The Otherworldly God I Serve Is Actually a Demon - Chapter 12

Having finally managed to coax Jun Gongyu into a better mood, Ruan Jiao sat in her seat feeling exceptionally cheerful, so much so that even Xiang You noticed.

“Jiaojiao, how come you went out for a bit and came back grinning like you found money?”

“Not telling you.”

“Tch~.” Xiang You stuck out her tongue.

After school, the two packed their bags, picked up Li Fang’s group project from her dorm, and prepared to head to her house.

Xiang You wasn’t one to squeeze onto a bus, so she pulled Ruan Jiao along to take a taxi. Splitting the fare between them made it about the same as taking the bus.

Ruan Jiao leaned against the car window, resting her chin on her hand as she enjoyed the breeze. A silver-white hair ribbon on her wrist peeked out slightly, its silk fabric shimmering beautifully in the sunlight.

But within two seconds, she quickly tucked the ribbon back into her sleeve.

“Jiaojiao, what’s that accessory on your wrist? It’s really pretty.” Xiang You had also caught a glimpse of the ribbon.

“This is… my wife’s personal belonging.”

“?”

Xiang You was speechless. “Didn’t you just say in class that you weren’t dating anyone? Now you’re calling her ‘wife’ already.”

She was just a part of their little game, wasn’t she?

“Hmph, mind your own business, pretty girl.”

Ruan Jiao gently touched the ribbon inside her sleeve, feeling its soft texture under her fingertips. She couldn’t help but think that this was something Jun Gongyu had worn in her hair every day.

Now, it was wrapped around her wrist, right over her pulse, as if a part of Jun Gongyu had been given to her.

When they got out of the taxi, Xiang You insisted on paying the fare. Even when Ruan Jiao tried to transfer her share, Xiang You refused to accept it. Since it was only a few yuan, Ruan Jiao didn’t press the matter, deciding instead to treat Xiang You to milk tea later.

Xiang You had always been generous toward her, not in an overbearing way, but gradually, like warming a frog in water, making her accept her kindness.

During high school, Xiang You would bring all sorts of snacks to share with her every day. Whenever they went shopping together, if Ruan Jiao showed even the slightest interest in something but didn’t buy it, Xiang You would find a way to gift it to her the next day, always with some excuse.

At first, Ruan Jiao would awkwardly return gifts of equal value. Perhaps it was the ingrained sensitivity of someone from a humble background, she didn’t want to owe anyone anything.

Until one day, Xiang You told her:

“I treat you well because I like you and want to. I don’t need anything in return. If you’re willing to consider me a friend, don’t push me away. It would really hurt my feelings. Why should friends keep such a strict tally?”

After that, Ruan Jiao stopped forcing herself to do such silly things.

Sometimes, “owing” someone is precisely what keeps a bond alive.

“Let’s go to that crab pot place in the mall. I’ve been craving it for ages. You have to come with me, and I’m treating, no arguing.” Xiang You habitually whined to Ruan Jiao.

But she always maintained a slight physical distance from her.

“Let’s split the bill. I want to eat it too.” Ruan Jiao knew Xiang You was just trying to look out for her, not wanting her to spend too much.

“If I say I’m treating, I’m treating. You can treat me next time.”

Though she said “next time,” she would still insist on paying when the time came. Ruan Jiao thought to herself, well, Xiang You’s birthday was on the 5th of next month. She had already prepared a gift two months in advance and would treat her to a meal then.

The two walked into the mall. It had only been built recently, so not many stores had opened yet. The place was quiet and nearly empty.

“Jiaojiao, look, there’s a new lolita boutique over there. Let’s go check it out before we eat,” Xiang You said excitedly, pointing at a storefront.

Lolita boutiques are physical stores that sell lolita dresses and similar styles, which Xiang You usually loved to wear. Ruan Jiao preferred pleated skirts and school uniforms, so their tastes didn’t quite align, but she still thought Xiang You looked adorable in those frilly dresses.

Diving headfirst into her beloved clothing store, Xiang You wandered through the racks, starting to pick out styles with the help of the shop assistant.

Bored from waiting, Ruan Jiao simply hugged her phone and crouched by the store entrance, scrolling through a social media app.

The incident from the “Starving Ghost” livestream had spread rapidly, with many marketing accounts frantically reposting censored clips of it. Even though she wasn’t interested, Ruan Jiao had already come across several posts.

Some netizens had dug up that the “Starving Ghost’s” IP address was in Jiangcheng, and the livestream location was near Jiangcheng University.

Ruan Jiao hadn’t expected to stumble upon gossip about her own school. So, this “Starving Ghost” was from the same place as her.

What a coincidence?

Xiang You emerged wearing the new dress she had bought. She had only tried it on once before happily paying for it and putting it on.

“Jiaojiao, do I look good in this?”

“You look great,” Ruan Jiao praised sincerely. “Like a little citrus-colored cake.”

Xiang You’s lolita dress was in orange tones, and when she twirled, the skirt puffed out, indeed resembling a cake.

“Sigh, a girl as cute as me won’t have an easy time finding a boyfriend,” she said narcissistically, looking at herself in the store mirror. “Any guy walking beside me would feel inferior.”

Why not just find a girlfriend? Ruan Jiao thought to herself.

After buying the clothes, the two went to eat at a crab hotpot restaurant. It was Monday, and since it was already past 1 p.m., the restaurant was empty. The lights were off, and only a petite woman in an employee uniform was mopping the floor.

“Hello, we have a voucher from an online group-buy,” Xiang You called out to the employee as they walked in.

Hearing this, the employee, who was mopping, paused her movements, put down the mop, and walked toward them.

Her figure was extremely frail, as if only a skeleton was holding up her clothes. With each step she took, an inexplicable sense of eeriness filled the air.

Ruan Jiao was nearsighted, so she squinted in the employee’s direction.

Suddenly, her expression changed, and she grabbed Xiang You beside her, turning to run.

This sudden move left Xiang You completely bewildered, but she still followed Ruan Jiao’s lead.

Just as they turned and fled without hesitation, the employee paused for a moment before lifting her head, her eyes twisting unnaturally toward the direction they had left.

Behind her frail figure, on the floor, was a large, dark red stain that hadn’t yet been cleaned…

Ruan Jiao ran fast, as if a wild beast were chasing her. She kept pulling Xiang You along until they reached the first floor of the mall, where she finally stopped, panting heavily.

“Jiaojiao, what’s wrong?” Xiang You asked worriedly.

Ruan Jiao didn’t know how to explain it to her. Just moments ago, as the employee approached them, the spot on her wrist where she wore a hairband had stung sharply, as if pricked by needles, Jun Gongyu was warning her of danger.

Moreover, beneath the employee’s lowered head, she had caught a glimpse of a pair of bloodshot, crimson eyes.

Those eyes, she couldn’t be mistaken, she had seen them before.

It was that streamer!

The one called “Starving Ghost.”

Why was it in the mall? Why was it working as an employee at the crab hotpot restaurant? Was it human or a ghost?

Ruan Jiao took a moment to steady her breathing, ready to explain to Xiang You, when she turned her head and saw a thin, small figure descending the staircase connecting the first and second floors.

The figure stared at her from across the steps, its crimson eyes brimming with intense longing.

“So fragrant.”

It licked its pale gums with its tongue, a clear liquid dripping from the corner of its mouth.

That human… smelled so good.

Better than any human it had ever tasted. Just one whiff nearly made it lose control.

“Fragrant one, no, my dear ladies. Why are you running? Come here, let me check your group-buy voucher.” The thin shop assistant raised its phone and began walking toward them step by step.

Ruan Jiao clenched her teeth, every hair on her body standing on end. Beside her, Xiang You also sensed something was wrong.

What kind of restaurant employee would chase customers across multiple floors, shouting for them to come back and eat? And that voice, hoarse, grating, and its eyes bloodshot as if infected, utterly terrifying.

Could it be a mental patient who’d escaped from somewhere?

“Run!”

Ruan Jiao grabbed Xiang You’s hand and took off again.

“Why run? I’m not a bad person…”

A sinister black aura spread out from the figure, rising toward the top of the mall until it enveloped the entire building.

From the outside, the mall appeared gloomy and cold, as if isolated from the world around it. People could enter, but they could no longer leave.

The female shop assistant tilted its head, and in the next moment, its steps twisted through empty space, teleporting two meters ahead. It flickered in and out of existence as it pursued the two fleeing girls.

Ruan Jiao dragged Xiang You through the mall in a desperate sprint, storefronts blurring past them in their peripheral vision. The exit was right ahead, yet no matter how hard they ran, they couldn’t reach it, they were just running in circles.

Clearly, they were trapped.

Xiang You finally understood the gravity of the situation, trembling all over. As an avid reader of supernatural horror novels, she could guess with her toes what they were dealing with.

“Jiaojiao, are we… seeing ghosts in broad daylight?” Xiang You clutched Ruan Jiao’s hand in terror.

Given the extreme circumstances, she didn’t dare let go or keep her distance.

“As you can see, we’re seeing ghosts.”

And not just any ghost, a fierce one bold enough to devour its fans live in front of 100,000 viewers. So audacious it made one question whether it was even a ghost at all.

Drawing from her previous encounter with the peeping ghost, Ruan Jiao quickly calmed down. She led Xiang You in circles around the mall, searching for a place to hide.

When facing a ghost, the first rule was to stay calm. The second was to find its weakness. Fear and panic would only get you killed faster.

The mall wasn’t empty. Though it was a weekday with fewer people, dozens had gathered inside. They, too, had discovered they couldn’t leave through the main entrance and were now clustered near the doors, murmuring in confusion.

“What’s going on? Why can’t we get out?”

“Where’s the mall manager? Is this some kind of prank? Stop playing around, I need to leave!”

“Hey, look! What’s that?”

A woman pointed at a figure in the distance.

A thin, small figure flickered as it moved down the corridor, approaching them. Its eerie ability to vanish and reappear sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

“Are they filming a movie?” the woman asked, puzzled.

In the next instant, the thin figure teleported right in front of her.

A look of confusion froze on the woman’s face as a hand pierced through her chest, staining her pristine white shirt with blood.

“Ah!!!!”

The crowd erupted in sharp screams, scattering like a disturbed anthill as they fled in all directions.

The starving ghost, its eyes glowing crimson, glanced at them before withdrawing its hand from the woman’s chest. A lump of still-beating flesh was clutched in its grasp.

The woman fell to the ground, her eyes wide open in death. Strangely, the ghost did not immediately pursue the others. Instead, it crouched beside her corpse and began to bury its head in its gruesome task.

Ruan Jiao tightly covered Xiang You’s mouth as the two of them huddled together, peering down through the glass railing to witness the entire scene.

[Look around to see if there are others nearby. Push someone else toward the ghost, and you will survive.]

The words from the first person’s post inappropriately surfaced in her mind. The credibility of that post was still rising.

Truly remarkable, that first person. Even the seemingly joking words written in the post turned out to be true.