### Chapter 7: The Male Protagonist’s Debut
The corridor was dim and eerily quiet, bathed in daylight but giving her vibes like the time she spent alone in the bathroom last night—dark and cold, like some cold draft was creeping up her ankles.
This apartment building was ancient; it didn’t even have an elevator! The air was thick with an overpowering scent of disinfectant, as if someone was trying to mask something—probably last week’s pizza. Looking around, the handrails were coated in a layer of dark grime, the kind that forms when dust decides to set up shop for the long haul.
But the walls? Freshly painted! That glossy white plaster was clearly a recent addition, done within the last few months.
Zhao Mingyue knew that only her floor and the one above had received this treatment; the other floors were still rocking that lovely shade of “what was once white” that had faded to yellow.
“What’s up with that?”
She slung her backpack onto her back. Something from her hometown popped into her head—a piece of advice about encountering ghosts: if you get stuck in a ghost wall, you can break free by doing two things: one, have someone walk in unexpectedly, or two, close your eyes, take a hundred steps back, and let loose a string of insults for that pesky ghost, letting it know you’re not one to mess with.
So she took a deep breath. With no way out, she decided to blindly shuffle upstairs, eyes shut, mentally shouting Bai Yu’s name instead of cursing up a storm.
She believed it wasn’t Bai Yu’s doing—she didn’t strike her as the ghostly type.
“Don’t worry, just keep backing up; it’s upstairs,” floated Bai Yu’s ethereal voice in her ear. Zhao Mingyue felt like tearing up; was this what it felt like to hear an evil ghost give you a safety net?
“Okay!”
She mentally responded, sliding carefully backwards step by step. Usually, she avoided the handrails because they grossed her out, but this time she gripped them tightly. When she reached the corner between the fourth and fifth floors, she suddenly felt the rail become sticky and icky—like it was smeared with… bl**d?
“Don’t let go.”
Just as she was about to release her grip, Bai Yu’s voice came again, so she forced herself to shuffle backwards up the stairs.
Nothing much happened during her backward trek—just a persistent chill, the kind that seemed to seep into her bones, along with the weird sensation of being watched… from behind.
No backing down, she kept moving. According to her hazy memory, there were twelve steps in total. Once she hit the twelfth step, she thought she’d transitioned to the fifth floor, but her heel hit another step.
“Wait, there’s an extra step?!”
“Stop!”
The voice echoed in her mind, and Zhao Mingyue’s foot dangled, suspended in mid-air.
“Alright, no need to go further; open your eyes now. You can get back to work.”
With Bai Yu’s cue, Zhao Mingyue cracked her eyes open. Her first move? Look at the handrail. Thankfully, it was devoid of anything nasty—no bl**d, no gunk, just good old-fashioned cleanliness.
Next, she turned to look behind her. All clear! Just that excessively bright, freshly painted, eerily quiet corridor.
Finally, she was off the fourth floor, but before she could relax, she glanced at her phone: 7:00 AM displayed ominously. Instantly, her heart plummeted.
“Oh no! I’m late!”
Having completely forgotten about the ghostly happenings, Zhao Mingyue bolted down the five flights of stairs, dashed out of the apartment, and hurried to unlock her bicycle, pedaling furiously toward the convenience store where she worked.
What she didn’t notice was that on the fifth-floor stairs, a blue-green face with bulging veins silently watched her descend.
As she approached the convenience store, it suddenly struck her.
“Bai Yu, what happened back there? Did I just encounter a ghost wall?”
“Yes.”
“Is it really a ghost? But that ghost got eaten by you, right?”
“There’s more.”
“More… more?!”
She kept calling for Bai Yu, hoping for answers about that ghost, but Bai Yu went silent.
Defeated, she parked her bike at the store’s entrance and pushed the door open. As she entered, the wind chime nearby jingled gently, producing a stream of clear and melodious sounds.
She recalled the store manager mentioning that if the wind chime rang at night without any wind, she needed to stay calm and call him, no matter what she saw.
But did it wind just now?
She barely glanced at the chime before a deep, resonant voice sliced through the air.
“Mingyue.”
“Ah, Store Manager! I’m so sorry I’m late today.” Zhao Mingyue shook herself back to reality, giving the guy behind the counter in a store uniform a pitiful glance.
Being late to work? Now that’s a solid contender for worst day ever.
And double-whammy? Getting caught at it by the boss.
“No worries! I’ll let it slide this time. I know how it is, juggling school and a part-time job—it’s tough for one person. Just ten minutes late? Not a big deal, so no self-blame!” The Store Manager smiled warmly, his voice welcoming.
He pulled off his apron, revealing a sharp suit underneath. Looking impeccably groomed and towering, his constant smile made him seem super approachable despite the whole “I’m your boss” vibe.
“Store Manager, why are you on duty today?” Zhao Mingyue stepped behind the counter to take his place and whispered curiously.
“So, Little Lu quit last night. His family didn’t want him to continue working, apparently.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Given how rich his family is, I can see them being against it. A month of real-life experience should have been enough.”
In Zhao Mingyue’s mind, Lu Liangting’s family wasn’t just wealthy; they were obscenely rich—so rich in fact, that she couldn’t even fathom the numbers. And yet, this rich heir was coming in to work?!
What a plot twist! And to think he was her classmate too!
Shaking her head, she shrugged it off. “I don’t understand why he wanted to come in the first place.”
“Why did he want a part-time job?” The Store Manager shot her a knowing glance but didn’t elaborate. “Mingyue, until I find a new night-shift employee, you might have to manage the store alone at night.”
“Alone? I’m fine with that, boss.”
“Alright, I’ll add an extra three hundred bucks to your pay at the end of the month!”
Upon hearing the magic word “money,” Zhao Mingyue’s attitude flipped faster than a pancake.
“Thank you, boss!”
“Alright, I have some things to attend to. Catch you later.”
“Take care, Boss!”
Watching him go, she leaned over to check if the door would swing open in a way to set off the wind chime.
“Was it because of her?” she muttered to herself, looking down at her feet.
She suspected that the wind chime had some special purpose—it had never stirred before, and yet it chose today to jingle, right as she entered the store. So, what had she brought along that was out of the ordinary?
Pulling out Miss Rabbit from her backpack, she set it on the counter and plopped down, cradling her head in her hands. “Bai Yu, Sister Bai, does this wind chime detect ghosts? Why would the boss put something like that here?”
“Could it be that ghosts come in here?”
She waited, but no reply came from Bai Yu. Instead, someone else walked in.
As noon approached, the convenience store door swung open, and the doorbell jingled. Meanwhile, the wind chime remained still, not making a sound.
Zhao Mingyue stared, surprised at the newcomer.
“Lu Liangting, what are you doing here?”
The shadows in the counter shifted as the Rabbit Plush Toy pivoted; Bai Yu had taken over to get a better look at this comic protagonist.
According to her intel, the male lead of this world was named Lu Liangting.
She hadn’t even had to set out to find him; he practically knocked on her door!
