In Order To Ascend, I Became A Modern Wage Slave - Chapter 08: The Cherished Immortal Lord (7)

Chapter 08: The Cherished Immortal Lord (7)

 

The young man turned his gaze toward him, and Xi Yu immediately stepped back, indicating he had nothing to do with him. He then nodded toward Luo Yang and said, “Ask him.”

 

The young man smiled and looked at him. “How do you know I’m asking you?”

 

“A feeling,” Xi Yu replied. “Does it matter who you’re asking? I’m the only one who can answer you anyway, right?”

 

Two gazes instantly focused on Luo Yang, who was momentarily stunned. “Huh?”

 

“Speak,” two voices said at the same time.

 

“You’re this kid’s brother, right?” Luo Yang, out of habit developed in the business world, greeted first before continuing the conversation.

 

Unexpectedly, the young man chuckled and denied it. “No, I’m not.”

 

Caught off guard by the unconventional response, Luo Yang froze.

 

“You can’t call me Uncle either. I’m still young,” the young man shrugged and took the initiative to explain. “I’m the caregiver their family hired.”

 

“Oh, oh, oh!”

 

Luo Yang was puzzled—weren’t caregivers usually older women in their fifties or sixties? How did such a young man end up in this role? As if reading his mind, the young man added, “Mainly to look after this little one. She just started third grade this year and can barely recognize a few words.”

 

Suddenly enlightened, Luo Yang sized up the young man again. “A tutor, huh?” The young man nodded. Luo Yang’s occupational habit kicked in, and he started chattering, “You’re probably a college student, right? Which school? What year? How did you get into tutoring? Did they find you directly, or did you join a company for part-time work?”

 

“Just the nearby Hua University, fourth year,” the young man replied politely, answering each question. “I joined a tutoring agency. Picked a random one nearby. I think it’s called something like ‘I Teach Great’—sorry, I don’t remember clearly. As for why, partly for the money and also…”

 

The young man hesitated and then happened to meet Xi Yu’s gaze. Xi Yu looked away, focusing on the child.

 

The young man said, “I’m pretty good at teaching kids.”

 

Luo Yang froze halfway through the young man’s explanation, then exclaimed, “Oh, my God!”

 

The reason for his reaction was the name of the company the young man had mentioned—it turned out to be one he owned! The full name was I Teach Great, You Learn Better! He had just been contemplating whether to recruit the young man as a teacher. What a coincidence!

 

“?”

 

“?”

 

Xi Yu saw the same puzzled expression on the child’s face as his own. The next moment, the child spoke up, “Weren’t we just talking about why the door is closed? Can you two not go off-topic? That bad man is still in my mom’s room!”

 

“…”

 

Alright, so he was the only one genuinely confused.

 

Luo Yang quickly explained everything to the young man, who didn’t seem particularly shocked. However, he did glance at Xi Yu a few more times during the explanation.

 

“What if it’s not hysteria, and what he said is true?” the young man offered an unconventional perspective. Xi Yu, noticing something amiss nearby, paused and folded his arms, watching him. “Oh?”

 

The “oh” sounded encouraging, so the young man continued with his theory. “I read a few novels recently, and this situation feels similar. Maybe he can only accomplish something in this place. Or perhaps someone here needs him to solve something.”

 

“In other words, it’s a forced alignment of timing, location, and people.”

 

Luo Yang, though not unfamiliar with books, was skeptical. “It’s fine in stories, but in real life, isn’t that a bit far-fetched?”

 

The young man shrugged. “Sometimes, the only way to understand reality is to look at it through the lens of the unreal. There’s always someone better, something beyond what we know. Why restrict yourself and invite unnecessary trouble?”

 

Luo Yang had no response to that and scratched his head. “You must be a literature major.”

 

The young man replied, “No, I study computer science.”

 

“…”

 

Xi Yu weighed the young man’s words and asked, “So, according to your theory, which category do you think I fall into?”

 

The young man shrugged again. “I wouldn’t know.” Xi Yu was about to press further, but the young man cut him off.

 

“Alright, I’m done talking to you.”

 

“?”

 

You chatted idly with him for so long, but when I ask serious questions, you won’t talk to me?

 

Are you targeting me?

 

What did I ever do to you?

 

Ignoring Xi Yu’s piercing glare, the young man pulled out his phone and started typing. “How much did you pay them? Six sixty-six?”

 

“Eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight!” Luo Yang gestured the number eight with his hands.

 

The young man’s hand paused, and Luo Yang thought he saw the corner of his mouth twitch. After rubbing his eyes, Luo Yang assumed he was mistaken. The young man handed him the phone. “Take a good look.”

 

——Fraud Alert! They’re scamming people! Some elderly folks might not understand their cryptic words, so I’ll spell it out: this is a scam! That Taoist temple closed down over a decade ago!

 

——Damn it, my grandma was scammed out of thirty thousand! That was my grandpa’s life-saving money! Scammers, may your whole family rot!

 

“So?”

 

“Huh?” The young man, confused, checked his phone again to confirm what he had shown Luo Yang. “Didn’t you understand? You got scammed.”

 

“I know! I was just lamenting the money I lost. Luckily, I only paid half as a deposit,” Luo Yang finally reacted, his emotions surging. “Damn it! I’m going in there now to drag that fraud to the police!”

 

“Calm down.” The young man blocked Luo Yang, rationally explaining, “We’re on the fifteenth floor. He can’t run. If you rush in recklessly and disturb the patient, it’ll only make things worse.”

 

“Oh, oh, oh!” Luo Yang nearly forgot they were in a hospital. Seeing the young man’s composed demeanor, he humbly asked for guidance. “So, should we wait by the door for him to come out?”

 

“That’s one way, but there’s something more urgent to handle first.”

 

Seeing the young man’s serious expression, Luo Yang eagerly asked, “What’s the urgent matter?”

 

“Find the child.”

 

Noticing their confused gazes, the young man looked even more puzzled and asked in return, “Didn’t you notice it’s much quieter here now?”

 

Xi Yu glanced downward. “Where’s the child?”

 

The child was supposed to be in third grade, likely around ten years old, but her small stature made her look more like a five- or six-year-old. Severely underdeveloped, she was easy to overlook when quiet.

 

The young man sighed. “She said she saw someone familiar and went to find them. She was in my line of sight earlier, but while I checked my phone, she disappeared.”

 

“…” Xi Yu silently praised him, “Impressive.”

 

Luo Yang panicked. “What are we waiting for? Let’s find the kid!”

 

As Xi Yu took a step, the young man stopped him. “You stay here. I’ll go with him.”

 

“Why?”

 

Xi Yu felt targeted by the young man but lacked evidence. The young man explained, “The child’s afraid of you. If you go, you might scare her, which won’t help. You stay here to keep an eye on the fraud inside and prevent him from escaping.”

 

Luo Yang agreed, “Yes, yes, yes!”

 

Xi Yu accepted this, leaning against the door frame and folding his arms, seemingly upset. He maintained the same posture, staring at the hazy window.

 

Neither noticed anything unusual before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

 

What exactly was happening inside? Why couldn’t he see anything?

 

Xi Yu placed his hand on the doorknob and pressed down experimentally.

 

When it didn’t budge, he applied more force.

 

Crack!

 

The doorknob broke.

 

The noise startled the person inside, who finally opened the door. The portly man rudely poked his head out. It seemed his work wasn’t finished, and he had no intention of letting Xi Yu enter. His face was full of rage and indignation. “Just a little longer! Now get lost—”

 

Before he could finish, his head was seized, and a powerful force pushed him backward. The portly man tried to slam the door on Xi Yu’s hand to stop him from entering, but Xi Yu wedged his foot in. The door slammed repeatedly but couldn’t move him an inch.

 

Halfway through, Xi Yu grew tired of the struggle. With a burst of strength, he sent the man stumbling backward, landing heavily on the floor.

 

Xi Yu shut the door with a loud bang and scanned the room.

 

The walls were plastered with a chaotic array of eerie talismans. He approached and tore one off. The portly man rushed to stop him. “Hey, hey, hey! Don’t touch that!”

 

“What is this?” Xi Yu asked.

 

“A talisman!” The man warned sternly. “It’s a summoning talisman! Put it back! Do you still want to leave this place? Only after her soul is summoned back can you leave! Understand?”

 

Every time he performed a “ritual,” he adhered to a strict set of principles: the more serious the situation sounded, the more serious he made it out to be; the more complicated it could seem, the more convoluted he made it. The longer the process dragged on, the more effort it appeared to require. People nowadays fell for this kind of thing. If he simply opened and closed his eyes, declaring it done, they would suspect him of being a fraud instead.

 

“I don’t understand. Where did you learn this?”

 

It was evident that this wasn’t a soul-summoning talisman. Proper soul-summoning required drawing a formation. When Xiyu entered earlier and looked around, the walls were plastered haphazardly with random symbols, and the floor was a mess too. Studying the talisman closely, Xiyu examined its markings and recalled his knowledge carefully.

 

The conman spat in irritation and scolded, “If you don’t understand, don’t mess with it!”

 

Xiyu frowned, clearly unimpressed. The disdain on his face was palpable. Although the man was a fraud, he was used to being respected wherever he went. This blatant disrespect made him furious.

 

The conman lunged forward to snatch the talisman from Xiyu’s hand. Just as he was about to revel in his success, Xiyu grabbed him by the neck in an instant, dragging him backward with overpowering force until his head hit the wall with a dull thud. The conman winced, gritting his teeth in pain.

 

Xiyu finally remembered—this wasn’t a soul-summoning talisman at all. It was a ghost-summoning talisman!

 

Back then, one of the first things he had learned was to distinguish between various types of talismans. Since most were related to ghosts, identifying and avoiding them was essential.

 

Looking at the chaotic mess of talismans covering the walls, Xiyu realized that if these were indeed activated, they might summon a ghost king. What then? Unlike the woman in the hospital bed, who wouldn’t cause trouble if ignored, this entity would certainly come after him.

 

If disturbed, the ghost would cling to him, and in such a case, forget about staying in this hospital—he wouldn’t be safe even in a spiritually fortified location. His dream of transcending to the celestial realm would be over.

 

What was this man’s intent? Was it deliberate?

 

Xiyu’s tone turned harsh. “If you don’t want to die, you’d better tell me honestly—where did you learn these talismans, and what exactly are you trying to do?”

 

Sensing the danger, the conman forced a fake smile, raising his hands in surrender. “It really is just a soul-summoning talisman! Why would I lie to you? I’ve been drawing them for years. I know what they are!”

 

People often pretended to be weak to deceive others. The best way to uncover the truth was to apply a bit of pressure. Once they felt the pain, their mouths would open, and the real story would come out.

 

“Fine, fine! I’ll talk! I’ll talk! It was him! He’s the one who drew it!”

 

The conman’s trembling hand pointed behind him. Suddenly, a sense of pressure filled the air. Xiyu turned around, only to see a slender figure standing silently behind him.

 

The figure, having appeared out of nowhere, lifted a chair high and swung it down forcefully.