Extra will-o'-the-wisp
As the sky was getting light, a dim light shone through the window, enveloping the entire silent house.
Liang Yubai turned over in bed in a daze, wrapped the quilt tightly around him, and felt a chill on his back, a bit cold. But it was obviously very hot now, and the room, which should have been stuffy, was filled with a chill, and the bed was even colder.
Liang Yubai, who was unable to sleep well because of the approaching chill, sat up unbearably and angrily glanced into the room with the little light coming in from the window. He saw the familiar doll on the sofa, but it was lying there motionless, and it was obvious that there was no soul inside.
She turned around quickly, glanced around, and touched her surroundings. The coldness immediately disappeared. Everything was normal, as if there was nothing strange at all.
"I've told you many times! Don't come into my bed!" Liang Yubai slapped the bed board vigorously. "Your ghost energy is gone, but the chill on your body would wake me up even in summer. Do you want me to catch a cold in summer?"
There was no movement on the bed, but the doll on the sofa moved, then slowly sat up from the sofa. The delicate doll always maintained an elegant and calm smile on its face. Facing Liang Yubai's angry face, this smile seemed a little embarrassing.
"What's wrong?" Makoto sat calmly on the sofa and stared at Liang Yubai lying on the bed. She had just woken up and her hair was still messy. She didn't look like the delicate young lady she usually was. She glared at her with resentment on her face.
"Don't sleep next to me when I'm not paying attention, and don't be so sneaky. Don't think I can't feel you just because I can't see you." Liang Yubai stared at her and warned her seriously, "If you dare to do that again, your puppet body will be broken, and I will definitely not fix it for you."
Makoto tilted her head in confusion, the calm smile on her doll's face making her voice sound innocent. "But you were the one who said the other day that the weather was getting hot, and the coolness from my body would just be better if I stayed close to you."
Liang Yubai was silent, feeling resentful. What she said was true, but after she said that, Makoto stayed close to her all day long. No matter how hot the weather was, with a portable air conditioner sticking to her and blowing all the time, it would feel like being in an ice cellar.
"I'm too lazy to tell you. It's okay at other times, but my defenses are very weak when I sleep. If you stay close to me, not only will you catch a cold, but you'll also be susceptible to your ghostly aura." Liang Yubai taught him a lesson seriously, "Don't climb up here so casually next time."
Makoto nodded but didn't respond.
"You usually hide your true form and don't let anyone see it. But as soon as I fell asleep, you crawled in and lay next to me. I don't know whether you want to get close to me or keep your distance from me." Liang Yubai lay back on the bed with a little complaint, muttering.
The room fell silent again.
Makoto sat on the sofa for a while. After hearing Liang Yubai's breathing gradually stabilize, he slowly stood up, dragged the doll's body and turned to walk out.
The day dawned quickly. There were not many people around in the early morning. In the place where Liang Yubai lived, most of the people awake at this time were ghosts.
After coming here, Makoto found out that the ghost exorcists raised ghosts in strange ways. Some were kept in boxes, some in jade, and some in figurines. So this great family of ghost exorcists, which had a very high reputation to the outside world, found that the people inside were particularly weird in the eyes of ordinary people.
It is common to see busy exorcists muttering to the objects in their hands when they stop to rest. It is also common to see people sitting there talking to boxes, jade, or small paper figures.
Liang Yubai worked hard to make a life-size doll probably to avoid such embarrassing and strange behavior when going out on missions.
Makoto doesn't quite understand the rules of the exorcist family. She only knows that each exorcist must take care of their own ghosts, and exorcists other than the owner are not allowed to interfere with other people's ghosts. At the same time, if a ghost makes a mistake, the owner of the ghost will be held responsible.
In order to avoid causing trouble for Liang Yubai, Makoto rarely spoke in the exorcist's house and did not communicate with other ghosts. She just followed Liang Yubai.
But except for the days when I followed Liang Yubai on missions, the rest of the time was quite boring, even more boring than staying in Yelai River to watch tourists. I could only observe other ghosts and chat with Liang Yubai frequently.
Many ghosts are kept in objects that cannot move independently. Most of them cannot move. It is rare to see a carrier like Makoto that can move freely, but it does exist. Occasionally, you can encounter other souls in the bodies of small dolls.
Makoto didn't interact much with them, just saying hello when they met.
After going out, Makoto went to the yard and stared blankly, waiting for Liang Yubai to wake up before she had something to do.
There is a small pond in the yard with expensive fish in it. When Makoto is bored, she will come out of the doll and take a dip in the pond. She will also check to see to what extent her once ugly soul has recovered after revenge and whether it can still be seen by others.
After death, the soul usually remains in the state of a corpse at the time of death, unless it has forgotten the memory of death, in which case it will have another state.
Makoto didn't like the extremely distorted and ugly appearance she would appear after death, so she rarely went out on her own initiative when she was at night in the river. After scaring Yu Yao once, she didn't want to see anyone even more.
Since he met Liang Yubai, he has never let her see the original state of his soul. He knows that the exorcist is knowledgeable, but he still doesn't want to see Liang Yubai show the same frightened expression as Yu Yao.
"She's recovered a lot." Makoto lay on the edge of the pool, staring at her reflection in the water. Most parts of the woman's face had returned to normal, at least her eyeballs were not dislocated and bloody as they were at the beginning. However, her cheeks were thin, her eye sockets were slightly sunken, and there were scars on her face, which didn't look very good.
"I see. I was saying that I've never seen your true form since I met you. It turns out you died in an ugly way." A mocking voice suddenly rang out in the quiet courtyard.
Makoto quickly returned to the doll and turned to look towards the entrance of the yard. There stood a woman in black casual clothes, staring at her thoughtfully.
"Compared to your original appearance, this puppet is really beautiful. No wonder you never dare to show up in front of others." Liang Ling squinted at her. "I heard that you have never appeared in front of Xiaobai. It must be a ghost she raised, and she kept all kinds of things from her. It's really funny."
"What does this have to do with you, Miss Liang Ling?" Makoto maintained a faint smile. "She doesn't care, so why should you worry about it? Getting involved in such insignificant matters won't make her like you any better."
Liang Ling's face turned cold, and he snorted softly, "I see you two are together all day long, often going out on missions, but it doesn't seem like your relationship is that good."
"After all, she was just kind-hearted and picked you up out of sympathy. People are people, and ghosts are ghosts." Liang Ying curled her lips, with an extremely sarcastic look on her face. "And I'm a real living person. I have body temperature, unlike some people who are cold. It's okay in the summer, but no one would want to touch me in the winter."
Makoto was silent for a moment, then turned around, her voice still filled with a steady and calm smile, which matched the expression on the doll's face quite well. "I was wondering, since Miss Liang Ling knew about this, did she complain to you? She said I was cold, right? Then you must know that we often sleep together, right?"
"I'm sorry for involving you in such a private matter between us. I'll be more careful next time."
"I wish I could occasionally hear about your troubles, but unfortunately, I haven't heard anything so far."
Liang Ling's voice choked, and she tried hard to maintain her composure. "That's because we have a good relationship, and there's nothing much to worry about."
"Really? That's really cause for celebration."
Makoto didn't react much, remaining calm and composed. This, in turn, made Liang Ling feel inexplicably angry. No matter what she said, it wasn't easy to anger Makoto, which made her feel a little frustrated. Was he indeed a ghost who had been dead for many years? Or was this just his personality?
"You two..." Liang Yubai's worried voice came faintly from the window near the yard, "You two came to chat outside my window so early in the morning. Do you think I'm sleeping so soundly that I won't be disturbed by you at all?"
"I heard someone talking in the middle of my sleep. It's so noisy. Can you two please stop talking to me while you're having these sarcastic conversations? What does it have to do with me?" Liang Yubai, still sleepy, opened the window in confusion and glanced outside with squinted eyes.
"The weather is really nice today, perfect for an outing." She glanced at Liang Ling who was standing beside her and said, "What brings you to me so early in the morning?"
Liang Ling took a deep breath and started a new topic, "I'm here to inform you of your new mission. I've been busy lately and will be leaving soon, so I came early to give it to you."
As she spoke, she stuffed an envelope through the gap in the window.
"Look for yourself. I have something else to do, so I won't disturb your sleep."
"Yeah... go ahead, I'll sleep a little longer." Liang Yubai took the envelope in a daze and waved his hand.
Liang Ling nodded, glanced at Zhenqin beside him, then turned and left.
Liang Yubai leaned his head against the window and felt dazed for a while. After being basked in the morning sun for a while, he felt very sleepy again. When he was about to retract his head and go back to bed to sleep, he noticed Makoto sitting on the bench in the yard.
"What are you doing outside? Come back." She waved.
"Yeah." Makoto stood up and went back into the room.
Liang Yubai reached out and opened the window, letting the sunlight in.
The weather was hot, and as soon as the window was opened, the heat rushed in immediately, making the originally cool and dark room bright and hot in an instant. It was really not a good environment for sleeping.
"Don't you want to take a nap? You can't sleep in this hot weather, right?" Makoto returned to the room and prepared to close the window in confusion.
Liang Yubai yawned while lying on the bed. "The window is always closed, and the room feels stuffy. I should open the window to get some fresh air and draw the curtains."
Makoto did as he was told in silence.
After the curtains were drawn, the room did become much darker, and I could sleep without being disturbed by the light, but the heat still continued to come in through the open windows.
Just by looking at the current temperature, Makoto knew that the room must be very hot. Liang Yubai even kicked the quilt he had covered himself with last night aside.
"What are you standing there for?" Liang Yubai, lying on the bed, glanced at Makoto standing there in a daze, and patted the seat next to him, "Come and play your most useful role."
"Aren't you feeling cold?" Makoto responded calmly.
"Do you think it's cold now?" Liang Yubai didn't want to open his eyes, and his voice became soft due to sleepiness. "Come here quickly. For a ghost exorcist like me, the only thing I do when I go out on a mission is to take you for a ride. If you don't even know how to sleep in a cool bed when you get home, what use will I have for you?"
Makoto was silent for a moment, then turned around and lay down next to Liang Yubai with the doll's body.
Liang Yubai, who was feeling hot, moved his body and hugged Makoto's cool doll body.
"The material is obviously very soft, but it feels different from a real person when you hold it." Liang Yubai pinched her doll's arm and muttered softly.
"After all, I'm not a human, so it's good enough to have a body that can move." Makoto responded calmly, staring at the ceiling.
"That's true, but no one can be as cool as you." Liang Yubai yawned, muttered, leaned against Makoto's arm, slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Makoto stared at the ceiling in a daze. The doll's body was lying there. The coolness came from the soul. When the soul left, the doll would no longer be cool, so she couldn't leave yet. But she couldn't do anything by lying here. She could only act as a ruthless radiator.
Liang Yubai's breathing was steady, as if he was asleep, but occasionally he would hold Makoto's arm and adjust his posture, moving again and again, and then he seemed awake again, probably because he was sleeping very lightly.
"By the way..." Liang Yubai, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly uttered another sentence, which echoed in the quiet and dark room.
"What's wrong?" Makoto asked.
"I was just woken up by the sound of you and Xiao Hei talking."
"Sorry, I didn't notice."
"No, I mean, I heard what you were talking about." Liang Yubai arched his head and looked up. "So you haven't revealed your true form in front of me this whole time. Are you afraid of scaring me?"
Makoto remained silent and did not respond.
Liang Yubai thought about it and said, "It seems that when we first met at Yelai River, you didn't show up in front of me. You showed it to Yu Yao but not to me. I thought you didn't like me at that time."
Makoto said calmly, "When I saw you communicating with those ghosts, I knew you were a good person, so I didn't want to scare you."
Liang Yubai nodded slowly. "If you're afraid of scaring me, then I understand. But I'm an exorcist after all. I've seen all kinds of deaths. You don't have to worry about it."
Makoto sighed softly, "So you can sleep with a ghost that died in an ugly state?"
Liang Yubai paused, "This seems a little difficult."
Makoto smiled faintly, "Right, if you can avoid showing your face, then don't. The doll's body looks pretty good right now. Maybe once I've recovered a little, I can show it to you."
Liang Yubai slowly closed his eyes and fell into sleep again. "I've seen photos of you when you were alive. You used to be very beautiful."
"You're independent, steady, and beautiful. If you were still alive, I would probably like you very much."
"But... if you were still alive..." Liang Yubai yawned loudly, and her voice gradually became quieter. "You'd be a mother-in-law now..."
Makoto couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth, "That's true."
"So...it's really a strange fate that we still know each other now..." Liang Yubai muttered and slowly fell asleep.
"Indeed, it is." Makoto stared at the ceiling in a daze. "Now it seems that my death can actually be considered a blessing in some ways."
"To be precise, meeting you at Yelai River is my greatest luck."
Her slow murmur echoed in the quiet room, low and with a lazy ending.
"The remaining task should be to protect you before disappearing."
"I've been in Yelai River for so long that I'm now treating it like retirement. The only unexpected thing is that my protective instinct has changed a bit, turning into some strange emotion."
Makoto mumbled to herself for a long time, but Liang Yubai had already fallen asleep.
She sighed slowly, turned sideways, hugged Liang Yubai and cleared her mind.
Ghosts should not sleep.
Makoto felt as if she was in a dream.
She stayed in the river for a long time in the dark and cold night. Just when she thought she would be sunk to the bottom of the lake forever, a faint light suddenly appeared above her head. She tried to swim upstream in the direction of the light, as if she had caught a guiding light in the darkness, and swam upstream with all her strength.
After a long and suffocating struggle, I finally broke through the cold and dark Yelai River, and in an instant I saw a large area of beautiful light enveloping me.
The excitement of embracing the light filled my whole body, but before I could feel the relief of escaping the darkness of the Yelai River, and while I was enjoying the light, there was a thud next to my ear.
Makoto's puppet body was kicked off the bed.
"I'm so cold, so cold." Liang Yubai, who was half asleep, muttered to himself, turned over, pulled the quilt over and wrapped himself tightly.
Makoto:......
Forget it, there is no need to protect this light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
