Chapter 99: An Old Acquaintance Stops Acting Human

The group walked along Main Street. The fake human anomalies didn’t seem intent on making a move.

As they turned the second corner on Main Street, White Night spotted a figure from behind. He was wearing a decent-looking suit that seemed somewhat familiar.

She froze.

In this apocalypse, there were few people who could keep their clothes so clean.

The man seemed to hear something and turned around. White Night recognized him immediately.

Wang Ziming.

A single thought crossed her mind: wasn’t he dead? The situation back then had been chaotic, and she had assumed he hadn’t made it out.

But here he stood, not a scratch on his face, his hair neatly combed, his eyes bright and full of energy.

“Hey—”

Wang Ziming spoke first, his face beaming with a smile. He strode over.

“What are you guys doing here!”

He was extremely enthusiastic, his voice loud. He reached out his hand to shake theirs.

Little Frost frowned, having no intention of shaking his hand.

Mu Yingying also completely ignored Wang Ziming’s offer, leaning lazily against the wall.

“Yo, still alive, huh?”

“Alive and kicking,” Wang Ziming patted his chest.

“Lucky. I took a different route later and found my way to this town. This place is great—food and lodging, and it’s safe. You guys really came to the right place.”

He talked a mile a minute, spilling all the details about the town—how plentiful the supplies were, how nice the people were, how he’d settled in after just a few days and was living comfortably.

White Night just listened.

She secretly glanced at Peace. Peace stood at the far edge, her gaze wandering somewhere else, looking distracted. No reaction at all, as if Wang Ziming were just air.

“That’s wonderful. We were worried about having nowhere to stay. You make sure to arrange the best place for us first.”

“After all, back then, we were the ones who covered your escape. You wouldn’t neglect that, would you?”

Mu Yingying didn’t hold back and directly asked for favors.

“Of course not. You’re all my great benefactors. Come with me, come with me.” Wang Ziming waved his hand. “Now that you’re here, I’ll arrange things. No ordinary place—I’ve got connections here. I’ll get you the best.”

He seemed well-acquainted in the town. As they walked, the “people” they passed all greeted him, and he responded to each one, even calling them by name and stopping to chat for a bit.

White Night counted silently in her mind. He’d already named seven or eight. Her heart beat a little faster, but she didn’t show anything on her face. She just continued following him.

Finally, they stopped in front of a small Western-style building. Two stories, with whitewashed walls and a few pots of lush green plants on the windowsill. It stood out sharply among a cluster of low houses.

“Here it is. The best house in town.” Wang Ziming pushed open the yard gate and gestured inside with his chin. “You guys stay here. If you need anything, just tell me, and I’ll sort it out.”

“Thank you for your trouble,” Little Frost said softly. “We’ll be intruding tonight.”

“Don’t mention it.” Wang Ziming waved his hand, said a couple more words, then turned and left.

The yard gate creaked shut.

The four stood in the yard, none of them speaking.

Mu Yingying waited until the footsteps faded completely before lowering her voice to ask, “Is he a fake?”

Peace didn’t say yes or no.

“Let’s go inside first.”

The inside of the building was fairly clean.

There were beds and quilts, and a kettle of water on the table with cups neatly arranged.

White Night sat down on the edge of a bed and parked her small scooter nearby.

“Can you tell us now, Peace? What’s weird about Wang Ziming?” Mu Yingying asked eagerly again, like a curious kid.

She wasn’t stupid. The fact that they had survived that situation was a miracle. For Wang Ziming to survive was definitely not simple.

“First, you tell me: did you have any past grievances with him?” White Peace asked in return.

“Grievances? No. But he’s a hypocrite who likes to stab people in the back. It happened like this…” Mu Yingying recounted what had occurred.

When White Peace heard that White Night had been in danger, she couldn’t help but tense up. But when she heard they had ultimately made it out safely, she nodded.

“That Wang Ziming is now neither human nor ghost. He’s merged with a weirdness.”

“Because he’s like this now, the weirdness isn’t interested in him,” White Peace stated calmly.

“That guy really will do anything to survive. He’d rather stop being human and become an animal.” Mu Yingying curled her lip in disdain.

White Peace’s face darkened. She herself had been a weirdness before.

“If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll seal your mouth shut,” White Peace said in a displeased tone.

“Okay, okay, my dear Peace, I wasn’t talking about you. You’re different. You’re our little angel, our sweetheart.” Mu Yingying quickly smiled and patched things up.

Outside, the sky gradually darkened, and the sounds on the street faded.

When it was almost pitch black, Peace turned from the window and pulled up a chair to sit down.

“Let’s talk about tonight’s business.”

Mu Yingying immediately sat up straight.

“The ghostly things in this town aren’t just one kind,” Peace said. “They’re divided into several groups. The one we’re dealing with tonight is one of them… called the Knocking Ghost.”

“Knocking?”

“Mm. Once it gets dark, they come to knock on doors.” Peace paused. “Remember: no matter what you hear, don’t open the door.”

White Night instinctively glanced at the door.

“What if we do open it?” Mu Yingying asked.

“If you open it, that thing comes inside and gets stronger.” Peace said it very flatly.

“If you feed it enough, it becomes hard to kill.”

“Then what happens if we don’t open it?”

“It just keeps knocking.”

Mu Yingying propped her chin on her hand.

“So we just let it keep knocking?”

“We jump outside and kill it,” Peace explained.

“It’s very weak when it’s outside the door, easy to kill.”

Little Frost listened quietly from the side.

White Night thought it over and understood.

“So we have to wait until night to strike because of this?”

“Mm,” Peace nodded.

“During the day, they hide. At night, they show up. If you attack during the day, you’ll easily scare them off, and they’re hard to find. At night, they deliver themselves to us. One comes, we kill one.”

Mu Yingying suddenly got it.

“So that’s what’s going on. I was wondering. So we’re just ambushing them like that.”

The moment she finished speaking—

Knock, knock, knock.

Three knocks, neither fast nor slow.

No one in the room moved.

White Night didn’t even dare to breathe, her eyes fixed on the door.

The door stayed still. Then, after a pause, three more knocks came.

Knock, knock, knock.

Peace stood up.

“Peace…” White Night called softly.

Peace smiled at her and raised a hand, gesturing for her not to move.

Then she walked straight to the door, pressed down on the handle, and opened it.

The thing outside shot in with a piercing shriek, charging straight at Peace.

Peace raised her right hand, and gently tapped with her index finger.

Just like that.

The thing stopped in midair, completely silent, motionless.

White Night hadn’t even seen it clearly. The weirdness had lost all its ferocity.

Peace withdrew her hand and brushed it off.

“It’s that simple.”

Mu Yingying stared at the lump on the ground for two seconds, then looked up.

“…That’s it?”

“Mm.”

“Then I don’t get to have any fun tonight?”

“There are more outside.” Peace said.

“When enough gather, how about you jump outside and kill them?”

Mu Yingying made a bitter face, resting her hand on the hilt of her blade.

“Grandma, you go ahead. I’ll just bring you tea and water.”

Little Frost pulled White Night’s bike basket closer to herself and looked down at her.

“Were you scared?”

White Night snapped back to reality and shook her head. “Not afraid,” she paused.

“With Peace here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”