A Heavenly Master and a Forensic Doctor

A little preview of an upcoming novel: A Survival Guide for the Fake Young Master

A forensic examiner's duty is to find the deceased's final words, while a celestial master's duty is to make the dead speak.

*

Two years after Liu Anmu, once a wildly popular genius in the occult world, died, he was enjoying a retired life of sipping wine and basking in the breeze every day.

Unexpectedly, an audit by the underworld revealed that his allotted lifespan had not yet run out when he died. A drunken Reaper had mistakenly taken his soul.

The underworld hastily posted a notice overnight: "The employee was temporary and has been dismissed."

Liu Anmu: "..."

He'd been wondering how treating someone's athlete's foot could end up killing them.

Thanks to his incredible strength, Liu Anmu finally secured a chance to skip the entrance exam, join the underworld's civil service, and return to life in another person's body. He was reborn in the body of a forensic examiner at the Shahu District Public Security Bureau.

*

By day, he was the police station's "good" forensic examiner. By night, he was a good underworld employee. From then on, he led a messed-up life with a corpse-driving staff in his left hand and a scalpel in his right.

Liu Anmu picked up his scalpel and began dissecting a body, while the victim's ghost glared at him from behind. Liu Anmu calmly cut open the corpse's abdomen as the ghost glowered at him. Liu Anmu took photos of the body's injuries, and the ghost clambered onto his shoulders and yanked at his hair.

Liu Anmu had no choice but to stop the dissection and set down his scalpel. The soul-locking chain stirred in the windless room and coiled around the ghost's neck. Liu Anmu smiled without warmth. "If you don't cooperate with my work, we'll have to discuss this another way."

The other forensic examiner on the team pushed up his glasses, his eyes full of scorn beneath the lenses. "What, are you expecting the deceased to sit up and cooperate while you cut them open?"

Liu Anmu: "..."

Well, you know what? Maybe he was...

At the sight of his eager gaze, the ghost in the corner let out a piercing shriek.

*

A sign in the technical department's display area bore a message to inspire every forensic examiner: Corpses cannot speak, so a forensic examiner's duty is to translate the deceased's words for those who cannot understand them.

Whenever Liu Anmu passed by, he couldn't agree more.

A forensic examiner's duty is to find the deceased's final words, while a celestial master's duty is to make the dead speak.

So when the autopsy results completely contradicted the surveillance footage, even the most experienced forensic examiners were at a loss.

Liu Anmu set down his scalpel and muttered to himself, "Did you really kill yourself?"

A blood-soaked ghost stood behind him, blood and tears dripping from its eyes. It opened its dry, cracked lips, but could not make a sound. Then its pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints.

The black soul-reaping chain Liu Anmu flung out pierced the spirit's body. As thick black mist burst into the air, a shadow made of black vapor slowly appeared behind it.

Liu Anmu met the shadow's cold eyes and suddenly laughed. "See? It was murder after all."

*

The Bai family had been established in the capital for a century, with unfathomable influence that no one dared challenge.

But the true head of the Bai family, Bai Zhi, held no official position. Instead, he ran an antique shop with three courtyards in Tonggu Lane.

The new power players in the capital understood one another without a word: the antiques and calligraphy in the shop were valuable not for their collection worth, but for the Bai family's far-reaching influence behind them. If they could use the shop to climb up to the Bai family, they could thrive in the capital from then on.

Whether spending a fortune would earn them a meeting with the legendary head of the Bai family was a matter of luck. Even so, the antique shop was always packed, and the stone lions at the entrance had been polished until they gleamed.

So when Liu Anmu drove up in a beat-up thirdhand car, hauling a load of junk to move his studio into this magnificent antique shop, the lackey following him wanted to gouge out his own eyes and put them back in. "Third Brother, did you catch the owner killing someone and burying the body?"

Liu Anmu picked up a bag of beat-up old antiques with one hand and scoffed. "It's just a courtyard house. With a little yellow trickery, I'll have it wrapped around my finger in no time."

"That's my Third Brother, pulling off the job with just a little trick... Wait, what kind of trick did you say?! (??д?)?"

A thousand-year-old tree demon who had taken the form of a cypress, a gentle top x a reincarnated Daoist priest, a self-obsessed ghost-taming expert, a bottom

Upcoming novel: A Survival Guide for the Fake Young Master

After dying unexpectedly, Lian Qi became bound to a cannon-fodder villain System.

In this messed-up world, every chosen Host would play a cannon-fodder fake young master in a story about a real and fake young master. They were expected to live by the motto "Never stop living, never stop courting death," and recklessly bring about their own downfall, eventually becoming stepping stones on the protagonist's path to success.

On his first day in the System's space, Lian Qi found a book left behind by a predecessor: A Survival Guide for the Fake Young Master.

He opened the cover. The first rule on the first page read:

The protagonist is heaven! The protagonist is earth! The protagonist can do no wrong! Even the protagonist's farts smell sweet!! Rule number one for surviving as a fake young master: Make sure to cling to the protagonist's thigh!"

"..." Lian Qi's mouth twitched. He muttered, "Is this a survival guide or a guide to being a suck-up?"

"It's all garbage left behind by the failures who came before you," the System sneered disdainfully. "Submitting to the protagonist is the fate of people like you. Take my advice, Host: stop trying these crooked shortcuts and accept your fate. Just follow the plot."

*

In the first world, he was a fake young master born with a silver spoon, while the protagonist was a mecha pilot earning tuition money in an underground fighting ring.

Everyone knew that the young master of the Lian family had recently set his sights on a girl, and had even picked a fight with a newly risen mecha fighter at an underground casino.

The young master bet lavishly on every match, all to crush the spirit of this rising champion fighter.

But no one knew that while the fighting ring roared with excitement, Lian Qi was lounging against the bar in a back room at the casino, reaching out to push the other man's head away. "Not tonight. It's my big brother's birthday, so I have to go back to the old house."

The feverish kisses continued, falling in little bursts against his neck. The arms around him showed no sign of letting go. A moment later, the protagonist's hoarse, aroused voice sounded against Lian Qi's ear:

"...What if I don't want you to go?"

*

In the second world, he was a gifted, elegant young master of an immortal sect. The protagonist, however, had been sold to a wealthy merchant's estate as a child and endured endless abuse.

Ankang County had been plagued by ghosts for months, and an immortal had come to exorcise them.

The day after arriving at the Zhao residence, Captain Zhao hosted a banquet to welcome the immortal. A young servant was pouring wine when a pebble struck his knee, sending him tumbling to the floor along with the wine in full view of everyone.

Captain Zhao was furious and immediately ordered his men to beat the clumsy servant to death.

The immortal smiled as he waved his fan. "He has a rather handsome face. What a pity to kill him. Why not give him to me, Master of the Manor?"

The hulking, condemned slave curled up on the ground suddenly raised his head and stared intently at the elegant "immortal" at the banquet.

Years later, their true identities came to light. The former slave had become a lofty young master of the sect, while the once dazzling senior brother had become a "stray dog" everyone shunned.

Lian Qi pressed a hand to the sword wound on his shoulder and leaned against the wall of a dilapidated hut. He turned toward the figure blocking the light and smiled. "Come to get revenge?"

The newcomer still carried the chill of autumn frost. He knelt on one knee before him and, after a long while, let out a low laugh.

"Jiang Heng of Qingxian Sect has admired his senior brother for years. Today, I have come to ask for your hand in marriage."

*

In the third world,

the System gleefully held up the script. "This time, the protagonist is different."

Lian Qi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"

System: "He's a saint."

After a moment, the System added with evident glee, "And a saint in everyone's eyes. His kindness will move his brother and parents, making them dislike you, the fake young master, more and more. Eventually, they'll throw out a useless piece of trash like you and leave you to wander the streets."

So, on the first day of school, Lian Qi limped around on his injured left leg and happily let the protagonist bring him food.

On the second day of school, Lian Qi wiggled his right leg, now in a cast, and contentedly waited for the protagonist to help him get dressed.

A month into the school year, Lian Qi opened a folder called "Studying" and turned to look for the protagonist.

The System finally couldn't take it anymore and popped up. "Don't push it!"

Lian Qi spread his hands innocently. "A saint needs an evil cannon-fodder to set him off. I'm just helping him out."

Neither of them knew that, in the dead of night, the protagonist would lower his head and kiss the corner of Lian Qi's lips.

At that moment, the protagonist's eyes held a feeling unlike anything before. His voice was gentle, but utterly devoid of warmth. "If you weren't a lofty young master anymore, if you were an ordinary person with nothing, would I be the only one by your side?"

Theme: What you can't forget will eventually answer your call.