Chapter 25: Volume 1, Chapter 25: How to Win Over the Arrogant Ghost King? (6)

Woke up startled in the middle of the night.

Jiang Zhi sat up, her breathing uneven, she pressed a hand to her chest and gasped.

As she lifted her gaze, she saw the floor-to-ceiling window pushed open; outside, the night was deep, the evening breeze lifting the sheer curtains, and the mottled shadows cast on the floor swayed indistinctly.

Meanwhile, her childhood friend Li Qian sat on the edge of the window, her eyes vacant, as if about to jump down.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhi's heart tightened and she wanted to step forward.

"Don't come over." The voice sounded as if it came from an abyss, hoarse and eerie, yet it came from Li Qian's mouth.

Li Qian—no, she is not Li Qian.

Jiang Zhi halted her steps, her face tense and stern: "What do you want me to do?"

The man in dark robes controlling Li Qian said lightly, "You die in her place."

As the words fell, the girl's delicate face by the bed seemed coated in silvery moonlight, deathly pale, her slender body trembling uncontrollably; after a moment she opened her mouth, her firm voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor.

"Okay!"

As soon as she said "okay," Jiang Zhi's vision went black; when it cleared again, she found herself hanging from the windowsill, with nothing but the ground twenty-odd stories below beneath her.

If she fell, death would be certain.

Long, slender fingers gripped the back of her neck; the man leaned against the window, his downcast gaze fixed on the girl suspended in midair, his tone unhurried, as if discussing the weather—casual yet laced with malice.

"You still have a chance."

Facing imminent death, Jiang Zhi no longer feared; she snorted coldly: "Kill me or cut me up, do as you please."

She was remarkably defiant.

Upon hearing her words, the man laughed, his laughter growing louder, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

Jiang Zhi felt he was a madman—not just crazy, but sick.

After laughing for a while, the man finally stopped, his deep, pleasant voice laced with icy killing intent: "I'll grant your wish."

His fingers loosened.

A powerful sense of weightlessness surged over her, thrilling and terrifying like a bungee jump.

Before her feet touched the ground, she found herself dropped onto her bed in the hotel.

Her body bounced up; as she lifted her gaze, she met the man's gray-blue eyes—dark, lightless, twisted like a deep pool, resembling the depths of a dangerous, inorganic storm vortex.

The man also looked at her; the large bed beneath them sank under their combined weight, his icy, pallid fingers gripping her chin without a hint of tenderness.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

The girl's skin was snow-white and smooth; up close one could see the blue veins in her neck. Though she trembled uncontrollably from fear, her dark, clear eyes locked straight onto his.

Being close, the man caught a faint, delicate fragrance from her; this scent suddenly drew forth a long-forgotten memory buried deep within him.

The man's black brows furrowed; his fingers relaxed, and his tall figure vanished into the room.

He disappeared suddenly; before Jiang Zhi could react, a voice sounded in her ear: 777.

"Host, did you see the villain's childhood?"

Upon hearing it, without waiting for her emotions to settle, she hurriedly asked: "What do you mean? Did my dream take me to the place where the villain spent his childhood?"

777: "Correct. This world has two mission lines—ancient and modern. The technology isn't perfected, so you can't go every night. Moreover, the timeline you visit differs."

Jiang Zhi recalled that hyper-vigilant little brat; she couldn't believe it was the villain's childhood.

777 said earnestly: "That's real, not a dream. If you change the villain there, he will change in reality as well."

"Most importantly, I cannot follow you there. If the host dies over there, she will die here too."

"So you must be careful."

Jiang Zhi soothed her pounding heart from the bungee jump, nodded and said, "No wonder I called you over there and you ignored me; now I understand."

After saying that, she asked a serious question.

"What is the villain's name?"

After all this time, she still didn't know the villain's name.

777: "Zhan Wu Jin."

Zhan Wu Jin?

Jiang Zhi raised her eyebrows; it sounded like anything but a righteous name.

She glanced at her childhood friend sleeping soundly beside her, sighed, tucked the blanket around her, then sent a message and left the hotel.

If she kept staying with her, the villain following Jiang Zhi would surely kill her.

Jiang Zhi took an overnight train to meet Fu Yan at the place they had arranged.

She glanced at his message: over the past few days, three people have died.

Xie Mingming, Yang Shun, Su Xiao Zhi.

Of the five, only Fu Yan and Lan Man'an remain.

Upon seeing Fu Yan, Jiang Zhi's face showed an undisguised surprise.

Fu Yan's complexion was ashen, weary and weathered, completely unlike a few days prior; beside him was Lan Man'an, whose hair was so greasy it had clumped together.

It was as if they had become different people.

After looking at her, Lan Man'an's eyes were shocked and hysterical: "How are you unharmed?! How can you be completely fine?!"

Her voice was shrill and painfully harsh, drawing attention from those nearby.

Fu Yan frowned and snapped at her: "Man'an! Shut up!"

Lan Man'an seemed to obey Fu Yan's words, closing her mouth and daring not to utter a sound.

Jiang Zhi didn't know what had happened to them these past days, but thinking of the successive deaths and the villain following her, she fell into contemplation.

It couldn't have been the villain; he's been with her these days, with no spare time to come kill anyone.

Who exactly is that?

Fu Yan told her many things, and finally, out of kindness, he warned her: "Don't sleep when you go back tonight; that thing will enter your dream."

Jiang Zhi thanked him, and as they parted, she suddenly spotted an old man hiding behind Lan Man An.

If she wasn't mistaken, that old man was actually the elderly woman they had nearly hit on the road while driving to West Water Village.

The old woman seemed to sense her gaze, turned her head, and gave her a sinister smile, as if she had set her sights on her.

Jiang Zhi wasn't afraid of her stare; it was shocking that such a thing could appear in broad daylight, looking as if it had sucked the vital energy from many people.

Night fell.

Jiang Zhi returned home, and before she even entered the door, the man who had disappeared for a day suddenly appeared before her.

His figure swiftly reached the elevator door, and with a grab he pulled out a ghostly shadow from inside.

Jiang Zhi suddenly realized that the ghostly shadow he was pulling in his hand was none other than that old woman.

The old woman, in the man's hand, struggled like a mouse that had encountered a cat.

Zhan Wu Jin didn't wait for her to scream; with one hand he crushed the old woman's ghost.

In an instant, it turned to ashes and smoke.

Jiang Zhi watched the scene in disbelief, completely unable to comprehend it with science.

"Your physique is not bad," Zhan Wu Jin said, walking toward her at an unhurried pace, like an evil ghost emerging from a dark hell, his smoky-blue eyes flashing with a curse-like chill as he gazed intriguingly at her face.

To ghosts, a young woman's flesh and blood are like a delicacy; eating her meat and drinking her blood can greatly increase an evil ghost's power.