Chapter 17 - Decision to Escape

The gaze from that eye sent a chill down the Black Hat Man's spine, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The black windbreaker tightened around him, clearly warning him of danger.

The Black Hat Man didn't dare make any sudden moves; he wasn't sure if the person in the bedroom was human…or something else.

Then a voice emerged from the room, calm and wary, as if from a middle-aged woman: "Who are you? I don't think I know you?"

The Black Hat Man relaxed slightly at this, figuring it was a person after all.

In hindsight, he thought he probably looked suspicious, dressed head-to-toe in black, with a hat, face mask, and sunglasses, sleeping in someone else's living room in the dead of night. Any homeowner would be alarmed waking up to a stranger like that.

But oddly enough, as soon as the woman spoke, the windbreaker around him seemed to constrict even more tightly.

"Sorry, I'm…" he began, only to be interrupted by the creak of another door opening. Jiang Yan and Zhang Tiantian emerged from the other bedroom.

As soon as Zhang Tiantian saw the scene, she rushed to the woman and explained quickly, "Mom, these are my friends from the city. They'll be staying with us for a few days."

At this, the middle-aged woman's demeanor changed entirely. Stepping out from her room, she greeted them with a warm smile.

"Oh, so you're Tiantian's friends! Welcome! You know, the way he's dressed, I thought for a moment we had ghosts in the house!" she chuckled, though a hint of wariness lingered in her gaze as she glanced at the Black Hat Man.

"My apologies, ma'am," he said, bowing his head. "I've just gotten used to dressing this way; I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Oh, no trouble at all! It was just a funny misunderstanding. But here, let me get the study cleared out for you. It's no good to make you sleep on the couch," she offered kindly.

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful," the Black Hat Man replied politely, though his senses were on high alert.

Zhang Tiantian's mother seemed nothing more than a warm, straightforward country woman, but something about her made Jiang Yan thoughtful. After all, if her daughter had truly been replaced by a ghost, wouldn't she have sensed something off by now? Perhaps it hadn't been long since Tiantian had been "replaced," he mused.

After breakfast, Zhang Tiantian's mother bustled about preparing for the village's ancestral rites, reminding everyone that it was nearly time. Villagers began filing past the house, each carrying a white mourning basket filled with sacrificial offerings, like freshly killed chickens, incense, and firecrackers.

Zhang Tiantian glanced back at the two of them just before heading out the door. "We're going to the family shrine now. You two just wait here and don't wander off."

The two men waited until the house was empty, glancing meaningfully at one another. The Black Hat Man circled the property to ensure Tiantian and her mother had truly left before he spoke.

"Kid, you've got some serious luck—sharing a bed with a ghost and surviving it!" he muttered.

"A ghost? You mean Zhang Tiantian?" Jiang Yan asked, feigning surprise, though he'd already deduced Tiantian's true nature. He hadn't thought the Black Hat Man would have figured it out so easily.

The Black Hat Man snorted. "Oh, it cost me a whole ghost cigarette to learn the truth, let me tell you. But before that, did you notice anything different about this room?"

Jiang Yan glanced around. "The portrait… it's gone."

Indeed, the black-and-white portrait that had hung on the wall now displayed a blank white sheet, as if the person in it had simply vanished without a trace.

"That's right," the Black Hat Man nodded. "I found out about Tiantian's true identity from the guy in that portrait." He went on to recount everything that had happened the previous night.

"So…a Shapeshifter Ghost," Jiang Yan said thoughtfully. "That fits my suspicions pretty well."

The Black Hat Man gaped at him. "Wait…you already suspected she was a ghost?"

"Why do you think I didn't sleep a wink last night? It was kind of hard to miss," Jiang Yan said with a chuckle. He then proceeded to share his own experience from the previous night, including how he had used the Ghost Domain to suppress her.

The Black Hat Man's expression twisted into shock and disbelief. "You used the Ghost Domain on her last night?"

Jiang Yan might not fully understand what he had done, but the Black Hat Man knew all too well how rare and powerful a Ghost Domain was. Only a ghost of at least B-class could wield it—and here was a young university student, barely into the world of ghost mastery, already using it.

"Well, if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to keep her under control," Jiang Yan shrugged. "But according to what you told me, a Shapeshifter Ghost only kills when its identity is exposed. It looks like I haven't triggered that condition just yet."

"True. If you had, even the second level of the Ghost Domain wouldn't have saved you," the Black Hat Man replied, unnerved at the thought of the ghost's terrifying potential.

"This ghost could easily be A-class or higher," he continued. "We're fortunate that her condition for killing isn't easily triggered. We should avoid directly confronting her. As long as we stay cautious, we can avoid provoking her."

"Agreed," Jiang Yan nodded. "Besides, she knows this village better than either of us. She might even have useful information that we could leverage."

The village had grown eerily quiet during their conversation. It seemed that all the villagers had already left for the shrine.

The Black Hat Man's expression turned shrewd. "We can't stay here anymore. Now that we know what she is, there's no reason to stick around. We should get out of this place while we still can."

Jiang Yan thought it over for a moment and nodded. "You're right. Let's go."

With their plan settled, the two men swiftly headed for the edge of the village, making their way back to the forest path. They remembered that just a short distance along that route was the rope bridge.

But after what felt like an eternity of walking, the bridge was nowhere to be seen. Instead, they found themselves lost in a dense bamboo grove… 

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𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚!

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 shoutouts 𝘁𝗼:

•Leroy

• Jonathan Bailey

𝗔𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸:

• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝙂𝙚𝙩 volume 1 of this novel 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.

• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁-𝗢𝘂𝘁: 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩!

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀!

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