Shocking! A master of metaphysics has been mind-reading!

Cao Niannian suddenly looked out the window.

The normal road now looked abnormal, because there were no other cars on the road except for hers!

Soon, Cao Niannian's previously anxious heart completely died.

She realized that the bus she was on was practically floating! It drifted silently to one stop after another, no wonder it didn't make a sound!

The passengers boarded the bus with blank expressions, like puppets on strings. After swaying and sitting in their assigned seats, they remained still.

From the moment she got on the bus, no one got off!

Realizing that the route was getting increasingly wrong, Cao Niannian immediately got up.

Unexpectedly, her simple action attracted the attention of everyone on the bus. As if they were remotely controlled, they all turned to face her the moment she stood up, staring at her expressionlessly.

Even the passengers in the front row turned their heads and stared at her!

It’s over! It’s over! It’s over!

Cao Niannian's heart jumped into her throat, her breath caught in her throat, and she was so scared that she dared not breathe.

She nervously scanned her surroundings, carefully moving step by step toward the back door, while the eyes of the other "people" in the car followed her every move.

Cao Niannian completely broke down. She shouted, "Stop the car! Stop the car! I want to get out! I want to get out!"

She looked down at her phone, wanting to call for help, but found that there was no signal at all, and she couldn't even dial 110.

The car stopped, but only the front door was open; the back door remained closed. The driver was picking up the newlyweds.

Cao Niannian rushed towards the front door like a madwoman, only to find that all the passengers who had been sitting blankly in the car had stood up and blocked her way. They were still facing her and staring at her.

The car was getting colder and colder, and a thin layer of fog rose up inside, making it difficult for her to see clearly.

Slowly, the "people" blocking her way started laughing, their mouths splitting to their cheeks, their smiles eerie and sinister.

Cao Niannian was already terrified and tears were streaming down her face.

There was only one thought in my mind: get off the bus, rush off the bus!

She looked at the front door that was about to close, made a fierce decision, closed her eyes, and was about to rush through.

Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed. After the initial shock, the warm touch on her wrist made her want to turn around instantly.

But the person behind her grabbed her chin, preventing her from turning around.

"Don't look back, the light will go out."

The familiar voice, like the first ray of light at dawn, shone brightly into her ears, and Cao Niannian immediately found her anchor.

This is Master Xia's voice.

Cao Niannian noticed that those who had been staring at her were now all looking behind her.

The front door closed, and the car continued to drift forward. Cao Niannian was extremely nervous and covered in cold sweat.

"Don't be afraid," the person behind you comforted you. "I'm here."

Tears streamed down her face. Cao Niannian felt as if she were caught between heaven and hell, one step away from life, the other from death.

When the car pulled into the station again, all the "people" who had been grinning suddenly stopped laughing.

In a moment of tension, Cao Niannian's wrist was tugged. "Of course, you have to get out of the car from the back door."

As she spoke, the person behind her pulled her around, and she turned around to stand side by side with Master Xia at the back door.

"Hey driver, open the door, we want to get off."

Master Xia's carefree tone, accompanied by her uniquely cool voice, echoed throughout the entire bus. Cao Niannian noticed that the other passengers on the bus were now crowding around them.

Just as she was so nervous that her legs went weak, the person next to her said again, "Hey, Old Li, if I really start fighting, you'll have wasted this whole trip. If you had just asked me about my exploits beforehand, you wouldn't have kept me on the truck for so long. Oh, by the way, you all call me Xia Wange, the Living Dead, here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the car's back door was opened instantly.

Cao Niannian was pulled off the car.

The moment her feet touched the ground, all the surrounding sounds returned instantly: car horns, frogs croaking, the rustling of leaves in the wind. Never before had she felt these sounds so beautiful.

They were in a relatively remote, undeveloped plaza. Across from the plaza was a stretch of undeveloped wasteland. It was outside the city limits, but not too far, just the suburbs, and there were still quite a few cars on the road.

Her legs gave way, and Cao Niannian knelt on the ground, panting heavily, only then realizing that she had come back to life.

Xia Wange squatted down, unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to her. "Drink some water, calm down. You're fine now, it's safe."

She originally intended to do a light run at night, but before she knew it, she ended up at the night market. After eating giant fried squid, tornado potatoes, and stinky tofu, she took a casual stroll to digest. However, after walking only two blocks, she seemed to have stumbled upon another food stall and ended up eating a box of fruit salad, a cup of milk tea, and an ice cream.

After much painful reflection, she decided to take a different path, heading towards places with heavy yin energy, since there would be fewer people in those places. She would also try her luck and see if she could gather some evil energy to counteract Lu Qiu's negative influence.

It was fate that she and Cao Niannian met. One second she walked onto this road, and the next she saw the ghost bus that was active in this area. Then she saw Cao Niannian looking flustered.

The driver seemed to be new; he was unfamiliar with her. Otherwise, the other party wouldn't have hesitated to open the door, making her ride an extra stop.

In fact, the merit she possessed should have been able to last for another two years. But back then, she was young and impetuous, mistakenly entered some territory, and was obstructed. In the end, she lost her temper and killed indiscriminately. Little devils, she killed indiscriminately.

In the end, she made a name for herself in the underworld, and sometimes just mentioning her name was enough to get things done. But in the mortal world, she had to be very frugal, and even using a little spiritual energy required careful planning.

Fortunately, with Lu Qiu by my side, I have much more money to spare.

"Thank you..." Cao Niannian drank several mouthfuls of water to quench her thirst. Her hands were still trembling uncontrollably; she was terrified. With Xia Wange's help, she carefully stood up. "Sister Xia, if I hadn't gotten off the bus, would I have died?"

Xia Wange stared at Cao Niannian for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Niannian, have you had your fortune told recently using your birth date and time?"

"No, no," Cao Niannian quickly shook her head. "If I really wanted to have my fortune told, I would definitely ask you, Sister Xia. I wouldn't go to all this trouble..."

"Who else knows your birth date and time?"

Cao Niannian said in a low voice, "My parents know, but Sister Xia, you don't know this, my relationship with my family is not good, and I haven't been back for a long time. They always ask me for money. Last month, I paid back all the money they had spent on me since I was a child..."

"Niannian, it's almost midnight. Shall we find a hotel to stay in for the night?" Xia Wange glanced at the time and suddenly said, "I have something to tell you."

Cao Niannian was taken aback and immediately had a bad feeling.

She silently followed Xia Wange to the lobby of the nearest hotel.

Then Xia Wange said to the front desk, "Please arrange a room for me at the end of the floor."

Cao Niannian nervously followed Xia Wange into the last room on the floor, her mind filled with urban legends she had read before.

What death bus? What hotel room with the heaviest yin energy?

Based on everything she had experienced today, Cao Niannian mustered her courage and asked, "Sister Xia, aren't the hotel rooms at the very end of the floor the ones with the heaviest yin energy?"

Xia Wange entered the room and inserted the card. Hearing the question, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? What yin energy? Sigh, don't overthink it. There's not that much yin energy. They're all pretty much the same. Normal people can't sense it. When I came in, I saw the layout of this hotel. The last room is a bit out of the way, only next to the room on the right. It'll be easier to explain that than to the rooms on both sides."

"Explain what?" Cao Niannian asked, puzzled.

"The sound of fighting." Xia Wange chuckled lightly, as if she were talking about something very ordinary. "You've been forced into a ghost marriage. It's almost midnight. You should go to sleep first. When he comes, I'll talk to him."

Cao Niannian's eyes widened immediately. "A ghost marriage? This... I... could it be..."

At this point, she realized who had sold her birth date and time to arrange a ghost marriage.

In that instant, anger, frustration, sadness, and relief flashed across her face before finally settling into calm.

"I knew they wouldn't let me go so easily. They'd squeeze every last drop of value out of me. Maybe after I die, they'd even come rushing to collect my body and sell my organs again before they'd be satisfied."

Xia Wange remained silent.

She had previously discovered that the other person was dating four different people, one of whom was a ghost. At first, she thought that was the setting in otome games, but after playing the game herself, she found that it wasn't. However, she found that nothing was wrong during the day, so she guessed that the other person might be playing other games.

Looking back now, everything seemed normal before, and it was probably just the two sets of parents exchanging birth charts, which wasn't much different from dating, so she didn't realize it.

Just over an hour earlier, the posthumous marriage ceremony may have already been completed there.

Originally, Cao Niannian was supposed to have the accident at midnight when she was performing the ceremony, but the other party happened to be outside at that time. In the midst of the chaos between the living and the dead, he happened to encounter the Netherworld Chariot, got on the chariot without noticing, and then met her while she was jogging at night, thus saving her life.

To be honest, they really are destined to be together.

But actually, that shouldn't be the case. After exchanging birth charts, even if they were engaged, she should have been able to tell.

With her doubts in mind, Xia Wange rummaged through the cabinet for a while and found a box of matches. She simply tied a few matches together with red thread and placed one on each of the bedside tables on either side, pretending them were red candles.

She then took a very fine white thread and wrapped it around the bed once more.

By this time, Cao Niannian had regained her composure. Since fate had spared her life and allowed her to escape danger several times, she was determined to live well!

Live a meaningful life!

She looked at the busy Xia Wange, "Sister Xia, is there anything I can help you with?"

Perhaps because she knew Xia Wange was there, she was mostly angry and not that afraid.

"You?" Xia Wange noticed that Cao Niannian recovered her emotions quite quickly, and gave her an approving look. "You can just go to bed and sleep."

"I can't sleep..."

"Even if you can't sleep, lie down," Xia Wange said, then added, "Don't take off your shoes."

Cao Niannian was taken aback, and quietly asked, "I heard that ghosts and monsters come from the soles of your feet..."

"Tsk."

Xia Wange clicked her tongue softly, walked up to Cao Niannian, and tied a red thread to the other's two thumbs.

After finishing her work, she dragged a chair over and sat down. "I've noticed that you're all quite superstitious. Let's try to think about things scientifically first, and only resort to metaphysics if we really can't explain them."

Cao Niannian blinked, glanced at her fingers bound with red thread, and said, "Even like this, you're still trying to preach science to me?!"

"We're making you wear shoes so that it'll be easier when you need to get out of bed, so you don't have to search for shoes everywhere or go barefoot."

Cao Niannian asked nervously, "Is it very fierce?"

"Whether it's fierce or not, how should I put it?" Xia Wange scratched her head. "If the other party isn't fierce and is extremely cooperative, then there's no problem. But if the other party is fierce and uncooperative, and I end up pinning them down on the bed and beating them up, if you don't mind, you can stay in bed."

Cao Niannian: "..."

So for a master, the only difference between being fierce and not being fierce is whether or not to hit someone?

"Alright, lie down now." Xia Wange glanced at the time and fiddled with a pendant in her hand.

She had just gotten this from Lu Qiu tonight. If Lu Qiu hadn't been there, it wouldn't have been useful and would have had the opposite effect; she would definitely have shaken him over.

When working with Lu Qiu, she had never fought such a rich battle before; it was as if she carried an ammunition depot with her.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Cao Niannian was startled and quickly looked at Xia Wange.

Xia Wange looked towards the door and mouthed softly, "Coming."

The doorbell rang, and someone knocked.

The lower half of the door rattles; it's like a ghost knocking.