Chapter 93: Transmigrated as a Fraudulent Male Streamer (17)
Cen Yu was no idiot, so he could naturally sense the turbulent undercurrents running between Pei Hengyun and He Yongning.
Logically speaking, the two of them used to be desk partners back in the day, not to mention being the story’s main leads. Yet even though their exchange sounded free of any explicit sarcasm on the surface, it gave Cen Yu a distinct impression—
He Yongning was intentionally targeting Pei Hengyun.
“Where are the others?” Cen Yu asked He Yongning.
“They headed back first,” He Yongning said. “Only a few of us mentioned wanting to look around.”
He turned to look at Pei Hengyun. “Are we going down to play basketball now?”
“I kind of miss your skills on the court.”
Pei Hengyun kept a smile plastered on his face, leaving He Yongning’s comment unanswered… Instead, he turned his head to look at Cen Yu, the expression on his face instantly softening into something far more genuine.
“Let’s head down first,” he said to Cen Yu with a touch of fear.
“…It feels a little eerie in here.”
Cen Yu trotted out his usual rhetoric again. “I told you, there are no ghosts in this world—it’s all fake!”
He Yongning seemed drawn to his words. “Is that so? You truly believe there are no ghosts in this world?”
“Of course not!” Cen Yu retorted without hesitation.
“Then what about the things in your live streams?”
“All calculated theatrical effects.” Right after saying that, Cen Yu squinted at He Yongning. “You went and watched my stream replays?”
“Mm.” He Yongning made no secret of it, scrutinizing the two before him. “I watched the most recent one—the one where you went to the haunted villa.”
“What exactly was that thing that popped out at the end?” He Yongning fixed his gaze on Cen Yu, his dark eyes brimming with probing curiosity.
“I could tell something actually went wrong during that stream.”
“So the thing that lunged out at the very end… what was it? A person? Or something else?”
What else could it be? A ghost, obviously! Cen Yu rolled his eyes wildly at He Yongning in his mind.
Could this guy not tell just by looking at it?
Yet to maintain his character persona, he still turned to He Yongning with a calm demeanor. “A person.”
“A vagrant I hired.”
“…” He Yongning frowned, clearly not expecting Cen Yu to be so stubborn and completely uncooperative.
Standing beside them, Pei Hengyun let out a soft laugh. “Little Yu is just like this,” he said to He Yongning. “He never believes in the existence of ghosts.”
“A staunch atheist.”
It was precisely through Pei Hengyun’s reminder that Cen Yu suddenly realized something.
In the original novel, his character had always been a staunch atheist. No matter what bizarre occurrences he encountered, he would stubbornly pull out a scientific explanation that even he himself didn’t believe.
It wasn’t until after he entered the class reunion—perhaps when he genuinely realized the existence of “that ghost”—that he panicked out of his mind on that fateful night, locked Pei Hengyun inside the room, and fled all by himself—
Only to be slaughtered by that “ghost” before anyone could find him.
Yet he had barely set foot in this rural village, and he had already been harassed three times by that damned ghost hand… Why hadn’t there been any of this in the original plot?
Even for a plot bug, wasn’t this crossing the line a bit too much?!
Wait a minute…
A possibility suddenly flickered in Cen Yu’s mind, though he would have to wait until the ghost hand appeared next time to verify it.
Right then, the group caught the sound of Jiang Tuan calling out their names from downstairs. Realizing Jiang Tuan had borrowed the basketball, Cen Yu and the others decided to leave this classroom first.
He Yongning took the lead up front, followed by Cen Yu and Pei Hengyun walking side by side.
Pei Hengyun was still chatting with Cen Yu about tomorrow’s itinerary when they reached the stairwell landing… Because the staircase wasn’t particularly wide, Cen Yu slowed his pace slightly, stepping behind Pei Hengyun.
It was at this precise moment that an anomaly occurred.
By now, He Yongning had already stepped onto the landing of the staircase, while Pei Hengyun happened to be halfway down the flight of stairs, with Cen Yu having just started his descent…
Lightly tapping the handrail with his fingers, Cen Yu looked at his reflection in the mirror situated at the stairwell landing, thinking to himself that putting a thing like this here could scare half the students walking home from late-night self-study sessions to death.
Yet as he stared at his reflection, he suddenly noticed something wrong.
Why did he feel like the reflection in the mirror was smiling at him?
Frowning, Cen Yu instinctively touched his own face, only to find that his reflection didn’t copy his movement at all—it simply stood there, smiling at him.
Not good!
Cen Yu instantly realized that “the ghost” had appeared!
Just as he was about to warn Pei Hengyun up ahead not to look at the mirror, he noticed that upon seeing his own reflection smile, Pei Hengyun began smiling along with it… Parting his mouth, he seemed about to call out Cen Yu’s name.
The next second, blood suddenly welled out from the eyes of his smiling reflection. In a flash, the entire image distorted into a terrifying specter, roaring as it tried to break through the glass of the mirror!
Faced with such a sudden jumpscare, even Cen Yu—who had already sensed something coming—was startled so badly he nearly missed a step, managing to keep his footing only because he tightened his grip on the handrail in the nick of time.
Pei Hengyun, however, wasn’t so fortunate… He had been frightened while right in the middle of the stairs to begin with, not to mention that the specter in the mirror bore his exact appearance. Before Cen Yu could even reach out a hand, Pei Hengyun lost his footing and tumbled down the flight of stairs.
Standing at the stairwell landing, He Yongning threw a glance at the mirror behind him, then reached out immediately to catch Pei Hengyun as he tumbled down to the landing.
Cen Yu hurried down the stairs to check the severity of Pei Hengyun’s injuries at the landing—
“…Little Yu…”
Pei Hengyun had a few scrapes on his face and arms, his complexion ghastly pale from the fright.
The moment Cen Yu approached, he clung tightly to Cen Yu, burying his face directly into his chest. “…Did you see that just now…”
His voice trembled uncontrollably. “…That thing…”
Pei Hengyun was clearly rattled to the core, his entire body shuddering violently as he spoke.
Cen Yu lowered his head to inspect his ankle, noticing that perhaps due to the tumble down the stairs, the skin around Pei Hengyun’s ankle had flushed a deep red.
The moment Cen Yu touched it, Pei Hengyun let out a sharp gasp, seemingly in intense pain.
“It’s sprained.” After a quick, gentle check, Cen Yu made an immediate assessment.
“Jiang Tuan!” he shouted straight out toward the courtyard. “Is there a medical clinic around here?!”
Realizing someone was injured, Jiang Tuan and Yu Sheng rushed inside the abandoned teaching building, immediately catching sight of Pei Hengyun sitting on the floor.
When Jiang Tuan sprinted up the stairs, he saw Pei Hengyun lying in Cen Yu’s arms with a reddened ankle, clearly being the one who had gotten hurt.
Yet he didn’t charge forward to offer immediate concern. Instead, he threw a glance at He Yongning to the side. “What happened?”
“He fell down the stairs and sprained his ankle,” Cen Yu stated immediately before He Yongning could speak.
He squatted down directly in front of Pei Hengyun. “Get on, I’ll carry you on my back.”
Tears still glistened on Pei Hengyun’s face—whether from the pain or the sheer fright was impossible to tell. Yet upon hearing Cen Yu’s words, he immediately leaned over onto Cen Yu’s back.
Cen Yu hoisted him up right away.
Unexpectedly, Pei Hengyun was somewhat lighter than he had imagined.
Being locals who had lived here for years, Jiang Tuan and Yu Sheng took the lead to guide the way for Cen Yu… Yu Sheng stepped closer, looking at Cen Yu. “Do you need me to give you a hand?”
Cen Yu shook his head, throwing a glance at Jiang Tuan, who was walking ahead in a hurry.
This isn’t right. At a time like this, shouldn’t Jiang Tuan be the one scrambling to carry Pei Hengyun on his back?
He Yongning brushed the dust off his knees, staring at the receding backs of the group. “He got away.”
He knew it. Pei Hengyun would never obediently play basketball with them. Although he couldn’t quite pinpoint what had gone wrong yet, Pei Hengyun’s behavior was indeed completely different from his memory…
He cast a glance at his reflection in the shattered mirror.
Could there really be such a coincidence in this world?
