A Materialist in a World of the Supernatural

In Jiang Mian's eyes, his family looks like this:

A mom who makes money, a dad who swindles people, a superstitious older brother, and him, the one who worries about everything.

-

Jiang Mian is the youngest son of a family of Taoist masters. He can't see ghosts, and figures his dad and older brother are just con artists who put on fake exorcisms.

And the Taoist Alliance, with hundreds of members all pretending to perform supernatural tricks, is full of frauds who act as each other's middlemen.

People still believe in ghosts these days?

Well, I'll be damned.

That is, until he actually sees a ghost.

Staring at the glowing skeleton floating in front of him, Jiang Mian rubbed his chin and tutted. “What, is that ghost fire?”

A mass of thick black mist gathered nearby, forming hundreds of grotesque faces. His mind reeled. “Virtual projections are this realistic now?”

With all the spirit tools his parents and brother had loaded him up with, Jiang Mian was impervious to a hundred ghosts. He could scatter seven with a single hand.

One by one, the ghostly figures charging at him vanished with a wave of his hand. He was convinced someone was secretly using virtual projections to prank him.

Inside the forbidden grounds, Jiang Mian wandered around until he finally saw someone coming toward him.

The man was wreathed in murderous energy, yet walked with unhurried steps. With every step, fierce ghosts howled, but Jiang Mian couldn't hear them.

-

Yin Jiu, the next chairman of the Taoist Alliance, was a gifted genius of exceptional ability.

He was murdered before he could take office, and even his corpse was fed to the hundred ghosts in the forbidden grounds.

Unless invited by someone who possesses spiritual energy, the evil spirits of the forbidden grounds will never emerge.

He thought revenge would be impossible for a hundred years, until someone tricked Jiang Mian into coming inside.

“Are you lost?”

He tried to hide his twisted features, wearing a smile he had never once managed in life or death as he approached Jiang Mian.

Although he managed to leave the forbidden grounds with Jiang Mian, unfortunately, he now had to stick with him for a while.

-

Jiang Mian realized his new roommate seemed like another superstitious guy.

But unlike his brother, his roommate often wore all-black contact lenses and dressed up as a ghost. He did it so convincingly that their other two roommates couldn't stand it and moved out.

“...” Jiang Mian couldn't understand why anyone would be scared when they knew it was fake.

-

Much later.

In a dark room.

Jiang Mian slept in a large bed, dark circles heavy beneath his eyes, while thick black mist that seemed almost tangible crawled over every inch of his skin.

Unable to bear the disturbance any longer, he opened his eyes and said dismissively, “I believe you, okay? I really do. Let's go to sleep.”

“What do you believe?” Yin Jiu said, his face twisted as the whites of his eyes disappeared.

“That you're not human.”

“...”

-

He doesn't believe it at first, then doubles down on his denial.

A thick-headed materialist bottom x a gifted genius of a vengeful ghost top

Theme: Believe in science, not ghosts or gods