The Haunted House and the Ghostly Coincidence

Social engagements exhausted Yuan Anqing more than his actual office work. While an occasional outing could offer a change of pace, forcibly adding social events to his regular schedule as “bait” for anomalies was sheer agony.

For days, Yuan Anqing had accompanied Zhuo, traversing all the bustling social hotspots. They had even acquired gym memberships, despite the fact that physical exercise held absolutely no benefit for them; whether they tirelessly lifted weights or idled away their days on the couch, their unnatural physiques would remain entirely unchanged.

After enduring half a month filled with such exhausting activity—and subtly teetering on the brink of corporate burnout—Yuan Anqing finally encountered a low-grade Differentiated Being during a particularly tedious script-murder mystery game.

The instant he saw the newcomer, Yuan Anqing instinctively glanced at Zhuo.

He wasn’t startled by the stranger’s aura; rather, it was the uncanny resemblance between the man and Zhuo that caught him off guard. It wasn’t a likeness in facial features, but a striking similarity in their overall vibe and demeanor.

The man stood a little over 190 centimeters tall, with a clearly robust physique. His eyes were similarly deep-set, though he lacked Zhuo’s genuine malevolence. His hair was a striking shade of red, and his right arm bore a massive tattoo of a beetle and a skull. This intricate design stretched all the way to the back of his hand, and as his arm moved, the beetles and skeletal figures seemed to breathe, subtly undulating.

Zhuo had grown wary the moment the man appeared in the game room. Yuan Anqing even heard the faint, metallic clatter of Zhuo’s tail scales subtly flaring up in defense before settling back down.

What Yuan Anqing found most unsettling was the man’s smile. It was so uncannily like Zhuo’s; the curve of his lips seemingly mimicked directly from the monster.

Finding a Differentiated Being of a similar type was a strategy with a high margin for error.

The rogue organizations had never truly understood Yuan Anqing. After all, the Differentiated Beings who came seeking trouble were all captured by Bai Tian’s team, preventing them from relaying any information back. However, they had also never truly taken Zhuo seriously, failing to detect his true, world-ending aura.

Yuan Anqing and Zhuo sat closely together at the long gaming table. Zhuo’s mood was clearly off-kilter, so Yuan Anqing could only reach out under the table and pat Zhuo’s thigh, silently urging him to calm down.

“Hello, sir.” The red-haired, tattooed man opposite them extended his hand toward Zhuo. “My name is Yuan Zhanhui.”

Yuan? Zhuo grew wary once more. This man was definitely trying to curry favor with Yuan Anqing by faking a shared surname.

“I am Zhuo.” Zhuo shook the man’s hand. Zhuo was actually quite adept at pretense, though he usually reserved such displays for hunting. “Zhuo, as in ‘turbid’.”

“What a cool name!” The man, who introduced himself as Yuan Zhanhui, smiled as he released Zhuo’s hand. “This is my first time meeting someone even taller and broader than me.”

Zhuo returned the fake smile. “Perhaps your perception is limited. I’ve met many taller than you.” His implication was that the other man was nothing special.

Yuan Zhanhui didn’t know how to respond to the sudden hostility. He could only maintain a polite, tight smile.

Yuan Anqing, seated beside them, seemed entirely uninterested in getting to know him. He simply stared ahead at the script booklet, his gaze unfocused, as if his soul had been drained.

Yuan Anqing wasn’t feigning aloofness; he was simply too exhausted.

He detested playing boring party games with a group of strangers. When playing script-murder games, Yuan Anqing always chose pure emotional/romance plots, as he didn’t want to torment his tired brain with deduction and logical analysis; his brain was meant for resting.

Games with emotional plots were always filled with forced joy or subtle flirtation among the players, even if they hadn’t known each other before the game began. Yuan Anqing felt it was somewhat akin to a disguised mixer or a blind date, and he simply couldn’t blend in.

It wasn’t that the young people weren’t attractive. In fact, young people in this world rarely suffered from skin problems, so their complexions were mostly flawless. Moreover, youth inherently carried a vitality that often enhanced their appearance. Yuan Anqing could appreciate it objectively, but his appreciation was always from a distance; he couldn’t immerse himself in their hormone-fueled world.

Yuan Anqing felt his mind had turned to mush.

Yuan Zhanhui eventually greeted all eight people present at the table, finally turning his attention back to Yuan Anqing.

“Hello, Yuan Anqing.” Yuan Anqing politely shook his hand.

“Oh! Your surname is also Yuan?” Yuan Zhanhui widened his eyes, feigning surprise.

“Indeed. What a coincidence,” Yuan Anqing deadpanned. He didn’t even offer a polite corporate smile. He had no intention of investing effort in cultivating a fake friendship with the assassin, knowing the other would try regardless; no matter how cold he was, the man wouldn’t give up his mission.

Yuan Zhanhui pointed at Yuan Anqing, then at himself. “We’re practically family, then.”

“Yes, quite a coincidence,” Yuan Anqing replied flatly, returning to his booklet.

“Where are you from?” Yuan Zhanhui pressed on.

“I am a stranger,” Yuan Anqing answered cryptically.

Yuan Zhanhui: “Huh?”

“I apologize, but I prefer not to reveal my hometown or home address to strangers. You’re a very enthusiastic person, but I’m not accustomed to such warmth,” Yuan Anqing stated seriously.

“So aloof,” Yuan Zhanhui murmured, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“He’s not aloof, he’s just—” Zhuo interjected defensively, then seemed to catch himself. He paused, then leaned into Yuan Anqing’s shoulder and continued, “He’s not aloof with me at all, hmm?”

He was feigning shyness again.

His expression remained mostly impassive, but Zhuo’s voice—naturally deep and resonant—had taken on a different quality with that upward-inflected ‘hmm’ at the end. It sounded like an unconscious relaxation, almost a hint of petulance. However, this whiny tone was utterly incongruous with Zhuo’s massive, terrifying appearance.

Is he trying to copy this submissive trope too?! Yuan Zhanhui decided to observe first.

While he was deep in thought, the Game Master began assigning roles based on everyone’s personalities. Yuan Zhanhui took a deep breath. He needed to appear more lively and cheerful, to set the mood and leave a good impression on his target, Yuan Anqing.

He then discovered… he couldn’t set the mood at all!

Yuan Anqing quickly finished memorizing his script. After he was done, he stared at the script’s cover for a while with a deeply disdainful look, as if gazing at an idiot. Although Yuan Anqing showed no particular expression, his disgust was too obvious; not even his glasses could hide it.

As the game began, Yuan Anqing swiftly organized his thoughts to end the torture as fast as possible. When interrogating the other players, he displayed not a shred of emotion, acting like a ruthless imperial official with countless lives on his hands. His gaze was flat, his speech slow, yet it exerted immense psychological pressure on the poor civilians.

During the emotional climax of the game, the Game Master produced a small amplifier playing tragic lines recorded by a deceased character. Amidst the swelling background music, some players’ eyes reddened, having immersed themselves in the roleplay.

Yuan Anqing, however, remained utterly calm; he was a complete, bored bystander.

Zhuo, on the other hand, was deeply engaged. He delivered his tragic lines with genuine, booming emotion, though he didn’t cry. He probably just found acting interesting.

Yuan Anqing was surprisingly gentle when questioning Zhuo in-character, or perhaps Zhuo had simply grown accustomed to Yuan Anqing’s deadpan state, making their interactions peaceful.

So, this Savior is just here to play games with his bodyguard? Yuan Zhanhui thought in confusion. It doesn’t seem right for a bodyguard to go to such acting lengths. Is his bodyguard actually dating him?

How could a Savior fall in love with his bodyguard? Is he that desperate for affection?
And why does that bodyguard rely on him so submissively? He’s built like a tank!

Yuan Zhanhui couldn’t make sense of it, especially when Yuan Anqing led Zhuo away immediately after the game ended. Yuan Zhanhui had asked if they wanted to add each other as friends on social media, but he was bluntly refused.

The reason for the refusal was simple and sufficient—Yuan Anqing stated they were unlikely to meet again, so there was no need to exchange contact information.

Truly a cold Savior.

After Yuan Anqing and Zhuo left, Yuan Zhanhui returned to his own assigned “apartment.”

He was one of the more successfully socialized among the conscious, low-grade Differentiated Beings. He possessed legal identification and had even attended a normal school. This was because his anomaly abilities weren’t particularly formidable, meaning there was little chance of him going berserk and destroying a city.

It was precisely because of his weaker abilities that ‘those people’ dared to push him toward the Savior as a spy.

Yuan Zhanhui sat on the sofa of his single apartment, smoking a cigarette. He recalled Yuan Anqing’s expression, feeling that the Savior didn’t possess an ounce of superfluous sympathy.

Did headquarters make a mistake?
This is so damn frustrating. I have to act like an innocent little flower in front of that Savior. What if that guy has some peculiar fetish, liking men who act incredibly stupid but have massive physiques?

Yuan Zhanhui sent a message to his handler, stating that he hadn’t been able to communicate today and hadn’t obtained any effective information.

The handler replied that they would arrange another “chance encounter” for him in about a week, as forcing it too soon might arouse suspicion. Then, the handler asked Yuan Zhanhui if he knew why the Savior had such a good relationship with that specific bodyguard, and if he had discovered any insights into their dynamic.

Yuan Zhanhui clicked his tongue, took a deep drag from his cigarette, then exhaled a heavy cloud of smoke: [This Savior seems to really like people who act like total idiots with lower intelligence than him. I’m not sure if that bodyguard is genuinely stupid or just faking a submissive personality, but he doesn’t act much like an adult male.]

At this, Yuan Zhanhui slumped back, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt goosebumps all over his body.

Sure enough, his handler immediately replied, instructing him that he should work toward this direction.

Work toward becoming a bizarre, hulking, submissive idiot? Yuan Zhanhui felt he needed to smoke a few more cigarettes.

“I always feel like someone’s talking bad about me,” Zhuo grumbled, stewing meat in their kitchen.

Yuan Anqing, who was helping him prep vegetables, inquired, “Is it that Yuan Zhanhui?”

“Him? He’s too much!” Zhuo felt indignant at the thought of the Differentiated Being. “He copied my movements!”

“He also copied your smile,” Yuan Anqing added dryly. “Those people probably think that replicating your appearance and personality will make it easier to connect with me.”

“They’ve got it all wrong! You didn’t like me at all when you first met me!” Zhuo fumed. “They should imitate a desperate corporate employee; then maybe you’d have some common ground!”

Yuan Anqing’s vegetable-picking motion paused slightly. He turned to look at Zhuo. “Your personality is actually quite good.”

“Of course my personality is good.” Zhuo was eternally confident. “But if I hadn’t forcefully bound myself to you, you wouldn’t have had the chance to experience anything beautiful! Of course, then I would also lose my friend. I suppose Bai Tian and the bureaucrats finally did something useful.”

Yuan Anqing offered no response.

Zhuo continued, “Since the enemy has taken the bait, we don’t need to go to those noisy gaming cafes anymore.”

“You don’t like them?” Yuan Anqing remembered Zhuo always perfectly blending in with the other players.

“I’m a bit tired of it. Their desires are too mundane.” Zhuo felt like he had eaten a dish he once quite liked for a week straight, making him not want to touch it for a month. “We can go to a proper bar and drink instead!”

Yuan Anqing looked puzzled. “Are you sure?”

“I love drinking!” Zhuo nodded.

“But you can’t get drunk.” Yuan Anqing still remembered the day Zhuo drank nearly twenty glasses of liquor alone. Zhuo’s complexion hadn’t changed, his steps remained steady, his eyes resolute—just like when he drank regular soda. A chimera couldn’t get drunk on human alcohol.

“Who says?” Zhuo disagreed defensively. “I felt drunk after the first glass, you know! Being drunk felt amazing! But then my body probably reacted and developed an instant resistance.”

“Let me repeat: alcohol blurs one’s consciousness, but it shouldn’t cause a wildly irregular heartbeat in a normal person,” Yuan Anqing sounded helpless.

That day, after Zhuo became convinced he was “drunk,” he started ordering drinks like crazy. Watching him down glass after glass, Yuan Anqing felt terrified, especially since Zhuo was too large for Yuan Anqing to carry back to the hotel.

But Zhuo was perfectly fine mentally. Zhuo himself was frustrated, constantly insisting that his own heart had lost its rhythm. Yuan Anqing thought Zhuo’s heart had developed an arrhythmia. Zhuo believed that was impossible because his biology was superior to any human’s.

“Until we figure out the medical effects of alcohol on your species, you’re not to drink,” Yuan Anqing decided bluntly. “You’re also not allowed to mix my alcohol with soda.”

Zhuo was displeased. “You can’t deprive me of my rights!”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to accept it.” Yuan Anqing handed the washed vegetables to Zhuo. “Health should always come first; everything else comes after.”

“But you have stomach problems too! You’re more indulgent than I am!” Zhuo took the basket of vegetables, angrily washing the leaves and splashing water everywhere.

“Then I’ll quit with you,” Yuan Anqing said. He had no qualms; his desire for alcohol hadn’t been strong lately since his stress was lower.

“That’s not fair! You’ve been indulging for ages! I’ve only just begun to taste the joy of alcohol!”

“I’m very sorry, but there’s no absolute fairness in the world.” Yuan Anqing mercilessly cut off Zhuo’s protests. “I won’t allow a patient with an irregular heartbeat to harm their own body on my watch.”

“But we still have to go out and ‘accidentally’ meet that low-grade Differentiated Being! I don’t want to play board games with those people anymore.” Zhuo’s tail dragged on the kitchen floor in defeat.

“Want to check out a haunted house?” Yuan Anqing asked him. “Bai Tian told me there’s a massive three-story haunted house at the amusement park. They say the practical effects are quite good.”

Yuan Anqing himself wasn’t afraid of ghosts. He wasn’t born fearless, of course. As a child, he couldn’t sleep because of tree shadows cast on his curtains. In his second year of junior high, he was leaving evening self-study late and took a dark shortcut back to the orphanage. The streetlights in the alley were out, and there were stray cats. Yuan Anqing sped up, stumbled, and fell into a muddy puddle.

His pants were torn, and his knee was injured. Most importantly, he would have to trouble the exhausted staff at the orphanage to mend his clothes, adding to their burdens. Yuan Anqing sat alone in the mud for a long while. Once his leg stopped feeling numb, he stood up and walked away.

After that day, Yuan Anqing no longer feared ghosts. He had sat in the pitch dark for so long; if a ghost had wanted to eat him, it would have done so already. He realized he had only been scaring himself.

“We might encounter real ghosts in a haunted house,” Zhuo pointed out.

Yuan Anqing: “…A ghost with a physical body that I can catch isn’t a ghost.” They could only be considered chaotic biological life forms. A true ghost should be an unknown, mysterious power.

“They are ghosts,” Zhuo argued. “And the scariest thing in this world isn’t ghosts; it should be me.”

“By your logic, then I have absolutely nothing to fear in this world.”

Zhuo felt something was amiss with that logic, yet it was true that Yuan Anqing truly wasn’t afraid of him. Zhuo fell into deep thought.

No matter how much he deliberated, the haunted house trip was finally set. Zhuo had never been to a haunted house himself and was curious, though his interest wasn’t particularly high, knowing that this journey wouldn’t be just him and Yuan Anqing.

Sure enough, a week later, as he and Yuan Anqing queued to enter the amusement park, they “coincidentally” met Yuan Zhanhui also waiting in line.

This time, Yuan Zhanhui had brought a child with him. The child showed no signs of being a Differentiated Being, likely a prop borrowed by Yuan Zhanhui to look less suspicious.

Yuan Zhanhui spotted Zhuo and Yuan Anqing, then flashed a smile nine-tenths similar to Zhuo’s as he greeted them. “Oh, it’s you two! Mr. Zhuo, and my aloof relative.”

Zhuo: …How are we related? This person is so annoying.

Yuan Anqing nodded at him in polite acknowledgment. “Long time no see, Mr. Yuan.”

Yuan Zhanhui seemed oblivious to Yuan Anqing’s coldness. “Are just the two of you coming to the amusement park?”

Yuan Anqing nodded again.

“Actually, I wanted to ask last time,” Yuan Zhanhui said, scratching his head with a simple, honest smile. “What’s your relationship?”

Yuan Anqing understood what he meant. His and Zhuo’s behavior certainly resembled a date. The assassin didn’t understand Zhuo’s uniqueness, only perceiving that his formidable Savior target and the “decorative” bodyguard beside him had an abnormal relationship.

So, Yuan Anqing simply went along with the man’s speculation. “We’re on a date.”

Huh? Zhuo froze for a moment, then immediately reacted, grabbing Yuan Anqing’s hand and leaning his heavy body against him.

Zhuo’s posture was overly demure, yet his physique was enormous, making him appear both massive and incredibly clingy.

Yuan Zhanhui: “…”

How does this person manage to naturally exude such a submissive expression?
I was wrong. I thought this bodyguard was just brainless and sunny. Now it seems he’s the ‘big, soft wife’ type!
How am I supposed to imitate THAT?! Yuan Zhanhui felt a stress-induced stomach cramp coming on.

But he could only force a smile. “That’s great. You two look very compatible.”

Zhuo reached out, intertwining his massive fingers with Yuan Anqing’s, then offered another painfully shy smile.

Yuan Zhanhui: “…”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

His acting is genuinely terrifying, Yuan Anqing thought.

“Actually, I’m a bit scared of ghosts,” Zhuo whispered to the assassin. “But he always likes to scare me. He just likes it when I hide in his arms.”

Hide? Yuan Zhanhui looked at the towering, two-meter-tall Zhuo, then at the 183-centimeter-tall Yuan Anqing.

Could he even fit?! If Zhuo burrowed into Yuan Anqing’s arms, he’d probably lift Yuan Anqing right off his feet!

After his display of shyness, Zhuo looked at the little boy in Yuan Zhanhui’s arms. “Is this your son?”

“No, no, this is my cousin’s son. I’m his uncle,” Yuan Zhanhui explained.

“You look so young, and you’re already an uncle?” Zhuo seemed surprised. “I don’t even know what it feels like to be an uncle. I’ve always been called ‘older brother’.”

Is he overacting? Yuan Zhanhui felt even more uncomfortable. This bodyguard was guarding the Savior against him like a jealous housewife.

But he had to steel himself; he still needed to try and befriend the Savior later. His handler had already placed a ‘real’ ghost in the haunted house. That ghost probably couldn’t threaten the Savior, so Yuan Zhanhui needed to find it before the Savior did, then act heroically—preferably getting a little injured to win sympathy.

With this plan in mind, they headed straight for the haunted house after entering the park.

Along the way, Yuan Zhanhui kept exclaiming about the coincidences, then asked Yuan Anqing if they were afraid of ghosts.

Yuan Anqing shook his head, but Zhuo gave no reaction. Creatures like ghosts were not “unknown” to Zhuo, so he couldn’t possibly fear them. He only needed to sense the aura of desire to pinpoint every human employee hiding in a corner, pretending to be a ghost.

Standing at the entrance of the haunted house, Zhuo even detected the most chaotic desire hidden among the many.

There’s a real ghost here.

Zhuo found it amusing, but he knew he would have to pretend to be very scared later, just to prevent Yuan Zhanhui from getting close to his Savior.

However, the confident Zhuo overlooked one crucial thing: besides human NPCs, there were also mechanical, animatronic ghosts. And mechanical ghosts had no aura of desire for him to sense.

As Zhuo and Yuan Anqing confidently advanced down the dark corridor, a “corpse” pressed against the wall beside them suddenly sprang up on a pneumatic spring and turned, screaming face-to-face with them.

Yuan Anqing was startled for a moment but quickly recovered.

Then he felt something swiftly extend from beside him, followed by a loud “Thump!”

The mechanical ghost’s plastic head had been punched clean off by Zhuo.

This time, Yuan Anqing was truly startled. “Zhuo?!”

“What was that thing?!” Zhuo’s voice was filled with genuine alarm.

“That was a prop!” Yuan Zhanhui exclaimed in sheer exasperation from behind them. “Haunted houses definitely have fake props!”

This big guy was a fraud! Yuan Zhanhui thought angrily. He said he’d burrow into Yuan Anqing’s arms, but he just punched the fake ghost’s head off like a cannonball!

“That prop scared me!” Zhuo hated unexpected props. He huddled closer to Yuan Anqing, repeating, “That prop… it scared me.”

“It’s alright, those are all fake,” Yuan Anqing could only comfort him. He noticed the tip of Zhuo’s tail trembling, proving that Zhuo had indeed been genuinely startled.

Most people were afraid of human NPCs jumping out, but Zhuo was only afraid of inanimate, desireless props.

Yuan Anqing felt helpless, but there was nothing he could do. “Let’s go out.”

“I’m not that timid! I just didn’t react quickly enough to hold back,” Zhuo defended himself.

“I know,” Yuan Anqing soothed. “But we need to go out and pay for the damages. You broke their expensive prop.”

“Mr. Yuan, are you leaving?!” Yuan Zhanhui panicked. He had no reason to leave the haunted house with Yuan Anqing and Zhuo, as they were, strictly speaking, only somewhat familiar strangers. So, he could only watch helplessly as his targets departed.

Zhuo knew he had done something wrong. His tail drooped, and he remained silent as Yuan Anqing spoke with the haunted house manager. Finally, Yuan Anqing paid the hefty compensation and led Zhuo to another area of the park.

Zhuo was too large; he couldn’t squeeze into the seats of many rides. After confirming that the carousel horses could support over two hundred pounds, Yuan Anqing accompanied Zhuo for six consecutive rounds.

“I’m sorry I broke the ghost,” Zhuo hung his head, not daring to look at Yuan Anqing.

“You didn’t mean to; you were just startled.” Yuan Anqing sat on the horse behind Zhuo. Zhuo never turned to look at Yuan Anqing, but the tip of his tail coiled securely around Yuan Anqing’s wrist. “Everyone reacts differently when startled. I’m just glad you weren’t scared into developing any other issues.”

Zhuo lowered his head even further in shame.

Yuan Zhanhui arrived just in time to witness this scene.

He was toiling away in a haunted house with a brat, while these two were out here having a pure, romantic date?!

“Do you want to ride the carousel?” Yuan Zhanhui asked the child beside him through gritted teeth.

“No,” the little boy immediately refused. “That kind of thing is too childish.” He hadn’t touched such things since graduating from second grade. Now the little boy was in third grade, and he felt he needed to learn to be more mature.

“You MUST ride it!” Yuan Zhanhui hissed.

“You can’t force me.” The child didn’t accept Yuan Zhanhui’s threat. “Otherwise, I’ll tell my mom.”

The child’s mother and Yuan Zhanhui were not related by blood; they were merely pretending to be relatives for the mission, fabricating an uncle identity to legitimately take the child to the amusement park.

Zhuo and Yuan Anqing on the carousel noticed the two arguing below.

“They’ve found us again.” Zhuo seemed displeased.

“Let’s get off after this round,” Yuan Anqing said, feeling helpless. He still had to exchange contact information with the spy eventually.

“Huh? Did that ghost get out?” Zhuo’s gaze suddenly fixed on the small grove fenced off next to the carousel.

“Ghost?”

“There’s a real ghost in the haunted house,” Zhuo said casually. “That ghost has escaped now.”

“You saw that real ghost before?”

“More or less, but it wasn’t after you. It seems to have latched onto that copycat.”

The carousel slowly came to a stop, and Yuan Anqing and Zhuo dismounted. Yuan Anqing walked up to Yuan Zhanhui with a stern expression.

Yuan Zhanhui thought Yuan Anqing had discovered his identity and instantly became vigilant. However, Yuan Anqing merely patted his shoulder.

“What I’m about to say might sound strange, but you should eat whatever you want to eat these next few days,” Yuan Anqing said solemnly.

Yuan Zhanhui’s expression froze. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’ve been targeted by a ghost,” Yuan Anqing stated directly. “Of course, you can take my words as a joke.”

He’s been targeted by a ghost?!
Huh?! Wait! Holy crap! How did headquarters brainwash that ghost?! Is that ghost following him out now?!

Yuan Anqing looked at him with a deeply compassionate gaze, then turned to leave. “Zhuo, do you want to buy an ice cream?”

“Yes,” Zhuo nodded happily.

“Wait! Wait!” Yuan Zhanhui grabbed Yuan Anqing’s sleeve. “You suddenly tell me I’ve been targeted by a deadly ghost, and then you just want to leave?!”

Yuan Anqing turned back, glanced behind Yuan Zhanhui again, then looked at the spy. “I said, you can take it as me joking.”

“Is it funny?!”

“No, it’s not funny. I don’t have much of a sense of humor,” Yuan Anqing apologized to Yuan Zhanhui, then took a step to leave again. “Goodbye.”

“NO! Big brother! Wait a moment!”