Chapter 158: Time Difference

The message had just been sent, and within seconds, the screen lit up with a call display: it was Jiang Han calling.

"Turn on speakerphone," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said softly.

"Oh…" Xia Xia Yubing reluctantly switched on speakerphone and answered; she was just about to say "Hello," when Jiang Han's urgent voice burst out of the speaker:

"Where are you?"

"Uh…" Xia Xia Yubing touched the bruise and muddy shoeprint on her lower abdomen with her left hand, then glanced at Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, who was reloading his pistol, and lied: "I'm on the main street north of town. What's wrong? Why the panic?"

"I just saw a ghost!"

Jiang Han's voice rose a notch; muffled breathing came through the speaker—he'd clearly just undergone intense exertion:

"I saw A Zhen!"

Xia Xia Yubing froze: "Huh?"

A Zhen?

"The A Zhen who died here three years ago!" Jiang Han shouted. "It's following me!"

"Huh?" Xia Xia Yubing was even more confused: "Are you crazy…"

She'd been about to add that Jiang Han was overacting—probably just a makeup artist hired by the production team for drama—but the thought had barely formed when her eyes widened.

Before her, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's slender adolescent frame shrank, his chest swelled, his arms thinned, a long skirt cinched at the waist accentuated his rounded, moonlike hips and buttocks, and the grotesque demon mask remained fixed on his now soft, elegant oval face—transforming him into a voluptuous, graceful beauty standing silently before her.

Thinking of the finger she'd bitten off—only for it to vanish—somehow, Xia Xia Yubing could no longer speak.

A gentle, melodic voice drifted from beneath the mask: "Keep him talking. Ask him where he is."

Xia Xia Yubing's fingers trembled as she nodded hesitantly.

"Then where are you? Should I come find you?" Xia Xia Yubing asked softly.

"I'm heading toward the town center. Meet me beneath the lotus pedestal of the four-faced Buddha. Stay safe."

"Okay."

Jiang Han hung up.

Xia Xia Yubing carefully set down her cracked phone; her earlier defiance and pride had vanished. She stared blankly at the woman standing before her, her voice hoarse: "Who… what are you?"

"The person your aunt paid to pull you out of this hellhole," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said coolly.

His demeanor remained as indifferent as ever, but now wearing Feng Yu's form, this coldness carried an indescribable weight—like a white rose bathed in moonlight and ice.

Xia Xia Yubing came from a respectable family; her aunt was one of Ji Baichang's clients. After Ji Baichang died, that client list passed to Lan Lan Shiwen—and then vanished.

Ji Baichang's network was too vast and sprawling; pulling any thread risked unraveling everything, so many things were simply left unresolved.

If a regular rich girl had vanished in a supernatural incident, her family likely wouldn't have the means to hire a Transcender to rescue her—even if they had contacts, they'd lack the capital to move one.

But Xia Xia Yubing was lucky. Her aunt had been an early client of Ji Baichang's; over decades, she'd amassed considerable wealth.

Donghuang Taiyi could exploit minor loopholes in the God of Wealth's system; Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't urgently need money for buying lives, but Yu Zi was desperately short.

Yu Zi was truly broke.

So he came here.

Some people really do have luck like a serpent god's chosen.

"Come here," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe sighed. "… " Xia Xia Yubing took a cautious step forward, her eyes darting away.

"Don't look around," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe added. "Look into my eyes."

Xia Xia Yubing hesitated slightly—then a smooth, milky-white hand gripped her collar. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe yanked sharply downward, forcing her to lower her head and meet his gaze.

In that brief moment—less than two seconds—Feng Yu's voluptuous body transformed into a tall, slender young man.

And Xia Xia Yubing saw a pair of eyes shimmering like sun and moon, vividly glowing within the eye sockets of a grotesque demon mask.

Yu Zi was 1.77 meters tall—average for a northern man—but standing before Xia Xia Yubing, who wore heels over two meters tall, he still looked like an underage boy, forced to tiptoe and tilt his head to maintain eye contact.

Xia Xia Yubing looked down at the grotesque demon mask on his face, and an inexplicable feeling of inferiority rose in her chest.

She was the taller one—yet as she gazed into Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's shimmering eyes, she felt as if she were looking *up*.

Like a tiny ant, insignificant dust beneath heaven, gazing up at something far higher and transcendent.

He said: "Come with me."

"Okay," Xia Xia Yubing nodded.

More latest popular novels at /p>

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe walked backward, never breaking eye contact with Xia Xia Yubing, speaking as he moved: "Listen—you came to the wrong place. Qianju Town isn't some trendy selfie spot. It's a gateway to the supernatural world."

This gateway opens either by pattern or by pure chance—arrive at the wrong time, and you're dragged into events you shouldn't have touched."

"I checked your phone's system time. You've been in this town less than five hours. But do you know when I entered?"

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe paused, then said: "July 27th."

"Huh?" Xia Xia Yubing instinctively pulled out her phone—its screen read: July 10, 2018—the very day they'd entered Qianju Town to begin streaming.

"I saw a news report in the Qinzhou Daily about the collective disappearance of the Yutai streamers. Police searched the entire town and found no trace. The production team that brought you here is still being interrogated—but they know nothing."

"I saw people in the comments debating whether this was a stunt, whether the platform, running out of fresh ideas, was reviving old gimmicks."

After all, this was the supernatural streaming niche—its streamers loved pulling extreme, normal people couldn't dream up stunts for drama.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's eyes never left Xia Xia Yubing's as he continued: "In the mountains, there are no days or months; a thousand years pass in the world. To you, this stream began five hours ago. But from the outside, you've been missing for over half a month."

"Your family is frantic. That's why your aunt contacted a friend of mine and paid me to come find you."

"But…" Xia Xia Yubing hesitated. Though she held concrete evidence to refute Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's flimsy story, now wasn't the time to reveal it. She feared that if the truth was exposed, this strange man would turn violent.

Like a ghost in folk tales, wandering dazedly in its former home, unaware it's dead, carrying on as if nothing changed—until someone tells it, "You're dead," and the revelation shatters its mind, triggering violent rage and murder.

Xia Xia Yubing felt Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was such a ghost. So no matter what he said, she just murmured "uh-huh," afraid to contradict him.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe paid no mind to her conflicted expression. His eyes remained vivid, etching his words into her soul like steel seals:

"To leave this place and return to the real world, you must blindly believe me. Don't ask questions. Don't think. Do exactly as I say. This is your only choice—the lifeline your family bought for you."

Xia Xia Yubing opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe frowned.

—She was hesitating.

Why was she hesitating?

(End of Chapter)