My Superpower Is Kind of Cute

Chapter 15: The Secret Inside the Gourd

“Are you out of your mind?” The man instinctively reached out to shield the gourd and snapped, “Is this any of your business?” I put on an innocent face. “I can’t help it—no normal person would go wandering around carrying a gourd every day.” “I… I’ve got liquor in here,” the man offered, coming up with what he thought was a perfectly reasonable excuse. “Then take a sip,” I said, instantly leaving him speechless. Seeing his reaction, I realized that Qi Yun might have been right. The man must have sensed my intentions; he shielded the gourd with one hand, turned to leave, and snapped, “I’m not in the mood to waste my breath on you. Stop following me—it won’t do you any good.” “I’m afraid there’s a ghost in your gourd,” I muttered softly behind his back, annoyed by his pretentious act. “What?” The man turned his head and glared at me sharply. “Say that again?” I suddenly felt a bit intimidated and answered cautiously, “I meant… what kind of ghost is in your gourd… huh?” The man slowly turned around, shaking his head. “That’s not right. That’s not what you just said.” Damn it, he’s at it again. I gave him a way out, but he didn’t take the hint. He just has to spell things out for it to be fun, right? I cleared my throat twice and said, “I heard that old man Zhou Jianguo got bitten by a ghost and lost a week’s worth of his life?” “You say, ‘I heard,’ ‘I heard’—who told you that?” the man said rhythmically, sounding more like he was singing at this point. I furrowed my brow, pushed my contact lenses up the bridge of my nose in the style of Conan, pointed at his crotch, and said with righteous indignation, “I suspect there’s a disgusting ghost inside your gourd that preys specifically on the elderly.” “You…” The man looked taken aback at first, then let out a soft sigh. “Since you already know, I suppose I’d better have a proper talk with you.” With that, he yanked the soft stopper out of the gourd, and instantly a chilling wind swept through the air. “Fuck.” Seeing what he was doing, I immediately cursed out loud. By then, wisps of white smoke had already begun to rise in front of him, gradually taking the shape of a human figure with a distinct face. Without a second thought, I turned and ran. This was clearly a move to kill me and silence me—I must’ve lost my mind earlier to actually confront a guy like him head-on. “Wait a minute.” The man hesitated for a moment when he saw me running away, then immediately gave chase, shouting for me to stop. Seeing him chase me relentlessly like a vicious dog, there was no way I was going to stop. My feet moved as if propelled by wind and fire, and I ran as fast as I could. Although I had a significant lead, I still couldn’t shake him off. This wasn’t a long-distance race—there was no prize for winning, but if I lost, I’d be dead. Damn it, how could I afford to let my guard down? After running out of the housing complex’s main gate, I mindlessly turned into an alley. As I caught my breath, everything went blurry, and a figure suddenly appeared right in front of me. “Big Boss, don’t shoot—it’s one of us.” My legs went weak; I thought that little bitch had teleported right there, and I almost dropped to my knees, blurting out instinctively. “Mengmeng, are you out of your mind?” Hearing that, I finally realized it was Qi Yun. Apparently, I’d run far enough for him to just show up beside me out of nowhere. “Why did you run out here? I was studying plate tectonics. Hurry up and take me back so I can keep studying.” Qi Yun looked completely baffled at first, then grew annoyed. “Interfering with someone’s studies is like murdering their parents—don’t you know that?” “I don’t know a damn thing about that,” I gasped, too out of breath to explain. Without waiting for him to respond, I turned my back to him and stuck my butt out. “All I know is that if you don’t get on with me, no one’s going to take you out to study anymore.” Qi Yun froze for a moment, then heard footsteps approaching from nearby. “A Spirit Power user?” “Yeah, that ‘Gourd Boy’ you were talking about. He was just about to let a ghost out to bite me—good thing I ran fast.” Leaning against the wall with one hand, I grumbled irritably, “Why should I take the fall for the mess you caused?” “I’ll go meet him right now.” Qi Yun’s eyes lit up, naturally ignoring what I’d just said. Since we’d met before, he was already comfortable with me—this time, he slipped right into my body. Before I could react, he dashed out. The moment he burst out of the alley, I was back to being Wu Dalang again. The man saw me step out on my own, stopped in his tracks, and looked puzzled at the scene in the alley. He eyed me curiously and asked, “Have you seen a young boy pass through here?” I ignored his question, looked up at him with a scornful expression, and said, “I hear you’re a real **?” “What do you mean by that?” the man asked, looking completely bewildered. I patted my chest. “I’m that guy’s older cousin. Were you just about to let a ghost bite him?” “Cousin?” The man mumbled the two words under his breath and explained to me, “I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m not…” “Hey, isn’t that Zhou Jianguo?” I didn’t listen to his explanation; instead, I noticed the pale, translucent ghost standing beside him. Damn, his face looked exactly like Zhou Jianguo’s—they were cut from the same mold. Right now, the ghost was clinging to him, as if they were close friends. What kind of twisted sense of humor was this? “Well…” The man shot an awkward glance at the ghost beside him, his expression growing even more sorrowful. “What can I do? I’m desperate too. This isn’t what I wanted…” “Mengmeng, stop babbling with him. You useless piece of trash—take this!” Qi Yun had no intention of listening to the rest of the story. He took control of my body and released a cool, translucent blue light from his hand, sending it hurtling toward the man. The man was taken aback—he hadn’t expected me to strike so quickly. In his panic, he ordered Uncle Zhou, standing beside him, to block my attack. But the power disparity was obvious: Qi Yun controlled my right hand to land a punch on Uncle Zhou. Instantly, a white mist mixed with raindrops scattered all around. Overwhelmed by the force of the strike, the man plopped down onto the ground. Having landed a successful blow, Qi Yun didn’t kick a man when he was down. I placed my hands behind my back and sauntered toward him, swaying with each step. By now, the ghost was unrecognizable, its body significantly shrunken, as it staggered back into the gourd. “What a powerful ability,” the man said, sitting on the ground and looking at me with a wry smile. “I really didn’t know who I was dealing with.” “I’ll give you credit for that,” I nodded with satisfaction. Now that my appearance had returned to normal, it would be a waste not to show off a little before heading back. Qi Yun picked up where I left off, saying, “I can tell you’re injured. Once you’ve recovered, let’s have another go.” “No need,” the man shook his head repeatedly. “Even if I recover, I won’t be a match for you. Big shot, please just let me off the hook.” “Pfft. You bit that old man out of the blue—what did he ever do to you?” I glared at him indignantly. After all this trouble, wasn’t I just looking for some answers? The man looked at me in surprise. “You know about this too? I was just about to explain this to your cousin.” “It’s fine,” I said nonchalantly. “Just explain it to me, and I’ll pass it on to him.” The man glanced sideways at the alley behind me. He didn’t make the connection between my current transformed self and my previous form; he assumed I was hiding in the alley. After hesitating for a few seconds, he nodded and spoke slowly, “It’s true—I accidentally let my foot-washing maid bite that old man.” I asked in confusion, “Who is this foot-washing maid?” “It’s the ghost inside the gourd.” I almost burst out laughing. “You call Old Man Zhou a foot-washing maid? If he heard that, he’d be so furious he’d write your name backward… After all that, what’s your name, you unremarkable extra?”