Ghost Tamer 16
Ji Fuqing gently wiped the bloodstained tears from his face. “Let’s go. We’ll stay here for the night.”
Tang Xi obediently nodded. “Oh.”
The room next door was a completely different world from the bloodstained master bedroom of the crime scene.
Under Ji Fuqing’s spiritual energy, the place became bright and spotless.
Tang Xi happily threw himself onto the soft-looking bed.
1551: [Silly cat, your mission progress is stuck.]
In other words, Ji Fuqing still hadn’t let go of his dark, villainous thoughts.
Tang Xi twitched his cat ears.
[But I don’t think my poop scooper is going to unleash millions of vengeful ghosts to destroy the world anymore.]
His eyes were clear and full of unguarded trust.
1551 hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping itself.
“What are you thinking about?” Ji Fuqing approached and scooped the little kitten into his arms.
Tang Xi let himself be held obediently. “Nothing.”
Whenever he spoke to the system, he would space out, making it look like he was simply daydreaming.
Ji Fuqing held him close, but his words were ice-cold. “Are you talking to something?”
Tang Xi stiffened in shock.
Inside his mind, 1551, who had been leisurely playing a game, nearly short-circuited from fear.
This was the first time since starting its job that it had ever been noticed. It almost screamed in alarm but quickly warned Tang Xi not to expose himself.
Tang Xi was already nervous, and 1551’s urgent warning only made him even more tense. He clenched the fabric of his clothes and whispered, “No, I was just zoning out.”
Ji Fuqing’s expression was unreadable. “I thought there was something in your mind that you could talk to.”
There was no warmth in his gaze—clearly, he didn’t believe Tang Xi’s excuse.
Tang Xi was genuinely scared. He let the man rub his ears, closing his eyes and pretending to fall asleep.
At the same time, he poked 1551 in his mind. [He won’t find out anything, right?]
If he was identified as an outsider in this small world, his mission would be considered a failure.
1551 sounded even more nervous than he was. [I’ve already reported this to the higher-ups. We’ll have to wait for their judgment.]
From the moment it arrived in this world, it had sensed how terrifying this villain was. Not only was he the most powerful being in this realm, but his abilities had already far surpassed the world’s natural limits.
If it were possible for beings to ascend to deity in this world, Ji Fuqing would have ascended long ago.
Exorcists were supposed to be ordinary humans, yet this man had lived for over a thousand years. That alone was bizarre enough to warrant a report.
It had been too naive and careless for a moment, only hoping that the host’s acting could improve a bit—enough not to expose any more flaws.
As 1551 thought this, it glanced at the little kitten pretending to sleep.
In just a short moment, he had gone from pretending to actually falling asleep, nestled securely in the arms of that terrifying man.
Even his tail was intimately wrapped around the man’s wrist.
Ji Fuqing’s gaze darkened as he gently tightened his embrace around the boy, letting out a quiet sigh. “You have to be obedient.”
There were too many mysteries surrounding the boy. This uncontrollable feeling made Ji Fuqing want to forge the strongest shackles, to lock him away completely.
To make him into a shiki, one that would only ever stay in his master’s sight, existing solely to cater to his master’s hunt.
But the little kitten was delicate. He was afraid of the dark. Shackles were cold, he definitely wouldn’t like them. He was also insatiably curious, always seeking company, always drawn to lively places. If he suffered, Ji Fuqing knew he would be the one feeling the heartache.
Ji Fuqing dismissed the thought, instead reaching out to gently pat the kitten’s back.
Even in his sleep, the little kitten instinctively sensed the faint trace of danger, but as the man continued to pat him, he gradually relaxed again.
However, his peaceful sleep only lasted until midnight. In the latter half of the night, a faint rustling sound emerged.
Tang Xi woke up to the noise—only to find that he was no longer in Ji Fuqing’s arms.
He had woken up alone in a room. Ji Fuqing was nowhere in sight, and even calling out to the system yielded no response.
Stretching out his hands, he noticed they were larger than his own, rougher to the touch.
This wasn’t his body.
Tang Xi hurried to the bathroom and looked in the mirror—sure enough, the face staring back at him was completely unfamiliar.
It was the face of this world’s original host. Because he was a transmigrator, he felt no sense of connection to it at all.
Why… why had he suddenly switched to the original host’s perspective?
Staring at the unfamiliar reflection, a hint of fear crept into his heart. He stepped out of the bathroom and took in the room’s furnishings.
Something about it seemed eerily familiar.
Had he seen it somewhere recently? Tilting his head in thought, his gaze suddenly landed on a nearby table—one with a delicate pattern carved into its surface.
The engravings were clean, clearly well-maintained.
Then, a flash of memory—an old, bloodstained, filthy table.
Tang Xi’s eyes widened in shock.
A wave of terrifying memories surged forth. He remembered this room—the very place where the original host had died. It was also the first place he had arrived in after transmigrating into this world. And tonight, it was the very room Ji Fuqing had brought him to see.
Thinking of Ji Fuqing helped him calm down. He knew that man would never allow him to be in real danger.
Steadying himself, Tang Xi displayed an unprecedented level of composure. After failing to contact the system, he stopped relying on external help and focused on finding a way to break free from this illusion.
This had to be the original host’s room from ten years ago. There was no way he had entered this illusion for no reason—something was about to happen.
Just as he pieced everything together, a knock sounded at the door.
Someone was outside, knocking.
A voice—deliberately warm, feigning familiarity—called out a name:
“Shou Nian, can you open the door for Auntie?”
Tang Xi frowned.
His current body reacted strongly to the name. His mind remained clear, yet an inexplicable sense of familiarity surged up from within.
The original character’s name was Shou Nian.
As he remembered the name, other fragmented memories began to surface. He recognized the voice—it belonged to the stepmother whom the original character deeply despised.
Tang Xi took a step back while searching for something to defend himself with and shouted toward the door, “No! You can’t come in!”
The stepmother outside hadn’t expected to be rejected so directly. Her hand, mid-knock, paused for a moment before she started pounding on the door furiously.
Her voice changed, becoming sharp and grating. “Open the door! Why won’t you open the door?!”
Then, another voice joined in—it was the illegitimate younger brother. His voice was equally filled with resentment as he shrieked, “Brother! Why won’t you open the door for me?!”
The door couldn’t withstand such violent pounding and soon began to loosen. Tang Xi wanted to find something to barricade it, but it was too late. With a loud bang, the door was forced open.
Terrified, Tang Xi instinctively wanted to hug his bristling tail—only to realize that this wasn’t his body. There was no cat tail.
After breaking in, the stepmother and the illegitimate son returned to their normal voices. Their faces, however, were shrouded in a thick, dark mist, obscuring their features.
The original character had refused to remember their appearances, leaving only these vague, faceless figures in his memory.
Tang Xi kept his guard up, maintaining a safe distance. “Stay back.”
But they acted as if they couldn’t hear him, continuing their conversation on their own. In their eyes, Tang Xi didn’t exist—they were merely playing out a predetermined scene.
The stepmother took a bowl of chicken soup from the illegitimate son’s hands and spoke in a sickly sweet tone. “Shou Nian, dear, Auntie knows you don’t like us, which is why you moved here all by yourself out of spite. But today, Auntie specially made chicken soup for you. Just drink it, if only to give Auntie some face.”
She was speaking into empty air, and the illegitimate son chimed in, trying to persuade him as well.
They weren’t human, but Tang Xi could also tell they weren’t ghosts—there was neither human warmth nor ghostly aura about them.
This was just an illusion.
In reality, these two were probably still alive and well. As memories of the original character’s past life fully returned, Tang Xi knew exactly what would happen next.
‘He’ had lashed out in anger, cursing at the woman and her son with vicious words. The woman’s chicken soup was knocked over, and the illegitimate son lost his temper. A fight broke out.
‘He’ hit his head. The illegitimate son, though younger by a year, was built like an ox. Because of the size difference, ‘he’ was practically dragged and beaten, his blood painting the entire room.
When the illegitimate son finally realized what he had done, he panicked and stumbled backward. But the stepmother was even more ruthless—she grabbed him and ran without a second glance.
In their frantic escape, neither of them looked back at the original character lying on the floor.
In reality, when they left, the original character wasn’t even dead yet.
It was only after they had left that he unwillingly closed his eyes forever due to excessive blood loss.
They never received the punishment they deserved. Even after learning the truth, the original host’s biological father chose to cover it up and fled abroad with his new wife and son. Even now, ten years later, they still roam free without consequences.
Unlike Tian Rourou, no one cared about the original host. No one mourned him. It was as if he had been completely erased from this world.
The original host’s fury seeped into Tang Xi, and ghostly blue flames flickered around him.
In front of him, the two “people” had reached the point where the chicken soup had been knocked over.
The illegitimate son’s face twisted into something grotesque, the black mist around him dispersing to reveal sharp, distorted features.
He lunged at Tang Xi with precision.
For the first time, Tang Xi unleashed his abilities as a vengeful ghost. The ghostly flames flared up, forming a barrier against the illegitimate son.
Fueled by his master’s anger, the flames surged violently. Tang Xi narrowed his eyes slightly and clenched his right hand tightly.
The once-lazy flames sharpened like blades, striking with precision. The moment they touched him, the illegitimate son let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Instead of retreating, Tang Xi intensified the flames.
Even a small cat has its claws.
The figure lurking in the shadows seemed shocked that their illusion had been broken. In desperation, they exerted more force, causing even the stepmother—now snarling— to lunge forward.
In the memories, the stepmother had never attacked. Her actions now were clearly being controlled by someone.
While fending off both of them, Tang Xi sharply lifted his gaze, as if locking eyes with the hidden mastermind manipulating everything from the darkness.
He could distinctly feel that chilling gaze freeze in place.
Just as he was about to seize the opportunity to strike back, the air suddenly ripped apart with a sound like fabric being torn.
A slender, well-defined hand reached through the fractured space, distorting it as if bending reality itself. Ji Fuqing stepped into the illusion, his presence carrying a faint glimmer of starlight.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
With those words, the entire illusion shattered.
Tang Xi clearly heard a pained cry from the hidden figure—Ji Fuqing’s intervention had injured them directly.
He wanted to investigate further, but before he could, the illusion completely collapsed.
When Tang Xi opened his eyes again, he found himself still nestled in his owner’s arms.
Author’s Note: Today, the kitten was super fierce!