UCS Chapter 15

The young adult felt the cold touch on his wrist, as if bitten by a snake. He shuddered violently, desperately shaking his hand, but couldn’t break free.

 

“Let me go! Are you trying to correct me with this ghostly thing? You have no evidence!”

 

Gao Shi crouched down, looking at the young adult kneeling on the ground, trying to move away. “Sorry, let me reintroduce myself.”

 

He took out his Anomaly police badge, “Anomaly police, Gao Shi. All cases related to supernatural entities fall under the jurisdiction of the Anomaly Management Bureau and Spirit Management Bureau.”

 

The young adult’s face turned ashen, as if just dug out from a grave.

 

Gao Shi sneered.

 

Regular police handle cases in the living realm, spirit police handle cases in the netherworld.

 

What Gao Shi said was correct, but there had never been a ghost with such complete memory preservation before. It was the first time a victim’s ghost personally cried foul.

 

Therefore, the old man’s words could only serve as corroborating evidence. To truly convict the young adult, they still needed to look at the living realm’s side.

 

Gao Shi had already contacted City A’s police station. Upon hearing this, Captain Lu Xingzhi immediately led a team to investigate.

 

In less than an hour, all evidence was gathered, truly presenting both testimonial and physical proof.

 

The young adult’s method of crime was actually quite crude. If someone had noticed something amiss on the day the old man died and chose to call the police, they could have convicted the young adult within an hour of arriving at the scene.

 

However, the only one who knew the young adult’s true face was the old man who couldn’t speak or move; and the young adult’s disguise in front of the youth was too good to arouse suspicion. The mastermind behind this vile and crude murder had actually evaded the law for two months.

 

Fortunately, heaven’s net is wide-meshed but lets nothing through, and those who harm others will eventually be punished.

 

But that’s a story for later.

 

This time, the Anomaly Management Bureau’s team was unusually slow, so Gao Shi could only wait at the scene temporarily.

 

Concerned about his son, Gao Shi temporarily left the young adult in the care of Yin Ling and the others.

 

Stepping out of the spell formation, Gao Shi called his son—nowadays, spell formations are increasingly modern, including signal blocking functions, making it impossible to make calls from inside.

 

There were no issues with Gao Gusheng, so Gao Shi was temporarily relieved. However, upon returning to the formation, he saw the young adult lying on the ground, looking as if he was at his limit, with Ghost Eye and the others standing helplessly around him.

 

Seeing Gao Shi return, the three looked relieved, “Brother Gao, he fainted, what should we do?”

 

Yin Ling said with a dejected face, “We didn’t mean to, he suddenly attacked me trying to escape, ended up pulling off my bandages, and even tore off one of Ghost Eye’s hands, then he fainted from fright.”

 

Ghost Eye touched his severed hand, looking completely innocent.

 

Gao Shi crouched down, pulled open the young adult’s eyelids to check, then firmly pinched his philtrum. The young adult slowly regained consciousness, and upon seeing Gao Shi, tears immediately burst forth as he suddenly hugged Gao Shi’s leg.

 

“Wuwuwu, Officer uncle, please take me away!”

 

“It’s so scary out here, I want to go home…”

 

Gao Shi looked at the young adult crying and snotting while hugging his leg, and his face immediately darkened.

 

Who are you calling “uncle”?

 

“Alright, stop crying. Whatever you have to say, say it in court.”

 

The young adult was now as docile as a quail, doing whatever he was told. Hearing this, he quickly nodded.

 

He huddled tightly next to Gao Shi, as obedient as a 150-pound child.

 

At this moment, the Taoist approached the old man.

 

The old man smiled and bowed to the Taoist, “Thank you, Taoist master.”

 

The Taoist’s face showed no emotion, only saying faintly with his eyes, “Now that your wish has been fulfilled, you should be on your way.”

 

The youth’s pupils suddenly contracted, shielding the old man behind him, pleading, “Where does the Taoist master want to take grandpa? Grandpa was with me before, can’t he continue to stay with me?”

 

“Grandpa is fine, he won’t go out and harm people, can you please not make grandpa leave?”

 

The old man’s rough, aged hand gently pressed on the youth’s shoulder, “Little one, don’t block the Taoist master.”

 

“But…”

 

“I can fully remember everything from before, thanks to this Taoist master. Humans have their path, ghosts have theirs. I died long ago, this time has been borrowed. Now that my wish is fulfilled, it’s time for me to go.”

 

Yin Ling coughed lightly, “Excuse me, sorry to interrupt.”

 

He looked at the Taoist and politely said, “Senior, where do you intend to take this old man? We’ve never encountered a ghost that could retain its self-awareness before. Could we take him first?”

 

The Taoist, who had been ignoring Yin Ling before, finally turned his head, “When a soul stays in the mortal world for too long, it can only dissipate and cannot enter reincarnation.”

 

Reincarnation?

 

Hearing this word, Yin Ling was stunned and hurriedly asked, “Reincarnation? Isn’t that something that only exists in novels?”

 

Xuan Yu nodded, “Human souls are born from heaven and earth, and return to heaven and earth. They should only have one life.”

 

The Taoist shook his head but didn’t speak further.

 

Seeing Yin Ling’s pitiful gaze, Gao Shi had to speak up, “Taoist master, you say he is a soul?”

 

The Taoist nodded.

 

Gao Shi found that the young man didn’t seem to like talking much, so he changed the way he asked his questions, “Are all ghosts souls?”

 

The Taoist shook his head.

 

Gao Shi, “Is the birth of ghosts related to obsessions?”

 

The Taoist nodded.

 

Gao Shi, “Previously, most souls couldn’t enter reincarnation?”

 

The Taoist nodded.

 

Gao Shi looked at the obediently answering Taoist master before him, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.

 

“You can guide souls to reincarnation, right?”

 

The Taoist stared at Gao Shi for a moment, “Mm.”

 

This time, not waiting for Gao Shi to ask further, he spoke, “The netherworld has shattered, reincarnation no longer exists.”

 

“Gulu.”

 

“The souls in this world wander and dissipate in the mortal realm, no longer reincarnating. Their obsessions from life combine with yin energy, turning into ‘mei’.”

 

“Gulu.”

 

“Before, when the world’s spiritual energy was scarce, souls would dissipate upon leaving the body. Now, as the world’s spiritual energy becomes more abundant, souls can temporarily maintain a form for a while. Souls carrying obsessions exist longer, becoming ‘ghosts’.”

 

“Gulu.”

 

What was making the “gulu gulu” sound?

 

Everyone followed the sound and looked at the Taoist’s stomach.

 

As if sensing everyone’s gaze, the stomach let out a loud protest, “Gulu gulu gulu!”

 

The Taoist lowered his head, looked at his own stomach, and sighed.

 

“So hungry.”

 

…So you didn’t want to talk because you were too hungry to have energy?!

 

Gao Shi pinched the bridge of his nose. Coincidentally, at this moment, the members of the Anomaly Management Bureau arrived late. Gao Shi simply handed the young adult over to the team members to watch.

 

He waved at the Taoist, “Come on, let’s go eat.”

 

***

 

Gao Gusheng hung up the phone call from his dad.

 

He had just finished the breakfast left by Gao Shi, feeling too comfortable to move, and was pondering whether it would be better to play a game for a while or watch the new anime episodes.

 

He clicked on a game.

 

“The graphics of this game are pretty good, is it newly released?”

 

“…Oh my! Isn’t this deceiving consumers?! The difference in graphics quality is comparable to me before and after makeup!”

 

“My eyes! My eyes!”

 

Gao Gusheng covered his stinging eyes and tremblingly closed the game screen.

 

Those who hurt others will be hurt in return. He had been “spicy[mfn]Here, “辣” (là) meaning “spicy” is used instead of “惡” (è) meaning “evil”, creating a humorous play on words related to the earlier mention of his eyes being “spiced”.[/mfn]” in many ways for half his life, and finally got his comeuppance.

 

“Knock knock knock.”

 

There was a knocking sound at the door.

 

Gao Gusheng raised his head with teary eyes, walked to the door, but saw no one through the monitoring interface.

 

However, behind the tree opposite the door, there was a black cat with its fur standing on end, hissing at his door.

 

It couldn’t be this black cat knocking on the door, right?

 

Gao Gusheng was amused by his own imagination for a moment, but quickly realized something and the smile froze on his face.

 

“Knock knock knock.”

 

The knocking sound continued.

 

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T/N: Readers can react to “🪈- Placid Chang’an” on knoxt discord for the updates for this novel as well as ive scheduled both of them at the same time. (Since UCS doesn’t have a role due to having only limited number roles for novels on discord). Schedule will be one chapter every Friday and Saturday!