My Deskmate is Not Human​ - Chapter 10

The day the college entrance exam ended.

Just after leaving the school gate.

Shen An called.

“What kind of flowers do you like, class monitor?”

His side was noisy.

It sounded like he was at a flower market.

Passersby glanced over. I suppressed the involuntary curve of my lips and replied softly, “Anything is fine.”

He sounded a little reluctant:

“I might be home a bit late today.

“I have to deal with something.”

“It’s okay.”

I replied gently, “I can wait for you.”

“See you at home?”

“Mm.”

I put away my phone, wandered around the mall for a while, and bought some meat and seafood at the market.

In the original novel,

my storyline had long since passed.

Those murderous Fierce Ghosts had been caught.

I thought I had escaped the fate of a tragic death.

But when I boarded that bus,

it took only three minutes from realizing it wasn’t the way home to coming back to my senses. The sky darkened rapidly, and the scenery outside the window had changed.

A wide, pitch-black concrete road, lit only by the faint bus lights, with jagged rocky woods on the right.

A cold wind blew, tree shadows swayed, and in the darkness, I could somehow sense something lurking in the forest.

This was the road to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

“I want to get off.”

A sense of unease made me stand up.

The driver slowly and stiffly twisted his head.

He stopped after turning one hundred and eighty degrees.

On his hunched back was a face so rotten that white bone showed through; pus and blood oozed from one eye, mixed with decaying flesh dripping down. He suddenly let out a strange, low laugh.

“We’re almost at the destination.

“Just wait a bit longer, classmate.”

Even though I knew he wasn’t human,

seeing this scene still scared me. Half my scalp went numb instantly. Suppressing my fear, I gripped the Small Peach Wood Sword and two Yellow Talismans in my school uniform pocket.

The bus kept moving.

As I prepared to stab him at the right moment and plan my escape,

halfway there, the bus suddenly broke down.

The ghost driver angrily smashed a few times, and several white bones popped out of his hand. He picked them up and reattached them, then looked at me gloomily.

“Then come walk up with me.”

He limped over-a cripple.

A corpse, not a ghost.

I made up my mind.

When he got close, I suddenly shoved him away and stabbed his heart hard with the Small Peach Wood Sword.

A shrill ghostly scream rang out, and the sinister wind shattered the windows one by one. In a flash of sparks, the bus transformed into a dilapidated, cobweb-covered wreck.

As his claw-like fingers lunged at me,

I quickly pulled out the Talisman from my pocket and stuck it on him, sealing his soul. Instantly, Divine Fire burst forth, burning his Yin soul.

The firelight illuminated my face.

I marveled at the scene, but had to snap back to reality, grab my backpack from the seat, and flee the bus.

A thunderous boom sounded behind me.

I looked back.

Blazing flames engulfed the bus.

Was I safe?

Aside from the burning bus,

the surroundings were terrifyingly dark.

My legs went weak and I collapsed to the ground. I fumbled for my phone in my bag, and when I shakily turned on the screen, I accidentally tapped the camera mode.

On the phone, besides myself, there was a barefoot woman in a red dress with long, disheveled hair floating above my head. Her face was deathly pale, her cracked red lips stretched wide in a ghastly grin.

“Plop.”

My fingers went limp, and the phone fell to the ground.

As the chilling wind above rushed toward me,

the Female Ghost suddenly let out a piercing scream and turned into a wisp of blue smoke.

I was yanked up and fell into a familiar, cool embrace, a rich floral scent enveloping me.

I opened my eyes to see a huge bouquet of blooming, dewy red roses, wrapped in pure white paper, tied with a slender red ribbon fluttering in the wind-stunningly beautiful.

At eighteen,

I received flowers for the first time.

They bloomed wantonly, pure and passionate.

The bouquet was placed in my hands.

Shen An hugged me tightly, his fingers trembling with lingering fear.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

He kept apologizing over and over.

His cool voice shook badly.

“It’s okay.

“I’m fine now, Shen An.”

I gently patted his back, softly comforting him.

The burning bus in the distance gradually dimmed.

When Shen An calmed down and took me away,

strange noises came from the woods.

A sinister wind swept through the forest, and from one side of the mountain, many mud-covered corpses crawled out. Their movements were bizarre, limbs twisted at odd angles, closing in on me.

I saw an old man in the shadows.

His hair was white, and his wrinkles were as deep as knife cuts.

A Corpse Refiner, and Corpse Demons too.

A profession of evil and monsters that appeared many times in the novel.

“Heavenly Yin Bone.”

The old man murmured, commanding the corpses to attack me.

But Shen An somehow produced a Black Silk Ribbon, tied it over my eyes, and whispered, “Don’t look.”
His movements were gentle and cautious.

A barely perceptible tremor.

In the end, Shen An kissed my forehead.

A chilling, gloomy wind lifted my school uniform.

Shrill cries of Corpse Ghosts echoed in my ears.

When one of the Corpse Ghosts grabbed my ankle, I heard the sound of a hand bone breaking-it was thrown far away by Shen An.

I wanted to remove the Black Silk Ribbon covering my eyes.

But my wrist was held by his long, sticky hand.

His pleasant voice turned hoarse and strange.

He emphasized again, “Don’t look.”

There was truly a hint of pleading.

“I won’t look, Shen An.”

I let go, inexplicably wanting to cry.

I don’t know how much time passed.

The wailing of the Corpse Ghosts gradually faded.

I heard the sound of police sirens.

Was it the people from the Yin-Yang Investigation Bureau?

I couldn’t wait to untie the Black Silk Ribbon.

What I saw was corpses strewn all over the road, and not far away, more than a dozen people in police uniforms and golden Taoist robes were investigating. Shen An was nowhere to be seen.

“Jiang Qiao?!”

Bai Shang in the crowd recognized me and hurried over. When he saw me covered in blood, he was startled.

“Why are you here?”

I didn’t explain, just helplessly grabbed his arm, my voice choked with tears: “Brother, Shen An, hurry and find Shen An.”

“Shen An? Him?”

A slightly cold and alluring female voice sounded.

I turned around. Behind the woman in a green cheongsam, two staff members from the Investigation Bureau were escorting a Fierce Ghost with loose black hair.

His eyes were pitch black without any whites, black and red rune spells covered his face and neck, disappearing beneath his blood-stained clothes. The yin energy was overwhelming and terrifying.

“Shen An!”

Instinctively, I wanted to run over and hug him, but Qing Yao pulled me back, reminding me: “That old man is dead, and he’s become a Fierce Ghost, lost his consciousness, he could hurt you.”

As if to prove her point,

The black aura around Shen An grew even colder.

But blood tears fell from his pitch-black eye sockets.

“Sister-in-law, Shen An wouldn’t.”

I insisted, breaking free from her hand and throwing myself into the Fierce Ghost’s arms. My nose tingled, and my eyes filled with tears.

“Does it hurt?”

I gently touched Shen An’s face.

He froze, looking at me in confusion.

“The flower, the one you gave me, it’s beautiful.”

I held the red rose in my hands out to him.

Blood tears continued to stream from Shen An’s eyes.

Heart aching, I wiped away the blood with my school uniform and, crying, asked Qing Yao and Bai Shang, “Can you not take Shen An away? He won’t hurt anyone. I’ll watch over him.”

“His yin energy is too strong, it will attract evil spirits.”

Qing Yao sighed, her attitude a bit firm, but then she said, “He won’t be handed over to the Underworld. He’ll be held in the Containment Facility for a while. Once the ghostly energy is purified, we’ll return him to you, okay?”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Bai Shang nodded, taking out his phone. The WeChat interface showed a pure black avatar marked as Boss Shen.

“This person is his sister, Shen Ning. She just returned to the country today and is a high-level client of the Investigation Bureau, with connections even in the Underworld. She called specifically to ask the Bureau to look after him. Otherwise, how could a ghost like him wander the human world, even go to school?”

Bai Shang emphasized confidently:

“Don’t worry, Shen An will be fine.

“But these matters are a bit complicated. We don’t know if there are other monsters besides ghosts around. Let your sister-in-law escort you home first.”

I nodded, reluctantly letting go of Shen An. His pitch-black eyes followed my presence closely. As I left, he even struggled violently, almost ferociously, the iron cuffs digging into his wrists and drawing blood.

I patted his head, choking up:

“Shen An, it hurts me to see you like this.

“Be good and get treated, okay?”

He gradually calmed down, but was still agitated.

I tiptoed and kissed his forehead.

The boy’s long lashes trembled, and he nodded stiffly.

“Then I’m leaving. You have to come find me.”

I got in the car with Qing Yao, waved goodbye to Shen An, and only after he was out of sight did I sit back in my seat. Looking at Qing Yao, who was driving, I asked softly:

“Sister-in-law, what is the Heavenly Yin Bone?”

“Heavenly Yin Bone?

“A unique constitution that attracts evil spirits. Ghosts love it-if they swallow or refine it, their cultivation increases greatly. It’s a bit like Yin-Yang Eyes; both can see ghosts that don’t deliberately reveal themselves.”

“Then why can’t I see them?”

I was puzzled, but Qing Yao paused.

After a long while, she said, “Yours was sealed by Bai Shang’s father with a spell. Unless it’s a highly skilled Evil Cultivator, no one would notice.”

I mustered my courage and said, “I want to do the same work as you.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Cultivating with the Heavenly Yin Bone shortens your lifespan. Your parents died young. They asked Bai Shang not to tell you the truth.”

“But I still want to cultivate,” I insisted.

“Why?”

“I don’t want to wait for Shen An or you and my brother to save me. People die sooner or later anyway. I don’t want to live my whole life timidly, depending on others.”

Qing Yao laughed, nodding, “Alright, you’re eighteen now. You have the right to be responsible for yourself. I’ll discuss it with your brother.”

“Thank you, sister-in-law.”

I whispered, looking out at the dim world beyond the car window.