Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Falling into One’s Own Trap

Hao Qishi forced a stiff smile, his voice trembling. “I’m… fine…”

Then, it dawned on Hao Qishi. His eyes flew open in disbelief as he spoke in a rush, “Didn’t I tell you not to come out? What are you doing here?! Get back inside, now!”

“HEE HEE HEE—”

“HEE HEE HEE—”

“HEE HEE HEE—”

An eerie, shrill voice echoed out, followed by the same voice speaking with a cloying sweetness. “Brother Little Feng, I’ve finally caught you. You accepted my dowry, so now you have to marry me, okay?”

“Brother Little Feng, I just knew you hadn’t left~ That’s why I was waiting right here for you! HEE HEE HEE…”

Hearing the voice, the two men stood rooted to the spot in shock, completely motionless.

The next second, it felt as though their bodies were being crushed by an immense weight, and they couldn’t even move a finger.

Just then, a brilliant red glow appeared in the dormitory hallway. At the center of the glow was a red bridal sedan chair, flanked by two paper effigies. One was playing a suona, the other was scattering paper money.

“HEH HEH HEH HEH, Brother Little Feng… Long time no see. You have no idea how much I like you! I want to have your children—lots and lots of them. Won’t you come with me…?”

The haunting voice reached Ziyou’s ears, making his skin crawl. He couldn’t stop himself from roaring, “Stay away from me! Get the hell away!”

“You crazy bitch! I’m not going to marry you!”

“You go on and on about how you like me, but you won’t even show me your real face! You… you’re disgusting!”

The bridal procession drew ever closer. Ziyou kept spewing insults while Hao Qishi, his face a mask of misery, tried to stop him. “Bro, that’s enough! You’re this ghost’s groom, so she won’t kill you. But I’m a nobody! She’s definitely going to kill me… SOB SOB SOB…”

But Ziyou erupted in fury. “Fuck you, Chen Muzhe! If you want someone, go after Hao Qishi! If you’ve got the guts, then kill him!”

At these words, Hao Qishi’s eyes widened in shock.

He never imagined that his sworn brother, the one he’d promised to face life and death with, would completely disregard his survival.

He had done so much for Ziyou, only to be met with betrayal in the end.

Shen Zhiyao spoke coolly, “So, how does it feel? Heartbreaking, isn’t it? You helped him so much, yet he betrayed you.”

Grief-stricken tears streamed from the corners of Hao Qishi’s eyes, which instantly turned red.

He remembered when they were six years old. After Ziyou’s parents died, it was he who brought Ziyou home and shared his own parents with him.

When they were twelve, Ziyou got into a fight with some local punks. It was he who had rushed in to protect him, getting beaten black and blue while Ziyou escaped without a scratch.

In high school, when someone falsely accused Ziyou of stealing, it was he who shut the accuser down on the spot and chewed them out. After that, no one ever dared to bother Ziyou again.

All these years, he had helped Ziyou without a single complaint, but Ziyou had long since started taking it all for granted.

And now, Ziyou even treated him like a possession, as if he was obligated to help no matter what.

Hao Qishi roughly wiped the tears from his face and looked up at Ziyou, his voice hoarse. “Little Feng, from the time we were kids until now… no matter what an asshole I might have been to the rest of the world, I was always good to you, wasn’t I? And now you’re telling me to go die?”

Overwhelming grief turned Hao Qishi’s eyes bloodshot.

A sneer spread across Ziyou’s face. “Good to me? If your family hadn’t been so meddlesome, I’d have been living in my own big house long ago, free and unfettered! No father to beat me, no mother to scold me! I’d rather have worked as a child laborer to earn my own tuition, even if I had to wear rags, than have you people meddling in my business like a bunch of gossips, bossing me around and telling me how to live my life!”

Hao Qishi burst into tears. “So that’s what you’ve thought of me all this time… Why didn’t you say so sooner?! I was just trying to do what was best for you! Why can’t you understand that?”

“Heh!” Ziyou suddenly broke free from the invisible restraint and slapped Hao Qishi across the face. “For my own good? Don’t think I don’t know what kind of filthy thoughts are in that head of yours! You just like me, don’t you? Well, let me tell you, it’s never going to happen!”

Hao Qishi closed his eyes in despair as tears streamed endlessly down his cheeks.

’But that wasn’t the truth. He truly saw Ziyou as his best friend, as the one person with whom he could share all his secrets.’

[Oh my god! How can someone be so heartless! I’m furious! All this time, Hao Qishi has been helping him without asking for anything in return, and he just takes it all for granted!]

[This is why you have to stay far, far away from toxic friends like that in real life!]

[That’s outrageous! How could he hit Hao Qishi!]

[He helped you so much, and now that you’re in trouble, you’re just going to use Hao Qishi as a human shield? How is that fair?]

A gust of chilling wind blew past, nearly knocking the two of them off their feet.

“Little Feng, you dared to conspire with Hao Qishi and use a paper effigy to deceive me! AHHHHH!”

Chen Muzhe’s voice was sharp and piercing. The whites of her eyes were showing as blood streamed from their sockets. Her skin was shriveled and caked with black grime, and her expression was utterly terrifying.

She lunged straight for Hao Qishi, who was so frightened he fell to the ground and screamed, “AHHHHH—”

But Chen Muzhe passed right through him, causing no physical harm.

“HUFF… HUFF…” After that ordeal, Hao Qishi’s heart was pounding in his chest as he gasped for air.

Just then, Chen Muzhe’s resentful voice sounded again. “Little Feng… Little Feng… Little Feng, I love you! HAHAHAHAHA… I love you more than anything, Little Feng! Come with me, Brother Little Feng!”

Chen Muzhe frantically grabbed Ziyou by the shoulders and flung him into the bridal sedan chair.

Ziyou struggled inside the sedan, trying to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. His face was a mask of disbelief. “What’s happening… No… Impossible!”

’This… How is this possible! I’m sure I put the gold bar from the dowry into Hao Qishi’s pocket… How can I be the one who was thrown into the sedan…?’

In disbelief, Ziyou shoved his hand into his pocket, only to find the gold bar resting there…

He stared at the gold bar in his hand, his eyes wide with terror.

He could only watch as his hand slowly grew pale.

Then, his face, his arms, and all the skin on his body began to lose their color. In the end, his life force was completely drained away, leaving behind a desiccated corpse.

Throughout the entire process, Ziyou kept repeating a single word: “Impossible…”

After Ziyou’s death, Chen Muzhe and her bridal procession left the dormitory.

Hao Qishi finally let out a sigh of relief. His body went limp, and he slid to the floor.

Just a few minutes earlier, Shen Zhiyao had told Hao Qishi:

Ziyou had slipped the gold bar from the dowry into his pocket, intending for him to die in his place.

So, Hao Qishi had been on his guard. When Ziyou slapped him, he had secretly slipped the gold bar back into Ziyou’s pocket.

“Th-thank you, Streamer! You saved my life! If you hadn’t told me Ziyou had put the dowry in my pocket, I’d be dead!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep