Chapter 22: Volume 1 Chapter 22: How to Woo the Proud Ghost King? (3)

In a hospital in the county town.

The wards were not soundproof; as morning clinic traffic picked up, the hallway filled with noisy voices.

A patient was arguing nonstop with a doctor, the sharp voice piercing the ward walls and waking Jiang Zhi, who lay in bed.

As soon as she opened her eyes, the nurse helping her change dressings noticed and hurriedly asked, 'Patient, do you feel any discomfort now that you're awake?'

Jiang Zhi shook her head, found her vision very blurry, raised a hand to feel around, and found no glasses.

The nurse noticed her intention, picked up the glasses from the bedside table and handed them over, 'Are you looking for these?'

Jiang Zhi put on the glasses, her vision finally cleared, she took in her surroundings and the nurse standing before her, then pushed herself up to sit.

'Where am I?'

'This is Qingyu County Hospital.' The nurse answered her question and left to call a doctor.

Not long after the nurse left, an acquaintance entered the ward.

It was horror writer Fu Yan, who, like her, had fallen into the earthquake fissure.

He was also unharmed, holding a hot steamed bun fresh from the steamer, and upon seeing her awake, joy lit his brows.

'You finally woke up.'

The girl sitting on the hospital bed looked dazed, her soft black hair hanging over her shoulders, her slender white fingers resting on the blanket nervously intertwined.

She seemed not to have expected to still be alive.

Fu Yan's heart softened, he walked over and sat beside the bed, speaking softly: 'That earthquake was just like a dream; when I woke up, you were all still lying where you fell, none of you missing.'

Jiang Zhi recalled what happened after falling into the earthquake fissure; a choking sensation still seemed to linger at her throat, her face turned pale, she clutched the edge of the blanket, and her soft voice trembled: 'I, I remember... someone wanted to... strangle me.'

That near-death feeling was hard to forget, as if deeply etched into her marrow.

She was quite certain it wasn't a dream.

Fu Yan's face changed, his brows furrowed, he suddenly rose from the chair and asked, 'Did you see the face clearly? Do you still remember where it happened?'

Yesterday, only six people went into the mountains; after Xie Mingming and Su Xiao Zhi left early, that strange earthquake occurred.

Who was it that tried to strangle her?

Jiang Zhi thought for a long time, then after a while shook her head, her ebony-like eyes showing a hint of dazedness.

Memory fragments were a bit blurry; the light inside the stone chamber was dim, and before she lost consciousness her vision was pitch black, she couldn't see anything.

And the hand that choked her neck was ice cold, extremely cold.

So cold it didn't feel like a human hand.

Jiang Zhi never believed in ghosts or gods, and told him, 'It must have been a dream I had.'

As for the fissure that appeared after the earthquake and the activation of the stone chamber, she attributed those to the dream as well.

Fu Yan saw she didn't want to say more, so he didn't press further.

But he harbored doubts in his heart.

It seems the rumors told by the villagers of West Water Village are not false; something is truly sealed inside Hongkun Mountain.

That afternoon she was discharged and left, getting into Fu Yan's car to head to the airport.

Everyone else had left early; only Fu Yan stayed behind waiting for her to wake.

Jiang Zhi was very grateful to him, thinking of treating him to a meal once she returned.

Before parting, they exchanged contact information.

Returning to the original host's home, her grandmother disliked city life and had always lived in the countryside. Thus the residence was left to her alone.

As in the previous world, Jiang Zhi discovered that the system had given her original host's identity: parents deceased, only one relative remaining, a freelancer with no other burdens.

Apart from just arriving in this world and the inevitable deadly difficulty, everything else was pretty good.

This time she temporarily broke the original host's deadlock, but once the antagonist Ghost King finds a way to undo the Blood Contract, she will still be doomed to die.

Trying to win over an emotionless imperial evil ghost who has lived over ten thousand years is far harder than in the previous world.

Moreover, Jiang Zhi is afraid of ghosts.

She knows the antagonist is nearby; because they formed a Blood Contract, his powers are greatly weakened. He cannot appear under the sun during daytime, only after the sun sets when yin energy is strong does he show up.

Jiang Zhi recalled how she had almost been strangled by him in the stone chamber, leaving her with lingering fear.

'How long can my Blood Contract restrain him?'

777: 'Less than a month.'

Jiang Zhi whined: 'I don't like ghosts, I like people, tough-as-nails people.'

777, breaking character, teased: 'Ghosts can be tough-as-nails too.'

Jiang Zhi blushed, 'Dead ghost!'

777: '.'

Jiang Zhi, lying sideways on the sofa, lifted her head to glance at the wall clock; the time reached 7 p. m.

Outside, the sky had turned completely dark, the city seemed dotted with countless specks of light, dispelling the heavy darkness.

Jiang Zhi stood up, took her clothes, and walked toward the bathroom.

Having lain in the hospital bed all day, Jiang Zhi had picked up a smell; compared to fetching water and heating it for a bath in the village, bathing at home was still more comfortable.

She took off the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, set them on the sink countertop, and stepped into the bathroom.

Hot water drenched her black hair, steaming mist swirled above, gradually blurring the girl's silhouette.

The patter of water echoed in her ears; Jiang Zhi reached for the shampoo on the wall shelf, but her fingers touched something icy cold.

She hastily withdrew her hand, slightly raised her forehead, opened her water-soaked eyes, trying to see what she had touched.

But what she saw were droplets of bright red water streaming down from the showerhead.

Jiang Zhi immediately shut off the faucet, lifted her jade-white fingers, and leaned in to examine them closely.

After seeing the water between her fingers like blood, she stumbled back a step in panic, and in the mirror placed before the wall, a faint, hazy reflection showed the girl's exquisite face pallid and colorless.

She walked out of the bathroom with unsteady steps, flusteredly picking up her glasses and putting them on; when she looked at her fingers again, the fingers that had been covered in blood were now clean and snow‑white.

It seemed as if everything just now had been her illusion.

Jiang Zhi raised her hand and rubbed her eyes hard, but still saw no bright red blood.

Her lips, reddened by the steam, were pressed tightly together; her hair was only half‑washed, yet she could not leave it unwashed.

"Prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony"

She muttered to herself, casting those impractical fantasies to the back of her mind.

There's no way ghosts exist in this world!!

She set up a mental barrier, and Jiang Zhi stepped forward resolutely, returning to the bathroom once again.

Besides, the speed of washing her hair had increased a bit.

Finally finished bathing, as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom she actually felt a bit chilly.

She turned off the air conditioner, walked to the bedside, and prepared to blow‑dry her hair.

Before she could plug in the hair dryer's plug, her vision suddenly went dark.

Stop, the power's out!!

Jiang Zhi's body went stiff, she dared not move a muscle; the room was pitch‑black, and she couldn't see her fingers when she reached out.

She hesitated for a long time, but eventually she got up to look for her phone.

When she returned, she remembered she had put her phone on the coffee table in the living room.

Jiang Zhi slowly shifted her steps, arms outstretched, feeling her way like a blind person toward the living room.

Just as she was about to reach the living room, something suddenly appeared under her feet, tripping her.

She fell flat on the floor, completely unprepared.