A resentful voice interrupted our conversation, "Go away! Get lost! Don’t eat my flesh! Get out of here, you disgusting maggots!"

Although there were six of us in the room, hearing such a voice still gave us goosebumps. Having heard countless lies, the sadness and despair in that voice sounded genuine to me; the boy didn’t seem to be putting on an act.

"Ding Xu, why the hell have you gone mad again?” Zhang Cheng vehemently banged the headboard. “Get up quickly and look who’s here."

The boy sat up on his bed, revealing a burly, though slightly chubby physique. From his physical appearance alone, no one would dispute his gender, yet his eyes looked exactly like a woman’s. The expression he wore revealed a trace of discomfort and he suddenly covered his face with his hands, screaming loudly, "Get out! Get out! Get out!!! The energy on your body burns!"

"Song Yang, please don't take offense,” whispered Luo Youyou. “He’s been like this towards everyone. In the afternoon, he even yelled at the dormitory manager..."

"Can you all leave the room?” I said. “I’d like to ask him a few questions alone."

The juniors exchanged apprehensive looks.

"Does that include me?" asked Dali.

"Yes!" I replied.

The four of them vacated the room, closing the door behind them. Ding Xu held the quilt trembling as he huddled in one corner of the bed, making no disguise of his fear.

From a rational point of view, I didn't believe in possessions. In fact, possession by ghosts and gods was often a strong psychological hint that played a certain role in the subconscious. Back in his younger days when Grandpa wandered around, he came across a village girl who was supposedly possessed by a fox spirit in the northeast region. All the witch doctors and shamans invited by the girl’s family were powerless against the purported fox spirit. Because Grandpa was cooperating with the public security bureau at the time, the villagers perceived an air of nobility about him and begged him to save the girl.

The first thing Grandpa did was to scan the room before pushing the kerosene lamp on the stove into the woodpile. The village girl immediately jumped up from her bed to extinguish the fire because she had hidden money under the woodpile. Striking while the iron was hot, Grandpa spoke briefly with her, curing her madness at once.

What was the reason behind this?

If her consciousness had truly been invaded by a fox spirit, she would have had no way of knowing where the village girl hid her money, which only served to prove that she wasn’t truly possessed. Her bad relationship with her in-laws had caused resentment to accumulate in her heart for a long time, and the fox spirit was merely a medium for venting her dissatisfaction.

I decided to follow in Grandpa's example, using the boy’s own self-contradicting remarks to predicate the truth of his possession. Since he claimed to be a dead woman, I would go along with it till his words revealed a flaw and the realization of the truth sunk in.

I stared into Ding Xu's eyes and asked, "What's your name?"

"Get out of here! I don't want to talk to you!" he screamed.

"If you don't cooperate, I will stay over tonight," I asserted.

Ding Xu bit his lower lip and tried tucking his sideburns behind his ears despite the length being too short to actually do that. A moment later, he ruefully said, "My name is Qiu Wanxia, I'm twenty-four this year, and I'm... a waitress."

"How did you die?" I asked.

"I was killed," he said with his head lowered.

"Which year and by whom?"

Covering his ears, Ding Xu screamed, "Don't make me think about that! Please!"

"Don’t you want revenge?” I argued. “Speak up and I can help you."

"I..." Ding Xu's lips trembled as he hesitated for some time before his eyes were filled with resolution. "I don't want revenge. I just want to be reincarnated as soon as possible! Even though he killed me, I still love him."

"I can send you to reincarnation but you have to help me,” I said. “Who is the person who killed you?"

"The domineering gege!" she blurted.

When he spoke the name, his cheeks flushed like a red apple, as if he were a shy girl. Seeing his reaction gave me goosebumps, though I feigned composure. "What's his real name?"

"I don't know. CEO Xu forced me to be his lover but the domineering gege is handsome and dominating and rich, so I fell in love with him. He said he loved me too and he wanted to marry me. He promised he would take care of me for a lifetime. But then he found out I was a spy and killed me. I died a horrible death that night!"

Ding Xu buried his face in his hands again, sobbing uncontrollably.

I tried not to laugh. Her story was so dramatic she might as well have written a Mary Sue novel. "What year was this?" I asked.

"The year the renminbi joined the SDR,” he replied without hesitation. “The domineering gege was very happy that day and opened a bottle of Lafite to celebrate. We got so drunk we made love in the office." His cheeks suffused with color, his hands slowly stretched downwards, as if reminiscing their intimate encounter.

I remember it happened in 2015. Joining SDR meant that the RMB could be circulated in the world, which was of great significance to businessmen. But for ordinary people, it probably wasn’t as significant as the news of the successful bid for the Winter Olympics that year.

"That was 2015,” I interrupted. “What clothes were you wearing on the day you died?"

"A Chanel pink sweater, white Levi's jeans, a pair of white Gucci sneakers, the Givenchy bag he gave me, and a hair bow on my head."

He said it all in one breath, his facial expression so natural and at ease he didn't seem to be lying at all. But still, I caught a contradiction, "This outfit is a spring outfit, right?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"The renminbi joined the SDR in December,” I sneered. “You two had sex that day, but you died in spring. Was he raping your corpse then?"

I assumed the incongruity was enough to shake his conviction but he calmly replied, "Yes, you’re right. I didn’t need to wear a coat indoors because his office had heating."

I had to admit that his answer and expression was flawless. "Which company?" I continued.

"Hmph, I won't tell you!" he smiled haughtily.

I couldn’t help but curse on the inside. How vigilant!

"Can you describe how you died?" I said.

Ding Xu fell into a panic, covering his chest with the quilt, body quaking like a leaf. "He found out my true identity that day. He called me a liar and kicked me to the ground, kicking and kicking for a long time. Then, he poured red wine down my nose. I still remember the smell of blood mixed with wine filling my nose. All I saw was red. He cut my stomach open with a pair of scissors and stuffed a litter of hamsters into my uterus. But he was afraid I would die so he gave me an injection. At that point, I didn’t feel any more pain, but I could feel the litter of hamsters burrowing through my uterus. In a daze, I was taken to a remote location. I lay in the car like a puppet, watching him dig a hole in the ground. Then, he pulled me by the hair and called me a slut as he dragged me out of the car and threw me into the pit. Finally, I was buried alive... "

Her description was so vivid I felt a chill crawl up my spine. "Why did the murderer stuff hamsters into you? Is there some sort of meaning behind that?"

"Because he knew that he was infertile and the child I was carrying wasn’t his,” he replied. “That was his way of torturing me."

"Whose child was it then?"

"CEO Xu’s, but I don't love him!” Ding Xu placed his hand over his stomach. “He was just using me as a sex tool and a plaything!"

"Who is CEO Xu?"

"I only know his surname. He was the one who arranged me to spy on the domineering gege."

Thus far, the boy’s explanation was completely airtight, leaving me rather helpless. There was only one way left to break the fantasy. "Take me to your body!" I demanded.