After Redeeming the Obsessive Villain Again (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 28

The night was dark and heavy. Even in the sweltering heights of midsummer, the air in the small hours of the morning remained bone-chilling, drawing out the deepest human fears of the dark and the restless dead.

It was so dark that one could hardly see their own hand. The only light came from a few flickering candles before a grave, offering a meager, sickly yellow glow that illuminated a black coffin and a nameless headstone.

A bright red character for “Double Happiness” was pasted onto the candelabra, while paper money lay scattered across the ground. A sinister, ghostly energy brewed in the terrifying atmosphere.

A voice, trembling and high-pitched, sang out, “The auspicious hour has arrived! Welcome the Ghost Immortal, conclude the ghost marriage, and protect the hall.”

The speaker’s voice shook with suppressed dread, yet he forced his hunched body to remain upright, shouting auspicious blessings at the top of his lungs.

Adorned in bridal makeup and a red veil, Yan Yi felt the crimson gauze sway before his eyes, obscuring his vision. His fingers, hanging at his sides, curled slightly.

His heart felt empty.

The shrill voice pierced his ears. Through the red curtain of the veil, Yan Yi looked toward the coffin in the distance.

As his memories slowly returned, the void in his chest only grew deeper, creating a chasm that seemed impossible to fill.

System Notification:

Host has successfully departed the previous small world. Please proceed to save the villain of this world: Lu Yinshen.

Confirming the optimal persona for salvation. Success: The Timid but Kindhearted Gentle Younger Brother.

Wishing the Host a successful mission.

With his memories fully restored, Yan Yi suppressed the urge to tear off the red veil. The gaze hidden beneath the fabric was dark and profound.

His mission target, Lu Yinshen, was a powerful specter in red. He was also his brother-in-law.

In the background generated by the system for this world, Yan Yi was a frail youth who lived with his sister, Yan Jue, his disabled father, Yan Da, and his hearing-impaired mother, Zhang Xiu. The family of four, consisting of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, served as the village gossip and a means for others to feel superior.

This village was isolated and stagnant. While the cities outside changed with each passing day, this place clung to feudal traditions. The law held no power here; it was less influential than a single word from the village chief.

Most villagers did not believe in the law. Families with a strong village chief or many men were the envy of others.

Scientific reason was treated like dust. The villagers placed their faith in a religion cobbled together from various doctrines called the Immortal Sect. This sect advocated that men were “Heaven,” high-ranking immortals with supreme dominance over all things, while women were the opposite.

Yan Yi’s family was an anomaly in the village. They had produced a daughter and, rather than discarding her, Yan Da had dragged his lame leg to sell firewood. He used that money to beg the village “scholar,” someone who had reached the second grade, to give the “money-losing girl” a name: Yan Jue.

Yan Da did not even have an official name of his own, yet he gave one to a girl who would eventually be married off. To the villagers, this was laughably foolish. They mocked him, convinced that Yan Da was an idiot.

Yan Jue was bright from a young age and earned a spot in the county high school. Her grades were excellent, allowing for tuition waivers. Her father, dragging his broken leg, went door-to-door begging for loans to cover the remaining fees.

The school knew of their situation and provided a grant. By all rights, Yan Jue’s destiny should have been to test out of this prison of a village.

But tragedy struck. Yan Da fell while gathering firewood on the mountain and broke his other good leg. He lost all ability to earn money. At that time, Yan Yi was still small. He could provide water, but he could not even help his father turn over in bed.

Upon hearing the news, his sister rushed home to care for them. Before a week had passed, Yan Da, feeling he was a burden, sent her to the county seat under the pretext of wanting high-quality rice. When she returned, she found that her father had committed suicide.

Only their hearing-impaired mother remained. Zhang Xiu could not handle the blow; her health declined until she suffered a stroke, leaving half of her body paralyzed. His sister stayed in the village, caring for their mother and raising her oblivious younger brother.

Then, the unexpected occurred. While someone was attempting to harass a young girl in the mountains, they suddenly saw a figure in red. It had no shadow but was hauntingly beautiful, like a seductive ghost from legends.

The man was scared out of his wits. He abandoned the half-clothed girl in the mountains, who was fortunately found in time. Later, he told everyone what happened, but no one believed him. Everyone knew that Zhang Dawa loved to brag and lie, and that he frequently bullied orphaned girls.

However, on the first day after Zhang Dawa returned to harassing girls, he died. His eyes were wide open, his tongue dragged to his throat, and his death was gruesome. Every drop of blood had been drained from his body, yet there were no other wounds. It was not the work of a human.

Following that, six more people died in the same manner. No one had seen the ghost, but the events were too bizarre. Many began to believe that the village was truly haunted. Scared out of their minds, many villagers prayed to any god who would listen, crying that they had done nothing wrong and begging the ghost to leave them alone.

One person heard of a method: sacrificing a boy and a girl born at an inauspicious hour to the ghost to ensure peace. That man cruelly murdered his own older brother’s twin children, but he died the very next day.

Those in the village with guilty consciences were now utterly terrified. They pooled their money and hired a “Great Immortal” from the city. The Great Immortal calculated the omens and declared that the village was filled with ghostly energy. This specter’s power was too deep for him to defeat, but there was a way to soothe its resentment.

They had to arrange a ghost marriage for a woman born in an inauspicious year, month, and hour. After much thought, the villagers realized only the Yan family girl fit the criteria. Moreover, she had no family to protect her; her father was dead, her mother was paralyzed, and her brother was a useless coward. They seized her, preparing to marry her to the ghost.

Yet, before she could even put on the bridal gown, the clothes began to float in mid-air. The Great Immortal claimed the ghost had rejected her and demanded someone else. The village had no other women who fit the criteria. The only person who partially fit was Yan Jue’s brother, Yan Yi.

Left with no choice, the villagers decided to treat a dead horse as if it were alive. They made Yan Yi marry the ghost in his sister’s place. To their surprise, the bridal gown and veil were donned without a hitch. The villagers were so overjoyed they nearly wept, feeling they were saved. They chose a date and hurriedly dragged Yan Yi to the graveside to marry the ghost in his sister’s stead.

The bridal gown felt somewhat loose on Yan Yi. His persona in this world was that of a poor village youth. He was malnourished and stood barely over 1.7 meters tall, so the gown did not fit perfectly.

“First bow to Heaven and Earth!” Fearing they might offend the Ghost Immortal, the villagers had specifically hired a man from the county who had presided over dozens of rural wedding banquets.

The man had come for the money, but he had no idea he would be presiding over a ghost marriage. He had never conducted a wedding for the underworld and wanted to flee, but the village men glared at him menacingly. He did not dare leave. With legs shaking like a sieve and a pitiful expression on his face, he recited the mismatched wedding blessings.

Yan Yi did not move. He bowed neither to Heaven nor to Earth. He only felt a chill in his limbs, as if his flowing blood were freezing inch by inch.

“Second bow to the parents!”

The villagers did not even know who the Ghost Immortal had been when he was alive, so they certainly did not know where to find his parents. However, they knew where Yan Yi’s parents were. Yan Da’s coffin had been unearthed and placed directly in front. Since Zhang Xiu was paralyzed, Yan Jue had fought to protect her, only allowing the villagers to take her clothes, which now lay atop the coffin.

This coffin was the grandest thing Yan Da had ever owned. Most of the funeral funds had been embezzled, but the remainder, combined with what Yan Jue had scrimped together, had paid for the coffin and burial clothes. Now, this coffin and the patched clothing served as the parents.

A person whose organs have been carved out cannot move. Yan Yi’s heart had not been carved out, but to him, there was no difference between the two. The memories cleared from this small world could return, but what about the ones from before?

The red gauze veil swayed.

“Husband and wife, bow to each other!” The sharp voice jolted Yan Yi’s reason. He snapped back to attention, hiding his weary expression.

The wind caught the veil. Ghostly energy enveloped Yan Yi as pale fingers lifted the fabric. Beautiful, haunted eyes met his own. Yan Yi locked eyes with a pair of turbulent, ghostly pupils. A pale, bloodless hand pressed against his face. It was ice-cold, the temperature piercingly chilly against his skin.

Yet, his heart began to beat wildly and feverishly. His blood vessels regained their function, and hot blood began to flow. The ghostly aura swirled around them. The man’s eyes were tinged with red at the corners. He loosely wound his arms around Yan Yi’s neck and licked his earlobe. A hint of madness hid in his eyes as he whispered, “Mine.”

As a human, Yan Yi should not have been able to see a ghost, yet the figure was reflected clearly in his eyes. A spark of light slowly bloomed in his dark pupils. He stood on his tiptoes and slowly kissed the specter’s lips.

The warmth of human lips met the temperatureless lips of the ghost. Paper money floated around them like background dancers. The people around them could not see the ghost, but they could feel the sudden drop in temperature. They saw the red veil floating strangely and noticed the possessed posture of the Yan boy. Terrified, they fell to their knees and began kowtowing frantically in Yan Yi’s direction. They muttered prayers, begging the Ghost Immortal to stay his hand and spare their lives.

“Send them to the bridal chamber!” It was a voice that broke and trembled despite the speaker’s efforts to control it.

To avoid upsetting the Ghost Immortal, the ghost marriage was conducted with great pomp. The villagers had spent everything they had, temporarily vacating a three-story red-tiled villa, the most prestigious house in the village, and replacing the furniture with new items.

Characters for “Double Happiness” were posted everywhere. The bed was covered in red dates, peanuts, and longans, symbolizing the wish for a child. No one knew if a Ghost Immortal and a boy from the Yan family could actually produce a child. This had originally been prepared for Yan Yi’s sister. Perhaps the Ghost Immortal had special powers to allow someone to conceive a “little ghost immortal,” which might put him in a good mood and convince him to spare them.

Who would have thought that Yan Yi would be the one to marry him? Marrying a ghost in his sister’s place meant the brother-in-law had become his partner. This union went against the laws of yin and yang, and they wondered if the Ghost Immortal would be angry. However, the Great Immortal had said only the sister fit the criteria, yet the bridal gown had refused her.

Since Yan Yi fit at least one condition and had successfully put on the red gown and veil, they assumed the Ghost Immortal was satisfied. The villagers huddled in their homes in fear, hoping for mercy.

Red shadows shifted as long hair danced at his waist, tangling with Yan Yi’s hair and neck. His body was covered by the cold black hair, bringing a mixture of itchiness and chill. Bit by bit, Yan Yi’s sense of reality was awakened. A flicker of restlessness and satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

The red-clad specter leaned over Yan Yi. Pale fingers rubbed his lips, coaxing out a crimson hue even more vibrant than the red robes he wore. The two red garments pressed and tangled together as their pale hands intertwined.

The knuckles of Yan Yi’s other hand tightened as he reached forward, trying to catch a corner of the red robe. His expression was dazed, perfectly mimicking the timid younger brother persona. He whispered to the air, “Is it, Brother-in-law?”

His tensed knuckles were gripped firmly and forced to curl, as if the ghost were displeased with his attempt to grab him. His hands were tied behind his back with red silk. Peanuts and red dates fell to the floor.

A gust of air, devoid of any warmth, brushed past the back of Yan Yi’s ear. The ghost wickedly bound him to the bed, ensuring he could no longer escape.