…It was as if he were sincerely apologizing.

Judge just felt a chill run through his whole body at the sight of his smile. His throat moved with difficulty as he moistened his dry lips. After a long while, he finally managed to force out a stiff smile: “Yes, yes.”

William Sherman smiled slightly, gave him a deep look, and pulled Logan Sullivan away.

Logan Sullivan paused in his steps, suddenly feeling that William Sherman’s smile was a bit unfamiliar. Maybe it was because the other had never shown such an aggressive side in front of him before. He glanced back at Judge, who was standing there wiping cold sweat, and suddenly asked, “Was using the double-faced ghost to block us premeditated? The Underworld? What benefit do they get from this?”

William Sherman withdrew his smile, lowered his head, and fell silent—Why? These petty clowns just wanted you to experience firsthand what an evil spirit is, to remind you of the even more wretched ghost clan, so you wouldn’t take the wrong side, that’s all.

“William Sherman!” Logan Sullivan grabbed him, “Don’t play dumb. I told you to come back with me, say something!”

“…Let’s go,” Only when they reached the big locust tree by the River of Forgetfulness did William Sherman speak in a low voice, shedding the hostility and coldness from before. His voice was hoarse and weary, with an indescribable helplessness. “The living shouldn’t stay in the underworld for too long—it’s bad for your health. If you keep delaying, you’ll get sick when you go back.”

Logan Sullivan let go of him and stopped walking. The two stood one in front of the other, but William Sherman had his back to him, refusing to turn around.

They stood in silence for who knows how long before Logan Sullivan finally lowered his voice and said, “It won’t kill me—just come with me first.”

William Sherman didn’t move at all.

Logan Sullivan gritted his teeth and said angrily, “Damn it, I really wish I could handcuff you at home.”

With his back to him, William Sherman suddenly started to laugh where Logan Sullivan couldn’t see, as if he’d just heard the most tender and beautiful love words in the world. Even his usually somber eyes softened to the point of melting.

“If I go with you, will you take your medicine?” William Sherman asked.

“Bullshit!”

William Sherman turned around and looked at Logan Sullivan. After a while, he let out a low sigh: “I am of the ghost clan, Yunlan. No matter what Lord Kunlun gave me, no matter… what you made me become back then, those are all empty titles and false honors. My essence is still ghost clan. Ghosts are born inauspicious. In the beginning of the world, there was even a rumor among the people that seeing a ghost clan member was a sign of a bad end, of dying without a burial place.”

Logan Sullivan looked at him, trying hard to suppress the anxiety and irritation in his heart. He took a deep breath and tried to soften his tone: “I don’t believe in that—no matter what, just come back with me first. We can work out the other problems slowly. Even if we can’t be together, at least if you’re somewhere I can see you every day, I’ll feel at ease…”

“Somewhere you can see me.” William Sherman repeated softly. The thin corners of his mouth seemed to want to lift into a smile, but failed halfway, turning into a bitter smile instead. After a while, he said quietly, “Yunlan, please don’t torment me anymore.”

“Even now,” Logan Sullivan heard William Sherman say in a voice pressed deep in his throat, “the thing I regret most is carelessly getting involved with you, and then not being able to hold back, making mistake after mistake. Thinking about it, maybe it’s… it’s because my cultivation isn’t enough, my mind isn’t strong, I’m just too weak.”

Logan Sullivan seemed to sense something and immediately lunged forward, but this time when he reached out, he grabbed nothing. William Sherman faced him, but his body quickly retreated, almost turning into a black afterimage.

Logan Sullivan watched helplessly as he disappeared right in front of him, leaving only a voice growing more and more distant: “I’ll see you off to here. Leave quickly.”

The words “leave quickly” echoed again and again in the air, pounding on the eardrums, sounding almost like an ominous curse.

Holly Harlow saw, for a moment, that Logan Sullivan’s eyes were red, but in the blink of an eye, he forced it down, leaving only bloodshot eyes.

“You go back first.” A few seconds later, Logan Sullivan stared in the direction where William Sherman had disappeared and said to Holly Harlow in a very calm tone, “Take Darrin Grant with you—right, you said you were leaving. Do you have a specific time? If so, let me know in advance so Zach Warren can help arrange things…”

Holly Harlow cut him off: “Chief Zhao, what’s going on?”

Logan Sullivan waved his hand, not wanting to say more: “It’s nothing, just go.”

“Go where? I’m not going anywhere!” Holly Harlow raised her voice, “He… Shen… Soul Reaper… Ugh! Love whoever you want, but why did you say that just now? Why did you say you two can’t be together? Why is he forcing you to take medicine? Why…”

Darrin Grant jumped onto Holly Harlow’s foot, squatted there, looked up at Logan Sullivan, and suddenly explained, “It’s been said since ancient times that ‘humans and ghosts walk different paths,’ but this old cat has never seen anyone who, even separated by life and death, still stubbornly insists on being together. It’s just that water always flows downhill, and those heavy with death energy will absorb the vitality of the living. I guess that’s just a law of nature. It’s easy for the living to lose their vitality, but getting it back isn’t simple. The other party has to willingly offer up the place that tethers their soul. The Ghost King is born to rival the saints, but probably doesn’t have anything like a demon clan’s inner core, so maybe… all that’s left is heart’s blood?”

Logan Sullivan was outgoing by nature, but deeply shrewd. As long as he didn’t want to show it, no matter how great his joy or sorrow, it never showed on his face.

Holly Harlow felt like her breath was caught in her chest, but when she turned to look at him, the man still stood silent and unmoving, his face calm, pale as snow under the shadow of the River of Forgetfulness, showing no sign of weakness or sadness. He even reminded people of the pillar of heaven that stood firm through countless catastrophes.

Holly Harlow didn’t know what to say for a moment, but people are always biased. She cared about Logan Sullivan, and his every emotion tugged at her heartstrings. Even though he hadn’t shown much, the more she thought about it, the more stifled she felt, until she was almost heartbroken for him. She blurted out, “He’s putting you in an impossible position!”

Logan Sullivan finally shifted his gaze to Holly Harlow, frowning slightly: “What did you say?”

“He’s deliberately putting you in an impossible position!” Holly Harlow said indignantly. “If he hadn’t hinted at you from the start, would you have chased after him for no reason? If he hadn’t been so ambiguous, your dad’s not Li Gang, would you have just snatched a man off the street? The Soul Reaper is so powerful—if he didn’t want to, could you really force him?”

The black cat tilted its head and slid off her foot, feeling that this girl’s worldview had miraculously healed itself in a very short time. Her resilience amazed even the cat—she didn’t seem to remember at all that the person she was talking about was the Soul Reaper, the one she used to be so terrified of she didn’t even dare open a letter from him.

The more Holly Harlow spoke, the angrier and more distressed she became, and she just wouldn’t let it go: “He was clearly seducing you on purpose, deliberately playing hard to get, deliberately keeping you on the hook. If he couldn’t be with you, why didn’t he say so earlier? He’s obviously forcing you, forcing you…”

Logan Sullivan took the last cigarette from his pack, lit it with a click, slowly exhaled a puff of white smoke, and asked calmly, “Forcing me to do what?”

Holly Harlow was momentarily speechless. After a while, inspiration struck and she blurted out, “Forcing you to never be able to leave him, forcing you to search heaven and earth and still not be willing to give him up, forcing you so that he’s the only one in your eyes and heart, and you can leave everything else behind! I think he’s been up to no good from the very start!”

Logan Sullivan chuckled softly, pressed Holly Harlow’s shoulder, and pushed her toward the big locust tree: “Alright, you’ve finished ranting, now go.”

Holly Harlow stomped her foot: “Are you even listening to me?”

Logan Sullivan put away his smile, lowered his eyes, and flicked the ash from his cigarette: “You silly girl, your EQ is really worrying, you have no idea how to talk. Do you know what ‘don’t come between family’ means? He’s my person. Whatever problems we have, whether he’s right or I’m right, it’s our own business. If an outsider criticizes him in front of me, it’s no different from slapping me in the face—if it were anyone else, they’d have lost their temper with you already. Enough, go on, get some sleep when you get back. You’ve worked hard these days, I’ll count it as holiday overtime.”

Holly Harlow’s voice trembled: “I’m an outsider?”

“Of course,” Logan Sullivan glanced at her sideways, “If there’s more than one ‘insider,’ that’s a problem.”

Holly Harlow: “You bastard!”

Logan Sullivan spread his hands helplessly: “How am I a bastard?”

Holly Harlow was finally forced to say that classic line: “In your eyes, how am I not as good as him?”

Darrin Grant, who had watched the whole scene, covered his face with his paw, realizing that he actually enjoyed this kind of melodramatic soap opera, which was really beneath a cat’s dignity.

Logan Sullivan could only sigh: “You’re gentle, kind, pure, beautiful, and you’re a girl—better than him in every way.”

Holly Harlow: “Then why am I not good enough?”