Chapter 17

The next day, Jiang Zhuochen woke up to find himself unexpectedly confronted with a face so close to his. After the initial shock, his heart leaped into his throat. He sat up abruptly, a strange heat burning on his face, and in a fit of pique, pulled the blanket over Xu Xing's head.

He almost hugged him.

The arm around his waist moved slightly, and Xu Xing pulled down the blanket and slowly opened his eyes, only to close them again as the sunlight outside the window stung them.

"woke up?"

Jiang Zhuochen bent his knees and pushed him with the balls of his feet. "What time is it? Hurry up and go back to work."

With his arm around Jiang Zhuochen, Xu Xing accurately grabbed one of the mischievous feet, sat up to face him, and said naturally, "It's the weekend today, no need to go to work."

"What weekend..." Jiang Zhuochen's mind was in a mess. How come he remembered yesterday was Thursday?

Xu Xing avoided answering, instead reaching out and tapping his face. "Why is your face red?"

Jiang Zhuochen blinked, awkwardly turned aside to walk around him, freed her feet, and jumped off the bed. "It's hot. If you don't want to get up, you can go back to sleep. I'm getting off."

As soon as he finished speaking, he walked swiftly toward the door.

Xu Xing leaned against the bedpost, silently watching the other person leave, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Jiang Zhuochen approached Xu Cheng and, considering the threat posed by the female ghost, accepted the commission nonetheless. "There is indeed a very young female ghost, but she's not interested in you for now, so don't worry too much."

Xu Cheng's heart leaped to his head at the first part of the sentence, then calmed down a little when he heard the second part, but he was still uneasy. "Then what should we do?"

Xu Xing came in with the food his assistant had just bought and handed Jiang Zhuochen some soy milk to fill his stomach. "Has a woman stayed in that room?"

"Almost none." Xu Cheng wasn't quite sure, after all, there were so many houses, and he couldn't remember every single resident.

Xu Xing asked, "Could you show us the list of all the previous tenants of this room?"

Seeing that Xu Cheng agreed, Jiang Zhuochen quickly added, "It would be best if there were photos."

After Xu Cheng returned, the two had finished their brunch.

He handed over the record sheet, recalling as he spoke: "There was only one girl, but she lived there seven or eight years ago. We don't keep photos unless there are special circumstances, but judging from her ID card, her age is too old for her to match her appearance."

Jiang Zhuochen was disappointed, but since powerful ghosts could change their appearance, he decided to find this woman first to see if she was the same person.

He stepped out of the front door with the address Xu Cheng had given him, and Xu Xing followed two steps behind, asking him, "How are you going to investigate?"

"Let's fly on our swords tonight." After seeing the other person's complicated expression, Jiang Zhuochen pondered and changed his words: "Uh, how about taking the helicopter here? But I feel like it's not very fast."

Don't they say on TV that it can fly hundreds of miles in an hour?

“That’s an airplane.” Xu Xing said helplessly, stopping his astonishing act. “No need for all that trouble, I’ll take care of it for you.”

Jiang Zhuochen's face lit up with joy, and she walked over to pat him on the shoulder. "You're the most reliable one."

The two rested in the house for a while, and then Xu Xing received the message he was looking for. He could tell from the photos that they were not the same person even without zooming in.

Jiang Zhuochen leaned over the table, but retreated after a couple of seconds.

Since it had nothing to do with the tenants, the two had no choice but to contact the landlord again.

Xu Cheng said, "If you need anything else, just tell me, and I'll cooperate with you."

Jiang Zhuochen asked, "Do you have any large group photos at home, or even just individual photos? It's best if everyone is in the photos."

"I'll go look for it."

Perhaps worried that the two would wait too long, Xu Cheng returned quickly and handed them a photo. "You can only find my house."

It was a large family portrait, with four generations of grandparents and grandchildren in it, a total of about thirty people.

Centered on the great-grandmother in the middle of the first row, the figures radiate outwards, becoming younger as you move further back, with some even holding children in their arms.

Although their expressions are different, a closer look reveals that these people all have very similar features.

Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing exchanged a glance, each gleaning the information they sought from the other's eyes.

This looks just like the female ghost from last night.

Jiang Zhuochen suddenly thought of something and looked directly at Xu Cheng. He should be the youngest great-grandson here. Although the genes have faded a lot, you can still find some similarities if you look closely.

Jiang Zhuochen became suspicious. "Are all your family members from the past generations inside? Are there any female relatives who are no longer with you or who are deceased, such as sisters or aunts?"

Xu Cheng denied it: "No. Because this family photo is very big, I even asked my parents. They said at the time that it was taken after my great-grandmother recovered from her serious illness, and they were afraid that there wouldn't be another chance. I remember it very clearly."

Even so, Jiang Zhuochen's doubts remained. "Did anything strange happen before the haunting?"

“There’s nothing unusual.” Xu Cheng pointed to the elderly woman in the center of the photo. “If I had to say something, it would be that my great-grandmother passed away five days ago.”

"A few days ago?" Jiang Zhuochen was somewhat surprised. In the photo, Xu Cheng wasn't even as tall as a person's thigh; this great-grandmother must have been eighty or ninety years old. Living to this age was truly a long life. "Did she die peacefully in her sleep?"

“Yes.” Xu Cheng continued, “When the incident first happened, we thought it was because my great-grandmother’s ghost hadn’t rested, so we asked someone to perform a ritual, but it didn’t work at all. Later we remembered that my great-grandmother died of old age, and the family took good care of her in the last few years of her life. She shouldn’t be haunted.”

So he felt that the Taoist priest he had invited was unreliable. He was wandering around aimlessly when two boys pulled him into the shop, and he thought he might as well try anything.

Jiang Zhuochen was drinking water and thinking when Xu Xing, who was quietly standing beside him, asked, "Could you tell me about your great-grandmother?"

Xu Cheng shook his head, "Even my great-grandmother doesn't know much about her. My grandfather said that she almost never mentioned her past, so we younger generations don't know anything about her either."

Jiang Zhuochen had no choice but to abandon the questioning approach. "Do you have anything related to your great-grandmother?"

"Yes, I'll take you there."

Xu Cheng led them out of the house and towards the storage room at the corner of the corridor. He pushed open the door, and because the room hadn't been cleaned much, the sudden movement of air stirred up a cloud of dust, which Xu Cheng fanned away with his hand.

“This was originally my great-grandmother’s husband’s house. After her family passed away, the place was abandoned. Later, my great-grandfather’s family fell on hard times, so they sold all their belongings and moved here with their savings. Because it was thoroughly cleaned, none of the old things are left. My great-grandmother didn’t bring many things with her, so everything that was sorted out is here.”

Seeing that there wasn't much dust left, Jiang Zhuochen stepped inside. "Okay, we can do it ourselves."

Xu Cheng responded and left, and the two began searching around.

As Xu Cheng had said, there were indeed very few things in the room. They consisted of a few sets of clothes the elderly woman usually wore, and some commonly used items; there were no useful clues. However, the few things there showed that the elderly woman had indeed been well cared for.

The two searched thoroughly, and after confirming that none of these things were useful, Jiang Zhuochen collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

Xu Xing squatted down to look at him. "It's impossible to have lived so long without leaving anything behind. If you don't have anything here, go somewhere else."

"Hmm." Jiang Zhuochen wiped his face and sighed, "I'm just a little tired."

"How about we take a break?"

"No need, I'll go wash my face."

Xu Xing stood outside the restroom, directly opposite the sink.

Jiang Zhuochen bent over and splashed water haphazardly on his face a few times, then shook it off and walked to Xu Xing's side.

"Let's go."

Water droplets dripped from her temples down her jawline to her collarbone, slowly disappearing deeper into her skin.

Xu Xing suddenly felt his throat was a little dry, as he hadn't had a drop of water all afternoon, and he looked away.

Jiang Zhuochen was puzzled and didn't react at all. He shook Xu Xing's arm. "What's wrong? Do you want to wash your face too?"

"No need," Xu Xing finally spoke, his expression unchanged. "Let's go."

The two arrived at the old man's former room, which had long been emptied by Xu Cheng's family. Apart from a few basic pieces of furniture, there was nothing else.

The two found the search much easier and soon stopped.

Jiang Zhuochen sat on the ground, propping his elbows on his thighs. "Damn it, there's not a single clue."

This habit of sitting anywhere is not good, so Xu Xing pulled over a small stool for him.

Jiang Zhuochen was about to change positions when he glanced up casually as he stood up and saw that the haunted room across the street was now in his field of vision.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered the scene of the female ghost sitting on the windowsill looking out last night.

"Do you think we should go take a look at that room?"

Xu Xing recognized him too, "Okay."

The two arrived at the room where the female ghost had appeared. An overwhelming ghostly aura enveloped them, and a strong gust of wind blew by.

Jiang Zhuochen turned his head away and raised his hand to block the view; there was no one in sight. He tried to reason with her: "Sister, we just came to find something, we'll be leaving soon."

A voice came from the void, "There's nothing here, hurry up and leave."

“That won’t do,” Jiang Zhuochen said sincerely. “I’ve spent the whole day searching this place, and I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t finish searching.”

Relying on Xu Xing's presence and the fact that the female ghost showed no signs of aggression, Jiang Zhuochen fearlessly walked inside.

The ghostly aura suddenly intensified beneath their feet.

"You'd better clean them all up first."

The female ghost's magic was more profound than the previous two. This time, her ghostly energy was refined to its extreme, allowing her to strike wherever she pointed. Since she couldn't harm Xu Xing for the time being, she preferred to dissipate her ghostly energy so that another part could attack Jiang Zhuochen.

Jiang Zhuochen stepped back, took out a talisman, lit it, and ignited the surrounding ghostly energy, but it was quickly replenished.

"How can someone cheat like this?"

After saying that, he drew a barrier to enclose the room, preventing any possibility of outside interference. "You're using all your tricks on me. What if you run into an enemy and can't beat them?"

The ghostly aura in the air was still rampant, but it didn't increase any further.

Jiang Zhuochen seized the opportunity to raise his hand and cast a spell to purify the ghostly energy in the room before removing the barrier.

He first cautiously observed his surroundings, and after not hearing any further movement from the female ghost, he felt relieved and walked in front of Xu Xing.

"Be careful, and call me immediately if anything happens."

Xu Xing smiled slightly. "I think you need to worry about yourself more."

Jiang Zhuochen was dissatisfied. He was a half-baked cultivator with shallow skills, but in this world he was clearly a celestial master. Who could be as powerful as him?

"There's a lot of stuff here, you're so good at it, you should search around."

Jiang Zhuochen left the rest of the space to Xu Xing and walked towards the bed.

A note from the author: