"You insisted on moving out, saying you wanted to live alone and find the solitude of creation. We finally found you a place, but after less than two years you want to move back?"
"Sister, I have my reasons." Yu Nan's voice trembled.
"What's your predicament? Tell me!" Li Yue's tone was unfriendly.
Yu Nan looked around. The garden was not quiet at midnight; the chirping of cicadas mingled with the tinkling of wind chimes.
It was very lively, and Yu Nan felt like countless eyes were staring at her.
"It's nighttime now, I dare not say." Yu Nan covered the phone, shrinking back timidly.
"I dare not say, am I afraid of ghosts?" Li Yue was speechless.
"Aaaaaah, don't say that word!" Yu Nan was almost crying. "It'll bring bad luck..."
"No way," Li Yue laughed, "It's really because you're afraid of ghosts?"
Yu Nan felt a chill run down her spine. "Yes, I'm scared! My house has bad feng shui!"
"That's really strange!" Li Yue laughed hysterically. "You lived alone for the past two years without any problems, but now that we've found you a roommate, you've started to become suspicious."
"Miss Zhu only scared you once, don't keep bullying her."
Yu Nan had a bitter pill to swallow, and she didn't want to tell Li Yue about Zhu Yao writing a novel.
On one hand, it was Zhu Yao's privacy; on the other hand, she didn't want Li Yue to know that she was afraid of her family because she read novels.
Yu Nan knew perfectly well that her fear was unfounded, but she was still afraid! Did she need a reason to be afraid?
She worries that a pair of hands will reach out from the cupboard and pull her in when she goes to the kitchen; she worries that hair will appear in the water heater and strangle her when she goes to the toilet; she doesn't even dare to bend over, doesn't dare to look under the bed or sofa, for fear of meeting the eyes of red pupils.
She even walked up and down the stairs herself, afraid to take the elevator for fear of getting trapped inside…
"If you don't have a nightlife, you'll easily become suspicious. If all else fails, find a partner."
Li Yue started teasing Yu Nan, "Also, don't text me too late at night in the future. You may not have a nightlife, but I do."
Yu Nan was speechless, listening intently to the other end of the phone from afar.
"How old are you to still be afraid of ghosts? What a boring, childish fool." It was Gu Wanqiu.
"Yu Nan is especially funny when she's afraid of ghosts. She's so cowardly and doesn't talk back." It was Li Yue, laughing wildly as she revealed Yu Nan's secrets.
"Next time she's hospitalized, I'll show her a horror movie." It was Gu Wanqiu, her tone still calm, yet she was saying something terrifying.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Li Yue laughed like a goose. “Yu Nan used to cry when she watched horror movies when she was little, but I don’t know if she still cries now.”
"Then I'll put her in the children's ward so she can watch horror movies with the other kids and see who cries first," Gu Wanqiu said calmly.
Yu Nan: ...
"Hey, hey, hey, the phone's still on, watch your step!" Yu Nan said, annoyed.
"Okay, I'm hanging up now. Don't bother me while I'm doing my business," Li Yue said cheerfully. "You should pay attention to your sleep schedule. I heard that having your days and nights reversed will take up space for ghosts and spirits, making you more likely to encounter them~"
Then came the busy signal, and Li Yue hung up.
Yu Nan sat on a chair in front of the fountain, holding her phone.
Why did Li Yue say the exact same thing as what Zhu Yao wrote in her novel?
Could it be that there is a long-standing tradition that daytime is for humans and nighttime is for ghosts, with each having its own schedule and not interfering with the other?
Until modern times, with the development of technology, humans began to be active at night, which encroached on the space of ghosts and gods, so ghosts and gods began to take revenge on humans.
Yu Nan felt the cicadas chirping in her ears growing sharper and sharper, the moon overhead seemed to turn red, the gentle breeze felt like a semi-transparent spirit touching her, and the wind chimes sounded like the laughter of a madwoman.
Yu Nan recalled the Tibetan-style dried chicken described in Zhu Yao's novel.
Make a small incision at the tail of the live chicken, remove all the internal organs without getting them wet, stuff it with seasonings, and sew it up.
The processed live chickens are then tied upside down on a tree with their legs tied to ropes to dry in the wind. The live chickens will scream in agony while hanging on the ropes, and the wind will make their wounds hurt even more, causing them to scream even more pitifully, just like wind chimes.
The wind chimes hanging in front of the villa leading to the underworld contain the soul of a woman.
They were treated like dried chickens in life, and after death they are extremely afraid of wind. They will scream wildly at the slightest sound. They are often used in tombs to warn the tomb owner that someone is trying to rob the tomb.
Just then, a gust of wind came, and Yu Nan heard the sound of wind chimes, which exploded like thunder.
Yu Nan wanted to run far away.
Entering the house is a passage to the underworld; not entering the house means facing the wind chimes.
Although Yu Nan bought this wind chime while traveling in Japan, and it's 100% certain that it didn't contain the dried-up soul of a woman, it still sounded like a death knell when it rang.
It seems that many people in that country who are living a comfortable life are quite perverted; it's not surprising that the wind chimes they make seem to contain the soul of a dried-up woman...
Yu Nan started having wild thoughts. She wanted to go back to her room, but her legs seemed rooted to the spot and she couldn't move.
So, Zhu Yao, who was playing Sekiro in the house, received a call from Yu Nan.
“Come pick me up in the front yard…” Yu Nan’s voice was trembling with tears.
Did something unexpected happen while they were out shopping?!
Is Yu Nan feeling unwell again?!
Although the alarm didn't go off, Zhu Yao didn't dare to be careless. She put down the controller, grabbed her phone, and ran out of the villa. In the distance, she saw Yu Nan huddled up on the bench in front of the fountain.
"Are you alright?" Zhu Yao didn't dare to pull Yu Nan, afraid that she might accidentally cause further injury.
"I can't stand up." Yu Nan's body was trembling, her teeth chattering, and the words were almost squeezed out of her throat.
Zhu Yao helped Yu Nan to her feet, but Yu Nan's legs went weak and she collapsed onto Zhu Yao.
"Stand still and rest a bit. Can you walk?" Zhu Yao whispered. "What's wrong? Did you hurt your leg? Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine," Yu Nan managed to squeeze out another sentence.
Yu Nan was pale and sweating profusely; even with Zhu Yao's support, she couldn't stop trembling.
He doesn't look like anything's wrong at all.
Zhu Yao suddenly realized what was happening, her whole body trembled, her teeth chattered, and her legs went weak. Thinking back to how Yu Nan had been so suspicious these past few days, she was afraid that she had been frightened again.
"It's alright, I'm here. Nothing will harm you."
Zhu Yao confidently spouted nonsense: "I have the 'stay-at-home' system. If there's any trouble in other people's homes, just invite me over for a few days, and things will return to normal."
Yu Nan looked at Zhu Yao with tears in her eyes. At this moment, Zhu Yao seemed to be surrounded by a layer of Buddha's light, automatically causing ghosts and gods to retreat.
I feel incredibly safe!
Zhu Yao followed back to the game room, and when she entered, the screen was still displaying the word "death".
Zhu Yao continued playing the game skillfully and started progressing through the levels.
"Wait a minute," Yu Nan realized something was wrong, "Madame Butterfly, are you done?"
"It's over, isn't it?" Zhu Yao said matter-of-factly.
Yu Nan was stunned. Lady Butterfly had stuck with her for a whole week, and she angrily uninstalled the game because she couldn't beat Lady Butterfly.
As a result, in the short time she went out to make a phone call and take a walk, Zhu Yao actually made the call?!
Wolf Blade, as a "Valkyrie," was stuck for a whole afternoon!
"But I didn't play it myself," Zhu Yao readily admitted. "I looked up strategy videos while you weren't around."
Yu Nan was speechless and choked with emotion.
I thought Zhu Yao was talking about cheating.
It's normal to look up game guides when playing games. Back then, she read through all the guides but still couldn't beat a game.
Whose travel guide did you read?
"Valkyrie Wolf Blade."
Yu Nan chuckled and asked, "What do you think of Wolf Blade?"
"The decryption logic is clear, and the gameplay and background are explained together in the video. The strategy is also simple and clear," Zhu Yao praised without reservation. "And her voice is really nice."
Lang Dao'er's voice was quiet, gentle, clear, and bright, with a Beijing accent mixed with a bit of a Northeastern accent. It was neither affected nor hoarse, like a clear autumn sky after the rain.
"Yes, Wolf Blade became famous because of her excellent skills. She doesn't show her face or sell sex appeal. She just plays games quietly and only focuses on making each strategy video well."
Yu Nan also spoke highly of her old friend.
"If you join my studio, I can arrange for you to compete against Wolf Blade."
"Huh?" Zhu Yao was a little surprised.
Isn't Lang Dao'er from Li Ji Studio? Even after leaving Li Ji Studio, can Yu Nan still maintain contact with Lang Dao'er?
"Back in the day, Wolf Blade was fighting a wolf, and Lady Butterfly was stuck for an entire afternoon," Yu Nan recalled. "Then she refused to eat or drink in order to finish the game, and I had to take the controller from her before she would eat."
"You two are so alike!" Zhu Yao exclaimed. "You two never sleep when you're working."
“It really is different,” Yu Nan said with a wry smile.
One of the reasons why Wolf Blade dared not put down the handle back then was Yu Nan.
Whenever Lang Dao'er takes a break, Yu Nan would always impulsively try to play Lang Dao'er's save file, only to die repeatedly because he was too bad at the game.
Often, when Wolf Blade leaves for a while and then returns, he finds that all the NPCs have contracted dragon's cough (a game penalty caused by Yu Nan dying too many times).
So Lang Dao'er stayed up all night to guard against Yu Nan, fearing she might take advantage of any loopholes to destroy the files.
Looking back at myself back then, I was so naive. I didn't want people to think I was clumsy, so I went around looking for trouble...
However, Wolf Blade is also quite childish, always inserting his own opinions into the games written by Yu Miao—praising "Wolf Blade" wildly in Yu Miao's name, and also saying that "Yu Miao" is no good in "Wolf Blade's" account.
This led some players to believe that Yu Miao was chasing "Wolf Knife," only to be discovered by "Wolf Knife" that it was "not allowed."
After all, "Yu Miao" is a male character.
So much so that "Yu Miao is no good" has become a meme among players.
Although I'm past the childish stage, I still get annoyed when I think about it!
Chapter 29 The Peach Blossoms of Mount Kongtong are in Bloom
Having witnessed Yu Nan's legs go weak from fear while sitting in front of the fountain, Zhu Yao tacitly allowed Yu Nan to stay in her bedroom and got used to her strange habit of not daring to be alone in her room.