Chapter 54: The Ringtone—Her Song
“When will you be back?” Nan Xun asked.
Fu Mo tilted his head slightly and said with a smile, “You could come look for me too.”
Then Nan Xun was given an address, and Fu Mo left just like that—without taking a single cloud with him.
“Little Eight, I’ve suddenly realized that ever since I’ve been with the big boss, I haven’t run into that thing again. Fu Mo really is a big boss with a malice value of 100—even ghosts are afraid of him.”
Thinking of this, Nan Xun said anxiously, “Now that Fu Mo is gone, I won’t start running into that thing again, will I?”
Little Eight cleared his throat. “Isn’t that easy to solve? Just find a way to stick to the big boss all the time. With him around, no filthy thing would dare get near you.”
Nan Xun sighed and collapsed onto the sofa. Looking at the empty, silent apartment, she suddenly felt a little lonely.
If she’d been alone from the beginning, she wouldn’t have felt this way. But when there were two people, she’d simply sat around waiting to be fed, living an extremely leisurely life. Fu Mo’s presence had been far too strong—now that he was suddenly gone, she found it hard to adjust.
Clutching the three days’ rent Fu Mo had stuffed into her hand before leaving, Nan Xun went to the supermarket and bought some stored food.
That night, as usual, the supermarket cashier tallied up the money and discovered two hell banknotes mixed in with it, nearly scaring her to death. The cashier tearfully told the others she’d taken in two hell bills. The manager scolded her for being blind, saying she couldn’t even tell fake money from real money. The girl felt terribly wronged—when she’d taken the money during the day, it had clearly all been real cash.
Nan Xun restocked the fridge and mopped the living room floor.
She looked up toward the opposite side and suddenly noticed that the door to the room Fu Mo had stayed in wasn’t fully closed—there was a narrow crack left open.
Inside that crack was pitch black.
Staring at the dark gap for a while, Nan Xun felt her heart begin to pound uncontrollably.
This was a room Fu Mo had just lived in—it should have been full of life. Yet now, just looking at that black slit of a doorway, she felt as if there was a deathly stillness inside.
She stood at the door and gently pushed it open.
The faint sound of the door opening was amplified many times over in that moment.
Nan Xun suddenly felt flustered. “Little Eight, do you think Fu Mo left something… unspeakable in here? My heart’s suddenly racing so fast.”
The Void Beast said, “Relax. You’ve got me watching over you. If there really is something unspeakable, I’ll immediately block your five senses.”
Only then did Nan Xun feel reassured and step inside.
Fu Mo seemed to dislike bright environments. The bedroom was dimly lit, the curtains drawn tightly, letting in not a single ray of sunlight.
The room was very neat—even the quilt was folded tidily, just like at the beginning. But—
Nan Xun reached out and touched the table, and her hand came away with a thin layer of dust.
She had the strange illusion that ever since Fu Mo moved in, he hadn’t touched anything in this room.
But how was that possible?
“Little Eight, I didn’t dream for these three days, did I? There really was someone named Fu Mo living with me for three days, right?” Nan Xun asked anxiously.
The Void Beast replied, “It wasn’t a dream.”
Only then did Nan Xun relax. As for why there was dust in Fu Mo’s room, she figured maybe this place just gathered dust easily.
Even though the big boss had left, Nan Xun kept thinking about his malice value, wondering whether she should find an excuse to deliver herself right to his door someday.
Just then, the landlady called, saying there was a young girl who wanted to share the apartment. Her rent would be cut in half, and she asked if Nan Xun agreed.
Nan Xun could tell that although the landlady was asking, she’d already made the decision to rent it out. After all, it was the landlady’s place—she didn’t really need Nan Xun’s consent.
At that moment, Nan Xun was rather glad the big boss had just moved out. Otherwise, if she secretly sublet the room and the landlady found out, it wouldn’t look good.
“Little Eight, if I end up sharing the place with someone else, then the big boss and I won’t really have any chances to be alone together anymore,” Nan Xun said.
It was a long while before the Void Beast replied, “Don’t worry. He’ll come looking for you on his own.”
After thinking about it, Nan Xun said, “I think I’ll call Fu Mo and tell him someone’s going to be staying in his room.”
The Void Beast said, “No need.” He knows everything about you.
Nan Xun snorted. “Dummy. I’m just using this as an excuse to get closer to Fu Mo.”
The Void Beast: “…So clever. He’ll definitely be very happy.”
Nan Xun found the big boss’s phone number in her contacts.
The moment the call connected, she was startled by a sudden burst of singing—it was her own voice. It was the song she loved most to sing when she worked as a resident singer at a bar, Secret Crush. The sound came from behind the door of the room she’d just walked out of—it was the ringtone.
The song must have been recorded live by someone else; she could even hear the sparse applause that followed the end of the singing.
Nan Xun slowly turned her neck and looked toward the bedroom she had just left.
“Little Eight, when I went in earlier, I didn’t see a phone inside. Why is there a phone ringing in there now? And why is the ringtone a song I sang at a bar?” Something felt off to Nan Xun.
The Void Beast said, “Why don’t you go in and take a look?”
So Nan Xun pushed the door open and went inside. At a glance, she saw a phone lying in the corner of the table.
The ringtone was still playing, the screen lit up. The incoming call showed the name “Momo,” and the avatar was actually a photo of her sitting on a barstool in a bar, holding a microphone and singing passionately.
Nan Xun froze.
Had Fu Mo been to the bar where she sang?
Was this what Little Eight meant when it said the villainous big boss would fall for her first—that he’d fallen in love with her at first sight when he saw her singing at the bar?
Nan Xun felt a little shy. Just imagining the big boss sitting in some corner, listening to her sing and secretly liking her made her feel like her charm was truly overwhelming.
She hung up the call, and Fu Mo’s phone screen slowly went dark. Carefully, she slipped his phone into her pocket, deciding to deliver it to him right away.
Returning a phone was a great excuse. Besides, if Fu Mo realized his phone was missing, he’d definitely be anxious.
From the phone, Nan Xun found the address of the Fu family’s old residence that Fu Mo had left for her. When she saw the address clearly, she was surprised—she hadn’t expected the old residence he mentioned to be in the small town where she’d lived as a child.
She remembered that back when she was in school, during summer vacations she’d ride her beat-up old bicycle around aimlessly, often passing by a villa. It was built very luxuriously, with a large courtyard filled with lush green flowers and plants.
Back then, she couldn’t help but take a few extra looks each time. Sometimes she’d see a small figure standing on the second-floor balcony. Backlit by the sun, she couldn’t make out what the little boy hiding in the shadow of the curtains looked like, but when she was in a good mood, she’d wave at him before pedaling her rickety bicycle away.
Could that little boy have been Fu Mo?
Suddenly, Nan Xun felt that this was fate—true fate.
