Ghost Matchmaking: Ghost Emperor Husband and Campus Queen Wife

"Ahem."

Gu Yuan coughed softly upon seeing the irrepressible smile on Yun Zhenyue’s face.

She snapped back to reality, her cheeks flushing uncontrollably.

’It’s all Luo Huan’s fault!’

’I can’t believe I’m being influenced by her, acting all cringey.’

Yun Zhenyue shook her head.

She refocused her attention on the Flower of Love.

The two buds had yet to bloom. The tips of their outer petals were tinged with crimson, which gradually faded inward to a moon-like white, reminiscent of the pure hem of a young maiden’s dress.

Unfortunately, perhaps because it had split into two, it hadn’t bloomed yet. The last time she saw it, it had been on the verge of opening, but now it seemed to lack the nutrients, remaining tightly shut. It would probably need a little more time.

’Will they be ready by the time I get back from my next mission?’

’Double the wishes?’

’Looks like my luck is pretty good after all~’

So Yun Zhenyue thought.

Little did she know, this was due to the influence of Gu Yuan’s blood.

All living things possess a subconscious will to survive. After absorbing the Ghost Emperor’s blood, the Flower of Love chose to grow a second bud, so its blossoms would have a greater chance of scattering to faraway places.

If Gu Yuan hadn’t suppressed the Flower of Love to prevent Yun Zhenyue from making all sorts of frivolous wishes, it could have sprouted dozens of buds.

...

「Half a month later.」

A light snow began to fall.

The snowflakes drifted down, scattered and sparse at first, but they soon thickened. The wind wasn’t strong, yet it carried a bone-chilling cold that coated the entire Wansheng District in a layer of frost.

The snowflakes in the Ghost World weren’t quite the same as in the real world.

Perhaps because of the ghostly energy that permeated the air, the snowflakes were tinged with a trace of blood red.

Looking up from below, it was as if countless fireflies were tumbling from the sky.

The temperature wasn’t too low, however, and no icicles had formed under the eaves.

Yun Zhenyue, dressed in a white padded jacket, watched her breath fog up the windowpane. Beside her, Lily let out a great yawn, while the panda doll stood on its tiptoes, craning its neck to draw on the glass.

It had intended to draw a picture of Lily the kitten.

But the result couldn’t exactly be called a masterpiece.

In fact, it was an absolute travesty.

With its fat head and huge ears, it didn’t look like a kitten at all.

It looked more like a hairy little piglet.

Lily shot an icy glare at the panda doll, frightening it into immediately wiping the drawing away with its plush paws.

"Goo-goo-ga-ga!"

The panda doll let out a series of nonsensical noises.

Who knew where it had learned that from.

After all, it spent its days glued to a phone, spamming group chats.

These leisurely, carefree days seemed like they could go on forever.

Yun Zhenyue hadn’t forgotten the ultimate goal of the ghostly matchmaking system:

to raise Gu Yuan’s affection level to the maximum of 100!

She had no idea what Gu Yuan’s affection level was now.

Fifty was cold and indifferent; sixty, a mere acquaintance.

Seventy meant she had a special place in his heart; eighty, his undivided devotion; ninety, a bond as close as kin; and one hundred, bound together in life and death.

Yun Zhenyue silently recited the levels.

’It has to be over ninety by now, right?’

’Is it ninety-one, or ninety-nine?’

Resting her hands on the windowsill, Yun Zhenyue’s head began to nod as sleepiness crept over her.

She was just fantasizing about hitting 100!

and marrying Gu Yuan when—

—she suddenly heard a new mission from the matchmaking system.

"Ngh..."

She had been in a daze, lost in a dream.

She’d dreamt she was marrying Gu Yuan. All their friends and family were there, and everyone was so happy... and then she was jolted awake.

[Ding! You have a new matchmaking mission!]

[A long-lasting marriage requires strong willpower. The best place to hone one’s will is a factory.]

[Please proceed to the Purgatory Factory for advanced training today!]

[Mission Reward: The matchmaking system will grant a corresponding reward based on your spouse’s position and star rating!]

Yun Zhenyue: "?"

’Things were going so well, and now it wants me to go work in a factory?’

’Isn’t this just trying to make things difficult?’

’Working in a factory in the real world can completely break a person. She’d tried it once for a summer job right after high school to earn some money, but she’d packed up and fled after only three days.’

’This so-called "honing of one’s will"...’

’...is just about working you to death. Life in a factory is so miserable that by the time you get home, anything looks good and any food tastes amazing by comparison.’

But since it was a system mission, she couldn’t refuse.

Yun Zhenyue took out her phone.

She immediately asked about the Purgatory Factory in her group chat.

She wanted to know if it was an electronics factory, a manufacturing plant, a food processing plant, or something else entirely.

The moment she sent the message, replies started pouring in.

Luo Huan: "No way, Miss Yun, have you lost your mind? Why on earth would you go work in a factory?"

Si Qin: "City Lord... You’re—"

Mengmeng: "What does ’working in a factory’ mean? Like, to make clothes?"

In response to her friends’ confused questions, Yun Zhenyue explained it was for a mission.

It seemed none of them knew about this factory either.

Yun Zhenyue was about to give up when a message suddenly came in from Loli.

"Purgatory Factory?"

"I think my father told me about that place once."

Yun Zhenyue: "Can you tell me about it?"

Loli: "Mmm~ I don’t know the specifics. I remember it was a few years ago. Some of the people in my father’s territory went missing without a trace, and he discovered the factory while he was searching for them."

"The ghosts there are all fanatical, like madmen you can’t communicate with. They seem to revere some mysterious being, worshiping it as a Ghost God. In Huan’s words, it’s a villainous organization. You could even call it a cult."

"They regularly capture other ghosts and throw them into the factory, squeezing them dry of their very last drop of blood."

"If my father hadn’t gotten away quickly, he might have been captured himself."

’A cult?’

Yun Zhenyue was taken aback.

This was the first time she had heard of a villainous organization that was completely irredeemable.

In the dungeons she’d visited before, the ghosts had been a mix of good and bad, all acting in their own self-interest. This was the first she’d ever heard of a bizarre organization devoted entirely to some vague, illusory entity.

And to top it off, she had to go work there in a bit.

Everyone else ran away from this place, yet she had to walk right in.

And it was so cold!

’I really don’t want to go this time!’

Yun Zhenyue stroked Lily, feeling extremely reluctant.

"Why the long face?" Gu Yuan asked, turning his head.

He was watching a wilderness survival documentary.

The protagonist had entered the wilderness with nothing, living alone, starving and freezing. Viewers joked that in three days, he managed to starve through nine meals.

Gu Yuan, however, found it quite interesting.

If he ever had the chance, he wanted to try it himself.

"Purgatory Factory... Honey, do you know about it?"

Yun Zhenyue asked with a sigh, sitting back on the sofa while hugging Lily.

"Purgatory... Factory?"

Gu Yuan rubbed his chin.

He seemed to have heard the name somewhere before.

That’s right!

’I remember now!’

He had once overheard someone praying to him, revering him as a supreme being. He’d taken a glance with his Abyssal Organ and discovered an evil organization disguised as a factory.

Moreover, it had been built on the Land of the Doomsday.

The very same place where he had annihilated a hundred thousand Crimson-robed Ghosts with a single sword strike.

In their prayers, they pleaded for him to cast a glance their way.

That factory would stop at nothing.

Gu Yuan had no doubt that the loyalty of the ghosts in this factory surpassed even that of the Nightmare Hunter.

Throughout the entire Ghost World, for that matter, many organizations had witnessed his power and had begun to worship him.

Gu Yuan had originally intended to eradicate the organization, but he’d been too busy at the time.

Then he got busy with other things and simply forgot about it.