WATCS Chapter 5: Wild Ghosts
Gu Yi didn’t know what was wrapped in the white handkerchief, but he could smell a sweet fragrance drifting in the air.
It was as if he were bewitched by the aroma—unable to resist, he reached out and took the handkerchief.
He looked dazed, his pupils slightly unfocused.
Somewhere deep inside, a voice warned him: Don’t take it. Don’t take it…
“Thank you, Auntie,” he said.
As the words left his mouth, even his own voice sounded unfamiliar to him.
“Eat it, quickly, eat it!”
The woman kept urging him.
Gu Yi stiffly opened the handkerchief. Inside was a roujiamo—a meat bun.
Even though he hadn’t eaten all day and was starving, he still wouldn’t normally eat food handed to him by strangers. But he didn’t know what was happening to him—just the smell of it made his hunger unbearable. Without thinking, he grabbed the food and brought it to his mouth.
All he could hear in his head was that voice again: Eat it… eat it…
As he bit into the meat bun, the couple’s expressions changed instantly. A moment ago, they’d seemed kind and gentle. Now, their faces were twisted with cruelty and malice.
It was as if they’d found the most delicious prey in the world—their eyes radiated greed, like they wanted to swallow Gu Yi whole.
“You little brat. The moment I’m not around, you’re just eating whatever anyone gives you?”
Gu Yi jolted in surprise.
It was Bo Si’s voice!
His consciousness snapped back. His body was no longer paralyzed.
At some point, Bo Si had appeared, standing right in front of the couple. He looked lazy and relaxed, but when he pushed his palm forward, a cloud of black mist erupted from it, slamming into the couple and making them unleash a bone-chilling scream.
“You’ve got guts—daring to barge into my territory. Tonight, I’ll make sure you vanish into dust.”
Bo Si’s eyes narrowed coldly. The black mist wrapped around the couple like flames, engulfing them entirely. Their howls echoed in the dark.
As Gu Yi regained his senses, he finally saw the truth: they weren’t a couple at all, but skeletal monsters with rotting flesh hanging from their bones!
They were walking skeletons, reeking of decay. Their eye sockets were stuffed with white eyeballs—one had even fallen onto its cheek. The sight left Gu Yi speechless.
Worse still, he looked at what he was holding in his hand—not a meat bun, but a mysterious, wriggling lump crawling with black maggots…
“Urgh—”
The visual horror was overwhelming. Realizing he’d actually put that thing in his mouth and chewed it several times…
Say no more. He needed to puke. Immediately.
After the skeletons—no, those monsters—disappeared, Bo Si turned his gaze back to Gu Yi, who was now slumped against the glass door, vomiting uncontrollably. A helpless smile crept onto Bo Si’s face.
Gu Yi’s throat burned as he retched. Every time he threw up, his stomach hurt more. No matter how much he vomited, it felt like he couldn’t get rid of that thing inside him. Eventually, he was throwing up dark green bile, and upon closer inspection, there were still live, squirming worms mixed in.
The sight was… beautifully horrific.
The more worms Gu Yi saw, the more he wanted to vomit. The cycle fed into itself, and before long, he collapsed onto the floor, completely drained.
Bo Si shook his head with a helpless smile and brought over a glass of water. He held a talisman between his fingers, tossed it into the water where it dissolved completely, leaving the water crystal clear. He walked over to Gu Yi, gently patting his back to help him breathe and handed him the cup. “Drink it. It’s strawberry-flavored.”
Gu Yi, still in agony, took the cup. But the moment he took a sip, the memory of the maggots resurfaced—he gagged again and spat the water out.
“This street tends to attract… strange things at night,” Bo Si said, still rubbing his back. “I forgot to warn you before I left, and you got into trouble. Good thing I came back in time.”
As he helped steady him, Bo Si added, “Remember, don’t eat anything strangers give you. Most people who live around here just pretend not to see these things. They’re mostly wandering souls, wild ghosts. You’re new, and young. You probably caught their attention.”
“I didn’t want to eat that woman’s food… but… I couldn’t control myself…” Gu Yi panted, struggling to speak.
“You could’ve just not talked to her in the first place.”
“I—I didn’t know… I thought they were just a normal couple… urgh…”
Gu Yi was pale as a sheet, sweat dripping from his forehead in fat droplets.
“Okay, okay, my fault. I should’ve told you beforehand. Still vomiting?”
Gu Yi made a face. “You try eating that and see.”
Bo Si chuckled, setting the glass aside. “Fair enough. That thing has to come out completely. Since you can’t do it yourself, I’ll help.”
Gu Yi looked up weakly. “How?”
Bo Si looked at him. “Open your mouth.”
“…Why?”
“Just do it. Why so many questions? You want that thing out of you or not?”
Bo Si was clearly losing patience.
Gu Yi was in no shape to argue. He gave in, and Bo Si’s eyes flickered with amusement. “Good boy,” he said, before grabbing the back of Gu Yi’s head.
And then—he pressed his lips to Gu Yi’s.
Gu Yi’s eyes flew wide open. He immediately tried to push away, but Bo Si seemed prepared. He held him still, and in that moment, swept through Gu Yi’s mouth as if he were reclaiming territory. Not long after, Gu Yi felt an indescribable relief in his chest, and the burning pain that had tortured him disappeared.
He still didn’t know exactly what he had eaten, but Bo Si hadn’t lied—he’d actually extracted the thing from inside his body.
Still, the way he did it…
…was hard to accept.
Last time Bo Si had force-fed him medicine like this, he’d been unconscious. This time, he was fully awake. And no matter what, they were both men…
Once the thing was expelled, Gu Yi’s body relaxed completely. Bo Si pulled back, handing him the glass again. “Drink all of it. No more puking.”
This time, Gu Yi actually found the water quite pleasant. It really did taste like strawberries. He drained the whole glass in one go, and immediately felt refreshed and clear-headed, the discomfort gone.
“Thanks, Boss,” he said.
He stood up, looking at the mess he’d made on the floor and said awkwardly, “I’ll clean it up.”
“No kidding. You’re the shop’s employee. If you don’t clean it, who will?”
Bo Si also stood, heading back into the shop. “And don’t thank me. That talisman water was expensive. I’m deducting it from your salary.”
“…”
Gu Yi’s temple twitched.
Of course…
“Boss, why do things like that show up at our store?”
As he started tidying up, Gu Yi couldn’t help but ask.
Bo Si leaned against a coffin, smoking lazily. “It’s not strange for our shop to run into stuff like that. You’re lucky you haven’t come across anything like a vengeful spirit yet.”
“…Then, Boss.” Gu Yi paused what he was doing. He turned to look at him seriously and asked, “Are you a ghost?”
Even though they’d only known each other a day, everything about Bo Si made it impossible to think of him as an ordinary human being.
Gu Yi had read books about supernatural stuff before. He didn’t have friends, so he often passed time reading strange tales. He had guessed Bo Si might be some kind of exorcist, or maybe a Taoist priest from Mount Mao, but none of the descriptions matched. When they first met, Bo Si flew him to the rooftop of a school building. And earlier, he hadn’t used any chants or talismans to deal with those skeletons—just a wave of his hand and some black mist that obliterated them.
That… wasn’t something a human could do, right?
But the moment he asked, Gu Yi regretted it. Bo Si often said even if he explained things, Gu Yi wouldn’t understand. This question… surely he wouldn’t answer either.
“I’m not.”
Gu Yi had already lowered his head, resigned to the silence, when those words caught him off guard.
Surprised, he looked up.
Unexpectedly, Bo Si had actually answered him.
Not a ghost. That was a relief.
He didn’t dare ask any more questions, afraid Bo Si would snap at him.
But there was one thing he had to say, even if Bo Si got mad.
“Boss… next time I run into some wild ghost or… if I need your help again… could you maybe… use a different method?”
His voice grew softer toward the end, and a faint blush crept up his cheeks—probably from shame.
Bo Si looked at him, puzzled. “What method?”
“You know… without the… mouth-to-mouth thing…”
Gu Yi forced the words out, then didn’t dare lift his head.
The shop fell into a strangely awkward silence.
Bo Si blinked, then lowered the hand holding his cigarette and rolled his eyes dramatically. A moment later, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Forgive me, but I really don’t get how you virginal types think. Mouth-to-mouth means nothing to me—it was just to save your life. Don’t tell me you’re actually that bothered by it. Or…”
His tone shifted, and he looked at Gu Yi with a teasing smile.
“You’re not just a virgin… you’ve never even kissed a girl, have you?”
“…Boss, forget I said anything.”
Gu Yi felt a little embarrassed and blurted out instinctively, “Of course I’m not like you, Boss—going out on bar dates in broad daylight.”
“You going on a bar date? Try again in a hundred years.”
Bo Si straightened up and said, “Anyway, I’m not leaving tomorrow. It was my oversight today—you just arrived, and already got targeted by those things. If I’d come back any later, who knows what would’ve happened to you. No matter what, I’m your boss, and it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. Come here for a second.”
Gu Yi put down what he was doing and walked over. “What is it, Boss?”
Bo Si pointed to the coffin beside him. “Open the lid. Don’t ask, just do as I say.”
“…Okay.”
Gu Yi started pushing the coffin lid open.
He had to admit—the lid was pretty heavy. It took some effort to lift.
But just as he got the lid open, Bo Si suddenly shoved him hard from behind. Caught completely off guard, Gu Yi practically fell straight into the coffin!
“Boss?!”
Gu Yi shouted in shock, but before he could react—
Darkness.
Bo Si had closed the coffin lid.
Gu Yi lay inside, frantically pressing his hands against the top and pounding with all his strength. “Boss! Boss, what are you doing?! Let me out!”
The coffin was square-shaped—wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Inside, he could smell the distinctive scent of raw wood and faint lacquer. It was pitch-black, not even a sliver of light. And most terrifyingly of all—it was a sealed space.
And he was lying in a coffin.
But he was still alive.
Panic, fear, suffocation—all kinds of negative emotions surged from deep inside Gu Yi, one after the other. He kept shouting, again and again, until his voice went hoarse. No one answered.
So this was what it felt like to be a living person lying inside a coffin.
That overwhelming sense of powerlessness mixed with deep, gnawing despair—every single cell in his body seemed to go quiet, as if frozen in time inside that pitch-black box.
T/N: Please give support on my kofi page, thank you🥑🥑🥑
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