Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Qiao Yu took a deep breath. After a brief, terrifying silence, his heart finally started beating again. He reached up and felt his neck.

Good, good. His head hadn’t fallen off this time. That was progress.

“Is Doctor Zhuang in?”

The moment the woman spoke, the nursery rhyme outside the door stopped abruptly, making her voice sound raspy and chilling by comparison.

Qiao Yu hid his goosebump-covered arms behind his back and immediately shook his head. “He’s not here.”

His intention was to get the female ghost to leave, but she didn’t follow his lead. Instead, she leaned forward, exposing her entire body to Qiao Yu’s sight.

Qiao Yu stared at her expressionless face and swallowed hard. “Are you… looking for Doctor Zhuang for a consultation?”

The woman shook her head. As the hair on the side of her neck shifted, it revealed a dark purple mark on her skin.

Was that… a cadaveric spot?

Good lord! The censored barrage of curses in Qiao Yu’s mind was practically overflowing from his throat.

Enduring the discomfort of feeling like his body was about to fall apart, he asked cautiously, “Then… what can I do for you?”

The comments in the Live Stream Room were gradually increasing. Strangely, the viewers here were uniformly unfriendly.

-Run, streamer! Tee-hee-hee!

-Is running even useful? Obviously not.

-I’m going to prepare a funeral gift for the streamer. I’ll be ready for the feast in a bit.

[System Message: Viewer ** has gifted I’m Your Dad 1 gold coin. (Friendly Reminder: Gold coins can be used to purchase Instance clues and items in the Mall, or exchanged for real-world currency. Exchange rate: 100 RMB / 1 Gold Coin)]

Qiao Yu groaned inwardly. He wanted to run too, okay? But since he had only woken up not long ago, his body was incredibly stiff. He couldn’t run fast at all; he’d probably be dead before he even made it out the door.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the palm-sized window on the wall.

In his current state, he couldn’t crawl out of such a small window. Maybe if he were in his previous state…

Qiao Yu felt a momentary pang of regret. He couldn’t even say for sure if he was currently alive or dead. Even if he could dismember himself and toss his parts out one by one, he couldn’t actually do it.

After all, he was live-streaming right now. If he dismembered himself, wouldn’t the Live Stream Room get banned?

If it got banned, there would be no more gold coins.

Gold coins could be exchanged for money!

“Can I ask you for a favor?”

The female ghost’s eerie voice pulled Qiao Yu back to reality.

At some point, the female ghost had silently stepped inside the room. Her pitch-black eyes stared straight at Qiao Yu, cold and terrifying.

Qiao Yu tried to lift his foot, but he failed.

His legs felt as if they were filled with lead. The lack of blood circulation over a long period had left his limbs stiff, just like the state he was in when he first woke up a few days ago.

“What kind of favor?”

-The streamer still hasn’t run? How surprising.

-Hahahahahaha, hurry up and start. Kill him!

-I can’t wait any longer…

[System Message: Viewer *** has gifted I’m Your Dad 1 gold coin.]

Although the red-clothed female ghost didn’t seem to move, the distance between her and Qiao Yu was constantly shrinking. The scene was incredibly bizarre and unsettling.

The female ghost slowly raised her head, the corners of her split mouth stretching wider and wider. “I am in a lot of pain right now. Can you say one thing to me in the role of my husband?”

Say something to her in the role of her husband??

What kind of bizarre request was that?

Something was wrong!!!

-Closer, just a little closer~

-Kill him, eat him!

-Yes, eat him! I haven’t watched a mukbang in ages, tee-hee-hee~

Qiao Yu stared at the comments in shock, for a moment thinking he had misread them.
-Shh, did he finally notice? How cute~

-Newbie streamer, die already, die already!

-Look at that panicked look in his eyes. I can’t wait to taste the flavor of his fear…

“Is it okay?” The female ghost had reached the middle of the stairs at some point. She was less than three meters away from Qiao Yu, and there was nowhere to run in this cramped Basement.

Qiao Yu didn’t have time to dwell on the bizarre vibe of the bullet chat. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “If that’s how you want to think, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Female ghost: ?

“I really just see her as a sister. Besides, if there were actually something going on between us, what would that have to do with you?”

Female ghost: ??

“Fine, fine, fine, it’s all my fault. I’m sorry, okay?”

Female ghost: ???

“Is that enough?”

I said three whole sentences; you should be satisfied now, right?

Female ghost: …

-For some reason, I can actually sense the ghost’s stiffness and confusion.

-Where’s the fear? It’s gone… I’m so hungry!!!

During the momentary stalemate, Qiao Yu flexed his stiff ankles and realized he could move again. He walked slowly to the nightstand, found a pen and paper in the drawer with pinpoint accuracy, scribbled a few words, and handed it to the female ghost.

“I’m not a doctor, but my ex was a medical student. I used to tag along to classes when we were dating, so I picked up a few things through osmosis.”

The female ghost instinctively reached out to take it. Written on the white paper were three words: Love Brain.

With a humble smile on his face, Qiao Yu explained, “I haven’t mastered the craft, but for this condition of yours, I suggest you go to a hospital, register for neurology, and get a CT scan.”

The female ghost stood on the dilapidated stairs, neither speaking nor moving.

Seeing this, Qiao Yu sighed. “Um, do you know who Wang Baochuan is?”

The female ghost was silent for a moment before nodding. “…I know. The one who dug up wild vegetables.”

“Good, then I don’t need to explain much more.” Qiao Yu took a step forward and, summoning his courage, gave the female ghost a push. Her arm was ice-cold. Sustaining himself on that shred of bravery, he advised with a smile, “The wise do not fall in love; only fools repeat the same mistakes. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

The female ghost curled her fingers, clutching the white paper tightly. She stood frozen in place, refusing to let Qiao Yu push her away.

Seeing that he couldn’t drive the ghost out, Qiao Yu could only withdraw his hand dejectedly. Looking at the purple-black spots on her arms and neck, he said, “How about I find some medicine for you first?”

As he spoke, he turned around with a pretense of searching the room for any medicine to placate her.

To his surprise, he actually found several paper bags in the nightstand drawer that looked like herbal medicine.

Qiao Yu took the herbal medicine-which had likely expired ages ago-and shoved it into the female ghost’s arms. With a trembling voice, he said, “Don’t give up on treatment.”

Having done all this, his eyes darted around as he racked his brain for a strategy. But in the next second, the female ghost inexplicably backed out of the room, just as she had entered. It wasn’t until the hem of her red dress disappeared from the doorway that Qiao Yu scratched the back of his head, deeply confused.

Why did she suddenly leave again??

-666666, that actually worked!

-What kind of freak is this streamer? He actually managed to turn a situation like this around??

-Of course! From the moment he wrote ‘Love Brain,’ I knew he wasn’t simple, Hahahaha!

-All I can say is that the streamer’s ‘straight man’ attributes saved his life!

Straight?

Qiao Yu glanced at the bullet chat and gave an embarrassed smile. “Um… I’m actually gay.”

-………………..

-There is something seriously wrong with you!