Once Nan Zhi got home, she started searching for news related to the “Qianli Ghost Building.”
Seven years ago, that fire really had happened.
Back then, the joint official report issued by the police and the fire department stated:
On the day the skyscraper caught fire, the suspect, Zheng (male), took the elevator to the 59th floor at exactly 11:00 PM, carrying two buckets of cooking oil.
Afterward, around 11:30 PM, Zheng used a lighter he was carrying to ignite debris piled up by merchants at the entrance of the staircase.
Due to heavy foot traffic in the building and the fire’s origin being in a secluded staircase, the fire developed rapidly, eventually spreading across the entire floor.
The fire raged furiously, and because Zheng had used cooking oil as an accelerant, the blaze spread swiftly and triggered a flashover.
By the time the firefighters arrived, the fire was already completely out of control.
The entire 59th floor was engulfed in a sea of flames. The toxic smoke generated by the burning structure cut off the escape routes for merchants and patrons on higher floors.
The Qianli City Fire Brigade immediately launched rescue operations, racing against the clock to deploy aerial ladder trucks while firefighters braved the inferno to carve out a path to survival for trapped civilians.
Yet the fire was too ferocious. Even though the blaze was ultimately extinguished, it still resulted in a major tragedy with ten dead and three injured.
The arson suspect, Zheng, died on the scene.
The subsequent forensic findings concluded that after setting the fire, he had not left immediately, but lingered at the scene instead.
In the end, he inhaled massive amounts of smoke, suffocating to death.
Similarly, among the rescue personnel, there was a young firefighter surnamed Yang.
While saving lives, he had inhaled a massive quantity of smoke and ended up in a persistent vegetative state.
He still had not woken up to this day.
When the news broke back then, an overwhelming torrent of condemnation flooded the internet.
Some said the arsonist had died too easily, and that he should have been resuscitated just to be executed by firing squad.
Others questioned how someone like Zheng, who suffered from mental illness, could wander around a bustling district carrying hazardous materials.
Even worse, some doxxed Zheng’s home address, demanding that his family kowtow and apologize to the innocent victims and firefighters.
A handful of conspiracy theorists even suggested there might be another perpetrator, questioning how a mentally ill person could pull off such an act.
However, all these claims were systematically refuted by the official chain of evidence.
Zheng suffered from a mental disorder, and his family had taken him out of province for treatment in the past.
During his treatment, Zheng had confessed to his attending physician more than once that he “wanted to set fires,” “wanted to burn things,” and “loved the smell of things burning”...
His family had also caught him burning his own clothes, his nieces’ and nephews’ toys, and dead bird feathers at home.
He would even douse stray cats in gasoline for fun.
Surveillance footage captured Zheng visiting the skyscraper multiple times in the half-month leading up to the fire to scout the location.
Furthermore, Zheng’s actions during the fire—splashing oil and setting the blaze—were caught clearly on camera.
All of this was sufficient proof that on the day of the fire, Zheng had been fully lucid.
He possessed full capacity and understood the consequences his actions would cause.
—If Zheng were still alive, he would have undoubtedly faced the full brunt of legal justice.
After all, illness was never an excuse to escape guilt.
【Real-World Instance: Prosperity Underneath (Recommended Cultivation: Qi Refinement level 1 to Qi Refinement level 3)】
【Quest Location: Green Ti New City】
【Quest Description: You have seen the prosperity of this city, but have you ever observed beneath this prosperity whether the hurried faces are truly the living people you believe them to be?
Enter the 59th floor of Green Ti New City after midnight, observe closely, identify the black evil ghost hiding within, and slay it.】
【Instance Clear Rewards: Snake-Bear Pill ×10, Blood Supplementing Pill Recipe ×1, Azure Blood Grass ×5 (main ingredient for Qi-Supplementing Pills), Wangning Fruit ×10 (main ingredient for Blood Supplementing Pills)】
Just from going out for a meal, a real-world instance had popped up?
That exciting?
Nan Zhi paused, thinking it over carefully.
The instance’s level wasn’t high, and the quest rewards were visibly less abundant than last time.
Yet it was enough to prove that there really was a ghost in Green Ti New City.
Moreover, it was a ghost capable of evading her perception while wandering through the skyscraper.
The quest description was rather interesting too.
Identify the black evil ghost hiding among the crowd and slay it?
A black evil ghost ranked below a red clothed vengeful ghost. In other words, this ghost was weaker than Wanniang, but slightly stronger than Shu Jiulang.
Though the quest rewards weren’t lavish, Nan Zhi was quite interested in the Blood Supplementing Pill Recipe.
—Whenever cultivation was mentioned, alchemy always followed.
Even though she knew nothing about alchemy right now, who was to say she wouldn’t learn in the future?
Nan Zhi snapped her fingers cheerfully.
Earlier, she had been wondering how to find an appropriate opportunity to make contact with the authorities.
And now, wasn’t this the perfect excuse handed to her on a silver platter?
However, before that, she needed to flesh out the backstory for her cover identity.
She had to give the “Painted Skin Ghost” persona an identity that could openly appear before others in the future.
...
Hongxing International Mansion, 25th floor experimental area, was still brightly lit.
“Everyone, you should have all received the materials distributed today.”
Inside the specially modified conference room, Qin Yue sat at the head of the table with her chin resting on her hands, her brows tightly knit together:
“Without me having to say it, you all should know what today’s meeting is about.”
Behind her, displayed on a massive projection screen, was a map of Great Xia, dotted all over with countless dense red points.
Everyone present held their breath, flipping through the documents in front of them with grave expressions.
【Dexing Private Middle School Mass Suicide Case】
【West Gate Bridge North Purple Star Garden Walking Corpse Case】
【Green Ti New City Fire Haunting Case】
【Changping Red-clothed Little Girl Case】
【White Egret Reservoir Water Ghost Case】
【Cat-Faced Old Lady Corpse Resuscitation Case】
Behind every single case, the time and location of occurrence were marked, accompanied by testimonies from eyewitnesses and victims.
Behind each document often lay multiple living souls.
Everyone present understood this all too well, so no one dared slack off, nor would anyone do so.
Qin Yue nodded to a man in a white lab coat sitting to her right.
The man stood up, a pair of rimless metal-framed glasses resting on his meticulous face.
“As you can see, this is a data map created by our researchers based on briefings sent from brother units across various provinces and regions.
On this map, we can see that over the past three months, the total number of supernatural incidents across all of Great Xia has exceeded the total recorded in the official database for the entire previous year.
Each red dot represents the occurrence of a supernatural incident.
For instance, in our Qianli City, a total of twelve supernatural incidents occurred this month.
Four of them resulted in casualties and property damage.”
The researcher pushed up his glasses, gesturing for everyone to look at the screen:
“Furthermore, our research personnel have discovered that magnetic fields across Great Xia appear to be undergoing changes that we humans cannot comprehend—
or rather, changes that humanity is currently incapable of understanding.”
“Precisely because we do not understand these changes, fear these changes, and remain accustomed to handling cases with past experience—
that is why we have suffered setbacks time and again during our missions, even resulting in two of our colleagues being injured.
As the head of the Special Investigation Section, I hold myself accountable.”
Qin Yue stood up, bowed deeply to everyone, and then sat back down.
She didn’t seem to feel that apologizing in front of her subordinates caused her to lose face in the slightest.
“Losing face now is far better than losing lives later.”
Qin Yue exhaled, her gaze sharp as she continued:
“Take last month’s ‘Red-clothed Little Girl Case’ and the ‘Route 114 Bus Disappearance Case,’ for example.
Our personnel paid a heavy price during the investigation before finally completing the mission.
I believe our setbacks stemmed directly from our lack of experience dealing with ghosts and our reliance on past precedents.
Times are changing too quickly now, and changes beyond our understanding are happening across the world.
If we continue facing our future enemies with our old mindset, there will only be one outcome: defeat.
In yesterday’s meeting, Director Ma fully conveyed the directives from higher-ups, and everyone should be well aware.
Change is already imminent, and brooks no delay!”
Rate on N.U.
