I sped through the night, my hands tight on the wheel. The window was broken, a jagged hole in the glass, but no wind came in—the ghost riding with us blocked the opening, its form half-hidden, letting me keep my eyes on the road.
"Half an hour left," Justin Huang said, shifting restlessly in his seat.
"Looks like that brother in the back is off to see his sweetheart, huh?" the ghost teased, making me snort with laughter.
"Cut it out," Justin Huang said, his face pure and embarrassed under the car's interior light. In the rearview mirror, I caught his awkward expression.
It was 9:50. We'd passed through several small villages and towns—up ahead was Linland County.
"Ethan Zhang, we agreed—just a quick look. Then you help me talk to her, and we leave right away."
"Got it. Don't worry."
"Heh, when I was alive, the first time I went to see my wife, I was just like you, brother. Nothing to worry about. If you see her, you'll be fine. If you don't... that pain is hard to bear."
I burst out laughing, and the ghost in front of me laughed too.
"By the way, that Ghost Patron you mentioned—what's his deal? Is he really so generous?"
"That's just what I've heard. That old master treats homeless and wandering spirits well. Used to be, you could get money every month, plus food and a place to stay. All you had to do was some work."
"Is that so? Ghosts are all tricksters—I've learned that the hard way," Justin Huang said. The ghost immediately protested.
"No way. A buddy of mine told me himself, just a few days ago—said if you go there, you won't have a care in the world. Meat and fish every day."
As we talked, we saw a massive archway ahead, with 'Linland' written across it. A broad, straight avenue lined with roadside trees stretched before us.
"Thanks for the lift, brothers," the ghost said, bowing to us as I stopped the car. Then it vanished.
After driving a while, we reached a bridge. On both sides of the river, lights blazed—busy food stalls everywhere. Justin Huang's eyes lit up as he looked at me.
"We're almost there. I'll buy you something to eat later. Let's ask for directions and go take a look. I heard Mandy Lou teaches at a high school here—she's probably still supervising evening study now."
Justin Huang replied nervously, "Okay." I parked by the roadside and started asking around.
Just then, a man dashed toward us, wild with excitement. I watched him warily, and Justin Huang clenched his fists. From his pale clothes and haunted eyes, he looked like a Pale Ghost.
"Finally, you're here! Damn, I've called headquarters dozens of times. It's been over half a month and no one's come. If you didn't show soon, I was going to run for it," he said.
Just then, the glass window rattled. Frank Niu's face twisted in terror, and I felt a chill.
"Who are you?"
"I'm stationed in this county, a member of the Ghost Burial Squad. Police badge number 11089. Name's Niu Quanfai."
The man pulled out his police ID and showed it to me. I glanced at it.
I'd heard before that the Ghost Burial Squad had officers stationed all over the country, but with so few people, many places only had one or two—sometimes just at the county level.
Niu Quanfai hurried to a food stall, waved goodbye to some friends, and got into the car.
"Let me tell you, this place has been crawling with ghosts lately. I don't even dare go out at night. If I hadn't heard that someone from above was coming today, I wouldn't have come out at all. I've been hoping and praying—you finally made it."
I looked over at the food stalls. Just as Niu Quanfai said, there really were quite a few ghosts—pale, mingling among the crowd. Some of them noticed us and started walking our way.
In an instant, my whole body radiated killing intent. The ghosts approaching us immediately turned and fled.
"Impressive, really impressive. You must be Ethan Zhang, right? Heh, let's go to my place first. I'll fill you in on what's been happening lately."
And I finally understood why Chief Stone had pushed me to come today. When I left, his animated expression made it clear he wanted me to go and come back quickly.
"Let's head to Linland County First High School first. We've got some personal business to take care of."
Niu Quanfai let out a surprised sound.
"What personal business? Do you know the number of missing people in the county has reached seventy-three? It's a huge headache. The chief keeps telling me to solve it, or he'll kick me out."
"Is it Chief Stone?"
Niu Quanfai shook his head.
"No, it's the local police chief. I'm part of the Ghost Burial Squad, but my salary comes from the county. The chief said this morning that I'm just a useless freeloader—an expensive one at that. If I don't solve it in a week, I'll have to go home and fend for myself."
Justin Huang and I both burst out laughing, and Niu Quanfai laughed along with us.
"You graduated from the Ghost Burial Squad, right? The usual White Shirts shouldn't be a problem for you."
"You think so? Not a chance. There's a real heavy hitter here now. Even the ghosts warned me not to meddle, or they'd kill me."
Under Niu Quanfai's directions, we wound through the streets, turning again and again, until we arrived at the gate of a high school. After showing our police IDs to the security guard, we went inside.
Justin Huang looked shy and awkward, while Niu Quanfai kept sizing him up.
We went to the teachers' office. After Niu Quanfai asked around, we learned Mandy Lou was supervising evening study.
Then, using the excuse of investigating the missing persons case, Niu Quanfai said he needed to ask Mandy Lou some questions. We waited in the reception room. Justin Huang stayed silent, head down, curled up in a corner.
At eleven o'clock, the door to the reception room opened. A plainly dressed woman walked in, and for a moment, the three of us were stunned.
Mandy Lou had willow-shaped eyebrows and an oval face, her figure well-proportioned. But on her left cheek, there was a severe injury—two patches of skin twisted together, as if forcibly stitched.
Noticing our stares, Mandy Lou quickly covered her left cheek.
"Your... your face, what happened?"
Justin Huang asked. Mandy Lou twisted her mouth into a stiff smile.
"It's nothing. I was hurt when I was younger." She let go of her hand and sat down.
Niu Quanfai kept asking trivial questions, but I noticed Justin Huang never took his eyes off Mandy Lou.
"Officer, if you have no more questions, I'd like to return to my dorm." Mandy Lou looked a bit angry—probably because we'd stared at her face.
"Wait, Miss Lou, I have one more question for you."
I quickly stood up and motioned for Niu Quanfai to leave. He smiled and walked out, closing the door behind him.
"Officer, I've answered everything. If you want to ask personal questions, I'm afraid I can't help you."
Mandy Lou started to leave.
"Do you still remember Justin Huang?"
Suddenly, Mandy Lou froze, then turned to glare at me coldly.
"I don't know who you're talking about, Officer. I don't know anyone by that name."
I let out a surprised sound and quickly spoke up.
"Back then—do you remember? When you were in high school, there was a boy named Justin Huang, two grades above you. He saved you, and you even promised him..."
Mandy Lou twisted her mouth into a smile and shook her head.
"There are a lot of Justin Huangs. I don't remember anyone like that. Officer, I'm leaving."
Mandy Lou left. As she turned away, Justin Huang took off his sunglasses, tears streaming from his dark green eyes.
I was about to chase after her, but Justin Huang stopped me. He cried, looked at me, and shook his head.
"That's enough, Ethan. Let's go back. It's better this way—she doesn't remember, and that's good..." Justin Huang said, just as Niu Quanfai burst in.
"Huh? Did I hear right, boss? You're heading back? Then I'm screwed."
I shook my head and patted Justin Huang on the shoulder.
"Go back? Hell no. We've got to solve this first. This time, we're going to stick it to old Chief Stone—he made us come all this way. After we deduct expenses, we can make a little extra."
Justin Huang chuckled.
At midnight, we bought a pile of food and several bottles of liquor. As soon as we entered Niu Quanfai's house, Justin Huang ate and drank, tears streaming down his face.
"Tell me what's going on. Forget about him for now. What's really happening? So many people have gone missing."
"The first to go missing were a couple. Their friends said they wanted to play a ghost-hunting game and went to a cemetery in town. They disappeared there."
"Did you check it out?"
"Not at first—I was playing mahjong all night, slept until evening. The next morning, I went to look. The cemetery was heavy with yin energy. I asked a few ghosts, but none of them had seen anything or knew anything."
I shook my head and sighed.
"After that, strange things started happening more often. The second case was one night—a family of three. Someone heard screams and called the police. I got there late, used a compass and searched for ages, even scattered Ghost Revealing Powder, but never saw a trace of any ghosts."
"And the cases after that?"
Niu Quanfai sighed and shook his head.
Just then, the glass window rattled. Niu Quanfai's face twisted in terror, and I felt a chill.
With a rush, a ghost covered in blood, its face sallow, floated in.
"Listen up. The old master knows your Ghost Burial Squad sent people. You'd better stay out of it. Wait a while, things will calm down. Hear me—"
I was just about to act when I saw Justin Huang leap up, fury on his face. He grabbed the ghost's head and slammed it onto the floor with a bang.
"Coming out in the middle of the night to bother people? You want to die?"
The ghost struggled violently, and outside the window came more rattling noises.