I regard it as a gift from poverty.

After settling the luggage,

Lin Yu pushed Gu Yue out the door to grab a bite to eat.

This counted as a housewarming celebration—they had to feast to mark the occasion.

After a barbecue meal, with bellies full and round, they returned home.

Lin Yu went back to his bedroom and checked the time.

It was only 7:30 in the evening.

The night stretched long ahead, and Gu Yue was sitting in the other room.

Lin Yu rubbed his chin, wondering if he should find something to do to kill some time.

Just as he was agonizing over what to do,

his new roommate came wheeling eagerly toward him in her wheelchair.

"Brother Long, how about we watch a movie?"

"What movie?"

"A horror flick!"

"Remember the one we wanted to see in the theater during last year's Spring Festival?"

Gu Yue waved her phone in her hand and said,

"We can watch it on our phones now."

"I also have an uncut version!"

"Horror, huh?"

Lin Yu clicked his tongue twice, feeling a bit torn.

He really didn’t want to watch a horror movie.

Other people, when they get scared, might just quietly recite "Marx protect me" in their heads and get over it.

But Lin Yu couldn’t do that.

Before his transmigration,

he had already been pretty scared of this kind of stuff.

After transmigrating—

realizing this world seemed to harbor many hidden, unknown presences—he became even more terrified!

But then again…

When it’s just a man and a woman alone in a room together,

is there anything better than a horror movie to bring them closer?

Apart from those R-rated films, it seems like there really isn’t…

…

Holy crap!

Let’s just watch it!

Risking it all for the sake of a lady!

Gritting his teeth with determination, Lin Yu nodded toward Gu Yue.

Gu Yue appeared to have been ready all along.

She pulled out some snacks from who knows where,

and had already set up a cozy beanbag chair and blankets in the living room.

Lin Yu and Gu Yue sank into their beanbag chairs one after the other.

Gu Yue connected her phone to the TV.

She opened her so-called "resource site."What appeared on screen before the movie started were several bare butts and chests.

Staring at the screen full of adult content, Lin Yu shot a silent sideways glance at Gu Yue beside him,

wondering if all this was part of her plan.

Since watching horror movies required total immersion into the atmosphere,

the living room lights had already been turned off.

The TV screen mounted on the wall cast a faint, flickering glow, dimly illuminating Gu Yue’s features.

Seeing her flustered look, with beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead,

Lin Yu figured this wasn’t something she had planned.

"Don’t worry about this," she said, sweating profusely. "It’s nothing."

Her fingers fumbled anxiously as she tried to tap the full-screen button on the screen, which was cluttered with vulgar pop-up ads.

But no matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t get it right.

These pirated sites were usually as underhanded as could be.

The small, lewd ads looked tiny but covered a huge clickable area.

Sometimes a single ad contained several fake "close" buttons, making them impossible to avoid.

After failing repeatedly to start the movie,

Gu Yue was so flustered that Lin Yu could practically feel the heat radiating from her.

Lin Yu silently pondered.

He considered whether he should just reach out, grab her fumbling hand, and put on a lecherous look—

pfft, no, a loving look—staring deep into her eyes and saying, "It’s okay. This is fine, too."

Then he could go with the flow, let things take their natural course…

…

After thinking it over,

Lin Yu felt he couldn’t be so forward.

They’d only been together for a few days.

They hadn’t even kissed yet, and now he was thinking about all this nonsense?

Besides, Gu Yue’s leg was still injured!

He’d save it for later!

With his mind made up,

Lin Yu raised his hand and pressed his index finger firmly on the yellow ad that covered the full-screen button on Gu Yue’s phone.

A second later,

the browser system forcefully popped up a details page.

Lin Yu casually tapped close, then smoothly hit the full-screen button for the movie.

“???”

Gu Yue tilted her head adorably,

staring at Lin Yu in shock, wondering how he could be so skilled!

Lin Yu, with a nonchalant expression, reached out and pulled Gu Yue into his arms, saying calmly:

“When I was a kid, I couldn’t afford to watch legit movies.”

“So I had to watch them this way.”

“I’ve always thought of it as the talent that poverty gave me.”

“?????”

Even more question marks appeared over Gu Yue’s head.

Was there even such a thing as a talent for this?

Shaking her head,

Gu Yue decided not to dwell on such trivial matters.

With that little hiccup resolved,

Gu Yue prepared to continue with her original plan!

She nestled softly against Lin Yu’s chest and said in a sweet voice:

“Brother Long, some friends told me this movie is really scary.”

“I’m afraid.”

Lin Yu’s arm around Gu Yue gave an almost imperceptible little twitch.

He tightened his hold on Gu Yue, swallowed hard, and forced down the words—“It’s okay, if you’re scared we don’t have to watch”—along with his saliva before mustering the courage to say:

“It’s fine.”

“I’m here.”

“I’ll protect you!”

He said it without much conviction.

“Mm-hmm.”

Gu Yue nodded obediently and pressed play on the movie…

…

To be honest,

Lin Yu had never seen such a terrible film.

Wasn’t it settled that under the bed and inside the covers were human safe zones?

Why did this damn ghost have to crawl everywhere?

Didn’t it know it was violating the human-ghost safety treaty?

Fidgeting uncomfortably,

Lin Yu glanced at the progress bar at the bottom of the screen.

It wasn’t even a quarter of the way through, but he already felt an inexplicable chill behind him.

The quiet, dark living room seemed to grow livelier.

Lin Yu slid his hand up and down over Gu Yue’s shoulder.

She was still soft and relaxed, as if the terrifying scenes in the movie hadn’t fazed her at all.

Sure, she occasionally burrowed into his arms and let out a few coy, whimpering sounds.

But it was all too deliberate—

so deliberate that even a fool could tell she wasn’t actually scared.

Sniffling, Lin Yu felt he couldn’t take it anymore.

He even regretted not sticking with his original Plan A.

Even being mistaken for a pervert by Gu Yue would be better than this jumpy, ghost-on-edge feeling!

“Come here,” he said.

“Let’s sit like this.”

Lin Yu pulled Gu Yue out of his embrace and shifted her arm so it draped around his back instead.

This way, at least he’d feel a little safer.

The two of them curled up in the beanbag chair,

their posture shifting from a sweet girl leaning on a reliable guy to a pair of buddies throwing an arm around each other’s shoulders.

As the movie continued,

Lin Yu grew less and less able to hold it together.

His body slowly slouched into Gu Yue’s hold.

By the time the film was a third of the way through, Lin Yu had completely collapsed onto Gu Yue’s lap.

There was a hint of pallor on his dark face, and he couldn’t help but bring his hand to his mouth.

What scared me was that I almost stuck my thumb in my mouth.

Things had developed to this point, completely catching Gu Yue off guard.

Had their roles somehow been reversed?

But looking at Lin Yu lying on her lap like a big baby, Gu Yue gently narrowed her beautiful eyes, feeling a sense of peace.

It was actually quite nice like this.

Just being by his side was enough...