After listening to this terrifying tale, Cen Yu asked, "And then?"

"...And then?" The man probably didn't expect this reaction, and paused for a few seconds. "What, and then?"

"He just lay on his back and that's it?" Cen Yu said. Logically, shouldn't the next step be to immediately strangle the scumbag?

"That's it." Seemingly disappointed that he hadn't scared anyone, the man clicked his tongue slightly. "Old Yang was found unconscious in front of the library. It was one of his roommates who found him."

Shen Wei gave up on removing the milk tea from his pants. He went back to the back of the workshop, changed into a new set of clothes, but when you got close, you could still smell the sweet milk tea scent on him.

“My master said something’s not right.” Shen Wei took a mop and wiped all the milk tea on the floor clean. “I don’t know why, but the suppression of them has weakened a lot, so these things have been popping up recently.”

"I'll go to the villa tonight," Shen Wei said to Pei Heng. "Is Mr. Pei's uncle still at the villa?"

Pei Heng looked at Cen Yu.

“Probably,” Cen Yu said. He had just returned home and didn’t see Pei Baijun in the bathroom mirror, so he guessed that the other party could probably only move around in a few specific locations.

Shen Wei nodded, then took out two more talismans from his pocket and handed them to Cen Yu and Pei Heng, saying, "These things are somewhat useful."

"If you encounter that kind of thing, the cinnabar on the talisman will turn black."

Cen Yu reached out and took the talisman. He glanced at the red cinnabar marks on it, then put it in his pants pocket.

Pei Heng took it and put it away.

Although the matter is not completely resolved yet, since Shen Wei said he would go to the villa tonight, they can only wait for the time being.

But Cen Yu was still a little concerned, "I've been having a dream lately."

"A dream?" Shen Wei looked at him. "What kind of dream?"

“A dream about Xiao Le.” Cen Yu ignored Pei Heng’s “Why don’t you tell me?” look and only told Shen Wei, “Ever since I returned to the Pei family, I have had this dream every time I fall asleep.”

“I dreamt of the first day Xiao Le and I arrived at that island,” Cen Yu thought for a moment and then added, “Now it’s the second day.”

"You mean, time moves forward in dreams?"

"right."

"But a lot of things happened that didn't happen in the dream at the time."

"for example?"

“For example, the welcome card in my dream had many more rules on it for no reason,” Cen Yu told Shen Wei. “Our honeymoon lasted 14 days, and there were 14 more rules on the back of the welcome card… One rule appeared on the first day, and the second rule appeared last night, which was the second day.”

Cen Yu's dream seemed to exceed Shen Wei's expectations; he had never heard of ghosts or monsters going to such lengths to harm people.

Cen Yu then stated the two rules.

"On the first night, I deliberately broke the first rule and someone twisted my neck from behind... When I fell asleep again, I found that the time had changed to the next day and there was another rule to follow."

“I didn’t break the rules this time.” Cen Yu paused for a moment, “but I still woke up.”

"What did you do in your dream?"

“Xiao Le and I went to the Pei family’s villa…” He briefly recounted his conversation with Pei Leyun, “He said I lied to him, and then he killed me.”

Even without considering metaphysics, this is clearly not a good omen.

Cen Yu asked Shen Wei, "What do you think this dream means?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Wei said with shame, "Deduction is not my forte."

"So what are you good at?"

“I’m good at solving problems with force,” Shen Wei said, then looked at Pei Heng. “Mr. Pei, I think this dream might need to be dealt with first.”

"The trip to the villa may have to be postponed a bit."

Pei Heng could also sense the strangeness of this dream. He hummed in agreement, then sought Cen Yu's opinion, "Are you sure you want to stay in the same house?"

Cen Yu had other plans in mind.

He wasn't curious at all about what secrets this world held, nor was he curious about why his dream had turned out this way.

He just wanted to know when Pei Leyun would regain consciousness and start following the plot.

As for Pei Baijun's statement that "the world's oppression of them has weakened," Cen Yu roughly understood why... because this is a supernatural horror novel where the protagonist is a ghost!

If this world weren't haunted, how would the main character (uke) and the exorcist (seme) develop their storyline?!

In the novel, Pei Leyun has his own consciousness. After realizing that he has drowned and become a ghost, he can only wander around. It is at this time that all sorts of strange things happen in the city.

One day, while he was wandering around the company building, Cen Yu's former boss happened to hire a Taoist priest to exorcise a ghost. Pei Leyun, who was wandering around, was almost mistaken by the Taoist priest for the vengeful ghost that was tempting people to commit suicide... This led to the subsequent plot development.

The original owner became cannon fodder when ghosts and monsters kept appearing in the city; even the scumbag's demise was described in just one sentence.

When Pei Leyun found out, she discovered that Cen Yu had unexpectedly passed away half a month earlier.

The apartment was empty. According to the neighbors, he died suddenly in his sleep one night… perhaps it was Pei Leyun's vengeful spirit coming to claim his life; that's what they all thought.

The original text contains very little description of this part. It seems that the author felt that Pei Leyun had already seen through the true nature of the scumbag who lived off his wife, so there was no need to be sad about his death and let it go so easily.

Cen Yu felt that this plot matched her dream to some extent.

The reason the neighbors were able to discuss it this way might be because the original owner had unintentionally mentioned in conversations with the neighbors that she often dreamed of Pei Leyun, who had already passed away.

As for what Pei Leyun in his dream was... Cen Yu really wasn't sure.

Pei Heng interpreted Cen Yu's silence as tacit agreement.

He never expected that Cen Yu would like Pei Leyun so much? Even after the other person died, he wanted to stay in the house they had lived in together.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he said to Shen Wei, "Let's deal with the dream issue first."

Shen Wei nodded, her red hair swaying back and forth in Cen Yu's gaze.

Looking at the other person's slightly youthful face, Cen Yu realized that the Celestial Master in the original story was around 27 years old... Even though the Celestial Master's surname wasn't Shen, Cen Yu vaguely remembered that the other person had an unlucky younger brother. This coincidence was quite rare, and he couldn't help but ask—

Do you know Wen Jingyao?

Shen Wei stood up and looked at Cen Yu. "You know my brother?"

Cen Yu shook his head, then said sincerely, "I have long admired your name."

Pei Heng had heard of Wen Jingyao's name; he was introduced to him by a boss he knew. However, Wen Jingyao was better at handling strange occurrences than feng shui—he was too busy to schedule an appointment.

He never expected that Wen Jingyao was actually Shen Wei's brother.

"Since he's your brother, then why... are you still studying under Master Zhang?" Pei Heng couldn't help but ask.

“Oh, he said I was unlucky and had a bad streak,” Shen Wei said. “He suggested I go deep into enemy territory and dismantle them from within.”

"...Does Master Zhang know?"

“I know,” Shen Wei said again. “He said if my brother competes maliciously, he will kill me, his hostage.”