Chapter Six — Whom Does She Truly Belong To…?

After midnight, when Xiaomei returned to their apartment, her expression was unusually grave.

Although what Ge Qi had told her sounded rather unbelievable on the surface, she could still tell the difference between a lie or excuse hastily fabricated to get out of an uncomfortable situation and a statement that contained not the slightest trace of deception.

Even when she deliberately steered the conversation onto other subjects, allowed Ge Qi to follow her lead, and then repeatedly circled back to the original questions, his answers had remained exactly the same.

From beginning to end, he had not shown the slightest suspicious inconsistency.

Still, for a modern-minded woman like Xiaomei, it was ultimately difficult to believe in something like this so easily.

Therefore, she decided that she had to question Yulan again and find out what had really happened.

But the moment she pushed open the door, the silence inside immediately made her sense that something was wrong.

Yulan usually played those songs that Xiaomei found terribly boring, but tonight the room was so quiet that there was not even a trace of music.

“Yulan…”

She called softly to her roommate, but there was no response.

Xiaomei looked around the room until she finally saw her best friend slumped over the desk, asleep in front of the computer.

She parted her lips and let out a quiet sigh before walking over to wake her friend and help her back to bed.

Since Yulan was still half-asleep and incapable of having a proper conversation, Xiaomei could only let her continue sleeping for the time being.

She then returned to the desk, intending to shut down the computer Yulan had left running.

But curiosity got the better of her.

What on earth had Yulan been looking at that had left her so exhausted that she had fallen asleep right there in front of the screen?

Unable to resist, Xiaomei pressed a key and turned the screen back on.

Once she saw what had captured Yulan's attention so completely, she pulled out the chair and sat down.

Then she began carefully reading everything displayed on the screen.

...............................

The sound of someone calling her name, together with the sensation of being gently shaken, finally pulled Xiaomei from her sleep.

When she opened her eyes, she realized that, just like Yulan before her, she had somehow fallen asleep with her head resting on the computer desk.

Fortunately, the screen had already gone dark automatically.

So Yulan had no idea what Xiaomei had been reading.

Xiaomei, being as quick-witted as ever, immediately urged Yulan to hurry to class while making an excuse that she needed to stay behind to deal with some unfinished work and would skip class herself.

Once Yulan obediently agreed, Xiaomei did not forget to call after her:

“Come straight back after class, okay? Don't wander around, and don't let some bastard sweet-talk you into getting fooled again.”

As it turned out, the webpage Yulan had left open since the previous night was Lei Zhen's personal homepage.

And what had fascinated Xiaomei enough to make her fall asleep at the computer was the diary left behind by the young police officer.

She was not sure whether Yulan had actually read any of it.

But what truly unsettled Xiaomei was the final part of the diary.

The words written there had formed an astonishing connection with what she had heard from Ge Qi.

A strong-willed, modern-minded woman like Xiaomei—and a medical student at that—had never believed in anything that could not be explained or proven by science.

So at first, she had simply tried to interpret Ge Qi's story according to what she knew.

Perhaps he was suffering from some kind of mental disorder.

Or perhaps there was some psychological abnormality behind his behavior.

But after reading Lei Zhen's diary with her own eyes, Xiaomei could only raise a hand and rub her temple.

Especially after discovering that, several months before his death, the young police officer had been betrayed by his girlfriend.

Every word Lei Zhen had written during that period revealed his pain.

But at the same time, those words also revealed a man's longing for love.

He wanted to meet “someone.”

Someone who would genuinely love him, without caring about anything else—someone who loved him simply because of love itself.

The new information contained in Lei Zhen's diary caused Xiaomei to begin connecting one incident after another.

Yulan's repeated dreams about the young police officer.

The question that the formerly overweight girl had once asked her—

“Have you secretly been playing the soundtrack from my favorite drama, Between Two Worlds, lately?”

And now, everything seemed to be falling into place.

But just as Xiaomei was putting the pieces together, another person suddenly came to mind.

Yongheng.

The man who had helped Yulan change her life.

In fact, Xiaomei had secretly investigated Yongheng long before she ever allowed Yulan to join his program.

Back then, she had been unwilling to let her best friend blindly trust some unfamiliar man—especially one who had approached Yulan himself, offered to help her lose weight, and even promised her a full year of treatment free of charge.

So Xiaomei had dug into almost everything she could find.

She checked Yongheng's educational background and his previous medical career. She searched through media interviews, reports concerning his work, and information about the center he had established.

She had even investigated the reason he had left his previous medical career.

The results, however, were completely different from what one might expect from some mysterious figure hiding behind a carefully constructed image.

Yongheng really was a highly educated young doctor with a strong medical background.

He had gradually become disillusioned after encountering too many questionable practices and gray areas within the medical field. Eventually, he had chosen to leave that environment and establish a center dedicated to helping people with obesity through scientific weight management.

There was no mysterious background.

No supernatural rumor.

No hidden identity.

Even the way his center operated was perfectly ordinary.

Dietary management, exercise guidance, medical knowledge, and long-term observation of each client's physical condition—all of it had a rational basis.

Even the unusually generous promises he had made to Yulan were things Xiaomei had repeatedly checked for herself.

Only after confirming that Yongheng was not a scammer, that there was no obvious ulterior motive, and that he genuinely intended to help Yulan had Xiaomei finally allowed her friend to join his program.

Thinking about it now, Xiaomei felt slightly relieved.

At least there was nothing suspicious about Yongheng.

He was simply an ordinary doctor.

A man who had once become disappointed with the medical profession, yet had still chosen to use his knowledge to help other people.

The person Xiaomei could not explain…

was Lei Zhen.

She turned her eyes back to the computer screen, her expression gradually becoming more serious.

If Yongheng was merely an ordinary human being, then the only truly inexplicable presence surrounding Yulan was the young police officer who had already died.

Xiaomei immediately opened the internet and began searching for information about love between the living and the dead, about relationships that crossed the boundary between Yin and Yang.

Yet the answer given by most websites was almost exactly the same.

“If a human and a ghost fall in love, in the end…the ghost will take the person they love away, so that they can live together forever…!!”

...............................

After the final class of the morning, Yulan went to the cafeteria for lunch as usual.

She was eating happily with her head lowered when a deep male voice suddenly came from across the table.

“May your senior sit here and have lunch with you, Xiao Lan?”

She recognized the voice immediately.

It belonged to the senior who, several months earlier, had caused her so much pain that she had nearly taken her own life.

So she merely replied in a flat voice,

“Suit yourself.”

“Thank you.

I'm truly honored to be able to sit at the same table and have lunch with Xiao Lan today.”

Another line of sweet talk followed.

Suppressing the discomfort rising inside her, Yulan gathered her knife and fork and replied heavily,

“I'm sorry. I just finished eating.

I'll leave first.”

She was about to stand when the man quickly interrupted her.

His voice was gentle, as though he were genuinely remorseful.

“Don't reject your senior so quickly, okay? Do you know why I came looking for you today?”

“Why…?”

Her voice remained calm, but Yulan's soft-hearted nature had already begun to waver.

And the man, of course, had no intention of wasting such an opportunity.

The young senior immediately continued in a gentle voice:

“Ever since I realized that my actions caused you so much pain, and that I almost never got the chance to see you again, I've felt terribly guilty.”

“So I spent a long time gathering the courage to come and apologize to you today. I also want to make up for the mistakes I made in the past.”

“So, if you don't have a boyfriend now, and if you don't dislike me…if you're willing to give your senior one more chance, and let me make up for what I did, then I hope I can stay by your side and take care of you.”

“Until the day…you no longer need me.”

Every word that came from the man's mouth shook Yulan's heart.

Tears gradually gathered at the corners of her eyes.

She was gentle by nature and poor at judging people, which was why she so easily believed the words of the man standing before her.

“Senior Yude…”

Yulan softly called his name, her voice even carrying a hint of happiness.

She had no idea that her reaction had already told the man that his plan had succeeded.

The young senior took the opportunity to grasp Yulan's wrist and then invited her to have dinner with him after class.

When the final class ended, Yulan went to the entrance of the Library and Information Center building as they had agreed and met Yude there.

However, when she said that she wanted to call Xiaomei first and let her know that she would be coming home later than usual that evening, Yude immediately stopped her.

He explained gently:

“I'm worried Xiaomei still doesn't trust me.”

“If the two of us get into an argument, you'll only end up caught in the middle.”

“So don't tell her for now, okay?”

“When the right opportunity comes, we can tell her later.”

“That sounds fine.”

Yulan obediently nodded before getting into his car.

She had absolutely no idea that the man she called “Senior Yude” was already sneering at her inside his head.

“Heh…she's even easier to fool than a pig.”

“Perfect. That saves me a lot of time.”

“I'll drug this bitch during dinner and then deal with her.”

“Then I'll record everything and keep the video.”

“From now on, you'll spend the rest of your life as my slave.”

“Hahahaha…”

...............................

Meanwhile.

Back at Yulan's apartment, Xiaomei was still sitting in front of the computer with a grave expression.

Almost everything she had found online about love between humans and spirits pointed toward the same ending—love that crossed the boundary between Yin and Yang would ultimately end with the dead taking the living away.

After spending more than half a day continuously searching and reading through the information, Xiaomei finally understood one thing.

If she wanted to save her best friend…

she had to separate Yulan from Lei Zhen.

With that thought, Xiaomei immediately picked up her phone and called the person she believed knew more than anyone else about dealing with supernatural matters.