Ghost Says - Chapter 9.1

Qiao Gang was like a furious beast with nowhere to vent its rage.

He had found the killer, but didn’t know how to take revenge; he had found the enemy, but didn’t know how to defeat them.

The only thing facing his anger was the air in the room.

His insomnia was getting worse, and the feeling of being watched in the dark was becoming clearer.

Sometimes, he even felt that the gaze never left him for a moment, no matter where he was or what he was doing, there was always a pair of eyes watching him.

Every night, he could even sense that person’s breath… that cold fragrance he despised the most.

This also made him realize that the things he had acquired weren’t much of a threat to that “person”.

This fact made him increasingly agitated, increasingly unable to control his temper, and most of his colleagues were afraid to approach him.

In the end, he even desperately hoped that Lin Xian would come back and tell him everything he had discovered.

Even if he had no evidence, even if others would think he was crazy.

In fact, if this continued, he thought he would eventually go mad…

In the middle of the night, Qiao Gang woke up startled from his dream.

The room was pitch black, with only enough light from outside the window to barely make out the outlines of objects.

In the silent room, only his own breathing could be heard.

But Qiao Gang vaguely felt that besides him, there was someone else in this room…

Another pair of eyes watching him in the dark.

This feeling wasn’t new, in fact, he had become quite familiar with it.

Those eyes were watching him, monitoring him at all times.

They didn’t even spare him in his dreams.

Qiao Gang, who had just woken up from his dream, felt thirsty and wanted to get up for some water, but his limbs wouldn’t obey him, and even making a fist was difficult.

The feeling of his body being detached from his consciousness was very uncomfortable. Knowing this was a natural reaction of the body just after waking up, Qiao Gang closed his eyes, waiting for his body to naturally recover.

It was now late autumn, the weather was very pleasant, and the indoor temperature was just right, but in the warm, soft blanket, Qiao Gang felt a coolness slowly crawling up his ankle.

Cold and soft like a snake.

— It was a hand.

Qiao Gang felt his heart almost stop at that moment.

His whole body was stiff and immobile, unlike the weakness from before. Now, he couldn’t even control the tips of his fingers.

And the more his body couldn’t move, the more sensitive his senses became.

The blanket was pulled down, exposing Qiao Gang’s body to the air.

That cold, soft hand crawled up from his foot, lingered on his thigh for a while, and quickly reached his waist.

Then, another hand caressed his chest.

The ice-cold fingers made Qiao Gang think of a corpse.

A cold, wet sensation attacked his chest, and the feeling of being sucked made his scalp tingle.

Just when the nausea and fear reached their peak, the face buried in his chest finally lifted, and whispered in his ear with a voice Qiao Gang could never forget—

–”Gang, I will never leave you again.”

“No!” Qiao Gang shouted, pushing that person away, but his hands were firmly grasped.

“No! Let me go—!”

“Qiao Gang, it’s me! Wake up!”

Qiao Gang, who was struggling desperately, heard a familiar voice and looked at the person in front of him in confusion.

He saw Lin Xian holding his hands, looking at him with a frown.

“What… happened?”

“You were having a nightmare, I couldn’t wake you up earlier.”

Lin Xian smiled bitterly as he let go of his hands. There were several marks on his arms and face, all from Qiao Gang’s blows.

“That just now didn’t feel like a dream, it was too real…”

He could even feel the other person’s breath on his face.

“…Nightmares can be like that sometimes, making you unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.”

Qiao Gang sighed, the sweat on his body had soaked his clothes.

“Why did you come back?” He remembered Lin Xian saying on the phone earlier that he would be back in a couple of days.

“I finished my business and wanted to come back early.”

“…I have something I want to tell you.”

He swallowed, organized his thoughts, and told him everything he had discovered, Song Yuan’s diary, and all the unusual things that had happened recently.

Lin Xian didn’t seem surprised, his gaze only deepened a bit.

“Are you saying the murderer is Song Yuan?”

“…You don’t believe me?”

Qiao Gang rushed to explain, he knew that identifying a ghost as the murderer was something normal people wouldn’t believe.

“No, on the contrary, I believe you very much,” Lin Xian said unexpectedly, “But have you thought about what we can do even if the murderer is Song Yuan?”

“…What do you mean?”

“I mean, Song Yuan is the murderer, but what can we do? Send it to prison? Or kill it?”

Qiao Gang fell silent. He knew and understood everything Lin Xian said, but he had always believed that if there were two of them, they could figure out a way.

In the time he had spent with Lin Xian, he had come to see him as an ally on the same side. But unexpectedly, Lin Xian bluntly pointed out the reality.

“No matter what, I’ll find a way.”

“How will you find a way? What can you do? For a ghost, human laws don’t apply. Kill it for revenge? It has already died once, can it die again?”

There was a hint of long-lost coldness in Lin Xian’s voice, “Qiao Gang, you have a long life ahead of you, you have your own life, let go of the past. Believe that Xiaoyu and Jian Xia in heaven wouldn’t want to see you like this either.”

“…”

Qiao Gang remained silent.

Seeing him like this, Lin Xian knew his temperament had always been stubborn and he would never give up so easily, so he sighed. “Come with me.”

Qiao Gang, not quite understanding, followed Lin Xian into the study.

Lin Xian turned on the computer, brought up a hidden folder, then entered a password to open it. Inside was a video file.

Qiao Gang didn’t understand why he was being shown this.

Seeing his confused look, Lin Xian only said, “You’ll understand after you watch it.”

After the video file opened, Qiao Gang realized it was a recorded video.

And the location was his bedroom.

The angle of the shot was directly facing the bed in the middle, looking down from above.

Qiao Gang frowned. Although he was very unwilling to believe it, but… was there a camera on his bedroom ceiling?

Judging by the angle, it should be installed on the light.

Lin Xian had installed a pinhole camera in his room? Was he secretly filming him?!

“You…”

As if knowing what he was about to say, Lin Xian put his finger to his lips, gesturing for him to watch carefully.

Qiao Gang reluctantly suppressed his dissatisfaction.

A man with a towel around his lower body appeared on the screen, it was Qiao Gang, and then he started changing into his pajamas.

Seeing this, Qiao Gang’s face turned a bit red, then he desperately tried to hypnotize himself, telling himself there was nothing to be embarrassed about since they were both men.

Then he lay down on the bed, everything was no different from how he usually slept.

Qiao Gang didn’t understand why Lin Xian wanted him to specifically watch this.

“The content of the next two hours has been deleted, what you’re seeing now is the footage two hours after you fell asleep,” Lin Xian explained.

Qiao Gang on the bed was sleeping quietly.

He had always been a good sleeper, not talking in his sleep, not snoring, not grinding his teeth, and rarely even changing positions.

Watching the screen where nothing had changed for five minutes, Qiao Gang was getting impatient.

But just then, there was a movement on the screen, or more accurately, the blanket moved.

Qiao Gang immediately closed his mouth and focused on the screen.

The blanket moved a bit, then there was no more movement, as if the person under the blanket had just shifted.

Qiao Gang watched anxiously, unable to resist turning to ask Lin Xian. “What exactly do you want me to see?”

Lin Xian just said in a deep voice, “Watch carefully.”

Qiao Gang had no choice but to turn back, and when he looked again, he did notice some differences.

The blanket seemed to be bulging up a bit more than before…

Suddenly, Qiao Gang on the screen frowned and groaned, the shoulder exposed from under the blanket moved slightly, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

After a while, his brows furrowed even more, his body moved a couple of times, not by much, but the covering blanket slid down a bit as a result.

Qiao Gang narrowed his eyes. He saw that on the screen, there seemed to be something on his chest…

Lin Xian glanced at him, then paused the video and zoomed in.

In the enlarged image, you could clearly see what was placed on Qiao Gang’s body… it was a hand!

Qiao Gang’s face immediately turned pale.

On the screen, the sleeping Qiao Gang had a pair of hands reaching out from behind, embracing him.

Qiao Gang, being held like this, found it difficult to change positions. Naturally, after a while, his whole body’s blood flow was obstructed, which is why Qiao Gang on the screen looked so uncomfortable.

No wonder he used to wake up with aches all over his body in the morning, and sometimes inexplicable red marks on his skin. So it was all because of this…

“When… was this recorded?” Qiao Gang asked hoarsely.

“Not long ago.”

“You… did you guess it was him all along?”

“I wasn’t very sure, only after seeing this did I become certain.”

“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There was no concrete evidence, after all, I didn’t capture a face. Besides, knowing wouldn’t have helped the situation much.”

Lin Xian said frankly, “Later, my ambiguous behavior towards you was also to confirm this point, and to probe its capabilities. You saw the result – I was injured and hospitalized. If it weren’t for the jade I used to wear, I might have already died. So, it’s not something we can provoke.”

“This time when I went back, I asked the high monk who gave me the jade pendant to help. He also said this isn’t something he can deal with and doesn’t want to invite trouble.”

He took a breath and continued, “The purpose of showing you this is to let you know that if you don’t provoke it, it won’t harm you. At least for now, don’t think about seeking revenge. We’ll slowly figure out a way for the future.”

Qiao Gang listened to him carefully, then slowly shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“You…”

Qiao Gang stood up, “I’m sorry, but I still can’t do it.”

“…Don’t be so impulsive.”

There was disapproval in Lin Xian’s eyes, as if facing a stubborn child who refuses to listen to adults.

“I’m not being impulsive.”

Qiao Gang looked at him, his gaze firm and serious, “Anyone who commits a wrong should be punished. It killed people, no matter who it is, they should pay the price. If no one else can punish it, then let me do it.”

Qiao Gang left the room, leaving Lin Xian sitting alone.

He looked at the screen and after a long while said, “The most terrifying thing in this world… is indeed human obsession.”

Back in his room, Qiao Gang sat on the bed, but it wasn’t long before he nervously looked behind him.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” he suddenly said.

“I know you’re definitely here, watching me every day, monitoring me.”

He suddenly laughed, “Do you find this interesting? Am I like a fish you keep in a glass tank? Staring at me every moment, not even leaving me alone in my dreams…”

His voice suddenly rose, “Why don’t you come out? Come out!”

“Don’t you like killing people? I’m standing right here, come and kill me!”

“Oh… I forgot, you seem to like me…” his voice suddenly became gentle, “Are you reluctant to kill me? You’re the most despicable bastard in this world!”

Qiao Gang punched the wall!

With a “thud,” something fell onto the floor.

Qiao Gang saw it was that diary, but he didn’t want to pick it up.

Since that day, he hadn’t looked at this diary again.

The diary lying open on the floor started to turn its pages…

There was clearly no wind now, and no one was touching it.

Qiao Gang looked at it grimly, finally stopping on the last page, where there was a clear line of text—

It was an address.

Qiao Gang recognized it.

He remembered clearly, that was Song Yuan’s home.

Standing in front of the Song family’s gate once again, Qiao Gang’s feelings were different from any previous time.

Anger, like raging flames, burned in Qiao Gang’s heart. The faces of the deceased Jian Xia and Xiaoyu kept flashing before his eyes.

Jian Xia, his best friend; Xiaoyu, the woman he loved most.

If he couldn’t avenge them, how could he ever be at peace in this life?

The Song family’s gate in the twilight, reflecting the last rays of the setting sun, seemed to be covered in a layer of blood-red color, appearing eerie and terrifying.

Suddenly, there was a strange feeling in the depths of his mind. Qiao Gang looked up towards the second-floor window.

Even in the dim light now, he could clearly see someone standing behind the window.

His snow-white face wore a smile, like a lotus blooming in the darkness.

Qiao Gang could clearly feel his gaze – that snake lurking in the darkness every night, coiled in cold places, stubbornly and lewdly licking his body.

The door in front slowly opened without any external force, accompanied by a sound in the air, as if the gates of hell were opening before his eyes.

Qiao Gang slowly clenched his fists, his gaze without a trace of hesitation or confusion, incredibly clear.

He strode in, and the door slowly closed behind him as he entered, also closing off his hope of getting out.

Qiao Gang took a deep breath and walked through the living room towards the second floor.

He knew that person was waiting for him in that room.

The lights in the living room lit up the moment he walked in, following his footsteps, and the other lights also lit up in sequence.

Qiao Gang’s palms were already damp with sweat. Walking up these stairs seemed to take a long time, yet it also felt like just an instant.

When he finally stood in front of that door, he hesitated.