"Spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, come, immortals, and depart in peace. Great immortal, please return to your place... ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... great immortal, please return!"
"Kekekeke! Return? This immortal finally managed to get out. Of course I'm going to enjoy myself! Kekekeke..."
She was a girl of twelve or thirteen, but the voice coming from her mouth carried a strange mixture of age and malice.
It had both a child's immaturity and an ancient, vicious edge.
Waves of cold, sinister energy flowed out as she roared.
Everyone in the room blanched with fear.
Had this child not been their family, they might have fled long ago.
The bed the child was tied to kept creaking, and the ropes binding her visibly darkened and decayed.
"Kekekeke! Blood offerings, blood offerings! Worship me, or I'll devour this little brat's soul! Offerings, offerings! Kekekeke... my name is Ancestor Du Xiao... hehehe..."
"Very well, you ants! Since you invited me here, why do you refuse to honor your ancestor? Kekekeke!"
Then the "child" seemed to exhale.
The temperature throughout the room seemed to drop several degrees out of nowhere. Even the wallpaper appeared to be changing color.
A woman dressed as a spirit medium stood in the room with an ugly expression.
Her entire body was trembling.
Watching the child, she stiffly turned her head toward the frightened, worried family beside her.
"Ghosts are real?" she asked shakily.
A middle-aged couple stood beside her.
Despair covered their faces.
"Granny Wang, you exorcise spirits and ghosts for a living! Of course we called you because there was a ghost!"
Granny Wang nearly cursed aloud.
She held it back, then shuddered again. Looking at the child on the bed, her voice turned shrill.
She practically screamed:
"I exorcise ghosts?"
"Hasn't your Ming Family been a family of Rice Diviners for generations? Do I really need to spell out what we all do?"
"We're all just trying to make a living! Why would you do this to me? This doesn't look fake! Look at those ropes-they're rotting! And the temperature in this room dropped out of nowhere! I'm doomed, doomed! This must be that ghostly energy they talk about on TV. It's getting into me..."
At that moment, she looked nothing like an exorcist or spirit medium.
She looked like nothing more than a foul-mouthed village woman.
The middle-aged couple found nothing strange about this. They, too, had once made their living pretending to deal with spirits. The wife, in particular, was a Rice Diviner well known in the surrounding area, so they knew exactly what these mediums were really made of.
But...
This time, their daughter had merely played at rice divination with her classmates. They had never imagined... never imagined... that she would actually summon a ghost.
That was why they had called a fellow practitioner to give it a try.
Hearing the medium's words...
Their expressions grew even grimmer.
"Granny Wang, didn't you say you belonged to the Meishan Lineage? That's why we invited you."
"You... you deliberately dragged me into this, didn't you? What Meishan? I made that up to fool those ignorant men and women! You make your living in this business yourselves. Don't you know what this world is like? How could there possibly be..."
Looking at the girl who kept roaring...
She could not finish.
"Kekekeke! Very good! You mere mortals dare offend your ancestor! Once more of my true spirit emerges, you'll all die! You'll all be devoured! Kekekeke!"
"Kekekeke! If you don't want to die, worship me! Find intelligent living beings to offer as blood sacrifices for me to devour! Otherwise... kekekeke, I'll remember you!"
"Granny Wang, we're sorry we dragged you into this. Since things have already come to this, could you try again?"
Helpless, Granny Wang cast another terrified glance at the girl opposite her. As the room grew colder, layers of other ghostly faces seemed to emerge over the girl's pretty, innocent features.
Those ghostly faces seemed intent on breaking free of her body and manifesting in the world, but something in the void appeared to be blocking them.
In the end, all the creature could do was roar savagely.
As she struggled, pain crossed the little girl's face, and the ropes cut bloody marks into her body.
But no one dared suggest untying her.
So ghosts really did exist in this world!
Granny Wang hurriedly tried a chant she had once memorized.
"Heaven has three wonders: sun, moon, and stars. Their power pierces heaven and earth! Should a ghost fierce as a wolf or tiger arrive, let it flee across the land without rest. Heaven is clear, earth is numinous. In the name of the Meishan Patriarch, I urgently invoke the decree of the Supreme Lord Lao! Begone, begone..."
"Kekekeke! What clear heaven and numinous earth? What Meishan Patriarch and Supreme Lord Lao? I've never even heard of them... just you wait, just you wait..."
Without another word, Granny Wang...
Turned and ran.
The middle-aged couple wanted to flee too, but looking at their daughter, how could they abandon her?
The middle-aged woman collapsed to the floor.
"It's all my fault, all my fault," she murmured. "For a little money, I insisted on becoming a Rice Diviner. So we really can summon ghosts. Ghosts really do exist!"
"Kekekeke! You think you're worthy of summoning ghosts? Dull, filthy, without a trace of spiritual sensitivity... do you want your daughter to live? Then give me blood offerings and incense offerings. Otherwise... kekekeke!"
The middle-aged man's whole body had gone weak too, but his concern for his daughter forced him to stay strong.
Holding a length of steel cable, he walked toward the bed.
All the while, he bowed and scraped, his face pleading for mercy.
"Great immortal, great immortal, we'll make incense offerings right away, right away! Honey, hurry, make offerings to the great immortal! But intelligent living beings as blood sacrifices... great immortal, that's against the law! Great immortal, please spare us!"
"What are you doing? Very good, you dare bind me again! Once I emerge, you'll all die!"
"Hehehe! Hurry up with the offerings, or your little girl's soul... is quite delicious! My name is Du Xiao. Worship me sincerely..."
Incense smoke filled the room.
But...
"You're courting death! You're courting death! No sincerity, no devotion! You're trying to fool me! How dare you fool me..."
"Very well! Even ants dare deceive me! Just wait until I return, wait until I return..."
The voice slowly faded, as though something inside the little girl's body was gradually receding.
It was terrifying and eerie.
A little while later...
"Mom, Dad, I'm so scared! I'm so scared!"
"Boohoo, my poor daughter! Boohoo, it's Mommy's fault. I should never have let you learn about rice divination..."
The middle-aged man retained a little more reason.
"Why did it say our offerings wouldn't work? Was there something wrong with the incense, or something else? We really were praying to it in our hearts!"
"If ghosts really exist in this world, then... then... there must be genuine experts too, right? Not people like us who cheat ordinary folks, but real experts."
Bang!
The door swung open.
Someone in a police uniform rushed inside.
She looked twenty-five or twenty-six.
Her crisp uniform fully accentuated her voluptuous curves. Bright eyes, white teeth, and a valiant bearing gave her an indescribable charm.
The couple in the room merely glanced at her, drained of strength.
"Xuanxuan, you're here!"
"Big Sis!"
Ming Xuan looked at her younger cousin on the bed with pity and anguish.
Anger flashed across her face.
"Uncle, why are you refusing medical treatment? Why are you still messing around with feudal superstition? If something's wrong with Xiao Fei, take her to the hospital! Have you brainwashed yourselves with all that stuff you do?"
"Big Sis, I'm not sick. I accidentally summoned a real ghost. Once it came, it refused to leave, and it wants to eat me... big Sis, I'm so scared I'll turn into an idiot with no soul."
Ming Xuan grew even angrier.
She looked at her uncle and aunt.
"Look at you two! What have you brainwashed my perfectly healthy little cousin into? Even a young girl growing up in this modern age has become obsessed with this nonsense. Uncle, some illnesses can't wait. Trust science."
The middle-aged woman only sobbed quietly.
The middle-aged man hung his head.
"Go look at the ropes on your cousin. That thick hemp rope was bought just yesterday."
Ming Xuan went closer to look, and her gaze sharpened.
The hemp rope was gray-black and rotten, as though countless years had passed over it.
She instinctively reached out to touch it, and an icy chill struck her. There even seemed to be ice crystals on it.
The bed beneath her cousin, and its sheets, also looked decayed.
"This..."
"Big Sis, don't blame my parents. I was the one being silly. I insisted on pretending to be a Rice Diviner to tease my classmates. I never imagined it would actually come. Big Sis, it's over two meters tall, with a long, pointed face, a bright red nose, and layer upon layer of vertical creases. Everywhere else is pitch-black. And its mouth is full of long, sharp teeth. I can feel it wanting to eat my soul. Big Sis, I'm so scared. I don't know if I can hold on..."
Ming Xuan stood frozen.
Though she did not believe it, her cousin's condition really did seem different this time.
"Don't worry. I'll find a way to save you."
"Beep, beep, beep." Her phone rang.
Ming Xuan answered.
"What? Old Calm Heart Street? The Gu Family? I haven't noticed them. Are they a new business?"
"What? The Gu Family that used to be the richest family? Didn't they go bankrupt?"
"They're doing that funeral-superstition stuff again? What? Someone's asking about their family? Whether they have connections to the Underworld, and whether anything unusual has happened lately? Director Qin, you're joking, right? This is a world of science. How could there possibly be..."
Qin Xuan suddenly caught sight of her younger cousin.
She could not finish.
"All right. Your friends are my friends. That area is under our station's jurisdiction. I'll take them there right away..."
Please, please let there really be an expert!
"Xuanxuan, I heard you mention the Gu Family. Is that the legendary Gu Family that's been in the funeral business for generations? Could they have made their fortune because they have genuine skills?"
"Yes, and I heard you mention connections to the Underworld, and someone looking for them. Xuan'er, you have to help your cousin!"
Ming Xuan considered it, looking at her cousin's hopeful eyes. The director had not said it was top secret.
"They're just a few friends from Qianzhou. The director asked me to show them the way. As for anything else, I can't say for sure. Besides, Calm Heart Street has always been normal. No one's reported anything supernatural..."
"But don't worry, Uncle, Auntie. If there really is anything supernatural, I'll be sure to keep an eye out."
After saying that...
Ming Xuan did not linger any longer.
They had gone through the director, so she still had to extend the appropriate courtesy.
Although her job demanded integrity and impartiality, she still needed to understand social obligations. Serving the public and punishing wrongdoing did not conflict with getting promoted, earning a raise, and building connections.
She was not inflexible!
The Gu Family?
A family that had once been the richest around was actually on Calm Heart Street.
Life's twists and turns truly were unpredictable.