Chapter 64

After joining the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau for so many days, Qi Xu actually felt that her stamina had improved, even though she kept getting concussions. But she was constantly confronting ghosts and being chased by them. The training effect from these life-or-death sprints was far more effective than being yelled at by the PE teacher while timed with a stopwatch.

That boy was skinny and short, so Qi Xu figured his running speed was probably average. But unexpectedly, after a moment, he was gone.

She had stayed at Rao Yun’s place for so long and then spent quite a while in the library reading room. Now it was afternoon class time, so most students were either in class or staying indoors during the hot summer without wandering around outside. During the chase, no one saw them, and no one helped Qi Xu by blocking him.

After losing him, Qi Xu leaned on her knees and panted for a bit before pulling out her phone.

She logged into the forum, searched keywords, and quickly found the contact info for the Information Processing Department in Xintan. After calling, she reported her badge number as requested by the staff, then asked the Information Processing Department to pull up info on the boy she had just encountered at the library entrance, along with his related details.

Qi Xu clearly stated that he had heavy yin energy on him and suspected he was haunted by a ghost. The Information Processing Department agreed to look into it.

While they investigated, Qi Xu wiped her sweat and headed to the grove. This was the most recent and highest-numbered spot where Rao Yun had encountered the life-borrowing red envelope. As soon as she arrived, Qi Xu sensed something off.

The yin energy in this grove was a bit too heavy.

Qi Xu immediately covered her mouth and nose, hesitating whether to step inside. Yin energy wasn’t entirely odorless. In her ghost body, she found the sensation of yin energy very comfortable, but in her human body, it was different.

The feeling of yin energy was like puddles in muddy pits after rain, carrying a strong earthy smell from the riverbank, only even heavier and more pungent.

Qi Xu hesitated about going in not because of the smell, but because she feared that the overly dense yin energy would make her pass out right away, causing her ghost body to emerge.

Although her ghost body would make handling things easier, it wasn’t ideal for investigations. If the malevolent ghost wasn’t on campus, she’d have to go out looking for it. Then it might end up like the last time with the ghost taxi, causing major disturbances to ordinary citizens.

Her ghost body’s yin energy was too dense; she didn’t want to fumigate her classmates.

With that in mind, Qi Xu could only stand at the edge of the grove, peering inside. At this time of day, there was no one in the grove, and with the trees packed closely together, not a ray of sunlight penetrated even at midday. It was particularly eerie.

Qi Xu even took out her phone, turned on the camera, zoomed in, and scanned around, confirming no red envelopes before planning to head back out.

As she walked, she pondered that this yin energy felt so familiar… Her mind raced, and she quickly realized why—it was the same scent she had smelled on that boy not long ago.

Had that boy also been hit by the borrow-life red envelope? The thought set off alarm bells in Qi Xu’s head. She pulled out her phone, called the Information Processing Department, and urgently pressed them. They said it would be quick; they were already coordinating with the school and just needed a little time to sort it out.

They were actually quite fast, but Qi Xu still felt it was too slow—after all, lives were at stake! At that moment, she understood why, despite the Information Processing Department seeming responsive in forum posts, so many investigators still complained.

She kept talking on the phone while walking out. Just as she left the grove but before reaching the main road, she heard a light sound underfoot. Qi Xu thought she had stepped on a twig. She looked down and saw a flash of red.

Qi Xu froze for a second. She carefully lifted her foot and shifted aside, revealing that eye-catching red envelope.

The staff on the phone was still reassuring her: “Investigator Qi Xu, we’re working on it and will have the details investigated and sent to your phone soon. We understand how you feel—please stay calm…”

“I’ll hang up first.”

After hanging up, Qi Xu stared dazedly at the red envelope under her foot. At a time like this, she certainly didn’t think she was lucky to stumble upon one out of nowhere. No need to guess—this had to be a borrow-life red envelope produced by a fierce ghost.

It could also be borrow-fortune.

Or borrow-money.

But fortune… she probably couldn’t lend much anyway. If it asked her, she’d flunk exams for real. Better to find some other top student. As for money… probably not, right? Even as a ghost, who needed to borrow money?

As for life, Qi Xu’s expression grew even stranger. She clearly remembered what the Vice Bureau Chief had said: she had a fate constellation of early death. Right now, she was in a state of barely alive human, barely dead ghost. Even if it asked her for life, she couldn’t squeeze out half a jot.

But with something like this, if she could avoid touching it, Qi Xu didn’t want to. She knew it wasn’t anything good inside. Picking it up would just be asking for trouble. So Qi Xu pretended not to see it.

She knew it was a clue, but Qi Xu was well aware of her limits. Her human body was basically useless; better to avoid provoking weird stuff when possible. Plus, its appearance right under her foot was a clue in itself.

It proved the ghost behind the life-borrowing red envelope had been secretly watching her, able to shove one right under her feet so quickly.

Qi Xu took a deep breath, feeling troubled. The red envelope was creepy and she didn’t want to touch it, but leaving it here wasn’t good either. It was right near the main road—anyone passing by would spot it at a glance.

As a college student, Qi Xu knew full well how irresistible a red envelope was to them—pick it up and turn it in to the student services center. If it was someone else’s lost tuition, she might even score some credits!

Plenty of students would think that way.

College students were a kind bunch anyway; even without rewards, they might pick it up. So even if she didn’t take it, she had to hide it somehow to keep others from finding it.

Qi Xu hesitated, then turned around, found a stick on the ground, and dug a small pit. The soil in the grove… though it rarely saw sunlight year-round, it was surprisingly hard, probably due to the hot, dry summer weather.

Qi Xu huffed and puffed for a while before finally digging a decent pit. After finishing, she turned to confirm the red envelope was still there. She considered using the stick, but then thought that even with the stick, it would eventually be her hand. Better to sacrifice the foot that had already touched it.

She stood up, stepped on the red envelope with that foot, dragged it across the ground while pressing down, and little by little maneuvered it into the pit she had dug. Finally, she buried it with the surrounding dirt she had loosened, covered it with some rotten leaves, and called it done.

“It won’t be long anyway. Once the boss behind it is taken out, this cursed debuff (negative effect) item will be useless.” Qi Xu clapped her hands and turned to leave. But after just one or two steps, she heard another light sound.

Looking down again, she saw that familiar flash of red.

Qi Xu fell silent. Her first instinct was to dig open the pit and check if the red envelope was still there. But in the end, she didn’t. Instead, she grumbled: “You’re just a red envelope, not Annabelle. Why pull the ‘keep coming back every time I throw you away’ routine?”

“This is straight-up scamming. I never even took you in.”

Grumbling aside, Qi Xu finally sighed. She first took the peace talisman she had swiped from Xia Zhiming out of her backpack and held it in her right hand. Only then did she slowly crouch down and pick up the red envelope under her foot with her left hand.

As Qi Xu expected, it was thick with yin energy. With one hand yin and one hand yang, she felt like some legendary yin-yang eight trigrams heir. She shook off the chuunibyou delusion and brought her two hands together.

That red envelope’s yin energy disintegrated like snow under sunlight once it neared the peace talisman. In the end, the red envelope became an ordinary one, while the peace talisman still had about half its energy left. Qi Xu put the peace talisman away, then opened the red envelope and poured out the slip of paper and money inside.

To Qi Xu’s surprise, it wasn’t paper money but coins. Three of them, heavy when they dropped into her hand, carrying a metallic scent. Qi Xu took a look and saw they weren’t modern coins but ancient coins.

These ancient coins were thick and hefty, colored a bluish-black with hints of reddish-brown upon closer inspection. Qi Xu couldn’t tell if they were copper or iron, but they were clearly very old.

When the three coins landed in Qi Xu’s hand, two were heads up and one tails. The coins were round with a square hole in the center. The heads sides had an outer ring of circles, an inner recessed ring for inscriptions that were raised outward. But due to age, the characters were worn smooth; it took careful scrutiny to make them out.

The top and bottom characters read “Heaven Bestowed”; the sides, read from right to left, were “Qilin”.

The tails side was more abstract, faintly showing a beast-like pattern amid swirling clouds—undoubtedly a qilin.

Seeing these three ancient coins, Qi Xu instinctively thought: this spelled big trouble.

From Rao Yun’s account, Qi Xu knew this red-envelope ghost was the stingiest of the stingy—starting with just five bucks, later at most a couple hundred, yet demanding years of lifespan in return!

Stingy to the extreme.

But now, this ghost had given her three ancient coins! Qi Xu wasn’t well-versed in the ancient coin market—never seen ones worth tens of thousands each—but she guessed they weren’t cheap. By her own estimate, even at a hundred bucks apiece, that was three hundred, surpassing what Rao Yun got!

For shelling out this much small change, what exactly was this ghost up to?