Chapter 273

Li Yi stood motionless in a corner of the collection hall, sensing his surroundings while keeping his eyes fixed on Liu Qingqing; now, she seemed like a different person, constantly manipulating Fang Hua's corpse, and as time passed, Fang Hua's body gradually began to vanish.

As if some supernatural force was dissolving, revealing its true form.

"Li Yi, what's happening?" At this moment, Guo You and the other two messengers dared to approach cautiously.

After all, to them, whether it was Fang Hua, who had returned from death, or Li Yi, whose power had surged, both were entities not to be trifled with—they only dared to come closer once everything had settled.

"Fang Hua isn't a ghost—I killed him. But Liu Qingqing seems affected by supernatural forces; her behavior is strange now. Don't get near her," Li Yi said.

Upon hearing this, the group instinctively moved farther away from Liu Qingqing.

They had heard rumors: Ghost Handlers could lose control; at such times, they were dangerous, sometimes unconsciously unleashing supernatural power, and ordinary people who got even a touch of it would die. Thus, they regarded Liu Qingqing, a Ghost Handler, with both reverence and fear.

Li Yi continued: "But I believe her loss of control won't last long. We still need to deliver the letter afterward—stay alert. The ghost is still inside the collection hall, but the footsteps earlier came from downstairs, not the first floor."

The group nodded and resumed observing their surroundings.

The scene fell instantly silent.

But soon after, one of the second-floor messengers suddenly said: "Li Yi, something's wrong—the commotion earlier was too loud. Security guards are heading this way. If they spot us, they might report it, and if the city's overseer gets involved, it'll be disastrous."

Li Yi had also noticed the security guards outside, but they were all ordinary humans, posing no threat, so he hadn't considered them.

Yet hearing the messenger's words, he decided it would be better to deal with the guards outside.

Li Yi immediately walked to the window, his gaze suddenly flashing.

He activated the Gaze Technique.

This time, he didn't intend to kill the guard—he issued a warning.

Instantly,

the guard, who had mustered courage to investigate, felt his head buzz violently, then his vision darkened; blood gushed from his nose. He was instantly terrified, remembering the rumors of ghosts in this place, and without looking back, he sprinted out of the collection hall, vanishing quickly.

"He ran off just like that?" Everyone froze.

Still, it was better he was scared off—saved them from delays in delivering the letter.

At this moment, Li Yi sensed the strange aura on Liu Qingqing beginning to fade, replaced by her original energy signature.

"Is the loss of control over?" Li Yi looked at her again.

Liu Qingqing's expression was dazed. She snapped back to herself and murmured: "What just happened? Did I zone out again?"

She knew this wasn't the first time. Since becoming a Ghost Handler, episodes of zoning out and sleepwalking had kept appearing. At first, the symptoms were mild, but as she used supernatural power more often and the time since her transformation lengthened, the episodes grew increasingly frequent.

In the past, when she woke up in the night, she'd find herself not in bed, but sitting at her dressing table, fully made up.

The makeup was flamboyant—not like her at all, but like another woman.

Other times, while passing a mall, she'd zone out; when she came to, she'd discover she'd bought several qipaos, one of them a vivid red one, already worn on her body.

She never normally wore qipaos.

Yet after that, Liu Qingqing gradually grew accustomed to the qipao, shifting from resistance to genuine liking.

It seemed some force was influencing her behavior, clothing, preferences. Sometimes Liu Qingqing even wondered: when a person's actions, posture, and attire all change, is she still herself?

At this moment, Liu Qingqing didn't ponder that question—she looked down at her latest creation.

A headless, chest-broken wooden doll.

And the doll had been posed in a strange stance—but she didn't know what it meant.

"You're awake?" Li Yi looked at the vanished Fang Hua and the broken wooden doll on the floor, then spoke.

Liu Qingqing asked: "How long was I out?"

"Not long—just a few minutes," Li Yi said, recalling her earlier flippant smile.

Her current demeanor was utterly unlike that.

"Just a few minutes? Good." Liu Qingqing said: "Since becoming a Ghost Handler, I've occasionally done this—after zoning out, I make strange movements. But don't worry—I never hurt anyone after losing control, at least not so far. If you see me acting odd, just leave me alone. Let me recover on my own. I'll return to normal."

"So you know you lose control," Li Yi said.

Liu Qingqing smiled bitterly: "Ghost Handlers have their own helplessness. This isn't unique to me—I asked others, and they experience it too. But their loss of control differs from mine: they're driven by the ghost's instincts, impulsively acting like the ghost itself. Mine is relatively mild."

"It's because ordinary people can't handle power at this level," Li Yi said. He understood this behavior well.

Supernatural power was too strong. Ordinary humans were too fragile. Any loss of control over such power would cause the Ghost Handler to lose themselves.

"By the way, do you remember what you said or did before?" Li Yi suddenly asked.

"I don't remember. I only recall seeing you attack Fang Hua, then everything went blank after you came over," Liu Qingqing said.

Li Yi said: "So you forget the memories before each loss of control. Never mind—it's a normal side effect. We'll pause this delivery for now. Return to the second floor and rest. We'll explore the first floor slowly this afternoon. Still, we gained something: we now know the ghost is in the basement."

"Alright," Liu Qingqing agreed. She felt she needed rest.

She feared another loss of control.

Soon,

the group retraced their steps, ascending the stairs back to the second floor.

As they finished the final step, they deliberately avoided the puddles on the stairs and checked the surrounding area—no wet footprints appeared, confirming the ghost had not come to this floor.

After sitting down, they ate something, drank water, regained their strength, and began discussing next steps.

"The footsteps earlier came from the basement, but their location was strange—not below us, but above. You should all pay attention to the ceiling," Li Yi warned.

The ceiling?

The group stiffened, instinctively looking up.

But the ceiling appeared normal—nothing unusual.

"Thank goodness you killed Fang Hua, Li Yi. Otherwise we'd have thought he was the ghost—if we'd delivered the letter to him, we'd be done for," Guo You said.

"I'm not that foolish. I always test whether someone's human or ghost. If I can't kill them, they're a ghost. If I can, they're not," Li Yi said calmly. "Today, your task is to fully explore the first floor. If you find any supernatural items, keep them—I won't take them from you."

"Once we confirm the first floor's condition, I plan to descend to the basement tomorrow morning."

"Won't we leave tonight?" another second-floor messenger asked, surprised.

Li Yi said: "Leave? Where to? Do you think the collection hall is more dangerous at night? Don't forget—we must interact with the ghost to deliver the letter. And I still don't know whether the ghost will leave the basement at night. The Ghost Post Office gave us ten days—perhaps the key to this task lies in the night."

"That makes sense. We can't leave at night—we must stay," Liu Qingqing nodded, then suddenly glanced at the others: "What? You want to leave?"

"No, no, I didn't mean that—I was just saying, I'm worried about poor visibility at night, accidents," the messenger chuckled nervously.

He truly didn't want to stay here at night.

This wasn't the Ghost Post Office—no room protections here. If a ghost appeared, they'd be dead.

But Li Yi was right—if the ghost only appeared at night, and they missed it, the letter wouldn't be delivered, and everyone would die.

"Put away your thoughts. Li Yi and I have already taken enough risks. You've been hiding behind us, and I haven't said a word—but if anyone plans to slack off, I won't hesitate to throw you down to the basement and let you test the ghost's killing rules," Liu Qingqing said coldly, revealing the ruthless side of a Ghost Handler.

"Don't worry—we'll follow orders," Guo You hurriedly said.

The other two messengers stayed silent, nodding frantically.

Liu Qingqing fell silent. One warning was enough. If they refused to act when real danger came, she'd act without hesitation—after all, the Ghost Post Office didn't forbid messengers from killing each other.

The team's atmosphere grew heavy.

After two hours of rest, Li Yi spoke: "It's time to move."

Guo You and the other two messengers didn't refuse—they began moving, slowly exploring from the outer edges of the first floor.

Li Yi didn't idle either. He closed his eyes, sat in a corner of the first floor, and began sensing the situation below.