“I took a photo.” Ji Shanyao took out her phone again and sent over an image.
Ordinary cameras can’t capture ghosts and spirits—the phone Ji Shanyao used was a special-issue phone from the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, produced by combining spirit arts with high technology.
The staff member swiftly uploaded the photo.
In the photo, the ghost’s complexion was ashen-gray, with several bloody marks on its face, and the right side of its skull was caved in, as if struck by a heavy hammer.
“The manner of death isn’t severe, it’ll be easy to look into.” The staff member let out a breath of relief.
Ghosts usually manifest in the state they were in at the moment of death—only ghosts whose living appearance can still be made out are easy to look up. Someone burned to death, for instance, wouldn’t work.
Before long, the computer had finished the comparison search.
“He’s a wanted criminal!” the staff member said in surprise.
Ji Shanyao leaned over to look.
This person was one of the perpetrators of a gold shop robbery a few years back. All the other perpetrators had been caught—only this one had remained on the run all this time.
All that was left now was to contact the police to find his corpse.
“Thanks for your hard work!” the staff member praised her. “Good thing you helped out, otherwise who knows how long it would’ve taken to figure this out!”
Ji Shanyao’s mouth curled up very slightly at the corner, then quickly flattened back out. “It’s what I should do.”
Once everyone else had gone off to busy themselves with their own affairs, Ji Shanyao quietly let her shoulders slump.
So tired.
After finishing up with this, Ji Shanyao went to the archive room to find the administrator and look up a piece of information. “There’s an earthbound spirit on the road on Beiquan Street—does the bureau have a record of it?”
She still remembered the earthbound spirit on that road that had been following the plush toy shop owner. But at the time she’d suddenly received the message about that wanted-criminal ghost, and could only leave behind a ghost-warding sachet before hurrying off.
The records were too old, existing only as paper documents, so finding it was a bit troublesome. But the administrator’s attitude was very friendly—Ji Shanyao was a famous prodigy exorcist within the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, with a future of limitless promise.
“Yes, it’s a record from many years back. In Archive Room No. 2, C7-46-015.”
Ji Shanyao made her way to Archive Room No. 2.
There were six archive rooms in total; the further back in the sequence, the higher the danger level. The ghost and spirit files stored in Archive Room No. 2 were all cases of very low urgency.
She’d gone out to the suburbs to complete a mission that day and hadn’t meant to, while passing through Beiquan Street, catch sight of the earthbound spirit on the road chasing after a young man.
Looking back on the situation at the time, Ji Shanyao felt that the earthbound spirit hadn’t seemed to be seeking revenge, but rather seemed drawn by some particular quality about the young man. Perhaps that young man had a special constitution.
She hadn’t had time to look closely or to explain back then, and had simply left the ghost-warding sachet at the shop’s front door. The herbs inside the sachet had been specially refined, containing incantations within, with a stronger effect that could mask one’s presence—if the earthbound spirit’s fixation wasn’t on that young man, then once he left the house carrying the scent on him, the earthbound spirit wouldn’t so easily notice him.
Ji Shanyao flipped through the file.
It recorded that an exorcist had investigated this earthbound spirit many years ago.
But this earthbound spirit’s root was pressed beneath the road surface—to get rid of it, the ground would have to be pried up.
After investigating at the time, the exorcist had found that this earthbound spirit’s aggression wasn’t very strong; it would only act against vehicles that were speeding or driven by drunk drivers, either manifesting to frighten the driver or causing the vehicle’s tires to blow out.
Because the harm was minor and the spirit difficult to deal with, the Paranormal Affairs Bureau had installed a speed limit sign and a speed camera nearby, and then set the matter aside.
There were too many ghosts and spirits in the world, along with all sorts of bizarre organizations—the Paranormal Affairs Bureau’s energy was limited, and could only be allocated first to those paranormal affairs that were more harmful and more urgent. Ghosts and spirits that could be temporarily kept under control would have their harm contained for now, to be dealt with later. Something like an earthbound spirit—whenever the road happened to be resurfaced, it could be resolved then as a matter of course.
Ji Shanyao set down the file.
Having confirmed that the earthbound spirit wasn’t very harmful, she didn’t plan to pay it much more attention. The Paranormal Affairs Bureau had been very busy lately—the frequency of ghosts and spirits being born had been continually increasing. That bunch of lunatics from the Descent Cult, who had only recently been struck hard enough to go into hiding, had now for some reason suddenly become active again.
The investigation into the earlier report against the Seven Parts Association still had no results. The Seven Parts Association had suddenly gone into hiding recently, yet their various activities hadn’t stopped at all—if anything, they’d grown even more frequent. It seemed like they were searching for something, but exactly what, the Paranormal Affairs Bureau still hadn’t figured out.
She’d heard that over at headquarters, two outstanding newcomers had emerged, who were also pursuing the matter of the Seven Parts Association.
A faint trace of discontent showed through on Ji Shanyao’s otherwise expressionless face. Compared to the Seven Parts Association, what she was investigating now were merely minor cases.
She still needed to become more outstanding.
After tidying up the files she’d disturbed, Ji Shanyao got ready to leave. The moment she stepped out the door of Archive Room No. 2, she heard the archive room administrator arguing with someone else at the entrance.
“I’ve been coming for several days now. Just let me in to take a look, won’t you?” pleaded a young man’s voice.
The administrator said impatiently, “It doesn’t matter how long you pester me, it’s no use. You’re a newcomer—your clearance isn’t sufficient. How can you just go into the archive room as you please?”
“Aren’t the files numbered one through three all open access?”
“Who knows whether what you want to look up is even in the first three? Didn’t I already check for you? There’s no record in the computer!”
Ji Shanyao frowned slightly.
Normally, in a situation like this, the administrator needed to first pull up the archive registry to confirm the confidentiality level—if it was a file numbered one through three, then it could be opened for access.
The Paranormal Affairs Bureau had too many old archives; many of the old files hadn’t yet been entered into the computer, existing only as paper registries. Hearing this, it was clear the administrator simply couldn’t be bothered to flip through the paper registry, and was bullying the newcomer.
Ji Shanyao walked over and asked the newcomer, “What information are you trying to look up?”
Xiang Yang turned his head, saw an expressionless young woman, and answered honestly, “The one for No. 32 Beiquan Street.”
Ji Shanyao turned her head to look at the administrator, said nothing, and simply fixed him with her two large eyes.
A bead of sweat oozed out on the administrator’s forehead. “Heh, heh-heh, let me check the registry, let me check the registry.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Xiang Yang was overjoyed, and thanked Ji Shanyao.
Ji Shanyao responded coolly, though inwardly she felt a small flutter of delight.
Beiquan Street……
She recalled that the earthbound spirit she’d investigated before was also on that street, and so she asked, “What kind of place is No. 32?”
“It’s a haunted house that had been empty for a long time, but recently someone’s moved in again and opened a plush toy shop,” Xiang Yang said.
He felt that the shop owner and the shop assistant were both quite good people. When he’d forced the door open and barged in that time, neither of them had scolded him, and their attitude had been very friendly. Xiang Yang knew that the shop had originally been a haunted house, but he wasn’t clear on the specific details. He was worried the shop owner and shop assistant might run into danger, so he wanted to come look into it.
The plush toy shop.
Ji Shanyao was stunned for a moment.
Wasn’t that the shop where she’d seen the owner being chased by the earthbound spirit?
……
The Seven Parts Association.
What the Seven Parts Association had been searching for lately was the trail of Bronze Mask. It was just that this matter was classified at a very high confidentiality level, and most members had no idea at all what the clue they were searching for actually meant. After all, if word got out that the Seven Parts Association’s vice chairman had defected, the disturbance it would cause would be enormous.
Just thinking of this gave Luo Jiuyin a headache.
Ghost Shadow Xie’s work for Bronze Mask had been genuinely loyal and thorough—of that sum of money Bronze Mask had absconded with, not the slightest trace of news could be found.
Luo Jiuyin didn’t care about the fifty million; what he wanted to find was the person.
But Bronze Mask’s bronze mask had the effect of concealing one’s fate—wanting to find He Yu through paranormal means was basically hopeless. He’d also changed his identity and his face; even if he walked right past a Seven Parts Association member face to face, they wouldn’t recognize him.
Rather than count on the staff to search for a needle in a haystack, it was more reliable to handle it himself. Luo Jiuyin closed his eyes, casting aside all distracting thoughts.
A vast, tranquil sea emerged before him. This was his spirit reservoir.
All living beings possess a spirit reservoir; the spirit reservoir is the adhesive between body and soul. The stronger the spirit reservoir, the more stable the connection between body and soul—those born with a naturally powerful spirit reservoir will possess certain extraordinary abilities; if the spirit reservoir is too weak, the connection between body and soul is unstable, and this too may give rise to extraordinary abilities, such as being prone to encountering spirits, or possessing yin-yang eyes.
When the spirit reservoir is exhausted, the person dies as well. What exorcists cultivate in their training is precisely the spirit reservoir.
If anyone were to see Luo Jiuyin’s spirit reservoir, vast as the sea like this, they would surely be astonished. An ordinary person’s spirit reservoir amounts to no more than three lamps’ worth; those born with a special constitution have, at most, no more than ten lamps’ worth. After long years of exorcist cultivation, a hundred lamps’ worth would already be enough to hold down an entire region.
However, an ordinary person’s spirit reservoir wouldn’t be silent and still like the sea either, but lively like fire instead. Each lamp’s worth of spirit reservoir is not bitter, salty seawater, but clear, bright lamp oil.
As the saying goes, when the oil runs dry the lamp goes out—when the spirit reservoir burns out entirely, one’s lifespan, too, comes to its end.
Ghosts and spirits have no spirit reservoir.
Within this sea-like spirit reservoir……what exactly was in there?
Within Luo Jiuyin’s vast sea of spirit reservoir, there was an extremely faint thread, seeming to exist and yet not, pointing out a hazy direction. At the end of that thread, one could faintly make out a shadow like a mountain, as if floating upon the sea, yet wreathed in cloud and mist, impossible to see clearly or grasp.
There was a connection between him and He Yu, but because that bronze mask concealed fate, it caused even the sensation of this connection to become blurred and indistinct.
But Luo Jiuyin was very patient.
He slowly captured hold of this thread of sensation, and finally, in a certain instant, parted the clouds and mist blocking the way.
Luo Jiuyin’s eyes snapped open abruptly, a flash of light suddenly appearing in his gaze.
……
The plush toy shop.
He Yu carried flowers back with him, and began digging a hole in the courtyard after picking out a spot.
Because he couldn’t put living plants into Little Coal Ball’s shadow space, the flowers he’d brought back this time weren’t many.
He’d already added the contact information of the “Second Uncle” shop owner, and planned to place an order for a batch, to go rent a car and haul them back whenever he had free time.
Besides the flowers, He Yu had also bought a small bamboo basket, found a plaid towel to line the inside with, and placed it under the eaves. He picked up the old tennis ball lying in the courtyard and put it into the small bamboo basket, then picked out a spot and began digging a hole.
He’d just finished digging the pit when the female neighbor from upstairs, Guan Qiyan, came out of her unit door. She still looked the same as before—thin and gaunt, shoulders hunched with her head lowered, hair streaked with gray—but her spirits seemed considerably better.
Guan Qiyan was carrying another black plastic bag that looked rather heavy. As she passed by the entrance of He Yu’s courtyard, she turned her head, glanced inside and saw He Yu, and muttered under her breath, “Thank you.”
Her footsteps didn’t stop, and she didn’t care whether He Yu had heard her or not—having said it, she simply walked on.
He Yu’s eyes curved into a smile, and he lowered his head again, burying the base fertilizer, then took the flower out of its pot. The healthy root system had grown to fill the entire pot, gripping the soil tightly.
Behind the glass door, Chen Shi, dressed in his dinosaur costume, pressed his face against the glass together with the rag doll, looking out at the courtyard.
He Yu wouldn’t let Chen Shi help, because he was only paying Chen Shi for one job. Taking a shop assistant’s wage meant only having to do a shop assistant’s work—he was no black-hearted capitalist who’d make someone work two jobs for the pay of one!
Chen Shi poked at the rag doll in his arms. “Why do you think she came to thank the shop owner?”
The rag doll’s button eyes rolled, and it said in a thin, delicate voice. “Silly! Last time Xiaogu came to the shop, didn’t he give him a little bear plush toy!”
“That’s not what I mean……ah, forget it!” Chen Shi patted his own head.
The little rag doll couldn’t understand that sort of adult implication anyway, so he had no choice but to explain it plainly. “Ever since Xiaogu came to the shop last time, there hasn’t been any more commotion from upstairs. I suspect the shop owner did something, which is why things got better for their household. I’m guessing Guan Qiyan came to say thanks for that too.”
“So what did the shop owner do?”
“How would I know.”
Out in the courtyard, He Yu looked up, brushed aside the loose strands of hair blocking his eyes, and smiled smugly, sunlight lying in the faintly visible little dimple on his left cheek.
The flowers he’d picked out himself really were great!