Убийство любви

Глава 5

The person inside my body seemed to know what I was thinking and said through my mouth, "Qu Ming, don't think nonsense. I am already inside your body. You are not possessed."

I couldn't understand a word, but I blurted out, "What? How did you get inside my body? When did you get in? Are you a human or a ghost?" Only after shouting did I realize that I had spoken again, and I felt relieved.

But then my mouth transformed into that person's voice saying, "I was born into this world with you."

At this moment, the Night Demon sneered, "Stop talking nonsense... Cheng Lang, now that you have shown yourself, you should know my purpose. Today, I will obtain the Moon Clan's divine power from you no matter what."

The man made me shake my head and say, "Night Demon, although you and I were once one, we were eventually separated because of the different forces we represented. Although we both possess the divine power of the Moon Clan, these two completely opposite powers can never be merged. I advise you not to waste your efforts."

“What do you know? I have already asked Elder Mingyun, and he told me that as long as I merge with you and imprison your ridiculous thoughts in my body, I can possess the complete divine power of the Moon Clan and unify the Demon Realm.”

The man made me shake my head again and said, "Old Man Mingyun's words are always profound and full of Zen wisdom. Night Demon, are you sure you haven't misunderstood him?"

"Hmph, of course I heard you right. You'd better prepare to merge with me."

"Haha, do you think it will be as easy as you imagine? I was just awakened from a hundred-year-old dream by your flute music, so how could I not resist becoming one with you?"

"You want to resist? Haha, do you think I can't see that you're just a part of your own body now? Do you think you can stop me?"

"Whether he can stop me or not is another matter. Night Demon, shouldn't you return the Moonheart Flute to me?" I felt him flip my hand, and the flute flew out of Night Demon's hand and hovered in mid-air. Seeing the look of horror on Night Demon's face, I said, "Don't even think about it." He made a strange gesture with his palm, and the flute moved closer to him. At the same time, I also exerted a force in my hand, and the flute moved closer to me.

Ayu said to Night Demon from the side, "You scoundrel, this flute originally belonged to Alang. You stole his things and kept them for so many years. Now that he has come to ask for them back, why don't you return them to Alang? You are shameless."

Just then, Night Demon glared at her and suddenly unleashed a burst of true energy from both hands, attacking A Yu. Caught off guard, A Yu fell backward with a thud, spitting out a mouthful of blood. I abruptly withdrew my strength and rushed towards A Yu, saying, "A Yu, how are you... Night Demon, you are so ruthless and cruel that you even harm your own family."

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Night Demon retrieved his bamboo flute and sneered, "She doesn't consider me family at all, so why should I show any mercy? Cheng Lang, I'll let you go for now, but I'm determined to have your Moon Clan divine power. You'd better be prepared to hand it over obediently, hahaha..." As he spoke, his figure disappeared.

The person inside me said, "Alright, I'll wait. I'm just afraid you don't have the ability."

I picked up Ayu, and the man instructed me to place my hand on Ayu's pulse. I asked, "How is she?"

He then instructed me to say, "She is seriously injured and we need to take her to the Demon Realm to heal her quickly."

"Then how should we get there?"

"Qu Ming, why don't you take a nap first?"

"What?" As soon as I finished speaking, my mind went completely blank, then everything went black, and I knew nothing more.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself sitting in my workspace, with Ayu smiling at me and asking, "How is it? Is it good?"

"What?" Having experienced so many strange things, even if she felt strange inside, she appeared calm on the surface. She pointed to a cup of flower tea in front of me and said, "I brought this flower tea from home. Didn't you just take a sip?"

"Oh...this...is it delicious?" I quickly took a sip, knowing that what she had just seen was not me.

At that moment, the editor-in-chief walked into our studio and asked, "Have you seen Sima Xiao?"

Ayu said, "No, isn't he in the planning team?"

"No, that kid didn't come yesterday. We were waiting for him to meet with the advertisers today, but we can't get through to him on the phone. It's really worrying. If the magazine loses a big client because of him, I'll fire him."

I said, somewhat puzzled, "No way, I saw him yesterday."

The editor-in-chief looked at me and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I looked for him for ages yesterday morning and he wasn't there. His team said his family had asked him to take a day off. How could you have seen him?"

“I…” I knew something was wrong, so I could only laugh and say, “Ah, I must have misremembered. I think it was probably the day before yesterday.”

“You’re so young and already so senile… I’ll call his family and ask.” The editor-in-chief said as he went out.

I cautiously asked Ayu, "What's the date today?"

"Today is the 11th, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing...it's nothing...Oh, by the way, are all our copywriting materials finished? The editor-in-chief didn't scold us, did he?"

Ayu looked at me strangely and said, "It was handed in yesterday. Didn't you and I finish it together?"

"Me and you?" I broke out in a cold sweat. It seems that the Cheng Lang inside me is truly all-powerful, managing both human work and demonic magic with ease.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing. I just didn't get enough rest, and my brain is a little foggy," I said with a helpless laugh, patting my head.

Ah Yu said, "Senior brother, I'm free today. Can I go out for a walk early?"

"Okay, okay, you can go now."

"That's great, I hope the editor-in-chief won't come again."

"No, no, if he comes, I'll take care of him."

Chapter Eight: Sleepy

As I watched Ayu walk out of the workshop, I quickly closed the door and went to a corner to whisper, "Hey, no one's here now, come out quickly."

I was speaking to another part of my body, but my body didn't react at all. I said again, "Come out, don't pretend you can't hear me. I need you to explain what's going on." Still, there was no sound.

"Cheng Lang, is your name Cheng Lang? How long have you been hiding inside my body? Please come out quickly. You've confused me. I need you to explain yourself clearly."

No other person's voice could be heard inside my body. I was talking to myself in the room and getting more and more anxious. Luckily, no one else was there at the time, otherwise they would have sent me to a mental hospital.

Just as I was anxiously calling Cheng Lang out, the studio phone suddenly rang. I was startled and it took me a moment to react before I quickly picked up the phone. The editor-in-chief's voice came through: "Hello, is this Qu Ming? Come to my office for a moment."

"Oh... okay." I hung up the phone, wondering what the editor-in-chief wanted to see me about. With a puzzled look in my eyes, I went to the editor-in-chief's office and saw him pacing back and forth with a furrowed brow. When he saw me, he quickly said, "Qu Ming, you've come at the right time. Do you know where the Sima Xiao family lives?"

"Yes, I know. He even invited his colleagues from the magazine to his house for a barbecue party the other day."

"That's good, that's good. Go to his house right now and see him."

"Look at him, Editor-in-Chief, what's wrong with him?"

“I just called his family. His parents said he took his medicine and went to sleep yesterday afternoon and hasn’t woken up since. His family can’t wake him up no matter what they do. This morning they called a doctor to see him, who said he was just asleep, but they couldn’t wake him up either. Could you go and take a look at him and see if there’s some evil spirit affecting him?”

"I...I don't know how to watch it," I said, feigning ignorance, wondering why he wanted me to go.

"Stop your nonsense. Do you think I don't know what your Qu family is capable of? I even had your father perform a ritual at my house. You and Sima Xiao were colleagues, are you just going to stand by and watch him die?"

"No, no, but Editor-in-Chief, how do you know Sima Xiao is possessed by evil spirits? Maybe he's just pretending to be asleep and won't get up."

“Do you think that’s possible… Qu Ming, let me ask you again… do you think A Yu… um… is there anything wrong with her?”

"Ah Yu?" I was startled. I looked up and saw a fleeting look of fear in the editor-in-chief's eyes. I was incredibly curious and asked, "Editor-in-chief... did you see something?"

"No, no," the editor-in-chief said, avoiding my gaze. "Go check on Sima Xiao first. Sigh, his parents and I are good friends. I hope nothing bad has happened to him."

“Don’t worry, I’ll go see him right now,” I quickly reassured him, thinking to myself, “This Sima Xiao has such a close relationship with the editor-in-chief. Luckily, I haven’t offended him.”

"Okay, go ahead... By the way, is Ayu still in the workshop?"

“She…” I said quickly, “She said she wasn’t feeling well, so I told her to go home first.”

"Not feeling well?" the editor-in-chief asked again, then waved his hand and said, "Okay, I know, you can go now."

I arrived at Sima Xiao's house and rang the doorbell. His house was a villa suite with a large yard in front. After a while, two middle-aged women came to open the door. The one in front was wearing a white shirt and black pants, like a maid, while the one behind was elegant and noble, but her face showed anxiety and worry. I recognized her as Sima Xiao's mother.

The maid opened the door, and Sima Xiao's mother saw me and asked, "Are you Mr. Qu Ming?"

I smiled and said, "It's me, Auntie. I'm Ah Xiao's colleague. You can just call me Ah Ming."

She exclaimed with delight, "It's you! That's wonderful! I've long admired the Qu family. With you here, Ah Xiao is saved. Please come in with me."

I asked, somewhat puzzled, "Auntie, what's wrong with Ah Xiao? The editor-in-chief asked me to come and see him."

As we walked and talked, she said, "Why don't you go and see him first?"

After we finished speaking, we went inside. Sima Xiao's house was decorated in a magnificent and luxurious style. We went up to the second floor, and I asked, "Isn't Uncle home?"

“He went abroad for a meeting three days ago, and I called him to come back as soon as possible.” As she spoke, she pushed open a door, and we entered a very large bedroom. The walls were sky blue, and the room was equipped with all kinds of modern appliances, such as a TV, computer, refrigerator, and air conditioner. However, the room was neat and tidy, indicating that someone cleans it every day. In the east corner, there was a large bed, and Sima Xiao was lying on the bed, covered with a quilt, sleeping soundly.

His mother said worriedly, "This child has been sleeping since yesterday afternoon and we can't wake him up no matter what we do. The doctor came to examine him and said that he is in a deep sleep and it will be difficult for him to wake up in a short time. If it is serious, he is showing some characteristics of a vegetative state."

I went up to Sima Xiao, checked his pulse, and said, "It can't be that serious, can it? I think his breathing and heartbeat are normal. He might wake up soon."

His mother shook her head and said, "Sigh... If only that were the case... Ah Ming, let's go downstairs to talk."

I nodded and followed her downstairs. Sitting on the comfortable sofa and sipping fine Longjing tea, I asked, "Auntie, did anything strange happen to Ah Xiao before he went to sleep?"

She smiled politely and said, "Even if you didn't ask, I would still tell you. Let me start from yesterday morning." Then she recounted in detail what Sima Xiao had done at home the previous day.

Here's what happened—yesterday morning, Sima Xiao felt dizzy as soon as he got up. He complained of a headache while eating breakfast. His mother felt sorry for him and immediately called the editor-in-chief to ask for leave for him. She then urged her precious son to take his medicine and rest, which Sima Xiao did. He was basically fine in the morning. At noon, his mother specially instructed the kitchen to prepare a few light dishes, which she then personally brought to Sima Xiao's room for him to eat.

As she finished speaking, I interrupted and asked, "Auntie, when you woke Ah Xiao up yesterday at noon, did he wake up very quickly?"

"Hmm, I thought about this today too. I felt that waking him up was about the same as usual. He usually loves to stay in bed and will usually turn over and pretend he can't hear me. I have to push him out of bed, and he even complains that I'm annoying." She smiled with a mix of helplessness and affection.

I nodded, and she continued—when Sima Xiao got up for breakfast, he told her he had a very strange dream. When she asked what it was, Sima Xiao shook his head and said he had forgotten, but the feeling was very strange. She didn't think much of it; she waited for him to finish eating, and then went downstairs to rest.

Chapter Nine: Soul-Separating Tea

She sighed as she finished speaking, "Actually, during this period, Ah Xiao was still the same as usual, but later... but..."

I asked, "What happened next?"

She slowly began to recount the following events—not long after she went downstairs to rest, around one or two o'clock in the afternoon, she suddenly heard Sima Xiao scream. She rushed out to see what was happening, and the sound was coming from Sima Xiao's room on the second floor. All the servants were gathered outside his door, anxiously whispering among themselves. She went upstairs, knocked on the door, and called Xiao's name, only to find the door locked from the inside. After much difficulty, she managed to get the key and open the door. She saw Xiao staring in terror at a corner of the room, his body trembling, screaming, "Don't come any closer! I don't want a divorce! I don't want a divorce!" Confused, she went over and hugged Sima Xiao, comforting him, "Child, what's wrong?" Only then did she notice that Sima Xiao was covered in sweat. She anxiously asked, "Xiao, what's wrong? Why are you sweating so much?"

Sima Xiao remained silent in fear, only pointing to the corner of the bed on the west side of the room. She looked but saw nothing, but still felt uneasy and asked, "What did you see? What did you see?"

Sima Xiao said, trembling, "He wants to divorce me."

She asked, confused, "What divorce?"

Sima Xiao stared at her with wide eyes and said, "Separation of the soul, separation of the soul."

Only then did she realize that he meant "soul leaving the body," but she still didn't understand what it meant, so she could only hug him tightly and comfort him, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Mom is here. Are you having a nightmare, child?"

As she spoke, her expression softened. "Back then, Ah Xiao was like a little child. It felt like I was back when he was a child and I was holding him tightly to comfort him."

I smiled and nodded, recalling the times when I was a child and always sought comfort in my mother's arms.

She continued her story—she held Sima Xiao for a while before she felt that he seemed to have calmed down, but he seemed unaware of what had happened and frowned as he asked, "Mom, why are you holding me so tightly?"

She exclaimed with delight, "Son, you're alright!"