Chapter 6

Even if the Long-haired Woman wasn’t a ghost, she definitely wasn’t an ordinary person-or perhaps she was something else entirely…

Bi Heng couldn’t be sure, and Jiang Long also felt uneasy. Of course, neither dared to ask too many questions, fearing they might stumble upon some taboo and end up worse off. The priority now was to get home safely. Things they weren’t meant to know shouldn’t be dug into too deeply.

After all, people shouldn’t go looking for trouble.

For once, Bi Heng and Jiang Long, who were usually bold and reckless, had a rare moment of self-awareness.

The rest of the journey was much quieter in the car. Bi Heng focused on driving, while Jiang Long, though his eyelids were heavy with exhaustion, didn’t dare to sleep. He was afraid he might wake up in some strange place. Naturally, he also didn’t dare strike up a conversation with the Long-haired Woman. They even stopped at a roadside gas station to fill up the tank.

By the time they neared City A, the sky had brightened considerably. What usually took only an hour or two had taken them most of the night. When they saw the sun rise, Bi Heng and Jiang Long couldn’t hold back their tears of relief, almost breaking down in each other’s arms. Never before had they felt such warmth and gratitude toward the sun, which they saw every day and occasionally found annoyingly hot.

Of course, they hadn’t forgotten the Long-haired Woman in the back seat. At that moment, she was tilting her head to look outside. For once, her pale face seemed to show a hint of wonder, as if she was seeing something extraordinary. But outside the window, there was nothing but traffic and tall buildings-nothing particularly special.

Perhaps it was the light, or the fact that there were more people on the road now, but the familiar human world gave the two men a sense of security they hadn’t felt during the night. They couldn’t help but quietly exhale in relief, wiping the cold sweat from their foreheads, feeling a sense of gratitude for having survived the ordeal.

“Have you remembered where Mu Mountain is?” The Long-haired Woman’s voice suddenly came from behind, piercing their eardrums in the chilly morning air. Both Bi Heng and Jiang Long jolted, startled. They didn’t know when she had turned her head, but now her pitch-black eyes were fixed on Bi Heng.

Bi Heng: “…” How could he possibly remember anything about Mu Mountain?

Bi Heng: “Sorry, I haven’t recalled it yet. Maybe I was mistaken…”

Long-haired Woman: “Really? Are you sure you’re mistaken?”

Bi Heng didn’t dare to speak: “…” Jiang Long also sucked in a sharp breath.

Seeing the Long-haired Woman’s expression darken, her deep, inky eyes growing heavy with intensity, Bi Heng felt a chill run down his spine. She let her long, straight black hair fall forward, and an eerie aura surrounded her, as if the air itself had turned colder. It was enough to make his teeth chatter. Terrified of angering her, he quickly spoke up, “But I know a lot of friends who are very knowledgeable. I’ll ask around when I get back and help you look for it. If I find anything, I’ll let you know. How does that sound?”

Jiang Long chimed in, “Yes, yes! Sis Gu, don’t worry. With so many of us helping, we’ll definitely find out where Mu Mountain is!”

Gu Feiyin seemed touched. She tilted her head to look at Jiang Long and asked, “Won’t that be too much trouble for you?”

Jiang Long waved his hands dismissively, “No, no, not at all! How could it be trouble? You saved us last night. It’s only right that we help you. Really, it’s the least we can do.”

Gu Feiyin was genuinely moved. She forced a grateful smile, the corners of her lips twitching upward. “Then I’ll trouble you both. Thank you.”

“No, no need to thank us.”

Bi Heng and Jiang Long exchanged a glance, both visibly relieved. They quickly looked away, silently agreeing not to dwell on the matter.

Bi Heng stepped on the gas, speeding into the city as fast as he could… and then found a crowded spot to drop off the Long-haired Woman.

Though they were eager to get rid of her, they weren’t completely heartless. Bi Heng and Jiang Long scraped together all the loose change they had in their wallets and car, handing it over to Gu Feiyin as payment. It came to about a thousand yuan. These days, with everyone using mobile payments, it wasn’t easy to scrounge up that much cash. They had initially offered to transfer the money to her, but unfortunately, she didn’t have a phone.

Of course, their real intention was to appease her, hoping the Long-haired Woman would remember their kindness and not come after them. But they doubted they’d ever see her again.

Gu Feiyin stuffed the money into her pocket, deeply moved. She waved goodbye to Bi Heng and Jiang Long, her hand moving in a smooth, rhythmic motion. Her lips curved into a perfect 45-degree smile, revealing five teeth… The SUV seemed to jolt as if startled, and with a roar, it sped off.

Only when the Long-haired Woman disappeared from the rearview mirror did Bi Heng finally relax. His nerves, wound tight all night, finally loosened. He rubbed his temples wearily. The events of the night had completely shattered his worldview. He no longer believed the world was free of ghosts. Jiang Long was no better, slumping in his seat like a sack of bones, clearly shaken to the core.

Then, in a daze, he felt as if it had all been a dream.

Of course, when they got home and saw the news about a multi-car pileup at an intersection-three vehicles colliding, resulting in six deaths, including a seven-year-old child-they couldn’t help but feel a chill run down their spines!

The news reported that the accident had occurred around 1 a.m. and was reported by a passing truck driver. By the time the police and ambulances arrived, the victims were already stiff with death.

Bi Heng even managed to get his hands on photos of the deceased. Though the bodies, frozen by the cold and smeared with blood, were barely recognizable, Bi Heng immediately identified them. The arguing drivers, the woman trying to mediate, the mother and child crying uncontrollably, the woman quietly crouching by the roadside…

Their faces were both familiar and strange, their injuries matching exactly what he remembered.

Bi Heng was struck speechless. He rolled up his sleeve and saw five black fingerprints on his left arm-left by the woman who had pulled him into the argument. At the time, he had only felt pain, but in the chaos, he had forgotten about it. Now, the marks were still there.

A sharp ringtone snapped him out of his daze. He picked up his phone-it was Jiang Long.

Jiang Long had also tried to convince himself it was all a dream or a hallucination. But once he got home, curiosity got the better of him, and he secretly looked up whether there had been an accident on that stretch of road the previous night. Sure enough, the six deaths had made it a major traffic incident, and it had been reported in the news. Seeing the photos of the victims only added to his shock.

All of this confirmed that what they had experienced wasn’t a dream or a hallucination.

They had really seen ghosts!

“Heng-Ge, Heng-Ge, there really are ghosts in this world!” Jiang Long babbled excitedly. “There are actually ghosts! The ones we saw last night were ghosts! But they weren’t as scary as I imagined-they didn’t hurt us. In fact, they seemed terrified of Sis Gu. That just shows how amazing she is. What do you think she is?”

Bi Heng replied, “Whatever she is, she’s definitely not ordinary.” For some reason, he found Gu Feiyin eerie, especially when she smiled. Though she had been polite and hadn’t done anything threatening, there was something deeply unsettling about her.

Jiang Long nodded. “That’s true. Sis Gu said we’ve been exposed to Yin Energy, so it must be real. Think hard-did we touch something we shouldn’t have? If we don’t figure this out and deal with it, I’m afraid we won’t even know how we’ll die.”

Bi Heng frowned. “Have you offended anyone? If it was unintentional, we can be more careful from now on. But if someone did this on purpose, it’ll be hard to guard against.” If they didn’t solve this problem, who knew what might happen next?

“Who could I have offended? I’ve probably already offended everyone I could.”

“…”

Impressive.

…

Being human is so hard.

Once again, Gu Feiyin was struck by how difficult it was to live as a person.

She had always known how important money was. All she had on her was a little over a hundred yuan, plus the thousand or so Bi Heng had given her. That was it-not a penny more. But after asking around for days, no one could tell her where Mu Mountain was. As her money dwindled bit by bit, and the road ahead remained uncertain, she knew she had to find a way to keep going.

So, she found her first job: working as a server in a noodle shop.

On her first day, business at the shop was booming. By the second day, it was deserted. On the third day, she lost her job. She didn’t even know why-she was just fired out of the blue. She thought she had smiled perfectly and ran around efficiently… Maybe the standards for human jobs were just too high.

Losing her first job left Gu Feiyin with mixed feelings, but at least she earned forty yuan in wages, enough for several meals.

Gu Feiyin’s second job was handing out flyers. While others could distribute hundreds of flyers in a day, she managed only a few. At the end of the day, the flyer team leader handed her fifty yuan and kindly suggested she find another line of work. “This job might not be the best fit for you.”

“Why? Did I not do well?”

“…No, you did great,” the team leader said, though he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy as he looked at the girl with the long, straight black hair. Honestly, he had organized many people to hand out flyers, and most of them just went through the motions, handing out three or four at a time before calling it a day. But this girl was the most serious of them all. She stood straight, her smile perfectly calibrated at a 45-degree angle, showing exactly five teeth. The problem was her aura-when she smiled, people would give her a wide berth, and even dogs avoided her. There was something off about her, but he didn’t dare say it outright. Instead, he nervously suggested, “…Maybe it’s your front teeth?”

Her front teeth?!

She was shocked!

So, besides lacking education, qualifications, cultural knowledge, and experience, missing a front tooth could also make it hard to find a job?!

Gu Feiyin asked earnestly, “If I don’t have front teeth, what kind of job would be suitable for me?”

The team leader hesitated. Despite her eerie demeanor, she was clearly a hardworking and earnest girl. “…Most jobs nowadays care about appearance. Missing a front tooth doesn’t look good, and it might put off customers, making it harder to find work. Maybe you should go to the hospital and get a replacement tooth first?”

Gu Feiyin’s expression turned serious. She hadn’t realized a missing tooth could cost her a job. She had thought it was just a minor inconvenience, like whistling when she spoke or having trouble biting into things. But now that it was affecting her employment, she knew she had to address it properly. “Alright, I’ll go check it out.”

The team leader wiped the sweat from his brow. As soon as Gu Feiyin left, he made a quick escape, eager to put some distance between himself and the unsettling girl.