When He Yu died, he came to a realization: the money he’d worked himself to death for in his youth might never actually reach his own hands, but the life he’d worked himself to death with in his youth was truly, completely spent.
If he’d realized this sooner, he wouldn’t have died from overwork. Fortunately, he got another lifetime.
At seven in the morning, he pulled open the curtains, and sunlight broke through the dim room. He Yu opened the window and took a deep breath of fresh air amid the birdsong.
He was quite satisfied with his life after transmigrating—if only there weren’t a ghost hiding in his room.
He Yu glanced at the corner of the living room out of the corner of his eye.
There stood a wooden flower rack, on which sat a pot of amaryllis, its long shadow slanting out under the sunlight.
The front half of this shadow looked normal, but the back half suddenly bulged into something resembling extremely post-modern abstract art—impossible to say what shape it was, but it definitely wasn’t an amaryllis.
This mass of shadow was still squirming, straining hard to shrink itself down, hiding from the sunlight, crawling forward along the flower rack’s shadow, until it finally curled itself up beneath the rack and went still.
He Yu pretended not to see it and turned to the bathroom to wash up.
When he finished washing his face and looked up, the mirror reflected a face completely different from his own. Before this, it would have given anyone quite a fright, but by now He Yu had been here for over half a month and had already grown used to this face. He had no idea how the original owner of this body had died, and no memories or diary had been left behind—he had to figure everything out on his own.
His previous life as an exhausted corporate worker had left He Yu with deep psychological scars. Living this second life, all he wanted was to settle into an early, stable retirement.
Still, that black shadow in the house needed to be dealt with somehow.
Ever since he’d spotted the shadow hiding under the flower pot rack, He Yu hadn’t wanted to go near that area. The poor amaryllis on the rack hadn’t been watered in days and had wilted completely.
After getting himself ready, He Yu grabbed a trash bag and prepared to head out. Before leaving, he glanced at the pitiful amaryllis and silently cheered it on: hang in there a little longer! He would definitely find a way to deal with that black shadow!
Just then, the neighbor’s door opened, and a bald, burly man stepped out. He wore a tight tank top that showed off a muscular, well-built arm, an excellent physique, and a scarred face—he looked like someone from the underworld, not someone to mess with.
The big guy gave He Yu a simple, honest smile. “Taking out the trash? Let me take it down for you!”
“No need, I’m headed out anyway,” He Yu said with a smile.
This was his neighbor, Brother Xie. Though he looked fierce, he was actually very friendly.
Brother Xie’s wife, Sister Zhao, was a beauty with fiery red lips and big waves in her hair, balancing steadily on impossibly high heels. When she lifted her long-lashed eyelids, she naturally radiated an air of “noble and aloof.” Though this couple looked quite intimidating, they were both exceptionally warm-hearted, good people.
He Yu still remembered how, a couple of days after he’d first arrived in this body, he’d come home carrying instant noodles. When Sister Zhao saw this, her phoenix eyes went wide, and she insisted that eating instant noodles or ordering takeout wasn’t healthy, and started sending him meals and dishes every day after that. He Yu had no choice but to stuff some money for groceries into her hands regardless.
The residential complex he lived in was called Happiness Residential Complex. The environment was excellent, with plenty of greenery, and most importantly, in this modern age of an increasingly fast pace of life and increasing social anxiety, the neighborly atmosphere in Happiness Residential Complex was remarkably harmonious and warm—almost unbelievably so.
As He Yu walked through the complex, there were elderly people doing morning exercises in the small open spaces, students reciting lessons under the trees, and office workers hurrying past… When they saw He Yu, they’d smile at him or nod, everyone greeting each other in a friendly way. Even the vendors at the complex gate gave especially generous portions.
He Yu had no desire to move out of this wonderful environment, so he had no choice but to ask the ghost in his home to leave.
Having never dealt with a ghost in either of his two lifetimes, He Yu decided to look for professionals or tools. He found out there was a Feng Shui Street in the city and decided to go check it out first.
The shop owner on Feng Shui Street was very enthusiastic, holding up a peach wood sword with an antique, richly patinated appearance as he boasted:
“This peach wood sword has been passed down through eight generations. Peach wood swords have always had the power to exorcise evil and ward off malevolent spirits, but what’s rarest about this one is that it was carved from a hundred-year-old tree that was struck by heavenly lightning. Just look at these lightning-strike patterns! This blade carries the essence of heavenly thunder within it—an ordinary petty ghost would die the instant it touched this! Over a hundred years ago, there was a place being haunted…”
He Yu listened with great interest; he thought the owner would make an excellent storyteller.
Seeing that he had a connection with him, the owner prepared to painfully part with the sword for the auspicious price of 88,000.
He Yu: …
“Um, I feel like our connection isn’t quite that deep yet. I couldn’t possibly take advantage of you like that.”
He put the item down and made a swift retreat.
Aside from this artificially, mass-produced “lightning-struck” peach wood sword, after wandering all around Feng Shui Street, He Yu heard no shortage of stories from glib-tongued swindlers and witnessed plenty of fresh new scam tactics, but found no reliable, genuine goods.
He Yu couldn’t help but worry.
The sky had already grown dark. He Yu arrived at the bus stop, ready to head home. While waiting for the bus, he took out his phone and began searching for nearby temples and Daoist shrines. If ghosts existed in this world, then surely there must also be masters capable of subduing demons and expelling evil spirits, right?
Before long, the No. 302 bus that He Yu was waiting for arrived.
At this hour the sky had already begun to turn dusky yellow, but it was still early compared to when people got off work. The uncles and aunties who rushed to catch buses for grocery shopping had already finished for the day, so it happened to be a low-traffic time, and there weren’t many people on the bus.
At the back of the bus sat a pair of siblings, a brother and sister, who worked for the Paranormal Affairs Administration Bureau. In this world, ghosts and spirits existed, and so there also existed a bureau specifically dedicated to handling such matters—the Paranormal Affairs Administration Bureau, abbreviated as the “Paranormal Bureau.”
The Paranormal Bureau had previously wounded a type of ghost called a “Shadow-Devourer.” This kind of ghost appeared as a pitch-black mass capable of hiding itself within shadows. The Shadow-Devourer had fled after being critically injured, and the siblings, Jiang Yan and Jiang Xian, had come in pursuit of the escaped Shadow-Devourer.
The siblings were discussing this mission in low voices.
“Sis, is that Shadow-Devourer still hiding in its original location?” the younger brother, Jiang Xian, asked.
“Let me confirm again,” Jiang Yan said.
Pinned to her shoulder was a Psyduck-shaped ornament. Jiang Yan tilted her head, reached up to press down on Psyduck’s head, and put her ear close to it.
Psyduck reported an address—a sound only she herself could hear.
“It hasn’t moved, still in Happiness Residential Complex,” Jiang Yan said.
“That’s a bit strange, isn’t it? That Shadow-Devourer hasn’t moved in several days now?”
“That’s probably an empty residence. Its predicted state hasn’t changed either, which means it hasn’t harmed anyone else—probably because its injuries are too severe.”
Before long, the bus arrived at the stop.
The siblings and He Yu were getting off at the same stop, and they disembarked together. As soon as the two of them got off, they began studying a map.
Jiang Yan looked full of confidence. “I studied the map carefully for a long time—we need to go right!”
Jiang Xian looked utterly despairing. “Sis, can you please stop looking at the map? Listen to me, Happiness Residential Complex is really on the left!”
The spiritual techniques his sister cultivated came with a price—it caused her to lose her sense of direction. The spiritual techniques Jiang Xian cultivated also had a price—he couldn’t tell lies. But Jiang Yan was convinced she needed to train herself to overcome the drawback, and insisted on figuring out the route herself.
The two of them couldn’t reach an agreement, so Jiang Xian, noticing that someone else from the same bus had also gotten off, grabbed hold of him. “Excuse me, could you tell us how to get to Happiness Residential Complex?”
He Yu, good-natured, stopped. “I live in Happiness Residential Complex myself. I’ll take you there.”
He Yu started walking to the left.
Jiang Yan muttered in confusion. “That can’t be right. I studied this—it should be to the right.”
He Yu asked her. “Why do you think Happiness Residential Complex is to the right?”
Jiang Yan said, “Happiness Residential Complex is to the east. Left is west, right is east, so it should be on the right.”
He Yu: …
Jiang Xian turned his head away as if embarrassed. “My sister’s a bit directionally challenged.”
That was indeed a bit of an understatement.
He Yu led the two of them to the gate of the complex, then went home himself. Along the way, he was once again greeted with friendly smiles from dog-walking uncles, students returning home from school, office workers coming home from work, and others.
Next door, Sister Zhao heard the commotion in the hallway and opened her door. Her bright red lips curved up as she smiled warmly and charmingly. “Xiao He, you’re back. Wait a moment—I just finished making dinner, I’ll give you a portion.”
Warmth spread through He Yu’s heart. “Thank you, I’ll bring the dishes back to you after I’m done eating.”
Though he had no family, having so many kind and friendly neighbors let him experience a warmth he’d never known in his previous life.
After returning home, He Yu opened the food container Sister Zhao had given him—tomato scrambled eggs, dry-fried pork ribs, tea tree mushroom chicken soup, plus a generous portion of rice. All home-style dishes, but Sister Zhao’s cooking skills were good enough to work as a chef in a restaurant. He Yu ate a satisfying meal, and just as he was about to wash the dishes clean, the doorbell suddenly rang.
“Who is it?” He Yu asked as he went to check the peephole.
In the peephole, Jiang Xian’s face appeared round and distorted. He lifted his chin high, his eyes full of disdain. “Someone utterly ignorant of the real world—we’ve come to save you.”
He Yu: …
He opened the door.
Jiang Xian froze. “It’s you?”
He Yu asked, “The person you’re looking for is me?”
Jiang Xian: “…Yes.”
He Yu: “Then you two got lost for quite a while.”
Jiang Xian couldn’t tell lies. Jiang Yan took over, pulling out an ID. “My brother’s a bit off in the head, don’t mind him.”
The rebellious teenager wanted to protest but was ruthlessly suppressed by his sister.
He Yu took the ID and looked it over—”Folk Customs Activity Investigation and Coordination Administration Bureau.” The ID looked quite professional, but he’d never heard of this particular bureau, and he wasn’t sure whether it was unique to this world he’d transmigrated into.
“Come in first,” he said, letting the two of them into the apartment.
After the two sat down inside, they kept half-closing their eyes every so often as if activating some power, as though sensing something. Jiang Xian said nothing at all, while Jiang Yan rambled on about various things.
After listening to her nonsensical explanation about some “folk customs survey,” He Yu asked seriously, “Do you think I believe that?”
Jiang Yan: …
“What exactly are you two?” He Yu asked.
The siblings exchanged a glance. Even now, they still hadn’t sensed the Shadow-Devourer, so they couldn’t leave.
With no other choice, Jiang Yan cleared her throat. “We’re from the Paranormal Affairs Administration Bureau. There’s something hiding in your home. We won’t charge you money, won’t sell you anything, won’t look at any of your personal information, and you don’t need to operate any accounts.” She explained this very smoothly, clearly practiced.
She gave He Yu a general rundown of the situation.
Jiang Xian turned his face away awkwardly, muttering, “They’re not going to believe this.”
He’d actually wanted to use a simpler, more direct method—like using spiritual techniques to knock an ordinary person out. That would save them trouble, and ordinary people would avoid the shock to their worldview—wasn’t that better for everyone? But his sister wouldn’t agree, and every time it meant wasting a lot more breath explaining.
“I believe you!”
Jiang Xian: ?
He Yu looked utterly sincere. “I believe you two aren’t scammers. These past couple of days, something’s definitely been off in my home. That pot of amaryllis on the rack was blooming beautifully before, but these past few days it’s been dying.”
He’d been worrying about how to deal with that black shadow under the flower rack! Having professionals handle it would be wonderful!
The siblings exchanged a glance. Jiang Xian walked over with a serious expression and examined the amaryllis. “…Are you sure this isn’t just from not watering it?”
The soil had even cracked.
Suddenly, the Psyduck ornament on Jiang Yan’s shoulder let out a “quack!”
At the same moment, a black shadow shot out from beneath the flower pot rack, lunging straight at Jiang Xian’s shadow.
A pale blue spiritual light rose from Jiang Xian’s body. The Shadow-Devourer slammed head-first into the light, unable to merge into the shadow, and turned to try to flee into some other shadow instead.
Jiang Yan held a small seal in her hand and pressed it into the air. The pale blue spiritual light, like ink from a stamp, traced out a complex formation array in the living room. The Shadow-Devourer darted around within the array but could no longer enter any shadow at all.
He Yu’s eyes widened in shock.
They could do practical effects on a human body!
The exorcism was going quite smoothly for the two of them at first, but midway through, their phones suddenly vibrated. In that moment of distraction, the Shadow-Devourer split off a wisp of shadow that shot out of the array in an instant, heading straight for He Yu. Jiang Xian’s eyes were sharp and his hands quick—a talisman paper slapped the Shadow-Devourer back once more. Because of this little incident, it took the two of them several more minutes to finish the job.
Afterward, they conscientiously checked every room in the house, including He Yu’s own shadow, to confirm that no split fragments of the Shadow-Devourer remained hidden anywhere. Another troublesome trait of the Shadow-Devourer was that, within a certain range, it could split itself into many parts and hide them in different shadows.
“That’s odd—there wasn’t a single split fragment.”
“Maybe it was too badly wounded to manage it.”
Once they’d confirmed everything was fine, the siblings checked their phones, and their expressions suddenly changed.
“What’s wrong?” He Yu asked.
“It’s nothing,” Jiang Yan said in a warning tone. “Things have been unsettled lately. You’d best not go out after dark.”
“I’m rather curious about all this—could you tell me more?” He Yu asked tentatively.
The two of them hesitated for a moment, but seeing that He Yu clearly wasn’t averse to this topic, and wanting to give him a heads-up, they said, “Have you heard of the Seven Parts Association?”
He Yu shook his head.
The name sounded somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn’t place it right away.
The siblings gave him a brief rundown on the Seven Parts Association.
In short, it was an extremely dangerous paranormal organization, its members including all manner of terrifying ghosts and spirits, and it had remained on the Paranormal Bureau’s most-wanted list for years running.
“Ranked first on the most-wanted list is the Seven Parts Association’s vice-chairman, ‘Bronze Mask’—he wears a bronze mask year-round, so no one’s ever seen his face,” Jiang Yan explained seriously.
Jiang Xian’s eyes lit up: “Bronze Mask is an incredibly formidable, legendary figure! Have you heard of the Descent Cult? If not, that’s fine too—just know it’s a scam cult-like organization. Not long ago, they tried to hold a Descent Ritual using blood sacrifice and sent over twenty high-ranking exorcists to stop it—every single one of them was taken care of by Bronze Mask.”
“Have you heard the rumors about hauntings out in the western suburbs before? That was actually a small pocket-dimension ghost realm that had spiraled out of control—also handled by Bronze Mask…”
Jiang Yan coughed several times and, finally unable to bear it any longer, clamped a hand over Jiang Xian’s mouth. “Bronze Mask, Bronze Mask, Bronze Mask! Is that all you know?! Have you forgotten you’re a member of the Paranormal Bureau? Bronze Mask is the top name on OUR most-wanted list!”
She turned to He Yu and said seriously, “Don’t listen to his nonsense. Bronze Mask is an extremely dangerous individual, notorious throughout the mysterious world. If you ever happen to run into him, remember to run immediately—whatever you do, don’t get curious!”
After the two of them explained in such detail, He Yu remembered.
In his previous life, he’d read a paranormal novel that featured quite a formidable villain organization called the Seven Parts Association. Bronze Mask was the second-in-command of that villain organization, carrying an air of a major final boss throughout the story, notorious and shrouded in mystery.
He Yu hadn’t finished reading the whole thing, but well, villains usually ended up as stepping stones for the protagonist in the end, and a villain this viciously and thoroughly evil, described this way from the very first mention, was surely fated to die a sufficiently horrible death.
All he wanted was to peacefully live out an early retirement—he had no desire to get tangled up in the plot, and he absolutely intended to stay far, far away from these dangerous villains!
Just to be safe, He Yu added the siblings as contacts before they left.
He saw the two of them off to the door. Neither of them noticed that, as the door was opening, He Yu’s shadow quietly shifted a little toward the outside.
However, before the shadow could slip past the threshold, He Yu had already closed the door again. He picked up the overturned flower pot, preparing to see if his beloved amaryllis could still be saved.
The doorbell rang again. He picked up the flower pot and went to answer it.
It was Brother Xie and Sister Zhao from next door.
Oh right! He still hadn’t returned the dishes!
Just as He Yu was about to speak, the simple, honest expression on Brother Xie’s face vanished, replaced by an overwhelming aura of dominance. “We’ve already sent people to tail those two little brats from the Paranormal Bureau.”
Sister Zhao’s eyes curved into a smile, dangerously enchanting. “Awaiting your next instructions.”
“Lord Bronze Mask.”