Infant Spirit

The infant was about fifty centimeters tall, its body lacking substance. With sparse lanugo on its head, chubby cheeks, and short, pudgy limbs segmented like lotus roots, it looked incredibly adorable.

It clung to Jiang Yu'er's calf like a koala, tilting its little head, eyes closed, remaining motionless as if fast asleep.

Was what my aunt said true? Was her hospital really haunted, and was it actually an Infant Spirit? Zhang Yuanqing watched this tiny Infant Spirit, his mouth opening bit by bit.

This completely overturned his understanding.

"What are you staring at!"

Seeing her nephew staring at her with ill intent, the aunt glared at him.

She pulled out a chair, slumped against the backrest, and whined, "Mom, I'm exhausted, serve me some rice."

"Do you not have arms or legs?" Despite her words, Grandma stood up and headed into the kitchen.

"Hey, family disgrace, you're back."

The aunt greeted her older brother while grabbing a piece of roast duck with her hand.

"Give it a few more years of being single, and you'll be a family disgrace too. Then we siblings can join forces to fight the black-hearted witch," the uncle said cheekily.

Just then, Grandma came out with the rice bowls. The aunt immediately acted docile, hugging Grandma's arm and resting her head on her shoulder. "You're the family disgrace. I'm the handmaiden sitting at Mom's feet, specifically here to suppress scum like you."

The aunt relied on this tactic to win the hearts of her parents, enjoying the exclusive favor of the two elders.

"Then I can form a pair with Yuan Jun. Yuan Jun is also about to become a family disgrace, right, wife?" the uncle said.

The aunt-in-law rolled her eyes at him.

"Huh?" The aunt chewed the roast duck a few times and asked suspiciously, "Mom, did you forget to add salt? This duck tastes bland."

"I bought it from outside," Grandma retorted.

The aunt's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She took a breath and cried out, "Why can't I smell anything? The food doesn't smell fragrant at all."

Hearing this, Grandma asked with concern, "Did you catch a cold?"

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing saw the Infant Spirit hanging on his aunt's calf. Its flat little nose twitched, and then it opened eyes like black buttons. Upon seeing the unfamiliar environment, its little face was filled with dullness, as if it didn't understand why it had appeared here.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing's heart grew increasingly heavy.

This was no ordinary spirit. Ordinary spirits lacked consciousness; they could not think and only acted on instinct.

The Infant Spirit didn't remain dazed for long. Following some instinct, it twitched its little nose and crawled up his aunt's body until it reached her shoulder.

Then, it saw the table full of delicious food.

Zhang Yuanqing's gaze followed the Infant Spirit, watching its crawling speed suddenly increase as it moved along his aunt's arm and tremblingly climbed onto the tabletop.

It lay on the dining table, stretching out its short, pudgy hand to try and grab a piece of roast duck, but it couldn't grasp anything.

After trying over and over, it finally seemed to realize it couldn't touch the delicious food and began to wail in grievance.

A phantom crying sound immediately rang in Zhang Yuanqing's ears, loud and noisy.

This damn kid, so noisy. Zhang Yuanqing mobilized his Lunar Power, condensing it in his palm, and reached out to grab a piece of roast duck, effectively catching the Infant Spirit in his hand.

"You guys eat first, I'm going to the restroom."

He carried the Infant Spirit by the back of its neck, like a puppy, and walked into the restroom.

Behind him came his aunt's voice: "Hey, my nose is suddenly clear, and the roast duck smells fragrant again."

In front of the sink, Zhang Yuanqing held the damn kid in one hand, watching it stick out its pink tongue to lick the Lunar Power in his palm bit by bit.

A Night Wanderer's Lunar Power was a potent tonic for spirits.

It followed my aunt home; it must be because she was stained with my scent. To a spirit, this has a fatal attraction.

But what Zhang Yuanqing couldn't figure out was that an infant's mental energy was weak. After death, the spirit should dissipate quickly—at most a day or two, or as little as a few hours.

Yet, the rumors of haunting at his aunt's hospital seemed to have been going on for a while.

This didn't make sense.

If you don't understand, look it up. Zhang Yuanqing pulled out his phone with his other hand and logged into the Five Elements Alliance official forum.

#Shocking: Judge of Ghostly Eyes suspected dead. In the coming period, Fallen Ones may lose control. Personnel everywhere, please remain vigilant.#

#Shocking: Sheling Tunnel has been conquered. The identity of the clearer is mysterious.#

Zhang Yuanqing skimmed over the two pinned posts without paying much mind. The official organization would definitely have to guard against the loss of control by Fallen Ones, so the incident involving the Judge of Ghostly Eyes would certainly be made public.

However, the news of him conquering the Sheling Tunnel had already spread on the Five Elements Alliance's official forum. The unfamiliar ID, Yuanshi Tianzun, was known to the official Spirit Realm Walkers for the first time.

Zhang Yuanqing typed the words "special spirit" into the forum's search function.

Soon, he found a post popularizing knowledge about spirits.

"Spirits are formed by the condensed mental energy left behind after a sentient being dies. Because they have lost the vast majority of their consciousness, spirits appear in a dazed state, acting on instinct or obsession.

"Once any living being dies, the spirit will continuously dissipate. Ordinary people can maintain it for at most seven days. The spirits of Spirit Realm Walkers stay in the human world longer, depending on the strength of their mental energy.

"But there are always exceptions. As far as I know, high-level Night Wanderers and Illusionists can keep their spirits in the world through special means even if their physical bodies are destroyed."

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but shift his gaze toward the Infant Spirit, thinking that this little guy clearly didn't possess the ability to exist in the world for long; it couldn't be a high-level Spirit Realm Walker.

He continued reading the post:

"The above covers spirits under normal circumstances; next, let us discuss abnormal spirits, the so-called abnormal spirits."

The content cut off abruptly. Zhang Yuanqing scrolled to the bottom and discovered that the latter half of the post was locked, requiring payment to read.

Is this the legendary paying for knowledge? With a twitch of his lip, he used his phone to top up two hundred yuan into his "Yuanshi Tianzun" account to complete the payment.

It is worth mentioning that in the past few days, administrative staff had already processed a mobile phone card and bank card for him under the identity of "Yuanshi Tianzun," effectively severing ties with the identity of "Zhang Yuanqing."

"So-called abnormal spirits are spirits refined through human intervention. The most famous is the Ghost Taming Technique of the Night Wanderer. Of course, other professions have corresponding methods, which will not be detailed here.

"Refined spirits have a chance to develop special abilities and can be regarded as precious items or pets. In Night Wanderer jargon, such spirits are called Spirit Servants.

"However, take note: spirits have varying aptitudes. Not all spirits can be refined into Spirit Servants; spirits with the aptitude for becoming a Spirit Servant are one in ten thousand. Next, let us discuss the refining methods.

"Finally, a reminder: refining spirits of those in an Evil Profession is permitted, but enslaving the spirits of ordinary people is a violation of discipline."

"Poster: Yuan Ting."

The two hundred yuan was well spent. After finishing the post, Zhang Yuanqing sighed with genuine appreciation.

This post revealed a great deal of information to him.

First: After a Night Wanderer's level increases, they can raise ghosts and refine corpses. When encountering other Spirit Realm Walkers in battle, their tactics can switch between a cowardly assassin style and a cowardly summoner style.

Second: This dead child is an extremely precious Spirit Servant; he has struck gold.

Since it has already developed a special ability, it is a genuine Spirit Servant, not merely a special spirit.

Third: The hospital where his aunt works has a problem.

Just now, Aunt suddenly lost her sense of taste and smell; it must have been its doing. So its ability is to steal others' sense of smell and taste? Hmm, I'll verify that later. If I can nurture this little guy, it might be worth as much as an item.

While Zhang Yuanqing was delighted, he couldn't help but feel anxious.

There must be a Spirit Realm Walker hiding in his aunt's hospital. Now that it has followed his aunt home, the refiner behind it will never let a precious Spirit Servant go missing.

There will be trouble ahead, which might even endanger his aunt.

Regardless of whether the other party is an official or a rogue Spirit Realm Walker, refining a Spirit Servant using the spirit of an ordinary person is a violation of the rules.

This matter cannot end peacefully.

Tomorrow, I will tell the Squad Leader about this. One must make reasonable use of the resources around them.

Once he figured this out, he felt much more relaxed, examining the Infant Spirit clinging to his palm and forearm.

Noticing his gaze, the little guy opened its large, button-like black eyes and let out a sound in a fawning manner: "Aba, aba."

Seeing that Zhang Yuanqing ignored it, it continued to lick the Lunar Power.

Its intelligence was higher than that of a normal infant, but it could not yet communicate normally. He pinched the back of the Infant Spirit's neck and flipped it over: "Come, let me see if you are a Little Doubi or a little troublemaker."

"From now on, you shall be called Little Doubi."

Zhang Yuanqing carried the Infant Spirit out of the restroom; the family dinner was already nearing its end.

He returned to his seat, and while quietly hanging the Infant Spirit around his uncle's neck, he ate as if nothing were amiss.

It was the perfect opportunity to use the family disgrace to test the Infant Spirit's abilities.

His uncle was biting on a dental floss pick, carefully picking his teeth, completely unaware that a dead child was riding on his neck.

"Uncle, why don't you have a bowl of soup?"

Seeing that the time was right, Zhang Yuanqing served his uncle some soup.

He wanted to know if his uncle would lose his sense of taste and smell just like his aunt.

His uncle stroked his round belly and shook his head:

"No, not drinking any, unless you have a jianbing guozi."

As he spoke, he struck a self-invented rap pose. Just as Zhang Yuanqing expected to hear familiar lyrics, his uncle suddenly sucked on his thumb: "Aba aba aba."

At the same time, the Infant Spirit riding on his uncle's neck emitted a sound that only Zhang Yuanqing could hear: "Yo yo, check it out, bring me a jianbing guozi."

"Pfft~"

Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er spat out the chicken soup in their mouths in perfect unison.

His grandfather, grandmother, aunt-in-law, and cousin all looked at him with expressions of sorrow and disappointment.

PS: To explain the character Li Dongze: when I was polishing the beginning, I happened to be reading The Night's Nomenclature. When I wrote the character Li Dongze, the name just popped into my head. I felt it was inexplicably familiar at the time. Later, when I took the time to read The Night's Nomenclature again and suddenly saw the familiar name, I realized I had "freeloaded" off Zhou Zi. By then, Li Dongze had already been appearing for a long time, and it was too much trouble to change it. Thinking that he was just a supporting character anyway, I just went all the way with it.