With the help of Fu Changxun’s item, the exploration of the villa proceeded with remarkable smoothness.
After combing through nearly every area, everyone was exhausted, drowsy, and starving. With no other choice, they returned to the main hall to rest.
Fu Changxun hesitated for a long time before asking softly, “Dong Zi… do you want to go use the bathroom? Two people together is relatively safer.”
He added the explanation in a very self-conscious attempt to cover himself.
Dong Zi hummed in response and tactfully refrained from mentioning that the other man had always been afraid of the dark—and of ghosts.
The two of them left the hall together. The villa’s lighting was dim, lending the place an eerie chill.
“This hallway is really long.” Fu Changxun made small talk to fill the silence. “Which university did you go to? You didn’t come to the high school reunion either—I thought you’d gone abroad.”
Dong Zi replied dully, “I got held back by some things and couldn’t make it back in time. These past few years… I really missed you.”
Fu Changxun didn’t catch the deeper meaning behind his words, but answered sincerely all the same. “I missed you too.”
When he’d first been dragged into the game, he’d thought he’d have to face all kinds of terrifying ghosts on his own. His nerves had been stretched so tight they were close to snapping. But the moment he recognized Dong Zi, his heart had practically leapt with joy—half worried for Dong Zi’s safety, half shamefully reassured by his presence.
“You still haven’t explained,” Dong Zi couldn’t help saying.
Fu Changxun didn’t understand. “Huh?”
Dong Zi twisted awkwardly. “About you… your ex-boyfriend. You like men?”
“Oh, that.” At the mention of his ex, Fu Changxun felt a headache coming on. “I do like men, but getting together with Lu Qi was absolutely me being blind.”
Complaining about Lu Qi to an old friend came with zero psychological burden. “That thing’s a total mama’s boy. We’d only been together for a little over half a month when he showed his true colors—couldn’t go a day without mentioning his mom. He even wanted to push me into cooking and doing laundry for him. Dream on.”
As he spoke, he almost rolled his eyes.
But even an eye-roll looked good on a beauty. And with Dong Zi harboring certain unmentionable thoughts, that single glance was enough to send a flush creeping up the tips of his ears.
“So he’s an ex now.” Fu Changxun spread his hands. “Thankfully, I was cautious—never let him take advantage of me.”
Dong Zi finally let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness… If Ah-Xun had been tricked emotionally and physically, he feared he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from making that Lu-whatever die in this game.
Those dark thoughts circled through his mind, but in the end, they were never acted upon.
“Oh, right.” Fu Changxun lowered his voice. “My stamina is only 20. Dong Zi, I don’t want to draw too much attention. I’ll have to trouble you to cover for me when we’re around others.”
Dong Zi answered without hesitation, “No problem. If there’s danger, I’ll protect you first.”
Fu Changxun gave a dry laugh. “That really won’t be necessary…”
He was about to say more when his gaze caught sight of a “shadow” in the corner—one that was no longer transparent.
The shadow looked a bit like a small animal. Acting on impulse, worried it might escape, he broke into a run after it. The shadow immediately fled just as fast.
What he never expected was that when the seemingly timid shadow was driven into a corner, it suddenly lashed out and lunged at Fu Changxun.
Fu Changxun’s pupils contracted—the male college student’s corpse had been covered in bloody gashes. The thing that had killed Wang Fei was probably this very creature.
Dong Zi sprinted toward him at full speed, but it was just a fraction too late—he wouldn’t make it in time.
In his panic, Fu Changxun slapped his hand against the light screen in front of him, chanting silently in his mind…
We are your kind!
He hadn’t yet figured out the conditions or limits of Cognitive Distortion, so all he could do was treat a dead horse like a living one, locking his gaze onto the cat-shaped ghost before him and activating his ability.
The cat ghost’s pouncing motion froze. Then it landed lightly on the ground and circled around him.
Dong Zi seized the chance to pull Fu Changxun behind him, watching the cat-shaped ghost with wary eyes.
After the ability took effect, the black cat-shaped shadow in Fu Changxun’s vision abruptly transformed into a battered black cat. It sniffed here and there, as if puzzled by why this human felt like the same kind of being as itself.
“I’m fine. It’s okay now.” Fu Changxun patted Dong Zi’s shoulder. “It’ll treat us as its own kind now.”
Dong Zi said worriedly, “Don’t be so impulsive next time. If you notice anything abnormal, tell me and let me handle it. You suddenly rushing over like that—what if something really happened? This could’ve gotten you killed!”
The honest man rarely got angry, and Fu Changxun was scolded into looking like a wronged little wife. “…I know.”
Dong Zi stopped while he was ahead. “Good. So what’s going on with this cat?”
“Meow-meow, come here.”
Suppressing his fear of ghosts, Fu Changxun crouched down and beckoned. “Come on, kitty…”
The black cat padded over on silent paws, rubbing against his palm and letting out a comfortable rumbling purr. “Mrrrow.”
It must have been a long time since anyone had touched it. Its eyes narrowed in bliss, its tail curling again and again around his wrist.
Fu Changxun picked it up and examined it carefully, discovering burns, blunt-force injuries, and even one ear that had been cut off—clear signs of abuse.
The black cat elegantly licked his hand. Sensing no malice from these two strange “kindred,” it relaxed completely, collapsing into a soft, boneless loaf of cat.
“So the [Ghost] didn’t abuse and kill a person, but cats.” Fu Changxun felt no sense of relief at all. “No wonder this [Ghost] didn’t have to face legal punishment, and could kill them without restraint. That’s why there are so many… ghostly figures.”
Watching the way he ached for the cat, Dong Zi couldn’t help relaxing his tightly drawn expression.
The black cat seemed to sense its “kindred’s” fondness and stubbornly refused to leave his arms.
Fu Changxun said awkwardly, “Do you want to come back with me? But in your eyes, they aren’t your kind, are they?”
“ They,” of course, referred to the five people left behind.
Dong Zi had thought of that as well. “If we bring it back, they might start suspecting us.”
The black cat meowed at him twice. The wounds on its body slowly faded away, and the black aura that had been faintly leaking from it vanished without a trace. It now looked like nothing more than an ordinary, perfectly normal cat.
Fu Changxun said firmly, “Take it back with us. It’ll tell us who the [Ghost] is.”
The [Ghost] was the one who killed it, the one reeking of the scent it hated most.
But they were the same kind. A cat wouldn’t shy away from its own kind—it would only show extreme loathing toward a [Ghost].
Dong Zi couldn’t talk him out of it and had no choice but to agree.
After their trip to the restroom, the two returned to the main hall with the cat in tow—and just as expected, they became the center of attention.
Xu Zhengyi stood up and asked, “Dr. Fu, what’s with the cat?”
Fu Changxun blinked innocently. “I just found it. It’s so cute and clingy, I figured I’d bring it along.”
He paid particular attention to the high school girl with Yin-Yang Eyes—and was surprised to see she had no reaction at all.
The young couple was clearly skeptical. “What would a cat be doing in a run-down villa like this? We don’t even know what that thing you brought back is.”
Fu Changxun put on an innocent expression. “But it’s just a kitty. It wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
The black cat: “Meow.”
Fu Changxun gave it a gentle pat.
He was getting frighteningly good at playing the “pretty but clueless” act.
