CH 48

Chapter 48: Human Form

At this moment, a series of knocking came from the door.

Chi Yan looked back and met Ye Yingzhi’s glance before slipping out of his arms. “I’ll go and open the door.”

He didn’t bother about the blush that was on his face, and neither had his heartbeat calmed down, but he had already hurriedly paced to the door and opened it by twisting the knob.

Gu Xixi was standing outside the door.

When she saw Chi Yan, she smiled and raised the delicate box in her hands. “Brother Chi Yan, thank you for taking me out to eat. When I was going back, I saw the cake shop you like and bought a piece for you.”

Chi Yan’s limbs were frozen, he did not know how to react.

A hand stretched out from behind him, Ye Yingzhi stood close at his back and took the cake. “Thank you. Ah Yan was just about to change his clothes to go and find his advisor. He can’t accompany you. But do you want to come in and have a seat? I can pour you a cup of tea and chat with you.”

The words were spoken curtly, and Chi Yan immediately grew concerned. Ye Yingzhi might not know anything, but he was very aware that person in front of them was not a human. What if Yingzhi accidentally enraged “her”? Would it hurt him?

Unexpectedly, Gu Xixi’s smile disappeared and she looked at Chi Yan before nodding. “Since Brother Chi Yan has something on, I won’t disturb him. See you soon.”

Looking at her rapidly departing back, numerous scenes flashed in his mind instantly— when Gu Xixi came to find him, she would leave quickly when she knew that Ye Yingzhi was around; when he invited her for a meal, the moment she heard that Ye Yingzhi would be coming along, she would find an excuse to decline his invitation.

He subconsciously looked at Ye Yingzhi who was heading toward the garbage bin to throw the cake that Gu Xixi had passed him.

He didn’t think wrongly, no matter what the reason was, Gu Xixi was indeed avoiding Ye Yingzhi.

Before Hu Xing could eliminate Gu Xuxi, keeping close to Ye Yingzhi would be Chi Yan’s best choice.

Chi Yan went to the balcony to call Hu Xing. He first asked a question that he was very puzzled about, “Sister Hu, you said that Gu Xixi isn’t a human, then how did she get her identity and even openly attend school?”

Hu Xing couldn’t help chuckling after hearing his question. “If she can pretend to be human and blend into human society, she naturally has many means to create an identity for herself. She might have impersonated someone or tampered with the system… there are too many ways for such an evil thing like her.”

Chi Yan realized that his question might be a little naive after hearing laughter coming from the phone, so he could not help blushing and touching the tip of his nose. Then he explained to Hu Xing how he came to get to know about Gu Xixi, how she had impersonated “Baby Yan” and suddenly discovering that Ye Yinzhi was the real “Baby Yan” today. Although these things might seem trivial, they were also full of doubts and might provide clues for her.

Hu Xing said on the other end of the phone, “Wait, Chi Yan, you mean, that thing knows all the secrets you and your roommate have in the game, and looks like your roommate’s game character?”

“Yes,” Chi Yan replied. Even Sadako could climb out of a TV. After knowing that Gu Xixi wasn’t a human, he wasn’t surprised that Gu Xixi could easily find out these information and change her appearance into “Baby Yan”. After all, he and Ye Yingzhi were just ordinary people. How could they guard themselves against those evil things?

“…” Hu Xing instantly became silent for a long time, then she slowly said, “Xiao Chi, is it possible that your way of thinking is simply wrong? It’s not that she’s targeting you, so she pretends to be “Baby Yan” that you have never seen in reality to get close to you. It’s because she is “Baby Yan”, and right now she’s targeting her husband, which is you.”

“What are you talking about, Sister Hu? It’s obvious that Ye Yingzhi is “Baby Yan”. It’s impossible for him to lie to me, let alone deceive me in such matters.”

“I didn’t say that Ye Yingzhi is not Baby Yan. I’m saying that Gu Xixi’s original form might be Baby Yan, the game character created by your roommate.”

Chi Yan suddenly froze.

Ancient and fantasy style had always been an enduring theme in the domestic online game market, and so was the game “Hua Xian Yuan”. Its background was based on ancient folklore. It was said that a scholar had drawn a picture of a beauty. He looked at the beauty in the picture day by day and thought about it crazily. But one day, the beauty came out of the picture and became a human. She married him and gave birth to his child.

Now it seemed that this was just the wish and sustenance of the ancient scholars in the form of painting. If you had nothing to do, you could obtain the beauty you wanted by painting them, this was also called daydreaming. But in fact, there were many similar stories at all times and in all countries. For example, in Western legends, Pygmalion, the king of Cyprus, also fell in love with the girl he had sculpted.

However, Hu Xing had said that statues, sculptures, portraits, dolls…. Even photos that appeared after the invention of photographic technology might create evil spirits. Man was the spirit of all things. If there was a human form, it was possible to birth spiritual matter. If there was blood involved, it might become evil. There was no doubt that the characters in 3D games were more vivid. “They” had names, expressions, and bodies. They “lived” in their “world” under the control of their masters.

When your character smiled at you, how do you know if it was manipulated by data or if it really wanted to smile at you?

For such a thing, it wouldn’t be impossible for it to come alive one day, wasn’t it?

“…This makes sense. Although “she” has obtained a form by absorbing evil energy, she doesn’t have a body in reality. She could only use those evil energy to create a body temporarily and must make a body for herself before the evil energy dissipates. No wonder she is in such a hurry.” Hu Xing continued at the other end of the phone, “But this is also strange. Where did your roommate go and what did he do? How could he let that thing be in contact with such strong evil energy that it became a demon straightaway?”

Although the game characters could be more vivid than portraits and sculptures, they did not have direct contact with the outside world, and the probability of them interacting with evil was much smaller according to reasons previously stated.

Ye Yingzhi wasn’t sociable and did not like to go out for activities. Most of the time, he was either at school or at home. How was it possible for him to come into contact with places with strong evil energy?

Just thinking of this point, he was stunned. At home… if he was at home… Grandaunt had said before that the house he was residing in used to have some problems. Someone placed an evil gathering array inside, and he heard that a very powerful evil spirit used to stay in it. Like what Ye Yingzhi had said, they had never felt the existence of a third person when they lived there, but if he had anything to say, then the place itself would definitely be filled with evil energy. Even if that thing had left, there would probably be remnants of evil energy that ordinary people would not be able to detect.

After Chi Yan told Hu Xing about this old story, she mumbled, “No wonder,” and instructed Chi Yan with a few more sentences before hanging up the call.

Later, he went back to the room and told Ye Yingzhi, “Yingzhi, Can I request something from you? Could you please delete Baby Yan? I will compensate you with my Ye Sanqian’s account.” At that time, they also invested a lot of time and money in the game, and now Baby Yan was worth a lot of money. Anyway, a lot of things were shared equally among them, the strength level of their characters were almost the same, so it was appropriate to give Ye Yingzhi “Ye Sanqian”.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the password. My phone is also there. You can delete it yourself.” Ye Yingzhi agreed to him without hesitation or even asking the reason. He thought about it and then added, “But you still owe Ye Sanqian a wife.”

Chi Yan thought that he was joking and he hurriedly thanked him before sitting on Ye Yingzhi’s seat to delete the character.

Hu Xing’s conjecture might not be entirely correct, and his deletion of the character “Baby Yan” might not have an impact on Gu Xixi, but there was always a possibility that it would weaken her power. What’s more, the existence of this character would remind him of Gu Xixi in any case, and made him feel dislike.

Chi Yan submitted an application to delete the character. After 15 days of protection policy, the character would be deleted. After 30 days of protection policy, it wouldn’t be able to be restored.

With a sigh of relief, he stood up and looked back to find that Ye Yingzhi was actually packing.

“Yingzhi, what are you doing?”

“Packing up and going home tonight,” Ye Yingzhi paused his movement and replied naturally.

Although Ye Yingzhi’s house had the legendary evil energy and it was very scary, but at this critical moment, it was more important to follow him closely.

Chi Yan also quickly went to his own table to pick up the things to bring to his home.

Ye Yingzhi straightened up and looked at him. “What are you doing?”

Chi Yan then turned back and replied naturally, “Packing up and going home with you.”

“No need. I’m not going to take you with me today.”

“Ah?” Chi Yan stared at him, somewhat feeling disbelief.

What did Ye Yingzhi say? He’s not going to take him with him today?

Many of his clothes and books were still in his house inside his wardrobe and the bedside table.

Ye Yingzhi approached him with a smile and he looked down at him before saying softly, ” …Ah Yan, will you understand if I put it this way? Everyone has needs. If you are around, I can’t solve them well.”

Although Ye Yingzhi didn’t say it clearly, Chi Yan still understood what the other party was referring to.

His face turned red and hot in an instant.

He intuitively felt that he was making trouble for Ye Yingzhi but he didn’t know. He had the audacity to cling onto him for such a long period and caused him to dislike it. Perhaps he didn’t like it since a long time ago and only choose to tell him today.

If this was just a normal occasion, he would be embarrassed to follow him, but now the situation was special, only by following Ye Yingzhi would he feel the safest and most reassured. He lowered his head and whispered, “Let me go back with you. I’ll move to the guest room. I can clean the house and wash the clothes. Just let me follow you. I promise I won’t disturb you this time.” Even if he had to move back to the guest room that’s been haunted by ghost twice, it would be fine.

“No.” Unexpectedly, Ye Yingzhi still refused him.

“I’ve been alone for so many years. This time, I just want to have someone else to help me out. If you’re there, I’ll be too embarrassed to take the person home.”

Why do you have to do such a thing at a time like this! Chi Yan couldn’t tell whether Ye Yingzhi really had such intention or if he was intentionally saying such words to deceive him because he didn’t want to take him back.

This was the so-called “proximity incurs impertinence while distance incurs complaints”, from this point of view, Chi Yan really couldn’t be called a gentleman. Ye Yingzhi was too kind to him, and now that he suddenly started to find excuses to refuse him, and even giving such excuses, it involuntarily made him bear some resentment.

He lowered his head and angrily said, “Then you don’t look for someone else, how about I help you?” He said this without thinking at all. If someone else had said this, it would be the prelude to a quarrel.

But Ye Yingzhi was not an ordinary person after all. He responded with an “oh” and then turned around to pack his things.

Chi Yan was still standing there letting the air conditioner blow on him. As soon as he wanted to say something, he heard Ye Yingzhi unenthusiastically saying, “Why aren’t you packing up?”

“What packing up?”

“Pack up and go home with me.” Ye Yingzhi looked back at him calmly. “I accepted your proposal just now. You and I will go home. You will help me.”

In the end, Chi Yan lay on Ye Yingzhi’s bed giddily. He had carried out his promise.

Of course, it was just a case of the simplest kind of helping out. Ye Yingzhi had even turned the bribe a tenant would one-sidedly give to his landlord into a mutual helping out between friends. Chi Yan was too shy to even open his eyes.

When this matter was reaching the end, it became somewhat out of control. At the time when it was most difficult to control oneself, Ye Yingzhi leaned over and kissed him.

It was a deep kiss.