Chapter 18: A Visit

“Was he trying to make a show of force?” Qin Ye thoughtfully rubbed his phone, finally pressing the answer button.

He switched to speaker mode.

There was no sound at all.

It was as if the connection led to an endless, deep abyss, a sudden deathly silence.

Twenty seconds passed. Then, all at once, a new sound emerged.

It was the sound of water drops.

Droplets falling from midair onto the floor.

Drip… drip… The eerie quietness sent chills through the heart.

“Uhh… uhhhhh…” At that moment, a different sound finally came from the other end of the line. Faint, but continuous.

Like someone imprisoned underground for decades without water, mouth constantly opening and gasping, the broken throat producing a sound as if scraping across shards of glass.

“Bad review, dear,” Qin Ye spoke at last. “This old-school nineties horror style really doesn’t cut it anymore—so low-rent! Not to criticize, but as a ghost of the new era, can’t you keep up with the times? Copying the sound effects from ‘The Grudge’—is that supposed to be clever? Did you even ask Ms. Kayako about copyright?”

“Don’t…” The voice on the other side was low and hoarse, broken and intermittent, like an old tape recorder sputtering out its last words.

Qin Ye snorted, “Don’t? Don’t what? Suddenly scared now? Weren’t you having a grand time just days ago?”

But the phone offered nothing new, the voice continued in the same suppressed tone, rasping out, “Mind…”

“Your…”

“Business!”

Beep—after those words, the call abruptly ended.

“Quite a temper these days…” Qin Ye swept away his playful expression and glanced at the Soul Sealing Orb on the table. “Well?”

“A lot to unpack.” Arthas pondered for a moment before speaking. “First, you need to understand the classifications of ghosts. According to the S-to-E grading, there are corresponding types.”

“E-class are ordinary souls—natural spirits. D-class are vengeful spirits, souls with powerful obsessions before death, remaining bound after death. These vengeful spirits act only on instinct.”

“D-class also includes malevolent spirits. Those have the ability to invade human thoughts and affect physical objects. If discovered, they must be eradicated. Plus, they think and communicate much like humans.”

“This ghost, with its halting speech, is far from articulate. It hasn’t evolved into a D-class malevolent spirit. Using the proper academic term, it’s either a pseudo-malevolent spirit or a vengeful spirit,” Arthas said gravely. “This means… she never truly mastered the Fragment of the Judge Seal. Her power isn’t strong—well within your capabilities.”

“Not ‘should be’,” Qin Ye gently rubbed his phone, then said firmly after a few seconds, “It’s certain.”

“My sudden manner of speaking elicited no reaction from her; even her voice didn’t change. That proves she’s barely conscious. Her existence is pure obsession—she wants the Wang family wiped out. Nothing else matters.”

He frowned slightly, pausing a few seconds before continuing. “But… have you considered that although she isn’t strong, she dared to challenge an underworld agent openly, and even attacked Wang Chenghao in daylight. That goes beyond the scope of a typical vengeful spirit.”

Arthas fell silent. After several seconds, he spoke coolly, “You know… humans are fascinating creatures.”

“I’d like to know—on that day, you bowed and scraped to Lady Meng at the Bridge of No Return, living meekly before, but now you’re confronting this obviously problematic ghost with your mind sharp as a blade—so which is the real you?”

From the moment the call connected to Qin Ye’s sudden question, only a few seconds had passed, but the other side made the right choice. Seemingly pointless questions, but they got the answer they wanted.

The opponent’s true strength!

---

From the moment Qin Ye spoke, Arthas immediately grasped his intent. An old man and an old ghost—yet their improvisation was seamless.

“…Please be precise with your words. ‘Bowed and scraped’? That was a tactical retreat,” Qin Ye retorted irritably. “Of course I’d rather lay low, but now there’s nowhere left to hide, so…”

Arthas: “No need to keep hiding?”

“No.” Qin Ye replied gloomily, “Now I can just go all out…”

This young man was surprisingly self-aware… Arthas found himself convinced, unable to refute.

“What’s your plan?”

Qin Ye let out a cold laugh. “I’d hoped to solve it at its root, leave myself an escape route… but with Wang Chenghao gone for good, there’s no other way.”

“I’ll strike.” His voice was icy. “Daring to challenge the underworld—truly unaware of death.”

“…Should I be relieved? Now that you know her true power, you suddenly seem much tougher. The style’s shifted from ‘Gintama’ to ‘Dragon Ball’—I’m still adjusting…”

“…You don’t understand. This is tactical decision-making.”

Today’s weather was eerie. At three in the afternoon, the previously cloudless sky had grown gloomy.

Shhh… The wind picked up, and anyone could see a storm was coming.

At six, a thunderous roar echoed, and electric dragons of blue and white darted across the pot-black sky. The ground flickered in and out of light under the wrath of thunder.

“Heh…” From behind, the wooden door silently swung open, and an oil-paper umbrella stretched out. Beneath it, Qin Ye, clad in pitch-black underworld agent attire, opened the doors to the world at dusk.

Whoosh! The wind of the storm whipped at the hem of his robe. Now, at six, perhaps due to the rising tide of supernatural incidents online, with no government intervention, after six o’clock, the entire county was deserted. Only the dim street lamps whispered of civilization.

This was Funeral Street.

Crash!

Rain poured in torrents, endless silver lines weaving between heaven and earth. The street, usually deserted, now had people drifting by—old and young alike. Yet every one of them bore a pale blue hue, and that was the only color on their bodies.

Wisps of smoke drifted from them, and if one looked closely, none of their feet touched the ground. Like marionettes, they monotonously repeated the actions they’d performed in life.

These were souls—natural spirits.

“Because the underworld is vacant, souls have nowhere to go and drift aimlessly,” Arthas murmured. “If a place can’t produce another governor… the mortal world will soon face utter collapse.”

Qin Ye nodded slightly. Rainwater formed a curtain along the edge of the oil-paper umbrella. As he walked farther, wherever he passed, those drifting natural spirits prostrated themselves like subjects before an emperor, trembling all over.

Their reason was gone, only instinct remained.

Crash… The Soul Catching Rope at his waist jingled softly. Qin Ye squinted toward the direction of Haiyue Corporation. “Thunder rages, the gates of the underworld open—how can you hope to survive?”

His own fate in three days was at stake. He’d hoped for a peaceful resolution, but now, with nowhere left to retreat, everyone had to risk everything.

At the same time, in the Haiyue Corporation building, two blood-red gazes seemed to sense something and, amid the storm, turned fiercely toward Funeral Street.

“Uhh… uhhhhh…”

Qin Ye walked slowly, seeing the souls drifting everywhere throughout the county. As an underworld agent, he took souls; only the idle and irrelevant spirits withdrew, and none dared approach him.

The county was small; soon, he reached the entrance of Haiyue Corporation.

A five-story building—quite prominent for the county. Built in the 2000s, it already showed signs of age. At this moment, the doors, which should have been tightly shut, stood open without a sound, the interior lit by dim yellow lamps, like a portal to hell.

---

“An underworld agent… is just someone from the underworld, after all.” Without hesitation, Qin Ye stepped inside.

Inside was a large reception area, but no one was present. Lightning flashed, casting black and white patterns across the hall. Qin Ye walked to the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors closed, the elevator lights flickered and went out completely. His gaze sharpened.

There was someone there.

The elevator, which had been empty, now reflected—on its closed doors—behind him… a woman with hair draped over her face, head bowed, dressed in a black dress and red high heels.

She stood silently behind the shadow of his own reflection.

Those blood-red eyes, beneath the curtain of hair, stared at him in the sudden darkness.

At the junction of light and shadow.

Zzzzt… Strangely enough, the elevator continued ascending. In the darkness, a bizarre sound echoed.

“Uhh… uhhhhh…” Right behind Qin Ye!

In the blackness, Qin Ye’s hand silently gripped his blade. His ears, like a tiger’s, moved lightly, slowly, his breathing suppressed to its lowest.

Man and ghost, listening to each other in the dark.

Ssshh… A faint, icy wind brushed the hairs on Qin Ye’s neck. At the same moment, a bright streak flashed like a shooting star in the darkness.

It was the glint of a blade.

Like a meteor flying jade, a sword falling with autumn frost.

The sound of drawing and sheathing the blade occurred almost simultaneously in the darkness. The next second, with a shrill scream, the lights snapped back on, and only Qin Ye’s shadow remained in the elevator. A moment later, the doors opened abruptly.

The third floor.

He’d pressed five.

“Not only resisting arrest, but attacking an officer.” Lightning flashed, illuminating Qin Ye with his hand on the blade. “Well then… I won’t be polite.”

Before the words had faded, the Soul Catching Rope at his waist rattled, transforming instantly into dozens of iron chains, shooting in all directions.

The chains seemed endless. With a roar, every door, desk, cabinet on the third floor shattered in response! They became Qin Ye’s eyes, the hooks at their ends embedding in the walls. In ten seconds, countless chains crisscrossed, dividing the entire floor into countless sectors.

White papers fluttered everywhere.

“Ding…” The lead chain at Qin Ye’s waist chimed softly, and a chorus of silver bells began to ring. The tide surged.

“Escaped,” Arthas remarked coolly. “Its power is even weaker than expected. Where does it think it can run? Only five floors—seal them one by one. With thunder raging outside, if it dares to flee, it will die for sure.”

Qin Ye didn’t answer. His pupils glowed with streaks of white light.

An underworld agent wasn’t a high-ranking official—more like the village chief of the underworld. They lacked the supernatural abilities of the likes of the Impermanence or Judges. Besides the underworld agent’s blade and the Soul Catching Rope—low-grade magical tools—they relied on a few perks as civil servants of the underworld.

Ghost Vision—the most basic perk. Everything appeared in black and white, nothing could hide. Day or night made no difference to them.

“Escaped?” He gripped the blade tightly. “Yes… the main body has escaped. But tell me, what is this?”

Arthas paused, stunned. “This is…”