Nan Deng did not sleep well; he woke up once at six in the morning.
He opened his eyes and instinctively searched for Lian Yi, soon spotting him lying beside him.
Their positions had hardly changed, with Nan Deng nestled in Lian Yi’s arms, one hand tightly holding his.
When he moved, Lian Yi woke up too, looking down at him, “Hungry?”
“No…” Nan Deng’s hair brushed against Lian Yi’s chin as he held Lian Yi’s warm, dry hand.
Lian Yi’s palms were rough, with several calluses, feeling very hard to the touch.
Nan Deng noticed a black coat draped at the foot of the bed and hesitantly said, “Why does your job have to be at night…?”
Lian Yi’s job seemed relatively idle, yet he always went out at night. Nowadays, the residents are very afraid of ghosts, locking their doors tight before dark.
If he… but that didn’t make sense either. Celestial masters had to catch ghosts everywhere, so it couldn’t be that leisurely.
Nan Deng was confused and more worried about Lian Yi.
After all, it’s so unsafe at night. Couldn’t he change to a daytime job?
“When we leave here,” Lian Yi said softly, “I’ll switch jobs.”
He had saved some money over the years, enough to support their living.
Although the restriction had not been lifted, he wasn’t too worried. Zhuo Qing had been eaten by the rabbit head, so even if the restriction acted up, he was confident he could escape Yezhang Tower after his death.
At that time, he only hoped Nan Deng wouldn’t be afraid. Whether he was a celestial master or a resentful spirit, he could protect him.
Nan Deng tilted his face up, staring at Lian Yi for a while, feeling that he might be hiding another secret from him.
“When are we leaving?” he pressed.
Everything needed for the trip during the day had been prepared, and the destination had been chosen by Nan Deng. According to the map, it was quite far away.
“Tomorrow.”
Nan Deng’s eyes widened slightly, “So soon…”
He hadn’t fully adapted to the sunlight yet and worried, “What if I turn back into a ghost on the way?”
Until now, Nan Deng hadn’t figured out why he had turned human.
Although he had Lian Yi to protect him, with food, clothing, and no worries, going out meant he had to consider some issues.
The thought of visiting another place made Nan Deng happy yet nervous.
“Don’t worry, I’m here.”
Lian Yi had, of course, considered this situation and made thorough preparations. He was determined to take Nan Deng away.
Nan Deng asked again, “What about Xiao Tu?”
The rabbit head, hearing its name, hopped over.
Lian Yi said, “We’ll bring it too. I prepared a box.”
This reassured Nan Deng. He turned over, hugged the rabbit head, and spoke softly to it, “Xiao Tu, do you want to go out and play?”
The rabbit head wasn’t very interested in playing. Hearing that nothing important was happening, it nuzzled Nan Deng’s hand and closed its eyes to continue sleeping.
It was still early. Lian Yi stroked Nan Deng’s hair, “Sleep a little longer.”
Nan Deng indeed hadn’t slept enough. He yawned, instinctively leaned towards Lian Yi while hugging the rabbit head, and closed his eyes again.
When he woke up from this sleep, it was almost noon.
Since they were preparing to leave, there were no new ingredients in the refrigerator. The little paper figure came out and quietly cooked two bowls of noodles.
Nan Deng wasn’t very skilled with chopsticks yet, so Lian Yi handed him a fork, twirling the noodles into small bundles before eating them.
This felt like an amusing game to Nan Deng, who enjoyed it immensely, even finishing the noodle soup.
He was never picky about food, much like the rabbit head, perhaps a pet mimicking its owner.
Lian Yi wiped his face and hands and told him to wait on the balcony: “It’s time to water the flowers today.”
Nan Deng obediently got up and left, taking the watering can to the balcony. Then he hesitated, went back inside, and fetched an umbrella.
He opened the umbrella, put on the hat Lian Yi had bought, and carefully walked out to the balcony, squatting down to water the flowers.
The fresh flowers in the corner had only been bought a few days ago. They were growing exceptionally well, with a new bud appearing in no time.
Nan Deng reached out to touch the flower bud. As soon as his fingertips made contact, the bud suddenly “popped” and grew larger.
Startled, he quickly withdrew his hand. After waiting for a moment and seeing no further changes, he leaned in again for a closer look.
Could it be that he was mistaken, or was the flower just meant to grow like that?
Not quite understanding, Nan Deng pulled out his phone from his pocket, wanting to look up how others took care of flowers.
He wasn’t familiar with pinyin, so he struggled to write a few characters by hand but found it too slow and thought about asking Lian Yi for help.
Holding the umbrella, Nan Deng stood up and saw someone in the distance hurrying towards them along the roadside.
The person was dressed in black, with faint patterns on the collar and cuffs that resembled the attire of a celestial master.
Nan Deng quickly hid inside, anxiously looking for Lian Yi.
Lian Yi had just finished using a few little paper figures to wash the dishes when the rabbit head stealthily ate one. He grabbed the rabbit head by its ears and lifted it out of the kitchen, only to run into Nan Deng.
“What’s wrong?” Lian Yi let go of the rabbit head discreetly, releasing the spell’s hold, and the rabbit head landed on the ground.
Even though he had turned into a human, Nan Deng instinctively feared every celestial master. He said nervously, “It looks like someone is coming…”
Lian Yi immediately instructed him to go back to the bedroom: “I’ll go check.”
Nan Deng quickly hid in the bedroom and watched through the crack in the door as Lian Yi went to check the entrance.
Indeed, someone was outside, but the door was soon closed again. Nan Deng only caught a glimpse of Lian Yi’s back.
He picked up the rabbit head and crouched by the door, quietly observing.
Outside, Lin Jiu had a complex expression. “Chief Lian, did you receive the message?”
He couldn’t reach Lian Yi and guessed that Lian Yi hadn’t checked his communicator again, so he had no choice but to come over in person.
As expected, Lian Yi hadn’t checked it. “What message?”
He stood at the door, making no move to let Lin Jiu inside.
Lin Jiu looked around to make sure there was no one else nearby and lowered his voice deliberately, “Elder Xie Yun discovered the possible source of the disease. They suspect… it’s you.”
Weng Ping Ran trusted Lin Jiu, so he didn’t hide this matter from him. Lin Jiu had known about it since last night.
He had also seen the map and shared Weng Ping Ran’s view that it was too hasty to conclude that Lian Yi was responsible based on a single route. Someone could easily frame him.
However, most of the exorcists in the Inner Court wouldn’t speak up for Lian Yi, and Gu Xu was firmly on Xie Yun’s side.
Lin Jiu quickly said, “They might issue a task order tonight, bringing people over to conduct an inspection.”
The inspection would involve detaining Lian Yi and seizing all his belongings to search for suspicious evidence, including his residence.
Lian Yi’s face remained indifferent. “Why are you telling me this?”
Lin Jiu was silent for a moment. “Did you really do it?”
He came here partly because this seemed like a setup, and it was too early to draw conclusions. He also knew that Lian Yi wasn’t living alone.
Gu Xu hated Lian Yi so much that if he discovered the boy’s existence, who knew what he might do.
Lin Jiu was Weng Ping Ran’s student and had never liked the ways of Elders Zhuo Qing and Gu Xu.
He came to warn Lian Yi to avoid involving innocent people.
Lian Yi coldly said, “No.”
Lin Jiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “The inspection will be either tonight or tomorrow. You… should prepare quickly.”
Lian Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, detecting the hidden meaning in Lin Jiu’s words.
Lin Jiu had come secretly without informing Weng Ping Ran, so he couldn’t stay long. After speaking, he bid farewell to Lian Yi.
Lian Yi watched his silhouette gradually disappear before turning back into the house.
Nan Deng opened the bedroom door. “Who was it?”
Lian Yi raised his hand, holding a yellow talisman paper that had appeared out of nowhere. “Someone came to deliver a ghost-repelling talisman.”
He had indeed mentioned last night that he needed to prepare talismans to place outside the house.
Nan Deng walked out slowly. “That’s good…”
However, he saw Lian Yi crumple the talisman paper into a ball and throw it into the trash can.
“We don’t need it,” Lian Yi said, walking toward Nan Deng. “We’ll leave this afternoon.”
Lin Jiu was still too naive. Since the charge had already been determined, the remaining process was just to find a legitimate way to pin it on him. The inspection would only be a formality.
Even if he had nothing to do with the spreading disease, “evidence” would undoubtedly be found.
Since he had already planned to leave, he didn’t mind doing it a bit earlier.
Lian Yi didn’t explain the reason to Nan Deng. Although Nan Deng was curious, he saw that Lian Yi seemed troubled, so he held back his questions.
He glanced toward the balcony and saw a small black figure of a person leaving the same way they came.
Nan Deng returned to the bedroom, where Lian Yi was packing, and suddenly hugged him tightly.
Lian Yi paused. “What’s wrong?”
Nan Deng, hugging his waist, looked up at him. “I feel… like you’re unhappy right now.”
Lian Yi remained silent. He raised his hand to touch Nan Deng’s fair cheek and slightly bent down to hug him tightly.
His eyes lowered, his breath heavy, and the dull pain in his chest gradually dissipated.
Lian Yi didn’t have many belongings, and Nan Deng had even fewer. A single suitcase was enough for both of them.
There was also a small plastic box, opaque, just the right size for the rabbit head, with small holes in the lid.
The rabbit head was fairly satisfied with this box, jumping in voluntarily and quietly gnawing a small hole on the side, peeking out with one eye.
Nan Deng picked up the small box and noticed that it was almost dark.
He put on his hat and mask and left with Lian Yi.
They didn’t take the suburban streets but instead walked around to the other side through the lawn behind the house. After about ten minutes, they saw a taxi waiting by the roadside.
It was Nan Deng’s first time approaching someone other than Lian Yi in human form. He was a bit timid, keeping his head down and staying close to Lian Yi.
Once they got in the car, the driver didn’t say much. After confirming the destination, he drove off.
Nan Deng and Lian Yi sat together in the back seat. Nan Deng gradually relaxed and turned his head to watch the scenery quickly pass by the window.
The sky grew darker, seemingly about to rain, making it darker earlier than usual.
Meanwhile, the fog-shrouded specter in the underground cave suddenly opened its eyes.
“It’s leaving… where does it want to go?”
The boiling mist awakened the slumbering resentful spirits in the cave, and the fog-shrouded specter commanded, “Go, draw out that hideous monster.”
The resentful spirits dared not disobey and left in the direction the fog-shrouded specter indicated.
Once the cave was left with only the fog-shrouded specter, the disc above began to rotate and glow.
The fog-shrouded specter waited quietly for a moment as the surrounding mist coalesced under the disc’s influence, forming a second fog-shrouded specter.
The second fog-shrouded specter had no thoughts or speech, functioning like a puppet, and it also moved in the direction of the resentful spirits.
As night gradually fell, a black cat woke up energetically. It jumped down from a tree and surveyed its surroundings.
Recently, the hospital had been overcrowded, and resentful spirits had increased, keeping the black cat busier and preventing it from visiting Nan Deng for several days.
At that moment, it detected an unusual scent and sprinted off into the distance.
The fog-shrouded specter relied on the residual aura of the rabbit head for tracking, making precise location difficult.
Learning from the previous experience of being discovered early, the puppet fog-shrouded specter led a large group of resentful spirits stealthily through the underground, arriving at the suburban house to search carefully.
Thin mist rose from the ground, gradually taking shape.
Just as the puppet fog-shrouded specter appeared, it heard a growl from behind.
Turning slowly, it saw a robust black cat by the roadside, glaring at it with fur bristling, ready to attack.
The puppet fog-shrouded specter uttered discontentedly, “Nui…sance…”
The black cat didn’t hesitate, pouncing at the fog-shrouded specter and swatting away an intercepting resentful spirit with its front paw.
Although it was a newly born earth spirit, it was full of spiritual energy and quickly dispatched several resentful spirits.
However, just as it was about to reach the puppet fog-shrouded specter, it threw a black paper talisman, striking the black cat.
This attack was entirely different from the usual methods of resentful spirits, catching the black cat off guard, and forcing it to endure the blow.
Injured, its movements became noticeably slower. It had to stay wary of another attack from the fog-shrouded specter.
With the overwhelming number of resentful spirits around and no celestial master patrolling the outskirts, the black cat was gradually losing ground against the horde of ghosts. It licked its wounded front paw.
Summoning the last bit of its spiritual energy, the black cat launched a final burst of power, driving back several resentful spirits and seizing the opportunity to escape.
