The feeling of holding his breath in the sink was completely different from doing so in the tub.
The suffocation came much more swiftly and violently. Cold water rushed past his ears, and his heartbeat echoed sharply, as if inside his head.
Jiang Luo silently counted to ten, every second stretching out like four or five. The sensation of losing oxygen tensed every muscle in his body. Eyes shut, he focused, waiting for that edge-of-death sensation.
The room, plastered with talismans, looked like the scene of a massive occult ritual. Time passed second by second. After a minute, all the talismans suddenly fluttered upward as if struck by a powerful force.
The rustling paper was heard by the black-haired youth submerged in the tub, but he paid it no mind. His eyes remained closed, clothes drifting with the current. The veins on the backs of his clenched fists glowed a strange blue, as if melting into the water, mingling with the strands of black hair to create an eerie beauty.
Bang—
Another loud thud. The bathroom door shook slightly, and one of the talismans stuck on it suddenly burst into flames.
Whatever was outside seemed briefly suppressed, but ten seconds later, it resumed pounding the door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Jiang Luo’s face was starting to turn red from lack of oxygen. The suffocation clawed from his limbs to his heart. His body instinctively tried to sit up, but the timer hadn’t gone off yet.
Being fully submerged brought an instinctive panic. His heart pounded faster, consuming more oxygen. Jiang Luo was nearing his limit.
His thoughts began to scatter. The darkness behind his eyelids seemed to bloom into white spots. A mysterious, indescribable sensation pulled him away, as if to another world. The pain of drowning briefly faded.
He didn’t know if he was about to die or about to succeed—but his limbs had gone limp, like they were filled with lead.
His heartbeat plummeted from rapid to faint, life visibly draining, steadily declining.
….
“Jiang Luo! You got first place!”
Lu Youyi knocked cheerfully on the bathroom door. When he got no response, his heart skipped. Hearing the water still running inside, a sudden dread filled him. He slammed into the door with all his strength—and when he saw what was inside, his pupils shrank.
His breath caught. He rushed over, yanking Jiang Luo out of the water, hands trembling with fear and anger. “What the h*ll are you doing?!”
Air surged back into Jiang Luo’s lungs. He coughed weakly, water cascading from his body into the tub. Lu Youyi pounded his back, wrapped a towel around his shoulders, and helped him out of the bathroom.
Supported by Lu Youyi, Jiang Luo glanced down at the Yin-Yang hoop on his hand.
It had failed.
Was it because there was no external life-threatening danger to push him past the threshold between life and death, making it impossible to activate the ring?
A thoughtful look passed through Jiang Luo’s eyes.
Lu Youyi set him on the sofa, ran around fetching hot water and an oxygen tank, then scowled and called people on his phone. “Jiang Luo tried to kill himself. He wanted to die for Chi You!”
Jiang Luo: “…”
He tugged the towel over his shoulders tighter, feeling a headache coming on.
Call after call went out. When he phoned Ge Zhu, Ge Zhu was with Teacher Wan, exchanging some heartfelt advice. Hearing the news, he panicked and stood up. “Teacher! Jiang Luo tried to die for Chi You! I need to go stop him!”
Teacher Wan froze. A moment later, he called a familiar contact. “Old Xu—sigh, it’s our top contestant Jiang Luo. That boy’s just too passionate. He just tried to…”
Within a minute, a crowd gathered in Jiang Luo and Lu Youyi’s room. Jiang Luo sat dazed on the sofa, channeling the multitasking skills he used for client meetings.
Scolding, lecturing, comforting—seven people, seven approaches.
But once everything had been said, the room remained heavy. Zhuo Zhongqiu leaned against the wall, arms crossed coldly. “Jiang Luo, do you really love Chi You that much?”
Jiang Luo stayed silent.
“You’ve got your whole life ahead of you!” Lu Youyi yelled, unable to hold back. “Chi You is dead! Stop being so obsessed!”
Jiang Luo opened his mouth, but no words came out. He coughed, then rasped hoarsely, “I just…” He paused, his eyes bloodshot from being underwater. The black-haired youth looked exhausted and fragile. “I just miss him so much.”
“He hasn’t come to see me in so long,” he said in despair. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Ye Xun frowned. “What’s so great about Chi You anyway?”
Jiang Luo couldn’t answer. He gave a powerless smile, treating it as a response.
Everyone looked at his current state with a mix of heartache and growing anger. Even the joy of Jiang Luo winning first place had faded.
Zhuo Zhongqiu said coldly, “We’re staying with you tonight. If there’s a next time, Jiang Luo, we’ll perform a crossing ritual for Chi You so you’ll never see him again.”
Jiang Luo froze. “Crossing him over?”
If Jiang Luo was willing to die for Chi You, then Zhuo Zhongqiu could only use Chi You to threaten him into staying alive. “Chi You’s become a malicious spirit. We don’t know how powerful he is, but there are seven of us. No matter how strong a ghost is, they won’t beat us together. Jiang Luo, I mean it. If this happens again, I won’t hold back.”
Jiang Luo slowly lowered his head. His shoulders trembled lightly. “Got it.”
Everyone thought he was crying, and their hearts ached a little. Wenren Lian sighed, “Sleep. When you wake up, let’s just treat this like it never happened.”
Jiang Luo lay down on the bed. Ye Xun turned off the light for him, and the group stepped outside to talk.
Under the covers, Jiang Luo suddenly burst into laughter. The blanket quivered with each shake—he was laughing with complete abandon.
Once he had laughed enough, he quietly got up and dealt with the talismans in the bathroom, then returned to bed.
As expected, when he was about to drown himself, Chi You had come.
If not for the talismans, Jiang Luo might have had to endure a malicious ghost’s revenge.
That should’ve been a fortunate outcome. But now, Jiang Luo actually felt a little regret that the talismans had blocked Chi You’s attack.
At the edge of death, Jiang Luo had experienced a strange sensation—like his soul was about to separate from his body. But it was too faint. Before he could explore it, it vanished completely.
He closed his eyes to rest, fingers lightly rubbing the Yin-Yang hoop on his right hand.
Apparently, this kind of “safe near-death state” wasn’t enough to awaken the Yin-Yang hoop.
His thirst for power made Jiang Luo even think, If only Chi You had really broken in back then.
He chuckled at the thought. Beneath his closed lids, his eyes moved slightly.
Chi You…
Maybe I really can use him.
—
The next morning, the people from Baihua University boarded a flight back.
As soon as he got off the plane, Jiang Luo received a call from the original body’s master, Chen Pi, who asked him to come over quickly, saying there was something to discuss.
Jiang Luo took a cab to Chen Pi’s home and was met with unexpected enthusiasm. Normally indifferent, Chen Pi was uncharacteristically warm, asking about his studies and competition, then even about his meals.
He kept Jiang Luo until late evening before finally letting him leave—with a firm reminder: “Be sure to keep tomorrow free.”
Jiang Luo was suspicious but smiled calmly. “Okay. I understand.”
Since it was late, Chen Pi lent him a car so he could return to campus faster. Jiang Luo had been drinking and didn’t want to trouble anyone from Chen Pi’s house, so once he pulled the car to the roadside, he sat in the passenger seat and ordered a designated driver.
The driver arrived quickly, got into the driver’s seat without a word, and only after starting the car asked, “Where to, sir?”
Jiang Luo squinted, yawning softly. “Baihua University.”
He rummaged through the car’s storage compartment and luckily found an unopened pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Curling his lips in satisfaction, he lit one.
The driver smiled. “If you smoke in the car and there’s an accident, the whole vehicle could explode.”
His voice dropped, his smile deepening, his low tone brushing against the ear like a whisper. “Boom—blown to bits.”
Jiang Luo paused. Holding the cigarette, he glanced through the smoke at the driver—and saw a pair of malicious eyes, deep like an abyss.
