Volume One, Chapter 61: Blind Student, You Have Spotted the Key Point

Ye Puming twisted his mustache with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, while his right hand curled into a fist, tapping his knee rhythmically and silently with his index finger.

“Before the person from your dream appeared, did anything unusual happen at home?” Ye Puming asked.

Luo Yiyi shook her head in confusion. “Everything has always been peaceful at home; nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened.”

“No strange occurrences at all?”

Luo Yiyi gave a wry smile. “Is there anything stranger than getting a boyfriend in your dreams?”

Ye Puming stroked his mustache awkwardly. “Ahem... I mean before that.”

Luo Yiyi frowned and shook her head again. “My mother is a classic housewife. Aside from doing laundry, cooking, and occasionally playing mahjong, she doesn’t do much else. My father is a small business owner; his only real hobby is collecting old paintings and antiques.”

Ye Puming’s eyes lit up as he seized upon the key point. “So, before your dreams started, did your father acquire any new antiques or paintings?”

Luo Yiyi replied, “He did.”

She recalled, “About a week before I started having these dreams, on a rainy night, my father unexpectedly came home from a business trip. He made quite a commotion, waking my mother and me. He was very drunk, but he pulled my mother aside and whispered secretively to her. Meanwhile, the housekeeper, unfazed, carried a box into the storage room where my father keeps his antiques.”

[Did I just hear that? An antique storage room? Wealthy little sister, please take me under your wing!]

[When I heard her mother was a housewife, I thought—hey, same as my mom; then her father is a small business owner—not much difference; but when I heard about the antique storage room, turns out the joke’s on me.]

[So the reason I’ve never encountered ghosts is simply because I’m not rich enough—got it, poverty is the original sin.]

[Antiques really can easily be involved in supernatural things. Who knows what might be attached to an old relic?]

[You sound like you know something, care to elaborate?]

[My old neighbor got his hands on a painting from somewhere and would show it off to anyone who visited. Later, his whole family of four died at home from carbon monoxide poisoning… and they even had a gas alarm installed.]

[So the alarm didn’t go off? Which brand was it? Tell us so the rest of us can avoid it.]

[Hahaha, good catch.]

[How could it not go off? It was so loud my kid thought it was an air raid drill.]

[What the—? Ghostly interference?]

[I once read in a book that some antiques, after being buried underground for a long time, absorb a lot of yin energy and dampness. This can cause them to emanate a strong energy field, which can affect the human nervous system and cause hallucinations.]

[You wrote a lot, I’m sticking with you.]

[I don’t understand, but it sounds very advanced.]

[Where’s my translator? Translate it for me.]

[In plain terms: seeing ghosts!]

[Got it. That’s about as straightforward as it gets…]

“Can you take us to see the storage room?” Ye Puming asked.

Ye Puming glanced furtively at Master Dianqiu, and seeing her silently eating sunflower seeds, felt a pang of doubt. He had watched her previous livestream, and had been amazed at her abilities. But now, after all his calculations, why had she not spoken a single word? Could it be that her last livestream had all been staged?

A big question mark formed in his heart, but he was snapped back to reality by Luo Yiyi’s repeated calls of “Master Ye.”

Luo Yiyi switched her phone to the front camera, giving everyone a clear view of the storage room.

Though called a storage room, it was actually a huge basement. The room was divided roughly into two: one side hung with scrolls and paintings, the other filled with bottles and jars, the two separated by bookshelves lined with ancient, yellowed books.

[Wealthy sister, I bow to you.]

[I admit my earlier comments were a bit much.]

[Look at you lot—unlike me, who only feels sorry for our dear sister.]

Qin Yu raised her eyebrows with interest.

There was an old lady draped over a vase; a black snake baring its fangs, coiled atop a sword; a white-clad female ghost grinning eerily; and an official’s daughter, hugging a flute and gazing mournfully…

So many ghosts in this place—did her family even know?

Though Ye Puming couldn’t see these spirits, the atmosphere through the camera made him uneasy.

“Can you find the box from that night?” Ye Puming asked.

But Luo Yiyi, who had answered every question until now, suddenly fell silent.

Because she was using the front-facing camera, Ye Puming couldn’t see her face. Thinking she hadn’t heard him, he repeated the question, “Miss, can you find that box from that night?”

Suddenly, the camera flipped, and Luo Yiyi’s face loomed close to the screen, her features enlarged and startling.

Her pale pink lips pressed to the phone, she spoke each word coldly and deliberately: “Mind! Your! Own! Business!”

[My god, that scared me to death.]

[I almost threw my phone.]

[My face mask dried up in fright.]

[Luo Yiyi doesn’t look right. She seems possessed.]

Ye Puming felt dizzy, the phone in front of him glowing with rings of light, but he couldn’t make out the image on the screen.

Then he heard a forceful shout: “Break!”

[Master Ye, wake up!]

[Master Ye, put the knife down!]

[What, is another one about to die live on air?]

Ye Puming glanced at the livestream comments in confusion, then looked up and realized there was a gleaming fruit knife above his head—clutched firmly in his own hand.

With a clang, the knife fell to the floor.

Cold sweat broke out all over Ye Puming—just now, he had been about to press the blade to his own neck.

He didn’t dare imagine the consequences if he’d gone through with it.

“Thank you, Master Dianqiu, for saving my life!”

Once he came to his senses, Ye Puming immediately offered his thanks.

Qin Yu nodded. “Leave the rest to me.”

Ye Puming still felt a chill at his neck. Not daring to insist, he nodded vigorously. “Yes, of course!”

“Creature, get out of her body at once!” Qin Yu’s aura flared, her unique tone carrying a ruthless edge.

Ye Puming wiped the sweat from his brow, deeply ashamed. Master Dianqiu hadn’t spoken earlier in order to keep a low profile and let him have a chance to act… and he had actually doubted her true abilities. How could he have been so blind?

Luo Yiyi’s head rotated ninety degrees in a grotesque motion. Her face was ashen, even her lips black. “What are you, to speak to me like that?”

Qin Yu said nothing more; this was a perfect chance to test her spiritual power after recovery.

She slipped two fingers into her pocket and drew out a talisman. “You’ll regret your attitude.”

Luo Yiyi’s beautiful face was about to sneer, but she sensed something flying toward her. Instinctively, she threw away the phone and dodged to the side.

With a bang, a round pit—half the length of an arm in radius—appeared right where Luo Yiyi had just been standing.