In the spacious and bright old house, Wujin had just finished a shower and was curled up on the sofa watching TV, lazy to the absolute extreme.
Just then, his phone suddenly rang.
Lazily, Wujin reached out to pick up the phone on the coffee table. Seeing that the caller ID showed "Lord Qi", he immediately straightened up and answered, "Hello, Lord Qi, what are your orders?"
"Has Shang Yu gone back?" the person on the other end asked concisely.
"Let me check," Wujin said as he struggled to his feet, walked over to the window, and looked out at the opposite house.
The house was pitch black, with not a single ray of light visible.
Just as he was about to tell Lord Qi this, he suddenly heard a knock on his door.
Could it be that his newly moving in here was disturbing the neighbors?
With this thought, Wujin hurried to the door and opened it, only to find that the person standing outside was none other than Shang Yu.
"Huh?" Wujin looked at Shang Yu in front of him with some surprise, still holding the phone in his hand, momentarily unsure of how to react.
He wanted to exchange a few polite pleasantries with Shang Yu, but felt it wasn't quite appropriate. At that moment, he suddenly remembered that someone on the phone was still waiting for his reply. Yet speaking directly into the phone seemed rather impolite as well.
Shang Yu's gaze remained locked on the phone in Wujin's hand. Without a word, he simply reached out silently toward him.
Subconsciously, Wujin handed the phone over. He watched as Shang Yu took the phone and said directly, "Qi Jingtao, if you let your people point binoculars at my house again, I'm calling the police and having you all arrested!"
With that, he hung up, handed the phone back to Wujin, and the gloom on his face vanished completely in an instant.
At first glance, he looked like a sunny, wholesome young man.
"Brother Jin, Lord Qi said you moved in, so I brought you some fruit."
Especially that tone of voice and smile—it was simply marvelous!
Only then did Wujin notice that Shang Yu was carrying something in his hand, and he hurriedly took it. "You really shouldn't have! Come on, step inside and sit down!"
"No, I still have to go home and sleep! I've got things to do early tomorrow, so I'll be off! Have a good rest too, Brother Jin! Come over and hang out sometime!"
With that, he had already disappeared into the stairwell.
"This guy is so weird!" Looking back at how he had just addressed Qi Jingtao by his full name, Wujin suddenly realized that he hadn't said a word about it!
That was Lord Qi! Since Lord Qi himself didn't mind, why didn't he, as a subordinate, have any sense of propriety?
Wujin carried the fruit into the house and picked out an apple to eat.
"Why does this thing taste like nothing?"
Lord Qi had always been magnanimous with them; after all, even when Xiao Nan peed on someone as a child, Lord Qi didn't bat an eye.
But this time, the call had been hung up on, and it was done by an outsider. Hard to say...
Thinking about it, Wujin decided to call Qi Jingtao back.
"Lord Qi, Shang Yu came by, brought me some fruit, and left."
Did this kid not hear what Shang Yu had just said?
Qi Jingtao's expression turned slightly displeased. "Get rid of those things!"
"Why?"
"Watch out he calls the police on you."
The image of Shang Yu holding the phone and threatening Qi Jingtao suddenly flashed before Wujin's eyes, scaring him so much that he instantly jumped off the sofa.
"Lord Qi, has this Shang Yu lost his mind?"
"Just get rid of them. You'll stay over there for this period, keep a close eye, and don't get caught."
With that, Qi Jingtao put away his phone and looked at Xiao Nan, who was walking out of the room.
"Lord Qi, Zheng Xiaodong seems to have been placed under some kind of curse. Any news related to that group from the City God Temple—he can neither speak it nor draw it."
He had anticipated this. He took out a small pouch and said, "Dissolve this in water and give it to him to drink."
Just as dawn was breaking, Qi Jingtao stood by the corridor watching the sunrise.
"Lord Qi, they've confessed everything." Xiao Nan handed a folder to Qi Jingtao.
"Have Old Zhao and the others come take the suspects. You and Cheng Yu go back and get some rest!"
"Lord Qi, you've been up all night too..."
Qi Jingtao waved a hand, said nothing, and lowered his head to read the files.
Zheng Xiaodong admitted that they were indeed setting up a Formation capable of upgrading lesser ghosts.
That was why the grades of lesser ghosts within Mingning City had generally risen during this period.
However, he was only responsible for creating vengeful ghosts from unnatural deaths—like Ma Qing'er, who was Grade Yi the moment she died and made for good material, meaning his handlers would pay more.
Afterward, their people would step in and use various methods to raise Ma Qing'er's grade while stripping away her sanity, ensuring she would completely obey their commands.
As for who exactly those people were, he didn't know and had never seen them. Payments were always made in cash every week, leaving no trail to investigate.
Fortunately, this Zheng Xiaodong was skilled at sketching and drew portraits of all the accomplices who had worked with him and fled.
Qi Jingtao dispatched two people to send the portraits for comparison; as soon as the results came out, they could issue an arrest warrant.
By the time he finished dealing with all this, it was already lunchtime. Exhausted, Qi Jingtao went straight to rest.
Yet he never slept peacefully. Scarcely had he closed his eyes when his phone rang again.
The caller ID showed Xiao Nan. Rubbing his temples, Qi Jingtao half-sat up and answered, clearing his throat before speaking, "What is it?"
His voice was as cool and detached as usual. Hearing it, Xiao Nan, who had been worried about disturbing Qi Jingtao's sleep, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lord Qi, something's happened. At the end of a screening at the movie theater nearby this morning, the entire audience was taken hostage."
That sort of matter fell under the police's jurisdiction. But since the call had been made here, it certainly wouldn't be that simple.
Suppressing the irritation in his heart, Qi Jingtao listened patiently.
"A spectator in the back suddenly turned the tables and subdued the robber, and then *he* took the entire audience hostage." The more Xiao Nan spoke, the more solemn his expression became. "Supernatural matters like this aren't supposed to be our department's concern, but the authorities over there can't handle it, so they want to ask you to step in."
"Understood. Tell them I'm on my way."
Qi Jingtao sat up, took a sip of water, glanced at the man with heavy dark circles under his eyes in the mirror, threw on his coat, and headed out.