Chapter 84: Hex 4
This was the manager’s first time coming into contact with such a sinister object. She backed away in fright, feeling incredibly thankful that she hadn’t touched the bracelet with her bare hands.
Jiang Si took in her changing expressions and smiled. “There’s no need to be so afraid. Normal contact won’t hurt you.”
“I’ve never seen Yun Shu wear this Buddha head bracelet. Don’t they say that wooden bracelets and antiques need to be played with constantly to develop a patina? It’s been so long, why is it still so shiny and smooth?” Tong Yong asked curiously.
Jiang Si rubbed his fingers against a Buddha head bead and said calmly, “It’s been coated with corpse oil. Even without human contact, it can remain smooth.” Saying this, he lifted his eyelids to look at Tong Yong. “I didn’t mention it last time, but the amulet around your neck also contains corpse oil.”
“!” Tong Yong’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
“Corpse oil doesn’t necessarily come from humans; animal fat can be rendered just the same. Legends say that rubbing corpse oil on your eyelids allows you to communicate with spirits, but that’s all fake. Its function is similar to lard—it moisturizes and hydrates the skin. If your skin is dry, you could actually buy some to use.”
After hearing his words, Tong Yong firmly resolved that he would not eat any oil products for the next month, especially anything made with lard.
“Then what do we do now?” The manager spoke up weakly. As the eyes of everyone in the room converged on her, she could only explain the situation first: “I’ve hired people to pull down the trending searches, but it’s completely useless. Seven or eight major brand partners have already called to ask about the situation. Yun Shu is currently at the peak of her schedule.”
“Is that so.” Jiang Si glanced toward Luo Shannü. “You handle the evil deity? I’ll perform the soul summoning at the end.”
Luo Shannü looked at the sky outside and said out of nowhere, “Not now. We have to wait until dawn.”
“Why?” Tong Yong thought there was some mystical reasoning behind it. “Is it because the yang energy is stronger after the sun comes out?”
Luo Shannü looked at him as if he were an idiot. “I don’t have the energy right now, I need to sleep. I already pulled an all-nighter playing games yesterday. If I stay up late again today, my skin will go bad.”
“…”
Tong Yong, a man past fifty, couldn’t comprehend the mindset of modern girls at all. He had no idea that the girl standing in front of him was more than qualified to be his great-great-great-grandmother.
Jiang Si was equally baffled by this excuse. “Can’t your skin change on its own?”
“Who said that?” Luo Shannü touched her face cherishingly. “Before, if I wasn’t satisfied, I could just go find someone else to swap with. But now that you won’t let me kill people, I have to take good care of this skin. Otherwise, if it breaks, there’s no way to repair it.”
Thinking of something, she raised a fingertip painted with black nail polish and pointed at Yun Shu on the hospital bed, saying with a hint of regret, “Actually, if we don’t save her, I could just use her skin. She’s quite pretty; very much to my taste.”
Before the manager and Tong Yong could digest this statement, Jiang Si stepped in front of her, blocking her path, and said expressionlessly, “Ten game consoles.”
“Tsk.” Luo Shannü curled her lip. “Forget it, she’s not up to my standards anyway. She’s way too skinny.”
Jiang Si: “…”
A real-life case of ‘sour grapes.’
.
When the sky was just beginning to brighten, the male lead of Tong Yong’s movie swaggered into the hospital to visit, holding a fruit basket and surrounded by his entourage. He was only wearing a baseball cap, and as he passed the hospital entrance, he even smiled and waved at the paparazzi staking out the area.
The paparazzi, seeing his beaming face, were all bewildered and exchanged confused glances.
“Isn’t that Li Jiming?”
“What does he mean by this? Did Yun Shu wake up?”
“There’s no news on the internet.”
“Then why is he so happy?”
A bold paparazzo secretly tailed Li Jiming with a camera, intending to sneak into Yun Shu’s inpatient building to get first-hand photos for traffic.
The little assistant trailing behind Li Jiming noticed the paparazzo immediately and hesitantly warned him, “Brother Li, there’s a paparazzo behind us.”
“I know.” Li Jiming told him to ignore it. “How does my makeup look? Not too deliberate, right? In a bit, I want the paparazzi to catch me personally visiting Yun Shu, so they can post the photos online and let the fans see my good character. You have the eye drops ready, right? Later, I have to pretend to be crying in agony.”
In order to perform well for the cameras, Li Jiming had deliberately woken up early to have his makeup artist give him a haggard look.
The little assistant: “…It looks fine.”
Honestly, if Brother Li put this much effort into his acting, he would have won a grand slam of Best Actor awards by now.
Having accompanied Tong Yong to drop Yun Shu off at the hospital yesterday, Li Jiming knew the way around on his second visit. To prevent the security guards at the entrance from stopping the paparazzo, he even specially instructed them that the person following him was a friend and shouldn’t be blocked.
The security guard naturally agreed, turning a blind eye to the sneaking paparazzo.
Li Jiming was just brewing his emotions for when he saw Yun Shu, but the moment he stepped out of the elevator, he froze. Wasn’t that Yun Shu?
She was actually awake and had gotten out of bed.
With no time to think, Li Jiming shoved the fruit basket into the little assistant’s hands. “Wait here for me, I’ll be right back.”
He strode quickly toward the right side of the hallway. The little assistant was confused at first, but glancing up at the sign, he instantly understood.
Ah, he was going to the bathroom.
Brother Li really is something. Does the urge to pee hit that suddenly?
Li Jiming walked faster and faster, but he found that even though Yun Shu clearly wasn’t walking quickly, he somehow couldn’t catch up to her.
It wasn’t until she turned into the restroom that Li Jiming followed her in.
Seeing her heading toward the female restroom, he grabbed her and pulled her back. With eyes that looked melancholic due to his overly large double eyelids, he gazed at her affectionately.
“Shushu, are you okay? You really scared me to death. I couldn’t sleep all night, and this morning I sneaked out behind my manager’s back to see you. Thank goodness you’ve woken up.”
“…” Yun Shu stared back at him. Her eyes darted around slowly, as if trying to figure out who the person in front of her was.
After a long while, she spoke: “Boyfriend?”
Her lips were dry and cracked, so pale they lacked any trace of blood. But the moment she opened her mouth, an unbelievably foul stench wafted out, nearly making Li Jiming vomit.
Using a lifetime’s worth of acting skills to suppress his nausea, Li Jiming feigned joy, hugged Yun Shu’s arms, and said happily, “It’s me. It’s so wonderful to see you’re okay.”
Yun Shu stretched her dry lips into a faint smile, a strange gleam unconsciously appearing in her eyes. “I’m very happy too.”
She hooked her arms around Li Jiming’s neck. “Will you kiss me?”
Li Jiming stiffened all over, his gaze involuntarily dropping to her peeling, dry lips. If it were a normal day, he wouldn’t mind; Yun Shu was a glamorous beauty, so kissing her wouldn’t be a loss.
But right now, she had no makeup on and her breath reeked.
He really couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Hmm? Am I no longer pretty?” Yun Shu pouted, making a displeased expression.
“You’re beautiful.” Li Jiming forced a smile. Thinking of the Best Actress trophy she had just won, he hardened his heart, closed his eyes, and kissed her.
The moment their lips touched, a piece of soft meat slid into his mouth, accompanied by an even more overpowering, putrid stench.
Li Jiming felt like he was going to throw up and pushed her backward, unable to take it anymore.
But the harder he pushed, the tighter Yun Shu clung to his neck, practically strangling his nape to force his mouth open.
The soft meat glided over his tongue, smoothly slithering down his tender throat, attempting to dive even deeper.
Only then did Li Jiming’s stench-numbed brain realize something was wrong. How could a human’s tongue be this long?
“Mmph, mmph, mmph—” He grabbed Yun Shu’s waist, trying to yank her away, shaking his head frantically in agony.
But it was no use. Like swallowing food, he was forced to gulp the long strip of meat down his esophagus into his stomach, with the other end still attached to Yun Shu’s mouth. The two of them were locked in an inseparable embrace, looking just like a passionately in-love couple.
As the meat strip slid into his stomach, the space was no longer as constricted as it was in his throat. With room to expand, it grew larger and larger like a sponge soaking up water, taking up nearly all the volume in his stomach. It then sprouted countless tiny tentacles that stuck to his stomach walls, greedily sucking away.
It wasn’t until Yun Shu released him, thoroughly satisfied, that Li Jiming collapsed heavily to the floor like a piece of paper, his eyes glassy and devoid of life.
Straddling his waist with her slipper-clad feet, Yun Shu swept her long hair back, then cradled his head and tenderly kissed his forehead.
.
The little assistant waited for over half an hour before finally spotting Li Jiming. He quickly waved his arms to get his attention, secretly wondering how bad his kidney deficiency must be to take so long in the bathroom.
“Brother Li.” Pretending not to see the paparazzo behind them, the little assistant discreetly slipped the eye drops into Li Jiming’s hand. “Let’s go in now.”
Li Jiming nodded, raised his hand, and tossed the eye drops into the trash can.
The little assistant: “!”
.
The little assistant had expected only Yun Shu’s manager and assistant to be in the ward, but to his surprise, there were three extra people.
With the two of them included, the otherwise spacious private ward suddenly felt a bit crowded. But the little assistant didn’t mind; he secretly cast his eyes on the unfamiliar man and woman, trying to figure out who they were.
Tong Yong was a bit surprised to see Li Jiming. “Why are you here?”
Li Jiming: “Mm.”
Tong Yong saw that his gaze was entirely fixed on Jiang Si, and his attitude was unusually cold. He felt a bit lost. It wasn’t appropriate to bluntly introduce Jiang Si as an invited master, so he played it off, saying, “This is my friend. He heard Yun Shu fainted, so he came to check on her.”
Li Jiming continued to stare intently at him. “Mm.”
Did this guy sleep so much last night that his brain turned to mush?
Tong Yong was puzzled. Li Jiming had never been this tactless before.
“Nice to meet you.” Li Jiming extended a hand toward Jiang Si, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.
To anyone else, it looked like a clear provocation.
The little assistant instantly understood—he was treating him like a romantic rival!
“Hello.” Jiang Si remained unruffled. Under the watch of several pairs of eyes, he reached out and gave a brief, polite handshake. But when he tried to pull away, he found his hand locked in a death grip, unable to break free.
A flesh-thorn sprouted from Li Jiming’s palm, attempting to pierce Jiang Si’s hand, but it just couldn’t penetrate the skin.
“?”
The observing little assistant was shocked and had another epiphany. Could it be he had a crush on this guy?
Tong Yong frowned and stepped in to mediate. “Let go of him. It’s rude to act like this in front of a patient.”
Li Jiming completely ignored him, his eyes locked onto Jiang Si like a venomous snake preparing to strike.
Jiang Si merely gave him a passing glance, looking past the standing figures toward Luo Shannü, who was sitting cross-legged watching the show, using his eyes to ask her: Who’s going to handle this?
Luo Shannü blinked, stood up, shoved the people in her way aside, and slapped a hand onto Li Jiming’s shoulder with a radiant smile. “Don’t be like that. Mr. Jiang is shy. If you have a problem, you can come at me.”
Seeing Li Jiming show zero reaction, Luo Shannü’s smile faded slightly. She grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him into the wall.
The petite, barely 1.6-meter-tall girl picked up the 1.8-meter-tall Li Jiming like a baby chick, effortlessly smashing his head against the wall over and over again.
It happened so fast that even Li Jiming’s own assistant couldn’t react in time. He watched helplessly as Li Jiming’s head was smashed three or four times before finally screaming and rushing to stop her. “What are you doing! What are you doing!”
“I’m calling the police! Director Tong, aren’t you going to do something?”
The called-out Director Tong looked blank, uttering a stunned: “Huh?”
As if she had eyes in the back of her head, Luo Shannü kicked the assistant away before he could even get close. At the same time, she grabbed a fistful of Li Jiming’s hair and ruthlessly pulled his head right off his neck, like pulling a radish from the ground.
Now, the assistant wasn’t just angry; he was going insane.
The pain in his body was completely overshadowed. He lay sprawled on the floor, staring blankly at the severed head in her hand.
Only one thought echoed in his mind.
Isn’t murder illegal?
Outside the door, the quick-fingered paparazzo had already snapped several photos in rapid succession. It wasn’t until he reviewed this last shot that he, too, was stunned.
He was just a gossip reporter; how did he end up photographing a murder scene?
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