Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Was that a sewer pipe bursting? No, that was Old Wu’s blood vessels popping!

Thinking of this, the driver felt a bit guilty. After all, he was the one who brought this guy here, but who could have guessed this kid would be so damn weird?

“I’m telling you, the Building Manager is terrified because your sewer pipe burst. This is all your fault, you know!” the driver said.

Liu Ye felt like he was being treated unfairly. It wasn’t like he made the pipe explode; he just used the bathroom.

“Brother, you know me. I’m just an honest man.”

*Please, stop insulting the word ‘honest,’ will you?*

At that moment, the Old Man slowly opened his eyes, looking around in a daze. Then, upon seeing Liu Ye, he immediately scrambled back a few steps in terror.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that he had been unconscious; he knew exactly what had happened. He had been manipulating the room, intending to torment Liu Ye, only for a sudden burst of white light to erupt from the boy, dealing him a heavy blow.

To be honest, in all the years he had been alive, he had never suffered such a severe injury. Just what was this kid’s background?

“Old Man, are you okay?” Liu Ye asked cautiously.

“Do I look okay to you?” the Old Man said hollowly.

“Old Man, seriously, your constitution is really weak. Just a pipe bursting scared you like this. You should exercise more and stop reading those… unhealthy books.”

The Old Man nodded. That actually made sense…

“Who reads unhealthy books?!” the Old Man roared.

Liu Ye quickly added, “Old Man, I didn’t say you read them. I’m saying *we* shouldn’t read them.”

“Enough! Stop talking and get out! If you don’t leave now, my centuries of reputation will be ruined!”

The Old Man hurriedly grabbed the previous contract to tear it up, but to his surprise, the paper wouldn’t rip! One had to understand that the contract was created from his own ghostly energy, yet now, it had completely escaped his control.

[Ding! The quest subject has proactively abandoned the target. Calculating rewards…]

Liu Ye panicked. He had finally found a place to stay; how could he be kicked out now? Just as his beautiful new life was about to begin, it was being cut short.

“Old Man, look, we signed a contract. You can’t just ignore it.”

With that, he snatched the contract from the Old Man’s hand and said, “Look, Old Man, you said it yourself-I can stay here until I leave of my own free will. You can’t go back on your word!”

[…Ding! Calculation failed. The quest continues!]

“I…”

The Old Man wanted to slap himself. Why had he been in such a hurry to sign that thing?!

Then, he glared fiercely at the driver. *It was you who brought this bastard here!*

The driver rubbed his nose and avoided the Old Man’s gaze.

Seeing that the Old Man seemed mobile enough, Liu Ye clutched the contract and hurried upstairs, terrified the Old Man would change his mind about letting him stay.

After he left, the Old Man grabbed the driver by the collar and growled.

“Speak! What the hell is going on with that guy?”

The driver quickly recounted everything that had happened, then added with a look of grievance.

“Old brother, I’m a victim too! I really didn’t expect that even you wouldn’t be able to handle that kid!”

The Old Man snorted and let go of the driver. He pulled out a tablet and tapped it a few times, bringing up a video feed.

On the screen was the inside of Liu Ye’s room.

By now, Liu Ye had returned to his room and was already fast asleep on the bed.
The Old Man squinted as he watched Liu Ye, who had fallen asleep and was now completely defenseless.

He didn’t dare do anything to Liu Ye himself right now. If he ended up damaging his own body again, the loss would outweigh the gain.

However, that didn’t mean he was out of options. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, brother, do me a favor…”

A short while later, a dark shadow slipped through the crack under the door into Liu Ye’s room. The shadow stood at the entrance, pitch-black from head to toe, except for a massive fissure where a mouth should be. Inside were rows upon rows of jagged, terrifying fangs.

[Ding! Task Triggered: Shadow Fiend]

[Task: Shadow Fiend]

[Objective: Survive for three days while being hunted by the Shadow Fiend]

[Reward 1: 0 Points]

[Reward 2: 0 EXP]

[Reward 3: Ghost-grade Random Item x1]

[Reward 4: Ghost-grade Random Skill x1]

Liu Ye frowned and swiped irritably at his ear as if shooing a fly, then continued to sleep soundly.

[…]

This Fiend was the reinforcement the Old Man had called in-the Shadow Fiend. His ability was quite peculiar; once he targeted someone, they would begin to dream of him. Every day, he would move a little closer to the target’s bed in the dream, and once he reached the bedside, he would devour them instantly.

The Shadow Fiend looked at Liu Ye sprawled on the bed and chuckled inwardly. Old Wu was getting more and more useless if he couldn’t even handle a little brat like this.

Still, it worked out. A strange kid like this would surely have an even more delicious soul. At that thought, he impatiently activated his ability and waited for Liu Ye to wake up screaming from a nightmare.

An hour later…

The Shadow Fiend stood blankly by the door. Liu Ye was still sleeping sweetly, without the slightest sign of waking up.

“This isn’t right! I’ve already activated my ability. Why isn’t he having a nightmare?” the Shadow Fiend thought gloomily. He figured something might have gone wrong, so he activated his ability again. Then… another two hours passed.

The Shadow Fiend felt like he was going crazy. The kid was sleeping so deeply he was actually drooling; he clearly wasn’t affected by the ability at all.

But the problem was that once the ability was activated, it didn’t matter if the target was unaffected-the Shadow Fiend couldn’t stop it on his end!

If this continued, he wouldn’t be able to go out and hunt other humans!

Driven by desperation, he ignored his usual methods and walked straight up to Liu Ye, wanting to see what was so strange about him.

Just as he reached the bedside, Liu Ye’s eyes fluttered open dizzily.

Perhaps he had drunk too much water before bed, because Liu Ye suddenly felt the urge to use the bathroom. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a pitch-black figure looming right in front of him.

“Holy crap!”

Liu Ye instinctively threw out a massive slap, and the Shadow Fiend was sent flying like a cannonball!

Boom!

The entire apartment building shook. Downstairs, the Old Man coughed up a mouthful of blood, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. He and the driver, both Fiends, scrambled upstairs immediately.

They knew the Shadow Fiend couldn’t have caused such a commotion. It had to be that kid again.

The two Fiends reached Liu Ye’s room and opened the door, only to see Liu Ye dragging the Shadow Fiend out like a dead dog.

When Liu Ye saw the two of them, he looked overjoyed and shouted, “Big brother! Old Man! There’s a thief!”

“A thief? What thief?” the Old Man asked, feigning ignorance.