Lan He wasn’t sure how other ghost messengers dealt with similar matters. He strongly suspected that Old Bai’s old-fashioned approach was either to ignore it or to directly drag the thief to the underworld for a scare.
But in Lan He’s opinion, it was still necessary for the thief to be subjected to legal punishment to prevent similar incidents in the future. Stealing tombstones was just too immoral.
Because of his work, he didn’t want to reveal his connection to this incident, including in front of the ghost in the long robe. Lan He decided to seek out the police, while maintaining his identity as a ghost messenger.
As for how to find them, he had to resort to a traditional skill of the underworld: dream sending.
…
Wang Lili was an ordinary police officer in the capital, diligently working every day, often working overtime, and falling asleep as soon as he hit his dormitory bed. Usually, he slept very well, but that night, he had a dream that was both absurd and incredibly real.
A ghost messenger, dressed like something out of a horror movie and wearing a mask, stood before him and asked, “Do you care about theft cases?”
“If it’s within our jurisdiction, of course, we do. Who are you?” Wang Lili, sensing he was dreaming, felt no fear and naturally engaged in conversation without questioning the bizarre setting.
“I work in the same field as you, but in the underworld. I’m here to report a theft case to you,” Lan He said.
Wang Lili was startled, “What kind of clue? And it involves enforcement across realms?”
Lan He glanced at the address he had noted, “The homeowner, Chen Mou, steals tombstones, remakes them, and then sells them off.”
To emphasize the severity, he added, “It has a very bad influence in the underworld!”
“Stealing tombstones? Wow, is that considered a major case over there?” Wang Lili found it curious, and looking at the address, “This area is under our jurisdiction, I have some impression of it.”
A major case? Perhaps not, Lan He replied, “Anyway, please, you must investigate. He remakes and sells the tombstones to others, causing quite a bit of trouble. One ghost, Xu Gui, is particularly troubled by this and hopes to recover his tombstone.”
After saying this, he sheepishly asked, “By the way… could I borrow some paper from you?”
Wang Lili was still pondering about Xu Gui, “Paper? What kind of paper, and why?”
“The paper used by you, police officers in the yang world, contains positive and negative energies, which could be useful for my work,” Lan He explained. “I thought, since I’m here, could I perhaps borrow some?”
Wang Lili’s gaze then focused more intently on him, “Well, that should be fine.”
The ghost messenger politely thanked him and once again urged him to solve the theft case, to help Xu Gui and the other unfortunate ghosts.
When Wang Lili woke up from his sleep, the words were still ringing in his ears.
He had an incredible feeling; although it was just a dream, it didn’t end upon waking up and forgetting about it, as usual. Instead, it felt unusually vivid.
Moreover, his emotions in the dream were much muted; he was neither very scared nor found it strange that the ghost messenger’s hat read “since I’m here,” and even wore a mask… It was only upon reflection that he found the image somewhat bizarre.
And the “suspect’s” address and the victim’s name were also particularly clear in his mind.
Wang Lili found this quite odd and got out of bed to wash up, only to see that the notebook he had left on his desk was opened. This notebook was issued by his unit, usually for jotting down case details and meeting notes, and this particular one was only half-used.
But now, the remaining half of the blank pages had been neatly torn away by someone.
“Damn it?” Wang Lili flipped through the notebook and suddenly remembered the clear dream where the ghost messenger asked to borrow some paper.
Goosebumps sprang up all over his body.
He considered himself quite brave, but this kind of event still creeped him out, especially when he checked and found the door lock wasn’t broken, and he was the only one with a key…
Even if it was broken, it’s unlikely someone would break into a police dormitory to steal, and only half a notebook at that?
And then he just happened to dream about a ghost messenger borrowing paper? What a coincidence that would be.
Washing up in a daze, Wang Lili decided to check the surveillance footage, even if there was a one in a million chance. But the results confirmed that no one had come over.
It was truly like seeing a ghost!
He didn’t know who to share this with, who would believe him?
Suddenly, Wang Lili thought of the address the ghost messenger gave him, and a surge of excitement filled him. The ghost messenger was very polite and didn’t scare him; he just asked him to investigate the case. The paper was really borrowed, so could the case also be real?
How many people could have such an experience? What was this, cooperation between the realms of yin and yang? Although the case wasn’t big, the implications were too impressive. Was he some chosen one?… He decided to investigate!
Wang Lili dressed in plain clothes and went to the address, finding not a storefront but a residential house on the ground floor with the door wide open, and many stone products inside, very crudely made. After all, a person unwilling to buy raw materials wouldn’t rent a storefront.
Seeing the nature of the business, Wang Lili became even more convinced that the dream was accurate.
He pretended to browse the products, and when the owner wasn’t looking, sneaked into the workshop, “A friend recommended me here, these are all unfinished products, right?”
The owner was oblivious, “Yes, my place is cheap, do you want to order? I can carve inscriptions for you.”
“Let me check the quality…” He squatted down, scanning the area, and spotted a tombstone whose inscriptions hadn’t been fully erased, with vague words like “tomb” and “erected in respect” still visible.
My dream was real, there really was a ghost messenger who sent me a dream!!
Wang Lili kept his excitement in check, stood up, and said, “It seems a bit thin, I’ll look around some more.”
โSince it was a stolen tombstone, it was naturally thinner from having the inscriptions ground off. The owner pouted, “Our prices are cheap. It’s only a little thinner, go have a look around, you won’t find a better deal. Anything else you’re buying?”
“No, thanks,” Wang Lili cursed the man’s lack of morals in his heart and left.
…
“Damn, you slept like the dead last night, couldn’t wake you up if I tried,” Cheng Haidong yawned, “I got up to drink water last night, stumbled and fell on you, asked if you were alright, but you didn’t make a sound.”
But he was too tired, so after drinking water, he went back to sleep. Now thinking about it, he wondered if it wasn’t too good, what if Lan He had actually fainted, and he didn’t know.
“Too tired, I slept deeply,” Lan He couldn’t exactly say he was practicing yoga in the middle of the night.
During the day, Chen Xingyang quietly informed the neighboring production crew about the inkstone, and the neighboring crew also secretly investigated for two days, checking the surveillance footage, needless to say, finding no one hiding the inkstone.
The inkstone was found, but they were still afraid to use it, pondering whether to hold a seven-day ritual for it when the police arrived.
The police stated that they had just cracked a case involving the theft of tombstones. The perpetrator would erase the inscriptions on the tombstones before selling them, and some of the high-quality stone materials were also made into other objects for sale.
They were now contacting the victims, both the families from whom the tombstones were stolen and those who had purchased the products.
According to the account books and the confessions of the perpetrator, some sets had been bought by the drama crew as props.
Upon hearing this, the people from the neighboring drama crew were stunned.
No wonder! They had said something was off about the inkstone, how it kept causing disturbances, with some even saying it was haunted by a refined ghost, fond of the old inkstone. It turned out it was made from a tombstone!!
The person in charge of the inkstone prop felt faint. Wasn’t that like being in the same room as someone’s tombstone?
The visitor was Wang Lili. Seeing the drama crew’s faces pale, he inquired further.
“Please don’t think we’re… deceiving you,” the other party hesitantly said, “A few days ago, our crew’s inkstone kept disappearing, only to be found mysteriously in the hotel’s cabinet, yet no footage of the person placing the inkstone there could be found. Moreover, in the filming footage, the inkstone would move on its own.”
Wang Lili: “Oh…”
The drama crew was a bit taken aback by how calm the officer was.
Having been sent a dream by a ghost messenger, Wang Lili found nothing strange about this. If not for his duty, he might even want to say, what’s so big about your story, look at me, my notebook was borrowed by a ghost messenger!
Of course, he couldn’t say that.
Wang Lili coughed, “Well, I’ll still take the inkstone with me. As for the money, we’ll contact you after the case is resolved to see how much can be refunded.”
“Sure, sure, no problem.” They were just worried about how to deal with the inkstone. They say police possess strong righteousness, and if they couldn’t suppress it, then what? But now that they knew the reason behind it, it was best to have someone come and clear the negative energy. It was too chilling.
As for Wang Lili, when he left, he was attracted by a flock of pigeons.
More precisely, the pigeons were avoiding a male actor.
It seemed they were shooting a scene requiring the male actor to interact with the pigeons, but the pigeons kept avoiding him, making it impossible to capture them together in the shot. The director was yelling at the male actor to move faster, to catch the pigeons off guard for a photo. The actor was speechless, saying how could I be faster than pigeons.
Wang Lili found this amusing. The scene had already been shot using a trick, and the male actor, tired, took a drink of water.
Wang Lili stood by, unnoticed in the busy film set.
After watching for a bit, Wang Lili felt the actor looked familiar, especially the eyes…
At that moment, the male actor looked up, making eye contact with him.
Wang Lili hesitated and asked, “Hello, are you…”
The male actor quickly interrupted him, “Do you want a photo together?”
Wang Lili blurted out, “Yeah, sure.”
And took out his phone for a selfie. He remembered, the familiarity was probably from watching the actor’s films. Good-looking and likely at the peak of his fame, he seemed approachable.
But he was too embarrassed to ask the actor’s name, wouldn’t that be awkward?
“Um, thanks!” Wang Lili didn’t want to reveal too much, so he vaguely said, “…love you, bro.”
Lan He: “…”
Officer Wang, that was really unnecessary…
.
Nighttime.
Lan He once again left his body to find Xu Gui.
Xu Gui had changed into new clothes. Lan He, following his preferences, still burned a long robe for him, only much brighter and more splendid this time. Upon seeing Lan He, Xu Gui expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, Lord Lan, for avenging me!”
“It’s nothing, mainly the work of the police in the yang world,” Lan He said. “A new tombstone will be erected for you, and the drama crew will probably offer some sacrifices for you. What are your plans now?”
Xu Gui humbly replied, “I’m just a wandering ghost, what plans could I have…”
Lan He thought for a moment and said, “Even though your remains are gone and you can’t be reincarnated, you can still stay at temples or Taoist temples, listen to sutras, and sometimes there might be offerings. This way, there may still be a chance for salvation.”
Xu Gui bowed his head, “I know, but Lord, I have weak ghostly powers and can’t stray too far from the place of my death.”
He was a minor ghost among minor ghosts, lacking many skills and having a limited range of activity. If the inkstone had been sold farther away, he doubted he could have followed and tampered with it as he did before.
“Is that so?” Lan He thought there was still time, “Then I’ll take you to Juehui Temple.”
Xu Gui knelt down, intending to kowtow, but Lan He stopped him, “We don’t do that anymore.”
Initially, Lan He really felt bothered by Xu Gui’s disturbances, but after dealing with him, it turned out to be quite the case. Xu Gui was also quite unlucky. Since he had helped the ghost to the end, Lan He led him towards Juehui Temple.
With Lan He guiding, Xu Gui could naturally go anywhere.
Soon, they arrived outside Juehui Temple, where Lan He saw a red lantern from afar, knowing it must be a colleague. Upon closer inspection, he recognized the figure, “Brother Yan San!”
“Hmm?” Yan San turned his head, rubbing his eyes sleepily, “Is that… Xiao Lai?”
Lan He noticed that Yan San held a long soul-hooking chain with a string of ghosts attached, clearly having just finished work and about to take a batch of ghosts to the underworld. And the smell of alcohol was strong, even from a distance.
“Burp, I… had too much to drink today, and I still need to report back, so I can’t stay long.” Yan San was in a hurry, merely greeted Lan He with a wave, and hurriedly floated away with the souls.
Seeing Yan San disappear quickly, Lan He turned to Xu Gui, “Wait here, I’ll see if there’s any food in the temple. If there is, we’ll join them for a meal. I’ve heard that the vegetarian meals at Juehui Temple are delicious.”
Xu Gui: “…”
He obediently waited, but then saw a ghostly figure emerge nearby, holding a wine jug, looking nervous and trying to sneak away quietly.
Xu Gui was stunned, “Eh, aren’t you…”
Wasn’t this one of the ghosts that another underworld officer had just taken away? His memory was not bad, and it had not been long, so he recognized him immediately.
“Shh.” The ghost, an elderly figure, smiled mysteriously, “We’re all ghosts here, let’s not disturb the underworld officer.”
Xu Gui thought it wasn’t right; he had to report to Lord Lan.
The old ghost, sensing Xu Gui’s hesitance, pulled him aside, “Wait, do you want to be reincarnated?”
Xu Gui stopped in his tracks.
Seeing Xu Gui’s expression change, the old ghost continued, “Hey, if you don’t report me, I’ll teach you how to catch up and use my slot. Though you can’t be reincarnated immediately, you can escape the suffering of the yang world. Seeing your dim appearance, you’re not living well, right? Those underworld officers are all bullying and exploiting for money, why bother helping them? We ghosts should stick together!”
Ghosts have their own aspirations. He didn’t want to go to the underworld, but for Xu Gui, it was an excellent opportunity.
Xu Gui showed a struggle on his face, hesitating for a long while, “Okay…”
The old ghost’s eyes twinkled with cunning. If this wild ghost took his slot, not only would he not be able to be reincarnated, he might even be punished, possibly allowing him to evade pursuit for a while, “Alright, then I’ll teach you…”
Before he could finish, Xu Gui, taking advantage of his distraction, grabbed his legs tightly and shouted, “Lord Lan! There’s a ghost trying to escape here!!”
“You!” The old ghost was furious, “You lickspittle, do you think you can be reincarnated in the end?”
Xu Gui just clung to him tightly, “What do you know? Lord Lan represents justice.”
Hearing Xu Gui’s loud cries about a ghost trying to escape, Lan He wondered what was happening. Turning back, he saw Xu Gui clinging to an old ghost who was fiercely kicking him. His soul body dimmed, not to mention, he loudly reported that this was one of the ghosts that had escaped from Yan San’s soul-hooking chain.
Lan He was startled and quickly took out his own soul-hooking chain, hooking the old ghost who immediately stiffened, still cursing Lan He with blood-red eyes, shouting from the depths of his being, “My fate is my own, not dictated by heavenโ”
Lan He punched him, “Damn, you’re so noisy.”
He thought this was bad; Yan San was in a rush to report back and had drunk too muchโ it seemed he had been intentionally made drunk by this ghost. If Yan San arrived at the underworld only to find a ghost missing, he would be in trouble.
Lan He quickly wrote a letter and burned it, but there was no response from the drunken Yan San.
When he couldn’t think of anything else, he still took the old ghost and chased after him. Even if Yan San looked back and saw him, he would be able to save Yan San some distance.
“Stay here, I have something to do!” Then hurriedly grabbed the dazed old ghost who was now dizzy and confused from the punch and ran off.
Xu Gui cheered from behind, “Lord Lan is mighty!”
ใใโฆโฆ
Lan He, carrying the old ghost, set off on the path of the underworld, chasing in the direction of Yan San. It was only later that he realized something critical:
He… didn’t know the way!
Half of the paths in the underworld are parallel to those in the living world, with both spaces intertwined. Even ghosts can easily get lost on these so-called paths of the underworld. To reach the Underworld, one must tread the legendary Yellow Springs Road, which you could also call the main artery of the underworld.
When Lan He first started his job, he made a deal with Old Bai that he wouldn’t do much fieldwork. Tasks like soul-reaping were rare for him, and even then, he never completed one from start to finish.
Moreover, even if Lan He had done the full journey, it wouldn’t have helped. Due to some historical issues, most departments of the Eastern Peak Underworld Office are still located under the Eastern Peak, but Yan San was heading to the Courts of Hell, which are on a completely different path.
So, how could he get to the Underworld?
In desperation, Lan He looked up and grabbed a nearby wild ghost who appeared to be quite old.
The ghost, unable to escape, trembled in fear, “Great, great lord, I don’t have any money!”
“I don’t want money!” Lan He said. “Sir, could you tell me how to get to the Yellow Springs Road?”
The wild ghost: “???”
It was truly a first for him, to hear such a question โ and from an underworld officer, no less?
police works fast, wll so proud of you