A gaunt man in black appeared inside the doorway, a dagger in his hand, creeping silently toward the room, his eyes darting everywhere, wary and vicious.
With this floor plan, the first thing you saw on entering was the second bedroom. Its door wasn't closed; he glanced in, and his eyes went fixed and vacant.
A beauty beyond compare, in a cute set of pajamas, sat cross-legged at the edge of the bed, eyes shut.
The man was close to drooling. She's just way too beautiful...
Then came a surge of wild joy.
This wasn't the person he'd come looking for; maybe he had the unit number wrong... but this prize was in no way inferior — he'd stumbled into incredible luck!
He tiptoed inside, closer and closer, his eyes so excited they were turning red.
Just then, the beauty on the bed opened her eyes, cold as ice.
A flash of light — lightning born in an empty room.
The man felt as though he had fallen into the most terrifying nightmare: he couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't breathe, as if plunged into a hell of ghosts.
Footsteps came from behind him, and a broom slammed viciously into the back of his skull. Instinctively he tried to cover his head, but couldn't even lift his arms; with a look of pure terror he toppled to the floor.
What's going on here? A paralysis spell?
The beauty looked past him — and in that instant the icy killing intent melted into a smile.
Chu Ge, broom raised high, whacked the fallen man half senseless and asked anxiously, "Are you all right?"
Qiu Wuji nearly laughed. "Who exactly are you asking?"
"Uh..." Chu Ge lowered the broom and only then caught on. In front of Qiu Wuji, the one who had to worry about his life was obviously the thief... However far this body of hers had been downgraded, she was still a cultivator — still the split-soul body of a top-tier powerhouse! So what was I panicking for...
Qiu Wuji's smile deepened. "He came straight through the door, and he was near silent. You actually sensed him come in?"
"Mm — because I wasn't asleep. Any little noise and it felt off."
Really it was because he'd been paying attention to the goings-on next door the whole time... Qiu Wuji grumbled inwardly, but kept it to herself. He was a lousy novelist with not the strength to wring a chicken's neck, and his whole body was aching — yet the very first moment, he'd grabbed a broom and charged in. That feeling...
She said languidly, "Take it easy, will you. You're that weak, and he had a dagger... Playing catch-the-thief, with no regard for your own life."
Chu Ge went red in the face and declared loudly, "This is a man's business!"
"Hah..." Qiu Wuji's gaze traveled up and down him for a while, and finally dropped to the thief on the floor.
Chu Ge also scowled down at the thief on the floor.
Tears streamed down the man's face. So you finally remembered there's a person down here? What is wrong with this shameless pair? Is this how a caught thief is supposed to be treated? I pictured a few hundred ways to die, but never this...
Qiu Wuji was asking Chu Ge, "How do you handle a caught thief here? Can I kill him myself, or does he have to be sent to the authorities?"
The man: "?"
Chu Ge said hurriedly, "To the authorities! You can't kill him."
Qiu Wuji said, "Is there a problem if he turns into an idiot?"
Chu Ge: "Huh?"
Qiu Wuji said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, "I want to do a soul search."
Chu Ge: "...Better not. Even if he turns into an idiot, I can't explain that to anyone. It's nothing but trouble for no reason. Just ask him."
"And if he won't talk?" Qiu Wuji said seriously. "We can give it a try. He's so weak, I can try to pull it out without damaging his soul — of course there's a certain probability. I can't guarantee it..."
She hadn't even finished before the man shouted of his own accord, scared out of his wits: "Whatever the big shot wants to ask, I'll talk! I'll tell you myself!"
A freak who could paralyze a man with a glare — he wasn't about to gamble on whether that was a bluff. If she really pulled some novel-style soul-searching, soul-hooking stunt and turned him into an idiot, he'd rather go sit in a cell!
Qiu Wuji looked into his eyes, and the smiling warmth from her exchange with Chu Ge turned to bone-deep cold in an instant: "Where did you get that wall-phasing technique?"
The man: "..."
That's what you care about? Shouldn't you be asking why I came to your place?
Seeing him hesitate, killing intent burst forth in Qiu Wuji's eyes, and her jade-white fingers moved to press against his forehead.
The man had no doubt this woman would really kill. Breaking out in a cold sweat, he shouted, "It's a talent ability I awakened myself! A lot of people have them..."
Qiu Wuji's fingers hung before his brow; she raised her head and exchanged a look with Chu Ge.
A lot of people have them?
So it really is the revival of spiritual energy? Ability awakening?
Chu Ge asked, "How many is 'a lot'? I've lived almost thirty years and never heard of it."
The man said with a fawning smile, "The total is very, very small, of course, so ordinary people don't know... For someone who's just awakened, like you, big shot, it's perfectly normal not to find others of the same kind at first. But we're still special — sooner or later something will connect you, and then everyone starts to have their own little circles..."
Well, here's a case in point, right on cue.
Chu Ge exchanged another look with Qiu Wuji, and only then asked the question he should have asked first: "You got a wall-phasing ability, and you use it to be a burglar? Your circle's pretty high-end, huh."
"Burglar?" The man hesitated and didn't answer.
A terrifying light kindled at Qiu Wuji's fingertips.
"No — no soul search, I'll talk!" the man shouted in terror. "I came looking for an enemy. I only know she's somewhere in this area, not the exact place, so I've been checking unit by unit..."
Chu Ge squinted at him for a good while, then said suddenly, "He's lying. Hit him."
Qiu Wuji didn't immediately see how he'd decided that, but since Chu Ge said so, she reflexively condensed a palm of empty air and slapped it down, crack-crack-crack.
A tooth went flying out of the man's mouth; face swollen and bruised, he wailed, "I'm innocent! Every word I said was the truth!"
"Still trying to play me." Chu Ge sneered. "Who goes searching unit by unit at high noon? Shouldn't it be deep in the night? Not everyone takes an afternoon nap. You obviously know your target is either out or asleep at this hour — that's why you picked such an unreasonable time. Your target is specific; there's no way you're casting a wide net."
The man's expression changed. Qiu Wuji was also slightly taken aback; she restrained herself from praising Chu Ge, and the air-palm slapped down hard again: "At the point of death, and still lying!"
Chu Ge stood to one side with his hands tucked away, watching the man shriek as his face was slapped bloody, and his own cheek twitched a little.
This T-rex of a woman is way too violent... It's pure luck I haven't been beaten to death before now.
It must be because I'm too handsome — she can't bear to slap me.
"I'll talk, I'll talk..." The man was already sobbing from the beating. "I'm here for Yueying... I followed her, the elevator stopped on this floor, I didn't dare follow too close..."
The girl across the hall flashed through Chu Ge's mind.
Out by night and in by day, reeking of wine, a cut at her temple.
Her?
"What does she do?"
"Underground black-market fighting... She's won too much, stepped on the wrong toes... And some people figure she takes contract-killing jobs too. There are cases connected to her."
Chu Ge's mouth twitched. The story felt a little surreal.
So these days there really were black-market fights and killers, and one of them was a beautiful girl living right across the hall from him.
And he and Zhang Qiren had actually daydreamed about going to some venue and paying to call her number — if anyone ever found out, they'd probably be chopped into human sticks!
Then again, a heroine had walked out of a book; a little surrealism hardly seemed strange anymore. Chu Ge only asked instinctively, "If there really are killers, how come I've never heard of anyone getting killed..."
He stopped himself mid-sentence.
Deaths and disappearances piled up every day, and the police didn't announce every case. How would an ordinary citizen know? Take this so-called underground black-market fighting — he'd lived all these years and only ever seen it in novels.
He lifted his head and looked at Qiu Wuji for the third time. She seemed to know what he was thinking, and said quietly, "Want to go take a look at their circles?"
Chu Ge hesitated a moment, then shook his head. "We don't know how strong they are. Better not to involve ourselves on our own initiative — best to just pretend we don't know. Can you wipe this guy's memory of just now? I'll hand him over to the police."
Qiu Wuji looked at him without speaking.
I'm not afraid of a little involvement like this; on the contrary, I ought to involve myself proactively — that's the fastest way into this world's world of the extraordinary. And getting a so-called identity in a hidden circle like that would be even less of a problem — far more meaningful than the daily grind of housekeeping at home.
But Chu Ge plainly didn't want to abruptly break up this life of his.
Before, she hadn't been in a hurry and Chu Ge had wanted to hurry; now Chu Ge wanted to hide, and she wanted to hurry.
Because the two of them saw these things differently.
They looked at each other for a long while, and then Qiu Wuji smiled faintly. "Fine, we'll do it your way. Erasing his recent memory isn't difficult. Mm... up to the moment he came through the door, then. When he wakes he won't know what happened to him, or how he got caught unawares..."
Chu Ge let out a breath and pulled out his phone, wondering whether to dial 110 or just call Lin Wuyang directly.
Then Qiu Wuji slapped the man across the face again. "Hand over all your money and valuables. This Sect Master has been cooped up with worldly goods so long, holding back from going out to rob, and now someone actually delivers himself to my door."
The man: "?"
Chu Ge: "..."