Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Meanwhile, Qiao Yu stood in front of the full-length mirror in the bathroom, wrapped in a bath towel, and started drying his hair with the hair dryer.

The warm air whooshed over him, bringing an unnatural flush to his cheeks and, for once, diluting that sickly, frail impression he usually gave off.

He had only dried his hair halfway when the light above his head began flickering rapidly. Faint afterimages even appeared before his eyes. The hair dryer was clearly in his hand, yet another one hung from the hook on the wall. Qiao Yu reached out and touched the phantom, but his pale hand passed right through it in vain.

It was like a mirage-visible, but untouchable.

Before he could figure out what was going on, it was as if a thick strip of cloth had been pulled over his eyes. The bathroom light went out abruptly.

The faint blush the warm air had blown onto his cheeks vanished in an instant. Qiao Yu stared into the thick darkness before him and pressed his lips together impatiently.

Now what? His phone was on the sofa outside.

He sighed and stretched both hands out, slowly moving forward. Only when he confirmed that he had found the doorknob did his suspended heart gradually settle.

But he had relaxed too soon. The soles of his slippers were wet, and the moment they met the dry tile, they slid with a sharp squeak. His body pitched forward, completely out of his control.

Qiao Yu’s first reaction was to cover his face.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t fall. A pair of warm arms caught him full-on.

He froze for a moment, then lowered his hands from his face and, in the process, grabbed the fabric at the other person’s waist. The moisture in his palms immediately soaked into it.

Time seemed to have been paused. In the deep, quiet darkness, the same clean scent of body wash collided in the air, sparking a different kind of chemical reaction.

After a long while, the sound of someone swallowing was magnified infinitely beside his ear. Right after that came Shang Yan’s slightly hoarse voice.

He said, “Qiao Xiaoyu, why aren’t you wearing clothes?”

Qiao Yu: ??

The power had gone out right after he’d finished showering. Where the hell was he supposed to get clothes from!

And besides… he was clearly wrapped in a bath towel, okay?!

As the breathing in front of him gradually grew more rapid, Qiao Yu sensed that things were taking a bad turn. He let go of the fabric in his hand and moved to push the person in front of him away.

But the other man seemed to have X-ray vision. He accurately caught Qiao Yu’s hand, which was hanging in midair, then yanked it upward. A sudden force pressed Qiao Yu back against the wall.

The difference in strength was too great. Qiao Yu gave up resisting and tried his best to widen his eyes, glaring at the blurry outline in front of him as he warned loudly, “Shang Yan, quit playing the domineering CEO routine with me. I’m not buying it!”

Pfft.

The bit of impulse that had risen in Shang Yan was wiped out by that one sentence.

Qiao Xiaoyu really was an atmosphere killer…

But letting him off just like this would be letting this guy get away too easily. With that thought, Shang Yan lowered his head and leaned toward Qiao Yu’s cold neck, then bit down hard on that little red mole.

Qiao Yu yelped in pain. “Shang Yan, fuck your uncle!”

“Better not. My uncle’s getting on in years.” Shang Yan released Qiao Yu and, as if he hadn’t been beaten enough, provoked him further. “In ancient times, a son repaid his father’s debts. Today, if my uncle’s at fault, his nephew can take the punishment for him.”

“No take-backs. You’re really letting me fuck you?” Qiao Yu perked up.

Shang Yan was stunned for a second. His expression gradually turned complicated, and a completely unfounded sense of absurdity even rose in his heart.

In the end, that absurdity transformed into anger, reigniting the impulse Shang Yan had buried away.

Even in the darkness, his amber eyes could still clearly make out the figure and appearance of the person opposite him. His gaze followed the tiny bead of water on Qiao Yu’s earlobe as it slowly moved, fell, and disappeared beneath the edge of the bath towel…

The next second, he raised a hand, clasped the back of Qiao Yu’s neck, and hooked him closer, secretly making up his mind.

If he didn’t tame this wildly delusional guy today, then his surname wasn’t Shang!

…

No one knew how long had passed before Qiao Yu slid weakly down to sit on the floor, looking as if he’d been kissed stupid.

In the endless darkness, Shang Yan looked down at him from above, unreadable emotions in his amber eyes. “Say that again. Who were you going to fuck?”

Qiao Yu: “…”

He refused to say it.

Thanks, but this wasn’t cowardice. It was pure rebelliousness.

**

The first thing Qiao Yu did after getting his phone was run out of Ward 614. The flashlight on the senior phone was insanely bright. As he walked through the empty corridor, he felt no sense of obstruction at all, aside from his legs being a little weak…
Damn Shang Yan.

As Qiao Yu passed room after room, he could vaguely hear the streamers’ panicked cries from inside. Through the cracks in the doors, he could even make out the hazy silhouette of a Ghost.

Qiao Yu turned his head toward Ward 604. Before he could get a clear look, a deafening wail rang out-then Skull Head came shooting at him at two hundred and eighty kilometers per second.

He hurriedly dodged to the side, the corner of his mouth twitching as he looked at the dumb son standing in the middle of the room, bawling like his dad had died… no, bawling so hard he was about to pass out. It left him speechless, but it was also strangely reassuring.

Qiao Yu relaxed. He kicked aside the Skull Head spinning on the floor, then kept walking, intending to see where the Pen Spirit had gone.

Skull Head: “…Ungrateful bastard.”

Qiao Yu waved a hand. “Thanks for the compliment.”

Skull Head: “…”

When he reached the elevator, his outstretched foot pulled back again.

Because the elevator still had power. That discovery was truly interesting.

Qiao Yu pressed the elevator open, his fingers drifting over the row of buttons before finally, tentatively, pressing the one for the seventh floor.

Unexpected, yet reasonable. The elevator began to rise steadily.

He rubbed his palms together, now even more determined to work two jobs.

Ding-the elevator arrived.

The elevator doors slowly slid open to either side.

And then… he saw the entrance packed with figures in white coats. Their faces were expressionless, covered in patches of pitch-black livor mortis. Under the dim yellow light, their gazes were especially chilling.

It seemed today was not the day to discuss employment.

Qiao Yu immediately withdrew the leg he had just stepped out with and quickly hit the close-door button.

Tap tap tap, tap tap tap…

A chaotic mess of footsteps rang out. Those Doctor Ghosts actually lunged at him all at once. The elevator doors, having caught a Ghost’s arm between them, were forced to spring back open.

A short “ah!” came from overhead. The Elevator Ghost hovered above in lingering shock.

The Doctor Ghosts hadn’t scared Qiao Yu, but that guy above him startled Qiao Yu so badly he trembled. His vision rapidly dropped, and for the first time in half a month, his head made a grand return to rolling across the floor.

It went rumbling around the elevator floor in a circle.

The guy upstairs let out another uninhibited howl, clearly even more frightened this time.

“Shut up!”

Qiao Yu’s sudden head-dropping act stunned every Ghost that had been charging at him too. They all froze in place, baffled.

He was in no hurry to pick up his head. Instead, in his panic, he glanced at the Live Stream Room.

Hm? Why was the screen black?

An unprecedented sense of ease instantly wrapped around his heart. Qiao Yu reached out, picked up the head in the corner of the elevator, and set it back on his neck. Afterward, he shook his neck, and the little tuft of cowlick sticking up on his head trembled with it. It was actually rather cute.

But the Elevator Ghost did not think so. He was frightened yet again. Again and again and again.

“Aaaaah-what the hell are you?!”

Qiao Yu raised both hands, curled his fingers like claws, and bared his teeth. “I am the father you will never surpass.”

Elevator Ghost: “…”

Why was that kind of cute??

The moment he finished speaking, Qiao Yu, who had switched back to his human side, once again triggered the murderous instincts inside those Doctor Ghosts. One after another, they reached out to grab him.

Qiao Yu frowned at the deathly blue-white hands right in front of him and took a step back.

This couldn’t go on.

Looked like he could only try that sucker title.

[Live Assistant 9999999: Title-Sharp-Tongued Old Six has been equipped. While wearing this title, you will transform into a zombie for three minutes: indestructible, sharp-tongued, and razor-toothed.

Be good. No biting people whenever you feel like it, okay~]

Almost instantly, Qiao Yu felt wrong all over. The pristine white nurse uniform on him changed color in a flash. Then he looked at the blurry figure reflected in the elevator’s inner wall and immediately opened his mouth wide in astonishment.

It looked like official robes from the Qing dynasty worn by imperial relatives, with a three-clawed dragon pattern on the chest…

No… what exactly was this Instance trying to do?

Were they playing Miracle Nikki or something??