Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 50: Psychological Problems

If Wu Chiayi was given another chance, he would definitely stay at home tonight and turn off his phone.

When he received Zhong Chengshuo’s message, he was passionately running around trying to earn extra money.

[Final Fruit: I’m at the entrance of Ping’an Manor on Jiu’an Road. Please come pick me up.]

[Exceeding Five Plus One: ?]

[Final Fruit: Urgent mission. Lu Jie said you’re near Jiu’an Road.]

[Exceeding Five Plus One: 👌]

Four minutes later, Wu Chiayi arrived at Ping’an Manor on his small electric motorbike and ran into Zhong Chengshuo, who was pushing a motorcycle while wearing pajamas.

The motorcycle had a wild skull sticker on it, which was extremely inconsistent with Zhong Chengshuo’s striped pajamas.

“Borrowed it from a neighbor.” Zhong Chengshuo automatically explained and didn’t give Xiao Wu any opportunity to ask questions. “Let’s go.”

Xiao Wu: “???”

Although he didn’t quite understand what was going on, he still got on the motorcycle.

“First, Shian must have an emergency way to enter the ghost market. I’ll ride in with the bike, so please show me the way.”

“No, Xiao Zhong, let’s find stairs…”

“It’s too late.”

Wu Chiayi could only bite the bullet and sit in the backseat. “Okay, drive first.”

…The second thing, he regretted.

Zhong Chengshuo drove the motorcycle like he was steering a glider. The speed was comparable to a low-altitude flight. Wu Jiayi’s face almost blew off before he barely managed to complete the technique. The motorcycle broke through the fog and braked hard in the middle of the ghost market street. Many pedestrians were startled, while others’ masks and head scarves became crooked.

Since Wu Chiayi wasn’t hugging Zhong Chengshuo’s waist, after such a violent stop, he almost flew out of the back seat.

Xiao Wu summoned two ghosts in a panic in order to fix himself properly.

Zhong Chengshuo glanced at the GPS position sent by Lu Xiaohe—the bright spot that represented Yin Ren blinked in a small area that was some distance away from the main street of the ghost market. This person had probably entered a hidden place.

“Second, I know that the ghost market isn’t welcoming to those in Shian. Is the ‘not welcoming’ to the point where they will do something?”

Zhong Chengshuo sat firmly on the motorcycle and raised his arm to check the time.

“Uh, it’s not like they will do something, but more like they just don’t like us… After all, there are a lot of gray transactions in the ghost market. I didn’t mention this by default, but we tend to get along well,” Xiao Wu said faintly.

“Third, if you’re familiar with the ghost market, please tell me about places near this location with consumption stalls that sell goods worth 100,000 or more or commodities with uncertain prices, such as an auction house or intelligence agencies.”

The moment Yin Ren finished sending his messages, Zhong Chengshuo already had a faint idea.

Yin Ren still had 60,000 left in his account. If he took out a formal loan, the total amount would be 80,000 yuan. However, he instead chose to ask Zhong Chengshuo for help, and what he wanted was a very high number.

In other words, the price of the thing Yin Ren wanted to buy was uncertain, and they needed a large amount of spare money to ensure it was foolproof. The figure of 100,000 was just an estimate in his request after weighing Zhong Chengshuo’s income.

Xiao Wu stuck firmly to the backseat of the motorcycle and glanced at Yin Ren’s GPS position. “Auction house? There is a ghost pawnshop in that location…”

“Can we drive over?”

“Yes, but it will be a bit…”

Before he could finish saying “rude”, the motorcycle engine roared again.

Xiao Wu: “……”

Xiao Wu understood that this had to be a matter of life and death. In an instant, after the scene of a “science post received a signal for help and bravely broke into the ghost pawnshop to rescue his beautiful ghost master partner who was about to be auctioned”, Xiao Wu’s expression gradually hardened.

“Go!” Xiao Wu lit a talisman.

Smoke rolled over, and a muddy straight road appeared near the main street.

“Over there!” Considering that Zhong Chengshuo may not be able to see, Xiao Wu stretched out his hand and pointed.

Zhong Chengshuo turned the wheel and rushed in the direction Xiao Wu pointed. The emergency route of Shian was naturally not as easy to traverse as the conventional route. According to the words of veterans, it was like drilling into the abdominal cavity of a corpse. However, the science post didn’t seem to have any feeling, and his movements didn’t change.

The wind rushed strongly at Zhong Chengshuo, even over his head. It wasn’t until Xiao Wu yelled “Over there, over there” that the person changed directions and drove back.

‘How difficult,’ Xiao Wu thought blankly. He felt that the person driving a motorcycle wasn’t a human but a voice-activated torpedo.

Zhong Chengshuo saw that the door was open and drove directly into the pawnshop.

“…If it’s confirmed that the case is related to Shian, it will be reimbursed. If it’s not related, the interest will be converted according to the average loan and deducted from your salary.”

When he said this, Zhong Chengshuo hadn’t gotten off the motorcycle yet.

Xiao Wu slowly covered his face. Bro, even if the Nightwalkers won’t do anything to Shian in principle, you’re creating too big of a scene.

And isn’t your partner standing in the audience completely intact? What’s the rush? This is the ghost market. Could it be that Yin Ren, a newcomer, dared to bid on things without money?

Yin Ren rushed to the two of them like an arrow and grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s hand. “So awesome, Zhong Ge. I bid on something, so I was waiting for you to send money.”

Zhong Chengshuo slowly withdrew his hand and pulled out a card. “Your payroll card. Shian just opened a guarantee authority so you can temporarily overdraw up to 200,000.”

Yin Ren: “Hey, I thought I was going to bid more than 100,000, but in fact, I won it for 100,000. Lao Jiang, here comes the money!”

So it was true that this person dared to bid on things without having money! Does this person have a bear’s heart and the gall of a leopard*? Wu Chiayi was speechless.

*Comes from “The Orphan of Zhao” by Ji Junxiang, which describes an extremely courageous person.

Xiao Wu had to hold back for a while before he could only respond with, “…Fucking great.”

Hearing keywords such as “Shian” and “case”, Lao Jiang didn’t panic.

He jumped in front of the three of them in full view of the audience and said in a casual tone, “250,000.”

Yin Ren: “Wait, didn’t we agree on 100,000 just now?”

Lao Jiang laughed. “You were a Nightwalker only in name, so it was 100,000. Since you’ve revealed yourself as part of Shian, and you broke the rules of driving a car into my shop, then there has to be another price.”

Seeing Yin Ren’s evil-like appearance, he tried to lightly defuse the crisis, and Lao Jiang intended to make acquaintances, but knowing that “Shian” had been revealed, he had no such thoughts left.

The relationship between Shian and the Nightwalkers was delicate.

There was no shortage of capable people in Shian, and sometimes it was still necessary for the Nightwalkers to contribute information. However, the Nightwalkers didn’t like to be supervised by Shian, so they didn’t want to make the relationship too tense.

After a long time, the two parties began to follow the same unspoken rule—as long as the Nightwalkers weren’t involved in criminal activities, Shian would turn a blind eye and let them face off with the police.

The basic idea was not to bring the official status to the surface when it “wasn’t necessary”.

It was okay if it was people like Wu Chiayi, who was born as a Nightwalker, but Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were “outsiders”, so this was tantamount to slapping his face in public. To get involved in a jungle-like organization like the Nightwalkers, “face” was sometimes more important than money.

Wu Chiayi obviously understood this too—Xiao Wu raised his head with a sigh and looked at the ceiling of the theater.

“250,000, please. And yes, I do indeed accept card payments.” Lao Jiang still spoke humorously as he pulled out the POS machine from his chest.

Zhong Chengshuo’s movements froze slowly while Yin Ren’s hand holding the bank card trembled slightly.

Yin Ren’s worst guess was that he would bid about 180,000 yuan against Xiao Mengpo. Even counting the element of anger, the chair would be worth about that much.

Now, his salary card was overdrawn by 200,000, and he had to dig into most of his savings. If Shian didn’t count this, then he would have to say goodbye to late-night spicy crawfish and eat cheap potato stir-fry instead.

Although the loan wasn’t bad, it always felt a bit painful to take one out in order to eat.

Lao Jiang ignored the pain and entanglement on Yin Ren’s face and moved his skeleton-like face. “Since you’re a person who knows Shian, be quick and pay immediately.”

Yin Ren gave him the money with a whimper.

“Thank you for your patronage.” Lao Jiang stuffed the POS machine back into his chest and knocked on his fan again. “I’ll pay you back your collateral, since I always keep my word.”

Yin Ren: “Wait—”

Before he could stop it, the two rats ran back with their heads up. They threw the severed head tied with red silk into Yin Ren’s arms and rushed back to the bottom of the platform.

Lao Jiang smiled meaningfully and said, “Take it. This thing is fresh and can be worth about 30,000 or 40,000 if it’s sold to a spirit smith on the other side… Oh, I forgot. Shian doesn’t do this kind of thing.”

Lao Jiang, you’re doing this on purpose, right? Looking at the hideous head in his arms, Yin Ren fell silent.

At this moment, he was dressed in a black shirt, and his long hair was tied loosely. His ochre eyes glowed red in the lights. Under the dimming lights, his face was beautiful yet somewhat demonic as he was holding a severed head in his arms, giving off a seriously bad vibe.

Zhong Chengshuo, Wu Chiayi: “……”

Yin Ren swallowed pitifully. “I can explain—”

He was afraid that Comrade Xiao Zhong, an enthusiastic citizen, would call the police on the spot.

Fortunately, with Shian in front of him, Zhong Chengshuo only nodded. “Then let’s go to the company and explain.”

He turned his gaze at Lao Jiang. It may be that his eyes were so sharp that Lao Jiang felt that he was being looked at like he was a collection of bones on display. “What are you looking at?”

“May I touch you?” Zhong Chengshuo asked solemnly.

Lao Jiang: “…No. I am a first-class endangered evil being as defined in ‘Shian’s Regulations on the Management of Evil Things’.”

It was all because of those science posts on the outside that he didn’t dare leave the ghost market for 300 years! It wasn’t good to be an evil being in physical form that could be easily dragged away for research.

“Besides, to the living, it’s a crime to vandalize a corpse. Objectively, I am considered a human corpse.” Lao Jiang wasn’t sure of his safety, so he quickly added this.

Zhong Chengshuo retracted his gaze in disappointment. He swept it across the dead man’s head lightly, then turned to Yin Ren. “What about the thing you bought? We’ll send it to the company for appraisal as soon as possible.”

Wu Chiayi scratched his head frantically. Does he not care about the severe head—and this guy is dead yet these two newcomers aren’t afraid at all?!

“Okay, since the person has been found, I’ll go home and sleep.” Wu Chiayi took off his helmet in a daze and buckled it on Yin Ren’s head. “I’ll take you out. You two go to the company by yourselves. Lao Jiang, sorry… These newcomers are a bit ignorant…”

Lao Jiang nodded deeply. He covered his chest with both hands and asked a group of rats to move the packed chair to the entrance.

……

By the time they got to Shian, it was already 3 a.m.

At the entrance of Shian Park, Lu Xiaohe greeted the two with a yawn. Seeing the two of them with a chair in one hand and a severed head in the other, her yawn turned into a violent cough.

“Xiao Wu said you guys brought a head over.” She pointed at the human head wrapped in a black plastic bag with her index finger trembling slightly. “It’s really a human head?!”

“It may be evidence of a crime.” “It was definitely an accident.” The two spoke at the same time.

Compared with the freshly severed head, the weird chair wasn’t as conspicuous.

Since they had a suspected living object and a suspected corpse, the three of them were temporarily unable to enter the office area. A few minutes later, a specialist took away the head and chair. When the chair was taken to the identification department, Yin Ren was immediately called to the “Non-Science Post Accident Handling Department” for questioning.

Luo Xiaohe staggered into the office with extremely heavy steps.

“I’ll take a look,” she said bitterly. “You said that Yin Ren needed a lot of money to find possible clues to the case… Why did it become like this? Did you not buy information?”

She really didn’t expect to get a chair and a severed head.

Zhong Chengshuo adjusted the collar of his pajamas. “I don’t know.”

“You didn’t know, but you still helped him?!”

Zhong Chengshuo frowned and thought for a moment. “…I believe him.”

Yin Ren was at least a strong person who could muddle through under Shian’s eyes, so he wouldn’t drop the ball in that kind of place… right? Even if he wanted to make trouble, there was no need to use this method to hurt the enemy’s reputation while simultaneously racking up a self-loss of 250,000.

Zhong Chengshuo’s tense nerves began to relax again, and he started getting sleepy. His consciousness was slowly drifting off.

Lu Xiaohe was more direct. She skillfully dragged out two folding beds that came with two folded blankets. “It’s still a while before the results come out. Let’s nap for a while.”

“I’ll wait for Yin Ren,” Zhong Chengshuo replied, barely able to keep his eyelids open as he looked at the door.

Lu Xiaohe shook her head. She skillfully pulled out a black blindfold from the drawer. “Then good night.”

“Good night.” Zhong Chengshuo continued to sit at the table.

Around 4 a.m., Yin Ren was finally released from the “Non-science Post Accident Handling Department”.

With the deceased having only traces of his own technique and the testimony of several Nightwalkers, the incident was stamped as a magic backlash. The head of the deceased was confiscated, and his bank card was emptied. Yin Ren returned to the office of Special Investigation Group Unit 9 empty-handed.

The lights in the office were dim.

Lu Xiaohe’s folding bed was against the wall. She was buried deep in the thin blanket, sleeping soundly. Zhong Chengshuo was lying on the table, breathing slowly. He looked extremely weary in his pajamas.

Zhong Chengshuo’s face was still facing the direction of the entrance.

Yin Ren paused at the entrance, lightened his footstep, and walked up to Zhong Chengshuo.

“…Quite good. You don’t have dark circles under your eyes yet.” After sitting back at his workstation, Yin Ren propped up his face and looked at his partner’s sleeping face for a while.

Seeing him like this, this person looked like a harmless scholar, but judging by how mobile he was previously, Zhong Chengshuo would definitely wake up if he had been sleeping on the folding bed.

Yin Ren carefully took off Zhong Chengshuo’s glasses and put them aside.

In the dim light, Zhong Chengshuo’s eyelids trembled slightly, as if he wasn’t sleeping well. Without the cover of his glasses, there was a bit more vague strength and stubbornness between his brows, which was quite interesting.

After looking at him from an angle, Yin Ren got up, stretched out a finger, and put it under Zhong Chengshuo’s nose.

The man’s breath was moist and warm, sweeping over his fingertips.

Yin Ren actually didn’t expect Zhong Chengshuo to actually help him. If Zhong Chengshuo had refused to transfer the money, Yin Ren wouldn’t even bother to “counter-offer”.

Why did he insist on contacting Xiao Mengpo? Why did he have to buy that chair? Both things were related to Yin Ren’s abilities that were hidden under the shadow, and he couldn’t explain them clearly to Zhong Chengshuo.

In fact, Yin Ren had a plan.

If this person didn’t make a move, he could only make a scene at the ghost pawnshop. He would snatch the chair first—there was the aura of a living person in that chair, and the living could easily die, so he couldn’t wait on Shian for too long.

If things had settled like that, no matter how things ended, the relationship between him and Xiao Mengpo would be determined. At least the clues from Xiao Mengpo’s side would be cut off.

…Unexpectedly, Zhong Chengshuo took care of everything and quickly arrived on time.

He didn’t know if that would be considered smart or dumb.

A few minutes later, Yin Ren retracted his hand. He stretched his joints for a while, then pulled a thin blanket from the empty folding bed. The thin blanket was light and soft. He carried it gently and carefully covered Zhong Chengshuo’s back.

“How heartless,” Lord Ghost King commented. “If you really want to study me, you should give me more trouble.”

Feeling the warmth on his body, Zhong Chengshuo curled up, and his brows relaxed a little. Yin Ren didn’t know if he heard it or not.

Yin Ren made a grimace at his partner, then he yawned. He lay down beside Zhong Chengshuo and soon fell asleep.

He dreamed of endless potato stir fry.

Lord Ghost King had to climb up on foot to get to a box of crayfish at the top of the potato mountain. The moment he reached the top and stretched out his hand to reach the lunch box…

“Everyone, get up.”

Fu Xingchuan mercilessly gave them a smack on the head.

Yin Ren almost couldn’t control his murderous aura. He rubbed his head and glared at Fu Xingchuan with great dissatisfaction. Fortunately, at the next moment, Minister Fu brought good news like a desert spring.

“Shian will reimburse you for your 250,000 yuan. Originally, you should have been rewarded with some money, but because you caused an incident at the ghost pawnshop, the rewards and punishments were hedged.”

Fu Xingchuan pulled out a chair from a vacant seat and sat down in front of Yin Ren.

“That’s great that I’ll be reimbursed.” Yin Ren sighed with relief.

Otherwise, carrying a heavy debt when he first entered society would be too cruel for his ghost life.

After receiving a blow to the head, Zhong Chengshuo straightened up in a daze. He was momentarily stunned when he felt the warm blanket on him. On the other side, hearing the sound of dialogue, Lu Xiaohe got up from bed on her own. Her eyes weren’t opened yet, while her hands were already giving several punches to the pillow.

“All awake? Good. Xiaohe, turn on the screen—the results from the chair we got last night are out.”

Clusters of data covered the screen. Shots of the chairs from all angles were attached. Lu Xiaohe and Zhong Chengshuo looked at them line by line, and their expressions gradually became complicated.

Yin Ren looked at the two of them inexplicably. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s not cognitive pollution,” Zhong Chengshuo replied while still looking at the screen. “On a physical level, human cells have fused with the wood of the chair.”

“And that person… How can I put this? He’s still alive but in very poor condition.” Lu Xiaohe’s voice trembled. “At least as far as my expertise is concerned, there have been no similar cases.”

Scans, x-rays, and all kinds of inspection means were used. Science post staff barely found the person in this “human chair”—

It was as if the person’s entire body had become plasticine material and was then rubbed into strips while alive and melded into the wood in equal proportions.

Fat, muscle, internal organs, bones… The person’s entire body was twisted, making all the cells hard to separate from the wood fiber, yet it still maintained some kind of strange activity. It was difficult to say whether this was a “corpse” or not.

The man’s heart had become long and twisted, like a curled earthworm, and the myocardial fibers had obvious wood characteristics, but the heart was still weakly beating rapidly.

“The technician restored the broken DNA overnight and barely managed to identify the man. Fan Chung, 38 years old, disappeared two months ago. The police have this person in their missing people file. Sun Qinghui is now interrogating Lu Guangzu, though the situation is more or less the same.”

Fu Xingchuan rubbed his temples.

“This is not something a spirit smith can do. The water in Lu Guangzu’s case is deeper than we thought.”

The three of them looked at him quietly, waiting for his next words.

Although Fu Xingchuan had a good temper, he was essentially similar to Professor Li; he wouldn’t have come here without a reason*. Since he came in person, the matter was definitely more than just “deeper water”.

*Would come to the Hall of Trinity without reason. (无事不登三宝殿)

Sure enough, Fu Xingchuan unscrewed his thermos cup and poured himself a cup of strong tea.

“…This time we checked on the chair again and found a faint trace of Evil Force.” He gritted his teeth as he accentuated the word “again”.

Yin Ren cheered enthusiastically. “Ah, I have an impression! It was written in the report for Feng Qi’s case. His ability appeared only after being corrupted by the ‘force of an Evil Spirit’… Minister Fu, what is an Evil Spirit? A super concentration of evil qi?”

Fu Xingchuan gave a helpless smile. “It’s in your textbook.”

“We haven’t learned it yet.” Zhong Chengshuo tried to make up for Yin Ren.

“It’s hard to guess what’s going on in God’s mind. Recently, you have encountered two cases related to Evil Spirits.” Fu Xingchuan wiped his face. “Alright, let me tell you. Do you know what carbon dioxide is?”

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren hid his guilt and nodded confidently.

“If an evil spirit is carbon dioxide, no matter how powerful they are, the strength of their evil qi is at most dry ice. However, ‘Evil Spirits’ are different. Their ‘Evil Force’ is more like a diamond—purer, rarer, and stronger.”

“Of course, you can burn diamonds into carbon dioxide, but under natural conditions, this process is completely irreversible. By the same token, Evil Spirits can be transformed into evil spirits, but so far, no one has been able to reverse this process.”

Therefore, the cause of the force of the Evil Spirit was still an unsolved mystery.

“I see.” The Evil Spirit himself pretended to be stupid. “The matter seems to be very serious. Do we need to withdraw from the investigation again?”

“Don’t do things three times in a row*. Our business pays attention to ‘fate’. Since you keep encountering this kind of case, you might as well participate to the end.”

*(事不过三) Idiom referring to the same thing shouldn’t be done three times in a row. From Journey to the West.

Fu Xingchuan grinned at them, showing them a shady smile.

“How about, Xiao Yin, tell me first, why did you think that chair is related to the case?”

Yin Ren had long been prepared.

“That chair didn’t feel right to me. It has too many human characteristics. Lao Jiang also said that the person who wanted to sell it left a message saying, ‘Let the game of hide and seek commence’… This is along the lines of ‘hiding the victims and letting us try to find them’.”

“Moreover, this style of giving clues at auctions is also consistent with Lu Guangzu’s exaggerated style of surrender. The rest is… intuition.”

Zhong Chengshuo frowned. “That’s too arbitrary.”

“The point is that the chair has the characteristics of a living person, Zhong Ge.” Yin Ren’s smile didn’t change, and his tone was casual. “If I was wrong, that’s my loss, but if it’s really a living person, isn’t it worth 250,000 to save a life?”

Zhong Chengshuo’s lips moved, but he didn’t respond.

Fu Xingchuan wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a ringtone sounded from his pocket. Minster Fu took out his phone and quickly walked out of the office.

Lu Xiaohe was busy studying the data on the “human chair” while frowning, unknown what was on her mind. Yin Ren stretched out his waist, hung on the back of the chair, and turned his head to look at the bright sunlight coming from the window.

Unlike when he was in the ghost pawnshop, Yin Ren’s cold aura had cleanly dissipated. The man squinted his eyes in the sun and was surrounded by a lazy warmth.

It was like a soft and thin blanket covering one’s back.

Zhong Chengshuo lowered his head, opened WeChat, and clicked on Sun Qi’an’s avatar, who had just been added a few days ago.

[Final Fruit: Hello, Dr. Sun. I would like to consult about a psychological problem.]

[Final Fruit: Maybe I really do have some psychological issues.]

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The author has something to say:

It’s okay, Xiao Zhong. Zombies aren’t good to touch, but the Ghost King feels good! When the time comes (?) touch as much as you want!

Xiao Yin: That was close. I almost fell into debt from the company…

Xiao Wu’s injured world has been achieved (x

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Kinky Thoughts:

Note: Evil qi and Evil Force are not the same. Evil qi refers to general “energy” from any evil beings, while Evil Force specifically refers to “energy” from an Evil Spirit (note the capitalization). This chapter establishes the difference (to Yin Ren). You can think of it as “Evil Spirit qi” but I’ll use Evil Force for an easier distinction.

The process of converting a diamond to CO² comes from chemistry. Personally, I was never good at chemistry so I don’t really know the details behind the process, so someone who’s more knowledgeable can hopefully provide a better explanation.

Also you can also turn CO² into diamonds, though as Minister Fu said, that’s not possible under natural conditions, while likewise, diamonds can be burned and eventually become CO². 

Using Minister Fu’s analogy, he’s saying an Evil Spirit can become an evil spirit, and theoretically, it can reverse that process (but no one has been able to engineer such a process so it’s currently believed to be impossible).

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 49: Chair

Room 601, Building 4.

After dinner, Zhong Chengshuo locked himself in the bedroom early. As Yin Ren waited for the ghost market to open, he was checking his result papers.

While curses were invalid on Zhong Chengshuo himself, as “King Yama”, he needed to verify the remnants of curses on the spot. Zhong Chengshuo had invited a superb spirit smith to create a set of test strips for such things.

This was his killer weapon to identify unknown curses.

Zhong Chengshuo was a bit reluctant to use the test paper. Unfortunately, he had already exhausted other methods of verification a few days ago.

There didn’t seem to be a curse on him.

This set of precision test strips was his last hope. When he saw that Yin Ren had left for the ghost market, he immediately took out the test strips.

He ran into the bathroom of the master bedroom, mixed his own blood with a potion, and lit the extract on the test strips. The dark red test strips hung one by one, and the atmosphere around the small bathroom became eerie.

The test strips gently shook on the string, like a string of air-dried corpses. Zhong Chengshuo sat on the toilet lid, unmoving, imitating “The Thinker“. Under the bathroom light, his glasses glowed a layer of white.

Time passed slowly. Eventually, the blood potion completely dried up. The color of the test paper didn’t change at all, and there was no trace of water immersion.

There were still no signs of a curse.

This wasn’t good. Zhong Chengshuo continued to contemplate as he sat on the toilet lid.

Since it wasn’t a curse of instant death, the purpose must be to deter. However, using this kind of subtle curse that couldn’t be verified wouldn’t serve as an effective “deterrent” at all—even if he was afraid of Shian finding out, this method was way too oblique.

They lived together, and Yin Ren knew where his parents were, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have other methods of restraint.

This evil qi corruption wasn’t right. Normally, evil qi was like drops of water sliding over a lotus leaf, leaving no traces behind.

After thinking for a long time without conclusion, Zhong Chengshuo silently recycled the test paper and flushed the burned paper ash into the toilet.

When Yin Ren left, his residence returned to its previous quietness. There was no longer the vague music and lines from shows and movies outside his bedroom door, or the laughter and movement of another person. The silence was quite abrupt.

Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t help but open the bedroom door—the opportunity was too good to miss, so he might as well investigate to the end.

Yin Ren liked to stay in the living room. He hardly ever returned to his bedroom. He would only go back to the shower and then lie back on the sofa. Zhong Chengshuo locked his bedroom and slowly approached the sofa in the living room, as if there was some sleeping beast on it.

Mr. Yama took a deep breath and lay down like Yin Ren.

Was there anything special here?

Was it easier to spy on him in his bedroom? Or was it because it occupied the most advantageous combat angle? Zhong Chengshuo laid on the soft sofa and swept his gaze around the living room.

From this angle, he could only see the floor-to-ceiling windows “under his feet”. The floor-to-ceiling windows were inlaid with the night view of Haigu. The lights were extremely bright, giving people the illusion that they were floating among the stars.

Was it because it was “lively”?

After all, Yin Ren did say he likes lively places…

The sofa was soft, and the cushion was indented by Yin Ren. The subtle smell overwhelmed him and made Zhong Chengshuo’s eyelids heavy. Relaxation and vigilance surged at the same time, and his heartbeat became chaotic again.

How terrible.

Heart disease, an unknown curse, and evil qi corruption were ruled out one by one… Was it really a “psychological factor” as Sun Qi’an had said?

Zhong Chengshuo knew he wasn’t good at getting along with others. In order to ensure his identity wasn’t exposed, he would present various scenarios—such as dealing with strange enemies or getting along with friends and family. He even rehearsed in advance countless times the details of being questioned by Shian and getting along with his colleagues.

But Yin Ren was different. The man broke into his territory in a dignified manner that had no semblance of a surprise attack. With such a guy around, Zhong Chengshuo felt he was gradually becoming powerless.

No. He should first speculate on Yin Ren’s purpose.

Looking at Yin Ren’s performance, he had suspicions about his identity and was trying to press him… Yin Ren infiltrated Shian… but also did absolutely nothing… What was his purpose…?

At this point in time, it was already 1 a.m. Zhong Chengshuo slowly closed his eyes.

Hu Tai and Lu Tanfei in the corner: “……”

Hu Tai: “Is he taking a nap? Why did he come to sleep on the sofa?” He even forgot to wear his nightcap.

Lu Tanfei: “Maybe he’s worried about Xiao Yin.”

Hu Tai: “Yin Ren won’t be back for a while. Let’s go, Lu Ge. I’ll teach you—”

Her voice was drowned out by the vibrating sound of a phone.

Zhong Chengshuo instantly opened his eyes and nimbly grabbed his phone.

[Fruit Knife: Zhong Ge, are you there?]

[Fruit Knife: I’m in the ghost market. This is urgent 😱]

Zhong Chengshuo: “……” He knew this guy was being dishonest. Sure enough, something happened!

[Final Fruit: ?]

[Fruit Knife: Can I borrow some money?]

Zhong Chengshuo slowly put down the phone and laid back on the sofa. He probably had fallen asleep in a daze and was dreaming of some kind of plot that “Yin Ren was disturbing his sleep in the middle of the night just to borrow money”.

Unfortunately, the phone didn’t stop vibrating.

[Fruit Knife: Help me! It’s very important. It may be related to the case and can be reimbursed!!!]

[Final Fruit: “May be?”]

[Final Fruit: Forget it. How much do you need?]

[Fruit Knife: 100,000]

[Final Fruit: ………………………]

[Final Fruit: I don’t have that much. Even if I did, I couldn’t transfer it. Do you want me to call the police for you?]

[Fruit Knife: 😖]

……

An hour ago.

“Alright, lead the way,” Yin Ren said.

Old Dog Peng laughed, arched his back, and walked to the corner of the street with Yin Ren.

There were gaps in those weird old houses that were just big enough for a person to pass going sideways. The doors and windows of the old houses were pure black, making those gaps even less noticeable, like ditches overflowing with sewage.

Old Dog Peng led Yin Ren to walk closely to the edge, and soon they stumbled upon two adjacent mansions. One of them looked like an ancient residence, while the other looked like an old-fashioned restaurant, with a slightly wider gap between them, filled with murky night fog.

Unlike the rest of the building gaps, this gap was flanked by red-colored spring couplets on both sides, which seemed to stitch the two large buildings together. The words on the spring couplets looked like chewed bones, making their text indistinct, leaving only the red paper that was bright and dripping, like white silk being dipped in blood.

The stone sculpture of a tomb guardian beast was placed horizontally at the entrance of the gap, looking like a stone threshold.

Old Dong Peng plunged into the alley.

Entering the alley was like entering water. The voices of the ghost market suddenly became muffled. Only the gray mist and the swaying figure of Old Dog Peng were left behind. It was supposed to be a straight road, but the more he walked, the more curved it became. The bluestone road gradually turned into mud and would make a squishing noise when he stepped on it.

The two of them turned around and crossed an unknown number of forks in the road.

“Here—” The voice was thin. It should be the facial sore on Old Dog Peng’s body.

Yin Ren raised his head and saw two huge “Pawn” characters in black on a white background in front of him.

The pawnshop was a two-story building with carved columns and paintings, looking particularly grand. It was built at the end of the avenue, with about four-meter-tall walls on either side. The walls were covered with all kinds of uneven red lanterns, painting a layer of red lights.

Looking up, the top was no longer the clear starry sky but a thick darkness.

At some point, they were once again swept up in the crowd, but this time, all the people around them didn’t cover their faces.

There was an old man carrying a bird cage. Inside were small birds bouncing around, and from time to time, they would let out sharp and hoarse screeches. A young man was carrying a trendy bag with a dense pupil reflection lashing through the zipper gap.

A simple peasant woman was carrying a bamboo basket with a few shriveled hands exposed under the covering; their thin fingers would twitch a few times on occasion. There was a child dressed in red running around, giggling. When he took a closer look, the child’s facial features were all on the top of his head, and his laughter floated up toward the sky.

Yin Ren roughly estimated—the strength of the people here was completely different from that of the guests in the ghost market. They were a full level stronger.

He subconsciously held his breath and became more cautious.

“Oh, can you feel it?” Old Dog Peng laughed. “The ghost market is like a marketplace where everyone goes to casually buy some daily necessities. If you have a bit of skill, do you really need to go through that kind of troublesome channel?”

The old man stretched his neck and looked proud.

“The ‘ghost pawnshop’ is a place to scour for quality goods. What you see now is just the ‘middle-level’ among the Nightwalkers. At the level of King Yama, Mud Meat Zhang, and The Great Immortal Wu, no matter what they want, as long as they say it, someone will come and offer it.”

“Who is that?” Yin Ren pointed to the “person” at the door.

It looked clearly like a zombie with long hair dressed in an ancient costume. Its bruised flesh was clinging to his bones, a melon-skin cap was buckled on his head, a pair of gold-wire round-frame glasses hung on the bridge of its nose, and its mouth was puffing… on an e-cigarette.

It kept swallowing clouds while its two glazed eyes kept spinning around.

“That’s the owner of the ‘ghost pawnshop’. Everyone calls him the Lao Jiang*,” Old Dog Peng introduced mysteriously.

*Old Stiff/Zombie

“Zombies are one of the few ‘physical evil things’ in the world. They’re on the verge of extinction these days. Lao Jiang is autistic. He has lived in the ghost market for more than 300 years before leaving his entire body.”

The same “physical evil thing”, Yin Ren, changed the subject. “Will Xiao Mengpo definitely come?”

“She has been every time. She likes to scour for materials here. If not, I’ll write my name backwards*… Let’s go, let’s go.”

*It’s a saying basically referring to I won’t lie to you. If I did, I would do something unbelievable (like if I’m lying to you, then I’m a cat; it’s not true, so that means I’m not lying).

“You don’t have to write it backwards. If she’s not here, you can refund me half the money,” Yin Ren suggested.

Old Dog Peng pretended he didn’t hear it.

The pawnshop seemed like it was only in name. The inside was more like an opera house. There were rows of square tables below with a large number of melons and fruits on them. On the stage, decorated in red and gold, were two black wood couplets hanging from either side. This time, the inscription on it was more serious.

Top couplet: There’s nothing new in love and hate.
Bottom couplet: There are old friends in joy and sorrow.
The horizontal line was crooked and engraved with: Don’t be noisy.

The front row was already full of people. Old Dog Peng dragged Yin Ren through the crowd until they reached a corner where they could stand. This place was far away from the stage, but fortunately, it wasn’t blocked, so he could still see the situation on the stage.

When the area became crowded, Lao Jiang swung to the stage on a white silk. He leisurely put away his e-cigarette, patted the loose silk clothes he was wearing, and pinned a microphone to his collar.

“The auction is about to start.” Unlike his withered appearance, his voice was magnetic. “Same rules as always. I will auction 18 pieces today that I have carefully selected. Take a good look at them, ladies and gentlemen.”

The first thing to be put on was an old-fashioned radio. The antenna was covered with blood, and there was a hoarse chirping sound from the machine from time to time. When Lao Jiang casually pressed a button, the chirp transformed into a human voice.

[…Same rules as always. Today, I’ll auction 22 pieces…]

“A naturally formed spirit weapon, a Black Bull Radio. You only need to put it in a fixed place, and you can retrieve the sound from the past. People, this thing is great for those who want to feel nostalgia.”

Lao Jiang shook his head, causing his thin neck bones to make an unpleasant creaking sound.

“Unfortunately, it can only go back one year. This thing would be an item for our grand finale if it didn’t have so many restrictions.”

There was a buzzing sound in the audience. Many old people showed a look of satisfaction.

Lord Ghost King, who didn’t have nostalgia, wasn’t interested in the radio. Yin Ren scanned the crowd, trying to find the aura of “Xiao Mengpo”.

The radio was quickly sold for 97,000 yuan.

“The next thing is quite good. A 200-year-old pig-killing knife with quite a fierce aura. It’s not as good as a murder weapon, but it can suppress evil spirits. Ghost masters, take a careful look…”

…..

When the “wolf bone carving knife” was sold, Yin Ren finally found Xiao Mengpo. The old lady was sitting in the front row with a tense face. Perhaps it was because despite so many spirit weapons being auctioned today, she hadn’t found the material she wanted.

Yin Ren instantly abandoned Old Dog Peng and began to squeeze in the direction of Xiao Mengpo.

Just as he squeezed near the stage, the next item for auction appeared on the stage.

“This is a chair made of cherry wood of unknown origin. When touched, it can cause convulsions and vomiting. The auctioneer wished to remain anonymous and has handed it over to us for consignment along with a message.”

Lao Jiang took out his phone and read the words solemnly.

“’Let the game of hide and seek commence’… Well, that’s it. Let me show you the details of the workmanship of this chair…”

Yin Ren raised his head and looked at the chair.

At first glance, it was a warm yellow all-wood armchair, but on closer inspection, it was questionable to describe it as “all wood”…

On the warm wooden surface, there was a fine skin texture, and thin hair protruded from the depressions. There were also subtle protrusions and flesh-like gaps at the joints of the chair legs and a hollow in the back of the chair.

The chair trembled slightly, making a whimper similar to a “light cough”. Muddy liquid dripped down the legs of the chair, accumulating into a smelly pool on the table. Every time Lao Jiang’s hands crossed, it would shudder for a few seconds.

Yin Ren stopped in his tracks.

How strange.

As far as he could feel, the position of the chair seemed like it was curled up like half a person. That thing was like a baby in its mother’s womb and was far from having a complete life.

However, it was indeed “alive” with a bit of vitality, which shouldn’t be something a spirit smith could make.

Yin Ren changed his target and squeezed a little closer. He closed his eyes, blocked his ears, and sniffed the chair intently. The stench of filth, along with the sour smell of sweat and the fragrance of wood, mixed together. At the bottom of this smell, he also smelled some evil qi.

The source of corruption in Feng Qi’s case also came from the same evil qi. Even the smell concentration was similar.

…This was also an indirect corruption source.

“50,000!” Yin Ren came back to his senses when someone behind him began the bid.

Yin Ren hurriedly raised his locust wood sign. “60,000!”

“65,000—” Not far away, Xiao Mengpo gave him a glance.

“75,000!” Yin Ren gritted his teeth.

Items related to evil qi wouldn’t appear casually. He intuitively felt that this item was related to Lu Guangzu’s case. Even if it wasn’t, it was enough to open another case.

Apart from being a collector’s item, this chair didn’t have much practical use. Xiao Mengpo most likely wanted to buy it to study its medicinal value. Yin Ren hoped that she would retreat in the face of difficulties.

“80,000.” The old lady snorted coldly.

“80,002…” His salary was almost spent, and the rest could be paid through formal emergency loans. But in his case, he most likely wouldn’t be able to get a loan for that much.

In a hurry, Yin Ren clicked on the apple avatar of Zhong Chengshuo.

……

Comrade Xiao Zhong woke up, but he could only give him moral support.

[Final Fruit: I don’t have that much. Even if I did, I couldn’t transfer it. Do you want me to call the police for you?]

[Fruit Knife: 😖]

[Fruit Knife: I really need it urgently.]

“95,000—” Xiao Mengpo began to increase the price again.

[Fruit Knife: Trust me this time.]

[Final Fruit: ……]

[Final Fruit: Okay, buy the thing first and give me 20 minutes.]

“100,000!” Yin Ren held the locust wood sign high.

Xiao Mengpo made a long face, narrowed her eyes, and surveyed Yin Ren, looking quite unhappy.

“100,000 yuan, going once. 100,000 yuan, going twice—sold!”

Before Yin Ren could step forward, Xiao Mengpo had squeezed to Yin Ren’s side. She stared at him with weasel-like eyes that locked on him firmly.

“I thought you were new to the ghost market and didn’t know your way around? How did you get to the ghost pawnshop?” She smiled miserably. “I was really pecked by geese* and didn’t recognize an insider. You buying medicine yesterday was all a ruse. Rather, you were just trying to find someone.”

*Referring to the idiom hunting geese all day long causing them to peck your eyes. (终日打雁，叫雁啄了眼) It refers to a person who spends his life restraining a person or thing but instead is restrained by it.

Yin Ren didn’t deny it.

“Boy, I saw you hesitate to bid just now. I hope you didn’t buy that chair just to attract my attention. The rules of the ghost pawnshop are very strict.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Yin Ren saw Lao Jiang take out a fan and knock it onto his palm. Two huge rat-like things jumped out from the audience and turned into afterimages as they ran between human legs and rushed straight to Yin Ren’s shoulders.

Yin Ren didn’t move. He let the two strange rats insert their noses into his ears and let them sniff deeply.

“This person doesn’t have enough money!” One of the strange rats shouted.

“Not enough money!” The other one also joined.

“If you don’t have enough money, you’ll make it up in flesh. Take off your mask, take off your clothes, and see how much we can get for your bones,” the two rats shouted in unison.

Around Yin Ren, the crowd consciously receded, forming a circular vacuum zone. The Nightwalkers exchanged pleasantries as they gloated in whispers.

Old Dog Peng had approached at some point while panting hard. “Hey, what are you doing? Why are you bidding indiscriminately?!”

Yin Ren: “But I want that chair.”

“People want a lot of things, but how can they get everything they want?” Lao Jiang jumped down for the stage, causing his hard bones to rattle. “How many years ago was it when someone didn’t have enough money for their bid? Nine? Ten? Old Dog Peng, didn’t you tell him about the rules?”

“This man has been mediocre all his life. He only said he wanted to find someone. The rest is none of my business!”

“But rules are rules,” Lao Jiang said.

“I can make up the money later.”

Walking in the realm of the metaphysic, if you didn’t follow the rules, you couldn’t make a circle*. Since Lao Jiang was in charge, Yin Ren didn’t want to cause a scene. “Wait another ten minutes. I’ll have my people come to deliver the money.”

*Saying refers to people must abide by rules and regulations so that everyone’s life will return to its normal track. Basically, rules are in place, and without them and people following them, it’ll lead to chaos.

“That won’t do. You must hand over collateral first.”

Lao Jiang clapped his hands. The two mice responded by biting off Yin Ren’s mask. The silver facemask slid down in front of Yin Ren and was smoothly caught by him.

The sound of chattering rang all around.

Lao Jiang: “Don’t you have such a good thing to pay for it? With your face, that’s at least worth 1 million alone. You can bet it on me, and I’ll pay you back when the money arrives.”

Countless glances came from all around, staring at Yin Ren’s face.

Unlike the outside world, there was no surprise or desire in those eyes, but different shades of greed. It seemed that what Yin Ren showed wasn’t a face, but a treasure chest full of gold. In an instant, he seemed to have completely transformed from “guest” to “cargo”, from a living person to a dead one in the eyes of everyone.

“Why not take it on the spot.” An unpleasant voice came from the crowd. “I’m missing a good face here—”

Before he could speak, Lao Jiang moved. He saw a black light flash from the crowd and straight at Yin Ren’s heart.

In the shadows, Yin Ren casually pulled out a trick. The black light fiercely turned around and came back to where it came from.

It was only a split second.

The next moment, a scream broke through the crowd. For a brief moment, the crowd flowed before a complete human head rolled from the ground. A section of its neck was still sizzling with smoke.

Yin Ren: “Oh, is this a backlash? So serious?”

After saying this, he smiled again and turned to Lao Jiang. “So you guys can take other people’s flesh as property. You should have said so.”

His voice was neither high nor low, but the crowd that was moving instantly quieted.

Yin Ren picked up the head. “Here, can this be worth 10,000? 20,000? I don’t need much.”

Lao Jiang narrowed his eyes and looked at Yin Ren suspiciously.

He had lived for more than five hundred years and had seen countless practitioners, but in the confrontation just now, he couldn’t see the reason.

The person who took the shot just now was someone Lao Jiang recognized. It was a spirit smith who wanted to enter Sunken Society and would often be up to no good. However, that person’s level wasn’t bad… Was he really eager to nab that face that his magic backfire?

Lao Jiang couldn’t see through it, but he also didn’t intend to.

“Enough.” Lao Jiang calmly took the head. “Ah, I’ve said it a few times, don’t be noisy and make a fuss… Who is to blame for this backlash?”

“Boss is quite generous. I’ll definitely bring enough money next time.” Yin Ren smiled.

“Interesting.” Xiao Mengpo raised her hands and didn’t say anything more.

While the two large rats ran away holding their heads, Lao Jiang jumped back onto the stage. He sat in the void while fanning himself. “You said ten minutes? There’s less than half a minute left. Shall we wait for this little friend—”

The last of his speech was covered by the roar of a motorcycle engine.

A man in pajamas, wearing a helmet, rushed in on a motorcycle with a “Are You Hungry” food delivery driver sitting in the back seat.

“19 minutes and 44 seconds,” Zhong Chengshuo said as he took off his helmet.

“I have asked for permission to use our mission funds. If it’s confirmed that the case is related to Shian, it will be reimbursed. If it’s not related, the interest will be converted according to the average loan and deducted from your salary.”

After he said all this in one breath, he looked at his watch again and breathed a sigh of relief.

“…Do you support credit card swiping here?”

---

The author has something to say:

Don’t learn Xiao Yin. Don’t spend in advance, let alone borrow large sums of money from others casually…

Learn from Xiao Zhong. Don’t blindly borrow large amounts of money but go directly to your official supervisor.

By the way, don’t touch e-cigarettes… Lao Jiang’s lungs are already dry (……

——————

Xiao Zhong: Seriously thinking

Xiao Zhong: zZzZzZzZzZz

Xiao Yin: Alright, lead the way.

Xiao Yin: …The biggest enemy is that there is no money!

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 48: Human Fragrance

Perhaps it was the idea of “waiting for his grandson” that turned into “tracking down a criminal” that after Lu Tanfei signed the ghost contract, he didn’t return to the dilapidated home.

There were still a few vacant rooms in Building 4, so Hu Tao took the lead and arranged for the old man to go to one of them. However, the old man still waited stubbornly in the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s living room. He was barely able to maintain his human form as his eyes followed Yin Ren.

The old man didn’t make a fuss, but the dismay in his eyes was truly heartbreaking.

“Grandpa Lu, it’s not that I won’t let you intervene.”

Yin Ren had lost his appetite, and the comedy he was watching didn’t seem funny anymore.

“Just because you can smell Lu Yuanyuan on Lu Guangzu doesn’t mean he’s the culprit. Lu Guangzu may be an accomplice or even a henchman. If he’s killed, Yuanyuan will be even harder to find.”

“I was too impulsive. I’m just so worried about the child…” the old man murmured. “I’m sorry, good sir. Don’t be angry. I’ll try my best to control myself in the future and work like a horse* in the afterlife.”

*(做牛做马) Idiom referring to a person willingly be driven to be used by others. This expression is mostly used to express the deep sincerity of a grateful person.

The old man’s tone was humble, as if he was afraid Yin Ren would kick him out of the investigation.

“I don’t need anyone to work like a horse.” Yin Ren rolled over and laid flat on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. “The best thing is for you to eat well.”

“Okay, okay.” The old man nodded desperately.

Yin Ren glanced at the time. The time displayed changed from 22:59 to 23:00. He sorted out his clothes and knocked on Zhong Chengshuo’s door.

“I want to go to the ghost market again,” Yin Ren said.

“Didn’t you just go there yesterday?” After a few seconds of silence, Zhong Chengshuo responded from inside the room.

“We were busy yesterday investigating the case, so I didn’t get to take a serious look around. Don’t worry. I won’t buy anything. I’ll be home around 2.”

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t answer. A rustling came from inside the room. In the next moment, Zhong Chengshuo opened the bedroom door and was neatly dressed.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, no. You can sleep. I’ll go find Xu Jie to lead the way since she formally cooperates with Shian.”

“I’ll go with you,” Zhong Chengshuo repeated. “I’m your partner, and I must ensure your safety.”

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: “This time it’s for my personal interest. I won’t reimburse my expenses.”

“Then AA,” Zhong Chengshuo replied as he stood at the door, motionless.

“For goodness sakes, it’s not like I’ll get lost.” Yin Ren vigorously wiped his face. “Zhong Ge, do you think if you start a family, you’ll follow me around like this every day? Be careful what your future wife will think.”

“I’m a non-marital person.” Zhong Chengshuo replied solemnly.

Yin Ren was speechless. He could only lower his head and start to call a taxi.

If he continued to talk about it, it would make things look suspicious. Besides, he wasn’t lying. On this trip, Yin Ren really didn’t plan to buy anything, but in a sense, it wasn’t really of personal interest either…

Something was wrong with Lu Guangzu.

While Lu Guangzu undoubtedly was breathing and had a heartbeat, showing his vitality wasn’t fake, Yin Ren saw a dead look between his eyes.

By definition, this man should already be dead.

However, the aura of death wasn’t obvious. Committing taboo on death, colliding with evil spirits, borrowing longevity against the heavens, and putting a brain into a corpse… This was too much. Yin Ren decided to check for more prominent clues first.

After all, there was more than just the “dead look” that wasn’t right.

There was a subtle, uncoordinated smell of herbal medicine on Lu Guangzu’s body. There was more than one scent of herbal medicine, all of which were not readily available at a local pharmacy. They were not commonly used in medical prescription and were more useful in the metaphysical world.

Unfortunately, the herbal smell was so well blended that Yin Ren could only sniff off a few pungent flavors.

Since Lu Guangzu was a Nightwalker, these strange medicines were most likely bought at the ghost market. If he asked a few sellers some questions, it was possible he could find a recipe. At home, Yin Ren was being constantly stared at by Old Man Lu, and it made him uncomfortable. He thought it would be a good idea to go out to the ghost market for a stroll while also checking up on this.

Who would have thought that Zhong Chengshuo would be so stubborn. He clearly struggled to stay up late the night before, but today he insisted on accompanying him, sticking to him like a skin plaster.

Yin Ren simply didn’t know whether to be moved or wary.

“The taxi is here. Let’s go. Don’t blame me for your insomnia,” Yin Ren said bitterly.

Seeing the two of them visit again, Xu Jie wasn’t surprised. She smiled and said, “Young people are so curious,” then led them to the ghost market.

“Since you’re here, you guys go ahead and stroll around. I’ll go register Xiao Yin,” she said. “Xiao Yin is a ghost master and has to learn how to lead the way. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult to come here every time.”

“Just take the main road. Don’t go into the alley.” She warned them before they left.

The weather was good tonight. The sky was full of stars above the ghost market. The two wore face masks, one gold and one silver, and stood in the middle of the bustling street.

Even with this weird dress code, few passersby gave them looks.

In order to conceal their identity, people on the street wore whatever they wanted. Ordinary people would wear proper masks, while more fashionable ones replaced them with gas masks and motorcycle helmets. Some people even put brightly painted “big-headed doll” hoods on their heads that had exaggerated smiling faces, looking particularly creepy in the night.

Without Xu Jie watching them, the surrounding air instantly became sticky. Sights and whispers were like sewage crawling through the eaves of an old house, flowing over the bluestone slabs on the ground as they came from all directions.

Some of the whispers came from the crowd, while others came from unoccupied corners. Countless glances swept over the two of them, whispering to the beat of the lantern wick, as they circled around them.

The night mist spread across the wet stone road and flowed along the roots of the mottled walls. There was an indescribable fishy sweetness in the air, like rotten fruit mixed with grease.

The liveliness on the street had changed with the bustle as the living walked along like ghost soldiers passing through. Their movements were full of coldness and oppressiveness.

In this distorted atmosphere, Zhong Chengshuo, who was wearing the gold mask, extended his hand. He stood quietly with his palm facing upwards, as if he were inviting Yin Ren to dance.

Yin Ren didn’t react for a moment. “What’s wrong, Zhong Ge? Do you want to change places?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Your hand, to prevent you from getting lost.”

Xu Jie, the guide, didn’t even worry this much. Sometimes this person was really too serious. Yin Ren stretched out his hand helplessly—Zhong Chengshuo’s hand wasn’t warm, but fortunately, it wasn’t sweaty, and his skin felt good to touch.

While maintaining a posture of holding hands, Lord Ghost King began to search for a red lantern stall.

The ghost market looked chaotic at first glance, but upon closer inspection, Yin Ren saw a bit of mystery in it.

The old houses on either side of the street in the ghost market were either in good condition or dilapidated. Most of the things in front of the dilapidated houses were junk, while the gloomier mansions that had red lights stalls had more reasonable goods.

The red lantern stalls were roughly divided into three categories: selling completed spirit weapons, selling metaphysical information, and selling materials. Yin Ren sniffed around and quickly found a big medicine stall.

The stall was placed in front of an uninhabited mansion. It had a plaque that read “Practice Medicine to Help the World*” hanging on the gate of the dark entrance. Most likely, the owner of this stall had some background.

*(悬壶济世) A saying normally use to praise doctors for saving people from illness.

The stall owner was curled up in the darkness, breathing very lightly. There was some faint smoke floating out of the shadows now and then.

In front of the gate, eight red sandalwood medicine boxes were neatly placed on the red cloth. Based on their style, they looked quite old. Unlike the usual medicine chests, each small wood drawer was engraved with runes, and several still had yellow talismans attached to them. One of the boxes would move from time to time, as if something imprisoned inside was struggling to escape.

“The hair of the dead—the sand at the bottom of a coffin—the age is quite good. The goods are sold at the same price as any store—”

The stall owner stretched out a pipe from the darkness and knocked it on the slate floor, accompanied by strange chanting.

What fell out of the pipe wasn’t soot but something that looked like a blood scab. They jumped and bounced on the ground. Suddenly, a weird aroma enveloped the two of them.

Yin Ren glanced at Zhong Chengshuo, then turned around and asked, “What are these things you have here that have no labels?”

The stall owner retracted their pipe, snorted, and ignored him.

Yin Ren had no choice but to continue, “Do you sell prepared medicine packs here? Something similar to that of malva nuts, the kind that you can make tea with…”

With Zhong Chengshuo on the side staring at him, he had to rack his brain to pick a topic.

The heaviest smell on Lu Guangzu’s body was rat eye goji berries. This thing only grew on the corpse of flesh-eating rats. The fruit was black and white, similar to that of a rat’s eye.

After this thing was dried, it could be used to make tea to dispel filth. It had a rotten smell after heating, so few people would drink it. As far as Yin Ren knew, it would only be used in some extremely unorthodox prescriptions.

“I’ve come across a lot of dirty things recently, and I don’t feel well. I heard there are many elixirs in the ghost market, so I came here specifically to ask an expert… I don’t know much of this stuff. Please don’t take it personally if I have inadvertently offended you.”

Yin Ren squatted in front of the stall, sounding pitiful.

“Your side is the best stall I’ve ever seen. I hope this master will give me some pointers…”

The breathing in the dark stopped, and a gaze swept at Yin Ren from head to toe.

“Rat eye goji berries, 3,600 a tael*, artificially cultivated.” The cold voice belonged to an old lady. “Buy a tael. Soak them in water every morning and evening and take ten capsules. After drinking, you should be good.”

*About .083 lbs.

“Has anyone bought this stuff recently? Please help me out. The consulting fees of intermediaries are too high. I want to ask about people in similar circumstances,” Yin Ren said earnestly. “Do you recall? I’ll pay 7,200 for a tael, okay?”

“Yes, there was one. I’m afraid that what you want to cure and what he wants is different. His isn’t a disease.” The old lady chuckled. “I don’t need the extra money I didn’t earn.”

“You can tell just by looking at the medicine?”

“The man also bought plum roots and living teeth. Those things can’t be soaked in water.” The old lady knocked on her pipe again. “3,600 a tael, no haggling.”

Seeing Yin Ren take out his phone, Zhong Chengshuo said, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t buy anything?”

The old lady paused for an instant when she knocked on her pipe. “?”

Yin Ren laughed dryly. “I wouldn’t need to if you didn’t come, but here you are. Miss, please help me pack tael.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “If you’re not feeling well, you can go to the doctor—”

“One tael, thanks.” Yin Ren raised his voice and grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s hand violently.

Zhong Chengshuo said sincerely, “Your grip is hurting me.”

The old lady revealed a QR code on her pipe and took something that looked like dried eyes from a medicine box. She leaned out into the darkness after receiving payment and quickly wrapped a small paper bag.

“Listen to my advice. If you’re looking for a good friend, you should find someone who’s clever, not a wooden one.” She picked up the paper bag with her pipe and stretched it out in front of Yin Ren as she spoke in a smiling tone.

Zhong Chengshuo planned to continue asking, but he was dragged away from the stall by Yin Ren.

“You’d better go to the hospital first to get checked out.” When the two walked far away enough from the crowd, Zhong Chengshuo spoke with some aggrievance. “The origins of these things are unknown, and their hygiene can’t be guaranteed. Don’t use them.”

And it was frighteningly expensive, even more than good-quality tea.

Yin Ren knew that, in the eyes of this person, he was probably suckered. He cleared his throat. “Look at that grandmother’s stall. She must have some background. We’re not familiar with the ghost market, so it’s best to make friends. That opens more options for us.”

Zhong Chengshuo thought for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.

Yin Ren breathed a sigh of relief and began to quickly recall it in his heart.

Rat eye goji berries, plum roots, living teeth…

The rat eye goji berries were added to a flesh primer to remove filth, then it was grounded and mixed with plum roots to form a base. Then it was soaked in various materials to mask the odor, and finally mashed in a pestle with living teeth to shape it. Finally, they added lamb fat as a deodorizer to add a “human fragrance”.

For the living, human smell had no smell at all, but for evil beings, human smell could overwhelm the user’s smell, making evil beings mistake them as the owner of the “flesh primer”.

…It may not be Lu Guangzu who was stained with Yuanyuan’s aura.

It was possible that someone smeared the real culprit’s smell onto Lu Guangzu, then told him to go to the police station to “surrender himself”. Thinking about it, “blending human fragrance” was a job that could be done by a master spirit smith. Lu Guangzu was just a low-level ghost master and wouldn’t possess such a skill.

Yin Ren turned around abruptly and walked quickly towards the road.

Unfortunately, he was a few steps too late. They had only been gone for seven or eight minutes, but the old lady had already closed her stall and disappeared to who knew where.

“Do you want to return it?” Zhong Chengshuo asked in confusion.

“No, it’s fine.” Yin Ren scratched his head in frustration. “I forgot to ask her whether to soak in cold or hot water.”

Following the trail, he might be able to find the spirit smith. It was a pity that time couldn’t be delayed too much. It was better to come back to visit the old lady another day.

“My advice is not to drink it.” Zhong Chengshuo spoke while yawning. “At least first go to…”

“I know, the hospital.” Yin Ren interrupted the other’s repetitive nagging, raised his clenched hand, and released his fingers.

Zhong Chengshuo: “?”

“Someone was moaning that he was in pain. We need to check to see if you need to go to the hospital.” Yin Ren fiddled with the marks on the back of Zhong Chengshuo’s hand. “…Well, seems fine. No problems. Zhong Ge, you’re not young anymore, so I won’t blow on it for you.”

Sure enough, Zhong Chengshuo’s focus was immediately deflected. He froze in place, trying to understand the logic between the two topics.

Yin Ren said in amusement, “What? You really want me to blow on it?”

Before Zhong Chengshuo had time to deny it, he saw Yin Ren lower his head and slightly lift the corner of his mask.

“Wh—”

A cool breath brushed the back of his hand as if the softest silk had slid across his skin. It seemed as if a cat caught Zhong Chengshuo’s tongue as he speechlessly withdrew his hand. This time, he was a step slower. Despite pulling back, the touch still climbed up his nerves and made his scalp numb for a moment.

He didn’t know if it was because of the irregularity in his work, but Zhong Chengshuo had suddenly started experiencing heart palpitations.

Beside him, Yin Ren had already straightened up and didn’t care about Zhong Chengshuo’s electrocution-like reaction. “Let’s go find Xu Jie—it’s almost 2. You’d better go back to bed.”

……

In the morning, a few hours later, Yin Ren sat numbly in Haigu’s municipal hospital.

Wasn’t this a bit much for Zhong Chengshuo to stay up two nights in a row?

In the morning, he watched Comrade Xiao Zhong crawl out of bed on time and called Lu Xiaohe directly to ask for leave.

“Going to a doctor” was the reason he succinctly provided. “I applied for Yin Ren to come along to help him recall the process of seeing a doctor in a hospital so his side can be recorded as normal attendance.”

Then Yin Ren was abducted by his partner to go to Haigu’s municipal hospital. He accompanied Zhong Chengshuo in a daze as he registered.

Zhong Chengshuo had registered with the cardiovascular department. Yin Ren felt that these words were a bit familiar.

Before he could respond, the number [1013—Zhong Chengshuo] jumped on the screen in the waiting area, and a loud announcement: “1013 Zhong Chengshuo, please go to the No. 2 consultation room” exploded in his ears.

Ten seconds later, Sun Qi’an, Yin Ren, and Zhong Chengshuo were looking at each other in the clinic.

Sun Qi’an was relatively at ease. She quickly accepted the medical records and insurance card. “Weren’t you fine just a few days ago? What happened? Uncomfortable because you stayed up all night?”

Yin Ren: “…” The divine doctor really hit the nail on the head.

Zhong Chengshuo shook his head. “I began to feel unwell in the early morning of July 24. The symptoms include arrhythmia and occasional palpitations. In severe cases, my body temperature would rise, accompanied by slight hand numbness and dizziness.”

While Zhong Chengshuo was talking, Yin Ren searched for the symptoms on his phone. Before Sun Qi’an could speak, Lord Ghost King’s face changed. “It’s over. Doesn’t this look serious? Should Zhong Chengshuo be hospitalized?”

Sun Qi’an laughed as she looked at Yin Ren tenderly, and Yin Ren slowly put down his phone under the coercion of that “tender” gaze.

“Don’t be too nervous. First we’ll check your blood and electrocardiogram, and then we’ll look at the results.” After making sure that Yin Ren was no longer indiscriminately investigating, Sun Qi’an turned her gaze back to Zhong Chengshuo.

An hour passed.

“Myocardial enzymes are normal, and there’s no problem with your ECG… You feel uncomfortable. It may be that you are under too much stress or lack of rest. Pay attention to your sleep and don’t get too tired.”

Sun Qi’an gazed at the results.

“Hand numbness and dizziness may also be caused by cervical and spinal problems. Is you’re really unsure, we can check on these two things.”

Zhong Chengshuo stared at the test results in silence, as if waiting for the numbers to explain themselves.

“He’s fine?” Yin Ren asked.

“Healthier than most people.”

“That’s good.” Yin Ren nodded. It was simply unreasonable if Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t healthy based on his bad habits.

“Too much stress…” Zhong Chengshuo didn’t join the conversation. He frowned and mumbled, “Am I under too much stress…?”

“Yes, you have been investigating many cases recently. It’s natural for you to be stressed.” Sun Qi’an comforted him. “Thinking about it, is there a common trigger in your situation?”

For example, facing corpses, tracking suspects, and the like. Considering that there were other patients outside, she didn’t want to say these things too bluntly.

Zhong Chengshuo slowly turned his head and glanced at Yin Ren. “Yes.”

‘For example, a few special contacts with someone,’ he thought.

“Well, it may just be caused by psychological factors such as tension,” Sun Qi’an said. “I won’t prescribe you medicine yet. If you still have this symptom after resting, you can come visit again, and we’ll have an ECG monitor you for 24 hours.”

Zhong Chengshuo nodded solemnly.

Yin Ren was waiting drowsily. When he saw that the diagnosis was over, he suddenly became energetic. “Zhong Ge, the doctor told you to sleep well, so tonight I’ll go by myself—eh, why are you grabbing me?”

“Too much stress.” Zhong Chengshuo muttered solemnly, as if he couldn’t wait to send Yin Ren into a hospital lab.

In the evening, the two of them each carried a bunch of examination results and left the hospital in disgrace.

“How great. We’re both so healthy.” Yin Ren squeezed the words out of his teeth. “Ah, I remember how to go see a doctor now. I completely remember. Thank you, Zhong Ge. I’m really thankful.”

When Zhong Chengshuo grabbed him to drag him around the andrology department, Yin Ren was absolutely terrified.

“I’m going to practice the technique of entering the ghost market tonight and I might take a little stroll along the way,” Yin Ren continued to gritted teeth. “Are you going to stay with me for a third night?”

“I see. You can go by yourself tonight,” Zhong Chengshuo replied while hanging his head in a daze.

He thought that, under a sudden attack, the hospital could find out the truth. The result was that Yin Ren was healthy in all aspects, and even his initial malnutrition was gone. It seemed that the pressure of “pondering over Yin Ren” would continue, which was quite a headache for him.

Yin Ren gave him a sideways glance but wasn’t annoyed with him. “It’s so late. Let’s eat out. Why don’t we have a bowl of mutton soup?”

“Nn.”

“Your treat?”

“Nn.”

“Do you know ‘King Yama’ of the Nightwalkers?”

“I don’t.”

……

It was almost early in the morning. Yin Ren followed Xu Fang’s tutorial and stood on the stairwell of Building 4.

Their home was on the sixth floor, so there were enough stairs.

Yin Ren took out something to illuminate. He held his breath, recalled the technique, and went down the dark corridor step by step. Sure enough, a minute later, he returned to the familiar street of the ghost market.

Yin Ren buckled back his facemask and stepped into the night fog.

Without Zhong Chengshuo watching him, Yin Ren didn’t do useless work this time. He rushed straight to Old Dog Peng’s stall. Seeing this man rush over aggressively, Old Dog Peng’s hand shook, and he almost knocked over the incense burner.

“So it’s you. What are you doing here again?” After confirming Yin Ren’s identity, the old man stretched out his head and looked around.

“Information.” Yin Ren got straight to the point. “Do you know the old lady who sells things under the plaque, ‘Practice Medicine to Help the World’?”

“68.” Old Dog Peng made a gesture but wasn’t intentionally trying to make it tantalizing. “I do know Xiao Mengpo who sells medicine. She’s quite a powerful person. She also comes here to deal with leftover defective products, which she usually disdains.”

“How do I find her?” Yin Ren transferred 68 yuan on the spot.

“1,888.” Old Dog Peng grinned, revealing not many teeth left. His face floated in the darkness, and the corner of his mouth was hanging high, looking like crumpled human skin.

“648.” Yin Ren still remembered the results of bargaining. “I’m not investigating a case, so I can’t be reimbursed.”

“This information can only be sold at 1,888.” Old Dog Peng snorted, causing the sore on his chest to squirm. “If you had come yesterday or tomorrow, I would’ve sold it to you for 648, but not today.”

“Why?”

“Xiao Mengpo is photographing things in the ghost pawnshop. If I tell you how to find her, you’ll earn a way to enter the ghost pawnshop for nothing, causing me to lose out.”

Yin Ren clicked his tongue and transferred the money again.

“Take me to that damn pawnshop, right now.”

Seeing the money arrive, Old Dog Peng narrowed his eyes and smiled. He quickly put away his stall and stood tremblingly beside Yin Ren.

“You’re too brave for a youngling.” He hummed an odd tune that sounded like a song. “You have to go by yourself. I’m not responsible for anything that happens afterwards… Don’t blame me if you get cheated. A ghost master is nothing without his ghosts.”

Yin Ren turned the phone in his hands and smiled slightly.

“Alright, lead the way.”

---

The author has something to say:

Everyone should remember Xiao Zhong’s repeated nagging. If you are uncomfortable, you must go to the [regular top three hospitals] to see a doctor. Take it seriously. Don’t blindly believe in home remedies—you must go to a good doctor.

Xiao Yin: This person quietly took away my hair, has a hidden identity related to metaphysics, and monitors me from time to time. He must be suspicious of me.

Xiao Yin: Let’s do some friendly provocation.

Xiao Zhong: (Walking to the Department of Cardiology in silence)

“Provocation”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 47: The Dead

“…Give me your birthdate first, and I’ll help you with the rest of the formalities.”

Evil being: “?”

Xiao Wu: “???”

Wu Jiayi was dumbfounded.

It had been ten years since he came into contact with the ghost master business. Xiao Wu was born as a Nightwalker and had seen all kinds of messy ghost contracts. However, no matter how unorthodox things were, the principle was still the same…

Ghost contracts had at least three steps.

First, the person must choose a dark time of the night and successfully communicate with the ghost to make sure the other party wasn’t malicious. If the ghost didn’t resent the ghost master, then they could proceed to the next step.

The second step was to prepare a talisman frame. The frame of the talisman must be made of high-quality acacia wood, roughly split into strips, and tied into a human shape. The ghost master must personally make all 108 charms by hand, list the rules on them, and then sing them step by step before pasting them in order onto the talisman frame.

The third step was the most critical. If the evil spirit hadn’t regretted it by this point, the ghost master would take the ghost’s ba-zi, determine their birthdate, and use his own blood to make a talisman seal. Finally, they would ignite the talisman frame above good incense. If the talisman frame could be burned, then the ghost contract would be completed.

After the ghost contract was completed, the ghost could leave their place of death. The ghost master would bear the ghost in his body.

Considering their limited ability to withstand, most ghost masters were quite cautious. They would never casually recruit ghosts, especially newly dead ghosts who were still delirious.

…So what was this guy doing?

It was barely “dark” due to the overcast and could barely fulfill the “no malice” condition, and Yin Ren didn’t even have any preparations to do the rest of the procedure. How was he going to take Lu Tanfei away? Lie to the ghost?

Xiao Wu had read his information from Shian. Didn’t Yin Ren accept Hu Tao from Ping’An Manor? How could he still make such a rookie mistake like this?

“Xiao—Xiao Yin, fierce ghosts don’t like it when you fool around with them so casually.” Wu Jiayi took a breath and put his hand on the charm in his pocket. “Newly dead ghosts are different from old ghosts. That Hu Tao is an old acquaintance of Shian. Lu Tanfei won’t give us face—”

Yin Ren smiled at him and took out a piece of yellow paper from his pocket.

“Come on. You can just tell me, and I’ll write it down.”

The six eyes of the evil thing looked at him without blinking and said in an eager tone, “Do you want to help me find Yuanyuan? Can you find Yuanyuan?”

“Don’t agree!” Wu Jiayi shouted as he was drenched in cold sweat.

“Yes, I’ll help you find him.”

Yin Ren patted Wu Jiayi soothingly while his eyes were still fixed on the ghastly evil being.

“People don’t just disappear into thin air, old man. I’ll do my best to help you find him. If you think I’m unreliable, then you can always leave… Now that you have so many extra legs, it’s such a waste for you not to go out and walk around.”

The evil thing looked at him in silence. His thin and deformed legs moved like insects’ legs. Ten seconds later, the old man reported his birthday in a hoarse voice.

“Very good. I need you to enter a little evil qi. Just press the fingerprint button.”

The evil thing stretched out its slender hand, and his fingertips clicked on the yellow paper with words written on it. Where his fingertips touched, the paper was pockmarked with a corrosive-like texture.

Yin Ren didn’t mind and lit the yellow paper on the spot.

Xiao Wu gulped. He was deeply regretting it at this moment. If he knew this newcomer was so reckless, he should have brought his food delivery box with him. Well, it should be fine. This person didn’t even make a talisman frame…

“It’s okay. Wu Ge, look.”

The yellow paper burned cleanly. Yin Ren finally moved his gaze away from the evil thing. He quickly took out his phone and shook it at Wu Jiayi.

In the internal group “What to Eat Today”, several new messages quickly surfaced.

[Lu Tanfei: ?]

[Hu Tao: ?]

[Lu Tanfei: ???]

[Hu Tao: !!! 🍉*]

*It’s actually eating melon emoji.

Wu Jiayi: “……”

He hesitated to speak and looked at Yin Ren, then at the phone screen.

Wu Jiayi: “You, are you…”

“The essence of ghost contracts is rules and consensus. This thing can be slowly read after the fact, just like how living people don’t read user agreements when they register for things.”

Yin Ren’s tone was relaxed.

“This phone is a spirit weapon given to me by Shian. It just happens to be able to make ghost apps, so I customized one. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to do these things.”

Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief. “So it’s the function of a spirit weapon. Then that’s fine. What a fortuitous encounter.”

In this way, this person simplified the most troublesome step of inviting ghosts, but the essence of the process hadn’t changed.

“I don’t understand these things very well. As a layman… Wu Ge, there won’t be any problems, right?” The 1,000-year-old Ghost King sincerely added.

Wu Jiayi looked at Lu Tanfei’s six puzzled eyes and pushed Yin Ren lightly. “Kid, you really dared! The old rules aren’t open to change. Are you not afraid of death?”

“If you want to do this in the future, ask the big guys in Shian.” Xiao Wu warned with lingering fear. “A newborn calf that isn’t afraid of tigers*…”

*(初生牛犊不怕虎哦) Idiom referring to young people who have little worries in their mind and dare to act.

“Understood,” Yin Ren said solemnly.

But he would definitely dare next time.

With the ghost contract concluded, Wu Jiayi had no need to protect the two of them, so he left first. Suddenly there was only one person and two ghosts left in the small room.

Lord Ghost King happily sat down by the bed and started typing.

[Yin Ren: Welcoming Elder Lu who’s temporarily joining us! Grandpa Lu, this is so I can take you out 🥰]

[Yin Red: @Lu Tanfei, Just say whatever’s on your mind.]

[Lu Tanfei: ……]

[Lu Tanfei: I see. Sorry, I’m not used to this.]

[Yin Ren: @Hu Tao, this is a newly added member, Grandpa Lu, Lu Yuanyuan’s grandfather. You should have heard of him.]

Miss Hu Tao had brushed on enough drama and news, so she was quite well-informed. Sure enough, Hu Tao’s attitude immediately improved.

[Hu Tao: It turns out you’re a new ghost. Haha, I guess I’ll have to call you Ge according to your age.]

[Hu Tao: Lu Ge, feel free to ask me anything you don’t understand.]

[Lu Tanfei: Okay.]

[Yin Ren: ……]

[Yin Ren: Grandpa Lu, I’m busy here too.]

[Hu Tao: 🤔 🤔]

Yin Ren didn’t wait for her response and decisively closed the app. The human spider evil thing was quietly huddled in the corner, obviously still adapting to this new way of communication.

Yin Ren stood in front of him, carefully separated a trace of evil qi, and pointed it at the monstrous body. He murmured something softly, causing the twisted and thin body to gradually straighten and stretch. The wrinkled, dead skin turned into clothes.

Half a minute passed, and there was no longer an evil thing in the corner but an old man.

Lu Tanfei stood in the corner blankly. He was wearing a formal gray-blue shirt. His white hair was neatly combed, and he wore thick reading glasses that hung on the bridge of his nose. Flesh and blood were added to his skeleton-like thinness, giving him a scholarly look. Lu Tanfei stood in the night, like a bamboo plant in the late autumn.

“You can change into your former appearance, which makes it easier to communicate with people,” Yin Ren said softly. “Remember this feeling. Just ask Hu Tao next. She has a lot of experience in this.”

Lu Tanfei opened his mouth but couldn’t make a sound. He stared at the empty room for a while, then habitually took off his glasses and wiped away non-existent tears.

“I thought it was a dream.” He sighed. “It would be nice if it were all a dream…”

Yin Ren: “Just give yourself some time. We’ll go to the Public Security Bureau tomorrow, and I’ll find you then.”

“Ah, okay… okay.”

“Finished?” Seeing Yin Ren get up, Zhong Chengshuo spoke.

“Nn, I’m done. We’ll call this a day. Zhong Ge, call us a taxi.” Yin Ren stretched out his waist and joked, “…Speaking of which, since you can’t see Elder Lu, do you think Wu Ge and I are weird?”

“Okay.” Zhong Chengshuo quickly called a taxi and nodded towards the empty corner of the wall. “Mr. Lu, good night. See you tomorrow.”

At this moment, Lu Tanfei had already walked to the window. Seeing Zhong Chengshuo greet the empty corner, the old man was stunned.

Yin Ren: “…Pfft.”

Zhong Chengshuo turned his head suspiciously.

“Nothing. Grandpa Lu is just saying goodbye to you.”

……

After their all-nighter, they still had work as usual, but in the afternoon. Zhong Chengshuo struggled to take a shower after returning and didn’t go to bed until around 4. Yin Ren was in good spirits. He got up on time at 7 a.m. and opened the refrigerator to find food.

He would be fine if he didn’t sleep, but he would miss a meal if he were to sleep. Lord Ghost King’s calculations were very clear.

Yin Ren hummed a little tune as he toasted his bread and fried up some eggs. He cut the beef into thin slices and fried it up in butter. While checking the recipe in the video, he whipped avocado and hard-boiled eggs into a sauce.

Zhong Chengshuo was still sleeping, so Yin Ren didn’t mind using a little magic to skim all the milk skin from the yogurt back into the milk carton.

“You’re adapting quickly.” Watching Yin Ren grind black pepper, Hu Tao snorted and floated in the kitchen with great interest.

“I just have amnesia, not dementia.” Yin Ren tried a mouthful of the avocado egg sauce with satisfaction. “These utensils aren’t difficult to use. Even children can get it right.”

“Mm-hmm, you have amnesia.” Hu Tao changed her floating posture and floated upside down above Yin Ren, as if she were snorkeling in an invisible sea.

“If you want to eat, I’ll give you some later.”

“Forget it.  You might as well give it to the old man… Who knows how long it has been since he had a proper meal, that poor man.” Hu Tao shook her head. “But it’s okay. There hasn’t been such a ghost in Haigu in a long time, so now I have someone to talk to.”

Her evil qi was too heavy, and she didn’t know anything about the metaphysical world, so the ghost masters didn’t really want to accept her. It was only a mysterious “rookie” like Yin Ren who would dare make a contract with her, which was why Hu Tao hadn’t seen someone who was “communicable” in a long time.

She really hoped Lu Tanfei would stay for much longer.

Yin Ren hummed. “The old man may not be used to this kind of food. I’ll give him porridge with tea eggs later.”

With a ding, the bread popped out of the toaster. The surface was crisp and browned, and the unique aroma of baking filled the kitchen. Yin Ren applied a thick sauce to the bread and layered it with meat, eggs, cheese, and vegetables—this dish didn’t require much actual heat, so he was confident he could make it well.

The plate full of sandwiches was steaming. Melted cheese seeped into the tender red fried meat slices, and the smell of fat and spices tickled his heart.

Zhong Chengshuo’s door creaked open.

The person’s eyes weren’t fully opened as he swayed to the refrigerator like a ghost. After opening the refrigerator door, Zhong Chengshuo blindly grabbed several times at the place where the bread was placed but found nothing.

Then he raised his eyelids and swept his gaze towards the empty position.

“Hey, I thought you didn’t eat breakfast, so I used it all.”

Yin Ren glanced at the time and was a little shocked. It was a little before 7:20. Zhong Chengshuo hadn’t slept for even four hours yet.

Was this the power of the biological clock? He couldn’t help being in awe of “science”.

“I was going to buy a fresh one after work,” seeing Zhong Chengshuo’s accusatory expression, Yin Ren hurriedly added. “Do you want to eat a beef sandwich? I just finished making them.”

Zhong Chengshuo looked at the sandwich on Yin Ren’s plate for a moment, and his gaze paused on the melted cheese for two seconds.

“Eat, thank you,” he muttered. “One is enough.”

Yin Ren took one from the wobbly mountain of sandwiches, served it with yogurt, and made a separate portion. Zhong Chengshuo was still wearing his nightcap, which swayed from side to side as if he were about to knock his head on the table.

Even if this person was sleepy like this, Yin Ren still smelled the fresh smell of mint toothpaste on him.

“Why bother?” Yin Ren pushed the sandwich plate towards him. “You even got up and brushed your teeth. It won’t hurt to sleep a little longer.”

Zhong Chengshuo answered him in a series of dream-like responses. Yin Ren barely made out short sentences such as “cavities prevention” and “regular three meals a day”. Zhong Chengshuo was muttering and forgot that he was still slowly stuffing his sandwich as his eyes were about to close again.

Not afraid of choking to death. Yin Ren shook his head.

Yin Ren took a bite of his sandwich. The bread was crispy, and the aroma of beef instantly exploded in his mouth. It was the first time he ate avocado that was served with a salad dressing and black pepper. The taste was fresh and refreshing.

Opposite him, Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes were bleary. He had completely lost his previous sober and sharp temperament.

…It’s really suitable for casually teasing. No, let’s test it out.

“Hey Zhong Ge, is the sandwich delicious?” Yin Ren asked while chewing.

“Nn.”

“Next time, I plan to add ghost peppers. What do you think?”

“Nn.”

“A long pink dress really fits Minister Fu.”

“Nn.”

“Do you know ‘King Yama’ of the Nightwalkers?”

“…” Zhong Chengshuo propped up his eyelids and ate the last bite of his sandwich. “I don’t. Why do you ask?”

“It’s nothing. When I was teasing that Old Dog Peng, I felt you were quite in line with the characteristics of ‘King Yama’.”

Yin Ren grinned at Zhong Chengshuo and picked up another sandwich.

“Next time, I’ll ask ‘do you know the boss of Sunken Society’. Be prepared.”

“…Nn.” Zhong Chengshuo wiped his mouth and went back to the bedroom like a zombie. With a bang, the wooden door was tightly closed again.

Inside, Zhong Chengshuo hesitated for a few seconds in front of the wardrobe containing the Evil Fruit. When he finished hesitating, he didn’t open the wardrobe but yawned wildly and fell back to the center of the big bed.

……

In the afternoon, Haigu, Public Security Bureau.

After 8 hours of full sleep, Zhong Chengshuo’s spirits were much better. However, the consequences of staying up late still lingered. Comrade Xiao Zhong’s face was stiff and looked a little sullen.

Yin Ren, though, still had a look full of vitality.

After interrogating Lu Guangzu for a day, they were finally going to intervene in the case as “security personnel”.

There was no one in the interrogation room. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo stopped just outside. Through the one-way glass, they could clearly see the interior. Stubble appeared on Lu Guangzu’s face, and he collapsed on the chair like an octopus in an indifferent posture.

It was Sun Qinghui who greeted them. Officer Sun frowned, and his body smelled like tea.

Sun Qinghui: “Do you have any clues? We sorted out information on missing people and tried a round of testing, but this kid is very stubborn, so it’s difficult to get through him.”

“We sort of have a clue,” Yin Ren said.

Coffin Nail, “What to Eat Today” internal group.

[Yin Ren: @Lu Tanfei, Grandpa Lu, come and look. Does this person have the smell of Yuanyuan on him?]

Within two seconds after he was sent out, the temperature outside the interrogation room plummeted.

The thin old man quickly appeared beside Yin Ren, staring into the room with his eyes closed. His lips opened slightly, exhaling murky black air.

The ghost had limited influence on science posts. Zhong Chengshuo was fine, while Sun Qinghui just had goosebumps. Inside the interrogation room, Lu Guangzu couldn’t sit still anymore. He quickly shrank up, and his lips turned blue.

[Yin Ren: How about it? Any clues?]

However, Lu Tanfei didn’t respond to him.

Evil things were always sensitive to those with karma.

The old man trembled in place. His mouth, nose, and hair twisted into flesh, and his six human eyes appeared on his face again. His joints made a chilling creaking sound, and his skeleton-like feet protruded out.

Ten seconds later, a twisted human spider lay down on the glass, screaming silently.

“Yuanyuan—”

A hoarse and sharp voice spat out from the mouth of the evil thing as poisonous evil qi flowed down the one-way glass.

“Yuanyuan! Yuanyuan come home!” The six eyes became bloodshot, and they turned in different directions. “Why wasn’t grandpa the one who disappeared? Why wasn’t it me?!”

[Yin Ren: @Hu Tao, do me a favor and comfort the old man.]

In the next moment, the figure of a young girl appeared behind Yin Ren. She first looked around with interest for a while and was then startled by the crazy spider.

“Shh—shh—Lu Ge, it’s okay, Lu Ge.” She hurriedly floated forward and comforted the old man’s ghostly spirit. “This is the police station. Everyone has been caught. The police will definitely be able to solve it… Let’s not worry, ah.”

As a cooperative unit of Shian, the one-way glass here was specially made. The human spider’s hands and feet pounded desperately on the glass but failed to destroy it. Seeing his attack was ineffective, the evil thing gradually fell to the ground. His body trembled, and he let out intermittent cries.

Hu Tao patted the old man’s twisted back and nodded to Yin Ren.

“I’ll take him home first to calm him down.”

She snapped her finger, causing black smoke to rise, and the figures of the two ghosts disappeared in an instant.

Yin Ren pulled on Zhong Chengshuo. “Lu Yuanyuan’s disappearance is related to this person. Let’s go, Zhong Ge.”

Zhong Chengshuo stepped forward, took a deep breath, and turned on the microphone.

“I’m Zhong Chengshuo from Unit 9 of Shian’s Special Investigation Group, science post, field department. Lu Guangzu, Lu Yuanyuan’s disappearance is related to you.”

He spoke in a very affirmative tone.

Hearing the words Shian, Lu Guangzu reflexively jolted, but he quickly steadied himself and put on the appearance of a dead pig that wasn’t afraid of boiling water*.

*(死猪不怕开水烫) Idiom referring to someone who’s thick-skinned, rogue-like, domineering and unscrupulous.

“Yes. You guys are quite capable, huh?”

Lu Guangzu squeezed out a smile at the empty interrogation room. His tone was full of arrogance.

“Lu Yuanyuan was the first person I killed. A 9-year-old isn’t that big. Are you sure you want to start with him? Hey, why don’t you beg me more and put my reputation…”

Zhong Chengshuo decisively cut off the communication, leaving Lu Guangzu to provoke the air.

“New clue,” Zhong Chengshuo said. “Hang him here for a while longer.”

Sun Qinghui nodded in agreement. “Very good. Let’s go through the information again immediately.”

Yin Ren: “……What? What new clue?”

Sun Qinghui gave a tired smile. “It’s almost time to get off work. Let’s talk while eating. How about you guys just come to my place to eat?”

……

Officer Sun’s home was similar to that of Zhong Chengshuo’s parents. His residence had a slightly larger room, with many miscellaneous items and fishing gear placed around the edges. The living room had a photo wall, which was filled with a series of photos of a girl from kindergarten to doctoral graduation.

The protagonist of the photos was sitting at the dining table with a helpless smile on her face.

“Sun Qi’an.” The young girl stood up and introduced herself.

The girl was wearing a long-printed skirt. Her hair fell just above her clavicle, and the tips of it were slightly curled. Her brows were small and delicate, looking a bit like the ladies in ancient paintings.

“I have heard so much about you, King Zhong, from the Department of Biology at A University.” The girl smiled. “B University, one year above you. I have admired you for a long time.”

“Ah, you’re the senior sister, the Medicine King of B University.” Zhong Chengshuo recalled for a few seconds before replying.

“Hey, that’s just their label for me,” Sun Qi’an smiled softly. “I saw you guys in the hospital some time ago when I went to the department of cardiology at the municipal hospital.”

Seeing that the young people were getting along, Officer Sun entered the kitchen with satisfaction to make room in the dining room.

Just after her father left, Dr. Sun scratched her hair vigorously, and her quiet demeanor disappeared without a trace.

“I just came back for dinner.” She slapped her forehead. “Ugh, how come I still can’t escape…”

“Escape what?” Yin Ren interjected curiously.

Dr. Sun looked at him for a while before replying, “Soft matchmaking, haa. Since he’s met you two, my dad has been talking about it for a while.”

As she spoke, she gave a “hey” to Zhong Chengshuo.

“In fact, I heard you were embroiled in blowing up the dorms. My friends at A University were going crazy with rumors. Good job, Xiao Zhong.” She gave him a thumbs up.

Zhong Chengshuo responded with an “Nn” and stared at Dr. Sun quietly, unknown what he was thinking.

Officer Sun made two simple dishes and quickly returned to the dining room. Under the calm guidance of Dr. Sun, the topic quickly returned to business.

“Thanks to Xiao Yin and Xiao Zhong, we can further narrow the scope.”

Sun Qinghui waved his chopsticks excitedly.

“The Lu Yuanyuan case was three months ago. The murderer was skilled. We went through all the surveillance but couldn’t catch anyone, so a sloppy kidnapping case was ruled out. According to Lu Guangzu’s statement, the other victims may not be children.”

“The only unsolved missing child case in the last six months is Lu Yuanyuan. I thought we were looking in the wrong direction, but now it seems that the murderer’s criteria for selecting his target may have nothing to do with age.”

“Dad, I’m still here. Aren’t I considered an unrelated person? Isn’t it bad to talk like this?” Sun Qi’an whispered a reminder.

“Oh, I’m used to it… I was treating you as if you were your mother. When is she coming home again? Tomorrow?”

“The day after tomorrow,” Sun Qi’an said.

“My mother is a forensic scientist in the municipal bureau. She just went out for a conference these two days,” she explained in a low voice.

“Just send us a copy after the task force finishes sorting out the materials.” Zhong Chengshuo cut off the topic. “We’ll follow up to see if Shian needs to intervene further.”

Sun Qinghui’s cooking skills were average. The dishes tasted homey and made people feel comfortable.  Under the scorching sight of the veteran criminal police, the young people reluctantly exchanged contact information.

Even with such an episode, Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo still arrived home on time.

Yin Ren didn’t immediately lie down on the sofa. He ordered a few vegetarian dishes for the elderly and silently served them to Lu Tanfei.

After meeting with Lu Guangzu, he also had some new clues, but unfortunately, it was inconvenient to talk about them at the table.

For example, Lu Guangzu, who was sitting in the interrogation room, seemed to be dead.

---

The author has something to say:

The 1,000-year-old Ghost King is self-reliant and makes beef sandwiches.

Unfortunately, he was caught by his partner and the number of sandwiches -1

It can be said that it’s a struggle for Xiao Zhong to maintain a normal 3-meals-a-day diet!

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Just a note, but Lu Guangzu is not related to Lu Yuanyuan. They’re different Chinese characters.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 46: New Employee

Old man: “I am ‘King Yama’ of the Nightwalkers.”

Zhong Chengshuo stood blankly in place. The old man’s tone was indifferent, but in his eyes, he could see the old man stick his hand into his collar to scratch, and after scratching, he sniffed his fingers; his movements were quite careless.

A liar. They didn’t need to waste time on this person.

As a result, before he could speak, Yin Ren was one step ahead.

“So you’re King Yama!” Yin Ren exclaimed.

As Yin Ren spoke, he fiddled with the incense burner curiously. The incense ash in the burner was reddish brown, exuding a faint smell of rust… It seemed to be mixed with scraps of rust, which caused Zhong Chengshuo to slightly twitch his nose.

“Yes, I can provide any information you want and find anyone you’re looking for.” The old stall owner hummed softly. “Depending on the price—”

The old man lengthened his tone meaningfully.

“I really want to find someone, so the price is negotiable.” Yin Ren’s smile was mostly obscured by the shadow. “Can you help me?”

“Naturally.”

“Yin… Fruit Knife,” Zhong Chengshuo uttered loudly. “Let’s take a look again. King Yama won’t come forward so easily.”

Yin Ren turned to look at him. “Jackie Chan Ge, how do you know if you don’t ask? Anyway, I haven’t paid yet so there’s no loss just by asking.”

He didn’t know why, but when Yin Ren said this, he clutched his phone extremely hard.

“…Okay, you can ask.” Zhong Chengshuo pinched the bridge of his nose.

Old Man: “Hehe, the young man knows his stuff. I have been in the metaphysical world for many years. How can I fool the younger generation?”

Yin Ren leaned closer. “Then I’ll ask. Is it okay to describe the characteristics verbally?”

“Go ahead.” The old man spoke confidently.

“The person is about 23 to 57 years old, of unknown gender, and is in good health and strong.”

“Your conditions are too broad.” The old man clicked his tongue. “In just Haigu alone, there’s probably a million people who meet this condition. Young man, even if I’m King Yama, I still need enough clues.”

Yin Ren’s slender fingers fiddled with the fragrant ash. His eyes turned a little red under the light of the red lantern.

“Oh, that’s true.”

There was still a smile in his voice. “Then let me add something. This person isn’t involved in our metaphysical circle, and his work involves traveling around, but it doesn’t attract a lot of attention.”

“Personality wise, this person is cautious and serious, and he’s very likely to live alone. There’s a high probability that he has received formal education and knows how to cover his tracks so even Shian can’t find him.”

“For example, to make a deal, that person will never come forward in person, let alone use payment through the internet. Let’s see. He’ll probably ask someone to put cash in a designated location, exchange it for other items, and then ‘transfer it’ under various guises.”

“And in order to reduce contact with others, that person will not take small jobs, but will only choose the ones with the greatest reward and the highest risks… Are these clues enough?”

Old man: “Young man, you…”

“Oh, I forgot to mention his most important feature.”

Yin Ren curved his eyes, pulled his fingers away from the incense ash, and blew twice in the direction of the old stall owner.

“The Nightwalkers call him ‘King Yama’, the same title as you. Well, how much will it cost to find him?”

The old man could no longer maintain that indifferent voice. In anger, two voices came out of him, one thick and one thin. “Playing with laozi? Today, I’ll show you what it means to mess with King Yama. Kids are so hard to deal with!”

Yin Ren agilely stood up and moved behind Zhong Chengshuo with a swish. “Why? You ask me for more clues. Did I not give them to you?”

Zhong Chengshuo raised his arms reflexively to guard Yin Ren. He instantly felt something was wrong, and his arms stiffened in mid-air.

Zhong Chengshuo: “……”

Zhong Chengshuo looked at the old man. “Ah, he’s just joking…?”

It could be because his tone was uncertain that the old man’s expression became angrier. The old man sneered and was about to take something out of his pocket—

“Hey, Old Dog Peng. You’re cheating youngsters again!”

A hearty voice sounded.

Yin Ren turned his head and saw a young man with a simple and honest face approaching.

The man was wearing a rider’s helmet with the words “Eating is a Blessing” written on it and was dressed in gray and yellow clothes. The front lapel had “Are you hungry” written crookedly on it. Unlike ordinary food delivery drivers, he didn’t ride a motorbike at this moment, and there wasn’t a food delivery box on him.

A practitioner with quite good strength.

Yin Ren squinted at the stall owner—in the darkness, there was a nervous swallowing sound.

“Xiao—Xiao Wu, why are you here?”

“Why can’t I be here? After getting off work, Shian doesn’t limit side jobs.” The rider, Xiao Wu, scratched his helmet. “It’s not like you don’t know how well it pays for jobs at the ghost market. Come on, give me some face. Don’t create a ruckus.”

In the dark, the old man spat.

“Count yourself lucky,” he said unhappily.

Yin Ren went around from behind Zhong Chengshuo. “I really have something to inquire about.”

“No.”

“Grandpa Yama, we want to inquire about this person named Lu Guangzu.” Yin Ren pretended not to hear.

Old stall owner: “……”

Hearing this name, Xiao Wu became instantly jubilant. “Okay, Old Dog Peng, you dare lie to a layman like this? If you’re King Yama, then I’m an Evil Spirit.”

The stall owner was obviously afraid of this food delivery driver named “Xiao Wu”. He moaned and groaned in the dark for a while.

“Forget it. I really know who Lu Guangzu is. So, 1,888 for the information.” The old stall owner lowered his voice and coughed uncomfortably.

“1,888 is too high,” Xiao Wu said. “After all, this is my junior, so I have to cover him. Can’t you make it cheaper?”

Yin Ren raised his brows a little unexpectedly—they had never seen this “Xiao Wu” before. Although he knew this person was related to Shian, he didn’t expect to be recognized.

“Then 688… It’s not like you can’t be reimbursed.”

“You can’t cheat the public through reimbursement. 600. I also know something about Lu Guangzu, so I won’t take jobs tonight and accompany you to talk about him.”

“648. Not going any lower. Since Xiao Wu is here, you can pay after we finish talking.” The old stall owner grunted unhappily and flashed out of the dark shadows.

The old man had a sharp-mouth and thinning white hair on his head. He wore a shirt fit for an old man that had started to yellow. There were two bands around his neck, each with a payment code printed on it. The incense burner and the red envelope were put away in his handbag. This person looked like a retired grandpa that one would often see on the streets.

However, at the neckline of the old man’s shirt, the thin cloth stretched out a protruding outline of a human face. The thing made a thin gurgling sound, blowing the fabric slightly.

Face sores. No wonder there were two voices just now. Yin Ren stared at the old stall owner for a while but quickly lost interest.

“This is Old Dog Peng. He has been in the ghost market for more than 10 years and likes to deceive newbies.”

Xiao Wu took off his helmet, revealing his messy hair. He had thick brows and big eyes, and his skin was red and tanned due to being exposed to the sun. In the dim light of the lantern, only two rows of conspicuous white teeth stood out on his face.

“I’m Wu Jiayi, also from Shian. I’ve hung out with the Nightwalkers before, so I’m very familiar with this place. Let’s go, brother will show you around.”

Xiao Wu casually carried his helmet and pointed to the misty streets of the ghost market. Yin Ren didn’t know if he was seeing things, but this person had the posture of an elder bringing a junior back home.

Zhong Chengshuo: “How did you recognize us?”

“Didn’t we just finish fighting in Ping’an Manor a while ago? When we prepared for the battle, we had to look at the information of all nearby friendly forces first,” Xiao Wu said sincerely. “You guys look great. Don’t use this kind of mask next time. Just wear a normal mask next time.”

Yin Ren suddenly realized why this person’s aura was so familiar.

“It’s because I didn’t think about it. Next time, I’ll prepare some in the store.” Seeing the heated conversation, Xu Fang took a few steps forward.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at Xiao Wu for a while. “Hey, it’s me. Xiao Wu, since you’re not busy, I’ll go back first—my kid will definitely stay up late if I’m not there. Next time you come to the shop, I’ll give you a free meal.”

“Go, go!” Xiao Wu smiled and waved his hands.

As soon as Xu Jie left, the old man and three young people formed a group and walked slowly along the ghost market.

Zhong Chengshuo was questioning the old man while recording him. Yin Ren’s mind was already distracted—the stalls on both sides were full of strange things, which was extremely different from his era.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but stop in front of a stall. “What is this?”

He picked up a large cube embedded with small squares.

“It’s a Rubik’s cube that’ll be restored to its original state in the middle of the night. You can buy this for children to play with. There’s also a makeup mirror that can show you the back of your head while you look at it from the front. These sell pretty well… Hey, hey, don’t touch. That’s a fidget spinner coated with corpse oil. It’s very expensive.”

“What about this?” Yin Ren pointed to two black plastic blocks. These things had a slightly stronger evil qi.

Faced with these messy things, he suddenly had the illusion of returning to Shian’s warehouse.

Stall owner: “Hmph, these are rare goods. Have you heard of the videotape that will kill you three days after you watch it*?”

*Clarity: Loose reference to The Ring (which is 7 days instead of 3).

“But now everyone doesn’t use VCRs anymore, right? They seem to be buying discs.” Yin Ren recalled what he saw in his life. “What’s the use of buying this?”

“Collectibles! It has sentimental values, get it?” It seemed he had poked the stall’s owner as his voice became sharp. “It’s not like I don’t have discs. So, are you gonna buy or what?”

Yin Ren looked around but found no discs. “Let’s see.”

Since the disc wasn’t displayed, could it be the curse was through touch? Previously, only when one touched evil things would they be cursed. The cursed spirit weapons of this era were quite up to date.

The stall owner grunted again and handed out a black leather bag from the darkness. “These are powerful products. If you like it, take it yourself.”

Strangely, there was no feel of sealing technique on the lather bag. Yin Ren unzipped the zipper suspiciously…

<Spring Night of Love>, <Fate of Ten Worlds>… The cover of the disc was roughly printed, and the color was gaudy with bright, fleshly color.

Yin Ren: “……”

He breathlessly picked up a box, looked around, but didn’t find any curses on it.

Seeing that he was speechless, the stall owner hurriedly struck while the iron was hot. “You don’t like? I also have men’s and women’s ones, which are good quality and very cheap.”

You have quite an extensive business. Yin Ren let out a sigh. Before he could refuse, a hand stretched out in front of him and took the disc away.

Seeing the sight full of mosaics, Zhong Chengshuo said calmly, “Don’t buy this. It’s not legal.”

Yin Ren: “No, I didn’t want to…”

Zhong Chengshuo nodded expressionlessly. Yin Ren didn’t know if he wanted to express “I understand” or “You don’t have to say anything, I get it”. Lord Ghost King wiped his face, only to feel that there was a small stain on his reputation.

Wait, do evil beings even have a reputation? Yin Ren thought seriously for a moment.

Five minutes later, the stall owner was kicked out by the ghost market manager, who heard the news.

“Sorry.” Facing the three Shian employees, the city manager wiped off the sweat from his forehead. “There are always people who mix contraband from the underground and sell it in the netherworld. It gives us quite a headache. Thank you for helping us.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…You can buy and sell contraband here?”

“Don’t take it too seriously. It’s just a saying. Just treat them as ‘special collections’.” The city manager knew he made a gaffe and quickly tried to correct himself.

……

“Hold onto me and be careful of getting lost.” After dealing with this episode, Zhong Chengshuo turned to Yin Ren.

He was busy interviewing Old Dog Peng just now, and when he looked up, his partner had disappeared from his sight. This time, it was Zhong Chengshuo who took the initiative to stretch out his hand and hold onto Yin Ren’s wrist.

Yin Ren knew he was in the wrong, so he didn’t try to break free.

After looking around, Lord Ghost King didn’t wander around and look at the odd products anymore and instead decided to behave well and listen carefully to the two of them talk about Lu Guangzu.

The fog on the side of the street was heavy, and in the dim night, the faces of pedestrians were blurred.

A few people walked slowly; the lanterns at their feet glowed green and red. There were only soft whispers on the entire street, revealing an eerie sense of tranquility, which made quite a good atmosphere for storytelling.

Lu Guangzu, according to Old Dog Peng, was even worse than what Lu Xiaohe had told them.

Lu Guangzu was a standard low-level Nightwalker—he had a bit more power than an ordinary person, but he had no other abilities. This person was a bully and was lazy. He couldn’t catch ghosts and didn’t bother trying to make a decent living, instead sticking to the black intermediary* business.

*(黑中介) Term refers to behavior of defrauding large amount of public and private property for the purpose of illegal possession, using fictitious facts, or concealing the truth. || Basically fraudsters. Usually, how it works is they make some kind of pie-in-the-sky promise, charge an intermediary fee (along with other fees) after the contract is signed, then keep the fees without ever fulfilling their promise or push off the work to someone else while paying for a lot less (which is where the ‘intermediary’ comes from).

“Black intermediaries” weren’t uncommon among Nightwalkers.

They would first find unsuspecting customers, defraud them by charging them exorbitant prices with their sweet words, and then take 70-80% of the “intermediary fee” and subcontract the work to other ordinary Nightwalkers.

But these people had the conventional “three pits”. One was to not deceive minors or the elderly. Two, was not to deceive public-related business. And three, was not to deceive the working class at the bottom of society.

Lu Guangzu broke all the rules, and he especially liked to brag about it, which made many black intermediaries look down on him.

A few years ago, he suddenly kept a low profile. For a while, everyone thought he had reformed his ways. Who would have thought this name would appear again and that it was actually tied to a serial murder case?

“As far as I know that kid doesn’t look like the kind of person who dares kill people.” Old Dog Peng hissed. “He’s bad, but also a coward. Let alone killing people, his legs would go soft just seeing chickens slaughtered.”

“But he provoked King Yama. Is this some kind of trap for King Yama? Doesn’t seem right. He also named Shian as well.” Xiao Wu sighed. “Haa, my partner is better at these things.”

“Speaking of finding corpses… Lu Guangzu did mention the ‘disappearance case’.”

Old Dog Peng held his payment card and pretended to be profound.

“Listen, this is the most valuable information. Just a few months ago, I went drinking with Lu Pi… We happened to run into Lu Guangzu, who suddenly started talking to me about the disappearance on Bianzhu Street. He hadn’t mentioned these things before.”

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo looked at each other. Seeing Zhong Chengshuo’s drowsy face, Lord Ghost King consciously picked up the conversation, asking, “Didn’t he mention these things before?”

This person was so sleepy that his hands were becoming soft, and he could barely hold onto Yin Ren. Yin Ren smoothly changed his grip and clenched the man’s hand tightly.

Zhong Chengshuo shuddered a little, and his face became more sober.

“Yes, Lu Guangzu didn’t care about cases like this, so I found it quite strange that he would mention it. Uh, you guys know about the disappearance case on Bianzhu Street, right?”

The three of them nodded silently.

As long as people lived in Haigu, they would more or less hear about it. Even Yin Ren, who had just woken up, had brushed many short videos on it…

The missing person in the disappearance case on Bianzhu Street was a 9-year-old boy named Lu Yuanyuan.

The case itself was ordinary. The boy, who went out to buy ointment for his grandfather, ran into a dead end and then disappeared from the world.

The explosive point in this situation was Lu Yuanyuan himself.

The child’s parents were both migrant workers. They passed away in an accident a year ago. The only living relative was his grandfather, who was in poor health. In the absence of volunteers, Lu Yuanyuan took on a lot of the chores and took great care of the old man. Despite the hardship, the boy always had a smile with deep dimples on his face.

That smile was very contagious, which spurred the neighborhood community to film a video in order to organize a donation. Who would have thought the video would garner such momentous attention? Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.

Then, on a sunny spring day, Lu Yuanyuan disappeared.

His grandfather sat on a wooden stool and waited at the door frantically, asking everyone about his grandson’s whereabouts. Volunteers came to deliver food every day, but the old man refused, saying he would eat at his neighbor’s home.

The police searched vigorously but found nothing. The boy wasn’t involved in an accident, so most likely he was either kidnapped or killed. The criminal was extremely cunning, as there were no clues left behind. Shian had assisted in the investigation but was unable to proceed due to insufficient clues.

The boy was like a drop of rain that merged into the sea, disappearing silently into the corner of the city.

And his grandfather just waited quietly, looking in the direction of the street. One night, two weeks later, he collapsed in front of his home.

After Lu Yuanyuan disappeared, the old man hardly ate, and his body weakened quickly.

After that day, the news of “The internet celebrity grandson disappeared and the seriously ill old man starved to death” made headlines, causing an uproar on various websites that took two months to calm down.

“Could it be that Lu Yuanyuan is one of the seven victims?” Zhong Chengshuo asked while frowning, trying to hold back a yawn.

Old Dog Peng dangled the payment code in front of the two of them. “I only know that Lu Guangzu mentioned this. He said the boy wasn’t easy—I have no idea what that means. He just said that. As for other things, I don’t really know.”

Yin Ren scanned the code to pay. “Thank you, Master Peng.”

“Ah, you’re welcome.”

Being thanked by Yin Ren made Old Dog Peng a little uncomfortable. He shrank his head and pondered for a bit while his facial sore poked out of his chest.

The big bulge-like pancake thing twisted and said in a low voice, “I will give you another piece of information… Lu Yunayuan’s grandfather became a powerful ghost and is still staying in the old place. You can stop by and question him. As long as Wu Jiayi accompanies you, he can’t hurt you.”

Wu Jiayi: “Fucking great. Why didn’t I expect this?”

“It’s too late now. We can’t trouble you. Bianzhu Street is in Jintang District.” Yin Ren shook his head quickly. “Wu Ge, how about this. When we go to work tomorrow, we’ll formally apply with Shian…”

Zhong Chengshuo was a person who went to bed early and got up early. At this moment, his face was full of pain from his biological clock being disrupted, so Yin Ren couldn’t bear to look at him closely.

Wu Jiayi: “Hey, it’s no trouble. If you want to question a ghost, it’s not so easy during the day.”

The ghost market was an interesting place. The exit was at the end of the street that led straight into darkness. Wu Jiayi waved goodbye to Old Dog Peng and took the two of them straight to the exit.

After holding their breath and following the way, the darkness cleared, and they were standing at the intersection of Bianzhu Street.

“The exit is here?” Zhong Chengshuo’s drowsiness completely dissipated. This was too coincidental, wasn’t it?

“It’s the same as how you enter. The guide chooses it.” Wu Jiayi patted his food delivery clothes and buttoned on his helmet again. “Otherwise, everyone will go in and out like a market every night, and they will be noticed.”

It was already 2 a.m. at this point, so Bianzhu Street was empty.

This street connected to the old town and had old shops and houses on either side, along with sparse trees. The entire street was like a dead man’s arm—cold and stiff, exuding a decaying smell.

Wu Jiayi: “Forget Xiao Zhong. Xiao Yin, be careful. Lu Yuanyuan’s grandfather is very powerful.”

“How powerful?” Lord Ghost King humbly asked.

“It’s about the same level as the ghost in Ping’an Manor.” Wu Jiayi’s expression became solemn. “Lu Tanfei—Lu Yuanyuan’s grandfather—has registered with Shian. We were barely able to restore some of his sanity, but he’s a new ghost and would get confused from time to time, which makes things quite dangerous.”

Yin Ren thought for a bit about Hu Tao in his work group. “I should be fine.”

“Alright, watch yourself.” Wu Jiayi nodded.

With Lu Yuanyuan’s disappearance and Lu Tanfei turning into an evil being, their home was left uninhabited to this day.

It was on the first floor of a red-brick apartment building. The door was green with a mottled blessing on it. The couplet was also on the same red paper, with strong and powerful calligraphy. From a glance, it looked like it was written by hand.

The windows were rusted with poor-quality security bars. The glass was covered with dust, and the inside was dark.

Yin Ren subconsciously let go of Zhong Chengshuo’s hand and got closer. However, before he could take a few steps forward, he saw six brownish-red spots in the murky darkness.

Those bright spots wavered and would extinguish from time to time. Yin Ren was just about to take a closer look when he saw them approaching quickly, pressing tightly against the window.

Those were six crisscrossed human eyes.

They were crookedly embedded in an old man’s head, covering his entire face, replacing the facial features that should’ve been there. Among the wrinkles, they blinked from time to time as they stared outside.

Yin Ren stared back for a while.

Yin Ren: “How wonderful. Wu Ge, the old man is at home.”

Xiao Wu responded with an “oh” and opened the iron gate. “I’ll go in first. You two follow me.”

The moment the door rang, the strange face on the other side of the window disappeared.

The musty smell unique to unoccupied rooms came from the door. Xiao Wu fumbled for a while before he managed to find the cord for the electric light.

Click.

Dim lights filled the small room.

Yin Ren didn’t look around at first and instead naturally raised his head…

An evil thing in the shape of a spider was hanging from the ceiling.

It looked more like a twisted human body than a real spider.

Six eyes were randomly embedded in its wrinkled head, and its thin neck was almost retracted into its chest cavity. Near the chest and abdomen, the old man had two pairs of thin, bony legs and feet. This “person” was thin, looking quite out of shape, but his abdomen looked like it had ascites and was raised high.

“Where’s Yuanyuan?” The evil thing had no mouth, but it could call out in a hoarse voice. “Did you find Yuanyuan? Is Yuanyuan back?”

“It’s usually like this,” Xiao Wu whispered. “Ghosts can’t leave their place of death. Hurry up and ask your questions while he’s still lucid…”

Yin Ren didn’t say anything. He looked at the evil being up and down, as if he were evaluating something.

Ten seconds later, he took two steps forward. The evil thing in the form of an old man climbed down the wall silently, stretched out his neck, and put all six of his eyes close to Yin Ren’s face.

“Here’s the deal.”

Yin Ren cleared his throat.

“Comrade Lu Tanfei, we have found a clue about your grandson. Please come with us… Give me your birthdate first, and I’ll help you with the rest of the formalities.”

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The author has something to say:

Human facial sores* is a well-known (?) legend. You can look it up if you’re interested.

*Disease passed down in ancient times. It’s basically a sore that develops into a face that can eat and drink. With the rise of modern medicine, it’s now defined as a kind of parasitic fetus, which should be removed by surgery. || In a sense, similar to conjoined twins but not badly to that extent.

Xiao Wu is a member of Unit 6. His partners are Li Xiaozhen and Li Xiaoli. The two girls shouldn’t be discharged from the hospital yet, so he’s relatively free.

Hu Tao: Great, I am no longer the only part-time worker!

Xiao Zhong: Yin… Fruit Knife

Xiao Yin: ? Something wrong, Jackie Chan Ge?

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 45: Ghost Market

On Sunday, Zhong Chengshuo went to his secret warehouse on his usual “night run”.

After wiping off the sweat, he skillfully entered the communication portal for the Nightwalkers.

If one wasn’t privy to the inside story, the website would look like a third-rate movie review site. Only by selecting the right work and typing in the correct login and password at the review page could you enter the hidden page.

Such entry procedures should be frequently changed, but the Nightwalkers were a loose organization. The movie <Interview with the Vampire> hadn’t been changed in over a year.

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t even bother looking at the overly familiar poster and went straight to the rating section, where he skillfully logged into his account “yamaglad*”.

*Clarity: Originally written in English. This is also the reason why I decided to translate the nickname the Nightwalkers gave him as King Yama.

Next to the computer, a strand of black hair floated in the glass tube, emitting a faint light. This time, the loading was slower than before. While waiting, Zhong Chengshuo picked up the glass tube and turned it around.

After half a minute, Zhong Chengshuo finally understood why the webpage was stuck—in the online chat room, there were hundreds of people chatting feverishly.

Nightwalkers, as the name implied, preferred to socialize at night. Now that so many had put their business aside for gossip, something must have happened.

The news was frantically being swiped that Zhong Chengshuo only had time to see the last paragraph clearly.

[Lao Zhang Pancake Fruit 028: The one surnamed Lu is crazy!!!]

[No Head: He dared compare himself to King Yama. He sure has guts.]

[BOOS Supreme Evil Emperor: Laughing to death. King Yama won’t bother to pay attention to him. He will become a ghost first.]

[Lao Zhang Pancake Fruit 028: No, is he an idiot? In broad daylight, under the sun, that surname Lu dares to kill people!!! He even said he murdered 7! And then he went to the police station and provoked them!!!]

Zhong Chengshuo hovered the mouse over the word “murdered” and highlighted it.

[No Head: That’s right. When did Lu Guangzu have such courage? Is this going to piss off the Lu Family?]

[My Name is Little Red Riding Hood: I’m already pissed off just from reading this.]

[Favorite Sky: Grandma’s making a big fuss. Our family hasn’t been involved in criminal cases for many years. Just as luck would have it, the heavens blessed us with a serial murder.]

[Xinxin Kennel: Tsk tsk. I didn’t see Lao Lu before. Turns out he’s a big one.]

[yamaglad: ?]

As soon as this ID appeared, the chat room suddenly fell into dead silence. The raving chatter of hundreds of people stopped abruptly. It was a bit too sudden to join the gossip directly, so Zhong Chengshuo thought for a moment and opted to greet them as usual.

[yamaglad: Accepting tricky tasks, only for evil things. Two-way choice. Don’t bother with miscellaneous matters.]

[yamaglad: Private message if interested. Deadline is one minute.]

Then Zhong Chengshuo remained silent.

Recently, it had been quite peaceful, so after a long time, no one dared to private message him. The screen moved slightly as chat records continued to cautiously spit out new messages.

[My Name is Little Red Riding Hood: King Yama, we’ll take good care of Lu Guangzu. The Lu Family has absolutely no intention of targeting you.]

[yamaglad: Oh.]

Zhong Chengshuo took out a small leather notepad and wrote down the name “Lu Guangzu” in one stroke. He also added “Child of the Lu Family?” to the note.

[yamaglad: Oh.]

[yamaglad: Getting off.]

However, he didn’t go offline immediately. After putting away his notepad, Zhong Chengshuo stared at the online chat for a while. The chat room quickly became lively again, but there was a trace of panic in the atmosphere.

[BOOS Supreme Evil Emperor: Truly worthy of King Yama. I told you he wouldn’t be interested.]

[Xingwang Repair Station (come here for all household and spiritual appliance repair): He?! What if it’s a woman?]

[My Name is Little Red Riding Hood: I’d better talk to my family again. King Yama has helped us with the 100-year-old ghost before.]

[My Name is Little Red Riding Hood: I can’t have ta* put this account on the Lu Family’s head.]

*Originally in English. When written in English online, it refers to addressing someone whose gender is unknown. 

[Favorite Sky: I don’t think they will. King Yama doesn’t seem to be interested in the living.]

[Sister Xu Spicy Hotpot—Number to Order 1xxxx680184: It has nothing to do with King Yama. It’s a homicide case, right? The police will deal with it, so let’s not worry about it.]

[Sister Xu Spicy Hotpot—Number to Order 1xxxx680184: And isn’t Shian intervening? I heard that their new recruits are pretty good.]

[My Name is Little Red Riding Hood: Xu Jie, don’t poke people’s scars. T_T I failed to go ashore again this year.]

[BOOS Supreme Evil Emperor: If King Yama goes to Shian, he will definitely pass on the first try.]

[Favorite Sky: ? Would King Yama even put up with the exams? Shian’s exam goes for four to five rounds.]

[Favorite Sky: ta must be the kind of big brother who’s uninhibited and indulgent. You know what I mean.]

……

Seeing that the topic had switched to crying about how difficult it was to enter Shian, Zhong Chengshuo silently turned off the computer.

Forget it. Since Shian was intervening, he wouldn’t be able to hear the slightest wind.

After this, the “uninhibited and indulgent” King Yama would go to his parents’ home to get braised pigs’ trotters and share them with his roommate, who was happily watching dramas at home. Recently, every time he opened the door after his night run, Yin Ren would stand at the door and greet him with a smile so bright that it was blinding.

Because the two elders didn’t have positive feelings and were afraid their son and his hard-earned “friend” would be at odds, the dishes they made were increasingly biased towards Yin Ren’s taste.

In fact, even if he looked at him with the most discerning eye, Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t find any problems with Yin Ren.

Yin Ren was obviously not a sophisticated character, but after they lived together, Zhong Chengshuo found that he had never seen messy clothes, takeout boxes, or delivery boxes scattered around the home. Every evening, Yin Ren would broadcast their work status to “Love Each Other Like Family” to reassure the two elders.

After thinking about it carefully, Zhong Chengshuo realized that he had never seen Yin Ren unhappy because of something. That person looked carefree every day.

Zhong Chengshuo sadly looked at the test tube in his hand.

He must observe that person harder.

……

Monday night, 8:00 p.m., inside Shian’s special car.

The car was driving fairly smoothly. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were huddled in the back seat, looking at an image on the same tablet.

“Lu Guangzu, 26 years old, unemployed. Five years ago, this person began to operate as a ‘Nightwalker’. Lu Guangzu is tentatively considered a ghost master, but he actually mainly did intermediary work during missions, and his reputation and ability are quite poor.”

It was rare that there wasn’t any bloody mosaic on Lu Xiaohe’s screen. In the picture, there was a young man with yellow hair rolling his eyes and showing a wicked expression.

In the video screen in the lower right corner, Lu Xiaohe herself had her hair tied up in a bun and was wearing a simple polka dot shirt. She looked like the girl next door.

She didn’t stay in Shian but took another special car with Ge Tingting.

At this moment, Lu Xiaohe was sitting in the front passenger seat, trying to hold a camera steady.

“Lu Guangzu is somewhat related to the Lu Family in Haigu, but he’s not welcomed by them. He’s been cheating and scamming and has been involved in all kinds of dirty work. He likes to provoke strong people to increase his popularity, but he has never done something like this—”

The screen was replaced with a police interrogation video. In the video, Lu Guangzu was yelling, “If this wave is successful, I’ll definitely be comparable with ‘King Yama’.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…”

Yin Ren keenly turned his head. “What’s the matter, Zhong Ge? Do you know this Lu Guangzu?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “No, I just think this person is a bit naïve.”

“It’s really too arrogant for a living person to compare himself with King Yama,” Yin Ren deeply agreed.

“The ‘King Yama’ he’s talking about is not King Yama in the conventional sense.”

At the other end of the video, Lu Xiaohe cleared her throat and looked solemn.

“’King Yama’ is recognized as the strongest of the Nightwalkers. This person’s gender, age, and abilities are all unknown. He began his activities seven years ago, specializing in hunting evil things. King Yama has solved cases at the level of a Class-A Investigation Team, such as ‘the underground corpse nest in the heart of Luotian City’ and ‘the 100-year-old ghost in the western suburbs of Haigu’—as far as we know, ‘King Yama’ acts alone without a partner to take care of him.”

“Shian once evaluated the strength of King Yama. In terms of efficiency in destroying evil things, this person’s ability is comparable to that of Minister Fu Xingchuan. Logically speaking, this person shouldn’t be someone Lu Guangzu would target.”

Yin Ren: “Wow…”

The name “King Yama” was interesting. It matched “Death” quite a bit.

From the corner of his eyes, he looked at Zhong Chengshuo—the lights outside the car window swept on Zhong Chengshuo’s face from time to time, but Yin Ren couldn’t see any expression on it.

“Before this incident, Lu Guangzu’s provocations were limited to speaking out.” Zhong Chengshuo flipped through the report. “And ‘King Yama’ specializes in killing evil things. He claimed to have killed seven living people and went to provoke the police and Shian. This logic is too strange… Did he provide information about the deceased?”

“That’s the problem,” Lu Xiaohe said. “He didn’t give any names. He said it’s a game of ‘hide and seek’. There are many missing people in Haigu. Officer Sun is already investigating.”

Thinking about Excel, Yin Ren felt a chill down his spine. “Should we also…”

“Don’t worry. It’s not certain that this matter has anything to do with metaphysical factors, so we don’t need to intervene immediately.” Lu Xiaohe smiled mysteriously. “Well now, let’s have a welcome meal first.”

Haigu was big, so Yin Ren didn’t expect to recognize their destination…

Sister Xu Spicy Hotpot.

In the case of Feng Qi and Ge Tingting, Sun Qinghui had brought them here. The taste of this hotpot was quite good.

The proprietress, Xu Fang, was obviously impressed by the two’s outstanding looks. Before Yin Ren entered, she greeted him warmly. “Hey, you two are here again. Where’s Lao Sun?”

“Uncle Sun isn’t here. It’s me this time~” Lu Xiaohe entered next. “Xu Jie, I’m bringing a new member to dinner. There’s stir fry tonight, right?”

Ge Tingting hid timidly behind her, holding the unopened gift in her arms. To her, the atmosphere at Sister Xu Spicy Hotpot was extremely cordial.

Returning to a familiar environment, Ge Tingting relaxed a bit.

“Yes, yes. This girl is too thin, so we have to fatten her up.” Xu Jie smiled again. “You guys can sit at the table in the back. It’s quiet there.”

Although Ge Tingting had joined Unit 9 in name, the girl had been learning to read lips during the day and hadn’t officially moved into the office yet.

According to the Shian’s psychiatrist, Ge Tingting was attacked by Wu Tao, so she still had psychological trauma towards adult men. Even if Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were as beautiful as two flowers, it didn’t make Ge Tingting feel much better. This kind of thing had to be done slowly.

So, Lu Xiaohe, as the senior employee of Shian, skillfully organized a meal.

“Are you hungry? Sorry, it’s a bit late.” Lu Xiaohe sat next to Ge Tingting. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Lu Xiaohe. My family runs a small supermarket.”

Ge Tingting looked at her phone—Shian had installed a special translation software for her that converted the words spoken by Lu Xiaohe into text in real time.

Lu Xiaohe slowed down her speech and continued to introduce. “This long-haired brother is Yin Ren. He also encountered a very bad thing and is now recuperating in Shian… The brother who’s wearing glasses is Zhong Chengshuo. His parents are both policemen. Your gift was specially chosen by him.”

Ge Tingting pursed her lips and nodded politely at the two of them. Then she grabbed her phone tightly and typed quickly.

Shian—Small Work Group.

[Ear Person: Thank you for your gift.]

[Ear Person: ^-^]

[Final Fruit: You’re welcome.]

[Fruit Knife: ↑ This is Zhong Chengshuo. @Milky Way is Lu Xiaohe. You can always come to us if you need anything.]

[Ear Person: Okay.]

Yin Ren put down his phone and looked outside. This angle was a bit familiar. He just happened to be able to see the street shrouded in night.

“Speaking of which, Tingting, you still remember this place, right?”

Yin Ren slowed down his speech and felt the vibration on his phone. Ge Tingting stopped typing.

She blinked and had a hint of confusion on her face.

“When Zhong Ge and I were shopping earlier, you tried to get a tracking insect corpse to burrow into my shopping bag.” Yin Ren patiently continued, “At that time, I detected evil qi and avoided it. Do you still have an impression of this?”

His voice was also converted into text and was a different color than Lu Xiaohe’s voice.

[Ear Person: Yes, Feng Qi said it was a side mission. The wiseman asked us to send insect corpses to a specific location. We later failed that mission.]

“This matter goes a little further back to the time when you and Feng Qi first met. Zhong Ge and I have also been to this place. At that time, was it a Sunken Wiseman who asked you to monitor us?”

The spying at that time came from outside the store. There was no smell of people or evil things nearby, and there weren’t any evil spirits, and there wasn’t any malice in the gaze. The people from Sunken Society shouldn’t be able to do this.

Feng Qi was contaminated by the evil qi at that time, and his physical condition was abnormal, so there was still a little possibility of “observing” them from a distance away.

[Ear Person: No, the Sunken Wiseman found us the next day.]

Yin Ren: “……”

As if afraid she hadn’t made it clear, Ge Tingting started typing again.

[Ear Person: I remember very clearly. I was terribly scared that night. Feng Qi kept comforting me. After that, we were busy looking for a place to spend the night and didn’t have time to do anything else.]

[Ear Person: Is something wrong?]

Zhong Chengshuo likewise turned his face sideways and looked at Yin Ren with suspicion.

Yin Ren smiled and put his phone away. “It’s fine. I made a mistake. After all, I’m also a newcomer, so maybe I’m just being too paranoid.”

…How strange.

The stir fry and barbeque were served. Ge Tingting was holding her drink as her eyes lit up when she saw the headphones. Lu Xiaohe would tease her from time to time, while the proprietress grabbed Zhong Chengshuo and asked for advice on college entrance exams.

In the noisy atmosphere, Yin Ren once again looked at the increasingly dark street. Countless vehicles passed by as people laughed and chattered, creating a lively scene on the streets.

It didn’t matter. Since someone spied on him once, they would definitely do it again.

When she was full of food and drink, Ge Tingting’s eyelids began to droop, and she started dozing off. Lu Xiaohe let her lean on her shoulder and shook the empty can of almond milk at the proprietress.

“Refill,” she said.

Xu Fang smiled and said, “How can this thing be refilled? I’ll send you another can.”

“Refill,” Lu Xiaohe repeated.

The proprietress stopped smiling. “I get it. Are you coming too?”

“No, I’m just the rear commander, and I have to send Ge Tingting back to the dorms.” Lu Xiaohe shook her head. “The two of them are going.”

Yin Ren was shocked. “Huh? Going where?”

“Since someone doesn’t like to read mission reports, I decided to give you two a little surprise.” Lu Xiaohe said in an airy voice. “Just tonight, you two will go to the ghost market of the Nightwalkers and come back after collecting information.”

……

The two stayed in the store for a few more hours.

After midnight, Xu Fang went back into her home and took out three old-fashioned flashlights.

The flashlight was in the style of the last century. It had a thin silver shell on the outside and had AA batteries installed. Xu Fang stuffed one if each of their hands and then took off her apron and solemnly hung it up.

Zhong Chengshuo fiddled with the flashlight for a while. “Miss Xu, are you a Nightwalker?”

“Yes.” Xu Fang waved her hand. Zhong Chengshuo stiffened a little when he said “Miss Xu”. “I don’t have any great skills. I’m just usually the guide for people.”

Seeing Zhong Chengshuo stiffen, she grinned. “Don’t be afraid. We’re in formal cooperation with Shian. The ghost market sounds scary, but it’s actually a serious place—there are rules in place, so no one is allowed to make trouble.”

“Nn.” Zhong Chengshuo clutched his flashlight.

While the two were talking, Yin Ren was fiddling with his flashlight.

It was completely dark. When the flashlight turned on, a blueish-white oval was cast in front of him.

He was about to shine it in the distance to take a look when Xu Fang gave him a slap on the hand. “Don’t shine the light indiscriminately! Be careful not to illuminate things that shouldn’t be illuminated, or you may not be able to sleep at night.”

Lord Ghost King: “…Thank you Fang Jie.”

He carefully moved the light away so that it wouldn’t shine on the tip of his shoes.

“You two are fine. I’ll take you now.” Xu Fang took a deep breath. “Come on, take a few deep breaths. Don’t be panting later—if we get separated on the road, we won’t have a chance to go in again tonight.”

Yin Ren thought she would guide them to a certain entrance, but Xu Fang just led them to a nearby old apartment and took them to the highest point of the fire escape.

The fire escape had no cover, so the wind was blowing in all directions, giving them goosebumps.

“Take the flashlight and shine it as you walk down the steps while holding your breath.” Xu Fang urged, “It’s best to hold hands and walk in the place where the light has illuminated. Don’t get off course.”

Yin Ren: “Is it okay for Zhong Ge? He doesn’t believe in this.”

Xu Fang was apparently used to this question. “It’s fine. This technique isn’t applied on the person. I have brought science posts before, and they can enter.”

“Follow my steps, hold your breath, and make sure you two hold hands.” After she spoke, she quickly repeated this a few times.

Yin Ren turned around and generously stretched out his hand. “Zhong Ge?”

Zhong Ge hesitated for a few seconds before grabbing it. Who would have thought that rather than simply grabbing his hand, Yin Ren clasped his five fingers around his.

“Hurry up.” Yin Ren seemed as if he were possessed by the proprietress for a moment. He quickly added, “Don’t get lost. What a great opportunity to go shopping.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “……”

He wanted to change his grip, but Xu Jie had already started to descend the steps, so he had to give up the thought.

The green light swayed in front of them. As they walked down, the surrounding scenery slowly rose. They didn’t know when it started, but a layer of gray mist had gathered.

It ate away at everything around them. Except for the lone fire escape, the surroundings became impenetrable darkness. Even the footsteps of the three of them were swallowed up.

The slight coolness of the night breeze turned into a chill that climbed up the ankle like gangrene.

In contrast, Yin Ren’s hands were dry and warm. Zhong Chengshuo relaxed his arm and began to focus on the road in front of him.

For about a minute, their feet hit the ground. Zhong Chengshuo was pretty sure the stairs just now were definitely longer than the distance they traveled.

The three of them seemed to be standing at a dead end. The fire escape behind them had turned into a wall, and there were swaying red and green lights outside the alley.

Xu Jie let out a long exhale. “That was suffocating. Good, you both made it—now you don’t need your flashlight.”

Her hair had become a bit messy. She took out two weird masks from her pocket. “Go on, put them on. Shian people aren’t very popular here. Don’t mind.”

When they walked out of the alley, they came to a long, old street.

This was obviously not far from the city center, but there was no shadow of any buildings nearby. There were only dilapidated houses on either side of the street, with their windows and doors all open. The inside was full of bottomless darkness, as if they were the eye sockets of a skeleton.

There were lanterns on the thresholds of the old houses. The lanterns were attached to the stone brick floors and roughly divided into two types: blue lanterns and red lanterns. They were all placed crookedly, with a miserable aura of decay. On the side of the lanterns, there were either red cloth wrappings of goods or nothing but a pair of cloth shoes with their heels pointed upside down.

The stall owners were hiding in the darkness of the old houses. The ones who were most open only showed an arm or two legs. From time to time, customers squatted in front of the stalls, bargaining against the darkness.

“Red lights barter; green lights dispel evil spirits.”

Xu Jie led the two of them along the street and whispered to them as they walked. “The ones with a single incense burner on the red cloth are information stalls.”

Yin Ren looked around with novelty. He still hadn’t let go of Zhong Chengshuo’s hand. “Zhong Ge, what’s it like in your eyes?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…A group of people sitting in front of a store stall that has paper lanterns placed in front of it.”

“Don’t say this to them.” Xu Jie laughed dryly. “Everyone still cares about face, which is why Shian’s science posts are especially unpopular.”

“How do we trade?” Yin Ren asked curiously. “Luck? Lifespan? Or body parts?”

Xu Jie stared at him in shock for a while and pointed to the nearest information stall. The stall owner reached out from the darkness and handed out two cards: one blue, one green; each with a QR code printed on it.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo: “……”

Xu Jie: “You’ll be reimbursed for this kind of thing. Don’t be afraid.”

Yin Ren took a deep breath, took out Dog Thing, and dragged Zhong Chengshuo all the way to the stall. He looked curiously at the incense burner on the stall for a while. “Zhong Ge, I’ll just pay later.”

Xu Jie: “Xiao Yin, you…”

“I understand. I’ll be careful.”

“…You can let go of Xiao Zhong,” Xu Jie said helplessly. “I’m watching you guys from behind, so you won’t get lost.”

Yin Ren: “Oops.”

He let go of his partner and squatted down at the information stall. Zhong Chengshuo looked at the sky for a while before he lowered his head with a complicated expression that hadn’t had time to dissipate.

A chuckle came from the darkness behind the stall. “Hehe.”

In Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes, he saw a thin, old man look up.

“You guys are lucky today,” he said lightly. “I rarely show up.”

Yin Ren stood in awe. “Are you…?”

“I am ‘King Yama’ of the Nightwalkers.”

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Yin: Happy shopping

Xiao Zhong: ? Fighting counterfeits

By the way, I know it’s BOSS, not BOOS. BOOS is actually a spelling that raises my blood PRESSURE… Sharing high blood pressure online!

——————

After this chapter was finished, I gave it to my gay friend.

Gay Friend: ? I have a question. Why did Minister Fu get the information on Friday, but Xiao Zhong didn’t know about the case until Monday.

Me: ? That was at the end of the day on Friday!

Me: Are you a ghost? It’s not urgent work. Why do you have to work overtime on Saturday and Sunday?

Gay Friend: .

Me: .

Me: Are you a ghost? (repeat)

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Kinky Thoughts:

For those who forgot, two members of the Lu Family tested with Yin Ren in arc 1 (Lu Hui and Lu Nana). Given the comments made by My name is Little Red Riding Hood, most likely they are one of the two (I’m guessing Lu Nana since she was referred to as “Red Fedora”).

Seems like Xu Fang is Sister Xu Spicy Hotpot.

…Look at me, doxing all these people.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 44: A Murderer

[Weak.] The phone answered like this.

Yin Ren silently exited the interface and quickly checked the modern definition of “weak”. He looked left and right, but he didn’t see any brand new meaning that he didn’t know of.

Lord Ghost King pondered on it for a while.

[Then, according to your definition, what about yourself?]

[A stronger, weaker person.] It answered immediately. The words disappeared quickly, as if it feared Yin Ren would see them clearly.

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: [Then what about Zhong Chengshuo? You know who that is, right?]

Phone: [The weakest at the bottom.]

[How do you classify this?]

[Feeling.] The speed of the phone’s words became slow, as if it were holding a guilty conscience.

Yin Ren was speechless. In just a few days, his evaluation plummeted from “Dragon of Destruction” to “weak”, while Zhong Chengshuo’s was even more outrageous; directly changing from “Death” to “weakest at the bottom”. Despite being an Evil Spirit, he received a world of difference in definition.

Whether Dog Thing was reliable or not, this feeling was familiar. Yin Ren was reminded of a third-rate app that only had junk features after paying for it.

The power of the Evil Spirit qi had been paid, so he could only gather his last patience.

Yin Ren: [Why are you in Shian?]

Phone: [There’s an “Evil Spirit” underground, and I want power.]

[How are you going to come into contact with Shian’s Evil Spirit?]

[I don’t know.] The battery of the phone was slowly falling.

[Do you want enough strength to go home? How are you going to go home?]

[I don’t know.]

Yin Ren slammed the phone on the sofa. No wonder this thing fell into the pile of debris at Shian’s warehouse. With its worthless IQ, it was truly suitable for staying there.

The 1,000-year-old Evil Spirit was brutally deceived by telecommunications fraud, and his Evil Spirit qi account suffered. Yin Ren pounded his chest and stamped his feet for a while, then picked up the phone wearily.

[Alright, Dog Thing.]

[Siren.] The phone reminded him.

[A name referring to a dead person is too unlucky, but Dog Thing is quite good. Starting today, you’ll be Dog Thing.] Yin Ren declared solemnly.

[Siren.] The phone’s power quickly dropped to 1%.

Yin Ren ignored it. He switched to the latest episode of his drama on the tablet, opened the app store, and started to search for anti-fraud apps for the elderly.

……

Compared with some time ago, the work this week was surprisingly light.

Ge Tingting hadn’t joined yet, and there were no weird cases around him. The “good treatment” that Fang Yuanyuan spoke of finally began to take shape.

For example, today, Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo visited Feng Qi in the morning and then attended class until 3:00. The rest of the time, they were free to do as they pleased—whether they studied on their own or simply slacked off, Shian wouldn’t interfere.

Feng Qi lived in the Shian dorm area, so the two didn’t even need to leave the campus.

Someone from Shian came forward to help the boy complete the inheritance-related procedures, and at the same time he also transferred schools. During compulsory education, Feng Qi would study in a “special school” within Shian.

As for the arrangements after graduation, that depended on the boy’s grades—even if he had the ability of a Black Seal, Feng Qi could choose to receive education in the direction of science. Shian also had ordinary external departments, so he didn’t have to embark on that dangerous path.

But right now, Feng Qi didn’t need to think so far ahead.

His dorm was in the underage area—male division—and he was assigned a roommate with a mild temperament. When the two entered the door, the boy was lying in bed staring at his tablet with his legs swaying from side to side.

Feng Qi was wearing large headphones while he was clicking his stylus on the tablet. His expression was very focused as he would write something on the tablet from time to time. The black dragon doll was holding the game console that was placed next to his pillow.

“Little adventurer, we’re here to see you.” Yin Ren smiled brightly.

“The brother who gave me the dragon!” Feng Qi took off his headphones and bent his eyes with a smile. “And the brother who gave me an apple!”

“What are you doing so seriously?”

“Ah, it’s to consolidate my abilities.” Feng Qi wiped his nose, with a little hidden pride in his expression. “After I came back from the different world, I still retained a little superpower—I can understand what others can’t, and everyone says this ability is very powerful.”

Yin Ren wasn’t surprised.

That night, he removed most of Feng Qi’s evil qi, and “the ability that shouldn’t belong to the boy” disappeared. However, Feng Qi could withstand the corruption of the evil qi, which meant he himself was indeed talented.

Yin Ren had carefully read the reports from Unit 7. When talking to “Ibby”—that was, Feng Qi himself—Feng Qi could still express himself in normal language.

Now that there was no cognitive pollution of the “different world”, it wasn’t strange that he could interpret normal language and the ravings of the unknown at the same time.

Yin Ren glanced at Feng Qi’s tablet. For some reason, the child chose the color of blood red, and the tablet screen was filled with “Mom, Mom, I’m so scared”, “Help, help”, “I’m scared. I’m scared…”

Coupled with the little boy’s smiling face and the bright sunshine, the visual impact was quite amazing.

“…What are you using to strengthen your ability?” Yin Ren’s smile froze for a moment.

Feng Qi blinked. “The recordings that were sent to me? I’m responsible for interpreting them. They say I can help a lot of people.”

Yin Ren took two steps back and whispered to Zhong Chengshuo, “Zhong Ge, is Shian eliciting child labor?”

After getting Shian’s legal textbook, he first read “Labor Laws” intensively.

Zhong Chengshuo: “……”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Didn’t you read today’s report at all?”

“I have read the table of contents.” Yin Ren spoke confidently.

Zhong Chengshuo speechlessly pushed up his glasses. Wasn’t it a bit too outrageous that he could be cursed by this kind of person without any traces?

Perhaps he should consider other possibilities, such as a problem with his own health.

“There’s a detailed list in the file. Considering personal privacy, the people in those recordings are all death row prisoners. Except for one of them, the rest have been executed,” Zhong Chengshuo explained.

“It’s really more of a competency exam than a collection of information.”

“Except for who?”

“Guo Laifu, a wanted serial killer. He has five lives on his hands. He fled to Haigu a while ago and was arrested on the day we met.” Zhong Chengshuo stepped back to the door, trying to lower his voice. “It’s said that this person is completely insane and is still undergoing treatment. The other death row prisoners only showed symptoms of madness, but they had no mental problems.”

“Guo Laifu is also a death row prisoner?” Yin Ren murmured, “But he’s still being treated specially?”

“Yes, according to regulations, he can only be executed after his sanity is restored.”

Yin Ren looked at the words written on the tablet again.

What Feng Qi interpreted were all short sentences, full of fear between the lines, without any exception. In a sense, this could be considered karma and retribution from the heavens.

He didn’t delve any deeper and accompanied Feng Qi to play with the black dragon doll for a while.

“Come on, little bud. These are all confidential documents. Maybe you can dig up a big case.” Before leaving, Yin Ren muttered mysteriously to Feng Qi.

Feng Qi’s eyes lit up. “Nn!”

……

After the afternoon class ended, Yin Ren stretched out lazily. With the warm sunlight basking on his body, if it weren’t for the conditions, he would have wanted to sink into the chair.

With Zhong Chengshuo taking notes like Superman, Yin Ren didn’t even need to seriously listen to the class. After a few classes, he received the ire of the teachers. However, the 1,000-year-old Evil Spirit had gained, aside from other things, extremely thick skin…

“Lend me your notes before the exam?” Yin Ren lay on the table as he turned his head lazily. “Zhong Ge, I’ll treat you after the exam.”

The corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes twitched. Seeing this person half-rolled on the desk, a strange sense of loss of strength spontaneously emerged, and the curse on him seemed to dissipate a little.

“I’ll lend it to you.”

After entering Shian as “King Yama” from the Nightwalkers, Zhong Chengshuo hated that he even had to carefully control the number of breaths. Right now, he really couldn’t understand—an “evil being” had mixed into Shian just so he could be lazy at work and take naps in the classroom?

What exactly is this guy doing here?

“Zhong Ge, my hero!” Yin Ren’s spirit was refreshed, which he followed up with a loud yawn. “Let’s go to the refreshment bar and get some ice cream—”

Zhong Chengshuo: “I’m going to the library.”

Yin Ren: “Then let’s have ice cream together before going. I want to go too. I’ve never been to the library. Xiaohe Jie said the environment is good there.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s heart moved slightly. He could probably get a glimpse of a person’s personality based on the book that he borrowed. This was a good opportunity to test.

“Okay.” Zhong Chengshuo unprecedentedly agreed.

Shian’s library was indeed a good environment.

It was independent of the Shian building, had four floors, and looked more like an art museum on the outside.

The main tone of the interior of the library was original wood color and huge floor-to-ceiling windows that had a lush view. There was a faint smell of ink in the air, which was mixed with the smell of old paper, giving birth to a kind of strange magic that calmed people’s hearts.

The design of the stairs and reading area wasn’t rigid and had some arbitrariness, similar to that of an ancient garden.

Glass and wood vaguely surrounded the corridors that twist and turn thousands of times, but not so much that people would get lost. There were reading areas that were staggered and nestled in various places, like new shoots on a branch, giving a sense of space and privacy.

The pair split up and returned to their seats with books in their arms after a while.

The reading area they chose was located by a window with semi-open café-style seating. Ambient lights hung from the ceiling, giving off a soft glow. Outside the glass walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, there were leaves being blown by the wind, making a vague rustling sound.

The books Yin Ren borrowed were stacked by the window, and the title was dimly obscured by the shadow of the tree.

Zhong Chengshuo took note of the titles of those books one by one—this time, he selected a few ordinary history books and also picked up a biography of the founder of Shian. There were a few thin books interspersed among the pile of large books; most likely, these were read for leisure.

“The environment is really good,” Yin Ren commented.

There was a certain distance between each of the reading areas, so the sound insulation was superb. Although people would walk by from time to time, as long as they weren’t laughing or yelling, the sound wouldn’t spread too far.

At this moment, Yin Ren was still looking at the wide and atmospheric library. As he watched people come and go in the book forest as they talked in low voices, Yin Ren’s face faded from its usual ease, and his eyes showed some complication.

For a moment, Zhong Chengshuo had a peculiar feeling—the “thing” in front of him was picturesque, but there was a strange, old, and solemn aura around him. However, in the next second, the subtle aura disappeared.

What was Yin Ren thinking?

Unfortunately, Yin Ren didn’t bring up any topics. He just looked around silently for a moment, then returned to his book, being unusually quiet.

Yin Ren lowered his brows, and his long hair slid down his shoulders. Coupled with the heavy old books in his hand, the picture suddenly had a bit of a quaint feel.

This person is still hiding a lot of secrets. Zhong Chengshuo narrowed his eyes.

The heavy killing intent, the fleeting complex temperament. Forget if this person “remembered something”, it was hard to say if he even lost his memory in the first place.

Seeing the posture of the other party wanting to read wholeheartedly, Zhong Chengshuo lowered his head and began to read his book seriously.

……

Ten minutes passed.

Zhong Chengshuo had sorted out the notes on the contents of the first five chapters and raised his head again. Yin Ren’s reading progress had just reached the main body of the page.

Yin Ren stared at his book blankly. His ochre-red eyes straightened, and he looked as if he were distracted. There was nothing left of that transcendent temperament just now. Looking at him, this person was more like a middle schooler who refused to work on his homework.

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Are you uncomfortable?”

“What? Oh… I was just lost in thought for a bit.” The drowsiness in Yin Ren’s voice was strong.

Zhong Chengshuo rubbed his forehead. “Don’t force it if you don’t want to read.”

“Make sense.” Yin Ren shook his head vigorously, trying to shake the sleepiness off his face. “At least I tried.”

In a dignified manner, he took out a thin book that was sandwiched between a larger book. It was a picture book called <How Can I Have Bad Thoughts?>.

Yin Ren used the other book as a cushion to prop up his chin and read it happily.

The man was pasted to the table as if he didn’t have a bone in his body. From time to time, he would smile at the pages, with “what to eat tonight” clearly written on his face, completely losing the previous perceived style.

Facing such a scene, Zhong Chengshuo’s mood became extremely complicated. In the end, he couldn’t hold back, and the corners of his mouth hitched.

Perhaps because he perceived a wrong breath, Yin Ren’s gaze instantly turned. “What are you smiling at?”

“I wasn’t. I just remembered something that happened while I was studying,” Zhong Chengshuo quickly came up with an excuse as his face stiffened. “There are many people like you in the school library.”

“Because some books are just hard to read,” Yin Ren muttered empathetically. “You’re not allowed to eat or drink, and you can’t even read something interesting. What a waste of such an environment.”

After he spoke, he seemed to suddenly think of something. “When you were studying, did you also have this kind of library there?”

“Nn, the library of A University is quite good.”

It was modest to say it was quite good. As a super-first-class university in China, the library of A University was just as good as Shian’s.

Yin Ren was speechless. “They all say that you can’t read books unless you borrow them, but this is too exaggerated… It turns out that you used to come to places like this a lot. No wonder you’re so skilled.”

He glanced at Zhong Chengshuo’s neat notes, then looked at the messy pile of books in front of him again with a slightly bitter expression.

“I like the library very much,” Zhong Chengshuo said honestly.

“I heard that your university has dorms, but my guess is you spend all your waking time here, right?”

“Pretty much,” Zhong Chengshuo replied solemnly. “Later, the dorm was closed, so I applied to move out of campus. After that, I went to the library less often.”

Yin Ren paused. “Ah, I have a little impression.”

His roommates set up a prostitution ring that was later busted because Zhong Chengshuo called the police. After that, naturally, the dorm would be closed down.

Yin Ren’s sympathetic gaze was too obvious. Zhong Chengshuo put down his book and added, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I live by myself. It’s a lot more convenient to watch movies and the like… At that time, I lived very close to the public library. Although it wasn’t as big as A’s, it wasn’t bad.”

To be honest, in addition to watching movies, it also made studying evil things a lot easier. Although he had to commute every day, Zhong Chengshuo was generally satisfied.

He took orders at home to investigate and run experimental projects when he incidentally killed evil beings. It could be said to be a very peaceful and beautiful time.

That was exactly seven years ago, when “King Yama” emerged.

Recalling this, Zhong Chengshuo had a bit of regret.

Had he known about this, he wouldn’t have used random letters as his name. The Nightwalkers had varying degrees of academic qualification, and they had all kinds of messy pronunciation. Over time, they took their own initiative and gave him the nickname “King Yama”, which made him stand out.

As soon as he recovered from being lost in his memories, Zhong Chengshuo saw Yin Ren’s smiling face.

Yin Ren propped his face to the side; his eyes were sly, and his brows and the corner of his mouth were rising higher.

“What are you smiling at?” Zhong Chengshuo asked cautiously.

“Nothing. This is the first time you have taken the initiative to talk about yourself. It’s quite refreshing.” Yin Ren leaned on the cushion with a smile. “Look, now that I know that you love to read books, when I give you a gift next time, I have other options.”

…This turned against him.

The information wasn’t spied on, but instead he gave it away due to his own volition. This time, the curse not only burned Zhong Chengshuo’s ears but also ignited the back of his neck.

Zhong Chengshuo hung his head, somewhat shriveled, and closed his mouth tightly as he continued to read his book. At least the books he chose were practical and safe and weren’t likely to reveal anything at all.

However, his ears remained hot, and he couldn’t concentrate well. Zhong Chengshuo tried to steady his heartbeat as he countered, “Then what do you like? Other than food.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You never talk about yourself.”

“I like everything you like.” Yin Ren avoided the heavy gaze and gave a deep nod, recalling Zhong Chengshuo’s large bookcase full of entertainment. “If I must say something, I like shopping. The livelier, the better.”

“But this is something that can’t be gifted.” Zhong Chengshuo compared his “hobby items” and “hobby activities” in his head.

“You want to give me something?”

“I don’t…” Zhong Chengshuo subconsciously wanted to refute but felt that something was off. “I don’t… plan to give it soon. I’m just asking.”

Yin Ren smiled. “How about you give me a gift on my birthday?”

Zhong Chengshuo was startled.

“Anyway, I don’t remember, but everyone has a birth date, so you can justifiably celebrate it—how about you gift me something without even spending a penny.”

“You can come up with it yourself.” Zhong Chengshuo averted his gaze and didn’t look at Yin Ren.

“Isn’t this thing the same thing as a name? It never feels right if you do it yourself.”

“Then July 15^th.” Zhong Chengshuo stared at the edge of the table.

Yin Ren’s smile slowly froze. “Change it. That day has already passed.”

“Then why not just come up with the date yourself?”

“But I want to have my birthday this year—”

Zhong Chengshuo took a few deep breaths. He finally raised his head. This time, he looked directly into Yin Ren’s eyes. “Then the 29th of the lunar year. You can celebrate for two days along with New Year’s Eve.”

Provided if at that time you haven’t shown your fangs yet.

……

After work hours, Shian Building.

Fu Xingchuan looked at the latest observation report speechlessly.

Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren visited the Shian library today. Zhong Chengshuo read <Preventive Cardiology> all afternoon, while Yin Ren read books such as <How Can I Have Bad Thoughts?>, <Life is Fun>, and <A 100-Year-Old Life: Life and Work in the Age of Longevity>. The latter borrowed a lot of serious history books, but he didn’t seem to read them.

These two people… not only had unpredictable interests, but they were also inexplicably subtle, which made it hard to read them.

Fu Xingchuan suddenly felt very tired.

Fortunately, Haigu was calm at the moment, so he had time to take a breather. Even Professor Li spared some of his time to go to a university to give a serious lecture.

Minister Fu fell back on the sofa and picked up the travel magazine. He closed his eyes and began to imagine that he was in a prairie—

His phone vibrated. Director Zhou from the Municipal Public Security Bureau was calling him.

Fu Xingchuan picked up the phone in pain.

“Hello…?”

As he listened, Fu Xingchuan’s laziness disappeared. He frowned and sat upright on the sofa.

“Wait, Director Zhou, what do you think is going on?”

“Someone surrendered to the police this morning. This person claimed to have murdered seven people in the past six months and wanted to play a game of “finding the bodies” with the officials.” The other side repeated.

Fu Xingchuan: “……”

What’s wrong with criminals nowadays? Is it bad to just behave like peaceful human beings?

“He calls himself a ‘Nightwalker’ and specifies that you need to intervene. Our comrades have already launched an investigation. Xiao Fu, call your team over here. They don’t need to be too strong. Last time I heard, Xiao Sun said that Unit 9 is quite reliable.”

Unit 9 Class-C Special Investigation Group.

The official members were Lu Xiaohe, Yin Ren, Zhong Chengshuo, accompanied by a trainee, Ge Tingting.

Fu Xingchuan recalled for a moment the bizarre book list and laughed. “Okay, I’ll send Unit 9.”

……

Within the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

A young man was sitting in the interrogation room. His hands were handcuffed, but his legs were arrogantly crossed with a relaxed posture.

He was wearing a brightly colored, over-the-top t-shirt. He had a long face and thick brows accompanied by big eyes, but unfortunately, he was born with single eyelids. His dark eyes turned upward, looking extraordinarily mean.

The young man’s dyed head of yellow hair flowed briskly. Most likely he hadn’t taken care of it in a while, as the roots of his hair had grown black.

“If you can’t find the body, you can’t close the case, right?” He said it playfully, with a tone full of provocation. “If this wave is successful, I’ll definitely be comparable with ‘King Yama’.”

The policeman who was interrogating him obviously didn’t like his attitude. “What King Yama? Even if there’s nobody, the chain of evidence is complete enough. You can’t run away.”

The young man rolled his eyes and looked at him for a while.

“Well, to be honest.”

He clicked his tongue.

“Why don’t you guys look for them, huh? If you can find them, I’ll lose. If you can’t, I’ll just play around and open your eyes.”

“Seven people,” he said with a chilling smile.

---

The author has something to say:

Laughing to death. A salted fish doesn’t have fangs√

Xiao Zhong: This person is neither good at work nor at studying. Why did he come to Shian?

Xiao Yin: The cafeteria.

——————

<Preventive Cardiology>, <How Can I have Bad Thoughts?>, <Life is Fun>, and <A 100-Year-Old Life: Life and Work in the Age of Longevity> are all real books, but they are not very well coded. In order to clarify the personalities of the characters, I simply wrote them directly.

So I’ll emphasize it again, overhead background*~

*It’s a term used referring to the setting the author creates in their novels that is completely different from history or reality. It borrows things from real history and reality but has nothing to do with reality (AKA the setting is purely fictional but takes stuff from real life).

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 43: The Answer

It had been a long time since Ge Tingting had slept so well.

When she was still in the village, the blanket at home exuded an old, damp smell, and the bed was always cold. No matter how it was washed and dried, her and her grandmother’s blanket was always cold and smelled like some kind of animal’s nest.

The dark internet cafés in the city had a mixed smell of instant noodles, foot odor, and smoke, and there was the sound of keyboard clacking all around. To make do with the enclosed area, with no bed or blanket, she could only keep warm by curling up.

When was the last time she had slept so well?

The faded memories that surfaced in her mind gradually became clear.

It seemed like ten years ago, under the cliff. Her parents’ bodies became cold and stiff, and she didn’t respond to any cries.

She was mute, her limbs were limp, and her head ached so badly it was as if it was split open.

[Honey, don’t be afraid.] She suddenly heard her mother say.

[It’s okay. Mom and dad are here.] She suddenly heard her father say.

They didn’t open their mouths, but they were talking. Even if the voice was a little faded and could only repeat a few words with difficulty, she could still hear them. In the drizzle-like murmurings, the young Ge Tingting curled up in her parents’ arms and quietly closed her eyes.

After that, she suddenly understood what “corpses” were.

She knew how to manipulate them, and even knew how to communicate with the newly dead “corpses”.

Soon after a person died, something like an echo would be left behind. The echoes would gradually dissipate, but they would always stay in the world for some time.

Was it an obsession? Was it an attachment? Or the last thoughts of the deceased during their lifetime? She didn’t know.

But now she understood why she chased after Feng Qi that night—there seemed to be two faint echoes on the child’s body.

Just like herself during that time.

Ge Tingting rolled over in bed and opened her eyes.

The phantom of a different world disappeared, replaced by the modern furnishings she was familiar with. There was a delicate music box at the head of the bed and bright red apples in a fruit basket.

She propped up her body and reached to pull out the infusion needle on the back of her hand.

[Don’t move around casually. Be careful. You might injure yourself. If you need anything, please write it here by hand.]

A tablet stretched out in front of her, with conspicuous characters on the screen. Ge Tingting turned her head and saw a female nurse smiling at her.

The nurse seemed to know her condition well and there was a strange black mark on her badge.

[Feng Qi?] Ge Tingting wrote with difficulty.

The crooked handwriting disappeared from the screen and became regular print.

[Feng Qi is fine. He has woken up. I was just about to talk to you about it.]

The nurse cleared the screen and quickly responded back.

[You were under a hallucinogenic effect that made you see a “different world”. Do you understand what I’m saying?]

Ge Tingting was stunned for a few seconds. She gradually shrank her body. [The monster we attacked?]

Before she was affected, she had seen Wu Tao’s death and had some conjectures in her heart.

[It’s a human, but he’s a criminal on the run from the cops. Someone will talk to you about it. Don’t be afraid. You two are in a special circumstance, so the police will judge impartially.]

Ge Tingting nodded slowly, still looking nervous.

The nurse smiled encouragingly at her.

[We have communicated with Feng Qi. He still believes that you have just returned from a different world. He’s still too young. Please don’t tell him the truth for the time being. We will have someone responsible for this matter.]

[I see. I won’t say anything.] Ge Tingting slowly wrote back.

[I’m older than him and know more than him. If there’s punishment, I hold the greater responsibility.]

The young nurse stepped forward and gave the girl a small hug.

[Don’t worry. I have experienced something similar to you.] She wrote. [Believe me, you will all have a home.]

Ge Tingting looked at the beautiful music box at the head of the bed. She closed her eyes and nodded gently.

After the infusion, accompanied by the nurse, she met Feng Qi.

The nurse had moved Feng Qi’s infusion needle to the back of his foot, vacating the boy’s hands so he could play with the dragon doll in his arms. The pus and blood on his face were wiped clean. Although his cheeks were still haggard, at least there was some color in them.

Seeing Ge Tingting, Feng Qi opened his eyes wide and shouted happily. Ge Tingting was sad to find she could no longer understand the boy’s words.

[I can’t understand.] She approached sadly and touched the boy’s head. [I don’t understand… but I really like the days when I could talk to you before. Thank you.]

The boy was taken aback. He tilted his head and asked the nurse for a tablet.

[It’s okay. Sui Jie told me. I can understand! This is my superpower!] Feng Qi wrote happily.

After writing this sentence, he hesitated for a few seconds, then seriously added another sentence.

[Now that we’re all home, will you still be my sister?]

Ge Tingting bit her lip. She followed the actions of the nurse just now and gently gave the boy a hug.

‘How wonderful,’ she thought.

[Of course.] She replied.

……

Shian Building, Emergency Management Department.

It was rare for Fu Xingchuan to change into a bright red shirt. At this moment, he was pouring instant coffee powder into a cup while yawning. A pair of dark circles around his eyes made him look as if he were a panda.

Li Nian: “You’re still alive.”

Professor Li stared at the red shirt his partner was wearing for a while. “…Or do you plan to die suddenly today while wearing the reddest clothes and becoming the fiercest ghost?’

“Don’t scold your big brother. I’ll definitely go to bed early today.” Fu Xingchuan shrank his neck. “After all, Sunken Society had caused a lot of trouble! Don’t you know that there were more than 100 ghosts that were thrown onto that battlefield all at once… The scene was so chaotic that I’m completely exhausted.”

Professor Li laughed and threw a stack of reports in front of Fu Xingchuan.

“It’s not like we’re idle in Haigu either. The kid named Feng Qi has woken up. Here’s the full investigation report.”

“Oh, oh.” Fu Xingchuan quickly sat down. He scanned through the report as he sipped on the freshly brewed coffee and let out an “Ow” as he was scalded by it.

Li Nian didn’t lift his head when he heard it, as if he were accustomed to it.

“Haa, this Feng Qi—”

“Right, Feng Qi’s ability is strange,” Professor Li said. “In previous cases, there are records of Sunken Society releasing ‘strong evil qi as the corruption source’ on ordinary people, but this time it’s different.”

“This kid’s case looks like an extreme enhancement of ‘observation’. It’s not without precedent, but…”

But something isn’t quite right.

Ordinary people who had been exposed to things they shouldn’t have were forced to get involved in the metaphysical world; such cases weren’t uncommon. Fu Xingchuan had handled them hundreds of times.

Even if they came into contact with a heavily corrupted object, these ordinary people could at most open a ghost eye and gain some “relatively reasonable” abilities.

Take Feng Qi, for example. As long as the conditions were met, any non-metaphysicians could cut people into diced meat.

With superhuman powers of observation to analyze the environment, track targets through fragmented intelligence, and even understand “crazy ravings”, it was all still a manifestation of the “extreme enhancement of observation power”. In the words of Professor Li, the human brain has infinite potential, and such people could be regarded as a super-doubled version of Sherlock Holmes.

Fu Xingchuan’s gaze stopped on the words “sin value”.

His intuition shouted frantically. This ability to “judge the value of sin” wasn’t strong, but it revealed a strange flavor.

The ability was unprecedented.

It wasn’t easy for victims to become evil beings, let alone to “count at a glance”. Over the years, in order to help solve cases, Shian had specialized in topics similar to “identifying murderers”, but so far, there had been no results.

Even with the Evil Spirit under their feet and the most advanced scientific theories in their hands, Shian still had no breakthrough—

Facts had proven that no matter how powerful an observation power was, it was still impossible to obtain information that “didn’t exist in the world”.

What was originally impossible was now easily accomplished by a child.

What was the source of Feng Qi’s information?

Minister Fu scratched his head. “If those people were seen for ‘having killed someone’ or ‘having murderous intent towards people’, it would still be considered an enhanced observation power… This ‘sin value’ is a bit outrageous.”

“Indeed. If you can be accurate about the number of people killed, the nature has changed,” Professor Li replied casually. “The kid said, ‘I don’t know why. I just do.’ Most likely due to self-protection, the brain directly presented him with the results.”

The two were silent for a while.

“Create a file and let Unit 7 continue to follow up.”

Fu Xingchuan lowered his voice. “Regarding Sunken Society ‘corrupting people with evil qi’, there’s been a new breakthrough.”

“Since we’re talking about Sunken Society, there’s one more thing that’s very strange.”

As if he were feeding a large animal, Professor Li threw another stack of reports.

Fu Xingchuan took it naturally, as if it were a conditioned reflex.

“…Fuck, what happened to Units 6 and 7?” Fu Xingchuan flipped through the pages. “Unit 7’s luck is like they’re cursed, so I won’t talk about them, but isn’t Unit 6 quite reliable? Why is the report so bad?”

“According to Li Xiaozhen and Li Xiaoli, there was some trouble, and Kong Wanqing was able to exploit it.”

“I know this, but I still don’t get that old bastard Kong. The issue is that they both fainted, but they were able to keep ‘Good Boy’. The degree of injury should be more serious—based on the photos of the scene, it looked as if the place was demolished.”

Fu Xingchuan shook his head and dropped his brows.

“That kid Feng Qi said there was a ‘Sunken Wiseman’ who had frequent contact with ‘Ibby’, giving them clues to the ‘black market merchant’. Now it seems that that bullshit wiseman is most likely Kong Wanqing.”

“But that night, instead of tracking the two children, he ran to squat at Master Liu’s side. Even if it’s Sunken Society, their brain circuits shouldn’t be this screwed up—did Sunken Society really only send one person?”

Professor Li turned the cap of the thermos in his hand and took a long breath as he looked at the blue sky outside the window.

“According to Ge Tingting, she was attacked near the woods in the community. Li Xiaozhen and Li Xiaoli quickly followed the scene. They didn’t find the attacker—blood residues, traces of weapons, nothing. But, having said that, Ge Tingting had abnormal cognition at that time, so her testimony might not be reliable.”

“That’s not right. Sunken Society wouldn’t be so kind.” Fu Xingchuan clicked his tongue. “If you ask me, there must be someone who’s responsible for disposing of the children and recycling the corruption source.”

“Indeed.” Professor Li took a leisurely sip of his tea.

Fu Xingchuan looked at him. “What about Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo?”

“They were all captured by nearby surveillance. Yin Ren returned to the community early, and Zhong Chengshuo didn’t come back until midnight. There was no problem with their GPS location, but suspicion on the two can’t be completely ruled out.”

“Clues?”

“There were traces of flying skills. According to Xiang Jiang’s identification, Yin Ren’s ghost can fly, and Yin Ren said that night he had been practicing it.”

“…” Fu Xingchuan was silent.

“We have no clear evidence of ‘interference by others’. It’s not impossible to say that there were internal changes in Sunken Society and that Unit 6 was that lucky.” Professor Li put down the teacup. “However, that’s just a hypothesis. If someone really intervened…”

“At least for now, it seems that the meddler isn’t hostile towards Shian.”

“Got it.” Fu Xingchuan pressed his temples. “I’ll pay more attention.”

……

A certain two people who didn’t know that they were being suspected.

This Monday was easy. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo only needed to fill out the case report. Under Yin Ren’s strong urge, everyone went straight to the self-service barbecue restaurant after work.

The barbeque was hot as red, tender meat sizzled on the metal mesh. Grease dripped into the flames from time to time, making a sultry crackling sound. The square table was full of tempting meat, while the vegetarian dishes were placed in front of Zhong Chengshuo.

“Making amends to Liang Ge.” Yin Ren raised his glass of juice.

Across the table, Liang Shan grunted twice. He didn’t respond, but the smile and grease stains on his face betrayed him—this person had already lost his anger and was busy turning his indignation into appetite.

Even Lu Xiaohe came.

“I’ll eat a little less and go at 7,” she said apologetically. “I’ll pay equally for my share.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “Lu Jie, is there an urgent matter in the company?”

Lu Xiaohe paused her chopstick motion. “I’m going home to eat with my mother. Our family always has dinner together.”

…As far as her mother’s condition was concerned, this was one less meal with her mother, so she didn’t want to miss even a single one.

Yin Ren was startled. He quickly picked up a pair of chopsticks, grabbed the cold vegetables, and stuffed it into Zhong Chengshuo’s mouth.

“?!” Zhong Chengshuo was about to ask why when he was blocked.

Although Yin Ren hadn’t used these chopsticks, the weird curse had started to attack Zhong Chengshuo again. Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes, nose, and ears began to have serious heat issues.

“I heard that the pudding here is very good. I’ll ask the waiter later to see if you can bring some for Auntie.” Yin Ren quickly changed the subject. “The internet says that this store is nice, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Haha, thank you, Xiao Yin. I didn’t even think of that.” Lu Xiaohe scratched her head a little embarrassedly.

“Speaking of which, the reason I came is because I have something to tell you.”

“Nn.” Just in case, Yin Ren had picked up a piece of vegetable again and continued to block his partner’s mouth.

Zhong Chengshuo continued to eat in a uniform manner. Liang Shan glanced at the two of them in shock, but he politely remained silent.

Lu Xiaohe: “…Ge Tingting will be transferred to our group for field work training.”

Zhong Chengshuo choked. This time, he tried to look as if there were question marks written all over his face.

“So fast?” Yin Ren asked on his behalf. “We’re still newcomers. Isn’t this not good? Didn’t Units 6 and 7 from the Special Investigation Team participate? Is it because there are inconveniences for our seniors or…?”

“Maybe it’s because we’re relatively free and you’re also new recruits, so it’s better to train together. Units 6 and 7 are all B-level investigation groups. They don’t have that much time to take care of newcomers.”

Lu Xiaohe laughed.

“This is great. She’s a rogue corpse servant with great potential. No matter how many groups want her, they won’t be able to snag her.”

Yin Ren thought for a while about Qin Xiaoxiao and Qin Lele, who were the “orthodox corpse servants”, and was convinced.

It was probably better for Ge Tingting to communicate as well.

By Yin Ren’s side, Zhong Chengshuo wanted to speak but was stopped. He even tried to raise his hand. Lu Xiaohe raised her brows at him. “What’s wrong, Xiao Zhong? Is there something inconvenient on your side?”

Zhong Chengshuo finally swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty and a bitter expression. “My home can’t accommodate so many people.”

Yin Ren, Lu Xiaohe: “……”

One of them looked at the sky while the other stared at the ground with the same exhausted expression on their faces.

Liang Shan wasn’t familiar with Comrade Xiao Zhong’s brain circuit. “…You two are grown men, and that’s an underage girl. Shian’s brain would have to be broken before they would arrange for her to live with you. Besides, she’s not an official Black Seal and doesn’t require attendance speed, which means she’ll probably live in the staff dorms.”

Zhong Chengshuo suddenly realized this point. “Oh.”

Immediately afterwards, he frowned again and murmured. “My home? Our home?”

“Anyway, that’s all.” Lu Xiaohe clapped her hands. “She still needs to recover, so she’ll probably join next Monday.”

Yin Ren took a long look at the barbeque in front of him and touched his chin. “Then—”

“Then should we buy her a welcome gift… or something?” It was rare that Zhong Chengshuo interrupted him in advance.

“Yes, Zhong Ge. It wasn’t a complete loss that you read <The Art of Communication>.” Yin Ren comforted and patted Zhong Chengshuo on the back vigorously.

Zhong Chengshuo felt more encouraged, and his spirit was slightly refreshed. “For example, maybe gift her a full set of anatomical tools.”

Yin Ren: “……”

“Or a music box.” Zhong Chengshuo attempted to change his line of thought to that of his partner after noticing the atmosphere was off.

“…Or maybe a music player…” Seeing that no one was speaking, his voice became smaller.

“That’s good!” Yin Ren rushed to the rescue. “She just can’t understand people talking, not that she can’t hear sounds. A music player is a great idea.”

Zhong Chengshuo breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know if it was the cause of the barbeque heat, but his ears were slightly red.

“But a music player may be a bit mature, so children may not like it much.” Lu Xiaohe rubbed her lips. “How about… noise-canceling headphones? Buy her a good brand. It’s also convenient for her to listen to songs. For things like a tablet, Shian will give them to her in advance.”

“That’s also a good idea.”

“Agreed.”

“Then leave the headphones for Xiao Zhong to choose. I feel like he knows this kind of stuff best. When you pay, everyone in the group will AA*.” Lu Xiaohe stood up. “Let’s go, Xiao Yin, and get the pudding.”

*Slang for going Dutch. In this case, it basically means everyone in the group will split the cost of the headphones.

……

The night was a relaxing one.

Unlike in the past, Zhong Chengshuo didn’t go for his night run even though he had less work. As soon as he got home, he sat upright at the desk in the living room and concentrated on looking up information.

Yin Ren glanced at the screen. It seemed Zhong Chengshuo was searching for information about different brands of headphones and, from time to time, would lower his head to take notes.

He was a little puzzled—Zhong Chengshuo had always been serious about his work, so Yin Ren wasn’t surprised by this. What was surprising was that this person didn’t actually lock himself in the bedroom to do this.

Something was amiss.

Sure enough, after checking for more than ten minutes, Comrade Xiao Zhong slowly turned his head. “Yin Ren, help me take a look at this. I don’t know if it’s suitable for girls.”

“Well, this might be a bit too heavy.”

“Yin Ren, take a look at this for me. Is the color okay?”

“This pink is too bright. There’s no need to choose according to popular taste. Ge Tingting likes to wear cold-colored t-shirts.”

“Yin Ren…”

“I think you should be a little more confident,” Lord Ghost King said tactfully.

“I haven’t given anyone a gift before.” There was a sense of tension in Zhong Chengshuo’s tone, as if a war was about to begin.

“You can feel it in your heart. I don’t think Ge Tingting will be picky about the details… I gave you a cellphone chain before, and I didn’t know what you liked. Don’t you like it? It’s like that.”

Zhong Chengshuo was stunned. It took him a few seconds to react. He looked at the hamster ornament on his phone that was the same as Yin Ren. After a while, he stretched out his hand and stroked the hamster carefully.

Zhong Chengshuo really didn’t hate it. Although he didn’t deliberately use it, he kept it with him every day.

Could it be that Yin Ren cast a curse on him through this thing?

Next, Yin Ren watched as Zhong Chengshuo stood up and hurried back to his bedroom with the laptop in his arms. The speed was as fast as lightning, as if a fire came out of nowhere and lit that person’s ass.

Lord Ghost King crawled back to the sofa lazily. The keychain on his phone flickered with his movement.

Yin Ren looked at it for a moment.

He tapped on the phone with only 1% battery. “Hey, since you have been reacting to the evil qi, can you absorb it?”

“Woof woof!!!” The power of the spirit weapon phone instantly surged. It was sluggish just now. Its blood-red power instantly turned into full green.

“You’re too loud—” Yin Ren hurriedly gestured.

He then switched to typing on the notepad. [If I can share a little power, would you like to cooperate with me? Vibrate if you’re willing.]

The phone vibrated, looking inexplicably excited. As if afraid that the strength wasn’t enough, it also gave a whispered “woof”.

[Very good.]

Yin Ren closed his eyes and carefully recalled the evil qi on the keychain—its state was extremely stable, which really brought him a lot of inspiration.

He divided a fraction of his Evil Spirit power and condensed it on his fingertips, then gently tapped the screen.

Good. He didn’t feel dizzy this time.

The moment it came into contact with the Evil Spirit qi, the phone screen became pitch black. It wasn’t matte black, but more like a sudden opening to the abyss.

After a while, the screen lit up again. The phone automatically awakened the voice assistant, and a dark red blood mass appeared at the bottom of the interface. It floated gently, appearing and disappearing.

The phone vibrated slightly.

[Hello, this is Siren. Please press and hold the control button for dialogue.] It showed silently, still playing the “fake ghost act”.

…This thing’s IQ had improved by leaps and bounds. It actually learned how to write. Not to mention, Yin Ren silently thought, the label “dead person*” was quite apt.

*Clarity: The phone’s name is Siren (in English). However, [siren] (死人) in Chinese refers to a dead person/the dead, which is the joke here.

Yin Ren quickly confirmed his question. [What are you?]

[I don’t know.]

[Where are you from?]

[I don’t know.]

[What do you want to do?]

The blood mass froze for a while.

[Go home.] It answered.

Yin Ren frowned. [Can you detect the qi of Evil Spirits?]

[If you’re referring to the human definition of ‘Evil Spirits’, yes.]

[How?]

[I don’t know.]

Yin Ren: “…” This dog thing didn’t seem to be useful. If it weren’t for his Evil Spirit qi that he divided could be slowly recovered, he would have suffered a blood loss.

Well, he had to change the direction of his questions.

[Aside from the definition of humans, do you know what I am?]

[Know.]

Yin Ren was startled.

[According to your definition, what am I?]

The blood mass was silent again for a long time.

After nearly ten seconds, it carefully wrote out: [Weak.]

---

The author has something to say:

This arc is over~ Thank you for your support, you genuine little cuties!!!

Did you say upgrade flow*? Upgrade flow (?

*Jargon for literary circle where the protagonist starts as an ordinary person and begins to step up to the winner’s road in life little by little through challenges, tribulations, and desires.

Xiao Zhong: It’s more difficult to choose headphones than beating up Sunken Society…

Xiao Yin: It’s harder to fill in the gaps in your partner’s EQ than cosplaying the Dragon of Destruction……

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Silly Zhong Chengshuo, thinking that all this is a curse.

Arc summary:

After being officially admitted to Shian, the two started living together as per Shian’s requirements. Before they even had time to settle in, a new case had emerged that involved a corpse splitter. They were assigned to work with the police to investigate why a corpse had been split into perfectly sized cubes.

They initially thought it was a cult ritual, but it turned out to be powers granted by a video game character. Their investigation revealed that the victim was an assaulter, who planned to attack a young girl, Ge Tingting, who was deaf and mute, and out of self-defense, she activated her latent corpse servant ability and choked him with insect corpses. She was saved by a young child who had the ability to see “sin value” on people and split their corpses into cubes when he defeated them.

Things became clearer when they found the victim’s accomplice, whose facial features were distorted as if he were 2D. The accomplice could only repeat a single line, which they later found out was from the game <The Legend of Resurrection>, after their new team member, the rear science post, Lu Xiaohe, discovered it while playing it with her mother.

Things were finally revealed: this entire case was a conspiracy planned by Sunken Society. They recruited the kid, Feng Qi, and gave him a corrupted item that emitted evil qi that slowly corrupted him. Feng Qi, thinking that he had transmigrated over to <The Legend of Resurrection>, wanted to complete the main quest in order to get his wish granted—to resurrect his dead parents. Not knowing that he was still in the real world and that his cognition had changed, Feng Qi “defeated” two criminals. His last requirement was to obtain a “dragon scale”, which was actually a cursed weapon called “Good Boy”, from the drug lord Master Liu.

Sunken Society had worked out a deal with Master Liu, granting him “Good Boy” so he could rise in the underground world. After 10 years, it was time for him to return the spirit weapon. Reluctant to do so since he was also cursed by it, Sunken Society recruited Feng Qi (unknowingly) as a distraction for Shian and the police.

Amidst the confrontation between Shian, the police, the children, and Master Liu, Sunken Society would sneak in and steal the “Good Boy” back. However, things didn’t go as planned. Yin Ren interfered with their clean up and saved Ge Tingting and Feng Qi, while Zhong Chengshuo dealt with Master Liu and Sunken Society.

It is then revealed that Zhong Chengshuo is actually a top mercenary from Nightwalkers, another large organization, and possesses an extremely powerful cursed spirit weapon called “Evil Fruit”.

All in all, the bad guys are defeated, and Ge Tingting will now join them.

Side Characters:

Ge Tingting is a child from a mountain village. Her parents died protecting her during a car accident, which triggered her latent corpse servant ability. This made her unable to understand and communicate through talking with people. She was targeted by an assaulter and inadvertently activated her corpse servant ability, killing the guy in self-defense. She encounters her savior, Feng Qi, and becomes corrupted by evil qi. She then helps the kid finish his “quest” so she can “return” to her original world.

She was saved by Yin Ren during the confrontation with Master Liu and is now recovering. She is going to join Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo’s team.

Feng Qi is a child who was celebrating his birthday. On the day of, his parents went out to pick up his cake and died in a car accident. Exploiting this, Sunken Society approached him and gave him a keychain from his mom that was corrupted with evil qi. This activated his latent powers and warped his cognition. He then thought he had transmigrated into the game <The Legend of Resurrection> that his family would always play and hoped to complete the main quest in order to revive his parents.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 42: Curse

In order to create the illusion of “going home”, Zhong Chengshuo specifically went back to the gym. After confirming he was captured by surveillance, he ran through the heavy rain and into a bus stop near the community.

As soon as he stopped, he found Yin Ren waiting for him at the entrance.

At this distance, both he and Yin Ren could just see each other.

Yin Ren was holding a black umbrella and looking relaxed. He was wearing loose home clothes, and his long hair was draped dryly on his shoulders. Behind him was Ping’an Manor. He wasn’t sure if it was because there was so much commotion going on that night, but many homes still had their lights on.

The warm-colored windows were like lights, outlining the figure in front of them.

This was reminiscent of Gao Mengyu’s case when they walked along the river at night. There were similar sporadic warm lights on the other side of the river.

Yin Ren had also spotted Zhong Chengshuo—he was waving in his direction. Zhong Chengshuo wiped the rain from his chin, intending to greet him as if nothing had happened.

Then he saw the familiar smile on Yin Ren’s face.

Zhong Chengshuo paused.

Not so long ago, in Gao Mengyu’s apartment, Yin Ren also smiled with such a cheerful and calm smile, saying that he needed to be alone to “meditate”.

Zhong Chengshuo complied and exited the apartment, closing the door behind him.

Like glaciers that were thousands of years old cracking, a raging cold river swept in, and in an instant, thousands of icicles pierced his heart, and the cold wind blinded him through all his pores. A majestic killing intent exploded from behind him.

Zhong Chengshuo immediately got goosebumps. It wasn’t a ghost, nor was it magic. That was just pure malice and hostility from a creature.

At that moment, he felt as if he were floating in the deep winter sea, resisting a never-ending storm with just his body alone. The killing intent in the apartment was so strong and fierce that it wasn’t something a “normal human” could do.

Zhong Chengshuo clenched his fists, and his body trembled slightly. The corners of his mouth curled up as his thoughts turned. His heartbeat continued to accelerate with excitement.

Will Yin Ren be his enemy?

…Or his prey?

“Do you feel anything?” At that time, facing Yin Ren, who had just walked out, Zhong Chengshuo asked this seemingly unintentionally.

The man grinned and waved his hand. “I just feel hungry.”

‘No, it’s impossible to confirm how “dangerous” he is,’ Zhong Chengshuo thought at that time.

After that, Zhong Chengshuo took a sample of Yin Ren’s hair, as he needed to collect more evidence.

……

So far, Zhong Chengshuo only knew that Yin Ren’s strength wasn’t weak. The origin of this person was so mysterious that even Shian didn’t have a clue.

What exactly is “Yin Ren”? What does he want to do? Does it have anything to do with the “Evil Spirits”? …Did Yin Ren intervene tonight?

Seeing that familiar smile again, memories of the killing intent gushed out so suddenly that Zhong Chengshuo forgot to move.

Seeing that Zhong Chengshuo didn’t react, Yin Ren simply greeted him with an umbrella. He got to the bus stop and neatly shook the rain off the umbrella.

Under the warm streetlights, the two looked at each other quietly.

“You came back just in time. All that commotion had finally stopped.” Yin Ren scratched the tip of his nose. “Judging by how things look, it seems the two children have been sent to the hospital, and they can’t contact their families for the time being…”

“Aren’t you worried about your family?” Zhong Chengshuo didn’t follow the conversation. His dark eyes were like the muzzle of a gun, pointing straight at Yin Ren.

“…What?”

He didn’t know if it was because of his excursion just now, but vigilance, curiosity, and excitement were all intertwined, causing Zhong Chengshuo’s hair to coldly stand up. His state of mind was highly concentrated and unprecedentedly good.

In his vision, except for his target, Yin Ren, everything around him dimmed.

As long as Yin Ren lied, he was confident he could instantly expose it.

Even if his opponent attacked him because of this exposure… the Evil Fruit was in his bag. He could grab it in under two seconds.

“You haven’t remembered anything so far.” Zhong Chengshuo moved his fingers slightly and continued, “Your family might be waiting for you.”

What answer will he get? Lies, prevacation… Or will he change the subject?

Yin Ren didn’t immediately reply.

He turned his head and casually glanced at Zhong Chengshuo as if they were having a nice chat.

“I like to let fate take its course. When it arrives, those who should meet will definitely meet. If that’s not within my fate, then there’s no point in worrying about it.”

Yin Ren stared straight into Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes. His eyes were bent in a smile. Most of the good smell on his body was covered by the rain, but Zhong Chengshuo could still smell a bit of it.

“…And you’re my family now, which I think is quite good.”

This person isn’t lying.

Like a sharp knife piercing the air, his tight defense lost its fulcrum. Zhong Chengshuo’s scalp went numb. He was at a loss for a moment.

He didn’t understand.

“Let’s stop talking here and return home quickly. Hey, you should probably wring out your clothes first. You should be careful not to catch a cold since you’re all wet.” The culprit looked at the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s dripping clothes and clicked his tongue.

“Ah… Let’s talk about it when we get home,” Zhong Chengshuo replied in a haze.

He clenched the strap of his bag tightly. His cold and wet clothes were like the hands of the dead, sticking so tightly to his body that it made his huge scar protrude slightly.

Yin Ren suddenly realized something. “You don’t want to take off your shirt in front of others? Don’t worry. All the surveillance cameras are broken right now. Shian’s busy repairing them. Should I turn around?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “……” That’s not the problem.

However, he was still immersed in that blankness and had no energy to respond.

Yin Ren pondered for a moment.

In the shadows, Yin Ren made a gun gesture with his other hand. In the next moment, he suddenly turned around and aimed his index finger at Zhong Chengshuo’s forehead.

This action came without warning. The hostility that had just been broken gathered in an instant. Zhong Chengshuo subconsciously lowered his sense of gravity. His muscles tightened all over his body, and he was just about to move—

“Bang!” Yin Ren said with a smile.

For an instant, the rain around the two of them condensed in the air.

It wasn’t just the rain that froze. Countless pearl-sized drops of water burst out from Zhong Chengshuo’s clothes and floated around the two of them. His drenched clothing and hair instantly became dry, as if he wasn’t even soaked before.

The round water drops floated in the air, surrounding the two of them under the warm streetlights, looking like fireflies that were reflecting the broken light like diamonds.

They swam very slowly, and one of them hit Yin Ren’s “muzzle”.

Tap.

Yin Ren poked lightly, causing the drop of water to bounce on Zhong Chengshuo’s forehead in response, splitting into a fine mist.

The touch was warm and cool.

The moment the water drop exploded, Zhong Chengshuo’s heart stopped for a second. He didn’t know if this was the aftermath of the battle, but a shiver ran down his back inexplicably.

“What do you think? This is a little trick I learned tonight. Isn’t it awesome?”

Yin Ren leaned closer with a smile. He used his umbrella to whisk away the raindrops that were frozen in the air and covered Zhong Chengshuo’s head with half of the umbrella.

“Alright. Let’s go home.”

The moment he said this, the rain poured again, jumping and tapping on the surface of the umbrella. Zhong Chengshuo didn’t know if it was because he was no longer wet or if Yin Ren was too close to him, but the surroundings suddenly warmed up, especially his ears, which seemed to have gotten hot.

He couldn’t help but cover one of his ears with one hand, but the enthusiasm was so insatiable that it began to spread to his cheeks. The tension had dissipated, but his heartbeat didn’t return to normal.

…Perhaps he was affected by some kind of curse when he was attacked, but he didn’t think he was under the effects of a curse. Zhong Chengshuo shook his head hard, trying to get rid of this mysterious intensity.

“Oh right, you twisted your ankle. Let me give you a hand.”

Yin Ren was unaware of Zhong Chengshuo’s entanglement. As Lord Ghost King was speaking, he had already grabbed his partner’s arm and put it on his shoulder.

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t respond and turned his face away, letting his facial expression be buried deeply in the night.

At this moment, Yin Ren was in a good mood.

While the two were walking back, Yin Ren sniffed quietly. Zhong Chengshuo had almost no evil qi on his body. The level of dealing with traces was top-notch, which meant his fighting skills weren’t low.

However, he didn’t feel any killing intent from this person. After something like this happened, it seemed that Zhong Chengshuo didn’t intend to have a showdown with him.

So far, he still seemed to want to continue living in peace with him.

Didn’t this mean that everything was settled?

‘Today’s tentative mission was successfully completed,’ Yin Ren thought lazily. As for tomorrow’s affairs, he’ll put them off for his tomorrow’s self to deal with. He still hadn’t finished his game yet.

……

Room 601 Building 4. The windows were lit up again.

Yin Ren put away the umbrella and glanced at Zhong Chengshuo. It wasn’t a serious look, but Lord Ghost King was shocked. “Zhong Ge, do you have a fever?”

Why was his face so red, as if he had been slapped? It obviously wasn’t so serious just now.

Zhong Chengshuo ignored him and limped back to his bedroom, then slammed the door shut.

“Remember to take medicine! Also, help me prepare some stomach medicine.”

On the other side of the thick door panel, Zhong Chengshuo reluctantly responded with an “Nn”.

Yin Ren shook his head in amusement. He collapsed on the sofa, took out his phone, and was just about to beg for forgiveness from Comrade Liang Shan—

“Click.”

The sound of Zhong Chengshuo locking his bedroom door was deafening at midnight when everything else was extremely quiet.

Yin Ren: “???”

The two of them had lived in peace for almost a month. Why did this kid suddenly lock his door?

Was he in a bad mood? Did he tease Comrade Xiao Zhong too much? But Lu Xiaohe had done the same thing. Last time, didn’t Zhong Chengshuo even play along? Why did he get angry when it was him?

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t seem to expect the sound of him locking his bedroom door to be so loud. Two seconds later, another “click” sounded from the door, as if he were saying, “I accidently locked the door just now.”

Yin Ren could feel the obvious guilt.

A few seconds later, there was another self-defeating “click” from the door.

Oh, he locked it again.

Yin Ren exerted a bit of strength and deliberately walked heavily to Zhong Chengshuo’s door. “Zhong Ge, are you okay?”

He had never hesitated to bring the greatest embarrassment to mankind.

“I want to take a shower.” Zhong Chengshuo tried to cover up, but obviously failed*.

*There are no three hundred taels of silver here (此地无银三百两) It’s an idiom referring to trying to cover up something but instead exposing the truth. It comes from a folk story. You can read it in my Kinky Thoughts.

Why? Are you afraid I’ll stage a surprise attack while you’re showering? Yin Ren snorted. He wouldn’t trespass… Wait, he seemed to have done something similar before.

Alright fine. I guess he’s justified.

“Remember to come out and play with me after you finish showering.” Yin Ren returned to the sofa dejectedly. The case was over, but they still had the tail end of <The Legend of Resurrection> left to finish. There would definitely be a work summary next week, and their progress wasn’t looking good.

There was only the sound of rushing water coming from Zhong Chengshuo’s room. Yin Ren wasn’t sure if he had heard what he said.

Yin Ren had always refused to go to bed early. Lord Ghost King happily ordered three servings of spicy crayfish with different flavors and prepared for a night battle with a modern-day dog-blooded drama. As a result, just as he was about to turn off the lights and adjust the volume, Zhong Chengshuo’s bedroom door clicked open, and he cautiously walked out.

Yin Ren gave him a sideways glance.

“We should finish fighting the Dragon of Destruction before we go to bed.” Zhong Chengshuo sat normally and explained to the potted plant next to the TV.

Comrade Zhong Chengshuo was wearing his formal pajamas, but unlike before, this time, his nightcap was a little exaggerated—it wrapped around most of his head and covered his ears tightly.

“Let’s hurry and finish the fight so you can go to bed earlier.” Yin Ren hummed. “Hey, do you think something is off? I always feel like I have forgotten something…”

Zhong Chengshuo tugged the nightcap and contemplated for a few seconds, then silently nodded his head in agreement.

What is it? Ah, forget it. Whatever it is can be put off until tomorrow. The two of them grabbed their controllers and looked at the big screen.

On the TV.

Yin Ren controlled his “vampire prince” to rise in the air and throw an invalid attack at the “vampire hunter”, adding rain-like special effects around him.

Off screen.

In the Shian Small Work Group, Liang Shan sent another 60-second voice message.

……

The next day.

As soon as the two got up, they received a preliminary investigation from Shian.

Someone had taken Feng Qi’s mother’s keychain, contaminated it with evil qi, and then returned it to the desperate child. Based on the existing clues, it was inferred that this was done by Sunken Society.

Feng Qi successfully survived the corruption and gained an unusual ability. However, for a combatant who could only attack “murderers” and was quickly moving to his death, Sunken Society obviously had little interest in him.

They just gave Feng Qi some false information and used him as bait to teach a drug lord a lesson.

…Similar to abandoning an unsuccessful experiment.

Now that the keychain had been carefully confiscated, Ge Tingting’s and Feng Qi’s vital signs became stable, and there were no serious problems for the time being.

Master Liu and his gang were wiped out, and the cursed weapon “Good Boy” was successfully recovered by Shian. Except for the small and unnatural movements from Sunken Society, the ending could be considered happy.

The fact remained that two children killed two people couldn’t be erased, but their situation was special. After discussion, the police had a rough inference.

Regarding Wu Tao, in Ge Tingting’s case, it belonged to self-defense, while Feng Qi’s behavior was considered excessive self-defense. Ma Jiangshuai’s case was characterized as manslaughter. At the time of the incident, Feng Qi was mainly responsible. He was still under 12 while Ge Tingting was a little over 16, which meant the two of them weren’t criminally responsible.

Taking into account the mental condition and family situation of the two children, after the interrogation process was completed, the two would be handed over to Shian for special correction and education, the length of which would depend on the outcome of the interrogation.

In their cases, it was difficult for them to return to society and obtain normal jobs once they grew up. While on the surface it was considered “special correction education”, for Shian, it was actually “treatment” plus “incorporation”.

Shian-Small Working Group.

[Milky Way: Ge Tingting has woken up, and Feng Qi is out of danger. Most likely, he’ll wake up in two days.]

[Milky Way: I just don’t know what kind of sequelae there will be.]

[Fruit Knife: As long as they’re okay 🙏.]

[Final Fruit: Well, as long as everyone is okay.]

[The River Flows Eastward: ?]

[The River Flows Eastward: I thought you two were in the hospital too (expletive) (expletive) (expletive) (expletive)]

[Milky Way: Uh, Lao Liang, control your emotions.]

[Fruit Knife: Sorry Liang Ge! I was a little deflated last night and forgot about it! Wuwu 😭]

[Fruit Knife: So was Zhong Ge. It rained yesterday, and he caught a fever when he got home.]

[Final Fruit: ……]

[Final Fruit: I’m sorry, wuwu]

[Milky Way: ………………]

[The River Flows Eastward: Forget it. I didn’t hear from you last night, so I invited three buddies from the police station to eat.]

[The River Flows Eastward: 🧧🧧🧧]

[Fruit Knife: No, no, we’re sorry. Consider it a treat for our police comrades.]

[Fruit Knife: Next time, we promise to arrive one hour in advance!]

[Fruit Knife: Speaking of which, Xiaohe Jie, can I go to the hospital to see Feng Qi?]

[Milky Way: Yes, but he hasn’t woken up yet. The child is too young. When he wakes up, we’ll have to find a way to trick him about using his ability to kill people.]

[Fruit Knife: I know. I just want to see him. I won’t say much.]

[Final Fruit: I’ll go too.]

In the room, Yin Ren looked at Zhong Chengshuo with some surprise—he was cleaning the kitchen stove while replying to the text messages. Yin Ren wanted to go out for a stroll and had no intention of helping with Zhong Chengshuo’s cleaning.

However, feeling his gaze, Comrade Zhong Chengshuo didn’t look back and instead wiped the stove even more vigorously.

[Milky Way: Seeing as how well you guys behaved last night, you can go.]

[Fruit Knife: By the way, I want to go to Feng Qi’s house first. Xiaohe Jie, can you help? 🥺]

……

On Sunday afternoon, Haigu People’s Hospital.

There was a gift shop downstairs in the hospital. Yin Ren bought a music box and added a black dragon plush toy. Zhong Chengshuo looked around as he carried two bags of apples.

“You seem to be very good at this.”

At the checkout, Zhong Chengshuo spoke hesitantly as he saw the bulging bag in Yin Ren’s hand.

“No such thing. It’s just a little guess.” Yin Ren glanced back at the two bags of apples. “You don’t have to learn from me. In fact, communicating with children is quite easy—as long as you speak from your heart, they can feel it.”

“…” Zhong Chengshuo lowered his head and became lost in his thoughts.

When they visited, Ge Tingting was sleeping. The girl lay quietly on the hospital bed and slept soundly. Her dry and chapped lips were now moist and had returned to a healthy color.

Yin Ren didn’t bother her. He entrusted his gift to her with the nurse and walked to Feng Qi’s ward.

Feng Qi happened to be staying in Wu Pengpeng’s original room.

Since Feng Qi’s corruption was brought under control, Wu Pengpeng quickly returned to normal. He was taken to the police station right after he was discharged from the hospital. As for Qian Zhicheng—that orange head had already left the hospital. After this incident, Qian Zhicheng was so frightened that he changed his ways. It was said that besides going to work and school, he dared not leave his apartment.

The nurse in the ward was still the 1103 that they were familiar with.

Seeing Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo holding gifts, the nurse subconsciously cracked her knuckles.

On the hospital bed, Feng Qi’s thin body was covered in tubes. His eyes were tightly closed, and his chest was breathing smoothly. The moment the two entered, he seemed to notice something and slowly opened his eyes.

His pupils were somewhat distorted, but they were much clearer than before.

“I’m really back…”

He stared at the ceiling in a daze. His voice was low, but everyone present could hear it.

The boy wasn’t interested in Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, who came over. He just stared at the light on the ceiling with dry, dull eyes.

“Mom… Dad…”

“Feng Qi.” Yin Ren took two steps forward. He put the gift he had bought at the door and only carried a simple bag with him.

Feng Qi turned his head and saw Yin Ren’s face. The boy was taken aback. He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke in a small, weak voice.

“Who are you?”

“The person in charge of your parents’ case.” Yin Ren carefully sat down on the edge of the bed. “We caught another bad guy. We went to your house for a search yesterday and found something.”

Feng Qi looked at Yin Ren with interest.

“I found this at the bottom of your closet.” Yin Ren opened the paper bag and revealed its contents. “We think you are likely to need it now.”

It was a roughly wrapped gift with a brightly colored ribbon wrapped around it. A small card was attached to the wrapping paper—

[Feng Family Game Grand Prix—Special Prize: A new game console anyone will love]

[To the greatest adventurer in the world. Mom and Dad wish you will be forever brave.]

The boy was stunned. He struggled to lift his hand and touch the gift.

That was right; it was his birthday.

He had forgotten about it.

“The bottom… of the closet…?” Deep in Feng Qi’s eyes, there was a spark that lit up again.

“Yes,” Yin Ren said softly. “Don’t worry. We didn’t touch anything in the house. But there was something strange… The game console in the house was still on, as if someone had touched it.”

“It didn’t go to sleep, and the game characters were all in a flower field full of stars. Sorry, we didn’t watch the scene too carefully. The previous save file should be very important to you—”

Feng Qi’s tears rushed down his cheeks all at once.

This time, there was no blood in them, and they were distinctly clear.

“Mm.” He choked and coughed several times. “Now… it’s also… very important… the most important… to me.”

“Don’t agitate my patient,” the nurse warned coldly. “You guys, leave.”

But this time, she didn’t throw them out.

“I have something to say to Mr. Feng,” Zhong Chengshuo suddenly said. “Yin Ren, go out first. I’ll stay for a bit.”

Yin Ren made a funny face at Feng Qi and then left the room without asking anything.

Anyway, the sound insulation here wasn’t that good.

Inside the ward.

Under the icy glare of the nurse, Zhong Chengshuo squatted down by Feng Qi’s bedside and looked at him.

The boy’s eyes were still red, and his hands, which were full of infusion needles, were gripping tightly on the ribbon of his gift, refusing to let go no matter what.

“I know you’re sad now,” Zhong Chengshuo spoke cautiously, “and I don’t know how to comfort you.”

Feng Qi looked at him in silence.

“My colleague knows more about the <The Legend of Resurrection> than I do. He can find gifts and save files.”

Zhong Chengshuo tilted his head. His eyes were as deep as ever. He slowly stretched out his right hand and, after hesitating for a moment, carefully patted the boy’s head.

“I don’t know what you think of death,” he said softly. “Do you like plants?”

Feng Qi nodded hesitantly.

“To me, death means the disappearance of ‘the part above the soil’, but the roots beneath will not be dried up instantly.”

The boy looked at Zhong Chengshuo half-understandingly.

“Your parents… When you grow up, you can see them in your physical features. You can find them in your habits and discover them in your diseases. Their shadow will be in your personality, thinking, joy, and pain.”

This was science, and science didn’t lie.

Zhong Chengshuo took back his hand.

“This is the ‘remnant root’. Whether it’s good or bad, they will really disappear the moment you die,” he explained in a low voice. “So, your parents didn’t completely leave you.”

Feng Qi fixed his gaze on Zhong Chengshuo, who had stood up rather uncomfortably.

“Then, that’s all I have to say.”

“Thank you.” Feng Qi struggled to raise the corner of his mouth to give him a smile.

“Brother… can you also help… the person next door. He… has been asking for help…” He moved his fingers and pointed to the ward where the serial murderer, Guo Laifu, was. Yin Ren hadn’t shut the door well, so the disordered and frenzied screams were still trickling in from the crack of the door.

Zhong Chengshuo’s movement froze in mid-air.

“Can you understand him?” His gaze returned to the boy’s face.

“Yes……” Feng Qi said weakly.

“He keeps screaming… screaming the same thing.”

“He’s saying, ‘Mommy, mommy, I’m so scared’.”

---

The author has something to say:

Lord Ghost King ran away after he finished teasing! (pointing.jpg）

Xiao Zhong: Damn it, what a powerful curse!

So the truth about Gao Mengyu’s cat case——

Inside the house: Lord Ghost King killing intent frightens the cat.

Outside the house: Minister Fu’s and Xiao Zhong’s eyes tremble.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Our Zhong Chengshuo is reaching enlightenment.

—-

Folk story:

Once upon a time, there was a man named Zhang San who worked hard every day and managed to save three hundred taels of silver. He was very happy, but at the same time worried, always afraid that someone would steal his money. After thinking about it, Zhang San found a big box, put the three hundred taels in the box, then dug a hole in an open space behind the house and buried the box deeply in the ground.

After doing this, Zhang San felt relieved and was about to go back to rest, but before leaving, he took a look at the place where the box was buried and became worried again, fearing that someone would accidentally dig it out. So he slapped his head and came up with a “good solution”. He quickly took out a piece of paper and wrote on it: “There’s no three hundred taels of silver here.” After writing it, he pasted the note on the corner of the wall and then left with peace of mind.

Zhang San’s abnormal behavior was seen by his neighbor, Wang Er. Wang Er felt curious, so he sneaked behind Zhang San’s house while he was asleep and saw the note by moonlight. Wang Er instantly understood at once, so he dug up the box and stole the silver. Seeing the money, Wang Er was very excited, but he was also afraid of being discovered by Zhang San, so he hurriedly filled the hole again. After thinking about it, he also took a piece of paper and wrote on it: “Your neighbor Wang Er never stole it.”, and pasted it on the corner of the wall where the previous note was.

The next morning, after Zhang San got up, he went to the back of the house to look at his silver, and suddenly found that it was gone. After seeing the note pasted by Wang Er, he immediately understood: Wang Er had stolen his money!

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 41: Going Home

July 10^th, 9:05.

Feng Qi jumped out of bed with anticipation. Today was his birthday and also a Saturday, so he didn’t have to go to school.

The small store his family owned was closed for business. His mom and dad had closed the store so they could celebrate his birthday with him. Feng Qi took out the cartridge for <The Legend of Resurrection> from the bottom of his bed and quickly arranged the console and controller.

Today was the third “Feng Family Game Grand Prix”!

July 10^th, 11:47.

In <The Legend of Resurrection>, dad’s “shield warrior” and mom’s “priest” froze in place. Feng Qi manipulated his little swordsman to run around as he happily did the side quest of picking apples.

After completing the quest, no quest items would be given, but instead he could get a cute garland that could be hung on the outside door of a player’s home.

Mom liked that garland very much.

In the kitchen a few steps away, the sound of cooking was mixed with the faint conversation of his parents. Feng Qi smelled his favorite fried shrimp and braised pork ribs, causing him to jump excitedly on the sofa several times.

July 10^th, 12:30.

“Oops, I filled in the delivery address to our store.” After answering the call from the delivery man, his father had an embarrassed smile on his face. “Fortunately, it’s not too far away. I’ll go get the cake.”

“I also want to drink orange juice.” Feng Qi drank all the Coke in his cup and took the opportunity to make a request.

“I’ll go too. I’ll have your dad carry the orange juice,” his mom replied with a smile. “That way I don’t have to worry about him breaking the cake.”

July 10^th, 12:49.

It was only five or six minutes away from their small store that was close to home. His mom and dad were so slow. Since they were late, it shouldn’t matter if he ate a shrimp first, right?

He quietly ate a deep-fried shrimp. While staring at the door, he quickly rearranged the remaining shrimp.

Fortunately, he wasn’t caught by his parents.

July 10^th, 12:58.

Mom and dad still hadn’t returned.

July 10^th, 15:16.

Mom and Dad still didn’t come back, and they weren’t picking up their phone.

July 11^th, 11:14.

Many strangers came into his home. They said that his parents were “gone”, and even a few distant relatives wanted to take him away.

Why did he have to leave? This was obviously his home. Maybe they were all mistaken, and his parents would suddenly return home and surprise him.

Feng Qi locked the door to his room. When those people walked away, shaking their heads, he quietly opened it again.

The cheerful background music of the game was looping continuously. The big meal on the table had gone completely cold. His mom’s and dad’s rice bowls had only been slightly touched. The rice grains in the bowl were dry and hard, and the chopsticks were still resting in their original position.

The sauce on the fried shrimp had completely dried out, giving off a vague sour smell. It no longer looked even remotely appetizing.

Tomorrow was Monday. Feng Qi didn’t want to go to school.

Who would wake him up?

July 11^th, 20:31.

Feng Qi sneaked out and stood quietly at the “scene of the accident”. He didn’t understand and couldn’t figure it out.

He found nothing. A kind-hearted person had quietly slipped him a little “relic”. It was his mother’s favorite family photo keychain, and he hated the term “relic”.

It was already dark, but he didn’t want to go back to his original residence. The room had become emptier and bigger, and everything now felt unfamiliar.

Feng Qi knew that the game console was still on, and the food was still there, but he didn’t want to look at them.

He found a corner in the flower bed, curled up, and held the keychain tightly to his chest.

July 12^th, 6:12.

Feng Qi was awakened by something cool.

He opened his eyes, and a peculiar creature came into view—it had clear, lovely eyes and beautiful white scales like falling snow. Seeing that he was awake, the thing lowered its head obediently and gently arched at him.

It looked like a small flying dragon.

Feng Qi opened his eyes wide and looked around.

Monsters that had never been seen before were flying over the sky. A magnificent castle was traced with red edges by the rising sun. Not far away, the dirty keychain turned into a sterling silver badge. The badge lay on the verdant grass, and the family photo was finely embedded behind it.

In the photo, the smiling faces of his parents were particularly vivid.

The white young dragon spread its wings and rested near the badge.

“Good morning, great adventurer. Welcome to the world of <The Legend of Resurrection>. I am Ibby, your guide.”

It lowered its head and pushed the badge closer with its nose.

“Please wear your badge. You can use it to summon me at any time.”

Feng Qi froze in place in a daze. After a long time, his eyes started to light up bit by bit.

……

July 23^rd, 23:31.

Feng Qi’s ears were buzzing constantly, and his limbs were paralyzed to the point of losing consciousness. The surrounding sounds seemed to be separated by a thin water film, and all he could barely manage to control was a pair of eyes.

He knew he was about to die.

He had never been so tired, and his drowsiness was as if he had swallowed a shot put and it was slowly getting heavier as it descended. Oddly enough, his vision had become clearer than before.

At first, he didn’t perceive the Dragon of Destruction at all. After that, he could detect the smell of the dragon from that beautiful hero.

And now he could see the complete form of the Dragon of Destruction.

In the sapphire-like night sky, under the twinkling diamonds, the black dragon was as dark as night, exuding a breath-taking aura. It had blood-red eyes—clearly a sign of a dangerous color—but the redness was soft, without the slightest bit of a bloody aura.

It opened its black wings with beautiful patterns and held him in the air with a ray of magic as it stared at him calmly.

It was a thing of magnificence and shocking beauty, thousands of times better than the images in the game.

Feng Qi tremblingly stretched out his hand and touched the cool and slippery dragon scales.

“I have to clear the game. I have a wish that must be fulfilled. Please…”

He didn’t feel how sad he was, but he couldn’t stop his tears.

“Is it because of this?” The dragon asked.

The familiar silver badge floated in front of him, with the photo he was most familiar with on the back.

Feng Qi’s lips quivered. Before he could make a sound, Ibby broke free from his arms and flew towards the silver badge. The young dragon used all its strength to rub against the silver badge affectionately, then licked it carefully with its tongue.

“……Yes.”

Feng Qi’s lips trembled as he continued to struggle.

“I… I used it to summon Ibby…”

“This thing is yours?” The dragon’s voice became gentler. “You’ve been wearing it on your body, and it has never left you?”

“This is my mother’s item. Someone gave it to me after they…”

The dragon was silent for a while.

“What’s your name?” It asked.

“Feng Qi,” the boy replied as he raised his head with difficulty. His voice was so small that it was almost inaudible.

“My name is Feng Qi…”

……

Yin Ren hugged the boy tightly in his arms. He knew that the child had reached his limits.

Under the influence of the evil qi, Feng Qi’s perceptual ability had mutated. He had “observation beyond common sense” and could now influence others in this way.

For some reason, these observations were all distorted things in <The Legend of Resurrection>. He imagined his own power as magic, and the perceived environment as a different world…

In order to make this all easier for him to understand, he even imagined “his own subconscious” as a guide named “Ibby”.

It was a nihilistic imagination that only the boy himself could see, and the evil qi it emitted couldn’t be detected.

Feng Qi.

Yin Ren remembered this name.

When he was investigating the rogue corpse servant, he had seen such a name in the vast list of the dead.

Feng Qi, 10 years old.

He wasn’t a deceased on the list but the survivor of the deceased Feng Shuangzhi and Lu Xiaoqi.

Feng Shuangzhi and Lu Xiaoqi were husband and wife. They owned a small store in Shangguang District. At 12:38 on July 10^th of this year, both of them died in a car accident on their way home.

The story wasn’t complicated. The driver, who was under the influence of drugs, was arrested on the spot.

In the column full of countless deaths, they weren’t the most special or the most tragic. They died too suddenly, and their corpses were disposed of quickly after their deaths, which wasn’t enough time to create a rogue corpse servant.

…But their deaths created something else.

Human potential often bursts out when people encounter extreme pain or despair. Feng Qi used this to survive the corruption of the evil qi, and it gave him an almost cursed gift.

But the brain of a living person couldn’t bear such a burden. As the corruption increased, his abilities became stronger, and he moved closer to death.

“You want to resurrect your parents, right?” Yin Ren sighed.

“This world is called <The Legend of Resurrection>.”

Feng Qi clenched Yin Ren’s hair tightly, like a drowning person grasping his last lifeline. His eyes were congested, his tone was rapid, and the corners of his mouth were dripping with pus and blood.

“There’s magic in this world that can bring back the dead…”

Yin Ren touched his head.

He could see death in Feng Qi’s eyes, although the boy may not have had time to understand what death was.

After the spell was brushed over, the rain on Feng Qi’s body instantly evaporated. The evil qi turned into warm air, and the temperature around the two of them seemed to be like a comfortable early summer.

“I’m not sure what you mean by <The Legend of Resurrection>.” Yin Ren maintained the boy’s fragile illusion. “But there’s no magic in this world that can bring back the dead.”

Feng Qi was speechless. He continued to grab Yin Ren’s hair without letting go; his eyes were in a trance, showing a look of pleading.

Yin Ren sighed. “I’m an acquaintance of ‘Death’, and this is a secret he told me.”

Yin Ren had looked up the ending of the game in advance.

As a second-rate game, it had a simple ending.

If they successfully cleared the game, the palace magician would fulfill the player’s wish. The final boss was the Dragon of Destruction. The player had no chance to encounter ‘Death’ and even the rescued prince only existed in the narratives.

How sloppy. It allowed people to accept all kinds of follow-ups at will.

“Death is just. He took away the wise prince not out of malice but because the prince… was unlucky. Even if the dead are forcibly resurrected, they won’t really be ‘human’.”

In a sense, this wasn’t a lie.

Feng Qi couldn’t help but sob. The hand holding Yin Ren’s hair started trembling.

“The prince may no longer be able to think normally and may have to watch as his body slowly rots. In any case, he will become a monster in the eyes of everyone.”

“Even if it’s a ‘resurrection’ like this, do you still want to bring your parents back?”

From beginning to end, no matter how weak Feng Qi was, there was always light in his eyes. At this moment, the light slowly went out. He looked at the keychain blankly, no longer trembling, no longer sobbing.

“I just…”

His voice was weak and hoarse, and his body was like a candle that could be extinguished at any moment, without the slightest bit of vitality.

“I haven’t said goodbye to them yet… I…”

His breathing was getting lighter.

Yin Ren stared at him for a while, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.

“Then make a wish to me. Make a wish to see them again.”

He recalled the tone of the “Dragon of Destruction” in the game as he floated smoothly in the sea of stars.

“At the cost of your ability, I can fulfill your wish and then send you back to your hometown.”

“The dead cannot come back to life, but you still have time to say goodbye to them.”

Yin Ren’s chest was a little wet. The boy’s blood and tears had soaked through his clothes. After a long time, Feng Qi finally let go of Yin Ren’s hair and buried his face deep in his chest.

The young dragon Ibby gave a yell and then closed its eyes equally meekly.

“Great adventurer, this is an important choice… It’s related to the ending of the game. Please choose carefully.”

Its voice was weak and calm, with a hint of subtle relief.

“…I see.” Feng Qi murmured. He was still buried in Yin Ren’s chest, which muffled his voice. “Dragon of Destruction… Lord Oberskras… I want to go home.”

Go back home to where mom and dad were.

“Okay,” Yin Ren replied softly.

He stretched out his hand and covered the boy’s cloudy eyes with his palm.

July 23^rd, 12:35.

The morning light passed through his eyelids, and Feng Qi suddenly woke up.

He was lying on his familiar bed. The electronic calendar at the head of the bed amazingly showed “July 10^th, 9:05.”

The coldness and pain in his whole body disappeared, and he felt so light as if he could fly. Feng Qi’s nose turned instantly sour as he got out of bed and ran into his parents’ bedroom.

He pounced on his mother, who was still in her pajamas.

‘It really smells like mom,’ he thought.

“Oh you, what’s up with you so early this morning?” His mom pinched his face. “Lao Feng, take care of your son. I have to change.”

“Swordsman Feng, hurry up and prepare the game with dad!” His dad put on his slippers and took out the console with a smile.

Feng Qi shook his head desperately. He didn’t want to cry, but tears welled up from his eyes uncontrollably.

His mom stroked his back. “What’s wrong, Qiqi? Why are you crying like this?”

“I…” Feng Qi grabbed his mother’s pajamas tightly. “I had a nightmare.”

July 23^rd, 23:46.

Feng Qi didn’t touch <The Legend of Resurrection>. He stuck to his parents and obediently stood in the kitchen to help.

“Okay, birthday boy, the oily smoke is going to choke you.” His mom pushed him out. “I have to discuss something with your dad.”

Feng Qi stood outside the kitchen and waited.

Has the sun ever been this bright in their house?

July 23^rd, 23:51.

Time passed quickly. The morning was already over in the blink of an eye. The family sat down around the table again.

“Cheers!” His mom and dad raised their cups of Coke. The deep-fried shrimp and braised pork ribs exuded a strong aroma.

It was a perfect morning. They didn’t play games and had their meal a lot earlier than expected. Most of the deep-fried shrimp were eaten. His father had skillfully peeled the shrimp shell for him, and soon the shrimp piled up into a hill on Feng Qi’s bowl.

However, just halfway through eating, his dad’s cellphone rang.

“Don’t answer it!” Feng Qi screamed as if he was scalded. “Let’s continue… Continue to eat, yeah?”

Amidst the pleasant melody, his parents look back at him in silence.

After a long time, his dad still answered the phone. Just like “last time”, the call was cut off quickly, and he had an apologetic smile on his face.

“I filled in the delivery address to our store,” he said. “I’m sorry. It’s dad’s fault.”

His mom put down the chopsticks and sighed lightly.

“Lao Feng, I shouldn’t have rushed you,” she said.

“I don’t want cake or orange juice.” Feng Qi seemed to understand something, but he wished he hadn’t. “It’s all my fault! It’s all my fault! I don’t want cake or orange juice for the rest of my life. I’ll never steal fried shrimp again. Please, don’t go!”

The sun was shining brightly, casting its light seductively over the dishes on the table. His mom’s and dad’s hands were warm, and their voices were as gentle as ever.

It was strange. He had heard their voices for so many years, but now he needed to hear them again before he could remember them.

If they really didn’t come back… Would he forget?

“What are you talking about?” His dad’s eyes became a little red. “In the future, when my son is successful, he’ll buy himself the best cake. One made from real animal cream.”

“You’re just growing up. Eat well.” His mom gave a reluctant smile. “You’re a big kid and know right from wrong.”

They stood up, put down their chopsticks carefully, and put on their coats. His mother leaned down and gently kissed him on the forehead.

July 23^rd, 23:57.

“Happy birthday, Qiqi.”

“Happy birthday, brat.”

“We got a present for you,” his dad said.

“It’s at the bottom in your closet,” his mom added. “Don’t be naughty, and make sure to listen to your teacher.”

His dad smiled. He had already started putting on his shoes. “Our son is smart. He will definitely get into A University in the future.”

For the first time in thirteen days, Feng Qi covered his eyes and started bawling. Tears dripped onto the dining table, causing the chopsticks to roll to the ground, creating a crisp sound.

“Why?”

His voice was hoarse. He didn’t know who or what he was asking.

He didn’t step forward to stop them, but just stood in despair.

“……Why!”

His father’s movement in putting on his shoes slowed slightly. His mom lifted up her purse, then put it down. The two exchanged glances, then walked back to the center of the house.

“Don’t cry. Come on, let’s play another game.” His dad walked in front of the game console and turned on <The Legend of Resurrection>.

The “shield warrior” and “priest” were surrounded by a little swordsman. They passed through the vicinity of the “Sleeping Mountains” in the game. The teleportation point to challenge the Dragon of Destruction hadn’t been opened yet. As of now, it wasn’t a battlefield but a particularly beautiful place under the starry sky.

“The hero will always go through a lot of suffering,” His mom controlled the priest and found a place with the best view, “but they will always continue their adventure, right Qiqi?’

“That’s right. You’re just like me, the strongest man in the world!”

“Oh, stop,” his mom glanced at his dad helplessly.

The three characters stopped at the Sea of Flowers in the Eternal Sleeping Mountains, where they could see the vast expanse of the sky in the game.

July 23^rd, 23:59.

His mom and dad stood at the door again to their home.

July 24^th, 00:00.

“Goodbye.” They smiled as they said goodbye to him.

……

Yin Ren slowly dropped to the ground.

In his arms, Feng Qi had fallen heavily asleep. His breathing was even and long.

Yin Ren removed most of the evil qi from the boy and most of the evil qi corruption on the keychain was also taken away by him. Shian should be able to handle the rest.

Although the effects of the corruption couldn’t be eradicated, at least Feng Qi could live a healthy life.

And it wasn’t like he came up empty-handed.

Yin Ren swallowed the strange evil qi. Not only did it not increase his burden, but it also made it a bit easier. How wonderful. It was like he was eating “meat”. It was like he had obtained a fragment of his “body’s memory”, and he found a way to manipulate the evil qi.

“A very good deal.”

He avoided Shian and the police and put the boy among the bushes behind Villa 18. Now that people were looking for Feng Qi everywhere, he believed the boy would be found soon.

Under the dry bushes, the boy curled up.

He seemed to be sleeping in someone’s arms, and his expression was calm. Sporadic tears would fill the corners of his eyes from time to time. Yin Ren bent down, took out the keychain that had lost its evil qi, and carefully placed it into the boy’s hand.

“Sweet dreams.”

After finishing this, Yin Ren tapped the boy’s brows and erased the boy’s memory of himself.

Next, the great “Dragon of Destruction” still had a mess to clean up.

Yin Ren snuck back to a corridor, took out his phone, and quickly opened the WeChat group.

In the Shian-Small Work Group, Liang Shan had sent more than a dozen voice messages in a row. After exiting WeChat, he found six missed calls; four from Liang Shan, one from Lu Xiaohe, and one from Zhong Chengshuo.

Yin Ren: “…” This kid sure knows how to act.

He cleared his throat, looked at Zhong Chengshuo’s missed call, and called back.

The call was quickly connected.

“Sorry, sorry, my phone was on silent,” Yin Ren lied solemnly. “Zhong Ge, how’s your side? Did you twist your ankle badly?”

“It’s fine.” He could hear the sound of rain coming from Zhong Chengshuo’s side. “It’s been taken care of. I’ll be home soon. How about you? Is your stomach better?”

“Much better. It’s just a bit empty. I went home just now to avoid the rain… Hey, did you bring an umbrella? I’ll come pick you up at the entrance of the community.”

“I don’t…”

“Why are you being so polite? You twisted your ankle, so it’s inconvenient,” Yin Ren interrupted him enthusiastically. “Can you get back on your own?”

“The gym isn’t far away. I can just walk…”

“Then I’ll go pick you up! It’s raining so much right now. What should I do if you catch a cold? Wait a minute. I’ll be right there—”

Before Zhong Chengshuo could decline, Yin Ren abruptly hung up the phone.

He steamed his body dry, picked up an umbrella from home, and rushed straight out to the entrance to the community.

Honestly, Yin Ren didn’t mind Zhong Chengshuo’s identity or motives. Now that they were both under Shian’s nose, and with Zhong Chengshuo having a secret that couldn’t be exposed, this made things more beneficial for him.

Yin Ren was concerned about another thing—it was both true that Zhong Chengshuo had “zero spirit” and was also “a master in the industry”. That kid took the initiative to take his broken hair, which meant he must’ve guessed his identity.

Lord Ghost King would not let go of this opportunity to test him.

At midnight, the sirens around Ping’an Manor were blaring. Criminals were sent into police cars one by one while Shian cultivators were running around cleaning up the aftermath. Yin Ren avoided the crowd. He propped up a big black umbrella and stood quietly at the entrance of the community. The rain made a dull tapping sound on the top of his umbrella.

He waited for Zhong Chengshuo, who had “just returned home”.

The man was carrying a gym bag and wearing a simple long-sleeve shirt. He was drenched to his skin as he stared blankly at Yin Ren. His long black hair was plastered on his face, making him look harmless and pitiful.

It was midnight. The thunder rumbled as the rain continued to pour.

Under the warm yellow streetlight, they seemed to have returned to the night when they first met.

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The author has something to say:

This arc is about to end~

Always like some Mr. and Mrs. Smith* who have a subtle (?) position!

*Referring to the movie starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The premise is that they are both assassins belonging to different competing agencies but are married to each other and try to keep their secrets from each other (which is similar to what’s going on here).

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Kinky Thoughts:

I didn’t expect to already be sobbing in just arc 2. Poor Feng Qi. I hope he gets a happy ending.

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