After Hames left, Chloe began praying that the five-poison tattoo would work, mumbling about the grace of God and Buddha.
I laughed bitterly and asked, "Do I really need to be so scared?" I told her to relax—even if something happened, I would never involve her. This matter had nothing to do with her in the first place.
Chloe said it wasn't because she was worried about herself—she was worried about me. It didn't matter what happened to her, but she didn't want me to get hurt. Hames wasn't simple, and if an accident happened, she was sure I'd be in deep trouble. As long as I was safe, she would be fine no matter what.
It seemed that after the Corpse-Fetus incident, Chloe had treated me much better. Even the way she looked at me was different now—her eyes carried a burning, indescribable emotion. But I could only pretend not to notice.
I reassured her not to worry. My Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts had basically never failed before, and Hames was a tough guy—he should be able to endure it.
After hearing my words, Chloe seemed a little more at ease. I walked her out, and she said she'd bring me food tomorrow. She also pointed out where she was living now—a building not far from this alley.
When I returned to the shop, Antonio looked furious. He said that if Hames dared to come back and cause trouble, he'd break his neck.
I told him not to be impulsive. Killing wasn't our job. If trouble really came, driving him away would be enough—no need to go that far. But if it really came down to it... I glanced at the tattoo needle in my hand.
My Yin-related magic could kill people too—it just had too many restrictions. But if I did kill someone, it would be silent...
Business was slow again today. By evening, we had nothing to do, so we watched Chloe's livestream. Contrary to what I'd imagined, she wore modest clothes and didn't show off at all. She just sang a song in front of the camera. Back in her nightclub days, Chloe didn't just serve drinks and accompany men to bed—she also sang. She wasn't a professional, but she was still very good. Unfortunately, there weren't many viewers.
Livestreaming was like that—you had to take it slow, build an audience over time. I sent her a virtual "airplane" gift, which earned me endless "Mamma Mia!" reactions from her.
Speaking of singing, I suddenly remembered—wasn't Harper participating in some campus singing competition today? She'd even sent Stella to invite me. Checking the time, I realized I was late. I quickly packed up and rushed out.
Stein and Antonio, those two troublemakers, couldn't just stay put. They wanted to tag along, supposedly just to see the pretty girls on campus. I didn't agree at first, but they pestered me until I had no choice but to take them with me.
When I arrived at the campus entrance, I saw Stella waiting anxiously for me. As soon as she spotted me, she glared and snapped, "Damn Ror, why are you so late? How long have I been waiting?"
I couldn't think of an excuse on the spot—I was too embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten—so in a panic, I shifted the blame to Stein, claiming his short legs made him too slow. "It's not my fault!"
Stein: "......"
Stella was about to chew me out, but I didn't give her the chance. "Quit dawdling, let's hurry inside—if we're late, it'll be over!" I grabbed Stella and dragged her toward the school gate.
Stella stopped me. "Not this way. We don't have student IDs—you think we can just waltz through the main entrance?"
"Then what do we do?" I frowned. "I could maybe pass as a student and say I forgot my ID, but Stein and Antonio? Look at them—do they look like college students?"
Stella smirked. "Don't worry, I've got a plan." She led us around to the back of the school, where there was a wide ditch. "Jump over that, and we'll reach the playground. The fence there has barbed wire, but there's a gap—about the size of a dog hole."
"What the hell? You expect us to crawl through a damn dog hole?"
"Exactly! We'd rather die than disgrace ourselves like that. Do you think we're—"
Antonio and I protested in unison, but before we could finish, Stein had already squeezed through. He waved at us cheerfully. "Little Boss! Antonio! Come on over!"
"Huh? What happened to 'we're men'?" Stella crossed her arms, grinning at us.
Me: "......"
Antonio: "......"
Once we got over, Antonio and I nearly beat Stein to death. That bastard had made us eat our words before they'd even left our mouths—and now I had to crawl through a damn dog hole.
Inside, Stella officially guided us onto campus. Even at night, the place was lively, with pretty college girls strolling around. Their innocent faces and alluring figures made me regret not attending university.
Antonio and Stein hadn't gone to college either. Our tattoo shop really had a low education level per capita.
Antonio, though, wasn't bothered. "I might not have gone to college, but I've been with college students!"
Stella rolled her eyes, too embarrassed to be seen with us, and quickly distanced herself—as if afraid people would realize she knew us.
The university campus was quite large. After walking for about ten minutes, we arrived at a wide stage surrounded by people. We had come a little late and couldn't squeeze to the front, so we had to watch from a distance.
Stella said Harper was ranked last and she didn't know if Harper's voice could win the championship. This campus singing competition had some questionable judging - there were many strong competitors. I hoped my Yin-inspired "Ghosts Performing Opera" tattoo would show its power and help Harper.
The three of us weren't particularly interested in the singing. We spent the whole evening checking out girls. The university was quite liberal, with many female students dressed very fashionably. We thoroughly enjoyed the view - this school was famous for its many beauties.
After about an hour, it was finally Harper's turn. As soon as she appeared, we started shouting to cheer her on.
Harper seemed slightly nervous but remained stable. Most importantly, when she opened her mouth to sing, the entire room fell silent. I had never heard such a beautiful voice in my life - it was like aged wine, intoxicating me completely.
But something wasn't right. Her voice sounded completely different - even her entire vocal quality had changed. Was this really her singing? She hadn't just altered her voice - it was like she had a completely different voice.
Everyone was mesmerized by Harper's singing. Even Harper herself didn't seem to notice anything wrong. Only Stella and I exchanged glances, growing increasingly uneasy. But we couldn't just rush the stage to stop her now.
Midway through the song, Harper began having problems. A slightly frightened expression appeared on her face, and her body seemed to twist unnaturally. What was wrong with her? What was happening?
After the song ended, even the musical accompaniment stopped. But Harper didn't stop - she remained on stage, continuing to sing. Her voice grew increasingly beautiful, yet so chilling it made my back go cold and my scalp tingle. Because Harper wasn't singing anymore - she was performing opera. Her voice became shrill and high-pitched.
I could see Harper resisting. This meant she wasn't singing willingly - something was controlling her body, and she couldn't break free.
The crowd began murmuring at this bizarre development. I expected a riot to break out, but I was wrong. Suddenly, the entire venue fell silent again. Everyone was quietly listening to Harper sing opera.
The most terrifying part was when I noticed something wrong with Antonio and Stein. They were staring blankly, their expressions wooden, yet their eyes remained fixed on the stage.
My heart pounded violently. This time, it was a real ghost singing!