Chapter 36

The Vice Bureau Chief knew that Qi Xu was strong, but she had not expected her to be this strong. After all, during their first meeting, she had been directly bound in midair by the Vice Bureau Chief. Although she was a ghost, she did not seem to have much offensive power. Even though the thick ghostly energy around her was genuine, the Vice Bureau Chief still felt that Qi Xu had been under control at that time.

Moreover, with Xia Zhiming’s endorsement, she believed that even as a half-human half-ghost, Qi Xu was controllable.

But who would have thought that, not long after entering the Third Bureau, she would cause such a thing.

Now everyone was frazzled and overwhelmed dealing with the ghost taxis, yet Qi Xu was still causing trouble. After the Vice Bureau Chief finished screaming, Xia Zhiming calmly said, “Don’t worry too much. Look, Qi Xu hasn’t done anything bad, and she hasn’t hurt any living people.”

“Xia Zhiming! She’s just not hurting anyone right now! Once she absorbs enough yin energy, her humanity will be devoured, and she’ll turn into a complete evil ghost! You can’t guarantee she won’t attack anyone then!”

“No, I can guarantee it. She absolutely won’t attack anyone.”

“How can you guarantee that?!”

Xia Zhiming crunched through her lollipop with a “kada” sound, chewing it all up with a few “gaji gaji” crunches. Her voice was exceptionally confident: “Because Qi Xu’s reins are always in my hands.”

“…”

Noticing the Vice Bureau Chief’s silence, Xia Zhiming chuckled “hehe” twice more: “Isn’t Qi Xu doing what the Third Bureau should be doing right now? She’s handling the ghost taxis. Don’t worry—before dawn tomorrow, she’ll plow through every ghost in Xintan City. By morning, there probably won’t be a single one left.”

Even with Xia Zhiming saying this, the Vice Bureau Chief was still uneasy: “Xia Zhiming, you’d better show that you have control over Qi Xu. Otherwise, when the Bureau Chief returns, she’ll definitely be eliminated!”

Xia Zhiming drawled lazily, “Alright, alright, I got it.”

This time, Xia Zhiming hung up first. She took out the compass, pinched a hand seal with her fingers, and pointed at it. The compass spun on its own before suddenly stopping, indicating the current location of the ghost taxi to Xia Zhiming.

Off they went, to crash some more.

Xia Zhiming started the car and floored the accelerator. It didn’t start on the first try, but on the second, the vehicle chugged to life. Before it even moved a step, the front bumper clattered off. Xia Zhiming cursed, got out, picked up the bumper, and tossed it into the trunk. When she got back in and slammed the door, it made a huge bang.

It was not the bumper’s fault for being flimsy; it had tried its best. Xia Zhiming just did not treat the car with care, ramming it full throttle into ghost taxis without letting up on the gas.

“Prepare to depart. Destination: People’s Square subway station, 5.6 kilometers away, 18 minutes…”

Xia Zhiming’s phone announced this as the off-road vehicle shot forward. On her way to People’s Square, Zhang Ziyue pushed her electric scooter to its limit. The wind stung her face, and the battery was nearly depleted. Zhang Ziyue sighed inwardly: If only she had bought a car too!

As Qi Xu eliminated more ghost taxis outside, more investigators headed toward People’s Square. The higher-ups at the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau had coordinated with the police to seal off the area, rerouting traffic. Fortunately, it was the middle of the night, so few people were out wandering, let alone heading to People’s Square.

The evening’s chaos had also caused many commercial complexes to close early, including KTVs and bars that stayed shut. Otherwise, there would have been even more people around People’s Square.

Zhang Ziyue linked up with the other investigators just before her scooter’s battery died, successfully squeezing into a senior colleague’s car. The senior teased, “How’d it go?”

Zhang Ziyue paused before describing the black fog ghost’s strength. Her senior clicked his tongue in amazement.

“Feels like it could rank as an S-grade ghost?”

“I think SS-grade. I’ve never seen a ghost that strong.”

The Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau had a ranking system for investigators and ghosts. Investigators were divided into levels one through five, with some exceptionally powerful ones called special-grade investigators. Ghosts followed suit with grades A through E, topped by S-grade. They had once considered terms like “white-clothed, blue-clothed, red-clothed,” but settled on this simple system.

In theory, Qi Xu should have known this as an investigator, even if her badge said “intern.” She should have the basics.

Unfortunately, her handler was the unreliable Xia Zhiming, whom she barely saw and who made her guess everything. No newbie tutorial there, so she did not know the distinctions between ghosts and investigators.

She only knew that Xia Zhiming, a level-one investigator, was pretty strong.

“Yo, SS-grade? Little Yue, you haven’t even seen an S-grade.” The senior joked, but Zhang Ziyue glanced over and saw sweat beading on his forehead—he was just pretending to be calm. She sighed, knowing no one wanted to encounter an S-grade ghost, let alone SS-grade.

Such ghosts either stayed deep in the wilds or required lives to fill if they appeared in cities. There had once been an S-grade ghost incident that killed over ten thousand people, covered up as an earthquake.

Ordinary people could not know about ghosts. Ghosts had a special trait: unless like that powerful one earlier that could manifest openly, ordinary low-energy ghosts wandered aimlessly. But if a person locked eyes with them and became aware, they gained shape in the ghost’s eyes too.

As the saying went: When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.

Conversely, as long as ordinary people remained unaware, ghosts were less likely to attack. Ghosts that actively caused chaos were inherently powerful.

Amid their conversation, People’s Square arrived unnoticed. The senior did not dare get too close, and Zhang Ziyue did not need to ask why. She saw the black fog halt, with over twenty taxis stopped opposite it on the square. No need to guess—ghost taxis.

As the black fog ghost hunted them, they realized they could not wait to die. They huddled together to confront it.

The senior received intel from the Vice Bureau Chief. Two reports: one on the ghost taxis. Besides handling them, she had used her heart eye to deduce their origins.

No one bothered with that report—neither Zhang Ziyue nor her senior cared about ghost taxi origins. With the black fog ghost there, they were out of its five-finger mountain no matter what. The important one was next: the black fog ghost’s file.

“Qi Xu? Half-human half-ghost?!”

Zhang Ziyue’s eyes widened at the details. Every investigator responding to the ghost taxis knew the initial victim—their colleague, the intern investigator Qi Xu, still comatose in the hospital.

But now the Vice Bureau Chief claimed the black fog ghost was that very Qi Xu?! If not for confirming it was the Vice Bureau Chief, Zhang Ziyue would suspect some phone ghost had hacked their comms and impersonated her.

As Zhang Ziyue hesitated, the scene ahead changed abruptly. The twenty-odd taxis parked separately on People’s Square suddenly fused together into a massive scrap heap. Driver ghosts clung to the twisted metal, clawing and spewing foul words.

Zhang Ziyue’s eyes bulged. She pinched her senior: “What the hell is that?! Ghosts doing fusion techniques now?! What is this thing? It looks so gross!”

Her senior swatted her hand: “Talk without pinching! How should I know? Ghosts doing some martial fusion—it’s a knockoff Transformers!” He griped too. They could not help it; the sight was revolting. After fusing, the phone ghosts on the scrap metal gaped wide, blabbering annoyingly.

【These young girls out late at night, all dolled up—definitely not from good families!】

【Yo, this guy’s dressed fancy but taking taxis to work? Total poser!】

【I’m so miserable, working nights driving all day, family doesn’t care, just wants my money!】

【Those guys the other day insisted on late runs, dragged me in, lost all my cash! Gone!】

After fusing, their power was different. The grating voices pierced distances, ringing in Zhang Ziyue’s ears. Before she reacted, her senior lunged and covered them: “Don’t listen! You can’t listen!”

Zhang Ziyue knew better. Even that snippet stirred irritability and rage in her heart. More would shatter her mind, assimilating her.

Just then, a blaring horn cut through despite the cover—loud and urgent.

“Du du du—” It drowned the voices. Zhang Ziyue looked up toward the source and saw an off-road vehicle speed past theirs like a maniac, leaving only taillights before slamming into the scrap heap.

The wind carried the driver’s voice: “Finally caught you bastards! Holding a meeting, huh? Felt smug ditching me earlier? Jie jie jie jie jie—die for me!”

Her senior wailed: “She’s here—the Third Bureau lunatic is here.”