Chapter 98: Transmigrated as a Fraudulent Male Streamer (22)
Cen Yu looked at the message on his phone, not surprised by the news in the slightest.
He had originally asked Little Le to look into it purely out of curiosity regarding Pei Hengyun’s identity—after all, according to the memories of his former classmates, the present-day Pei Hengyun was indeed quite different from the person in their recollections.
However, it was right after realizing the conditions required for the “ghost” in this world to touch other people that Cen Yu realized once more that something was amiss.
—Logically speaking, Pei Hengyun was supposed to be the person most terrified of ghosts in this entire instance.
So why was it that, whether in the original novel or right now, Pei Hengyun had never once actually run into that “ghost” from start to finish?
Or could it be that he himself was the very ghost haunting the entire story?
Right on cue, the fat cat returned to his mind and began communicating with him—
“Ahem, I managed to lobby for you.”
“The current instance objectives have been updated to—”
As the fat cat spoke, a series of task bars materialized in Cen Yu’s field of vision—
[Task 1: Uncover the truth of the instance: Who am “I”?]
[Task 2: Rewrite everyone’s fate.]
[Task 3: Grant “Xinyu’s” wish.]
Cen Yu scanned the three newly issued tasks. Compared to the pure roleplay before, perhaps because this was a short horror-suspense instance, it now carried a bit more of a puzzle-solving flavor.
“If I complete these three tasks, I can leave this instance?” Cen Yu asked.
The fat cat nodded, but sensing someone approaching outside, it vanished from Cen Yu’s mind in an instant—
“Little Yu,” Pei Hengyun’s voice echoed from outside. “Are you done?”
“Do you need to use the bathroom?” Cen Yu slipped his phone back into his pocket without batting an eye, then hit the flush button beside him. “All done.”
Walking over to open the bathroom door, he saw Pei Hengyun slowly hopping over while leaning against the wall.
Under the light, Pei Hengyun still looked just as he did in Cen Yu’s memory, carrying a slightly gentle, melancholy aura. Looking at Cen Yu, he noticed the man’s expression was completely unchanged… Unsure of how much Cen Yu actually knew, he maintained his previous persona. “Jiang Tuan was calling us down for dinner just now.”
Cen Yu checked the time and saw that it was already 6:00 PM.
It was indeed dinnertime.
He nodded, washed his hands, and said to Pei Hengyun, “Let’s go.”
Cen Yu extended his arm. “I’ll support you.”
Pei Hengyun took hold of Cen Yu’s arm, leaning his entire body weight onto Cen Yu as if he were truly that fragile and unable to care for himself… The moment he felt Pei Hengyun’s body press close to his, Cen Yu caught the nearly freezing temperature coming off the man.
It caused his body to shudder reflexively.
Pei Hengyun seemed to notice Cen Yu’s unnatural reaction. Being slightly taller than Cen Yu to begin with, his arm was draped over Cen Yu’s shoulder right now. Squinting his eyes slightly, he looked down at Cen Yu. “What’s wrong?”
He knew Cen Yu was pretending not to have noticed anything, but it didn’t matter—he had plenty of patience and could wait for a long, long time.
“Nothing,” Cen Yu said.
“I just feel like you’re quite a bit heavier than you were this afternoon.”
“…” Pei Hengyun naturally knew this was just an excuse on Cen Yu’s part.
Cen Yu wasn’t about to lay his cards on the table with Pei Hengyun right now. He dutifully supported Pei Hengyun as they made their way downstairs. It was right at this moment that he caught the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.
A few seconds later, He Yongning’s figure appeared at the third-floor stairwell.
“Let me help you guys,” He Yongning said with a nod.
He stepped over and supported Pei Hengyun’s other arm, seemingly aiming to relieve Cen Yu of some of Pei Hengyun’s weight.
The smile on Pei Hengyun’s face remained unchanged, yet the depths of his eyes overflowed with malice… But very quickly, he smiled again. “Thank you.”
Supporting half of Pei Hengyun’s body, Cen Yu prepared to help him down the stairs alongside He Yongning. Still wearing a simple T-shirt, the hem of his top inevitably rode up as he raised his arm to hold Pei Hengyun—
“Hss…”
Cen Yu suddenly sucked in a cold breath.
“What is it?” He Yongning looked over at him past Pei Hengyun.
“…” Cen Yu really didn’t know how to explain it to He Yongning.
Was he supposed to yell out that he was being groped by a ghost?!
That wretched ghost hand had taken the opportunity to creep onto his lower abdomen again, its fingers continuously tracing the tattoo on his skin, showing an increasingly line-crossing tendency.
“Little Yu, what’s wrong?” A look of genuine concern washed over Pei Hengyun’s face, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
“Heh, nothing.”
“Just got groped by a dog,” Cen Yu said, giving himself another mental suggestion!
Vixen spirit, vixen spirit, vixen spirit!
A fox is a canine too!
Unsure whether his self-hypnosis had taken effect once more, the hand vanished without a trace shortly after… Cen Yu silently cursed Pei Hengyun for being so handsy. To think he had previously assumed this guy was pure and undefiled like a celestial descending to earth, living off morning dew alone without a shred of basic human desire.
Turns out he was a pervert ghost reincarnated—devoid of human desires, but packed to the brim with perverted ghost desires!
“?” Hearing Cen Yu’s words, He Yongning was confused at first, but then immediately recalled the scene he had witnessed back at the old house.
Could “Xinyu” have appeared again?
Pei Hengyun naturally understood Cen Yu’s indirect insult. He asked Cen Yu with an earnest expression, “Do dogs touch people too?”
“I thought they only licked people?”
“…” What do you mean by that, kid?
Cen Yu looked at Pei Hengyun’s serious face, when out of nowhere, he felt something cold and soft brush against the back of his neck.
His shoulders hitched reflexively. Just as he was about to burst out cursing, meeting Pei Hengyun’s smiling face made him suppress the urge once more, brainwashing himself in his mind again—
Vixen spirit, vixen spirit, vixen spirit!
There are no ghosts, there are no ghosts! I am a staunch atheist!
By the time the three arrived in the living room, they found a few simple home-cooked dishes already set out on the dining table.
Cen Yu glanced at Jiang Tuan, who was busy hustling around. “You cooked?”
Jiang Tuan paused for a second, untying the apron around his waist. “Yeah.” He looked at Cen Yu. “Just some simple home-cooked food.”
“Sit down and eat first.”
So the three took their seats one by one. Jiang Tuan served rice for everyone before turning to He Yongning. “That thing you asked me to look for this afternoon—I searched for a long time and couldn’t find it.”
He wore a troubled expression. “I think it might be back at the old house.”
The moment Cen Yu heard Jiang Tuan’s words, he instantly understood what he was referring to.
It was clearly the remaining half of the Polaroid photo.
Just as He Yongning was about to stop him from continuing, he heard Pei Hengyun ask out of curiosity, “What are you looking for? That you need to go back to the old house for?”
Jiang Tuan instinctively wanted to say that it was the Polaroid photo they had taken back in the day with the volunteer teacher.
Yet the instant he opened his mouth, a hazy image surfaced in his mind.
It was a memory of him, He Yongning, Yu Sheng, and Pei Hengyun posing together with peace signs in front of the teacher’s camera.
No… that’s not right…
Jiang Tuan looked at Pei Hengyun, who was currently sitting between Cen Yu and He Yongning under the living room light with a pleasant smile. An unfamiliar, jarring sensation suddenly welled up deep within his heart—
Was my classmate back then really Pei Hengyun?
