Chapter 41

Xia Zhiming said this, and Qi Xu really fell silent. She truly had not considered this issue before. Mainly, she had never thought about such complicated matters. Now that Xia Zhiming brought it up, she realized: As expected, mature adults thought more deeply than a foolish college student like her.

She pursed her lips, wanting to say something in response.

But Xia Zhiming said, “Don’t worry about rushing to answer me. Think it over carefully. Even if you decide you want to stick with this line of work, I might not agree.”

After saying this, she went upstairs. She left Qi Xu alone downstairs to ponder.

That takeout that had been set aside earlier, Qi Xu completely lost her appetite for it. She thought it over for a long time and felt truly conflicted. She had never imagined that one day, before even starting to date, she would have to consider life-and-death separations with her lover.

It had to be said that Xia Zhiming made a lot of sense. People in this line of work all lived with their heads on the line, and they might die at any moment. For example, during the previous Ghost Taxi incident, although it had been successfully resolved thanks to the connection between Qi Xu and Xia Zhiming.

Before it was resolved, however, investigators had heroically sacrificed themselves. They had been on the front lines, boarding that Ghost Taxi in place of ordinary people, and never came back down.

Qi Xu did not know if she had that kind of resolve. She had always thought death was far away from her. The people around her would not die so easily either. But now that Xia Zhiming had pointed it out, she had to confront the question.

She truly liked Xia Zhiming and wanted to date her, but how deep was that liking? Qi Xu felt it was not that profound, not to the point of life-or-death devotion. She truly could not do that.

At her core, Qi Xu was just a simple female college student. She had never suffered life’s hardships or known the difficulties of working. The biggest problem she had faced in life was failing to get her parents’ approval for her college entrance exam choices. Now, suddenly having to think about life and death was too much.

Most importantly, her parents would absolutely never agree. Her mother was overprotective; even a small injury would make her grieve terribly, let alone finding out about these things Qi Xu had experienced outside.

If she died, her mother probably would not survive either.

Qi Xu pursed her lips and suddenly felt lost. She sat rigidly downstairs like a stone, racking her brains for a very, very long time. Upstairs came the sound of Xia Zhiming scrolling through videos, occasionally accompanied by her low chuckles.

While she agonized to death over here, Xia Zhiming was in a great mood upstairs, happily scrolling videos. This made Qi Xu’s deliberations feel a bit ridiculous. She was not even sure if giving Xia Zhiming an answer would make the other accept her.

But after thinking it over so many times, Qi Xu suddenly had an epiphany. She was just a college student, and wanting to date was perfectly normal. All that hesitation would amount to nothing. So when Xia Zhiming came downstairs the next day, she was startled by Qi Xu’s bloodshot eyes.

“Turning into a ghost? Or a zombie?”

Qi Xu ignored Xia Zhiming’s quip and laid out her intentions and feelings plainly: “I couldn’t figure out what you said. Anyway, in your eyes, I’m not some smart person to begin with. For something so hard to understand, it’s better not to think about it at all.”

“I just want to do one thing: date you! Now, you just need to give me an answer—yes or no.”

Xia Zhiming laughed. “What, threatening me now? What if I refuse?”

After thinking all night, Qi Xu’s mind could not process anything else. Hearing this, she immediately followed up: “Then I’ll pester you relentlessly until you agree to date me!”

“Pester away then.”

Xia Zhiming walked past Qi Xu to brush her teeth and wash her face. Qi Xu was a bit dazed; she had no idea what that meant—agreement or refusal? She was completely in the dark.

But when Xia Zhiming finished washing up and returned, she pulled Qi Xu onto the sofa and pinned her down for a long kiss. At first, Qi Xu did not react, but her body responded before her brain, greedily claiming every inch of Xia Zhiming’s mouth.

When yang energy was transferred to her, Qi Xu felt incredibly comfortable all over, as if soaking in a warm hot spring. The corpse spots on her entire body faded quite a bit.

—Well, this referred to the mental corpse spots, though it was possible the ones on her ghost body also lightened some.

In short, Qi Xu particularly loved kissing.

After the kiss, Xia Zhiming released her: “But whether we do it is up to me. And you really need to watch more and practice. With your lousy skills, tsk tsk…” Xia Zhiming eyed her appraisingly while shaking her head.

Qi Xu clearly felt despised, but Xia Zhiming was right—her skills… yeah, they were pretty bad.

Qi Xu resolved to improve, though it was hard. This included searching online for various yuri videos. Resources were scarce, but textual descriptions were plentiful. Qi Xu dove right in without pulling back. It was summer vacation anyway, so she had plenty of time to “study diligently.”

But after studying for so long without a first real practice, Qi Xu was dragged away by Xia Zhiming.

This time, there was a mission. Someone in Xintan City had reported it, but after low-level investigators checked and found it was a ghost committing crimes across areas—beyond their handling—they immediately reported it upward. After some thought, the Vice Bureau Chief assigned the task to Xia Zhiming, who was to bring Qi Xu along to hunt down that ghost.

Qi Xu asked why they had been chosen. Xia Zhiming smiled at her: “Because I can divine things.”

“Really? For real?”

Qi Xu found it hard to believe Xia Zhiming, since she often teased her. But regarding divination, Qi Xu felt… maybe Xia Zhiming really had that ability. She had seen her forming hand seals outdoors before, just like in movies, as if calculating something.

And Xia Zhiming was indeed amazing. Qi Xu had suspected before if she knew about the Inverted Hanging Ghost in the hotel ahead of time. Hearing her claim divination skills now linked right up with how she had deliberately hung upside down to scare her.

Qi Xu thought: Maybe Xia Zhiming was telling the truth.

Xia Zhiming drove while Qi Xu looked over the materials beside her. This was a joint operation; besides Xintan City, neighboring districts were involved. The investigators were all quirky types, so everyone headed out independently.

The report stated that the caller’s child had mysteriously vanished from home at night. After checking the hallway surveillance, there was no footage of the child leaving that day. According to the parents, the child had been fine before bed, but gone upon waking.

The child was only eight. They first thought the kid had snuck out to play. But after the police checked the surveillance post-report, the child never appeared on camera. They reviewed footage before and after, even from nearby streets’ cameras, confirming the child entered the home that day and never exited.

The responding police station even suspected the parents had cruelly killed the child at home and disposed of the body somehow. But after thorough checks, they found no such thing—the child had simply vanished. Naturally, this eerie case was handed to the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau.

After low-level investigators visited, they concluded it was indeed a ghost that took the child. It had used Ghost Blindfold to fool all the cameras.

Below was an investigator’s opinion: Capable of Ghost Blindfold to abduct the child past everyone, preliminarily judged at least B-rank, possibly A-rank. Request high-level investigators for investigation.

Investigation materials from neighboring districts were also here, all similar cases. Late at night, children vanished inexplicably, all the work of one ghost. Now, all involved investigators were searching in their own ways.

Xia Zhiming seemed to have truly divined the ghost’s location; she showed no hesitation, keeping her foot on the accelerator.

Qi Xu sat in the car. After a while, she grew drowsy and fell asleep. When she woke, the “Welcome to Hui Province” sign on the highway flashed by. Qi Xu blinked and could not help asking, “What time is it?”

“Six-thirty.”

The sky outside was not very bright yet; in summer, it stayed light late. Hearing the time, Qi Xu paused: “I slept for four hours?”

“Mm.”

Xia Zhiming pulled into a gas station and bought fast food for Qi Xu. Sitting at the table, Qi Xu could not help asking, “Xia Zhiming, you really have a lead?”

“Would I lie to you?”

She had lied plenty of times before. Qi Xu asked again: “So the ghost we’re catching this time is in Hui Province?”

“Mm.”

Xia Zhiming bit her chopsticks and started eating quickly. Seeing this, Qi Xu feared falling behind and dug in too. By the time they finished and returned to the parking lot, it was past seven, and the sky was almost fully dark.

Nearby, a mother and daughter stood; the little girl was about five or six and seemed not to have eaten, her stomach rumbling. She fussed and demanded food from the service area, but her mother thought it too expensive and refused.

When the girl cried fiercely, the mother grew anxious too. She took the girl’s hand and said, “We can’t linger outside anymore. If we don’t hurry home, it’ll be dark. Kids out after dark get eaten by the Wolf Granny!”

The girl’s crying choked off instantly. She widened her eyes at her mother, seemingly pondering if it was true.

In the end, terrified of being eaten by the Wolf Granny, the little girl obediently took her mother’s hand and got in the car.

Qi Xu had been amused listening nearby—after all, many kids got warned like that in childhood: Stay up late at night, and the Wolf Granny will eat you.

But midway through her amusement, she stopped short. For some reason, it reminded her of this case’s details, strikingly similar to the Wolf Granny tale.