After the Young Master’s Death, He was Kissed by His Mortal Enemy! (BL) - Chapter 14

The thought sounded absurd—wild and far-fetched—but Shen Ran couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

Besides, he instinctively felt that this phone was important. Somehow, it was connected to him in ways he couldn’t yet comprehend.

In his previous life, after being killed, he had been trapped inside his apartment, unable to step even one foot beyond the front door.

But after Cheng Yi discovered his phone and took it with him, Shen Ran found himself able to move freely, following Cheng Yi wherever he went.

Looking back now, the phone might have been his medium, the vessel that allowed him to move.

And now, this phone had once again appeared in his hand—at a time when it absolutely should not exist…

Rushing home, Shen Ran didn’t care about anything else. He hurried straight to his bedroom and plugged the phone in to charge.

It even powered on without a problem!

Though the phone booted up normally, Shen Ran quickly realized something was different.

All the other apps were gone—only one messaging app remained. Inside it, there was only a single chat thread.

It was the conversation between him and Cheng Yi, frozen at the moment Cheng Yi said he was coming to find him.

【…Forget it. You won’t reply, so I have to come and confirm for myself.】

【You’d better not let me catch you goofing off somewhere while I worried for nothing.】

Ah.

That message thread had been preserved.

This Cheng Yi—always saying the opposite of what he meant. Clearly, he had been worried sick, yet still insisted on making it sound like he had a noble reason.

Shen Ran read through those messages over and over again, a quiet, lingering emotion welling in his chest.

After his death, Cheng Yi had been the only one to search for him, to care about how he was doing.

And now, Cheng Yi was still helping him—pretending to be his boyfriend, accompanying him home, giving him advice, helping him investigate his background.

If this had been before—back when Shen Ran barely knew Cheng Yi—he would have scoffed at Cheng Yi’s promises.

But now? Cheng Yi said he’d investigate his bloodline, and Shen Ran had no doubt he would.

He could never forget that “secretary,” who was, in reality, a top-tier hacker, Xiao Wang!

No, no—Brother Wang, the legendary hacker, who could retrieve and restore security footage that had been completely wiped!

With someone like Brother Wang on their side, what secrets couldn’t they uncover?

Right now, Shen Ran was so panicked he couldn’t do anything. The only thing he could do was calm down and wait for Cheng Yi’s results.

With that in mind, Shen Ran placed the mysterious phone in the drawer beside his bed.

He didn’t know what other purpose the phone had, besides storing the chat history with Cheng Yi.

But it surely had some purpose—otherwise, there’s no way it would have “returned” with him when he was reborn.

Honestly, he felt a bit slow—how had he gone half a day without noticing there were two phones in his pocket?

He tried to find an excuse for himself—his nerves had been too tight, he’d been too exhausted to notice anything.

After such a chaotic, emotional day, Shen Ran was completely drained. He washed up sluggishly, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

However, his sleep was doomed to be restless.

After all, this apartment was the very place that had left the deepest scars in his psyche.

No matter how exhausted he was, his subconscious kept replaying the most terrifying memories.

The front door creaking open on its own. The apartment, filled with people.

A man’s cold gaze. The icy blade pressed against his neck.

His breathing turned erratic and ragged. Even in sleep, Shen Ran’s brows furrowed, and with a gasp, he jolted awake clutching his blanket, sitting upright.

“Ah!”

The first thing he did upon waking was to touch his neck.

The pain from the dream seemed to bleed into reality, stealing the breath from his lungs.

“It’s fine… it’s over… all over now… it was just a dream…”

Shen Ran tried to soothe himself, to calm down.

But his heart wouldn’t stop racing, and cold sweat streamed down his back.

Taking a shaky breath, Shen Ran suddenly felt cold dampness on his face. He reached up—at some point, tears had silently covered his cheeks.

He quickly grabbed two tissues and wiped his face, but the more he wiped, the more he felt defeated. Silently, he buried his face into his knees.

Even after being reborn, Shen Ran still couldn’t shake the fear of that moment.

He was scared. Not just now.

That fear might follow him for a lifetime—who could say?

A soft, muffled sound echoed quietly in the room.

“…Looks like I really should find a new place and move out soon.”

He truly couldn’t stay here any longer.

Lying back down, Shen Ran forced himself to try and sleep again.

But after that nightmare, he tossed and turned, unable to rest.

Cheng Yi’s words echoed in his mind:

If you can’t sleep, come find me.

Easier said than done—now it was already around 2 or 3 in the morning. Even if Cheng Yi had said that, suddenly showing up at his place in the middle of the night would be unbelievably rude.

Shen Ran waged an internal war, and in the end… reason lost.

Even someone like Shen Ran, who was normally carefree and unbothered, felt a twinge of guilt as he dialed the number.

Calling someone this late… This is seriously not okay…!

Cheng Yi’s voice came through the line, perfectly awake.
“So, Boss Shen really can’t sleep and needs someone to coax him, huh?”

Shen Ran asked instinctively, “You’re still awake?”

Cheng Yi clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“I turn off my phone when I sleep. If I had been asleep, how would you have called me? Now tell me—what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing much… I had a nightmare, woke up scared, and couldn’t fall back asleep…”

Shen Ran’s voice got quieter and quieter. Calling Cheng Yi in the middle of the night over a nightmare really made him sound like a spoiled brat with zero self-control.

He fully expected Cheng Yi to mock him for being scared by a bad dream. But to his surprise, Cheng Yi didn’t hesitate at all:

“Alright. Then come over to my place.”

“But isn’t it rude to bother you this late?”

Shen Ran made a token protest, but his body was already moving. Holding the phone between his ear and shoulder, he got up and grabbed his winter coat from the rack, slipping it on.

“Enough with the nonsense.”

“Heh heh.” Shen Ran asked, “So… where do you live?”

Even after knowing Cheng Yi for so long, he had no clue where the guy lived.

When he was in his spirit form, he had followed Cheng Yi around—but during that time, Cheng Yi had been constantly on the move, busy with Shen Ran’s affairs, and hadn’t once gone home.

“My place? Just follow my instructions. Step outside your apartment first.”

“Okay.” Shen Ran opened the door. “I’m out. Now what?”

“Turn right, take the elevator, and press 27.”

“Alright… Wait, what?!”

Following Cheng Yi’s directions mechanically, Shen Ran pressed the elevator button—then suddenly realized something was off.

“My door code is your birthday. Once you get off the elevator, just grab the handle and come in.”

…?!?!?!?