Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Once the Ghost Festival passed, the Department never again became as busy as it had that day.
Of course, everything had two sides. The frenzy of the Ghost Festival did not return, but neither did the chance for everyone to eat and play cards together.
It was like feasting on rich delicacies one day, then abruptly returning to thin soup and plain fare. The contrast took some getting used to. Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu both developed an itch to play cards. The day after the Ghost Festival happened to be quiet, so the two secretly invited Xie Qingling to slack off and play with them. Ling Fang caught them red-handed and made both culprits write a self-criticism.
After that, no one dared mention playing cards again.
Three days later, Xie Qingling finished offering incense at the deity shrine and pushed open the ebony door.
The street’s noisy bustle flooded in at once, filling the silent office with clamorous voices.
It had rained the previous night, leaving puddles around the courtyard. A pool of crystal-clear rainwater had collected in a slight depression in the dark floorboards, like a mirror laid flat upon the ground, reflecting the drifting white clouds and blue sky above.
Her foot came down in it, splashing water everywhere. Droplets speckled the hem of her skirt, and the top of her shoe was soaked.
Xie Qingling shook the water from her shoe, then hurried outside at a jog to buy breakfast.
When she returned, someone had arrived at the office.
Yu Wei sat at the conference table with a stack of documents in front of him.
Hearing her footsteps, he looked up from the papers and greeted her. “You’re back, Little Xie? I’m staying behind on duty today. Thank you for taking care of the deity shrine for us every day.”
Xie Qingling waved it off. “It’s no trouble. I live here anyway, and it barely takes any time.”
Yu Wei smiled and nodded, then fell silent and returned to his work.
The office was quiet for a while. As Xie Qingling ate breakfast, she ventured, “Brother Yu, I’ve actually been thinking…”
“About what?”
“If you still care about your ex-wife, why don’t you try to win her back?” Xie Qingling tilted her head at him. “Don’t be embarrassed. We only get a few short decades in this life. Don’t let all that time slip away because you’re too shy to act!”
Ever since hearing Yu Wei’s story during the Ghost Festival, Xie Qingling had been dwelling on it with regret.
His eyes had shone when he spoke of his reckless youth. He had looked more than a decade younger, filled with a vigor Xie Qingling had never seen in him before.
He deeply missed those lost years, and the woman he had once loved. The lingering attachment had been plain on his face when he mentioned her. No one could have missed it.
What Xie Qingling did not understand was why, if he still could not let go, he did not simply pursue her again. Divorce was hardly the end of the world. They could always remarry.
She did not want to offend Yu Wei or pry into painful details about how his marriage had failed. Instead, she said, “Brother Yu, don’t be embarrassed or beat around the bush. Be direct. Don’t be timid – have some nerve. If you have something to say, you need to say it plainly. Otherwise, how is she supposed to know how you feel? She can’t read your mind.”
Yu Wei put down his work and listened to Xie Qingling in complete seriousness. By the time she finished, his dark face had reddened with embarrassment.
He rubbed the back of his head. Even the thought seemed presumptuous to him, and he said uneasily, “How… How could I do that? She’s probably married again by now.”
“She might have a wonderful life and be perfectly happy. If I showed up, wouldn’t I just be causing trouble for her? That wouldn’t be right.”
“It wouldn’t be right.”
Yu Wei said it twice in succession.
Xie Qingling felt exhausted just listening to him. With his wooden, passive personality, she could not imagine how he had ever managed to find a wife in the first place. “You could at least try if you get the chance. What if things aren’t the way you imagine?”
Yu Wei did not nod, but his expression turned thoughtful. He was clearly considering it. Then something suddenly occurred to him. “Little Xie, how old are you? Besides, haven’t you never dated anyone? How come you sound like such an expert on relationships?”
“That’s where you’re mistaken, Brother Yu.” Xie Qingling looked rather pleased with herself. “As the saying goes, an outside observer often sees things more clearly than the people involved. Only single people can become masters of love. Someone like me, who’s been single since the day she left the womb, is a master among masters. I specialize in guiding lost souls like you out of the sea of romantic misery.”
Yu Wei fell silent. Why did that sound so unreliable?
“All right, I’m heading out on patrol.” Xie Qingling set down her empty cup. “Think it over carefully, Brother Yu. Master Xie is leaving now. Bye!”
“Bye.” Yu Wei smiled and bent over his paperwork again.
The moment Xie Qingling stepped out of the office, a cool breeze met her face.
Autumn was beginning.
By the seventh lunar month, the heat was ebbing. A single night of rain had sent the temperature plunging several degrees.
Xie Qingling climbed onto her motorcycle and headed for the site of today’s patrol: Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
The hospital primarily handled prenatal examinations, abortions, childbirth, preventive healthcare for children, and pediatric treatment.
Hospitals were among the mortal world’s great crossroads of life, death, and reincarnation, which made them fertile ground for special incidents.
Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital had already been marked. A special incident had occurred there before Xie Qingling joined the team, so the Department had to inspect the anchor regularly to make sure it remained stable. This patrol happened to fall to Xie Qingling.
By the time she arrived at Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital, the sun hung high in the sky.
The light of early autumn had already begun to weaken, losing the brilliance of high summer.
Xie Qingling entered the hospital and made her way to the anchor. It had been placed in the hospital’s medical-waste disposal yard.
She crouched before the Ksitigarbha Statue and covered it with one hand, checking it carefully.
Xie Qingling’s eyes snapped open. She immediately activated her earpiece and called Ling Fang. “Director, the anchor at Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital reacted. Something has gone wrong here.”
Ling Fang’s voice sounded unsteady. “The anchor here is acting up too. Guard Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital for now. If any ghosts or monsters appear, pull them into the Killing Field. Don’t attack yet. I’ll send someone to support you.”
“Understood.”
After ending the call, Xie Qingling paced around Moon Bay Maternal and Child Health Hospital, hoping to spot the ghost before it appeared fully and kill it first.
She kept walking. About half an hour later, the voice in her mind finally reacted.
[A Ghost Infant that cries ceaselessly for its mother, torn from her body along with the placenta. Covered in blood, it crawls slowly across the ground, wailing as it opens eyes not yet able to see the world clearly. Mother, Mother, do not abandon me. We shared one body in life, and we shall share one body in death. Let me die in your embrace, clutching the down-covered placenta, dissolving into a pool of blood within your womb.]
Another Ghost Infant.
Finding one in a maternal and child health hospital was hardly surprising.
As soon as she located the ghost, Xie Qingling spread out the Killing Field.
Moments later, she saw the situation inside the hospital clearly. Shock flashed across her face, and her scalp prickled.
There were so many Ghost Infants.
They crawled through every corner of the hospital.
They were everywhere: the plaza before the inpatient wing, the deserted stairwells along the emergency exits, half-open windows…
Some still had umbilical cords attached to their bellies. Some had no arms or legs. Others had caved-in skulls. None looked the way a normal child should.
Xie Qingling did not even have time to count how many Ghost Infants there were.
The moment she spread the Killing Field, the anchor fixed the ghosts in place. Once the Ghost Infants were drawn inside, every one of them noticed the Spirit Wielder who had intruded into their world.
Besides searching for their mothers, Ghost Infants possessed another instinct: feeding.
So fragrant. So fragrant.
A scent even more irresistible than their mothers’ milk invaded the Ghost Infants’ minds. They stopped crying. They stopped crawling. Every pair of eyes, whether they held eyeballs or empty sockets, turned toward Xie Qingling in perfect unison.
Goose bumps rose all over Xie Qingling. She prepared to fight while quickly contacting Ling Fang again.
“Director, there are quite a lot of Ghost Infants here, and I’ve alerted them. I need support.”
Ling Fang was silent for a moment before saying, “Wait.”
Ling Fang had just killed a Flesh-and-Blood-Devouring Ghost and was about to contact another Department member to support Xie Qingling when Ye Anran’s voice came through his earpiece. “Director, I’ve encountered ghosts here. Five in total. I need support.”
Dai Xingyu’s voice followed quickly. “Director, I’ve encountered a ghost near Gourmet Pedestrian Street. I need support.”
“Director, I’ve encountered one too,” Shen Huaizhou reported immediately afterward.
Everyone, including Ling Fang himself, had encountered ghosts.
Just like on Children’s Day, ghosts and monsters were springing up everywhere like mushrooms after rain.
But today was an utterly ordinary day.
Ling Fang’s heart sank. A terrible premonition gripped him.
He linked everyone’s communication devices and asked, “We’ve all encountered ghosts, so no one can support anyone else right now. Who is confident they can handle theirs alone? Shen Huaizhou, can you?”
After two seconds of silence, Shen Huaizhou replied, “It’ll take me longer on my own, but I can hold them with illusions and wear them down gradually.”
As Ling Fang had expected, there was no need to worry about Shen Huaizhou.
Next was Xie Qingling.
Her situation sounded more troublesome.
“What about you, Xie Qingling?” Ling Fang asked.
By the time Ling Fang asked, fighting had already broken out on Xie Qingling’s end.
She fended off the Ghost Infants streaking toward her like driving rain and hurling themselves at her body. “Director, I can use the corpses in the morgue to fight, but they aren’t very strong. I’ll need some time.”
“Hold them off. Don’t let yourself get hurt.” After issuing the order, Ling Fang asked Dai Xingyu, “What’s the situation on your end, Dai Xingyu? Can you keep it occupied?”
“I can hold it.” Kiting monsters was Dai Xingyu’s specialty.
Every time he encountered a ghost, Dai Xingyu kept it occupied until the others arrived to support him. Only then would they attack as a team.
So this time would be no problem either.
Ling Fang asked again, “Ye Anran, you have five of them. Can you handle them yourself? If not, I’ll send Old Yu to support you.”
“I can’t really handle them, but I’m not in immediate danger,” Ye Anran said. “I should be able to hold out until Old Yu gets here.”
Once Ling Fang understood everyone’s situation, he fired an arrow and pinned down a lesser ghost trying to ambush him, then contacted Yu Wei.
“Old Yu?”
The call connected, but Ling Fang had to call his name several more times. His expression grew darker with each attempt.
After a while, Yu Wei’s voice finally came through. “Director.”
“All of us encountered ghosts outside. I’m sending someone from the Logistics Department to relieve you. Leave immediately and support Ye Anran.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Director,” Yu Wei said.
A deep furrow appeared between Ling Fang’s brows. “What’s going on?”
“There’s trouble here too.”
“What?!”
Yu Wei had stayed behind at the office. With a qilin standing guard there, even powerful ghosts and evil entities would not dare invade lightly. Weaker evils did not even dare approach. What could Yu Wei possibly have encountered?
Ling Fang’s chest tightened.
“It’s Tang Tian.”
Yu Wei said, “Tang Tian came to the office. He sought us out.”