Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

On the stage of "Eternal Sound", the lights were on.

The host's hand holding the microphone was still trembling slightly. He glanced at the vote count he had just tallied, then at Lin Yuan, who was standing calmly at the edge of the stage, as if he were ready to clock out early at any moment.

"Alright, after a joint vote by the global audience and the live judges, the final rankings for tonight's 'Eternal Voice' challenger competition are in!"

On the big screen, the data bar began to spike wildly.

Gabriel's heavy metal rock performance received an incredibly high score, absolutely ranking among the top of all previous challengers. However, when Lin Yuan's name and the data bar for his song "Apologize" appeared, Gabriel's data bar suddenly looked like a newborn baby.

First place: Lin Yuan (vote rate: 74.2%)

Second place: Gabriel

The audience erupted in thunderous applause once again.

At the backstage entrance, Gabriel stared at the outrageous odds and fell into a long period of self-doubt.

He touched the studs on his leather jacket, turned to his manager and muttered, "Did you hear that? Just now, all two thousand people in the venue were singing 'Too Late' with him. He was definitely using that song to warn me to stop jumping around on Twitter."

The agent patted him on the shoulder sympathetically: "Gabe, look on the bright side, at least you lost to a devil who can play the cello and R&B in a dazzling way. And... he seemed to be in a hurry tonight."

It's really urgent.

After learning that he had come in first place again and had successfully advanced to the next round, Lin Yuan on stage did not even participate in the post-competition group interview arranged by the program team.

"Mr. Lin! Who exactly is the person in the song 'Apologize' who 'leaves you hanging ten feet in the air' and hurts you? Is it your ex-girlfriend?!" A British gossip reporter practically shoved the microphone in Lin Yuan's face.

Lin Yuan, walking out, innocently replied, "No, that was just a sad story about a failed bungee jump. Thank you everyone, I have to catch my flight."

That night, Lin Yuan carried his luggage and landed at the airport.

After a cross-border flight of more than ten hours, we arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Lin Yuan pushed his suitcase out of the VIP passage and immediately saw Gu Zhiwan standing in the corner.

Today she was wearing a large beige trench coat, oversized black sunglasses, and holding a handwritten sign that read in a crooked hand: "Warmly welcome Mr. Lin, the London Fish and Chips Ambassador, back home."

Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh out loud. He quickly walked over and took the small sign from her hand: "Gu, this airport pickup is a bit low-class. Not even a bouquet of flowers?"

"No flowers, but do you want a slap in the face?"

Gu Zhiwan took off her sunglasses, her beautiful peach blossom eyes filled with a playful smile. She looked Lin Yuan up and down: "Not bad, Lin the Demon King! You've been spending all your time in London, hanging out in bars and eating carbs, and you haven't gained weight? Tell me honestly, who was that song 'Apologize' written for? My inbox is overflowing with marriage-urging fans and gossip-loving netizens!"

"Would you believe me if I said it was written for inspiration?" Lin Yuan got into the passenger seat.

"I don't believe you for a second." Gu Zhiwan rolled her eyes at him and started the car.

The car stereo was playing Lin Yuan's song "Silence," which he sang on "Singer 2016." The car was filled with a faint scent of jasmine perfume, and the familiar oriental street scene was visible outside the window. Lin Yuan instantly relaxed completely, slumped in the passenger seat, and stretched.

"It's so much more comfortable back home. You wouldn't believe it, that stuff in England looks like cement and tastes like a punishment game," Lin Yuan complained.

"Serves you right, who told you not to take me with you?" Gu Zhiwan glanced at the road ahead, but couldn't help but smile. "But seriously, Lin Yuan, you're a sensation in Europe and America now. Penguin Random House is asking about your new book every day, and Warner Music wants to buy out the overseas digital rights to 'Apologize.' You're a walking gold mine now."

"Jinshan just wants to go home and sleep, and maybe have a bowl of the sweet fermented rice balls you cooked."

"...I'll grant your request since you didn't embarrass me abroad." Gu Zhiwan's ears turned slightly red as she muttered softly.

Life back home was both cozy and chaotic.

That evening, to celebrate Lin Yuan's "great victory," Gu Zhiwan personally cooked—and successfully pan-fried a piece of Wagyu beef into something that looked like a "charcoal specimen."

"Lin Yuan, try this. It's medium-rare... uh, black pepper Wagyu beef." Gu Zhiwan poked the hard piece of meat with her chopsticks, her eyes slightly unfocused.

Lin Yuan silently stared at the object in the plate, which was still faintly emitting black smoke, then glanced at Gu Zhiwan's expectant face, and quietly poured himself a glass of goji berry water:

"Zhiwan, I think you're more suited to be my artist. We can put aside this culinary skill that has such devastating physical attack power for now. Come on, let's have some hot pot takeout."

"Shut up! Go eat your takeout!"

Time to slack off is always fleeting.

After lying around at home for three days and watching four nonsensical comedy movies with Gu Zhiwan on the sofa, Lin Yuan decided that he couldn't continue to be so decadent.

While eating lunch, Lin Yuan was typing away on his laptop, biting on a straw.

Gu Zhiwan brought over a glass of iced Americano, looking at his screen with some curiosity: "Writing a new script again? Or lyrics for a new song?"

"Neither, I'll write a novel." Lin Yuan said without looking up.

"A novel? A Western classic? Or some serious literature?" Gu Zhiwan immediately became interested. In her opinion, Lin Yuan's current literary talent meant that his first work should be worthy of the Mao Dun Literature Prize or the Nobel Prize in Literature.

"No, this time let's do something more mainstream," Lin Yuan said with a mysterious smile.

"What novel?" Gu Zhiwan was stunned. "A domineering CEO falls in love with me? Or an urban superpowered soldier king and war god?"

Lin Yuan stopped pointing, turned his head, and in the bright afternoon sunlight, gave Gu Zhiwan an extremely unfathomable, even slightly eerie, smile:

"No, I'm going to write a story... about 'archaeology and underground exploration.' To put it simply, it's called tomb raiding."

"Tomb raiding...tomb raiding?!" Gu Zhiwan almost spat out her iced Americano. "Why did you write this? It sounds so creepy!"

Lin Yuan turned the laptop screen around and saw that the title of the new book and a short synopsis had already been printed on it.

Three large characters, written with bold and elegant strokes—"Ghost Blows Out the Light".

"Ghost Blows Out the Light" can be said to have completely created the "tomb raiding novel" genre, which has been popular for more than a decade. Before this book appeared, people's understanding of underground exploration was still limited to Western "Indiana Jones" or rigid archaeological reports.

"Ghost Blows Out the Light" perfectly blends traditional Chinese folk customs, feng shui, geography, and even ancient mythology!

It created an extremely vast and logically consistent worldview:

The four ancient tomb raiding schools are: the Tomb Raiders, the Grave Robbers, the Mountain Movers, and the Ridge Unloading Warriors.

To find the dragon vein and divide the gold, look at the winding mountains; each winding mountain represents a barrier. Follow the principles of the Eight Trigrams and the universe, and you'll understand that life and death lie in the compass! — A legendary feng shui secret circulating across the internet.

And the most crucial, and most chilling, ironclad rule: When a person lights a candle, a ghost blows it out!

"Humans light candles, ghosts blow them out?"

Gu Zhiwan read it aloud from the screen. For some reason, even though the room was heated at midday, she felt a chill.

"That's right." Lin Yuan pointed at the screen and activated his educational mode. "The protagonist of this book is named Hu Bayi, whose ancestors were well-versed in incomplete books on feng shui. Simply put, after entering the underground palace, their sect must light a candle in the southeast corner. If the candle goes out, it means that their 'friends underground' do not agree to let you take anything, and you must leave empty-handed immediately, without taking any treasures. This is called 'Don't touch gold when the rooster crows and the candle goes out.'"

Gu Zhiwan listened, stunned, her big eyes filled with shock: "It sounds so ceremonial... But, isn't this really not a horror story?"

"This is called a folk adventure fantasy epic!" Lin Yuan corrected. "It not only contains all sorts of bizarre mechanisms and traps, but also the Nine-Story Demon Tower, the Jingjue Ancient City, the Yunnan Insect Valley... all sorts of mysterious landforms and supernatural creatures that you've never even heard of."

"Sounds... kind of exciting?" Gu Zhiwan's curiosity was completely piqued, so she simply pulled up a small stool and sat down next to Lin Yuan. "How much have you written? Let me see the first chapter!"

Lin Yuan smiled and moved half of his seat aside.

Volume One: The Ancient City of Jingjue.

Chapter 1: My grandfather was a Red Army soldier.

Gu Zhiwan originally only watched it with the mindset of "helping her own artist check things out", but after watching it, she got completely hooked.

From Hu Bayi's grandfather's incomplete "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Techniques" to the white-haired weasel on the Great Wilderness Ridge, and then to the mysterious paper figures and horses, and sleeping in desolate graves... Tianxia Bachang's highly persuasive, storyteller-like street language style, combined with the endless stream of folk slang and feng shui knowledge, creates an extremely terrifying sense of "realism"!

Half an hour later.

The light in the room dimmed without us realizing it, and dark clouds seemed to drift by outside the French windows in the distance.

"ah!"

Gu Zhiwan suddenly screamed and shrank into Lin Yuan's arms, burying her head in his shoulder.

Lin Yuan was startled; he was peeling an apple and almost cut his finger. "What happened? What happened? The underground palace collapsed?"

"That...that weasel from the Great Wilderness Ridge, how come it worships the moon?!" Gu Zhiwan gripped Lin Yuan's clothes tightly, her voice trembling with tears. "Lin Yuan, what are you writing?! It's terrifying! Waaah, but I really want to know what's in that big tomb later..."

Lin Yuan looked at Gu Zhiwan, who was crouching in his arms like a frightened kitten, and couldn't help but chuckle mischievously. He casually put his arm around her waist, leaned close to her ear, and whispered in an extremely deep voice, like a late-night ghost story radio host:

"Zhiwan...do you know why the room is so dark right now?"

"Why, why?" Gu Zhiwan froze.

"Because..." Lin Yuan glanced at the dark clouds drifting across the sky and said quietly, "In feng shui, this is called 'yin energy gathering at the top.' Look back now, that lamp in the southeast corner of our house... didn't it suddenly go out?"

"Ah—! Lin Yuan, you bastard! You're not getting into the room tonight!!"

At 12:30 a.m., the study at the far end of the second floor was still illuminated by a warm yellow light.

Lin Yuan was sitting in a comfortable chair with a backrest, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he typed out the next chapter of the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" novel, "The Ancient City of Jingjue".

Inside the bedroom.

Gu Zhiwan was curled up on the soft bed, wrapped tightly in the quilt, with only her beautiful big eyes showing.

"What 'humans light candles, ghosts blow them out'... what 'white-haired weasels worship the moon'... Lin Yuan, that bastard! What kind of feudal superstitions are you writing!"

Gu Zhiwan muttered to herself, trying to arm herself with scientific materialism.

However, the human brain can be quite rebellious at times—the more you tell yourself not to think about it, the clearer the images become. The rustling of leaves brushing against the glass outside the window sounds just like paper figures rubbing against the wall; the slight creaking of the wooden floorboards in the corridor sounds more like something breaking out of a coffin in an underground palace.

Gu Zhiwan shivered and burrowed her head under the covers.

No! The more I think about it, the more I feel a chill in the southeast corner of this room!

"Knock, knock, knock."

A very faint but regular knocking sound suddenly rang out.

Lin Yuan looked up, somewhat surprised: "Please come in."

The door was gently pushed open a crack, and Gu Zhiwan, dressed in a full set of pink silk pajamas, clutching a huge plush bear pillow tightly in her arms, and wearing soft-soled slippers shaped like sheep, crouched down and slipped in.

She slightly raised her delicate chin, trying to maintain the last shred of dignity, but her shifty eyes and tightly clenched lower lip completely exposed her bluff.

"Hey, Gu? Not sleeping at this hour? Here to inspect the work?" Lin Yuan stopped typing and smiled slightly.

Gu Zhiwan coughed lightly and said in a serious tone, "Ahem... well, the air conditioner in my room seems to be broken. The air blowing out is... cold air, and it's so cold that I can't sleep."

"It's autumn now," Lin Yuan said dismissively.

Gu Zhiwan choked for a moment, then glared at Lin Yuan, forcefully grabbing his hand that was about to type: "I don't care! I'm ordering you—turn off the computer now, immediately, and come back to the room with me to sleep!"

Lin Yuan looked at the finger being held down and couldn't help but laugh and cry: "Zhiwan, I've only set up half of the mechanisms for the Jingjue Ancient City, and I haven't even finished writing them yet."

"Stop writing! You're not allowed to write anymore!"

Gu Zhiwan's face flushed slightly. She grabbed Lin Yuan's arm and pulled him outside, still clutching the teddy bear pillow tightly in her arms. Her voice was full of trembling yet self-righteous coquettishness: "You're writing this gloomy stuff all by yourself, leaving me alone in the room freezing and scared. Don't you have a conscience?! Go back to your room! Hurry up!"

After being forcibly "escorted" back to the master bedroom, Gu Zhiwan skillfully slid onto the big bed, pulled over the thick down comforter and wrapped herself up like a tight "spring roll," leaving only her head sticking out.

Lin Yuan closed the door and lay down on the other side helplessly.

Before he could even settle down, "Spring Roll" next to him suddenly moved closer, his big eyes gleaming in the shadows as he stared intently at him and whispered, "Um... Lin Yuan."

"Um?"

"The ancient city of Jingjue... what happened next?" Gu Zhiwan couldn't contain her curiosity, her tone full of thirst for knowledge. "That nine-story demon tower under the Kunlun Glacier, what were those blue fireflies called again? Do they really burn people to ashes? Also, is the Queen of Jingjue still alive? Tell me what you didn't finish writing on the computer!"

Looking at Gu Zhiwan, who was clearly terrified but was huddled in the blankets insisting on hearing a story, Lin Yuan's mischievousness instantly surged.

"Want to hear it?" Lin Yuan leaned against the headboard, drawing out his words.

"I want to hear it!" Gu Zhiwan nodded her head frantically.

"Alright, then I'll tell you the real skills of 'finding the dragon and dividing the gold'."

Lin Yuan turned around and rummaged through the bedside table drawer, pulling out an old copper compass he'd somehow acquired, and then grabbed a small flashlight. He turned off the main light, leaving only the dim bedside lamp on.

"Look closely, Gu, this is called scientific feng shui."

Lin Yuan solemnly placed the compass in his palm, turned on the flashlight, and held it below the compass, directing the beam through the needle to the southeast corner of the bedroom: "As the saying goes, 'To find the dragon and divide the gold, look at the winding mountains; each winding mountain is a barrier.' The reason you felt the room was cold earlier was because your bed was facing the Qian position, creating a natural 'yin evil.' And our current position—"

He lowered his voice and said in a highly inflammatory, low tone, "The southeast corner has a stable energy field, making it an excellent safe haven. As long as the 'light' here doesn't go out, even a god couldn't drive you away."

Gu Zhiwan listened in stunned silence, her big eyes sparkling with admiration: "Really? That's amazing?"

"Of course, tomb raiders never lie."

Lin Yuan's lips curled into a smug, mischievous smile as he prepared to continue recounting the "Corpse-Scented Devil's Tongue" story—

suddenly!

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

The old, dilapidated flashlight in his hand blinked twice in perfect coordination, and then with a "snap," the filament burned out completely, and the light went out abruptly!

At the same time, a gust of wind blew through the window, causing the screen window, which was not closed tightly, to fly high and make a "whoosh" sound of cold wind tearing!

The bedroom was immediately plunged into dead silence and darkness.

Lin Yuan: "..."

Gu Zhiwan: "..."

After three seconds of deathly silence.

"Ah—! It's Ghost Blows Out the Light!!"

Gu Zhiwan let out a high-pitched scream, and like a startled cat, she suddenly jumped out of the quilt and pounced into Lin Yuan's arms with an extremely agile posture. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and her two slender legs wrapped around his waist!

"I told you not to blow out the lamp! I told you not to be a feng shui master! Lin Yuan, you big bad guy! Waaaaah..."

"No, Zhiwan, let me explain! The battery is dead! It's a physical phenomenon!"

Lin Yuan's blood was churning from the impact, and before he could even enjoy the soft, warm body of the woman in his arms, Gu Zhiwan, in extreme fear, instinctively kicked the edge of the bed with her little foot as a self-defense mechanism!

"Bang!"

"Awooo—!"

With a scream from Lin Yuan, the once-mighty "Great Demon King Lin," who had swept across the European and American music scene and possessed countless masterpieces, was kicked off the bed by his terrified classmate Gu, landing solidly on the thick carpet.

Half a minute later.

The bedroom light came back on.

Lin Yuan sat on the carpet, rubbing his back, and looked at Gu Zhiwan on the bed, who was wrapped tightly in the blanket, with only her red eyes showing, looking at him innocently. He sighed deeply.

"Zhiwan, register me for orthopedics tomorrow morning," Lin Yuan said quietly.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Gu Zhiwan finally couldn't help but burst out laughing. Her original fear completely vanished after that kick.

She patted the empty seat next to her, her face slightly flushed, and whispered coquettishly:

"Alright... I'll be lenient since you're injured, but let me make this clear—no more 'lighting candles'! Otherwise... the next kick won't just be a simple kick off the bed!"