Changes in the Wraiths

[Emotional Value from Frank Castle +130]

[Emotional Value from Phil Coulson +50]

[Emotional Value from Nick Fury +30]

[From...]

At the restaurant, Jiang Xiang noticed his Emotional Value suddenly rising nonstop.

What was going on?

Old Man was the only one out doing anything right now, Jiang Xiang thought, propping up his chin.

It mostly came down to Old Man.

A few hundred Emotional Value for free.

"What on earth did Old Man do to stir up such strong emotions?" Jiang Xiang took another big bite of the restaurant's delicious food.

Forget it. I could just ask him when I got back.

Jiang Xiang looked at the corpse beside him, from which Old Man had expelled the Wraith. His expression soured, and nausea stirred inside him. He quickly closed his eyes and forced the discomfort down.

This was Jiang Xiang's first time seeing such a gruesome corpse up close. The last time, while taking on Ah Xing's form, he had merely tagged along beside Old Man and never witnessed anything bloody.

Frank stood behind Old Man like a greeter, holding a tray of assorted materials.

"Sir, are we finished?" Frank asked when Old Man made no move to continue.

"Of course not! What do you think banishing a Wraith is? Playing house?" Old Man retorted in a booming voice.

Frank had so many objections that he had no idea where to start. Goat saliva? Goat beard? Lizard tail?

How was this not playing house?

"One more thing. We're running out of goat beard."

Frank recalled where the goat beard was stored. "I'll restock it when I get back."

"One more thing. Old Man needs hot tea."

While Old Man and Frank were talking, Jiang Xiang had slipped away from the bloody scene.

He figured Old Man would need some tea by now.

"Hot tea's here! There's nothing like a nice cup of tea. Uncle, Frank, have some."

Jiang Xiang handed over two cups, one to Old Man and one to Frank.

For the moment, Jiang Xiang had no interest in eating or drinking anything himself.

"Thank you," Frank said politely.

"You're welcome."

"Uncle, there's a balding officer outside who says he's here to see you!"

"Aiya, more trouble. Let him up."

"All right."

Jiang Xiang left the scene of the Wraith incident once again and opened the courtyard gate.

Time to face Coulson, the starter village chief, again.

"Come in, Officer."

Coulson thanked Jiang Xiang politely. "May I ask who you are?"

Jiang Xiang glanced behind Coulson. "Jiang Xiang. You can also call me John. John Wilson."

Coulson nodded in understanding.

Jiang Xiang did not believe for a second that Coulson had no idea who he was.

He had probably been thoroughly investigated the moment he first appeared beside Old Man.

They reached the doorway.

Coulson got straight to the point. "Mr. Jiang, what is your relationship with Mr. Cheng?"

"He's my uncle."

Coulson had noticed Jiang Xiang two days earlier, when Old Man began bringing him along on exorcisms.

He had conducted an investigation.

Coulson discovered that Jiang Xiang was an orphan whose parents had died when he was young. His maternal grandfather had raised him, and he had returned to the ancient nation in the East to complete his basic schooling before coming back to New York for college.

The main cause for suspicion was his relationship with Old Man. His records showed absolutely no contact with Old Man until about a year ago.

Coulson remarked casually, "You and your uncle seem close."

Jiang Xiang glanced at him and nodded. "..."

When talking to an agent like this, it was better not to say anything careless.

They had arrived!

"Mr. Castle, long time no see."

Old Man was performing the final cleanup.

Dressed in a suit and sunglasses, his broad face solemn, Frank stood at the doorway like a receptionist, holding a pile of miscellaneous items.

When he saw Coulson approach, he took off his sunglasses as a courtesy and greeted him.

"He's inside. If you need anything, you can tell me."

Having witnessed magic, Frank had clearly become much more composed.

But Coulson knew Frank's weakness all too well.

His wife and children!

The assassination attempt that day had been riddled with suspicious details.

Someone had clearly wanted to silence Frank.

If it happened once, it could happen again.

Coulson did not believe a seasoned veteran like Frank would let that danger go unchecked.

Even if he did not care about himself, he had to consider his wife and children.

Trouble meant needing help. Help led to a relationship, and a relationship led to...

The analysis flashed through Coulson's mind, but his hands did not slow as he passed over a document written in traditional Chinese.

"This is the latest information on the Wraiths. They seem to have changed. May I come in?"

Frank handed the document to Old Man.

"Please come in."

At Old Man's signal, Frank invited Coulson into the room where the exorcism was taking place.

Jiang Xiang followed close behind.

Frank showed Coulson to a seat in the house, then joined Jiang Xiang behind Old Man, the two of them standing guard like a pair of temple guardians.

They would overwhelm the other side with sheer presence!

Recalling the exorcism ritual from two days earlier, Coulson noticed that something seemed different today. He suppressed his questions and skipped the small talk, getting straight to the point. "Mr. Cheng, our surveillance of the remaining households suggests that the Wraiths have changed. They're becoming more and more human, and their ability to beguile people is growing stronger."

Of course, those so-called households were households of S.H.I.E.L.D. "people."

Under the pretext of cooperation, S.H.I.E.L.D. had asked Old Man to entrust several Depletion Jars to them for safekeeping.

"We've discovered a number of new problems."

"The deaths and injuries are becoming harder to detect. We hope to find more ways to capture and eliminate those monsters."

"Could you provide us with any additional methods, Master?"

Old Man naturally did not mind any of this. Or rather, in his traditional understanding, handing things over to the authorities and letting them deal with them was only proper.

Besides, the Depletion Jars would quickly wear away most of the Wraiths' power. They could not cause any major problems.

Unfortunately, he had encountered S.H.I.E.L.D., which had no sense of fair play.

They had opened the sealing jars as soon as they received them.

Old Man had sensed it, but still thought nothing of it.

Surely all these foreign countries had supernatural powers of their own?

He assumed some other supernatural organization had opened them to determine what kind of Wraiths they were and observe their habits.

As it turned out, S.H.I.E.L.D. was stubborn enough to attempt researching the Wraiths directly, without help from any other supernatural force.

After all, Wraiths like Yinshenger had shown no strong tendency toward indiscriminate slaughter. They merely beguiled people and transformed, then killed those they had bewitched.

Did that not make them excellent research subjects?

And so, predictably enough, something went wrong.

Old Man told him not to hide anything and explain what had happened.

Coulson hesitated for a moment, gathering his words.