Revised

The Madam Owner could no longer be called human. She was like a mass of minced flesh, stitching herself together with the pulling force of needle and thread. Without her daytime makeup, under the heavy Yin Qi of midnight, she had fully revealed her most terrifying face.

No one knew why the Madam Owner had become this way. Perhaps sensing threat from the three of them, the Madam Owner's expression suddenly twisted savage—but she did not attack them. Instead, she lunged ferociously at the old and young sleeping on the bed.

Ye Xun bit his finger without thinking and pressed it into the rabbit plush's mouth. Blood dripped out; in the plush's dark, glossy eyes, a dim light flickered. Ye Xun's expression was grave as he set the plush on the floor. 'Little Pink, go swallow her.'

Little Pink moved stiffly toward the Madam Owner.

The plush... had moved.

Jiang Luo's expression, for once, went blank. He stared at Little Pink.

Ye Xun, worried, tossed the last-place and second-to-last finishers out the door. 'You two get out. Don't make trouble for me here.'

The door slammed shut heavily in front of Jiang Luo and Lu You. Jiang Luo took a long time to recover, then walked with Lu You to the balcony, crouching beside the smoking owner.

Identical posture—he and the owner looked like the gap between an idol drama and reality. The owner didn't care. His heart was in panic, the cigarette in his hand trembling along with it, and he didn't even know what he was saying, rambling out his nerves: 'How did she get like that? Did I see wrong?'

A thin veil of smoke drifted toward Jiang Luo, blurring his brows and eyes.

Jiang Luo asked, as if casually: 'Owner, what zodiac signs are you and your wife?'

The owner said: 'I'm Rat. My wife is Horse.'

Jiang Luo nodded, barely perceptible.

The owner beside him sighed, his voice bitter: 'Ever since the business failed, I haven't had any spirit left every day. It's all my fault—all because I didn't notice my wife in time.' His voice gradually choked. He wiped his tears. 'My wife's already like that... and I didn't notice... I'm really not human!'

He cried in an ugly, wretched way. Lu Youyi's eyes reddened too. Jiang Luo silently lowered his head, his expression turning a touch cold within the smoke. When the owner had smoked his cigarette down to the butt, Jiang Luo stood and looked down at him. 'You really didn't notice?'

The owner, still crying, froze.

Jiang Luo: 'A piece of feng shui treasure land like this isn't easy to find. You dared open a Hotel here, which is enough to prove you take feng shui seriously. Your zodiac is Rat, corresponding to Zi among the twelve earthly branches—Kan Water. Your wife's zodiac is Horse, corresponding to Wu—Li Fire. The two clash. This room faces south; the layout favors the male owner but works against the female owner. Do you really not know?'

The owner blankly raised his head from his palms to look at him.

Jiang Luo smiled, the corners of his lips curving, but his words were cold and cut straight to the bone: 'It's just that you found it troublesome, couldn't be bothered, didn't take it to heart—and so brewed this catastrophe.'

He turned and went back into the room.

Lu Youyi followed at his side, his heart complicated: 'Jiang Luo, was what you said true?'

Jiang Luo hummed an acknowledgment.

Lu Youyi wilted and closed his mouth.

Jiang Luo's peripheral vision swept over Lu Youyi.

Lu Youyi had a strong sense of justice—he would sob over a fabricated story and burn with rage over three girls' wretched deaths. A person like that was like a ball of fire. Would his fire, too, have a moment when it was snuffed out by the darkness and helplessness of reality?

Jiang Luo let his thoughts wander. He and Lu Youyi waited at the Bedroom door. Fifteen minutes later, Ye Xun opened the door, drenched in sweat: 'Done.'

Inside, the Madam Owner was gone. The pink rabbit plush in Ye Xun's arms looked exactly as before. The Old Lady on the bed had woken and was holding her frightened grandson, trembling.

The owner rushed in from behind. The child, seeing his father, immediately burst into tears, hiccuping: 'Daddy, hug me!'

The owner quickly gathered his son, soothed his mother, then walked to Ye Xun with a complicated expression. 'Ye, my wife...'

'She's already become an evil thing. We'll find a way to perform Transcendence on her,' Ye Xun paused. 'Her body has at least three people's flesh mixed in. Your commission is complete.'

The owner's eyes reddened. He wanted to ask more, but the child clung to his head again, mumbling that he was sleepy. He hesitated, then carried the child back to rock him to sleep. 'Please wait until tomorrow. I still have some things I want to ask.'

Ye Xun nodded.

After the owner carried the child back to the room, the Old Lady, still shaken, went to rest in another room.

The three came downstairs. Ye Xun said: 'Jiang Luo, what did you say? The owner seems afraid to look at you.'

Jiang Luo waved a hand. 'Who knows.'

Lu Youyi came back to himself and murmured faintly: 'Yeah. Who knows.'

After going downstairs, Ye Xun and Lu Youyi were about to head back to sleep, but Jiang Luo stood still. The two turned back, puzzled: 'Not going back?'

Jiang Luo looked left and right, then casually sat down on the steps. 'Wait a bit.'

'Wait for what?'

Jiang Luo looked up at the floor above. 'A scream. Or a boy's pee.'

Ye Xun tilted his head. 'A scream?'

Lu Youyi: 'A boy's pee?'

Jiang Luo asked unhurriedly: 'You really don't think the Madam Owner is the killer?'

Ye Xun stated as fact: 'Her body had three people's flesh in it. Little Pink ate it out.'

Jiang Luo propped his chin and asked seriously: 'But no one turns from human to ghost for no reason. She was clearly a person before, yet now she's a mass of minced flesh like this. Have you thought about why?'

Lu Youyi and Ye Xun stared at him blankly.

These two were good in every way, but too simple. Though if they weren't simple, they wouldn't have believed the story Jiang Luo had made up about Chi You.

Jiang Luo said patiently: 'Is it possible that she's also a victim?'

After a pause, he said: 'Honestly, the feeling she gave me was like someone had once swallowed her whole into their belly, and then she'd cut her way out, carrying the minced flesh of other victims, haphazardly sewing herself into a human shape.'

Lu Youyi started in fright and couldn't help stepping forward. 'What?!'

'Is there a kind of ghost that can take human form, sneak into people's homes, and swallow them whole when they're not looking?' Jiang Luo pondered, speaking slowly. 'It has a face identical to a person's, and when it becomes a ghost, our naked eye can't detect it. But it loves eating human flesh—it'll swallow a person head to toe, skin to bone, leaving only a few hairs stuck to the pillow. Ye Xun, Lu Youyi—does such a ghost exist?'

Lu Youyi said: 'How could—'

His words cut off short. He turned to Ye Xun in shock, and the two said in unison: 'Human-Faced Guest!'

Human-Faced Guest—a ghost that, after putting on clothes discarded by the living, takes on a living person's appearance. It slips into homes while the living are away, chats and laughs with the family during the day, and at night reveals its true nature, going room by room to eat people.

Not even scraps left. Eaten clean.

The two thought of a possibility. Ye Xun was, for once, at a loss. Lu Youyi was even more speechless. They stared at Jiang Luo as if scared out of their wits.

Jiang Luo pointed up at the rooftop. 'So I'm waiting for a scream. Or a boy's pee.'

*

The son had been frightened, and the owner had barely coaxed him to sleep, but his own heart was heavy and tangled. After a long while, he too slowly fell asleep.

Just as he was drifting in a drowse, he suddenly jolted awake in the dead of night, eyes snapping open in terror.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a ghastly figure standing by the bed.

The owner startled. His heart leapt into his throat. He fumbled the light on, and only after seeing who it was did he exhale in relief, cold sweat beading: 'Mom, why are you here?'

The old lady smiled. On her deathly pale face, the smile was eerie and sinister. She said kindly: 'Son, you go back to sleep.'

The old lady was still chewing something, her words muffled. The owner felt a vague unease. 'Mom, what are you eating?'

He looked closely, and on her pale teeth he saw fresh red streaks of blood. A sudden dread rose in him. He looked down and saw her hands cradling his arm—and his arm had already been gnawed into a bloody, mangled patch.

The owner's eyes flew wide. A chill shot up his spine. The extremity of his fear made his throat produce a hoarse, cold hiss—he couldn't even scream.

The old lady kept smiling sweetly, head bent, gnawing his arm in big bites. The blood was carefully sucked into her mouth, greedily, like drinking a delicious fruit juice.

The sound of chewing grew louder and louder. The old lady's wrinkled face was half-stained red with blood. The owner's eyes looked ready to fall from his head. His whole body convulsed; his other trembling arm kept pressing down on his son's plump little belly. The sleeping child, unknowing, let the boy's pee he'd held all day silently stain a large patch of the sheet.

The old lady was eating when her expression suddenly changed. She recoiled sharply from the boy's pee, her eyes resentfully fixed on the owner and child.

The owner finally found his voice. 'Ah—!'

The three downstairs rushed up at once.

When they arrived, the owner was huddled with his son in the corner of the bed, trembling, shielding his child. The blood-soaked Human-Faced Guest saw them, its gaze turning more venomous, and turned to flee through the window.

Lu Youyi was fast. He grabbed the Human-Faced Guest's clothes to haul it back, but the clothes tore. The instant the torn clothes were destroyed, the Human-Faced Guest's skin seemed to be destroyed too—it instantly became a mass of bloody, rotting flesh.

Like a person with no skin.

The owner couldn't hold it. His eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot.

Lu Youyi nearly screamed—but the headless walking corpse's head beat him to it, shrieking first: 'So scary, so scary!'

Lu Youyi's scream stuck in his throat. He disdainfully tossed the head he'd specifically insisted on bringing along to Jiang Luo. 'I'm going to deal with the Human-Faced Guest! It fears fire—get me fire!'

Jiang Luo fished a lighter from the owner and tossed it to him. Lu Youyi snatched up the bedsheet and lunged at the Human-Faced Guest.

The sheet still carried the smell of the boy's pee. The Human-Faced Guest shrieked, its voice as piercing as a rat's. Ye Xun understood, smiled, and glanced at the sleeping child. 'Good thing he peed, or the Human-Faced Guest would've eaten the whole owner by now.'

Jiang Luo shrugged. A good deed, name unrecorded. 'Yeah.'

Ye Xun, worried Lu Youyi couldn't pin the Human-Faced Guest down, bit his finger again and sent Little Pink to help. The rabbit plush's hand trembled, then it rose and walked toward the Human-Faced Guest.

Jiang Luo moved next to Ye Xun, watching without blinking. 'Ye Xun, is this thing really a plush?'

Ye Xun glanced at him. 'A vengeful spirit plush.'

Jiang Luo: '...' The story he'd bluffed to the owner earlier seemed to have come true.

Anything with the words 'vengeful spirit' in it was not to be trifled with. Ye Xun asked proactively: 'You want one too?'

Jiang Luo, flattered: 'Can I?'

Ye Xun smiled: 'No. I was just teasing you.'

Jiang Luo: '...'

Lu Youyi, still struggling with the Human-Faced Guest, managed with difficulty: 'Damn it—can you two look at me?'

The moment he spoke, the rabbit plush had already reached the Human-Faced Guest. A plush half the size of an adult was unexpectedly tough. Its furry paw landed on the Human-Faced Guest—'rip'—and tore the rotting flesh from its body.

The Human-Faced Guest's body was made up of all the humans it had eaten. One piece of flesh could hold several lives. Lu Youyi's stomach churned. He retreated to the side and let the rabbit plush fight it. The Human-Faced Guest roared furiously at the plush rabbit, like a rat with its tail stepped on.

Lu Youyi covered his mouth and retreated to Jiang Luo's side. 'So disgusting...'

Jiang Luo thought for a moment, then stroked the severed head ghost's hair in his arms and suddenly smiled. 'Ning Xiu, bro, do me a favor?'

The severed head ghost was dazed by his smile, and answered dreamily: 'Sure, sure.'

Jiang Luo said: 'Thanks, Ning Xiu bro.'

With that, Jiang Luo straightened his arm, swung the head in a half-circle, and using the severed head ghost as a ball, hurled it hard at the Human-Faced Guest.

The severed head ghost let out a shriek mid-air and struck the back of the Human-Faced Guest's head with pinpoint accuracy.

The Human-Faced Guest shrieked and fell. Lu Youyi seized the chance to cover it with the bedsheet and lit it with the lighter.

He and the rabbit plush pressed firmly down on either side of the sheet. Only when the flames had spread to the edges did Lu Youyi scoop up the rabbit plush and retreat, watching the raging fire engulf the Human-Faced Guest completely.

The fire grew larger. Jiang Luo came back to himself and asked: 'What do we do now?'

Lu Youyi rubbed his arm wearily: 'No wonder your credits are only three points... Of course, call the police and an ambulance. Oh, right—and the fire department too.'

Jiang Luo: '...' Learned something. So you can be this scientific.

Jiang Luo had no experience, so he obediently followed Lu Youyi and Ye Xun's instructions. Half an hour later, the police and ambulance arrived at 129 Hotel. To Jiang Luo's surprise, the police and the medics reacted calmly to the bizarre scene. They put out the fire, stuffed the burned Human-Faced Guest into a Yellow Cloth bag, and led the three of them away.

But before leaving, Jiang Luo remembered something. He turned to the child's hand and reached out to touch that ring of Black Mist.

Countless fragments of memory rushed at him.

He 'saw' the Madam Owner's memories.

The Madam Owner opened her eyes in the night and saw her mother-in-law—who had laughed and chatted with her during the day—standing by the window, eating her bite by bite.

He saw the Madam Owner's despair and fear, and the hatred and fury that rose in her once the Human-Faced Guest had set its sights on her son.

So the Madam Owner had dragged her body of minced flesh, crawled out of the Human-Faced Guest's belly, and used needle and thread to sew herself into a human shape.

She had lost her human mind, but her instinct was to protect her son. At night, once her son was asleep, she would stiffly stand at the foot of the bed, watching her son's and the Human-Faced Guest's every move.

This child—so cute.

She thought.

She couldn't scare him.

So she remembered makeup.

Because of this, after killing the three girls and the Madam Owner, the Human-Faced Guest never ate another person.

The Madam Owner's protective obsession toward her son flooded into Jiang Luo's mind.

Jiang Luo was overwhelmed by this surging emotion, unable to stop the tears from falling. He gritted his teeth, struggled to breathe, and squatted on the ground, trying to steady himself.

After a while, the emotions slowly receded. Jiang Luo raised a hand to stop anyone from fussing over him, and managed, in as steady a voice as he could: 'I'm fine.'

After a long while, he lifted his head, looked back with complicated eyes at the little fatty, and walked out with his companions.

So... a mother's love—even death couldn't erase it.

In the car, the police officer handed them a cup of hot water and said warmly: 'Don't worry. We'll handle what comes next. You were too tired today, and the intensity of this case exceeded our expectations. We'll talk to the School and give you extra credits.'

Lu Youyi no longer cared about credits. He nodded, his eyes drifting to Jiang Luo from time to time, hesitant: 'Jiang Luo, are you okay?'

Jiang Luo shook his head. Not wanting them to press further, he took the initiative to change the subject: 'Can the police know about Xuanxue World matters?'

Ye Xun said: 'The National Bureau knows of Xuanxue World's existence, so the police specifically assigned to us naturally know too.'

Sensing Jiang Luo's distraction, he explained in more detail: 'Xuanxue World cooperates with the National Bureau. Within twelve universities nationwide, they've established the 'Natural Science and Social Research' major. Each major has only one class, and each class has fewer than ten students.'

'The Xuanxue World is declining. Fewer and fewer people work in this field and have talent. The total number of people across all universities nationwide is only around a hundred,' Ye Xun said after a moment of silence. 'When the National Bureau encounters a Paranormal Incident, it distributes the incident as a task to the Twelve Universities by region. Besides the universities, the Xuanxue World also has the Six Great Families.'

Ye Xun looked at Jiang Luo, his dark eyes cold as jade: 'The Chi Clan, to which Chi You belongs, is the Puppet Soul Refining faction.'

'Puppet Soul Refining?' Jiang Luo repeated.

Ye Xun said: 'It's a faction that can control both humans and ghosts. It can refine the souls of the living and the dead—that's how terrifying the Chi Clan is. But this art is too heaven-defying. In the Chi Clan, only Chi You truly mastered Puppet Soul Refining.'

Which meant, when Chi You was alive, whether human or ghost, any of them could become his Puppet, a marionette in his hand.

His eyes could be anywhere.

Jiang Luo seemed to sense something and raised his head, looking at the people around him. Everyone was busy with their own tasks; occasionally, someone met Jiang Luo's eyes and offered a polite, courteous smile.

In Jiang Luo's eyes, those smiles were overlaid with a layer of ghost shadow—eerie, terrifying, gradually twisting into Chi You's likeness.

Jiang Luo came back to himself, laughed self-deprecatingly, and suspected he was overthinking.

In the original text, Chi You was currently in a weakened period due to his incomplete soul, and only thanks to the help of the protagonist's gong, Feng Li, was he able to cultivate and take revenge.

His appearance in the Toilet earlier had also been due to the convergence of timing and place.

How could he possibly have already recovered to the point of being able to control people?