Chapter 17

The sound of the water was too loud, making the faint scraping noise seem barely there.

Wu Yinyu stared intently at the drain, slowly bending down. But because of a metal push-plug, she couldn’t investigate the condition inside the pipe.

Grrr. Grrr.

Just then, the drain hole actually became blocked. The water in the sink accumulated more and more, nearly rising to her chin.

Wu Yinyu straightened up abruptly, hurriedly turned off the water, and pressed the plug several times.

The water still wouldn’t drain; it remained firmly blocked. Fortunately, after the water was off, the scraping sound disappeared along with it.

The bathroom fell eerily silent. Wu Yinyu felt a bit dazed, wondering if she had simply misheard.

But the blocked drain was undeniably real. She decided to open the plug and turn the water back on.

This time, she turned it on low, leaving only a thin stream falling gently.

The scraping sound still didn’t return. Wu Yinyu turned off the water, bent down to open the wooden cabinet underneath, and observed the long, slender pipe below the drain opening.

The moment she bent over, the sound came from the drain hole again. This time, it was dense and hurried, as if it could scrape sparks.

There was no Ghostly Qi. It didn’t seem like Demonic Evil.

Wu Yinyu only felt it was strange. She reached out to touch the pipe, tugging it carefully a few times.

Whoosh.

All the water in the sink, along with what hadn’t drained from the pipe earlier, gushed down in a torrent, soaking Wu Yinyu’s back.

Her entire back instantly went cold. She hastened to straighten up and step back two paces. Startled by the sudden cold and wetness, she hadn’t expected the water in the sink could gush back out like that.

Now the sink was empty; the water had spilled everywhere.

This was not a good omen, especially since she didn’t think it was the work of Ghosts and Monsters.

Tentatively, Wu Yinyu turned the water on again. This time, the water flowed out smoothly without encountering any blockage.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she realized something was off again.

The liquid flowing from the faucet was becoming darker and darker.

In just a few seconds, the water was as black as ink, even carrying a faint Ink Fragrance.

Wu Yinyu braced her arms on the edge of the sink, looking down fixedly.

Ink. Why was it ink again?

She suddenly understood why the Ink Qi on the road had disappeared. It must have slipped into the sewer system. With the heavy and mixed smells down there, even the paper effigy inhabited by the dog’s spirit hadn’t detected it.

She fetched three copper coins and dropped them into the sink one by one. She stirred the water with her hand a few times. After reciting a few lines of “Hundred Impurities Disperse, All Ghosts Hide,” the water turned clear again. Then, the black-stained sink walls were rinsed completely clean.

Actually, Wu Yinyu hadn’t held much hope. Yet the ink color indeed faded.

She could only fish out the copper coins, slowly wash her hands, and then pull down the zipper on the side of her qipao.

Just as she was about to leave the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of a human-like shadow flashing past in the mirror.

To call it a human shadow wasn’t quite right either, since it was a dense black mass. At first glance, it was impossible to tell what it was.

Wu Yinyu stopped walking and assessed the brocade pouch at her side. Fortunately, she hadn’t used many copper coins on this trip; quite a few remained. Unhurriedly, she took out one coin, tied it to the end of a red thread, and held the other end up, dangling it in front of the mirror.

The copper coin swayed in a small arc. If a Ghost was hidden in the mirror, it should have been drawn out.

But Wu Yinyu’s hand grew tired from shaking, yet the mirror remained utterly still.

Not Ghostly Evil, then. It must have been formed from the ink earlier. That thing came without a trace and left without a shadow; ordinary Curse Techniques really couldn’t do anything to it.

Her patience completely exhausted, Wu Yinyu put away the red thread. Trusting that the Ink Qi wouldn’t harm her, she felt uneasy but decisively pulled the side zipper all the way down.

She didn’t want to keep Yu Zezhi waiting too long. After leaving the bathroom, she hastily slipped on a bathrobe.

In the attic, Yu Zezhi had fallen asleep leaning against the sofa. Even in sleep, her seated posture was perfectly straight, as if she were merely resting her eyes.

Wu Yinyu sat down on the sofa. Seeing Yu Zezhi’s eyes were still closed, she didn’t rush to wake her. Instead, she openly scrutinized her.

The other woman’s long, elegant Phoenix Eyes were tightly shut. Unlike her appearance when awake, at this moment, she only gave off an impression of cool detachment.

How could there be such a strange person in the world? On one hand, seemingly casual and indifferent, yet on the other, appearing to hold Precepts in her heart, full of restraint.

Wu Yinyu tapped Yu Zezhi’s shoulder with her smoking pipe, leaned over to grab the remote control from the table, and looked at the projector screen. “Trouble Boss Yu to open her eyes. I’m anxious here. Right now, I desperately need you to appraise things for me.”

Yu Zezhi opened her eyes. She likely hadn’t been sleeping deeply, her voice slightly hoarse. “Play it.”

Wu Yinyu pressed play and watched the surveillance footage again.

She set the video to double speed, quickly skipping through the long earlier segment. Only when the later part began did she return the speed to normal.

Yu Zezhi watched very intently, not even blinking.

Wu Yinyu leaned back lazily, pushed open the lid of her tobacco box, and asked, “May I take a puff?”

“If you want two puffs, that’s fine too,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu pinched a wad of tobacco. Watching the projection screen from the corner of her eye, she lit the tobacco and took a gentle drag, exhaling smoke. “Then I’ll add a few more puffs, until this wad of tobacco burns out.”

“Pause,” Yu Zezhi suddenly spoke.

The remote was right beside Wu Yinyu’s leg; she reached out and pressed pause.

The screen froze at the moment Lu Yiqi was getting out of the car. One leg was already out the door, but the other was still inside.

Feng Qingshuang was already standing outside the car, holding his weighing beam. At that moment, his side was completely clean, with nothing attached to it.

“Alright, play it again,” Yu Zezhi said. “Make the speed even slower.”

Wu Yinyu obediently adjusted the speed and pressed play again.

In the video, Lu Yiqi tugged outwards twice before finally pulling his leg out of the car.

Wu Yinyu was startled. She hadn’t noticed this detail before. She rewound and watched it again.

Lu Yiqi’s leg had indeed been stuck, albeit for just a brief second.

After pulling his leg free, he turned around, took the lantern from the car, and walked over to Feng Qingshuang with a natural expression.

“Look, something was wrapped around his leg. He brought it out of the car,” Yu Zezhi said.

Lu Yiqi had been wearing black trousers that night. After slowing down the playback speed and focusing her attention on his legs, Wu Yinyu finally noticed the peculiarity.

Just as Yu Zezhi said, a wisp of thick black “smoke” was indeed wrapped around Lu Yiqi’s trouser leg.

That mass of Ink Qi didn’t appear out of thin air. Lu Yiqi had brought it out of the car.

It expanded and grew like a yeasted dough, tightly enveloping the two living people, making them vanish from the world in an instant.

It was unknown when the Ink Qi had appeared in the car. Perhaps it had secretly infiltrated during the journey, or perhaps it had already been inside before the car even left the Lu residence.

Wu Yinyu was holding the pipe mouthpiece between her lips. For a moment, she forgot to exhale, choked, twisted her body, and bent over the sofa armrest, coughing uncontrollably.

Her back was lightly patted twice; it was Yu Zezhi smoothing her breath. Wu Yinyu simply waved her hand. “I’m fine.”

Yu Zezhi withdrew her hand and sat up straight. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Exactly. Do you know what it is?” Wu Yinyu’s face was pale from coughing.

“Not a Ghost, not a Spirit. It seems more like…” Yu Zezhi trailed off, but without any intention of deliberate mystery.

“What?” Wu Yinyu hurriedly asked.

“Ink.” Yu Zezhi said flatly.

Wu Yinyu let out a scoff. Still not recovered from choking, she turned her head and coughed twice more, her voice trembling slightly. “Isn’t that stating the obvious?”

“What I mean is, it’s a dead object, driven by someone else, without sentience,” Yu Zezhi seemed exceptionally certain.

“If it’s driven by someone, then it should carry that person’s aura. Even if it doesn’t, there must be some other connection,” Wu Yinyu put down her smoking pipe. “But it… has nothing.”

“Perhaps because it’s hidden too well,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu frowned. “Boss Yu is sure?”

“Mm.”

Wu Yinyu had indeed considered this possibility. Just as the Water Ghost had seen: only ink, no Spirit.

She spoke slowly, “Don’t you think, Boss Yu, that this thing seems to have deep connections with us? So far, it’s only you and me who can see it.”