Chapter 63: Great Fortune Soars to Heaven

The two split up to search inside and outside the house, quickly finding plenty of cash, which they stuffed into their pockets; though they hadn’t yet truly begun to luck out, the psychological effect already made Ning Zhe feel his fortune had improved considerably.

Besides attracting wealth, today was also auspicious for: bathing, killing, sacrifice, and prayer.

So Ning Zhe and Bai Zhi took turns bathing in the gas station’s restroom, then killed the affected employee tied up in the backyard, and finally lit a few incense sticks before the portrait of Guan Yu pasted on the boss’s tea room wall.

After completing all the auspicious tasks for the day, Ning Zhe picked up the boss’s homemade shotgun, intending to find some spare ammunition.

After walking only a few steps, he knocked over a wooden cabinet in a corner.

The heavy cabinet toppled right in front of Ning Zhe, yet not a single scratch touched him; instead, it revealed a hidden compartment behind it, neatly stacked with a full box of paper-shell shotgun shells.

“See? I told you our luck would turn for the better.” Ning Zhe poured the paper-shell shells out of the wooden box and arranged them one by one into the inner pocket of his coat, ready for quick access.

Bai Zhi sat on the coffee table, drying her damp hair with a towel, nodding in stunned silence.

After going through the entire routine, the time had reached three a.m.

Ning Zhe carried the shotgun to the parking spot beside the greenery; the Lake Fairy, which had been parked there before, was gone.

“Where’s your car?” Bai Zhi asked softly.

“Left behind in 2018, I guess.” Ning Zhe shook his head, used the keys taken from the gas station owner to start a Wuling Hongguang parked in the warehouse—it looked like his usual delivery vehicle: “Get in. Let’s go.”

Bai Zhi had clearly never ridden in a truck like this before; she circled the cargo bed curiously several times before climbing into the passenger seat, fastening her seatbelt, then asked again: “Where are we going?”

“Forgot? To find your mother.” Ning Zhe leaned the shotgun between the two seats, closed the door, pressed the accelerator, and drove the Wuling Hongguang onto the highway.

Because Ning Zhe’s luck today had become impossibly good, he floored the gas pedal without hesitation to 115 kilometers per hour; driving fast at night was even faster than when he’d driven the Lake Fairy during the day, leaving Gubei Town far behind as he sped toward the urban center of Taoyuan City.

This highway’s condition in 2014 seemed even better than in 2018, perhaps because it had been newly paved. The road was completely empty, not a single vehicle in sight; only the round moon slowly crawled across the pitch-black sky above.

Meanwhile, in the northern district of Taoyuan City, the fluorescent-lit hospital corridor echoed with the clacking of high heels on tile.

A graceful, voluptuous lady, dressed in a fitted silk gown, strolled calmly down the empty corridor, holding an ornate sunshade more like a collector’s item than a practical tool; her crisp footsteps reverberated through the deep, hollow building.

A sudden vibration buzzed against her thigh; Feng Yu shu turned to look back down the corridor—only a few corpses in nurse uniforms slumped against the walls, scalpels and scissors scattered beside them; nothing else.

—All these corpses shared one trait: they had no shadows.

The LED lights passed straight through the bodies on the floor, as if through colorless crystal glass.

Confirming safety, Feng Yu shu walked into a small storage closet, closed the door, and pulled out her phone from her gown, unlocking the screen.

The earlier vibration had been several newly received messages, but when she unlocked the screen, the send times showed as hours earlier—yesterday.

Messages sent yesterday, now arriving? Confused, Feng Yu shu checked the content: they were from Bai Zhi:

【Ning Zhe is right beside me.】

【Where are you now? Still at the hospital?】

【How’s it going over there?】

“That’s wonderful…” Feng Yu shu pressed the phone screen to her chest, finally relaxing her taut nerves; she exhaled deeply. If her daughter was still with Ning Zhe, then she was safe—Ning Zhe seemed capable of anything; even if some terrifying creature lurked in the dark, hissing and coiling, he would surely protect himself or others.

Perhaps due to mental habit, perhaps due to path dependency, Feng Yu shu had unconsciously placed absolute trust in Ning Zhe.

After catching her breath, she quickly picked up her phone and typed her reply: 【I’m still at the hospital, safe for now.】

【Someone is hunting survivors from Bishuiwan Manor; the security guard named Tian Chengyun has been killed.】

【Several hotel staff are dead too.】

【We’re next, A Zhi—you must stay with Ning Zhe at all costs, even if you have to cling to him like a leech; only he can protect you.】

【So far, that person has never shown himself—he controls a ghost remotely to influence people.】

【That ghost seems able to manipulate minds; the nurses, doctors, and family members here—all have tried to attack me.】

【Luckily, Lei Te’s rule lets me sense their shadows moving behind me—I… I killed them.】

【This isn’t sustainable—show this message to Ning Zhe? He might think of something.】

【Be extremely careful, don’t worry about Mom.】

After sending the last message, Feng Yu shu stared at the screen for a moment; seeing the messages hadn’t yet been marked as read, she suppressed her excitement, turned off the phone, and slipped it into the inner pocket of her gown.

Feng Yu shu raised her umbrella again, stepped out of the storage closet, and took a deep breath of the antiseptic-scented air to calm herself; she continued walking down the corridor.

The ghost’s influence on people seemed random—some here instantly tried to kill her, others behaved like normal people; Feng Yu shu couldn’t tell by appearance who was normal and who was affected, making every use of Lei Te’s rule carry a crushing moral burden.

When someone threatened her life, Feng Yu shu didn’t believe killing them with Lei Te’s ability was a crime—but what if she was wrong? What if the person she killed hadn’t been influenced at all, and she’d murdered an innocent? This thought tormented her, leaving her in constant dread, unable to bear imagining how many of those she’d killed were merely normal people who happened to approach her.

But after seeing Bai Zhi’s message, Feng Yu shu’s spirit eased.

“I must live… Yes, no matter what, I must live—I want to live to see Ning Zhe, to live to see my daughter.” Feng Yu shu gripped the umbrella handle tightly in her left hand, her right hand resting on her collarbone, whispering self-hypnosis: “Live on—by any means, no matter what I become, I must live on…”

Perhaps Feng Yu shu herself hadn’t noticed: at some point, Ning Zhe’s name had already taken precedence in her heart over her own biological daughter, Bai Zhi.

Feng Yu shu walked carefully, the high heels tapping softly.

But suddenly, she stopped.

At Bishuiwan Manor, no matter how hidden or secluded a person hid, if their shadow was ever caught by light, Lei Te would sense it.

Lei Te would instantly possess the nearest corpse and begin killing.

Within a certain range, Lei Te could precisely detect all shadows and their movements. Feng Yu shu could now sense them too.

And just now, Lei Te’s rule had been triggered—Feng Yu shu sensed a swift black shadow darting into the hospital from the main entrance on the first floor.

(End of Chapter)