Speaking of Science in a Supernatural Livestream 14

Chapter 14: Strange People, Strange Matters

“Hey, where are you?” Ying Laishi asked anxiously, having just stepped out of the shop and gotten through on the phone.

“Behind you.”

“Huh?”

Ying Laishi turned around and saw Shen Jue walking over with a very familiar person.

This familiarity wasn’t the kind you get from seeing someone often, it was more like…

Ying Laishi stared at the person—

“!!!”

Wenren Jin! The young mistress of White Whale Live!

Taking two quick steps, she pulled Shen Jue over and asked in a low voice, “Why did you come with her?”

“Hiss—” Shen Jue slapped her hand away, her brow furrowing as she prepared to hold a grudge.

Ying Laishi had been with her for over ten years and knew her temperament well. She pressed down on her phone. “You can write it down later. My tab isn’t short of this one. Answer my question first.”

Shen Jue had no choice but to answer honestly, “On my way here, I was accidentally dragged down by those things again. It was this Miss Wenren who brought me out.”

So that’s what happened. She’s not here to get her money back from me.

Ying Laishi immediately felt a sense of relief and secretly glanced at the young mistress. She probably doesn’t know I was the one who scammed her, right?

After escorting the person, Wenren Jin was about to turn and leave when her peripheral vision caught sight of Sang Jing standing in the shop diagonally ahead. Her gaze was instantly drawn to her.

Similarly, Sang Jing was also looking at her.

She’s in the same trade.

The moment their eyes met, the same thought flashed through both their minds.

“Ying Laishi, you said your friend could help me stop seeing those things. Is it true?” Shen Jue pulled on Ying Laishi’s arm, also seeing Sang Jing standing by the door, and said in a low voice, “Is it her? She’s so young.”

How can you question someone to their face when you’re asking for help? So rude. Ying Laishi glared at her.

Wenren Jin’s ears twitched, and she heard Shen Jue’s words. She walked forward and entered the shop right in front of the three of them.

The moment she brushed past Sang Jing, Wenren Jin’s steps paused. Her gaze shifted to Sang Jing’s lowered palm, then she moved on as if nothing had happened.

Ying Laishi watched her enter, a look of confusion on her face. “???”

Is the young mistress also here to play a game?

“Come in,” Sang Jing said to the two outside the door.

Inside the shop, Wenren Jin sat on the sofa, sizing up Sang Jing, or more accurately, the small paper effigy perched on her wrist. Sang Jing leaned against the counter, looking at Shen Jue, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa, her head bowed, holding a grudge.

When Ying Laishi came over with water, she saw this static scene. She walked past Sang Jing, coughed lightly, and reminded her in a whisper, “She’s been staring at you.”

After speaking, Ying Laishi put on a smile and came to Wenren Jin, placing the water in front of her. “Is Miss Wenren here to play a game?”

Wenren Jin thanked her but didn’t answer her question.

It was obvious she wasn’t. Wenren Jin was a certified Celestial Master herself. Why would she be bored enough to play the low-quality horror games in their shop?

Ying Laishi turned to the side and handed a glass of water to Shen Jue as well.

Xie Yu clung to Sang Jing’s wrist, not daring to move. She was still a little afraid of Celestial Masters.

But she was about to lose her grip.

Xie Yu secretly hooked Sang Jing’s finger.

Sang Jing’s gaze shifted from Shen Jue. Feeling the tickle on her fingertip, she directly lifted Xie Yu up and placed her openly on her hand.

Unexpectedly standing up straight, Xie Yu was dazed for a moment, then fell down stiffly, pretending to be an unconscious paper effigy.

Wenren Jin watched this scene, ignoring the still-pretending paper effigy, and looked directly at Sang Jing, asking, “Are you a Ghost Master?”

Only Ghost Masters would keep ghosts by their side. In recent years, Celestial Masters and Ghost Masters had coexisted harmoniously, but there were still many Ghost Masters with ill intentions who raised ghosts to do evil.

“No,” Sang Jing said, lifting the paper effigy up again. “She died under unclear circumstances. I’m just being a good person and helping her.”

Wenren Jin nodded and didn’t ask any more questions.

She was from the Xuanmen, not the Special Investigation Team. There was no need to get to the bottom of it.

Knowing that her identity was exposed, Xie Yu stopped pretending and floated directly in mid-air.

On the other side, Ying Laishi, who hadn’t spoken, watched the paper effigy float up gracefully. Combined with what Sang Jing and Wenren Jin had said, this paper effigy was a ghost!

With Shen Jue, who saw ghosts all the time, by her side, Ying Laishi had never seen one herself. She felt no fear, only curiosity.

Just as she was about to go take a look at the paper effigy, the back of her clothes was pulled tightly by a hand. She turned around to see Shen Jue with her eyes squeezed shut, trembling like a leaf.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Shen Jue pointed at the paper effigy and stammered, “That ghost is so scary.”

In her eyes, all ghosts looked as they did at the time of their death.

Scary?

Xie Yu fiddled with her paper arms and legs. This is scary too?

It must be because I don’t have a face!

Xie Yu floated in front of Sang Jing, circling around, and hinted, “Don’t you think I’m missing something?”

Sang Jing waved her away and walked a few steps to stand in front of Shen Jue and Ying Laishi, asking, “Can you see what she looks like?”

Knowing she was asking Shen Jue, Ying Laishi shifted to the side and patted Shen Jue.

On the side, Wenren Jin frowned slightly and glanced at the paper effigy. She was born with yin-yang eyes and could see ghosts and ghostly energy, but she couldn’t see through a ghost’s original appearance at a glance.

This Shen Jue’s constitution was quite special, very suitable for being a Celestial Master.

Shen Jue half-opened her eyes and answered Sang Jing, “Yes, I can.”

She had always been able to see them. There were few ghosts that looked good in her eyes. Even if their heads and limbs were intact and not bloody, their complexions were either white, green, or purple.

“What’s your Bazi?” Sang Jing asked again.

Shen Jue shook her head. “I don’t know. I grew up in an orphanage.”

“Alright.” Sang Jing went behind the counter and took out a lucky bag for her. Inside was an evil-exorcising and ghost-repelling talisman she had drawn early in the morning. “Take this. I’ll teach you a few incantations later…”

Before she could finish, the moment the lucky bag reached Shen Jue’s hand, it suddenly caught fire. In the blink of an eye, it was engulfed in flames, along with the talisman inside, burning to ashes.

Sang Jing was stunned for a moment. The flame licked her fingertip, and the pain brought her back to her senses. She took a small step back.

Ying Laishi, shielding Shen Jue, looked at the ashes on the ground in shock. “Why did it burn by itself!?”

Wenren Jin also couldn’t help but stand up, her gaze thoughtful, then turned to Sang Jing.

If it wasn’t this person who did it…

Soon, Sang Jing proved herself. She drew a new talisman. This time, she didn’t put it in a lucky bag but folded it directly into a triangle and gave it to Ying Laishi to hand to Shen Jue.

The talisman was intact in Ying Laishi’s hand.

At this moment, several pairs of eyes were fixed on one spot.

Ying Laishi handed it over, and Shen Jue reached out to take it.

The moment they touched, the talisman ignited without fire.

“Strange,” Sang Jing said in a low voice.

“There are only two situations where an evil-exorcising and ghost-repelling talisman would self-combust. One is when it’s controlled by a Xuan Master using metaphysical arts, and the other is…” Wenren Jin’s words paused, her eyes sharp as she looked at Shen Jue, “when it touches a ghost.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the blazing sun outside was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the sky darkened.

Xie Yu silently returned to Sang Jing’s hand and raised her index finger to block her own view.

“What do you mean?” Ying Laishi was a beat behind. “Are you saying that Shen Jue is a ghost!?”

She turned to look at Shen Jue, raised her hand to pinch her face, pulling it left and right, making the person cry out, “Ying! Lai! Shi!”

The back of her hand was slapped hard, instantly turning red. Ying Laishi hissed and let go. Shen Jue quickly took out her phone to record this debt.

Wenren Jin pursed her lips, her eyes slowly narrowing as she looked at Shen Jue.

If it’s a ghost possession, to be able to maintain such a lively appearance, how powerful of an old ghost must it be…

At the same time, Sang Jing was also considering this problem. This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.

Should I ask my teacher?

The thought had just arisen when Sang Jing suppressed it. She had to learn to handle things on her own and not trouble her teacher whenever she encountered difficulties.

Suddenly, Ying Laishi seemed to remember something. She looked up at Sang Jing. “Shen Jue has a birthmark on her back. It looks very strange, very similar to that talisman you just drew.”

Two voices sounded at the same time: “Let me see.”

Sang Jing and Wenren Jin looked at each other.

To avoid customers coming in midway, Ying Laishi hung a ‘closed’ sign on the shop door and then led the group to the break room in the back.

Shen Jue lay on the bed, having taken off her top, revealing her entire back.

The moment they saw the “birthmark,” Wenren Jin gasped.

This was no birthmark; it was clearly an extremely complex talisman, carved into Shen Jue’s back with a special material.

The person who drew the talisman was highly skilled and experienced, drawing it in one continuous stroke. It was probably something that only a Celestial Master of level eight or above could achieve. And the total number of level-eight Celestial Masters in the Xuanmen and the Special Investigation Team combined was less than ten.

Wenren Jin’s expression grew increasingly ugly. She didn’t recognize this talisman at all.

She had studied metaphysical arts in the Xuanmen since she was a child and could be said to have memorized all kinds of talismans. The only talismans she didn’t recognize were the forbidden arts that were explicitly prohibited by the Xuanmen and the Special Investigation Team and had long been sealed away.

When Sang Jing saw the talisman, her pupils unconsciously constricted. She had seen this talisman’s handwriting for over a decade and would never mistake it.

This talisman was from her teacher, Ji Zhi.