After Saving The Villain, He Had Sex With The Female Ghost. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 The Pipa Toad (VIII)

In the early morning, Chu Yu was curled up on the floor, in the spot where the sofa used to be in the living room. She seemed utterly exhausted, sleeping soundly with her eyes closed. A ray of sunlight pierced the darkness and landed near her hand.

Her phone rang.

The jarring, ringing alarm exploded in her ear. Chu Yu shot up in a carp flip, like a diver running out of oxygen in the deep sea, surfacing at the sight of hope. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and her pupils contracted sharply from the sudden stimulus of the light.

The phone alarm was still ringing. She remained in her sitting position, covering her face, catching her breath, as if trying to exhale the bizarre, kaleidoscopic images of last night from her mind.

She had a dream—a spring dream.

The protagonist was Li Heru.

*

“Huang Lin called? What did she say?” Li Heru sat on a high stool, elegantly spreading butter on a slice of toast. Chu Yu distractedly poked at the cherry tomatoes on her plate.

“The child was taken by Ming Wanli. She’s begging us to save her.” Chu Yu focused on a tomato, stabbing it hard with her fork. The small, round, red vegetable rolled away, tumbling into Li Heru’s plate.

Chu Yu suddenly felt her face flush. She pretended not to notice, grabbing a piece of bread and stuffing it into her mouth.

Two fingers held the round tomato, extending it toward her: “She only comes running when the child is dead. What was she doing before?” Li Heru slightly lifted her chin, her lashes drooping like feathers, staring at Chu Yu with an undeniable gaze.

Chu Yu still had bread in her hand. She choked, then looked up at Li Heru. Li Heru’s pupils were hidden in the shadow of her lashes. Her lips curved slightly, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on her face.

Chu Yu obediently leaned forward and took the tomato with her lips.

Strange, yet familiar.

The firm, round texture burst with juice in her mouth. Fragments of last night’s dream flashed before her eyes. Chu Yu choked and quickly turned her head to drink water.

“Are we really going to butt heads with Ming Wanli?” Chu Yu asked, swallowing her restless heart along with the water.

“Am I afraid of her?” Li Heru glanced at her sideways. Chu Yu hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.

Li Heru was powerful, but she seemed unable to kill Ming Wanli. Otherwise, given her volatile temper, she would have torn Ming Wanli to shreds the first time Ming Wanli tried to target her.

Why exactly couldn’t she kill Ming Wanli? Li Heru noticed her gaze and cleared her throat lightly.

“Since you already know, I’ll tell you the truth. I can’t kill her because she has consumed ghosts, and so have I. This falls under the category of cannibalism among our kind. As fellow ghost-eaters, we are bound by certain restrictions.”

“But aren’t you a ghost? Doesn’t you eating a ghost count as internal conflict among your own kind?” Chu Yu was completely confused.

“Humans and ghosts are determined by birth. Alive, you are human; dead, you are a ghost. We cannot choose what we are.

But ghost-eaters can be trained later in life. Once you choose to enter this circle, you must sacrifice a part of yourself for dedication, but you also receive the protection of the clan.”

Li Heru spoke slowly, watching Chu Yu’s eyes as she spoke, as if constantly checking if she understood.

“What did you sacrifice? And what did you gain?” Chu Yu asked, focusing on the key points.

“Me? I sacrificed the part of me that was a ghost, and I gained… a restraint.” Li Heru sighed softly.

“I was too young and too foolish back then. I thought joining them would grant me power and freedom. In reality, it was a trap. But that power genuinely helped me, so I don’t regret it.” Li Heru gazed at her hand, lost in thought.

Chu Yu recalled the post, the girl who was consumed while fighting the ghost in her belly.

She jumped off the high stool and walked up to Li Heru, hesitating: “So, inside your stomach…”

Li Heru raised her delicate eyebrows, grabbed Chu Yu’s hand, and pressed it against her stomach: “Do you want to listen? They sometimes squeak when they get hungry in the middle of the night.”

Chu Yu shivered. She leaned down and pressed her ear against Li Heru’s abdomen. Her lower abdomen was flat and muscular. Through the thin layer of fabric, Chu Yu listened intently.

However, she heard nothing. She stood up in surprise, only to see Li Heru smiling mockingly. “Fool,” she chuckled softly.

There was no flirtation, only sarcasm. Fool meant only fool, not some sweetie pie or darling baby.

*

The doorbell rang. Chu Yu, her face flushed, went to open the door. Standing outside was a homeless woman.

She was dressed in tattered, shabby clothes, her head bowed so her expression was unclear. Looking closely, her clothes incorporated children’s garments—a camisole, jeans—stitched together into a wizard’s robe with a large hood.

She was barefoot, and her legs were very white—not pale skin, but the bloated white of a corpse that had been in the river for a week.

She raised her hand, and the hood fell back, revealing a mottled head. Several strands of wet hair clung to her face. Huang Lin’s face was streaked with tears, her eyes red and swollen. She stammered through trembling lips, “Please save it.”

*

After hearing the whole story, Chu Yu was the first to break the silence: “So where did she go? Did you see clearly?” Huang Lin shook her head helplessly: “I wanted to chase her, but my legs were tied together. It took me a long, long time to struggle free and run out. By the time I got out, it was already broad daylight.”

Chu Yu turned to Li Heru, who was leaning against the home bar, detached from the situation. Chu Yu had installed the bar for her. There were only a few bottles of alcohol in the cabinet, and through the carved glass, various exquisite porcelain boxes were haphazardly placed inside.

“I told you early on to give the child to us. You didn’t listen, and now it’s been captured. What good is coming to us now?” Li Heru said flatly, examining her fingernails. Her nails looked glossy and beautiful in the light. Chu Yu averted her gaze.

With a thud, Huang Lin knelt down. She braced her hands on the ground and pointed at Chu Yu: “If you don’t save Yuejing, she won’t fare well either! They want to eat it! Yuejing is the source of the parasite. If it hurts, everyone hurts, and she will die too! Do you want to see her die?”

The last sentence was directed at Li Heru. Chu Yu was suddenly called out and was momentarily confused. Why did these people immediately assume that she and Li Heru had a relationship where they would die for each other?

It was truly absurd.

Sure enough, Li Heru didn’t even bother to lift an eyelid: “I don’t want to see her die, but if you keep talking, I’d rather see you die.”

Huang Lin flinched. Suddenly, she tore off her clothes. Beneath the wizard’s robe, she was naked.

She rubbed her scarred, oozing, pus-filled back against the clean floor that Chu Yu had just mopped. Rubbing the floor wasn’t enough; she scrambled up and tried to run toward the kitchen. Chu Yu quickly grabbed her.

The next moment, Huang Lin screamed. Her knees twisted into a knot, and she stumbled to the ground, cursing loudly. Li Heru clapped her hands.

“Curse, keep cursing. If you curse again, I’ll blow you up. I didn’t want to live in this broken house anyway.” She sneered. Chu Yu’s heart pounded. A murder house where someone had been blown up wouldn’t be wanted even if given away for free. Li Heru might not want to live there, but Chu Yu couldn’t bear to just throw away a house.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. Shut up quickly. We’re trying to figure out a solution.” Chu Yu held the tattered robe with two fingers and draped it over her. Huang Lin stopped her wailing, her eyes glowing green like a hungry wolf seeing meat:

“Please, you must help me. You are a great person! If you save Yuejing and bring her back, my daughter and I will serve you faithfully and obey your every command.”

“But you’ve hidden some information, haven’t you? Ghost infant… ah, Yuejing. She must have resisted when she was taken. So why didn’t I, as a fellow host, feel anything at all?” Chu Yu said, supporting her arm. At her words, the person under her hand froze.

“Actually, you willingly sent Yuejing away.” She stared intently at Huang Lin, not missing a single flicker of expression on her face.

Huang Lin hadn’t expected that this woman, who seemed the easiest to talk to, would also be difficult to fool. The atmosphere fell into an eerie silence.

“Move aside. I need to speak to her privately.” Li Heru stood up. She brushed the hair from her forehead with one hand, her expression cold. Her light chestnut eyes looked down at Huang Lin, who immediately slammed her head against the floor.

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!” Huang Lin was weeping and snotting. Chu Yu watched helplessly as Li Heru dragged her into the bedroom. A long, dark yellow trail of pus mixed with an unknown liquid, smelling foul, was dragged across the floor.

Half an hour later, Li Heru flung the door open, then immediately closed it. She looked at Chu Yu, who was diligently mopping the floor with a mop, and said, “We’re going to Qingwa County.”

“?”

*

“So, she colluded with Ming Wanli to trick us into finding her. I’m not surprised she wants to lure us there, but I’m surprised Huang Lin would so obediently give the ghost infant to her?” Chu Yu said, pulling her suitcase as she walked.

Li Heru’s pace wasn’t fast, but she kept up with Chu Yu: “She wasn’t that obedient, of course. I suspect she regretted handing over the ghost infant and ran to us crying, hoping to use us to take out Ming Wanli and reap the benefits.”

Chu Yu nodded thoughtfully: “That makes sense. So why are we going to Qingwa County? To find her mother again?” The thought of that woman made Chu Yu feel uneasy.

“No, we’re going to retrieve the ghost infant’s ashes,” Li Heru said, winking mischievously.

The most precious possession for a ghost is its ashes. This is the only thing that allows them to wander in the mortal world. In other words, if you want a ghost to die, scatter its ashes.

Chu Yu was about to ask how Huang Lin was willing to tell her where such a precious thing was hidden, but remembering the bedroom door that had quickly slammed shut, she swallowed her words.

It must have been a combination of threats, promises, torture, and manipulation.

A murder house is a murder house. If she couldn’t sell it secondhand later, she would just live in it herself…

Huang Lin had hidden the ashes in the courtyard of her old house. The old house wasn’t in Qingwa County town; they had to take a bus to the suburbs.

Outside the window, the rain was misty, and the green mountains and fields were exceptionally beautiful. Chu Yu drew pictures on the condensation on the glass. Li Heru sat beside her, preoccupied.

“Why do you think she ran back to hide the ashes when she was so down and out that she had to live in the aquarium?” Chu Yu whispered.

There weren’t many people on the bus, and it was quiet. She kept her voice low, pretending to be on the phone.

“The aquarium isn’t safe. Ashes, of course, are best when they take root. Many ghosts are like that. I once met a ghost, a very interesting one. She put her ashes in her ex-girlfriend’s oatmeal container.”

Chu Yu gave her a startled look: “What if they were eaten?”

“No. Her ex-girlfriend hated oatmeal, but she loved eating it. The ashes were what was left of her when she was alive. She knew her ex-girlfriend would never open the container or throw it away. For many years afterward, her ashes remained in that jar, circulating safely.”

Chu Yu smiled. She remembered the plastic bag Li Heru had initially guarded like a treasure. Such a large person, reduced to a tiny bit of ash after death. The hardships she endured were unimaginable to outsiders.

“So, she’s living a good life now, I guess,” Chu Yu said lightly.

“No, she’s right here.” Li Heru pointed to her stomach. She licked the corner of her lips, her expression teasing.

“If I don’t eat her, she’ll eat me,” she said, sounding like a sigh.