The Beauty with Terrible Luck Falls in Love with a Ghost - Chapter 40

“Well, look who’s all here.” Jiang Pingcheng stood behind An He at the doorway, tilting his head to reveal half his face.

“Stop blocking the way, let me in.” A hand emerged from the darkness behind Jiang Pingcheng, resting on his shoulder.

Zuo Lihua’s hand twitched at her side, her eyes fixed intently on that hand.

The voice of the hand’s owner was identical to Jiang Pingcheng’s, even down to the same habit of emphasizing the beginning syllables.

Jiang Pingcheng rolled his eyes and stepped aside. Sure enough, an identical [Jiang Pingcheng] squeezed through.

He seemed eager to rest, pushing through the crowd impatiently to enter the room. Passing by Zuo Lihua, he glanced at her without any particular emotion before collapsing onto the double sofa, sprawling out in a lazy slump.

Everyone in the room, including the two An He, appeared completely unfazed by this, their expressions unchanged.

“What’s…” Zuo Lihua found her voice somewhat hoarse. She paused, swallowing before finishing her question: “What’s going on?”

“Hmm.” Jiang Pingcheng No. 2 on the sofa stretched his legs onto the table. “It’s a bit complicated, but in short-”

Jiang Pingcheng No. 1 by the doorway had now entered and was taking off his coat, seamlessly picking up the conversation: “This is a haunted house.”

Zuo Lihua already knew it was a haunted house, that wasn’t what she meant to ask.

Yang Luoyu turned around and raised her hand, letting a double-sided pendant dangle down, stopping right in front of Zuo Lihua.

On the pendant was a black-and-white photo of Yang Luoyu, showing only her head and a bit of her collar. The style matched what she was currently wearing, but in the photo, Yang Luoyu looked as mournful as if she were at a funeral, her downturned eyes staring straight ahead, glaring accusingly at anyone looking at the photo.

Zuo Lihua instinctively leaned back.

Yang Luoyu flicked her wrist, making the pendant spin slowly. The other side also featured a photo of Yang Luoyu, but this one was noticeably more “cheerful” compared to the front. Her eyes were tilted upward with a sinister look, and her lips were pulled into a smirk, as if mocking everyone.

“It appeared on its own. We all have one.” After letting Zuo Lihua take a look, Yang Luoyu hung the pendant back around her neck. “I have two, Sister An He has three, Brother Jiang has three. We don’t know about Youyou, we haven’t found hers yet. Sister Lihua, how many do you have?”

Zuo Lihua lowered her head, rummaging through her pockets but found nothing.

“Not a single one.”

“Huh?” Yang Luoyu raised an eyebrow, letting out a puzzled sound.

Ignoring the implied meaning, Zuo Lihua asked, “So, does the number of sides mean the number of ‘duplicates’? Is that what it means?”

“What duplicates!” An He, who had bumped her knee against a chair, yelled angrily, “She’s a fake, a ghost! I’m the only real one!”

An He No. 2 lifted her eyelids and sneered, “Do you have proof? Just because you say you’re real doesn’t make it true!”

An He No. 1 choked up, her eyes red with anger, panting heavily. She pulled out her own pendant. Unlike Yang Luoyu’s, hers was a triangular prism with three sides.

“Ah!” An He No. 1 exclaimed in surprise, “Why is it red?”

Everyone followed her gaze. One side of the triangular pendant was covered in a blood-like red, glaringly vivid, as if they could almost smell the blood.

An He No. 2 froze, quickly pulling out her own pendant and finding it similarly red.

“Let me see.” Yang Luoyu took the Mitsubishi pendant from the nearest An He No. 2, and even Jiang Pingcheng No. 2, who had been lying on the sofa, leaned in to look.

Two identical triangular pendants were placed side by side, and everyone gathered around, murmuring among themselves.

Zuo Lihua seemed to have some understanding of the situation now. She naturally thought of An He in the basement, the charred corpse.

Perhaps that corpse was An He No. 3, but so what? These people were far too calm, almost unnervingly so. Recalling last night, when she was dragged out of her room by a ghost and saw them covered in blood, it was hard to connect that scene with the faces before her now. It felt as if it had all been a terrible nightmare.

“What about the others?” Zuo Lihua asked.

The room fell silent.

Yang Luoyu said, “Originally, An He and I were supposed to find you. We split up while crossing the hallway. The other me and Brother Jiang went to look for Youyou. They haven’t returned yet, and we don’t know if they found her.” He tilted his head in frustration, frowning at the pendant.

“Lihua,” Jiang Pingcheng asked her, “the pendant appears on the neck, and if it moves too far from the body, it resets. The duplicates appeared last night, we woke up to find them lying beside us. Think carefully, are you really sure you don’t have a pendant or a duplicate?”

Zuo Lihua searched again, right in front of everyone. She turned her pockets inside out, even took off her outer coat and shook it vigorously.

Only a crumpled ball of paper fell out with a soft plop.

Zuo Lihua blinked, picked it up, and unfolded it. Four pitch-black cat paw prints stood out vividly on the paper, and there were two small holes at the corner, likely punctured by cat teeth.

“……” Zuo Lihua, utterly bewildered, showed it to everyone.

They stared at the paper in unanimous silence.

“Oh, right, Lihua,” An He No. 1 asked, “where’s your cat?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since I woke up.”

“How could you be so careless? A cat alone in a haunted house, how is she supposed to survive?” An He No. 2 scolded sharply.

Zuo Lihua put her coat back on, crumpled the paper ball again, and tucked it back into her pocket. “It probably won’t be a big deal, right?”

Her nonchalant attitude angered An He No. 2. “What do you mean, ‘won’t be a big deal’? How could you?”

“Cats are different from people. This place is full of human ghosts, not cat ghosts. The ancients even said cats are spiritual. Look on the bright side, maybe she’s catching mice somewhere. We’re all companions here; no need to overreact,” Jiang Pingcheng No. 1 interjected to calm the situation.

“Yeah, Sister An He,” Yang Luoyu added, “Sister Lihua must be worried about losing her cat too. It’s not like she did it on purpose. Who knows what happens when we’re deep asleep? We only realized we had duplicates after we woke up, after all.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the door was violently slammed open with a loud bang.

Han Youyou rushed in, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Help!!! Ghosts, ahhhhh, wuwuwuwu…” She gasped for breath, looked up, and saw Jiang Pingcheng and Yang Luoyu. Her eyes widened in shock, and she let out another piercing scream.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Then her eyes rolled back, and she stiffened like a wooden pole, collapsing backward mid-scream. Yang Luoyu No. 2, who had just entered, caught her swiftly. She had been scared unconscious on the spot.

Zuo Lihua felt a touch of emotion, and for the first time, her gaze toward Han Youyou softened. Putting everything else aside, this was the kind of reaction one should have when encountering something supernatural. At this moment, Han Youyou had unexpectedly become the only normal person!

Han Youyou was completely disheveled, she had fainted with her eyes wide open, her face smeared with snot and tears. Zuo Lihua had no idea where to start and wasn’t particularly keen on touching her. But since she was the only one here with any connection to Han Youyou, it wouldn’t be right to just leave her be.

“Youyou!” Zuo Lihua tugged at Han Youyou’s clothes, shaking her.

It had little effect.

Holding her breath, Zuo Lihua stiffly pinched the philtrum below Han Youyou’s nose.

Han Youyou’s lifeless eyes instantly regained their spark.

“Ahhhhhhhhh, !!!”

Zuo Lihua grabbed Han Youyou by the collar and clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Calm down, stop screaming!”

The thin fabric of her clothes grew damp, and Zuo Lihua’s expression turned even stiffer.

Zuo Lihua had a slight case of mysophobia, and when it flared up, she became unreasonable. Right now, she had the intense urge to chop her hand off. It was already dirty, it couldn’t be saved.

Han Youyou’s tear-filled eyes rolled around before settling on Zuo Lihua. It seemed she was finally coming to her senses, letting out a few muffled grunts.

Zuo Lihua released her hand, and Han Youyou immediately gasped for air.

They were in the male guests’ bedroom. Zuo Lihua’s gaze briefly fell on a suitcase in the corner before quickly shifting away. Racking her memory, she recalled that the person carrying this suitcase was Jiang Pingcheng.

“Brother Jiang,” Zuo Lihua said calmly. “May I use the restroom?”

Three Jiang Pingcheng’s nodded in unison.

Zuo Lihua stood up calmly, walked calmly to the restroom, calmly closed the door, and then frantically scrubbed her hands under the faucet!

She wished she could scrub off a layer of skin. Jiang Pingcheng’s bar of soap had visibly shrunk by the time she was done.

Ten minutes later, Zuo Lihua wiped her water-wrinkled fingers, opened the door, and walked out expressionlessly.

Outside stood Han Youyou, her eyes and nose red and swollen.

She had clearly wiped her face, but bits of low-quality tissue paper still clung to her skin.

Zuo Lihua’s brow twitched slightly as she brushed past her.

“We’re having a meeting. Any new discoveries?” Zuo Lihua looked at the group sitting in a circle in the room, found a spot, and joined them, sitting in a row.

The person sitting next to her, presumably An He No. 2, gave a slight nod, a faintly mocking smile playing on her lips. “Sister Lihua, your sister Youyou doesn’t have a pendant either.”

An He No. 1, sitting far away, slammed the table angrily. “Look at her expression! How could that possibly be me? Why hesitate? Just kick her out already!”

An He No. 2’s mockery deepened. “Don’t use my face to make such an idiotic expression.”

An He No. 1, driven to the brink, closed her eyes and yelled, “Sister Lihua, come over here! Don’t stay near that imposter, she’s here to harm us!”

Zuo Lihua: “…” Why did she feel like both An He’s were acting strange?

Meanwhile, Yang Luoyu leaned in close to Zuo Lihua and whispered, “So far, only Sister An He’s duplicates have slight personality differences. I wonder if it’s because one side of the pendant has turned red.”

Zuo Lihua recalled what Yang Luoyu had been like when she first met him and gave him a few odd looks. She had a feeling that An He wasn’t the only one with differences.

An He No. 2 sneered. “Little Yang, if you have something to say, say it out loud. I’m neither deaf nor blind.”

Both Yang Luoyu’s spoke in unison, apologizing with awkward smiles, “No, no, Sister An He, you’re joking. We were just teasing.”

An He No. 1 scratched her head, descending into another wave of frustration, “Oh my god, oh my god, how can you be so petty and nitpicky!” She couldn’t stand seeing herself act like this! Absolutely not!

Just as things were about to escalate, Jiang Pingcheng No. 1 tapped the table, drawing everyone’s attention. “Quiet down. This isn’t the time for arguments. We’re all in the same boat now, only by sticking together do we have a chance to survive… Han Youyou has finished tidying up. Make some room for her to sit, and let’s discuss the situation together and share what we know.”

“Wh-what situation?” Han Youyou stared at the identical faces around her, her gaze drifting uncertainly, but she obediently took a seat.

“What were you doing before you hid in the cabinet?” Jiang Pingcheng asked her.

“I was video chatting with my brother…” She quickly glanced at Zuo Lihua, “…with Huang Gu, while doing a face mask.”

“Huang Gu? That Boss Huang? Isn’t he Sister Lihua’s fiancé? Why were you video chatting with him?” An He No. 1 exclaimed loudly.

An He No. 2 sneered, “First you steal her parents, and now you’re after her fiancé? You’re quite something.”

Both Yang Luoyu’s looked shocked.

Yang Luoyu No. 1 said, “Sister An He, Sister Lihua and Boss Huang called off their engagement a while ago.”

At this, both An He’s expressions turned identical: “Huh?”

Yang Luoyu No. 2 nodded, “You were filming back then and went straight into this variety show afterward, so it’s normal you didn’t know.”

“Oh… I see.” All eyes turned to Zuo Lihua.

Zuo Lihua: “…” Wait, why are you looking at me? What does this have to do with me? I’d almost forgotten about Huang Gu!

“Yes, that’s right,” Zuo Lihua forced herself to nod emphatically. “Huang Gu and I broke up a long time ago.”

“Oh~” Everyone shifted their gaze back to Han Youyou’s face.

This time, it was Han Youyou’s turn to feel uncomfortable.

“Youyou, we mean no harm. We just want to clarify some things to help us escape. You don’t want to die here and never see your Brother Huang Gu again, right?” Yang Luoyu stated calmly.

Han Youyou nodded hurriedly.

Yang Luoyu No. 1 and Jiang Pingcheng No. 1 exchanged a glance. “So, what happened between the time you were video chatting and when you hid in the cabinet?”