Qi Mo’s condition continued to deteriorate further with every passing day.
After learning that there was a hate spirit involved, Feng Jin’s attitude became even more serious. For the first time, Shi Sheng saw him actually taking out paper wards and pasting them around Qi Mo’s room.
“I’m not going to be hurt by these, am I?” Shi Sheng didn’t dare to go in. After all, there was that smidgen of a chance.
After Feng Jin pasted the last ward, he walked out of the room and shut the door. “They’re useless against you.”
“Why?”
“The wards are targeted against hate spirits. Although you’re a ghost, you have a contract with me, so unless it’s a special ward, they will be unable to harm you.”
“So powerful? Then doesn’t that mean I don’t have to be afraid of exorcists?” ‘No wonder even though Su Yun said Su Xin had a protection talisman on her, I didn’t feel anything when I got close.’
Feng Jin frowned. He had the feeling that her words had another meaning behind them. But no matter how he interpreted them, he couldn’t figure it out. In the end, he could only nod his head in agreement.
He then added, “But if you meet someone with real ability, you can only run.”
“Mr Feng, someone’s coming…” An Su alerted them from afar. ‘If someone sees Mr Feng speaking to thin air, they’ll think he’s gone mad, won’t they?’
True to her words, a servant— who appeared to be a cleaner—was descending down the stairs. Upon seeing Feng Jin and An Su, she nodded her head politely before hurrying off.
“What are we doing now?” Shi Sheng floated around the two out of boredom.
“Waiting.”
And Feng Jin when he said they were waiting.
An Su and Shi Sheng played Matching Pairs. Feng Jin would occasionally leave, but he would always return soon after.
The morning after Feng Jin put up the wards, someone went missing. In the following days, more and more people disappeared with some quitting their jobs and leaving out of fear they’d be the next. In the end, only the Butler and two other old servants remained.
According to the old man, they had already been with the Qi Family for decades and treated the mansion as their home for such a long time, where else could they go?
Although Feng Jin didn’t seem to care about the disappearances, An Su was quite worried. She probably wasn’t feeling too happy about so many disappearances; after all, those were human lives. However, with the combined effects of Shi Sheng’s frequent ridicule and Feng Jin’s constant ‘don’t talk to me’ face, she didn’t dare to do anything reckless.
Shi Sheng, on the other hand, was more curious about what was going on with Nalan Ying. ‘Didn’t Feng Jin say he was arriving soon? The FL’s already been here for 5 to 6 days, so why hasn’t he shown up? This isn’t logical!
…If the ML doesn’t show up, who am I supposed to torment?’
……
On the fourth night since the wards were put up, Shi Sheng suddenly looked up from the phone screen. “It’s here.”
An Su immediately started trembling in fear. “W-where?”
For the sake of convenience, their room was directly opposite Qi Mo’s.
Feng Jin got up and moved towards the door. He stood beside it and quietly listened to the sounds that were coming from outside their room.
The distinct sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the direction of the stairwell. The footsteps moved closer and closer until their owner stopped right in front of Qi Mo’s room.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence,, Feng Jin heard the sound of a door opening. Surprisingly, it wasn’t coming from Qi Mo’s door, but the one to the room adjacent to theirs..
Click.
The sound of a door shutting could be heard.
Feng Jin frowned and hesitated a bit before moving to go outside. Suddenly, Shi Sheng floated over to him. “It’s still outside.”
Just as her words fell, a large force slammed against the door, causing a small crack to emerge. Through the crack they caught a glimpse of the person outside.
It was one of the two old servants who had stayed behind.
Shi Sheng drew her sword, excitement shining in her gaze. “I’ve never sliced up a hate spirit before. I wonder if it feels nice. What’re you blocking me for? Move it! Stand behind me!”
Feng Jin, “…”
‘Do I have the wrong script? Because I’m sure those are my lines…’
Bang!
Clang!
The door was forcefully slammed open to reveal the person outside. Surrounded by a black fog, the old servant’s complexion seemed inhuman with its greenish white tint. Judging by his dead-fish like eyes that glared at them and the stiff movements of his limbs, it was clear that he was already dead.
Shi Sheng rushed out immediately and swung her sword at the old servant. The servant was not encumbered in the slightest by his stiff limbs as he dodged the sword strike with ease.
“Scram!” The old servant spat out with a piercing voice that sounded like metal grating on ceramic.
Shi Sheng’s eyes flashed ominously before her lips lifted in a mocking curve. “I haven’t learned how to scram yet. Why don’t you demonstrate for me? If you do it well, I’ll let you die painlessly.”
An animalistic growl escaped from the old servant’s throat as he lunged at Shi Sheng in rage.
Feng Jin watched them battle as he stood atop the collapsed door.
Shi Sheng didn’t use much of her own energy reserves, choosing to just swing her sword around wildly. She managed to injure the old servant’s arm and his shoulder, but that didn’t seem to slow him down at all.
An Su hid somewhere further back as she watched the unfolding battle with shining eyes. ‘Ghost-jiejie is so powerful!’
Perhaps knowing that it couldn’t defeat Shi Sheng in a head-on fight, the hate spirit released the old servant. Black fog poured out from his body and rushed into Qi Mo’s room. Soon, sounds of high-pitched roaring could be heard coming from within.
The noise cut out as abruptly as it started, causing Feng Jin’s expression to change. He immediately charged inside, in only to find the entire room in shambles. Of the wards Feng Jin had pasted in here earlier, only half were left intact while the other half had burnt up.
The hate spirit and Su Yun stood on either side of Qi Mo’s bed. The hate spirit was trying to enter Qi Mo’s body, but Su Yun was using a formless energy to prevent it from doing so. The situation had fallen into a stalemate.
“He should die,” the hate spirit spoke suddenly. It was no longer a high-pitched voice, but the voices of multiple women overlapping.
“No…” Su Yun shook her head.
“He should die!” The hate spirit repeated its words more forcefully.
Su Yun continued to shake her head. “He’s innocent. Please spare him. Su Xin’s already dead. Let her atone for her own sins. Qi Mo had nothing to do with it.”
“Hahahaha innocent…you actually said he was innocent… You know nothing!” The hate spirit seemed to become more agitated. “Su Yun, you died early so you never experienced what we had to go through! You don’t understand… you won’t understand! We want him dead!”
The hate spirit suddenly burst free from Su Yun’s barrier and sent her flying before smashing towards Qi Mo in a flood of black fog.
“No—!” Su Yun shouted. She wanted to get closer, but she was sent flying at every attempt to stop the hate spirit..
Qi Mo’s limbs suddenly started spasming and his face turned red, as if someone had a grip on his neck and was preventing him from breathing. He opened his mouth in an attempt to draw some oxygen into his lungs, but it was futile.
“Save him! Please, save him!” Su Yun suddenly flew over to the doorway and begged Shi Sheng and Feng Jin.
Shi Sheng flicked her sword and spoke in disgust, “Why should this scumbag be saved?”
Feng Jin didn’t even spare a glance at Su Yun. It was clear he had no intention of helping.
An Su had seen the proof of the hate spirit’s words yesterday with her own eyes. She chose to not say anything out of pity for those women , but Qi Nian’s final pleas still rung loudly in her head, making her feel torn.
“What do you mean?” Su Yun stared at Shi Sheng dumbly.
“Qi Mo was responsible for the deaths of all those women,” An Su stated weakly, “Although Su Xin was the one to kill them, Qi Mo knew what was going on. For two of them, he even personally…”
An Su was unable to continue. She didn’t understand how a man who loved Su Yun so deeply could turn into such a murderous person. If Qi Mo hadn’t initiated contact with those women, Su Xin wouldn’t have acted against them. But Qi Mo merely watched Su Xin’s twisted acts from the shadows.
An Su felt like Qi Mo’s mindset was even more twisted than Su Xin’s.