Chapter 485: Chapter 421: Lingering Spirit
"Who is it?" Li Qingxuan asked nonchalantly.
"Xi Menxiu."
Upon hearing this, Li Qingxuan pondered for a moment, then shook his head, "Never heard of him."
"There’s another person, I’m not certain of her identity, a woman, quite young, about 20 years old, also a member of your Hehuan Sect." Yang Xiao picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Li Qingxuan, looking at him he asked, "Do you have any recollection of such a person?"
At this, Li Qingxuan couldn’t help but smile wryly, "Teacher Yang, our Hehuan Sect has many members, divided into different teams according to interests and hobbies, and as you know, I don’t have much contact with girls."
"Is there any other information about this girl?" Li Qingxuan inquired.
Yang Xiao recalled for a moment, "She has a tattoo on the lower right side of her waist, a blue butterfly."
"Yu Xinxin," Li Qingxuan immediately said, and corrected, "That’s not a blue butterfly, it’s color-gradient, it looks blue at night, but under the sunlight, it’s purple."
Yang Xiao: "???"
Seeing Yang Xiao staring at him with a weird expression, Li Qingxuan laughed sheepishly after the fact, "Well... don’t get me wrong, Teacher Yang, I’m not close with her, the thing is, we organized a beach volleyball game last time, and I helped the girls’ team apply sunscreen."
"You know me, Teacher Yang, I originally didn’t want to go, but to support the club activities, it was difficult for me to decline."
You’re hardly one to decline, you probably fought tooth and nail for that spot behind the scenes... Yang Xiao thought to himself, but he still pretended to believe him and nodded thoughtfully with feigned depth.
"Right, why are you asking about her?" Li Qingxuan curiously asked, and after a moment, as if suddenly realizing something, his expression became ambiguous, and he chuckled twice, "Teacher Yang, you have good taste, this Yu Xinxin is a model, quite a few people joined the club because of her."
"Does she have a boyfriend?" Yang Xiao pretended to be very interested.
"That... probably not, but she’s rather aloof and doesn’t talk much," Li Qingxuan recounted.
"Do you have her contact information?"
"Yes, wait, let me find it." Taking out his phone, Li Qingxuan fiddled with it for a bit, then pulled up a number and handed it to Yang Xiao.
After getting the number, Yang Xiao didn’t forget to remind Li Qingxuan, "Don’t mention to anyone that I asked for the number."
Li Qingxuan chuckled slyly, speaking like someone who knew all the ins and outs, "I understand, I understand everything, Teacher Yang, girls love surprises, Surprise!"
Having smoothly obtained the number and name, Yang Xiao left and immediately contacted Fu Qingzhu, asking him to investigate this person’s identity and whereabouts.
Three days passed by calmly until, on the morning of the fourth day, while Yang Xiao and others were in the office, they received a notification and immediately rushed to the meeting room for a meeting. Nalan Shuo cut to the chase and informed them of Pang Cai’s disappearance.
"Missing or dead?" Da Xiong pressed.
"The report says missing, the specifics are not clear, but judging from the time he disappeared, the chances of him being alive are slim," Nalan Shuo held a paper report in his hand as he introduced the situation, "His family also hasn’t received any ransom calls, so we suspect it’s more likely a vendetta, as this guy has always been outrageous in his actions, offended many locals, and had a bad reputation."
Regarding Pang Cai’s mishap, everyone reacted with a ghoulish delight, and at the end of the meeting, Nalan Shuo even encapsulated it with a phrase:
"Good and evil will eventually be repaid, the right path in the world is the vicissitudes of time."
After the meeting, Nalan Shuo let the others go and kept Yang Xiao behind, the two sitting face to face. Yang Xiao appeared very composed, while Nalan Shuo silently lit a cigarette, "Where were you the night Pang Cai ran into trouble?"
Yang Xiao was momentarily stunned, then feigned confusion, "Which day, I... I don’t know the exact time."
"Four days ago," Nalan Shuo reminded him.
"I don’t quite remember, probably at the bar drinking, as you know, since Zhi Jie left, we’ve all been feeling down," Yang Xiao said, downcast.
"Alone?"
"No, there was... there was a friend with me." Yang Xiao’s eyes displayed difficulty, and he hesitated as if he had something he couldn’t quite say.
"Is it inconvenient to talk about? Then let’s leave it," Nalan Shuo said without pressing him, leaning back in his chair, calmly watching him.
"No, there’s nothing I can’t discuss with you, Director, this person... his name is Fu Qingzhu." Yang Xiao was tugging at Nalan Shuo bit by bit—you could arouse suspicion by spilling the beans too quickly or too slowly. Pure lies wouldn’t fool Nalan Shuo, but a nine-to-one mix of truth to falsehood could be lethal.
Nalan Shuo grunted in assent and didn’t give Yang Xiao a hard time about it. "Times have changed, and this Fu Qingzhu has already established himself within the United Federation. In the future, our Patrol Defense Office will inevitably need to deal with him, so maintain a good relationship but be sure to measure your boundaries well," he said.
"Understood." Yang Xiao nodded.
"There’s another matter—Coach Lu has returned, so you can continue with your lessons," Nalan Shuo glanced at Yang Xiao, extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand, and spoke indifferently, "Huang Qiang will inform you of the details, make sure you’re prepared."
"Thank you, Director." Yang Xiao expressed his gratitude and then left the meeting room.
Yang Xiao’s afternoon training proceeded as usual, with Coach Zhu Yina very satisfied with his progress. She even tailored a series of combo moves specifically for him and demonstrated them personally.
Firearms training, needless to say, was his forte—to borrow the Bald Coach’s words, not even God and Buddha working together could withstand the killing intent of Yang Xiao’s bullets.
"Two shots to the heart, one to the head is enough; there’s no need to shoot again. He’s just a hostage, his crimes don’t warrant death," observed the Bald Coach, watching the half-busted human target in the distance. He silently lit a cigarette, placed it on the table, and fell into a contemplative silence.
After finishing the day’s training, Yang Xiao found a nice restaurant, enjoyed a hearty meal, and then ambled back to his place. The recent flurry of events, one after another, had left him barely able to catch his breath. He planned to take some time to visit Tong Han.
It had been a while since he met with Mo Daidai. To be exact, since his return from Nightmare World, they hadn’t seen each other at all.
The Ghost Envoy Statue had been brought back by Tong Han and ended up in the hands of Mo Daidai. Yang Xiao wondered whether Mo Daidai had already made a wish to save his sister.
Ha, perhaps the person in that photo wasn’t Mo Daidai’s sister at all, but just a ruse—who would know?
Tong Han had a clear vision; Mo Daidai was merely a business partner—coming together for mutual benefit. At his core, he was a businessman, never engaging in unprofitable deals.
Yet his reputation for integrity was real too—at least concerning the matter of Fu Qingzhu, Mo Daidai had been quite supportive; the man had significant clout behind him.
The dinner restaurant was not far from the apartment where Yang Xiao lived, a mere 20-minute walk. Actually, with Yang Xiao’s current financial capacity, buying a nice house, even a villa, would be easy, but he had no intentions for the time being. Since being plagued by Nightmare World, he had grown to prefer livelier places.
Every time he walked through the apartment’s main entrance and saw the lively, youthful faces, it gave him a sense of inexplicable reassurance.
With a box of takeout egg tarts in hand, Yang Xiao returned to his own little world. After a quick wash, he changed into a set of comfortable pajamas. Flopping onto the sofa, he closed his eyes and began to review the day’s discussion with Nalan Shuo—frame by frame, fearing he might have let slip a flaw. He found his boss, Nalan Shuo, increasingly unfathomable.
In general, he trusted Nalan Shuo, but trust had its limits. Relationships in the workplace were as fragile as paper: when the paper was intact, the people on either side were at peace. But once the paper tore, the outcome was unpredictable.
Assured there were no major slip-ups, Yang Xiao stood up, stretched his limbs briefly, walked to the table, and opened his backpack. Pulling the Drama Robe over himself, he focused his mind, and the Soul-Capturing Mirror materialized in his palm—this eerie copper mirror had helped him too much.
Stepping into the bathroom, looking at his reflection in the mirror, Yang Xiao took a deep breath. In an instant, the Ghost Lantern appeared, and in the next second, his entire body vanished on the spot, entering Mirror World.
As his spiritual power increased, so too did the space of Mirror World. Perhaps one day he might even be able to include an entire city within it. Carrying the lantern, he emerged from the patchy bathroom, but the next moment, Yang Xiao abruptly stopped in his tracks.
His breathing turned rapid, his heart pounding fast—he found traces that someone had been here.
There was a conspicuous human-shaped depression on the bed that had been smooth before. Not long ago, someone had lain there spread-eagled.
Mirror Ghost... had appeared again!
Almost instinctively, with a surge of spiritual power flowing into it, the Ghost Lantern erupted with a brightness several times stronger than before. At the same time, the Human Bone Staff appeared in his hand, gripped firmly by Yang Xiao, the veins on his hand standing out.
He had chosen the Human Bone Staff instead of the more destructive Ghost Duster with good reason—the Mirror Ghost was too agile, and in this territory, it was better to use the tracking ability of the staff. A missed blow could be fatal.
Yang Xiao did not rashly approach the bed; instead, he slowly retreated to the door, then yanked it open violently, swinging the staff as the door opened. There was no one outside, and the corridors on both sides were empty. He quickly closed the door and headed back to the bed.
All the way, the green light from the Ghost Lantern dispelled the obscure gloom, painting the entire room a ghastly green. It was as if he had stepped into the Underworld.
Under the bed, inside the closet, behind the sofa, the back of the curtains, and even inside the refrigerator—Yang Xiao searched everywhere, but ultimately found nothing. Just as he was about to sit down and rethink things, his eyes involuntarily drifted back to the indentation on the bed.
In that instant, he made a decision that even he couldn’t understand. Slowly bending his knees, he climbed onto the bed, faced up, and lay down in the indentation, stretching out arms and legs in a spread-eagle to match the human impression as closely as possible.
He didn’t know what he was waiting for, but ultimately nothing happened. "Huh—" Yang Xiao exhaled a sigh of relief, but just as he was about to get up, his eyes inadvertently swept over the top of the wardrobe, and the next second, Yang Xiao shuddered violently—he saw the tip of a shoe.
Someone was hiding up there.
