Zhuge Qianyi, who had been listening from the side, felt somewhat awkward hearing this.
After all, strictly speaking, she could also be considered one of the parties involved.
She was a member of the “evil” family Fu Sang was talking about. Li Guizhen’s evil father was her great-uncle, Li Guizhen’s evil eldest uncle was her biological grandfather, which made her Li Guizhen’s evil niece. She even had to call the Zhao Yong’an standing before her “cousin-in-law uncle.”
She stood there listening to Fu Sang single-handedly slander their entire extended family, yet she did not dare say a word in rebuttal.
Because Li Guizhen’s death really was not simple. It was a major secret she had discovered herself.
“Um… let me introduce myself, Mr. Zhao. I am the granddaughter of Li Guizhen’s eldest uncle. My name is Zhuge Qianyi. By seniority, I should also call you Uncle. Please believe that our family really isn’t anything messy or shady. It’s just that there are indeed some things that are difficult to explain to you. Anyway… we’ll do our best to deal with Xiao Bei’s matter. However, our friend here also suspects that this matter may be connected to another old case from many years ago, so he may need to ask you about quite a few things. It may look a little presumptuous, so please don’t take offense.”
In the middle of the night, someone suddenly appeared and said they could catch ghosts, but actually did not care about the child at all. The first thing they asked about was the details of his ex-wife’s death twenty years ago. No matter how one looked at it, the whole thing was strange. Especially when it came out of Zhuge Fusang’s mouth, filtered through his particular flavor, it was even more presumptuous.
Zhuge Qianyi felt that if this continued, they would sooner or later lose Zhao Yong’an’s trust, so she took the initiative to step forward and build some rapport.
‘Zhuge…’
This surname was particularly distinctive and rare. Zhao Yong’an had an impression of it, and his trust in her increased by a few points accordingly.
But when he thought about Fu Sang’s conspiracy theory just now, even those few points of trust became somewhat hesitant.
“Listen, I don’t know what secrets or entanglements your family has. Ah Zhen was indeed my ex-wife, but I really don’t know much about matters on her family’s side. It has nothing to do with me. I’m not curious, and I don’t want to get involved in this muddy water at all.”
“I’m just an ordinary person. So many years have already passed. Now I only believe what the hospital and the police said. I can’t control anything else, and I have no way to control it, okay? At this point, I’ve already moved on and have a new family. I only want that ghost to stay away from my child. I only want my child to be safe and well. That’s all.”
Zhao Yong’an wrapped an arm around Zhao Xiaobei, doing his best to give him a sense of security.
“I completely understand.” Huo Wei nodded seriously.
An accidental death from more than twenty years ago had suddenly become an intentional murder in the mouths of outsiders. No normal person could accept that right away, and only someone like Fu Sang, who had no social awareness and did not care whether his words would hurt the living or the dead, could say it so bluntly and lay everything out for him.
In the end, the two of them still had to follow up with explanations and smooth things over.
“You don’t have to worry about what he said, Uncle. Let’s deal with Xiao Bei’s problem first, okay? You just said Xiao Bei started seeing ghosts half a month ago? What was the situation like? What did that ghost do to him? Can you tell us about it?”
“…I don’t really know. I can’t see that thing.”
Zhao Yong’an sighed, then gently patted Zhao Xiaobei on the shoulder.
“Xiao Bei, are you willing to tell big brother and big sister about it? They can help you. They’ll catch the ghost, and after that, nothing will come out to scare you anymore.”
“…” Zhao Xiaobei hesitantly raised his eyes to look at Huo Wei.
Huo Wei gave him the gentlest smile she could manage, her voice almost strained from putting on the softest tone she could.
“Tell big sister about it. What did that bad ghost do to you? Big brother and big sister will get justice for you.”
Zhao Xiaobei had inherited Zhao Yong’an’s good looks. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, looking as though he had been carved from the same mold as his father.
He looked at Zhao Yong’an again. Seeing Zhao Yong’an nod encouragingly and reassuringly at him, he finally took a deep breath and organized his words.
“…The first time I saw it was during class.”
Zhao Xiaobei spoke in a low voice, his eyes red.
He remembered that it was math class. The teacher was explaining a new concept, and while listening, Zhao Xiaobei reached his hand into his desk, wanting to find his notebook to take notes.
But before he could find the notebook, his hand was grabbed by something icy cold.
He still remembered that sensation to this day. It was very cold, smooth, and soft.
He initially thought it was a prank by one of his classmates, so he instinctively lowered his head to take a look, only to see a face slowly poking out from the drawer of his desk, the corners of its mouth almost reaching its ears as it smiled brilliantly at him.
“Her face was very pale. Her cheeks were very thin and sunken. Her hair was super long, like seaweed. Her mouth was blackish-red, and her tongue was also especially long… I was terrified and fell over, screaming that there was a ghost. My classmates laughed at me, and even the teacher was a little angry. He said I had dozed off and was muddled from sleeping, and told me to calm down and go outside to stand.”
“The ghost was clearly inside the desk, but when I was standing outside in the corridor as punishment, she appeared again in the glass cabinet of the fire hydrant and watched me. She seemed to be everywhere. She watched me in the bathroom, watched me from the ceiling…”
“Wherever I was, she was there. I didn’t know when she would suddenly appear and scare me. Yes… she would crawl into my quilt, hide under the bed and grab my ankles, hide inside my wardrobe… She would grab me with her hands, wrap me up with her hair and tongue…”
As he spoke, Zhao Xiaobei wrapped both arms around himself and began trembling all over again.
Zhao Yong’an patted his back soothingly and sighed as he took over:
“The teachers at school suggested that we go to the hospital. I took him there, and the doctor said something about schizophrenia or delusional disorder. I’m not sure. I only know that my son isn’t sick. He wasn’t lying. He really saw it.”
“Xiao Bei was tormented by the ghost to the point that he couldn’t sleep properly. He was constantly frightened and anxious and couldn’t continue going to school, so I requested a long leave of absence for him. At first, I thought it was a problem with our home, the school, or the city, so I took him away from Jinguan and headed west. It was partly running away and partly to clear his mind, but even after coming all the way to Ganlan, we still couldn’t shake her off…”
After hearing what the father and son said, Huo Wei’s expression became somewhat grave. She muttered to herself:
“Then this ghost’s rank isn’t low…”
“Fourth to sixth rank.”
Fu Sang heard her and casually confirmed her guess, causing her hanging heart to finally die.
“How did she scare you just now?” Fu Sang took over the conversation and asked Zhao Xiaobei.
“Just now, just now…” Zhao Xiaobei’s eyes were somewhat vacant as he tried his best to recall:
“Just now, Dad was in the bathroom, and I was lying on the bed. I was really scared, so I turned on all the lights in the room and curled up inside the quilt. The curtains in the room were originally closed, but for some reason they suddenly opened. I heard the sound and turned to look, and when I turned back, she was already behind me, staring at me and smiling… I was so scared. I wanted to run, but she grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let me leave. I finally managed to shake her off and run out…”
Zhao Xiaobei’s voice trembled slightly. He sniffed:
“Big brother, big sister, I shouldn’t have done anything wrong, right? If you see her, could you ask her why she treats me like this?”
Faced with the child’s innocent question, Fu Sang did not answer.
He turned and walked toward the outside of the room.
Seeing this, Huo Wei hurriedly asked, “Hey! San You, where are you going?”
“To the scene of the incident.”
“I’ll go with you!” Before leaving, Huo Wei still remembered to turn back and instruct Zhuge Qianyi:
“Qianyi, you stay here with Uncle and Little Brother!”
“I…!” Zhuge Qianyi was left with grievances she could not voice.
Just from listening to Zhao Xiaobei’s description, she was already so frightened that she had goosebumps all over and cold sweat breaking out. After hearing the four words “fourth to sixth rank” from Fu Sang, she was even more terrified to the point that her teeth almost chattered.
Did Huo Wei mean to have someone like her guard a little boy who had just been frightened into trembling by a fierce ghost?
Her??
Zhuge Qianyi swallowed dryly. Although she was anxious in her heart, she still gritted her teeth and made a fist at Zhao Xiaobei, trying her best to make herself look stronger and more reliable:
“Don’t worry, little brother. I’m a spirit master. I’ll definitely protect you!”
Meanwhile, Fu Sang left the room and quickly went to inspect Room 5037, where the Zhao father and son were staying.
The room door was still wide open. Two hotel staff members were standing at the doorway, peering inside and tentatively knocking on the door.
Fu Sang glanced at them and didn’t pay them much attention, walking past them as though he was entering his own home.
As expected, he was called back:
“Hello, handsome guy… Is this your room?”
“No.” Fu Sang’s frankness left the two staff members speechless.
They looked at each other blankly before asking:
“Then you are…?”
“Oh, oh, it’s like this! The people staying here are a father and son, right? We know them. They’re both in our room right now. We’re just helping them come over to close the door and get something.” Huo Wei hurriedly followed his explanation.
“I see…” The staff members relaxed slightly.
“We received a call from a guest saying something happened on the fifth floor and that there was a boy who wasn’t doing very well, so we came up to take a look… Are they all right? Do you need us to help call an ambulance or something?”
“No need, no need!” Huo Wei shook her head and waved her hands repeatedly.
“It’s nothing serious. The child was under a lot of pressure and had a nightmare while sleeping, and for a moment he couldn’t distinguish between the dream and reality. He came out shouting about ghosts and things like that. He didn’t scare the guests next door, did he?”
“No, no. They were also rather worried about the child’s condition… If you’re sure there’s no problem, then we’ll head back first. If you need anything, just call the front desk at any time. There’s always someone here. Oh, and remember to close this door. Be careful about strangers getting in. It can be troublesome if valuables go missing.”
“Mm-mm, we’ll be careful. Thank you!” Huo Wei saw the two staff members off and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief, following Fu Sang into the room.
As soon as she closed the door and turned around, she was startled by the heavy yin energy filling the entire room.
“Oh my God…” Huo Wei’s back pressed against the door.
She now understood why Fu Sang was so certain that the female ghost was fourth to sixth rank.
The rank of an underworld spirit directly affected the quality and quantity of its yin energy. The black, oppressive mass filling the room before their eyes, like dark clouds…was something an ordinary underworld spirit couldn’t produce.
After looking around, Huo Wei finally remembered to ask about the important matter:
“San You.”
“Speak.”
“You really think the female ghost frightening Zhao Xiaobei is Li Guizhen?”
“If not?”
“…I thought you just wanted to ask Zhao Yong’an more about Li Guizhen, so you casually threw out a possibility.”
“No need.”
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly.
“A ghost haunting a person must have a purpose. Either it wants the body or it wants the life. But this ghost neither possesses him nor harms him. It appears frequently clearly as an attempt to stir up the family until everything is thrown into chaos, to destroy this child’s life and make him suffer.”
“Exactly, but isn’t that strange? In the cases I know, there’s always revenge for enmity and repayment for grudges. Once someone becomes a ghost, how could they not go straight for the life if they are taking revenge? Instead, this one is focusing on these subtle, gradual efforts to pressure the other party and create a kind of long-flowing torture? Moreover, the target of the torture doesn’t even have some deep enmity with her.”
“…That shouldn’t be the case. And wouldn’t that make her actions out of place? Unless she has a clear mind comparable to an ordinary person, with both intelligence and emotional intelligence online, it would be impossible to do this. But according to our experience, only someone like the Young General, a true seventh-rank Crimson Evil, can retain complete consciousness, right? Even when Anayi borrowed his power to forcibly raise her rank before, she still couldn’t become clear-headed.”
Huo Wei folded her arms and raised her doubts.
“Mm-hm.”
Fu Sang answered indifferently and asked in return:
“So?”
“So? Are you provoking me? I’m asking you!”
Fu Sang glanced at her. He still did not answer her question directly, instead continuing, “If a ghost most likely has no consciousness, yet displays delicate behavior resembling that of a human, what does that mean?”
Fu Sang’s tone was flat, without the slightest fluctuation. To Huo Wei, it inexplicably gave her the terrifying feeling of being called on by a teacher to answer a question back in her school days.
“It means… uh…” By this point, Huo Wei had completely forgotten that she was the one asking Fu Sang to explain his point and present evidence in the first place.
Her mind was completely filled with the test from the top student:
“It means… someone highly capable must be giving her guidance from behind the scenes?”
“Mm.” The teacher approved of her answer.
Huo Wei breathed a sigh of relief.
“But that doesn’t make much sense either, does it? If the ghost has no consciousness, how could it listen to a person and be directed and manipulated by them? It’s not like every ghost has the same good disposition as the one in your family.”
“Shouldn’t you think about what Li Guizhen’s family does?”
Fu Sang gave a faint scoff.
“The Nether Path lacks nothing in secret techniques and forbidden arts. It even has things like blood-sacrifice symbiosis and Seven-Formation Life Exchange. With the entire Zhuge family behind them, would they be unable to find a way to control ghosts?
“There’s one more thing I forgot to tell you. I sensed the aura of a human-bone artifact in this room.”
“No way… Again?!” Huo Wei’s eyes widened in terror.
“I think you really are the Conan of the Nether Path. You haven’t even been deliberately looking lately, but all kinds of strange cases and the things you want have still been coming to you one after another. Are you some kind of chosen one? Even if your luck is good, it shouldn’t be this exaggerated, right?”
“Maybe someone deliberately arranged it?” Fu Sang raised an eyebrow.
“Or perhaps it was destiny?”
“…Hearing you say that gives me goosebumps. You, Fu Sang, actually believe in things being destiny?”
Huo Wei rubbed her arms.
This wasn’t because she was trying to cooperate with what she said. It was because the yin energy in the room really was giving her goosebumps:
“Then how about this? If, as you said, someone really is manipulating Li Guizhen’s ghost to torment Zhao Xiaobei and Zhao Yong’an, then who could that person be? From what you mean, you think it’s Zhuge Lin? What’s the reason? It shouldn’t be purely a subjective judgment, right?”
“What if it is purely subjective?”
Fu Sang raised his hand and wound a strand of yin energy from the air around his fingertip. He held it beneath his nose and carefully smelled it. Then he raised his eyes and narrowed them thoughtfully as he stared toward a certain direction, saying:
“Don’t you think it’s strange?”
“What?”
“Where did I come from?”
“…?”
Huo Wei clearly didn’t expect Fu Sang to ask such a profound question.
She was somewhat bewildered.
“Weren’t you an orphan adopted by Zhuge Lin? Where did you come from… Your father and mother gave birth to you, obviously. Where else would you come from?”
“What was his purpose in adopting me?”
Fu Sang thought that perhaps everything really was as Huo Wei had said.
All the things happening at present seemed to be connected by an invisible thread, faintly guiding him to investigate truths he had never noticed before.
“Li Guizhen died more than twenty years ago. I’m twenty-four this year. She should have died before me, right?
“If all my guesses are correct, and we count Li Guizhen together with those girls Zhuge Qianyi discovered earlier, who all died young every twenty years or so, if the deaths of these people really were part of a conspiracy by the Zhuge family spanning hundreds or even thousands of years, then looking at it this way, don’t you think my appearance is very subtle?”
“Zhuge Lin’s daughter died, and then he took in a disciple, forcing this disciple to learn all the practical essentials and essence of the Nether Path within just a few years. And then, what did he want me to do?”
“Let’s go back to Li Guizhen. Before giving birth, Li Guizhen asked to return to her father’s side, which shows that her relationship with Zhuge Lin was very good. So if Li Guizhen’s death really was a conspiracy, given Zhuge Lin’s conduct, could he swallow this grievance? If so, Li Guizhen’s death and Zhuge Lin taking in a disciple might still have a cause-and-effect relationship. Following this line of thought, Zhuge Lin wanted revenge, and I was merely his means of revenge, or his tool.”
“But I failed to satisfy him. I couldn’t see ghosts, so I couldn’t become a spirit master, and he drove me out. But he wouldn’t let the matter rest. He would continue thinking of other ways to avenge his daughter. With too many people around in the main family and too many eyes watching, it was inconvenient to make plans, so he simply left the Zhuge family. After hiding for many years, he finally found a way to bring his daughter’s ghost back with him.”
“…Holy crap.”
After hearing the whole chain of reasoning, Huo Wei finally understood. For a moment, she had no other line, only:
“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap. Don’t say it, seriously, don’t say it…”
Huo Wei anxiously bit the tip of her finger.
She was trying her best to follow Fu Sang’s words and quickly sort everything out clearly when she suddenly heard Fu Sang give a cold laugh, his voice clear and cold:
“…So, am I right, Master?”
“?”
Upon hearing this, Huo Wei’s mind went blank for a moment.
She widened her eyes and looked at Fu Sang as if she had seen a ghost, but she couldn’t see any extra expression on Fu Sang’s face. Instead, she first noticed the heavy curtains behind him move slightly.
“You’re very smart. What you said isn’t far from the truth.”
An aged voice came from behind the curtain.
As the voice appeared, a slender, pale hand reached out from behind the curtain.
With long, pointed black fingernails, the female ghost hooked the edge of the curtain and slowly pulled it to one side.
The curtain rail made a faint sound as it slid, gradually revealing what was behind it.
It was deep into the night, but the balcony of the room was still lit.
An old man wearing a black long gown was sitting inside, his hands resting on a black walnut walking-stick with a snake-head handle. He was sitting upright, his graying hair combed impeccably. He had a high nose and deep-set eyes, the light overhead casting shadows beneath his brow ridge. There were deep hollows beneath his cheekbones, and his angular face was sharply defined. At first glance, he was even somewhat frightening.
Zhuge Lin had aged considerably compared to the last time Fu Sang saw him.
Fu Sang was delighted to see it.
After the female ghost pulled the curtain open for Zhuge Lin, she floated behind him like smoke and quietly placed her hands on his shoulders, like someone leaning on another for support.
Zhuge Lin patted the back of her hand soothingly while staring directly into Fu Sang’s eyes. Then he gave him a slight nod:
“Long time no see.”
“Zhuge Fusang.”
