“Seriously? A haunting?”

“And they want you to exorcise it?”

“You’re going tonight?!”

That night, Zhang Shaoqing’s disbelieving questions rang through the dorm room.

He stared at Wen Yang, completely baffled, and scratched his head. “All this for a little money? Aren’t you afraid we’ll be holding your funeral before the night’s over?”

“I don’t drink. I’ll sit at the kids’ table.”

Ning Chu had already picked out his seat at Wen Yang’s funeral.

If Wen Yang hadn’t let the news slip today, Ning Chu wouldn’t have known the guy was planning to deliver himself straight to a ghost to be devoured, skin and all.

What the hell. It’s not enough that he has to watch out for all those sexy bitches chasing Wen Yang—now he has to worry about ghosts lusting after him, too.

“You don’t have to curse me like that.” Wen Yang spread his hands helplessly. “I’m just going to check things out tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll call my uncle and ask what to do. Or get him to handle it himself.”

“I think you should just call your uncle in right away. Otherwise, we’ll all end up getting recommended for grad school.”

Ning Chu did his best to scare Wen Yang off, hoping the guy would realize this was a bad idea and back down.

“My uncle’s not in great health,” Wen Yang said, frowning hesitantly.

Of course he wasn’t. The ghosts had sucked all the life out of him when he was young. How could he be in good health?

Ning Chu silently rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure he’d triggered the exorcism arc from the novel. Before writing this part, he’d happened to read a series about exorcists. He hadn’t gotten enough of it, so he’d gone and written a whole scene of his own.

The plot went more or less like this: late at night, Wen Yang went alone to the school’s academic building and ran into a red-clad evil spirit. Quick to react, he managed to plunge a sharp weapon into the female ghost. After exorcising her several times, the evil spirit collapsed to the ground, completely purified and gone.

What the hell was I thinking when I wrote that?!

Thinking of it, Ning Chu wanted to slap himself hard across the face again.

So ghosts really did exist in this world—and people could see and touch them.

That made this whole thing feel a lot more dangerous.

“I’m heading out.”

“Wait! I’m coming too!” Ning Chu couldn’t bring himself to let Wen Yang go alone. He hurried to his feet and grabbed Wen Yang by the arm. “Hold on. Let’s bring something to defend ourselves with.”

“Why are you taking this so seriously?” Wen Yang said, laughing helplessly. “There’s no such thing as ghosts. It’s probably just a prank.”

“Isn’t your uncle an exorcist?!”

“Right. He’s the one who told me it’s all just superstition.”

Wasn’t it more likely that your uncle just didn’t want you to know what exorcism really involved?

Ning Chu couldn’t be bothered to argue with him anymore. He turned to Zhang Shaoqing and asked, “You coming?”

“I’ve been wanting to say we should all go together!”

“What about Wang Jie?”

Wang Jie was still fighting his way through a game. Without slowing down, he shot back, “Rank-up match! Don’t bother me!”

That damn shut-in!

There were three of them—and one was a barely battle-worthy little guy who was only five-foot-three...

Ning Chu looked around the dorm, trying to find something they could use for self-defense. But Zhang Shaoqing opened the wardrobe and pulled out a huge wrench.

“Here. A weapon.” He looked pretty excited as he hefted the wrench, gave it a practice swing at empty air, and grinned. “It’s fine. If there really is a ghost, I’ll smash it to death with this!”

You’re keeping a weapon like that in the dorm?! Are you planning to turn into Ma Jiajue tonight or something?!

Ning Chu looked at his feverish, twisted, downright creepy grin and could practically see the future villain’s descent into darkness. His shoulders shuddered, and he quietly took a step back to put some distance between them.

“Here, there’s a fruit knife in this drawer too.” Zhang Shaoqing pulled a short knife from a drawer and handed it to Wen Yang. “If you really see a ghost, run if you can.”

“I told you, there are no ghosts.” Wen Yang sighed. “My uncle’s the one who deals in superstition. Why won’t you believe me?”

He tried to talk them out of it, but Ning Chu had already put on his sneakers and looked worried sick. Zhang Shaoqing, meanwhile, clutched the wrench, practically buzzing with excitement, eager to take a swing at any ghost that showed up.

“All right...”

Wen Yang shook his head helplessly. “You two are just bored tonight and want to go looking for thrills with me.”

“Not me. Ning Chu, your little sweetheart, is worried about you~” Zhang Shaoqing teased them.

Ning Chu shuddered, his skin crawling with goose bumps. “Get lost!”

“We’ll probably run into a couple of lovebirds sneaking around the academic building this late,” Zhang Shaoqing said with a cheeky grin, ignoring the insult. “Don’t mistake some couple for ghosts.”

“...”

Why did you guys always talk about hooking up in the bushes like it was no big deal?

Did none of the couples in this world have enough money to get a hotel room?

Ning Chu sighed inwardly. When he looked up, Wen Yang and Zhang Shaoqing were already heading out, one after the other. He hurried after them, flustered. “What about my weapon?!”

“You? If we really run into a ghost, just run faster.”

“I feel so much less safe without a weapon!”

He jogged after them, trailing behind the two as his gaze flicked toward the pitch-black garden below the dorm.

He was a little on edge... The book never actually said that evil spirits hurt people. If anything, they were the ones getting exorcised until their eyes rolled back and their legs wouldn’t close. But he had no idea what would happen in real life.

“I told you, there really are no ghosts.” Wen Yang repeated himself. “It’s all just a prank.”

By late September, the bothersome chirring of cicadas and croaking of frogs had faded away. But beneath the streetlights, clouds of mosquitoes still swarmed thick and dark.

It was past nine at night. Only a few students were scattered along the road outside the dorms. The basketball court was the only place still lively, and they could hear the noise from far away.

Ning Chu stayed close behind Wen Yang and Zhang Shaoqing, following right at their heels. A little tense, he kept glancing toward the dark corners.

Even knowing the ghost was supposed to be beautiful, he was still a little scared.

“It should be this building.” Wen Yang stopped in front of the academic building.

Ning Chu instinctively looked up. The whole academic building was hidden in the shadows of the night. Through the gloom, he thought he could make out a figure passing along the corridor.

“This is kind of scary.”

“You’re that scared?” Zhang Shaoqing teased with his usual grin. “Why don’t you wait here for us?”

“Hah! I’ve danced at a graveyard in the middle of the night!”

Ning Chu shot back disdainfully, while quietly edging behind Wen Yang. Still talking tough, he taunted, “Let’s see if you’re the one who runs fastest when it comes down to it.”

“Quit arguing. Let’s go upstairs.” Wen Yang turned on the flashlight on his phone.

The light stripped away the academic building’s shadowy veil, and Ning Chu felt a little calmer.

Close behind Wen Yang, the three of them stepped inside the academic building.

Classes had only started recently, so Ning Chu had barely been to the academic building. He’d only gone a few times for freshman lectures.

The first floor had a lobby, a large lecture hall with tiered seating, and offices. As the three of them followed the corridor toward the lobby, they all stopped at once.

“Wuu~”

They’d barely entered the first-floor lobby when a faint sob drifted over from somewhere in the distance. Ning Chu broke out in goose bumps in an instant. He instinctively edged closer to the side—then suddenly felt a pair of hands clamp around his arm.

“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” Wen Yang clung tightly to Ning Chu’s arm, his face pale with fright. “There really is a ghost?!”

“When it comes to it, you run first...”

Come on, you’re just too weak in the knees to run.

Ning Chu froze for a moment, then turned to look. At some point, Zhang Shaoqing had already backed ten meters away.

So I’m the bravest one here, huh?

“Wuu~”

The eerie sob brought wave after wave of chills. All three of them felt their hearts tighten.

“Slow down~ Hah~”

“...”

The hands gripping his arm let go. Wen Yang nodded as if this was exactly what he’d expected. “See? I told you there were no ghosts. Just superstition.”

He glanced at Ning Chu beside him. He had to admit, Ning Chu was soft to the touch and had a faint, sweet scent.

“So we really did run into a couple of lovebirds. Tsk, tsk.” Zhang Shaoqing had somehow returned to his previous spot. He gave his review: “That’s a pretty nice voice.”

The way you two acted just now didn’t suit either a male lead or a villain!