As the cigarette burned down to the end, Fu Sang slowly slid down from his half-reclining position against the headboard, finally stretching out and lying back in complete relaxation.
“Gifted by nature, high comprehension, and self-taught.”
Fu Sang raised his hand and pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray. He exhaled the last mouthful of smoke and took the opportunity to praise him.
“…”
Qi Changying turned his head and coughed twice. He lowered his head and dropped his eyes, so Fu Sang could not see his expression.
He only heard him say:
“…Don’t say things like that.”
He had already done it, yet he still felt embarrassed.
“Come here.”
Fu Sang smiled, hooked an arm around Qi Changying’s neck, pulled him over, and tilted his head up to seek his lips.
Their kisses were rarely this peaceful, free of confrontation and tension, or the fierce struggle to conquer and claim each other. Instead, this was a rare moment of tenderness and lingering affection, like the quiet intimacy lovers shared after making love. All that was missing were a few sweet, loving words.
After kissing and nuzzling each other for a while, Qi Changying buried his face in the hollow of Fu Sang’s neck, wrapped both arms around his waist, and held him in his embrace.
“What are you doing?”
Looking somewhat distractedly at the old ceiling of the little room, Fu Sang opened his mouth and asked lazily.
“…”
Qi Changying seemed to let out a slow sigh.
His slightly cool lips rested against the pulsing artery on the side of Fu Sang’s neck. His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.
“I’m sorry…”
When he heard those two words clearly, Fu Sang froze for a moment before frowning.
“What?”
Qi Changying’s apology was truly inexplicable.
What happened just now could barely be considered consensual, and Qi Changying had done very well. Fu Sang was quite satisfied. But now, after everything was over, the one who had provided the service was apologizing to the one who had enjoyed it. What kind of nonsense was that?
Whatever the case, this ill-timed apology completely ruined Fu Sang’s mood.
While he remained silent, Qi Changying held him a little tighter.
“…I’m sorry.”
At that, Fu Sang recalled Qi Changying’s strange behavior earlier.
…What the hell?
Was he really apologizing for not having been able to magically appear in the little dark room all those years ago, shining his light to save him and illuminate his world?
This ghost’s sage-father heart was so pure it was downright bizarre and infuriating.
If that was really the case, then could what had just happened also have been nothing more than his way of making amends?
Fu Sang sneered.
“Are you pitying me?”
Whatever little good mood he had accumulated earlier was now completely gone. Fu Sang gave him a push.
“Get up. I have other things to do.”
“Okay…” Qi Changying propped himself up, subtly nuzzling his cheek against Fu Sang’s as he did so.
“Do you need me to go inside?”
“No.” Fu Sang sat up, grabbed his clothes, and pulled them on, then ran his hand through his messy hair.
“Find a place where you won’t get in the way.”
…
Liu Dongfeng squatted outside the door and smoked five cigarettes.
Whatever Fu Sang was busy doing inside, he did not want to know about it.
The scene he had witnessed through the window that day popped into his mind again, and Liu Dongfeng really did not want to follow that line of thought any further.
To avoid hearing anything he shouldn’t, he deliberately walked farther away, found a rock to sit on, and waited while smoking.
After a long time, he finally heard the lock on the door behind him being released, followed by the creak of someone pulling it open.
Liu Dongfeng pressed the cigarette in his mouth against the ground to put it out, took a deep breath, and only turned around after preparing himself.
He saw Fu Sang leaning lazily against the doorway, his clothes far from neat and even somewhat disheveled.
“Come in.” Fu Sang looked him over from a distance and commanded.
Liu Dongfeng stood up, dusted off his trousers, and silently followed him inside.
The little room faced away from the sun, and it was even colder inside than outside.
After stepping over the threshold, Liu Dongfeng immediately caught the smell inside, even though the window was open and the air was circulating.
They were both men. What could he not understand?
But the whole thing was truly incomprehensible.
Anyone who knew a little about the Nether Path knew that an underworld spirit’s appearance was fixed at the final moment before death. Everything from their hair to their clothes was part of their spirit body, forming a single whole that could not be taken apart.
To put it simply in modern terms, a ghost’s clothes could not be removed, so naturally, it could not do what people usually did after taking their clothes off.
Moreover, underworld spirits did not possess the thoughts and emotions of ordinary people, so they were unlikely to develop desires of this kind. Besides, even if they did have such desires, who would want to do this sort of thing with a ghost?
Zhuge Fusang definitely had some kind of strange fetish.
Liu Dongfeng thought that Fu Sang’s remark during the day, “Can it detect making love?” was merely to disgust him. He assumed that the relationship between this young man and this ghost would stop at kissing, which was already shocking enough. Who could have imagined that the would actually go all the way?
“You…”
Liu Dongfeng felt somewhat awkward and began to wonder whether he had chosen the right time to visit.
He could not bring himself to think any further. Just as he was about to force himself to start a conversation, he glanced to the side and suddenly noticed another figure in the room besides himself and Fu Sang.
…No, a ghostly figure.
It was the middle of the night. The room had only one door and one small, prison-like window. Very little moonlight could enter, and only a small bedside lamp cast a dim yellow glow.
Liu Dongfeng had something on his mind and had not paid much attention when he first entered. Only now, when he happened to turn his head, did he meet the gaze of Qi Changying, who was sitting quietly at the small table in the corner.
Seeing a ghost in the middle of the night was genuinely terrifying. Even a spirit master accustomed to seeing ghosts could not withstand such a sudden encounter.
Liu Dongfeng hurriedly stumbled back two steps, raised a hand to clutch his chest, and struggled for a long time before finally finding his voice.
“You, you…”
“Didn’t you all want to find the seventh-rank Crimson Evil? Here he is. Isn’t he handsome?”
Fu Sang walked over, reached out, and gripped Qi Changying’s chin, turning his face toward Liu Dongfeng. His manner resembled someone proudly showing a beloved treasure to a guest.
“Not many people have seen him. You’re one of them. Do you feel honored, Officer?”
“…Very honored.”
Liu Dongfeng pulled at the corner of his mouth with a bitter smile, barely managing to crack a joke.
“So honored that I feel like I’m about to be silenced.”
“No. If I were going to silence you, I would have done it already. Didn’t I tell you? You can still enjoy many good nights of sleep without worrying.”
Fu Sang released Qi Changying and glanced at Liu Dongfeng with an ambiguous smile. Then he suddenly brought up something else.
“Besides, there’s no need for you to feel guilty. You’ve already helped me keep my secret, haven’t you?”
“I…”
Liu Dongfeng originally wanted to say something, but the moment he uttered the first word, his voice abruptly stopped.
Only then did he realize something was wrong. He frowned.
“How do you…?”
“How do I know that old bastard Zhuge Heng summoned you to have a private talk, vented his anger at you, and even told you to expose all my secrets?”
With a faint click, Fu Sang removed the monitoring bracelet from his wrist and tossed it to Liu Dongfeng.
Something the Spirit Supervision Bureau had spent several years developing had become nothing more than a plastic toy that Fu Sang could take apart at will.
Liu Dongfeng caught it, lowered his head, and brought it closer for a careful look. Only then, under the dim light, did he notice a string of unintelligible incantations that had somehow appeared on the inner ring of the bracelet.
The rune incantations were drawn very carelessly, like scratches someone had randomly carved with a small knife. Yet the way the strokes were combined was strange. They did not resemble any kind of talisman Liu Dongfeng knew. He studied them for a long time but still could not figure out what they were for.
Then he suddenly realized something and turned to inspect his own bracelet.
The small light on the inner side of his bracelet, which indicated that the listening function was active, was glowing faintly.
“…” Liu Dongfeng sucked in a breath of cold air, a vague guess forming in his mind.
“These runes… are they meant to reverse an object’s function?”
Fu Sang nodded.
“You really are…” Liu Dongfeng held out the bracelet and returned it to him.
“I’m starting to feel a little glad that I didn’t rashly give you up just now.”
He had never even heard of something like this. Normally, when drawing a talisman, even if one drew it meticulously on yellow paper with cinnabar, there was no guarantee that it would work a hundred percent of the time. Yet this young man could produce something so obscure, uncommon, and complicated with just a few strokes of a knife…
This kid was truly terrifying.
“Why are you giving it back to me? It seems like it might still be useful. Keep it as a souvenir.”
Fu Sang spoke casually. Then he leaned lazily against the bed, reached beside him for the cigarette pack, and picked it up. It felt suspiciously light. When he looked down, he discovered that it was empty.
Seeing this, Liu Dongfeng felt his own pocket and very consciously handed him his cigarettes.
“Thanks.”
Fu Sang lowered his head and lit a cigarette, returning to the main topic.
“Do you know why I allowed you to see him?”
“…”
Liu Dongfeng previously thought it might be a provocation.
But now he felt that things were far from that simple.
He chuckled self-deprecatingly and asked tentatively.
“…Could it be some kind of test?”
“Perhaps.”
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at him, his eyes dark and unreadable.
“Because I think you might have some value to me.”
“Over the past two days, many people have tried to pull me into the game, use me, or make deals with me that aren’t worth it. Honestly, I don’t want to deal with any of them, but I can’t help it. I’ve still been dragged into this against my will. If I have to choose sides between something disgusting and something even more disgusting, I’d rather flip the table outright. That would be much more satisfying.”
Liu Dongfeng frowned, struggling to keep up with his train of thought.
“You mean…?”
“I mean, I’d like to propose a deal to you as well.”
“Since you chose to conceal his existence from Zhuge Heng when he asked about him, regardless of your reasons, at least one thing is certain: you don’t completely trust him. Or, to put it another way, you don’t approve of the way he does things.”
As he spoke, Fu Sang absentmindedly played with Qi Changying’s hand.
Perhaps Fu Sang’s fingertips tickled him a little. Before long, Qi Changying turned his palm over, slipped his fingers between Fu Sang’s, and slowly closed them, gently intertwining their fingers and silently stopping his movements.
Fu Sang seemed to freeze slightly for a moment. Then he pulled his hand free from Qi Changying’s and did not touch him again.
Standing opposite them, Liu Dongfeng pretended not to notice their sweet interaction.
“I never said that.”
“Saying it is one thing. Showing it is another. If you were truly loyal to Zhuge Heng, why didn’t you tell him outright that Crimson Evil was hiding beside me and that I had deliberately kissed him in front of you?”
“Actually, I’m a little regretful. Because you didn’t say anything, I lost the best reason to kill you.”
“?”
“Just kidding.”
Fu Sang propped his head up with one hand and lazily took a drag of his cigarette.
“After what happened this time, you should have realized it too. The Zhuge family has monopolized the Nether Path for many years. Not only the Nether Path, but even the Spirit Supervision Bureau has become Zhuge Heng’s personal kingdom. I believe the people in the Bureau and those higher up have long been dissatisfied with this. It’s only a matter of time before they step in to set things right. As it happens, the infighting between those two old men in the Zhuge family has given you the perfect opportunity.”
“Right now, in this muddy pool, both the snipe and the clam want to use me and my ghost to win this game. But what I hate most in my life is being controlled by others and taking orders from them. I hate making wedding clothes for someone else even more. So I want to be the fisherman who ultimately profits.”
“…”
Fu Sang had indeed hit the nail on the head.
Unlike the Spirit Path, where large and small sects flourished like a hundred flowers in bloom and kept one another in check, the Zhuge family dominated the Nether Path. Other small families did exist, but most had been squeezed until they had almost no room left to survive.
The Zhuge family had monopolized all the artifacts, talismans, spells, and incantations of the Nether Path. They also controlled nearly all its top talents. Under such circumstances, no one dared to fall out with the Zhuge family. Even those who had grievances could only discuss matters gently and politely, never daring to take a firm stance. They had been pushed into a completely passive position.
The best example was what had happened this time. Zhuge Fusang was a suspect in a major case, yet Zhuge Heng could take him away whenever he wanted and release him whenever he wanted. From the director of the Spirit Supervision Bureau down to Liu Dongfeng, the head of the special investigation team, everyone had to act like a grandson and dared not to make a fart.
This situation definitely had to be addressed, but the problem was that they had never found the opportunity. Nor was anyone willing to be the bird that stuck its head out.
“By the way, you suddenly came to see me. What was it for?”
Only after saying all that did Fu Sang remember to ask why Liu Dongfeng had appeared here in the middle of the night.
“Actually, it wasn’t anything important…”
Compared with Fu Sang’s long string of words, the question Liu Dongfeng brought was as tiny as a sesame seed.
“I just wanted to ask what your position really is. I want to know what you’re planning to do. Because I feel that my judgment may have been wrong. At first, I thought you were hiding, sheltering, and protecting a Crimson Evil because you had some kind of conspiracy in mind. I never expected that you two would have that kind of relationship… Now I can see that you and your Crimson Evil don’t seem to have much desire to attack anyone, nor do you covet glory, wealth, or supreme power. Otherwise, with your temperament and abilities, the Nether Path would have been turned upside down long ago.”
“But if the Crimson Evil falls into Zhuge Heng’s hands, the situation may be different. So I’ve been wondering whether I should find a way to get you released if you really don’t want to get involved in this mess.”
“What kind of relationship?” After listening to this long speech, Fu Sang picked out only one point.
“What kind of relationship do we have?”
“?” Liu Dongfeng felt somewhat awkward.
Was there some special thrill in hearing someone spell it out?
He did not understand, but still answered.
“…A romantic relationship?”
“No.” Fu Sang denied it and emphasized, “It’s a relationship between a master and a pet.”
“?”
‘Not even master and servant.’
‘Fine.’
‘Whatever made him happy.’
While Liu Dongfeng was busy feeling awkward on his own, Fu Sang took out a barrier talisman. Holding the talisman paper between two fingers, he placed it between himself and Qi Changying, blocking his voice so Qi Changying could not hear him.
“Your judgment was wrong, but mine wasn’t. Officer, you really are a blindly stubborn, self-righteous old fossil.”
“Two hours ago, Zhuge Heng revealed all his secrets to me. Now I’ll reveal them to you. Here’s the situation we’re facing… I’ll keep it brief. Hidden underground beneath the Zhuge family is a gate that has been accumulating resentment. Because of a personal grudge, Zhuge Lin wants to blow it up and drag everyone down with him. Zhuge Heng, meanwhile, wants my ghost to bear all the responsibility, clean up the mess for the Zhuge family, and die in everyone else’s place.”
“That’s impossible. Anyone who covets my ghost will have to pay the price.”
“So, next, I’ll enter the game and muddy the waters even further, giving your Spirit Supervision Bureau a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ll personally dig into the secrets of the Xuangu Mountain Range and generously share them with you, giving you a reason to strike the Zhuge family down in one blow so they can never rise again.”
“Of course, I’m not giving this away for free, but I’m not expecting you to do anything for me either.”
“First, find an opportunity to tell Zhuge Heng that the Crimson Evil is hiding inside the snake-bone nail on me, has a gentle temperament, is not aggressive, and obeys everything he’s told. Also, be sure to emphasize that he and I are in a relationship where we can kiss and make love.”
“Second, I want to know what people think of Zhuge Mingyun, so I can confirm something.”
“Third, find a time and opportunity as soon as possible to make up an excuse to trick Huo Wei into leaving the Xuangu Mountain Range.”
“Fourth, I’ll take responsibility for resolving the Zhuge family’s internal strife. You’re more familiar with the Spirit Supervision Bureau. After the main branch collapses, you and the others should know how to take advantage of the chaos and strike while the iron is hot. I’ll leave all those matters to you. I only want to emphasize two things.”
“In a chaotic situation like this, killing a few people is inevitable. I don’t want some blind idiot interfering in my business afterward, saying unnecessary things or doing unnecessary things.”
“Also, when everything is over, I don’t want anyone pointing fingers at my ghost or showing any unnecessary desire to control him.”
“I’ll say it again: everyone who covets him must die.”
