“Team Leader Qin, the results from the inspection section are out. Do you want to see them now?”
Clutching a stack of documents, Zhang Yue cautiously asked the woman dozing in her chair.
“Did you stay up all night again? Um... do you want to... take a break?”
In the familiar office layout, over a dozen massive whiteboards were lined up. The boards were covered in photos, connected by a dense web of relationship lines and cluttered with haphazardly placed sticky notes.
Beside each person’s photo were detailed notes: family background, home address, and even their educational history were clearly marked.
The short-haired woman leaned her head back against the chair. Even in a relaxed state, her posture remained perfectly upright.
The office door was wide open, revealing staff members hurrying back and forth outside. Every one of them looked radiant, seemingly possessed of inexhaustible energy.
“No need. Just give them to me. Are the facial recognition results from the traces section out yet?”
Qin Yue opened her eyes. Her expression showed no trace of fatigue.
“What about the evidence tracing? Have they found the source of the yellow chicken and the yellow paper yet?”
Of course, that was if one could ignore the faint dark circles under her eyes.
“Still no results. The surveillance team’s eyes are nearly bleeding from staring at the screens, and they’ve only been able to confirm the last location where the target ‘Female Ghost’ appeared that night.”
Zhang Yue shook her head, her expression tinged with regret.
“As for the evidence tracing, they’re having an even bigger headache. they’ve scoured over a dozen nearby poultry farms and still haven’t found where that chicken came from.
“Then there’s the yellow paper. They say it’s made using ancient methods, and the craftsmanship of the paper money looks like the old handmade style. Nowadays, it’s almost entirely mechanized; only a few places with poor transportation still use this kind of yellow paper. Team Leader Wang and his men have already gone to follow that lead.”
“Target ‘Female Ghost’ is like she just popped out of thin air.”
Qin Yue stared at the rows of data on the inspection report, her head beginning to throb. She rubbed her temples.
“We’ve fallen into a completely passive position... Tsk. The background checks on the Hongxing Mansion employees are almost done, though.”
She stretched her wrists. Despite the bloodshot streaks in her eyes, her spirit was high.
Qin Yue extended a finger and tapped several photos in front of her.
“We did gain something, at least. Later, have the traces section run another background check on these few people in the system. See if they had any intersection with Chen Ping. Remember, don’t overlook any clue—even something as small as ordering from the same takeout place or being on the same subway train must be carefully recorded.”
Seven photos were neatly arranged on the desk, featuring men and women, young and old. Each person’s life history was highlighted, naturally including their place of birth.
“Understood! I’ll go notify them immediately!”
Zhang Yue’s face flushed slightly, filled with the excitement of being entrusted with an important task.
Just a few days ago, she had been an ordinary office worker. That night, she had been scared unconscious.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a private hospital room. Zhang Yue had initially thought that night was just a nightmare, but government officials had come to her door to prove that everything that happened in Hongxing Mansion that night was real.
And because she was one of only two living people to have had contact with the target codenamed ‘Female Ghost,’ and after some maneuvering by Qin Yue, Zhang Yue had become a member of the special task force, effortlessly securing a stable government post.
It was truly a blessing in disguise—the kind of luck that would make countless students struggling with postgraduate and civil service exams curse her to death.
She was officially on the government payroll.
It was only after joining the investigation team that Zhang Yue truly witnessed the meaning of the “power of the state machine.”
In just one short week, Hongxing Mansion had completed its preliminary renovation. Floors twenty through twenty-seven were all designated as the special task force’s workspace.
Floors twenty and twenty-one served as the security zone, while floors twenty-two through twenty-four, as well as floor twenty-seven, acted as buffer zones. The true core areas were the twenty-fifth floor, where Chen Ping’s experimental area was located, and the twenty-sixth floor, the investigation team’s office area.
Tens of thousands of surveillance cameras, hundreds of security personnel, and various anti-surveillance devices—such a massive undertaking and expense just to establish a special task force.
As the person in charge of the special task force, the weight on Qin Yue’s shoulders was immense.
After that night, Chen Ping’s soul hadn’t returned to the Underworld as in the myths, nor had Ox-Head and Horse-Face or Black and White Impermanence come to collect him.
This had left the heavily prepared scientific researchers disappointed for quite some time.
Qin Yue stared at the photos on the desk, her brow furrowing slightly.
After the Chen Ping incident was reported up through the ranks, she had been specially ordered to form the special task force. Using Hongxing Mansion as a hub, they were to investigate supernatural cases that had occurred over the past several decades.
In a single city, no fewer than ten thousand people died every year. What’s more, Qianli City was a major population center.
So, Qin Yue and her team had actually managed to sift through the data and find over a dozen supernatural incidents.
【729 Changping Red-clothed Little Girl Case】
【Case of the Cat Faced Old Lady Reanimating After Death】
【Intersection Traffic Accident Case of the Janitor】
【Route 608 Supernatural Bus Case】
【Haunted House Case of the Exterminated Family of Three】
But upon closer investigation, all of them led to nothing. Forget finding a ghost they could communicate with like Chen Ping; they couldn’t even find a ghostly shadow.
Chen Ping’s condition was improving day by day. Not only was he gradually shaking off his previous “bloodthirsty” state, but his strength also seemed to be increasing.
After several rounds of experiments, the duration he could be detected by surveillance increased from 0.01 milliseconds to 0.03 milliseconds. Although it was only a tiny improvement, it was enough to prove that Chen Ping’s power was growing.
Even He Xiaoyi, who was used to seeing ghosts, asserted that Chen Ping was special.
Chen Ping was special.
Was it because of the woman in ancient clothing codenamed ‘Female Ghost’?
What exactly had she done to Chen Ping?
Could it really have been just a simple “yellow chicken pathfinding” ritual?
At Qin Yue’s request, He Xiaoyi had completely replicated the ‘Female Ghost’s’ ritual based on the video footage. But it remained entirely ineffective.
The ‘Female Ghost’s’ identity was a mystery, and her origin was a patch of grey mist that they couldn’t grasp no matter how they tried.
The investigation had hit a complete bottleneck.
Qin Yue suppressed the irritation in her heart.
...
...
Late at night, the experimental area on the twenty-fifth floor of Hongxing Mansion was brightly lit. Only one special room remained pitch black.
Inside the room, all the necessary furniture was present: a computer, a coffee table, a sofa, a refrigerator, a single bed, a bookshelf...
There was even an altar, though the thing enshrined upon it was a black-and-white funeral portrait.
Click.
The refrigerator opened on its own as if by an invisible hand.
A can of ice-cold Coke “floated” out of the fridge. With a psst, the can was opened and carefully floated toward the funeral portrait.
In front of the portrait, the red tips of three sticks of incense glowed piercingly bright. Chen Ping leaned greedily over the altar and took a deep breath.
“Drinking ice-cold Coke late at night... so refreshing.”
He never imagined that after spending his life working like a dog, he would actually get a government job and join the party after death, transforming into a beloved son of the state and the people.
Chen Ping himself found it unbelievable.
But even though he was dead, his worldly ties remained. There was still a mortgage to pay, his daughter needed money for school, and his parents were getting old; they would need money to enjoy their later years.
So when Qin Yue proposed that he join the special task force, Chen Ping had agreed without a second thought.
His work now was easy—nine to five, working only four hours a day. The job content was so easy it was ridiculous; he only had to cooperate with researchers for experiments, chat about his feelings, and help Master He practice spiritualism. Then the day was over.
At this rate, he only needed to work for another thirty years to not only completely pay off the mortgage but also save up a significant amount of money for his wife and daughter.
This was the first time Chen Ping had ever truly felt that being a ghost was great.
On the table were the photos of relevant personnel sent over by Qin Yue’s side for him to double-check.
Chen Ping scanned them, and his gaze suddenly landed on the smiling face of a young woman.
“Nan... Zhi? What a strange name. Is there really someone with the surname Nan?”
Rate on N.U.
