Chen Feiguang

Lu Siye quickly tidied himself up. He hadn't even had time to eat lunch before hailing a Didi and heading straight for the Tianhai City Public Security Bureau.

Before they reached the Public Security Bureau, Lu Siye spotted Zheng Hai through the car window, standing at the entrance as if anxiously waiting for someone.

Did he come out here specifically to wait for me? What could have happened that was so urgent? Lu Siye wondered.

As soon as Lu Siye stepped out of the car at the entrance, Zheng Hai spotted him and hurried over.

"Little Lu Comrade, I'm sorry to call you over in the middle of the day. But the situation is urgent, so I hope you'll understand!" Zheng Hai said apologetically.

"It's fine. Ghosts usually only come out at night, so we have plenty of time during the day." Lu Siye waved a hand.

"By the way, Officer Zheng, what happened that you had to call me over in such a hurry?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd heard about the recent series of people jumping to their deaths in Tianhai City."

"Officer Zheng, are you saying you called me over in a hurry because of this?" Lu Siye frowned. He hadn't looked into the matter much.

He only knew that all the victims had landed feet first, and that their deaths were bizarre.

Generally speaking, when someone fell from a sufficient height, their upper body weighed more than their lower body.

So when people jumped, they usually landed headfirst or upper-body first. It was rare for them to land feet first.

Yet Tianhai City had recently seen seven cases in a row involving people who had died the same way, landing feet first. It was certainly strange.

"That's right! Our investigation made major progress today.

"But the key person we identified is in an extremely unstable state. He seems a lot like the person affected by the Mirror Ghost incident last time."

Zheng Hai lowered his voice and spoke into Lu Siye's ear.

"Mm." Lu Siye nodded, more or less understanding.

The Public Security Bureau had probably found that these cases might be related to ghosts, but couldn't be sure, so they'd called him over to investigate.

"Here we are!"

Before long, Zheng Hai led Lu Siye to an interrogation room at the far end of the Public Security Bureau.

When Lu Siye opened the door, the first thing he saw was a man tied to a chair.

"Chen Feiguang's not quite right in the head. We were afraid he might hurt himself, so we had to restrain him for the time being." Zheng Hai saw the confusion in Lu Siye's eyes and quickly explained.

Lu Siye nodded. He went over to Chen Feiguang, pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked at the man before him.

Chen Feiguang looked dazed. His face was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot, and deep dark circles ringed them. He looked as if he didn't have long to live.

Lu Siye concentrated the Yang energy in his body into his eyes and looked at Chen Feiguang.

Chen Feiguang's condition was strange. Black threads connected several places on his body—the crown of his head, his brow, his throat, the palms of his hands and feet, his lower abdomen, and his buttocks. They stretched upward and vanished into thin air.

Those places happened to be where the human body's seven souls were located.

The Yang energy in his body wasn't strong, but it hadn't dwindled to the point where it might go out at any moment. The two Yang Fires on his shoulders were still burning; only the one atop his head had gone out.

The Yang Fire on the crown of the head guarded a person's spirit. Once extinguished, it could leave them dazed and absent-minded.

The human body's three Yang Fires also guarded its three souls and protected its Yang energy. Every fire that went out caused a large amount of Yang energy to drain away.

In fact, the body's three Yang Fires weren't easy to extinguish. Merely turning one's head from side to side wouldn't put them out. They only became unstable when a person was gripped by intense emotions such as fear, making them more likely to go out.

The predecessors of the Town Demon Suppression Division believed that human Yang energy was the source power extending from the seven souls, which they called the Yang Souls. By contrast, Yin energy was the source power extending from the seven souls of a ghost, which they called the Yin Souls.

They also believed Yin and Yang were the foundations of the world. Everything was divided into Yin and Yang, and their transformations formed the world.

Thus, Yang energy and Yin energy could, to some extent, be converted into each other.

That was why ghosts often frightened people before killing them: their main goal was to extinguish the body's three Yang Fires. That made it easier to harvest more source Yang energy and convert it into source Yin energy, which they used to strengthen their own Yin Souls.

The stronger a ghost's Yin Souls, the greater its control over and capacity for Yin energy. Naturally, that made the ghost more powerful.

Judging by these signs, Chen Feiguang must have been subjected to some kind of curse and fright.

However, Lu Siye couldn't sense any Yin energy on him, which meant he hadn't come into contact with a ghost recently.

Lu Siye circulated the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill. Waves of scorching Yang energy surged out through his pores. He reached for the black threads on Chen Feiguang, trying to grab one, but his hand passed right through.

"I can't touch them?" Lu Siye withdrew his hand and rubbed his chin.

After thinking for a moment, he moved behind Chen Feiguang and rested a hand on the man's head, gently lowering it.

The moment Lu Siye touched Chen Feiguang's head, the man became agitated.

He jerked his head up and stared straight at Lu Siye with bloodshot eyes, roaring incoherently.

"It's no use... We're going to die... We'll all die... People can't possibly defeat them..."

Lu Siye ignored him and grabbed his head with both hands.

He circulated his skill, sending Yang energy pouring out of his pores and through Chen Feiguang's pores, into his body.

Pfft!

A few seconds later, the Yang Fire on Chen Feiguang's head relit, and his dull, vacant eyes instantly cleared.

Lu Siye withdrew his hands and drew the escaping Yang energy back into his body. The temperature in the interrogation room returned to normal.

"All right, he's out of immediate danger. But there are traces of a ghost on him. I need all the information you have about this case." Lu Siye went to the door and spoke to Zheng Hai.

"Of course. I'll get it ready right away." Zheng Hai nodded, opened the interrogation room door, and left.

Just as Lu Siye was about to leave too, Chen Feiguang suddenly called out to him from behind.

"Are you someone who deals with those... things?"

"If by 'those things' you mean ghosts, then yes." Lu Siye nodded.

At the word "ghosts," Chen Feiguang's pupils shrank. But he soon smiled with relief.

"Thank you," Chen Feiguang murmured.

"You're welcome," Lu Siye replied with a smile.

Although Chen Feiguang had only murmured, with Lu Siye's current Cultivation Power, that volume was no different from someone speaking loudly right beside his ear.

The Public Security Bureau worked quickly. Before long, all the files on the jump incidents were laid out before Lu Siye.

There were seven victims and seven files—a thick stack of documents.

Led by Zheng Hai, Lu Siye carried the stack to the Public Security Bureau cafeteria and read while he ate.

Lu Siye casually picked up the first file and looked over the victim's information.

The deceased was Wang Yi, male, twenty-five years old. Date of death: July 15...

July 15? Wasn't that the day the Takeout Ghost came to his door?

Was it a coincidence?

Lu Siye looked at Wang Yi's photo from before his death and suddenly thought the face looked familiar, as if he'd seen it somewhere before.

He kept reading, and when he saw the crime-scene photo, he finally realized why Wang Yi seemed familiar.

The face Wang Yi had after his death was exactly like the older man who had nearly run into Lu Siye outside Tongjiang Residential Complex.

Wang Yi's appearance before and after death seemed to differ by a full ten years or more.

The information on the next few victims showed the same pattern.

There was clearly more to this case. According to statements from the seven victims' friends and relatives, each victim had come into a sudden windfall before dying. They had also all mentioned things like Life-Reaping Money, money to buy their lives, and an invisible pursuer.

Everything pointed in one direction: ghosts.

And if nothing unexpected happened, Chen Feiguang would be the eighth victim.

After all, just four days earlier, a sum of money had mysteriously appeared in Chen Feiguang's account.