Above me, the sunlight blazed down mercilessly. At this moment, I could feel my Ghost Soul stirring uneasily—apparently, even as a ghost, I still harbored a deep fear of sunlight. I watched helplessly as the villagers approached, their faces twisted with hostility, crowding around Rachel, their hands ready to strike.
Fury boiled inside me, but suddenly, Rachel broke down and wailed, her cries echoing painfully. In an instant, fat tears streamed down her face, each one heavy with despair.
"I don't know! I really don't know what kind of person he is, and I'm not close to him at all!"
In that instant, my anger drained away, leaving me stunned as I stared at Rachel. She kept defending herself, insisting she barely knew him, saying they’d only met online and agreed to come out together.
But the villagers were seething with rage; some even threatened to beat Rachel to death. Panic and confusion surged in me—why was William Wu, that fat man, with Rachel? At that moment, steam began to rise from my body, a searing pain burning inside me. I bared my teeth, enduring the agony.
"Ethan, don't be stubborn. It's going to be alright. I can see what's happening—if anything really goes wrong, I'll find a way. Trust me."
Old Ray spoke, and I nodded to him. Then, with a rush of breath, I slipped into the tavern, searching for a shadowy corner. I tried to solidify my form, but my limbs wouldn’t obey—as if I were nothing but a drifting mist. All I could do was linger there, powerless.
I hadn’t realized how dangerous sunlight could be for me. Now, I felt limp and powerless, like a heap of sludge in the darkest corner, far from the reach of the sun.
The commotion outside was still deafening. I watched people coming and going, anxiety gnawing at me for Rachel’s safety—who knew what might happen to her? My Specter Web was useless now; I realized that sunlight would burn it away instantly, leaving it terribly fragile.
"Fire!"
With a blaring shout like a loudspeaker, I slowly moved toward the window across from me. Looking out, I saw thick smoke billowing from the hotel opposite, from Building 2.
In an instant, the attention of the entire village shifted there. I saw many villagers grabbing pots and pans, rushing over to put out the fire. Though some still kept an eye on Rachel and the others, the chaos had eased.
The noise outside was overwhelming. I hurried back into the room that had already been searched by others. The door was closed; I drew the curtains shut, my whole body burning up. Though I was still a mass of black mist with only my head exposed, the pain was growing more unbearable by the second.
I spun in the air, darting up and down, completely disoriented. Waves of pain tore through my body, making me cry out in shock as my consciousness began to blur.
Go to the bathroom.
A voice echoed in my mind. I rushed into the bathroom, and as soon as I entered, I let out a miserable scream. In the mirror, I saw my own face—completely rotten, pitted and scarred, looking every bit the ghost.
"What's wrong? What's happening?"
Panic-stricken, I stared at my ruined face. Suddenly, my decayed reflection vanished from the mirror, replaced by a version of me with golden eyes.
Don't panic. You just got a little sun. What's so surprising? Right now, you only have a single Ghost Soul—you can't withstand the power of the living world. Rest for a while and you'll recover. After all, you've become a ghost, and as a member of the dead, you naturally have many weaknesses. Avoid the light, remember that, and don't touch anything filthy.
I blinked and asked,
"For example?"
"You'll find out when the time comes. Just rest for now."
"By the way, do you know if the guy I killed today was a revenant?"
"I don't know."
My golden-eyed reflection spoke, then vanished from the mirror. My rotten, ruined face reappeared, and I gasped in shock, recoiling. I turned away from the mirror, refusing to look. Glancing around, I finally realized the bathroom was sealed—no windows, just a vent overhead.
Earlier, even though I’d closed the curtains outside, sunlight could still get in, which was why I felt so uncomfortable. Now, things were much better.
Finally, that limp, powerless feeling faded from my body. Slowly, I condensed back into human form. Looking at myself, I saw that my body was riddled with pits and scars, as if it had been corroded by acid—an unbearable sight.
There’s still so much I don’t know about ghosts. I remembered seeing Yin Choujian and the Specter Greens in the courtyard walking freely under the blazing sun, completely unaffected. I hadn’t thought much of it then, but today, I really paid the price.
It’s true—stronger ghosts have something called a Second Ghost Soul. Now that I think about it, I should have one too. Otherwise, in a fight, I’d have to keep hiding my Ghost Soul, or I’d be easily defeated.
For now, I could only wait until sunset to go out. Though it was risky, I slowly drew my ghostly power back into my body. Gradually, I returned to normal. I hurried to check the mirror—fully restored, nothing seriously wrong.
Inside the room, everything was quiet. I’d locked the door with a chain—no one could open it easily, even with a key. I peeked through the curtains; the fire was under control now. I saw several police cars, their lights flashing, parked in the center of the street, and crowds heading toward the scene of the incident.
I was anxious, but there was nothing I could do. Now, I was a murder suspect. I wanted to check on the villager whose body I’d punched through. Thinking about it, though I struck him hard, something felt off about the force.
I remembered before, when I used Deathbane Aura on Manager Hao from the funeral parlor—back then, my aura was weak, but it still tore his face open. Yet last night, I poured a massive amount of Deathbane Aura into my punch, and all it did was punch through that villager and send him crashing into the wall.
"There's a problem."
I muttered to myself and lay down on the bed. Sure enough, after a short while, I saw police heading toward the hotel. I quickly unlocked the chain and turned into a ghost. Within ten minutes, the door opened and four or five officers came in, searching through my belongings. Aside from some spare clothes, they found nothing.
I thought, thank goodness I didn’t bring that fake police ID—otherwise Old Stone would be in real trouble.
After the police left, I returned to human form and continued to rest. By 6 p.m., the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind the mountains. Instantly, I felt energy surging through me.
Night had fallen. Now I could move freely. As a ghost, I slipped outside, extended my Specter Web, and located Rachel. She and William Wu were locked in a third-floor room in the residential area. The investigation seemed to be over.
When I entered, Rachel—who had been utterly dejected—suddenly lit up with excitement and called out.
"Ethan, you’re finally here!"
"Huh? Officer Zhang is here too?"
William Wu looked around nervously, unable to see me. With no other choice, I shifted into human form. Suddenly, William’s jaw dropped and he was about to shout, but Rachel quickly clamped her hand over his mouth.
I glanced around. Apart from one policeman guarding the entrance downstairs, there were no other officers. The whole village was searching for me. I went down, knocked out the guard, and returned upstairs.
Rachel told me she’d asked around—a lot of the revenant rumors were false. Most were just stories. But William Wu had struck up a conversation with her and revealed that in L City, a private hospital loses a large amount of blood every year under mysterious circumstances.
"What’s going on?"
William explained that he had a friend who worked as a doctor at the hospital. Every year, a significant amount of collected blood would mysteriously disappear. That friend once saw a pale, sharp-toothed figure talking with the hospital director.
Though it was only a glimpse, William’s friend was convinced the blood was being sold to vampires. After checking the blood bank records and staking out the hospital, they discovered a secret: every month, a mysterious car arrived, and some blood vanished—where it went, no one knew.
After months of tracking, they found the blood ended up in Gourd Village.
"So, we think it must be for Blood-Sucking Revenants."
William Wu said this with confidence. I nodded—indeed, those Blood-Sucking Revenants would have no food if they didn’t drink blood. The more I thought about it, the more tangled and mysterious everything here seemed.
William’s theory likely stemmed from that photograph. But right now, the most important thing was finding Rufina Howard—that was absolutely critical. I’d have to find Zhang Jizheng later and question him carefully.
"Let’s go check where they put the body, Ethan."
Rachel said, and I nodded. Taking advantage of dinnertime, I decided to check on the corpse of the man I’d killed. I slipped out of the room. Rachel told me the body was kept in that villager’s home—the deceased was said to be the owner of a shop here.
I arrived at the house. The scene was cordoned off, the area sealed. The corpse had been moved inside. With a rush, I slipped through the wall—and instantly, my eyes widened. The body was gone. The white shroud that had covered it was thrown aside.