Chapter 9

Of course, if they were unwilling to choose the first method, Feng Yang and Vengeful Ghost did not mind using the second—helping a wronged soul become a vengeful ghost and take revenge. Then they could earn soul power or wish power from the vengeful ghost. The rewards were even greater than with the first method.

However, in his previous life, it had taken Feng Yang and Vengeful Ghost a long time to discover that the second method had a major drawback. The Heavenly Dao was merciless and governed by karmic retribution. If Vengeful Ghost used his soul power to help a wronged soul take revenge, the Heavenly Dao would place each karmic debt upon Vengeful Ghost's head. It might not show in the short term, but once Heavenly Punishment descended, there was no escaping the reckoning.

So in this life, Feng Yang had never intended to earn soul power through the second method. He did not introduce it to the female ghost either, simply saying, "...Once I help you fulfill your wish, your obsession will dissipate, and you can be reincarnated. At that time, I'll collect the soul power emanating from you as payment."

Feng Yang had been born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Hungry Ghost Festival, at the very moment the Gates of Hell opened wide. Thus, his birth characters were yin in nature, and the yin energy around him was especially heavy. This was also an important reason why Feng Yang had awakened his Yin-Yang Eyes at the brink of death in his previous life. Combined with the Vengeful Ghost Talisman in his palm, he would unintentionally attract wandering ghosts nearby.

That was how the female ghost had been drawn to him. In her previous life, she had died near the train station. After death, her spirit had lingered, wandering around the station. The matter of Feng Yang exposing the traffickers' scheme at the train station and saving Yin Qing had already caused a huge stir online, so naturally, the female ghost knew about it as well. Out of curiosity, she had come to see what kind of person Feng Yang really was. She had not expected to encounter something so extraordinary.

"...I was also killed by traffickers," the female ghost said slowly after a long silence.

The female ghost's name was Wen Wan. She had been twenty when she died and was from Tianfu, Sichuan Province.

"I died four years ago. At the time, I had just entered my junior year of college. After seeing a television program about the difficulties children in mountainous regions faced in getting an education, I signed up for a volunteer teaching program during summer break. Later, I was assigned to Peach Blossom Village in A City..."

Yet Wen Wan's kindness had not earned her gentleness from the world. Instead, she had paid for her kindness and trust with her life.

Wen Wan said that just after she left the train station, she encountered an elderly couple who looked simple and honest. They stood at the station entrance, tearfully claiming that they had come to visit relatives in Locust Village, A City, only to have their money stolen by pickpockets. Strangers in an unfamiliar place, they could not find anyone to help them. They also said they had not eaten all day and were starving, begging Wen Wan to show some kindness and treat them to a meal.

Wen Wan, who had not yet truly left the ivory tower and had never seen the ugliness of the world, believed them. She took out one hundred yuan—enough for the elderly couple to buy lunch, purchase two tickets to Locust Village, and even get two bottles of water so they would not be thirsty on the road.

The elderly couple expressed their heartfelt gratitude but refused Wen Wan's money. Instead, they insisted that she take them somewhere to eat. They kept saying they had never been to A City in their lives, did not know anywhere, and did not dare go alone.

Wen Wan agreed again. Along the way, she took the elderly couple to several restaurants, but they rejected them all. They worried that restaurants near the train station would be too expensive and did not want Wen Wan wasting money. After wandering around for a while, they led Wen Wan to a particularly tiny storefront.

The storefront was exceptionally narrow and looked filthy. From outside, it was impossible to see what was inside. Worried about the sanitation, Wen Wan did not want to eat there. But she could not withstand the elderly couple's repeated urging, and in the end, she went in while still feeling dazed.

Once she entered, she never came back out.

Wen Wan had been drugged unconscious. As soon as she entered the restaurant, someone had covered her mouth and nose from behind with a towel. The towel had been laced with sedatives. They had intended to knock Wen Wan out and quickly move her away, lest the noise of her struggling draw attention.

But those people did not know that Wen Wan had severe allergies. The moment she inhaled the sedative, she suffered an attack. Because help did not arrive in time, she ultimately died miserably in that small restaurant.

The traffickers buried Wen Wan's body in the barren hills on the eastern outskirts of A City. Yet for some reason, Wen Wan's ghost had remained near the train station. For all these years, she had watched helplessly as those traffickers repeatedly deceived and harmed innocent children and women, unable to do anything.

"So," Feng Yang asked, looking at the female ghost whose delicate features from before her death had begun to faintly return as she spoke, "what is your wish?"

The female ghost fell silent for a moment before saying, "I want to bring those traffickers to justice. I want everyone to know the crimes they committed. I also want more girls to know what happened to me, so that they will never encounter something like this again."

"And, if possible, I want to go home and see my parents. I wonder how they are doing now."

At this point, the female ghost looked at Feng Yang. "I really envy that girl from today. If only I had met you sooner."

Would she not have died, then?

Feng Yang lowered his eyes and wrote down the female ghost's wishes in his notebook. Each stroke pressed deeply into the paper.

Chapter 9

With Wen Wan leading the way, Feng Yang found the trafficking ring's hideout near the train station that very night. But the doors were tightly locked, and the place was empty. His rescue at noon had likely alerted them, and with the police conducting a citywide search, the traffickers had realized the situation was bad and fled long ago.

Wen Wan said urgently, "I saw them trick three more young girls earlier. Now they're all gone. What do we do? We have to save them!"

Feng Yang looked at Wen Wan. Perhaps because she had not suffered too much pain before her death, she had not become twisted and corrupted like most wronged souls and vengeful ghosts. Her greatest obsession was only to bring the traffickers to justice, rescue more victimized girls, and make her own experience known to the public as a warning to others.

She was an exceptionally kind ghost. Feng Yang had worked with Vengeful Ghost for many years in his previous life, yet he had rarely encountered a ghost like her.

Helping such a ghost fulfill her wish gave him a high chance of obtaining Merit Golden Light.

Thinking this, Feng Yang said gently, "We can ask the wandering ghosts nearby. Let's see whether they noticed where the traffickers went."