Volume One, Chapter Ten: The Boy Ghost Playing with a Ball

The guide cast a look of approval at Qin Yu.
It seems we've finally got someone with real skill.
The two bystanders glanced at their phones upon hearing Qin Yu’s words—it was already eleven-thirty.
Their faces shifted colors like a painter’s palette, alternating between pale and dark.
“If we drag this out until midnight, isn’t someone going to die?”
“Is this just a script? I’m getting scared—what if someone really dies?”
“If it’s a script, I wish it were real; if it’s real, I wish it were a script.”
“The highway looks so eerie and creepy.”
“Bullet comments for protection, bullet comments for protection.”
...
Sister Juan sent a Ferris wheel.
Grandpa So Handsome sent a cruise ship.
Society Brother Lei sent a little heart.
“Grandpa So Handsome, we know you’re rich, but you don’t have to be this rich.”
A cruise ship costs ten thousand.
“I’m poor, I’ve never seen so much money—Grandpa So Handsome, care to share a bit?”
“Are you panhandling online?”
“If he actually gets it, I’ll join too.”
Ignoring the petrified bystanders, Qin Yu set up her new tripod and prepared her streaming equipment.
“There may be some disturbing scenes soon—if you’re scared, now is your chance to leave the stream.”
Qin Yu offered a gentle warning, but this crowd of viewers was stubbornly rebellious. The number of people in the stream didn’t decrease; in fact, it surged past six thousand in no time.
“Seeing Master Qiu up close—she’s unbelievably beautiful!”
“A kind-hearted and gorgeous young lady.”
“But she makes tens of thousands in a single stream—can you still praise her?”
“I’m not jealous of her earnings at all.”
...
Qin Yu ignored her phone and walked straight up to the guide. “You’re Nan Qiao, aren’t you?”
Though phrased as a question, her tone was certain.
Nan Qiao was momentarily taken aback. “Yes, I’m the one who contacted you.”
“Tell me—what’s happened on this highway?”

Nan Qiao exhaled heavily, his face twisted with anxiety. “This highway has been here for thirty years. In all that time, nothing happened until last year, when villagers nearby started seeing a boy with a human head and a dog’s body on the road…”
“Human head, dog body? Are you sure it’s not a human head, lion body?”
“Bullet comments for protection.”
“Wife, protect me.”
...
Qin Yu frowned; her instincts told her this was no ordinary matter. She was about to press further when Nan Qiao suddenly shrieked, “Ah! It’s eating someone again!”
Qin Yu turned—the two young men who had followed her had vanished.
She hurriedly looked at her phone.
“‘Again’? So this isn’t the first time?”
“Oh my God! So scary! I’ve pulled my toes back under the blanket.”
“Rule of the ghost world: ghosts don’t eat people hiding under blankets.”
“Oh no, I’m scared but I still want to watch.”
“I won’t sleep tonight.”
“They ran in the opposite direction along the highway!”
“Master Qiu, please go check on them! Their stream has been blacked out for ages.”
Qin Yu’s deer-like eyes fluttered; she lifted her chin, her swan neck shining even paler in the moonlight.
The moon shifted; the aura of yin grew stronger.
The magnetic field around them began to change.
Her stream remained active only because her own spiritual energy sustained it, while the two young men’s phones lost signal due to the disrupted field—it was only natural their images wouldn’t show.
From the moment she first saw them, she’d known their fate. She’d hoped they’d stick close to her so she could keep them safe, but unfortunately, they hadn’t listened.
“Thump, thump, thump.”
The sound of someone bouncing a rubber ball.
The noise drew closer, echoing eerily across the empty highway.
“He’s coming! He’s coming!”
Nan Qiao darted about like a startled bird, finally remembering Qin Yu’s abilities. After running circles, he hid behind her. “Master, save me! Master, save me!”
Qin Yu tugged her sleeve from Nan Qiao’s grasp, subtly wiping it clean.
Meanwhile—
The second bystander, holding his phone flashlight, felt terror creeping through his body.
Five minutes earlier, Brother Wang (the first bystander) had urgently needed to relieve himself and insisted on bringing him to the roadside.
The camphor leaves overhead rustled noisily, making the second bystander’s face turn as pale as paper.

Because there was absolutely no wind!
“Brother Wang, are you done? Master Qiu told us not to stray too far from her.”
He called out shakily, but only his own echo answered—no other sounds at all.
His fear intensified; clutching his phone, he tried to run, only to find the stream had lost signal at some point.
“Thump, thump, thump.”
A rubber ball bounced over and stopped at his feet.
He felt his breath freeze all at once.
“Uncle, can you kick the ball back to me?”
From behind came a soft, childlike voice.
He turned rigidly, segment by segment, to see a boy grinning with his head tilted in a disturbingly unnatural way. Beside him, a dog so black its features couldn’t be seen.
“Ghost! It’s a ghost!”
His eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot.
The boy’s mouth drooped; he bent down and patted the dark dog’s head, which nuzzled obediently into his palm.
“Little Black, tonight we’ll have something delicious.”
Meanwhile—
“Sister, can you kick the ball to me?”
In the distance, the boy blinked his large watery eyes. A faint breeze stirred the tuft of hair atop his head.
He was clearly a ghost, but this boy radiated vibrant yang energy with not a trace of the supernatural chill.
Qin Yu smiled and nodded, “Of course.”
Hovering above, Mu Ling’s eyelids twitched; the scene felt strangely familiar.
The first time he’d faced Qin Yu, she’d worn this innocent, harmless look as she beat him into a hasty retreat.
Qin Yu stretched her toes, sent the ball flying toward the boy with a forceful kick.
He seemed overjoyed—perhaps it had been a long time since someone wasn’t scared and actually played with him. He ran to catch the ball.
But as soon as the ball touched him, a surge of spiritual energy exploded, knocking him back two meters. Even so, he refused to let go of the ball in his hands.
Staggering to his feet, the boy’s once lovely face began to corrode under the spiritual force, gradually revealing a ghastly visage—pale, battered, covered with wounds and blood…
“Damn, bullet comments for protection.”
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