Chapter 98 - 97: [What the Hell Is This?]

Chapter 98: Chapter 97: [What the Hell Is This?]

"Boss, get in!"

He Xiaotian rolled his eyes. ’Don’t you get tired of shouting that every day? Even I’m getting sick of hearing it.’

’Alas, you were born in the wrong era and the wrong gender. If this were ancient times, you’d have been a top-performing brothel madam, no question.’

"Where are the goods?"

"Heh heh, right here."

As he spoke, the old driver took out a box and handed it to He Xiaotian.

He took the box and opened it immediately. Inside lay ten sparkling, translucent crystals.

[Ding! Convertible Experience Points detected. Do you wish to absorb them?]

So, the crystal from that alley in Z County, the one across from the lobster shack on the food street, really was one of these so-called Spiritual Energy Crystals.

But that raised a question.

Who exactly had placed the Spiritual Energy Crystal there?

Or... could it have formed naturally?

At this thought, He Xiaotian shook his head.

’No, that’s not right. It all started because of the disappearance case.’

’And the source of it all was Zhou Zheng, the adept from Gourmet Kitchen.’

After mulling it over, He Xiaotian still couldn’t figure it out and decided to just put the question aside.

’Regardless of the truth, wasn’t he the one who ended up profiting?’

’Why waste time thinking about things that are impossible to figure out!’

’Just focus on improving my strength, saving money, smashing ghosts, and getting stronger. That’s all that matters.’

’He wasn’t Sherlock Holmes; there was no need to get bogged down in pointless details.’

"We’re here, Boss."

the old driver said.

He Xiaotian snapped out of his thoughts, opened the door, and got out.

"These Spiritual Energy Crystals... are they useful to fiends like you?"

"Of course they’re useful! Even more so than devouring other powerful ghosts. These attribute-less ones, especially, are like a super tonic for us," the old driver said with a look of pure bliss, taking a deep, greedy sniff of the air.

It was as if he wanted to inhale every last wisp of Spiritual Qi that had escaped when the box was opened.

"Besides, Boss, there’s a fundamental difference between me and those other fiends. This here is my Good Ghost ID. As of today, I’m a bona fide, card-carrying ghost!" He finished by proudly showing off the certificate he had just received.

He Xiaotian rolled his eyes. ’Since when are the ’relevant authorities’ so damn efficient?’

’And they actually issued him a legal ID!’

"This is for you. Keep serving me well, and there’ll be plenty more where that came from."

He casually took out one of the attribute-less Spiritual Energy Crystals and flicked it to the old driver.

Expecting a horse to run without feeding it grass—that’s something only a black-hearted, vampire capitalist would do.

To be fair, the old driver was reliable.

Ever since they’d met, the ghost had handled many things for him.

A reward was definitely in order.

Only a master who was clear with rewards and punishments would have subordinates willing to work for him diligently.

"Whoa! Thank you, thank you, Boss! You can rest assured, no matter what Captain Lei’s crew asks me. Even if they strap me to a tiger bench and pour chili water down my throat, I’ll never betray you!"

"Enough nonsense. Get going."

’It was only to be expected that Lei Yang and his people would question the old driver about my identity,’ He Xiaotian thought.

’The law enforcement department is different from me, after all.’

’The old driver hasn’t done anything wrong, so they couldn’t just go and destroy him. It would be hard to justify.’

’Of course, if they really pushed the issue and insisted on getting rid of him, that wouldn’t be entirely out of line either.’

’But Lei Yang and Captain Su weren’t that kind of unreasonable people.’

He Xiaotian, on the other hand, had no such scruples. ’If you dare betray me, I’ll grind your bones to dust. Who’s going to avenge a ghost?’

’No one!’

’Even the most sanctimonious Saint Mother would struggle to find the words to object.’

’After all, humans and ghosts are fundamentally different.’

Looking at the nine remaining attribute-less crystals in the box, He Xiaotian decided to visit the Daoist Alliance tomorrow to ask about the price of Protective Talismans and divine statues.

...

While he slept, a great battle inside Shanghai Medical University was finally drawing to a close.

Both the city’s Cleaners and Gourmet Kitchen had suffered devastating losses.

The former had been dealt a heavy blow, with multiple squads wiped out, leaving only a handful of members scattered here and there. The latter was in an even more miserable state, facing near-total annihilation.

The Food King was severely wounded and had fled to an unknown location. Of the subordinates he brought with him, only four managed to escape.

The only silver lining was that the Cleaner organization had not only thwarted Gourmet Kitchen’s plot to break the seal on the Medical University...

...but had also, in the process, exterminated most of the fiends and monstrosities within the rooms of the main teaching building.

This brought a brief moment of peace to the university, which had been under lockdown for a long time.

On the fourth floor of the Medical University’s teaching building, Minister Qingdaofu led the remaining squads forward.

"Minister, the room up ahead contains the largest Ethereal Rift in the building," the Vice Minister said to the old man, pushing up his glasses.

"We’ve come this far; we might as well finish it all in one go. I still have enough strength left for one more battle, and that’ll be more than enough to settle this," said the Minister. Despite his graying hair, the man—who also served as the dean of the Academy for Gifted Adepts—spoke with a voice full of vigor.

He showed no signs of having just emerged from a brutal battle.

No one present doubted his words.

After all, it was this old man who had beaten that terrifying monster from Gourmet Kitchen so thoroughly that he couldn’t even fight back.

If the Minister hadn’t been holding back, he probably would have demolished the entire Medical University.

Speaking of which, the organization that had tried to break the seal had been truly unlucky.

Their Minister had originally been on a plane to XZ, on his way to suppress a powerful monstrosity.

But as luck would have it, halfway through the flight, a lama suddenly appeared, subdued the brutal and terrifying creature, and took it as his mount.

That was the only reason Shanghai’s Minister Qingdaofu had been free to handle this matter.

CREAK!

The large door creaked open, and everyone held their breath, their focus absolute.

At the slightest sign of trouble, they were prepared to attack.

But nothing happened.

The entire room was eerily silent.

A quick scan revealed that the space inside was completely undamaged.

"..."

They had thought this would be the toughest nut to crack in the entire Medical University, but reality was completely different from what they’d imagined.

"Are you certain all the fiends came from this place?"

the Minister asked. The bespectacled Vice Minister looked very awkward.

"Wait, what the hell is that?!"

As someone shouted, the human-sized Ethereal Rift in the room suddenly began to flicker.

Once again, the hearts of the adepts present leaped into their throats.

THUMP!

The Ethereal Rift pulsed like a stomach contracting, then spat out a dark object.

If not for the fact that the Minister and Vice Minister were present and holding their positions, observing instead of acting rashly...

...the others would have been moments away from unleashing their entire arsenal of skills.

"It’s a person!"

"?!"

Everyone was shocked. ’You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Everyone knew that the Ethereal Realm was filled with nothing but fiends and monstrosities.

How could a human possibly be in there?

"Go, let’s take a look."

The group advanced cautiously, forming a tight circle around the dark object.

’Sure enough, it really was a goddamn human.’

’It seems we’ve stumbled upon something huge.’

’Humans can actually survive in the Ethereal Realm.’

"Notify the quarantine unit. Until we’ve confirmed whether he’s carrying any unknown viruses, no one is to leave this room,"

the Minister commanded, taking a few steps back.

The others in the room didn’t seem particularly nervous upon hearing the order.

None of them were ordinary people; common viruses had long ceased to be a threat to them.

Besides, did anyone really think the Cleaners’ medical staff were just for decoration?

The bespectacled Vice Minister stepped forward, his hands shimmering with white light. He enveloped the human spat out from the Ethereal Rift in a cocoon of light.