After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Tell Me Your Wish, and I Can Make It All Come True

She saw a pair of legs resting on her shoulders a massive swirl of red so striking it felt like a physical weight.

Looking up, she met a dusty, ashen face. Twisted, rotting eyes stared directly at her through a veil of golden tassels. When those bright red lips parted, Jiang Huaiyi could actually smell the stench of gore.

This time, she couldn’t hold it back. She retched and vomited.

Because they were standing so close, the City God’s official robes were splattered with certain unidentifiable, sticky spots of liquid.

The City God, who had been waiting to see a look of pure terror on her face: “…”

The female ghost sitting on her shoulders also wore a distorted expression of disgust.

Jiang Huaiyi couldn’t stop; she vomited until her stomach held nothing but bitter bile before she finally looked up. The tense atmosphere from moments ago had vanished, replaced by a thick, suffocating layer of awkwardness.

Initially, she vomited because she was genuinely sickened, but toward the end, having no “cargo” left in her stomach, she resorted to fake dry-heaving. While doing so, she desperately calculated the rules of escape until the two spirits could no longer stand her theatrical gagging.

“Enough, stop faking it,” the City God said impatiently. “Get up.”

Jiang Huaiyi rose slowly, taking out a bottle of water to rinse her mouth. She glanced sideways at the City God and the female ghost now standing beside him.

In the Underworld, a ghost’s appearance can be changed at will. The fact that they chose these forms was clearly a deliberate attempt to scare her. She felt much better after the vomit; notably, they hadn’t lifted a finger against her while she was incapacitated. If they didn’t strike when she was at her most vulnerable, they likely weren’t out for blood.

Thinking of the mutilated ghosts she’d seen being tortured earlier, her group’s treatment so far could actually be described as “quite good.”

Jiang Huaiyi stood up properly, taking two wary steps back. Her hand remained hidden in her sleeve, still clutching the record book she had snatched.

The three of them stood in a silent standoff.

“What do you want?” Jiang Huaiyi asked. Her throat was raspy from the vomiting, and her face remained deathly pale.

The City God gave her a strange look. “You’re the one who broke into my yamen. Your accomplices are nowhere to be found. I suggest you surrender quietly and cooperate.”

Jiang Huaiyi fell silent, her gaze toward the City God becoming… complicated. Reasonably, if the others were truly gone, taking down a lone, weak girl like her should have been effortless.

So why were they being so polite?

An answer began to form in her mind. She tested it: “I’d rather die than cooperate. What are you going to do about it?”

When a timid person is pushed to the limit, they simply stop caring.

Ever since the “terrifying” female ghost stepped down from her shoulders, she had become significantly less scary. Hearing Jiang Huaiyi’s words, both spirits looked at her with utter speechlessness. But the City God made no move.

Jiang Huaiyi breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her theory was correct.

She reversed her grip on the peach-wood sword from her bag. When she gripped it with both hands, the two spirits actually took a tiny step back. It wasn’t obvious, but it was there. Jiang Huaiyi took a bold step forward; startled, they retreated further.

For a moment, the air was purely awkward. Jiang Huaiyi finally felt at ease. Beyond the relief, she felt a surge of “revenge” satisfaction. Usually, ghosts scared her; this was the first time ghosts were afraid of her.

She paced forward with her sword, eventually backing the two into a corner. When she made a lunging motion, the City God waved his hands in a panic. “Daoist! Please! Let’s talk this out!”

“So, you’re saying this is a world inside a painting?”

Jiang Huaiyi sat down with the two spirits at a table placed between the bookshelves. She had searched the area and confirmed that Shen Wensi and the others were indeed not there.

The City God had invited her to sit, and through their conversation, Jiang Huaiyi began to piece together the reality of this place. It wasn’t much different from their earlier guesses: this was a “Mini-Underworld” composed of various painting worlds. The demonic painting survived by consuming the souls of those who made “requests” of it.

Anyone who entered and died would end up in this archive. These were the “sacrifices” the locals had mentioned the night before. The people who entered weren’t exactly “innocents”; they came seeking wealth or immortality. This type of demonic painting had been popular for five hundred years, continuing to this day.

The sacrifices were living people, but they were also people destined to die. One could enter this map once, but one could never leave a second time alive. Of course, because so many people entered, the place had taken on the administrative duties of a real Underworld. The ghost runners she saw outside weren’t exactly “fake”—they were more like “outsourced personnel” for the afterlife.

She looked at the City God and asked, “Then why did we end up here? We didn’t ask the painting for anything.”

According to his logic, one only entered if their heart was filled with sufficient greed, desire, or malice.

The City God took a sip of tea and asked with a smile, “Is there truly nothing you want?”

Jiang Huaiyi shook her head. Though she was technically dying, she accepted that her inability to live was the will of Heaven. She had never considered using dark arts to extend her life.

She asked, “I don’t know if what you’re saying is true. There’s a logical loophole: if you can enter twice, why not just… not enter the second time? If you finish your wish in one go, you don’t have to die, right?”

The City God gave a cunning smile. He set down his teacup and said deliberately, “Human desire is bottomless. If they knew when to stop, they wouldn’t have entered in the first place.”

“The rich want power; those with comfort want longevity. Greed makes people try once, and then sink deep a second time.”

Though refuted, Jiang Huaiyi had to admit he was right. She thought of her time just out of school, being exploited by bosses who were already wealthy yet still squeezed their employees for more. For the sake of greed, they crushed the living space of those at the bottom—yet they might also pay a struggling employee’s salary in advance. Human nature was a complex, messy thing.

She nodded in agreement. “You’re right.”

Seeing her serious, sincere expression as if “I believe you” was written across her forehead a flicker of joy appeared on the City God’s face. He asked in a casual, natural tone: “So, what is it that you want? We can help realize anything here.”

The female ghost’s numb face twitched. She leaned forward as if to say something to Jiang Huaiyi, but the City God glared at her, forcing her to shrink back.

Jiang Huaiyi noticed the odd behavior but didn’t address it. She rested her chin on her interlaced fingers and said calmly, “I see. I actually do have a wish. If I say it, can you really make it happen?”

The City God’s smile widened further. He spoke almost eagerly, as if he had already bagged her soul.

“Go ahead. Money, life, power, luck—I can realize it all. You only have to pay a very small, insignificant price.”

His voice was dripping with temptation. Jiang Huaiyi smiled slightly.

“Fine. Since you said so, I’ll be bold with my request. I want the ‘Treasure Island’ to return, I want the people on both sides of the strait to be one family, I want the elderly to have support and the young to be nurtured, I want everyone in the world to be happy with no one suffering from hunger or evil, and I want every injustice in this world to meet with justice.”

She paused, looking him dead in the eye.

“Can you do it?”

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