Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 10: Temporary Partners

“At a quarter past four, there are three preliminary qualified people. Okay, it’s almost time. I’m going to the People’s Hospital.” Fu Xingchuan stood up.

“The second group is on the line with Guo Laifu. What are you going to do?”

“It’s stable here. Yin Ren is qualified, so at least he could be a clerk. Here, both of them are under our eyes… It’s hard to say what Guo Laifu is going to do. He’s an important person, and those young people lack experience.”

“In case key clues are missed, I can’t afford the responsibility.”

Professor Li: “Well, be careful of sudden death.”

Fu Xingchuan: “…Thanks.”

The #1 Ghost General waved his hand and took out his phone to call a car.

A message reading [Donghe Sad Love: Missing Mr. Rose] popped up at the top of the screen. Fu Xingchuan glanced at the title and closed it. It was another messy ad from that video website again.

Before he could turn off the pop-up window, a call came.

Fu Xingchuan wearily connected the call. “Hey, didn’t I say, don’t… What? Give Xiao Liang the phone.”

Listening to the narrative on the phone, Fu Xingchuan’s eyebrows slowly furrowed.

“No, why isn’t there enough manpower?’

“Lack of sleep is causing them dizziness? It’s suspected that an Evil Spirit has been born, so all our combat power is investigating key areas.” Professor Li picked up the thermos cup and took a sip of tea. “Shian only keeps the most basic security configuration and can’t move around.”

Fu Xingchuan glanced at his partner and pinched his brow. “Haa, I know. I’ll think of something on my side.”

Seeing Fu Xingchuan terminate the call, Professor Li shook his cup heartily. “What, the First Ghost is about to enlist people? I still have some quick-acting heart pills. You can take them with you.”

“No, the C-level investigation team takes over all the security-level cases.” Fu Xingchuan smiled bitterly. “But this is a disappearance case, and time waits for no one.”

This time, Professor Li didn’t respond sarcastically to Fu Xingchuan.. He frowned and fell into deep thought.

An Evil Spirit had suddenly broken the seal, and the most powerful investigation team was sent out, so they currently lacked manpower.

…Wait, did they really have no manpower?

The two fell silent at the same time, which was followed by a meaningful glance exchange.

On the other side.

Yin Ren didn’t know that most of his purpose of “staying in Shian” had been achieved. He was enthusiastically talking with the Lu siblings.

“We’ll go first.” The corner of Blue Vest’s mouth was still stained with mud. “Alright, buddy. I hope I have the opportunity to be your junior* next year… Hey, did you bring your phone? Why don’t we add each other on WeChat?”

*The term he’s using is [houbei] (后辈) which is like equivalent to kouhai.

Yin Ren patted his pockets bitterly. Not to mention the novelty of cellphones, his only dagger had been confiscated, so his pockets were cleaner than his face.

Blue Vest sighed regretfully.

Red Fedora waved her hand, and they then walked back to the entrance with each other’s help. It wasn’t until the backs of the two of them were swallowed by darkness that Yin Ren finally turned around and moved forward.

The black door had a strong presence, but Yin Ren firmly ignored it.

The corridor around the corner had no doors. The lights were much brighter, and the corridor was filled with plants on either side. There were two figures slowly approaching from the opposite side.

Yin Ren recognized Zhong Chengshuo at a glance.

He still had the same calm look, and there was no sweat on his face. The person with him looked much more miserable. The young man’s footsteps were weak, his whole body was sweaty, and he looked pale and blue as if he had just been dug out of the snow.

As soon as he saw Yin Ren, it was unknown what had triggered him, but the young man yelled and collapsed on the ground.

“This is Lao Bin, a toxicologist from N University. Don’t mind him. He just passed the VR test and hasn’t calmed down yet.”

Zhong Chengshuo politely introduced the person who had collapsed on the ground in a serious manner, as if the three of them were exchanging business cards at an award ceremony.

“Mr. Lao, this is Yin Ren, the person who was involved in the incident with me.”

Mr. Lao, who was collapsed on the ground, stared straight at Yin Ren’s long hair and made a whimper.

Yin Ren: “……”

Zhong Chengshuo, are you not human?! Seeing someone paralyzed on the ground, even for someone like Yin Ren who hadn’t seen people for thousands of years, he at least knew that this was an inappropriate time for introductions.

Yin Ren hurriedly straightened his hair and stretched out a hand to the paralyzed Lao Bin. “Did I scare you? Sorry.”

Lao Bin wasn’t tall and was a bit chubby. He didn’t dare touch Yin Ren’s hand, but he couldn’t stand up, so he had to use his eyes to frantically give Zhong Chengshuo hints.

He wasn’t sure whether the other party was just oblivious or had other ideas, but Zhong Chengshuo looked back at him calmly and remained motionless.

Lao Bin whispered, “Brother, please give me a hand.”

Zhong Chengshuo looked at Yin Ren, who was holding out his hand, and then at Lao Bin. He pondered for a few seconds, then said, “Yin Ren, he’s asking you to give him a hand.”

Yin Ren, Lao Bin: “……”

One human and one ghost tasted the same embarrassment at this moment.

Lao Bin gave a wry smile and finally took Yin Ren’s hand. Yin Ren easily pulled him up and pretended as if nothing had just happened. “Why are you here?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “We just finished the previous test—”

“Yes, yes. We just finished testing. The two of us met here, so there shouldn’t be any more tests.” Lao Bin was anxious to resolve the awkwardness. He wiped away his sweat and interrupted Zhong Chengshuo. “Next, there should be a staff to guide us… Right…?”

From a glance, the corridor appeared to be heading in the same direction to the “back,” with no fork. If they wanted to leave, they could only pick the direction of heading back to the entrance.

The three of them stood quietly for a while. Lao Bin turned to Yin Ren and said with a forced smile, “Friend, what were you testing? How about we go your way?”

He seemed to have a great psychological shadow as his face held a panic full of “I will never go back that way again”.

“Emergency, everyone, please follow me.”

Before Yin Ren could answer, a female voice emerged from among the plants.

A hidden door opened in front of a leafy bush, and Fang Yuanyuan stood in the doorway. Her hair was tied up, and her expression was solemn.

Rather than responding, Yin Ren quickly retreated behind Zhong Chengshuo and used him to block half of himself.

Five minutes later.

Yin Ren hadn’t stepped onto the car yet, but his eyes were dead.

He suddenly understood how sinister this world could be. Not long ago, Fang Yuanyuan vowed to him that “there wasn’t frequent travel in the early stage”. As a result, he was pulled to Donghe District in Haigu before his ass was even warm in Shian.

The most annoying thing was that Lao Bin was lying comfortably in the lounge while only he and Zhong Chengshuo had to act.

He should have seized the opportunity just now to faint!

“If there’s a problem, at least one metaphysician and one atheist are required. Mr. Lao is weak, and there’s already one in the group.”

On the way to the car, Fang Yuanyuan explained to them.

Yin Ren was still trying to struggle. “Why does it have to be two people?”

Fang Yuanyuan replied dryly, “People in tune with the metaphysics are sensitive to anomalies and can easily find clues. Atheists are not really influenced by the supernatural, so they can save lives at critical moments.”

“I’ve just been rescued, and I don’t know anything.”

“All your indicators are good.”

Fang Yuanyuan brutally opened the car door for them.

“Just cooperate with the police investigation. 99% of ‘security’ level missions are like <Approaching Science>*. The remaining 1% is mostly picked up by the living. The police station has security staff that will ensure your safety.”

*It’s a series of documentary films from China. It broaches subjects like biology, archaeology, psychology, ect. It supposedly guides viewers (who are normally of lower education) from so-called “supernatural events” to a more scientific interpretation.

“But—”

“If you do a good job on this mission, you can skip the probation period and directly get a full salary.” Fang Yuanyuan smiled like a blooming flower and pushed the information folder into Yin Ren’s arms.

Yin Ren wasn’t sure what keyword had triggered Zhong Chengshuo, but suddenly he spoke up, “Let’s go. I’ll take care of you if something happens.”

Yin Ren: “……”

Zhong Chengshuo said solemnly, “Believe me, my parents are both police officers.”

But you’re not, and you just lied to me less than a day ago.

Yin Ren glanced at Zhong Chengshuo lifelessly and in the end didn’t object—listening to Fang Yuanyuan’s meaning, Shian had a legendary “probationary period”. He might not become an employee at Shian if it was too obvious that he was trying to mooch.

Their destination was Kaining Road in Donghe District. It was estimated that it would take more than an hour by car. He was supposed to be having dinner happily in the cafeteria, and he even chose the dinner item he wanted to try at lunch.

However, considering that “insufficient manpower” was partly his fault, Lord Ghost King could only reluctantly swallow his complaints.

Shian’s special car was quite spacious. Zhong Chengshuo waited for Yin Ren to get in first before following him to the back row. Unlike Yin Ren, who was wearing a Shian’s uniform, Zhong Chengshuo was still wearing his loose-fitting sweater with cuffs that almost covered the back of his hands.

When he got in the car, Zhong Chengshuo lowered his body, and the clothes stuck to his waist for a moment.

This guy wasn’t bad. Yin Ren swept his eyes over.

Zhong Chengshuo was of similar height to him and had a healthy and well-proportioned body. His figure wasn’t thin, but it couldn’t be said to be “robust” either, but it suited his gentle face.

Their work IDs were still hanging around their necks. When Zhong Chengshuo got in, his work ID was titled toward Yin Ren and dangled right in front of him.

When he took a closer look, there were symbols of who knew what carefully marked under his name. Yin Rin didn’t recognize any of the words.

Perhaps it was because he came too close that Zhong Chengshuo shrank back. “What?”

“Nothing. When you said your name was ‘Zhong Chengyue’ I thought the last word was ‘Shuo’.” Yin Ren quickly made an excuse.

“Originally, it was ‘Shuō’ but most people in school kept mistaking my name, so I had to make the best of it*.”

*(将错就错) Idiom referring to leaving a mistake uncorrected and making the best of it. || Basically, he’s saying he just went with it instead of keep trying to correct them.

“It’s an allusion to ‘take an oath’¹? They’re not completely wrong. Though when comparing ‘covenant’, ‘mutual love’² is also quite interesting as well.” Yin Ren naturally withdrew his body.

¹Clarity: This whole conversation is based on the Chinese character of Shuō’/Yuè (说). When Yin Ren saw Zhong Chengshuo, he introduced himself as Chengyue. Originally, he thought the (说) would be Shuo. This comes from a line in the poem in “The Book of Songs Beifeng Drumming”. The line where Chengshuo derives his name is from (死生契阔，与子成说.) which roughly translates to life and death are in agreement, and together they made an oath. The part that’s underlined and in bold is Chengshuo, however, in ancient Chinese, it’s often aliased as “Yuè” instead of “Shuō”.
²This part is addressing why people think his name is Chengsyue. Basically, in ancient Chinese, Shuo is often aliased as Yue, so commonly when people see Chengshuo, they would think Chengyue. However, there are some exceptions, like Chengshuo (成说) that was used in the poem. Its interpretation in the poem uses Chengshuo instead of yue. Yin Ren is saying that the people who mispronounce his name aren’t technically wrong because of this. Compared to the original meaning where his name is derived ‘covenent/oath [yue ding] (约定) (this is referencing the oath from (成说)), the [yue] in his name can derive from mutual love [xiang yue] (约定) which makes it more interesting. He’s basically saying that rather than Chengshuo, Chengyue (using the 说 from mutual love) also has a good meaning.

When Zhong Chengshuo responded, his eyes became a bit deep. “No, my dad intended to use the idiom ‘I hope my son will become a dragon. I hope my daughter will become a phoenix¹’, but mom asked him to change the word, so they probably didn’t think so deeply about it².”

¹(望子成龙，望女成凤) Idiom referring to longing to see one’s children become successful and have a bright future.
²Clarity: So his dad wanted to name him Chenglong (from the idiom I hope my son will [Chenglong] become a dragon), but his mom didn’t want that and asked him to change the long, which he apparently casually did to Shuo (implying that his parents probably didn’t think too deeply about the context of Shuo like how I explained above).

Yin Ren: “……”

What’s wrong with Zhong Chenglong?! Doesn’t Zhong Chenglong sound good? Yin Ren didn’t understand.

But he noticed the other party’s expression as if to say “continue”.

“Do you have a sister named Zhong Chengfeng*?”

*Clarity: This would be the second part of the idiom. I hope my daughter will [Chengfeng] become a phoenix.

“Nn. Zhong Chengfeng, from maple of the maple tree, or my mother would’ve forcibly changed the word*.”

*Clarity: Again, the mom didn’t want the name to be named after the idiom, so they named the sister Chengfeng but used the Feng from maple (枫) instead of phoenix (凤) from the idiom.

“I see.”

Zhong Chengshuo was silent for a moment. “My sister has been dead for a long time.”

Yin Ren was startled. “…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. She left before I was born. I have only seen her picture.” Zhong Chengshuo’s expression was calm. “Take out the information bag and let’s read it together.”

After he spoke, Zhong Chengshuo suddenly paused. “Miss Fang sent you a new cellphone. Can you use it?”

There was a brand-new phone lying in the transparent information bag, looking extremely conspicuous.

“I have no impression.” Yin Ren touched his cellphone vaguely.

“Well, maybe you didn’t use touch-screen models before. Anyway, let’s add our contact information first…”

As Zhong Chengshuo spoke, he operated his phone and then raised his head. “We have to register a name for you on WeChat. What do you want to use?”

“What?”

“People have their own naming habits. Thinking of commonly used screen names may jolt some of your memories.”

It’s over. It’s over. He didn’t understand what this person was saying. The test came too quickly, and Yin Ren’s heart was sweating like rain—he was able to muddle through at first, but then he was hit with this test of this so-called “cellphone”.

Listening to what Zhong Chengshuo was saying, he had to give himself a name for the phone.

The name was probably something like an “alias”. Ordinary martial arts cultivators would always call themselves “xx sword” and “xx blade” and so on. Even thousands of years ago, evil creatures and ferocious beasts liked to give themselves names that were sufficiently deterrent.

Which meant he had to do the opposite.

Yin Ren racked his brains. “Ah, I’ll be ‘Fruit Knife’.”

Fruit knife was a very modern word that he had just learned, and it was much more harmless than a dagger!

Zhong Chengshuo: “…”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Okay, got it. In case we get separated, you can call or send me a message.”

Zhong Chengshuo opened up the dial-pad screen and the messaging app to explain the basics.

Yin Ren: “……”

There was only one person under ‘Fruit Knife’s’ contact list in WeChat. Zhong Chengshuo’s avatar was a red apple, and his screen name was “Final Fruit*”

*His screen name is (终成正果) which transliterated would mean “come to fruition”. This should be purposeful on the part of the author because the screen name chosen by Yin Ren is ‘Fruit Knife’.

Was this comical? Lord Ghost King suddenly felt a chill.

He had an eerie premonition that their “temporary partnership” might not end so easily.

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The author has something to say:

That line of unknown symbols is pinyin; Xiao Yin doesn’t know pinyin—

Xiao Yin: Fuck, there is no dinner.

Xiao Zhong: I feel as if I have been targeted (?

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Kinky Thoughts:

I didn’t realize this about the name until this chapter, so chapter 3 has been fixed to Chengyue when he introduced himself. However, just know that Zhong Chengshuo is the correct spelling.

Given that it’s impossible to tell whether he’s being called Chengyue or Chengshuo without indication from the author (which she hasn’t done until this chapter) or the pinyin form, I’ll have to translate it based on context.

For people who don’t know him, and he hasn’t corrected them, they will address him as Chengyue (even he himself does this). For people who know about it (like Yin Ren now) and also the executives of Shian (I would assume they have done extensive background checks on him and thus know how his name is actually spelled) I’ll keep it Chengshuo.

For narration that is not speech, I will use Chengshuo.

Also, from the author’s note, the line underneath Zhong Chengshuo’s name in his work ID most likely is the pinyin for his name, which would be Chengshuo, so given that’s the case, most likely people will be addressing him properly (if he’s wearing the work ID).

These nicknames are too adorable.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 9: Preliminary Approval

The door of the stress test room was closed tightly, and no one prompted them to continue.

The three of them didn’t enter the door immediately. Red Fedora took out wet wipes and band-aids from her bag and handled her wounds carefully. Blue Vest took out two bottles of sports drinks and gave one to the empty-handed Yin Ren.

“Drink it. It’ll make you feel better.”

Blue Vest took two sips and sat down at the edge of the corridor. “We have plenty of time. Let’s take a break first.”

Yin Ren took the drink with both hands, unscrewed the cap by following the other party, and took a sip.

It was very refreshing and sweet. He liked it a lot.

“You have great mentality, and you don’t panic when you see evil things. The last time we participated in the examination, a young man directly fainted.” Blue Vest sighed and looked at the ceiling.

“This isn’t your first time?”

“Second,” Blue Vest said. “That girl is my cousin. We all belong to a small family. Well, it’s a small clan, but that’s really it. We can’t really study well, but we have some talents, so we’re here to try our luck.”

Yin Ren sat down beside him. “Last time you guys…”

“I couldn’t handle the stress test.” Blue Vest was calm. “I can’t blame others. It was because I wasn’t ready yet.”

“What is the general test for the stress test?”

“I don’t know. The content of the examination changes every year. The evil things used in the vision test weren’t the same batch as last time. Just like a college entrance exam, this place is only serious about your skills. Nothing will be easy.”

There was insufficient lighting in the corridor. The white brush of light shone from the top of his head, making Blue Vest look extremely tired.

Red Fedora had finished wrapping her band-aid and took a few sips of the drink. She was obviously listening to the conversation between the two of them as she interjected with a firm tone, “The test can be retaken every year. It’s not a big deal if you don’t pass. Just come back again next year.”

There seemed to be something behind her words.

“That’s right. Don’t do things like bribing and cheating.” Blue Vest grinned.

Yin Ren drank his drink until the bottle was completely empty.

“I don’t understand… but I’m a bit impressed by your hard work. What’s that saying, ‘too much is just as bad as too little*’?” Yin Ren clinched the bottle as he spoke in a casual tone. “If the two of you force yourself too much, it can easily affect your performance.”

*(过犹不及) Idiom referring to doing too much is just like not doing enough, neither are appropriate. This idiom comes from the story in The Analects of Confucius. You can read about the story in my Kinky Thoughts.

Blue Vest only took his words as a courtesy and wanted to snort, but he choked it back when he looked at Red Fedora.

Red Fedora was looking at her scarred hands thoughtfully.

“Let’s go.” Half a minute later, she straightened up her hat and didn’t say much.

The temperature of the room in the stress test was low, and the room was much smaller than all the previous rooms.

The cement floor was covered in dust, and there was a desk and two chairs on it. A little girl sat motionless on one of the chairs. Her right elbow propped up her arm on the table, posing similarly to an arm-wrestling stance.

Judging by her body, the girl looked no more than five or six years old. Her hair was braided, and her shirt was a brownish yellow color, similar to that of corpse water. The arms under the sleeves were bruised and swollen, looking like they were rotting.

But she wasn’t a rotting corpse.

Her head had an earthy texture, just like someone had chopped off a human head and placed a clay ball with hair in its place. The clay mass was dry and larger than a human head. The flat “face” had no facial features and only deep cracks.

The cracks looked bottomless, and from time to time, soil debris would fall off and be brushed on the table.

Probably because there was no mouth, the little girl was very quiet. A long and slender phantom stood behind her. It was too vague to determine if it was a man or woman.

The phantom put its hand on the girl’s shoulders, and its ten fingers looked abnormal. As soon as the phantom’s neck reached the ceiling, its head disappeared behind the pale wall.

They didn’t say a single word.

Yin Ren had never seen such evil things. Just looking at the evil qi they were giving off, even if Blue Vest and Red Fedora fought together, they wouldn’t win.

Blue Vest swallowed his saliva. “This is… arm wrestling, right?”

“Touching an unknown evil is taboo.” Red Fedora was worried.

No one knew what weird abilities they would have. At least these two didn’t look like they were powerful. Even if Shian wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them, it only ensured that “there would be no aftereffects”, not “there would be no pain”.

“Forget it. I… I’ll go first.” Blue Vest rolled up his sleeves and sat down in the chair.

The desk drawer was facing his stomach, and it was dark inside.

Despite a living person sitting in front of her, the little girl didn’t respond.

Blue Vest wiped the sweat from his forehead, rubbed his palms together, and outstretched his hand.

Swish.

The girl slowly turned her head. As she moved, more broken soil poured onto the table.

Blue Vest stared at the little corpse’s hand, trying his best not to look at the girl’s cracked “face”. He didn’t dare relax his vigilance. Using all his strength, he grabbed the little hand that came toward the table.

Red Fedora and Yin Ren looked at each other in silence. They watched Blue Vest’s face start to turn purple as blue veins burst out on his head.

The little girl’s hand was motionless.

Blue Vest gritted his teeth, took out a charm with his left hand, and attached it to his right wrist.

The charm spontaneously ignited without wind, and from the thin paper ash, another dark blue hand protruded from under Blue Vest’s right wrist. The two hands wrapped around the little girl’s hand, and together they were desperately trying to pull it down.

The dark blue hand was twice as long as a human hand, but it was thin and dry, like a skeleton’s. Its sharp nails pressed against the back of the girl’s hand but failed to leave any scratches on the corrupted skin.

The girl’s little hand seemed frozen in place, not even moving an inch.

After half a minute, she probably got tired of waiting, and a gust of wind blew out from her cracked skull. The ghost hand was instantly covered with dust. Blue Vest screamed in pain as the ghost hand on his wrist seemed to turn into a corpse in the ground. It quickly dried up and rotted, then disintegrated into brown and yellow bones before disappearing into the air.

Without the ghost hand, Blue Vest’s eyes were flushed. He faintly bit his lips, causing them to bleed.

He shivered and fumbled in his pocket, then stuck about six talismans to his lower arm. The next moment, his elbow looked as if it had bloomed into a deformed flower. Six ghostly hands protruded from the bend of his elbow and fiercely grabbed the little girl’s arm.

The little girl tilted her head.

Blue Vest shivered. There was a sticky whine that came out of his throat. He opened his mouth and vomited a large amount of dark yellow, muddy soup.

After a few breaths, the soup turned into a swamp-like, dark brown mud. Despite still having half his strength left, Blue Vest’s hand was easily pressed down by the little girl.

Blue Vest didn’t care about the outcome anymore. He pushed away the tables and chairs, fell to the ground, and scratched his throat in pain. His mouth and nostrils kept spewing out sticky mud. Red Fedora quickly stepped forward in shock. She pulled out a peach wood amulet from her bag and pressed it close to the center of Blue Vest’s brows.

The amulet that was attached to his skin made a sizzling sound like meat being grilled.

Blue Vest finally stopped scratching his throat. He lay breathless on the ground as the mud he vomited gradually became clear.

After tossing like this for more than ten minutes, Blue Vest barely returned to normal. His examination report fell to the ground and was soaked in muddy water. The report had an additional large dark brown fork, which looked like it was painted with muddy water.

“Ah, failed again. You guys go for it. I’ll sit for a while.”

After a while, Blue Vest picked up the report as he spoke weakly. His voice was hoarse and abnormal, and there were painful scratch wounds on his throat with a little blood still oozing out.

The little girl returned to her original posture, facing the doorway.

“Yes, this may be the wrong direction. We have to win it some other way…” Red Fedora stepped on the ground full of mud with a terrified expression.

Yin Ren: “I’ll go second.”

“No, I’m more experienced. Let me…”

Before Red Fedora finished speaking, Yin Ren had already walked ahead in great strides and sat down.

He didn’t touch the hand, but carefully bent down and plunged one hand into the dark drawer. The desk was the style used by primary school students. It stood to reason that the drawer in the desk wouldn’t be any deeper than half an adult’s arm’s length, but Yin Ren’s shoulder was already stuck in it as he made a groping posture.

“Watch out!” Red Fedora screamed.

As soon as Yin Ren began to grope around the drawer, the little girl stood up slowly. She twisted her stiff joints, climbed on the table with all her limbs, and “looked down” at Yin Ren from above.

The phantom behind her let go of her hands and rushed in Yin Ren’s direction with its ten abnormally long, thin fingers. As the girl approached Yin Ren, the fingers retracted one by one into her palm.

It was a countdown.

Yin Ren continued to keep digging undistracted, without lifting his head.

The little girl didn’t let him go because of this. More broken mud trickled down and hit the side of Yin Ren’s face. The “face” without a facial feature was getting closer to him.

Just before it was about to touch him…

“Found it.”

Yin Ren took out a small red object and resumed his sitting posture. The little girl returned to her original position at a speed not possible for humans and assumed her original posture.

Yin Ren let out an exhale. He first picked up his examination report and put it neatly in front of the little girl. Then he carefully twisted the red thing and stuffed it into her slightly open right hand.

He didn’t touch her the entire time.

The little girl clenched the red object, adjusted the angle of Yin Ren’s examination report, and quickly raised her hand and pressed it. In the “stress resistance test” column of the examination form, suddenly there were… three small red flowers.

Blue Vest, Red Fedora: “……”

Yin Ren smiled politely at the eerie girl. “Thank you.”

The evil thing paused her movement for a moment, and another layer of soil fell from her face. She slowly raised her hand and added another stamp to Yin Ren.

Yin Ren: “……” This little girl was simply too polite.

After stamping the seal, the little girl put it on the table. The desk seemed to have turned into a swamp, and the seal was swallowed in a few seconds. She wiped away the dirt on the table and returned to her original posture.

Red Fedora exhaled. “Sure enough, Shian doesn’t encourage us to come into contact with unknown evil things. The solution was somewhere else.”

Blue Vest made an ugly expression. “As said, I only have myself to blame… There’s no surveillance here. Those two aren’t part of the exam, but they’re examiners.”

He looked at the low ceiling with a sad expression.

“I still lack the ability…”

With the demonstration, Red Fedora didn’t give up the near to seek the far. She immediately bent down and put her hand in the drawer.

However, not long after her hand reached in, Red Fedora trembled violently, and a layer of sweat quickly oozed on her face. As soon as the creepy phantom stretched out its finger, she quickly retracted her hand and retched.

Her report also fell to the ground, and a big fork painted in mud gradually appeared.

In another room.

“How’s the situation?” Professor Li asked.

Fu Xingchuan was collapsed on the recliner while staring intently at the tablet. The screen was divided into two upper and lower screens. One of the protagonists was Yin Ren, and the other was Zhong Chengshuo.

“It’s okay. All the measurements are back. Xiao Yin is generally talented and has good comprehension qualities. Xiao Zhong is perfect, as if he were specifically born for this… Lao Li, Xiao Zhong was similar to you back then.”

His words held a bit of relief. It would be fine if Zhong Chengshuo was actively scouted by them, but instead it was strange that he delivered himself to their doors. As for Yin Ren, apart from his face, Fu Xingchuan didn’t find anything strange.

The Three Divisions of Heaven were a test of power, while the Stress Test Room was a test of wits.

Observation, judgement, reaction speed, courage, and whether there was an “excess of curiosity”. For non-scientific employees, these qualities were related to life and death.

Yin Ren’s approach was correct. If one were to observe carefully and didn’t touch indiscriminately, they would be able to successfully retrieve the item in the desk drawer—this was something that Fu Xingchuan had performed himself. As long as you stuck your hand in, you could feel the thing that people fear the most.

“I remember those two with Yin Ren, Lu Hui and Lu Nana. It’s the same old problem. Her mentality isn’t there, and he’s too eager to succeed.”

Professor Li casually glanced at the screen.

“Yin Ren seems stable. As for Zhong Chengshuo…”

“Zero points in his spiritual vision, just like you. It’s estimated that you can only see extremely evil objects and environmental phenomena. He answered 100% correctly in the random question bank, and his clinical response was frighteningly fast. The last one hour of the VR test…”

The corners of Fu Xingchuan’s mouth twitched.

“The two people who tested with him almost peed their pants—one of them really peed—while Xiao Zhong’s first sentence was to ask, ‘Will this device be used in games?’. For a science post, the standard answer is the same as those who are talented.”

Fu Xingchuan just prayed that there wasn’t anything wrong with Zhong Chengshuo.

Professor Li told him about the “eye wall” incident when they were surveilling the two at the restaurant. So far, Fu Xingchuan has made a preliminary inference.

There were remnants of evil qi on Yin Ren’s dagger. When the Evil Spirit seal was broken, it probably became disordered and stained its evil qi everywhere. At the time of the incident, Zhong Chengshuo said that he was with Yin Ren. This could be a smokescreen; however, it was difficult to say who was the one that was throwing it.

If the ghost was the “wasn’t easy to sense things” Zhong Chengshuo, it must mean it was something extremely difficult to deal with. It could be under the influence of an Evil Spirit, so being overly cautious wasn’t an exaggeration.

As for the Evil Spirit itself, Fu Xingchuan didn’t consider it. No matter how powerful it was, it was essentially something with substance and couldn’t possess humans.

While Fu Xingchuan was pondering, Zhong Chengshuo had completed the last test. Yin Ren also left the stress room with the Lu siblings. He raised his head and walked straight past the “black door”.

The stronger the ability, the greater the attraction emitted by the black door. It was a targeted deduction point, specializing in the treatment of difficult miscellaneous problems like “self-proclaimed protagonist” and “those who have a death wish”.

He didn’t know whether it was a lack of strength or because of a cautious personality, but Yin Ren didn’t touch this trap.

Within half a minute, a short message popped up at the top of the tablet:

[Science Post (Red Seal) Physical Examination Passed: 005-Luo Bin, 011-Zhong Chengshuo]

[Non-scientific Post (Black Seal) Physical Examination Passed: 012-Yin Ren]

---

The author has something to say:

Mud-faced girl: ? I’m supervising the exam. Why is someone coming to arm wrestle with me? So aggressive!

Lord Ghost King: As long as I become a waste, no one can use me.jpg

Salted fish Yin, specializes in horror films flag syndrome! Although he doesn’t seem to be in trouble (……

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Kinky Thoughts:

The idiom of how the saying “too much is just as bad as too little” comes from a story in The Analects of Confucius. It tells the story of Zeng Zi, who was a dutiful and respectful son.

One day, Zeng Zi and his father were weeding the fields when he accidentally cut off the crops. His father became extremely angry and beat him black and blue until he fell unconscious.

When he woke up, not only was he not angry, but he stood up and happily said to his father, “I have offended you just now, and you were right to teach me a lesson. Please don’t be angry with me.” Then he returned to his room and practiced his zither to let his father know that his body was healthy and there was nothing wrong.

When Confucius heard about this, he thought that Zeng Zi had gone too far. “If Zeng Zi comes, don’t let him in.”

When Zeng Zi heard about this, he sent someone to explain to Confucius. Confucius then replied, “Have you not heard the story of Shun? Shun served his father, Gusou, very diligently and thoughtfully. When his father asked him to come, Shun would obediently come, but if his father wanted to kill him, he would never let his father find him. If his father beat him with a whip, he would endure the punishment, but if his father were to use a cane, he would run away. Therefore, Gusou didn’t commit the fault of not keeping with one’s duty as a father and Shun didn’t lose his honesty and beautiful filial piety. Zeng Zi, you let your father violently beat you regardless of your physical condition and didn’t try to evade death. If you were to die, your father would’ve committed grave injustice. Compared to unfilial piety, what is more important? Are you not also the subject of the Son of Heaven?”

Hearing this, Zeng Zi said, “I have committed a serious crime!” so he went to Confucius for help examining his faults.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 8: Three Divisions of Heaven

The three of them stopped in their tracks.

Blue Vest’s attention was completely focused on the “Physical Examination Room”. After all, that seemed like the most harmless of the three. Yin Ren expressed his understanding. He took a few steps back and made a pose as if saying, “I don’t know anything”.

Red Fedora had long, thin eyebrows. At this moment, she looked as if all the blood from her face had been drained, like an unpainted porcelain sculpture. She gripped her bracelet tightly. Her hands were trembling, which made the beads on the string rattle.

Seeing his two companions were “weak and helpless”, Blue Vest tried to adjust his breathing and showed a leader-like expression. Unfortunately, before he had time to make a grand speech, a loud knock came from the door, causing him to stumble.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

As if the person on the other side of the door knew they were standing outside, he, she—or it—knocked heavily on the door four times.

“You guys can come in together.” The voice behind the door was shrill to the point where it was almost inaudible to human ears.

Blue Vest exhaled and took the lead, pushing the door open.

There was no one behind there.

The physical examination room wasn’t large, and there weren’t many things inside. A round table was placed in the middle of the room, and three acacia wood trays were placed in the center of the table.

The ceiling of the room was filled with monitors on each side. They squeezed together and turned slowly. Yin Ren wasn’t sure what their purpose was, but the way they twisted and turned, he thought they were like sparrows on the branches of a tree in winter.

The content of the trays was more interesting.

Three trays were arranged in an equilateral triangle. One held a piece of red leather with a pattern painted on it. The skin was thin and soft and was cut square with a pair of iron scissors; another tray had a pile of broken bones with a few dead flies scattered around it; and the last tray had an eerie-looking pen lying alone in the middle of the tray without any paper.

Blue Vest and Red Fedora weren’t as calm as Yin Ren as they continued to look around vigilantly…

The monitor above his head clicked softly as countless red lights flickered, making people uncomfortable. The corner of the room was empty, as if the knocker before was a ghost.

Yin Ren was determined to pull his two teammates back on the right path. He cleared his throat. “What are these?”

Blue Vest: “Ah, huh? What?”

“These things that are on the table.”

Blue Vest opened his mouth and looked as if he was trying to focus, but this time, it was Red Fedora who spoke first.

“It’s the ‘Three Divisions of Heaven’. It’s a test used by the metaphysics lineage to divide the ranks.” Her lips turned pale. “But… But these are real. Generally, they use substitutes on the outside that aren’t so evil.”

Blue Vest nodded bitterly, facing Yin Ren’s inquisitive eyes.

Blue Vest appeared to be procrastinating as he took a half step back and moved away from the table.

“He doesn’t understand this, so let’s just tell him. These Three Divisions of Heaven refer to the three fundamental metaphysical directions—spirit smith, corpse servant, and ghost master.”

Blue Vest took out a string of wooden beads from his pocket, and he kept on muttering.

“The spirit smith is someone who makes spiritual weapons for people or for themselves. Do you play games? It would be like a kind of prop that you buy that has high technical content.”

“Everyone’s familiar with the corpse servant. You must have heard stories of corpse hunting. After the promotion of cremation, such people are now gone. Now, they mainly use animal bones. They are a bit like necromancers in a game.”

“The ghost master, better put, would be considered a psychic. They can withstand evil qi and command ghosts to work. This kind of cultivator is the most numerous.”

“The ‘Three Divisions of Heaven’ is a test to measure what kind of job you’re naturally suited for. In fact, there are high-level occupations like ‘ghost general’, but that’s beyond our reach.”

Yin Ren nodded frequently as he listened.

The cultivators of thousands of years ago weren’t so sophisticated. With no detailed practice, they all clumped together like ingredients in a stew. After a cursory listen, the current classification seemed much more reasonable.

“Have you tested before?” he asked curiously.

“I’ve tested a long time ago, but not… formally. These days, only Shian can come up with such authentic stuff.” Blue Vest smiled wryly. “Why don’t we go by the results? I’ll try ghost master and my friend will try the spirit smith. Brother, you can test for the corpse servant first.”

Having said that, Blue Vest reluctantly walked to the tray where the pen was placed. Red Fedora took a few deep breaths and picked up the leather-rimmed scissors.

Yin Ren glanced at the broken bones that were covered with dead flies in front of him.

The bones exuded a strong aura of death, which should be the specialty of any large tomb. The dead flies were quite fresh. They were soaked in some kind of liquid and also had an ominous aura. If a person who was predestined touched them, they could probably move their position even more freely.

If Yin Ren wanted, he could even let them fly all over the room.

However, Blue Vest just said that there were few corpse servants. Rare things were precious, and he didn’t want to work like crazy, let alone become eye-catching… He had slept on a pile of bones for more than a thousand years and was almost completely pickled, so why bother.

Yin Ren picked up the pile of bones, then quickly retracted his hand, showing an almost serene expression. The tray remained silent, and the bones showed no signs of abnormality.

The other two were more successful.

When Blue Vest picked up the wooden pen with both hands, his complexion gradually became blue. A thick, translucent stream of evil qi slowly gushed out of his seven orifices. His expression was twisted, as if he were smiling but not, and his entire body clicked, as if something was fighting for the right to use his body.

Although his posture was ugly, he at least carried on. Yin Ren looked at him twice more and saw that Blue Vest was in good condition and there was no damage.

Red Fedora was much more tragic.

As soon as the red scissors touched her skin, the expression on her face disappeared.

The gray-white blade slashed across her skin, and red blood beads broke through the surface and dripped down her wrist, almost forming some sort of line. Red Fedora tilted her head as if her neck were broken. Her eyes were bulging, and her teeth were clenched.

Yin Ren recognized that kind of skin.

It was the soft skin peeled off a corpse worm. As long as it was stained with the flesh and blood of the corpse worm, it would contaminate the human skin. The constantly reborn skin would close the visible orifices and strangle the victim until he or she melted into a flesh-skinned dumpling.

Due to its characteristics, the skin of the corpse worm was extremely difficult to deal with. This piece of leather should have been cleaned up by a spirit smith, but it wasn’t something ordinary people could touch.

The more Red Fedora cut, the more she shook. Halfway through cutting, there was a choking whistle that sounded in her throat. Her hands were trembling so much that she could barely hold on the scissors.

Yin Ren looked at her intently.

Finally, Red Fedora struggled to finish cutting the piece of skin. Her face was covered in cold sweat, her eyelids were covered in flesh-like glue, and her hands were bloody from the tips of the scissors. Human blood was mixed with the corpse worm’s corrupted blood, making it look like she was wearing a pair of crimson gloves.

After she released the scissors, she almost fell flat on her ass.

“Let’s change. I’ll try the ghost master.” After panting for half a day, Red Fedora finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

Yin Ren: “You still want to test? Shouldn’t you take a break…”

Red Fedora smiled wearily. “You have to try all three. People may not be suitable for just one direction… Why? Are you sacred?”

“I’m not afraid, but is this really safe?” Yin Ren clasped his arms. “The test alone is so dangerous, so the work must be even more…”

“The test is conducted according to the most stringent standards,” Red Fedora whispered. “Being stringent is good. There’s a reason why Shian’s salary is notoriously high. The risk isn’t small… If you fool around casually and something happens in the future, it may hurt others.”

Yin Ren was silent for a moment before he let out a sigh. “Please give me your hand.”

Red Fedora puzzledly looked at him.

“I want to see if your injury is serious.”

“Are you a doctor?” Red Fedora spread out her hands obediently.

“Somewhat.”

Yin Ren lowered his head. His long hair slid over his shoulders. He didn’t touch her hand but pretended to put his hands around Red Fedora’s hands.

According to what Blue Vest said, this girl had a talent for making spiritual weapons. Yin Ren didn’t know what Shian’s treatment level would be like. He only knew that if the corrupted blood of the corpse worm seeped deep into the flesh, it could cause a lingering disease to develop.

Making spiritual weapons was a delicate task, so a smith’s hands should not tremble.

Yin Ren held his breath and concentrated. He condensed a gentle breath-like magic in the palm of his hand. Most of the blood in the depths of the wound was sucked away by him, and the rest wasn’t enough to worry about.

“It’s nothing major,” he said. “Remember to deal with it as soon as possible. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Thank you.”

Red Fedora raised her hand and wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve. At this time, Blue Vest seemed to have calmed down. The three of them took a step around the round table and exchanged positions.

After being put down by Red Fedora for a while, the corpse worm’s skin had already returned to its original state. The previous corrupted blood was still in place, exuding a burst of fishy smells.

Yin Ren picked up the scissors and cut at the skin…

But it didn’t cut.

The scissors that were incredibly sharp before, now seemed as if they didn’t even have a blade, let alone make a small slit.

This time, the three of them all failed. The broken pile of bones didn’t respond to Blue Vest, and as soon as Red Fedora’s fingertips touched the wooden pen, she stepped back several steps as if she had been electrocuted without even picking it up.

After two rounds, all three of them had only one occupation left untested. Compared with the guaranteed Blue Vest and Red Fedora, Yin Ren’s situation was particularly embarrassing.

Blue Vest hesitated for a bit, but still said a few words of comfort. “Don’t be discouraged. Since Shian let you, an outsider, take the exam, you must have some talents… Come on, try the ghost master.”

Yin Ren smiled at him. He walked around again and stopped in front of the tray containing the wooden pen.

At present, the most suitable occupation for him was ghost master.

The number of people in this profession was inconspicuous, so there was no need for him to work hard. It was enough to be patient with evil spirits—it was just asking an Evil Spirit whether they could handle evil spirits was about as absurd as asking the sea if it was afraid of rain.

Yin Ren stretched out his hand without hesitation and grabbed the wooden pen.

This wooden pen was older than him. It was most likely transformed from a fuji* wooden pen thousands of years ago. There were at least ten ghosts attached to it. The moment Yin Ren touched the pen, they began to pour evil qi in him one by one.

*Method of “planchette writing”, or “spirit writing”, that uses a suspended sieve or tray to guide a stick which writes Chinese characters in sand or incense ashes.

The evil qi entered his body and was extremely cold. If he were a normal person, he could only rely on his physical body to resist. Yin Ren closed his eyes. He didn’t absorb the foreign evil qi right away, but instead let it pass through his limbs and bones.

There were countless ghost hands pulling and scratching from all sides. The evil qi was increasing evenly, making his blood feel as if it were mixed with icicles, but his body felt no pain. It was similar to a pharmacist weighing medical herbs; the ghosts were adding little by little to find the balance of his “talent”.

Unfortunately, his body was basically condensed evil qi. Pain was still pain. Yin Ren wouldn’t be injured, and it was a pipe dream that his body would get possessed.

He even admired the ghosts in this pen a little—the ghosts in the wild were fierce and vicious and acted chaotically, while the ghosts in this pen were well-trained. He had reason to suspect that they were even orderly queuing up in the pen.

One, two, three…

Ignoring the torture-like pain, Yin Ren estimated the time and let go at a pace about the same as Blue Vest. He didn’t “fight to the limit” like Blue Vest, so his evaluation might be a bit higher, but not by too much.

Thanks to his two teammates, he successfully got away with it.

Seeing Yin Ren’s results, Blue Vest’s expression lightened a little. “Haha, look buddy. Like I said, you have talent!”

“This is the end of the test?”

“Yeah, the test is over.”

“Then who will come…” Yin Ren just wanted to ask who would fill out the form, when he saw the wooden pen take off in place.

The wooden pen was floating in the air and swished wildly around the three people’s examination report, almost puncturing the paper. As it moved, the monitors around the ceiling twisted, and a chugging mechanical sound rang out incessantly.

The wooden pen first filled in Blue Vest’s form: [Ghost Master: Good-; Spirit Smith: x; Corpse Servant: x]

Then came Red Fedora’s form: [Ghost Master: x; Spirit Smith: Good; Corpse Servant: x]

Last was Yin Ren’s: [Ghost Master: Good; Spirit Smith: x; Corpse Servant: x]

The strength judgments of the three of them were not far apart. Yin Ren was quite satisfied with the result.

“Get lost.” A slightly disgusted voice came from the wooden pen. “The first kid sweated so much. Disgusting!”

After the shrill voice finished, a series of vague “yes, yes, yes” came from the wooden pen.

Blue Vest: “……”

Blue Vest pretended as if nothing happened. “It’s almost over. There’s only the stress test left.”

Red Fedora nodded breathlessly, showing a look of relief. She wiped the blood from her hands carefully for fear of dirtying her report.

Yin Ren paused slightly with the hand holding the report. The black door stood quietly on the corner that was just opposite of the stress test room, emitting a strong aura that couldn’t be ignored. The deep blackness seemed to be a vortex that was constantly drawing his attention.

Can’t these two people see it?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 7: Entry Physical Examination

In addition to Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo, there were also four other examinees present.

When the evil qi leaked out from the vision examination room, two of them changed their faces—they were both ordinary looking. One was a man who was wearing a blue vest and was tall and thin. The other was a woman with curly hair wearing a red fedora.

Blue Vest and Red Fedora seemed to know each other as they exchanged slightly nervous glances.

The two of them were covered with common gadgets of things found in a small market, such as jade plaques, pendants of various colors, and suspicious wooden beads. They were all entangled in a pile and clattered with each of their movements.

Yin Ren peeped with interest. Those items exuded a small amount of magic aura, so they were most likely low-level spiritual weapons.

Cultivators who were just getting started liked to use these things. After thousands of years, this tradition still hadn’t changed much. Such spiritual artifacts were easy to start with and made lively noises when worn, which was conducive to strengthening courage.

Unfortunately, the courage of these two wasn’t strong enough. Their expressions were solemn as they whispered to each other for a while, then they retreated.

When Yin Ren turned his head, he realized something was wrong.

That was just a distraction. He himself was at the forefront to be examined first—seeing him not moving, Zhong Chengshuo consciously stood behind him. Several other people were so happy that someone took the lead that they instantly formed a line behind him.

Yin Ren: “……”

A dead Taoist friend won’t die in poverty*, right? Yin Ren slowly looked at Zhong Chengshuo, who had an innocent look on his face.

*(死道友不死贫道是) It’s a saying that means harming the interests of others for the sake of one’s own interests. || In this context, basically Yin Ren inadvertently took the lead to go first for the exam, and everyone’s happy that they don’t have to be the first guinea pig.

With Yin Ren as the leader, the small team was neatly arranged. The four people remained motionless, as if they were holding some bizarre ceremony. With no one coming in for so long, the person behind the door said in a muffled voice, “You can come in, one at a time.”

Yin Ren made sure that his evil qi was sealed without flaws before he bit the bullet and opened the door. As soon as he stepped into the room, the heavy wooden door closed behind him with a loud bang.

Behind the door was a big white wall.

The wall was covered with tiny cracks, and a piece of paper was passed in the most conspicuous area. The white paper was a little yellowed, and it said something along the lines of “Please remove your glasses, contact lenses, and all spiritual artifacts you’re carrying.”. On the side were metal lockers full of keys that were dangling from orange number plates and looked like some kind of brightly colored fungus.

Everything smelled like it had been used for years.

Passing through the narrow entrance, the space immediately widened.

There were no windows in the room. The lights were dim, and there was a dense surge of evil qi coming from the right. Yin Ren didn’t determine the source of the evil qi but instead looked straight at the corner of the wall, his face remaining unchanged.

In the corner of the wall, there was a large group of things squeezed together, which was particularly incompatible with the cold and clean space.

That thing vaguely had a human form, but it was two-to-three times larger than an ordinary human. Its soft fleshes were stacked on top of each other. Its limbs and head were swallowed by layers of fat, leaving only a few bulges, and its skin was covered with crimson cracks.

This thing was like a bulging beehive, pulling out countless amounts of pale red mucus from its body and filling the corner like honey. As the huge body converged, the mucus exuded a light, fishy smell similar to egg whites.

It wasn’t good to stare at others, so Yin Ren politely withdrew his gaze and surveyed the entire room.

A man and a woman sat in the corner, near the beehive.

They wore the standard uniforms of the staff and had identification cards hanging around their necks. The cold light shone on the faces of the two of them, revealing a complexion that resembled corpses.

In front of them, in addition to the notebooks and pens, there was a dark, flattened spoon-like thing. If Yin Ren’s modern knowledge reserve was richer, he would know that this was called an “eye occluder”

Fortunately, the staff was very considerate.

They didn’t seem to care about Yin Ren’s abnormal behavior of “staring at the corner” and planned to guide him step by step.

“Use this to cover one side of your eyes and then point out the direction ‘they’ are pointing.” The female staff member handed over the eye occluder.

As soon as she finished speaking, a white light suddenly lit up to Yin Ren’s right.

The “wall” that was overflowing with evil qi became transparent, and it was only now that Yin Ren realized the actual size of the room.

The room was divided into two parts, and the space he was standing in only took up half of it. The right half of the room was separated by a glass wall and was hidden in the shadows. It was painted black and divided into twelve equal parts with white lines with the characters 1 to 12 painted on them.

A monster stood beneath each of the corresponding numbers.

The monster on the far left should be an ordinary ghost, with only a faint silver-white outline. It squatted against the wall and looked so weak that it could dissipate at any second. The monster on the far right was shaped like an irregular sarcoma. It was bound by rusty iron chains, and the evil qi it was exuding was about equal to 10 Resentment Baskets.

In the gap between the chains, it stretched out a segmented tentacle-like thing, pointing upwards.

This was indeed a vision check, but unfortunately it wasn’t checking for the strength of one’s eyesight, but rather the “astral eye’s” vision.

“Are you ready?” the male staff member asked in a hoarse voice.

Yin Ren nodded and picked up the eye occluder.

“Starting from the number 12, just point out the direction you see. Okay, let’s start. Number 12.”

The sarcoma-shaped monster moved. The original bent tentacle suddenly stretched straight and pointed at the ceiling.

This guy was in pretty good spirits. If it had a waist, it would be very straight. Yin Ren scanned it back and forth with suspicious eyes several times, trying to find the Shian employee card.

Seeing Yin Ren just looking at it, No. 12 shook its tentacles vigorously and pointed up slowly again. Although it had no face, Yin Ren felt a trace of kindness out of nowhere—it looked like it was teaching a child who didn’t know any better.

Yin Ren stretched out his hand speechlessly and pointed upwards.

The sarcoma made a satisfied grunt, and its tentacles wrapped around to form the shape of a human hand and gave him a “thumbs up”.

Although he didn’t know what that meant, Yin Ren smiled awkwardly and gave the same gesture back.

……

When asked about No. 5, Yin Ren deliberately made a laborious appearance.

Upon seeing this, the female staff member knocked on the table and made a gesture toward the glass. All the monsters changed their directions. This scene was repeated a few times to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke that Yin Ren guessed correctly before they moved on. During the entire process, the monsters were extremely cooperative and even seemed as if they enjoyed it.

…Was Shian’s treatment really good? Yin Ren couldn’t help but feel a little moved.

His left and right eyes were tested alternately. He flattened the bowl and “reluctantly” answered No. 4.

“Not bad.”

The female staff member smiled briefly, causing a few extra stiff folds to raise at the corner of her mouth. She wrote furiously for a while, then stamped something on his examination form.

The lines of the seal were dark, and the pattern was similar to that of Fang Yuanyuan’s work permit.

“Take the examination form and turn right when you go out. The next check-up items are in no particular order. Try to finish your exam before 5 PM.” The female staff nodded at Yin Ren. “You can go now and call the next one in.”

After Yin Ren went out, he saw Zhong Chengshuo.

Seeing that Yin Ren was safe and sound, the rest of the group relaxed a bit, to varying degrees. Only Mr. Zhong was staring at a certain point in the void and had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Yin Ren patted Zhong Chengshuo on the shoulder and said, “Zhong Ge, it’s your turn.”

It looked as if Zhong Chengshuo had fallen asleep while standing, as it took him a while to recover. He blinked in confusion and then muttered, “Thank you.”

Yin Ren smiled at the rest of the group. He clinched his physical examination form and sat down on a black chair. There were definitely people watching him now, so he had to maintain the virtue of being human—in such a strange and gloomy place, a human wouldn’t ever go out alone.

Also, this would give him a chance to eavesdrop on the situation.

Unfortunately, reality didn’t go as smoothly as he imagined. The door panel was blessed with some kind of technique that made the other side as quiet as if it were underwater. The wooden door closed quickly, drowning out the sound of Zhong Chengshuo’s footsteps and the evil qi.

As a result, Mr. Zhong walked out with a solemn face within two minutes of entering.

He took the examination form in his hand, and the column for his vision was blank except for two bold “0.” The writing was quite heavy, indicating the staff’s surprise. At the top of the examination form was a very eye-catching red seal that was the same style as “Professor Li’s” work permit.

It seemed that this kid was blind and stable, which was reassuring.

“Let’s go together?” Yin Ren asked deliberately.

“Sure, but they told me to go this way. You as well?” Zhong Chengshuo didn’t seem bothered by the two 0s. He pointed calmly to the side of the red chair.

“I have to go out and turn right. Unfortunately, it’s a different path.”

Zhong Chengshuo nodded understandingly. “You can wait a little longer. There must be someone who’s going the same way as you.”

Having said that, Zhong Chengshuo turned around decisively and walked straight into the depths of the corridor. Despite the strange and weird environment, Zhong Chengshuo’s posture was relaxed. His figure was soon swallowed up by the darkness at the end.

Yin Ren: “……”

He didn’t understand whether he was being overly cautious or whether the hearts of humans today were too courageous. In view of Fang Yuanyuan’s emphasis on “don’t go in the wrong direction”, Yin Ren obediently waited in the chair. The tips of his long hair were slightly bent by the seat.

Yin Ren was patiently waiting for a “companion”.

Blue Vest and Red Fedora really knew each other. As soon as Blue Vest was finished, he wandered anxiously around the door until Red Fedora rejoined him with her examination results. The two didn’t deliberately hide their results. Their exam forms were stamped with black marks.

Yin Ren: “Do you want to wait together? This place is a bit eerie, so it’s better if there are more people.”

Blue Vest smiled nervously. “Let’s go. I’ve talked to the people behind me just now. They’re applying for the science post, so they aren’t the same as us.”

“Yeah, it’s the red seal of that guy that came out before and just left by himself,” Red Fedora exclaimed.

Since the “two people behind” hadn’t entered the door yet, the “red seal” she was speaking of was probably referring to Zhong Chengshuo.

She didn’t know of his brilliant results. Most people should have at least seen No. 12, but for Mr. Zhong, all he probably saw was an ordinary vision examination room.

Yin Ren struck while the iron was hot. “Can I go with you?”

“Yeah. The more people, the livelier,” Blue Vest gladly agreed.

Lord Ghost King pretended not to understand the meaning behind “more people”. They stood in a line pattern and headed towards the other end of the corridor.

“Just now, I heard you guys talk about ‘red marks’ and ‘science post’. What does that mean?” The opportunity was too good to miss, so Yin Ren asked as if he didn’t have any clue.

Red Fedora showed astonishment. “You don’t know?”

“I was involved in some kind of incident two days ago and just got placed here. I haven’t heard of these things before.”

Unsure whether Blue Vest was using it to relieve tension or if he had a teacher’s heart, when he discovered that Yin Ren didn’t know anything, he became ecstatic. “Then let me tell you. The ‘red seal’ is for the ‘science post’. The science post only accepts genuinely highly educated talents, which at least start with a master’s degree.”

Yin Ren could understand the word “talent”. It seemed that Zhong Chengshuo was indeed a scholar, as he thought.

“On the other hand, the black seal is a non-scientific post, but they possess some special skills. There are only two kinds of people in this line of work. One is that you had a strange encounter during your adventure, and the other is through family heritage from an expert.”

Yin Ren looked at the two of them again. He felt that the temperament of these two weren’t like the former, but their skills of these two weren’t on the level of a master either. However, out of courtesy, he didn’t inquire too much about it.

“You know a lot,” Yin Ren continued to test.

“I did some homework beforehand. The stamp they gave us just now is to classify us. Next, they will examine our ability and determine our post.”

“In other words, if you already have a stamp, that means you’ll be able to pass?”

Blue Vest suddenly deflated like he had hit a leak. “How can there be such a good thing as that if you don’t have the strength? Brother, don’t you know what Shian’s annual salary is?”

Yin Ren wasn’t worried about strength. Even if he was in poor condition, he could easily defeat all cultivators in the vicinity. What he was worried about was being able to control the degree of “normal”—after a thousand years, the standard of “normal” was quite elusive.

It was right to follow these two. Blue Vest and Red Fedora were excellent references. This time, he definitely wouldn’t be the first to go up. From this moment on, they were a harmonious and friendly trio of underdogs.

The underdog trio didn’t have to go far before a second, third, and fourth door appeared at the same time.

One of the doors was labeled “Physical Examination Room,” which was followed by a simple brain icon. Opposite it was a “Stress Test Room”, with a cracked heart painted on the door plate.

The last door was close to the corner. It was dark in that area, and the sign on the door was blank.

---

The author has something to say:

Atheists are an indispensable combat power of this institution—!

But strange things can be said to objectively exist (?

<The More People, The Merrier> by Blue Vest.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 6: Job Opportunity

For Yin Ren, the last half of the day had been more exciting than the past thousand years combined.

When the rain stopped last night, Yin Ren gazed at the stars through the car window—under the seal, he had slept for a full 1,040 years. This meant that his 1,400^th birthday was something worth celebrating.

Thousands of years had passed, and the vicissitudes of life in the world had changed.

People in contemporary metaphysics were extremely vigilant. Yin Ren was sure that he hid himself well, but since he broke the seal, thousands of spells within a radius of ten miles were poised, and there were also arrays that were further away. There were countless seals like petals on a thousand-layered lotus, wrapping the small city of Haigu right in the middle.

Unfortunately, no one thought that an Evil Spirit would be basking in the sun in the courtyard of the institution in question.

There was a decorative pool in the park of the Shian Group. The fountain continuously gushed, and there was a relaxing water bar set up by the pool. The sky was clear and blue, allowing the sun to shine through the clear edges of the parasols.

Yin Ren collapsed under the shade as he crushed the mint leaves in his cold drink.

Not long after lunch, they were brought here by the staff. He just ordered a berry soda with ice cream, and now his body was immersed in the impact of this new taste. Yin Ren stretched out from head to toe, exuding the aura of “I’m in a super good mood”.

The person who recommended the iced berry drink to Yin Ren was sitting opposite of him…

“I’m the HR person here, surnamed Fang.”

Miss Fang had a cheerful round face. She wore thick makeup, and her hair was permed into a big maroon wave. She wore a pair of caramel-colored contact lenses, and her long nails were plastered with fancy decorations.

She was wearing a fashionable parquet skirt with a work ID hanging on her chest. There was a strange black mark with “Fang Yuanyuan” on it.

The middle-aged man next to her was also wearing a work ID, but the seal on his name was standard vermilion.

“Professor Li has something to say. He always has a stinky face on, so I’m here to adjust the atmosphere.” Miss Fang pointed to the man sitting next to her and spoke in a playful and cute tone.

Yin Ren pretended not to notice the miniature magic array in her contact lenses and the powerful charms under her manicure. Conservatively estimated, this “playful and cute” Miss Fang could tear up a spiteful ghost within ten heartbeats.

He stuffed his mouth with a spoonful of ice cream and gave a look like he was all ears.

Zhong Chengshuo was sitting to Yin Ren’s right with a glass of ice water in front of him. He was more proactive than Yin Ren. “Professor Li? That Professor Li Nian?”

“Yes.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s sitting posture suddenly became more rigid.

Professor Li behaved just like his appearance, as if he were covered with thorns to keep people at arm’s length. This person was extremely careful with his words. Yin Ren could understand the meaning—Shian Group had decided to give them some special work. In order to show their formality, they sent their leader “Professor Li Nian”, to come forward.

As for what this special work was, Professor Li didn’t specify.

Yin Ren didn’t even know what “HR” and “Professor” even meant. He wisely remained silent and let the modern man, Zhong Chengshuo, go up to bat.

Sure enough, Zhong Chengshuo opened his mouth. “When I applied for the position, I checked the box ‘open to job transfer’. As long as the treatment remains the same and the place of work is in Haigu, I have no problem.”

“Thank you for your understanding. However, this job is relatively special and requires a short interview.” Fang Yuanyuan smiled sweetly.

Zhong Chengshuo glanced at Yin Ren. “Am I working together with him?”

It wasn’t that Zhong Chengshuo regarded himself too highly, but even patients with amnesia weren’t spared from this job, which was beyond his expectations.

Yin Ren reluctantly drank all his cold drink and stirred the cream at the bottom of the cup with his straw. “I don’t remember who I am, but never mind that. I like it here. Whether it’s sweeping floors, pouring tea, or washing dishes, I can do anything.”

He spoke sincerely.

Such an institution would definitely have relevant information, so the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. As an ordinary Evil Spirit without ambition, he just wanted to get his powers under control as soon as possible, keep his sanity, and then… enjoy life in this new era to his heart’s content.

“The interview is only a preliminary screening. In my experience, there’s a high probability that the two of you will not be in the same position,” Fang Yuanyuan continued with a smile. “I’ll begin.”

She didn’t wait for the two of them to respond and quickly threw out a question—

“Do you two believe that there are ‘ghosts’ in the world?”

Zhong Chengshuo’s expression froze while the mint that Yin Ren was kneading fell to the table. Professor Li Nian tapped the table with his index finger and swept his gaze between the two of them.

Zhong Chengshuo frowned, obviously thinking about how to respond.

Yin Ren: “…I do.”

This time it was Yin Ren who answered before Zhong Chengshuo, causing Professor Li’s eyes to dart towards him.

“Go on.”

“There’s nothing to say. I just believe what the ancestors passed down. To tell you the truth, based on my experience a while ago, you have to believe it, whether you did or didn’t before.”

After speaking, Yin Ren began to stir the bottom of his drink again.

Vanilla cream and berry juice were mixed into a beautiful pink color, which looks like fresh brain matter. When it was stirred around by the straw, it exuded a sweet aroma.

“Do you have any impression of the name ’Yin Ren’?” Professor Li asked calmly. “Yin from ardent, Ren from blade.”

Yin Ren stopped stirring the straw.

“I do.” His tone was solemn.

“Uncle Zhang told you? I even had the sensation of flying in the sky—it’s unbelievable—it was like a dream.”

“I told your people about the situation at the time… Let me think about it…‘Dizziness, everything sounded like a water film, chills all over, and my body wouldn’t listen to orders.’ Minister Li, do you think I was possessed by something wicked?”

Professor Li didn’t answer.

“In case I am really possessed by something wicked, I probably shouldn’t be called ‘Yin Ren’.”

Seeing that the other party was silent, Yin Ren continued according to the planned script.

“…But the name is not bad. I’ll just call myself ‘Yin Ren’. At least it’s better than ‘Zhang San’.”

Professor Li still looked cold. “You can register as that.”

He nodded slightly at Fang Yuanyuan, who quickly typed a few lines on her phone.

Then she turned to Zhong Chengshuo and said, “Mr. Yin’s answer is standard. How about you, Mr. Zhong? Have you thought about it?”

Yin Ren was relieved. He happily let go of the straw and looked at Zhong Chengshuo, who was sitting upright.

Zhong Chengshuo had not once touched the iced water in front of him. The ice cubes had all melted away and drops of water were flowing down the outer wall of the cup, forming a ring of water at the bottom. Though he himself had a difficult expression on his face, there wasn’t a single bead of sweat.

“I don’t believe in ‘ghosts’, but I don’t deny there are ‘phenomena that can’t be explained by modern science’.”

As Zhong Chengshuo spoke, he took off his glasses and wiped them carefully.

After sitting still for so long, Professor Li’s expression finally changed. “Oh?”

“For example, people in the past couldn’t explain the phenomenon of a mirage and called it a ‘ghost city’. Many people believed that it was evidence that ghosts and spirits do exist. Nowadays, even children know the cause of a mirage, which has nothing to do with the popular concept of ghosts and gods.”

“When the path of human science does not exist, ‘modern science cannot explain a phenomenon’ is unavoidable. People’s experiences lead them to classify them as a supernatural phenomenon or related to ghosts and gods… I just don’t agree with this classification.”

Fang Yuanyuan raised an eyebrow and rubbed the small decoration on her nails.

“In other worlds, even if there are ghosts standing in front of you—” she meaningfully stretched out the end of her sentence.

“Personally, what an atheist should do is not ‘stubbornly deny’, but ‘find a more reasonable explanation’.”

“Even if it’s rather anomalous and fits people’s descriptions of a ghost?”

“It’s still a phenomenon, and any phenomenon has its causes.”

Zhong Chengshuo’s answers were smooth, as if he had pondered such questions a long time ago. Stared at by those deep eyes, Fang Yuanyuan’s smile froze for a moment.

She quickly adjusted her state. “The two of you answered well. You can participate in our induction examination in the afternoon. Ah, do you have any questions for me?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “I just had a physical entry exam a few days ago…”

“Believe me, this one’s different. What about Mr. Yin?”

“Do you really have no shortage of handymen?” Yin Ren asked hopefully.

A smile ripped through Fang Yuanyuan. “This job is definitely better than ‘doing chores’.”

“Okay, I still have a few questions.”

“Please ask.”

“Will this job require frequent travel? It’s not convenient for me to move around, so I might not be able to do it—”

“Not the early stages. We’ll consider the employee’s personal situation. As for your health, Shian will bear all follow-up medical expenses.”

“Not only the body, but I’m also worried about my mental health. Why don’t you tell me what this ‘special job” entails first?”

“I’m sorry. It’s not convenient to say right now. After you pass the physical examination, my colleague will explain the work content to you.” Fang Yuanyuan shook her head.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any more answers, Yin Ren took a deep breath and took out his ace hidden in his sleeve…

“Five insurances* and a full pension?”

*Refers to endowment insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, and maternity insurance.

Fang Yuanyuan: “……”

Fang Yuanyuan: “…In full. There’s also a supplementary provident fund, and the year-end bonus is extremely generous!”

Fang Yuanyuan felt a bit confused. When she first saw Yin Ren, she thought this person wasn’t easy to get along with. Generally speaking, people with excellent looks tend to be arrogant and usually possess a less-than-savory personality.

Unexpectedly, this beautiful rookie was someone who was worried about gains and losses.

On the other hand, Zhong Chengshuo was even more unusual—as a real newcomer to the workplace, he seemed completely uninterested in his transfer.

Were the conditions of these two people reversed?

Fang Yuanyuan couldn’t figure out why. Professor Li Nian had left to take a call and then never came back. She had to improvise on the spot and sent the two of them to Shian’s Building II.

“These are your temporary documents.”

Fang Yuanyuan jogged away from their sights and then came back panting.

When she came back, she had two more work cards in her hand. The cards were tied up in a soft gray color, with the letters “Shian” printed on them in a neat and simple font.

There was no photo on the card; only black letters on a white background.

Zhong Chengshuo: “0-1-1. Yin Ren, 0-1-2.”

The Chinese characters expressing the numbers were under the name of the person. The font was slightly smaller. Below that in a smaller font was the sentence “for entry examination”.

After making sure the two of them had hung their work ID around their necks, Fang Yuanyuan pointed them to the elevator. “The entry examination starts at 2:00 PM. Remember to get the entry exam paperwork at the door. Except for the first item, there’s no hard and fast rule on the order of the exam, but always remember—don’t go in the wrong direction and don’t run around.”

The elevator was large, with enough space to fit a bed. There were no messy decorations on the wall; just a soft, glowing metal surface. It rose slowly and steadily. Yin Ren curiously watched the numbers change one by one and finally stop at “21”.

A soft “ding” sounded, and the heavy elevator doors slid open.

Outside the elevator was a dark corridor with no windows on either side, and the end was engulfed in pitch darkness.

The elevator was facing a light-yellow wooden door. Two rows of chairs were lined up against the wall on either side of the door. The seats on the left were black, while the ones on the right were a dull vermilion. They were identical in style, and there were a few young people sitting on them.

A wooden table was placed diagonally in front of the wooden door, with a stack of forms placed on top of it. In terms of thickness, the stack of paper didn’t exceed ten sheets.

Yin Ren stepped forward first and quickly found the one that belonged to him. The name and number were labeled in the upper right corner of the form. The text on the paper was slightly different from what he knew, but he probably could still read it.

Under the title “Medical Examination Form” was followed by a line of large-print prompts in bright red…

[Note: Please be sure to check your eyesight first. Those who do not check their eyesight are not allowed to continue the entry examination!]

Only when Yin Ren raised his head did he notice the “Vision Examination Room” sign on the door. The words were followed by a moving eye, which he found quite thoughtful.

Yin Ren and the eye exchanged polite glances before looking away, seemingly unintentionally.

“It’s time for the entry examination. Please line up. We’ll check one person at a time.” Fang Yuanyuan clapped her hands with a smile, and a clicking sounded from the wooden door.

Yin Ren tensed his face and tried to make himself look nervous.

…Fang Yuanyuan was right. This exam was really “different”. As soon as the wooden door opened, evil qi rushed out. The force was so thick that it was pressing. If one were to compare the evil qi to flowing water, then the entire corridor had just been completely flooded.

Yin Ren was pretty sure there was something evil on the other side of the door, and there were certainly more than just one.

---

The author has something to say:

The false Ghost King: Cold and aloof, doesn’t say a word, and is inseparable from humans.

The real Ghost King: Rotten.jpg

I heard a friend say that the scabbard had been rotting for hundreds of years because Yin Ren had no idea how long he had been sealed. XD

Clues are hidden elsewhere (?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 5: Abnormal

Fu Xingchuan didn’t go back to the dormitory. He pulled out a folding bed from the emergency management department and flattened it, then laid down. At this moment, the elites of the entire department were present. Everyone was accustomed to the style of this “#1Ghost General”, so no one was surprised.

There was still important work to be done.

The small room was crowded with nearly a hundred people, making the temperature of the room rise a few degrees. There was no strict dress code, so the employees wore whatever they wanted. A small number of people were sitting at workstations, staring at the computer display with bated breath. Most people who were standing in the front row had their eyes tightly locked on the screen wall.

People were speaking in low tones; the whispers buzzing like waves as they washed over the entire area.

The blackout curtains were closed tightly, so it was impossible to distinguish whether it was day or night. Dozens of the screens on the walls had changed their content, showing pictures from different angles at a restaurant.

Everyone present recognized the restaurant.

It was an independently owned restaurant located in the small, round building. There weren’t many visitors right now. It was just after noon. The sun was shining down on the mahogany tables and chairs that were neatly arranged.

The protagonists of the surveillance footage were two young people.

To be precise, at first, it was only Zhong Chengshuo who was sitting by the window. The restaurant provided a la carte service, and when selected, the food would be delivered by the canteen logistics. It could be said that the standards of the canteen of the Shian Group were outstanding, but it was a pity that some people didn’t know how to cherish them.

In front of Zhong Chengshuo was a bowl of white rice porridge with two boiled eggs, a plate of stir-fried greens with garlic, and a plate of sautéed beef without any sauce. He ate in a gentle manner, chewing slowly. His phone was placed not far from him, and the screen was dormant.

The restaurant had large floor-to-ceiling windows and was equipped with air conditioning that kept blowing from the top, so despite sitting by the window, it wasn’t too hot. The bright sunlight enveloped Zhong Chengshuo as he ate the bland lunch in front of him, looking like a harmless herbivore.

However, this peace didn’t last long, as it was broken by Anonymous.

Anonymous didn’t seem tired. Unlike Zhong Chengshuo, who had been sleeping in the lounge all morning, he came to the restaurant as soon as the inquiry was over.

As soon as Anonymous appeared, the whispers in the department suddenly rang out. The foods that Anonymous had chosen were extremely normal—he chose a salted egg Lion’s Head, honey mustard fried chicken, and a large bowl of golden egg fried rice.

The tray of food looked tempting and greasy, which was more in line with “contemporary young people” than what Zhong Chengshuo was eating.

What was more, Anonymous’ eyes were glowing brightly. His face was full of curiosity and expectations, and his vigor was simply outrageous. He sat quite naturally opposite Zhong Chengshuo, exuding a friendly aura.

If it weren’t for that outstanding face, everyone would have gone to check to see if there was a missing salesperson.

Zhong Chengshuo paused with his chopsticks and looked at Anonymous for a moment. “Someone told me the general situation. I’m sorry about last night. I was in a rush, so I spoke nonsense. I actually don’t know you.”

He spoke in an unassuming manner. His tone was more like a statement of fact rather than someone trying to hurriedly clear the air.

“Meeting each other is fate. I don’t remember anyone anyway. It doesn’t matter if we know each other or not.” Anonymous poked the rice in the bowl. “I’m just curious—when can we leave here?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never encountered…”

Halfway through Zhong Chengshuo’s speech, a dull ringing sounded.

In the surveillance room, one of the display screens immediately changed screens, bringing Zhong Chengshuo’s phone into closer view. Everyone could see it. It was a caller named “Zhong Youde”.

There were no blind spots in the restaurant. Zhong Chengshuo looked around and decided to stay in his seat, picking up the phone while giving Anonymous an apologetic look.

“Hello, dad?”

A male voice on the other end of the line asked a lot of questions in a hurry. The old man had a slightly heavy accent and spoke so fast that everyone could barely half-understand what was being said, but they could hear real concern and worry based on the tone.

Zhong Chengshuo’s reply was a lot easier to understand. “I’m eating lunch right now. The food at Shian is pretty good. Don’t worry. It’s nothing big. Tell mom not to worry.”

“Yes, I’m still at the Shian building. I’m assisting with their investigation… Well, I must cooperate… Got it, got it. Don’t wait for me for dinner.”

“Family?” Seeing Zhong Chengshuo hang up the call, Anonymous stuffed a piece of fried chicken into his mouth and squinted contentedly.

Zhong Chengshuo nodded. “How about you? Do you remember anything?”

“It’s not that bad, you know. Look, I can still remember how to use chopsticks. This is delicious. Do you want a piece? ……Listening to your tone just now, are you familiar with this place?”

Zhong Chengshuo looked at the fried chicken and an imperceptible struggle flashed across his face. He stared at it for a few seconds, then refused the “bribe”, but he still answered politely. “I just got an offer from the Drug Research and Development Department here a few days ago—ah, um, a job opportunity.”

“Oh…” Anonymous lowered his eyes.

“Don’t be nervous. Things shouldn’t be as serious as you think. Shian isn’t an official agency. It only occasionally takes on auxiliary appraisals.”

“Drug development? Auxiliary appraisals?”

“Well, it’s also involved in hardware and software development, among other projects, so all in all, its business is quite complicated. Shian cooperates with many hospitals. Since they are willing to take over, they won’t leave you alone.”

Anonymous was silent for a moment before giving a leisurely smile. “Well, since it’s like this, I’ll just take it step by step and see what happens.”

He said it with such sincerity that anyone with ears could sense it.

Having said that, the two of them continued to eat their food. In the surveillance room, there were no alarm sounds that went off, indicating that the two didn’t lie during their conversation just now. No matter how anyone looked at it, this was simply a short chat between strangers.

Still, the staff didn’t let their guard down as a result. Seeing that the situation was uneventful, many people subconsciously turned their faces and looked at one person…

Next to the sleeping Fu Xingchuan stood a middle-aged man with a long, thin face.

His cheekbones were high, and there was some nervousness mixed in with his serious expression. With a crumpled gray suit on, this person was like the embodiment of the dean in a student’s nightmare. His fingers were long and thin, and on his ring finger was a conspicuous wedding ring.

Another head of the Emergency Management Department, Professor Li Nian.

Although the room was crowded, there was still a “vacuum zone” around Professor Li.

Li Nian himself didn’t care. He looked at one of Fu Xingchuan’s assistants. “In the previous inquiry, did Fu Xingchuan find any flaws?”

The male assistant replied nervously, “Report, no! The two of them had stable emotions, clear thinking, and normal physical indicators of concentrations of evil qi on their bodies.”

“Other related cases?”

“There is no progress. To be honest, those two seem the most normal.”

“Normal.” Li Nian harped on this word for a while. “Not to mention Anonymous, this Zhong Chengshuo isn’t considered ‘normal’.”

“Minister Fu conducted a polygraph test on him last night.”

“I’ve seen it. ‘Telling the truth’ doesn’t mean there are ‘no reservations’. Fu Xingchuan is good at fighting, but he’s not adapted to reading people.”

Professor Li turned to the male assistant. When he saw the other party’s blank face, he clicked his tongue unceremoniously.

“If you take away the ‘taking care of his parents’ excuse, despite graduating with excellent grades and honors, he defied his mentor’s wish to retain him. After he graduated, he spent two years traveling around the country alone, going to all the remote, third-tier cities.”

“After returning to Haigu, he found a job that didn’t match his qualifications but had access to us. Last night, it’s suspected that an Evil Spirit had broken a seal, and coincidentally, Zhong Chengshuo “just happens” to go out in the heavy storm late at night and run into Anonymous of unknown origins… Don’t forget, Haigu is plainly inconspicuous, and it’s the only place in the country that has raised a live Evil Spirit.”

As Li Nian spoke, he stared at the screen unblinkingly.

“Raise the level of suspicion on Zhong Chengshuo by one. You can say it’s under my instructions based on the chain of doubts I have just told you. In addition, the accent of Anonymous is not quite right. It has characteristics of an ancient language from the Gong Dynasty. Make sure to add this description to the inquiry information as well.”

“Understood!”

“Now, zoom in on monitor No. 28 and take pictures of Anonymous’ iris. I’ll show them to Zhao Bo later.” Professor Li crossed his arms while still maintaining his gloomy expression.

“Iris?”

“I have never seen that color,” Professor Li said in a very natural tone.

The assistant didn’t dare ask too much. He quickly adjusted the hidden camera, cut out a separate screen, and began to shoot Anonymous’ iris with high precision.

A camera hidden in the corner of the restaurant turned. It twisted like a crooked head—from this angle, it could capture the front of Anonymous’ face.

In the picture on the screen, at first there was only Anonymous’ smiling face, then it was enlarged to his eyes, and eventually there was only one huge eye left. It occupied a 55-inch display screen, clearly showing all the details.

Anonymous’ pupils were round and dark, and there were layers of cobweb-like folds on his iris. The color of his iris wasn’t ordinary brown; it looked more like dry blood, though this color wasn’t abnormal to the eye. Once they zoomed in and observed it carefully, the more they looked at it, the redder it seemed.

Professor Li snorted and paced forward half a step.

His leather shoes made a soft sound as they stepped on the floor.

At the same moment, the huge pupil on the screen shrank. Immediately after, the screens flickered at high frequency, and the contents on the screens were distorted into clusters of colored particles. There was an ominous low noise inside the display screen, and a faint burnt smell exuded in the air.

After a brief “malfunction”, the entire room was silent—

The multi-angle shots of the restaurant disappeared.

On the entire wall, all the images cut to an auburn pupil, except they weren’t exactly the same.

On each screen, the rotation of the giant eyes was different. It seemed that the wall in front of them had become a living creature that had grown eyes all over the wall through the monitors. Dozens of pupils seemed as if they were watching them; their oppressive gaze came from all directions, all locking in on one focus…

Where their lines of sight converged stood Professor Li, who had taken half a step forward.

The moment they saw him, dozens of eyes bent slightly, undoubtedly as if they were smiling.

The next moment, all the screens went off at the same time, and when they lit up again, dozens of surveillance screens returned to their original appearance. It was still the sunny restaurant, with two young people eating quietly in a relaxed atmosphere.

The “wall of eyes” that drenched people in cold sweat had completely disappeared, as if it never existed in the first place.

All this happened within ten seconds.

In the terrible silence, Fu Xingchuan got up with a disheveled face. His brow furrowed so much that it could kill mosquitoes.

“Something wrong? Something happened just now… Oh, Professor Li Nian is here. Tell me quickly.”

Li Nian was still standing in his original position, unmoving. He squinted his eyes and carefully observed Anonymous for a while. It took about half a minute before he turned his gaze to Fu Xingchuan.

“Nothing major. I’ll have someone follow up later.”

Professor Li’s face didn’t change color. He took out his phone and looked at it.

“There’s been progress in the mental health facility just now. A patient claimed to have witnessed Anonymous. The report has just been sent. Fu Xingchuan, there’s something fishy about those two people.”

“Hey, not bad, old partner. I think so too.”

“Keep an eye on them?”

“Yes, we’ll be keeping a very watchful eye on them.”

In the restaurant.

Yin Ren was happily enjoying his lunch. The salted egg Lion’s Head had just the right amount of fat. It melted in his mouth, and the oozing soup mixed with rice was so fragrant that he almost lost his senses. The fried chicken was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. With one bite, delicious juices instantly slid over his tongue. He was accustomed to eating fishy animal flesh and cold food in the ancestral hall that the Great Ghost King almost wanted to cry.

It stood to reason that “ordinary humans” should eat vegetables, but he really couldn’t resist the temptation of refined meat.

‘The diced cucumbers in the fried rice should be considered a vegetarian dish,’ Yin Ren thought impartially.

Opposite him, Zhong Chengshuo had just finished his clear soup and put down his chopsticks. All his dishes were eaten clean, and there weren’t even soup stains on the table. At the end of the meal, he took the lead in confirming information on his phone, then glanced at Yin Ren.

Yin Ren knew how attractive his face was to mortals, but he continued to enjoy his delicious food, pretending not to notice the gaze.

But Zhong Chengshuo never looked away.

His eyes were not explicit. There was no appetite for food or surprise or appreciation in those eyes. Despite staring at Yin Ren in silence for a long time, Yin Ren only found traces of doubt in them.

Could it be that his “little trick” of teasing Shian was discovered just now? It shouldn’t be? He was quite sure he had hidden himself well. Wasn’t this kid unable to see the Resentment Basket?

He didn’t tease those security personnel for fun—Yin Ren had to make sure that his situation was suspicious, but he didn’t overdo it. In this way, he would ensure that Shian would take care of him for a long time without locking him up.

At this juncture, things must not go wrong.

“Do you want some of this?” Yin Ren smiled and took the initiative to strike. “You keep looking at me… Here, there’s still a piece of chicken left or do you want to take it to go?”

“No thanks.” Zhong Chengshuo shook his head. “Sorry, I just thought—”

Yin Ren held his breath.

“—I was just thinking that since you lost your memory, I’m not sure how long it’s been since you’ve eaten. It’s not good for your stomach if you eat too much.” Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and opened his waist bag.

“I have digestive tablets. Do you want them?”

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: “…Oh, thanks.”

The other party had already reached into his waist bag, so he really couldn’t refuse.

Zhong Chengshuo took out a packet of unopened tablets. He tore off a few pill plates and handed two pieces to Yin Ren, who naturally accepted them. Without the rain wetting Zhong Chengshuo’s fingers, they felt dry and warm.

Unknown whether it was intentional or not, Zhong Chengshuo’s fingertips crossed Yin Ren’s palm and they closed as soon as he touched it.

Zhong Chengshuo’s nails were short and rounded, and the touch felt like a bird’s beak lightly brushing one’s hand. It was an ordinary touch, but Yin Ren had an odd feeling of unease—obviously, Zhong Chengshuo was of no threat to him, but he felt that something was amiss.

After giving the medicine, Zhong Chengshuo no longer looked at Yin Ren. He picked up his phone and was typing on it intently. Yin Ren took advantage of the situation and glanced at the word “family” at the top of the phone. The two digestive tablets had a scent of hawthorn in them. It seemed they were genuine goods, and there wasn’t anything unusual about them.

As for the slight sense of unease, it had since dissipated without a trace.

Yin Ren could only think that perhaps he was just being too paranoid.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 4: Interrogation

Fu Xingchuan simply washed his face and hurried to the interrogation room.

For security reasons, the interrogation room wasn’t inside the Shian Building but in a small cylindrical building in the southwest corner of the park. The interrogation room was on the ground floor. Its corridors were crowded with vibrant plants. Bird cages were hung, with many small birds chirping among the branches and leaves.

They weren’t just for mere decoration.

These potted plants and small birds were extremely sensitive to evil spirits. More importantly, they were striking enough to cover up the magic in the building.

Fu Xingchuan swallowed a piece of chocolate. The sweet taste stuck to his throat. As soon as he entered the interrogation room, he poured himself a cup of tea.

The interrogation room of the Shian Group wasn’t like the ones in a police station. It was decorated rather warmly. The lighting was soft, and the room was furnished with dark coffee-colored wooden furniture that held broad-leaved potted plants. There was a small table with a pot filled with hot tea and a plate of peach cookies. At first glance, it looked more like a retro café.

However, it still had its cold parts.

For example, the interrogation room was well stocked, but there wasn’t a single sharp object. The tables and chairs were fixed to the floors, and the cups and plates were all special products that couldn’t be broken. Another example was Fu Xingchuan sitting in a dark room, separated from the warm little world by a layer of one-way glass. The people inside couldn’t see him at all.

Anonymous’ origin was unknown, and they needed more time to conduct a physical exam before they could ask him questions. Through the one-way glass, Fu Xingchuan looked at Zhong Chengshuo in the interrogation room.

Zhong Chengshuo had already taken off his rain cape.

He was wearing a white sweater that was too wide. His dark pants were loose and casual, and his sneakers were clean, showing meticulous care for them. At this moment, Zhong Chengshuo was busy putting on his glasses—probably because he was afraid the rain would get in his eyes, so he stored his glasses in a case that was tucked in his pocket.

Fu Xingchuan had to admit that he looked very pleasing to elders.

Zhong Chengshuo’s brows were gentle and atmospheric, his black hair wasn’t permed or dyed, and his bangs were just a tad bit too long. With square rimless glasses, he had the aura of a student and looked younger than his actual age.

Although tonight’s experience was peculiar, there was neither panic nor resistance on his face, nor did he have the eagerness to talk about his experience.

Given that Fu Xingchuan was observing with a nitpicking mentality, he managed to dig out an unsightly feature.

His eyes.

It could be said that if Zhong Chengshuo were matched with a pair of clear eyes, he could be a poster boy for the “Top Ten Outstanding Youth”. But instead, his eyes were like black holes, as dark as ink. They were dull, and no emotions could be seen in them. If it weren’t for his harmless appearance, those eyes would be enough to make people feel uneasy.

Fu Xingchuan cleared his throat and made a “start” gesture to his colleague on the other side of the mirror. He lowered his head and quickly read Zhong Chengshuo’s information, then took a deep breath.

“Mr. Zhong, someone had explained things to you on the way here, right?”

Zhong Chengshuo was sitting in an armchair in a regular manner. He had his hands clasped and was resting them on the edge of the table; his slightly longer cuffs were covering his wrists.

“The suspected leakage of hazardous chemicals in Xizhao District is a premeditated crime. The case is serious, and all abnormalities in the vicinity must be investigated. You’re assisting the police in this investigation.”

Zhong Chengshuo spoke in a gentle and clear voice.

“I have confirmed the power of attorney at the police station, and I’m willing to cooperate.”

“Then just talk casually and relax,” Fu Xingchuan said. “I just read your information. You’re a graduate student at University A—one of the top universities in this country. You can choose to go anywhere with this grade, yet you went back to Haigu for development?”

Haigu was located inland and had a long history. It mainly focused on tourism. Looking at its development alone, it could barely be considered a second-tier city*. Zhong Chengshuo said that his major was “biochemistry and molecular biology”, which wasn’t suitable at all for employment in Haigu.

*China city tier system refers to an unofficial hierarchical classification of Chinese cities. Cities in different tiers often reflect differences in consumer behavior, income level, population size, consumer sophistication, infrastructure, talent pool, and business opportunity, among others.

Not to mention that this person’s grades were ridiculously good; it was incredible that Zhong Chengshuo’s mentor would be willing to let him go.

Zhong Chengshuo said with a shy smile, “My parents are in their eighties. If I study or work in a field long-term, it won’t be convenient for me to take care of them.”

“Oh, indeed, you have to take good care of your parents in their eighties, but I don’t understand. Looking at this information… You didn’t return to Haigu immediately after graduation but traveled abroad for two years.”

“Well, my family was in good health at the time. I wanted to take advantage of that and explore the world, so as not to worry about it in the future. Mom wasn’t feeling well a while back, so that’s when I returned.”

“So filial. It seems that your parents treat you very well.”

Zhong Chengshuo remained silent for a while. He looked up at the one-way glass as if he could see through it.

“They treat me very well,” he said. “It should be written in the information. I was adopted by them. As adoptive parents, no one in the world is more competent than them.”

Fu Xingchuan continued as if nothing had happened. “Aren’t you curious about your biological parents? Seeing that you’ve been going around the country for two years, I thought—”

“Not curious at all. My only relatives are my parents, and that’s all,” Zhong Chengshuo said as he pushed up his glasses, showing them a smile.

Fu Xingchuan immediately looked at the data uploaded to the tablet.

So far, Zhong Chengshuo hadn’t lie. Fu Xingchuan breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously—now it seemed that his worries were superfluous.

“Just now, that was just a routine inquiry. I apologize in advance if it made you uncomfortable. Next, we’re moving on to the main business…”

Zhong Chengshuo’s interrogation ended quickly. Regarding last night’s incident, his remarks were no different from those given at the police station. Zhong Chengshuo said that the only abnormality he noticed was “the streetlights on that street seemed to be broken”.

Data from the technical department kept coming through, showing that there was no falsehood in Zheng Chengshuo’s narrative.

“Finally, confirm again, why did you go out in the rain in the early hours of the morning?”

“Didn’t you ask that just now? Today, my parents left to see relatives and forgot to close the window. I was afraid my dad’s potted plants would drown.”

Fu Xingchuan did ask this, and the data did show that it was the truth, but that didn’t prevent him from thinking this was complete bullshit.

“Why?” Fu Xingchuan couldn’t help asking. “It takes you more than an hour to go to Changling Road by bike. In the middle of the night, while it’s raining like this, it only makes the road conditions even poorer…”

He had specifically confirmed that the potted plants were a variety of 5 to 8 yuan a pot from a farmer’s market. No matter what anyone would think, normal people at least would wait until dawn.

Zhong Chengshuo gave him a surprise look and said, “But that’s still life.”

Fu Xingchuan: “……”

Great, the truth again. His concerns went from “seemingly superfluous” to “worrisome”.

Fu Xingchuan: “You’ve worked hard. Alright, you can head out. After staying up most of the night, you can go to the lounge and sleep for a while. I’ll call you back in the day if I need you.”

Zhong Chengshuo was led away by the staff. Fu Xingchuan poured himself another cup of tea, and a sense of vicissitude diffused from his heart. Minister Fu, who was in his early forties, sighed for a while—young people nowadays were getting more and more incomprehensible.

However, with Zhong Chengshuo out of the way, next up was Anonymous.

Fu Xingchuan went out for a smoke. When he came back, Anonymous was already sitting where Zhong Chengshuo had just sat.

The moment he saw that person, Minister Fu subconsciously tensed his body, and his pupils dilated slightly.

Mr. Anonymous’ long hair was tied up. His pale complexion was illuminated by warm light, giving him a more energetic look compared to his photo. His cheeks and lips were bloodshot, and his brown-red eyes were very eye-catching. This person was tall. His hospital gown had been replaced with a Shian uniform; its dull design instantly became fashionable when it was worn by him.

However, the biggest point was his face.

Fu Xingchuan had seen many human and non-human “beauties”, and compared to them, Anonymous’ appearance could leave them all in the dust. This kind of beauty was like a blood-quenching blade.

It was too beautiful. He looked even better than in the photo.

However, Minister Fu didn’t have the slightest appreciation for this beauty, but was full of vigilance. He had been in this business for 30 years and knew the most basic truth…

For living things related to the metaphysics, especially “people” of “unknown origin”, beauty only meant danger.

Fu Xingchuan tapped on the table lightly. In an instant, the entire interrogation room was completely closed, with dozens of destructive spells ready to be activated. If it weren’t for the lush plants and birds’ sleeping sounds, Fu Xingchuan could have activated the blasting system incidentally.

Unlike Minister Fu, who was on full alert, Yin Ren was light and airy.

Under the seal, there was only a damp, thick, dark, and rancid pile of sticky corpses. After a comprehensive physical examination, he was taken by the staff to take a pleasant hot bath—Yin Ren even knew how to use the hot water faucet without having someone teach him.

Hot water faucet—magical. Hair dryer—amazing. And yet he wanted to destroy this era when he had water in his head*?

*(脑子进水) Term used to describe there’s a problem with a person’s mind. It can also mean being opposed to and not accepting when someone asks a strange question. || In this context, it’s the former.

Yin Ren leaned back into the armchair in a relaxed manner, looking at the food in front of him.

He was new here and didn’t know things had changed. The hot tea and peach cookies that were served to Zhong Chengshuo had been removed, and now there was a hot cup of coffee and a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

The coffee was clear and had an unusually strong smell.

“There’s no hurry to talk. Eat first.” A voice sounded in the room.

Yin Ren glanced at the one-way glass. In this form, he couldn’t see what was behind the glass, but he could sense a power emanating from there.

There was an extremely powerful cultivator on the other side of the “mirror”, so being cautious wasn’t an exaggeration.

The drink in front of him was steaming hot. It had a sour and bitter aroma that went straight to his nose. Yin Ren tried to take a sip, and the Evil Spirit almost spat it out.

This was trickery! Even if someone liked extreme flavors, they shouldn’t treat guests like this by default.

As soon as the cup left his lips, Yin Ren scanned the table. Thanks to the Evil Spirit’s excellent sense of smell, he smelled food among the pile of scattered decorations.

Salt and pepper were in delicate vials, soy sauce and vinegar in clear, transparent hoses. There was a small, cylindrical bag that exuded a rich milk flavor. There was sugar wrapped in rectangular paper and small spoonfuls of jam and lard on the table.

These were all flavorings. They were placed in an orderly manner in a wooden box, right within his reach.

There wasn’t much reaction time left.

Yin Ren controlled his expression, neatly pulled out the sugar wrapped in paper strips, tore open one of the creamer balls, and put them in his drink—he wasn’t sure if this was the “right” thing to do, but he had made many medicinal soups and knew how to make them taste better.

The drink with the added flavorings was a lot smoother. Yin Ren took a few sips and then picked up a piece of something that looked like a snack.

This time, there was no trap. He tasted a wonderful bitter taste that was completely unfamiliar and was followed by a rich and sweet flavor. Yin Ren unceremoniously ate the entire snack tray. To be fair, this thing was 10,000 times more delicious than the Resentment Basket. It was sticky to eat, and when finished, the drink went well with it.

“Is there more?” Yin Ren asked tentatively.

Fu Xingchuan: “…Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I’m really hungry. You guys have a full range of seasonings here. Can I get a bowl of noodles or something?”

Fu Xingchuan: “…There are still two packs of cookies in the drawer of the table.”

From where Yin Ren couldn’t see, Fu Xingchuan had put down his tablet. Just a moment ago, the results of Anonymous’ physical examination were released.

According to the genetic results, Anonymous was a standard native human.

He was about 22 to 23 years old, healthy but a little malnourished. The tricky thing was Anonymous’ physical characteristics. DNA of a missing person couldn’t be matched. He didn’t have any scars, surgical marks, or injuries anywhere on his body. It was as if he had just been born, leaving them with no clues.

The police contacted the mental health facility, but the hospital insisted there was no such person among their patients. When this person showed up, the hospital was caught in a power outage, so they couldn’t even get surveillance data.

So far, the only way Minister Fu could dig up information from this person was to interrogate him.

At least looking at his current performance, Anonymous had a certain amount of modern knowledge, which ruled out the possibility of “not being exposed to popular information” and “doesn’t understand the current era”.

“I’m sorry for taking up your time. Feel free to ask your questions, but I might not know the answer.” Yin Ren’s voice was muffled as he was chewing on a cookie while he spoke.

“How much do you remember about yourself?” Fu Xingchuan went straight to the point.

Yin Ren hurriedly took a sip of coffee. “…Ahem, not much. I just remember that I used to travel a lot—perhaps I should call it ‘business trips’? I can’t remember recent events as my head’s a mess right now.”

The reading instrument fluctuated. The man wasn’t lying, but there was a certain exaggeration in his words.

“Tell me about last night.” Minister Fu wasn’t moved.

“You want me to ask why I am in this condition?” Yin Ren picked up on his words. “I don’t know. I woke up like this. I was scared and didn’t know what was going on, so I picked up a knife nearby to defend myself. Even if people didn’t call the police, I was going to go to the police for help.”

“It’s purely a coincidence that I entered the mental health facility. I just wanted to find something to wear. When I first woke up, I was completely naked.” Even though I wasn’t even in human form at that time, Yin Ren silently added.

“Do you know where you woke up?”

“It’s a terrible place. It was all wasteland. I wandered around for a long time and went too far.”

This was the truth. At that time, he was whizzing underground, almost across the entire city of Haigu.

“You took the initiative to enter the mental hospital?”

“Well, I went in through the window. It was too dark at night. I just know it was one of those… kind of ‘public facilities’, since it’s inappropriate to break into someone’s private residence.”

Yin Ren was confident. “Turning into a liquid and drilling into the seams of the window” was definitely, in a sense, going through the window.

“I then found some clothing, but I didn’t want to stay in an unknown place, so I ran out again. As a result, I ran into Zhong Ge*—he could attest that I’ve been very cooperative. Later, you guys took me here directly and did a lot of inspections.”

*Brother (哥) Term used by someone younger to refer to someone who is male, who’s older than you, and with whom you have a good relationship with or respect.

“…You called him ‘Zhong Ge’.” Fu Xingchuan rubbed his temples.

“He looks older than me,” the 1,000-year-old Evil Spirit said innocently. “He also said he’s an acquaintance of mine.”

Fu Xingchuan laughed dryly. Mr. Anonymous’ observation data fluctuated greatly, but they didn’t reach the red line of “lies”. Having said that, few people could calmly and objectively describe this kind of thing.

It was better to solve the misunderstanding first so as not to make this person think that his name is really Zhang San.

……

At 11:30 in the morning, Minister Fu left the basement floor. He beat around the bush and asked everything he could, but failed to dig up more information from “Anonymous”. Anonymous either answered honestly or didn’t know anything about it. This person seemed to be just an ordinary young man who had encountered misfortune. At the end of the inquiry, Anonymous even persuaded him to get some rest.

In terms of personality alone, this person was much easier to communicate with than Zhong Chengshuo.

Fu Xingchuan had been exposed to many evil things, which were either cruel or angry, and they had a hellish feeling to them. A warm and cheerful creature was like a joke. Fu Xingchuan doubted his intuition for the first time—it was buzzing at that time, but he decided that these two people were unrelated to the murderous incident.

As a result, half a night passed, and the Shian Group had lost three packs of chocolate chip cookies.

Fu Xingchuan felt his phone vibrate and frowned.

“Lao Fu, Zhong Chengyue has woken up. Can this matter still be considered ‘high-risk’? The evil qi values in and around the Xizhao District are all normal. As for those two, both physical results and observation data are… uh…”

Fu Xingchuan narrowed his eyes and took a deep puff of his cigarette.

“Still considered ‘high-risk’. Thoroughly investigate the patients in that hospital. As long as someone gives any outrageous testimony, write it down for me.”

He decided to trust his intuition as the “#1 Ghost General”.

---

The author has something to say:

Yes, Xiao Zhong wears glasses! Comes with skills [Glass Reflection Lv.1] _(:D”∠)_

Xiao Yin… Xiao Yin may have abandoned his own skills [Ghost King Force Lv.99]

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Kinky Thoughts:

Looks like Lao Zhang is about to make another appearance. I find it so cute how Yin Ren marvels at things in the modern era and how he describes them.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 3: A Suspicious Person

Perhaps because there were such a large number of “people”, that the Resentment Basket tended to be more aggressive than self-absorbed grieving ghosts. They craved the negative emotions of the living, and they liked to wrap people into their bodies and squeeze them for nutrients like sugarcane.

Just by looking at the description, one would know it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. As an “after-effect”, the chewed person would have a minor illness or a major disaster, depending on their personal circumstances.

The Resentment Basket obviously was here for food.

The Resentment Basket slammed on the brakes right in front of the two of them. Fortunately, it still had an instinctive fear. Unfortunately, with its limited intelligence, it rolled its eight eyes and failed to understand where the fear came from.

It finally moved its body cautiously, deciding only to harm the “human” that looked more adequate.

The Resentment Basket curled up, and after covering its “face”, it made a heavy breathing sound. A faint fishy smell was mixed together with the fishy smell from the rainwater. The next moment, its huge body stretched out, and the front end of the Resentment Basket slammed up. The hand-like structure was slightly folded, as if it wanted to lean closer and whisper something terrible.

It ran straight towards the young man in front of Yin Ren.

The Resentment Basket wrapped around the young man’s body, and the cocoon squirmed like it was digesting something. The person was strangely “embedded” in its body, with only his face and arms exposed, creating a ridiculously bizarre scene.

Yin Ren couldn’t even laugh.

The man was wearing a Resentment Basket several dozen times larger than himself, but his strength didn’t diminish at all. His hands were still warm and steady, and his eyes were firmly fixed on Yin Ren, with no abnormal expression on his face.

This time, the two “people” who were in an embarrassing deadlock became three, and the atmosphere became more subtle.

Without tasting a new pain, the Resentment Basket quickly noticed the abnormality. It twisted its body and retreated back to its original position in confusion.

The corner of Yin Ren’s eyes twitched—the Resentment Basket felt perhaps its eating posture was wrong, so it planned to retry.

The fishy smell in the air turned into a foul stench. The ugly fleshy skin surged, and the Resentment Basket slid over again.

This time, it slowed down. Its outer skin oozed mucus under the streetlight. There was a squeezing sound that made the scalp tingle, and the person in front of Yin Ren was “devoured” by the huge flesh cocoon again.

His entire head sank into black and red flesh covered in blood, leaving his two hands that were grabbing Lin Ren like shackles exposed.

The hands remained motionless.

The skin of the resentment basket wriggled more violently. The bulging raised meat flesh almost rubbed against the tip of Yin Ren’s nose. The flesh of the cocoon rose and fell like waves, with the man’s face appearing from the Resentment Basket from time to time.

The man didn’t even blink. It seemed that he wasn’t affected in any way.

Seeing that it couldn’t eat, the eyes of the Resentment Basket became bloodshot. Most people would get angry when they find themselves unable to pick up noodles with their chopsticks.

How miserable.

Yin Ren glanced at it sympathetically and probably had a clue…

Those who didn’t believe would not be blessed by the gods, and likewise, they would not be affected by evil.

There had been similar rumors among cultivators in the past. The less you believe, the less impact.

If a person didn’t believe in ghosts and gods, then it was useless to pray to them, but they were also immune to almost all spells from demons and spirits. Such people couldn’t detect ghosts and gods, so the latter would have no influence on them and would simply treat each other like air.

Unfortunately, Yin Ren had never met such a person.

Among mortals, the more fanatical pray and worship every day, while the more ordinary would pay attention and seek out good luck while avoiding bad. In an atmosphere that had been passed down through thousands of years, few people were completely “unbelieving”.

Now it seemed there was one standing in front of him.

What did this mean? This meant that while the whole world thought he was suspicious, the person in front of him couldn’t see through him. Yin Ren was quite pleased and suddenly felt that this person had become much cuter.

Yin Ren even retracted his wrist and led the person in his own direction. Who knew that the person’s grip was extremely stable, so while Yin Ren tried to move, the person didn’t budge an inch.

The person in front of him clenched even tighter and increased the force of his grasp. The strength was so great, it was like he had just met his long-lost brother.

The Resentment Basket was getting angry. Seeing Yin Ren “snatching its food”, it ignored its instinctive fear. The Resentment Basket flung itself and used the momentum to fly over to Yin Ren like a whip, trying to wrap the two of them together.

If the young man in front of him could see this, the next scene could be said to be exciting…

The moment the Resentment Basket touched Yin Ren, it froze from head to toe, and even the squirming of its skin stopped. After a twitch, the cocoon immediately curled up into a ball. Its eight human eyes twitched wildly between its fingers, and its pupils were full of fear.

It completely forgot to run away.

The Resentment Basket seemed to be pulled by an invisible hand as its body changed shape like dough. With vague chewing sounds, the flesh and blood were being sucked out by an invisible mouth, as if it was water draining from a tank with its stopper removed.

The entire process was so smooth and quiet that the Resentment Basket couldn’t even let out a scream.

In the blink of an eye, the bloated body disappeared in place, leaving only a few drops of black coagulated blood on Yin Ren’s clavicle. The next moment, those few drops were also absorbed by his pale skin, leaving no trace behind.

Yin Ren smacked his lips. He got an unexpected feeding, and his mood became more comfortable.

The thunderstorm became clear again. The streetlights no longer flickered, and the warm yellow light sprayed down, creating a pleasant, moving scene.

It took less than three minutes from when the Resentment Basket appeared and disappeared.

Sharp sirens sounded from the other side of the street. The police lights could be seen at the end of the darkness. Yin Ren didn’t recognize the lights, but he could read the relaxed expressions of the people across the street.

Most likely, they were all officers, and they came faster than Yin Ren had expected.

“My ‘family’ is here to pick me up, right?”

Yin Ren continued to let the man grab him and even showed him a kind smile.

Compared to Uncle Zhang, who escaped in the middle, this one led him to “enter the world”.

Regardless of the attitude of the other party, this was considered a certain fate. Yin Ren wanted to be friendly, or at least appear more human-like—regular Evil Spirits wouldn’t care about the names of ordinary humans.

So he smiled very gently, so gently that one couldn’t tell he had just killed a Resentment Basket.

“It’s a pity I don’t remember your name.”

The man was taken aback for a moment and sized up Yin Ren for a while.

“It’s Zhong Chengyue*.” He spoke the words solemnly, one by one.

*Clarity: His name is Zhong Chengshuo but it’s often mispronounced as Chengyue. This won’t be explained until Chapter 10.

……

The Shian Building was still brightly lit.

After tossing all night and seeing that it was about to be dawn, both sides finally stopped their summoning spells—the Evil Spirit never responded and the unknown force conceded first, so Minister Fu asked the Shian Group to terminate their spellcasting.

The people who came to work the next shift had arrived, but those who worked overtime couldn’t go home. The “Evil Spirit” was a big event. Just in case, everyone had to be on standby. Everyone moved out of the break room beds and chairs, and regardless of their gender, they all slept directly in the area.

Minister Fu didn’t sleep. He collapsed in his chair and used his tablet to read the report.

As soon as the white light flickered, it illuminated the dark bags under his eyes. He looked like he was a freshly unearthed zombie.

The Shian Group was a state-owned enterprise. The Haigu Branch and the Haigu Police Department had always cooperated. As long as the application was made in accordance with regulations, the Shian Group had the right to view the internal information of the police station.

For example, like now.

An Evil Spirit had broke out last night, and there were a total of 35 abnormal activities that occurred in Haigu and the surrounding suburbs. After a busy night, the staff ruled out unrelated cases, such as sudden emergencies, family conflicts, street fights, theft, and the like, and only 6 people came into contact with an “abnormal phenomenon”.

Minister Fu—Fu Xingchuan took a sip from his energy drink and narrowed his eyes.

[Abnormal behavior: 1 person

Concentration of evil qi on body: 1.03~1.05fR (extremely high)

Personnel: Guo Laifu (47 years old, male)

Location: Heping Road, Shangguang District

Overview: Guo Laifu is a serial murderer on the run. Came to Haigu 4 days ago. According to the investigation, the person used a fruit knife to cut off his nose, poked his ears with chopsticks, and dug out his eyes with his bare hands. When discovered by our staff, this person was peeling his skin off at a crosswalk.

Guo Laifu is currently admitted to Haigu Hospital and is in a coma. The cut nose, eyeballs, skin, ect. were all swallowed by Guo Laifu himself. His vision and hearing are greatly damaged and may not return to normal.]

[Direct eyewitness anomalies: 3 people

Concentration of evil qi on body: 0.12~0.17fR (medium)

Personnel: Chen Xiao (24 years old, male); Wang Rongrong (29 years old, female); Zhang Le (25 years old, male)

Location: Ka’an Road, Donghe District

Overview: The three of them are employees of Haigu Coral Reff Co., Ltd. They met for drinks and returned late. Together, they witnessed a man in a suit carrying a “red bouquet”. The three of them found that the “bouquet” was suspected to be made of blood-stained internal organs and took the initiative to call the police.

The three of them were greatly stimulated and didn’t want to go out. They stayed at Haigu Police Station for the time being and were comforted by our staff.]

[Suspected abnormal contact: 2 people

Concentration of evil qi on body: 0.06~0.08fR (low)

Personnel: Zhong Chengshuo (28 years old, male); Anonymous (male, unknown age, suspected to be 20-30 years old)

Location: Changling Road, Xizhao District

Overview: Zhong Chengshuo said that he witnessed Anonymous carrying a controlled knife and wearing a mental health facility gown, and took the initiative to call the police. Anonymous’ appearance exceeds normal standards, has no aggressive behavior, and carries a dagger suspected of being a spiritual weapon.

The two of them were conscious and emotionally stable. The police station was unable to confirm the identity of Anonymous. The two of them are now being taken to Shian by Team 7. They are expected to arrive at 7:15 in the morning.]

It was very likely that there were clues to an “unknown Evil Spirit” somewhere here.

The three people who witnessed the “man in suit” could be ruled out.

An Evil Spirit that had been dormant for thousands of years, even if it deliberately pretended to be an adult, it was impossible to give itself the appearance of wearing a suit and holding a bouquet. Moreover, Fu Xingchuan had the impression that a well-known news anchor died in Donghe District a few days ago. The classic image of that person was a “suit” and a “bouquet of roses”.

The people involved were clear so the matter could be handled by Team 7 of their Special Investigation Unit.

To say the most suspicious…

An Evil Spirit had an entity and there was no theory that it possessed others. At present, the most unusual was Guo Laifu of Shangguang District.

He was obviously over the perimeter of evil qi concentration, which exceeded the standard. It was very likely he had been exposed to a pollution source with excessive evil qi values… But the Shangguang Distract was the farthest away from the Xizhao District, which was certainly the outbreak point of the evil qi.

There were cases in the Xizhao District, but these cases weren’t really worth mentioning. Just by looking at the concentration of evil qi, the two relevant people had at most been exposed to the “phenomenon” of grieving ghosts.

Fu Xingchuan glanced at the upper right corner of the tablet. It was already 7:00. He took out a half-eaten chocolate bar from the drawer and stood up with a sigh.

Anyway, Guo Laifu couldn’t run, so he’ll meet with the two boys in Xizhao District first.

Fu Xingchuan pounded on his waist, turned back to the report, and glanced at Zhong Chengshuo’s personal information.

As his line of sight went all the way down, Fu Xingchuan’s eyebrows first slightly raised, then frowned. He sat back in his chair and quickly turned a few more sheets. The more he looked at it, the more solemn he became.

After a while, he touched the phone on the table.

“Hello, Xiao Hao? It’s me, Lao Fu. Say hello to Xiao Xiang for me. Regarding the Xizhao District incident, I will come in person. This time, the observation level of this inquiry has been adjusted to the highest level. Put your pile of messy things to use.”

After speaking, he moved the phone away from his ear and ignored the other side’s protest along the lines of “don’t talk nonsense”. When the roar was over, Fu Xingchuan put the phone back to his ear.

“Hm? No, those two’s evil qi aren’t particularly strong, but their identities are intriguing—one is of unknown origin and was carrying a spiritual weapon, while the other has a unique origin. Let’s say my intuition could be wrong.”

“Okay, don’t be so verbose. I know it’s unorthodox, so I’ll have the expense deducted from my salary. If Lao Li asks, you can explain for me.”

Having said that, Minister Fu cut off the call at lightning speed. He closed the information on Zhong Chengshuo and took a closer look at the photo of Yin Ren that he had just received.

Time was tight and the tasks were heavy, so the photo was taken in a rush. In the photo, “Anonymous” had long hair, but even with the poor photography, it couldn’t cover up his excellent features.

“…It’d better be a coincidence.”

---

The author has something to say:

Atheist: Add magic resistance according to firmness level (×

The prologue is over!

Xiao Yin: Eat on the spot.jpg

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Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of the prologue. Releases will be sporadic until Happy Doomsday wraps up. Happy Halloween, everyone.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 2: An Enthusiastic Person

At the same time, in the city center of Haigu, on the campus of Shian Group.

The huge office was brightly lit, with several large screens filling an entire wall. Dozens of workstations were full, and dozens of bloodshot eyes were locked tightly to the screens.

In the stock exchange-like atmosphere, only one person was standing.

This man was slim and tall, looking in his forties. He wore an exaggerated red tassel earring in his left ear. His hair wasn’t long, and he tied it casually behind his head.

Ignoring the heavy bags under his eyes and his unshaven chin, the man was barely passable as handsome. At the moment, he was wearing a long auburn coat that was out of place with the times, holding an energy drink in one hand, while his face looked worse than all the other people there combined.

“Minister Fu, there’s no response to the summoning spell. The evil qi* value in Xizhao District has also returned to normal. Look…”

*Vital force forming part of any living entity. You can think of it as like energy.

A horse-faced young man rubbed his face as he tentatively spoke.

“Trying to get off work?” Minister Fu glanced at him. “Wishful thinking. Go and read the ‘evil qi’ value again.”

The man shrank his neck and glanced at the screen in the corner. Dense words and images were mixed together, making him dizzy when he looked at them.

Compared to the obscure terms and confusing diagrams, only the first few paragraphs required any brainpower to understand.

[Phenomenon A-A3: Evil Spirit]

[Judgement criteria (reference): Fluctuation of evil qi in a specific area ≥1000fR, or stable evil qi value within 2km of the suspicious object is ≥3000fR]

[Overview: This phenomenon is extremely rare and is the result of the alienation of ordinary evil things. It’s also known as a “Living Natural Disaster”, “Ghost King”, and so on. The cause of this phenomenon is unknown. The environment and location are irregular. Their shape is all asymmetric and irregular giant objects, believe to be active 1,500 to 1,000 years ago.

“Evil Spirits” have certain biological characteristics and no rational thinking ability. Their strength varies between different individuals. This phenomenon is the most dangerous observed so far. According to the assessment, the least dangerous individual is as destructive as an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale*.

*Measures the strength of earthquakes. An 8.1 on the scale is an extreme disaster with major damage to buildings and structures are likely to be destroyed. Will cause moderate to heavy damage to sturdy or earthquake-resistant buildings. Damaging in large areas. Felt in extremely large regions.

There are currently 6 “Evil Spirit” recorded in the book, all of which were sealed at the end of the Gong Dynasty. So far, one “Evil Spirit” is in a semi-conscious state and is temporarily under the control of the Haigu Branch, while the other five have been identified as seal places and are closely monitored by various entities in accordance with the laws and regulations.]

[Handling method (reference): Once discovered, the provincial region where it is located shall immediately implement a “Level 1 Emergency Plan for Major Phenomena”, and dispatch relevant personnel to deal with it as soon as possible, using special summoning techniques to attract the attention of the phenomenon. Depending on the damage, it will either be recycled, deeply sealed, or completely eliminated.]

The horse-faced man laughed dryly.

The fluctuation of the evil qi in the western suburbs of the Xizhao District just now was 99,478.56fR, which exceeded the judgement standard by nearly 10 times.

Since the Great Celestial Master sealed all six Evil Spirits, the “Evil Spirits” had been extinct for thousands of years, he was more inclined to believe that there was a problem with the reading of the instrument than the birth of an unknown great evil.

Unfortunately, their Minister didn’t think so, and neither did their enemies.

Within a minute of the abnormal data, the relevant personnel immediately started to perform the operation. Unknown forces soon intervened on the other side of the city, and two summoning techniques tore each other up in the sky, neither refusing to give up. All members of the Shian Group were worried—the Evil Spirits were brainless. If they were used by other people with ulterior motives, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But the situation didn’t seem right.

The summoning technique was created by the Great Celestial Master and was specially designed for the Evil Spirits. It stood to reason that the Evil Spirits would be attracted by the spell. As a result, after nearly four hours of summoning on both sides, the “unknown Evil Spirit” didn’t respond, as if it had died, and there was no sign of abnormality in the Xizhao District.

“Maybe there’s something wrong with the equipment. It’s not possible that an Evil Spirit is hiding from us,” The horse-faced young man muttered in a low voice. “If it’s this smart, we should all just go home and wait to die.”

“No matter how smart you are, you can still stop talking nonsense.”

Minister Fu glanced at the horse-faced young man, then glanced at the tired faces all over the room. He didn’t get angry this time. He just sighed and raised his voice slightly.

“The possibility of incorrect readings by the equipment in Xizhao District and the coincidence of the celestial phenomena is not low, but we have to consider the worst case—this ‘unknown Evil Spirit’ is very powerful and has quite high intelligence. Looking at the current situation, it’s not in great shape.”

“Why?” Someone couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Whether it’s broken or just born, it knows nothing about the outside world. Even if it’s not malicious, it will test things. Now, it’s just hiding. It’s very likely something is wrong with it—injuries, weakness, or some other conditions.”

“In any case, you must stay here tonight until the last minute. With everything tonight being abnormal, pay attention carefully. All abnormalities must be reported to me. Is Xiao Liang on duty at the police station tonight? Let him keep an eyes on things. Even if someone slips through the door and picks lock, I want to see a detailed report.”

……

In a sense, Minister Fu guessed well.

Yin Ren was indeed in a bad state.

The good news was that his body was full of ferocious power; the bad news was that it wasn’t obedient at all—if Yin Ren used more, his thinking would become chaotic and he would get a splitting headache.

He had to firmly suppress his ferocity and slowly tame it.

On the other hand, the ferocity was more striking than the full moon in the night sky. If he dared to let go of his suppression, he would become the most dazzling target in the metaphysical world within minutes.

In order to ensure sobriety and to keep a low profile, Yin Ren could only use a little bit of power, as big as a sesame seed. The Evil Spirits were all so crazy that he didn’t expect to get advice from his “seniors”. He could only take one step at a time.

For example, at this moment.

The sharp-sounding “creak—” finally dissipated.

Yin Ren turned solemnly and looked at the “uninvited guest”. As an “evil monster” he didn’t need lighting to see the person on the other side clearly.

There was no evil aura surrounding the person, so he was undoubtedly a living human.

It was a young man, wearing a translucent “demoiselle coat”, pushing a two-wheel cart.

Looking at his face, the man was very handsome. There was no arrogance in his facial features. Putting it nicely, he looked gentle and elegant, and badly phrased, he “had the face of a good scholarly man” in storybooks—forever naïve, forever fooled by monsters.

Seeing the blankness in the other’s eyes, Yin Ren relaxed a bit. If he met a “professional” as soon as he got out, he was sure to curse God on the spot.

The other party didn’t say a word. Yin Ren stood cautiously in place, motionless.

It could be troublesome to take action against this person, and he could just escape without casting a spell. It was raining in the middle of the night. What kind of person had nothing to do but stand in the street like this?

It was best if he left him alone.

Unfortunately, Yin Ren was so great and fierce when he wandered outside that God didn’t plan to give him any face.

Before his seal broke, Yin Ren specifically picked a relatively harmless dagger to take with him. There was a bump just then, and the modern hospital gown failed to hold his ancient murder weapon. With a ripping sound, a big hole was poked in the back pocket of his gown, and the dagger fell to the ground with a “clang”.

Since the dagger was well-made, obviously it also made a good sound.

The sound it made when it landed was as if one had plunged into ice water. It pierced people’s hearts and made them cold to their very bones. In the past, this sound could make the living retreat, but unfortunately, at this moment, it only caused a burst of embarrassment.

Yin Ren: “……”

How carless. The dagger originally had a sheath, but the wooden sheath had been in close contact with the earth for hundreds of years and had rotted into mud. Yin Ren habitually put it in his pocket and didn’t think too much about it.

This was one of his favorite weapons. Could he still throw it away?

Yin Ren hesitated for a moment and resigned himself to picking up the dagger.

At this moment, the heavens cooperated by sending a scarlet lightning bolt, dyeing the dagger red with blood. Accompanied by his blue and white striped hospital gown, the visual impact was quite strong.

The person on the opposite side slowly took a step back. He supported his cart with one hand and quickly took out a strange object that emitted a glimmer of light. His actions were smooth and clean.

“Hello? Hello? I’m at 018 Changling Road, Xizhao District, Haigu. Someone is carrying a controlled knife and dressed suspiciously.”

The man seemed to be speaking to the air. His voice was steady, and his words were clear, and his speech was neither too fast nor too slow.

“Yes, west of the city, at the entrance to the city’s mental health facility… Well, I’m fine. I can guarantee my safety.”

After the man across the street finished speaking, he put the strange object back into his pocket. The corner of the strange object emitted a dazzling light that illuminated a small area nearby. In the bright light, he stared closely at Yin Ren. His expression was very serious, with an obvious stance that he wasn’t planning on leaving.

Yin Ren choked.

Wait, was that man reporting to an officer? Just for a dagger? How could this person react so severely?

Although… Although reporting to an officer was within the realm of possibility.

Yin Ren had a similar plan. For example, find a lively place to “faint” after dawn, and wait for the police to take him away. Regarding his identity, he had practiced it countless times in advance—after Yin Ren woke up, he’d stay bedridden for 7 to 49 days. He would listen to the “news” from morning to night each day, so he wouldn’t expose his horse’s feet*.

*(露出马脚) Idioms referring revealing the hidden truth or revealing the truth unintentionally.

Ah, forget it. Soon or later, the act would begin, so why not just start now.

“I picked this up for self-defense. I hit my head and can’t remember anything… Sorry. Did I scare you?”

Yin Ren dropped the dagger in distress and imitated an accent he learned from the “news”.

He deliberately lowered his body temperature, causing it to tremble slightly as he looked extremely meek and helpless. “I saw you stop just now. I thought you knew me…”

Here, he had to give a pitiful pause and produce just the right kind of voice.

Since this person was so nosey on a rainy day, most likely he was a fool with too much integrity. As long as Yin Ren played dumb, he could come to elicit some useful information.

Who would have thought that Yin Ren’s rhetoric hadn’t yet been espoused when the other party abandoned his cart and rushed up with a single stride and grabbed Yin Ren’s hands tightly.

“I do recognize you.”

Those hands clasped Yin Ren’s wrists like iron clamps, and the force behind them was incredibly strong. If it wasn’t for the fact that Yin Ren had sealed off his qi, the man would’ve fallen to the ground dead, hit by his “intense aura”.

The man clenched him tightly, showing a somewhat reluctant smile, but his tone was quite sincere. “Your name is Zhang San. You live across from me. I’ll wait with you here, and your family will come pick you up in a police car soon.”

Yin Ren: “?”

After walking too much at night, one would eventually meet a ghost*. Yin Ren’s expression became a bit distorted. The two were frozen in deadlock, allowing the rainstorm to brush against their heads.

*Saying referring to if you often do unscrupulous things, eventually you’ll get caught. 

Fortunately, this subtle atmosphere didn’t last for more than a few seconds.

The sound of heavy rain and thunder was unnaturally muffled, then slowly weakened. It was like an inviable lid had covered them. The surrounding temperature dropped a bit, as if someone was blowing against their damp skin.

The next moment, darkness broke without warning.

The long-extinguished streetlamps were restored, but for some reason, the lightning was only on one side of the street. The original warm yellow lights were now blue-white, flashing at an uncomfortable frequency, making the street even gloomier than when it was completely dark.

There was something shifting between the lampposts that was flashing bright and dark. Yin Ren moved his steps slightly. He crossed the other man’s shoulder and looked behind him.

A vague and huge shadow was squirming.

It was about half the width of the street, and it looked like an exceptionally bloated caterpillar. It was close to the side of the street and would crawl forward for a while, then stop in a section and wipe its body on the streetlights from time to time. Once the lamppost had been touched by it, it would emit a blue-white light, like ghost fire.

Though that thing was bulky, it wasn’t slow. Within a few breaths, the thing had reached a dozen steps away from the two of them.

Yin Ren stared at it calmly.

At first glance, it was a cocoon with short feet and only knew how to crawl on the ground. On closer inspection, the uneven surface of the cocoon concealed a mystery—countless disgruntled ghosts’ limbs intertwined, fusing together like wax, yet still retaining their basic outline. Their long hair became stickier and more tangled, bulging under the thin flesh like green and black veins.

The front half of the cocoon had grieving ghosts merging together.

They fused into two giant hands; the roots of their palms sticking out of the flesh folds, covering the front of the cocoon like a face. The pair of hands opened their fingers and small arm-length human eyes could be seen on them.

A rough count showed eight. They were spinning around, but now they were all staring straight at the two of them.

Yin Ren felt a kind of affection. Hundreds of thousands of years had passed, and this thing still looked the same.

In the past, people called it the “Resentment Basket”. It was purely made up of grieving ghosts. While its appearance was creepy, in fact, it was dull in the head and its combat capabilities were ordinary. This thing wasn’t common and would only take shape if there was an abnormally chaotic state surrounding an Evil Spirit, but it wouldn’t cause much harm.

However, it was enough to hurt an ordinary person.

The Resentment Basket paused not far away and stared at them for a while. It then raised its sarcoma-like feet and squirmed at a faster speed towards them.

---

The author has something to say:

Perhaps this was the most embarrassing encounter between a gong and shou.

Speaking of which, if you really see someone who is particularly suspicious, you must stay away. Please also call the police. As an ordinary person, it is most important to protect yourself! There is a reason why the gong is doing this. Don’t imitate. _(:з”∠)_

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Kinky Thoughts:

I debated back and forth between how to translate (凶煞), which is what these things are called, and settled on Evil Spirit, though it could mean a fierce/evil/vicious god/demon/monster. Keep in mind that the “evil” is more so the fact that they are powerful enough to bring great calamities to the world, than the fact that they’re inherently evil.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 1: Power Outage

Changling Road, Xizhao District, Haigu.

It was Wednesday, half past four in the morning. The heavy rain was pouring down, and the streetlights flickered as if they were about to die. Another red lightning bolt struck, causing all the streetlights to finally go out in unison.

In an instant, the entire street sank into darkness.

The scope of the power outage included 018 Changling Road, in the Haigu’s Mental Health Facility.

It was built in the 1960s and was regarded as the oldest building on the outskirts of Haigu. When it was first built, it was also called “Haigu Psychiatric Hospital”, but later it was changed to a relatively subtle “Mental Health Facility”.

The fourth floor of the mild-case area.

Old Man Zhang jumped up from the hospital bed, tugged at the mattress for a while, and found the long-hidden keycard. He changed into his slippers, pulled the front lapel of his hospital gown, and straightened his back.

The buildings and equipment were old, and the emergency power supply system hadn’t been connected to the mild-case area. Although access control was equipped with a battery, the surveillance would fail, so this opportunity was now or never.

He would be forcibly discharged from the hospital today to surprise his son and daughter-in-law.

Lao* Zhang didn’t think there was anything wrong with him. At most, he was confused from time to time and would consider himself an immortal who had come down to earth to experience a tribulation. But who didn’t have delusions of freedom? If this was a disease, half the elementary and middle school students in Haigu would need to come here to be cured.

*Old (老) When used in front of a name conveys feelings of a close relationship.

The unusual sky tonight was a sign of Zhang Shangxian’s* return home.

*The Xian (仙) in his name refers to an immortal, god, fairy, ect. This is referencing his mental disorder where he thinks he’s an immortal. Often times these immortals need to go through a tribulation in order to ascend or “level up”, for those unfamiliar with the xianxia genre.

Zhang Shangxian’s children were willing to spend money, so Lao Zhang had a single room in a good location. It was adjacent to the emergency passage that was adjacent to an empty ward that had been converted into a utility room, which was perfect for sneaking away.

Lao Zhang put his ears on the door of the room and listened with bated breath for up to five minutes.

Making sure that there was silence outside, he spit on his palm and twisted the door handle carefully. Victory was close at hand. Old Man Zhang was so excited that his hands and feet were icy that he couldn’t even feel how cold the metal doorknob was.

However, as soon as he turned the knob, a sharp noise suddenly sounded nearby.

“Creak—”

The sharp sound of metal friction was followed by a stagnant sound of a door shaft turning. The noise was extremely harsh, as it ripped through the thunder of the heavy rain, leaving behind a long echo in the empty corridor.

Lao Zhang, who was pushing the door open, froze in place.

The door of his room was well maintained, so it shouldn’t make such a harsh and loud sound. It seemed that the sound came from next door.

The ward next door had been empty for more than a decade. There wasn’t even a mouse there. Could it be that someone came to the utility room to get something? However, he didn’t hear any footsteps just now. Lao Zhang took a deep breath and put his ears on the door of his room again.

A few minutes passed, and there was no sound coming from next door; only the dull booming of thunder was left in the corridor.

Perhaps he was too nervous and his ears heard something wrong. Lao Zhang gulped and drew a protection charm. Then he slowly poked out half his head and looked next door.

What the hell. Lao Zhang almost screamed…

There was also half a head sticking out next door.

Lightning struck, lighting the corridor. Two dark eyes, like burnt charcoal that was about to go out, were on the opposite side, glowing an ominous dark red. The face stared straight at Lao Zhang and his dangling long hair was hanging menacingly by his side.

Lao Zhang was numb. He wanted to shrink back into his room, but his legs were like noodles and wouldn’t listen to him. Seeing that the thing hadn’t moved for a while, Old Man Zhang had no choice but to break the jar*.

*(破罐子破摔) Metaphor referring to letting things run its course without making corrections after having shortcomings, mistakes, or setbacks.

“Where on earth did you come from? How dare you not worship me after seeing an immortal!”

Who knew that the opposite side really bought his act.

Those eyes widened slightly. It—he thought for a moment, slowly stepped out, and saluted Lao Zhang. “It turns out you’re an Elder. Pardon my rudeness.”

The voice was quite nice, with a strange accent. Lao Zhang couldn’t think of which dialect it was.

Another flash of lightning lit up. This time, Old Man Zhang took a real look.

The opposite side was a young man in his early twenties. He was wearing a hospital gown and had sharp and beautiful facial features that were more prominent than any celebrity he had seen. Although the young man was as pale as a ghost, he was still breathing, which meant he was a living human.

It turned out to be just a patient.

How troublesome. There was a curfew, so no one was allowed to go out at night. If this kid runs out and tattle-tailed on him, his great plan would be immediately ruined. He must try to contain the situation as soon as possible.

Lao Zhang instantly regained consciousness in his leg. He coughed twice into his fist. “I have no impression of you. Did you recently come here?”

“…Nn.”

“Seeing the current situation, are you trying to escape too?” He decisively pre-empted.

“Sort of.” The young man’s expression was a bit wary, but he didn’t seem to be lying.

“I see. There are no cellphones here to play with, so it must be even more unbearable for young people.” Old Man Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you want to escape together?”

The young man thought for a while, then nodded. He smiled, and the coldness all over his body suddenly almost completely dissipated.

Seeing that the other party was quite honest, Old Man Zhang was no longer worried, and his fear also dispersed. The mild-case area was just a recuperation ward. The more aggressive patients were all in the sealed off ward. This man was just young and fashionable; there was nothing to be afraid of just because he had long hair.

Old Man Zhang closed the door to the ward, put his hands behind his back, and held himself up like an esteemed elder. “You came to the utility room in the middle of the night to find something to pry open the door, right? So simple! Nowadays, it’s all high-tech. You need a keycard to get out.”

“……”

After the power outage, the corridors were filled with darkness. When the heavy rain hit, the unique smell of dust and paint on an old building mixed together. The stairs were as narrow as a monster’s esophagus, washed by blood-red electric light from time to time.

Old Man Zhang grasped the handrails tightly and slowly walked each step one by one. The young man followed him with light footsteps.

Perhaps it was because the scene was too scary that Lao Zhang decided to make conversation. “What’s your name, young man? Since we had a fateful meeting, you can call me Uncle Zhang.”

This time, the long-haired young man was silent for a while.

Lao Zhang’s conjecture was just about to change from “He couldn’t think of a name” to “Suspected amnesia” when the young man slowly opened his mouth.

“Yin Ren.” Lao Zhang wasn’t sure what the young man thought of, but the long-haired young man laughed. “Yin from ardent, Ren from blade*.”

*Yin (殷) from ardent [yin qie] (殷切), Ren (刃) from blade [dao ren] (刀刃). So combined would be like an ardent blade/sword (which is why Lao Zhang makes the next statement).

Accompanied by the rumbling thunder, Lao Zhang lowered his voice. “Waa, this name is very powerful. Does someone in your family also don’t want you to be discharged? What’s the problem?”

“I’m not quite clear… Maybe they think I’m too dangerous. If they leave me alone, perhaps I’ll kill someone or set fires.”

Speaking of which, the two of them were about to reach the corner of the stairway.

Yin Ren stopped and looked out the window at the unusually heavy rain. Lao Zhang didn’t know if he was seeing things, but it seemed as if the scarlet lightning was flashing more frequently. The dark clouds looked like burnt skin, and the darkness was dripping full of red.

Yin Ren retracted his gaze. His expression looked bitter. “Look, they all want to arrest me and lock me up.”

Oh, this kid probably has delusions of being murdered. Lao Zhang knew it.

He couldn’t figure out if the “look” was addressed to him, so he glanced out the window and pretended to agree. “Yeah, I’ve been here for decades and I haven’t seen this kind of weather. Truly vicious. There must be a great evil being born.”

Lao Zhang talked nonsense while gauging Yin Ren’s reaction. He didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but Yin Ren seemed to avoid his gaze for the first time.

Walking to the third floor, Yin Ren suddenly said, “Elder, what’s going on in the metaphysical world today? I’ve been listening to the ‘Daily News’ for more than 40 days and haven’t heard any news.”

“Oh? Oh, this great immortal doesn’t get involved in those things, so I don’t know.” Lao Zhang paused his footsteps and looked around. “Xiao* Yin, don’t you think it’s a bit cold here?’

*Little/small (小) When used in front of a name, it’s an affectionate/friendly way to call someone who’s usually younger than you.

“…” Yin Ren glanced at Lao Zhang’s feet and shook his head slowly.

Fortunately, he didn’t continue to ask about the “metaphysical world”. Lao Zhang breathed a sigh of relief.

Having said that, Lao Zhang really felt that this section of the ward was cold to the bones. He didn’t know if it was because of the heavy rain, but the stairs seemed sticky when he stepped on it, as if someone had spilled a sweet drink here. He couldn’t help coughing twice and chalked it up to global climate change.

The two chatted nonsense and soon reached the emergency exit on the third floor.

The exit door was still in the old style, with wooden doors painted green with windows. When the thick night soaked on them, the entire green layer dimmed, looking a bit like the skin of a corpse.

The door glass was stained with water, and the other side of the glass seemed to be inked, completely black.

Lao Zhang stopped and stared at the door nervously, and his breathing slowed. Even Yin Ren’s face tightened cautiously.

The next moment, a cold white beam of light pierced the darkness and swept around the door.

Lao Zhang gasped for breath and dragged Yin Ren back to the corner of the stairs. The rain pounded on the corner of the window like crazy, creating a series of crackling sounds.

“Ah, ahem, that’s Lao Liu on duty. We have to change our paths!”

Yin Ren glanced at the escape door on the third floor, then turned to look at Lao Zhang.

Lao Zhang didn’t understand his complicated gaze; at most, it seemed to look melancholy.

“You’re new here, so it’s normal that you don’t know. Lao Liu has been on duty for 15 years, so he’s especially good at catching people… Damn, this old guy doesn’t know how to be lazy in the middle of the night…”

Lao Zhang squatted down on the steps and gasped for breath.

He was well aware that plans weren’t as fast as changes. As long as they camped here for a while and took advantage of when Lao Liu paced to the other end of the corridor…

“Elder… Uncle Zhang, since there are inspectors and guards, it’s better to find another way.”

He didn’t know why, but after Yin Ren finished speaking, the corridor became a lot colder. The rounds of rain in his ears were becoming clearer while Yin Ren’s voice was becoming blurred. Lao Zhang couldn’t help but turn his head.

“What are you talking about…”

Lao Zhang almost bit his tongue before he finished speaking.

Yin Ren was floating out the window at that moment.

He hung ghost-like in mid-air, a full meter away from the windowsill. The guardrail outside the window had disappeared without a trace, and the heavy rain poured in through the open window and splashed under Old Man Zhang’s feet. The night wind rushed into the corridor, emitting a low, weeping sound.

In the night, Yin Ren’s long hair, which was waist-high, was dripping wet. Behind him was endless darkness and blinding lightning. Under the nightmarish lightning, those eyes were even more red. A fierce aura swept across Lao Zhang’s face, suppressing him and making him unable to breathe.

“Uncle Zhang, come on.”

Yin Ren stretched out his hand. His handsome face was illuminated by the lightning.

“Your dao* seems to be suppressed. This junior will give you a ride.”

*(道行) Basically, refers to one’s cultivation. Think of it like “mana”. The higher the dao, the more powerful the immortal.

Old Man Zhang knew that Yin Ren was abnormal, but he never thought “abnormal” was to such a point. This was a mental health facility. It was okay to lose his mind, but too much to lose his body.

After all, this was the third floor! Where was this kid going to take him? Not to mention, at the moment, Yin Ren’s hospital gown was being drenched by heavy rain, and in his right pocket there was a dubious outline that looked like a knife.

This visitor isn’t good!

Was “give you a ride” what he thought it meant?

Old Man Zhang clung to the wall, shaking his head slowly in horror.

“Stop, stop, stop. I, ahem, this great immortal, suddenly remembered that there are still important things to do. Little friend, you go on first.” Lao Zhang choked for a second before replying weakly, “Don’t worry about me—”

“But…”

“You’re too polite! No buts!”

This time, Lao Zhang didn’t bother covering up, so he immediately shouted back. He didn’t dare wait for a response and scrambled up the stairs with his hands and feet, rushed back to his room, closed the door, and got under the blanket in one go.

After wrapping himself into a silkworm cocoon, Old Man Zhang took a dozen deep breaths before barely stabilizing his heartbeat.

“God have mercy. God have mercy… haa.”

He would return the keycard tomorrow and seriously renounce his actions. His son and daughter-in-law were right. There was something seriously wrong with him, so he should take a good rest.

Hell, the hallucination was too real.

……

Yin Ren put his feet on the ground and let out a long sigh.

It was a pity. Uncle Zhang was really kind to him, so he wanted to help the old man down the stairs.

As the saying went, everything was hard in the beginning. As the fiercest thing in existence, his entry into the world was almost a near-miss. To be honest, just now, when Old Man Zhang said “a great evil”, Yin Ren thought he had seen through his identity.

That was until he ran into a grieving spirit in the corridor.

The spirit was lying on the stairs of the third floor, the size of two adults. It was mumbling with its face down and had spider-like limbs at its side. Its dirty long hair covered the steps, tangled into a sticky mess.

The grudge it held wasn’t aggressive. When the two of them passed the steps, it politely moved aside. The poor ghost had intended on avoiding them, but the old man still stepped on its head and crotch, obviously unaware of its existence.

Even if his dao was sealed, a cultivator wouldn’t miss a spirit.

Mortals on earth were uninspired, making a fuss about levitating. The “daily news” didn’t mention anything about the metaphysics world while two factions in the sky were fighting fiercely, desperately summoning themselves.

The metaphysical world was still there, but most likely had become a shadow of itself.

A peaceful and prosperous world like this; there was no place more suitable for “a great evil” to hide.

On the dark street, Yin Ren opened his arms in satisfaction and felt the rain pouring down.

The summer rainstorm brought a bit of warmth, dissipating the gloomy cold brought out by the seal. A good life was close at hand. Yin Ren was just about to take a few more deep breaths when a sharp sound suddenly exploded from very close by.

“Creak—”

There was a sharp sound of friction that had never been heard before, followed by the sound of wheels sliding across the ground.

The sound was particularly harsh. It ripped through the thunder in the heavy rain, leaving behind a long echo in the empty streets.

“……”

This subtle sense of familiarity.

Yin Ren slowly folded his arms and turned in the direction from which the sound came.

There was the breath of a living person over there.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Happy Halloween. As a big fan of Nian Zhong I have decided to pick up another project by her. I was going to release this a little later but given that it’s Halloween and the story matched the theme so well, I decided to release the prologue early.

This is Nian Zhong’s latest work and is still ongoing. Most likely by the time I catch up, the novel will be completed. For those unfamiliar with the author, you can check out her others works I’ve done: Happy Doomsday and Stray.

The title of the novel is (凶人恶煞) which is referencing the idiom (凶神恶煞) which refers to a great evil deity, but now used to refer to an evil/wicked/ferocious person. The author replaced deity (神) with people (人) in the idiom. This is most likely purposeful in two ways as Yin Ren is supposedly a great evil, but is now pretending to be human, so it’s a reference to both meanings of the original idiom.

I’ve struggled to make a proper translation and had asked many for help but in the end I settled for Evil As Humans.

Second note: A salted fish is a metaphor referring to someone who wants to be lazy and has no great ambitions.

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