Chapter complete

"Chapter 2: Sisters of one heart"

"For some reason, I felt restless tonight."

"To shake off that feeling, I decided to cover Brother Tang's shift at the cold storage facility for the night. I'd noticed that I found it easy to calm down there."

"Before leaving, I brought some incense, candles, and offerings. After all, there was someone else sharing the roof with me tonight."

"What had happened with Old Wang and Qian Xiaomei had made me pay more attention to these things."

"Once I entered the cold storage facility, I did feel much better. Perhaps it had something to do with the temperature."

"Toward midnight, I began to feel cold. Adjusting the air conditioner did nothing, and even turning it off didn't help."

"So I turned my gaze toward the room containing the refrigerated cabinets. Could its door have been left open, letting the cold air escape?"

"Just as I was about to check, I remembered the offerings I'd brought."

"It might be inappropriate to disturb someone without warning."

"So I took the offerings, incense, and candles over with me."

"The cabinet room's door wasn't open. I'd been overthinking it, but I really did feel colder as I approached."

"Afraid something was wrong with the refrigerated cabinets, I hurriedly opened the door and went inside. I found no problems with the equipment, which came as a relief."

"Perhaps the weather had simply turned colder, and it had nothing to do with the facility."

"Since I was already there, I set out the offerings for the one sharing the roof with me and lit four fine incense sticks. Just as I was about to leave, I remembered how the deceased had died."

"Drowning was such a pitiful way to go, so I recited an incantation for her, though I'd forgotten where I'd learned it."

"Something extraordinary happened. The incense sticks burned away in an instant, and all the smoke they released flowed straight into the refrigerated cabinet!"

"I didn't know whether that was normal, but after I finished reciting, the temperature in the facility seemed to return to normal. I was amazed, but also a little uneasy."

"Could there really be something here?"

"Though I didn't believe in ghosts or gods, I respected them, and I thought it best to play it safe."

"No one resented an excess of courtesy. After some thought, I recited another incantation—the Descending the True Evil-Subduing Incantation!"

"If the one in the refrigerated cabinet knew what was happening, surely she would be moved by my sincerity."

"Watching the incense smoke undergo that extraordinary change again, I found myself starting to get used to it."

"Nothing happened that night, but my mind was filled with those wondrous images of smoke flowing into the refrigerated cabinet."

"Had the world become a little different?"

"Somewhere beyond my perception, something that belonged to me seemed to have grown five qian heavier."

[Chapter 2 complete. Obtained yin virtue (five qian), obtained the twins' gratitude (status: Heart-to-Heart), obtained "Zhong Family Talismans"!]

Chen Miao let out a long, stale breath.

Only after standing there in a daze for quite a while did he turn his attention to his rewards.

Five qian of yin virtue meant he could exchange it for incense sticks five times.

So far, Chen Miao's main means of dealing with these incidents were incense sticks and incantations, making yin virtue extremely important to him.

But he was also considering whether he could use ordinary Jiangzhen Incense together with the Six Jiangzhen Secrets to deliver ghosts from their suffering.

Perhaps it wouldn't be as effective as using the incense sticks obtained from the book, but if it worked, it would be a way to save yin virtue.

And where would he spend the yin virtue he saved?

On other items, of course, such as the century-old peach wood that cost two qian of yin virtue!

This incident had served as a reminder to Chen Miao. Although the incense sticks and the Six Jiangzhen Secrets were his safeguards, he couldn't rely on them completely.

He'd been lucky this time and had discovered the situation two hours in advance.

What if he wasn't so lucky next time, and a ghost lunged right into his face a minute later?

Jiangzhen Incense paired with the Six Jiangzhen Secrets was powerful, but its weakness was obvious: he needed time to prepare, light the incense, and recite the incantation.

If he encountered a sudden emergency, things would definitely go wrong.

If he'd had a peach wood sword made from century-old peach wood this time, then even if a ghost lunged into his face, he would at least have had a means of defending himself and buying time to use Jiangzhen Incense and the Six Jiangzhen Secrets.

So these five qian of yin virtue had arrived just in time.

Chen Miao glanced at the other rewards, then turned the book to the author information page.

[Name: Chen Miao]

[Age: 24]

[Occupation: Funeral Rites specialist]

[Yin virtue: six qian]

[Current status: Iceheart, Heart-to-Heart]

Heart-to-Heart: The closer your relationship with someone, the more deeply you can share their feelings and sense their thoughts.

It looked promising, but Chen Miao had no way to test its exact effects yet.

He continued turning the pages until he reached the miscellaneous arts list.

Beneath the Six Jiangzhen Secrets, something else had appeared: Zhong Family Talismans!

"Zhong Family Talismans?"

If he remembered correctly, the twins' surname was Li. Why was this called Zhong?

Unable to make sense of it, Chen Miao reached out and touched the words "Zhong Family Talismans." A flood of information immediately appeared in his mind.

[Yin-Gathering Talisman]: gathers large amounts of yin energy around the talisman.

[Heart-Linked Talisman]: take something intimately connected to the target (human), such as hair or skin, wrap it inside the Heart-Linked Talisman, then place the talisman in the user's mouth to link the user to the target.

[Yin-Dispelling Talisman]: removes and disperses yin energy.

[Spirit-Sealing Talisman]: suppresses evil entities and vengeful spirits.

[Corpse-Control Talisman]: an essential talisman for controlling corpses.

[Zhong Family Talisman-Making Method (general)]:

To make a talisman, use yellow paper as the base and cinnabar mixed with chicken blood as ink. Draw the specified runes on the paper, infusing the ink with the yin power within your body as you draw to imbue the talisman with spiritual power.

If you possess no yin power, you may also draw talismans in a place rich in yin energy. The effectiveness of talismans made by this method depends on the concentration of yin energy.

Remember: the higher the quality of the materials, the stronger the talisman's effects and the greater the margin for error when drawing it.

[Zhong Family Talisman-Use Techniques]:

[Yin-Gathering Talisman]: may be activated with Fingertip Blood or Tongue-Tip Blood; may be used to create an environment rich in yin energy when drawing talismans, with multiple talismans stacked together; may also gather yin energy around the corpse of someone who died an unnatural death to nurture the corpse and foster a ghost.

[Heart-Linked Talisman]: requires no activation; living people must be linked to living people, and corpses to corpses—do not misuse it; when linking two living people, the user can sense the target's thoughts and can also make the target experience the same stimuli the user is currently experiencing; when linking two corpses, Corpse Qi and yin energy in the user's corpse can be transferred into the target corpse. Nurture one corpse and obtain two!

[Yin-Dispelling Talisman]: takes effect when burned; its ashes may be dissolved in water and drunk to remove yin energy from the body; it may also be lit and placed in an area rich in yin energy to disperse yin energy within a radius of several meters. The range depends on the talisman's quality.

[Spirit-Sealing Talisman]: may be activated with Fingertip Blood or Tongue-Tip Blood; can suppress reanimated corpses; can prevent a vengeful spirit from leaving a corpse; can seal ghosts inside a specified enclosed container.

[Corpse-Control Talisman]: must be activated with Fingertip Blood or Tongue-Tip Blood; when used with a corpse-control method and placed inside a corpse, it allows the corpse to be controlled; the higher the talisman's quality and the greater the corpse's yin energy, the better the control.

[Note]: talismans draw upon the creative powers of heaven and earth, and their uses are not limited to those listed here. Those who gain further insights may add them to this record for future generations.

As he read the talisman descriptions, Chen Miao's brows knitted tightly.

Both the name "Zhong Family" and the effects of these talismans puzzled him!

He turned the book back to the first chapter and its side story, studying the rewards listed at their endings.

Judging by the first chapter and its side story, the rewards granted upon completing a chapter should be connected to the events within it.

The beauty blogger's gratitude, Old Wang's resentment, and the Six Jiangzhen Secrets, for instance, had all been connected to that chapter's contents.

So why had the second chapter rewarded him with something seemingly unrelated like Zhong Family Talismans?

Chen Miao looked at Li Shilei inside the half-open refrigerated cabinet.

"Or... are the Zhong Family Talismans actually connected to these twins, and I just don't know it?"

Chen Miao had no way to verify that idea.

As he studied the talisman descriptions under Zhong Family Talismans, something suddenly occurred to him.

After the chapter had foretold his death, its contents hadn't changed when he first came to the cold storage facility.

It was only toward midnight that the situation had abruptly changed.

The warning sign then had been a sudden drop in temperature. Could that have been related to a talisman?

A Yin-Gathering Talisman?

Chen Miao closed the book and placed it beside Li Shilei's head.

After meeting Li Shilei's gaze, Chen Miao said, "Forgive me," and passed his hand over her eyes.

Only after closing her eyes did Chen Miao begin searching Li Shilei's body.

But whether he searched inside or outside her clothes, he couldn't find what he was looking for.

Was I wrong?

Chen Miao had hoped to find a talisman on Li Shilei's corpse, but there was none.

Chen Miao left the cabinet room and returned to the desk.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he would check the surveillance footage!