Meet
Just as the alarm clock was about to go off, the panda-shaped alarm clock reached out its little paw and turned itself off.
It had detected Lu Congxing’s breathing patterns from the previous night and calculated exactly when he had fallen asleep. To ensure he got enough rest, it wouldn’t wake him up too soon.
But Lu Congxing still woke up.
With sleepy eyes, he walked to the mirror. The equally drowsy-looking black-haired boy inside the mirror stared back at him.
His almond-shaped eyes, round and bright, softened the otherwise striking sharpness of his features, adding an innocent touch to his beauty.
Lu Congxing picked up his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth. The reflection in the mirror did the same.
Halfway through, he suddenly jerked his head up.
But the boy in the mirror, who should have mirrored his every move, remained looking down as if he hadn’t noticed.
A long moment passed before the reflection finally lifted its head—slowly—and smiled at him.
Lu Congxing remained expressionless, the tuft of messy hair on his head still sticking up from sleep.
Under the eerie gaze of his reflection, he finished brushing his teeth, washed his face, and neatly put everything back in its place.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, the ghost in the mirror—who had been ignored this whole time—couldn’t hold back any longer and finally blurted out:
“Hey, kid! Aren’t you scared of me?!”
Lu Congxing glanced at him with an utterly indifferent expression.
He was probably the only demon in the world that attracted ghosts—and these ghosts never realized he wasn’t human.
Was it really because he had been raised as a human since childhood?
Lu Congxing was a little puzzled. He thought of his father, who had disappeared years ago.
His father didn’t seem human either.
Sometimes, when his father got drunk and happy, he would take little Lu Congxing flying through the air.
But he had been too young back then to tell whether those were real memories or just dreams.
Over the past six months, his memories of his father had become increasingly blurry. It felt as if an invisible hand were deliberately pulling out the locked-away fragments of his past, ruining them. No matter how much he struggled or how desperately he tried to hold on, his father’s face was fading from his mind.
The ghost in the mirror, frustrated that Lu Congxing had spaced out right in front of him, got so angry that he lost control of his illusion and revealed his true form.
The real mirror ghost was a haggard-looking middle-aged man. If not for the perpetually dejected expression on his face, one might have noticed he was actually quite handsome.
Glaring at Lu Congxing in exasperation, the ghost threatened to devour him.
Lu Congxing snapped his fingers, and a small wisp of blue flame flickered to life at the tip of his index finger.
The moment the fire approached the mirror, the ghost’s half-lidded eyes widened in shock.
The flame radiated an unmistakable sense of danger, and he instantly surrendered. “No, no, no! I was just kidding! I didn’t know you were a demon!”
His voice cracked on the last word.
Lu Congxing stopped just before the fire touched the mirror. He frowned slightly. “How did you get in here?”
He had just replaced the talismans last night. A ghost that couldn’t even escape a mirror shouldn’t have been able to enter in the first place.
More importantly, he didn’t sense any killing intent from this ghost.
Otherwise, he would have eliminated him the moment he noticed his presence.
Surprisingly, the ghost flashed an almost shy smile. “Actually, I’ve been sleeping in this mirror the whole time. I only just woke up today.”
Lu Congxing fell silent, then extinguished the small flame.
His luck with encountering ghosts never failed to impress.
The mirror ghost continued talking to himself. “I don’t remember anything except my name—Chi Nan. I think I must’ve died in this bathroom and got sucked into this evil mirror. I don’t hold any grudges, though. The real problem is the mirror itself. I’d say I’m a pretty harmless ghost who just can’t enter the cycle of reincarnation.”
Contrary to his gloomy appearance, Chi Nan was a chatterbox.
Maybe he had been trapped in the mirror for too long—he rambled on endlessly, even as Lu Congxing ignored him and silently packed his luggage.
Finally, after going on and on, Chi Nan shifted his attention back to Lu Congxing.
“Hey, are you packing for a trip?” He squinted, then suddenly widened his eyes in realization. “Wait, no—you’re moving!?”
Lu Congxing placed the last item, his panda alarm clock, into his suitcase, then finally looked at Chi Nan and nodded.
Seeing that he was finally being acknowledged, Chi Nan pressed further. “Hey, take me with you.”
“No.” The soft voice was firm and decisive.
“Why not? I’m useful! I can help guard your house!” Chi Nan tried to sell himself as quickly as possible, though his expression remained dejected. “That way, you won’t have to deal with ghosts bothering you every night. I can tell your spiritual energy is incredibly pure—it’s like premium fuel for ghosts. It must be a huge hassle, right?”
Even Chi Nan himself didn’t understand why a demon like Lu Congxing possessed such ghost-attracting spiritual energy. If not for the mirror separating them, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t be drooling over the boy.
For a brief moment, Lu Congxing was actually tempted. But then he realized—wouldn’t that just make Chi Nan a puppet ghost?
“No one keeps a mirror ghost as a puppet ghost,” he rejected again.
Besides, with his constitution, raising a puppet ghost would likely backfire on him.
“You actually despise mirror ghosts.” Chi Nan was unhappy. He finally stopped talking and disappeared from the mirror.
The incessant chatter in his ears was gone at last. Lu Congxing pulled out his phone, intending to play a round of match-three game, only to see that his bank account balance had suddenly gained several extra zeros.
After counting, he realized there was a seven million in his bank account. His already round almond eyes widened even further, and he tilted his head in confusion.
Of course, the high-ranking demons at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs were even more generous when secretly slipping him pocket money behind the Director’s back. But he never accepted it, so this was the first time he had received such a large sum.
Opening his chat with Di Jiang, he found over a dozen unread messages.
The Surging River Emperor Di1: [Did you get the money? Boss Xiang should be very generous!]
The Surging River Emperor Di: [Let’s get a new car for the agency!]
The Surging River Emperor Di: [Oh, and Boss Xiang told us to deal with the rattle drum. I brought it to the office.]
Ignoring the unnecessary chatter, Lu Congxing immediately transferred two million to his account.
Let his colleague, who had been poor for a hundred years, experience what it felt like to be suddenly rich.
As expected, his phone began vibrating nonstop. Di Jiang was absolutely ecstatic.
After replying with a couple of short messages, Lu Congxing switched to his chat with the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.
Compared to the chatty Director, the Deputy Director was much more efficient.
The Deputy Director was a Peng2, and his profile picture was a simple image of a sky with white clouds.
The moment Lu Congxing sent a message, the Deputy Director responded instantly.
Upon realizing that the cub was asking about Bai Ze’s address, the Deputy Director hesitated.
He asked, [Are you planning to move in with him?]
Lu Congxing’s expression remained calm, but his fingers typed quickly: [No, I just want to live near him.]
He had thought about it for a long time last night and finally settled on this compromise.
There was no need for that bad Bai Ze to act as his guardian. He could take care of himself just fine. He just needed to occasionally steal a bit of Bai Ze’s spiritual energy to stabilize himself.
So they had to live close to each other.
The Deputy Director was known for his efficiency, and since this was a request from the cub, he acted even faster than usual. Within seconds, he sent over Bai Ze’s location—along with a contact person’s details.
[Xing Cub, you can contact this person. He happens to be looking for someone to rent his place, and it’s very close to the Bai Ze.]
What a coincidence. Could it be some kind of special privilege arranged for him?
Just as Lu Congxing started to feel suspicious, the Deputy Director sent another message.
[He’s a friend of mine. He just posted about renting out his place on social media yesterday. The rent there is quite high, so he hasn’t found a tenant yet.]
To make it sound more credible, the Deputy Director also listed the rental requirements.
He knew exactly how to offer help without making the young cub feel burdened—after all, this kind of care was something the cub deserved.
The requirements weren’t excessive, just what any reasonable landlord would ask for: a tenant who was clean, quiet, wouldn’t damage the furniture, and could commit to a one-year lease. No shared rentals—only a single tenant.
Only then did Lu Congxing believe that the Deputy Director wasn’t giving him special treatment. He dialed the number provided.
The person on the other end was easy to talk to. Since they were the Deputy Director’s friend, they were most likely also a demon and didn’t place much importance on material possessions. The deal was settled over the phone, and at Lu Congxing’s insistence, the rent remained at the original price.
A good chunk of his freshly earned money was gone in an instant.
He hadn’t expected Bai Ze to be living in such an expensive neighborhood. Lu Congxing immediately abandoned his plan to buy a new car for the agency.
Before leaving, he made a stop at the agency and was satisfied to see that the rattle drum had been placed in a designated display cabinet.
He played with the rattle drum for a while. The eerie, ghostly cries it produced didn’t scare him at all. Only after he had his fill did he seal the rattle drum with a temporary talisman.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director had been leisurely drinking tea. But the moment he heard the cub was moving, he couldn’t sit still. Worried the cub would get tired, he proactively contacted a human moving company.
Lu Congxing stood there, dumbfounded, as a group of people arrived to help him move. It wasn’t until all the packed boxes had been taken away that he slowly dragged his suitcase toward the designated location.
. . . . .
He Zhouyan opened the door with a calm expression. From the noise of the movers that morning, he already knew he was getting a new neighbor.
But that had nothing to do with him. As usual, he had finished his morning tasks and was about to leave for a company meeting. What he hadn’t expected was to run into the new neighbor the moment he stepped out.
The new neighbor was a boy who looked at most eighteen. He had delicate features and an overall soft, gentle appearance.
His eyes were round and clear—definitely a cub.
For the first time, He Zhouyan found himself momentarily distracted while making eye contact with someone.
His gaze shifted downward to the boy’s hand gripping the suitcase handle. His wrist looked so slender, as if it could be easily encircled with one hand.
Too thin.
It was an unfamiliar feeling. This was the first time He Zhouyan had ever experienced something akin to… pity.
Intrigued, he raised an eyebrow and attributed the feeling to a natural demon instinct to protect the young.
Though he’d never had that instinct before.
He also found it odd that he couldn’t tell what species the cub was. He had heard about the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs taking in an unidentified cub who still hadn’t found a guardian. The situation had raised the moral standards of all the powerful demons, with many eager to prove themselves worthy of being the cub’s guardian.
Unlike them, He Zhouyan had never been interested in such matters.
Who would’ve thought that the rumored cub would end up as his new neighbor?
Was it just a coincidence…?
The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs actually felt at ease letting a cub live next door to him?
He Zhouyan narrowed his eyes. His usually black irises briefly flashed with a hint of blue.
Lu Congxing had initially planned to lower his head and pretend not to see him, but the man’s sharp gaze lingered on him for too long. Under Bai Ze’s scrutiny, it felt like all his secrets were laid bare, and he didn’t like that feeling.
But it was just “dislike.”
He still needed to absorb the man’s spiritual energy to safely get through his unstable period. After thinking it over, Lu Congxing decided to be a polite cub and took the initiative to greet him.
“Hello.”
“Hello.” He Zhouyan’s lips curled into a slight smile.
He withdrew his gaze. This was the first cub that didn’t revert to its original form in fear under his stare.
No wonder the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs held him so dear.
But this polite little cub… didn’t seem to like him very much.
- 帝王江水滔滔 (Dìwáng jiāngshuǐ tāotāo) -> I just translate it literally, 帝 (Dì) from his name 帝江(Dì jiāng), 王 (wáng) means king, and 江水滔滔 (jiāngshuǐ tāotāo) means surging river. Because I can’t find any idiom related to 江水滔滔 (jiāngshuǐ tāotāo). Or maybe someone can enlighten me (ᵕ—ᴗ—) ↩︎
- 鹏 (Péng) ↩︎
