Burning

As soon as I thought of this, I saw something growing from the collar of my clothes.

Pale skin with spots, layers of wrinkles, and then a coiled mass of silver hair.

What was revealed from inside the kimono was a human head!

Cold sweat broke out on me, and I trembled with fear. What scared me even more was that my whole body was shaking, except for that one arm, which remained motionless, still gripping the collar of the kimono.

"Ah!" Ma Yibing shouted, having bumped into something and making a clanging sound.

It was silent from Fatty's direction. I didn't know if Fatty had fainted from fright.

I had no signs of fainting. My legs were weak, but I didn't fall. That arm wasn't just holding the kimono; it was holding my body up.

The person in the kimono finally revealed herself completely, all four limbs emerging from the clothing. I saw another woman appear under the cherry blossom tree behind the kimono. There weren't five, but four, standing side by side, facing me.

I felt something was very wrong. Usually, when ghosts and the like reveal themselves, it means they're about to unleash their ultimate attack, like a BOSS entering its final phase.

That old woman indeed made a move.

Her head suddenly rotated 180 degrees, her face turned towards me, her eyes staring at me with only whites and no pupils, her mouth wide open, revealing a row of dark teeth.

I smelled a foul wind, yet it also seemed like floral fragrance. I heard a woman's scream, but it also sounded like the rustling of trees in the wind. Before my eyes, an ugly and strange old hag transformed into a young and beautiful woman in an instant.

Before I could figure out what was happening, I felt my hand sink. In the blink of an eye, the old hag and the young beauty before me disappeared, leaving only a black kimono. It hung there naturally, empty inside, with nothing.

"Qi, Brother Qi?" Fatty stammered, calling me.

I don't know where I found the courage, but I held the kimono up with my right hand and took out the lighter with my left, setting the kimono ablaze again.

The kimono burned, and I threw it into the iron bucket.

Flames shot up instantly.

All three of us heard a young girl's wail coming from inside the iron bucket.

My hand once again moved uncontrollably, pressing directly into the flames, holding down the kimono in the iron bucket. My hand lost its sense of touch for the second time, unable to feel the heat of the flames or the clothes beneath my hand.

The flames changed from orange-red to pink, and the small sparks that floated up turned into petals, scattering down. Accompanying this bizarrely beautiful scene was the woman's continuous screams, and coupled with the dark and quiet environment of the office, it was incredibly eerie.

I listened in a daze, barely able to distinguish different voices, all screaming their lungs out. For some reason, I thought of the sounds of stray cats in Qingye's audio recordings, of the clients' terrified cries. Different voices, yet they gave me the same feeling.

The flames suddenly changed color again. The petals dispersed, and a ball of black ghost fire emerged. In the fire was the face of the old woman I had just seen. The face was inches from mine, and I could see her twisted expression. After being extremely twisted, it surprisingly turned into a beautiful young face. I had seen this face before, in that momentary illusion. She frowned, weeping softly, her mouth open, unable to speak, but her expression and eyes clearly showed she was begging for help.

My heart softened, but my hand remained out of control, still pressing firmly into the iron bucket, even burning away that sleeve.

The woman's face changed again in a moment, turning back into the evil old hag, and lunging towards my face!

I was startled and wanted to retreat, but it was the same problem—my hand was dragging me!

In this brief moment, the old hag had already passed through my head, charging out along with the black flames! I felt a chill all over my body, as if something had been added to my mind.

"Brother Qi! Brother Qi, are you okay?" Fatty rushed forward, pushing me.

I shook my head, looked up at Fatty's anxious expression, then looked down and found only a pile of ashes left in the iron bucket. I tried to move my hand and successfully pulled it out of the iron bucket.

"Brother Qi, are you alright? What just happened?" Fatty asked me anxiously. "Is your hand okay? Is your head okay?"

I touched my hand, then my head. There were no injuries.

"Is it over now? Has that monster been eliminated?" Ma Yibing asked, hiding behind the sofa, trembling.

I saw the kimono had turned to ashes, and a scarlet glow was slowly consuming them. I nodded, "It should be fine."

Ma Yibing let out a heavy sigh and exclaimed, "Big brother, you're so powerful! You even have a Qilin arm!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Fatty snapped.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just speaking casually," Ma Yibing said with a smile. "It's just that the matter is resolved, and I relaxed all of a sudden."

Fatty glanced at me worriedly.

I gave a wry smile and shook my head at Fatty.

Ma Yibing had no idea of the real situation. Seeing that I had the key to this place and had resolved a ghost, he took me for a master.

Fatty knew my background. He had long suspected that Qingye Spiritualist Agency was strange, so he naturally viewed what had just happened from a different perspective.

"Can we leave now?" Ma Yibing asked for our opinion.

I saw that the iron bucket was empty. "Let's go. Take these things with you."

The bucket of oil wasn't completely used up, and the iron bucket was slightly scorched. The lighter...

I looked at my empty hand, then shone my phone around, but couldn't find the lighter.

"What's wrong, Brother Qi?" Fatty picked up the iron bucket, and Ma Yibing picked up the oil. Both were eager to leave.

I glanced back at the office, clenched my right hand, which had returned to normal, and said, "Nothing, let's go."

We didn't want to keep either of those things, so we threw them directly into the trash can after going downstairs.

Fatty called Fatty and Guo Yujie to ask about their situation. He learned that nothing had happened on their end. Lu Manning had undergone examinations, and nothing was found, but her condition had stabilized and improved. Chen Xiaoqiu had not had any problems to begin with and was resting in bed. Only then did the three of us truly relax. Fatty and Guo Yujie asked about our situation. Fatty vaguely brushed it off and hung up the phone, then slung an arm around Ma Yibing's shoulder.

"Big brother, do you have any other instructions?" Ma Yibing asked obsequiously.

"No instructions, I just hope you keep your mouth shut," Fatty said fiercely.

Ma Yibing nodded like he was pounding garlic. "I understand, I understand. I won't say anything about what happened today. We just burned a kimono."

"Mhm." The skinny guy nodded, satisfied.

We parted ways after leaving the residential compound, and the skinny guy walked with me slowly to the bus stop.

"Qi Ge, are you really okay?" the skinny guy asked.

"I'm fine." I smiled at him. "Maybe I opened my Heavenly Eye. Isn't it said that people can open their Heavenly Eye after encountering a ghost? From now on, I'll be a master at catching ghosts and subduing demons."

"And maybe trick two beautiful female ghosts into becoming your wives?" the skinny guy grinned lewdly. "And then save some even prettier female CEOs."

We looked at each other and laughed. The skinny guy's smile was ugly, and I probably wasn't much better.

I'm afraid my earlier premonition is about to come true. From now on, my life is going to change completely.