Chapter Seventy-Eight: Encountering a Living Ghost

It was already ten in the morning by the time she finally finished crying. They say women are made of water, and that couldn’t be more true. No matter how heartbroken, half an hour of tears would be enough for most people, but Pei Xi managed to weep for an entire morning, her tears flowing as if they cost nothing.

After putting away Fang Yuan’s phone, Pei Xi finally stood up. She had been half-squatting the whole time, and by now her legs were completely numb. The moment she tried to stand, she wobbled unsteadily and nearly fell forward.

“Careful!”

Just as she was about to collapse, a voice came from ahead, and a pair of strong hands caught her by the arm, keeping her from falling.

Her eyes were still blurry from crying so long; she couldn’t make out the person in front of her.

“Who are you…?” Pei Xi rubbed her eyes, trying to see the man standing before her.

“You just spent all that time crying over me, and now you ask who I am?” Seeing her rub her eyes, Fang Yuan couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fang Yuan? Did I cry so hard I moved heaven and earth?” Hearing his voice, Pei Xi was still in a daze.

Realizing Fang Yuan was standing in front of her, her first thought was that she had seen a ghost—perhaps the heavens, moved by her sorrow, had sent his spirit to bid her a final farewell.

“What nonsense are you talking about? I’m perfectly fine,” Fang Yuan said, barely suppressing a smile, doing his best to look serious.

He truly couldn’t understand how a woman could cry so much.

Looking at her swollen, watery eyes, puffed up like ripe peaches, he couldn’t help but scoop her into his arms.

Pei Xi still hadn’t processed what was happening. How could Fang Yuan, who was supposed to be dead, have such strength to pick her up so easily?

Hadn’t she always heard that spirits possessed no power at all? Were all those stories just lies?

The events of yesterday were so bewildering that they couldn’t be explained in a few words. Fang Yuan had no intention of making it clear right now. Seeing how exhausted she looked, he simply lifted her into his arms.

Fang Yuan didn’t know that Ke Bei had also come here later. He assumed Ke Bei was still waiting somewhere nearby, and even silently blamed him for being so inconsiderate—letting Pei Xi come here alone while hiding in the car himself.

“Fang Yuan, am I dreaming? You really aren’t dead, are you?” Ever since Fang Yuan picked her up, Pei Xi hadn’t looked away from his face, gazing at him so intently that Fang Yuan almost wanted to set her down.

“That’s right. Surely you know that ghosts have no warmth?” Holding Pei Xi was effortless for him, but her persistent gaze made it far more difficult.

He was a young, healthy man—nothing could be healthier. Yet being stared at like that, the sweat on his body began to pour like her tears had just moments before.

At his words, Pei Xi actually pressed her face against his chest, earnestly trying to feel his temperature.

But she felt not only his warmth, but the steady, powerful thrum of his heartbeat.

“Fang Yuan, can you tell me what’s going on? Oh, and have you seen Ke Bei?” Now that she was sure he was alive and not a ghost, Pei Xi finally relaxed.

She suddenly remembered something important, so she didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed by her earlier actions.

In fact, it was Fang Yuan who was flustered by her behavior, his mind going blank, barely registering her words.

“Huh? What did you say?” He hadn’t quite caught what Pei Xi said, only that she mentioned Ke Bei’s name, so he asked again.

“I said, have you seen Ke Bei?” Pei Xi repeated softly, her voice low as she stared into the distance. “We waited for you for hours and you never showed. We were worried you’d run into trouble. Ke Bei went off to look for you alone, while I drove to find a friend of his to help. You haven’t seen him?”

Seeing Fang Yuan’s face grow serious, Pei Xi felt her heart sink.

“This whole thing… is really hard to explain,” Fang Yuan admitted, still confused about his own situation. “You said you went to find Ke Bei’s friend for help—where are they?”

When Fang Yuan arrived, he’d only seen Pei Xi crouched there in tears; there was no one else around.

“Those people just took a quick look around, found nothing, and left in their helicopter,” Pei Xi said, still angry at the memory. In the critical moment, Ke Bei had pinned his hopes on Li Mingbo, but Li Mingbo had let him down.

“Helicopter? You mean those four helicopters this morning?” Fang Yuan asked. He had been unconscious, but the roar of the choppers that morning had roused him.

“Yes, you saw them too? Where were you?” Pei Xi’s question held no reproach for not coming sooner; it simply meant he hadn’t been far away. She just didn’t understand why he had only appeared now.

“Well… Actually, I’ve been here for a while. You just didn’t see me,” Fang Yuan mumbled. Pei Xi had been so lost in her grief, she hadn’t noticed someone standing behind her all along.

Pei Xi briefly recounted Li Mingbo’s actions to him. Fang Yuan himself had seen the chaos inside the factory just now—it was nothing like what he’d witnessed the day before.

Overnight, those buildings had been reduced to ruins, and Fang Yuan had been there at the time. But he couldn’t remember why, after being in the factory, he’d woken up on the beach.

The shore wasn’t far; the sound of helicopters had woken him, and he’d found himself lying on the sand, his clothes reeking of the sea.

He remembered being drenched from head to toe the night before, so he assumed it was seawater that gave him that smell.

“I think we ought to go back and have another look.” Fang Yuan set Pei Xi down—not because he was tired, but because if he held her any longer, he feared his heart might give out from racing so hard.