Song Yaoyao woke up already inside a van speeding along the road.
He had been thrown onto the back seat, with his eyes blindfolded, his mouth covered, and his wrists and ankles bound tightly with rope.
As Song Yaoyao’s consciousness gradually cleared, lingering fear from when he had passed out remained at first, but then he forced himself to calm down.
He had been kidnapped.
Song Yaoyao moved his hands and feet a little, trying to struggle free, but he could not break loose. The ropes were tied very tightly, and the black cloth over his eyes was secured firmly, blocking out all light.
Mop Head and Skinny Bamboo Pole had said that the man was targeting Xie Ningwan, but they had kidnapped him instead. Why? Did they plan to use him to threaten Xie Ningwan? Or did they want to get some information about Xie Ningwan from him?
Song Yaoyao was furrowing his brow in thought when the man sitting in the front passenger seat turned his head and noticed his movements.
“He’s awake.”
“Awake?” The driver glanced back through the rearview mirror too. His face reflected there had a mole on the nose—it was the same man Song Yaoyao had encountered in the restroom.
Song Yaoyao could not speak or respond with any movements. He simply lay quietly on the seat, listening carefully to their conversation and memorizing their voices.
“He’s pretty composed,” the man in the passenger seat remarked when Song Yaoyao did not panic, twist around, or make muffled noises. Then he asked, “You’re President Xie’s little lover, right?”
The man’s voice was somewhat hoarse. Song Yaoyao noted the detail but ignored the question.
The driver said, “No mistake. I’ve been watching for a long time. He’s Xie Ningwan’s little boyfriend, always kept close by his side.”
“Hmph.” The passenger seat man let out a mocking chuckle. “Didn’t expect President Xie to have such leisure. But now that he’s in our hands, let’s see how anxious Xie gets.”
“Hey, how long have you been with Xie Ningwan? He must treasure you a lot normally, right?” He asked Song Yaoyao again.
Song Yaoyao kept his composure and stayed completely still, ignoring him once more.
“Don’t waste words on him,” the driver said grimly. “Hurry and move him to our hideout, then let him down.”
“Got it.” The passenger seat man turned his head back and stopped talking to Song Yaoyao.
The van sped along, and Song Yaoyao could feel the wind buffeting the glass windows and the faint vibrations from the seat beneath him.
From what the two men had said, they did not plan to harm him for now. They just intended to stash him somewhere and use him to control Xie Ningwan.
They had mistaken him for Xie Ningwan’s little boyfriend.
Xie Ningwan was not his boyfriend, but Xie Ningwan would definitely come to rescue him.
Before that, Song Yaoyao had to find a chance to escape on his own.
After Song Yaoyao woke up, the van drove for another half hour or so. He silently counted the time until the vehicle stopped and the back door was opened.
“Get out.” It was the grim voice of the man from the driver’s seat.
He grabbed the ropes and hauled Song Yaoyao up, taking him straight into a secluded abandoned shack.
After being dragged out of the van, a faint white light filtered in before his eyes before it darkened again once inside. Song Yaoyao had been pondering the whole time, using his body to sense the surroundings. He knew he had been brought into a room.
“You stay put here nice and good. Once Xie Ningwan shows up… heh.”
The man let out a few sinister chuckles full of unclear meaning, placed Song Yaoyao on a wooden chair, and tightly wound the ropes around his wrists and ankles to the chair. Then he took out a new thick, rough rope and bound his waist to the chair back as well.
Song Yaoyao sat on the chair, now completely unable to move, his whole body restrained. Faint red marks had already appeared on his wrists from the chafing.
He felt a bit uncomfortable and involuntarily twisted his wrists a little.
“Hahahahaha.” The two men laughed again, their laughter full of smugness, schadenfreude, and glee.
After mocking him, one said, “Let’s go. Leave him here.”
“Alright. Lock the door tight. You guard the entrance. I’ll go report…”
Their footsteps faded away. Song Yaoyao heard an old-fashioned rolling shutter door descend not far in front of him, followed by the rusty creaking of the lock.
After the two men left, Song Yaoyao finally showed a hint of fear. His mouth pursed, and he moved his hands and legs again, twisting his head to see if he could dislodge the blindfold or the tape over his mouth.
It did not work. Both men had tied everything very securely. Song Yaoyao struggled until fine sweat beaded on his forehead but made no progress. Instead, he chafed his ankles and wrists even redder.
He had no idea how much time had passed since being tied up, but Xie Ningwan must have already noticed he was missing and was searching for him.
Those people had locked him here precisely to ambush Xie Ningwan when he came looking. He could not just sit and wait.
Song Yaoyao sat still for a while until the heat on his body subsided and his strength recovered a bit. Then he tried rocking the chair while seated, shaking its legs.
The chair legs shook and thudded against the ground with thud thud sounds. The man guarding outside heard it sharply and knocked on the rolling shutter door, snarling, “Don’t even think about breaking free and escaping. It’s all pointless. Behave yourself. Once we deal with Xie Ningwan, we might even spare your life—”
Song Yaoyao stopped moving.
From the earlier test, the chair was old but sturdy and would not come apart easily.
He puffed out his cheeks, racking his brain for other ideas, when the long-unseen system orb suddenly intruded into his mind.
【Host.】
“System!” Song Yaoyao cried out loudly in his mind as if reuniting with family. “I’ve been kidnapped.”
The orb: 【Understood. This incident is also due to you integrating into the book’s world, creating a butterfly effect and plot changes.】
“What should I do now?” Song Yaoyao asked. “Can you help me escape?”
【I can assist you. There is one method, but you must decide whether to use it yourself.】 The system’s calm mechanical voice said.
Song Yaoyao: “What method?”
【I will withdraw the energy from your body and help you temporarily revert to your soul body form.】
Song Yaoyao paused, hesitating. “Revert to that Little Ghost form from before?”
【Yes.】 The system confirmed.
“Then I…” Song Yaoyao was a bit worried and opened his mouth.
He had already grown accustomed to being with Xie Ningwan, and he was very happy. He had just found Song Huaichuan, who might be his brother…
【Rest assured, it’s only temporary.】 The system anticipated his unspoken words and explained, 【You still have a way to turn back into human form. The method is the same as before.】
Hearing this, Song Yaoyao hesitated no longer and immediately said, “Then please help me revert to soul body form!”
As soon as he spoke, with a bang, the pretty and cute boy bound to the chair vanished, leaving behind only a Little Ghost and a pile of scattered clothes.
Song Yaoyao had suddenly turned back into the Little Ghost and felt a bit unaccustomed to it. At the system’s reminder, he easily slipped out from the ropes, his body feeling light and floaty as he tumbled in the air.
【Please proceed with the next part of the plot on your own.】 The system said.
Sensing the system was about to leave again, Song Yaoyao seized the moment to ask the question that had been nagging at him these past few days:
“System, is President Song my brother? Am I really the child who fell into the water at the Song Family? What’s going on? What connection do I have with this book—”
The system replied emotionlessly: 【You will get answers to these questions later. No need to rush.】
The system orb slowly dimmed and vanished from his mind. Song Yaoyao pursed his lips, with no chance to follow up.
He turned his attention back to his surroundings, looking down at his now transparent, misty body. He floated around a few times and regained his old sensation.
He glanced around the room where he was confined. It was a low, squat shack with unplastered cement walls, dim and oppressive. Only at the top of one wall was a small vent, with no glass window installed.
Song Yaoyao looked toward the rolling shutter door, then suddenly knocked over the chair that had bound him before and swiftly floated out through the small window at the top of the wall.
He did not flee. Instead, he circled around to the front of the house.
Sure enough, the man guarding the door heard the chair fall inside and warily prepared to open the rolling shutter to check.
As the rusty old shutter rose, the man widened his eyes in terror.
There was no sign of anyone inside. The live person they had captured had vanished into thin air!
He stared incredulously at the chair in the center of the room, then quickly looked up at the only window inside. The window was far too small for a person to pass through, there were no climbing marks on the wall, and the ropes on the chair on the ground were not broken.
It was haunted!?
As the man stood there in shock, his mind buzzing with fear, preparing to turn and run to his accomplice outside, Song Yaoyao pushed him from behind.
His soul body strength was weak now. Despite using all his force, he still could not knock the man down.
But that was enough. The man felt two hands press onto his back and screamed in fright, stumbling backward repeatedly. Yet he did not go dumb or limp from fear. He pulled a knife from his pocket.
The knife blade gleamed coldly, reflecting light, sharp beyond measure.
They did have weapons on them after all.
Song Yaoyao grew angry and rushed forward to snatch the knife from his hand.
At that moment, the accomplice—the man with the mole on his nose who had first kidnapped Song Yaoyao—heard the commotion from not far away and ran over.
The man with the knife slashed at the air several times. Song Yaoyao would not be hurt by the blade, but he dodged instinctively. Seeing the other, more formidable man arrive, he panicked a little.
The situation changed in an instant. From the distant road came the roar of several vehicles speeding toward them, a grand momentum.
“It’s over. Xie Ningwan found us so fast.” Panic rarely appeared on the mole-nosed man’s face as he ran over shouting, “Where’s the hostage!”
“H-he’s gone!” The knife-wielding man had finally been spooked by the supernatural event into weakening. Song Yaoyao kicked the knife from his hand and anxiously looked toward the approaching convoy.
“What happened? Where’s the person!?”
The two men completely lost their heads in terror and panic. They exchanged a glance and turned to run.
At the same time, the large convoy arrived, blocking their escape route.
Xie Ningwan, dressed in a black trench coat, stepped out alone first from the lead vehicle. His steps were swift, his expression coldly urgent.
“Where is he?”
His last few strides were huge, his aura oppressively low and almost tangible, terrifying. He swung a fist at one of the men.
The man tried to draw a knife but took the blow and crashed heavily to the ground, rolling several meters.
“He’s… he’s inside… We didn’t do anything to him. He just disappeared on his own!” The remaining man had already been scared senseless by Song Yaoyao’s earlier actions and no longer had his knife. He scrambled backward as he spoke.
Xie Ningwan gave him a chilling glance, left him to his men behind, and first headed into the direction the man had indicated to search for Song Yaoyao.
“Song Yaoyao.”
Xie Ningwan’s nerves were taut, not daring to relax for a moment. He entered the room where Song Yaoyao had been held, saw the overturned chair and ropes on the ground, along with his scattered jacket, and his breathing hitched for an instant.
“Song Yaoyao!” He completely lost his usual poise and elegance, calling out anxiously and shakily while searching around.
“I’m right here.” A soft, light, ethereal voice suddenly sounded by his ear.
“Song Yaoyao?” Xie Ningwan froze, feeling a faint, cool breeze wrap around his shoulder and settle on his body.
“What happened?” Xie Ningwan’s eyes were full of worry. He reached out to loosely embrace him, his voice hoarse.
How had he turned back into the Little Ghost?
How could this be?
Had he been hurt?
Pain stabbed at Xie Ningwan’s chest, making it hard to breathe.
Song Yaoyao had no idea what he was thinking and only knew to do the most important thing right now.
He climbed onto Xie Ningwan’s chest, wrapped around his neck, and without warning, leaned in to kiss his lips forcefully! He even extended his tongue tip, probing inside to absorb bodily fluids.
“…” Xie Ningwan suddenly froze, feeling the delicate, warm softness on his lips.
The next second, with a flash of white light, the soft, handsome, completely naked youth solidly landed in his arms.
So cute 💗