The Pen Immortal, House Guardian Extraordinaire

Ding dong.

The doorbell, which had almost never been used, rang.

Wu Xiaoyou was holding a box of instant noodles, her slippers half-on as she shuffled to the door. Her feet made soft pat, pat, pat sounds on the floor.

Beneath the noodle box, she clutched a fruit knife, its blade glinting with a sharp chill. From her sleeve, a Ghostly Shadow, invisible to ordinary people, peeked out warily.

But when she saw the familiar figure through the peephole, a smile she hadn't worn in a long time spread across her face.

She slapped the Ghostly Shadow back into her sleeve and, without looking back, tossed the fruit knife onto the dining table.

The knife landed perfectly in the fruit bowl just as she threw open the door and lunged forward.

“Little Brother! You're finally back! I've eaten so many instant noodles my hair's starting to curl!”

“Did you eat well on your business trip? You look thinner.”

Wu Wang looked down at his second sister, who had hugged him and started complaining the moment she opened the door.

A vein popped on his forehead as he gritted his teeth.

"You're wiping your mouth on my clothes, aren't you? Don't think I didn't see that."

"Hehehe... I just missed your cooking so much, you know?"

His sister blinked, her eyes drifting to the fresh grease stain she'd just wiped on his shirt.

"Go on, hurry up and change so you can wash it."

With a suspicious look, Wu Wang went into the house to change.

As soon as he walked into the bathroom, he saw a set of clothes caked in mud and grime sitting on the washing machine.

His sister feigned surprise. She slapped her forehead with an exaggerated gasp.

"Oh my! I fell into a mud puddle today and got my clothes filthy. I can't believe I forgot to wash them! Would my hardworking little brother mind helping me out while he's at it?"

Wu Wang was speechless.

Clothes this muddy definitely couldn't be tossed directly into the washing machine. They had to be scrubbed by hand, bit by bit, to get the mud out first.

She had definitely done this on purpose, leaving them dirty because she was too lazy to scrub them herself. That way, when he washed his own clothes, he would have to take care of hers as well.

But the sheer amount of mud was ridiculous.

It didn't look like she had simply fallen. It looked like she'd hugged the clothes and rolled around in a mud pit.

"Just buy new clothes. I'm starting to suspect you fell into a cement mixer."

Wu Wang sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Where did you fall? Are you bruised? Did you put anything on it?"

Hearing his concern, his sister chuckled and rolled up her sleeve.

A stark, blood-red wound, about five centimeters long, scarred her fair wrist.

"A stone scraped me, but it's fine. It's already scabbed over."

A grave look flashed in Wu Wang's eyes as he stared at the wound.

But he only spoke with concern. "I have some medicine in my room. Put it on, and wait for the scab to fall off naturally. Don't pick at it, and try to avoid sunlight, or it might leave a scar."

He got up and went to his room.

His sister, meanwhile, sat at the dining table and went back to eating her instant noodles.

Inside his room, pretending to search for the medicine, Wu Wang suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"How exactly did my sister get hurt?"

With that, he casually tossed a blank sheet of paper onto the floor.

The next second, a fountain pen, humming with resentful energy, rolled out from under his bed. It floated up unsupported and began to write on the white paper.

Wu Wang's face was grim as he clutched the medicine he'd found. His sister's wound was definitely not a scrape from a stone.

As someone with grim experience in such matters, Wu Wang could tell at a glance that it wasn't a scrape. It was a deep cut, left by some kind of sharp blade.

She was only bad at cooking. She wasn't an idiot, nor was she depressed.

She would never accidentally cut her wrist while chopping vegetables, nor would she ever try to commit suicide.

In just a moment, the Pen Immortal finished writing. As Wu Wang read the paper, his expression grew unnatural.

"So you're saying my sister has two malevolent entities on her? One is a little ghost she raised herself, and the other is a remnant soul that attached to her recently? And it's making her increasingly unlucky?"

According to the pen, Wu Xiaoyou's wound really was from a fall.

It was just that after inexplicably twisting her ankle on the street, she had stumbled toward an oncoming dump truck. Just as she was about to be hit, she forcibly twisted her body and rolled aside to dodge.

The terrified driver swerved hard and hit a utility pole, which snapped and fell toward her.

Just then, the ghost his sister had raised appeared and threw her aside.

She crashed into a roadside breakfast stall.

Finally, as a knife from the cutting board fell, about to pierce her eye, she swatted it away. The blade sliced her wrist instead.

The whole sequence of events was so coincidental it felt impossible. If this were a TV script, the audience would riot over how melodramatic it was.

It was obvious that an invisible hand was manipulating these "coincidences" from behind the scenes.

After reading, Wu Wang snatched up the fountain pen. He cursed it in frustration.

"Then what the hell are you good for? Just watching, like Senior Ju? You're a ghost, go bite it!"

Before entering the 【Relic Scramble】, he had secretly made a deal with the Pen Immortal. If it helped guard the house and protect his sister, he would perform the farewell ritual for it when he returned.

After all, Wu Wang had not yet completed the ritual to send the Pen Immortal away.

So, he had opportunistically started keeping the thing like a pet. It was perfect for guarding the house.

Scribble, scribble, scribble!

The Pen Immortal struggled free, extremely aggrieved, and quickly wrote on the paper.

【I can't beat that remnant soul.】

【It may be fragmented, but its fundamental level is higher than mine.】

【Don't you worry too much, either. Doesn't your sister have that protective talisman you gave her?】

【It's thanks to that talisman that its influence has been minimized these past few days.】

Wu Wang blinked. "?"

A protective talisman? When did I ever give her something like that?

If I had something that powerful, why would I have asked you to be her bodyguard?

And this string of life-threatening dangers was what happened after its influence was minimized?

【The one you hung on her door! Its effect is seriously awesome, old bro. I don't even dare go into her room usually. Where'd you buy it? Drop a link.】

Wu Wang's expression turned helpless again.

Forget the talisman for a second. Has this thing been surfing the internet nonstop in my house? Why is it spouting so much slang?

You're the goddamn Pen Immortal! Can't you act a little more like a proper ghost?

I don't want some students playing the Pen Immortal game at school, only to summon a fraud like you who just spouts "old bro, drop a link."

Shouldn't they experience some real terror?

"The talisman on the door... I think I remember it..."

"Little Brother! Did you find the medicine?"

Before Wu Wang could finish his thought, his sister's voice called from outside.

He rolled his eyes at the Pen Immortal.

"You failed to protect my sister as we agreed. But your intel was valuable, so how about this."

"I'll count this as one meritorious act. Collect five, and I'll perform the farewell ritual for you."

With that, Wu Wang turned and left the room.

The Pen Immortal Fountain Pen rolled back under the bed, secretly pleased. Just four more meritorious acts and it could get rid of this bastard.

But after a few seconds of joy, it realized something wasn't right.

Wait a minute!

It was supposed to be the one entangling him, making him feel fear and get hurt, making him pay a greater price to complete the farewell ritual!

Why did it now seem like it was begging him to let it go?

Where did it all go wrong?

Meanwhile, as Wu Wang walked out, his gaze fell on his sister's bedroom door, where a yellow talisman was pasted.

How had he never noticed it before?

When did that get there?

Wait.

A sharp glint flashed in Wu Wang's eyes.

He remembered exactly when that talisman had appeared.