Zhao Daxian was the first to notice something was off with Chen Ping.
Originally, everyone had their heads down flipping through the materials in their hands, when He Xiaoyi casually complained:
“Ahem, the AC in this reception room is blasting pretty high. The draft is chilly.”
Sitting to the side, Zhang Yue looked up, bewildered. “Considering Comrade Chen Ping’s special circumstances, there isn’t any air conditioning installed in the reception room?”
“Then it must be that Little Chen's dark qi is too strong. When ordinary people stay around a ghost for too long, it really does take a toll.”
He Xiaoyi nodded and cautioned the group:
“Still, there’s no helping it. It's what the job requires!
When you go back, take baths with grapefruit leaves soaked in water. Dried ones won't do; only fresh grapefruit leaves work.
On regular days, eat more things that replenish qi and blood—like pig liver, spinach, radishes, and so on...”
“Master He, is there any specific principle behind this ‘dark qi’? For example, can it be observed with the naked eye, or can it be neutralized by other substances?”
Fang Zijiang eagerly joined the conversation. “Also, regarding this grapefruit leaf water you mentioned, what are its specific effects? Could you elaborate a bit?”
“Well, if you ask like that, I really can't give you a proper answer.
Grapefruit leaves ward off evil and bad luck. Many coastal families use them to bathe newborn babies.
People who have just gotten out of prison also dip grapefruit leaves in water and sprinkle it on themselves to wash away bad luck and misfortune.”
He Xiaoyi hesitated for a moment.
“I can’t explain the scientific principle, but that's what my grandfather told my dad, and that's how my dad taught me by hand.”
Seeing Fang Zijiang about to ask more, He Xiaoyi really couldn't hold up and hastily changed the subject:
“Ahem, why has Section Head Qin been gone for so long? I’m pretty much done with these files. We can wait for her to come back and explain them to us.
Sigh, getting old really makes your brain slow.”
Fang Zijiang responded with a smile:
“Section Head Qin hasn't been sleeping well these past few days. She’s been working around the clock for almost a week.
When I clocked out yesterday, I saw the lights were off in her office and thought she had gone home to rest. Who knew she stayed up all night sorting through the case files and didn't go home at all.”
“Section Head Qin is amazing. I heard that back when she was tracking down a criminal, she stayed in the old woods for nearly a month.”
Zhang Yue glanced toward the restroom and lowered her voice:
“Lately, I haven't seen Section Head Qin rest once. In our section, people secretly call her ‘Iron Woman’ behind her back.”
Having shared some gossip about their boss, the distance between the otherwise unfamiliar group quickly closed.
Meanwhile, Chen Ping, who was at the center of the topic, huddled his entire soul in the corner without making a peep, looking as if he was filled with guilt.
Zhao Daxian, who had been observing everyone, suddenly sat up straight and leaned forward slightly. “Chen Ping?”
The others' gazes finally shifted toward Chen Ping.
They saw him cowering in the corner, his entire body stiff as petrified wood. On his pale, grayish-blue face, only his eyes signaled that he was still conscious.
Even though a ghost has no heartbeat and does not sweat, everyone could still clearly read an extreme terror on his face—as if he were confronting a ferocious beast.
He seemed to have turned into a wax figure.
Only his dark, hollow eyes kept darting incessantly toward the restroom.
Suppressing the terror in his heart, Chen Ping's teeth chattered as he barely squeezed out a few words:
“S-S-S-Sec... t-there's, dan... dan-ger...”
Before the word “danger” could even finish leaving his mouth, Zhao Daxian practically sprang up from the sofa:
“Qin Yue!”
“Section Head Qin!”
“Qin Yue!”
“Section Head!”
Everyone in the meeting room stood up in unison and rushed toward the corner of the room—
The frosted glass door of the restroom was tightly closed, visible tendrils of chill seeping from underneath. Through the frosted glass, a blurry black shadow could be seen standing right behind the door.
“Qin Yue? Qin Yue, Qin Yue! Section Head Qin?”
Forming an incantation gesture with his right hand, Zhao Daxian brandished a pitch-black peach wood sword that had appeared in his left hand at some point, shielding everyone behind him:
“Can you speak right now? If not, I’ll count to three and kick the door in. Protect yourself.”
—Calling out someone’s real name three times was to confirm whether they had been possessed by something unclean.
From inside the restroom came Qin Yue's voice:
“I’m fine. Do not enter. That’s an order.”
Everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“Get back! Can’t you feel it getting colder? Dark qi condensing into mist, resentful energy manifesting outside—we cannot handle whatever is in there!”
A rare look of solemnity crossed He Xiaoyi's face as he yanked off the Guanyin pendant around his neck and held it tightly in his palm:
“Eighty percent chance it's that Greater Ghost who targeted Chen Ping before! Listen to me, whoever can run, get out of here now!”
No one stopped to think about how that thing had managed to get in.
In broad daylight, it had bypassed all building security and silently crept right up to Qin Yue, suffocating Chen Ping to the point where he couldn't even give a timely warning.
Rather than wondering how it got inside, it was better to focus on how to survive.
“No way! Suffering a defeat right after our section was formed? If you want to run, go ahead! I can’t afford to lose face like that.”
Zhao Daxian sneered:
“Government officials are protected by official aura. I want to see what kind of creature inside dares play ghost tricks on official ground—
Section Head Qin, I'm counting to three and kicking the door. One, two...”
“You!”
Bang!!
The moment the word “two” dropped, Zhao Daxian violently kicked at the door lock with lethal precision. Under the heavy impact, the handle snapped and fell off, and a dark shadow dashed out from behind the door, hurtling straight toward him!
Zhao Daxian smiled confidently:
“Come at me! Taste the treasure my master gave me—”
The next second—crotch kick, arm throw, hip block, leg wrap, wrist lock, and reverse chokehold. Before he could even finish his sentence, he took a full, textbook set of grappling moves head-on.
Every strike brought wind, every blow landed solid, yet force had clearly been held back.
Qin Yue seized Zhao Daxian with both hands, her right knee pinned firmly against his back, leaving him completely immobilized.
“Allowing you into the action group was because the authorities wished to deepen communication and cooperation with folk metaphysical organizations, not for you to come here to pad your resume and mess around.”
The short-haired woman frowned slightly:
“In future operations, if you rely on whatever little skill you have to ignore chain of command and disobey my orders again, I suggest you head back to your Taisu Monastery.”
Zhao Daxian was completely dazed.
Although Qin Yue had intentionally held back her strength, he had still taken a solid beating, and a layer of dark bruises quickly blossomed across his cheek.
Looking past Qin Yue, everyone finally saw the situation inside the restroom clearly.
The mirror was shattered by an unknown force, its surface covered with dense, spiderweb-like cracks.
Water flooded the floor, and lingering white mist still hung in the air. Streaks of frost coated the floor, walls, and ceiling tiles.
Releasing Zhao Daxian, Qin Yue stood up and looked at the group:
“Just now, Target B from the Hongxing Mansion case appeared, and I had an exchange with her.
Zhang Yue, immediately retrieve all files regarding the ‘Qianli Ghost Building’ and Target B, as well as the radiation and magnetic field fluctuations inside the building over the past ten minutes.
Zijiang, take your people to collect samples on-site. Do not miss a single trace—fingerprints, hair, leather shoe residue in the restroom, nothing.”
“As for Master He and Zhao Daxian...”
Qin Yue paused for a moment and pursed her lips:
“Have you ever heard of... a ‘demon suppressor’?”
A demon suppressor?
What was that?
He Xiaoyi was entirely at a loss, and Zhao Daxian, nursing his bruises, was equally bewildered.
Rate on N.U.
