Chapter 99

Chapter 99: The Future One

The mountains and forests of Fengdu were deep, and the roads were long.

Mingyue's mind was in a mess. She sent a message to Section Chief Bai to report her safety, then turned off her phone.

The deeper she went into the mountain, the heavier the dew became. At this time, the Mid-Autumn Festival had just passed, and the bright moon in the sky was unusually luminous. Mingyue looked up at the moon, trying to locate the North Star. Holding her bag, dragging her heavy steps, she crossed the dense forest alone, filled with ghostly shadows.

The night was quiet.

It was almost two o'clock.

Mingyue walked silently through the forest. The sound of her shoes rubbing against the dry leaves echoed, while the golden and silver moonlight illuminated her way home.

It was still far from the hotel.

I might not make it.

The ghost bus must have left long ago.

I can only exit the mountain first, and before dawn, find a bus station and take a bus into the city.

As Mingyue thought about it, she slowly began to cry.

After the ghost tide passed, the forest was cold, the moon was desolate, and there was no wind. The little girl cried louder and louder, until she was wailing. Her tears fell like a broken string onto the ground and into her bag, landing on the exposed blade of the Ming family knife.

She thought she wasn’t worried.

However, it wasn't until she accidentally entered the City of the Wrongful Deaths and overheard the conversation between the King of Equalization and the King of the Wheel of Life that Mingyue realized she had been lying to herself all along.

She was worried that Mingye had only ever used the Ming family.

She was worried that the deaths of her father and brothers were part of a conspiracy by the King of the Wheel of Life.

If the above assumptions were true,

Then, the deep feelings that Mingyue had built over the past ten years with Mingye would have nowhere to settle.

Mingyue had no face to meet the spirits of her father and brothers.

In fact, even before tonight’s “eavesdropping,” Mingyue had already made up her mind that as long as Mingye said a single word, that the causes of Ming Dinghai and his own death were unclear, ambiguous, or there was any hint that the King of the Wheel of Life was actively or deliberately involved—

She, as the seventy-second and last descendant of the Ming family, would spend her entire life cutting off all emotional ties, avenging her father and brothers, and if necessary, slaying the King of Hell at his horse’s side, toppling the Underworld, and shattering herself into pieces.Even if she was scorned by the world for being ungrateful.

Even if the difficulty of this matter was higher than a mountain and deeper than the sea.

It didn’t matter.

A person lives for their breath, and there are always choices to be made.

Mingyue chose to abandon emotion and embrace righteousness.

However, fortunately.

Fortunately, all of this was merely speculation.

Mingye had come into the human world, tainted by the smoke and fire of life.

For the sake of the Ming family, he truly, stepped from Hell into the human world.

This was truly wonderful.

Mingyue rubbed her swollen, puffy eyes and sighed inwardly.

These thoughts, she probably would never discuss with Mingye in this lifetime.

Better to quietly carry them into the grave and turn them to dust. If revealed, it would hurt both others and herself.

Once her thoughts cleared, Ming Erge (Second Brother Ming) blew his nose, rubbed his numbed legs, and, carrying his heavy backpack, continued walking forward.

One hour later—

The mountains still loomed ahead, shrouded in smoke and mist, with no sign of the night.

Mingyue: ...Damn.

This scene and situation could rival being lost in the City of the Wrongful Deaths.

Mingyue checked the North Star again to confirm she was right, then continued walking.

From behind her, in the dense forest she had passed through, several shadows flickered.

Another half hour later—Ming Erge (Second Brother Ming): "..."

The pass ahead looked somewhat familiar.

The little girl once again confirmed the direction and kept walking with her head down.

Behind her, the spirit: "..."

Half an hour later—

Ming exploded in frustration: "..."

Damn it, this entrance to the forest, this is the third time I’ve come across it.

Great, I’m lost.

Mingyue hugged her bag and sat weakly on the ground, sighing deeply.

Behind her, the spirit: "..."

The two “beings” started to push and shove.

“You go.”

“No, you go.”

“How could I go! The human world is not a place I should be!”

“Then why should I appear? I shouldn’t be on duty right now!”

“Because the Ming family girl knows you, is that alright?”

Mingyue perked up her ears.

She kept feeling a cold, eerie presence lingering behind her. She quietly gripped the handle of her knife, preparing to take down anyone who came her way—one by one, or two by two.

Soon after, a burst of black mist gathered, and on the ground covered in dry leaves, a ghostly head emerged, followed by a blood-red tongue, a long body, and feet clad in straw sandals. Finally, a snow-white, high-folded hat fell at its feet, which the ghost picked up and placed on its head, lifting a wooden board.

"..."

This scene, facing a giant ghost growing from the ground, had even Ming Erge trembling with fear, his hair standing on end from head to toe.

Ha!Fengdu truly is a place of outstanding people and spirits!

In some places, they grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, and here they grow the White Wuchang!

Ming Erge (Second Brother Ming) clicked his tongue in amazement.

So,

At 3:30 in the morning, a person and a ghost silently stared at each other.

Silence was the melody of parting.

Silence was the awkward cancer of tonight.

White Wuchang cleared his throat.

“Ming Er.”

Mingyue: “...”

Mingyue cupped her hands and bowed: “Greetings, Lord Wuchang.”

“How coincidental. Lord, are you here on business for Fengdu?”

White Wuchang didn’t answer, “Why are you wandering in the forest at such a late hour?”

Mingyue scratched her face, not wanting to answer the question. She circled around it: “Do you still care about day and night, Lord?”

“Logically speaking, shouldn’t the late night be the best time?” After all, as a soul-reaper, who works during the day?

White Wuchang: “...”

White Wuchang: “Annoying.”

Mingyue: “Oh.” Quietly shut her mouth.

Another round of silence.

Once again, the same situation—two terminally awkward souls meeting, no cure in sight.

In the forest, Judge Cui witnessed this, and sighed deeply.What could one expect from Xie Bian?

What can one expect from Xie Bian?!

Judge Cui kicked a stone.

The stone rolled.

Mingyue watched as a small stone, seemingly with no wind, shot out from the dense forest and landed precisely on White Wuchang's foot. The sharp edge of the stone scratched the surface, emitting a thin stream of dark ghostly power. White Wuchang, with his coffin-like face, didn’t seem to realize that the "stone supernatural incident" had anything to do with him.

Mingyue pointed out: “Lord, your foot is hurt.”

White Wuchang: “It’s nothing.”

“The dew is heavy, you should leave quickly.”

Mingyue shrugged: “I want to leave too, but look at the dew marks on my pants.”

“I’ve been walking for two hours, and still haven’t found my way out.”

White Wuchang raised his stiff, dead hand and pointed ahead, monotonously giving directions:

“Walk three miles forward, turn right into the jujube grove.”

“Then walk straight for five miles. When you see a large castor bean forest, you’ll find the road out.”

Mingyue tentatively asked: “The intercity road?”

White Wuchang, with no expression, asked back: “Which other capitalists would build roads into deep mountains and forests, aside from the human government?”

Mingyue laughed awkwardly: “Thank you, thank you, Lord, for the directions.”

“I’ll immediately burn you one pound of thirty million.” Seeing White Wuchang’s eyelids twitching, she hurriedly corrected herself:

“No, no, no. Two pounds. Two pounds.”

White Wuchang: “...”

I’m a ghost official from the underworld, living on offerings from heaven and earth. Why would I care about those few ghost coins of yours?

He snorted, “I’ll give you credit for knowing how to show respect.”"Not very old, but not lacking in courage."

"It's more important to study hard and master your skills at school."

"Don’t wander around or overthink things; it’ll only mess with your mind."

Mingyue: "???"

She looked up and asked, "Lord, who are you delivering a message for?"

In the shadows, Judge Cui was nearly sighing for the third time, mentally cursing White Wuchang three hundred times.

White Wuchang paused for a moment, "You’re overthinking."

Mingyue slyly responded: "Oh."

"Well then, thank you again for the directions, I’m off now!"

With that, she bowed to White Wuchang and briskly walked into the forest, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

White Wuchang stood in place, watching her walk further away.

A moment later—

"Cui Pan, what I said, it wasn’t too bad, right?" White Wuchang asked uncertainly.

Cui Jue stepped out from the dark forest. His eternal icy expression made it impossible to tell whether he was frowning or not. His voice was deadpan as he replied, "What do you think?"

"Been a soul-reaper for so long, you speak so bluntly."

"The King of the Wheel of Life wants Ming Er to be sent out, getting lost in the deep forest overnight is not ideal."

"Well, you’re doing well. You could sell this as pants."

White Wuchang: "..."

Meow meow meow?

Judge Cui exhaled through his nose. "Alright, mission complete."

"Let the Ten Halls clean up the rest.""Better than having him running around like a monkey with no fur on its bottom, jumping everywhere."

That night passed with great intensity, heart-pounding and thrilling.

Mingyue’s mind was calm. Some burdens were put down, and some decisions had to be made.

At the bus stop near where she was staying, there were quite a few buses, and Mingyue stood under the bus sign, yawning. The weather in Yuzhou was scorching, and even early in the morning, the heat was blazing.

A moment later.

Mingyue was still chatting enthusiastically with the lady waiting for the bus when the bus arrived. She ran up and unexpectedly bumped into someone.

He was staring straight at her. In the sparsely populated bus at six in the morning, he walked straight toward Mingyue.

Mingyue: "..."

Mingyue took the initiative: "Good morning, Brother Jun." She then lifted her dirty, grubby hand and waved.

Jun Weiran looked extremely angry.

Who knew where all that anger was coming from so early in the morning?

"Where have you been?"

"Stayed out all night? Does the Ghost Slayer Association just let you do whatever you want?"

"Is the Soul Train so easy to board?!"

Jun Weiran lowered his voice but couldn't suppress his anger. A few elderly men nearby looked over at the sound.

Understood.

This was news brought back by her roommate. Li Xianzhou had sent people to search for Mingyue through all the different routes.

Mingyue felt a wave of gratitude in her heart and pulled Jun Weiran towards the back of the bus to a double seat.

Jun Weiran shook Mingyue's hand off, glared at her, and turned to walk to the back.

Mingyue: "..."

Mingyue touched her nose, thinking to herself that this was tricky.The two sat down.

Mingyue was the first to apologize: “I’m really sorry for causing trouble to everyone.”

"After I got out of trouble, I immediately texted Bai Linlang, and just now I called her when I reached the bus stop."

“It wasn’t just for fun or on a whim.”

"After returning, I will definitely apologize to Teacher Li properly and write a reflection. It was my rashness."

Jun Weiran turned his head away, the morning light shining on his face, faintly revealing his dark circles and bags from staying up late.

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” he said stiffly.

"I was just assigned by the counselor to come out and look for you."

Mingyue was silent for a moment. "I understand."

“Anyway, I still have to thank you, Brother Jun.”

The Yuzhou bus was wild, especially this early in the morning when there weren’t many passengers. The driver threw caution to the wind, driving wildly, and everyone on the bus was tossed around. The elderly people, experienced in bus travel, remained as steady as a rock.

After a sharp turn,

Mingyue was thrown to the left. She was startled and quickly braced herself, worried about losing her balance and, in a moment of panic, throwing herself onto Jun Weiran like a hungry wolf pouncing—yet she saw him subtly adjust his posture, seemingly ready to catch her, but when he saw that she steadied herself, he quickly straightened up and coldly sat back in place.

Mingyue: "???"

The heart of a man, like a needle at the bottom of the sea.

Mingyue, reflecting on herself, wondered if Yan Jun was also the kind of person with unpredictable emotions.

The entire journey was in silence, until they reached the closest bus stop to the hotel.

Mingyue’s T-shirt was soaked with sweat from the morning heat. Jun Weiran had no intention of helping her with her bag. His face was cold as he walked ahead.

Mingyue followed behind, preparing her words, and spoke up:

"Brother Jun."

"Now is not the right time.""Regarding Uncle Jun... anyway, some matters, after we return to school, if it’s convenient for you—"

"—Shall we talk?"

"I can arrange for the older brother to come out."

Jun Weiran didn’t look back. "What’s there to talk about?"

"He's already dead."

Yes.

Your father is dead.

My father is also dead.

But your father didn’t die because of my father.

In the past, I was worried and full of doubts, but today, I stand with conviction.

"Of course, there’s something to talk about."

Mingyue interrupted: "Let’s set a time then."

"Consider it settled."