After Becoming a Cannon Fodder, I Fell into a Love-Hate Relationship with the Heroine (GL) - Chapter 2

A whispering voice echoed by her ear as Huo Xi struggled to escape.

Lu Yue held her firmly in place.
“Surprised? You spirits only ever come near us for one reason.”

“Wha… what?” Huo Xi didn’t understand what she meant.

Lu Yue walked over to the desk and tossed a stack of photos in front of her.

The moment Huo Xi saw them, she nearly threw up. Every photo showed broken and dismembered human bodies.

She covered her mouth and fought the urge to vomit.

“You’re already dead. What are you afraid of?” Lu Yue looked at her, clearly surprised.

Right, Huo Xi remembered. She was dead now.

But that didn’t mean she had to accept these horrifying images.

“Come on. Let me introduce you to them.” Lu Yue casually pulled out a set of keys from the drawer.

Three prompt boxes appeared in front of Huo Xi: “Story Hint,” “Character Info,” and “Bonus Perk.”

Each one listed a point cost. With her current amount of Fear Points, she could only afford the first option.

She reached up, placing her hand over the first button.

In an instant, several images flashed through her mind.

An old, abandoned school had been turned into a detective agency by the woman named Lu Yue. She used it to take on strange and unusual cases. The disturbing photos were from one of them.

Then came the image of a dark basement, with iron bars and chains.

The scenes moved too quickly. She didn’t even get a good look.

Trial of “Story Hint” completed. Would you like to purchase the full version or subscribe monthly?

A trial? Why didn’t the system say so earlier?

Huo Xi had already used up all her points, and now she had only gotten a glimpse.

This system was clearly here to scam her.

“Let’s go,” Lu Yue called from the doorway.

The system interface vanished. Huo Xi rubbed her eyes and returned to reality.

The clinking sound of keys followed them as they made their way down the stairs. Lu Yue opened an iron door, and a wave of bl00d-scented air rushed out. A moment later, the sound of wailing filled the space.

Huo Xi was startled and leaned against the wall to steady herself.

“These are vengeful spirits. If I let them out, they’ll harm the living.” Lu Yue picked up a flashlight hanging on the wall and tossed it to Huo Xi.

There were too many injustices in this world. Lu Yue’s job was to comfort and calm these spirits. The ones who refused to be reasoned with were locked up by force.

Inside the basement, the crying echoed over and over again, sharp and piercing to Huo Xi’s ears.

She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist, thoughtful.
“What is this thing exactly?”

Lu Yue stopped walking.
“That’s a binding lock. You didn’t know?”

Lu Yue was one of a rare few who could see things invisible to ordinary people. Most spirits approached her because they either needed something or wanted to form a link with her.

Once a spirit was bound to a human and given a bracelet, they became visible to other people as well.

If the two moved too far apart, the spirit would automatically return to their bound human. That explained why Huo Xi had suddenly been teleported back earlier.

Huo Xi was different from other wandering spirits. Ever since Lu Yue discovered her ability, she had seen every spirit she encountered face to face. But when it came to Huo Xi, despite standing right in front of her, she could not see her clearly.

“That must be your special trait,” Lu Yue said, slowly turning her head.

A human could only bind to one spirit. Over the years, all of Lu Yue’s companions had found partners. Only she had remained alone.

Congratulations, Host. You have gained the female lead’s recognition. Achievement unlocked: Loyal Sidekick.

The system’s voice chimed in again, though the achievement title sounded more like an insult.

Inside the iron-barred cells, some spirits clutched the bars and struggled to get out. Others, exhausted from their outbursts, rested quietly in the corners.

The space was not very large. Lu Yue gave Huo Xi a quick introduction to each of them.

The moment the basement door opened, Huo Xi rushed out.

She could not bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer. All she wanted was to get away.

Eyes closed, she ran straight into someone at the entrance.

“Is this your new assistant?” Jiang Sifan steadied Huo Xi with a hand and asked Lu Yue.

Lu Yue stepped forward and grabbed Huo Xi’s wrist, making sure to cover the blue bracelet.
“I thought you had something to discuss with me. Why didn’t you wait in the office?”

Jiang Sifan was Lu Yue’s partner and also the male lead of the story. But he was just an ordinary man. Usually, he helped provide Lu Yue with clues and useful information.

“I waited for a while. No one came, so I decided to look around,” he replied.

“Alright,” Lu Yue said as she walked briskly toward the office. “Come inside with me.”

Huo Xi tried to follow, but just as she reached the doorway, the door slammed shut in her face.

Luckily, she had been a step behind. If she had walked in just a moment sooner, the door might have hit her directly in the face.

She stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do next.

“So where does the story go from here? I don’t even have invisibility anymore. How am I supposed to scare anyone?” she mumbled under her breath.

The system was unbelievably unreliable. It kept cutting out, leaving Huo Xi completely lost.

Beep beep beep…

A few short tones echoed in her ears, and then nothing.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Huo Xi tapped her own mouth in frustration. Her bad luck seemed to have jinxed it. The system really had malfunctioned.

Huo Xi walked nervously back and forth in the hallway, trying to catch bits of the conversation coming from inside the office.

Suddenly, the door cracked open. Lu Yue peeked out, spotted her, and tossed over a small ribbon. She pointed to Huo Xi’s wrist.

“Cover the bracelet. Don’t let anyone see it.”

She gave Huo Xi a serious assignment. In the room next door, there was a logbook that recorded the names and stories of every spirit kept in the basement.

If Huo Xi was going to stay involved, she had to toughen up.

The door to the nearby room wasn’t locked. Huo Xi pushed it open with great care.

Inside, a wall lamp flickered to life with a pull, buzzing with an unstable hum that filled the quiet room.

On the desk, among scattered papers, lay a red logbook that stood out clearly.

Returning to this place filled Huo Xi with anxiety. At least before, she hadn’t been alone. Now, she had to face everything by herself.

She glanced into the cells on either side, matching the spirits’ names and faces as best she could.

“Young lady,” a gentle voice called out. It came from an elderly spirit nearby. She was much quieter than the others.

Huo Xi flipped to the page with her information. According to the record, she had lived a diligent and honest life. An accident had taken her away. She didn’t seem dangerous at all.

But as Huo Xi approached, the old woman suddenly grabbed her wrist and slammed her against the iron bars.

The spirits in the other cells cheered and shouted.

“Be careful of that woman. She’s the reason we’re trapped like this,” the old woman said in a low voice. Her hand brushed over Huo Xi’s wrist, and her expression changed immediately.

“You’re linked to her? Take that thing off right now!” she snapped, trying to push through the bars. Her calm and gentle appearance had vanished.

Huo Xi stumbled back, startled. Another hand grabbed at her from behind.

She ducked low, crawling to get away, then got up and ran as fast as she could down the hallway.

Just as she reached the door, a beam of light struck her eyes. It was so bright she had to shield them.

“It hurts,” she gasped.

The light burned. Just a glimpse made her heart race, and sharp pain spread through her body.

Lu Yue stepped in and wrapped one arm around Huo Xi’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“Don’t look.”

She lifted a glowing stone and raised it toward the spirits. Its light pushed them back into the corners of their cells, where they trembled in fear.

“I kept you here to give you a chance to reincarnate, not so you could gather together and plot rebellion,” Lu Yue said, placing the stone in the middle of the basement.

The dull room lit up completely. The stone’s light would only last for thirty minutes, but that would be more than enough to keep them in line.

Lu Yue helped Huo Xi up the stairs. Only after closing the door did she move her hand away from Huo Xi’s eyes.

She looked down at the ribbon on Huo Xi’s wrist. It was tied sloppily, so she gently adjusted it.

“Not everyone can handle the presence of a spirit,” Lu Yue said quietly. “Like that woman just now.”

Huo Xi’s wide eyes shimmered under her thin bangs, still filled with lingering fear.

Just then, Jiang Sifan stepped out of the office with a thick stack of documents in his arms.

“Detective Lu, I’m heading to the scene.”

Lu Yue waved him off, signaling that she would catch up soon.

It was finally time to start the main mission. That meant she was one step closer to going home. The thought filled Huo Xi with new energy.

The two of them got into the car. Lu Yue tossed a stack of case files onto Huo Xi’s lap.

“These are old cases. Study them.”

Huo Xi looked at the pile of papers and fell silent.

“Study?”

What kind of afterlife was this? She had already died, and now she had to study?

Lu Yue noticed her frustration and glanced at her.

“You scare too easily. If you don’t prepare yourself, you might faint before anything even happens.”

Huo Xi took a deep breath and began flipping through the files.

They documented every case Lu Yue had handled from the moment she started as a detective. She had worked alone from the very beginning.

After looking through so many graphic photos, Huo Xi felt numb. Once she got used to them, they all started to look the same.

She became so absorbed in the case files that she didn’t notice the car had stopped in front of a grand hotel.

A static noise buzzed in her head. Though broken and faint, she could still make out the system’s message.

You are now near the mission site. Would you like to proceed immediately?

After such a long time, the system had finally returned.

Without hesitation, Huo Xi said aloud, “Yes.”

Lu Yue turned her head in surprise. But when she looked over, there was nothing on the passenger seat but a pile of papers. The person who had just been sitting there had vanished.

She pulled over and got out of the car, looking around quickly.

Inside her bag, the crystal cube began to vibrate violently. Huo Xi had clearly gone beyond the safe distance.

Lu Yue shook the crystal and pressed the switch on top. Nothing happened.

She frowned. Her palms started to sweat. Something about this felt seriously wrong.

She quietly returned the cube to her bag, then reached in again and pulled out an antique dagger.