Xu Deng let out a small breath. Finally, some peace and quiet. He carried his backpack into the classroom.
His seat was near the middle of the room, unremarkable—not as conspicuous as the front row, nor as attention-grabbing as the back. Just like him: someone with little presence wherever he went.
Xu Deng handed his homework to the class representative first, then took out his books and spread them open on the desk.
When the bell rang, two boys stepped in right on its tail.
Xu Deng looked up.
The boy in front was tall, his uniform jacket slung casually over one shoulder. He had a striking, arrogant face. He leaned lazily into his chair and stretched his long legs out past the desk, drawing frequent glances from the girls in class. It was the campus heartthrob, Ji Ziyang.
Half a step behind him was Ji Ziyang’s friend, Jiang Yue. His expression was flippant, and his peach-blossom eyes seemed gentle when they looked at people, yet a shadow of gloom hid within them.
Xu Deng withdrew his gaze and lowered his head, recalling the plot of the book.
Apparently, Ji Ziyang was a key figure in the story.
The plot concerning Ji Ziyang went like this:
The Ji Family and the Jiang Family were old family friends. Ji Ziyang had known Jiang Cheng since childhood and was a good friend of the male lead, Jiang Cheng.
Although the Ji Family was not a Xuanmen family like the Jiangs, Ji Ziyang possessed a Pure Yang Constitution. No ghost could invade him; he was born a walking nemesis of ghostly entities. That was why Ji Ziyang did not believe in gods or ghosts—no ghost had ever dared approach him.
Jiang Cheng was a few years older than Ji Ziyang and looked after him like a younger brother. He never spoke of such things to his friend. In his view, Ji Ziyang could not be disturbed by dark, sinister influences. But after Ji Ziyang entered university, one day he was suddenly haunted by an evil ghost.
Naturally, it was no ordinary ghost that could entangle Ji Ziyang. As a member of Xuanmen, Jiang Cheng was duty-bound to drive out ghosts and purge evil. The ghost was indeed formidable, and after a battle of techniques with Jiang Cheng, it fled.
To protect Ji Ziyang, Jiang Cheng stayed by his side. A few days passed in seeming calm… Then one night, a sinister wind howled, and a vengeful ghost appeared before Jiang Cheng, severely wounding him with a single move.
Where that vengeful ghost descended, dark clouds covered the moon. Its strength was beyond anything Jiang Cheng had ever seen, and for the first time, he felt the fear of being on the verge of death.
Only then did Jiang Cheng realize that the formidable ghost from before was merely this vengeful ghost’s subordinate!
Evil ghosts all respectfully called him—the Ghost King.
This was the first time Xuanmen learned of the Ghost King’s existence.
But what confused Jiang Cheng was that the Ghost King had victory within his grasp yet chose not to kill Ji Ziyang, threatening instead to make Ji Ziyang wish he were dead. No matter what method Jiang Cheng used, no matter where he hid Ji Ziyang, the Ghost King followed like a shadow. The Ghost King slowly, bit by bit, tortured Ji Ziyang, as if playing with prey that had nowhere to escape, enjoying every moment.
Jiang Cheng had never encountered such a difficult opponent. He joined other Xuanmen comrades to fight the Ghost King.
Xuanmen suffered heavy losses.
And Ji Ziyang was finally tortured into madness. He could not bear it and ended his own life. Before he died, he opened his eyes wide and said, “So it was you. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me go. Why do you keep clinging to me?”
His dying words gave Jiang Cheng a clue. Jiang Cheng investigated the people Ji Ziyang had known and finally locked his target on Ji Ziyang’s high school classmate—Xu Deng.
Xu Deng’s death was highly suspicious. But what was even more suspicious was that everyone connected to Xu Deng had died.
The masterminds behind Xu Deng’s death, the classmates who had bad relations with him, the thugs who had bullied him, the teachers who had criticized him… even Xu Deng’s father and brother.
Anyone who had ever had a conflict with Xu Deng came to no good end.
Jiang Cheng visited Xu Deng’s former classmates.
The reason Xu Deng haunted and tortured Ji Ziyang gradually surfaced. According to classmates from Green Vine High School, Xu Deng had a crush on Ji Ziyang while alive. At school, he was always hovering around Ji Ziyang, but Ji Ziyang had never regarded Xu Deng as worth noticing.
So Jiang Cheng put together the information he had obtained and concluded: Xu Deng haunted Ji Ziyang because he could not get what he wanted. Love turned to hate, so after becoming a vengeful ghost, he came for revenge…
Love! Turned! To! Hate!
Xu Deng: ???
Xu Deng’s mood was complicated. Fortunately, only the System knew this absurd plot. Otherwise, Xu Deng felt he would not need to wait three months—he could be socially dead on the spot.
Because he knew the plot, Xu Deng could not bring himself to look directly at Ji Ziyang. He turned away, the tips of his ears warming… Where on earth did this rumor come from?
He really did not know that after his death, others would interpret him this way!
People really did bully the dead because they could not talk back…
Xu Deng pressed his lips tightly together.
He seriously recalled his past behavior. Would it really make people misunderstand him like that…
Speaking of him and Ji Ziyang, they were like two people from different worlds.
Ji Ziyang was an admired and popular campus heartthrob. Wherever he was, attention followed, like a light source drawing people close… And Xu Deng was a marginal person. He had no presence at home, and the same at school. He lived in the shadows, cared about and liked by no one.
Someone like him, even if they were in the same school and the same class, should have had no intersection with Ji Ziyang. It was just that one time after school, Ji Ziyang passed by and casually helped him.
Xu Deng knew Ji Ziyang had only done it in passing, not specifically for him. If it had been anyone else that day, Ji Ziyang would have helped them too…
But Ji Ziyang was the only person in this school who had ever helped him. It was the only kindness he had ever received.
So much so that at the time, he developed a sliver of unrealistic fantasy—
Could I become Ji Ziyang’s friend too?
Ji Ziyang was so excellent and dazzling; naturally, he was never short of friends. There were so many people around him. Could Xu Deng also become one of them?
If I just got a little closer… could I blend in, step into his light, and become someone like him?
Would I also be liked, have friends, become different?
Back then, carrying that thought, he cautiously and clumsily approached Ji Ziyang.
He went with them to internet cafes to play games, to KTV to sing, joined their activities… But no matter how hard he tried, he never fit in.
It was not that Xu Deng had not thought of giving up. But looking at Ji Ziyang and the people around him, he could not bear to leave just like that.
If he did, he would lose even this one chance to get close to the light.
He thought he was only doing what many others did—trying to become Ji Ziyang’s friend… Who would have thought that in other people’s eyes, this was actually a secret crush?!
Xu Deng admitted Ji Ziyang was excellent and admirable… But that appreciation was absolutely not that kind of romantic affection!
At most, it could be called a kind of yearning.
Yearning for something he himself did not have.
Yearning for another kind of life, another way of being.
So there was no secret crush at all, and certainly no love turned to hate. Then in the book, after his death, why did he haunt and torture Ji Ziyang?
Ji Ziyang did not want to be his friend. That was not Ji Ziyang’s fault; they simply did not click. People were different from one another; there was no use forcing it… And Ji Ziyang had even helped him. He truly had no reason to hurt him. But that vengeful ghost in the book, as if ruled by rage and hatred, hurt and hated everyone equally, like some stranger monster.
If fate really could not be changed, would he truly become that?
Xu Deng lowered his eyes.
The System’s offer—he had actually been tempted for a moment. But that negative 1.85 million number—could it really be turned around so easily?
Xu Deng gave a self-mocking curl of his lips. Compared to a fate that was hard to change, at least he could start keeping his distance from Ji Ziyang now… There were so many people who liked Ji Ziyang. One fewer so-called “secret admirer” would not be noticeable at all. After a while, no one would remember.
Jiang Yue, though…
Xu Deng glanced sideways, his expression cooling.
Jiang Yue had been the first person he killed after becoming a vengeful ghost.
Ji Ziyang had only refused to be his friend; that truly “did not warrant death.” But Jiang Yue deserved to die many times over.
Even though Jiang Yue also came from a wealthy family, compared to the proud and upright Ji Ziyang, he was rotten inside despite his gilded exterior.
It was only because the Jiang Family’s business depended on the Ji Family that Jiang Yue associated with Ji Ziyang. He restrained himself in front of Ji Ziyang, but inside he was utterly vile… According to the book’s plot, three months later, on Xu Deng’s eighteenth birthday, Jiang Yue would invite him using Ji Ziyang’s name. But it would be a prank. While Xu Deng struggled to escape, he fell down the stairs.
He died in someone else’s prank. The murderer faked the scene of his death and escaped punishment without a shred of guilt. His father and brother thought his death was a disgrace and hastily arranged the funeral. They neither investigated the cause nor made it public. And none of the school’s students or teachers cared that one person was missing.
His death was like his existence: silent from beginning to end.
Unwilling to accept it, he became a vengeful ghost. The first person he took revenge on—Jiang Yue.
He tortured Jiang Yue for three days and three nights, drew out his soul and tore it to pieces, then cruelly killed everyone who had attended that day’s party, one by one—
