“My eyes—my eyes!”
Watching the figure rolling frantically on the ground, completely stripped of the eerie presence it had just moments ago, Xu Xiaoyou looked utterly confused.
The female ghost struggled and struggled, then suddenly went still. After a moment, a series of strange hee-hee-hee laughs leaked from her mouth.
Her dried-out long hair floated upward. The hem of her white dress fluttered wildly, as if stirred by some unseen wind. Blue-purple veins stood out starkly on her pale hands as her entire body rose into the air, exuding an oppressive aura!
“I died so unjustly… I died so miserably in this apartment… Give me back my life! Give me back my life!”
Xu Xiaoyou said calmly, “Anya, bite her.”
“Woof!”
Anya immediately lunged forward, yanking the ghostly figure down from the air. Her small body pinned the female ghost to the ground as she clamped down with her juvenile teeth, tearing and tugging with the strength of her neck and head. This was a standard canine method of dealing with prey—an instinct engraved deep within her genes.
“Stop biting! Stop biting! I was wrong, I was really wrong this time!”
Before long, the ghost wailed and begged for mercy, rolling around the floor in pain. Anya glanced at Xu Xiaoyou. Only after receiving a nod did she release her bite from the ghost’s head.
“What is this little thing, a dog or something? That hurts like hell! I almost had my hair ripped out!”
The female ghost complained while fixing her hair. The moment she looked up, a pitch-black gun barrel was pressed against her forehead. She instantly raised both hands, swallowing hard.
“Don’t—don’t shoot!”
“You have one minute to explain why you appeared in my apartment,” Xu Xiaoyou said coldly.
“I’m the former owner of this apartment! My name is Lin Ran! I’m already dead!” the ghost shouted. “More than ten days ago, I hanged myself in the room where you just took a nap! When I opened my eyes again, I was like this!”
She paused, then continued,
“My body became very light, like I could float. I thought I’d gained some superpower, but when I saw my own corpse hanging there, I realized I was already dead.”
“I watched the cleanup crew take my body down and remove it. They cleaned the apartment completely—so clean it was like nothing ever happened. My existence was erased from the world with a single brushstroke!”
“I thought that was fine too. At least I didn’t have to worry about my miserable life anymore. No more work. You have no idea how excited I was, boo-hoo-hoo.”
“An urban eldritch creature?” Xu Xiaoyou made her judgment internally.
Urban eldritch creatures—no one could explain why they existed, nor how they appeared from nothing.
All that was known was that they were usually born from human mental projections. For example, the sleepwalking fish originated from people’s longing for beauty, while things like Midnight Ring were born from the fear of receiving a phone call in the middle of the night.
Their range of origin was astonishingly broad—so broad that even trivial daily annoyances could give birth to one. For instance, if you were struggling in the bathroom and felt distressed by constipation, a toilet spirit might suddenly be born to grant you explosive relief—to the point of dehydration.
In everyday life, directly witnessing the birth of an urban eldritch creature was extremely rare. In contrast, the probability of such creatures appearing in a hive city was usually related to the city’s Engel coefficient.
The Engel coefficient, also known as a happiness index—the better people lived, the richer their inner worlds, the higher the probability of urban eldritch creatures being born, increasing exponentially.
Conversely, in cities that were chaotic and impoverished—where even eating was a struggle and people’s spirits were utterly depleted—the probability dropped drastically.
The city Xu Xiaoyou lived in was one where urban eldritch creatures almost never appeared. When they did, they almost always became headline news.
Pulling her thoughts back, Xu Xiaoyou looked at the woman in front of her again.
She hadn’t expected that a newly moved-in apartment would already house an urban eldritch creature.
“So you’re saying you’re the apartment’s previous owner?” Xu Xiaoyou asked.
“Yes, yes. I’ve been stuck in this place for days,” Lin Ran said, somehow producing a hair tie. She sat cross-legged on the floor, brushed the hair from her face, and tied it into a ponytail. “You have no idea how bored I’ve been. I was going crazy! When you showed up today, I was so excited, hehe. I thought I’d scare you a little.”
“If I’d known it’d turn out like this, I should’ve just hidden.”
After tying her hair, Lin Ran’s cloudy pupils cleared. The sharp nails on her hands retracted back into flesh. Aside from her pale skin, she now looked almost identical to a normal young woman.
“You can’t leave?” Xu Xiaoyou asked.
“Yeah. I thought I was finally free, no more suffering—but it turns out I can’t even get out the door.”
As she spoke, Lin Ran floated toward the exit. Moments after passing through the doorway, she slowly drifted back from the bedroom.
“See? Every time I try to leave, I get sent back to the bedroom. I’m completely trapped in this place.”
“Sigh… I thought life was finally getting better. Turns out it’s even worse than before. Now I can’t even die properly.” Lin Ran spread her hands and sighed.
“Hm…” Xu Xiaoyou fell into thought.
Lin Ran secretly observed her the whole time. Seeing that Xu Xiaoyou’s expression never changed, she felt disappointed.
She slept in the room where I hanged myself! That’s a haunted house! Is this really all the reaction I get?
Curiosity about the girl began to grow.
“So… what abilities do you have?”
“Abilities?” Lin Ran blinked, then suddenly realized. “Oh~ I get it! I’m basically a bound spirit now. If my resentment isn’t resolved, I’ll stay in this apartment forever!”
She suddenly struck a pose, hands on hips, raising one finger.
“Ahem! I am now the bound-ghost Lin Ran! Listen carefully—I am issuing you a quest! If you don’t complete it, I’ll stick to this apartment like chewing gum and never leave!”
“Wouldn’t that be great?” Xu Xiaoyou replied. “You’re not a threat to us anyway.”
Lin Ran froze.
“I… I talk a lot! I’ll keep you awake all night!”
“Perfect. The house needs a nanny anyway. Taking out the trash, cleaning, cooking, looking after kids—it’s all very troublesome.”
Lin Ran was completely stunned.
Disbelief. Fear.
She stared deeply at Xu Xiaoyou, who had said all of that with a perfectly calm face.
She’s serious.
She looks cute, but how can someone say something so utterly deranged so casually?
What kind of international joke is this?! Lin Ran screamed internally.
Her life had already been miserable—squeezed dry by her company. And now, even after death, she still had to be exploited?
“I’m a ghost! A bound spirit! Making me do that kind of thing is not allowed!”
“It is allowed.”
“Uh… y-you’re joking, right? Hahaha…”
Lin Ran’s voice grew weaker and weaker. Looking at Xu Xiaoyou’s expression, it felt like if she refused, she’d be threatened with something horrifying and humiliating.
“That kind of thing is not okay!”
Rate on N.U.
