I had just flown a short distance when my phone rang—it was Hugh Thompson calling.
Hugh Thompson started talking. He said Redmond's men had already checked the situation for him. Dalton Fang's soul had been tampered with, something added to it, but the soul itself remained intact. His body, however, was basically dead—and his soul had been forcibly anchored to this modified corpse.
I was silent for a long while, but Hugh Thompson just laughed.
"What's wrong, Ethan? It's all right. Even though he's become like this, at least he's still alive, isn't he? Just keep your faith, Ethan. Don't let those people crush you with the pain they're trying to inflict. They're just toying with us. If you lose your resolve because of it, you're playing right into their hands."
"Thank you, Hugh. I'm all right now."
"That's good, Ethan. What we need to do now is unravel the threads—first, we need to figure out how the Immortality Society creates those bodies. I've had people do countless autopsies over the past two years. The conclusion: their bodies are pieced together."
I opened my eyes wide in shock. It was true—I’d heard before, during the incident with Huang Jun, that they wanted to take his body away.
"I consulted Old Wei. He said their ghost doctor is very skilled, almost supernatural in surgery. I’ll send the footage to Old Wei in a few days and ask him to take a look."
"Thank you, Hugh. There are a lot of things I just can't do alone."
"If you don't want to see something, then don't look, Ethan. If you don't want to think about it, just set it aside for now. Someday, there'll be a way to solve it. Even if those two hundred people have all become monsters, if we survivors give up on them, it's no different than killing them ourselves."
I nodded, hovering in midair. Instantly, I felt much better inside.
"Ethan, when things settle down, tell me about the powers you've gained. I think you could become even stronger—the only ghost who can use firearms."
I nodded happily. After hanging up, I sped toward Hades Village. As long as I kept heading north, I should arrive in less than an hour.
By now, I had wrapped my ghost soul tightly with seven spiritual threads from my body, just as Aunt Ghost had instructed. The feeling was deeply uncomfortable, like being trussed up with ropes.
Fortunately, my control over ghost energy was now precise enough. I could fly using only a faint glow of ghost energy, though the energy was starting to leak chaotically.
At nine o'clock, I arrived at the split mountain where Ten Tribunal Road was located. There was no one around—the area below seemed closed for renovations.
"So slow, Ethan."
I smiled with delight and drifted over. It was Lan Yin and the other nine Soul Collectors, each carrying a light bag. In front of Julian Lu, the talkative scholar, was a pile of bags. He looked troubled as he glanced at everyone.
"Hey, everyone, I know I lost at rock-paper-scissors, but how am I supposed to carry all these bags by myself? And honestly, something feels off. Ten people playing, I lose in the first round, all nine of you throw fists and I throw scissors—how is that even possible? Right, Ethan Zhang?"
I stared blankly. Several of the Soul Collectors tried to stifle their laughter, while Lan Yin burst out laughing and walked over.
"Julian, think about it—someone buys a lottery ticket for the first time and wins hundreds of millions. You just hit the jackpot. We all agreed: losers pay up, right? Here, let me help you."
As Lan Yin spoke, the others crowded over and piled bags big and small onto Julian Lu, who looked even more troubled.
"So heavy..."
I could tell now—the most honest Soul Collector in Hades Village was Julian Lu. Apparently, these guys bullied the honest one even on ordinary days.
"So, all these bags—are you going on vacation?"
I asked, and Lan Yin smiled.
"Not at all. We're heading to the rendezvous point. We can't enter the Underworld directly; we have to take the Spiritway, and it's a long walk. Ethan, you've been on the Spiritway before, right?"
I made a sound of agreement. Sure enough, when we visited the Ghostrealm before, we went down via the Spiritway.
"No matter what, we're still human—unlike you, Ethan, who can find shortcuts straight to the Ghostrealm. But even that won't work now; Halfway Crossing isn't so easy to reach these days."
I exclaimed in surprise. I hadn't expected the rendezvous point to be Halfway Crossing. Poison Dreadstar had repeatedly warned me not to mention these matters to the people of Hades Village for now—wait until we have an answer. If it's a fake, just say so; if not, keep quiet.
I understood, so I said nothing to Lan Yin.
"Ready? I'm opening the passage."
Jason Su spoke, extending both hands. Two golden threads shot out, swirling through the air. The ten Soul Collectors stepped forward, and I joined them.
Officially, I was running errands for Poison Dreadstar. Once the delivery was made, I had to take William Wu to Poison Dreadstar.
Basically, I'd memorized the aura on the Virtue Token Poison Dreadstar gave me—instinctively, I could recognize it. I had reached a state of coexistence with the jade.
More and more golden threads spun around us, and gradually, we began to vanish. In the blink of an eye, it was night.
It looked just as before: a pitch-black night sky, no stars, only a round moon. All around were strange black rocks. I remembered there were plenty of little ghosts here.
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But judging by the ten of them, it seemed they'd all been here before, which reassured me. Last time, the old man lent us the Celestial Chord Sword to guide the way, and now everyone was urging each other onward.
"Hurry up, Julian the slowpoke!"
Maggie Mu, the tenth member, spoke up. She'd recovered since Vivian Maple defeated her last time—she was a lively girl. As she spoke, Julian Lu put down all the bags and started rummaging through them.
As Julian Lu searched, I noticed everyone's expressions growing more and more grim.
"Damn it, Julian, didn't we tell you last night to keep the map safe? Did our words just go in one ear and out the other?"
"Felix, don't rush me. I'll look again."
But when everyone had emptied their bags, there was no map to be found. In an instant, everyone's face fell.
"Sigh, Julian, now how are we supposed to find the entrance to Halfway Crossing? You slowpoke, didn't we remind you last night?"
Julian Lu looked aggrieved.
"Ethan, you be the judge. Last night, they were drinking and singing while I packed their stuff. Oh, I remember now—it was another round of rock-paper-scissors, I threw paper, they all threw scissors, I lost and had to pack for everyone. They cheated."
"Well, we're screwed now."
Miles Mo plopped down on the ground. I looked at the road ahead—it was straight, seemingly endless, and extremely long, with no forks in sight.
"How about we try walking and see what happens?"
No sooner had I spoken than Zane Zhao shook his head.
"No way, Ethan Zhang. Without a recorded map, if we wander aimlessly, we could end up anywhere. We might never get out."
"Then should we go back out and bring the map in?"
"That's impossible, Ethan Zhang. Getting in is easy, but getting out is tough. If it were that simple, all the wandering souls who've been stuck here would have gone to the Ghostrealm and started selling maps. Some prisoners could just use the Spiritway to escape to the mortal world."
As Zane Zhao spoke, Wang Su added: usually, only ghosts with proper registration can return to the mortal world from the Ghostrealm. Wandering souls can't go up.
To pass through normally, you have to go through a checkpoint set up by the Underworld. Only powerful Blue Wraiths have registration, and the underworld officers can't stop them from coming up.
You can't just wander around the Spiritway. Without a record, it's like a maze—you'll never get out.
After some discussion, the only solution was to use Hades Village's Spirit Thread to mark our way. Jason Su released a golden thread, and with a boom, it pierced the ground like an awl. We started walking.
Everyone carried their own luggage now—no one dared let Julian Lu handle it. Their bags were full of food and water.
We'd walked less than ten minutes when I saw something golden up ahead. I ran over in surprise—it was the Spirit Thread Jason Su had just planted in the ground. How did we end up back here?
"Turn back. This isn't the right way."
Lan Yin spoke, and we had no choice but to head back. As we walked, a fork suddenly appeared in the road—should we go left, right, or straight ahead? Everyone hesitated.
At that moment, I saw black shadows darting among the strange rocks—just like the little ghosts we'd encountered last time. I watched them warily.
"Don't worry, Ethan. Here, except for getting lost, there's not much real danger."
Lan Yin spoke, and I responded. After a vote, we chose the left path. Still, something felt strange in my heart—a weird sensation I couldn't shake.