In the midst of Lin Yun's shocked gaze, Tang Ning smiled subtly with his lips pursed.
He knew why he could so naturally bring up Qi Yun. Upon closer consideration, monsters are terrifying, but when the monster turns into Qi Yun, it seems not so scary after all.
That shadow, which would wave at him every time he ascended a floor, as if it had been waiting for him for a very, very long time, only to become incredibly jubilant the moment it finally saw him.
As the car entered the tunnel, in the fleeting moment of light and shadow interplay, the window seemed to reveal the side profile of a man stretching his neck gracefully. Tang Ning turned his head, only for the window to return to its utter darkness, as if Tang Ning had seen it wrong.
"Is it you coming?" Tang Ning's voice was very soft, not raising in pitch, yet it carried a kind of gentle closeness that was unmistakable.
The temperature inside the entire car dropped rapidly, the driver's hands trembling slightly as he steered, "Isn't the air conditioning off? How come it's so cold in the middle of summer?"
Tang Ning glanced at the driver, still a mortal, and then made a silencing gesture towards the pitch-black window, though he was also not sure if the reflection would listen to him.
As the car exited the tunnel and sunlight flooded the cabin, Tang Ning saw Lin Yun breaking out in a cold sweat, far from his initial calm and composed appearance.
When the car reached the entrance of the residential area, Lin Yun left without saying goodbye, just like the driver, both drenched in sweat.
Tang Ning awkwardly looked at his own shadow, not noticing anything unusual.
Actually, by all accounts, this entity should be Qi Yun, or rather, Qi Yun's shadow, right?
Wondering if it could communicate like a normal person.
Tang Ning crouched down, his fingertips touching the shadow, and earnestly said, "I'm going to take you home, and you have to be good because I have a little cat at home. It's very timid, so you mustn't scare it, understand?"
Under Tang Ning's gaze, the shadow nodded.
Wow. They actually followed.
"Is it true that if someone makes me comfortable, and I see them, you will take care of that person?"
The shadow continued nodding.
"That's too much, though. Even though I indeed felt comfortable, their crimes don't warrant this." Tang Ning pointed at the shadow.
The shadow neither nodded nor shook its head, its demeanor somewhat pitiful.
"Like, if I saw you and suddenly felt comfortable, and I wished you'd disappear, would you feel the same?"
The shadow shook its head swiftly, leaving a trail of afterimages.
Communication was still possible.
Thinking about it, the shadow always took its duties seriously according to the rules, even among monsters it was a peculiar one!
"Then, do you intend to do this again next time?" Tang Ning asked gently.
The shadow nodded.
Tang Ning: "?"
"You mean you know it's wrong, but you'd dare to do it again?" Tang Ning's eyes widened.
The shadow continued nodding.
Tang Ning slowly brought a hand to his forehead, suddenly at a loss for words.
Right, the shadow indeed acted according to the rules, even if those rules were flawed, it would stubbornly enforce them.
But with this in mind, how was he supposed to interact with others in the future? Suppose during a movie shoot, he gets scolded by the director, feels comfortable, and then the next second, the director just... kicks the bucket?
It probably wouldn't be so abrupt, Tang Ning remembered feeling somewhat comfortable when he first heard the old Taoist priest asking for five million, and as the other party kept begging, his sense of comfort increased. It increased to the point where malice emerged, and he had a premonition-like intuition to look down.
So, as long as he harbors even a slight dark thought, the shadow lurking in the dark would transform into the most terrifying monster?
Tang Ning looked at the shadow with an exceptionally complicated gaze, staring at it for a long time, so long that the edges of the shadow started to blur slightly. Tang Ning asked softly, "Do you have anything you like to eat?"
To befriend someone, just give them food.
This was Tang Ning's simple philosophy of friendship.
The shadow still remained silent.
As Tang Ning harbored doubts and wanted to poke at the shadow again, a burst of icy breath surged forward, and his lips touched something bitterly cold.
Under the broad daylight, the gatekeeper of the complex saw a guy squatting down, muttering to himself for ages, then suddenly his face turned red. It seemed logical enough; maybe his brain had fried, making him babble at a brick for so long.
Tang Ning stood at his doorstep with the shadow. He took out his keys to open the door, but this time the shadow that always obediently waited for him to return and open the door didn't appear.
Tang Ning called out a few times but got no response.
Eventually, Tang Ning found the shadow cowering under the sofa, a little kitten hiding so well, trembling with fear.
Tang Ning looked helplessly at his own shadow behind him, "You scared it."
It's said pets follow their owners, and the shadow was a very timid little kitten, who, apart from liking Tang Ning, would hide in the corner at the sight of anyone else. Tang Ning had wanted to sleep with the shadow in his arms, but now it seemed he'd have to sleep alone in bed.
Yes, although it was only six or seven, Tang Ning really wanted to lie down and sleep, mainly because he felt very weak after the death of that old Taoist.
"Is my current weakness anything to do with you?" Tang Ning asked.
The shadow shook its head.
Tang Ning yawned, struggling to stay awake as he poured some cat food for the shadow, then groggily pushed open the door and collapsed on the bed. As he drifted off, he saw a figure standing at the doorway, shrouded in shadows within the dim room, making it impossible to see the face clearly, hands hanging naturally by its side.
Truth be told, the shadow looked rather creepy, and when it stood up that moment, Tang Ning really jumped on the inside. He turned on the bedside lamp, wanting to use the warm light to illuminate the shadow, but once the light was on, the shadow disappeared without a trace.
Had it hidden away?
Tang Ning casually turned off the bedside lamp, and the shadow that had disappeared reappeared, this time standing just five steps away from the bed, still standing rigidly.
Tang Ning felt somewhat unable to sleep with it staring at him like that, he whispered softly, "I want to sleep."
The shadow just kept staring straight at him.
Tang Ning inexplicably felt that the shadow was testing his threshold, gauging at what point he would feel uncomfortable with its presence.
Tang Ning huddled entirely under the covers, cautiously extending one hand out of the cocoon to turn the bedside lamp back on. Warm light spilled out, and the oppressive shadow that had loomed disappeared.
The bedside lamp was too bright, and covering his face with the blanket made it hard to breathe. Tang Ning, deciding against it, closed his eyes and turned off the lamp by memory. Without the glaring light, he should have been able to fall asleep. Yet, Tang Ning's mind kept conjuring up that figure. Was the shadow now closer to him, standing rigidly by his bed?
With that thought, sleep eluded him completely.
Should he sneak a peek? Squinting through his fingers, he thought a quick glance shouldn't hurt, right?
Tang Ning slightly opened one eye, saw nothing, and then the other, still nothing.
He sighed in relief, turning over in bed, only to come face-to-face with a pair of curved eyes, the corners of the lips exaggeratedly upturned in a clown-like, grotesque smile, flamboyantly joyful atop this handsome face—
He embraced Tang Ning as if clutching a startled kitten.
Tang Ning's heart pounded. Perhaps because he was somewhat prepared, he wasn't really scared. He could even poke the shadow's face, murmuring a complaint, "You scared me."
Outside the slightly ajar door, a curious little head with greenish-yellow cat eyes timidly peeked at its owner on the bed.
It adored seeing its owner cuddled up in sleep by another, unfamiliar guest.
Hiding behind the door, it mimicked the posture of a speculative farmer.
At the entrance to the complex, a man in a white suit pulled out a monocle from his pocket, leisurely holding it up to his left eye, as if gazing intently at something.
Beside him, a girl with dead-fish eyes lazily asked, "See anything?"
"Wow~ Sexy little kitty~"
The girl arched an eyebrow.
"It's a cute British Shorthair~" The man squinted, "Wow~ Even more enchanting than the cat, the owner—"
The girl rolled her eyes.
Blood streamed from the man's eyes. He closed them, pressing a white handkerchief against his injured eye, only for blood to seep from the corner of his mouth. After a sharp intake of cold air, the man, as if performing a magic trick, drew another clean handkerchief from his pocket to dab at his lips. But then, blood began to flow from his nose and ears as well. Facing the state of bleeding from all orifices, the man ceased his struggle and calmly stated, "The monster from Ghost School has followed us."
In a well-organized office, a woman dressed in professional attire sat in front of a computer, her fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard. The person sitting across from her was Lin Yun.
"Are you sure he's only been through three games?" The woman pushed up her glasses on the bridge of her nose, muttering, "Newcomers really are monsters."
Lin Yun remained noncommittal.
"We'll need to wait a few more days to see how things unfold with the De High incident. If it's as you say, the reward will be issued to Tang Ning." The woman closed Tang Ning's file and brought up a new case, which was the "Hitchhiking Female Ghost" supernatural task.
"This task was originally assigned to Old Xiao, one of the few players who can handle the Eastern system. And then Tang Ning just went and took care of it." The woman expressed her resignation, "Ask your new teammate if they're interested in taking on this task. The reward is substantial."