Xu Asan still remembered the feeling of reading a novel for the first time, like a small person who had always been huddled in a corner finally finding their confidant.
That joy and emotion were beyond words.
By the time he came to his senses, tears were already streaming down his cheeks.
In that moment, he knew he was no longer alone.
Because there were more wonderful things to accompany him.
That day, he sat alone on the stairs, holding the book, and read for a long time.
He forgot the real world, immersing himself in the story of another protagonist.
That world was somewhat similar to reality, yet not entirely the same.
In it, he saw more places, a broader world, and met more unique "people."
Some could brave mountains of knives and seas of fire for a belief, rushing into dangerous places to save others.
Others possessed dazzling magic, traveling the world and living spectacular lives.
All of this was vastly different from his own life, yet it was something to be yearned for.
Later, Xu Asan picked up a pen.
Characters were created by him, one after another.
When he slept, his dreams were filled with those characters.
They seemed to have come alive, truly living in that world.
How wonderful it was...
What a beautiful world it was...
How could such a world be wasted? It held so many more possibilities, so much more brilliance...
...
Some people live their lives enjoying, while others live their lives loving.
From the moment he encountered novels, Xu Asan knew his future path.
It would surely be a lifelong endeavor...
...
Boom—
The mourning stick fell.
Without the protection of the halo, the stylus plummeted straight towards the ground.
A crack appeared on the stylus and quickly spread.
With a "rumble," a large pit appeared on the ground.
It was as if something had exploded.
All the surrounding vegetation was violently tilted to one side.
Two faint cracking sounds were heard.
The stylus, along with the drawing board on the twenty-second floor, shattered.
The ghostly energy within poured out.
At this moment, the living ghost artifact codenamed "Inspiration" vanished.
...
Sand and stones flew, dust filled the air.
The entire space fell silent for a moment.
The ghosts summoned to create chaos, after a moment of stillness, immediately turned and fled.
The ghost messengers responsible for blocking them chased after them.
"Cage!" Fu Jia made his move, and black cages appeared in the air.
Without further power, the giant green ghost in Chu Wang's hands dissipated into a cloud of black mist.
Li Xiao was skilled at crushing the hearts of ghosts with his bare hands. After catching one, he looked to the next, his movements swift and precise.
But when Chu Wang said they should deal with the ghosts fleeing into the residential building first...
He immediately stopped, no longer pursuing them outwards.
It was evident that after these days, he was no longer as impulsive when encountering evil spirits.
Protection.
The captain had said they must learn to protect first.
Senior Chu Wang had also said that the primary duty of a White Impermanence was not to chase evil spirits, but to guard the souls of the departed.
There were no souls of the departed nearby, but there were many humans.
...
After the living ghost artifact was dealt with, the remaining ghosts were quickly eliminated by the ghost messengers.
"I'll check over here for any stragglers," Nie Jiu said.
"Then I'll go this way."
"I'll go south."
The ghost messengers did not leave immediately. Instead, they dispersed and began searching the surroundings.
With so many ghosts earlier, it was hard to say if any had hidden amidst the chaos.
The greatest threat had been neutralized; the rest was cleanup.
Before departing, Nie Jiu opened the underworld passage and contacted the logistics team from the underworld to come and repair the area.
During the previous battle, a ghostly energy barrier had been activated in the vicinity.
This barrier was different from what Jiang Lin and Xu Liu had used before.
Almost any ghost could use this barrier.
Its purpose was merely to confuse human eyes, somewhat akin to a ghost maze.
From the human perspective, the sky outside was filled with rolling dark clouds, rumbling ominously, and the vegetation on the ground was blown askew.
They were waiting for a downpour, but then saw the sky outside begin to brighten.
The dark clouds dissipated, and bright light streamed through the windowpanes.
The afterglow of the sunset gradually appeared in the distance.
Then they looked at the ground...
"Strange, why isn't there any rain?"
There's a saying: "Loud thunder, little rain."
The thunder had been loud indeed, but there wasn't a drop of rain.
"Mom, why didn't it rain heavily?" a child asked, hiding under their mother's wing.
"Shh, it's the gods fighting the spirits," the mother said gently.
"Then who won?"
"It must be the gods, otherwise the sky would be crying."
...
In the distance, a white figure was quietly watching the scene.
After dealing with the matter of the ghost shopkeeper, Jiang Lin thought he should come and take a look.
After all, this was the first time the team members had cooperated as a group, and the first time a red alert had been issued within Team Eighteen.
When Jiang Lin arrived, he saw from afar the team members working together to capture the scattered, fleeing ghosts.
Then they spontaneously began the cleanup work, contacting the underworld logistics team, and searching for stragglers.
It was orderly, with no sign of panic despite the chaotic situation earlier.
Although it was Team Eighteen's first collaboration, it seemed to be going quite well.
Jiang Lin shifted his gaze and noticed the intern ghost messengers helping to bag things at the edge of Sunshine Residential Area, and...
Two streets away, the hearse remained quietly parked.
The driver and passengers on the car were all leaning out of the windows, peering towards the scene, seemingly hesitant about whether it was appropriate to go over now.
In fact, the ghost driver was indeed hesitant.
After all, they had a human brought over by a ghost messenger in their car.
What was happening over there?
What should they do with this human, who was about to wake up...
When would the ghost messenger return?
Speaking of which, could that ghost messenger, who ran out injured, even return?
The ghost driver looked at the residential area in the distance and sighed deeply.
As the ghost driver and passengers were leaning out to look, the human girl in the car—the author of "Scare"—moved her eyes under her eyelids.
Those eyes quietly opened a sliver.
When the ghost driver looked over, she quickly closed her eyes again.
Goosebumps rose all over her body.
She had been drawing horror comics for so many years, terrifying countless fans, but she had never felt fear while drawing them.
However, at this moment, the girl felt uneasy.
Why did the "people" in this car all have the appearance of the underworld?
Was this the legendary... ghost car that traveled between the Yin and Yang realms, appearing only during Yin-world hours?
Wait?
The girl's eyelids moved. The sky seemed to be brightening?
It wasn't Yin-world hours... then what kind of car was this?
Should she get up and greet them before getting out, or should she continue to lie there and wait for them to throw her out?
In the car, one person and one ghost simultaneously began to agonize (ー`´ー).
So troublesome...
...
(PS: Second update later~)