Who says vengeful ghosts can't go on blind dates?

The human world.

"Injecting an anesthetic."

"knife."

"pliers."

"This is... sigh."

"Needle."

"Vascular signs are stable."

"Sedatives have been administered."

"A sedative has been administered..."

"..."

"How's the former military doctor?" Scarface asked.

The person who was pulled extra from the river had an item wrapped around the back of their head that resembled a vengeful spirit. Therefore, this matter cannot be taken lightly.

"We can't remove it. This ghostly object is connected to her carotid artery, and we can't stop the bleeding even after removing it."

"They're connected?" Scarface pressed impatiently. "Former army medic, didn't you try using your ghostly artifact?"

Upon hearing Scarface's words, the military doctor's face immediately showed a helpless expression.

"Huh? Did you understand what I said... Get out of my way. If you really want to take it off, maybe the hospital can help stop the bleeding."

"What did the department say?"

"What else can I say?" The medic rolled his eyes at the scarred man. "Our department isn't a hospital. My suggestion is to send this dead man to the hospital, not leave him here."

"dead?"

"She won't live much longer. Her carotid artery is connected to the ghostly artifact... If she does survive," the medic narrowed his eyes, "she will no longer be human."

"No longer human? You mean, her situation is similar to that of the Mafia..."

"Hey, just a friendly reminder—it seems like it's gone."

"What?"

Scarface suddenly had a very bad feeling.

He turned his head and looked around, but couldn't find Zhang Xuanya.

"Where is he?" Scarface's eyelids twitched.

"have no idea."

"How long has it been?" Scarface seemed to still cling to the last glimmer of hope.

"have no idea."

The two looked at each other and remained silent for a long time.

The next moment, someone let out a sharp explosion.

……

Meanwhile, on a certain main street outside.

"Achoo!"

"He must have caught a chill after jumping into the river," Zhang Xuanya murmured.

However, it's a good thing that they managed to sneak out.

That guy was really going too far. Didn't he know she was busy? He insisted on bringing her back to the department.

The department's access control system seems to have been upgraded again. But it's nothing special; she fiddled with it a bit and got away with it. It's incredibly boring.

Besides, what's so noteworthy about a player who happens to commit suicide in the same river as you?

More than that, she's now very interested in someone else—

"The eldest daughter of the Song family?"

No, not her.

It must be the thing she was following.

She was very interested in that "thing".

A vengeful ghost with a human appearance?

That alone wouldn't be enough to keep her following up on the matter. However, that anthropomorphic vengeful ghost was different from the other vengeful ghosts.

She saw no malice in the other person's eyes.

This is unbelievable. You know, it's almost common knowledge that vengeful spirits harbor intense malice towards humans... no, towards everything around them.

A malevolent ghost that harbors goodwill towards humans?

Zhang Xuanya was eager to make contact. But before that, she needed to gather more information.

For example, according to the latest information obtained by hacking into their own department while sneaking out, the relationship between the Song family and the Shicheng Mafia has suddenly deteriorated.

The specific reason is unknown.

"What the eldest daughter of the Song family said..."

Zhang Xuanya recalled the other party's behavior at the ghost casino.

She didn't seem like a player capable of clearing a bizarre game instance on her own. The young lady clung to the anthropomorphic vengeful spirit quite naturally, more like a habit left over from being protected by others for a long time.

The Song family wields considerable power in Shicheng. If they were to hire bodyguards to protect their young lady, they would undoubtedly choose the most capable individuals.

As Zhang Xuanya continued her deductions, she turned into a shop.

"Buy a rope. Yes, a hemp rope."

"...The hemp rope you requested. The total is..."

"Thank you. Here, I'll swipe my card."

Zhang Xuanya tossed out a card. The card had a photo on it; the photo was of Scarface.

"Okay. I need to tell you the password here..."

"No need, no need, this card doesn't have a PIN."

Originally there was.

But after she stole the card, she also erased the card's PIN while hacking into the department's system.

"Thank you." Zhang Xuanya took back the card and walked out of the supermarket with the rope.

"It's probably just that the Mafia messed up."

She came to this conclusion.

The most powerful player faction in Stone City is their department. However, the department only obeys the orders of the Celestial Empire's royal family and superiors, and does not accept private clients.

Therefore, the Song family has no choice but to turn to the Stone City Mafia.

I'd venture a guess, but I feel the probability of this result being accurate is quite high.

"Did the mission fail?"

Players who fail the mission will be trapped in the eerie world, where they are certain to die.

That makes things even more interesting. Did Song Yufei actually receive the protection of a vengeful ghost in this eerie world?

real or fake?

Zhang Xuanya assessed it. No, wait, there was no need for assessment—the value of this intelligence was immeasurable.

So, who knows about this now?

Does the Song family know?

There's a lack of intelligence. But if the Song family finds out, things will get complicated.

Furthermore, besides the Song family, there were other players in the Ghost Casino at the time.

Zhang Xuanya pondered for a moment.

The objective of the Ghost Casino instance is to win a bet against a vengeful ghost.

The difficulty level is neither high nor low; it mainly depends on luck.

If some players hadn't been unlucky enough to be forced to gamble against the clown ghost, quite a few would have survived.

At least some people from other city departments survived, otherwise Scarface wouldn't have known she was flipping a coin at the casino.

So, others may have already noticed that "thing".

"Time is of the essence," Zhang Xuanya muttered.

The department definitely didn't take this seriously. They might even have mistaken that "thing" for a player.

For example, the bodyguards of the eldest daughter of the Song family?

If the department didn't take it seriously, it's unlikely that other forces would either. However, Zhang Xuanya still felt somewhat anxious, as if time had suddenly become much more pressing.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating. I have absolutely no idea what to do!"

Suddenly, Zhang Xuanya saw a very suitable tree.

The only drawback is that the tree is located at the entrance of the Feldspar Private Bank branch.

嘛？

While Scarface is away, how about I hang myself a little?

Zhang Xuanya skillfully tossed the rope up, tied it into a loop, and put her neck through it.

Breathing began to become difficult.

My vision gradually went black.

Consciousness is also gradually...

"Miss, please do not commit suicide in front of our bank."

Someone put her down from behind.

Not only that, even the rope used for hanging was taken away.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Zhang Xuanya immediately expressed strong dissatisfaction.

If it weren't for that annoying thing bothering her, she would have almost left this painful world peacefully!

Why is it that no matter where you are, there are always people who meddle in other people's business?

"Give me back the rope!"

She gave it a hard push. As expected, it didn't budge at all.

"Uh. I'm just a low-level employee, please don't make things difficult for me. The rope is confiscated. If you want to commit suicide, you can go to the entrance of the head office. Of course, the casino next to the head office is also an option."

"Hello!"

This time, the staff member didn't have time to pay attention to her and quickly walked into the bank.

"whispering sound."

Zhang Xuanya walked away angrily.

She took out her earphones, put them on, and listened to music, seemingly trying to relax.

However, Zhang Xuanya became increasingly angry the more she thought about it. After walking for a while, she tapped a few times on her headphones and switched to another channel.

"Buzz... Hey! You guys hurry up. Transcribe this information onto paper. Mr. Jiang needs paper copies."

"...Print? No. The manager said this information is very important and cannot be left on electronic devices, so it cannot be printed."

"...Troublesome? I find it troublesome too! Do you know how tiring it is to scribble words back and forth in a newspaper? I..."

What followed was the employee's incessant complaining.

"Ah, no wonder."

Zhang Xuanya took out a piece of bubble gum from her pocket and casually popped it into her mouth.

The employee didn't come out of the bank; he came up behind her.

In other words, the other party was preparing to go back at that time.

Zhang Xuanya frowned slightly.

The timing feels a bit coincidental.

There are 24 hours in a day, and 60 minutes in an hour. Why did that employee happen to encounter himself hanging himself at that exact time?

So what if you go out frequently?

Zhang Xuanya blew a bubble.

That doesn't make sense either; it's illogical.

Even if you go out frequently, the probability of bumping into someone is still very small.

But what if the other party's destination is very close to the bank?

Zhang Xuanya recalled the scene when she pushed that employee.

At that moment, she casually put the bugging device into the other person's pocket, pushing the employee's shoulder and chest.

Judging from my intuition, the other person shouldn't be hiding anything.

If you can't get any strong clues from the other party, then you can only rely on guessing?

She lowered her eyes, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied. However, she quickly glanced around and observed the shops near the bank.

bookstore.

There's a bookstore on this street.

She immediately connected the conversation to what she had just overheard.

The clerk mentioned newspapers. Although there were no newspapers sold on this street, the focus wasn't on the newspapers themselves, but on the text within them.

The books in the bookstore constitute this condition.

So, did that employee see someone hanging themselves in front of the bank from inside the bookstore and rush over to stop them?

So, what about its rationality?

Buying books all the time would attract attention and suspicion. So, do the employees occasionally go to places a little further away to buy newspapers?

It sounds reasonable at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it is full of loopholes.

Based on the eavesdropping, there must be printing equipment inside the bank.

The staff could simply buy some blank paper, then print it into a large number of printed materials, and select words from the materials.

Why not do it this way? Is it because the person in charge forbids it?

The argument about preventing information leaks is absurd. Printers only print paper documents; even if a hacker breaks in and sees the printed content, what can they do?

Is that person in charge some kind of stubborn idiot?

"Smack."

The bubble burst immediately after being blown.

"Something's odd."

Paper-based information is indeed more secure than electronic information. But the premise is that it shouldn't be done in a big way.

This is unusual, and unusual things attract attention and lead to an investigation.

The bank manager couldn't possibly be unaware of this. Why would they do it?

"Changshi Private Bank?"

Zhang Xuanya began to struggle to recall what she had read about the Changshi Private Bank.

Fortunately, because her department had assigned her to investigate the afro-haired guy, and the afro-haired guy had investigated the Feldspar Private Bank, she actually managed to glean some information from her head.

If I remember correctly, according to the intelligence provided by the department, that guy from the neighboring city has been running this way ever since he was humiliated by the Song family.

"This used to be Song family property. Now... it seems to belong to the Jiang family."

Zhang Xuanya relaxed her brows and narrowed her eyes slightly.

The Jiang family's attitude towards their counterpart in the neighboring city was perfunctory; they would perfunctorily deal with it for as long as possible.

In other words, the people at the bank were busy running around, definitely not to deal with that guy with the explosive hair from the neighboring city.

"Very good, this information is sufficient. Well, if the superiors are pressing for it, then hand over this information."

She gave up thinking.

The person in charge of this bank is definitely problematic. But she doesn't want to get involved.

In fact, she encounters many similar situations every day. Through various pieces of information, she can deduce every now and then who might have problems and what kind of mobilization certain forces might make.

But she never told the department about these things.

Why does her department always cause her trouble? They always give her headaches.

So, let the higher-ups deal with the headaches themselves.

When it came to investigating the afro incident, Zhang Xuanya didn't hesitate to slack off. After all, she needed to hurry up and investigate Ren Zhizhe; she didn't have the energy to deal with such trivial matters.

"This department is so annoying."

Zhang Xuanya shook her head.

They not only prevented her from committing suicide, but also assigned her these absurd tasks.

So! She decided! Not to tell the department about the friendly ghost!

Well, in that case I'll have to investigate it myself.

It doesn't matter; she's always been used to doing her own investigations. If she lacks information, she can just hack into the department's system.

Anyway, there's a high probability that nobody will know.

"The only person we have contact with is the eldest daughter of the Song family. Therefore, we still need to start this matter with the Song family."

Furthermore, someone might be investigating this matter as well, so we must act quickly.

Ah. Thinking about it this way, does that mean I don't have time to try suicide again?

Zhang Xuanya looked distressed.

Before she hanged herself, she heard that the subjective pain of hanging is extremely short, usually lasting only a few seconds to a dozen seconds while fully conscious.

The vast majority of symptoms are not "prolonged suffering," but rather a rapid loss of consciousness.

But through practice, she found that this was not entirely the case.

The assessment was that it would be better to jump into the river.

"But hanging oneself in front of the casino is quite interesting; I'll try it again sometime."

She took off her headphones and stuffed them into the folded ear of a stray wild dog with bubble gum.

"The work in this department should be done by dogs."

That wasn't enough. She thought for a moment, then slapped the puppy down hard, forcibly herding it into the slums, before leisurely going off to find some amusement.