"Auntie Xia, where is my dad?" Lin Ruoyi asked, walking out of the bedroom.
Auntie Xia had been working as a nanny here for over ten years. She had practically watched Lin Ruoyi grow up, so she knew some things about her.
Auntie Xia was in the kitchen. She wiped her hands on her apron and replied, "Miss, the master is in the study."
Lin Ba had guessed Lin Ruoyi's arrival as soon as she appeared. He put down the book in his hand and faced his daughter, "Had another dream?"
Lin Ruoyi nodded. This time, not only did she dream, but she also entered a strange place. It was lively inside, with shops and vendors, but all the people coming and going were ghosts. It was like a ghost street. Recalling it now, her heart was still pounding.
She had a special constitution since childhood and often experienced soul departure. If it weren't for her grandfather finding someone to get her this protective jade pendant, her soul might have been lost in the wilderness long ago.
"Ghost street? Are there any landmark buildings nearby?" Lin Ba's brow furrowed.
"I didn't see any, but I did see a ghost messenger dressed as Bai Wuchang."
"Bai Wuchang!? You went to the Underworld?!" Lin Ba gasped and subconsciously looked at the jade pendant on his daughter's necklace.
Lin Ruoyi took out the jade pendant. It was a piece of exquisite and flawless top-grade white jade, carved in the shape of a Pixiu, and tied with a red string. The jade pendant was not damaged. That Bai Wuchang sent me back.
Hearing this, Lin Ba finally relaxed the breath he had been holding. "It's good that you're alright. Get yourself ready, and we'll go see your grandfather!"
This was the first time his daughter had drifted to the Underworld after so many soul departures. He didn't know what impact this change would have on her.
Lin Ruoyi nodded. She thought the same. Perhaps Grandpa would know something.
After returning to the bedroom, Lin Ruoyi discovered she had dozens of missed calls and several new messages on her phone. She first opened her best friend's messages.
"Yiyi, are you still alive? If you're alive, say something!"
"Holy crap, you didn't actually go to the Underworld, did you? And went shopping with Bai Wuchang?!"
"Are you still alive?"
"Lin Ruoyi, you're not really dead, are you?"
Lin Ruoyi was stunned. A big question mark appeared in her mind. Why would her best friend ask that? How did she know she went to the Underworld? What was going on???
Immediately, her expression became serious. "Has my situation been exposed?"
She tapped her finger on the screen and sent a message, "吱."
As soon as the message was sent, the other side called back, her voice urgent. "Lin Ruoyi, open the door!"
"Da Meng, why are you here?" Before meeting her best friend, Lin Ruoyi had already conjured countless guesses in her mind. As the daughter of the richest man, she had many enemies. When she asked this question, she had already sketched out a palace intrigue drama in her mind.
"Why am I here? I flew back from another province overnight, just afraid that you might die and I wouldn't even get to see you one last time!" Xu Meng looked Lin Ruoyi up and down, checking if any of her limbs were missing. Suddenly, she remembered something, pushed up her glasses, and asked, "Who was my first crush?"
Lin Ruoyi was bewildered by her serious expression. "Professor Yan?" That crush had lasted for two years, and only the two of them knew about it in the end.
Xu Meng let out a long sigh of relief. "It's indeed my Yiyi."
"What's going on??"
After the two entered the bedroom, Xu Meng explained the matter of the "Live Stream: Daily Healing in the Underworld" in detail. As a supernatural editor, Xu Meng was very well-informed about such news. She had been following the streamer since the night of the seventh soul's return, happily eating melons, only to find out it was her own best friend in the end.
"Ah?!" Lin Ruoyi's jaw dropped. "I, I was all broadcasted last night?"
"Ghost messengers even do live streams?!" As soon as Lin Ruoyi finished speaking, she noticed her best friend's gaze was off.
"It's over. I haven't even told Xu Meng about my soul departure." She never expected her biggest secret to be exposed in this way. Just as she was thinking about how to explain it to her best friend, Xu Meng hugged her and screamed.
"Ahhh, so you really went on a day trip to the Underworld and even visited the ghost market with Bai Wuchang!" Through her thin lenses, Xu Meng's eyes were filled with envy.
Lin Ruoyi: "???"
"So, that's the main point??"
Today was an ordinary day, and also an anticipated one. Whether it was people going to work or playing games and reading novels, everyone was paying attention to the latest news today. The nation's girlfriend had appeared on an Underworld live stream last night, and everyone was waiting for today's reports.
"Did Lin Ruoyi die?"
"Or did she cooperate with the streamer?"
"Did she really go on a day trip to the Underworld?"
"Why did Lin Ruoyi's soul depart? Is she really cultivating immortality?"
"Are there really immortal cultivation families in this world?"
Various media outlets had also received a lot of information. Reports related to Lin Ruoyi usually garnered significant attention. They naturally wouldn't miss this. By the time the Lin family discovered the exposure, it was already too late to take appropriate measures. Moreover, with millions of people watching last night, it was impossible to silence the public opinion. They might as well let it be.
For a time, reports from various media outlets rushed in.
"National Girlfriend Cultivates Immortality at Midnight" instantly hit the trending search. Short videos edited by witty netizens were also released one after another. They repeatedly replayed the clip of Lin Ruoyi peeking out at the alley entrance, accompanied by catchy music. Since things from the Underworld couldn't be recorded or edited, at first glance, it looked like Lin Ruoyi was standing in an open space, constantly craning her neck. Some people even superimposed Lin Ruoyi's head onto a cross-legged immortal cultivation body, wrote a song specifically for it, and made her head sway left and right with the music. Once the videos were released, they were widely forwarded, and some people immediately made reaction memes.
"My wife can cultivate immortality!"
"Girlfriend's soul departs at midnight, one of humanity's ten greatest mysteries."
Various titles and trending keywords spread wildly online. As Lin Ruoyi, who went to her grandfather's house with her father, saw the various reaction memes forwarded by her best friend, her mouth twitched. She had also seen the trending searches. If she tried to remove them now, it would only seem like she was trying to cover something up. She simply posted a status update on Weibo.
"I'm coming clean, I'm actually an immortal cultivator."
As soon as the news broke, it attracted a large number of netizens within moments. Shares, likes, and comments flooded in.
"Wife, teach me, I've just reached Foundation Establishment!"
"I'm coming clean, my wife can cultivate immortality."
"Fellow Daoists who cultivate immortality every night, gather here."
"Excuse me, fellow Daoist, how should I cross the Golden Core lightning tribulation?"
People are like this; the more you try to hide it, the more others want to explore it. When Lin Ruoyi stated it so openly, netizens actually lost interest in exploring it further. "Lin Ruoyi cultivating immortality? Or cooperating with the streamer?" They were just there to watch the show. Only a small number of viewers were so excited that they couldn't hold their keyboards.
"As expected! I knew there were immortal cultivators in this world! Hurry up and take my second uncle back to the hospital!"