《Ghost: “Catch the Ghost”》 Prologue It had been raining for several hours. It was 3:00 a.m. now. The sky was filled with torrential dark clouds and rumbling thunderstorm. At this time, Wang Xu suddenly put on his raincoat, grabbed an iron hoe, walking out of the door and heading to the cemetery next to his lodging house. The digging started like that. Meanwhile, the suburban was still as usual. There were no vehicles travelling on the street, and obviously no pedestrians. Under this deluge of rain, even if there were people around, they still could not see what he was doing if they stood ten meters away from him. Nor he was a human being or a ghost. At this moment, Wang Xu was very upset. It was not because he had just read some novels like Ghost Blows out the Light and wanted to be rich by stealing things from the tomb; actually, he was doing this begrudgingly. In fact, he had just moved to the lodging house near this cemetery for only three days. The first thought in his mind was: "Rental fee of the lodging house next to the cemetery should be very low. Anyway, I am a materialist and also a homebody who just needs to start at the computer all day long. In my free time, would I look out of the window and shout out loud my life ideals? I don''t care if it is a cemetery!" Then, something happened that night, specifically at 00:00 by midnight. By that time, while Wang Xu was surfing the Internet on his computer, he heard constant heartbeats outside the window. Lub-dub, lub-dub This sound gradually echoed inside the house with neither fast nor slow speed. At first, Wang Xu thought it was because he had been online for so long that he misheard it. He turned off the light to go to bed. However, as soon as he lied down on the bed, that sound once again resounded in his head. Moreover, it was even clearer than before. It was surely the heart beats. Wang Xu felt his throat was dry as his body soaked in cold sweat. Outside his house was a cemetery and there were no other houses nearby. If we did not press our ear against one''s chest, there was no way to hear heartbeats. So, what was happening? Finally, a materialist like him found a clever solution for it, which was taking a sleeping bill and ignoring it The next day, when Wang Xu woke up, it was already noon. He suffered a splitting headache while starting the homebody''s work, which was to be online, then eat, then online again, then eat again [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Soon it was midnight again. That sound echoed once more time. His nerves were totally collapsed. At this night, he lied down on the bed with his eyes wide-opened, using his cell phone and his old radio alternatively to record that sound for a long time. If Wang Xu could have evidence to prove that sound''s existence, he would have a satisfactory explanation for it. This was his final reasoning and the feeble light to save his life. In the morning of the third day, Wang Xu''s eyes were bloodshot. He did not really know when that sound had stopped. He did not even know whether he had had a wakeful night or not. The only thing he remembered was there was only his breath recorded in the recorder. Wang Xu turned on the cell phone, pressing the record button one more time. "If I hear this record and remember I do this, I do not mishear or have a mental illness. Anyway, the recorder is working normally." After playing this record twice, he let out a long sigh before going out to buy a hoe. The cemetery in front of him had been there even before the revolution time. There was no manager. Some graves did not even have gravestones. As soon as Wang Xu bought a hoe, he immediately went to the center of the cemetery, clenching his teeth and said: "Bunch of old yet still alive there, you dare to disturb this homebody! You would have soon had awareness of being reincarnated. I''m telling you, the creature like homebody only needs to close the door to be able to enter a totally different universe. Completely different universe! Do you understand? Tonight, anyone who dares to make that sound lub-dub lub-dub again, I will not leave you alone. I will come here again and exhume your tombs". Wang Xu was very aggressive, trying to show a fierce complexion. After cursing for a while, he told himself that his words were very intimidating. As as result, he did not even finish his words, a lightning struck down from the sky, which almost made him fall down in fear. Luckily that he did not fall down. He adjusted his clothes, clasped his hands behind his back and swaggeringly walked back to his lodging house. Well, we don''t know who could see him pretending like that. Anyway, he successfully scared the old man selling watermelons across the street. From what the old man saw, this neighbor impulsively gesticulated with a hoe in his hand in the middle of the cemetery. He almost called 110. [1] In fact, a guy who had little social experiences like Wang Xu could only do something like that. They thought they could solve anything on their own. That was why Wang Xu did not even go to his neighbors to check for it. He only needed to talk to Mister Zhang who sold watermelons across the street, he would have a lot of information. For example, this cemetery was not very big but it had been once a mansion of a family in Qing dynasty. Later, this mansion had been burned to ashes by a sudden conflagration, turning to a fallow since then. In the next thirty years, a person built a European-style villa on that land. This person was the former owner of the lodging house that Wang Xu was staying now. During the Resistance War, this villa was used by the command of the army for several years. The cemetery nearby had been formed in those years. If it were an innate genius, who was a handsome playboy with noble aura or something, moved here, he would have perhaps analyzed many useful things from that information. Regretfully, our Wang Xu was just a normal homebody. Talking about something that he was doing better than others, it would be babbling. Then, in that rainy night, Wang Xu dug the soil like a crazy man. It seemed the rain wanted to help him. The hoe quickly stuck deep into the soil as soon as it touched it. The exhumation should have been very difficult with the slim body of Wang Xu. However, it did not consume much of his strength. The heart beats were still there. The sound echoed in his head, even covering the ears would not help at all. It was even louder in the heavy rain. It seemed the sound was turning up from underneath the soil. There should not be any tomb under the ground, instead, it was something else. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu was digging crazily. He forgot his fear; instead, he was very wrathful and kept cursing: "That stupid thing, do you want to die or not? You are buried deep down under the ground, yet still keep beating nonstop. You totally didn''t care about other''s feeling, did you? Hm, let see how I suffocate you". Upon his words, he stopped talking in sudden as the iron hoe touched a hard object. Wang Xu''s first thought was it should be bones. However, after he dug it out and had a close look, the flashlight nearly fell out of his mouth. "Ahhhhh ha ha ha" While holding the flashlight in his mouth, Wang Xu foolishly laughed in a half of a minute. His mind was still not calm yet. "This looks like a treasure. Haha, I am rich, I am rich now". Wang Xu mumbled to himself and then took that object out of the soil. He had dug a more than two-meter-deep hole. He should be very exhausted. However, looking at the wooden box in his hand, he felt very conscious, his gesture was even agile. This box was not very big, just about the same size with a shoe-box, yet very heavy. Wang Xu had to use all his strength to be able to bring it out of the hole. While digging, Wang Xu did not realize the hole gradually got taller than him. Thus he was covered with all mud as he climbed out of the hole. However, he did not care as he was so exhausted. When he got to the house, he did not know how much time he had spent out there. In short, all his strength had drained. Wang Xu looked out of the window to make sure that he had not left any clear trace out there. Despite sweat and mud covered all over the body, he sat recklessly on the sofa, cleaning the box and carefully looked at the box. He believed this thing was precious. It was not because he found it inside a tomb, but he realized that the wooden box was not damaged even it had been buried under the ground for so long. Especially, there was no single scratch caused by the spears of the hoe. His imagination started to work. According to him, modern technology could not make this kind of box. So, what is this? If it was not jade or agate, it should be perhaps gold or valuables. "It seems you have dug an unpredictable object." "That''s right, my time has come. Ah. Who are you? Why are you in my house?" Wang Xu immediately jumped up in fear. There was someone behind him. This one spoke up as soon as he was about to open the box. "It has chosen you. It means you have something better than others. This is my business card. Today, just visit that address to find me." After speaking, that person walked towards him, bending his body to place his business card on the tea table. By that moment, Wang Xu noticed he was around thirty years old with untidy hair and unshaved beard. His face was as white as paper. He thought, "If I continue to be a homebody, I will end up like him in the next ten years." Getting rid of that strange thought, Wang Xu shouted, "You did not answer my question. Who are you? I''m going to call the police!" That person pretended not to hear him. His complexion was still as peaceful as water. He said with a feeble voice: "If you don''t go to the detective office before 4:00 p.m., so haha, I don''t want to say more. You should watch out." That mysterious guy was walking and speaking at the same time. Right at the time he had finished his last words he pushed the door open. After he walking out of the house, his shadow quickly disappeared in the rainfall. After listening to what that guy had just said, Wang Xu was startled for a while. He ran outside to catch that guy, but it was impossible as the vision was blocked in the heavy rain. Wang Xu went back to the house and started to convince himself. Since he was young until now, he totally relied on this method to calm himself down. He convinced himself that that guy was just a thief. As he had seen him with a hoe and going back home with a wooden box, he said rubbish trying to find a way to escape. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] After "thinking it through", Wang Xu picked up the business card on the tea table and was about to throw it to the trash bin. However, what he saw made him as if he fell down in a frozen storage. The business card read: Mister Mao - Detective Office specializing in investigating soul mysteries. There was no address on it. Wang Xu stared at the word "Mysteries", the corner of his mouth convulsed, "Are you kidding me? Sure you are kidding me! Awww, and you told me to watch out. What should I beware of? Beware of being killed? Hey, uncle, you better answer me quick. Damn you." After taking a cup of hot coffee, Wang Xu finally calmed down. It was not the hot coffee that made him calm, but his trembling hands could not handle the cup and let the coffee spill on his crotch. "As things have turned out like this, too much thought was useless. Instead, I should think about the next step". Therefore, Wang Xu immediately locked the door carefully then brought the wooden box into his bedroom. After taking a deep breath, he opened the box - [1] 110: emergency number to call police in China. Chapter 1 The box did not have any lock. Instead, it was designed with a magical system. There was no one who was able to create this kind of thing in the modern carpentry. Nowadays, superglue was widely used in wooden products; those old handicraft techniques had been gradually lost. With the skillful hands of an experienced carpenter, home furniture would not need any nails to be assembled. As soon as Wang Xu opened the box, his eyes immediately lit up. Inside that box, there was another box, which was even more precious than its container. It was made of amber. Under the lamplight, numerous colorful beams of light appeared on the box as if there were many translucent clouds floating on the surface of a lake. That image made him bewildered for a while. After he calmed down, he saw a line of words gradually appeared on the surface of the box, which looked like someone was using a brush to draw on water. Wang Xu couldn''t read those words, but still, he could identify those to be Chinese scriptures. They looked square and as delicate as a flowing stream; clearly, they belonged to an ancient calligraphy style. Even though he was not a rotter, he only knew that much. There was nothing as a brilliant young man who could possess massive knowledge these days. "Agh, it would be good if I could understand them" Wang Xu spoke to himself. Then, the words on the box suddenly faded and disappeared like rippling waves on water. Right after that, the ink gradually gathered once again and turned to be simplified Chinese! Wang Xu''s eyeballs almost fell out in astonishment. He assumed this to be some kind of high-technology product, which belonged to a developed civilization. "There are seven objects like this in the universe, offered to the predestined ones. I will feel joyful if you master one technique in each volume." It was difficult to understand that sentence thoroughly. It seemed that someone wanted to say that he had hidden seven boxes like this one in different places. Each of them would belong to the one who found it. And if someone could learn what was inside the box, he would be very satisfied. Plus, according to the message, the object inside the box was the knowledge of only one subject, and it was very ''lucky'' to be able to learn it thoroughly. Wang Xu didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. That predecessor was not only arrogant but also a little crazy. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Then he eyed down to the signature at the bottom left corner, trying to find out about this predecessor''s origin. However, once he glanced at the place where the forebears usually left their signatures, he was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood. The name was Wang Xu. "Good, that''s good. Very brave, very brave Hey, cameraman, where are you hiding? Is this the game show ''talented actors'' of the TV Channel? Where are you, mister director? Come out and answer me!" Of course, there was no one replying him. Thus, he made up something to convince himself to stop babbling and continued to open the amber box. There was a bamboo book, which was wrapped by a worn-out piece of sheepskin in the box. Three words ''Devil Subduing Journal'' were written on the sheepskin. Wang Xu did not understand these words. The amber box immediately turned into dust right after he took out the bamboo book. Wang Xu did not bother, opened the book, nodding as he was looking at it. His face was very excited. "Damn it, I cannot understand a single word. What the hell is it?" Wang Xu started to feel tired. He began to think about strange things happening continuously during the past few days, yet still, he had no clue. Then, he stopped thinking, took a shower and went to bed right away. It was 4:30 a.m. He had slept all the way until the afternoon. It was already 3:00 p.m when he checked the time on his cell phone. As usual, he washed his face, ate instant noodles and continued the daily work of a homebody. He assumed that he had already found out the root of that strange sound, so this problem had been solved. Regarding the thief who left his business card the previous day, as he was detected, he would not dare to come back again. With that cursory thought, he was really a standard homebody. However, the consequences always developed in a bad way. 4:00 p.m. The sky was gray, the northern wind growled violently. Wang Xu was searching for information about Devil Ravine Man online. Even a person who had been using the Internet for many years would unlikely search for his name online. This sometimes brought us surprises. For example, Wang Xu had discovered his name was the same with Devil Ravine Man''s. Devil Ravine Man''s family name was Wang and his first name was Xu; he was a citizen of Wey [1], lived in the Spring and Autumn Period [2]. Since he was born until he entered a hermitage, he had lived in the Devil Ravine all the time. That was why people called him the ''Devil Ravine Man''. This man used to take on the grand councilor position of the Chu state. He was also a genius who was adept in everything from the art of warfare, martial art, eight divinatory trigrams to the invention of weapons, astronomy, geography, etc. There was nothing that he did not know. The way he spoke or dressed, his behaviors, his gestures were all outstanding. Even there were some things that he was not very good at, his ''primary'' knowledge was already at the miraculous level. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Devil Ravine Man was a politician with expertise in diplomatic art as well as military strategies. Besides, he was a master in yin yang theory as he was also a prophet, a well-known prophet. That was why people considered Devil Ravin Man an almighty genius. Moreover, he was very open in receiving disciples. As long as they wanted to learn, he would accept them immediately. However, not everyone could learn from him, not to mention those who only studied one small part instead of studying all what he had known. Some of his famous disciples can be named: Sun Bin, Pang Juan, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Mao Sui, Xu Fu, Gan Mao, Yue Yi, Zou Ji, Li Si After Li Kui died, Shang Yang also followed Devil Ravine Man. Among his disciples, some studied the art of warfare, some studied eight divinatory trigrams, some were interested in martial art, others learned magical power, and some of them studied political strategies, which were actually the diplomatic art. Actually, mastering only one of those subjects was enough for a person to surprise the world. Wang Xu felt very excited. He was more and more interested in the bamboo book. His first thought was this was only a joke. However, he did not expect that the predecessor whose name was same with his was such a genius. Now, the message on the amber box seemed to make more sense. "I am indeed the ''predestined one''. Oh la la, if I can master everything in this book, will I be able to charm thousands of girls, secure the society''s atmosphere, and protect the world''s peace? Not to mention I will become a famous powerful and wealthy homebody in the world". While Wang Xu was so deep in his thought that his mouth was watering. The computer screen suddenly turned black. Right after that, there was a bloody red hollow emerged on the screen; it looked like someone''s mouth opening little by little. Two white holes arose on that mouth. Finally, a smiley face gradually appeared. "Oh, is this a new kind of virus? Trying to threaten me eh? You are not old enough to play with me." Wang Xu effortlessly pulled the drawer opened, took out an instruction book on formatting the system. After putting that book on the table, he stretched his leg kicking on the Restart button. However, regardless how many times he kicked on that button, that peculiar face still existed on the screen. More than that, it seemed like it wanted to jump out of the screen. The feeling was exactly like watching a 3D movie. "Ah, you insolent really want to compete with me eh?" Wang Xu pulled out the power plug and gloatingly said: "Hehe, at worst, I will detach the HDD hard drive". When he sat up in front of the computer screen again, he realized the face did not have the peculiar smile anymore; instead, it became fierce and protruded the head out of the screen. Wang Xu''s Adam''s apple ran up and down. The banshee''s fangs were about to bite his neck. If it were someone else, they might have fallen down unconsciously or been frozen without any reaction. Quite contrary, Wang Xu jumped up aggressively like he was in the dead end. He kicked forcefully straight to screen, then continued trampling on the computer until it was crumpled. When he stopped, blood was all over his feet, might be because he stepped on shards of glass. Luckily, he was wearing a pair of flip-flop so the wound was not very serious. At this moment, Wang Xu did not notice the pain. He grabbed the chair, folded it and then continued to pound the computer screen. Actually, when Wang Xu broke the screen into pieces, the ghost face had disappeared. However, the word ''eradication'' hovered in Wang Xu''s mind. After smashing in the whole two minutes until the computer screen was crushed so badly that it could not be ruined more, Wang Xu finally stopped. "I cannot stay in this lodging house anymore. Tomorrow, no, right now, I have to move out". Wang Xu''s thought completely changed. As things had turned out like this, he finally admitted that there were supernatural things existing in this world. After rolling the bamboo book and tucking it on his chest, Wang Xu quickly stuffed his luggage with a bundle of necessaries, several sets of clothes, then ran downstairs. On the way out, Wang Xu saw the business card he had thrown away this morning. After hesitating a bit, he picked it up and stormed out of the house. However, as soon as he stepped out, he witnessed a creepy scene that sent him goose bumps. In front of him, there were some people gathering. Deep inside, he knew those were not human. Their clothes belonged to different eras. There were men, women, old, young all of them were expressionless. As soon as Wang Xu saw them, they all turned around and looked at him. Although their gesture was slow, their speed was extremely fast. They already moved more than ten meters in no time. They almost came to the door. After bewildering for two seconds, Wang Xu closed the door forcefully. The cold sweat rolled down uninterruptedly on his face. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] "It''s not going well. This is Resident Evil in the legend. If this continues, I will be tricked to death". He didn''t even finish his exclamation when two hands of a banshee suddenly grabbed his neck. That banshee appeared in front of him from nowhere and wanted to kill him now. Wang Xu suddenly recalled the mysterious words from Mister Mao: "If you don''t go to the detective office before 4:00 pm, you will haha, I will not say more. You should watch out." - [1] Wey: was an ancient Chinese state that was founded in the early Western Zhou dynasty and rose to prominence during the Spring and Autumn period [2]. [2] Spring and Autumn Period: was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BC, which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou Period. The periods name derives from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BC (Wikipedia) Chapter 2 Suffocation made his face turn red. The pressure on his neck was killing him gradually. Wang Xu wanted to push the hands of the banshee away, but he could not even touch the hands as if he was grabbing the air. As soon as he was about to lose his consciousness, Wang Xu noticed his chest was getting scorching. The bamboo book suddenly flared up a dazzling stream of light. The banshee screamed out miserably, promptly let go of him and stepped backward. Wang Xu fell down on the floor, gasping. After he could breathe again, he immediately stormed towards the banshee. He got enraged. There were two thoughts crossing in his mind: "First, that banshee is scared of this bamboo book. Second, if I have to die, I will drag you with me as the airbag for my back". It was possible to say Wang Xu''s intention of revenge was very strong. "Regardless whether you are monsters and demons, or saints and Jade Emperor, my life has been destroyed; at worst, let perish together". At this moment, he tried to grab the banshee''s hair but he still clutched at the void as before. Thus, an idea popped up in his mind. Wang Xu drew out the bamboo book, hitting straight to the banshee''s face. Holding the bamboo books was like holding a flashlight in his hand. It was just more convenient for him than holding a brick. He could felt the book just hit that banshee. Wang Xu knew this thing was able to touch things which did not belong to this world. It was definitely not a cheap bullshit counterfeiter. He did believe this bamboo book was an orthodox object from the Devil Ravine Man. With that thought, he did not loosen his hand, instead, he held the book more tightly, using illegitimate gangsters'' tactics to beat the female ghost. At this critical moment, he truculently shouted: "You are such an ugly grown-up, dare to come here to threaten and strangle me! I don''t care if you are a natural element[1] or not. You shouldn''t think that if I cannot physically assault you, I am scared of you". There was an anomalous scene happening in the room: a young man was holding a bamboo slip and beating a ghost so hard that its teeth fell out on the floor. While Wang Xu was hitting the ghost so hard as if he was addicted to it, his eyes suddenly saw something which he did not want to see. There was an old man whose half of the body was ''going through'' the door and then entering the room. After that, on the wall and through the window, more than ten ''elderly fellow flocks'' started to rush in. Only in a short careless moment, Wang Xu had been pushed to the corner. He raised the Devil Subduing Journal in his hand to resist, but it was like a person struggled among a flock of wolves waving his torch. Fortunately, those ghosts were wary of the bamboo book; none of them dared to come closer. They only stood there watching. This made him have a feeling of ''mightily onlooking''. "Hey, little boy. Seems you are still alive. Did you see any abnormal thing in a while?". A lazy voice came up in Wang Xu''s head. "You, where are you? What is happening? Help me please!" Wang Xu shouted his reply, fussing to search for where the voice just came out. He knew that voice was Mister Mao''s because this voice was unforgettable. It gave people an image of a sleepy face. Moreover, for anyone witnessed this kind of peculiar thing, he would know that only the detective who was ''specializing in investigating mysteries'' could be trustworthy to be relied on. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] "Oh, me? I am in the detective office, this tactic is the Voice Transfer Thousand Miles, which can make a sound come up in your head. Hahaha, is it extraordinary?" "Yes, it is extraordinary. This elder is about to die! You knew this thing would happen since yesterday but you did not tell me? Instead, you said something about 4:00 p.m to fool me". "Haizzz, youth in this generation. Even though I am still young, I am still several years older than you. Therefore, you calling yourself ''elder man'' is a little bit too soon. Now, I will tell you one thing, and you have to listen carefully because I will only say it once". Mister Mao ceased a while after saying those words. Wang Xu clearly heard a sound of a deep puff at a cigarette. The fire was burning, yet that Mister Mao could be still very calm. Although Wang Xu was really mad, the story from Mister Mao might be related to his life, so he kept silent restraining his anger. After Mister Mao puffed at the cigarette in a very long time as if one thousand years had passed, he deliberately spoke up: "At 3:00 a.m this morning, I could feel there was a vigorous spirit item waking up. Every time this kind of spirit item awoke, it would create a strange upheaval. The more powerful this spirit item is, the more effective this upheaval can be. Because not many people in this city could have spirit items like this, I assume I personally should go to see it. As the result, I saw you digging on the other side, thus I thought you have been chosen by a spirit item. However, you look like just an ordinary person, I was afraid you could not resist against the ghosts'' pursuit after 12 hours. That''s why I decided to help you by leaving my business card to you. If you found the detective office, you would have been safe. Regretfully, you did not actually want to receive my help". "Bullshit! Your damn business card does not have any address on it. How can I find you? Going all around the earth?" "Hahaha, it is so. I understood. Now, you go to the window and throw the bamboo book out". "What? You want me to die, don''t you? No worries, still, I am going to die even I have it in my hand. Wait until I become a devil, I will not get off you". "Because after this treasure appears, it will make an earth-shaking change, frightening all ghosts and devils. That''s why those ghosts don''t want human beings to have that treasure. You just need to throw it away, they have no more reason to harm you". "Alright, I believe you this time." While waving the bamboo book to threaten those ghosts, Wang Xu groped along the wall to move forwards to the window. As soon as he just opened the window, an arm appeared from nowhere grabbing him and dragging him outside. "Aren''t you at some shitty detective office?" Mister Mao did not care about Wang Xu''s disgruntlement. After throwing the cigarette stub on the ground, he spoke fluently: "You believe in the Voice Transfer Thousand Miles? Maybe because you have watched Three Heroes and Five Gallants [2] too much?" Two of them ran out very fast to the pavement. Mister Mao jumped on an old-fashioned Honda car, Wang Xu sat on the front seat next to the wheel. Mister Mao had already pressed the accelerator even before the car doors were closed. The car ran like a wind. The safe feeling gave Wang Xu a relief. He asked while gasping for breath: "After all, which part of what you have told me is true?" "Except some jokes to tease you, everything I have told you is true. As I did not see you come when it was almost 4:00 p.m, I decided to come over to see. Although I told you to throw that thing out, I actually just wanted you to open the window. Don''t ever throw it for real. Hey, you still have my business card?" [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] "Why do I need the card which has neither address nor telephone number? Shit, why is it?" Wang Xu suddenly got astonished as he looked at the card again. He saw the address on it. It had been originally empty there. "Ah, you should see it now. I think facing those ghosts has helped your consciousness awake. And because you also have the ability of spirit observation, so hehe". Upon these words, Mister Mao leaned over, pushing the door on the passenger side open and kicked Wang Xu out of the car. Wang Xu had no time for reaction. Once he realized what had just happened, the car had run already more than ten meters away. Fortunately, the pavement in the suburb had been covered with a thick layer of grass, otherwise, all of his bones would possibly break when falling down quickly on the street like that. The old-fashioned Honda stopped at a place not far away from where Wang Xu had fallen out. Mister Mao protruded his head out of the car window, shouting loud enough for Wang Xu to hear: "As you already have the ability to use the spirit observation, I decided to give you an opportunity. If you can get to the detective office alive today, it means you pass the challenge. I will provide you a job called ''catching ghost''. Anyway, there are fewer and fewer people in this job". As soon as he finished his last sentence, he sat up straight. After lighting a cigarette, right at the time he was about to accelerate, he saw a bloody face through the rear mirror all in a sudden. That was Wang Xu''s appearance after having been kicked out of the car. Wounds were not serious, only a little bleeding on his forehead. However, Mister Mao''s words had ignited Wang Xu''s intention of risking his own life. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] At that moment, ignoring the pain on his body, Wang Xu stormed in and successfully clung to the trunk of the car. "Such a stubborn guy". Mister Mao mumbled with a smile. "You give me an opportunity? And still, challenge me? Let me tell you, you will have no chance to do it because your mother is going to receive a picture of a decedent and a box of ashes. Wait until I catch you" Before he finished swearing, Wang Xu had been thrown up by the car''s drift, rolling in the air. This was the last sentence he could hear while being in the air: "If you can''t come on time, you will die. Be careful". [1] Natural element: A term used in Japaneses animation series One Piece. It referred to someone who has the ability of the Devil Fruit types. [2] Three Heroes and Five Gallants: A Chinese famous novel, a character in this novel possess the skill of Voice Transfer Thousand Miles Chapter 3 Wang Xu quickly recovered his consciousness. Although there were not many people living around and only a few of pedestrians, that scene of a guy running like a wind and then falling out on the street was not something they could witness every day. Consequently, people promptly gathered. Some of them even called the ambulance; others were gossiping while watching Wang Xu''s miserable situation. Someone came over to ask if he was starring in a movie or if they would need more figurants. Blah blah blah Of course, none of them saw "an army of zombies" slowly coming. Wang Xu tried to move his body and realized that he only got some bleedings. His bones were still fine even though he had bruises all over his body. He stood up by himself, hustled out of the crowd and ran away. He ran away towards the direction that Mister Mao had left. The wound on his right leg started to bleed, leaving a streak of blood on the road. Sometimes, some drivers slowed down to take a close look to his bloody face. After running about one kilometer, Wang Xu stopped and sat down on the pavement, gasping for breath. Those ghosts had been left far behind. He assumed that the reason was that they could not leave too far from the cemetery. "I forgot the luggage at the house. Except for a bamboo book and this bloody set of clothes, I have nothing else. With my appearance right now, it''s impossible to have a hitchhiking. There were not many taxis here either. Not to mention people might drive me away!" He looked at the address on the business card again. It was the 2nd floor, number 13, Eastside Road, S City. Wang Xu knew the area around his lodging house pretty well. After estimating the distance, he realized that he did not have to walk for too long, just around from ten to fifteen kilometers. If he did not encounter any problem, it would take him only three hours to go there. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] When he got closer to the center of the city, it became more boisterous. Pedestrians and vehicles were much more crowded. It was about 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. now. S city was a noisy and gaudy city as it had a sea of people gathered in the downtown. Not to mention vehicles were crisscrossing on the streets. After a working day, the nightlife began. No one paid attention to a badass covered with black mud in a sea of people. Wang Xu felt that the method he had done, which was rolling on the ground, was a very clever idea. Mud and dust could cover blood on his body. Actually, it was opposite to Wang Xu''s thought. His suspicious bloody appearance of a criminal had turned into a beggar in other people''s eyes. He still felt very nervous up to now. He looked around with alert eyes. If someone who looked thirty percent human and seventy percent ghost suddenly jumped out from the crowd, Wang Xu would not be surprised. Instead, he would immediately take the bamboo book and hit that one. Mister Mao had told him that this was his ''challenge'', so there would be definitely some demons or ghosts on the way. Wang Xu totally believed in this. Wang Xu was very cautious while walking. However, he sometimes lost his concentration. For example, a beautiful girl was trying on clothes in a fashion store. "Tsk, tsk That body is not bad. The clothes that she is trying on are not bad. The purple thing she''s just chosen is not bad either, and about the previous thing Hey, why do I keep looking at her?" Wang Xu was like he got struck by the lightning, realizing he had passed this road three times. "Why do I have to go on this road for three times?" He swallowed roughly. In his mind, there was a simple yet precise explanation for this. It was ''ghost leading''. The ''ghost leading'' usually occurred at night or in a suburban. We would go around and around before coming back to the first place as we could never escape. This phenomenon existed in real life and many people had encountered it. Lately, a scientist had explained that because a creature''s moving instinct was a circle, so when they were blindfolded or walked unconsciously, they would automatically move in a circle path. Even if they wanted to follow a straight line, they would gradually deflect in the end. Previously, Wang Xu had had a great belief in science. He had even tried to remember the information so that he could brag about it somewhere. However, if Wang Xu heard that scientific explanation now, he would probably say, "If this old man believes in your fallacy, I am afraid I have already died ten times!" Therefore, Wang Xu only trusted himself and found a way out on his own. In fact, his way was very simple, dangling Ah, no, it was to follow that girl who had just finished shopping over there, to be exact. If he himself were being led by the ghost, it wouldn''t happen the same to others. Thus, following others would help him escape from this anomalous circulation. Wang Xu was very pleased with the solution which had just popped up in his mind. He then followed the girl with a simper on his face while trying to remember architectures around to assure that he was not encircling again. Perhaps our readers would want to ask: "Why did Wang Xu choose to follow that beautiful girl even though there were many people on the streets?" In fact, there was someone who would ask him that question. The answer in Wang Xu''s mind was that girl was very charming, delicate and fragile. She might not be dangerous. He believed he was able to dominate her. If she were, unfortunately, a ghost, he would embrace her, then beat her, then embrace her and beat her again, sending her off to the western paradise [1]. May the buddha preserve us! If there was a scientist here, he would immediately do a research on animal instinct from Wang Xu''s behaviors, as he could improve his analysis to be more reasonable. In short, Wang Xu followed the girl for a while and finally escaped from the ''ghost leading'' state. As soon as he was about to change direction to continue his pursuit, he was surrounded by a flock of people in neat and smooth suits, who were very big and muscular with black sunglasses. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu kept startling. He planned to escape but realized that he was blocked. He stood still thinking for half of a day. He still could not remember when he had joined a gang of the criminal world so that these mafia guys wanted to kill him now. He gently asked them: "You do you need anything?" A man in black suit answered Wang Xu in a cold voice. He could be the leader of the gang. "You yourself know clearly what you have done." "Brothers, I am not alien. You don''t need to put too much effort". It seemed that those men in black had gone through a professional training, they all ignored Wang Xu''s babbling. One of them suddenly rubbed his fingers as if he was ready for a fight. "Pretending is useless. You have been already following us through many streets. After all, what do you want?" The voice this time was very gentle. The beautiful girl appeared behind those men in black. At that moment, she pointed to Wang Xu to interrogate him. "Ah, my way just happened to be the same as yours" While Wang Xu was about to drivel, the gang leader signaled others to move forward. He uttered clearly word by word: "We are all security guards with an international certificate. You have followed this girl, going back and forth many times. I think you better have a reasonable explanation, otherwise, I have to bring you to the police station." In fact, this gangster did not act mysteriously. Although he was a security guard, he had been serving that lady since she was young. As his feeling for her was like an uncle protecting his niece, he was very careful and detailed. Wang Xu''s stalking had caught his eyes for a long time. Facing the opponent''s uprightness, Wang Xu had to find a reasonable explanation for this. However, he thought the most reasonable explanation was the truth. "I was being led by a ghost " As the result, Wang Xu appeared in the interrogation room at the police station twenty minutes later. Sadly, there was no police station near the place he had been arrested. The closest one was the police station of the city. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Normally, in that case, he was considered a roughneck and would be detained for a few days. Anyway, he had not committed any crime; if someone wanted to sue him, they did not have any proof. He would be interrogated several questions and detained in a few days. That was it. However, the one who brought Wang Xu here had a higher position in the society, thus, it was impossible to just ask a few questions. Not to mention the answers to those question were not very good. This problem had not been solved yet, another problem already came up. First, the policeman who was in charge of the interrogation asked Wang Xu the reason he had followed her. Because he had no way to refuse the fact that he had indeed followed that girl, so he said something about there was a banshee who wanted to send him off to Shangri-La. Wang Xu thought if he pretended to be crazy, he would be alright. However, besides the interrogator, there was a female police officer who was in charge of taking notes. She immediately scolded him for being a roughneck This scolding immediately became an explosive detonator triggering another interrogating round. It was easy to see the interrogator in front of him was very skillful. During the interrogation, Wang Xu sat on a chair while the officer walking around the room. Then the officer asked him questions from behind his back to easily put pressure on him. This is a trick in psychology textbooks. When someone was behind your back, you surely feel being watched, which leads to the mentality of ''lies would be exposed.'' In this pressure, Wang Xu could do nothing but endure, accepting the inferiority. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] In a short period of five minutes, he disclosed another new problem. That problem did not come from Wang Xu''s words as he had nothing to say but from the bloodstains on the back of his dirty clothes. "You better tell us everything. It was not good for you to have a big mouth. Spit it out! Whose blood is it?" "This is my blood. You see, on my forehead, my neck, my body, and my calves, blood is everywhere". "Hmmm" After listening, the officer nodded. Wang Xu released a long sigh. However, the next thing he said had choked him. "You seem not to be very honest." - [1] Western paradise: Literally means death Chapter 4 It was 11:00 pm now. Many hours of interrogation had passed. At this moment, Wang Xu was alone in a cell. After the blood test, blood stains on Wang Xu''s body was identified to belong to himself. However, the police still did not inform him the result. On the police''s side, they had also investigated other documents about Wang Xu; thus, they discovered that there was the only person who had this name in the entire city. Although they had not found any identification papers with him, they easily recognized him through the pictures and documents on the system. The strange thing was, documents about Wang Xu was miserably a little. "Wang Xu, male, nineteen years old, graduated from high school two years ago, sole relatives were his mother and father, who were dead three years ago. The current address is " A twenty-year-old officer was reporting to the one who had just interrogated Wang Xu. This policeman assumed that he could find some cases like homicides or wanted information related to Wang Xu as he had assigned many forces to investigate and collect information about Wang Xu. The only thing left to do was establishing a special team. ''Ah, we also found out an explosion at his address at 5:00 pm this afternoon. From the field survey, the policemen in charge have preliminarily identified that the reason is damaged gas pipe leading to the explosion. Not to mention when this guy ran out to the street, he got a car accident. People there reported that he got crazy by that time, running into the city without noticing the wounds on his body." As the other officer listened to the report, he knitted his eyebrows tightly, "I have misunderstood him. Perhaps this man has inhaled too much gas that his mind was not lucid anymore, not to mention he got hit by a car while running out of the house." "Detain him tonight. If he still gets crazy by tomorrow, just take him to an asylum. Ah, if his status is normal, just let him go. Such a pathetic guy " In fact, they had just investigated one part. Wang Xu had started to live on his own three years ago. How could he survive when he was just a sixteen years old homeless? Although Wang Xu did not know what was going on, he understood his situation was not really good. The room where he was staying could not compare with the real prison. There were only a table, a chair, and a lamp. His hand was cuffed. Even though there was no one watching, he was not able to escape even if he wanted. Looking up, he saw a window with an iron net. The cell door was locked. The bamboo book was considered his belongings so it was pitched on the table. That book was rubbish in the others'' eyes, but for Wang Xu, it was the only treasure that could protect his life. He still remembered Mister Mao''s words very clearly, if he could not get to the detective office, he would definitely die! [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] This was surely not a joke. After that guy told him to "watch out" more than twelve hours ago, he had only half of his life left. If this time he said "die", Wang Xu would doom soon! Wang Xu gasped for breath so much that sweats were pouring out uninterruptedly. He was scared that ten pale arms would abruptly stretch out of the wall from nowhere. Because of fear, his breath gradually became heavily. He suddenly noticed that he could see his breath. It was August now and the temperature in the south was very high. This weird thing scared Wang Xu out of his wit. He hastily shouted, "Guard! Guard! Anyone, please! Come here quick! I want to pee!" Wang Xu shouted very loud as he felt something was coming. Until now, this was the first time he had this feeling. Wang Xu guessed this was the effect of some ''psyche'' [1]. The ugly face of a banshee gradually appeared behind Wang Xu. He also guessed this ghost was very different from those in the cemetery since this ghost could chase after him anytime. Maybe the situation ''ghost leading'' which he had encountered before was gifted by this ghost. I do not have any weapon to protect myself now. The only thing I could do was shouting to call someone to take me out of here. "Why so noisy? Will you die if you hold it awhile?" An impatient voice came up from outside, followed by the sound of unlocking. "Not too far from the death, da-ge! Actually, not far from the death!" Wang Xu shouted till his voice got hoarse. The man outside thought that he simply could not hold it anymore. Inside the room, the banshee was coming closer. Its arms nearly touched Wang Xu''s shoulders. As soon as the door opened, Wang Xu promptly rushed out. That shocked the policeman a lot. However, as he had heard that this man was crazy, he was not vigilant too much. Wang Xu thought with this officer escorted him, he was temporarily safe. However, as he turned his head around, the banshee was unexpectedly standing in front of him; fangs in its mouth shone off terrifyingly. Wang Xu glowered at that banshee, speaking in his mind with a trembled voice, "You dare to commit a crime at the police station? Hmm, you are very dangerous He dexterously dodged a blow from that banshee. His reaction was not too different from that of homeless martial artists. After quickly glared across the room, Wang Xu noticed the bamboo book on the table. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] He immediately grabbed it. The banshee seemed to be scared of the book in Wang Xu''s hand, which did not look so anti-personnel. Then, she gradually disappeared. The policeman, of course, could not see either fairies or demons. Instead, he was so frightened by Wang Xu''s behavior that he had to move backward two steps and groped for his police rod cane. However, the policeman unexpectedly saw his opponent got crazy waving the book in his hand. The policeman suddenly felt he was like a monk who was only 1.2 meters tall [2], he shouted in panic, "What are you doing? Tell me now!" "I " Wang Xu tried to find a reasonable explanation, but in such a short time, only his ability of babbling worked. He then said, "When I do number two, I need an ancient book to read." Five minutes later, that policeman was standing and smoking outside the toilette. White smoke flew out from his mouth nonstop. He was trying to restrain his irritation. There was a black line on his forehead [3]. Wang Xu felt that if it had been only a little bit later, he should have been dead already. Perhaps a whole flock of ghosts and demons would gather to fill the streets at midnight, while he was not different from an ant in this city. No, to be more exact, an ant, which was being hunted by many hungry wolves. He had to try all the ways to flee and arrive some sh*tty place called ''detective office''. Another ten minutes had passed. The policeman let out a big yawn then looked at his watch, "Are you done now? Sh*t, what the hell are you doing for so long?" There was no one replying. He shouted several times. The dim light on the corridor remained unchanged. He felt something wrong. Would this boy escape from this place? He hastily rushed into the toilette then unexpectedly received a slash on his nape as soon as he stepped through the toilette door. His last thought before being unconscious was, "Damn it, I was fooled. Wang Xu pulled down the brim of his hat, bowed his head, walking out of the police station. The police uniform was quite fit, at least it was much better than his bloody and muddy clothes. While walking on the street, he could feel the existence of spirits in this city. The majority of them was like a peaceful melody without any offensive intention. It seemed they could not give something up so they still wandered in this world. However, there was a soul with offensive intention chasing after him. It was flashing and getting closer to him. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu didn''t need to think to know it was the same banshee. Fortunately, he was not far from the address. As he had had some time to rest at the police station, he now had enough strength to sprint. Finally, Wang Xu arrived at number 13, Eastside road. A bar named "Black Cat" occupied the first floor. There was no dancing area inside the bar, only one counter, and several big tables. It looked more like a coffee shop at the first glance. Seeing Wang Xu in the police uniform looking around in front of the bar, a muscular guy like an electric pillar approached him, blocking his way. "Who are you looking for?" The muscular guy stared at Wang Xu then asked. "Is there anybody here named Mister Mao?" The big guy felt relief after hearing the question, "Ah, you are his customer. You don''t use this way to go to the second floor. Take the stair at the end of the alley. Don''t make this mistake again." Wang Xu nodded, turned around to leave. Suddenly, that muscular guy unexpectedly told him, "There is something following you. Be careful!" Wang Xu wanted to ask him if he could stop it for a while. However, as he turned back, only the closing door welcomed him. He released a long sigh, glancing at the roadside. At this moment, there was no one on the street. This could not happen in such a busy and famous for nightlife place like S city. Peeking to the middle of the street, Wang Xu saw a girl in white dress standing alone there. Her bizarre smiley face was fierce, taking one step after one step, coming closer to him. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Numerous ghosts with white pale faces, or without arms or legs suddenly scattered out from all of the alleys around. The number of them should be nearly one hundred. "Shit! Hundred Demon Night Parade! Also, the appearance appeared so talented. After all, why do things turn out to be like this? Moreover, I am now a wanted criminal because I have ambushed a policeman and escaped from the police station. Perhaps I will be on TV tomorrow. Not sure if they also say something like providing any clue will get a bounty" While talking nonsense, Wang Xu was running into a small alley next to the bar. As soon as he saw the stair leading to the second floor, he hurriedly ran up. He saw two words ''Detective Office'' written on a glass door. He realized immediately it was the address printed on the business card, which could only be seen by using spirit observation. Without knocking, right before Wang Xu was about to break the door, he noticed it was not locked. He rushed into the room and turned on the light. There was no one in the room. Rubbish was everywhere, the desk was crumbling and the sofa was already worn out It was easy to tell that this room was also Mister Mao''s lair. He saw a dagger on the desk. After taking a good look at it, he realized it was not a kind of dagger that could be easily bought in a shop. It looked like more of a weapon on martial art novels. There was a piece of paper under the dagger. "Being able to get here means you have passed the preliminary challenge. I have not told you about several things: The reason you are being chased is very special, thus you cannot hide in any place, only running nonstop can help you escape. What called ''Demons and God Cry'' also has a due date. They will keep repelling until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, which was exact twelve hours since you have been chased. This was also the time when spiritual energy has appeared in this world for twelve hours. So, if you can survive after twenty-four hours, you will not be chased after anymore. Completing the preliminary challenge means you are going to work here. Thus, I need to act like a boss. This dagger is the one that can dominate ghosts. Use it to protect yourself. Hey, do not disturb people at the bar downstairs. It is even more difficult to deal with them than with ghosts." Signature: Mister Mao. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] P/S: After investigating, I know you have encountered a banshee in the cell. Her story is very interesting. She seems to be cheated to death. That''s why she often looks for male homebodies to take revenge. Hehe, we actually cannot apply logic to women. As her resentment energy is very strong, it is more difficult to deal with her than other normal ghosts. Hope you will not meet any other one as dangerous as her this time. P/S P/S: I suggest you use my dagger. The bamboo can only harm ghosts when you are really focused or your mentation is agitated. Not to mention its material is very special; you still need to rely on your own strength. If you lose your concentration, the bamboo book''s effect will reduce dramatically. Anyway, it is not a real weapon. In short, you should be aware of everything. I will come to see you tomorrow morning." After reading the letter, Wang Xu crumpled it up, then ran out of the room with the dagger. His face blackened like charcoal, clenching his teeth and said, "Haha, I am fooled again. Shit! You P/S then also P/S P/S Teachers haven''t taught you how to write a letter in school, have they? Also, Hundred Demon Night Parade and Demons and God Cry? And the banshee has chased after me for a whole day. Shitty all of you, I don''t care if you are alive or dead. Now, I will go out and whack you in in the middle of the market. Later, I will tie up that fuckin'' Mister Mao in his bloody old Honda and push it down to the valley. Do you hear me? F*kin'' jerk!" - [1] Psyche: describes the harmony of both soul and spirit [2] It means to be completely at loss [3] In Japanese Manga, the black line describes a restraint of anger. Chapter 5 Of course, Mister Mao could not here what Wang Xu''s said irritatingly as he was busy with something else. Although he really wanted to stay the detective office to help Wang Xu, everything had happened all in a sudden that he was not even able to accept it. At this time, our Mister Mao is on the rooftop of a building. He was in an extremely bloody fight with a hot chick. "Ripper, haven''t we seen each other for a long time? You appeared to gain more and more of masculine look." "WordyC only teen boys would like to hear these words. I am already a grown-up, I prefer to hear something like ''You did not change at all'', etc and etc." Upon those words, Mister Mao immediately lit up a cigarette and puffed it. Even though blood was running out along the sleeves, he still deliberately smoked the cigarette, did not care at all. His lazy manner was as if he was dozing. "How come your moves are not as good as before? Too much wine and women, huh?" The pretty girl who called Mister Mao ''Ripper'' continued. There was no wound on her body, but a streak of blood at the corner of her mouth. "Haiz, I am thinking if I can catch you later, I will immerse in too much of wine and women." Mister Mao purposely emphasized the word ''Women'' when he mentioned it. Waist-length entangled hair bristled like it was steel needles in her hand. Her face was even whiter than Mister Mao''s. Not sure it was due to internal wounds or she was born like that. "I am not in the mood to fight with you today. Ripper, I will find you again to get back what belongs to me." "Stop! You are an impetuous woman. It''s been five years already, would you be still envious with the title ''Mister Mao'' of mine? If I remember well, you already have a title in another city. Something is like ''Thousand Wind'', right? Perhaps you are just looking for an excuse to dally with me." Mister Mao knew if his opponent decided to run away, he would not be able to catch up. That was why he manipulated her to get on her nerves. That pretty girl kept silent for a moment, then replied him with her somber eyes, "I just don''t want to be defeated by you. That''s it." Then, she leaped up and jumped out of the rooftop, turning into thousands of breezes and disappeared into the air, leaving Mister Mao behind smoking and then lumping down on the floor. "I did not expect that you still remember our old story. It isn''t that we cannot fix our relationship, haizzz." After whining, Mister Mao then look at the moon with his dull eyes that could never goggle. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] We did not know how much time he had spent there before he finally stood up miserably. It was easy to see that he was injured quite severe. As soon as he arrived the main street, he already felt exhausted. Mister Mao sat down on a random spot of the pavement. Not until he opened his phone, he realized that it was already 2:00 am, "Don''t know how the little boy is doing. His psyche did not disappear yet. Maybe I should treat the wounds a bit and come back to help him. If he is still alive by that time, then " While thinking, Mister Mao suddenly found a PRC file, the name of the file was "The Dun Jia [1] Heavenly Book." The Dun Jia Heavenly Book was known as the Blue Sack Book, which had been written by Hua Tuo [2] . This set of books consisted of three volumes: the first one was the Human Escaping Book, the second was Heaven Vanishing Book, and the third one was Earth Burrowing Book. It had been said that this set of books had been destroyed during the Three Kingdoms period, only medical treatments on some remaining pages were imparted. According to another legend, the Dun Jia Heavenly Book did not solely specialize in medicine because only the first one, the Human Escaping Book, written by Hua Tuo, mentioned medicine. The other two were said to be imparted by fairies, which mentioned many sorceries to control ghosts and defeat demons or changing the weather. Therefore, only Blue Sack Book had been completely destroyed previously, not the whole set of the Dun Jia Heavenly Book. Today, this treasure was copied to a PRC file and saved in a cell phone by Mister Mao, who was a quite dishonest ''old youngster''. If Hua Tuo could see this from the heaven, it was not sure how he would react. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] In another place, Wang Xu was extremely exhausted. According to the biological clock of a homebody, staying up late was something like daily meals. However, in the fugitive situation where nerves were highly concentrating, the exhaustion could not be compared to surfing the websites online. Two hours ago, Wang Xu still aggressively wanted to perish gods and slaughter ghosts. He, however, realized that everything in life was far different from the ideal planning to the action taking. Firstly, Mister Mao''dagger could stab the demons and ghosts, but it was still a dagger, not a machete. In a fight with ghosts, although the dagger was very sharp and tough, it could only leave some small scars on the ghosts, enough for them to scream "ouch" two or three times. Then they were all fine again as if nothing had happened. As soon as some of them being stabbed and fell back down, dozen others advanced promptly. Wang Xu understood that he''d better run away. He put all his effort to make a bloody sortie. Obviously, ''make a bloody sortie'' here meant he left some of his blood on the way to flee. The blood came from wounds that those ghosts had bitten, grabbed or snatched him. Maybe there would be someone who wants to ask how much blood he has lost today when he has been chased by the ghost. How much blood does he have left in his body? In fact, Wang Xu did not bleed too much. It should be just a little more than the amount they would take for a blood donation. Thus, he could not die immediately for sure. Not to mention other reasons, which one of them was that a homebody-geek without a girlfriend like him normally had an abundance of blood, so the remaining blood was still enough for him to bear a torturing night. Perhaps, Wang Xu himself did not notice he was stronger than usual. For those who did not have psyche, they should have had been threatened to death thousands of times. Their fear did not come from the cowardice, instead, it was from not having psyche. It was like they were naked under the snow, having nothing to protect themselves. Due to that, their spirit and brain were completely controlled by the illusions that ghosts had created. Strong people could resist. However, after contacting with the ghosts, their bodies were not able to move, speak or scream, it was just like giving the throat to their opponent. Wang Xu, of course, did not know all about that. At this moment, he was running around with a panicky mind. Perhaps the ghosts were still leading him. However, as he had not thought of any effective solution, he had to run along the pavement of an empty street. Wang Xu felt that he was not in the S City anymore. There was not any single streetlight, only some dim lights around. He also could not stop to rest. Every time he took a turn, he was threatened by a new peculiar face; after that, a bunch of ghosts screamed out and attacked him consecutively. The more he ran, the angrier he got. Why could the ghosts touch him but not the other way around? Why couldn''t he actively attack them instead of running away? Why was it possible to hurt them but not to kill them? Wang Xu wanted to know a lot of things. However, silly thought in a critical moment never brought any satisfying answer. Therefore, he was very irritated. If there was anything which stimulated his revenge, he would chop it up into ten of thousands of pieces. Time after time, a banshee appeared in front of Wang Xu everywhere. A flock of ghosts followed that banshee all the time. As those ghosts always appeared side by side closely, there was no tiny slit to possibly sneak out. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu was about to turn back, but he realized that the situation behind him was not better that in front of him. They indeed wanted to push him to the dead end. "This old man will fight with you at all costs!" Wang Xu shouted out loud. At this moment, he actually got mad. With his right hand holding the dagger tightly and his left hand waving the bamboo book, he approached the banshee directly. All classic skills of soldier system of online games like ''Attack'', ''Breaking Muscle'', ''Bloody Frantic Mind'', ''Deadly Strike'' were used. Of course, they were just illusions in his mind; for others, they were not different with common martial arts'' skills of illegitimate gangsters. Wang Xu immediately drowned in a ''tide of ghosts''. The dagger had already lied down on the ground and the bamboo book had lost its effect. Meanwhile, Wang Xu''s nerves had reached the limit, it was like a tensed bowstring suddenly broke. He lied down by himself on the ground. More than one hundred ghosts stormed in, gnawing at him. His pain gradually turned into the numb feeling. Death was probably a way of liberation. There was originally nothing in this world which was worth for him to be attached to. After thinking about this, Wang Xu closed his eyes tightly. A white light suddenly flashed up in the sky. In a short time, the tide of ghosts around Wang Xu abruptly turned into air. Wang Xu stood up on his own, the Devil Subduing Journal was wide open. It seemed that the book in front of him had broken all physical rules. It was like a long chain hovering around his body. Dim lights were consecutively emitted from it. In the situation of life and death by a hair''s breadth, Wang Xu remembered many things. He recalled himself of three years ago. ''Himself of that time'' had unusual eyes because he was able to see things that ordinary people could not see. However, he had never told anyone about this. Wang Xu even denied himself since he was young. He was incommunicable and close-mouthed. His eyes were always bloodshot. In other people''s eyes, little Wang Xu had anomalous characteristics that all of his classmates kept away from him, watching him from a distance. As the result, he almost had no friends. After his parents had alternatively passed away, Wang Xu, by his own eyes, saw them staying with him instead of leaving to another world. One month later, Wang Xu realized their misery. It was not they did not want to leave, but they were actually bound by him. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu knew he was very strong since then. He not only saw souls but also controlled them. Therefore, he used his soul strength to hypnotize and seal himself. He forgot everything, including himself and became an atheistic person. Those eyes now reappeared with plexus of blood veins. It was like fresh blood was bleeding in his eye sockets. [1] Hua Tuo: A famous doctor at the end of the Han dynasty Chapter 6 Ghosts ran away in all directions as if Wang Xu was the wickedest person in the world, who could make their souls vanish in any time. His gray soul was like Chaos as his heart while his red eyes seemed to be able to see every single life in this world. At this moment, Wang Xu''s body was perhaps occupied by his childhood''s soul. He knew he wasn''t alone anymore! Wang Xu looked at hundreds of ghosts surrounding with his cold eyes. After he swung his arm, some rows of the ghosts turned to ashes. His mouth beamed a stony smile. He continued to slaughter the rest of the ghosts, dissolving their souls all. However, Wang Xu himself did not realize how terrifying what he was doing was. Even Mister Mao did not dare to wipe out as many souls in such a short time like this because it could destroy the balance in the world. It might lead to an unimaginable consequence. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] At this moment, Wang Xu realized he could understand the Devil Subduing Journal of the Devil Ravine Man. He not only could read it but also could understand the underlying meaning. However, Wang Xu did not care what was on the journal, he was just trying to perceive the Devil Subduing Journal''s knowledge. Nevertheless, he did not notice one thing. The red color of his eyes had faded since the Devil Subduing Journal had been spinning around his body. Then, it disappeared completely left only the homebody Wang Xu. Wang Xu suddenly felt his body become heavy. This feeling was like something was coming closer again! A giant beast that was as big as a car stormed out from a small alley and stood in front of the ugly banshee. That banshee was very frightened but there was no time to run. The giant beast''s claw pressed the banshee down, making a half-meter hole on the street. Then, it tore her off and swallowed her. It did not show any sympathy, despite how terrifying her scream was. According to the Shan Hai Jing (the Classic of Mountains and Seas) [1], Zheng [2] was one kind of beast, which looked like a red panther with five tails and one horn, very ferocious. Without waiting for Wang Xu''s reaction, the banshee that used to make him suffer became that strange beast''s meal. However, Zheng seemed not to be full yet. He swallowed up flocks of ghosts surrounding one by one while getting closer and closer to Wang Xu. Wang Xu glared at Zheng with his bizarre look for a while before coldly smiling, "It''s you who want to be dead." Then, as his left arm contracted, the dagger on the ground re-appeared on his hand. He mumbled, "Unlimited Heaven and Earth! Universe Seized Magic!" The dagger abruptly emitted dazzling lights. As Wang Xu''s fingers pointed out, the dagger projected quickly towards Zheng like priests threw their flying swords at their discretion. However, what happened next was unbelievable. Zheng swallowed up the dagger which was approaching towards its face. "Hey, listen, brother, hm, can you give it back to me?" His strike didn''t work and his image of an able man was totally a failure. The bamboo book returned to its original shape and fell down on the ground. On the contrary, Zheng had threatened Wang Xu to dead. It just made a leap to stand right in front of Wang Xu and struck its big claws on him, blowing him away more than ten meters. His body hit a bus parking on the roadside and broke the bus''s windshield glass into pieces. Wang Xu sat right on the driver''s seat with pieces of glass around him. He felt the organ system in his body tumbled. It was sure some of his bones was broken. Due to the pain, he did not know exactly where the bones broke; he only felt that his whole body was totally crushed. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Wang Xu spoke to himself that he was about to be unconscious, and after he woke up, he would realize this was just a stupid dream. However, Zheng''s heavy steps were getting closer and closer. It was as if it had trampled his heart violently with each step. Wang Xu tried to hold his terrible pain, opened the bus door and rolled out of the bus. As soon as he fell to the ground, Zheng had smashed the driver seat to a pulp. Because of the pressure of the claws from the top, the facade of the bus was totally distorted and dented deeply. As Wang Xu could not move his arms and legs, he had to crawl on the ground like some kind of insects or reptiles. Now he was thinking that if he could escape even ten centimeters, his possibility to survive was a little bit more. As things were already like this, he had to try to survive! Right after Zheng had discovered Wang Xu''s location, it jumped in front of him. When it had opened the blood-like red mouth to enjoy the delicious meal, a voice came up all in a sudden and stopped it, "Little Zheng! Wait!" Coming along with the voice, a little boy wearing a cap walked out from a dark corner. After evaluating the person lying down on the ground, he turned around and said, "Little Zheng, let''s go." Zheng obediently lowered its body for that boy to climb up and ride on it. As Wang Xu couldn''t make head or tail of everything had happened, he shouted angrily, "Hey, what''s wrong with you? Who walks such a big dog like that without leasing! You also let it run around biting others. What''s your name? I want to see your parents!" Except making his opponent look down on his intelligence, Wang Xu''s nonsense words were useless. That little boy turned his head looking at Wang Xu just like parents were looking at a dumb child. After letting out a long sigh, he said: "Ghost hunters in this city are weirdos. Strength is sometimes on, sometimes off. You even used tactics dealing with souls to attack my little Zheng. Moreover, your are full of evil miasma." Then, the murderous intention hidden under his cap rose up again. "Haha, not everyone is as bad as him. This is a special exception." It was uncertain when Mister Mao had appeared at the scene. The little boy was stiff. He had not noticed anyone coming close. That person should be very powerful. "You are Mister Mao, the person who manages this city?" The little boy''s voice was very threatening. Mister Mao did not answer, he lighted a cigarette instead. He then carried Wang Xu on his back, slowly disappeared out of the little boy''s sight. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] "Humph, just pretending. Anyway, I am just passing by, no need to be nosy." The little boy patted Zheng''s head. This beast slight growled towards the direction that Mister Mao had just left, then stormed into the darkness. A long boring day of Wang Xu came to the end. This was the first day he had entered the world of ghost hunters, and also started the first day of his chain of mournful days that no words could describe. If he had known that he would have been so miserable like this, he probably chose to rest in peace forever. Destinies of many people began to change from today. There were so many things that human shouldn''t know also appeared and many stories started to be told since this day. C [1] The Classic of Mountains and Seas or Shan Hai Jing, formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching, is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and myth. [2] Zheng: a name of a beast. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o0o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello guys, Here you go, another chapter posted to satisfy your thirst for curiously knowing what would happen next. Since today, our MCs life has turned to a different path, which, let I tell you, is very thrilling and mind-blowing. Actually, this new life brings the best out of our MC, which hes never noticed he ever possesses. Stay with us and find out together. Please please please, I need more votes and views to keep this novel rolling. I really like it and want to share it with all of you. So please share it, talk about it, promote it. I guarantee you will be never disappointed. A BIG heart for you all. Chapter 7 The sunlight at noon in August was merciless as they were piercing through the glass door and shining right on Wang Xu''s face. It woke him up with an uncomfortable feeling. At this moment, Mister Mao was sitting and smoking behind his desk. As soon as he saw Wang Xu awake, he said, "Put on your clothes, then I will explain you several things." Wang Xu rubbed his face. He noticed he was lying on the sofa in Mister Mao''s detective office, fully covered with a blanket. After just two seconds, he terribly asked, "Why am I wearing only a boxers?" Even though he had given the question, Wang Xu also had an ugly answer for his own at the same time. He suddenly touched his ass. "I have done so many things," Mister Mao said with his usual feeble voice. Of course, that sentence easily made others misunderstand. Wang Xu''s face immediately paled, trembling hard, "I did not expect you are so starving. Such a pity for my innocent poor body " Mister Mao continued to say without leaving a second for Wang Xu to think. "First, there was a gas explosion in the lodge house that you have rented. I don''t think it''s necessary for you to go back to grab your stuff. Because when I came there, everything has turned to charcoals. Maybe while you were surrounded by ghosts, the banshee did this. Moreover, I have also sorted out some stuff, including talking to the lessor. And, things like the police uniform is not something that you can wear anytime you want. Although there are some tears on the uniform, thanks to the relationship I have with the police through my daily business, this problem has been settled." [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] He had another deep puff at the cigarette, then continued, "Last night, you were detained in a place created by hundreds of ghosts. Only ghosts and ghost hunters can come to this place. Most of the things at that place are illusions so you do not need to worry about being accused of destroying public properties." "So, the little boy and the giant dog I met yesterday were also ghost hunters?". Wang Xu picked up clean clothes that were placed neatly on the side and put them on. "Ah, you are talking about Young Lady of the Sun family? At this moment, her consciousness has left this city. She should have just passed by, no need to pay attention." "What what? Is she a female? A girl?" "Even so, let me tell you, no matter she is male or female, feminine or masculine, gay or lesbian, she will not become your girlfriend." "Bullshit. A person like you, who stays in the room for such a long time without doing anything right, still have the gut to lecture me? I still remember the first time I met you, you wore a ragged suit, a yellow-stained shirt. Even until now, you do not even wear a tie. As I can see, you are almost thirty years old. Those are enough to tell others that you are just a rotten piece of wood!" "Haizz, who treats his life savior with such a harsh behavior? It is understandable that you are still a virgin." "F*ck! Can you even see this? After all, what have you done with my body?" Many disgusting images flashed in Wang Xu''s mind. "A virgin boy and a hot chick are like lipstick stain on the shirt''s collar." Mister Mao blew out a thick smoke, then summarized with a sentence. "Shit! Only you can think of something like that. What is your job actually? Why it could help you not only have acquaintance with the police but also to find out my place that quick?" "In fact, this job requires having connections with many people in all different fields. For example, by getting information from some hardcore gamblers, I know you are not a simple guy." As soon as Wang Xu heard the word "gamblers", he immediately felt insecure, as the work he had done for so many years has been disclosed. However, Mister Mao did not feel that he should stop there, he continued, "Three years ago, after you graduated from the secondary school, your parents passed away alternatively. You went to look for a job at a casino managed by a guy named Qin. It was said that you were a well-known and an excellent dealer even without any cheating machine. In front of other people''s wide-open eyes, you could still deliberately change cards without anyone''s notice." "Who told you that? Don''t talk rubbish, I am an honest citizen!" Even though he knew that explanations were useless, Wang Xu still tried to keep his resistant attitude to solve problems. "No worries. Anyway, you have just stopped doing it recently. If I have turned you in to the police, I would not have cleaned up your mess. And if I want you to die, you should be dead long time ago. The reason why I saved you is that I want you to work for me." "What if I don''t agree?" Mister Mao did not answer. Instead, he picked up the Devil Subduing Journal on the table and change to another topic which related to it, "On this Devil Subduing Journal, many lost marvelous tactics of the Devil Ravine Man have been recorded. There is even some useful knowledge in the ghost hunting world. This book has chosen you, thus only you can learn those tactics. Even though others could translate them, they still could not perceive the underlying meaning." "You have not answered my question!" Mister Mao kept ignoring that sentence successfully. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] "Now, you have become a member of this detective office. I will teach you some basic knowledge in the coming time so as you can defend yourself. Last time, what you used to attack those wandering souls in front of the mysterious beast was so immature." "Hey, should you have a limit in ignoring other''s words?" "After one week, you will have to start your work. I hope you can learn well to avoid getting killed in action on your first trial. Ah, right! You have slept for more than thirty hours. You should go to the bar downstairs to eat something." Mister Mao walked out of the room while talking. In addition to ignoring the point that Wang Xu was getting on his nerves, Mister Mao also naturally gave him orders. After carefully considering his current situation as a broke homeless, Wang Xu decided to wait for several days more before he could have a chance to flee away. Three days had passed just in a blink. In these days, Wang Xu had a different look about Mister Mao. This man was totally not as bad as what he showed. During the time Wang Xu had been unconscious, Mister Mao had not stayed in the office. Instead, he had gone out to solve Wang Xu''s problems. He just got back at that noon. He had even also treated Wang Xu''s wounds. Moreover, since Wang Xu had a place in the bar ''Black Cat'', he knew the name of the big guy that he used to meet was Meng Hong, who was a security as well as running errands. The owner of ''Black Cat'' was a bold old man, whose name was Wu GuangZong. This old man always kept a calm complexion on his face and wore only a western shirt with a tie. Most of the people coming to the bars had ferocious appearances, but there was not any tussle happening. It seemed that this place had gotten out of the map of low-level gangsters and directly entered the level of ''heroes of the continent and forest''. The noteworthy thing was even though people coming here had intimidating appearances, all of them addressed the owner as ''Uncle Wu'' respectfully, and so did Mister Mao. Wang Xu also realized that both Uncle Wu and Meng Hong called Mister Mao ''Gu Chen''. After asking Mister Mao, he knew that Mister Mao was only the title for the chief of the ghost hunters in this city. Each city had one chief like that. In fact, if something serious happened, they would be the first one who got burned alive. Not to mention that the ghost hunters never used their real names because they were afraid of their ancestors in the hades would be affected. Therefore, most of them used a title instead of their real names. That was an unwritten law. In fact, the ghost hunters could not know what happened in the hades. Their job was to help innocent people to live their happy life without being bothered by ghosts or devils. To be able to become a ghost hunter, one should have a predecessor to guide him. Those who were predecessors had dignity, capacity, and the ''ready-to-sacrifice'' thought. [This translations copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com] Congratulations! You have just entered a profession that had no way back. In the past few days, Wang Xu had realized that the Devil Subduing Journal, which he had read and perceived, currently became a blank book. There were not things like the ''Unlimited Heaven and Earth, Universe Seized Magic'' or something. Then he, a humble human, had to conclude that he used to have terrifying power in his childhood. Only when he could return to that state, his potential would be extended to the ultimate. Therefore, he was more consistent with the decision of getting out of this f*cking ghost hunting job. One week had quickly passed. Wang Xu had learned a lot of foundation knowledge, but he still had the intention of fleeing away. Wang Xu liked boisterous things. For example, he had chosen the title ''3000$ for your life'' for his own. Regretfully, that title had been rejected by Mister Mao. The reason was simple. "If I say it out, I will lose my face." On the day that Wang Xu chose the title ''Devil Ravine Man'' for himself to join the ghost hunting world, he also knew his first mission from Mister Mao. It had to be said that this was a perfect trap created for Wang Xu personally. He could not help but jump into this. Chapter 8 Mister Mao had assigned Wang Xu the first mission, which was going to a school to investigate a murder case that happened twenty years ago. At that time, due to no clues, the case hadn''t had any progress. With the same reason, more bloody cases had been followed in twenty years later. "What? You want me to enroll in the Soaring Wings Institution?" As soon as Wang Xu shouted and asked this question, Mister Mao knew he had already got trapped. The Soaring Wings Institution was a university located in the S City. This was no longer an ordinary school. It was a giant tree of the knowledge. Being a student who studied in this old school could prove one thing: either they were geniuses who had passed the inhuman exam or they belonged to rich and powerful families. Every year, graduates from the Soaring Wings Institution were nearly on top of the pyramid of the society. Regardless medicine, chemistry, astronomy, education, business or politics, even military and philosophy, all of them had received and admitted the exceptional contributions of this school. Although the library of this school was not as good as the ones in England, professors of this school were extremely outstanding. Teaching facilities and classroom quality of this school could be classified as five-star resorts. It was so luxurious and flashy that golden bachelors, elegant ladies, or idol stars felt inferior and worthless compared to it. Exceptional students in the Soaring Wings Institution were only considered ordinary students, and ordinary students could not exist in this Institution. Numerous powerful bureaucrats tried their best to get their children into this gilded school. The graduation diploma of this school was like a superman''s passport. While Mister Mao was explaining eagerly, Wang Xu got affected by his words and temporarily delayed his fleeing plan. "So tell me if the mission this time is dangerous or not?" Wang Xu hesitatively asked. Mister Mao bowed his head to light a cigarette. With this gesture, his bangs had covered his whole face that Wang Xu did not notice a tricky smile hidden behind his hair. "Ah, it''s not dangerous at all. Frankly, twenty years ago, there was a passionate couple, who were madly in love. They encountered some difficulties and then died. Recently, they have jumped out and scared people without any known reason. This mission is very easy to be accomplished. You just need to disguise yourself as a student to learn about the high-class life, and enhance your basic knowledge of Devil Ravine Arts by the way. In the school library, you can look up some documents from the Warring States Period. You can translate and study based on them." At that time, of course, Mister Mao had convinced Wang Xu. However, he felt a little strange. If Mister Mao let him have that big benefit, there were surely some problems here, "If it is that simple, why don''t you do it yourself?" "Hehe, I am more than thirty years old now. This senile uncle cannot disguise as a student. Not to mention ghost hunting happens only at night. Of course, I can sneak in to investigate, but I have a mission, which is as strict as the protecting leaders of the country. I am afraid I can''t be back on time. Not to mention it is not practical to find out the investigating place at night. If you can disguise as a student of the school, it will be much more convenient." As he saw Wang Xu saying nothing, Mister Mao immediately added, "Two months ago, you graduated from high school. At the same time, you decided to stop the job at the underground casino. You are currently a homebody, also at the exact required age for enrolling in the school. First, I will help you to pay the school fee." Mister Mao came closer, patting Wang Xu''s shoulders, "Moreover, I will also help you pay the police, the lessor to shut his mouth, your wound treatments, food and drinks at the bar downstairs, your clothes, and other expenses I believe with your experience working in the casino, you already knew what would happen to those who are in debts and unlikely able to pay their debts." With Mister Mao''s favor, although Wang Xu had not really known those things in detail, he still had to nod his head accepting the mission. Later at night on the same day, Mister Mao''s detective office received a visitor. He was even scruffier than Mister Mao. While Mister Mao''s beard was not shaved clean, this more than forty-year-old man did not even bother to shave. His hair was exactly like a pothole. He was wearing a ragged shirt with a worn-out swim shorts. As soon as the door knocking resounded, in the bar downstairs, the dangling glass of wine on Uncle Wu''s hand was suddenly motionless. "An exceptional visitor." After that brief statement, he continued his work. "Haizz, I knew it, I knew it." Since he had opened the door, Mister Mao kept repeating the same sentence with his feeble voice. "I haven''t say anything. What do you know?" The scruffy man kicked away all the messy things on the floor to make his way then sat down on the sofa, taking out a cigarette. Mister Mao walked over to light his cigarette up; he then sat down next to the man and also lit a cigarette for himself. "I''ve known clearly you wanted to tell me about the mass ghost-slaughter, which happened two weeks ago, right?" "So, do you want to explain?" "Recently, my detective office has just recruited a new staff. This thing happened due to the excessive challenge that I have given him. As I am the person in charge, I alone will accept all punishments from the superiors." The scruffy man puffed deeply on his cigarette, then said, "I want to remind you, as a good brother, not a superior. Listen to me, Gu Chen. If you are too sentimental in solving problems, sooner or later you will encounter a catastrophe." As Mister Mao listened to him, he knew that thing had been settled. He laughed and said, "Hehe, I have King WuGuan [1] here, what should I be scared of?" Xue Lian shook his head nonstop, said, "No, the situation has been very messy recently. Do you remember Song Emperor?" "How come I don''t remember? That old buffer is very cunning. Ahem, you want to talk about that elder of great wisdom? Haha, I used to receive a lot of his attention though." Xue Lian did not care about Mister Mao''s manner. He continues, "Song Emperor has gone missing not long ago." "What? Ten Courts of Hell could be also missing?" "That''s right. It is like he has completely disappeared. Either in this Human world or the Dead world, there is no news about him." This news was undoubtedly unexpected. The Ten Courts of Hell was a group of the most outstanding ghost hunters in the ghost-hunting world. They ranked even higher than all the cities'' leaders. They were the supreme forces that maintained the order of the ghost-hunting world. They often appeared in the Human world and the Dead world. If there were some existence that could make them go missing without any trace, it would be something unimaginable. After keeping silent for a while, Mister Mao puffed deeply till he had burnt half of the cigarette, then said, "So, what is this related to me?" "The ghost hunters should pay attention to send off ghosts to another world. Unless it is unavoidable, you can''t destroy their souls. It actually goes against the god''s will." "Hey, why do you suddenly tell me about this rule from nowhere? Is there anyone who follows it? Once being pushed to the door, killing some of them is normal, even killing ten of them in one night has also happened commonly. ''Sending off ghosts to the western paradise [2]'' is never an easy stuff." Xue Lian''s complexion was very strange as he replied, "These are actually not my own words. This is exact what King Chujiang wanted me to deliver to you. She also said because King WuGuan Xue Lian had begged her to spare you, she forgave you this time. There would not be any exception next time." "Oh, since when that old hag has become so arrogant?" Mister Mao started to feel incomprehensible. "Of course, it is not that old hag. King Chujiang of the next term has just taken up the appointment right after the mass ghost slaughter. She is also concurrently undertaking the position of Song Emperor. Her performance is excellent and she has already solved some big troubles." "She has just taken up the appointment, and already wants to throw a cigarette to burn me to death?" Mister Mao came to a conclusion like that, thus his next gesture was blowing his nose contemptuously. He lifted a cup on the tea table and took a sip of coffee which had been cold for so long. Xue Lian released a long sigh. He spoke with a pity feeling for Mister Mao in his voice, "Haiz, she has also undertaken the title of Thousand Wind in Su Zhou." "Ptui!" Mister Mao spat half of the coffee out on Xue Lian''s face then started dry coughing nonstop. Xue Lian totally had reasons to believe that Mister Mao would die because of choke. Anyway, Mister Mao''s life would not be very comfortable from now on. [1] King WuGuan: The king in charge of the fourth court among the Ten Courst of Hell [2] Western paradise: literally means death Volume 9 Another morning came with the dry and sunny weather. Wang Xu and Mister Mao were sitting in a barbershop right n?. Mister Mao was reading a newspaper while his beard was being shaved. Wang Xu closed his eyes tightly to feel his long hair, which had been neglected for two months, being cut short. "Let me tell you, are you an elementary pupil? Your closing eyes caused you much embarrassment." "Shhh, stop talking rubbish. Comparing to the fact that I have to watch myself being transformed in the mirror, I''d rather wait until my haircut is finished, and then feel happy just glancing at it." "Haiza, the kind of person like you could not say something persuasive. Ah, besides getting a new haircut for the school tomorrow, you also need to prepare more stuff." "What else is it? If it is about preparing some good clothes, you go buy them by yourself. I don''t have money." "No, it''s not that. I have ordered all necessities; besides, I have also made another identity card for you. Moreover, as I have investigated your information based on your identity card, I have realized you still have some money of tens of thousands in the bank account. Therefore, I have used that money to pay the expenses." Wang Xu jumped up in shock, "F*ck, after all, what kind of job are you doing? A robber? Ah no, you are a devil, it is for sure. You are not human. How could you withdraw money from my bank account? Even myself, I could not do it without the identity card." "Don''t be so agitated." Mister Mao shook the newspaper then said with a weak voice, "This amount of money has been spent on you, so the debt between you and me is still there." After hearing it, the corner of Wang Xu''s mouth curled up. He felt so angry as if he wanted to vomit blood, "Hey, uncle, when you shave for that shitty bastard, remember to cut his throat as well. The government and our fellows will thank you. This society will be grateful to you. My whole family will be also very thankful!" "You sit down first. Moving when having your hair cut will cause difficulties for the barber." Mister Mao was still very calm, completely ignored Wang Xu''s nonsense words. Wang Xu reluctantly sat down, closed his gray eyes tightly. Unexpectedly, Mister Mao added one more thing that made him even more dispirited, "I actually want you to prepare for the entrance exam tomorrow." "What did you say? Entrance exam ouch, hair has fallen into my eyes, my eyes are itching " Wang Xu had to bow his head and closed his eyes, "Why do I have to take the entrance exam?" After turning another page of the newspaper, Mister Mao asked him with a despise voice, "Do you have the amount of money with more than nine digits?" "I just knew that an asshole has just robbed all my money." Mister Mao continued to ask, "Do you have any direct connection with senior executives?" "My whole family has only one left, and this person is doing a job which ordinary people do not ever want to do." Mister Mao kept asking, "Do you have royal blood?" "If I did, I would not hesitate to bite you to death." Mister Mao released a sigh, "You have neither of them, that''s why you need to get into the school with your real ability." "Fuckin'' real ability! I thought you have prepared everything. I only need to go there and read books. It turns out that I have to take the entrance exam by myself. Shit! The entrance exam of the Soaring Wings Institution is totally different with the ones of other universities. It is said that only the second-year students of Stanford are able to pass that exam. Not to mention during three years in high school, everything I did in the morning was sleeping and sleeping. At night, ah, I had an overtime job at night. Graduating from high school was already unimaginable. You really want to kill me, do you?" After listening to him, Mister Mao unexpectedly replied in calm, "I''ve even known one thing. Although you have not taken the university entrance examination, you''ve got maximum scores for all subjects at the high school graduation examination. It seems you have expertise in gambling cheating as well as cheating in examinations. So, should I call you ''Gamble God'' now?" As his weakness had been exactly pointed out, Wang Xu was so embarrassed that he got angry, "It was just because there were only a few days to prepare, not to mention the knowledge was limited in some specific scopes. This time, I do not have any idea of what the test will be. So, how can I cheat? If it was that easy to cheat, I should have already taken the university entrance examination." However, Mister Mao did not give Wang Xu any chance to refuse at all, "That is your problem. I''ll just wait for your good news tomorrow." Wang Xu was actually a smart boy. When he was young, he felt that study and examinations were very simple and easy. He possibly got high scores without putting all of his efforts. However, he couldn''t have it both ways. Three years ago, the clever and cranky Wang Xu became the discouraging Wang Xu. In the next three years, he had learned thousands of superior gambling techniques but not any books. Consequently, on the next day, Wang Xu had got into the floor where the entrance exam took place with insecure feelings. He was now a person walking to the dead end, as there was no way to go back. Mister Mao had used all of the money in his bank account for his enrollment as well as preparation for his student life. Besides, Mister Mao had also had a headmaster of some high school written a recommendation letter for Wang Xu. In addition to all kinds of conditions to be able to enroll in the Soaring Wings Institution that Mister Mao had already mentioned, it was not easy to be qualified enough to take the entrance exam. Examinees should be at the right age and have recommendation letters written by headmasters of dozens of appointed schools in the entire country. Wang Xu looked at the recommendation letter on his hand. He only knew that the headmaster who had written this letter was not the one of his old high school. He was perhaps a friend of Mister Mao and had already rifled a lot of money from this. As only one student could be nominated every year, he would surely never do it for a strange guy like Wang Xu for free. Those tossing thoughts hovered around in Wang Xu''s mind. After handing the letter to the officer to check his identity, he entered the examination room with a drooping appearance. Even though he had thought about dozens of ways of cheating, peeping was the most feasible way for now. This cheating way might be one of the most difficult and dangerous ones. It even reached the supreme stage, failure or success depended on the only one-time action. At this moment, Wang Xu did not notice there was a pair of eyes looking at him anxiously. This look contained fear, doubt and came right from his exam room. Wang Xu sat on his seat, releasing a long sigh. There were more than four hundred students joining the entrance examination of the Soaring Wings Institution every year. The maximum number of students who passed the exam in one year was three hundred. The other one hundred was crossed out. "Hope I would sit next to a nerd who is one of the top one hundred bookworms." He quietly whined. Right now, Wang Xu was sitting at the corner of the last row. This was a very good location for his plan. The target for him to peep was just one person sitting next to him. Upon thinking about this, he turned his head around to look at the person sitting next to him. That was a female student wearing an orange shirt with a jean. Although her clothes had nothing special, her body shape was attractive. From his seat, he could see her body was very well proportioned with her showed off breasts. This made Wang Xu feel dry on his throat. With the sunlight shone on her face, he could see her long hair was as smooth as a running flow of water and her snow-white skin. Her eyes and nose got him stunned for a while. "This is for sure a young lady; her talent and outward look are perfect. Even though she could have enrolled the school relying on her family condition, she still chose to take the exam." Wang Xu started to imagine. The good thing was what he had guessed was somehow correctly. While his mind was still vague, Wang Xu realized that the girl was trying to cover her face as much as possible as if she was afraid of him. She actually had become the focus of everyone in the exam room. However, all they had done was secretly glancing at her. In the contrary, after looking at her with his mouth watering and eyes wide open, Wang Xu even scanned her body from top to toe without any respect. Thus, some male students who were wearing glasses with intellectual appearances were about to scold him. "Ah, it''s you." Wang Xu suddenly screamed. That girl was so frightened that she did not dare to utter a word. It turned out that she was the girl whom Wang Xu had followed on the Hundred Demon Night Parade. Today, it was sure that her security guards were outside awaited. For the girl, when she saw Wang Xu, she was also very surprised. She even thought that that stalker had come here to take revenge on her. On that day, because she had been protected by her guards, she had not been afraid of Wang Xu. But now, seeing him entering the same room, sitting next to her, she was so terrified that she wanted to burst into tears. His image of a ruffian had grown roots in her heart. Therefore, she did not understand how come he could enter this exam room. Right now, his scream proved that he had already recognized her. She started to feel more puzzled and frightened. Fortunately, the supervisor just entered the room, clearing his throat to attract everyone''s attention. In fact, Wang Xu did not think as much as she did. He just assumed that a person like her could not affect his superior cheating technique. At this moment, he put all his mind focusing on the superior technique ''killing look'' to compete with him. Chapter 10 After the invigilator had given a boring speech, the examination officially started. The exam took place in the morning and the afternoon and took three hours for each session. The test was like a ''personnel record''. Wang Xu''s first reaction after reading the test was screwed! This test was a combination of different subjects including English, History, Literature, Geography, etc.remarkably, many questions in the test required analyses and personal point of views, which would totally have been unable to cite it from anywhere. In fact, the Soaring Wings Institution had its own purpose of having that kind of test. As the test in the afternoon was the consolidation of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, the answers would have been mostly fixed. On the contrary, the test in the morning was more about writing and exposing personal analyses. If you skipped some of the questions or copied randomly from somewhere, congratulations, you had already lost your chance to enroll in the school. It was unnecessary to have continued the test in the afternoon. Wang Xu was sweating like hell. Not to mention, peeping was also useless for some questions. Regarding the female student sitting next to him, she was so scared of him that she was about to cry. Each of Wang Xu''s glances deprived nearly half of her life. Every time his head had moved, she would stare at him with her frightened eyes, which discouraged Wang Xu to look at her any longer. For Wang Xu, cheating was supposed to have been as easy as a piece of cake. With many years of experience at the underground casinos, both his memory and sights were very extraordinary. If someone had tossed a set of cards up and then grabbed some randomly, Wang Xu would have known which cards were in that person''s hand. He could even remember the cards in his sight before they had even dropped to the floor. For example, when Wang Xu was dealing cards, he knew clearly of the cards'' order from the beginning to the end. The only thing he needed to do was in shuffling the deck so that the cards were arranged in the correct place, as he had wanted. This skill was an essential one in gambling. It could be learned but it was not easy to be mastered. For example, if you found a ''three spades'' card, remembered its order, then shuffled the deck so that the ''three spades'' card was placed at the end of the deck. One would have been successful in doing it after several hours of dealing the cards. For Wang Xu, he could control the whole deck so he was like the king of gambling in the others'' eyes. It could be also said that as long as his eyes caught the letters, copying was considered successful. The next step was using the shorthand to write down what had been memorized. It was like a forgery from a genius''s brilliant memory. It seemed that most of the outstanding gamblers had mastered this skill. However, the situation today made him so angry that he had to clench his teeth, "It is for sure that this girl has assumed that I am a stalker. That''s why she had that reaction. Last time, as she was with the flock of Men In Black, she was very arrogant. Now, she pretends to be dovelike. She was indeed suitable of the title ''Big breast No Brain'' (Chinese slang, an airhead woman who has big boobs), who often bullies the inferior, and gets frightened of the superiors. I despise you to the bone." Although he had that thought, he still had to rake his hair in finding a way out as he was really in a dead end. Wang Xu was unlucky both times that he had encountered this girl. Not to mention that he been misunderstood to be a stalker, twice. Thus, he blamed destiny for teasing him. The invigilator had already paid attention to him since he had started to sigh and groan. "This little boy has been watching the girl since the beginning. From what I have seen, you cannot complete the test; eventually, you will submit a piece of blank paper. Did you come here to disturb the others?" With that thought, he walked over and blocked Wang Xu''s sight. The invigilator then looked at his blank paper from top to bottom and showed his infinite despise. Suddenly, he trembled. The other students sitting around did not notice that his eyes had changed. "What is this? Why do I feel so weird? No, this is not my body. This is " As Wang Xu had got the invigilators attention, he had been so irritated that he couldn''t restrain himself. He then had madly stared at the invigilator. At that moment, he really had been so concentrated that his emotions had dramatically been incited. As a result, he had lost his consciousness. In a blink of an eye, he realized that he himself was not to be in his own body anymore, instead, it was in the invigilators body! He saw ''himself'' fall down on the table, which did not look too much different with him falling asleep. Then, he tried to move his current body and realized that his movements were very normal and natural. Although he did not have knowledge about the ''soul possession'', he knew peeping at the others'' answers now was even easier than turning one''s hand over. After beaming a wicked smile, Wang Xu swaggered to the platform and sat down on his chair. As he looked at the other students who were struggling with the test, he almost burst into laughter, "Write, write more. When you are done, I will pleasantly check it. Hehe, then I will make a perfect copy!" Thus, he started to drink tea and read the newspaper. Needless to say, he was feeling so comfortable now. One hour had passed in a blink of an eye. At this time, as Wang Xu scanned his eyes around the room, he saw that the girl who sat next to his body was tireless. She perhaps felt relieved as she now thought that he was sleeping like a log. He started to walk around. The purpose was to see that girl''s name. Shang LingXue! Wang Xu quietly memorized that name, then returned to the seat at the platform. According to his speculations, after another hour it was the right moment. By that time, most of the questions had already been solved. He just needed to walk around one more time to look through everyone''s answers to make sure he got the right fixed answers. For questions which required personal analysis, he would answer by combining some of the people''s viewpoints. Suddenly, a male student stood up and walked towards Wang Xu. Wang Xu was a little bit unexpected, but he promptly remembered that he was now the invigilator, the head of the exam room. He harrumphed and said, "Student, you are now in the exam room, please go back to your seat. Otherwise, I will cancel your candidateship." "I want to submit my paper." That male student replied briefly, adjusted his glasses then left the room. The other students began whining. They assumed that the male student had given up. Some female students looked anxious, raising their heads and looking around. Then, they bowed again and continued to write faster. At first, Wang Xu also had the same assumption. Unexpectedly, his eyes were wide open as he looked at that male student''s paper. Qi Bing, the guy who just submitted his paper, had completed the whole test. In addition, his writing was very clear and neat; and there was no unobliterated place on the paper. It did not look like it had been done randomly. Wang Xu finished reading Qi Bing''s paper entirely after ten minutes. He closed the paper with his trembling hands. After that, he walked around the room once again. According to him, papers with full of strikethrough words of the unconfident students were garbage. As looking while them sweating, in Wang Xu''s eyes, his sympathy for them was three tenth and the rest was just despising. He totally forgot that he himself, only knew how to copy others'' answers, when he had entered the room. After looking through all the papers in the room, he realized that the other students'' answers and analyses could not have been compared to Qi Bing''s, except the ones of Shang LingXue and a few others. Although Wang Xu had just graduated from a third-class high school, he clearly knew Qi Bing''s answer was far different from the others''. "Qi Bing, Qi Bing. If I am the king of gambling, you must be the king of examinations. I admire, admire " Wang Xu''s plan had changed due to Qi Bing''s existence. He got back to the platform, opened Qi Bing''s paper again. In his eyes, this was not much different than the standard answers. He took half of an hour to carefully memorize it. After that, Wang Xu pretended to doze on the chair. As soon as he had closed his eyes, he could have immediately sensed that his body was in an inky black space. He felt as if he was a magnetic needle of the compass, which always found the South. As long as his soul could sense his body, he was able to come back to it at any time. The invigilators body slightly shivered, then he opened his eyes looking around nervously. He seemed not to remember what had happened since Wang Xu had taken control of his body. After scratching his head for a while, he assumed that he had fallen asleep; he then started to watch over the room. "Look at the room, it is exactly the same as the previous years. It is easy to tell who can or cannot do the test through their faces. Like that little rascal, he has started watching the girl next to him since he''s just entered the room. And now he is sleeping! Hmm, I did not expect that he had dared to do such thing." The invigilator was very irritated. As a man who had been teaching in the Soaring Wings Institution for many years, he has educated numerous students. Although he was retired, he still stayed in the school to take on the teaching methodology study. His reputation was powerful, even the school headmaster had to call him ''Professor Zhang'' respectfully. ''Professor Zhang'' had never met any student like Wang Xu in his entire life. Many of the good students did not have many chances to take the entrance examination of the Soaring Wings Institution. Not to mention, the outstanding accomplishments, studying ethics and family backgrounds were the most important things. Even though reading books in the library was free, the living expenses were extremely costly. Therefore, numerous of the good students were not nominated by their headmasters, who also felt reluctant about it. However, there was a student who had dared to doze off in this ''holy examination''. Professor Zhang was indignant, walking to the corner of the room to cancel Wang Xu''s candidateship. As soon as the supervisor arrived at his seat, Wang Xu made a move. Chapter 11 ''The first love and the broken heart are the same as they are impossible to hide, just like the ice cubes floating in a glass of coke.'' - Mister Mao''s definition. The fact that Wang Xu suddenly sat upright with shining eyes had scared Professor Zhang. Even Shang LingXue who was attentively doing her paper had also noticed his weird behavior. However, after knitting her eyebrows with a puzzled face, she continued doing her paper. Professor Zhang spoke to Wang Xu with a cold face, "Hey, little boy, are you awake?" "Hm, I am awake." Wang Xu replied with disquietness. Thanks to his brilliant memory, his mind was now full of answers from Qi Bing''s paper. "Hmm, the exam room is not a place for you to take a nap. Go home if you want to sleep." Professor Zhang was about to take Wang Xu''s paper and cancel his candidateship. However, as soon as Professor Zhang had stretched out his hand, he was threatened so much that he had to retract his hand. As Wang Xu struck his hands on the table, his fountain pen bounced up in the air. He used one hand to grab the pen and then spun it for another two rounds. This magic-like gesture was not only delicate but also despicable somehow. Its attraction was not less than that of the movie ''Hail the Judge'' of Stephen Chow of the years past. The beginning tricks of dice tossing made Professor Zhang bewildered right in his place. Until he could have gotten himself together, he already saw Wang Xu rapidly writing down on his paper. In just a flash, his blank paper was filled with words. His fountain-pen gently glided on the paper. Correct answers continuously appeared wherever the pen had just slid over. Professor Zhang had to go back to the platform with his irritation, and then drank a sip of tea to cool himself down. There wasn''t time for the Professor Zhang to have swallowed the sip of tea, as soon as he saw Qi Bing''s paper on the table, he choked on the tea and nearly went to see the King of the Hell. (Chinese slang) When the exam was about to end in the next twenty minutes, Shang LingXue was the second one who had submitted their exam. Professor Zhang called Shang LingXue in and asked, "Student, when was the first paper submitted?" Shang LingXue felt a little bit awkward, but still politely replied, "It was roughly one hour after the exam had started. Didn''t you talk to him at that time?" Professor Zhang scratched his head, hummed and continued to ask with a low voice, "Do you know the male student sitting next to you?" Shang LingXue was startled by that question, "I I don''t know him." She ran out of the exam room right after finishing her sentence. As he was watching her back disappeared, Professor Zhang was certain that Wang Xu was an absolute jerk. As Shang LingXue had just reached the exam room''s door, a noise came up from the back of the room. She looked back and saw that Wang Xu was standing up to submit his exam. At the beginning of the examination, her stalker had been sleeping like a log. When he woke up, he did the test in only exact one hour before he submitted it. Shang LingXue suddenly had a scary thought,"I am afraid that he is not a real candidate, instead, he came here to follow me. Because I have already submitted my paper, he has no reason to stay in the room anymore." At the same time, Wang Xu felt extremely overjoyed. Actually, completing this test did not need the entire three hours. However, the prerequisite to shorten the time was to remove the ''thinking'' process. Because Wang Xu had the answers, its arrangement and analysis from Qi Bing''s paper, as well as additional ideas from several of the other candidates'' viewpoints, it required him only a little bit of time to have finished the test. Nonetheless, if he stopped writing, he would have completely forgotten everything; and if he had to do it all over again, he would have definitely submitted a blank paper. Therefore, Wang Xu did not care to review his paper, it was just a waste of time. Instead, he slapped his paper on professor Zhang''s table, then left. His behavior made the professor''s mustaches curl up in rage. As he was walking out of the exam room, he saw that Shang LingXue was running away, he immediately loudly called out to her, "Hey, Shang LingXue! Wait! I have something to tell you!" Shang LingXue''s body froze for a moment. It seemed that either she had wanted to stop or that her heart was frightened. Anyway, she stopped afterwards. "You how do you know my name?" Shang LingXue looked at Wang Xu, her eyes were agitated. Her gentle voice trembled a little bit. She stood at the beginning of the corridor, bowing her head and pulling the corner of her shirt. The glowing sunlight shone on her shoulders and reddened her cheeks. She breathed rapidly as her breasts were heaving. Her delicate figure of a ''descended sprite'' on earth could have mesmerized the others. This image was deeply engraved in Wang Xu''s mind that it was impossible for it to have been removed from his mind, many years later. The closer Wang Xu approached her, the more worried she was. Her fear was even doubled as she realized that he knew her name. "I just wanted to talk to you about something, then I will leave." Wang Xu stood face to face with Shang LingXue. Both were less than a meter away from each other. Wang Xu looked straight into her eyes. Meanwhile, his opponent was bowing her head lower and lower. If there were someone else seeing this scene, they would think that this male student was about to propose to her. Finally, Wang Xu raised his voice, "Firstly, I am not a person who likes to stalk others. During the exam, I looked at you because I had wanted to copy your paper. It''s not necessary to be squeamish about this. Secondly, even though you are worthy to be followed, it is not easy to do so as you have a bunch of guards. Not many people dare to do it. I hope you will not falsely accuse good guys the next time. Lastly, I will disclose something to you. Lets consider it as an excuse to dissolve our misunderstandings. Ah, umm, you did the test very well, maybe ranked second in the room." After finishing his talking, he left right away, leaving her bewildered in place for half of a day. As Shang LingXue walked out from the Soaring Wings Institution, Wang Xu''s words still hovered in her mind. Her guard, Uncle Chen, noticed the strange expressions on his young lady''s face, thus quickly asked, "What happened, Miss? I''ve just seen the little boy who had used to follow you one week ago. Did he bully you? Hm, if he dares to touch one strand of your hair, Uncle Chen will break his bones." Chen Yuan was a demobilized soldier. He had used to do his military service with Shang LingXue''s father. Because Uncle Chen''s daughter was studying overseas, he considered this young lady his own daughter. That was why he could not stand it when she was being bullied. "That''s not true. We have misunderstood him last time. He is not a stalker, just " Upon these words, Shang LingXue stopped for a while then continued, "Alright, Uncle Chen, let''s go. I am hungry now, can we go somewhere to eat first?" While Shang LingXue was sitting in an air-conditioned luxurious Lincoln, which was being driven by her guard, Wang Xu was riding an old bicycle under the sun. Right now, he felt very awkward. He had just intended to tell that girl he was not a stalker. However, when having stood in front of Shang LingXue, he accidently talked more than what he''d planned, not to mention he also felt comfortable with an unknown reason. In fact, Wang Xu''s behavior was easy to explain. He just wanted to tease the girl that he liked. As he had no experiences in any relationship, he had many complicated thoughts about it. Wang Xu came back to the detective office to see Mister Mao relaxingly enjoying ice-cream on his chair in front of a fan. His ragged vest was thrown on the sofa a long time ago. Even though the collar and sleeves were unbuttoned, he was still soaked in sweat. "Didn''t I tell you to buy an air conditioner? And, look how pathetic you are. The Golden Age of ice-cream was ten years ago!" Wang Xu plunked down on the sofa, quickly poured a glass of water for himself. Mister Mao completely ignored Wang Xu''s rubbish. Instead, he looked at Wang Xu with a sincere look and suddenly said, "Is it your first love? That''s interesting." "Ptui " Wang Xu spat out more than half of the water he had just drunk. The rest ran into his lungs, causing him to cough till he cried. "You you khorf khorf you are not human. How did you know that? Even I myself, don''t know exactly what it is, yet you do." "Ah, the first love and the broken heart are something which is hard to hide, like floating ice cubes in a glass of coke." "Hey, those lines appear only in novels. Only you can say something like that. I don''t even know what a kind of character like you was created for. Is it to offend me till death? Hey!" Ignoring Wang Xu''s bullshit, Mister Mao bit a bit of his ice cream and then said, "How goes the examination? Don''t tell me it was not good because you just focused on watching the girl." "You are a God. You can know it yourself, why do you need to ask me?" Mister Mao continued explaining with a weak but scary voice as usual, "Hmm, teenagers during their growing periods are really annoying. Just because of his love, he sees his boss as a nobody, not to mention he dares to talk down to his debtor. It seems like you need to be taught a lesson " Ten minutes later, Wang Xu reported in detail the whole cheating process, and by the way, asked for instructions from his superior. After listening to his report, Mister Mao frowned and squinted, "Regarding the body possession theoretically, a living person cannot do it, except if you are a devil " Chapter 12 Wang Xu asked with full of surprise: "Hey, is there a kind of devils that know how to ride a bicycle under the sun?" Mister Mao replied: "What I''ve just said is only in theory. Perhaps you are the first one in the ghost hunting world who has the ability of ''spirit'' possession''." "What? This ability has never existed before?" Mister Mao finished his ice cream, then lit up a cigarette before saying, "Let me explain you the theory of the ability to do ''spirit possession'', then you will understand. First, for example, if you were a ghost, and because you already died, your soul and body would lose the connection between them. When your soul possesses the body of some people who are spiritually feeble, old or dying folklores call it ''spirit possession''. However, possessing living people is a different story. Because your soul and body are still united, your soul somehow has a specific shape of a mold. For example, you have a square mold, as long as you are still alive, your soul can be only square-shaped. Meanwhile, other people may have different mold shapes with yours. Thus, your soul definitely cannot enter others body, even if it is a person with a feeble will. Do you understand so far?" Wang Xu nodded. Mister Mao continued, "Living people cannot make their souls leave their bodies. This phenomenon only happens when someone is dying or through some correlative ceremonies. Once your soul leaves your body, as long as the body is not completely dead, the soul still has its specific shape and cannot enter other''s body. Until this connection is lost, your soul officially becomes ''invisible''. Moreover, only devils with deep animosity can enter others'' body. Not everyone has this ability." "If you say so, I am the first one who is alive and still able to possess other''s body. I did not expect I am that cool. Wowww haha!" Wang Xu was very happy like flowers were blossoming in his heart. He did not know why his mind had the imagination of him entering Shang LingXue''s body, followed by other cunning things. "It''s not really true to say so. Most Devil Kings in legends had this ability. Take Hades as an example. He even possessed the ability of ''Walk In''. Anyway, I''ve never witnessed it with my own eyes so I cannot be certain." Mister Mao threw a bucket of cold water (Chinese slang: wake up someone from his daydream) on him at the right time. Wang Xu replied discontentedly, "I see you''ve read too many Mangas. Isn''t it true that we believe in Buddhism and Taoism? We should not believe in things which happen only in Greek myths." "Ah, that''s right. Did you copy the paper of a person named Qi Bing?" Mister Mao suddenly changed the topic. "Yes, this guy is extraordinary. He wrapped his paper up in only one hour. Perhaps I would rely on him again in the afternoon." Said Wang Xu. "Hmm, if the second Young Master of the Qi family has a hand in this, your mission is actually very easy." Mister Mao bowed his head as if he was thinking about something. "The second Young Master of the Qi family? Do you know him?" "Ah, I have met him several times. Talking about his background, he''s started the career ten years earlier than me. When I was just a beginner, he''s been already famous." After listening, Wang Xu was in shock. "That Qi Bing looks no way more than twenty years old, yet he''s started his career ten years earlier than Mister Mao. Could he even catch ghosts inside his mother''s belly?" Understanding his suspicions, Mister Mao explained, "I understand what you are thinking. It is true that the second Young Master of the Qi family began this career when he was three years old, which was sixteen years ago. This person is indeed a genius in Qi family''s, which appears each one hundred years. Since he was young, he''s always tried his best to have a position in Ten Courts of Hell. If comparing to a homebodies ideal like yours, it is like chalk and cheese." Wang Xu got irritated, "Huh, what the hell is like chalk and cheese? Don''t you see yourself right now? Yet, you are still mocking me." "Oh, are you talking about me? In fact, six years ago, I was originally a student who graduated from Medical University with an excellent grade certificate. After only one year since I have started my career, I have got the title ''Mister Mao''. At that time, I did not expect other people in the ghost hunting world seeing me as a new genius." Wang Xu continued scanning Mister Mao with immensely scornful eyes, "Your appearance should fail many people''s expectations." Mister Mao ignored Wang Xu''s comments as he probably wanted to hide something. He continued, "The second Young Master of the Qi family is outstanding, his title is ''Silver Fangs''. When he was ten years old, he had a chance to receive the title ''Tao Mu'' of the city T. However, as he did not see himself qualified enough, he refused the proposition. His capacity and mercy were absolutely not inferior to that of this humble guy, I mean myself. If he came to the Soaring Wings Institution today, you and I would have a good movie to watch." "Let''s be entertained by a good movie as you said. Anyway, money has been spent, I have to enjoy university student''s life." Wang Xu straightened his shoulders and stood up while speaking, "You have to drive me to the Soaring Wings Institution this afternoon. I don''t want to ride bicycle around under the sun." The next test started at 2:00 pm. When he arrived, he looked not much different from a shriveled tree trunk. More than four hundred students in the morning now roughly halved. Many of them knew they were not qualified for the afternoon''s session just after they re-entered the school in the afternoon. They couldn''t do anything but go back bitterly. As the exam room was changed, Wang Xu did not see Shang LingXue or professor Zhang anymore. Luckily, he was still in the same room with Qi Bing, and even sat in front of him. Thus, if he could not get the maximum scores, his scores would not be much different from the highest one. During the lunch break, Wang Xu had tried to possess many different people. However, the results were a complete failure. He''d tried to do it on either a beggar on the street, a drunkard, or a guy who looked like professor Zhang The problem was that except those people had noticed his sharp and deceitful eyes, nothing had happened. By that time, Wang Xu had realized only when his state and spirit were at the ultimate, plus the luck, he would be possibly successful. This kept bothering him a lot. This time, Qi Bing was even more exceptional. He needed only forty minutes to submit his paper, so did Wang Xu, who closely followed Qi Bing to submit his paper as well. Wang Xu did not know what the invigilator would say when he saw the correct and exactly identical of their two papers. After both of them left the exam room, Qi Bing who was walking ahead suddenly stopped, turning around and asked Wang Xu, "Are you Devil Ravine Man?" Wang Xu got bewildered; then he remembered that people in the ghost hunting world used nickname to address each other. He replied, "Yes, that''s right. Do I have to call you Silver Fangs?" Qi Bing pushed his glasses up on his nose, his face did not display any expression. "We should address each other by our real names at school to avoid any unwanted misunderstanding. Now, let''s find a place to talk first." Wang Xu shrugged implying his agreement. Both of them went to a coffee shop inside the campus. Wang Xu almost fled out as he saw the extortionate prices on the menu. Wang Xu only sat down when Qi Bing said ''my treat'' with an emotionless face. "Are you Mister Mao''s disciple?" Qi Bing started the conversation. "I am not. I am only an employee in his detective office. I don''t know him. Really!" Wang Xu''s countenance showed misery and resentment to prove he was not lying. Qi Bing felt weird. ''Nobody knows about the fact that although the Devil Ravine Man has just started his career, he''s already slaughtered one hundred ghosts. It''s said that Mister Mao had to beg King WuGuan to settle this incident. And yet, now, he dares to say he does not know Mister Mao.'' Despite the suspicion inside, Qi Bing''s face was still as it was frozen. He asked, "How much do you understand about this time''s mission?" "Ah, it''s simple. Twenty years ago, there was a couple who were madly in love, who had some conflicts in their relationship. Later, it had led to the death of one of them while the other was still alive. Now, they came up and threatened people for unknown reasons." Wang Xu replied by repeating the only description that Mister Mao had told him. After listening, Qi Bing was extremely horrified. "This little cocksucker really has the backbone. In this school, there are at least six or seven spots, which are full of heavy vengeful aura. Before investigating carefully, I myself did not dare to conclude anything. Not to mention three months ago, there were five male students died here at the same time, one of them was a famous ghost hunter. There are certainly many mysteries in this case. Yet, that little airhead talks about it with an arrogant tone considering ghosts just like a piece of paper. Either he is too much overconfident or he does not know how death looks like." "Ah, this is my cell phone number. Let''s exchange information so if we have a chance, it may help our jobs better. This exam should not be a problem. We will become schoolmates later." Qi Bing knew Wang Xu had copied his paper, yet he still said a classic sentence of heroism. The implication was, ''I know that you''ve copied my paper, so I intentionally let you see it.'' Both of them exchanged some more information before leaving the coffee shop. As Qi Bing''s face was always as emotionless as a playing card, Wang Xu did not notice anything strange. It was because Mister Mao had been worried that Wang Xu did not want to go to school for the mission, he hadn''t told Wang Xu everything in detail. This actually pushed Wang Xu into many sorrows in the future.