Chapter Six: Forced into the Lake

Xu Si’s face stiffened. "This... haha, they aren't here to arrest me, are they?"

"Of course not!" Wei Siyu shook his head frantically.

Xu Si and Nan Xian let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

Looking up, she saw the boy in tight pants blushing. "Not to arrest you. You’re young; they’re just going to give you a verbal warning. Just a verbal warning!"

"I..." Damn it! Xu Si swallowed the swear word that was on the tip of her tongue and turned to look at Nan Xian beside her.

"A big client? Hmm? This is your big client?"

Forgetful, Xu Si rubbed her hands together and swung her arm with full force, aiming a vicious slap at Nan Xian's face.

She had tested it earlier; she could pinch his flesh, so nothing bad should happen. But life is unpredictable.

Nan Xian, operating on the principle that it is better to be safe than sorry, retracted his body faster than a gopher, and Wei Siyu, accustomed to dodging slaps, instinctively leaned back.

"Ehee, you missed..."

"You..." Xu Si’s voice cut off abruptly. Her eyes drooped, and she let herself fall backward into the lake without the slightest attempt to save herself.

Terrified, Wei Siyu lowered his voice, his eyes wide. "Wait, this doesn't count as murder, does it?"

"Splash!"

The sound of the lake surface breaking was his only answer.

"Little fierce ghost."

Nan Xian felt a jolt of panic. He leaned over the lake edge and saw her splashing about vigorously. While relieved, he also felt a sense of schadenfreude.

"Hehe, beg me, little fierce ghost. Beg me, and I, the deity, will save you."

*‘Beg?’* Xu Si bowed her head and sneered.

She then began to slap the surface of the water even harder, her head bobbing up and down.

The sound of her gulping down water was particularly clear.

Wei Siyu’s eyes turned red with anxiety. "Hey, little liar, you don't know how to swim, do you?"

Hearing this, Nan Xian suddenly realized, but he still held onto a glimmer of hope. "Little fierce ghost? You can swim, right?"

"No... no... glug, glug!" Hearing the sound, Xu Si raised her head at the perfect moment. Her soaked hair clung to her temples, revealing a thin, sharp jawline.

Her pale face, reflected against the lake water, looked hauntingly, unrealistically beautiful.

Listening to the gasps from the shore, Xu Si opened her wet eyes and looked at the human and the deity with a look of fragile helplessness.

"Please... glug, glug... save me... glug, glug... I can't swim... glug!"

As the final bubble rose to the surface, Xu Si sank completely into the water.

*‘A joke? As a dignified interstellar leader, my survival skills are absolutely maxed out, okay?’*

***

"Little fierce ghost!"

Nan Xian didn't know why he felt such intense panic. She was just a wild ghost from elsewhere, and she wouldn't truly die, but still...

"Splash!"

A small spray of water rose from the lake.

Wei Siyu, who had just been about to call the police, turned his head in a panic, but he saw nothing.

Just then, Li Xu and his colleagues arrived quickly. Without asking questions, they dove straight into the lake.

"Little fierce ghost, little fierce ghost, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm pulling you up now."

Nan Xian patted Xu Si’s cheek. Seeing no reaction, he felt a crushing sense of regret.

Especially that final look—the girl’s weak, vulnerable appearance made Nan Xian feel that he was unworthy of being a deity, and even more unworthy of her affection.

He supported Xu Si’s legs and swam upward with all his might. Over there, Li Xu grabbed Xu Si’s arms, and together with his colleague, they hauled her out of the water.

Just as she broke the surface, Xu Si’s legs cramped, and she kicked out uncontrollably toward the bottom of the lake.

One kick landed squarely on his vitals. Nan Xian’s eyes rolled back, and he fell backward.

Li Xu, with his professional instincts, scanned the lake bottom warily. Once he was certain there was no one else, he ordered the team to withdraw.

*‘I wonder if a deity can drown?’*

After pondering this final question, thanks to the original owner's malnourished body, she really did pass out from a fever.

...

The familiar sound of a drip echoed in her ears.

Xu Si had her stomach pumped earlier, and now she was starving, but feeling the gaze upon her, she really didn't want to open her eyes.

Who gets caught twice in one day?

Thinking of this, Xu Si couldn't help but grit her teeth, not to mention that opening her eyes might mean seeing that fool who was constantly trying to steal her body.

She was tired. She felt like she could never love again, and she admired the original owner's "lovesick brain" that insisted on loving someone even while eating instant noodles.

Seeing the person on the bed breathing more heavily, Li Xu’s eyes crinkled with a smile.

"Awake? Should I call you Xu Si or Xu Yao?"

Although the name on her ID had been changed back months ago, neither the Xu family nor the girl in front of him had acknowledged it yet.

"Xu Si, I suppose," Xu Si said, her voice hoarse as she opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was Nan Xian’s anxious face. Looking closer, he was just staring at her, floating flat against the ceiling.

*‘I’m hallucinating. Try again!’*

***

Xu Si closed her eyes quickly, then tentatively opened one eye.

*‘Good news: my eyes are fine. Bad news: a deity cannot be drowned.’*

Noticing Xu Si’s small movements, Li Xu looked up at the ceiling, suspicious.

"The ceiling is clean and white. What are you looking at?"

"Looking at my fate..." Xu Si murmured, listless. She should cherish it; the next second, this body might be occupied by some male pervert.

But hearing this, Nan Xian immediately blinked in surprise. By the time he realized what she meant, he was blushing crimson.

He drifted down from the ceiling with grace, feigning indifference. "Ahem, little fierce ghost, you shouldn't say such sweet things in broad daylight."

*‘She said she was looking at her fate. Her fate—wasn't she looking at me? Am I her fate? Just because I saved her, she’s already fallen deeply in love with me? Little fierce ghost, she’s too cute. No, no, gods and ghosts are meant to be apart...’*

*‘But then again, I could enter the ghost path. Yes, yes, entering the ghost path is fine. Being a Yama King wouldn't be bad...’*

*‘Sweet things?’* Xu Si tilted her head, genuinely curious—which sentence of hers was a sweet nothing?

However, before she could ask, she saw the deity drifting around the room in a daze... oh, he happened to be drifting out of the policeman’s body.

Seeing Xu Si finally focus on him, Li Xu coughed twice and began to lecture her with an air of seniority.

"Xu Si, be serious. Fraud is no small matter, and the country prohibits feudal superstition. Do you know that?"

"Yes." Hearing the word "fraud," Xu Si’s eyes turned red—out of sheer anger.

But Li Xu didn't know that. He began to reflect on whether he had been too harsh; after all, the girl before him had suffered too much.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have jumped into the lake to commit suicide after being caught! Twice in one day.

Even Li Xu couldn't help but soften his tone. "I know you're anxious about the three hundred thousand you owe, but Miss Xu, your life is your capital. Mr. Wei didn't press charges this time, but what about next time? Do you know that fraud over three thousand will lead to a criminal case?"

"You're such a top student, what will you do if you get a criminal record..."

Just as Li Xu was speaking earnestly, the hospital room door was kicked open with great force.

"Bang!" The door slammed against the wall.

Wei Siyu rushed in, his eyes red. His prized golden bangs were split down the middle in a messy part.

He had even worn his beloved bean-shaped loafers as slippers. Despite his disheveled state, his thick gold chain remained undisturbed.

The whole room was stunned, but Wei Siyu simply opened his mouth and wailed.

"Demi-god!"