Xin Huohuo had been running around all day and was exhausted by the time she got home.
There were so many job openings, and she wasn't being picky, but not a single company was willing to hire her. Life had always been stressful, but she'd never felt this down before. It seemed like ever since she'd taken that fall that one morning, nothing had gone right for her.
"Bai Qi, Mr. Hei…" she called out twice.
There was no response.
She got down on the floor to look and saw the kitten and puppy huddled in the farthest corner under the bed, not moving a muscle. They seemed to be ignoring her, and she couldn't reach them. She sighed, unaware that the souls inside those furry little bodies had long since departed to go investigate on the streets again.
With nothing else to do, she turned on her computer and played on her alternate account. In the blink of an eye, it was nearly midnight—time for bed.
But just as she changed into her pajamas, a strange, uncomfortable feeling washed over her. Her skin felt tight and faintly cool, and there was a vague, putrid smell in the air. The sensation made her scalp tingle and the hair on her body stand on end.
'It felt like… something was watching me…'
'I'm the only one home. The door is closed. Bai Qi and Mr. Hei are still under the bed. So where is it coming from? Who is it?'
She cautiously looked around, but everything seemed normal. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she was just being paranoid, her gaze drifted upward and she noticed the ventilation hole.
The hole was a foot square, pitch-black, like a grotesque eye looking down on her from above.
Her apartment was under the stairs, the worst spot in the entire building. It had a door but no windows and never saw the sun. When the door was shut, this hole was the only source of ventilation, and it would occasionally let in a sliver of sunlight. It had been placed high up to prevent peeping toms. And because the opening was too small for a person to squeeze through, it didn't have security bars—just a simple glass pane, which was replaced with a mosquito screen in the summer.
She had never paid much attention to it before, but looking at it now, her heart suddenly clenched. She just knew there was something over there.
She was terrified, but she knew all too well that she could only rely on herself. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the large flashlight from her bedside and gently stepped onto the coffee table. The vent was above the coffee table, but even standing on it, she still couldn't see into it at eye level.
Just then, a sound reached her—a scraping sound. SCRAPE… SCRAPE… SCRAPE… It was faint, yet grating!
'Something is trying to get in! Is it an animal? A bird? A rat?'
Xin Huohuo was incredibly tense. She raised the flashlight, her eyes glued to the hole.
Suddenly!
Like an ugly mushroom sprouting from an old, damp wall, something squeezed out of the vent. It was round! A human head! A dry, shriveled head! Dark brown skin, ghastly white teeth, and tear-filled eyes…
The mummified corpse!
'It's come for me!'
Xin Huohuo gasped in horror, the breath catching in her throat. She couldn't breathe. The flashlight fell to the floor with a CLATTER, and she instinctively took a step back.
But she had forgotten she was standing on the coffee table. Her foot found empty air, and she tumbled backward.
A sudden cold wind whipped her shoulder-length hair into a frenzy, blinding her. The next moment, she was sitting on the floor. Strangely, she didn't feel any pain, as if some force had cushioned her fall.
But fear had her by the throat, and her eyes remained fixed on the mummified corpse, unable to look away.
It seemed to be struggling to crawl in. Its entire head was already through the vent, followed by its neck. Its cavernous mouth hung open, making a hoarse, rattling sound as if it were trying to say something.
Xin Huohuo was so scared she wanted to scream, but her vision blurred. A man in black had appeared out of nowhere. He moved past her and leaped high into the air, the hem of his robes billowing like a black cloud.
He reached out with his bare hand and easily plucked the corpse from the hole, as easily as pinching a fat grub. The corpse couldn't even resist. It instantly shrank to the size of his palm and was trapped in the man's grip, not even daring to struggle. It trembled like a tattered plastic bag caught on a branch on a windy day.
The man in black turned his head, looking down at Xin Huohuo with a gaze that was both arrogant and impatient.
'Whoa, he's handsome!'
'Well-defined brows, phoenix eyes, a high-bridged nose, and tightly pressed lips. His expression was stern, but righteous. He was wearing an exquisitely layered black robe in an ancient style. His hair was impeccably styled in a topknot, held in place by a round, transparent gauze cap.'
'A total prim-and-proper, ascetic type!'
Xin Huohuo, still on the floor, was star-struck, momentarily dazzled by his off-the-charts good looks. But before she could recover, another handsome man—this one dressed in white—materialized out of thin air. He had thick brows, large eyes, and a bright, carefree smile. He wore ancient robes of the same style, but his were entirely white, right down to his boots. His long hair was casually tied back in a high ponytail.
'A cute, flashy pest!'
The two men looked nothing alike, and there was a slight difference in their height, not to mention their completely opposite auras. And yet, for some reason, they gave off the strong impression of being twins.
'Damn it, the stress must be getting to me. I must be crazy, or dreaming again. How else could I be "seeing" a mummy trying to break into my house in the middle of the night, only to be saved by some handsome heroes in historical costumes?'
She shook her head hard. 'Whatever dream this is, please let me wake up!'
But in the next second… the dream continued. The man in white leaned down and spoke to her. "Quick, get on your knees and worship the gods."
The moment he spoke, Xin Huohuo recognized him. "You're the one who took my clothes off last night!" Everything she had thought was a dream came flooding back from the depths of her memory.
Bai Qi rubbed his ear. "Don't say it like that, it's easy to get the wrong idea. I'm a god. For real."
Xin Huohuo rolled her eyes. She felt like she ought to faint.
But this time, she didn't faint. On the contrary, her mind felt unusually clear.
She glanced back at the man in black's hand. He was still clutching the shrunken mummy, which was trembling nonstop.
'I'm the one who's supposed to be scared, okay? What's this creepy thing that came looking for trouble in the middle of the night got to be shaking for?'
Her mind worked fast, and her body followed. She leaped to her feet, turned, and ran for the door, trying to scream as she went. She didn't want to think rationally—this wasn't a rational situation. She just wanted to escape! But not only could she not make a sound, her body was blocked by an invisible force. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't move an inch.
"I was prepared this time, so you can't pass right through me or knock me flat," Bai Qi said smugly. With a flicker of movement, he was already at the doorway. "Don't waste your energy. Sit down so we can talk properly."
He glanced at the hand he had raised to create the barrier, then shot a smug look at Mr. Hei. 'See? Our Mana isn't completely gone. We've only got ten percent left, but—and this is a big but—even just ten percent is more than enough to deal with humans and vengeful spirits that aren't too fierce. Haha.'
Now, it was Mr. Hei's turn to feel the urge to roll his eyes. 'Things are this bad, and we've never had such rotten luck since we were deified and given our positions in the underworld. On top of that, the order of heaven and earth is in chaos! How can this guy still be so optimistic? I really wish I could say I don't know this idiot!'
"Who exactly are you?" Xin Huohuo had always been a pragmatist. Realizing she couldn't escape, she stopped trying.