Dear You

In the cramped interrogation room, Xue Ming hastily completed his statement and told the police officer the whole truth.

Ye Bei stayed by his side, afraid that the hot-blooded young man might say something extreme.

Only after the kind officers from the police station returned Xue Ming's phone did Brother Ye Bei seem to breathe a sigh of relief and walk from the one-way glass room into the interrogation room.

Xue Ming showed no expression and remained calm.

Ye Bei then asked, "Why did you hit someone?"

Xue Ming truthfully replied, "Because that guy wanted to force a woman into prostitution."

Ye Bei: "Where's the evidence?"

Xue Ming: "There were people recording audio and video at the scene; everyone at the sixteen tables is a witness."

Ye Bei sat down next to Xue Ming and pulled out an ashtray from under the table.

"What does 'forcing a good woman into prostitution' mean? Please explain it in detail."

Xue Ming answered immediately, speaking very quickly.

"After leaving the rice noodle shop with the two Qian sisters, we arrived at the night market stall, and immediately someone came to harass them. The leader said that they were prostitutes and that at 12:30 a. m., he would frame the two girls as vulnerable illegal prostitution vendors."

His logic is clear and well-organized.

"They used language to provoke Qian's younger sister A Xiang, or to smear her, using various excuses to block her way and keep her there."

His eyes burned with rage, and his heart was filled with icy coldness.

"I thought this girl would be smarter. She's insatiable. When I went out to eat with her, she started making demands. She wanted me to film videos at a bubble tea shop, ride the Ferris wheel with her, and become a tool for her video account to make money for her. I thought she would be more rational and would just ignore these ambiguous terms of address or provocations and keep moving forward."

Ye Bei: "That makes sense."

Xue Ming: "But I didn't expect that she would actually dare to make a move, and that she couldn't even defeat the enemy."

Ye Bei: "The enemy?"

Xue Ming: "I subconsciously treated these guys as enemies, Brother Ye Bei."

"Why did you attack? I've told you before." Ye Bei wiped the ashtray, placed a damp cloth inside, and poured some water in. "When you attack, you hurt people, and most of the injuries you cause will leave lifelong scars. Like today, this unlucky kid had all his teeth pulled out by you. Why did you do that? Did he insult you? Did he hit or verbally abuse you? Did he have a direct conflict with you? Was he trying to extort money from you?"

Xue Ming: "I don't care about these things, Brother Ye Bei."

Ye Bei: "I know."

"I figured it out in an instant," Xue Ming explained. "Why did A Xiang do that? She seemed to be really controlled by love. She wanted to say a few words for me. When she saw the person she liked being insulted, of course she had to stand up for herself. At that moment, she didn't think much about it. She didn't even have the ability to protect herself before she was about to fall into someone else's clutches."

Xue Ming took out Qianqian's cigarette from her pocket and pushed it toward Ye Bei.

"It's because of me that A Xiang got into trouble. I must take responsibility."

Ye Bei, familiar with the process, pulled out a cigarette and immediately began tapping the mouthpiece to tighten the tobacco.

"Those thirty-two teeth are also a reflection of your sense of responsibility?"

Xue Ming bluntly stated, "No, it was my personal motive. When this guy tried to force women into prostitution, my anger burned through my heart. The patrons around me were laughing and jeering, and I was so furious that I almost lost my mind."

Ye Bei chuckled and said, "You can't handle these guys."

Xue Ming: "Yes, I'm still young."

Ye Bei casually offered him a cigarette. "Want a smoke?"

Xue Ming: "I never smoke, brother."

Ye Bei lit his own cigarette and remained silent for a very long time.

"Xue Ming, how long have we known each other?"

Xue Ming: "Six years."

Ye Bei sighed, "Time flies so fast. You've gone from a boy to a grown man in no time."

Xue Ming: "Not enough, not nearly enough."

"Let's get back to this. I'll pay for the medical expenses." Ye Bei, a cigarette between his fingers, tidied the documents on the table. "Don't worry, I won't give this bastard a single penny more than necessary. At most, I'll get him a set of dentures after the bleeding stops."

Xue Ming hesitated, then said, "Brother, I don't lack money."

"This is my territory. You're a guest here, and I can't let a guest be mistreated." Ye Bei said casually, "Today you stopped a rape, an assault, and a robbery, and you even created thirty-two teeth. That's a good thing."

Xue Ming wanted to say something more, "I..."

Ye Bei lowered his head, like a tiger hunting, his eyes gleaming with a golden light.

At that moment, all the smoke and dust went towards the ventilation window, Xue Ming couldn't smell a trace of secondhand smoke.

At that moment, a strange spiritual pressure descended, stranger than any human Xue Ming had ever seen in the underworld—

Even Mary Stuart's inhuman soul wasn't this bizarre.

His mind was shaken, and he could clearly sense the aura of a monstrous beast emanating from his benefactor.

It carries a sense of bloodshed and desolation.

It has the sweet smell of rust.

So Xue Ming immediately asked, "Brother Ye Bei! Have you ever been to the Nine Realms Station?"

"No." Ye Bei tilted his head, seemingly troubled by Xue Ming's detention period, pondering how to turn endangering public order into an act of heroism. This required testimonies from the Qian sisters and the onlookers.

The guy who committed the crime, and his brother, were both seriously injured. One had a fractured metacarpal bone, leaving a bloody crater from being hit by two iron chopsticks, while the other suffered a mild concussion, a dislocated jaw, and all his teeth were pulled out.

Modern society cannot tolerate such bloody scenes; usually, there are only perpetrators and victims. Simple and easy-to-understand news reports simply cannot explain what actually happened on the scene.

Xue Ming then asked, "Then where does the spiritual pressure on your body come from?"

Ye Bei told him the truth, then immediately asked, "Your Uncle Chen Fugui sells paper money and does business in the underworld, did you know that?"

Xue Ming: "I know."

Ye Bei: "During the day I sell milk tea, and at night I deliver food to spirits. Fugui is my arsenal. In this city, the police officers deal with matters of the Human World, while I deal with matters of the dead."

Xue Ming recalled his parents, who were human traffickers. After their deaths, they became spirits Spirit Calamity, still wandering the world. It wasn't until he returned to his ancestral home with the oil paper package as a gift that the vengeful ghosts of these evil people disappeared without a trace.

Speaking of the great naval battles in the English Channel, those suddenly appearing ghost ships were probably also something inexplicable, a massive Spirit Calamity that crossed the ocean and whose influence almost covered the entire globe.

The calamity beasts, the holy beasts, the spirits and Inspiration encountered in the underground station, including the ultimate explanation of the soul's power—that is, seeing one's own present-day spirit.

The existence of psychic energy is a fact.

--Its form is ever-changing.

In Xue Ming's understanding, what Brother Ye Bei described and what he did were similar to a local vigilante, much like the nameless people in the underworld. No wonder Brother Ye Bei was able to obtain Ming De's remains and then return them to Jiang Xueming.

Thinking of this, Xue Ming immediately pressed for more information.

"Brother, were you telling the truth about the stick you gave me?"

Ye Bei himself had almost forgotten--

"--Which stick?"

Jiang Xueming quickly explained, "It's the stick you told me to carry around for self-defense against thieves, to strike back at enemies, and to sell for money if necessary. I asked you how I got it, and you said it was a reward from someone who had done me a favor."

Ye Bei: "Oh"

After thinking for a long time, Brother Bei's expression suddenly changed.

"What is this? Let me see. Maybe I'll remember it."

--Looks like they've completely forgotten.

Xue Ming immediately opened her phone and showed the photo of Mingde's remains.

Ye Bei blinked for a long time before finally recognizing the artifact.

"It was dug up by grave robbers. Six years ago, I was performing a ritual to remove spirits from a grave in the cemetery in the eastern part of Hengyin when I caught two clueless thieves trying to open up the grave and steal this stick."

Xue Ming asked in surprise, "You actually help tomb raiders?"

Ye Bei disagreed. "That's right, turning them over to the police station and giving them a second chance at life, isn't that a great act of kindness?"

--So that's what kind of kindness it was.

Xue Ming then asked, "Was this stick never returned to its rightful owner?"

"No one has come to claim it." Ye Bei lit his second cigarette and began to puff out smoke. "We posted notices asking families to come and claim the funerary objects belonging to their ancestors, but this strange stick is the only one left that no one wants. We checked each grave damaged by tomb raiders on-site, but it didn't match the origin of this stick. Finally, we found it in a shady corner in the east of the city—that's what our feng shui master says. In this shady corner, we were originally going to drive a stake made of peach wood struck by lightning to suppress the Spirit Calamity with an anode electric field, but this cemetery couldn't get any peach wood struck by lightning, so they made a fake grave."

Xue Ming didn't understand and asked Brother Ye Bei to explain.

"Wait a minute, brother, wait a minute. I don't quite understand. I'm a professional educated in the nine years of compulsory education based on the scientific development concept. I don't understand what you're saying."

"Then let me put it another way." Ye Bei gestured and said vividly, "You see, when we're alive, our resentment sometimes gets strong, and when we encounter something unpleasant or upsetting, we immediately want to pick a fight with our neighbor. Right?"

Xue Ming: "Yes."

Ye Bei continued, "Spirits are even more prone to arguing. They've lost their physical bodies, and their forms are forever fixed at the moment when their thoughts were strongest before they died. It's normal for them to sometimes dislike each other. Like that desolate graveyard behind the old cadres' sanatorium, if you listen carefully, you can still hear a large chorus of Soviet cultural troupes singing on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month. Those are songs from over eighty years ago, very energetic."

Xue Ming: "So?"

Ye Bei concluded, "Therefore, modern cemeteries need to keep up with the times. When making small boxes for spirits to settle down, they usually place a positive pole pit in the shady corner, that is, the due west corner, like the two poles of a battery. This is used to regulate the spirits' temperament, preventing them from quarreling and adjusting their daily routines to follow the rhythm of sunset and sunrise, like an alarm clock. Over time, the energy of these spirits will dissipate completely, and no one in the world will remember them anymore, so they will naturally disappear."

This statement is quite fantastical.

--It's like viewing the spirit as a purely natural phenomenon, rather than a spirit transformed from a human body.

These ethereal beings, devoid of physical support, are no different from corpses. They are a videotape left behind by life in reality, repeating the various behaviors and thoughts of their previous lives.

It's wrong to call them ghosts.

If we compare the Earth to the human body, these spirits are like dead muscle cells. Mother Earth's brain is still issuing commands to the cells and releasing bioelectricity, thus producing these energy remnants.

"Generally speaking, the lowest-cost method is to plant lightning-struck wood and graft new shoots onto it. After the tree has grown for more than ten years, it can deal with many grumpy and powerful spirits. For example, there was a pig butcher who died in the county last month. He worked overtime until 2 a. m. every day and didn't sleep—he died suddenly at the age of thirty-six." Ye Bei talked about this topic at length. "This guy's spirit often stopped cars on National Highway 512, running more than 20 kilometers from his grave, specifically to stop pig trucks and help people slaughter pigs for meat."

Xue Ming asked incredulously, "Is that so?"

Ye Bei clapped his hands. "That's right. When I arrived at the scene, the entire truckload of goods from JD Logistics originally weighed 22 tons. This butcher's spirit just cracked and cracked, turning the logistics truck into a fresh produce truck, reducing the weight by eight tons, and then he was cursing and telling the driver to quickly add a refrigerated container."

Xue Ming: "And then?"

Ye Bei: "We sent him on his way, what else could we do? Build a pork shop in the human world so he can continue working there?"

At this point, Xue Ming suddenly realized that Ming De's works seemed to possess this characteristic—

--Most of the sticks would guide passengers to learn a certain skill; it was as if the soul of the craftsman resided within the stick, and strange fairies would instruct people to do things according to the shape of the stick.

Ye Bei lit his third cigarette. "Hey, let's not talk about that, it's kind of scary during the New Year. So, this stick of yours, it was originally stuck in a grave without a tombstone in the East City Cemetery. It seems like twenty-three years ago, when this cemetery was designated, the city planners hired a feng shui master to make a powerful protective charm—but I definitely can't find that feng shui master anymore, I'm only in my early thirties this year. While they were exorcising demons, I was still picking betel nut flowers to eat next to the brine jar in my ancestral home."

Just then, a large white cat walked past the interrogation room door.

It looked very clever, as if it was waiting for Ye Bei.

To be specific, it's a bit too clever--

--It clung to the door frame, and its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth could even make facial expressions.

If it weren't for its white color, Xue Ming would have almost mistaken it for the BOSS for a moment.

However, the BOSS's whiskers are longer, making him look older, more serious, and more dignified, unlike this long-haired cat with its shiny fur.

Jiang Xueming decided to be honest and tell the whole story.

"Brother Ye Bei, do you know that after I went to Hong Kong, I arrived at a train station..."

Ye Bei immediately said, "The Nine Realms, right?"

"You know this place? Have you been there?" Xue Ming scratched his head, puzzled.

Ye Bei shook his head and denied it. "I've never been there, but I've heard of it. My workplace has talked about this place. It's named after the [Nine Realms] from Norse and Eastern mythology, which is neither Western nor Chinese. Like Hong Kong, it receives tourists from all over the world and rescues people with extraordinary spiritual vision who are trapped in the surface world."

Xue Ming became even more curious. "You've never been there? How do you know? And Brother Ye Bei, what's your workplace? What kind of workplace?"

Ye Bei took out his ID card--

--Letter to [Celestial Pivot Headquarters, Special Operations Group]

[Operator: Ye Bei]

The ID was only shown halfway before being taken back.

Ye Bei continued, "I have a legitimate job, and my home is here; I can't be too far from my wife. I have to go home every day to cook and eat—who would want to go to the underworld if they could stay in the Human World? I heard that in your place, you can go for months at a time; it's not a place for humans."

Suddenly, the cat at the door started meowing a few times, and the meows became more and more urgent.

Ye Bei immediately stood up, intending to discipline his cat master.

"Here it comes! Don't rush, don't rush!"

Xue Ming followed him outside. "What's wrong with it?"

Ye Bei translated the cat's language. "It's hungry. It was just scratching at the door frame, complaining that we talk too much."

Immediately afterwards, the cat jumped onto Ye Bei 'Ye Bei shoulder and hissed sharply at him.

Ye Bei continued translating, "It's cursing me, and it's also cursing you for being so indecisive. If you're so unhappy, just kill someone. It would just be excessive self-defense, but it's brought you all this trouble."

Xue Ming chuckled awkwardly a few times, "Brother Ye Bei, are you instigating me to kill someone?"

Ye Bei rolled his eyes. "No! It's all what it said! I'm just a mouthpiece, don't talk nonsense -- I'm very familiar with the guys at the police station, and whenever I go out on a mission and something happens, I'm the first one they arrest."

Xue Ming caught a glimpse of the big cat's expression, which carried three parts aloofness, three parts mockery, three parts schadenfreude, and finally a touch of mischief.

To be fair, Brother Beizi has never lied to Xue Ming, or rather, he had no need to lie.

If what he said truly reflects the cat's meaning, then the adorable creature on his shoulder is probably a notorious beast.

Then, the big cat changed its stance, hugging Ye Bei's neck and sitting on his shoulder like a human.

All that could be heard was a series of meows.

--Ye Bei followed up with his answer.

"It smelled your scent, liked it a lot, and said you're a very genuine person. It likes authenticity—like Galio starting with something real."

Xue Ming: "I don't play League of Legends, I don't have the time."

Following the cat's meow, Ye Bei continued, "It smelled a familiar stench on you and thinks your inexplicable sense of justice is unnecessary, will affect your survival ability, and will bring all sorts of trouble. The chaotic world will never meet your standards; the stronger the light, the more solid the shadow."

Xue Ming stared in astonishment at the large cat, wondering several times if Brother Ye Bei was joking.

His underground journeys had exposed him to many beasts that could speak human language or possessed human-like qualities.

If these words really came from this big cat, it has almost become human.

Ye Bei stroked the cat's chin. "It can hear your thoughts. There's no need to hide or conceal them. The history of Homo sapiens is a history of seeking truth from falsehood. All answers are wrong the moment they are spoken, because later generations will fill in the gaps with more correct answers, using clearer logic and more straightforward language to express more truthful truths."

The cat meowed once, Ye Bei responded with a sentence.

"This isn't historical nihilism, nor is it some empty platitude. In terms of what you did today, it really likes this mode of expression, especially the moment you handed over the tooth bracelet. It almost revels in this evil stereotype—you have the potential to be a bad guy."

I walked out of the police station.

The two got into the milk tea shop's delivery truck.

Ye Bei was preparing to continue acting as a cat language translator.

"Why not join its camp?"

The big white cat immediately covered Ye Bei's mouth, finally allowing him to speak.

"Shut up! You fucking lackey, shut the hell up! I'll say it myself!"

Xue Ming was so frightened that he almost lost his mind. Although he had seen foreign words mixed with profanity coming out of a cat's mouth before, the feeling was still too terrifying.

Then the white cat grinned, its mouth almost reaching the corners of its eyes.

"Kid! You have the potential to be a bad guy. I see you're exceptionally handsome, a natural-born talent for seducing young girls and rescuing fallen women. You're quick to injure, and occasionally your critical strikes can be fatal. How about we do a deal? If you promise to save me from this damn Ye Bei and take me away from him, I'll..."

The truck pulled up at the gas station, Ye Bei casually grabbed a bag of hot dogs and ham. The big cat immediately became as docile as a chicken.

Xue Ming was still shaken, looking at Brother Ye Bei, waiting for an explanation.

Ye Bei tossed the hot dog onto the back seat, and Big Cat jumped out. Apart from the sound of tearing the paper bag, there was no other noise.

Occasionally, a whistling sound could be heard.

"I want a big hot dog!"

Ye Bei and Xue Ming--

"--I had your Uncle Fugui examine your stick; it's probably a bone from Taowu. As for why I don't want to go to the Nine Realms Station, there's something else very important."

Xue Ming saw Ye Bei roll up his sleeves, revealing a dark tiger stripe tattoo that stretched almost all the way down to his neck, even covering the collar of his shirt.

Ye Bei squinted, a smile playing on his broken eyebrow scar, a look that suggested he was both amused and exasperated.

"The noble cat master behind us is friendly to the wicked and harmful to the good. It's a winged tiger—on par with the Taowu beast in the Nine Realms Station, one of the four most ferocious beasts. I've become its Chang Ghost, no longer a living person—"

"--How could this be?" Jiang Xueming asked in surprise, "No wonder I've never seen you age in the past six years, elder brother."

As far as Xue Ming knew, the BOSS walked among men in the form of Ming De, and the Inspiration Pressure emanating from his true form could turn people into monsters Chang Ghost.

Brother Ye Bei also claimed to be Chang Ghost, a henchman of this big white cat.

However, Brother Ye Bei was of sound mind and spoke normally. The things the cat talked about in human language were all crooked and evil, and Brother Ye Bei never went along with its wishes.

--There's probably more to this than meets the eye.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't live the life of a deity like Taowu. I'm like the container that seals it." Ye Bei slowly drove away from the gas station. "It's Qiongqi, and its special spiritual pressure can stop people from lying."

Xue Ming had not yet realized the terrifying nature of this power.

Ye Bei then explained, "Nothing, right? You think nothing? But what if we broaden this scope to the entire world? Our familiar Earth, Homo sapiens civilization, would lose the ability to lie. What do you think would happen?"

Xue Ming's pupils contracted slightly as he caught sight of the large white cat fighting with a hot dog in the back seat, and a great sense of terror filled his heart.

This cat's abilities are more terrifying than a thermonuclear button.

"Our research institute learned of this result through supercomputing mimicry experiments. If this giant cat were like the Taowu, possessing as much elemental matter as the Abyssal Railway, or even larger, reaching a height of over 200 meters through feeding, the bioelectric field emanating from its brain and its Inspiration pressure could affect at least 30 million people. Deploying it to a provincial capital would be like a harmless nuclear explosion."

Ye Bei gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and suddenly spread his other hand out, mimicking a firework.

"It's too early for humanity; we simply cannot bear a world without lies. So, Tian Shu—that is, my unit, an organization very similar to the Abyssal Railway —used me as a vessel to seal this monster."

Xue Ming's eyes showed surprise and admiration. Perhaps earlier, he had vaguely sensed that Brother Ye Bei was an extraordinary person, because the milk tea shop's business was like some nouveau riche doing charity, not making much money at all.

Brother Ye Bei must have some side business.

I just didn't expect it to be this kind of side hustle.

"Can you imagine, Xue Ming?" Ye Bei asked. "When all sweet words become lies, when lovers immediately reveal their true thoughts, when all family ties become calculable public accounts, when all diplomatic rhetoric becomes transactional, when all slow, subtle, and romantic gestures become swift, violent, and pale, when all thoughts are as terrifying as having one's skull ripped open and their brains exposed—I think about what this monstrous beast can bring to humanity every day, and there's only one answer: it's like an extinction target, a test of humanity's extinction potential sent by Mother Earth. It's premature for Homo sapiens as we are now, just like you. Your moral standards and legal concepts are premature for Hengyin, for our homeland. Do you remember our agreement? Slow and steady wins the race."

In this passage, Xue Ming felt as if he had missed hundreds of thousands of words.

"Take your time. Take your time."

Ye Bei wiped the rearview mirror, carefully observing his big cat.

"The Earth is like a living thing; since ancient times, it has been testing the tiny organisms on its surface, trying to select the strongest races and civilizations through extinction events. I think these extraordinary monsters are viruses that Mother Earth sent to us to strengthen our bodies and improve our immunity."

"I just got home and I'm thinking about celebrating the New Year."

Ye Bei immediately stopped mentioning these things.

"Alright! Let's go home and make dumplings."

The big cat in the back seat immediately popped its head out.

"My dear servant! I want ground beef!"