Chapter 34 Part 1

In an instant, the air seemed to solidify.

Even the surrounding living room environment suddenly grew dim.

Bo Ting carefully held his breath and moved a bit farther away from that patch of gray burnt paper. At that moment, he felt a chill all over his body and couldn’t help but glance sidelong at Uncle Qian across from him.

Uncle Qian had already gone to fetch cleaning tools by then.

He pulled out an ordinary broom from the bathroom and swept up the scraps of paper on the floor with practiced ease, just like in any normal household.

After Bo Ting’s gaze met Uncle Qian’s, he gave an awkward smile. But his eyes caught sight of something: a bit of paper scrap peeking out from the back of Uncle Qian’s vest.

However, when Uncle Qian stood up again, that scrap was covered by the vest.

Bo Ting: !!!

He quickly pretended as if he hadn’t seen anything and averted his gaze. He picked up his phone, sending pictures while feigning a serious, “busy” expression.

The kettle in the kitchen started rumbling.

Bo Ting grew restless.

“Help!”

“Mr. Xu, I think I’m done for!!”

He sent the message with two extra exclamation points.

Xu Qinglai was a bit surprised.

Done for?

What did that mean?

He racked his brain but couldn’t think of any way the guy across from him could be in real trouble.

Xu Qinglai paused, then could only send a “?”.

Bo Ting took a deep breath. Noticing that Uncle Qian had finished sweeping and was now sitting on the sofa across from him reading the newspaper, he hurriedly typed.

“I’m so unlucky! I walked right into the trap.”

A chubby-faced orange cat emoji with a mournful expression appeared on the screen. Bo Ting really felt like crying.

Who could have imagined that just worrying about Aunt Qian’s health would lead him into something this terrifying?

Aunt Qian and Uncle Qian’s whole family were paper effigies!

It was too horrifying!

He had clearly seen that beneath Uncle Qian’s bulky vest, it was all stuffed with inflated paper clothing.

Back in Bo Ting’s hometown, that was the kind of outfit burned for the dead underground!

His arms felt icy cold, as if sensing the entity’s misery, like the AC had auto-adjusted.

Bo Ting gripped his phone tightly. Then he heard footsteps approaching from nearby.

The slow, frictional sound of the figure carried the inherent rustle of paper.

Aunt Qian finished boiling the water and came over, warmly pouring Bo Ting a cup of tea.

“Little Bo.”

“Give it a try. Uncle Qian Zheng specially bought this from the big city.”

“They say a jin costs several thousand.”

“The taste is totally different from regular tea.”

Her nagging boasts filled the air once more.

Bo Ting listened to the familiar bragging and his fearful expression abruptly halted, turning peculiar. Even that scalp-numbing sensation from before vanished in an instant.

Cough. So even paper effigies couldn’t change their love for showing off?

Wasn’t Aunt Qian being a bit unprofessional?

Bo Ting hesitated to speak, feeling like it might ruin the atmosphere.

But still, tsk.

The name “Qian Zheng” zipped past his ears three times in one sentence. After his mind buzzed for a while, Bo Ting suddenly… wasn’t scared at all anymore.

He even felt an appetite for the freshly brewed hot tea in front of him.

Vibrant green tea leaves floated in the porcelain cup. Bo Ting picked it up and gulped it down. Then he looked up with a polite smile: “It really is delicious.”

“Auntie, one more cup please.”

Aunt Qian’s enthusiastic expression froze instantly.

This was… tea worth thousands per jin!

Just like that?

But the words were already out, and face-saving Aunt Qian couldn’t take them back. She gritted her teeth, pretending to be generous and hospitable as she snatched the cup:

“You really know good stuff, Little Bo!”

“Auntie will get you another cup right away!”

Bo Ting wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but those last four words sounded a bit gritted out?

It had to be an illusion, right?

Auntie Qian loved entertaining guests while mentioning “Qian Zheng.” How could she be gritting her teeth?

Bo Ting shook his head, dismissing the odd thought.

Across from him:

Xu Qinglai waited a long time without a reply from Bo Ting and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Something really happened?

But if there was a real resurgence incident, the Resurgence Management Office shouldn’t be silent?

As he thought that, before he could send “Need help?”, another message from Bo Ting arrived.

“It’s fine now, Mr. Xu.”

“False alarm.”

“I’ve figured it out.”

Xu Qinglai: ???

Wait.

He pressed his temple: Figured out what?

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his slender fingers tapped lightly. Xu Qinglai stared at that line for two seconds, then scrolled back through their chat history.

He found no omissions.

So…

—Where did this abrupt line come from?

What exactly had he figured out?

Xu Qinglai’s face was expressionless, feeling for the first time that he wasn’t as emotionally intelligent as he thought.

Like, he completely couldn’t understand what this netizen was saying?

After a long silence, Xu Qinglai finally replied.

“Is that so.”

The sarcastic two words were hard to imagine coming from the hypocritical, smiling fox that was Xu Qinglai.

Bo Ting across from him didn’t catch Mr. Xu’s meaning at all and nodded earnestly.

“Alright, Mr. Xu, gotta go.”

“Auntie Qian is here. I’m going to eat now.”

Xu Qinglai took a deep breath, staring at his phone screen. Beneath his calm expression, he actually laughed in exasperation.

“Mr. Xu, these documents need your signature.”

His secretary’s cautious voice came from outside the door after a moment.

He shifted his gaze from the phone.

“Come in.”

Bo Ting didn’t realize until he finished eating at Auntie Qian’s and went home that… Mr. Xu seemed angry?

Huh?

Was it because he went offline suddenly?

But Auntie Qian had called him for dinner then.

Bo Ting blinked, thinking maybe it was something else. Mr. Xu was busy that evening and hadn’t seen his message?

Whatever, no big deal.

Either way, sending Mr. Xu an emoji pack was always safe.

After a comfortable wash-up, before bed, Bo Ting specially picked up his phone. He spent a while selecting from his collection and sent a super cute little monster goodnight image.

“Mr. Xu, see you tomorrow.”

The night quieted down. Xu Qinglai hadn’t planned to check his phone, but before reverting to his original form and entering the pool that evening, he inexplicably picked it up.

The next second, he saw Bo Ting’s message.

The overly familiar tone and emoji made Xu Qinglai’s brows furrow slightly, the amusement in his eyes fading as he set the phone down again.

But a few minutes later, feeling that he was still observing this unknown entity and shouldn’t be swayed by stupid human “emotions” like this,

Xu Qinglai suppressed his odd mood once more and looked at the screen.

The next morning, Bo Ting finally saw Mr. Xu’s reply.

Mm.

See, Mr. Xu had been busy yesterday and must have missed his message.

Now he’d replied upon seeing it.

The chat was no different from before.

Bo Ting blinked and put the matter behind him. He had something far more important now.

After confirming yesterday that Auntie Qian was a paper effigy, what about the other square dance team members who went on stage at noon?

Were they not human either?

Bo Ting wasn’t entirely sure.

But the neighborhood was holding a performance awards event that afternoon, so he should see those aunties then.

Bo Ting breathed a slight sigh of relief, though a hellish thought crossed his mind:

They couldn’t all be a paper effigy dance troupe, could they?

Hahaha, no way.

That would be way too spooky.

Bo Ting shook his head, convinced such a terrifying thing wouldn’t happen!

Resurgence Management Office:

The Third Esper Squad, having waited a day and night, stared blankly at the computer screen, unable to spot any issues.

Just like the “Jinding Peak” incident last time, everything was dead silent on the other side, with zero activity.

But Lu Jingshan, familiar with the “Light Shadow Heartbreak Incident” cycle, knew it couldn’t be that simple on the surface.

If Taiping Luxury Garden had really seen that ad and started “capturing” the Heartbreak Weird with some method, then something unknown must have changed in the neighborhood…

“I just want to sneak into the neighborhood for a peek,” Wang Dong grumbled listlessly.

“This waiting is driving me crazy.”

Lu Jingshan snorted and glanced at him.

“Can’t handle it already, young man?”

“Back in the day, we staked out weirds for over ten days.”

“It’s only been this long.”

The veteran Ability User Lu Jingshan shook his head: “Here’s a tip—check the stage performances at 11:35 a.m. today.”

“If none of the six city-states around Mengjia City report it, that means the ‘Light Shadow’ has shifted to that Taiping Luxury Garden.”

Lu Jingshan paused here, a bit wary, without finishing.

Wang Dong was stunned. He hadn’t expected the captain to have even calculated the cycle during the wait.

But… the screen flickered twice. As he browsed, his eyes lit up.

“None!”

“It really shifted.”

Lu Jingshan had anticipated it. Given a weird’s nature, how could it resist food delivered to its mouth? Holding back wouldn’t be weird-like.

He frowned, now worried about how this would resolve.

Worst case, the dispatched “Heartbreak Weird” got eaten cluelessly, and they’d learn nothing.

The Third Esper Squad members exchanged glances.

Yin Liao suddenly suggested: “How about emailing it?”

“Email?”

Lu Jingshan looked at his vice-captain.

Yin Liao pondered.

“We could ask it: ‘Do you like it?'”

Half an hour later, Bo Ting, dressed in his raincoat, had just reached downstairs when he received another inexplicable message like last time.

Yesterday’s push had warned him that “Light Shadow kills.”

Today’s suddenly asked: “How’s the taste?”

Bo Ting: …

Crazy.

These pushes were so weird. Though yesterday it had nailed it.

But today, what was this?

How did ghost stuff relate to taste?