My magic panel is too numerical.

"Wow, Pharos! You have a sweet little sister!" Miss Crow flapped her wings.

The cake was less than 6 inches long and had 19 unlit candles on it, corresponding to Pharos's age of 19.

Pharos carefully cut off a corner and put it in his mouth.

To be honest, his stomach was already quite full.

Having lived two lives, Pharos has always somewhat avoided this family and inwardly resisted the new family members.

Cake is clearly a bridge used to break the ice among family members.

"Honestly, what a waste of money..."

He murmured, raised an eyebrow, and left home with his umbrella, his departing figure looking somewhat melancholic.

The rooftop of the townhouse is usually filled with bedding drying in the sun, but when it rains, it feels much more spacious.

The night rain was mixed with the southeast monsoon of June. Castile was located in the north of the empire, so even in summer, it was slightly cool.

"Are you having an episode, Pharos? Instead of going back to sleep, you're out on the rooftop getting some fresh air," Miss Crow said, displeased.

"It has no taste." Pharos pondered for a while.

"Huh?" Miss Crow asked in surprise.

"The cake has no taste."

"Is it possible you just ate too much? That was a super lavish late-night snack! You, as the older brother, ate alone outside and then came home complaining that the birthday cake your sister bought you didn't taste good!"

Miss Crow gave a scathing critique.

"I have a feeling that the vengeful spirits today are a bit off," Pharos explained.

He felt a vague unease.

His intuition, stemming from his "spirit," told him that the matter of the vengeful spirits escaping was not over.

Pharos is waiting, waiting for instability to come knocking, hoping that the truth will come out tonight.

He cannot bring danger home; that's the bottom line.

Miss Crow clearly misunderstood.

"That's Miss Serena's family matter. Remember what Detective Simon said? Don't get involved in anything unnecessary... Wait, you haven't fallen for Miss Serena, have you? Alright, alright, once you help me get my body back, I, Miss Raven, will take care of the Moretti family for you!"

Miss Crow proudly raised her chest.

Pharos didn't respond to that. After spending some time together, he was quite certain that Miss Raven was just a love-struck chatterbox.

Seeing that he didn't react, Miss Crow pleaded, "Don't you think it's a bit cold in here?"

"It's a bit cold..."

"So you're still outside?"

Pharos remained rooted to the spot, motionless, his expression stiff, his hands gripping the railing tightly with bulging veins, and his body trembling slightly.

What he had been waiting for had arrived.

"Pharos, what's wrong? You... don't scare me!" Miss Crow flapped her wings and flew to Pharos's side.

"You...look over there," Pharos said tremulously.

Miss Raven looked in the direction Pharos was staring, and her feathers immediately bristled and her pupils contracted sharply.

Startled, the cawing of Miss Crow echoed all around.

"Gagaga..."

On the gas lamppost next to the apartment building across the street, a white figure was lying on the ground, staring directly at Pharos.

"Isn't this the vengeful spirit that haunts Father Lorenzo? How did it end up here? And its aura is even more ferocious..." Miss Raven exclaimed anxiously.

"Something's wrong... This ghost-hunting request is definitely problematic..."

Pharos wanted to touch Miss Raven immediately to activate the "Soul Devouring" skill, but the gas lamp downstairs suddenly flickered for a moment, and the white figure disappeared in an instant.

A bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He was about to turn his head to look at Miss Crow when, in that glance... Miss Crow, who had just been beside him, was somehow knocked away.

Instead, a white figure appeared.

The figure stared intently at Pharos, and Pharos also recognized the figure.

This was a man with white eyes, his head tilted to the side, his face obscured, but rotting muscles and sharp teeth were visible, as the skin of his entire face had been peeled off.

Is this... is this the vengeful spirit whose face was peeled off by the Godfather?

Faros felt a tingling sensation on his scalp.

Unexpectedly, a simple ghost-hunting trip led to a mess.

"Damn it, it's the Godfather's fault. Why are you all bothering me? I'm just an employee... uh..."

Before Pharos could even complain, the vengeful spirit crashed into his body at an astonishing speed.

In an instant, a chill ran through my body, like taking a cold shower in the dead of winter.

Pharos felt his whole body was frozen stiff, his thoughts were sluggish, and his throat felt like it was blocked by something, making it impossible to breathe.

"...Cough cough...cough!"

Pharos clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground in agony, even rolling around on the floor in pain.

"Ugh...cough cough!"

At this moment, Miss Raven, who had been knocked away, finally flew back and nuzzled Pharos's cheek.

"Pharos! Quick! Use 'Soul Devour'!"

Consciousness gradually blurred, and vision began to be covered by darkness.

Finally... the panel appeared.

[Use "Soul Eater"?]

Pharos strained with all his might and shouted hoarsely, "Use...it!"

[Activate "Soul Devouring"]

Before my eyes, Miss Crow was once again enveloped in purple light, and the purple halo slowly formed a vortex.

The immense suction force gradually pulled the white figure out.

The white figure was then swallowed by the vortex, and the pain finally stopped.

Pharos gasped for breath, "We're...we're saved..."

Miss Crow also breathed a sigh of relief.

It was far too dangerous; the strength of this vengeful spirit was beyond her expectations.

"Pharos, you're right... This powerful vengeful spirit must have been a chosen one of the gods in his previous life. By the way, how did you know he would come looking for you tonight?"

"Intuition." Pharos ignored what Miss Raven meant by "chosen one."

He was pondering another question: if the vengeful spirit had the opportunity and time, why didn't it kill Father Lorenzo?

He wanted to know the logic behind the actions of vengeful spirits.

The next second, the panel popped up, and at the same time, his thoughts exploded in his mind, which was already weakened.

[Spirit -1, Strength +1]

[Body: Strength 2; Agility 0; Charisma 0]

[Spirit: Reason 1; Spirit -1; Soul 10]

[Note: Recovery time: 48 hours. If you continue to use "Soul Devourer," you're only one step away from going insane.]

An unusually noisy whisper echoed in my ears, and countless fragments of memories rampaged through my mind.

After a long time, Pharos's consciousness fell into a vacuum.

The excruciating pain, like undergoing craniotomy without anesthesia, surged through me, as if my brain had suddenly split into another personality, playing out abnormal memories—mental pollution from others.

The deceased's name was Paul.

He was adopted by his godfather as a child, joined the church as an adult, and became an informant planted by the Moretti family within the church.

Paul had a good talent for magic and was devout to God. Soon, with the help of the church, he was blessed by God and became a clergyman.

As time went by, Paul received a commission from the Moretti family.

They travel to the northern capital of the Empire, "Moon Shadow City," to retrieve an important member of the Moretti family, but are ambushed en route.

After a bloody battle, a white, humanoid monster slowly approached the dying Paul.

It was a white giant without facial features...

"Pharos..."

"Pharos!"

"Pharos, what's wrong? Don't scare me! My body is still waiting for you to save it!"

Miss Crow frantically flapped her wings, but in her spirit form, she couldn't even call for help.

When he opened his eyes again, Pharos sat up straight, soaked to the bone, whether from the rain or from exhaustion.

He was still breathing heavily, trying to calm his inner turmoil.

"Pharos, are you alright? The '0' in your panel attributes represents the dividing line between health and poor health. If your mental state drops to a negative number, you will experience some degree of mental pollution..."

"I am fine……"

"Pharos, shall we go back to sleep? You're really scary right now."

Miss Raven felt a pang of anxiety; she had never seen Pharos act so strangely before.

His expression was excited, his bloodshot eyes were wide open, and a strange smile was playing on his lips.