The Otherworldly God I Serve Is Actually a Demon - Chapter 17

Ruan Jiao wasn’t in a hurry to return to school. Due to the need to cooperate with follow-up work, the Special Cases Department had helped her request leave. Her counselor had been notified and said it was fine for her to rest a few more days.

Now she was heading to the hospital to find Zhong Wanlan and Xiang You. The information she couldn’t get from Shangguan Yun might be obtainable from Zhong Wanlan. Compared to the stern-faced Shangguan Yun, Zhong Wanlan seemed much more approachable.

…

Jiangcheng People’s Hospital.

“Sorry, I don’t know how to create ghosts either. In our family, as long as someone dies, there’s a possibility they’ll attach themselves to the peach wood sword, but I don’t understand the principle behind it.” Zhong Wanlan lay on the hospital bed, her hands wrapped in bandages, answering Ruan Jiao apologetically.

“As for why this sword can harm ghosts, it’s because it houses the true forms of fifteen ghosts, so it can inflict damage on them. My mother, my great-grandmother, and all my blood relatives are inside. Objects possessed by ghosts essentially become ‘ghosts’ themselves and gain various strange abilities. This sword’s ability is to harm ghosts.”

Hearing this, Ruan Jiao instinctively thought of the hair ribbon on her wrist. It was the one Jun Gongyu had given her. When a ghost approached her with killing intent, it would send a stinging sensation.

But she quickly chided herself for even associating the deity with ghosts. Those ghosts were disgusting, ugly, and terrifying, how could they be compared to her?

“There are that many ghosts inside? Then they probably can’t reincarnate, right?” Xiang You, who was peeling an apple nearby, asked curiously.

She was already a hardcore supernatural enthusiast. After accepting the setting that ghosts existed in the world, all she felt now was curiosity and excitement. Not only was she unafraid, but she was also filled with curiosity about everything related to ghosts.

Zhong Wanlan shook her head: “There’s no such thing as reincarnation for humans. When you die, you’re dead, or you become a ghost, unable to rest in peace due to lingering attachments.”

“Will you be inside after you die?” Ruan Jiao looked at the wooden sword placed on the bedside table.

The sword body was wood-colored but slightly darkened. If you stared at it long enough, you could even feel a dense ghostly aura swirling around it.

“That’s possible. If so, I’d die a worthy death. Besides, this sword can only be used by the Zhong family. In the hands of outsiders, it’s just an ordinary wooden sword, and the ghosts inside can’t be summoned.” Zhong Wanlan, unable to move her hands, took a bite of the apple Xiang You fed her, her cheeks puffed out.

Ruan Jiao sighed. It seemed she couldn’t get more useful information from Zhong Wanlan either. This girl was just a second-generation exorcist who knew nothing when questioned. Her clever plan had failed.

But then again, even Zhong Wanlan, a member of the Zhong family, didn’t know how to create ghosts, yet Shangguan Yun, representing the Special Cases Department, seemed to know the details?

Too much chaotic information swirled in her mind. Ruan Jiao shook her head, forcing herself not to think about it anymore. After all, she was just an ordinary person. All she needed to do was survive; the secrets of this world had nothing to do with her.

Ignorance might actually be a good thing because then you wouldn’t have to carry so much on your shoulders.

“Speaking of which, the first time I encountered a ghost, I found its weakness by reading a post written by ‘First Person,'” Ruan Jiao began chatting with the two.

“Jiaojiao, you’ve encountered a ghost before? When was that?” Xiang You wore an expression of having missed out on a fortune.

“Last Saturday.”

Ruan Jiao briefly recounted the encounter with the peeping ghost and how she survived, omitting the part about meeting Jun Gongyu.

“If it weren’t for that story about the peeping ghost, I would never have connected it to the methods you wrote about dealing with ghosts in your post. I might have been killed by the ghost.”

Unexpectedly, after hearing her story, Zhong Wanlan looked utterly astonished.

“I did write some general knowledge about ghosts in my post, but I never included records of supernatural incidents, those are confidential. Whether it’s the story about the delivery ghost or the peeping ghost you mentioned, I never wrote about them, nor have I encountered them.”

Moreover, just by writing such basic supernatural knowledge, her post had been taken down by Shangguan Yun on the grounds of disturbing public safety.

These two short sentences sent chills down the spines of the two sitting beside her. Xiang You, in particular, nearly dropped the fruit knife in her hand.

Upon careful reflection, the dozens of screenshots she had taken from the forum indeed contained no supernatural stories. The source of those stories was Li Fang, who had suddenly turned to chat with her and brought them up.

While talking to Li Fang, she had unconsciously mentioned those stories. She couldn’t recall the specific details of the story at all, it was Li Fang who ended up telling it.

Now, if not for Zhong Wanlan’s reminder, she would still be trapped in that mistaken belief, unaware of anything strange.

“How could this be, Jiaojiao? I didn’t notice anything wrong at all,” Xiang You said with a crestfallen expression. “Could I have been possessed by a ghost?”

“That’s impossible. Don’t scare yourself,” Ruan Jiao comforted her.

The peeping ghost had already been dealt with by Jun Gongyu, so it couldn’t have possessed Xiang You. That’s why she was so certain in her reassurance.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Zhong Wanlan sat up straight. “Ghosts are beings that feed on human fear and flesh. They will do everything they can to make people feel terrified. So, to some extent, they create fright. From what you’ve described, it seems the peeping ghost was trying to use your conversation with that classmate Li Fang to instill more fear in Ruan Jiao.”

“So, it only affected part of my memory?” Xiang You was still uneasy, unsure whether her memories were entirely real.

“It affected your perception, making you believe you had actually seen that story, and combined it with the terrifying atmosphere it created for Ruan Jiao to frighten her,” Zhong Wanlan continued to analyze. “If I’m not mistaken, you were only influenced in your perception, but your classmate, Li Fang, might not be entirely normal.”

Ruan Jiao and Xiang You suddenly remembered that Li Fang had indeed been acting strangely lately. According to her roommate, her behavior had been odd, and she often stayed out overnight. Yesterday, she didn’t come to school at all and even asked them to help submit her group assignment.

It was on their way to deliver the assignment today that they went shopping and encountered the starving ghost.

After hearing their account, Zhong Wanlan pondered for a moment and asked them to contact their academic advisor to confirm whether Li Fang truly existed in their class.

“Ghosts have many ways of frightening people. They most enjoy striking at your perception when you least expect it, making you feel a chill run down your spine.”

After speaking, she comforted the two, “Don’t be afraid. Since I’m here, no matter how strange things get, nothing can harm you. Let’s make a call and ask.”

Xiang You was still quite frightened, so it was Ruan Jiao who took out her phone and called their academic advisor.

The advisor had been briefed by higher-ups and was very enthusiastic toward her, answering even the most trivial questions with great seriousness.

After hanging up, Ruan Jiao breathed a sigh of relief.

“The advisor said Li Fang does exist and indeed didn’t attend yesterday. She took attendance and marked her as absent. Since few freshmen skip class, she remembered it.”

Xiang You also pulled up her chat history with Li Fang, confirming that she was indeed a real person. All three of them checked Li Fang’s social media feed but found nothing unusual.

“If I’m just being overly worried, that’s naturally for the best. But every supernatural incident needs to be taken seriously. Ghosts can grow on their own, the more people they harm, the faster they develop. Higher-level ghosts behave more like normal people and possess all sorts of bizarre abilities,” Zhong Wanlan explained earnestly to the two.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t ghosts become particularly unstoppable? It’s not the fear of ghosts eating people that’s terrifying, it’s the fear of ghosts thinking.

The most important reason humans stand at the top of the food chain is our ability to think. If a being stronger and smarter than humans were to appear, one that also preys on humans, humanity wouldn’t be far from extinction.

Ruan Jiao touched the cool hairband on her wrist, feeling slightly more at ease.

Thankfully, she had Jun Gongyu.

“Oh no, Li Fang is asking why we haven’t arrived yet. She said her mom made snacks to treat us and is still waiting,” Xiang You suddenly exclaimed, holding her phone.

“I told her we’d arrive around 2 p.m., but it’s already 6 p.m.”

Ruan Jiao didn’t really feel like moving. She had already asked most of what she wanted to know and didn’t need to question Li Fang further. But since they had promised to go, they couldn’t break their word.

Xiang You apologized for not being able to stay at the hospital to continue taking care of Zhong Wanlan, but the latter didn’t mind. The three chatted for a while longer and exchanged contact information on Green Bubble.

Having a connection with a Taoist master in the supernatural world certainly couldn’t hurt.

Zhong Wanlan’s Green Bubble ID was “Dream of Nine Thousand Girls.” Ruan Jiao casually opened her social media feed, and her first impression was: So noisy.

She had never seen such a densely packed stream of updates.

[The urge to share is acting up. Type ‘1’ for my payment code.]

[The requirements for being a Taoist master these days are getting higher and higher. Exorcising ghosts actually requires showing up in person.]

[Locking my heart away from love, but not completely. Girls who can breathe are welcome to knock.]

[Who’s dating a beauty like me? Can you date me too?]

[…]

After casually muting her feed, Ruan Jiao slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Ruan Jiao and Xiang You left the VIP ward, walked through the corridor, and reached the elevator area. Crowds of people were gathered outside various departments, with many patients coming for treatment. As the only top-tier hospital in Jiangcheng, it often admitted critically ill emergency patients.

Coupled with the seasonal flu outbreak, coughing could be heard intermittently throughout the entire floor.

Ruan Jiao took two disposable masks from her bag, handed one to Xiang You, and put one on herself. She had sinusitis, so she had developed the habit of keeping masks in her bag when going out.

Hospitals were full of sources of infection, so wearing a mask was just a precaution.

The elevator doors opened, already crowded with people. The air that rushed out smelled disgusting.

Ruan Jiao squeezed in with difficulty, standing amidst the crowd, when she heard coughing sounds coming from behind her again.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

It was a woman’s hoarse coughing, so intense it sounded as if she were about to cough her lungs out.

Ruan Jiao adjusted the mask on her face, pinching the nose area tightly, holding her breath for fear of smelling the phlegm-like odor emanating from others’ mouths.

Due to her sinusitis, she was particularly sensitive to such smells, always involuntarily noticing them clearly. Sometimes, she even wished she could carry an oxygen tank with her to breathe fresh air.

It was pure agony.

After holding her breath for a minute, the elevator finally reached the first floor. Ruan Jiao, as if granted a pardon, hurriedly pulled Xiang You and rushed out.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Even as she walked away, she could still hear the coughing from behind. It seemed the woman must be seriously ill.

From the direction of the emergency department, a group of doctors in white coats came pushing an emergency stretcher. On the bed lay a person vomiting black blood incessantly, coughing while vomiting, their throat sounding like a torn leather drum, wheezing and rasping.

As the group of doctors passed by them, Ruan Jiao overheard one of them speaking to a colleague.

“The patient’s condition is deteriorating. Antibiotics aren’t working. Immediate surgery is needed.”

“It was just the flu, but suddenly they started vomiting blood, and we can’t find the cause. If they keep vomiting like this, they’ll soon…”

She didn’t catch the rest because they had already moved away.

“Jiaojiao, what are you looking at? The taxi I called is here. Let’s go.” Xiang You snapped Ruan Jiao out of her daze.

Only then did Ruan Jiao withdraw her gaze. She had been staring in that direction because the coughing of the person on the stretcher sounded somewhat familiar.

It sounded a lot like the coughing of the woman she had heard in the elevator.

But then again, everyone’s coughs sound similar. Why was she paying so much attention to it? She must have become overly sensitive after all the recent unsettling experiences.