C17 Chapter 17

“I know what my job is now! I’m in charge of eating ghosts!” Liang Jing suddenly looked up and said to me with total seriousness.

Seeing how dead serious she was, I answered just as seriously, “How about you don’t eat ghosts. Just make sure you don’t get eaten by one, okay?”

Liang Jing caught the look of disdain on my face and snorted. “What are you even thinking? I mean I like using that pressure cooker! When we took down that black cat, man, that felt amazing!”

Alright, now I really understood how “capable” these two divas were. They couldn’t help with anything, yet they still wanted control of the money—and on top of that, I had to catch ghosts so they could have fun with them. Unbelievable.

“Alright! It’s getting late. From now on, you come to work at the Ghost-Hunting Squad office every day at noon and at night. You hear me, Little Gangzi?!”

Hearing Mo Ningning call me that, I was honestly speechless. This tiny little place, and these two were treating it like it was some real company.

After that, we ate a meal together and headed back to campus. That night, Liang Jing suddenly yanked me right out of my Marxism theory class.

Between the weird looks from my teacher and classmates as I left, and then looking at Liang Jing—yeah, I had complaints, but there was no way to explain any of it.

When we got to the Ghost-Hunting Squad office, Liang Jing leaned in and said mysteriously, “Little Gangzi, we’ve got our first really important client. In a minute, you need to act like some enlightened master—just put on a show and sell it, okay?”

I shot her a look. “Please. Real locals don’t need cheap tricks like that. Just watch me.”

With that, I pushed the door open and walked into the Ghost-Hunting Squad office. Mo Ningning was sitting upright on the couch, chatting warmly with the man beside her.

But the moment I walked in, Mo Ningning’s smile disappeared. She stood up and introduced me to him. “Mr. Zhou, this is the spirit guide I told you about—the heart of our ghost-hunting company. Wu Xiaogang!”

That guy with the last name Zhou was still wearing the same bland, indifferent expression when he looked at me. Seriously? He needed my help, yet he was acting like he couldn’t care less. What was that supposed to mean?

“Mr. Zhou, please tell me exactly what’s been going on lately. I’m sure Wu Xiaogang can help you get it sorted out,” Mo Ningning said, her voice unbelievably gentle.

“Him?” he scoffed. “He looks a few years younger than me. He can catch ghosts?!”

The way he said it made it sound like he was looking down on me. I pointed right at him and snapped, “Who the hell do you think you are? If you don’t want to get messed with by a ghost, start talking—now. Either leave, or tell me what’s going on.”

Honestly, the moment I saw him walk in, I could already tell something was off—like he had this cold, heavy vibe clinging to him. That’s why I could say it with that much confidence.

I couldn’t tell if I’d hit a nerve or if my tone scared him, but his face went blank and he finally started talking about what had been happening to him—

Turns out Zhou was a college student at a university near Anlin Institute of Engineering and Technology. Starting last week, every night when he walked back to his dorm, he felt like something was following him.

After that, he couldn’t stop freaking out. If someone had been tailing him for that long and hadn’t robbed him or attacked him—and only did it at night—then what else could it be? A ghost.

So Zhou became convinced a ghost had latched onto him and was coming for his life, which was why he’d come to our ghost-hunting team.

After hearing him out, I didn’t really know what to say. Until I actually saw whatever was following him, I couldn’t jump to conclusions.

With Zhou’s help, the three of us from the ghost-hunting team made it through the gates of his campus.

“Mr. Zhou! Don’t worry—I’ll find that ghost and take it down!” Liang Jing said, pumping her fist.

Me: “...”

“Zhou,” I said, “here’s what you’re going to do: keep living exactly like you normally do. Don’t let anyone notice anything weird. When that thing shows up, I’ll step in and deal with it.”

After I finished talking, Zhou nodded, then walked off on his own. Watching him go, I thought, This can’t be as simple as he’s making it sound.

Letting that kind of cold, dead energy seep into a living body—that’s a ghost’s specialty. But in a place like a school, unless there’s a serious grudge involved, a ghost with no connection to someone wouldn’t just do that for no reason. And yet it was obvious Zhou had been hit with it.

That left only two possibilities: either there was a restless spirit here that still hadn’t moved on, or the thing tailing him had some kind of connection—to him, or maybe even to me.

“Wu Xiaogang! What are you spacing out about? Don’t tell me you think the girls at this school are that cute?!”

Liang Jing suddenly yanked my ear as she snapped at me.