Savior, Ghost Hunter

"Savior?"

Huang Bai murmured the word, then smiled.

If he really managed to kill the Ghost King, the title would not be much of an exaggeration.

For the time being, he could feed ghosts to the Inner Elixir and further hone the four great curses.

The Solar Curse was for killing, the Lunar Curse for healing, the Brightsight Curse for finding ghosts and discerning evil, while the Wall-Piercing Curse made infiltration and escape easier.

Each of the four spells had its own use; together, they already formed a complete set of methods.

Over the following days, Huang Bai and the Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau worked together more and more smoothly, handling one supernatural incident after another.

Most of them were harmless, mindless ghosts.

These ghosts could not possess people and possessed little intelligence. They merely wandered back and forth in the places where their obsessions had been strongest in life. Huang Bai simply called them "Earthbound Spirits."

As time went on, the three of them grew increasingly proficient.

Huang Yaozu handled the investigations, Li Guoqiang ran errands and wrapped things up, while Huang Bai did the actual fighting.

As they dealt with more and more supernatural incidents, Huang Bai's curses became increasingly refined. The Solar Curse in particular was nearly at the point where he could cast it with a mere thought.

Inside the Taoist temple, Huang Bai sat cross-legged beneath the lamp, the Inner Elixir resting in his palm as he slowly breathed in and out.

Dark light flowed across the surface of the Inner Elixir, occasionally glimmering with faint strands of dusky gold. It looked strange, yet carried an indescribable profundity.

Nourished by the ghosts he had killed during this period, the Inner Elixir's medicinal power had clearly grown another layer stronger.

After consuming the Inner Elixir, his physical abilities now steadily surpassed those of ordinary people by a considerable margin.

The phone suddenly rang.

Huang Bai reached out and answered it.

Li Guoqiang's urgent voice came from the other end:

"Red Star Society, No. 30 East Point Road, Causeway Bay. Brother Nan, the boss of Causeway Bay, has been confirmed possessed by a Vicious Ghost. We're trapped here. Hurry—"

Before he could finish, the call abruptly cut off.

Just before the line went dead, Huang Bai could vaguely hear banging on a door and furious shouting from the other side.

Inside the mansion, every light was blazing as figures rushed about in chaos.

"Don't run!"

"Stop!"

Tables and chairs toppled over, cups and plates flew everywhere, and screams rang out from time to time. The entire hall was in complete disarray.

In a corner, Huang Yaozu was still dressed in his trench coat, his expression extremely grim as he and Li Guoqiang were forced back against the wall.

More than a dozen thugs stood opposite them with knives, guns, clubs, and sticks, blocking every route.

All the villa's doors and windows had been shut tight. No one outside could get in, and no one inside could easily get out.

"Don't move! I'm a police officer!" Huang Yaozu roared while raising his gun. "Assaulting an officer is a serious crime! Drop your weapons!"

Li Guoqiang also flashed his identification, gritting his teeth as he said, "I'm here to see Brother Nan. This has nothing to do with you. If you don't want to die, get lost!"

At the stairway stood a long-haired young man in a suit, watching the scene with a smile. His eyes were full of malice and smug satisfaction.

"They're fake cops," he said unhurriedly. "Their guns are out of bullets too. Drag them outside and throw them into the sea to feed the fish."

This man was Brother Nan.

More accurately, he was Brother Nan after his body had been taken over by his mortal enemy, Black Crow.

But the underlings downstairs had no idea that their boss had long since been replaced.

Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang exchanged a glance. Knowing they could not bluff their way through this, they grabbed chairs beside them and smashed them at the nearest men.

The hall immediately descended into chaos again.

The two charged left and blocked right, but they were badly outnumbered. They were about to be completely subdued here.

"Brother Nan" stood on the stairs and reached up to touch his own face, looking immensely pleased.

"Being feared as a man is impressive. Being feared as a ghost is even more impressive."

He had already made up his mind to use this body to gradually swallow up both the underworld and the legitimate world.

Cold sweat soaked Huang Yaozu's back, and his palms were drenched as well.

"Damn it, we're really done for this time..."

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

The wall beside them bulged outward, and then a figure directly emerged through it.

Buzz!

A flash of cold light streaked through the air.

Before the two thugs charging at the front could react, their knife-wielding right hands flew off at the wrists. Their screams exploded instantly.

Under the resplendent golden lights, the figure in Taoist robes moved so quickly that he was practically like a ghost.

Bang!

With a flick of his hand, Huang Bai sent a golden glint flying into the electrical box.

The entire mansion instantly plunged into darkness.

"Taoist priest!"

Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang were immediately invigorated.

"Protect yourselves," Huang Bai said quietly.

His face was covered with cloth, and with a ritual sword in hand, he moved through the darkness at astonishing speed.

With physical abilities three times those of an ordinary person, combined with the Wall-Piercing Curse and Brightsight Curse, a place like this was practically no different from his own backyard.

The thugs could not even touch his shadow.

The moment someone raised a knife, the weapon was already broken.

Whenever someone tried to pounce on him, their hand and leg tendons were severed by his sword first.

Huang Bai did not kill them.

They might have been thugs, but in the end, they were merely being used by someone else. They had not reached the point where they absolutely had to die. Taking away their ability to resist was enough.

Before long, Huang Bai fought his way to "Brother Nan."

"What exactly are you?" Brother Nan finally changed expression.

He reacted quickly, turning around and trying to ram himself into the wall.

When a Vicious Ghost possessed someone, being killed meant perishing along with the host.

But if it actively committed suicide, the ghost could remain inside the corpse and wait for the next unlucky person to approach.

"You wish."

Huang Bai raised his hand and cast the Solar Curse.

Golden light tore through the air and struck directly between his brows.

Bang!

Brother Nan's head snapped back, and his soul body was blasted apart on the spot.

Specks of fluorescent light drifted from the corpse, rapidly surging toward Huang Bai. They all entered his body before finally settling into the Inner Elixir in his abdomen.

Huang Bai's heart stirred.

Just as expected.

The medicinal power provided by a Vicious Ghost was far beyond anything ordinary Earthbound Spirits could compare to.

This single one was more useful than dealing with over a dozen Earthbound Spirits.

Amid the chaos, Huang Bai casually brought Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang out with him.

Once outside, Huang Yaozu took two breaths before his face filled with apology.

"I'm really sorry for the trouble. I made you come all this way again."

Li Guoqiang still had not recovered from what he had just witnessed. His face was pale, but his voice was tight.

"That was a Vicious Ghost? When they possess someone... are there really no restrictions at all?"

"There are restrictions." Huang Bai shook his head. "Vicious Ghosts are not as convenient as you think. Possessing people too many times damages their Yin Lifespan."

Over this period, he had looked through quite a few old books and gradually figured out some of the rules.

Vicious Ghosts generally could not survive beyond forty-nine years. Every possession shortened their Yin Lifespan. The more frequently they possessed others, the faster they died, until they eventually scattered into nothing.

That explained two things.

Why this was not a world where Vicious Ghosts ran rampant on every street.

And why Vicious Ghosts, despite being able to possess people, had not simply come out and ruled the world.

The older a ghost was, the more it cherished its life, and it would not casually switch bodies. Especially those that had lived long and hidden deeply—they would not casually gamble with their own Yin Lifespan.

At the Ghost King's level, its Yin Lifespan had most likely already exceeded a hundred years, making it far more troublesome than ordinary Vicious Ghosts.

Afterward, Huang Yaozu returned to the police station to report in and entered his superior's office.

The room was brightly lit.

His superior wore a snow-white uniform and kept stuffing food into his mouth with his head lowered, as though he could never get full.

"Liu, the ghost possessing Brother Nan in Causeway Bay has been dealt with. Aside from Brother Nan, three others assaulted police officers and were shot dead by me."

"Mm."

Liu did not even raise his head and continued eating.

"Well done. I'll have someone suppress what follows. Take a few days off first."

"Yes, sir."

Huang Yaozu was about to leave when Liu suddenly spoke again.

"By the way, Yaozu, that resignation application of yours..."

Huang Yaozu turned around and shook his head.

"I'm not resigning."

The Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau was a cursed position. Whoever sat in it was doomed to bad luck.

The previous bureau chiefs had either died under mysterious circumstances or ended up impoverished and destitute. Few of them had met a good end.

Huang Yaozu had long since lost heart. He had submitted his resignation because he wanted to get as far away from this mess as possible.

But things were different now.

Now, he had finally seen a glimmer of hope.

Only then did Liu raise his head and glance at Huang Yaozu.

Today, Huang Yaozu had shaved his beard clean and no longer smelled of alcohol. He looked much more spirited overall.

"That works too." Liu nodded. "I don't trust newcomers. Old hands like you are easier to use."

Huang Yaozu acknowledged him and turned to leave.

After the office door closed, Liu finally finished the food on his desk. He slowly wiped his mouth, then picked up the phone.

"Come in."

Very soon, a capable-looking man pushed open the door and entered.

"Liu."

"Yaozu has earned too many merits recently." Liu's tone was calm. "It's about time for him to retire. Arrange a Vicious Ghost and give him a dignified ending."

"Yes, sir."

The man turned and withdrew.

Liu tapped the computer on his desk, and the fax machine soon spat out two documents.

<Compensation Arrangements for the Death in the Line of Duty of Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau Chief Huang Yaozu>

<Transfer Order for the Newly Appointed Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau Chief>

He glanced over them, then picked up the phone again to order takeout. After that, he lowered his head and continued eating in great mouthfuls.

"Hong Kong doesn't need a ghost hunter this capable."

At the same time, undercurrents began to stir elsewhere.

Chen Fulai, the serial killer whom Li Guoqiang had shot dead, had become a Vicious Ghost after death and specialized in possessing young girls.

Two young girls had committed suicide under mysterious circumstances one after another. At last, the matter caught the attention of the Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau.