"Yueyue, my birthday is this Saturday. Will you come back?" Yun Luhua's voice came through the phone.
Yun Jianyue came from a single-parent household. She'd never seen her father growing up. She'd lived with her mother, taking her mother's surname. Family claimed her mother had been deceived by a man, leading to her pregnancy before marriage.
In their small town, rumors flew. But her mother had built her own business to support them.
Then, when Yun Jianyue was eleven, her mother died in a fire during an accident. It was her aunt, Yun Luhua, and her family who took her in, raising her until she was eighteen.
After the college entrance exams, her aunt even handed over the little nest egg her mother had left – nearly two million – not withholding a single penny.
Truly, Aunt Yun Luhua was like a second mother to her.
"Okay, I'll buy tickets tomorrow and come back," Yun Jianyue agreed.
Perfect. She'd celebrate her aunt's birthday, then ask about her mother.
Today was Wednesday. Yun Jianyue booked tickets for Thursday. City A wasn't far from her small hometown; the high-speed train took only an hour and a half. Unfortunately, the only available Thursday ticket was for 7 PM, getting her in at 8:30 PM. She'd reach her aunt's house around 9.
She packed two days' worth of clothes into her backpack and started reading the books Cai Zeyu had given her.
"Draw in breath energy, feel the innate Qi..." Yun Jianyue sat cross-legged following the book's instructions, fingers forming a mudra, mind calming and focusing.
She felt it again – that energy that had flowed within her when she drew the talisman before. Only this time, it felt stronger, more powerful.
And the Qi hidden in the air around her began converging into her body.
Two hours passed. Yun Jianyue felt refreshed and clear-headed. It was now 11 PM. She sent Cai Zeyu a message.
"Drawing breath energy isn't that hard, huh."
Cai Zeyu replied almost instantly: "You succeeded?"
Yun Jianyue: "Yep."
Cai Zeyu: "!!!"
Cai Zeyu never replied again.
In a bar unknown to Yun Jianyue, Cai Zeyu clung to Du Minghao, weeping bitterly.
"How?! Why can she succeed overnight?! And she spent two whole hours the first time drawing breath?!"
Du Minghao, previously in a good mood, took a huge gulp of his drink upon hearing this. He hugged Cai Zeyu back, joining the sobbing.
"Si Wuming being a genius is bad enough, why another one?! Think about it! I started training at six, the perfect age to draw breath! It took me a whole month just to sense Qi!" Du Minghao wailed.
"I had it worse! It took me a month and a half just to sense it! Waaah!" Cai Zeyu cried harder.
Du Minghao continued lamenting, "Then it took me another month to actually draw breath into my body! The first time I managed it, I held it for ten minutes! I was dead tired, collapsed in bed the whole next day!"
Cai Zeyu wailed in profound agreement; his experience had been identical. The hapless duo wept inconsolably, while Yun Jianyue slept blissfully unaware.
Thursday, 8:30 PM. Yun Jianyue stepped off the train in her hometown.
The air was indeed fresher than the big city. And her hometown air held a unique scent that filled her with comfort.
Leaving the station, she hailed a ride-share. While waiting, she spotted a hardware store across the street. Without hesitation, she walked in and bought a small chainsaw.
Darkness had fallen, so Lu Changxue was out in ghostly form. Seeing Yun Jianyue purchase another chainsaw, she transformed into a screaming chicken.
"We're just visiting family! Why did you buy another chainsaw?!"
She couldn't take a chainsaw on the high-speed train, so she hadn't brought hers. But since arriving, a nagging unease had settled over her.
The weight of the chainsaw in her hand finally brought peace.
"Ah, a chainsaw. Pure comfort," Yun Jianyue grinned. Her ride arrived. She confirmed her phone number and got in.
The car dropped her outside her aunt's apartment complex. Yun Jianyue headed straight home, familiar with the route.
But when she unlocked the door, she found uneaten meals still on the dining table, dishes unwashed. The house was empty.
It seemed something sudden had happened, pulling the family away before they'd even finished dinner.
A cold dread washed over Yun Jianyue. She pulled out her phone and called her aunt.
The phone rang several times before Yun Luhua answered, her voice strained with anxiety.
"Yueyue, you're home? Something happened to your cousin... We're in the countryside right now."
Yun Jianyue's cousin, Xia Huiqing, Aunt Yun Luhua's daughter, would enter her final year of high school after this summer.
Ever since Yun Luhua took Yun Jianyue in, she'd shared a room with Huiqing every night.
For the past three years while Yun Jianyue attended university away from home, Huiqing, confined as a high school student, was only allowed two hours of phone time monthly. She spent an hour of that talking to Yun Jianyue.
In short, the two cousins were closer than actual sisters.
"What happened to Huiqing?" Yun Jianyue asked urgently.
"Your cousin... she's possessed!"
One Week Ago
Xia Huiqing lived at home during the week. Though her apartment complex was old and cramped, it was a mere ten-minute walk to school—prime location.
Since starting high school, her nightly routine after evening study hall was: have a late snack, review for an hour, then wash up and sleep by 12:30 AM.
Tonight was no exception.
Yun Luhua, as usual, prepared the snack. Hearing the door open, she rushed over to take Huiqing's backpack. "Sweetie, I made you zha jiang mian. Want some milk? I'll get you a bottle."
Huiqing looked up at her mother. Her face was pale, and she seemed to struggle to process Yun Luhua's words.
She reacted slowly, forcing a weak smile onto her face. "Thanks, Mom. I'm not hungry." Without another word, she went straight to her room.
A mother notices her child's distress. Yun Luhua followed Huiqing in, finding her daughter already in bed, deeply asleep, less than a minute after entering.
"Didn't change clothes, just dropped straight asleep... Is she sick?" Worried, Yun Luhua touched Huiqing's forehead. No fever. She still made a cold remedy, woke Huiqing up long enough to drink it, then tucked her back in.
Huiqing had always been healthy. Usually, any cold or fever was mostly gone by the next day.
But the next morning, when Yun Luhua went to wake her for breakfast, Huiqing was still asleep. She never slept this late.
Huiqing frowned violently in her sleep, seeming trapped in a nightmare. Unintelligible, distressed murmurs escaped her lips.
"Sweetie?" Yun Luhua gently shook her shoulder.
Huiqing's eyes snapped open. She bolted upright like a coiled spring, gasping like a stranded fish desperately dragging air into her lungs.