"You were hiding here after all."
A male voice, just as he stepped out, startled the person. Almost instinctively, he bolted in the opposite direction.
"Hey! Stop!" Gu Yaoyang immediately gave chase.
When he discovered the surveillance issue earlier, he had suspected it might be a diversion tactic. So, he asked Bai Yuqi to check it out while he waited.
As expected, he spotted a very, very suspicious individual.
This person was wrapped in a white tablecloth, with only two holes cut out for the eyes. They seemed to be of short stature and ran the moment they saw him. Their left leg appeared to be injured, slowing them down, though their movements were agile. He reached out several times, but to no avail.
Gu Yaoyang's shouts also alerted Shi Xingwu and his group, who were nearby, and they joined the pursuit.
"Wow! It's really a ghost! Just like in the cartoons!" Shi Xingwu exclaimed from afar, pointing ahead as he saw a white cloth fluttering past.
"What ghost! It's someone playing dress-up! Don't be an idiot!" Li Xiaozhong slapped Shi Xingwu on the back and said, "Quick! You go catch him!"
"Oh no! That thing is heading towards my sister's room!" Xia Qingyu cried out in alarm as she chased after it.
Xia Qingtian was currently injured and unable to get out of bed. It would be terrible if she were taken hostage by a villain.
At this moment, Xia Qingtian was still staring blankly, leaning against the pillows behind her.
Her room offered the best view on the entire ship. Looking out the window by her bed, on a clear day, she could see thick white clouds piled up at the horizon where the sea met the sky. At night, she could see the vastness of the star river.
The weather today was quite good.
Xia Qingtian took a deep breath and felt a dull ache in her wounds.
When she first woke up, she thought she was dreaming.
Only after calling out to the system several times with no response did Xia Qingtian vaguely realize: the system might really be gone.
After days of drifting in and out of consciousness, swaying with the waves on the ship, Xia Qingtian was never sure if she was dreaming.
As her consciousness gradually focused, cleared, and her body began to heal, Xia Qingtian would often doubt whether everything she had experienced was her imagination or reality.
The feeling of drifting caused by the ship's journey at sea intensified this phenomenon.
Only when people came to visit her and chat could she confirm that it was all real.
She had been reborn with a system called "Son of Heaven's Pit" and had lived through two exceptionally magnificent years.
Now that the system was gone, she remained in this world.
Tonight, everyone was busy with the "Spirit Extermination Convention," and she had some free time, causing her to become somewhat dazed again.
"I wonder if they found that ghost..." Xia Qingtian murmured to herself, her eyes blankly gazing at the night sky outside the window.
Faintly, Xia Qingtian heard the sound of frantic, intense running approaching from a distance.
"Wow..." Xia Qingtian exclaimed as the sounds grew more intense, "It's so lively tonight! That's nice..."
As Xia Qingtian finished speaking, her room door was abruptly pulled open.
Immediately after, a white figure rushed in.
"What the heck?" Before Xia Qingtian could react, the person wrapped in the white tablecloth with only two holes for eyes stumbled towards Xia Qingtian with their sprained leg.
"Don't come near me!" Xia Qingtian tried to escape, but her body was too weak. She could only watch as the thing rushed to her bedside and then... crouched down.
Following this were sobs.
The sobbing sounded a bit familiar.
"You are..." Xia Qingtian then reached out and grabbed the edge of the white tablecloth, slowly dragging it aside, "Xi Rui?"
"Sister Qingtian..."
The white tablecloth fell completely to the floor, revealing a pitiful, tear-streaked face with red eyes. Her hair was messy, and there was still some uncleaned chocolate sauce on her cheeks, making her look like a pathetic waif.
"How did you get here?" Xia Qingtian asked Lei Xirui in surprise, "No, why is it you? Wait a minute... what exactly is going on?"
As Xia Qingtian finished asking, others rushed in.
"Hmm?" Gu Yaoyang, who rushed in first, was also surprised to see the person by Xia Qingtian's bed, "Lei Xirui?"
"No way! It's little Siri!" Shi Xingwu, following closely behind, scratched the back of his head in confusion.
Seeing the crowd that had suddenly burst into the room, Lei Xirui skillfully scrambled under Xia Qingtian's bed and covered herself with the white cloth.
Seeing this, Xia Qingtian, though unaware of the full situation, sighed and said, "Young Master Bai, tell everyone to disperse. It's nothing, it's just a small prank."
Bai Yuqi knew it would be difficult to explain everything clearly at this moment, so he asked the ship's staff to return to their posts.
Once only familiar faces remained in Xia Qingtian's room, Xia Qingyu half-propped herself against Xia Qingtian's bed and coaxed Lei Xirui out from under the bed.
After Lei Xirui came out, she cried for a while longer before recounting her experiences of the past few days.
When Nie Qingkong sent her back, she had wanted to clarify things with Young Master Lei.
However, Young Master Lei seemed very busy. When she finally had a chance to talk to him properly during dinner, he acted as if he had already shown her enough consideration and told her not to be willful anymore.
Although Lei Xirui felt wronged, she also thought it was okay not to be able to explain clearly for the time being and forgave Young Master Lei for his busyness and hard work.
She decided to settle for a lesser goal and asked Young Master Lei to agree to take her back to their home country and not send her away.
To her surprise, that night she overheard Young Master Lei talking on the phone about flight arrangements. He had only booked his own ticket and requested that the other party choose the soonest flight to France to send Lei Xirui to France, saying that if possible, he would never let Lei Xirui return to Country Z.
These words completely terrified Lei Xirui and made her realize that Young Master Lei had not taken any of her previous words to heart.
He had never considered Lei Xirui's thoughts or requests. Everyone in the Lei family treated her like a doll to be manipulated at will.
It was at this moment that Lei Xirui remembered what Bai Yuqi had told her.
For so many years, it was because she was too well-behaved that she was ignored like this.
No matter what, she had to live for herself at least once.
So, she jumped out of the window and escaped, injuring her leg when she jumped.
Chu Qi has something to say: Happy Halloween, everyone~