Today is another weekend, and the summer heat refuses to dissipate even at dusk. Pang Zi and Shou Zi ran to the newly opened seaside bathhouse to see the beauties early in the morning. Luckily, they left; otherwise, the unexpected arrival of Gu Wuming would have given them three days of nightmares. Yes, today it wasn't Gu Qiqi who came, but her brother—Gu Wuming.

  This male bone yaokai, who has survived for hundreds of years, is very different from his sister. His pure bck bones are as deep as a bottle of ink that has been sealed for tens of thousands of years. Each rough bone is embedded with tiny specks of light like grains of sand. The yaokai′s power is defined by color. The darker the color, the more ferocious it is.

  Wherever Gu Wuming passed, the once lush flowers and pnts all drooped their heads. He burst in like a whirlwind. I smiled at him, "Buying egg tarts for your sister?"

  "Come with me!" His voice was pleasant, and if you closed your eyes, you could imagine a very complete man.

  I still smiled, "Eloping with a skeleton is very unromantic, so I refuse." He seemed to be angry, and the table between us was flipped over by his hand, shattering the teapot and teacups all over the floor, with green tea spilling everywhere. He stepped in front of me, and I felt the chill emanating from his bones, instantly changing the room's temperature. I had fallen from summer into winter.

  He stood a full head taller than me, looming like an angry bck skeleton. Looking up at him felt far more uncomfortable than facing the golden lion earlier. Without eyes, there was no gaze, no hint to read; I couldn′t sense his intentions or guess his thoughts.

  "I want a breath of your true energy, tree Yaokai!" His hand suddenly cmped onto my wrist, catching me off guard. The icy grip of his bones made me feel, just for a moment, as though my hand had vanished.

  "I haven't fought in years," I said seriously, looking at the two deep bck hollows on his face, even though he had no eyes.

  I really didn′t want to fight. Every table, every chair, every cup around us—each one cost money. What a shame it would be to break them!

  Gu Wuming snorted coldly but tightened his grip on me even more.

  It's not the 15th, yet tonight the moon is still full, its golden brilliance filling the sky. For a moment, one might think the sun had mixed up its schedule.

  The little-known city of Wangchuan sleeps under this kind of moonlight. It feels less like a concrete jungle and more like a surreal dreamscape.

  The brightest beam of moonlight falls into the back alley of a restaurant, where a few hungry stray cats leap atop trash bins, unwilling to give up their search for food. High temperatures bring out the worst odors.

  In the center of the alley, a crack appears in the air, releasing a misty white vapor. It looks like the steam from a morning bun shop, but it carries no warmth—only a biting cold that chills to the bone.

  Two men step out of the crack, their figures gradually sharpening through the mist. One has bck hair, cut short; the other has red hair, flowing down to his waist. Both wear T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers—the most common summer attire. They are handsome but expressionless, with a sharp glint in their eyes.

  "The underworld′s exit—couldn′t it open in a cleaner pce?"

  In the shadows by the trash bin, a slender young figure emerged. His side-swept bangs, tousled by the night breeze, had a certain messy charm. Though his features still held a trace of boyish innocence, there was clear potential for him to grow into a handsome man. A bright red short-sleeved shirt, vivid as fmes, stood out against the darkness. A bck school bag hung crossbody behind him, its zipper carelessly left wide open.

  The stray cats let out a series of startled meows and scattered in all directions. One of them knocked over a trash bag, spilling a heap of spoiled noodles onto the ground. The spttered sauce nded on the boy′s spotless sneakers.

  He raised his foot and frowned. "You′ll owe me a new pair of shoes. No, make that two pairs! Put it on my aunt′s tab."

  "The King sent us out, not to buy you shoes," the red-haired man said irritably, stepping in front of the boy. "If we fail this mission, none of us will have a good time—including you, Zhong Xiaokui."

  "What does this have to do with me?" Zhong Xiaokui widened his eyes and pointed at himself innocently. "The underworld lost something, but I didn′t steal it! My job is just to provide you guys with food and lodging in the human world."

  "Your task isn′t just food and lodging. The King gave us specific instructions," the bck-haired man said as he approached, exchanging a gnce with his companion. Without another word, the two men grabbed Zhong Xiaokui by the arms, hoisted him up, and carried him out of the alley despite his protests.

  Under the moonlight, the three figures cast only one shadow.

  Gu Qiqi had been living in this neighborhood for a week now, and her excitement still hadn′t worn off. Her previous "home" had been in some remote corner of the Sahara Desert, where the sun bzed relentlessly. The one before that? An iceberg in Antarctica, where stepping outside meant being greeted by a colony of penguins.

  Before that, was it a vilge on the outskirts of Cape Town? Or Fifth Avenue in New York?

  In any case, she and her brother had moved once a year for centuries, and there was hardly a corner of the earth she hadn′t set foot on.

  This year, she was in China, in a city called Wangchuan. But this time, she was alone. Taking advantage of Gu Wuming′s business trip far away, she had slipped away from a vish, bustling vil district overseas.

  It was her first solo journey in her entire life—if she remembered her long life correctly.

  Gu Wuming was her brother, her caretaker, her instructor, and her warden. His one and only requirement for his one and only sister was obedience.

  Be obedient. Never appear in front of humans. Never make friends with humans.

  Be obedient. Trust no living being that resides within a fleshly shell.

  Be obedient. Only eat vegetarian food—no meat, and certainly no junk food like potato chips.

  Maybe her brother just loved her too much. But whether his restrictions stemmed from patriarchal dominance or genuine familial concern, she was thoroughly tired of such a constrained life. She wanted to live her own way.

  The ordinary neighborhood she now lived in was bustling with all kinds of people—high school students, razor salesmen, gray-haired retirees, columnists, and more. It was a motley mix.

  Gu Qiqi spent her days slipping in and out of these people′s homes, watching them work and listening to their conversations. This mundane, smoke-and-fire kind of life was something she could never experience in the desert, Antarctica, or a luxurious vil.

  But her "friendly neighborhood interactions" with humans had gotten her into trouble with Gu Wuming twice before. Once, it was for saving a middle-aged woman who had tried to jump off a building te at night. The other time, it was for carrying a young man with an injured leg out of a burning forest.

  She thought she was doing something good, but in her brother's eyes, it was utterly unforgivable.