Suffocation made his face turn red. The pressure on his neck was killing him gradually.

w.a.n.g Xu wanted to push the hands of the banshee away, but he could not even touch the hands as if he was grabbing the air. As soon as he was about to lose his consciousness, w.a.n.g Xu noticed his chest was getting scorching. The bamboo book suddenly flared up a dazzling stream of light. The banshee screamed out miserably, promptly let go of him and stepped backward. w.a.n.g Xu fell down on the floor, gasping.

After he could breathe again, he immediately stormed towards the banshee.

He got enraged. There were two thoughts crossing in his mind: "First, that banshee is scared of this bamboo book. Second, if I have to die, I will drag you with me as the airbag for my back".

It was possible to say w.a.n.g Xu"s intention of revenge was very strong. "Regardless whether you are monsters and demons, or saints and Jade Emperor, my life has been destroyed; at worst, let perish together". At this moment, he tried to grab the banshee"s hair but he still clutched at the void as before. Thus, an idea popped up in his mind.

w.a.n.g Xu drew out the bamboo book, hitting straight to the banshee"s face. Holding the bamboo books was like holding a flashlight in his hand. It was just more convenient for him than holding a brick.

He could felt the book just hit that banshee. w.a.n.g Xu knew this thing was able to touch things which did not belong to this world. It was definitely not a cheap bulls.h.i.t counterfeiter. He did believe this bamboo book was an orthodox object from the Devil Ravine Man.

With that thought, he did not loosen his hand, instead, he held the book more tightly, using illegitimate gangsters" tactics to beat the female ghost. At this critical moment, he truculently shouted: "You are such an ugly grown-up, dare to come here to threaten and strangle me! I don"t care if you are a natural element[1] or not. You shouldn"t think that if I cannot physically a.s.sault you, I am scared of you".

There was an anomalous scene happening in the room: a young man was holding a bamboo slip and beating a ghost so hard that its teeth fell out on the floor.

While w.a.n.g Xu was. .h.i.tting the ghost so hard as if he was addicted to it, his eyes suddenly saw something which he did not want to see. There was an old man whose half of the body was "going through" the door and then entering the room. After that, on the wall and through the window, more than ten "elderly fellow flocks" started to rush in. Only in a short careless moment, w.a.n.g Xu had been pushed to the corner.

He raised the Devil Subduing Journal in his hand to resist, but it was like a person struggled among a flock of wolves waving his torch. Fortunately, those ghosts were wary of the bamboo book; none of them dared to come closer. They only stood there watching. This made him have a feeling of "mightily onlooking".

"Hey, little boy. Seems you are still alive. Did you see any abnormal thing in a while?". A lazy voice came up in w.a.n.g Xu"s head.

"You, …where are you? What is happening? Help me please!" w.a.n.g Xu shouted his reply, fussing to search for where the voice just came out. He knew that voice was Mister Mao"s because this voice was unforgettable. It gave people an image of a sleepy face.

Moreover, for anyone witnessed this kind of peculiar thing, he would know that only the detective who was "specializing in investigating mysteries" could be trustworthy to be relied on.

[This translation’s copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com]

"Oh, me? I am in the detective office, this tactic is the Voice Transfer Thousand Miles, which can make a sound come up in your head. Hahaha, is it extraordinary?"

"Yes, it is extraordinary. This elder is about to die! You knew this thing would happen since yesterday but you did not tell me? Instead, you said something about 4:00 p.m to fool me".

"Haizzz, youth in this generation. Even though I am still young, I am still several years older than you. Therefore, you calling yourself "elder man" is a little bit too soon. Now, I will tell you one thing, and you have to listen carefully because I will only say it once".

Mister Mao ceased a while after saying those words. w.a.n.g Xu clearly heard a sound of a deep puff at a cigarette. The fire was burning, yet that Mister Mao could be still very calm.

Although w.a.n.g Xu was really mad, the story from Mister Mao might be related to his life, so he kept silent restraining his anger.

After Mister Mao puffed at the cigarette in a very long time as if one thousand years had pa.s.sed, he deliberately spoke up: "At 3:00 a.m this morning, I could feel there was a vigorous spirit item waking up. Every time this kind of spirit item awoke, it would create a strange upheaval. The more powerful this spirit item is, the more effective this upheaval can be. Because not many people in this city could have spirit items like this, I a.s.sume I personally should go to see it. As the result, I saw you digging on the other side, thus I thought you have been chosen by a spirit item. However, you look like just an ordinary person, I was afraid you could not resist against the ghosts" pursuit after 12 hours. That"s why I decided to help you by leaving my business card to you. If you found the detective office, you would have been safe. Regretfully, you did not actually want to receive my help".

"Bulls.h.i.t! Your d.a.m.n business card does not have any address on it. How can I find you? Going all around the earth?"

"Hahaha, it is so. I understood. Now, you go to the window and throw the bamboo book out".

"What? You want me to die, don"t you? No worries, still, I am going to die even I have it in my hand. Wait until I become a devil, I will not get off you".

"Because after this treasure appears, it will make an earth-shaking change, frightening all ghosts and devils. That"s why those ghosts don"t want human beings to have that treasure. You just need to throw it away, they have no more reason to harm you".

"Alright, I believe you this time."

While waving the bamboo book to threaten those ghosts, w.a.n.g Xu groped along the wall to move forwards to the window. As soon as he just opened the window, an arm appeared from nowhere grabbing him and dragging him outside.

"Aren"t you at some s.h.i.tty detective office?"

Mister Mao did not care about w.a.n.g Xu"s disgruntlement. After throwing the cigarette stub on the ground, he spoke fluently: "You believe in the Voice Transfer Thousand Miles?  Maybe because you have watched Three Heroes and Five Gallants [2] too much?"

Two of them ran out very fast to the pavement. Mister Mao jumped on an old-fashioned Honda car, w.a.n.g Xu sat on the front seat next to the wheel. Mister Mao had already pressed the accelerator even before the car doors were closed.

The car ran like a wind.

The safe feeling gave w.a.n.g Xu a relief.

He asked while gasping for breath: "After all, which part of what you have told me is true?"

"Except some jokes to tease you, everything I have told you is true. As I did not see you come when it was almost 4:00 p.m, I decided to come over to see. Although I told you to throw that thing out, I actually just wanted you to open the window. Don"t ever throw it for real. Hey, you still have my business card?"

[This translation’s copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com]

"Why do I need the card which has neither address nor telephone number? s.h.i.t, why is it?"

w.a.n.g Xu suddenly got astonished as he looked at the card again. He saw the address on it. It had been originally empty there.

"Ah, you should see it now. I think facing those ghosts has helped your consciousness awake. And because you also have the ability of spirit observation, so … hehe". Upon these words, Mister Mao leaned over, pushing the door on the pa.s.senger side open and kicked w.a.n.g Xu out of the car.

w.a.n.g Xu had no time for reaction. Once he realized what had just happened, the car had run already more than ten meters away. Fortunately, the pavement in the suburb had been covered with a thick layer of gra.s.s, otherwise, all of his bones would possibly break when falling down quickly on the street like that.

The old-fashioned Honda stopped at a place not far away from where w.a.n.g Xu had fallen out. Mister Mao protruded his head out of the car window, shouting loud enough for w.a.n.g Xu to hear: "As you already have the ability to use the spirit observation, I decided to give you an opportunity. If you can get to the detective office alive today, it means you pa.s.s the challenge. I will provide you a job called "catching ghost". Anyway, there are fewer and fewer people in this job".

As soon as he finished his last sentence, he sat up straight.

After lighting a cigarette, right at the time he was about to accelerate, he saw a b.l.o.o.d.y face through the rear mirror all in a sudden.

That was w.a.n.g Xu"s appearance after having been kicked out of the car. Wounds were not serious, only a little bleeding on his forehead. However, Mister Mao"s words had ignited w.a.n.g Xu"s intention of risking his own life.

[This translation’s copyright belongs to The Invincible Ladies and Wuxiadream.com]

At that moment, ignoring the pain on his body, w.a.n.g Xu stormed in and successfully clung to the trunk of the car.

"Such a stubborn guy". Mister Mao mumbled with a smile.

"You give me an opportunity? And still, challenge me? Let me tell you, you will have no chance to do it because your mother is going to receive a picture of a decedent and a box of ashes. Wait until I catch you…"

Before he finished swearing, w.a.n.g Xu had been thrown up by the car"s drift, rolling in the air.

This was the last sentence he could hear while being in the air: "If you can"t come on time, you will die. Be careful".

———————————————

[1] Natural element: A term used in j.a.panese’s animation series “One Piece”. It referred to someone who has the ability of the Devil Fruit types.

[2] Three Heroes and Five Gallants: A Chinese famous novel, a character in this novel possess the skill of Voice Transfer Thousand Miles