"Hoo hoo hoo ~ Hoo hoo hoo ~"
Inside the dozen-square-meter room, the girl on the bed was asleep, and a figure was slumped over the desk.
The candle had burned out long ago, the lingering smell of smoke still hung in the air, and everything was dead silent.
If any fellow Ghost Hunter were to see this scene, they would definitely curse Li Daonian for being completely unprofessional.
You were sent here to catch ghosts, so how on earth are you still fast asleep?
"Hoo hoo hoo ~ Hoo hoo hoo ~"
The phone occasionally lit up with notification pop-ups, showing the time: 02:49.
02:52.
03:02.
Li Daonian flipped over, leaping down from the second floor. Just as he thought he had escaped the pursuit of the zombie behind him, he looked up and saw that the massive moon had somehow grown facial features and was slowly crashing toward Earth.
That face had distorted features, resembling a little girl's. She seemed to be hurtling straight toward Li Daonian, crying as she flew. The shadow of the moon-face almost covered the entire sky, and her weeping echoed across the heavens.
"Mm-ng-ah-ah-ah-ah, ng-wa-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah-wu-wu-wu, Mom, wa-ah-ah-ah!"
Li Daonian lunged forward, trying to dodge the moon-face.
"Bang!" His head smashed hard against the edge of the bed.
"Damn it!" He slowly sat up from the floor, his head throbbing with pain, his mind dizzy and muddled: "What the hell kind of fucked-up dream was that!"
He vigorously rubbed his head and glanced at Xu Shuangning on the bed; that heavy thud hadn't woken her up at all.
She murmured a couple of times, rolled over, and went right back to sleep.
What time was it?
He scrambled up, tapped his phone, and the screen displayed:
03:31
"Damn it! It's already half past three?"
Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard loud crying ringing in his ears.
"Wu-wa-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, Mama-ah-ah-ah!"
This weeping sounded hazy and indistinct, making his head ache fiercely.
"Shit!" Li Daonian suddenly snapped to full alertness: "Is it latching onto me now?"
"Wa-wa-wa, wu-wu-wu-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
His head grew dizzy again.
This sensation was truly unpleasant; it seemed Xu Shuangning must have endured quite a lot over the past few days.
He decisively pulled a red string, transparent tape, a pack of cigarettes, and a bag of flour out of his bag.
"There, there, stop crying, sweetie," Li Daonian said, frowning and speaking in a gentle tone: "Darling, what's your name?"
"Wu-wu-wu-wu-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
The little girl's crying didn't stop, and Xu Shuangning turned over in her sleep.
She was ignoring him, but this was something he had anticipated.
Ghosts are the wandering souls of the deceased, drifting among mortals for years, having long since tuned out the clamor of the mortal world. Unless you call them by their name, it is very difficult to get any reaction from them.
Ghosts are like empty husks carrying the obsessions they had in life, surviving solely on that single thread of obsession.
As long as you make them let go of their obsession, they can move on to be reborn, and the ghost will dissipate on its own.
In fact, Li Daonian sometimes thought that psychologists seemed uniquely suited to be Ghost Hunters—solving psychological ailments and dealing with contradictory obsessions, they seemed to have a very mature set of verbal techniques.
Li Daonian, on the other hand, could only cross the river by feeling for the stones:
"Darling, stop crying. You won't look pretty when you cry. Come on, Older Brother will buy you some candy."
He actually pulled a lollipop out of his pocket.
The little girl's weeping paused for a fraction of a second, and then continued: "Wa-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah Mama!"
There was a reaction!
Li Daonian noticed that when the little girl cried, she kept shouting for her mother, which meant this ghost's obsession was related to her mother.
His baby-talk just now had probably reminded her of being coaxed by her mother, which was why she reacted.
"Come on, come here to Older Brother. It's orange-flavored, you know? If you finish eating it within five minutes, Older Brother will even reward you with a little red flower sticker." Li Daonian pulled a sheet of little red flower stickers from who-knows-where.
The crying paused for another fraction of a second.
He hurriedly lit a cigarette, took a drag, and then blew out a plume of diffusing smoke.
There was no wind in the room and no one was moving, so by tracing the path of the smoke, he could determine the ghost's movements.
He watched for a moment, but couldn't see a damn thing, and then suddenly realized—dammit, there was no light.
Li Daonian rushed to turn on the overhead light.
"Whoosh—"
The smoke drifted noticeably toward one side.
There was movement!
She was coming over.
He quickly continued: "Hurry up and come over! If you don't come, Older Brother's going to eat the candy!"
Then he took a drag.
The smoke moved.
Drag.
Smoke moves.
Drag.
Smoke keeps moving.
Seeing the ghost getting closer and closer, an abrupt question rang out.
"Li Daonian, what on earth are you doing?!"
Xu Shuangning propped herself up on the bed and sat up, sleep-eyed and disheveled, her face a mix of bewilderment and ridicule.
Just moments ago, she had been choked awake by the smell of cigarette smoke. Half-asleep, she had sat up just as the light was suddenly switched on, and then she saw this:
Li Daonian, with an expression of utter enjoyment while smoking a cigarette, was holding a lollipop, swaying his head from side to side and talking to empty space:
"Come here, darling. Older Brother's got candy for you. If you run too slow, Older Brother won't give it to you, you hear? It's orange-flavored!"
He looked precisely like a sleazy human trafficker.
"Shit!" Seeing that she was awake, Li Daonian hastily reined in his doting-mother smile and straightened his expression—his grand master image was completely ruined!
He then raised his index finger at Xu Shuangning: "Shh!"
Things were at a critical juncture; he couldn't afford to mess up now.
You had to know that children naturally felt close to girls. If Xu Shuangning ended up luring the ghost away right now, things would get tricky.
He took another drag.
The smoke drifted toward Xu Shuangning.
"Damn it!"
Li Daonian was defeated. Why on earth was she heading straight toward Xu Shuangning? Was Older Brother's lollipop and little red flower not as effective as her?!
"It's orange-flavored, don't go the wrong way, darling, it's right here!"
I smoke.
The smoke drifts that way.
I smoke.
The smoke still drifts that way.
Oh for fuck's sake.
Inspired in the nick of time, Li Daonian shouted softly, "Xu Shuangning, yell at her!"
Xu Shuangning caught on instantly and said to the patch of mist, "Go to Older Brother, there's nothing here!"
"Hey, yell harsher!"
"Hurry up and leave! You're so annoying!" she continued scolding.
"Even harsher!"
"Get lost! You're nothing special, not even as cute as a doll!"
I smoke.
The smoke still drifted that way.
"It's not working, can you be even harsher?"
Xu Shuangning frowned, racking her brain frantically, and then blurted out something that left Li Daonian speechless:
"If you don't leave right now, the teacher's going to assign homework!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
I smoke.
The smoke drifted toward him.
"It works, it really works!" Li Daonian laughed.
"One!"
The smoke gave a fierce lurch toward his side.
Hahahahaha, it seemed that even after turning into a ghost, that innate aversion to homework from one's mortal days remained intact.
Xu Shuangning let out a breath, still feeling a lingering sense of dread. She had witnessed with her own eyes how this mist was coaxed this way and that like a magic trick, as if a ghost truly existed.
Alright, with the cigarette finished, the ghost had also arrived by his side. The next step was to make her manifest.
"Since you're awake, come help out," he said to Xu Shuangning.
She cast a fearful glance at Li Daonian, but still tossed aside the quilt and shuffled over in her slippers.
At this moment, Li Daonian's mind was flooded with weeping.
"Mom, you lied to me, lied to me, the candy, wa-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
"Wa-ah-ah-ah-ah!"
"Oh, alright, alright, Older Brother knows you couldn't eat it. I'll let you eat it later, I promise."
"Here, hold the transparent tape and follow my lead as I stick it down," Li Daonian said.
He crouched down and traced a circle around himself with the red string, while Xu Shuangning continuously secured the string to the floor with transparent tape.
"Alright, mission accomplished."
Li Daonian stood up and looked at the circle of red string pasted onto the floor.
"The ghost is trapped inside."