Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The next day, Jiang Zhuochen woke up and was caught off guard by the face right in his face. After the initial shock, his heart leaped into his throat. He instantly sat up straight, a wave of heat flushing his face. To vent his frustration, he yanked the blanket over Xu Xing's head.

He had almost hugged him.

The arm around his waist and stomach moved. Xu Xing pulled the blanket down and slowly opened his eyes, only to wince and close them again from the sunlight streaming through the window.

"You're awake?"

Jiang Zhuochen bent his legs and pushed at Xu Xing with the balls of his feet. "What time is it? Hurry up and get back to work."

The arm encircling Jiang Zhuochen accurately caught one of the misbehaving feet. Xu Xing sat up facing him and said casually, "It's the weekend today. No work."

"What weekend..." Jiang Zhuochen's mind was fuzzy. He distinctly remembered yesterday was Thursday?

Xu Xing avoided answering and instead reached out to tap Jiang Zhuochen's cheek. "Why is your face so red?"

Jiang Zhuochen blinked awkwardly. He turned sideways to get around Xu Xing, yanked his foot free, and hopped off the bed. "It's hot. If you don't want to get up, keep sleeping. I'm going downstairs."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he headed straight for the door without hesitation.

Xu Xing leaned against the bedpost, silently watching the other leave, a slight smile touching his lips.

Jiang Zhuochen found Xu Cheng. Considering the female ghost could be a threat, he took the job. "There is indeed a very young female ghost, but she's not interested in you for now, so don't worry too much yet."

Xu Cheng's heart leaped to his throat at the first half of the sentence, then sank back down a little upon hearing the second half, though he still felt uneasy. "Then what should we do?"

Xu Xing entered with the breakfast his assistant had just bought and handed a cup of soy milk to Jiang Zhuochen to fill his stomach. "Has a woman ever lived in that room?"

"Hardly ever." Xu Cheng wasn't entirely sure. With so many houses, he couldn't remember every single tenant.

Xu Xing asked, "Could you get us a list of all the previous tenants for that room?"

Seeing Xu Cheng agree, Jiang Zhuochen quickly added, "Photos would be best."

By the time Xu Cheng returned, the two had finished their brunch.

He handed over the record sheet and said, trying to remember, "There was only one girl, but she lived there seven or eight years ago. We don't keep photos without special circumstances, and looking at the ID age, her appearance probably wouldn't match after so long."

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

He stepped out the main gate with the address Xu Cheng had given him. Xu Xing followed two steps behind and asked, "How are you going to investigate?"

"Fly there on my sword tonight." Faced with Xu Xing's indescribable expression, Jiang Zhuochen thought better of it and said, "Uh... then take a helicopter from here? But it doesn't seem very fast to me."

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

"That's an airplane." Xu Xing sighed helplessly, stopping his outlandish plan. "No need for such trouble. I'll help you solve it."

Jiang Zhuochen's face lit up with joy. He walked over and patted Xu Xing. "You're the reliable one."

The two rested in the room for a while before Xu Xing received the information he was looking for. The photos were clear enough without enlarging to see they weren't the same person.

Jiang Zhuochen leaned in for a look but pulled back after just a couple of seconds.

Since it wasn't related to the tenants, the two were forced to go back to the landlord.

Xu Cheng said, "If you need anything else, just say it. I'll help however I can."

Jiang Zhuochen asked, "Does your family have any large group photos, or separate ones are fine too, preferably with everyone present."

"I'll go look."

Probably afraid of making them wait too long, Xu Cheng returned quickly and handed over a photo. "This is the only one I could find of my family."

It was a large family portrait, four generations all together, about thirty people in all.

With the great-grandmother in the center of the front row, the people got younger towards the back, with a few holding children in their arms.

Although their expressions differed, a closer look revealed that these people all had similar eyes and eyebrows.

Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing exchanged a glance, each finding the information they wanted in the other's eyes.

This person looked very similar to the female ghost from last night.

Jiang Zhuochen suddenly thought of something. He looked directly at Xu Cheng. He was likely the youngest great-grandchild here. The family resemblance had naturally faded a lot, but upon careful observation, some similarities could still be found.

Jiang Zhuochen grew suspicious. "Are all the people from these generations in your family here? Are there any direct female relatives, like sisters or aunts, who are absent or have passed away?"

Xu Cheng said no. "No. Because this family portrait is so large, I even asked my parents. They said at the time it was taken after my great-grandmother recovered from a serious illness, fearing there might not be another chance. I remember very clearly."

"Nothing unusual." Xu Cheng pointed to the elderly woman in the very center of the photo. "If I had to say, the only thing is that the family's great-grandmother passed away five days ago."

"A few days ago?" Jiang Zhuochen was a little surprised. In the photo, Xu Cheng wasn't even thigh-high to an adult. That great-grandmother was probably eighty or ninety. That was a long life. "Was it a natural death?"

"Yes." Xu Cheng went on, "When the incidents started happening, we thought it might be my great-grandmother's spirit not resting in peace. We invited someone to perform rites, but it didn't help at all. Later, we remembered my great-grandmother died of old age, and the family took good care of her in her final years. There shouldn't be any reason for a haunting."

That's why he thought the invited Taoist priest was unreliable. He was wandering around aimlessly, clueless, when two young men pulled him into their shop. That's when he thought of trying a last resort.

Jiang Zhuochen drank water from a cup while thinking. Xu Xing, who had been quietly sitting to the side, spoke up and asked, "Could you tell us about your great-grandmother?"

Xu Cheng shook his head. "Even my grandfather, aunts, and uncles don't know much about Great-grandmother. Grandpa said Great-grandmother almost never mentioned her past, so us younger generations don't know either."

Jiang Zhuochen had to abandon this line of questioning. "Then, do you have anything here related to your great-grandmother?"

"Yes, I'll take you."

Xu Cheng led them out of the house towards a storage room at the corner of the corridor. He pushed the door open. Inside, due to infrequent cleaning, the sudden movement of air stirred up a cloud of dust. Xu Cheng fanned it away with his hand.

"This was originally my great-grandmother's marital home. After her family members passed away, it fell into disuse. Later, my great-grandfather's family fell on hard times. They sold everything, took their savings, and moved here. Because it was thoroughly cleaned out, none of the old things remain. Great-grandmother didn't bring much with her either. What was sorted out is all here."

Seeing the dust had mostly settled, Jiang Zhuochen stepped inside. "Okay, we can handle it ourselves."

Xu Cheng acknowledged and left. The two began searching everywhere.

As Xu Cheng had said, there were indeed very few items stored in the room. There were a few sets of clothes an elderly person would commonly wear and some everyday items, nothing that provided useful clues. But from the limited belongings, one could see the old lady had indeed been well cared for.

They turned the place upside down. After confirming these items were useless, Jiang Zhuochen, exhausted, plopped down on the floor.

Xu Xing crouched down to look at him. "Having lived so long, it's impossible she left absolutely nothing behind. If it's not here, we'll look elsewhere."

"Yeah." Jiang Zhuochen wiped his face and sighed. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Then want to rest for a bit?"

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

Xu Xing stood outside the bathroom, facing directly opposite the sink.

Jiang Zhuochen bent over, splashed some water on his face, then shook his head and walked over to Xu Xing.

"Let's go."

Water droplets slid from his temples along his jawline to his collarbone, slowly disappearing beneath his clothes.

Xu Xing suddenly felt his throat go dry—his throat that hadn't had a sip of water all afternoon. He averted his gaze.

Jiang Zhuochen was puzzled. Why wasn't he getting a response? He gave Xu Xing's arm a shake. "What's wrong? Do you need to wash your face too?"

"I'm good." Xu Xing finally spoke, his expression unchanged. "Let's go."

The two arrived at the deceased's former room, which had long been cleared out by Xu Cheng's family. Aside from a few basic pieces of furniture, nothing else remained.

Their search became even simpler, and they soon gave up.

Jiang Zhuochen sat on the floor, elbows propped on his thighs. "Damn it, not a single clue."

This habit of plopping down anywhere was a bad one. Xu Xing pulled over a small stool for him.

Just as Jiang Zhuochen was about to move, he happened to glance up as he stood. The haunted room across the way from the window came into view.

For some reason, he suddenly recalled the scene from last night when the female ghost sat on the windowsill, gazing outside.

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

Xu Xing recognized it too. "Sure."

The two made their way to the room where the female ghost had appeared. Dense, clinging Ghostly Energy enveloped them, and a strong gust of wind swept through.

Jiang Zhuochen turned his head and raised a hand to shield himself, but no one was in sight. He tried reasoning, "Sis, we're just here to look for something. We'll leave soon."

A voice echoed from the void, "There's nothing here. Leave now."

"That won't do." Jiang Zhuochen said earnestly, "I've wasted the whole day on this. If I don't finish searching here, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Banking on Xu Xing's presence and the female ghost's lack of aggressive intent, Jiang Zhuochen boldly stepped further inside.

The Ghostly Energy suddenly thickened beneath their feet.

"If you have the skill, clear it all first."

The female ghost's power was deeper than the previous two. This Ghostly Energy had been refined to its peak, striking wherever directed. Though it couldn't harm Xu Xing for now, she was willing to let part of it dissipate just to attack Jiang Zhuochen.

Jiang Zhuochen retreated, pulling out a spirit talisman to ignite and blast away the surrounding Ghostly Energy, but it quickly replenished.

"How can a ghost cheat like this?"

With that, he drew a barrier around the room, cutting off any external replenishment. "Using all your tricks on me—what if you can't handle your enemies later?"

The Ghostly Energy in the air still swirled wildly, but it didn't increase further.

Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Zhuochen raised his hand and cast a spell, purifying the Ghostly Energy in the room before dispelling the barrier.

He cautiously observed his surroundings first. Hearing no further movement from the female ghost, he relaxed and walked ahead of Xu Xing.

"Be careful. If you encounter anything, call me immediately."

Xu Xing curved his lips slightly. "I think you're the one who needs to worry more."

Jiang Zhuochen was displeased. Though his cultivation was half-baked and shallow, in this world, wasn't he clearly an immortal master? Who could be more capable than him?

"There's a lot of stuff here. Since you're so powerful, you search more."

Jiang Zhuochen left the rest of the space to Xu Xing and headed toward the bedside.

Author's note:

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