Chapter 10: My House is Haunted! (Patreon)

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The middle-aged woman's angry scolding didn't ignite any anger in Yang Haoran's heart. Instead, he felt a sense of relief.

Those who haven't experienced such eerie occurrences probably couldn't understand Yang Haoran's current state of mind. In such situations, just seeing another living person was a relief for him, providing some relief to his tense nerves. Whether the other person was scolding him or praising him didn't matter anymore.

Of course, being disturbed by ghostly noises and lost lighters in the middle of the night, no one would praise him. Not having a beer bottle thrown at him would already be considered fortunate.

After the middle-aged woman finished her tirade and slammed the window shut, whether she was busy with her so-called business or had other matters to attend to was unknown.

Yang Haoran breathed out heavily, licked his dry lips, and without a word, continued briskly towards the location of his storefront.

Returning home, Yang Haoran finally felt relaxed, his tense nerves finally eased.

"Walk long in the night, meet ghosts for sure. Didn't expect this day to come so soon," Yang Haoran muttered to himself as he poured a cup of hot water.

Yang Haoran had a habit of playing with his phone before bed, watching supernatural videos online, flipping through some paranormal material for study. But tonight, he didn't continue this habit. Joking aside, he was nearly scared to death. He had no mood to watch those things.

Actually, it wasn't surprising that Yang Haoran was a bit timid. As the saying goes, "Great skill makes one bold." Those who are bold usually have some skills to rely on and confidence in themselves. But Yang Haoran was different; he was just a charlatan, good at deceiving people, without any real abilities. It would be strange if he wasn't afraid.

To be blunt, the former belonged to the impressive, while he belonged to the pretentious, just a little better than being a fool.

Another reason Yang Haoran was easily frightened was because of his exposure to such things. The more he encountered, the more he understood various supernatural events. Once he encountered something inexplicable, his brain would automatically fill in the gaps, making it even scarier. And he naturally had a fear of the unknown, so he was easily frightened.

After drinking a cup of hot water, listening to a few cheerful songs, and smoking a few cigarettes, he felt somewhat better.

"The house is still too empty. I should find a chance to get a dog, no, get two. With them around, I'll have company," Yang Haoran planned in his mind.

Why dogs instead of cats? Well, he was startled by that big black cat tonight. Now, whenever he saw a cat, he had an urge to beat it up. How could he possibly keep such a pet? Besides, cats are annoying when they're in heat, just like a baby's crying in the middle of the night, giving people the creeps.

With these thoughts in mind, planning ahead, fueled by the lingering effects of alcohol, his brain foggy, he fell asleep on the bed.

He didn't sleep soundly; he had all sorts of nightmares throughout the night. He even woke up once in the middle, then remained in a half-asleep, half-awake state, which was quite distressing.

After some time, in a daze, he seemed to hear someone knocking on the door. At first, he thought it was just a hallucination, that he misheard, so he didn't pay any attention, covering his head with the thick blanket and continued sleeping.

But the knocking didn't stop, instead, it became more forceful, and the frequency increased. This time, even though Yang Haoran covered his head with the blanket, he heard it clearly. Indeed, someone was knocking on the door.

When this roll-up door was knocked, it made quite a noisy commotion. With a little force, the noise increased. Even if Yang Haoran was in a half-asleep state, he would definitely be awakened by the noise.

Feeling annoyed, Yang Haoran wondered who was knocking so persistently. Somewhat disgruntled, he threw off the blanket covering his head and grabbed his phone from beside the pillow, taking a glance. What he saw made him pause.

"Wow, it's almost twelve o'clock. I was half asleep and slept so long," he muttered disbelievingly. Yang Haoran got up from the bed, and the moment he left the blanket, he shivered from the cold.

Hastily dressing himself, Yang Haoran responded to the person knocking outside as he walked towards the roll-up door.

"I'm coming, who is it?"

As he reached the roll-up door, without hesitation, he pulled it up.

The weather outside was nice today, with bright sunlight. When Yang Haoran's body felt the sunlight outside, he instinctively closed his eyes and put his hands up to shield his eyes from the sun.

A person stood outside the roll-up door. However, due to the discomfort in his eyes, Yang Haoran didn't immediately see who it was, not even distinguishing whether it was a human or an animal.

After closing his eyes several times, Yang Haoran finally adjusted and saw clearly who it was.

The person was a girl. She had an anxious look on her face, but upon seeing the roll-up door open, a hint of a smile appeared on her anxious face, though it seemed a bit forced.

"Master Yang, hello, I..."

The woman hadn't finished her sentence when Yang Haoran, yawning, asked, "What do you want to buy?"

"No, no, no, I'm not here to buy anything," the woman hurriedly waved her hand, speaking up.

"Not here to buy anything?" Yang Haoran looked puzzled, chuckled, and asked, "If you're not here to buy anything, why are you knocking so urgently?"

As he spoke, Yang Haoran took a bottle of drink from the shelf, twisted the cap open, and began chugging it down. After drinking too much alcohol, he was particularly thirsty after waking up, and he really craved something sweet, even though it wasn't good for his stomach at the moment, it felt good.

"I came to find Master Yang to exorcise ghosts. It seems like... my house... it seems haunted," the woman said hesitantly.

"Pfft!!!" Yang Haoran sprayed the drink from his mouth upon hearing the woman's words, choking a bit.

Seeing this, the woman quickly handed him a tissue, and he mumbled a vague thank you as he took it and wiped himself. After cleaning up, Yang Haoran carefully examined the girl in front of him.

The woman looked young, around sixteen or seventeen, petite, about five feet tall, with fair skin and a doll-like face, very cute. However, her face seemed tired and worn-out now, with dark circles under her eyes, obviously due to lack of rest.

Feeling a bit embarrassed under Yang Haoran's scrutiny, the tired woman forced a smile on her haggard face.

"What did you just say? Your house is haunted?" Yang Haoran asked to confirm.

Upon hearing Yang Haoran's question, the forced smile on the woman's face froze, and after a moment of hesitation, she quickly nodded, speaking pitifully, "My house is really haunted, oh no, not my house, it's the house I rented. It's very scary, Master Yang, you must help me."

Upon hearing this, Yang Haoran neither gave a definite answer nor a negative one. Instead, he smiled and said, "You sit here for a while. I'll freshen up and come out. Then you can tell me more in detail."

The woman wanted to say something more, but hearing Yang Haoran's words, she didn't object. After all, at this moment, Yang Haoran indeed looked unkempt, with messy hair, looking like a beggar.

To be honest, at this moment, Yang Haoran's appearance had some similarities to the woman. The woman had dark circles under her eyes, and Yang Haoran, who hadn't slept well all night, also had dark circles, though not as severe as the woman's. After all, Yang Haoran just didn't sleep well last night, while the woman probably hadn't slept well for a long time.

Besides the dark circles, Yang Haoran, who hadn't slept well all night, looked tired, and in the short time he spent with the woman, he had already yawned several times. In contrast, although the woman didn't yawn repeatedly, her face looked exhausted, lacking vitality.

Yang Haoran went into the green curtain and started to freshen up noisily. The woman didn't sit down outside but waited anxiously. Fortunately, Yang Haoran didn't keep her waiting for too long. In less than ten minutes, Yang Haoran came out from behind the curtain.

Although the dark circles were still visible, compared to before, Yang Haoran looked much more energetic now.

"Have you eaten?" Yang Haoran asked the woman.

The woman didn't speak, just shook her head.

"I came here before dawn. Since it's too early, I didn't knock on the door for fear of disturbing your rest. But waiting till noon and seeing you hadn't opened the door, I thought you weren't at home. The reason I knocked just now was just to confirm if you were home. So..."

"I see." As Yang Haoran spoke, he took two packs of instant noodles from the shelf and said, "I don't have much here, and it's too late to cook now. You'll have to make do with this."

The woman didn't refuse; she was indeed quite hungry. Looking a bit embarrassed, she apologized, "Let me treat you, Master. I'm really sorry for bothering you today."

As she spoke, the woman took out a ten New Genesis Coin note from her bag and handed it to Yang Haoran. However, he didn't take it, smiling as he said, "It's just a pack of instant noodles. You don't need to do this. If you want to add ham, then I'll charge you."

A faint smile appeared on the woman's haggard face. This smile wasn't forced but genuine, as she was amused by Yang Haoran's words.

"Then I'll add a slice of ham, and I'll treat Master too." With that, the woman was about to take out more money from her bag but was stopped by Yang Haoran.

"No need. We're out of stock anyway. Let's just make do for now, and then I'll handle your matter," Yang Haoran said.

The woman had wanted to insist, but upon hearing that Yang Haoran would handle her matter after eating, her expression changed, a hint of fear flashing in her eyes. She didn't continue to insist and simply nodded gently.

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Next Chapter ->Chapter 11: Dreams and Reality