That face… Lin Yue stared, utterly dumbfounded. It was the kind of face that could make a marble statue jealous—delicate, radiant, and so flawless it practically glowed. He looked even younger and prettier than she’d imagined. Definitely not the kind of face you’d see on any human.
Before she could process this cosmic injustice, another thunderclap boomed nearby. The ground shook, and a roaring flash flood came barreling down the mountain, swallowing the path in seconds. In the chaos, Yue barely managed to shove the spirit boy up onto a muddy slope. Her own foot slipped, and with a shriek worthy of a horror movie, she tumbled backwards into the churning water. After that, everything went black.
When she finally clawed her way back to consciousness, Yue coughed up what felt like half the mountain’s water supply. She struggled upright, only to find—oh boy—a ridiculously beautiful silver-haired boy squatting at her side, his nose practically pressed to her chest, sniffing around like a truffle pig at a five-star restaurant.
Was he about to eat her?!
Yue let out a raspy yelp, arms flailing as she scooted away.
The spirit boy, equally spooked, immediately sprang up, his furry silver ears standing at attention. He bared his sharp teeth, hissed, and then bolted into the trees with the grace of a cat burglar who’d just set off the alarm.
Yue had no idea how she made it back to the village. The whole ordeal felt like a fever dream.
She ran into Grandpa Lin and Granny Zhao halfway down the path. The moment they saw her, covered in mud and looking like she’d just lost a wrestling match with a swamp, they both burst into tears, hugging her like she was made of porcelain. “Oh, my precious dumpling!” Granny wailed. “The flood came, and you were gone so long! We thought you’d been swept away by a river monster!”
After calming them down and promising not to go mushroom-hunting during monsoons ever again, Yue took the world’s longest, hottest shower, then collapsed into bed and slept like a log.
Her dreams, though, were less restful. A certain spirit boy with glinting golden eyes glared at her, his voice rough and strange: “Give back what you stole!”
Yue jolted awake, heart hammering. Moonlight spilled across her window, and the old clock on the wall blinked 10:00 PM. On her nightstand sat a bowl of cold mung bean porridge and a plate of soy-braised beef—Granny’s idea of midnight comfort food.
Rubbing her aching head, Yue tried to get up, but the room was getting brighter. And brighter. And—wait, was the moon always this aggressive?
She looked down, and nearly fainted. The golden glow wasn’t moonlight at all—it was coming from her own chest!
A soft, golden pearl sat just above her heart, shining like someone had installed a miniature sun inside her. She looked like a Buddhist statue, if Buddha had been a panicked college girl in bunny pajamas.
Yue shrieked. The more she panicked, the brighter the light grew, until her room was lit up like a 200-watt interrogation lamp. She clutched her chest, but the light leaked through her fingers like she was a malfunctioning glow stick.
What the heck? What the actual heck?!
As she stumbled around, the wind whipped through her curtains, rattling the window panes. Suddenly, a tall, lean shadow appeared in the room. A long, strong hand with sharp nails reached out and clamped over Yue’s own, pressing her hand against her chest. A deep, gravelly voice muttered, “Control… it.”
Yue’s hair stood on end. She knew that voice. It was him—the spirit boy with the bone mask.
“Yueyue, are you okay?” The old wooden stairs creaked as Granny Zhao climbed up, knocking on the door with all the concern of a grandma who’d just heard a banshee wail. “Don’t be scared, sweetie, Granny’s here! Did something happen?”
Hissss—
The hand on Yue’s wrist suddenly let go. The spirit boy leapt back, crouching like a wildcat, his eyes locked onto the door, teeth bared in a snarl.
Yue didn’t want to give Granny Zhao a heart attack, so she pressed herself against the door and shouted, “I’m fine, Granny! Just saw a mouse! I chased it out! No worries, go back to bed!”
Granny Zhao seemed satisfied, though she couldn’t resist a final reminder: “There’s food on the table—don’t go to sleep hungry!”
The stairs creaked as she slowly retreated, muttering about “city kids and their mouse phobias.”
Yue sagged in relief.
The spirit boy’s shadow stretched across the door, looming over her like a very attractive thundercloud. Yue gripped the doorknob, took a few deep breaths, and finally turned around to face her uninvited guest.
To her surprise, the wild golden light in her chest calmed instantly as soon as he appeared, like someone had finally found the remote and hit “mute.”
The spirit boy stood by the window, moonlight catching in his pale hair, making it shimmer like silver tinsel. His bone mask cast deep shadows, but the golden beast eyes beneath glowed with a dangerous, mesmerizing beauty.
“So… this glowing thing in my chest… it’s your core?” Yue asked, scooting onto her bed and pulling her knees up defensively.
He squinted, then nodded, as if the answer was obvious.
“I didn’t steal it!” Yue blurted. “I was just trying to help you! Then I got swept away by the flood and woke up like this!”
“Thunder… hurt,” he said, tapping his stomach. “Core… gone.”
Yue had to really focus to decipher his caveman grammar. “So, you were struck by lightning while, uh, doing some kind of spirit ritual, and your core accidentally ended up in me?”
He didn’t know what “accidentally” meant, but he nodded anyway.
“Is there any way I can give it back?” Yue asked, trying to sound braver than she felt. She knew better than to keep things that didn’t belong to her—especially if they glowed and attracted supernatural boys.
The spirit boy tilted his head, thinking. Then he stepped forward, looming over her bed, and said very slowly, “Eat… you.”
Yue’s jaw dropped.
“Could we… not do that?” she squeaked.
She remembered how much he liked food. Desperate, she rummaged in her pockets and under her pillow, coming up with a handful of candies. She held them out with trembling hands like a peace offering to a very picky god. “Here! Take these! They’re delicious! Please don’t eat me…”
The spirit boy wrinkled his nose under the mask, sniffed the candy, then delicately picked up a piece—wrapper and all—and popped it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, paper and all, and then blinked in surprise as the sticky sweetness glued his teeth together.
Yue couldn’t help herself. She burst out laughing, tears streaming down her face as the fear melted away. “You’re supposed to take the wrapper off first, you silly spirit!”
The spirit boy looked at her, confused, mouth full of candy and paper, and for the first time, he almost looked… sheepish.
Chapter 03
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