Raising a Wife in a Supernatural World [Infinite] – CH22

Chapter 22: Spook High (22)

After their eyes held for a few moments, Qin Fu’an looked away first. His lashes lowered slightly, as though he were giving the question earnest, measured thought.

Why drag Xie Yunhuai along and protect him at every turn?

Simply because they were deskmates?

Or… for other reasons that couldn’t be voiced aloud?

Xie Yunhuai waited with patient stillness. In truth, he didn’t even know what kind of answer he wanted—or was secretly hoping—to hear.

Just as he didn’t know why he had followed Qin Fu’an out of that classroom without putting up the slightest resistance.

His mind drifted back to the moment that monstrous horror had lunged forward, and how Qin Fu’an had shoved him out of harm’s way without a second thought.

Before he could dwell on the memory, Qin Fu’an’s amused voice cut through the freezing night air.

“Because I saw your soul.”

Xie Yunhuai turned back to him, startled.

A smile danced in Qin Fu’an’s eyes as he said softly to the bewildered youth, “Your soul is very lively. A bit silly, sure, but I like it.”

Xie Yunhuai: “…”

Beneath Qin Fu’an’s direct gaze, the confusion on the boy’s face twisted into deep, offended bewilderment.

He held Qin Fu’an’s stare, brows drawn tight. After three seconds of silence, he blurted out, “Are you calling me stupid?”

Qin Fu’an fell silent, then leaned his back against the icy brick wall with a quiet chuckle. “So Student Xie doesn’t space out after all. You just take a bit longer to think things through.”

Even if the conclusion he reached was a little off the mark.

Still, this stubborn, gullible version of Xie Yunhuai looked far more like those silly, delightfully lively soul fragments of his.

Xie Yunhuai detected no malice in Qin Fu’an’s voice.

Yet his brows remained knitted in a sharp, displeased scowl.

He despised being called unintelligent in any way, shape, or form. Because to him, that implied he would never be able to complete his daily assignments, never pass the final Gaokao, and never graduate from Spook High.

It felt no different from being told that he, Xie Yunhuai, was doomed to be trapped in this endless cycle of exams for the rest of eternity, never to break free.

“…Angry?”

Qin Fu’an was far too attuned to the emotional shifts of those around him. The instant Xie Yunhuai’s brow furrowed, he leaned in.

The next second, a warm palm pressed firmly against the youth’s freezing forehead, sliding down to completely cover his tightly knitted brows and indignant eyes.

Darkness enveloped his vision, leaving only the distinct, searing warmth of the hand resting against his skin.

Reacting against the force pressing over his face, Xie Yunhuai jerked his head back on pure instinct. By the time he remembered the solid wall behind him, the back of his skull was already slamming into it.

Yet no crack rang out, nor did the expected throbbing pain arrive. Qin Fu’an’s other hand had slipped behind his head just in time to cushion the blow. Aside from feeling a bit cramped against the knuckles, Xie Yunhuai found himself drawn almost entirely into the man’s embrace.

He couldn’t see, but with his sight stripped away, his other senses flared with heightened clarity.

“…Let go of me,” he whispered through tight lips, flattening his back against the wall in a desperate bid to pull away from Qin Fu’an’s overwhelming proximity.

“My apologies.” Qin Fu’an stared down at those pale, tightly pressed lips. His eyes darkened a shade, yet his tone grew softer than ever. Leaning right against Xie Yunhuai’s ear, he offered a quiet, earnest amends: “I wasn’t insulting you. I was just… trying to compliment you.”

Even with his vision shrouded in pitch black, Xie Yunhuai could hear an uncanny, undeniable sincerity in Qin Fu’an’s gentle cadence—a soft coaxing that made one want to believe every word without question.

He heard Qin Fu’an say, “I wanted to say that your soul is very endearing. They’re lively, and they do so many little things behind your back when you aren’t looking. I’m quite fond of them.”

The warm breath tickling his ear paused. Before Xie Yunhuai’s strung-taut nerves could ease, an even more earnest—almost innocent—confession washed over him.

“And I’m good to you because, as their vessel and master, you’re far more endearing than they are.”

In the dizzying silence, Xie Yunhuai caught the erratic, stumbling rhythm of his own pulse.

Qin Fu’an had a knack for weaving intoxicating words out of thin air. Xie Yunhuai had known this from the start. But… this was the first time Qin Fu’an had ever directed such soft, coaxing whispers at him.

It turned out someone truly could achieve whatever they wanted with nothing more than a few words.

It turned out a single sentence truly was enough to make one’s carefully guarded defenses crumble to dust.

And so, even knowing that Qin Fu’an’s claim of ‘seeing souls’ was utterly absurd and impossible to believe, Xie Yunhuai gently closed his eyes beneath that warm palm.

Fine. I’ll just… take it as a compliment.

Xie Yunhuai whispered to himself in the quiet of his heart, the prickly thorns raised by his foul temper softening one by one into harmless velvet.

Confirming that the youth’s rigid wariness had dissolved, and feeling the knot between his brows finally smooth out, Qin Fu’an slowly withdrew his hand, shifting his body back to give Xie Yunhuai breathing room.

Settling back into his seat, Qin Fu’an glanced sideways, colliding straight with Xie Yunhuai’s conflicted, unreadable gaze.

Qin Fu’an tilted his head with an innocent, questioning look.

In response, Xie Yunhuai whipped his head away without a second thought, completely cutting off eye contact.

“?”

Qin Fu’an stared blankly at the back of the boy’s head. Glancing down at the shadowy tentacles swarming around him, he sighed helplessly, peeling the clingy tendrils off his waist and arms one by one.

It proved entirely futile. The moment he shoved one away, the tentacles swarmed eagerly right back.

Not only were they rubbing against him for affection, but they were also babbling away in an endless stream of chatter:

“He said we’re cute!!”

“Mm-hmm! We’re super cute! Cute is a compliment, so he’s very cute too!”

“B-but… I’m so hungry~ If he likes us so much, do you think he’ll let us take a little bite?”

“Oh, that’s right! We’re very nice, we’ll only take a tiny nibble, nothing big! He won’t get mad, right?”

“What’s ‘getting mad’? Is it scarier than an empty belly? Let me bite first! I want his eyes! Those green eyes are so pretty~ Green is my favorite!”

“I want the eyes too…”

“Me three! I want the pretty green eyes!”

“Quiet down, stop fighting! The prettiest, tastiest bits have to be saved for last! Let’s eat the other parts first!”

“Are you sure he won’t get mad? What if it hurts him? When I ate your head earlier, you cried from the pain.”

“Then what do we do…?”

“He smells so good, so sweet, and we’re so hungry…”

The faint smile on Qin Fu’an’s lips vanished bit by bit. Listening to the tentacles whispering among themselves about which part of him to take a bite out of first, he felt an immediate pang of regret over the honeyed praise he had just showered on the youth.

Because compared to these seemingly silly yet inherently bloodthirsty appendages, Xie Yunhuai himself was undeniably far more endearing.

Still, words spoken were like water spilled. Qin Fu’an couldn’t exactly crawl back over to Xie Yunhuai and say…

Wait.

An idea struck him. A spark of amusement rekindled in the depths of his eyes, and he reached out to give the youth’s slender shoulder a light poke.

Xie Yunhuai: “…”

Where on earth did Qin Fu’an get this infuriating habit of poking people?!

Once, twice, three times—he showed not the faintest hint of remorse or restraint!

Yet when Xie Yunhuai whipped around, brimming with indignation and ready to demand an explanation, he was met with Qin Fu’an’s aggrieved, thoroughly wronged complaint:

“I just praised them a minute ago, and now they’re plotting how to eat me alive to fill their bellies.”

Harboring more than a little mischief, Qin Fu’an leaned closer to the stunned youth, offering a helpless plea: “To keep them from actually taking a bite out of me, Student Xie, would you mind keeping them in line?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the chattering tentacles froze in place, just as dumbfounded as their host.

Huh??

H-how could he snitch?!

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all!

Yet this grievance—one that left both host and spectral limbs entirely flabbergasted—had only just begun.

Xie Yunhuai watched as Qin Fu’an reached out, pinched an invisible wisp of air near his wrist, and held it right before the boy’s nose, murmuring in a low voice: “This one says it wants to scoop out my eyes and eat them. Says they’ll probably taste as sweet as that candy you threw away.”

Xie Yunhuai: “…”

The accused tentacle: QAQ

Guilt-ridden, it slipped meekly back into Xie Yunhuai’s vessel, resolving not to show its face or provoke Qin Fu’an for the rest of the night.

Seeing this, Qin Fu’an reached toward his knee and plucked another invisible strand.

“This one says it wants to hire the pig-headed chef to stew my left leg into a pot of soup. Said it heard you say once that bone broth is the most nutritious, delicious thing in the world.”

Xie Yunhuai: “…”

His mouth opened, then snapped shut. The doubt on his face rapidly deteriorated into evasive, guilty panic.

The tentacle that had plotted to braise Qin Fu’an’s leg squirmed twice. The second Qin Fu’an released his grip, it scrambled back inside Xie Yunhuai in a blind panic.

Sensing that the wind was turning against them, several other tentacles began slinking backward on their own.

Unfortunately for them, Qin Fu’an was thoroughly wicked and moved with frightening speed. He homed in on the exact ones that had babbled the most outrageous threats, listing their crimes one by one. Even when the culprits had already vanished back into the boy’s body, Qin Fu’an took full advantage of the fact that Xie Yunhuai couldn’t see the soul realm, continuing his dramatic presentation by holding empty air and laying out every offense with absolute gravity.

Charge after charge, confession after confession. The burning indignation in Xie Yunhuai’s chest was thoroughly smothered. His face flushed bright crimson as he held his breath, gaze darting wildly while he curled his slender limbs tightly inward. He wished nothing more than for a crack to split the concrete so he could vanish beneath the roof on the spot.

The reason was devastatingly simple: every single one of those absurd thoughts… had crossed Xie Yunhuai’s own mind at one point or another.

Qin Fu’an had listed dozens of grievances, and not a single one was fabricated…

Click here to download the full novel (PDF & EPUB)