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It was just a false alarm; there was no phone number for Chen Peiling on his phone, so he had truly experienced a terrifying nightmare. Then, he fell into another dream.
He found himself in the school library.
It was as quiet as during the day, and a person stood on the top floor of the library. The people coming in and out of the library ignored the figure standing there, facing the wind.
Ye Chenfeng thought the person on the top floor looked very much like Ding Li.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed Ding Li.
Ding Li was wearing a plain white long dress, standing against the wind, her long hair flowing wildly, revealing a pale complexion. Her expression was resolute, heartbreaking to behold.
“Ding Li, don’t…” Ye Chenfeng shouted, seeing a flash of white leap from the heights, like a leaf falling from above. Instinctively, he reached out to catch her. But with a splat—Ding Li transformed into a pool of blood that drenched him like raindrops. Startled, he jolted awake from the nightmare once again.
“Ye Chenfeng, how long are you going to keep this up?” Su Bei yelled at him, her face filled with anger as she looked up at him.
Ye Chenfeng felt quite embarrassed. Su Bei had already gone to bed late, and his repeated disturbances had robbed her of peace.
“Su Bei, I’m sorry. I’ve been through too much lately.”
Su Bei remained silent and continued to sleep.
Ye Chenfeng couldn’t fall asleep again. He got up, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking his roommates from their sweet dreams. He had a gut feeling that nightmares were an omen; something must have happened to Ding Li.
Meanwhile, Ding Li was also dreaming. She dreamed of Ye Chenfeng, seeing him getting married to someone else. The bride was not her. It was a traditional Chinese wedding; Ye Chenfeng wore a bright red robe and a ceremonial hat while the bride donned a golden silk veil and a festive wedding gown.
She walked step by step toward the bride, her fingers trembling and her heart racing uncontrollably.
Ye Chenfeng embraced the bride with joy, completely oblivious to Ding Li's presence.
Ding Li’s heart shattered; it felt like it was bleeding. Anger made her lose control of her emotions as she rushed up to the bride and yanked off her veil. As the soft red veil fell away, an incredibly pale face without features emerged, shocking Ding Li into letting out a piercing scream.
She was jolted awake from a terrifying nightmare, finding herself no longer in the car but standing at the highest point of an ancient-style building.
Ye Chenfeng sensed that something was wrong; a deep-seated fear gripped his heart like a noose, the suffocating pain nearly causing him to stop breathing. He stumbled out of the Boys' Dormitory, glancing at his phone repeatedly, suddenly wishing that the number he had once deleted would reappear.
As expected, his phone vibrated, the low frequency of the vibration sounding painfully jarring and unsettling in that moment.
"Hello..."
"Do you still love her?" The voice seemed to come from hell, deep and filled with sorrow.
"Chen Peiling, what do you want?"
"I want to know, she’s gone crazy now; do you still love her?"
"Don't touch my Ding Li. No matter how she changes, I will always love her." Ye Chenfeng shouted into the phone while quickening his pace toward his destination.
In the stillness of the night, dim streetlights illuminated the limited space, and ghostly presences lurked everywhere. The buildings cast enormous shadows, as if hiding countless eyes watching him, each gaze cold and sinister.
Ye Chenfeng's legs felt heavy as if filled with lead; it was as though invisible hands were gripping his ankles, controlling his steps and speed, trying to hold him back. In a moment of urgency, he bit his finger, formed a seal with his hand, and chanted incantations: "Heaven clear, earth bright; yin obscured, yang clear; five six yin lords, emerge from the dark into the light; forever anchored in place; protect this spirit's ascent; step on seven stars; may the spirit's light endure; break! Urgent as a command."
In an instant, the environment around him receded, revealing the library before him.
In the dark space, a figure in white fluttered in the wind, producing a faint rustling sound.
Ye Chenfeng had no time to think further; he sprinted toward the open doors of the library. Turning right led him to a straight staircase. He grasped the handrail and rushed up to the rooftop.
Finally reaching the top, he saw Ding Li standing with her back to him in a white dress. At that moment, she was half alive in this world and half in another; any misstep could lead to her demise.
"Chen Peiling, I'm here. What do you want?"
"Hahaha... not bad... I didn't expect you to actually have some skill and break my illusion. You've probably saved about a third of your time." Chen Peiling's voice pierced through the quiet night like a knife. She slowly turned around; her face was distorted from falling and hitting the ground at such height. Her body was fractured in multiple places, contorted in unnatural positions. Each step she took echoed with cracking sounds like brittle bones breaking.
Ye Chenfeng watched as Chen Peiling approached him step by step, feeling a slight tension as he swallowed hard. His throat was dry, and he struggled to steady himself before asking, "Where is Ding Li?"
"Are you scared? Your voice is trembling," Chen Peiling said, not stopping her distorted gait as she drew closer to Ye Chenfeng.
A suffocating aura enveloped Ye Chenfeng; the closer Chen Peiling got, the stronger the foul stench of decay became.
"Scared... Hahaha... Fear doesn't exist in my dictionary." It would be a lie to say he wasn't afraid. Ye Chenfeng had devoted himself to studying The Ghost-Quaking Scripture and, somehow, had attracted the school's Vengeful Spirit. He couldn't make sense of it now; all he could do was treat this dead horse as a live one and see if he could save Ding Li.
Ding Li hadn't gone mad; she was possessed by Chen Peiling's Vengeful Spirit, her consciousness completely disconnected from reality. Ye Chenfeng knew this; at times lucid and at times confused, Ding Li had uttered one true statement—she suspected that Chen Peiling was a ghost.
"Not scared... I heard you swallow," Chen Peiling said, now just inches away. She slowly raised her broken arm and placed it on Ye Chenfeng's shoulder, her twisted face grotesque and terrifying.
If he were an ordinary person, he might have screamed in terror and fainted.
But for Ye Chenfeng, nothing was more frightening than death. She was just a ghost after all, trying to verify whether the love between him and Ding Li truly existed.
Ye Chenfeng stared directly at Chen Peiling, ignoring the chilling aura emanating from her bloodied hand resting on his shoulder. It felt as if the blood in his veins had frozen, making him feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. Suddenly, he made a move that even surprised Chen Peiling—he cradled her swaying head and kissed deeply into her mouth, which was oozing with foul blood.
This kiss was a high-stakes gamble for Ye Chenfeng. If he won, he could save Ding Li; if he lost, he would end up with Ding Li as a ghost couple in the Underworld.
Chen Peiling couldn't be subdued by any other means; she was a fierce ghost filled with overwhelming resentment.
As Ye Chenfeng rushed to the rooftop, he saw the Red Butterfly dancing gracefully around Chen Peiling.
The kiss lasted only a minute in reality, but for Ye Chenfeng, it felt like a century. The coldness of his tongue transformed into warmth with a human-like flavor, accompanied by soft breaths and playful murmurs that felt so real.
His Ding Li had returned.
"Mm... Let go... Mm..."
Ye Chenfeng released her face and focused his gaze. The terrifying visage had vanished; before him now was Ding Li's face.
"Ye Chenfeng, where is this?"
It was only then that Ye Chenfeng noticed they were both suspended in mid-air, rapidly descending. What the hell was Chen Peiling trying to do? He cursed inwardly, only to realize that the speed of their fall wasn't too fast, as if someone was controlling it.
"You win." Chen Peiling restored her elegant demeanor from her past life and stood not far from them, speaking in a cold tone. "You help me find Ye Feng, and once we meet, I can assist you in getting to the Four Hospitals."
It was Chen Peiling controlling their descent; otherwise, even with some abilities, Ye Chenfeng wouldn't have been able to run straight down the stairs from a closed library. The stairs had long been sealed off due to Chen Peiling's incident.
"Sure." Ye Chenfeng assuredly nodded at Chen Peiling while protecting the frightened Ding Li.
"Good. I'll wait for your good news."
"How do I contact you?" Ye Chenfeng hurriedly asked, looking at Chen Peiling's figure fading into the darkness.
"By phone."
That was close—Ye Chenfeng felt a wave of relief wash over him. If he had been a moment later, Ding Li would have become the second ghost to jump off a building.
"Ye Chenfeng, what do we do now?"
"Back to the Boys' Dormitory."
"Huh?"
Ye Chenfeng hugged Ding Li and playfully flicked her nose. "It's fine; my roommates are all good people."
In the dormitory, Su Bei was the first to notice Ye Chenfeng was missing. He woke Shen Binghan and Qin Keqing, saying, "Is this brat angry and gone alone to the Four Hospitals?"
"No way!" Qin Keqing cursed Su Bei inwardly. Couldn't anything wait until morning? She had been sleeping soundly when he woke her up to say Ye Chenfeng was gone.
Shen Binghan said, "That kid Ye Chenfeng is always acting mysterious like a fortune teller. I saw him drawing symbols with a vermilion brush."
They both listened with interest and hurriedly asked, "Where's the talisman paper?"
Shen Binghan pointed to Ye Chenfeng's bed and said, "It's in that box on his bed."
The box had a combination lock and couldn't be opened, leaving Shen Binghan at a loss. Suddenly, his eyes lit up when he spotted an ugly gourd under the pillow. "Hey, look at this!" As he spoke, he grabbed the gourd and reached for the talisman paper inside.
Just then, there was a rapid knocking on the dormitory door that startled Shen Binghan, who was about to pull out the talisman paper. Was Ye Chenfeng back? He quickly shoved the gourd back under the pillow. He winked at Su Bei and Qin Keqing, intending to tease that rascal.
On their way to the Boys' Dormitory, Ye Chenfeng listened as Ding Li recounted what had happened since leaving Vocational University.
Ding Li was in a daze as she got on the bus, still dazed as she got off, and then she found herself confused on the rooftop of the library building, with no memory of anything else.
Ye Chenfeng thought someone was going to be in trouble now.
He knocked on the door, and it opened silently.
Ye Chenfeng was taken aback; he remembered closing the door behind him when he left. How could it have opened by itself? He pulled Ding Li closer and looked suspiciously into the dark dormitory. Just moments ago, it had been brightly lit—why was it dark now?
As soon as he voiced his doubts, a splash sounded from above, drenching both him and Ding Li with a bucket of cold water.
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