Little Fox
As soon as Lu Congxing got home, the mirror ghost appeared, emerging from the reflective surface of the vase on the table and staring intently at him.
Its tone was full of resentment: “Gone for days without a word, and now you bring back a side-ghost.”
What kind of ridiculous nickname is that?
Lu Congxing paused. “This is food I brought for you.”
The mirror ghost, whose droopy eyelids had looked especially dejected, perked up at that. Its eyes opened slightly wider. “Oh? Then I forgive you.”
The shadow inside the bell twitched its ears, eavesdropping. Once it was sure the Bai Ze wasn’t around, its arrogance returned. Its tone became cocky again: “Who said I’m going to be eaten? I’ll just bite back!”
The mirror ghost curled its lips into a grin, revealing sharp fangs. The skin under its eyes looked bruised. “Oh?”
Without a word, Lu Congxing tipped the bell upside down, dumping the ghost out like it was trash. The shadow hit the ground and even rolled a couple of times.
Furious, it suddenly grew to over two meters tall, letting out a chilling laugh as it opened its bloodthirsty jaws wide at Lu Congxing.
Too bad the moment didn’t last more than two seconds. The next instant, it snapped back to the size of a fist, zapped by a strong electric shock.
It writhed on the floor in pain, yelling in disbelief, “How is this possible!?”
Lu Congxing stepped around it, grabbed some milk from the fridge, and casually explained, “Forgot to mention—I’ve set up a barrier here. Ghosts from outside can’t enter. Any ghosts I bring in get their power reduced to just ten percent.”
Being someone who has ghosts showing up at his door ten times a day, this was his go-to move every time he moved into a new place.
Still refusing to give up, the shadow tried to fight against the suppression inside its body—only to get smacked back down again, shrinking to half the size of a fist.
It looked up at Lu Congxing with a dumbfounded expression, finally realizing that even without his guardian demon Bai Ze around, this kid was not someone it could mess with.
“A wise man adapts to the times,” goes the saying—and the shadow, ever flexible, quickly changed its tune. The small dark blob wriggled closer, trying to cling on.
“Ying~ Master, I was wrong!”
Lu Congxing almost choked on his milk. He frowned.
“What did you just call me?”
The shadow replied confidently, “Master, of course! From today onward, you’re my master!”
Having lived for over a thousand years, it had long stopped caring about trivial things like dignity.
At that moment, a panda-shaped alarm clock had just waddled out to greet Lu Congxing and overheard this. Ever since being infused with Bai Ze’s spiritual energy, the panda clock had become much more aggressive. Without hesitation, it summoned a sweeping robot larger than itself and charged at the shadow, intending to sweep it up like trash.
The shadow never imagined it would one day be chased around a house by a round little robot.
Meanwhile, the mirror ghost, cold and indifferent, spoke from the reflection in a nearby vase: “So noisy. Can I eat it now?”
Lu Congxing tossed the empty milk bottle into the trash and settled into the sofa with a shake of his head. “No. I still have a few questions for it.”
Seizing the moment, the shadow jumped onto his lap and rolled around with a pitiful whimper.
“Ying~ Master, I swear I’ll tell you everything!”
The panda alarm clock sat atop the sweeping robot, staring daggers at the shadow as if it could bore a hole through it.
The shadow, emboldened by having Lu Congxing on its side, made a face at the panda—but as a pitch-black slime, any facial expression was pretty much invisible.
Lu Congxing picked it up with mild disgust. “That old man living alone in the building—did he make a pact with you?”
The shadow nodded. “He was the one who sought me out, all muddled up in the head. His wish was for his granddaughter to come visit him. I’m incredibly powerful, so I immediately gave her a dream that made her go see him!”
It looked very proud of itself, even swaying its head smugly.
No wonder Zhou Zijie had mentioned that the old man’s granddaughter visited a few times, but eventually stopped coming altogether.
Lu Congxing didn’t know what ultimately happened to the old man, but at least without the shadow’s influence, he wouldn’t have to keep pretending to have dementia. He could finally leave that building and live like a normal person.
The shadow continued, whimpering, “I’ve always been a law-abiding ghost, you know! I’ve never eaten a single human. Even when it comes to ghosts, I only consume those I’ve made a pact with. Unlike some ghosts who eat however they please.”
Even though Lu Congxing exuded an incredibly tempting aura to malevolent ghosts—basically irresistible—it had managed to keep itself hidden quietly inside Huang Xin’s body all this time without giving itself away.
As it spoke, it cast a pointed glance at the mirror ghost, clearly throwing shade.
The mirror ghost, accused of being reckless, gave a cold snort, glaring back with even more hostility.
Lu Congxing remained unmoved. “Truly law-abiding ghosts have already reincarnated.”
“Ying…” the shadow whimpered.
“Can you not ‘ying’ every five seconds?”
To be fair, Lu Congxing hadn’t sensed the foul stench of cannibalism from this ghost. Otherwise, he would’ve exorcised it back in the hospital.
“Ying… okay.”
Lu Congxing gave up trying to communicate normally and continued, “How did you get that Gan Chao grass from the Southern Abyss to parasitize people?”
The shadow hesitated, then shook its head. “I don’t remember. I only know I wandered the mortal world in a daze for a thousand years. When I finally became sentient, someone gave me the grass. He said that with it, I could possess a body and live as a human again.”
For a ghost to exist in the mortal world for a thousand years without harming anyone, the grudge keeping it here must’ve been immense. Yet it claimed not to remember anything.
Lu Congxing narrowed his eyes. “The person who gave you the grass… was he wearing something with a ‘Tian’ character on it?”
The shadow immediately lit up, showering praise. “Master, how did you know?! You’re so wise!”
Just as he suspected.
Lu Congxing had thought this client had no connection to that mysterious fortune-teller—but somehow, he was still tangled up in it.
His expression turned serious. “Do you remember what he looked like? Can you find him again?”
The shadow shook its head. “Only that he was a man… and not a very distinctive one. After he gave me the grass, he vanished. I have no idea how to find him.”
Lu Congxing let out a quiet “Oh,” then handed the shadow to the mirror ghost. He said casually, “I’m done asking. Go ahead and eat it.”
The mirror ghost tilted its head and smiled, as the surface of the mirror turned chaotic, ready to suck in the shadow.
Terrified, the shadow clung tightly to Lu Congxing’s arm like a lump of black slime and shrieked, “Master, don’t abandon me! I’m still useful!”
Lu Congxing paused and looked down at it. “What use are you?”
The shadow whimpered, “I can clean and guard the house for you!”
The mirror ghost let out a disdainful snort. “Heh.”
Even the panda alarm clock watching from the side knocked on itself in protest—though it didn’t speak, the message was clear: I can do that too.
Lu Congxing nodded slightly and reached out his hand again. As the shadow was about to be pulled halfway into the mirror, it shouted, “If I ever see that person again, I’ll definitely recognize him!”
That sentence hit the survival code right on the mark. Lu Congxing thought for a moment, then let it go. “Fine, you can stay for now. But can you change your appearance?”
Having a constantly ‘ying ying ying’ lump of black slime was just too much of an eyesore.
“Of course!” the shadow cheered. It jumped down, and in the instant it landed, transformed into a little girl in red who stood about waist-high.
She wore a red dress and little black leather shoes. When she lifted her face, it was the same faceless girl from that illusion—but this time, her face bore dark, shadowy round skull eyes and a crescent-shaped mouth, like a twisted smiling mask.
Calling them “round eyes” was generous—they looked more like uneven scribbles hastily drawn with a thick marker, completely unbalanced like a child’s messy doodle. Not like a pair of eyes at all. The mouth, on the other hand, was a clean, curved line. Even when it opened, it remained curved, revealing an endless black void inside.
The shadow asked sweetly, “Is this form okay?”
It couldn’t remember its gender, so turning into anything was fine.
Lu Congxing nodded slightly. He pricked his finger and squeezed out a drop of blood for it.
The shadow had originally wanted to make up some excuse to avoid binding the puppet contract, but the moment it caught the scent of the blood, it was instantly entranced. All its hesitation vanished as it threw itself forward with a crazed look in its eyes, shouting, “Master! Master! From now on, you’ll be my one and only master forever!”
And just like that, the contract was sealed.
After drinking a drop of blood, the shadow felt like it could ascend to immortality. From this point on, even the tastiest soul would pale in comparison.
Lu Congxing asked, “You don’t have a name?”
To finalize a contract, both parties must have names.
The shadow creature quickly made one up on the spot, shyly saying, “I forgot my old name. From today on, I’ll be called Yingying.”
It thought the name suited its current adorable appearance perfectly.
Just as it finished speaking, the contract glowed with golden light, and an invisible binding formed around it.
Lu Congxing nodded thoughtfully, but still reminded them again with concern, “You two need to get along. No fighting, okay?”
With that, he returned to his room, hoping to catch up on all the sleep he’d missed over the past few days.
Yingying happily bounced up and down, the tiny leather shoes clicking lightly on the floor, and the braided pigtails on its head bouncing along with each hop.
The mirror ghost scoffed in disdain, “Shameless.”
The panda-shaped alarm clock silently glanced at the mirror ghost, trying its best to think with its not-so-bright mind: Aren’t you also shamelessly clinging to the cub?
Yingying couldn’t care less. It could tell the mirror ghost was only tough inside the mirror, so it fired back, “If you’ve got the guts, come out then!”
The mirror ghost, who had been sulking, instantly bristled as if its tail had been stepped on. “If you’ve got the guts, come in here!”
. . . . .
Lu Congxing slept straight through to the evening. When he woke up again, he realized that—yet again—his unstable spiritual energy had caused him to transform into his cub form.
Lifting one foot, he silently stared at the soft, pink little paw pad.
What did I turn into this time?
He clumsily got up, wanting to check himself in the mirror. But his tiny body made it difficult, and he flopped straight onto the floor with a thud.
“Yip!” the little cub cried out from the impact.
He raised all four paws and looked at them.
A cat? No, not quite.
A dog? That seemed a bit closer.
He struggled to his feet again, scooting backward with his butt on the floor while hooking his paws into the bedsheet to slowly slide down.
His thick, fluffy tail cushioned the fall, so it didn’t hurt at all.
Yingying heard the noise inside the room, cautiously pushed the door open, and was shocked at the small bundle on the floor. “Master! You’ve shrunk again!”
From the bathroom mirror came the mirror ghost’s mocking voice, “He’s going through his unstable cub phase, you bumpkin.”
Yingying snapped back without hesitation, “Shut up, you mirror-bound ghost!”
It carefully picked up the tiny, fiery red fluff ball on the floor. “Master, so this is your original form? You’re so cute!”
Lu Congxing didn’t bother explaining that this wasn’t his true original form. Instead, he raised a paw and gestured, “Yip yip yip.” Take me to the mirror!
Yingying carried him toward the bathroom. But because it was so short, the only thing visible in the mirror was its two little braided pigtails.
“…”
“Pfft.”
Feeling like the mirror ghost was laughing again, Yingying furiously lifted Lu Congxing high up.
Now he could finally see himself in the mirror. A beautifully furred, fiery red little fox with big, shiny eyes tilted its head in confusion.
“Yip yip.” Thank you.
Lu Congxing awkwardly touched his oversized ears and gave Yingying a grateful look.
Yingying beamed with pride and shot a fierce glare at the mirror ghost hiding in the corner of the mirror.
Not wanting to block Lu Congxing’s view, the mirror ghost silently ceded most of the mirror space. But when it felt Yingying’s glare, it only lowered its gaze in disdain and muttered each word with biting clarity: “Short. Little. Man.”
Author’s Note:
The adorable little fox is about to go cause some mischief!