Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The video was only five minutes long.

It had probably been sped up and edited to extract the key footage.

At the beginning, all it showed was a man asleep in bed.

He tossed and turned from time to time, looking as though he were sleeping terribly.

A little over two minutes into the video, Chai Yuhu, who had been tossing and turning, suddenly seemed to be pinned down by something. His arms and legs began thrashing violently in an irregular rhythm.

The camera’s audio track picked up faint, indistinct sounds of chewing and swallowing.

Chai Yuhu struggled desperately on the bed, clutching his head with both hands. He looked like a fish that had accidentally leaped onto shore beneath the blazing sun and was desperately flopping about.

“Ah – ”

“Aaaah – ”

Chai Yuhu finally jolted awake from the nightmare.

He sat up in bed holding his head and gasping for breath. His face was filled with horror, as though he had witnessed something terrifying.

Then Chai Yuhu began shouting like a madman. “Come out! Get the hell out here!”

“Who are you? Who’s playing this prank?”

“Come out! I’ll kill you!”

But no matter how furiously Chai Yuhu raged or how hard he pounded the wardrobe, bed, and other furnishings, no other presence appeared in the room.

Apart from the suspicious chewing sounds, Chai Yuhu was the only person visible from beginning to end of the five-minute video.

His violent struggle looked almost like a solo mime performance. If Xie Qingling had never encountered the other world, she probably would have thought the same.

Xie Qingling put down the tablet, her expression grave. “Something must be haunting Chai Yuhu.”

Just like the Shanxiao that had come seeking revenge against her.

The entity itself was similarly invisible, but the harm it caused was real.

“That’s our conclusion as well, which is why the case has been transferred to your Department.” Chen Yinghui picked up the hat beside him and put it on. “Director Ling, I have other matters to handle, so I’ll take my leave. Contact me if anything develops.”

“Take care. I’ll let you see yourself out.” Ling Fang gestured toward the door.

Chen Yinghui soon left, leaving only Ling Fang and Xie Qingling in the office.

Xie Qingling asked, “Director, do you need me to go take a look?”

“You don’t need to conduct fieldwork today. I’ve already sent Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu to investigate the supernatural incident involving Chai Yuhu. We only need to wait for their report.”

Xie Qingling nodded, then lowered her head and organized the case files that had accumulated during her field assignments over the past few days.

Ling Fang sat beside the coffee table in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding his computer and constantly searching through something.

About two quiet hours passed this way.

At around one in the afternoon, Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu sent back a report from their investigation.

Dai Xingyu said, “Director, Sister Anran and I have made contact with Chai Yuhu. According to my observations, Chai Yuhu is surrounded by a very strong aura of death.”

“There’s no doubt that one of those things has attached itself to him. The space between his brows is dark, and his entire body radiates sinister yin energy. If we’d discovered this any later, he might already be dead.”

When ghosts and monsters killed, they generally planned it for a long time.

Once they formed the intention to kill and made their move, every strike was vicious and intended to take a life. Often, by the time the Department noticed anything wrong, the victim was already dead.

No one knew whether the thing Chai Yuhu had provoked was too weak or simply used an unusual method. Even after tormenting him three times, it had only taken his hair. That had prompted Chai Yuhu to report the incident three times, allowing clues of the ghost’s existence to surface while also exposing its movements.

Overall, it was a blessing amid misfortune.

Ling Fang’s brows drew into a deep frown. “Find a way to bring him to the Department and place Chai Yuhu under our supervision.”

The ghost had failed to accomplish its goal three times. That was their opportunity.

They needed to eliminate the ghost causing the disturbance before it could attack again.

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Dai Xingyu said. “Chai Yuhu is extremely agitated and won’t listen to us at all. Sister Anran tried to hypnotize him, but when his emotions are this completely out of control, her hypnosis can’t take effect.”

Ling Fang asked, “Where is Chai Yuhu now? What is he doing?”

“He’s at work.”

“Then keep watching him for now. I’ll send someone to relieve you in a little while,” Ling Fang instructed. “At the same time, stay alert and drag that ghost into the open!”

“Understood.”

After ending the call, Ling Fang tapped at his computer and wrote out a long list of work arrangements. Without looking back, he said to Xie Qingling, “Finish processing your case files within an hour, then go to sleep and rest immediately. At eight tonight, you and Shen Huaizhou will relieve Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu. Watch Chai Yuhu through the entire night.”

“Understood.”

After assigning Xie Qingling, Ling Fang switched his call to Yu Wei.

“Old Yu, you’ll handle all field assignments alone today. Have Shen Huaizhou return as soon as possible. I have another task for him.”

The entire Department’s operations immediately grew tense.

They were now racing the ghost for a human life.

Xie Qingling quickly finished processing the files, then returned to her room. She fell asleep not long after lying down.

She owed that to the various incense blends Ye Anran had prepared. When necessary, this medicinal incense could adjust their bodies to the appropriate condition as quickly as possible – including helping them fall asleep immediately.
Tonight, she and Shen Huaizhou would watch Chai Yuhu through the entire night. She would have no other opportunity to rest.

She had to make sure she got enough sleep during the afternoon.

She slept until around seven thirty in the evening.

By then, the sky had gone completely dark.

The moment Xie Qingling left her room, she saw Shen Huaizhou waiting outside the door.

Shen Huaizhou tossed several meat buns into her arms. “Eat while we walk.”

It seemed they had long since grown accustomed to this… extraordinarily flexible work schedule.

Xie Qingling nodded, cradled the buns, and climbed onto Shen Huaizhou’s motorcycle.

At that moment, Ye Anran started a call with Shen Huaizhou and Xie Qingling at the same time.

“Qingling, have you set out yet?”

“We’re on the way.”

Ye Anran continued handing over information through their earpieces. “Chai Yuhu works in the R&D Department at Huarun Technology. We’ve watched him here all day. He only left his workstation to eat lunch and use the restroom. The rest of the time, he was working.”

“Dai Xingyu has already investigated several employees who have relatively close relationships with Chai Yuhu. He didn’t find anything unusual.”

“Chai Yuhu is extremely emotionally unstable right now. When you arrive, try to speak to him as gently as possible.” After a pause, Ye Anran added, “If possible, Shen Huaizhou had better not say anything. His hair is long. Don’t let him run his mouth, say something unpleasant, and provoke Chai Yuhu again.”

Shen Huaizhou: “…”

Xie Qingling: “…”

Shen Huaizhou remained silent and, true to her advice, did not say a single word.

Xie Qingling nodded. “All right. I understand.”

“Good. I’ll wait for you.”

“Right.” Xie Qingling asked, “It’s already seven forty-five and almost eight. Chai Yuhu still hasn’t left work?”

“No. He’s working overtime. Yuanfang Tower, Huarun Technology Company, twenty-third floor, Room 005. Don’t go to the wrong place.”

“Oh. Understood.”

It seemed he was an office worker whose life followed a perfectly regular route between two points: home and work.

That made things much easier.

With so few places he might go, keeping him under surveillance would not be difficult.

They soon reached Yuanfang Tower.

At eight in the evening, Yuanfang Tower was still brightly lit. Many office workers were working overtime, making it look even livelier than during the day.

Shen Huaizhou glanced at Xie Qingling. “Have you discovered anything?”

Xie Qingling waited a moment. When no prompting voice sounded, she shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Let’s go up,” Shen Huaizhou said.

The two entered Yuanfang Tower. Both wore black clothes and long skirts, making them extremely conspicuous the moment they appeared – especially Shen Huaizhou.

At over six feet tall, with snow-white skin and long hair, he seemed to carry his own spotlight wherever he went.

Yet his face remained cold, and he said nothing. He looked impossibly aloof and just as impossibly beautiful.

Walking behind him, Xie Qingling stared at his back and complained inwardly that going on assignments with Shen Huaizhou always placed her under so much pressure…

With nothing but a cold expression, Shen Huaizhou scared off quite a few men who wanted to approach and flirt with him. They made it all the way to Room 005 on the twenty-third floor.

The two went to the pantry in Huarun Technology Company’s R&D Department and took over from Dai Xingyu and Ye Anran.

From there, they could see Chai Yuhu sitting at his workstation.

A thick mass of gray-black hair covered his head. He hammered anxiously and impatiently at his keyboard, his gloomy face entirely devoid of eyebrows.

Oh… so he was wearing a wig.

It seemed Chai Yuhu had not yet mastered the art of drawing on eyebrows, so he could only come to work without them.

No wonder Chai Yuhu was in a poor mood. Without eyebrows, his bare face had lost all vitality and looked extremely strange.

Xie Qingling could not imagine what he would look like after removing the wig.

Chai Yuhu still had plenty of overtime left to work. They would probably be waiting for quite a while.

Shen Huaizhou crossed his arms, looked at Xie Qingling, and asked again, “What about now? Have you noticed anything unusual?”

Dai Xingyu had already investigated, but as a precaution, it was best to have Xie Qingling check as well.

After spending this time together, the Department had developed an understanding of the differences between Xie Qingling’s and Dai Xingyu’s abilities.

Dai Xingyu could sense a much wider area, but his impressions were general and not sufficiently precise. Xie Qingling’s range for “seeing ghosts” was extremely small and sometimes seemed nonexistent, but once she sensed something, the information she received was comparatively accurate.

[A silver horn crowns its head. It has three eyes, a vertical mouth, teeth like sharpened spikes, and a body as powerful as an ox. The Hair-Eating Ghost loves crouching beside pillows in the dead of night to gnaw on hair. This time, it has turned its gaze toward an adult man who does not possess very much of it. Yet the Hair-Eating Ghost especially favors the hair of maidens and infants. Perhaps this time, hunger has clouded its mind.]

Xie Qingling said, “This time, it’s a Hair-Eating Ghost. It feeds on hair. For some reason, it has targeted Chai Yuhu.”

Her gaze drifted almost imperceptibly toward Shen Huaizhou’s silky long hair. Xie Qingling seemed to want to say something, yet held back.

Shen Huaizhou asked, “Is the Hair-Eating Ghost with him now?”

“No. We may have to wait until later tonight, after Chai Yuhu falls asleep.”

Shen Huaizhou said, “Then we’ll wait.”

Once night deepened and the Hair-Eating Ghost appeared, they would capture it.