Chapter 16

Xu Yan watched with his own eyes as Lin Sheng and Yuan Yuan seized the chance to steal Song Qian’s jade.

Lin Sheng shot him a cold glance, shook off his hand, and tucked the jade into the deepest pocket of her bag.

“We’re doing this for her own good. You’d better not ask any questions.”

“But that’s Song Qian’s belonging. You’re stealing it.” Xu Yan reached for her bag again. He had no idea that the female ghost by Song Qian’s side was inside the jade—he just thought the two of them were in cahoots to pilfer it.

Lin Sheng had no patience for his nonsense. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she clamped a hand over his mouth and delivered a sharp chop to the back of his neck.

Xu Yan’s body went limp, and he crumpled to the ground.

Meanwhile, Lin Qing was locked in fierce combat. It was clear that the Ghost Mother was getting thoroughly trounced, and she kept hurling curses at him from time to time.

“Something’s off,” Jiang Yi murmured, propping his chin as he studied Lin Qing’s movements and strikes.

“Is there a problem?” Song Qian couldn’t see the action below very clearly, but she knew Lin Qing was fighting impressively.

“He’s being too ruthless. That’s not like him.”

“Who the hell are you!?” The Ghost Mother was lashed to the ground, curling protectively around the Ghost Infant in her arms.

Lin Qing gripped an exceedingly thin golden thread in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, it slithered like a living serpent, coiling around the Ghost Mother’s arms and legs.

“What a country bumpkin. You don’t even recognize golden thread.” Lin Qing sneered. He gave his fingers a light tug, and the golden thread tightened further. The Ghost Infant squirmed uncomfortably and burst into wails.

The Ghost Mother rolled on the ground, trying to keep the thread away from the Ghost Infant. “No! Please, spare Xingxing. She never hurt anyone. She’s just a child.”

“I don’t know if she’s hurt anyone, but you—you’ve killed and devoured ghosts. I have the authority to execute you on the spot.”

The Ghost Mother knew she wouldn’t escape tonight. She slowly lowered her head, gazing tenderly at the Ghost Infant in her arms, her eyes brimming with reluctance.

“Mama worked so hard to nurture you and bring you into the world, Xingxing. Remember to be reborn into a good family next life.” Ghosts who had committed evil couldn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation, but her Xingxing had never harmed anyone or done anything wrong.

“You had a chance at reincarnation, but this is all your own doing,” Lin Qing said without a trace of pity in his eyes. He even found the Ghost Mother’s actions utterly selfish, nearly robbing the Ghost Infant of her own path to rebirth.

The Ghost Mother looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “You don’t understand. You never will.”

“She’s the only solace in my latter years. I waited with such hope for my child to be born. I couldn’t bear for her to die so young, still inside me.”

The Ghost Infant hadn’t yet developed spiritual awareness. She simply gaped at the Ghost Mother, clutching a lock of her hair in her tiny fist.

Lin Qing remained unmoved. He produced a small bottle and drew the Ghost Infant inside. As the Ghost Mother lunged forward, he repelled her with a palm strike.

“I’ll take her into reincarnation. There’s no need for this dramatics. If you keep clinging to her, you’ll only destroy her chances.”

In that moment, Lin Qing seemed like an emotionless machine, focused solely on his mission.

After securing the Ghost Infant, he pulled a stack of paper money from the cloth sack he’d brought and flung it high into the air. The bills fluttered down around him and the Ghost Mother. Lin Qing pinched a piece of talisman paper between two fingers, and white smoke began to curl from its tip.

He stepped back outside the circle of paper money, eyes downcast as he tossed the ignited talisman into the midst. Flames flickered, illuminating his face. Through the fire, the Ghost Mother glimpsed the features of a young woman.

The Ghost Mother burned in the circle of flames, her surrounding ghost qi scattering in all directions. Her soul was pitch-black, and the talisman fire seared her essence. She screamed in agony—far worse than the beating that had killed her in life.

The small bottle trembled in Lin Qing’s hand as the Ghost Infant sensed her mother’s passing. Lin Qing ignored it, stuffing the bottle back into his pocket. He glanced up at the spectators on the second floor and headed upstairs.

When he reached them, Lin Qing’s face was still a mask of indifference. “It’s handled. Get out of here now. I’ll notify the Special Investigation Group to contact the local police about the three deaths.”

“Three?” Song Qian suddenly remembered Liu Yue, whom they’d overlooked. “Don’t tell me Liu Yue too…?”

Lin Qing rummaged in his sack, head bowed. “She was hurt that badly—she was long gone. You just didn’t notice.”

He fished a folded talisman paper from his pocket, shaped like a small triangle, and held it out to Song Qian. “Here. This will benefit you and that jade spirit.”

“Huh?”

Lin Qing’s eyes narrowed at her empty chest. “Where’s your jade?”

Jade?

Song Qian instinctively reached for it—and touched nothing. Her face paled in panic. “Where’s my jade!? It was just here!”

Ji Wuxin was still inside!

Lin Qing scanned the group. Aside from the spirit nurturer and Little Sapling in front of him, there was only the ordinary guy sprawled on the ground.

“Two are missing.” There had been two other girls when she arrived.

Song Qian’s gaze darted around. Yuan Yuan and Lin Sheng were gone!

Could it have been earlier? When Yuan Yuan had lunged at her—she hadn’t dared meet her eyes because of this.

But why take her jade?

Lin Qing tossed the sack to Jiang Yi and grabbed Song Qian’s hand, pulling her downstairs. “Little Sapling, take that guy back first and hand the bottle over to the Special Investigation Group. I’ll go with her to find the jade spirit.”

Jiang Yi’s mind blanked. He’d called him Little Sapling?? This definitely wasn’t Lin Qing!

Lin Qing dragged Song Qian to the front door and swiftly wrapped a loop of red thread around her fingertip, murmuring an incantation under his breath.

With the Ghost Mother gone, the binding here lifted. The sky in the distance was lightening with the first hints of dawn.

Dawn was breaking.

“Hiss—” Song Qian winced as pain shot through her fingertip. She looked down to see the red thread had cut into her skin, drawing blood. A trail of crimson followed the thread, pointing in one direction.

“That way!”

Lin Qing pointed along the thread’s path, and the two of them bolted off in pursuit.

Lin Qing and Song Qian didn’t have to go far. On a nearby hilltop, they spotted two people locked in a struggle—or more accurately, Lin Sheng taking a one-sided beating. Yuan Yuan straddled her, gripping her collar.

“Where’s the jade!? Hand it over!”

“No way! Humans and ghosts don’t mix! That jade shouldn’t be with Song Qian!”

“I don’t buy it!” Yuan Yuan looked downright ferocious, like Xiong Shen. “Give me the jade. Let that person from before check it, and we’ll know if it’s good or not.”

Lin Sheng refused, clutching her bag tightly beneath her.

Lin Qing stepped forward and made Yuan Yuan get off. She froze for a second, then spotted Song Qian and released her grip. Lin Sheng scrambled up to flee, but Lin Qing grabbed her by the collar with one hand, snatched her bag, and handed it to Song Qian.

“Check if your jade’s in there.”

Song Qian took it hurriedly and rummaged through every compartment. At last, in the innermost layer, she found the jade.

“Got it!”

Lin Sheng’s eyes reddened as the jade tumbled out. She slumped despondently to the ground.

“Qianqian, I’m sorry… I… I…” Yuan Yuan twisted the hem of her shirt, head bowed in apology.

“She said that ghost would ruin your luck, so… I believed her.”

Song Qian went to her and brushed the dry grass and leaves from her clothes, smiling softly. “I know you were worried about me. It’s okay.”

“You went to all this trouble for the jade. You must know something. Who sent you?” Lin Qing bent down, his cold eyes fixed on Lin Sheng.

Lin Sheng’s lips went pale. She’d seen how formidable this person was—able to crush even a powerhouse like the Ghost Mother like an ant. But…

“No one!”

Lin Qing snorted coldly. “You’re lucky I only target evil ghosts. Go back and tell your boss: capturing a Special Investigation Group Level One protected species without authorization comes at a steep price.”

Lin Sheng blinked. Was he… letting her go?

Seeing that Lin Qing truly had no intention of beating her, Lin Sheng scrambled to her feet and bolted.

Song Qian slipped the jade back on, thanking Lin Qing sincerely. “Thank you.”

“No need. I was just doing my job.” With that, Lin Qing turned and strolled down the hill alone, hands clasped behind his back.

“Jade spirit…” Song Qian touched the jade at her chest. So she wasn’t a ghost after all.

~~~

Apartment 404

Song Qian pulled out her key and unlocked the door. As she looked up, she saw a strikingly sensual and glamorous woman lounging on the living room sofa. The woman seemed to have been waiting for her, her beautiful eyes roving appreciatively over Song Qian.

Strangers kept popping up in her own home, which already soured Song Qian’s mood. She snapped irritably, “This is my house.”

The woman chuckled lightly and rose to her feet. Song Qian then noticed she was barefoot. Her thin red gauze dress did little to conceal her long, slender legs; as she moved, glimpses of snow-white skin flashed teasingly. Song Qian averted her gaze awkwardly.

“Of course I know it’s your house.”

“I’m not here for you.”

The woman approached Song Qian. She was tall—Song Qian, at nearly five foot nine, still had to look up to meet her eyes.

“My name is Jiao Niang.”

Jiao Niang reached out a hand, her nails a vivid red that made the skin on the back of her hand seem even paler, like fresh snow. Her fingertip pressed against Song Qian’s chest, right where the jade lay.

“I’m here to find her.”

Song Qian clutched the jade against her chest and retreated a step, watching the woman warily. She had already slipped the jade inside her clothes—how had she known it was there?

Jiao Niang showed no annoyance at her empty grasp. Instead, she bent slightly at the waist, studying Song Qian with interest.

“You’re the girl Wuxin mentioned. Your looks are indeed quite something.”

“You know Ji Wuxin?” Song Qian kept her guard up, her other hand tightly gripping the triangular talisman Lin Qing had given her. With Ji Wuxin injured, if this woman had any ideas about the jade…

“You don’t need to be so on your guard against me.” Jiao Niang’s brows furrowed slightly, displeased by Song Qian’s thief-wary stance.

“Wuxin, aren’t you coming out?”

“Wuxin?”

Jiao Niang called out a few times, but Ji Wuxin’s figure never appeared. A flash of red darted through her eyes: “Where is Ji Wuxin?”

In that instant, Song Qian felt the air around her stagnate. A suffocating pressure swept over her body.

Jiao Niang’s pupils turned crimson, the corners of her eyes tinged with a seductive flush. As Song Qian stared at her face, a stray thought crossed her mind: This woman looks so beautiful even when she’s angry.

Pah, pah, pah! What am I thinking—bewitched by a ghost! Song Qian, snap out of it. She’s trying to kill you!

Jiao Niang struck with deadly force, hoisting Song Qian into the air. Her feet dangled helplessly off the ground, kicking futilely.

Click—

The door across from them swung open. Lin Qing stepped out and regarded Jiao Niang calmly.

“The Jade Spirit is merely injured, and it has nothing to do with her. If you kill her right in front of me, I won’t stand idly by.”

Jiao Niang stared at Lin Qing for a long moment, seeing echoes of someone else in him.

She withdrew her hand. The figure radiating murderous intent transformed in an instant into one brimming with smiles.

“Li Family Girl, is that true?”

“Naturally. The Jade Spirit is too innocent and doesn’t know the dirty tricks those wild ghosts pull, so she got hurt. You should teach her better.”

“Very well. Since you’ve said so, I won’t make trouble for this little girl.” Jiao Niang swayed her hips as she turned to leave, but glanced back at Song Qian one last time. Her peach-blossom eyes curved in an alluring smile. “Little girl, when Wuxin wakes up, be sure to tell her Jiao Niang stopped by.”

Song Qian clutched her throat and nodded frantically. This woman was terrifying. Why did everyone love choking her neck? One day it was going to snap right off.

“Are you alright?”

Song Qian looked up at Lin Qing, who was leaning against the doorframe. His gaze was even more aloof than usual, as if nothing in the world could pique his interest.

That woman had just called him “Li Family Girl”?

“I’m fine.”

“Jiao Niang is a seductive ghost who’s been around for several centuries. She meant no real harm just now.”

Song Qian: “…”