Chapter 72: The Building Ghost Case

The moment the female ghost appeared, I also rushed to her front, and casually took out a Heavenly Monarch Evil-Suppressing Talisman and pressed it against her forehead.

But I was still a step late; when I was holding the talisman and pressing it to her forehead, Priest Kong had already died.

Injured by my talisman, the female ghost screamed and flew backward. Taking advantage of her injured moment, I pulled on Priest Kong's body, taking off his robe, then chanted the Ghost-Enveloping Spell and cast it at the female ghost.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; by the time everyone came to their senses, I had already captured that female ghost.

Yao Yirong, her cousin Taozi, and Character: Tang Zheng walked up to me.

Taozi nervously looked around, then asked me: "Xiao Ling, where did you put her?"

I thought the Xiao Ling she mentioned was just the female ghost from earlier, so I shook the cloth ball in my hand and said to her: "It's right here."

"And this Daoist…" Yao Yirong pointed at the fallen Priest Kong on the ground and asked me.

I shrugged: "He's dead."

After experiencing that incident in Anhui last time, Yao Yirong's mental resilience had improved greatly; seeing a corpse, she didn't turn pale with fright as she had the first time. Her cousin Taozi, presumably also accustomed to big scenes, merely showed a few seconds of panic at the sight of a dead person before immediately returning to normal.

Only Character: Tang Zheng, possibly experiencing this for the first time, couldn't help but turn pale, sweat beading on his forehead. When Taozi told him to call and handle the situation, he shook his ashen head, trembling, and waved his hand: "Miss, I'm feeling unwell; I'd like to go back first."

"Coward…" Yao Yirong curled her lip.

Although being looked down upon by a little girl who hasn't even grown hair yet, Character: Tang Zheng still nodded and bowed, saying yes, not daring to retort. Finally, Taozi had Fang Zheng go rest first, and she personally called people to come handle it.

Character: Tang Zheng wiped his sweat, muttered a couple of apologies, then hurriedly headed toward the company's exit.

"Thank you?" Taozi stretched out her fair hand toward me.

I politely said no need, and returned the handshake. But just as I lowered my head, the wind blew my left bangs, and that frightening white eye flashed for a moment.

"Ah…" Taozi collapsed in terror onto the ground, her eyes fixed on Yao Yirong while her hand pointed at me, mumbling incoherently, "He, he, he."

Yao Yirong hurried over to help her up, explaining: "Taozi sis, don't be afraid; my friend here is born with a slight disability, he didn't mean to scare you."

I gave an unwilling smile, masking the awkward atmosphere, yet inside I couldn't help feeling a bit bitter. I think anyone being looked at with such an odd gaze wouldn't feel good.

However, Taozi's composure is truly admirable; in less than a moment her complexion returned to normal, and she sheepishly reached out her hand again, saying sorry.

This composure makes me admire her; at least among everyone I know, besides QingSongShu and my master, no one can see my eyes return to normal after half a moment. Even Pangzi, if he stares at me too long, says he feels an indescribable panic.

"By the way, you weren't trying to catch cockroaches, right? Where are the cockroaches? I'll go with you." Yao Yirong wasn't frightened by Priest Kong's death; instead, she eagerly asked me about the Tomb Lord.

I thought carefully and told Yao Yirong: "Where is the women's restroom in your company? Take me there now."

As soon as I said that, both women's expressions turned odd; Yao Yirong looked me up and down, astonished, saying: "I didn't realize you had that hobby."

Understanding what these two women were thinking, I burst out laughing and quickly explained the situation to her.

I told her, the Tomb Lord is a spiritual entity formed in extremely yin and cold places from a dying cockroach, so it retains many of its former habits and likes to stay in extremely yin and cold places after appearing. And this company, luxurious as it is, the darkest, dampest spot I can think of is the women's restroom.

After the explanation, both suddenly understood. Taozi said: "Yirong doesn't know where the company's women's restroom is; let me take you there."

I nodded, said okay, and followed behind her.

From the hall I kept turning, turned into the right-side staff work office, then walked down the corridor for ten minutes before finding the women's restroom.

Taozi pointed to the end of the corridor and said: "That's the women's restroom."

I nodded, was about to take the talisman and head over, but Yao Yirong pulled me back. Then this girl actually asked me a nonsensical question.

"Sigh, we're going to catch cockroaches, want to bring Lanju?"

Lanju and Black Whirlwind are the same, a popular insecticide back then. Moreover, this brand's headquarters is in Guangdong; it was established in 1982. Although it wasn't famous back then, people in several cities near Zhongshan know this brand, and almost every household uses it to kill insects and cockroaches.

After Yao Yirong said that, I instantly felt my head throbbing as if struck by lightning… Damn, bringing Lanju to catch cockroaches—does that mean to catch a lecher I should bring a woman?

Although the question is rather naive and leaves me speechless, Yao Yirong's comment did remind me that I need to bring something.

The reason I had this thought wasn't only because of Yao Yirong's words, but also because I smelled a medicinal herb aroma as I passed by; especially after stopping at this end of the corridor, the scent grew stronger.

I asked Taozi and learned that her company originally sold medicinal herbs, and there is a small warehouse inside the company storing some herbs.

I made a request of Taozi, asking her to open the door and go into the warehouse to get some Chinese medicine.

Taozi stared for a moment, then immediately replied: "No problem."

After he opened the warehouse, I found several kinds of Chinese medicine inside, crushed and ground them into powder, packed them in a bag, and walked out.

These powders were actually prepared according to the prescription QingSongShu gave me; QingSongShu doesn't like using mosquito coils or insecticides, saying that inhaling those chemical gases too much is bad for health. So he usually grinds Chinese medicine into powder and sprinkles it around the house; after snakes, insects, rats, and ants smell the powder, they absolutely refuse to approach, and the formula's effect is especially potent against cockroaches. I've seen Pangzi sprinkle the powder around a cockroach, forming an encircling ring; the cockroach inside the circle bumps around like a blind housefly but cannot escape.

I once heard a story: in western Hunan, there is an old man of the Medicine King Sect who knows herbal magic to capture snakes. Once a person was bitten by a cultivated Five-Step Snake King, the old man learned of it, prepared medicine according to herbal law, scattered it where the snake king had passed, and not long after, the snake king was indeed lured out.

Since herbal law works on cultivated poisonous snakes, I believe the corresponding herbs will definitely be effective against this spirit-formed Tomb Lord.

After preparing the medicine packet, I signaled Yao Yirong and Taozi to stay quiet, then I tiptoed toward the women's restroom.

When I reached the restroom door, I poured out some powder and sealed the exit, then brought Taozi and Yao Yirong inside.

After entering the restroom, I didn't see the Tomb Lord's figure, but a vague feeling of resistance in my heart told me the Tomb Lord was in this restroom.

Checking the restroom's orientation, I found the place with the heaviest yin energy was the last stall's washroom.

To prevent the Tomb Lord from escaping again, I ran straight to the final washroom at the end and kicked the door open.

As expected… that thing really was hiding in the corner of that washroom; seeing me come in, it didn't flee but instead cowered in the last corner of the restroom, trembling with fear.

With each step I moved forward, his body twitched, as if I were a butcher and he was meat on a chopping block, feeling an innate fear of me.

This is an innate restraint; I think he sensed the medicinal aroma emanating from the herb packet in my hand.

Upon seeing the Tomb Lord, Taozi screamed "Ah!" in fright, shouting: "How can there be such a huge cockroach!"

Then, in a moment of distraction, she accidentally bumped into the restroom door and thudded, passing out. I felt startled and reached out to hold her so she wouldn't fall to the ground.

Yao Yirong, however, was rather odd; upon first seeing the Tomb Lord, she wasn't afraid at all. She even extended her palm to gesture, her cherry lips parted in amazement as she wondered aloud: "Good grief, how can there be such a huge cockroach."

Immediately, her eyes lit up, she clenched her fists and let out an "Ah!" scream. In today's terms, that's the overexcited reaction of a fan meeting their idol.

Even more odd, she grabbed my shoulder, pointed at the Tomb Lord, eyes shining, and said: "It's it, that's it."

I suddenly got a bad premonition; that phrase felt vaguely familiar to me, and a sturdy, heroic image flashed in my mind—that was Wang Pangzi, who, when he first saw Sirijing, also acted similarly, shouting "Ne Zha" in a frenzy.

"Lonely monster, ah… no, Hai Sheng, can you give this cockroach to me? It's so cute." Yao Yirong's following words confirmed my premonition.

I… could tell you all, at that moment the first thought that sprang to mind wasn't to refuse her, nor to agree. Instead, I felt a jolt run through my body and set myself three multiple-choice questions.

A, she's not only violent, but also has heavy tastes.

B, she is very violent and also has a very heavy taste.

C, her violence and heavy taste have already crossed the limits of morality and ethics.

While I was torn among the three options, wondering which one I should choose to match her image, she instead reached out her hand and touched the grave gentleman in the corner.

"What are you doing? Don't seek death so eagerly," I slapped her hand away.

"But don't you think this cockroach is cute?"

Goosebumps rose all over my body again; I looked at the fat cockroach in the corner and really couldn't see how anything about it could be cute.

"Ah... don't"

Just as I was about to explain to Yao Yirong the dangers of this thing, suddenly a terrified scream rang in everyone's ears, startling all the people in the restroom.

……The owner of that scream turned out to be Character: Tang Zheng, the manager who had been waiting in the hall just moments ago, preparing to leave.