Pei Ye opened the [System Record] to find the reason.
Teaching a lesson to hospital fierce ghost A, who was the mute female ghost following the teenager, yielded 1 Merit Point.
Completing the investigation task for Red Shadow Blue Ying yielded a total of 50 Merit Points and 5 Luck Value.
That was only 51 points in total, yet she now had 301.
Checking the records made everything clear.
[05:21 AM, the case of the Red Shadow Fierce Ghost Lan Ying has been resolved, Merit +250]
“Giving two hundred and fifty points all at once?
Looks like this is a major case.”
Looking at the time, this record was from over an hour ago.
Pei Ye didn’t care about the number two hundred and fifty itself; this was her first time receiving Merit Points in the triple digits.
She took out Xiao Hong’s phone, opened WeChat, and messaged Zhu Chun’an.
“How is yesterday’s case going?”
Zhu Chun’an replied instantly.
“Ms.
Pei Ye?
I was just about to tell you about that.
The case has been cracked, and it’s a huge one,” Zhu Chun’an said.
Worried that Pei Ye might be dissatisfied with his attitude and afraid she would misunderstand, he explained further, “I just received news that I need to head to the department.
Lan Ying’s case has implicated some major crimes.
I’ll let you know once I have specific details.”
“Go do your work.
Don’t worry about me.”
Pei Ye took her washbasin to the washroom to wash her face.
When she returned, she saw Mi Xiangjun staring at the window in terror.
The moment she saw Pei Ye enter, tears welled up in her eyes.
She looked ready to sprint over and throw herself into Pei Ye’s arms for protection.
“What’s wrong?”
Mi Xiangjun trembled as she spoke.
“The window…
it made a sound again…”
Pei Ye looked toward the dorm window and saw a pale, skeletal hand curled into a loose fist against the glass, poised to knock.
Raising an eyebrow, she comforted Mi Xiangjun in a low voice.
“It’s fine.
He probably brought news.
Go to sleep for now; I’ll go talk to him.”
“It’s already daytime!”
Mi Xiangjun’s mouth puckered, and she nearly shed tears of humiliation.
Humans were active during the day and rested at night, following a natural diurnal cycle.
Why were these ghosts still running around in broad daylight after causing trouble all night?!
“Don’t worry, just sleep peacefully.
If anything really happens, I’ll rush back.”
Mi Xiangjun: QAQ
How was she supposed to sleep now?!
“I heard that ghost souls are afraid of sunlight and can’t appear during the day,” Pei Ye remarked.
When Pei Ye walked over, she saw the King of the hospital morgue sternly lecturing his subordinate, saying its recent performance was extremely subpar because it had scared someone.
The teenager stared gloomily at Pei Ye with pitch-black eyes that had no trace of white in them.
It was a rather eerie sight in broad daylight.
Pei Ye thought the teenager was going to reveal some unknown secret.
Instead, he tilted his head, thought for a long while, and slowly threw out a question.
“Do you know that this is T City, neighboring B City?”
“Anyone with a brain would know that, right?” Pei Ye said.
The teenager looked solemn.
“Basking in the sun can indeed dispel yin energy, and ordinary yin creatures wouldn’t dare expose themselves so casually to sunlight.
Although sunbathing for a little while won’t cause one’s soul to scatter, and the damage isn’t that exaggerated, the feeling of yin energy slowly dissipating is terrible.
I don’t like it.
Under normal circumstances, yin creatures don’t wander around during the day.”
“I see.
Shall we find a shady spot to talk then?”
They were in a corner of the sports field, fully exposed to the sun.
Showing rare consideration, Pei Ye invited the teenager to take cover in the shade.
The teenager shook his head, his expression growing even more serious.
“That’s not the point.”
Pei Ye: “???”
“This is T City, which neighbors B City.
All year round, the PM2.5 levels are severely over the limit, the air quality is abysmally poor, and there’s heavy smog every few days.” Looking like a civic-minded citizen deeply concerned for the nation, the teenager said with agonizing grief, “Under these circumstances, sunlight has no effect on yin creatures.
That is the real reason we can walk normally during the day.”
Although the terrible air quality and smog allowed him to roam freely during the day, as a ghost entity, he actually preferred golden, radiant, and warm sunlight.
This preference came out of nowhere.
Perhaps, when he was alive, he had been just as civic-minded—a good teenager who loved life and nature.
Pei Ye: “…”
That was quite educational!
The teenager sighed.
“Actually, most yin creatures don’t like this kind of polluted air either, especially those who had eye problems when they were alive.”
Pei Ye didn’t press the matter, afraid his answer would completely wash away her preconceived notions about ghosts again.
“When many ghosts died, for various reasons, they didn’t have time to put on their glasses.
They don’t have glasses after death either, so everything they look at seems pixelated.
With severe myopia to begin with, combined with such awful air and thick smog, stepping outside makes everything in our field of vision feel like it has a frosted glass texture.
It’s too uncomfortable.”
The teenager frowned as he spoke, a hint of crimson surging in his pitch-black eyes before quickly returning to calm.
Pei Ye fell silent for a moment before asking, “Are you nearsighted too?”
The teenager’s eyes showed a tendency to turn crimson again.
He nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m nearsighted too.”
When Pei Ye had left the hospital, the teenager had stood by the window watching her.
From a distance, she had just looked like a black silhouette.
He hadn’t noticed her thick Evil Qi at all.
If he had noticed it then, he probably wouldn’t have made the trip last night.
Such was the sorrow of the nearsighted.
The teenager couldn’t remember anything from his life, but he felt he must have really liked wearing glasses.
Even ghosts wanted to see a clear and bright world; living people surely wanted it even more.
Pei Ye said, “I heard that the living can burn things as offerings to the dead.”
The teenager sighed.
“I don’t know how long I’ve been dead.
My parents are probably long gone by now.
I haven’t received any burnt gifts for many years.”
Besides, when the living burnt things for the dead, it was mostly paper money, paper sports cars, paper clothes, paper villas…
Who would burn a pair of glasses for their relative?
Pei Ye said, “I know a Heavenly Master.
Maybe I can ask him for a favor.”
The teenager’s expression softened considerably.
He smiled shyly, revealing a set of neat white teeth.
“Thank you.”
Pei Ye abruptly changed the subject.
“So…
can you steer the topic back now and tell me what you found?”
The teenager: “…”
Tricking a pure teenager ghost out of his emotions—what a scumbag woman!
Alas, since he couldn’t beat this scumbag woman in front of him, the teenager ghost could only swallow his pride and bear the humiliation.
“I sought out the nearby Ghosts to investigate Lan Ying.
Following the clues and features you provided, we indeed dug up a lot of solid intel.”
The following clues were provided by witness ghosts permanently stationed near various locations.
Witness Ghost A: “It’s not the first or second time those scumbags engaged in group orgies for thrills.
The young girl they ruined was different every time.
It’s sure nice to be alive and rich.”
Witness Ghost B: “The young girl was unlucky to run into that piece of trash!
He’s a man in his forties with no wife, no kids, and no job, idling his time away all day.
Sometimes he’d do odd jobs for a little cash; other times, he’d just disguise himself as a beggar to scam kindhearted people out of their money.
He had been drinking that day, hid in an alley, dragged a young girl in, and ruined her.”
Witness Ghost C: “I’m permanently stationed at that hair salon.
The chicks there are stacked—great boobs, great asses.
When I was alive, I never even held a woman’s hand, but I get these perks after death…
That young girl you mentioned…
Let me think.
She stayed here for a few days too, and then she died.
Died a really tragic death.
What does the salon boss do?
He’s a human trafficker!
Goods from upstream and downstream, and from neighboring provinces, all stop by his place for a few days to lay low.
I heard selling women and little boys makes the most money…”
Witness Ghost D: “That young girl is too pitiful.
As a newly dead ghost, what can she do?
She can’t even scare living people properly…”