes filled with tears from the pain, but then he thought he heard a soft groan.
He froze, sat up from the floor, and looked at Yu Fan, who was lying next to him.
“......”
The silence between them was tense and a little scary.
“You... tricked me...”
“No, I didn’t!” Yu Fan suddenly jumped up from the floor and quickly shook his head. “I really did pass out for a few seconds at the start!”
Then he went quiet. The light from the nearby oil lamp lit up Li Mu’s tearful eyes.
“I did black out, but I actually woke up when I hit the ground...” Yu Fan rubbed the sore spot on the back of his neck, feeling guilty. “Hey... don’t cry. I was wrong.”
“I thought something really happened to you...”
“Don’t cry, okay? I’m really sorry.” Yu Fan panicked as he tried to explain. “That joke went way too far. My bad! I’ll treat you to a big meal tonight, okay?”
Then he suddenly froze, looking down to find Li Mu had thrown himself into his arms.
“You scared me so bad...”
Li Mu’s body was shaking. He hugged Yu Fan tightly around the waist, burying his head in his chest and crying softly.
“I’m fine now. It didn’t hurt at all.”
With the warm and soft figure in his arms, he didn’t dare move. He held his hands up in the air, his face completely red.
“I thought I had become a murderer and was going to prison for life.”
“Huh?” Yu Fan blinked. “Shouldn’t you be thinking that if I died, you won't have a boyfriend anymore?”
“......”