Danger Arrives, Ghosts Have Loyalty

The woman glanced at me, her tone slightly less cold: "Ignore all illusions."

Ignore all illusions? I was a bit stunned, not quite understanding what she meant.

She frowned, seeming impatient with my intelligence: "With him following you, even if you're trapped in an illusion, there's nothing to fear, because illusions and illusionary realms have no effect on him."

I finally understood. In other words, the reason I couldn't find my way out of that small bamboo grove was the work of that Island Nation Onmyoji—just using Illusionary Techniques, something akin to a Ghost Wall. If Yin Wuyu had been with me back then, he could have led me out.

That was pretty impressive.

I looked at Yin Wuyu; he grinned at me: "Boss!"

I patted his head: "Mute, with your boss here, no one can hurt you anymore."

I also gently wiped the snot trail hanging from his nose with a tissue.

Because his name was Wuyu, I'd given him the nickname Mute when we were kids. He didn't mind; he'd answer whenever I called, as if just following me around was enough to satisfy him.

"Sister Hong, how can we lift the Forbidden Technique on him?"

Even though Sister Hong said she couldn't undo it, that didn't mean she didn't know how.

She also said the Forbidden Technique wouldn't cause him any other side effects, but I still hoped he could live like a normal person, have a normal life.

Sister Hong looked at me with a strange expression: "If I lift that Forbidden Technique, his ability to ignore illusions will be gone. Are you sure?"

I nodded: "I can't let him suffer this pain just because he can ignore illusions. I'd rather he live like a normal person, fall in love, live by his own choices, not like this."

Xu Qiuyan looked at me with a hint of approval in her eyes, and Sister Hong gave a slight nod, as if acknowledging my words.

But she said: "I don't know, truly I don't. This technique is very powerful. The one who placed the Forbidden Technique on him is a master, and it doesn't seem like he intended to truly harm him. On the contrary, besides casting this Forbidden Technique, he also protected his soul very well."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Have you heard of Body Snatching?"

Duan Hongbin beside me said softly: "It's when a powerful soul seizes another person's body. The soul of the one being snatched is completely erased."

I was startled—such a thing existed.

Sister Hong shot Duan Hongbin a displeased look. He seemed a bit afraid of her, shrugged, and shut his mouth.

"At least from what I can see, almost no one can snatch his body. On the contrary, anyone trying to snatch him might end up having their own soul destroyed. The one who cast this Forbidden Technique is likely from the Daoist Sect, and their Dao cultivation is very high."

Hearing Sister Hong say this, a thought suddenly popped into my head: Could the person who cast this Forbidden Technique have done it to give him this special ability? Or, thinking deeper, maybe that person already knew about his relationship with me and my current situation, so they wanted this kid to help me in this way.

If that were true, wouldn't it mean that person had calculated everything down to the last detail? That's way too deep a scheme!

How could that be? I'm not some big shot worth scheming over. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

I laughed at myself.

"When are you planning to go to the Northeast?" Xu Qiuyan asked.

I thought for a moment and said: "The sooner the better. I'm worried that if we delay, something will happen to that Zhuanghe."

Xu Qiuyan nodded: "Alright, I'll book the tickets for tomorrow."

I waved my hand: "I'll call Old Du."

Old Du was the one who had brought us to this place. Xie Yi said he could handle some errands for us, so this kind of thing was fine to leave to him.

Old Du didn't ask many questions when he heard we were going to the Northeast. He just acknowledged it and hung up.

Originally, I wanted to leave Mute behind. After all, Xu Qiuyan and I were both going to the Northeast for the first time, unfamiliar with the place. Who knew what dangers we'd face there? If my earlier guess was right, Xie Xiaotang's death might be connected to that trip to Lop Nur, and Zhuanghe's situation was indeed very bad.

But leaving him home alone wasn't an option either. His intelligence was that of a child now—a child who never grew up—so we had to bring him along.

Old Du was very efficient. From the time I called him to when he delivered three plane tickets took less than an hour. Along with the tickets, he also brought an ID card—Yin Wuyu's. He'd never had one before.

The name on the ID card was Yin Jiu.

"Thanks, Old Du."

Old Du remained serious: "It's my job. Call me anytime you need anything. I can't help with big matters, but for these little things, feel free to reach out."

With that, he turned to leave.

"I haven't paid you yet!"

"No need. It's on the company account."

The treatment was indeed good. In other words, Xu Qiuyan and I just had to focus on work, and Old Du would handle all the logistical support.

My phone rang. It was Gu Song.

"Mr. Jiang, can you come to my place?" Gu Song's voice trembled.

"What happened?"

"It's Xiao Tian, Xiao Tian he..." He paused, then continued: "It's hard to explain over the phone. Can you come?"

"Alright, I'll be there in half an hour."

After hanging up, Xu Qiuyan asked: "What's wrong at Gu Song's place?"

"He's fine. It should be about the little ghost he's raising—his son."

Xu Qiuyan said: "Then let's go check it out quickly. His wife is dead. If something happens to his son too, it would be too much of a blow for him."

I nodded. Even though his son was a little ghost, he had now become his only spiritual pillar.

Xu Qiuyan drove, and we soon arrived at Gu Song's home.

It felt different from when we came during the day—at night, his house seemed even more eerie.

"That little... Xiao Tian, what happened to him?" I had meant to say "that little ghost," but thinking about how he was still Gu Song and Xie Xiaotang's son, I changed my words.

I looked around the room for a long time but couldn't find any trace of the little ghost.

Gu Song was nervous, rubbing his hands together: "Just ten minutes before I called you, Xiao Tian, who hadn't come out in a long time, suddenly appeared. He was like before, standing right by that window."

Gu Song pointed at the window.

"He looked very agitated, baring his teeth, flailing his arms and shouting. His mouth was saying something, but I couldn't understand a single word. He seemed to be getting angrier and angrier, his eyes turning bloodshot—it was terrifying!"

Xu Qiuyan asked softly, "And then?"

"No matter how I called him, he wouldn't respond. That scared me. I remembered that the day before Xiao Tang died, he was like this too. I felt uneasy in my heart, like something bad might happen to him."

"Where is he now?" Xu Qiuyan sounded anxious. Gu Song finally answered: "Right when he was going crazy at the window, it suddenly opened, and he just flew out. As he flew out, I heard him call me 'Father' one more time. I rushed to the window to try and stop him, but I couldn't see him anymore."

Gu Song's eyes were red. He grabbed hold of me: "Mr. Jiang, you have to save Xiao Tian! Xiao Tang is gone—if anything happens to him, how could I face her? I, I..."

Gu Song started crying.

I said to Xu Qiuyan, "Stay here with him. I'll go check it out."

But Xu Qiuyan replied, "You stay. I'll go."

I wanted to argue, but she smiled at me: "Don't worry. Sister Hong is with me, so nothing will happen."

Since she said that, I couldn't insist. Sister Hong really was formidable.

As Xu Qiuyan was leaving, she said to me, "Be careful yourself. I'm worried they might be after him." By "him," she naturally meant Gu Song. I nodded.

She was right. They really might be after Gu Song, because he had gone to Lop Nur with Xie Xiaotang. If Xie Xiaotang's death was related to that trip to Lop Nur, then Gu Song probably couldn't stay out of it either.

The little ghost had likely rushed out first to protect Gu Song when he sensed danger.

But I remembered both Sister Hong and Duan Hongbin saying that this little ghost had no Dao cultivation to speak of—in fact, he had almost no combat power. If there really was danger, what use would it be for him to charge ahead? Worse, he might even scatter into nothing.

That little ghost really did have a sense of loyalty and love.