the phantom of the opera. #xiao

三

in an instant, xiao appeared where the ghost was said to have been seen. he quickly examined his surroundings.

"BOO! hey xiao! here for opera?" hu tao's voice shook him out of his thoughts.

he shook his head. "hu tao. have you seen a ghost anywhere?"

"nope, but i'm looking for her now. you see, she's a suuuper troublesome spirit that chongyun's been looking for. wanna come with me?" xiao reluctantly agreed to follow her.

as they checked every nook and cranny there was, hu tao told him about the ghost's story.

not many people know about the phantom of yun-han. however, to a sizeable amount of exorcists out there, she's on the very top of their list. she's quite notorious for ruining stuff and disturbing people after all.

although many people have been attempting to get rid of her for good, she somehow manages to escape every single time. in the recent years, she's completely disappeared.

regardless of that, the exorcists are still suspecting that she isn't actually gone. there have been some traces of her existence popping up recently as well. i've been trying to help out the exorcists, since she seems to enjoy scaring any new employees of mine. that's why i'm here!

xiao nodded along, digesting this information. hu tao suddenly gasped, as if she had remembered something.

"right! i had heard some people say that her name could be yun qiao. i don't really believe it, but perhaps it's true."

xiao suddenly recalled someone he had seen earlier. "what a coincidence. just now, one of the opera singers was called yun qiao too."

"do you mean yun jin? there wasn't any singer named yun qiao, i'm sure of that. yun qiao's her older sister, so maybe you've mixed them up?" hu tao stared at him with a questioning look.

at that moment, they finally walked full circle. xiao bade goodbye to hu tao before vanishing at once.

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it was far past midnight. back at the wangshu inn, xiao stood alone on the balcony, organising his thoughts.

he had went around asking if any others had seen yun qiao too, though his efforts were futile. just like hu tao, no one had seen her perform.

how was it possible that he had seen her? he knew that she had definitely sung. her voice was extraordinary, and he could still vividly remember it.

thinking about the rumour, he couldn't help but suspect a connection between the singer and that ghost.

knowing that contemplating about it any more would be fruitless, he made up his mind to investigate this further.