It was a little after 10 when we returned to the Ghost Burial Squad headquarters. Rachel Lan drove us back, telling me to get some sleep, but I couldn't. My mind kept replaying what I'd seen that morning—the desperate look in that newborn's eyes. It wasn't an illusion. After recalling it several times, I was certain: something unnatural lingered in that gaze.
But now that Claire Zhang was just starting to recover, I couldn't bring it up in front of her. Rachel Lan seemed to sense something, her gaze drifting over to me now and then. I nodded at her, and she focused on driving, the silence between us thick with unspoken worry.
After Qian Ling and Claire Zhang got out of the car, Rachel Lan drove to the parking lot. I saw Justin Huang sitting at the main entrance, looking gloomy and bored, playing computer games.
Once the car was parked, Rachel Lan looked over at me.
"Ethan Zhang, did you notice something?" I nodded.
"Rachel, this morning, I saw that newborn baby looking at me with a pleading gaze." My voice was low, haunted by the memory.
As soon as I said it, Rachel Lan nodded.
"I'll tell Hugh Thompson later and have him look into that family. When we get a chance, we'll go together and check it out, in a few days." Her tone was steady, but I could sense a trace of worry beneath.
I nodded. Rachel Lan didn't ask for any reason—she trusted me completely. The warmth of that trust cut through my anxiety, if only for a moment. We got out of the car and headed straight for the basement archive. Hugh Thompson spends most of his days in the archive, researching.
After finding Hugh Thompson, I briefly told him what had happened.
"Ethan Zhang, if things are really as you say, there might be a problem. I'll have the team members on patrol today go check it out around noon."
I'm starting to get worried. Ever since I saw that newborn baby—Boss Chang's reincarnation—look at me for help, I've felt unsettled.
"It's fine, Ethan Zhang. Newborns are protected by three layers of innate Deathbane Aura—an energy that wards off evil. Unless it's a very powerful ghost, even a vengeful spirit can't threaten a newborn like that."
I nodded. The day after tomorrow, the Ghost Burial Squad is starting a large-scale internship. I need to get ready—to clear up the old photo studio case and Jason Zheng's situation. Rushing won't help right now.
"Ethan Zhang, calm your mind. Practice carefully—learn to control the Deathbane Aura with more finesse."
I nodded and left the archive room. At that moment, Miles Mao and Vivian Ouyang came in. They needed to look up some recent cases and start working with the trainees.
"Wait, Ethan Zhang, this case is yours. During tomorrow's internship, Lily Qian and Claire Zhang have already looked it over. You should take a look too."
Hugh Thompson said this and had the archive manager bring me a file. I took it and rode the elevator upstairs, where I ran into Old Eccentric in the lobby. He grinned and came over.
"Qingyuan, want to come up for a cup of tea?" I nodded and followed Old Eccentric to his office. I sat down, and soon the tea was ready. We started talking.
"Ethan Zhang, there are so many ghost cases now that we can't keep up with them all. It's overwhelming."
Old Eccentric said this, and I asked, puzzled.
"What's going on? Aren't the Nether Syndicate and Brahma Order also handling things?"
Old Eccentric shook his head.
"I don't know what's happened, but lately, the Nether Syndicate and Brahma Order haven't been active at all. Even the Mount Mason Order has vanished. It's strange—and it feels like something ominous is brewing."
Old Eccentric continued, saying that about two months ago, the once-active Nether Syndicate disappeared completely. Members of the Ghost Burial Squad haven't seen anyone from the Nether Syndicate at ghost incident scenes for a long time. As for the Brahma Order, they used to regularly send people down from the mountain to exorcise evil spirits, but now they hardly ever leave their temple. The silence is suffocating—it's as if the world itself is holding its breath.
"I called to ask before, but the master wouldn't say anything. Sigh."
At that moment, I noticed a photo on the wall. There were two younger men in it—one was Old Eccentric. I looked closely and saw him squatting on the ground. The young man behind him was smiling enthusiastically, hands resting on Old Eccentric's back, while Old Eccentric looked disdainful.
Judging by the photo, it was at least twenty years old. Seeing my confused look, Old Eccentric pointed at the photo and started explaining.
"That's my old friend. He was the previous director of the Ghost Burial Squad." Old Eccentric's voice was tinged with longing, the weight of memory pressing down on him.
Old Eccentric said this, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. He looked at the photo, nostalgia in his eyes.
"What happened to him?"
I asked. Old Eccentric shook his head, then lowered it gloomily. I must've touched a sore spot, so I quickly apologized.
"It's nothing, Ethan Zhang. That guy's been dead for eighteen years. He was stubborn, even at the end. I was the one who stabbed him in the heart and killed him." His words were calm, but the pain beneath lingered, heavy and raw. I could hear the tremor in his voice, a ghost of old regrets.
I stared at Old Eccentric in shock. He spoke calmly, but I knew it couldn't be that simple. He didn't say anything more about it, changing the subject. When it was time for lunch, we left the office together. I glanced at the man in the photo one more time.
After lunch, I went alone to a training room. It was empty. I calmed myself, sat cross-legged on the floor, took out a bullet, holding it in my left hand, and stretched out my right, releasing Deathbane Aura—a ghostly, black energy that repels evil—to try and condense it into the bullet. I also looked through some handgun notes Hugh Thompson had given me.
But with such a complex mechanism, I had to start from the basics, step by step. I basically understood how a bullet works, but every time I tried to make one with Deathbane Aura, I failed.
With no other choice, I picked up the file Hugh Thompson had just given me. It described an incident from fifteen days ago: in one family, the wife suddenly seemed to go mad, completely changed as if she were a different person.
They'd already called in plenty of monks and Taoists, but most were frauds and useless. One Taoist even threw the wife out the second-floor window. Everything was bizarre—the wife, who had been fine, suddenly changed completely. In the end, her husband had to lock her in at home and seek help everywhere.
I looked it over; it seemed like a typical case of ghost possession. Once the internship starts, I'll take Claire Zhang and Lily Qian to check it out. We just need to get the possessing ghost to reveal itself.
I set the file aside and lay on the floor, raising my hand. Deathbane Aura seeped out. Only by experiencing it myself did I realize—even though the other night I was so excited about making a Deathbane Aura handgun that I could barely sleep, actually doing it was incredibly difficult.
After thinking for a long time, I sat up and kept practicing. Even though I kept failing, I was starting to get a feel for it.
My biggest problem was not controlling the amount of Deathbane Aura. And now, the amount stored in my body was abundant—about ten times what it used to be.
"Come on, Ethan Zhang, can't you even handle something this simple?"
Just then, my shadow suddenly sprang up. It raised a hand, looked at the bullet in my hand, then condensed its own. Gradually, I saw a black bullet appear in my shadow's hand. It tossed it to me, and I caught it quickly. It felt as heavy as a real bullet.
"How did you do that?" I asked, but my shadow just laughed.
"Ever since the night before last, I've been practicing nonstop—thousands of times more than you. That's why I can do it. But you, you're always distracted by other things. Think carefully about what you should be doing right now."
After my shadow finished speaking, it returned to the ground. Embarrassed, I looked at my own shadow, quickly cleared my mind, and practiced seriously.
By eight o'clock that evening, Rachel Lan came to call me for dinner. I felt the bullet in my hand had some weight to it, but if I tried to add more Deathbane Aura, it would still collapse. At least I was making a little progress.
The next morning, I started practicing again. Hugh Thompson told me that once I mastered making bullets, I could start learning to form the handgun parts—piece by piece. Only after I could reliably make every part would I be able to finish a Deathbane Aura handgun.
Ran Ruoxi was also preparing seriously, constantly copying materials and explaining things to Qian Ling and Claire Zhang. The internship days were approaching.
That evening, around nine, the entire Ghost Burial Squad gathered in the auditorium. There was a buzz of whispers below the stage. I saw Old Eccentric dressed formally in a sharp brown suit, a large red flower pinned to his chest.
"Everyone, quiet down," Old Eccentric called out. The crowd immediately fell silent.
"Ghosts are born from people. Our Ghost Burial Squad exists to help wronged spirits and eliminate evil ones. That's what 'ghost burial' means. I hope everyone treats tomorrow's internship seriously. In the future, you'll face more ghost-related incidents. For a long time, I've failed you all." His voice trembled with regret and determination, echoing through the silent hall.
Old Eccentric paused. I'd heard that years ago, after years of hard work, he trained a group of elite members. But when they went to investigate the cannibal village case, none returned. Overnight, Old Eccentric seemed to lose his soul, collapsed, and for a long time after, he let the Ghost Burial Squad drift, losing all fighting spirit.
"But now, hope has returned to me. It's because of you, Ethan Zhang, and Rachel Lan, and everyone else. You all reignited my fighting spirit. I've decided to dedicate my life to the Ghost Burial Squad. I just hope everything goes smoothly from here. In a bit, we'll have a simple banquet. Don't stay up too late—after eating, be up by eight tomorrow morning."