Chapter 33

Qi Xu fainted, or more accurately, her body fainted. Her ghost body floated in midair, looking down at her own body sitting in the car. The situation with this taxi was much better than the one she had encountered last time. At least, it had airbags.

After the taxi crashed into the wall, the airbags all deployed. It was also good that Qi Xu was an obedient child who had buckled her seatbelt even in the back seat. So although the car looked terribly wrecked, Qi Xu had not suffered any fatal injuries.

The impact simply caused her to pass out completely.

As a ghost, Qi Xu could still tell that she had not suffered fatal injuries. But the moment the ghost up front saw her ghost body, it slipped away directly. Qi Xu had actually seen it leave like a line, but the priority was rescuing her body, not chasing that taxi driver ghost.

Qi Xu hooked her finger, and the phone in her back seat pocket floated out from the gap, landing in her hand. Normally, even in her ghost body, Qi Xu could not do such things. But as her body’s aura grew weaker and weaker, she found she could actively do more and more.

The feeling was very strange, as if her body was a box that sealed away all her power. But the weaker the body became, the bigger the cracks in the box, and the more she could do.

If her body died completely, just how powerful would she become as a ghost…

Qi Xu was stunned for a moment, shook her head fiercely, and flung that inexplicable thought from her mind: Crazy! How could she think like that!

With the phone in hand, Qi Xu called Xia Zhiming. The moment the call connected, before Qi Xu could speak, Xia Zhiming cursed her out: “You’d better have something important! I’m swamped right now. If it’s nothing major, I’ll make you regret it when I get back!”

Qi Xu said pitifully, “I do have something…” After saying those three words, even she got goosebumps, because her voice now came with an echo, sounding particularly ghostly. Xia Zhiming fell silent for a moment before asking, “Are you dead?”

“Not yet, but if no one comes to save me soon, I probably will be.”

Xia Zhiming cursed again and hung up. A little while later, the Vice Bureau Chief arrived first with the other investigators. When the investigators she brought saw the floating Qi Xu, they immediately went on high alert.

The Vice Bureau Chief stopped them and gave a simple explanation, which finally made her colleagues drop their hostility toward Qi Xu. She had also brought the paramedics. Watching her own body loaded onto the ambulance, Qi Xu wanted to follow, but the Vice Bureau Chief blocked her.

“First, tell me what happened.”

Qi Xu recounted everything exactly as it occurred to the Vice Bureau Chief, whose brows furrowed tightly. She then raised her right hand, her fingers flying as if divining like in the TV dramas. After pinching her fingers for a bit, the Vice Bureau Chief’s expression turned grave: “This is bad, bad! Big trouble’s coming!”

Qi Xu, like an outsider, had no idea what big trouble was coming. Her thoughts were all on her body. A little while later, Xia Zhiming arrived too. Seeing Qi Xu, she paused: “Why are you still here?”

“Huh?” Qi Xu was a bit dazed. “Shouldn’t I be here?”

“You should go back into your body! Your vital aura is already so faint. Without your living soul inside, it’ll be even harder to save the body!”

Before Xia Zhiming finished, the Vice Bureau Chief spoke up: “No use. She tried earlier but couldn’t. Her ghost body is too strong, and the physical body too weak. Forcing it in might make the body explode outright.”

After they spoke, silence fell among the three. Qi Xu was even more confused: “Then what should I do?!”

Xia Zhiming and the Vice Bureau Chief turned to look at Qi Xu in unison and said, “We can only hope heaven takes pity.”

Xia Zhiming brought the dazed Qi Xu back home. On the road, Qi Xu overheard Xia Zhiming and the Vice Bureau Chief on speakerphone. At the other end, the Vice Bureau Chief filled Xia Zhiming in on the situation: “This isn’t a simple accident. They targeted Qi Xu on purpose for revenge. And this proves there’s more than one taxi driver ghost. I checked with the Second Bureau—they’ve already handled three ghost taxi incidents in this period.”

“You mean there are who knows how many ghost taxis running rampant in Xintan City? Haha, hilarious. Xintan City has a full three branches of the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau, and yet ghost taxis are roaming everywhere, even putting Qi Xu in the hospital.”

Qi Xu sat in the passenger seat and found the whole thing absurd too.

They chatted a bit more before hanging up. Xia Zhiming simply turned on the radio. Qi Xu heard the host urging citizens to be cautious going out at night, as a serial killer was on the loose in Xintan City—especially wary of suspicious taxis.

Qi Xu understood this was the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau’s doing.

“But will this kind of warning stop people from taking taxis?”

Xia Zhiming did not answer, but Qi Xu knew it was impossible.

They fell silent for a moment, but soon, as Xia Zhiming turned the wheel, a taxi suddenly came at them and rammed the passenger side of her SUV, sending the whole vehicle skidding outward.

Xia Zhiming steadied the wheel. Fortunately, it was a sturdy SUV that held up somewhat. With the speed so high, Qi Xu reacted first and shielded Xia Zhiming in her arms. The next moment, Xia Zhiming shoved her aside: “Get out of the way!”

She slammed on the brakes and finally brought the SUV to a stop.

She looked up again, only to find the taxi that hit her had vanished without a trace. Xia Zhiming laughed in fury at the discovery: “Fine, you bastard. Got some guts. This old lady hasn’t even gone looking for your trouble yet, and you dare come find this old lady first?! This old lady will show you why the flowers are so red!”

No need for explanation—Qi Xu knew that had definitely been a ghost taxi.

Qi Xu asked, “Should I chase it?”

“No need. Stay put at home and don’t go anywhere. Running around like this, you might get nabbed by other investigators!”

Qi Xu said aggrievedly, “Alright.” Back home, Xia Zhiming grabbed Qi Xu first. The jade pendant set on her jingled, and then Xia Zhiming pinned her directly to the sofa.

“First, I’ll infuse you with some yang energy. You’re way too low on it right now.” After explaining, Xia Zhiming leaned in for a deep kiss.

Qi Xu froze, because this was her first time kissing Xia Zhiming in ghost body form. The sensation was completely different from when she was alive. Back then, both their lips had been warm; Qi Xu had even found Xia Zhiming’s lips a bit cool at first touch.

But now, it was entirely different.

Xia Zhiming’s lips burned hot, the temperature almost scorching Qi Xu. At the same time, Qi Xu knew she was the one too cold. She was a ghost, after all—the chill etched into her very bones, emanating icy cold from within.

Because she was so cold, she craved the living warmth so obsessively.

Even though it nearly burned her, Qi Xu still chased after that heat uncontrollably. Her lips pressed to Xia Zhiming’s, and before she knew it, they had switched positions, with Qi Xu on top and Xia Zhiming below.

Qi Xu kissed Xia Zhiming persistently, even proactively slipping her tongue in to plunder every inch of her mouth. This kiss was even more urgent than before. Even as Xia Zhiming tugged at Qi Xu’s hair, she could not pull her off.

Because Qi Xu’s hair could grow on its own now.

After becoming a ghost, Qi Xu felt no pain, and her hair seemed to have a mind of its own. As Xia Zhiming yanked, it just grew longer, hard to snap, even wrapping around Xia Zhiming’s wrist in retaliation.

Qi Xu greedily absorbed the living warmth. The prolonged kiss and the sweet, sticky sounds of lips and teeth meshing made one’s face flush and heart race. Qi Xu did not need to breathe, so the kiss dragged on until Xia Zhiming started running short of air.

She tried to kick Qi Xu off with her foot.

But with the black ghost robe and pink Daoist robe tangled together, inseparable, it was not so easy to kick away.

Xia Zhiming went all out, formed a hand seal, and tapped it on the hair wrapped around her.

Golden light flashed. Qi Xu felt the pain and retreated a little. Her mind cleared, and she looked aggrieved, feeling Xia Zhiming was too mean—kicking viciously during a kiss and using a spell when that failed.

But after pulling back, she saw Xia Zhiming’s flushed cheeks, unsteady breathing, and heaving chest. Water still glistened in her eyes as she glared at Qi Xu in humiliated fury: “You lunatic! No sense of measure! You’d be happy if you kissed me to death!”

By now, Qi Xu knew she had gone too far: “I didn’t mean to…” It was just that Xia Zhiming’s lips were too soft, kissing them too pleasurable, and the yang energy plundered from her brought too much bliss.

“You’d better not have!”

Xia Zhiming glared at Qi Xu, but as a ghost now, Qi Xu found that glare hardly threatening—just more heart-stirring.

Xia Zhiming lifted her sleeve and wiped her lips fiercely, the disdainful motion making Qi Xu’s little heart twinge—boo hoo, no need to act so repulsed.

After wiping her mouth, Xia Zhiming kicked Qi Xu again: “Stay put at home. I’m going out for revenge! Damn it, daring to target this old lady. In all my years, I’ve never suffered this kind of grievance!”

Qi Xu watched as Xia Zhiming cursed the ghosts up a storm while crouching to pull a bunch of gear from the cabinet under the TV: the copper coin sword she had used before, a metal disc engraved with Eight Trigrams patterns, a bundle of golden thread, and a stack of pre-written talismans.

“I’m off. You stay right there—don’t go anywhere!”

Xia Zhiming stuffed everything into her backpack, grabbed the peachwood sword, and stormed out. As the door closed before her eyes, Qi Xu swallowed her “I want to go too.” Only a “Be careful on the road” dissipated into the wind.