After chatting for a while, Trần Văn reluctantly took her leave, looking back three times as she walked away.
“All done~ Bắc Châu, get back to the real work!”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ imitated Trần Văn’s voice, then doubled over laughing before she could even finish.
“Oh my God, Giang Bắc Châu, that girl’s got a crush on you! I can’t stand that cutesy voice, hahaha…”
Giang Bắc Châu gave her a helpless glare, but Tống Phỉ Phỉ feared no one and nothing, and kept laughing until tears streamed down her face.
“This is a cloth doll my mom made herself. She says it looks like me. Will this work?”
I got a basin and set the doll inside. Then I took Giang Bắc Châu’s hand, made a cut with a pair of scissors, and dripped some blood onto the doll.
The cut was a little too big. Giang Bắc Châu wiped it with a tissue and looked at me helplessly. “We have needles at home. I wouldn’t have minded a little prick.”
I scratched my head sheepishly, then tried to cover it up by solemnly chanting an incantation.
Tống Phỉ Phỉ planted her hands on her hips, indignant. “What are you doing? You’re a man! It’s just a little cut!”
As soon as I finished speaking, a puff of white smoke rose from the doll in the basin. When it cleared, the tiny doll rubbed its eyes and stood up.
“Wow, it’s so cute! What is it?” Tống Phỉ Phỉ stared in amazement at the doll in the basin.
“It’s a ghost-finding doll. It’ll lead us to Giang Bắc Châu’s mother’s body. If you like it, hold on to it. It’ll show us the way.”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ happily hugged the doll like it was some priceless treasure.
Rich people really do have unusual tastes!
We packed up and followed the doll, quickly reaching the forest north of town.
The road was too narrow for the car, so we parked and helped one another climb the mountain.
“Oh my God! It’s eleven at night! I’m hugging a doll that moves, and going to look for a corpse!”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ clenched her fists excitedly and threw her head back, shouting, “This is incredible! This is the kind of life I’m meant to live!”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ seemed like she had some kind of illness. Giang Bắc Châu and I quietly moved away from her.
“Linh Châu! It must get lonely, vanquishing demons and exorcising ghosts, huh?”
“Walking through a dark forest in the dead of night, with no one to talk to… Have you gotten tired of it after all these years?” Tống Phỉ Phỉ grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard, her big eyes blinking with bright excitement.
I sighed. “Just say it. What do you want?”
“Let’s form a team! The Ghost-Busting Trio! How’s that for a name? Before long, our fame will spread across the country, and demons will tremble at the sound of it!”
I gave her a scornful look. “How ignorant!”
“Of course, to show I’m serious, I’ll cover all the costs for exorcisms, incense, joss paper, peach-wood swords, and Five Emperor Coins! Last month, Dad and I went to an auction in Hong Kong. There was a peach-wood sword made from a thousand-year-old tree struck by lightning. I forget if it went for two or three million.”
“Stop talking! From now on, we’re teammates! Do you know how long I’ve waited for this day?”
I excitedly grabbed Tống Phỉ Phỉ’s hand. She seemed to radiate golden light—the scent of money, the scent of top-quality magical artifacts!
“Linh Châu!”
“Phỉ Phỉ!”
Watching us hug and spin around, Giang Bắc Châu let out a long sigh.
“Are we still going?”
After nearly an hour of climbing, we reached a reservoir. It wasn’t large, but beneath the moonlight its water was pitch-black, like a black hole swallowing lives.
“Gulp, gulp!”
All three of us swallowed hard at once.
That water looked deep.
“Hà Tỷ’s body is down there. You all know how to swim, right? It’s a small reservoir, but finding someone won’t be easy. We’ll have to get in the water in a bit.”
Of all ghosts, I feared water ghosts most. Even though I was a good swimmer, they were incredibly strong underwater and hard to deal with.
This reservoir had been abandoned for a long time. Who knew what frightening creatures might be in it?
There’s a small river below the reservoir. Hà Tỷ must have drifted down it to the riverbank in town, where I found her.
The three of us looked at one another. No one dared go in first.
I slapped my forehead. How could I have forgotten her?
I pulled a small gourd from my pocket, carefully opened the lid, and let Bách Linh out.
“Oh my, where am I~? It’s pitch-black. How scary!” Bách Linh swayed as she gracefully rose to her feet.
“Hehe, Sister Bách Linh~”
Bách Linh gave me a flirtatious glance and pointed a slender, pale finger at my forehead. “Stop flattering me. I’m not into that sort of thing~”
“Hehe, Sister Bách Linh, you’re so beautiful and have such a great figure. It’s a shame to keep wearing the same old clothes! I’ll burn you a hundred outfits: evening gowns, wedding dresses, qipao—just name what you want! High heels, boots, everything!”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ spoke earnestly. Her extravagant wealth made me feel a little wistful.
“Oh, what a thoughtful girl. Now that’s how you treat someone~”
Bách Linh patted my hand, covering her mouth as she laughed coquettishly.
In the end, tempted by Tống Phỉ Phỉ’s money, Bách Linh reluctantly went into the water.
As soon as Bách Linh entered the water, the middle of the reservoir began bubbling furiously, as if it were boiling.
I handed Tống Phỉ Phỉ and Giang Bắc Châu golden talismans, gave her the peach-wood sword, took off my outer layer, grabbed a coin sword, and jumped into the reservoir.
“Oh my God! When did you put on a diving suit?!”
Just before I went under, I heard Tống Phỉ Phỉ cry out in surprise from the shore.
The water was cold and pitch-black. I couldn’t see anything, but I could faintly sense three tangled currents of energy in the reservoir.
Bách Linh was being ganged up on by two water ghosts!
I swam quickly toward the middle of the reservoir. Just then, an excited shout rang out from the shore: “Sister Bách Linh, get out of the way!”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ stood on the dam with a slingshot, feet planted firmly as she aimed at the middle of the reservoir.
Was she going to shoot ghosts with a slingshot?
Hearing her, Bách Linh shot into the air, and something hurtled toward the middle of the reservoir.
A shrill scream rang out. I surfaced, stunned to see two ghostly figures in the air burst into golden light as their black energy weakened.
Tống Phỉ Phỉ kept firing her slingshot. Unable to take it anymore, the two ghosts dove underwater.
The reservoir’s surface grew calm.
Tống Phỉ Phỉ was a genius!!!
She’d wrapped talismans around the slingshot to shoot ghosts!
I took a deep breath, dove underwater, and thrust hard at the shadow ahead. A water ghost kicked me, then dragged its companion away at speed.
This was bad. They were heading for the shore.
Tống Phỉ Phỉ had run out of talismans and was rubbing her sore hands when two figures leaped out of the water right in front of her.
They were a man and a woman in their thirties. The man’s face was deathly pale and strangely familiar. Tống Phỉ Phỉ froze.
The male ghost looked so familiar.
The female ghost looked vaguely familiar too.
Giang Bắc Châu stared blankly at the two ghosts, lowering the talisman in his hand.
He couldn’t believe it. He was so shocked he couldn’t speak.
I clambered onto the shore, saw the two of them standing there dazed, and raised my coin sword. “You fiend! Take my sword!”
As I charged, someone lunged over, grabbed me, and rolled me to the side.
“Oh my God! Giang Bắc Châu! Are you crazy?!”
“That’s my dad!”
Seeing us arguing, the two ghosts were so shocked they just stood there, forgetting to fight back.
Giang Bắc Châu staggered to his feet and pulled me up.
Tống Phỉ Phỉ was also stunned by the turn of events. “The male ghost is your dad? Then who’s the female ghost?”
Giang Bắc Châu sighed. “She’s Trần Văn’s mother, the girl who came to my house last night.”
Just then, Bách Linh flew over. I gave her a signal, and she tied up the two ghosts. I pulled out two gourds and captured them both, then collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.
The three of us and one ghost sat staring at one another.
“Didn't your dad and Trần Văn's mother run off together?”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ covered her face and gave Giang Bắc Châu a doubtful look.
I gazed into the lake's dark depths. “So there are three bodies in this lake: your parents and Trần Văn's mother.”
Everyone fell silent.
“Your dad didn't recognize you just now. I'm guessing he died the same way your mom did, and the killer was the same person.”
Bách Linh and I exchanged a thoughtful look. I thought we'd only have to deal with Hà Tỷ, but now there were two more. The thought of subduing three vengeful ghosts gave me a headache.
“Let's go. The lake is deep. We won't be able to retrieve the bodies tonight, so I'll have to call for help.”
The three of us trudged down the mountain. Giang Bắc Châu was silent, while Tống Phỉ Phỉ looked pensive, glancing at him from time to time.
“I think Trần Văn's dad is suspicious. What do you think?”
Tống Phỉ Phỉ nudged me and winked.
I was lost in thought.
I'm an orphan. My master took me in when he was already old, and it was really my senior brother who raised me.
The last time, I fought with my senior brother because his alchemy furnace exploded and took out my house. Worst of all, it destroyed the computer I'd scrimped and saved to buy.
My senior brother was terrible at alchemy, but he kept at it, wrecking all sorts of things at the temple.
I yelled at him, stormed out, and now I'm too embarrassed to go back and ask for help.
“Linh Châu, hello? I asked you a question.”
“Oh, yeah. I also think her dad is suspicious. Usually, when one spouse dies, the other is the first suspect.”
Giang Bắc Châu sniffed, his voice low. “My parents loved each other very much. People said my dad was seeing Trần Văn's mother, but I never believed it. Trần Văn's dad drank a lot and had a nasty temper. When he got drunk, he'd beat his wife. My parents helped them out many times. Later, my mom and I went to visit her family for two days. When we got back, Trần Văn's dad said my dad had run off with his wife. My dad's things were gone, too, and my mom searched everywhere for him. After that, she struggled to raise me on her own. Then, two years later, she disappeared, too.”
I patted his shoulder. “The truth will come out soon. They didn't die for nothing—we'll get them justice!”