Chapter 37

Xia Zhiming truly lived up to her reputation as one of the Third Bureau’s “madwomen.” She floored the accelerator in her off-road vehicle, pushing it to a ridiculous two hundred kilometers per hour. But at the last moment, she flung open the door and hurled herself out of the car, tumbling across the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.

The impact tore her Daoist robe to shreds. Her hair was disheveled, and she had abrasions all over her face and body, but she scrambled to her feet. As she watched the vehicle slam into the pile of scrap metal ahead, she burst into delighted laughter. “Haha, smash it!”

Under Xia Zhiming’s cheers of encouragement, the vehicle crashed solidly into the heap of twisted metal. The next instant, massive flames erupted. Xia Zhiming flicked open her robe and pulled several talismans from an inner pocket. Golden light immediately blossomed from the burning off-road vehicle, echoing the glow from the talismans in her hand.

The vehicle was plastered with who knew how many talismans, all densely packed with fine golden radiance.

“Explode!”

With Xia Zhiming’s sharp command, the vehicle detonated. The enormous fireball engulfed the fused mass of scrap metal. Faintly, curses and wails from the ghosts could be heard.

True women never looked back at explosions.

Xia Zhiming turned around and faced the Black Fog on the other side.

The fierce blaze was so bright it lit up half the sky like daytime. Yet the Black Fog remained dark and oppressive, untouched by the firelight. It was as if all light reaching it was swallowed whole, leaving only that cold, impenetrable blackness dominating one corner of the world.

Xia Zhiming pulled a lollipop from her pocket and popped it into her mouth before staring straight at Qi Xu in the massive palanquin. “That’s about enough. Time to head home. I admit, this time it was because of you—the Ghost Taxi got seriously weakened. You took out at least thirty vehicles. If it had been at full strength, all clumped together, it wouldn’t have been so easy to destroy.”

Praising Qi Xu seemed difficult for Xia Zhiming. After saying that, she even let out a light hum. “You did a great job this time. Very nice.”

But after Xia Zhiming spoke, there was no response from Qi Xu inside the palanquin. Just as Xia Zhiming opened her mouth to say, “All right already?”, a tendril of mist shot out abruptly, yanking her straight into the Black Fog and right up to the palanquin.

Xia Zhiming stumbled and fell in front of the palanquin. At once, two nearly formed malicious ghosts on either side crossed their long halberds before her, as if the figure in the palanquin were some untouchable emperor. Xia Zhiming looked up and saw Qi Xu.

She sat primly in the palanquin, hands overlapped in her lap, her black nails strikingly prominent. Above her black ceremonial robe and beneath her stray locks were those pitch-black, empty eyes, devoid of anything. Those hollow eyes only made her seem all the more disdainful of all living beings.

Xia Zhiming frowned. “That’s enough from you. What are you pretending to be?”

Qi Xu gazed down imperiously. A change suddenly flickered in those ancient-well-still eyes. She let out a scoff that sounded exactly like Xia Zhiming’s usual snorts.

【Why should I listen to you?】

【Kneel.】

Xia Zhiming hadn’t been too angry at the first sentence, but the second nearly made her explode. She had no intention of kneeling. Just as she opened her mouth to retort, a voice came from outside the Black Fog. “Xia Zhiming, don’t be afraid! We’re here to help!”

Xia Zhiming’s head throbbed. Seriously? Couldn’t they see the scale of this Black Fog? With that level of power, were they really here to help, or just to make things worse?

It was that shout from outside that momentarily drew Qi Xu’s attention. She slightly raised her head and stared straight ahead. Sure enough, people were already breaking through, trying to rush in and rescue Xia Zhiming. They had all seen the intel from the Vice Bureau Chief and knew the Black Fog ghost before them was actually a Half-Human Half-Ghost. But even so, what of it? In their eyes, Qi Xu at this moment was nothing but a ghost.

The investigators charged in, each unleashing their signature moves. They hurled magical artifacts at the Black Fog like they were free. Their attacks did little more than tickle Qi Xu, but they were undoubtedly provoking her fury. Qi Xu stepped down from the palanquin. She knew the half-formed ghosts around her couldn’t deal with these investigators, so she decided to handle it personally.

She descended gracefully, like an ancient court noble. One of the humanoid Black Fog ghosts beside her extended a hand to assist her. The moment Qi Xu emerged from the palanquin and lifted her head, Xia Zhiming spotted a dark bluish horn sprouting from the left side of her forehead.

Seeing that, Xia Zhiming’s eyes widened abruptly.

After stepping out, a breeze gently stirred Qi Xu’s hair, making her look even less like a living person. The next moment, she floated into midair, looking down imperiously at the investigators outside the Black Fog.

Even Zhang Ziyue, who had already been stunned by the Black Fog’s formation, couldn’t help swearing. “My dear mother! What the heck is this!”

Qi Xu didn’t look as terrifying as that scrap metal heap, nor did she come with any grating noises. She simply hovered silently in the air, night wind tousling her long hair and black ceremonial robe, beautiful like the protagonist of some ancient costume idol drama.

Behind her loomed a massive silver moon. Its perfect glow bathed her, adding a layer of holy radiance.

No matter how one looked at it, Qi Xu didn’t seem like an aggressively hostile ghost. Yet the pressure she exerted on everyone far surpassed that scrap heap. Beneath this picturesque scene, the Black Fog roiling slowly around her evoked chills, like octopus tentacles.

Unlike ordinary ghosts, a small, dark bluish horn protruded from the top left of Qi Xu’s head.

If not for the inopportune moment, Zhang Ziyue really wanted to sing a line from that children’s song (‘I Have Horns on My Head’…).

But that horn alone showed how extraordinary Qi Xu was. If Zhang Ziyue remembered correctly from the Vice Bureau Chief’s intel, Qi Xu was clearly a Half-Human Half-Ghost. She hadn’t truly died, so where had this outfit come from?

Most ghosts retained their appearance from life after death, with changes tending toward their living form. But how did Qi Xu resemble her former self at all?

At that moment, Zhang Ziyue’s instincts screamed—danger. This ghost was extremely dangerous, far beyond what she could handle alone!

Zhang Ziyue believed most investigators on site shared that thought. And that was when things turned dire. There were simply too many investigators present, most operating on the principle of “exterminate all evil ghosts.”

Originally, Qi Xu wouldn’t have been classified as an evil ghost since she hadn’t threatened any living people. But after lashing out at Xia Zhiming, everything changed. Now, in the eyes of those present, Qi Xu was an evil ghost that attacked the living.

Evil ghosts had to be eliminated.

Even the Friendly Faction followed this rule without mercy. It didn’t matter if the Third Bureau’s Vice Bureau Chief said Qi Xu was actually Half-Human Half-Ghost with her human body still comatose in the hospital—the outcome remained the same.

So the investigators unleashed their ultimate treasures against Qi Xu in midair. Beneath the jet-black hair and the full moon’s glow, she seemed to shimmer faintly. At first, Zhang Ziyue didn’t notice anything off, but soon she sensed something wrong.

This was early July in the Gregorian calendar, late May in the lunar—meaning the moon should have been a thin crescent. Where had this perfectly round, bright moon come from? It looked like a massive jade disc, completely mismatched with the current date.

Sweat trickled down Zhang Ziyue’s temple. This proved they, the investigators, were already trapped in Qi Xu’s Ghost Domain. That full moon was the best evidence. And yet, with so many of them, no one had realized they were in a ghost’s Ghost Domain? Zhang Ziyue found it absurd.

At that instant, she truly felt Qi Xu was strong—extremely strong! But with the seniors already attacking, how could she lag behind? Even adding the slimmest chance of victory for them would be worthwhile.

But that hope was far too slim.

Talismans and artifacts rained down like they were free, but none reached Qi Xu. After a stunned pause, they realized dense black mist had silently crept to their feet at some point, winding up their ankles and binding them tight.

The Black Fog moved too fast for anyone to react. With a yank, they were trussed up like mummies, robbed of any resistance, and thudded to the ground.

It felt a bit like… dumplings plopping into water one by one. As Zhang Ziyue hit the dirt, she even had the mind for such a thought.

Those around her shouted in fury, vowing to fight Qi Xu to the end. But Zhang Ziyue noticed the Black Fog had turned into ropes that tightened with every struggle. They weren’t painful at first, just loosely binding. Yet the senior beside her was already yelling “Ow, ow, ow!” under his own bindings.

So Zhang Ziyue stopped struggling.

Moments later, she saw Xia Zhiming emerge from the Black Fog. She didn’t know how Xia Zhiming got out—she just did. Unlike everyone else sprawled on the ground, she stood; but like them, she was equally disheveled.

Xia Zhiming’s dishevelment came from the scrapes on her body and face, leftovers from her clash with the scrap heap. She glanced at her colleagues lined up on the ground, but they averted their eyes, refusing to meet her gaze. By now, everyone understood—Qi Xu wasn’t serious.

Otherwise, with them as fish on the chopping block, she would have struck long ago.

But this couldn’t go on. A senior twitched twice and yelled, “Xia Zhiming, say something!”

Xia Zhiming chuckled for a bit before finally moving. She called out to Qi Xu, who hung like the bright moon overhead. “Get down here. Do you still want Yang Energy or not?”