Fang Lin'an frantically flipped through a yellowed manual pulled from his pants pocket. Page after page—nothing explained why an A-class ghost's resentment could vanish mid-rage.
"Wait! Stop fighting!" he yelled, voice cracking.
Yun Jianyue and Lu Changxue fell silent instantly, twin glares pinning him. How dare he interrupt their lover's quarrel?
Fang Lin'an pulled out another manual, muttering madly: "No... no... this one doesn't mention vanishing resentment either—"
"He's lost it," Lu Changxue licked her lips. "Let me eat him. Crazy people's brains are extra tender."
Yun Jianyue smacked a hand over her face. "You're brainless enough. Eat pig brains instead—eat what mirrors the weak™️."
"Or we bolt while he's deranged?" Lu Changxue whispered.
"Deal." They tiptoed away.
Fang Lin'an howled: "FREEZE! Nobody leaves till I figure this out!"
The duo exchanged a glance—screw him—and kept creeping toward the stairs.
BOOM.
A tsunami of resentment, ten times denser than Lu Changxue's, erupted from Room 404. Inky tendrils snaked under the door, flooding the hallway in seconds.
Fang Lin'an abandoned his meltdown, slapping talismans onto the door like wallpaper. The miasma paused—then burst through stronger.
His only choice: enter. Stop it at the source.
But the door was deadbolt-sealed.
"Move."
Yun Jianyue's voice cut through the chaos. She'd returned—with Lu Changxue in tow.
Fang Lin'an dodged on instinct. Yun Jianyue plucked a hairpin from her bun, bent it straight, and jimmied the lock. Click.
"ARE YOU A FELONY?!" Lu Changxue shrieked. Since when did her BFF pick locks?!
Yun Jianyue pocketed her "tool" with a grin. "Just a law-abiding citizen~"
She swung the door open—rotten-egg stench punched their lungs.
"Ugh," Yun Jianyue coughed, nose wrinkling. "Literally toxic."
Fang Lin'an gaped (humans smell resentment?) but charged inside—
—and froze.
A middle-aged woman in blood-red robes stood coiled in living shadow, hair splayed across the floor like blackened seaweed. Her grip crushed Wang Hui's throat—his eyes rolled back, pants soaked in urine.
Lights flickered. Even Fang Lin'an, a trained Daoist, felt ice down his spine.
This wasn't A-class. This was S-class—nation-level catastrophe.
Lu Changxue whimpered: "Eep! Ghostie! Save me, Stinky Treasure!"
YOU'RE A GHOST TOO, YOU MORON! Fang Lin'an's soul screamed.
*FLICK.*
Yun Jianyue hit the light switch. Harsh fluorescence flooded the room. The miasma stuttered to a halt.
"No more horror-movie vibe~" She shrugged.
Fang Lin'an wept silent tears. He'd need 100+ talismans to break that illusion. She used... a lightbulb.
The red-robed ghost blinked, stunned—then hissed, hurling Wang Hui aside. She phased before Yun Jianyue, claws lashing out:
"YOU RUINED MY REVENGE! DIE—"
*CRACK!*
A blur slammed into her—Lu Changxue, snarling like a feral cat, sent the S-class ghost crashing into the wall.
"TRY TOUCHING MY STINKY TREASURE, BITCH!" she roared. "STOP YOUR DEMONIC BARKING!"
Yun Jianyue plugged her ears: "STOP. SCREAMING. I'm going deaf."
The red-robed ghost slumped, dazed. An A-class just decked her?
Her reputation—
"YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" she screeched, rising with hair flung back.
*SMACK!*
A slap echoed like gunfire.
Yun Jianyue shook her stinging palm: "I said quiet. Are you ghost or deaf?"
Fang Lin'an trembled: "H-How'd you... physically hit a spirit?!" Since when could humans—
The ghost clutched her cheek, stunned again.
Lu Changxue gasped: "Wait... you're Wang Hui's MOM?!"
She'd seen her photo. "Died in an accident," he'd said.
The ghost laughed bitterly: "Mom? That bastard murdered me for life insurance! ¥3 million! He bought this apartment with my blood money!"