Chapter 61

Today was originally just a spontaneous idea to go out for drinks after work. With Ke Chenyu leaving like that, Lan Xing felt dull and naturally couldn’t drink anymore.

After scrolling through social media for a while, Lan Xing’s head ached from the stubborn Xiaoyao Sect fans online.

There was no support on Ke Chenyu’s side. He took a screenshot and sent it to his assistant: [Do you think they’re crazy to believe this kind of thing? This scribble is harder to read than my handwriting when I first learned to write! How can they even praise it?]

After waiting for a while with no reply, he got even angrier.

[Speak!]

Assistant: [Yes, yes, boss, you’re absolutely right. Also, if you need an instant reply next time, please inform me in advance. This counts as overtime. The overtime for this session has already started counting. If you have no other requests, it will be charged by the hour.]

Lan Xing: "..."

Seeing no reply from him, the assistant sent another message: [Boss, if you have no other issues, I’ll end the overtime now? Wish you a pleasant life, goodbye.]

Sure enough, after sending that, no response came.

Lan Xing was furious, completely baffled why he even hired this assistant who just seemed to help annoy him every day.

What overtime! Even just joking with a friend is not allowed? How much does she dislike him?

Staring at the message screen for a long time with no new dialogue, then seeing that yellow talisman again, Lan Xing got angrier and had no mood to drink anymore. He just turned off his phone and saved the drinks for home.

He didn’t know why, but today was especially unlucky. When the valet at the bar drove his car over, it was fine, but as soon as Lan Xing sat down, the car stalled and wouldn’t move.

Amid curious glances from young men and women passing by, he tried for a long time, sweating profusely, but couldn’t get it started. In the end, he angrily got out of the car, called the dealership for a tow, and took a cab home.

When choosing the destination, he glanced at a recently visited address and suddenly remembered he had bought an apartment nearby. He hadn’t gone to check it out since getting the keys.

Feeling very tired today, he was too lazy to go back to the suburban villa, so he just set the destination to this apartment.

Lan Xing hadn’t moved in or even been there before. When he opened the door and looked up, he directly met a pale face and was shocked: "Damn!"

His voice echoed in the empty corridor. The neighbor across the hall opened the door, glanced at him, and asked what was wrong. Then, seeing him open the entrance door opposite, the neighbor’s face changed immediately.

Before Lan Xing could say anything, the neighbor slammed the door shut with a bang and closed it quickly as if hiding from a ghost.

Lan Xing: "..."

Crazy.

Turning around, he was startled by that face again.He closed his eyes and after a long while finally calmed down. Looking again, he realized the previous owner must have been thinking strangely to put the bathroom directly opposite the entrance door.

The two doors faced each other like that. The bathroom door had been opened by someone—he had just seen himself in the mirror above the sink.

A vein throbbed on his forehead. Lan Xing pinched his forehead; his heart rate stayed high for a while.

He grumbled irritably, “Crazy,” turned on the light, and walked inside.

The previous owner was eager to sell, leaving all the furniture in the house. Since it was a wedding home, newly renovated and never lived in, with weekly cleaning and restocking, it was still livable.

Lan Xing hadn’t done much today but felt inexplicably tired. He planned to shower and sleep, but tossing and turning on the bed couldn’t fall asleep. After a while, he got up, grabbed a bottle of wine from the bar, and headed to the balcony to drink.

He had originally liked the apartment because of its especially large terrace.

The former owner was quite thoughtful. To connect to the terrace, they had knocked down the wall facing it. So even on a middle floor, one could walk onto the terrace anytime and enjoy the view, like having a private sky garden.

But the garden was still bare now, no scenery. The weather wasn’t cooperating; no starlight was visible, the sky was gloomy, as if it might rain at any moment.

However, after such a string of bad luck today, Lan Xing didn’t care about small things like this.

With a bottle in one hand and dragging a chair with the other, he walked out to the terrace.

Passing the floor-to-ceiling window, Lan Xing tripped on the threshold. His phone fell from his pocket with a “pop” and the screen lit up from the impact.

He looked down; the screen was still on the chat with his assistant.

The assistant still hadn’t replied. A few brief messages filled the screen, and at the top was the talisman he had screenshot and sent.

So unlucky!

His anger surged. Bending down to pick up the phone, suddenly the lights inside flickered twice and went out.

Lan Xing froze.

There had been so many unlucky things today that when he realized what happened, he wasn’t surprised at all but actually laughed angrily.

“Hah… really something!”

This damn anti-evil talisman wasn’t protecting against evil at all—it was attracting bad luck!

He angrily threw the chair down, grabbed his phone to delete the chat history and then go online to curse Xiaoyao Sect three hundred times. But before he could touch the phone, the lights came back on.

Lan Xing’s anger paused.

What the heck? So it was just a brief power outage?

He had only been venting his anger. The interruption made it fade away somewhat. The phone screen gradually dimmed as he looked at the empty chat box and felt a little defeated.

He wondered if the new ventilation system was malfunctioning too, because the room felt stuffy.

In contrast, the night wind howled behind him, and the air outside definitely felt much fresher than inside.

Go get some fresh air...

That thought appeared in his mind. Lan Xing suddenly forgot about picking up his phone and turned to go outside.Just as he stepped over the threshold, the leg of the chair hit the doorframe, and he was bumped again.

The force caused him to lose balance and fall to the ground. The wooden leg of the chair struck his calf, causing so much pain that he couldn’t get up immediately.

Lan Xing saw stars, and after a while, he endured the pain and kicked the chair away.

Looking at the chair that had ended up on the terrace outside, he finally couldn’t help but curse loudly: “Damn it! There has to be a limit to bad luck, right? Isn’t this f*cking too much—”

Before he finished speaking, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, rapidly falling from above and crashing violently onto the chair he had just kicked.

With a muffled “puff” sound, the chair was shattered by the sudden heavy object. Splinters flew across Lan Xing’s face, leaving fine scratches and traces of blood on his cheek.

Lan Xing’s eyes suddenly widened, staring fixedly at the scene before him—

An elderly man with graying hair lay dead in front of him, his face twisted in a grimace, his limbs contorted at unnatural angles impossible for a human body, flesh and blood stuck to the chair, almost indistinguishable.

Despite the gruesome death, the man somehow still moved. His arms, dry like branches, reached repeatedly toward Lan Xing. His cloudy eyes stared fixedly at him, and his throat emitted a “clucking” sound.

It sounded like a plea for help, but also like a question asking why Lan Xing hadn’t come out earlier.

At that moment, an indescribable terror swept over Lan Xing’s entire body.

Anyone would be driven insane by such a scene, especially Lan Xing, who was completely unprepared.

The pain in his calf from the chair was nothing compared to this. He struggled to open his mouth but couldn’t say a word, only letting out “huff huff” sounds.

Instinctively wanting to get away from the horrific sight, as soon as his hand pressed on the ground, he felt an unusual warmth.

His hand touched something hard. He quickly looked down—it was his phone that had just fallen.

Perhaps because the screen had been lit earlier, the usually cold phone was still warm. The familiar sensation instantly brought Lan Xing’s mind back to clarity.

“Call the police... right, call the police!”

Using all fours, he scrambled backward frantically until he reached the corner behind the bar. Only after losing sight of the fallen old man did he finally shakily dial emergency and police numbers.

The wait felt especially long. During that time, Lan Xing tried to go out and help with first aid but was too scared. Moreover, the elderly man’s body was so twisted that Lan Xing, without knowledge of advanced first aid, didn’t dare to go out despite mentally preparing himself for a long time.

Fortunately, the police and ambulance arrived quickly. The cold wind blowing into the room made it chilly, but soon the room filled with people. Lan Xing was finally helped out from behind the bar by medical staff.

He was immediately questioned: “Where is the injured person now?”

Lan Xing was stunned.

What did they mean, “Where is the injured person?”

The old man had fallen, splattering a huge bloodstain on the glass window. Didn’t they see it?

Lan Xing pointed inexplicably toward the floor-to-ceiling window. “Th-There.”

He thought the most eye-catching feature of this apartment was the entire connected floor-to-ceiling window after renovation. How could these people be so blind as not to see that?

But when he followed the puzzled looks of the medical staff and saw the empty terrace and the intact chair, his mind went completely blank.Where’s the person?

Lan Xing suddenly pushed aside the medical staff beside him and rushed to the terrace door.

The bloody stench that had almost made him vomit just now disappeared. The chair that should have been shattered on the ground had returned to its original state. There was nothing on it, only a little dust where it touched the floor.

Lan Xing cautiously poked his head outside and looked up at the sky. Not to mention a corpse, every household had tightly shut their windows, and nearby floors even had reinforced safety railings.

The safety awareness was terrifyingly high.

The police and medical staff hurried over and, seeing the scene, were speechless.

The medical staff even tentatively asked Lan Xing, “Sir, is this the first time you’ve experienced something like this? How do you feel now? Can you clearly see what day it is?”

The police officer said bluntly, “Let’s do a blood test.”

Lan Xing: “............”

--

When Ke Chenyi found Ke Xingzhou, he was just thinking about finding a loser contestant to take him out.

Ke Xingzhou really didn’t want to stay on this show anymore.

Every day there was training. Xie An, that naive and sweet guy, stubbornly believed he wanted to quit because he lacked confidence in himself. Every day before dawn, he’d knock on his door and drag him to the practice room, staring at him with those bright cat eyes and whining, calling him “bro.”

An Heguang and Ke Yuanbai clearly knew he was just there to fill a spot and never intended to debut, but they didn’t stop Xie An at all. Instead, they joined in his antics, finding ways to trick him out of his room.

Even Ji Han and Peng Jingshan, the mentors of this season’s show, repeatedly expressed their expectations for him.

As mentors, they couldn’t show obvious favoritism or hint to fans to support Ke Xingzhou more, so they subtly increased their visits to the studio and gave him more screen time.

...Everything was completely against Ke Xingzhou’s plan to slack off.

Originally, it wasn’t a big deal — at worst, he’d film one more episode and continue promoting his own Xiaoyao Sect, earning a bit more money.

The premise was that Nie Chen wasn’t around.

That guy was obviously the heir of a top financial group and used to be so busy he was never seen. Recently, however, he was unusually free, doing nothing all day, just staying around the filming base.

Xie An dragged him to train, and Nie Chen just stood there watching.

His fingers gripping the phone were already cracking from tension. Xie An thought Nie Chen was secretly taking photos of Ke Xingzhou training. After practice, wiping sweat, he sneaked over to Nie Chen: “Mr. Nie, remember to turn off the flash sound next time; it’s way too obvious! Also, remember to send me a copy of the photos!”

Nie Chen: “......”

An Heguang and Ke Yuanbai weren’t as careless as him, but after several times of getting close to Ke Xingzhou only to be frozen under Nie Chen’s cold gaze, they couldn’t help but wonder.

An Heguang poked Ke Xingzhou’s arm and quietly asked, “Do you have some grudge against Mr. Nie? Why does he always look at you with such hatred?”

Ke Xingzhou: “......”

Ke Yuanbai: “......”

The only one who had faced the truth, Ke Yuanbai closed his eyes and couldn’t help but question why he was friends with these two.After a moment of silence, he casually found an excuse to send An Heguang away, then stared at Ke Xingzhou hesitantly for a while.

Ke Xingzhou saw his pained expression, and alarm bells immediately rang in his mind.

Speaking of which, Ke Yuanbai had become even more quiet lately, especially when he saw him with Nie Chen—the strange silence was almost like he had discovered something.

His heart started pounding, and he couldn’t help but begin to explain: “I…”

“You…”

They spoke at the same time and both paused.

Ke Yuanbai hesitated, as if finally making up his mind, then bit his teeth and said, “I’ve saved some money over the years. How about I help you escape? It’s better than this now, being...”

He stopped abruptly; his expression twisted as if it was hard to say.

After a moment of silence, he continued, “I’ll convince Mr. Ke and Mrs. Ke to help too.”

Ke Xingzhou: “???”

Help with what?

Who did what to him?

Ke Xingzhou vaguely felt something was off, but before he could figure it out, Nie Chen came over.

His gaze briefly lingered coldly on Ke Yuanbai, then quickly returned to Ke Xingzhou.

“Master, someone is here.”

Master...

Ke Yuanbai’s expression immediately turned strange, and the look he gave Ke Xingzhou was full of confusion and shock.

Ke Xingzhou stared blankly at him, suddenly a flash of insight struck—he realized he hadn’t told Ke Yuanbai and the others about accepting Nie Chen as his disciple.

He opened his mouth to explain, but Ke Yuanbai, imagining something, sighed deeply and interrupted, “I get it. I was thinking too simply before.”

He gave Nie Chen a long, deep look. Receiving a calm, disdainful gaze in return, he felt a surge of sadness, then staggered away.

Ke Xingzhou watched his retreating figure, feeling an indescribable wrongness. When he turned, he saw Ke Chenyi and was stunned. “It’s you?”

Ke Chenyi, seeing Ke Yuanbai and Ke Xingzhou standing together, was glad the two younger brothers were getting along peacefully. But then he saw Ke Yuanbai leave in a daze, looking deeply shocked and defeated, which puzzled him.

“What happened to him?”

Ke Xingzhou shook his head, signaling he didn’t know. His gaze quickly fell on Lan Xing behind him: “Your friend?”

Ke Chenyi was a little worried about Ke Yuanbai, but thinking about Ke Xingzhou’s personality—he wouldn’t bully anyone on purpose—he suppressed his doubts.

He nodded, introduced both sides, and explained the purpose: “Lan Xing has encountered many strange things these days and wants to ask you how to deal with them.”

Lan Xing felt very awkward standing beside them.After all, he had been fiercely arguing online with the Xiaoyao Sect’s fans before, and now he was sheepishly coming to ask for help—it looked utterly embarrassing.

But thinking about what he had experienced these days, besides seeking help from metaphysics, he couldn’t think of any better solution, so he braced himself and said, “It’s not much, maybe it’s just that I’ve been under too much mental stress and haven’t been sleeping well.”

Ke Xingzhou nodded indifferently, took a sip of the water Nie Chen handed him, and didn’t respond.

This guy did look a bit unlucky, but he was surrounded by a faint golden aura of Taoist magic, so it seemed the situation wasn’t too serious—at most just a scare.

He was no longer the poor Ke Xingzhou from before. Recently, his followers had been generous; he had no trouble securing venues effortlessly. Facing someone who didn’t really believe in him, he felt a bit lazy to bother talking.

Lan Xing had thought he would use this chance to mock him, but after nervously waiting a long time, he never spoke.

After some time, when Lan Xing looked at Ke Xingzhou again, he was blinking his eyes, seeming about to fall asleep.

Lan Xing: “…”

So he completely forgot about him!?

A faint sense of humiliation washed over him, and he felt defeated.

Usually, if he met someone so dismissive, he would have gotten up and left immediately. But thinking about what he had gone through these days, he put his foot down again.

He glanced at Ke Xingzhou’s consistently indifferent expression, took a deep breath, and finally bowed to fear: “The thing is, I seem to be haunted by a ghost who jumped off a building…”

That day, after doing blood tests and psychological exams and confirming he hadn’t used any banned substances and had no mental problems, Lan Xing was released after the police lectured him.

He really dared not go back to that apartment but couldn’t forget the image of the old man falling to his death right in front of him. After much thought, he had his assistant do some investigating.

The assistant was extremely unhappy about being picked up from the police station in the middle of the night and being forced to work overtime, but when Lan Xing promised triple hourly pay, she finally stopped complaining and switched to a hardworking smile to help him.

“This woman is really shameless! What kind of assistant is she? She’s practically exploiting me, the boss!” Lan Xing complained angrily.

Everyone: “…”

He suddenly realized he went too far and quickly added, “Don’t think my assistant is just greedy—she’s really capable. In just half a day, she investigated the previous owner of that house thoroughly and found out that before they sold the place, an old man really had fallen to his death on the terrace!”

Actually, the investigation wasn’t hard. The assistant just pretended to be the next buyer and asked the neighbors nearby. Without any prompting, the kind neighbors told her everything like spilling beans from a bamboo tube.

“I found out the previous owner’s family never intended to move. They planned to renovate and live there themselves. But on the night they were moving, while celebrating in the living room, an old man from over twenty floors suddenly missed his step and fell right in front of them, dying on the spot!”

Lan Xing shivered as he told this, obviously recalling his own experience.

Actually, the dining table was a distance from the floor-to-ceiling window, so the family’s shock wasn’t as big as his!

He grew even angrier: “That whole family of liars! Even the agent was helping them! When I asked if the house had any violent incidents or illegal constructions, he swore there were none! And when I had the accident and tried to confront him, I found out he had already quit and fled abroad with the money!”

Lan Xing got more and more furious, almost in tears: “I trusted him so much and bought at least three houses through him. And he treated me like this!”

Zhu Chu, who came with them, sneaked closer to Ke Xingzhou and whispered, “Master, I checked his Red Luan star; it clearly shows a female, but it seems like she might have some unclear ties with this agent… The wealthy circles are really complicated!”

Ke Xingzhou: “…”

Just then, the junior disciple nearby suddenly gave him a cold glance, sharper than any before.

He had no doubt—if a look could kill, Mr. Nie would have wanted to tear him limb from limb.Zhu Chu shrank his neck, unable to help feeling a bit wronged.

Honestly, it wasn’t his fault for overthinking; it was mainly because when Lan Xing mentioned the agent, it really sounded like he was talking about a heartless man!