Chapter 77 Part 2
Xie Zhi, watching on his parents’ phone, overjoyed, once Xie Zhi’s soul was out, he could swap back!
His elderly parents were worried, Nan Nuo had just held a Nuo opera festival to dispel evil, wasn’t this constant soul swapping risky? So many people visiting the temple now, offending the Nuo gods wouldn’t end well.
Then they saw their son collapse on the bed, his face pale, his soul emerging.
Wu Heng sent them a private message. The Xie couple, looking at the instructions, gritted their teeth, and followed them.
First, sealing all the doors and windows, then placing torn pieces of the talisman in every corner.
Wu Heng smiled. “Now, chant.”
He had sent them a simple spell, Father Xie swallowed nervously, staring into his daughter’s eyes, and began chanting.
Xie Zhi’s eyes glazed over, her body weakening as a translucent figure emerged.
“Zhizhi!” Mother Xie, looking at the shadow, gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
The height, the figure, even the facial features, an exact replica of her body!
Just one look, and all doubts vanished. So the Xie Zhi these past two days, acting so strangely, truly was their daughter.
Xie Zhi looked at her reflection, touching her face, a strange, unfamiliar feeling. ‘Is this… what I’m supposed to look like?’
She had been seriously considering gender reassignment surgery, but now… wasn’t this exactly what she wanted?
Mother Xie suddenly noticed the bruises on her daughter’s ghostly form, her heart aching. “Doctor Wu, what happened to Zhizhi? Was she… beaten? Was she mistreated?”
Then she realized that was absurd, how could a soul be physically harmed?
Wu Heng explained, “A soul and a body that aren’t compatible will have a rejection reaction, physical manifestations on the soul are one such reaction.”
“Other reactions include slow speech, slow reflexes, poor motor skills, etc. Back in their original bodies, they’ll recover after a while.”
[Holy crap, Doctor Wu was right! Xie Zhi used to be so slow, I thought she had some sort of physical disability.]
[That describes me perfectly! Despair.]
[So was this soul swap an accident? Some sort of mishap resulting in a body swap?]
[If it was an accident, then that Xie Zhi guy is truly unlucky. Happy for over a decade, only to wake up as someone else.]
[Based on the switched-at-birth trope, shouldn’t they bring him back and raise him too? But this is more complicated.]
Father Xie also asked, “Was this an accident?”
Wu Heng, thinking about his past cases, “Accidental soul swaps do happen, but usually between the same gender, similar physical structures.”
The Xie parents’ faces fell, they understood, so it wasn’t an accident?
Wu Heng, looking at their faces, explained, “Intentional soul swaps, like heart transplants, are difficult. Birth charts, zodiac signs, even the parents’ personalities have to be compatible. Your family, except for the gender mismatch, with your wealth and status, were suitable candidates.”
They were probably the best match.
Although the Xie parents felt it was a pity for a boy to be raised as a girl, at least they had money!
Su Chenyu, watching the Xie couple’s reaction, felt a sense of camaraderie, they all thought their status and wealth protected them, yet they were still targeted.
Father Xie, lightheaded, couldn’t believe this was happening to his family.
The couple urged Xie Zhi to return to her body, repeatedly thanking Wu Heng. “Thank you, Doctor Wu, for the talisman, otherwise, we wouldn’t even know!”
They assumed it was the talisman that revealed the truth.
Xie Zhi wanted to say the talisman didn’t seem to have any effect but kept quiet.
Wu Heng didn’t claim credit, noticing the two snakes slithering in from a corner, “Your daughter returned because of that vaccine. The talisman was just to prevent someone from swapping them back again.”
That vaccine, developed by the Xuanmen and the government, was incredibly effective in boosting Yang qi.
After Xie Zhi received his shot, he was quickly expelled, and for Xie Zhi, with the recent Nuo opera festival weakening the spirits, she must have been feeling unwell for days.
Perfect timing, all the elements aligned.
Wu Heng wondered which team in the Xuanmen developed that vaccine, clearly some skilled individuals.
You Jin suddenly understood, it wasn’t just Wu Heng comforting him. That patient truly didn’t want to return, he still wanted Xie Zhi’s life, his medical skills hadn’t failed him.
Hearing this, the netizens in the live stream exploded.
[? Vaccine? What vaccine?! Why don’t I know about this?! A vaccine to protect against evil spirits?! The government is awesome!]
[Vaccine development takes years, not overnight, so it started years ago? Think about it… chilling…]
[I heard Beijing has the most incidents, especially among students. So they started with students. When will it be available for us ordinary people?]
[Can I pay for it? Even if it’s expensive, I want it! I’m always sick, I can’t handle these strange illnesses!]
[If it’s so effective, I should have let my child get vaccinated! Can I still apply now? Where do I get it?]
The Xie parents understood now, so it was the vaccine after all…
It was supposed to be a paid vaccine, but Jiaming High School covered the cost after the incident.
But if not for Wu Heng’s talisman, their daughter’s soul might have been swapped back again. Blood tests might eventually reveal DNA discrepancies, but they might never have known their daughter’s soul wasn’t her own.
They remembered Xie Zhi before the age of four, small and soft, running towards them, calling “Mommy, Daddy,” so sweet…
Someone had stolen her life, how despicable.
“What nonsense is this?! There’s no such thing!” a gruff voice with a strong accent came from Mr. Xie’s phone. The Xie parents struggled to understand him.
“Your daughter’s the one who turned my son into… this! Wearing dresses and long hair, weaker than a chicken! We haven’t even asked for compensation, and you’re spreading rumors online!”
Xie Zhi’s parents watched his soul float away, holding onto the phone. “We don’t need compensation, you raised him for years. I have an idea, a win-win situation for everyone.”
Mother Xie, suppressing her anger, asked, “What idea?”
“Xie Zhi’s soul was raised by us, our son’s by you, how about… we become in-laws?!”
Xie Zhi, clutching his soul-swapping bell, a tool for quickly returning to his body, floated away, he wanted Xie Zhi’s life back.
Although being a girl wasn’t ideal, life as a rich heiress in Beijing was much better than being a poor boy in a remote village.
He dared to wander during the day thanks to the lingering effects of the Nuo opera festival, at night, the Yin messengers might mistake him for a ghost, capturing him, sending him to the underworld, making him sick, delaying his plans.
Just then, a soul-snatching rope from afar wrapped around his neck, and a strange laughter echoed,
‘Got one!’
Xie Zhi looked down at the thick, cold chain, then at the Yin messenger holding the other end, almost screaming, ‘You again?! Even overtime Yin messengers during the day?! Don’t you get weekends off?!’
‘Voluntary overtime. Get it?‘
