Futile Devices Scans

The brief lunch break ended in the blink of an eye.

Qin Shu did not continue pressing Pei Zhao for an explanation. First, he finalized the schedule with Liu Yang Yang.

On Friday evening, two days from now, he and Pei Zhao would skip evening self-study and go see the corpse’s guardian spirit Liu Yang Yang had described—or, in other words, the “foreign ghost.”

The exact location was near the hotpot restaurant in the eastern part of the city. From there, it would take approximately another ten minutes of cycling along the river. An old Catholic church stood there, said to have existed on the riverbank since before Liberation. It had earned a good reputation for sheltering large numbers of refugees during wartime.

There were already relatively few Catholics in China, and even fewer in Jiangcheng, where people placed greater faith in Daoist priests. After surviving countless wars and the erosion of time, the church’s once magnificent, classical interior had gradually become dilapidated and gloomy. As Jiangcheng expanded and the city center shifted elsewhere, the church subsequently faded from public awareness. Almost no one among the younger generation had even heard of it.

Although Liu Yang Yang was not from Jiangcheng, he knew the structural details of the church in the eastern district better than Qin Shu did. Among corpse herders, word had long circulated that bodies removed from this church were exceptionally sinister. Even an ordinary corpse belonging to someone who had died naturally might suddenly reanimate halfway through the journey. The place was profoundly yin-laden.

As for traveling to Yuncheng to witness the joint burial, Qin Shu decided to schedule it for half a month later. He had initially worried that the vengeful ghost might object—until he took the docile eyeball from his pocket in front of Liu Yang Yang and Pei Zhao.

“Do you agree?”

Liu Yang Yang immediately recognized how heavily saturated with evil energy the object was. Nearly frightened to death, he swiftly hid behind the dining table. The eyeball, meanwhile, remained completely motionless, resembling a soft and harmless slime toy even more than it had the previous night.

Qin Shu rubbed his temples and repeated himself seriously. “Xu Qian, your joint burial with Zhang Mei Jiang won’t be completed until half a month from now. Are you certain you have no objections? You won’t grow impatient and secretly go outside to kill people behind my back?”

“…No response means I’ll take that as agreement.” Qin Shu placed it back inside the box, then looked at the trembling Liu Yang Yang with some amusement. “There’s no need to be that frightened. She genuinely hasn’t harmed any innocent people. Among vengeful ghosts, she could be considered one of the good ones.”

“Brother Qin, it’s fine for you to touch and stroke her, but if I touched her once, I might lose ten years of my life! I’m definitely going to have nightmares tonight… Ah!”

Before Liu Yang Yang could finish, he suddenly let out another abrupt cry.

Qin Shu instantly tensed. Instinctively, he wrapped an arm around Pei Zhao, lifted him single-handedly, and rapidly retreated several steps. “What happened?”

As he spoke, a sudden chill spread across his chest, accompanied by a strange damp cold that nearly frightened him badly… Fortunately, it was only because Pei Zhao had been quietly enjoying the teahouse’s matcha ice cream.

There were three round, beautifully shaped scoops arranged on a delicate porcelain plate, lavishly dusted with thick layers of matcha and cocoa powder.

After Qin Shu abruptly lifted him, Pei Zhao had only enough time to keep hold of his spoon. Half the scoop balanced upon it was cruelly flung away by the force, landing directly on Qin Shu and smearing his school-uniform shirt into a complete mess.

“Compensate me.” Pei Zhao raised the spoon in displeasure and poked the stain on Qin Shu’s chest with the end of its handle. Unexpectedly encountering the soft resilience of firm muscle, Pei Zhao froze almost imperceptibly before swiftly withdrawing the spoon.

Qin Shu did not notice anything unusual. He smiled apologetically. “My fault, my fault. I’ll buy you twice as much tomorrow… Speaking of which, Mr. Liu, why did you scream?”

The tearoom appeared the same as usual. At least Qin Shu could not see any ghosts.

Just as Liu Yang Yang opened his mouth to explain, a rapid, abrupt series of knocks perfectly answered the question for him.

Bang, bang, bang! Bang! Bang, bang!

Qin Shu followed the sound and discovered that it originated from inside a storage cabinet near the corner of the tearoom.

It was a cabinet used to store bowls, chopsticks, and tea utensils. Standing half a person tall and constructed entirely from pearwood, it blended perfectly into the room. Qin Shu remembered that when Pei Zhao had been staring into space earlier, his eyes seemed to have remained fixed in that direction.

Had Pei Zhao noticed something abnormal inside long ago? Why were his senses so sharp?

“Sorry, Brother Qin. My client suddenly started reanimating. It’s nothing serious. I’ll handle it immediately.”

“I see… Wait, what?”

Qin Shu was abruptly startled. All the questions he had not yet managed to ask were temporarily suppressed. He tightened his embrace around Pei Zhao and refused to put him down no matter what.

He had never imagined Liu Yang Yang could be eccentric to this degree. The man had brought a corpse—whom he called his “client”—along to lunch and had simply placed it inside the storage cabinet… The owner of Qingfeng Teahouse was also an extraordinary person. How had he agreed to this?

Qin Shu’s thoughts descended into chaos. Meanwhile, Liu Yang Yang had already pushed himself upright with the chair and hurriedly pulled a small cloth pouch from his backpack.

The pouch contained several messy bundles of green herbs. Liu Yang Yang grabbed a small handful and placed it in his mouth to chew. At the same time, he removed several sheets of talisman paper covered in cinnabar from the waist pouch beside him.

These were Chenzhou talismans from Yuncheng. They likewise originated from ancient Chinese shamanic arts, yet displayed subtle differences visible to the naked eye when compared with the talismans held by Daoist Priest Xu.

Qin Shu seized the opportunity to sneak a look at their structure, carefully identifying the contents with the superficial knowledge he had acquired over the past two days.

The three dots at the talisman’s head represented the ancestral masters, the Three Pure Ones. The presiding deity written upon it was Empress Houtu, while fine characters requested that she offer protection during the corpse-herding journey, suppress hostile spirits and evil ghosts, and prevent wicked entities from moving without permission.

At the center, the talisman’s core contained a simplified drawing of a precious mirror, reinforced by the Great Shamanic Seal of the Four Directions. At its tail were symbols representing divine soldiers from the underworld. Not a single stroke was broken from beginning to end—the entire talisman had been drawn in one uninterrupted motion.

Then came a sudden “ptooey” as Liu Yang Yang spat out the herbs he had chewed. His tongue seemed to split abruptly into three forks, moving with the agile, uncanny motions of a snake’s tongue, only to return to normal when Qin Shu focused his eyes upon it.

He spat the three wet clumps of herbs precisely onto the cores of the three talismans, dampening the yellow paper with remarkable skill.

Immediately afterward, Liu Yang Yang drew a deep breath and yanked open the cabinet. He raised the talismans high with both hands. His arm appeared not to be fractured at all, its muscles swelling powerfully as he swung it downward with the force of slapping someone across the face.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

After three consecutive strikes, the disturbance inside the cabinet abruptly stopped. The moment Liu Yang Yang moved aside, the corpse inside appeared before Qin Shu.

It belonged to a somewhat thin middle-aged man. His clothes were neat, and his hair had been carefully smoothed backward with pomade. Fresh talismans covered his forehead and both eyes, concealing his original appearance. Only his lips were visible, stained a deep bluish purple. Beneath his fingernails were splinters and scraps of skin left from frantically clawing at the cabinet door. The longer one looked, the more unsettling it became.

“I’m truly sorry. This client of mine carries rather heavy resentment.” Liu Yang Yang closed the cabinet door with a backward movement, rewrapped the torn bandage around his left arm, and laughed awkwardly several times.

Qin Shu said nothing. Tilting his head, he carefully lowered Pei Zhao to the floor. Then he personally walked over, opened the cabinet, crouched beside the corpse, and examined it closely.

Liu Yang Yang became even more embarrassed and launched into a rapid explanation. “He died unexpectedly while traveling to another city to catch his mistress cheating. Fate really plays tricks on people! The poor fellow stepped on a banana peel while running, struck the back of his head in confusion, and died on the spot. Before he died, the mistress even pointed at his nose and laughed at him, saying she wouldn’t have to compensate him a single cent…”

“That unlucky? And the mistress was fine?” Qin Shu raised an eyebrow, then abruptly abandoned the gossip and changed the subject. “By the way, what herbs did you use just now? I think I smelled mercury. Were they purely for preservation? Do the five-colored cloth strips tied around the limbs have any meaning? Who stamped the Great Shamanic Seal on those talismans? It looks extremely powerful. Would the talismans still work without the seal? And do this type of talisman always need to be dampened before use?”

Liu Yang Yang: “…”

Pei Zhao: “…”

The air gradually fell silent, but Qin Shu smiled openly, no longer even attempting to conceal his intentions. “Mr. Liu—Brother Liu—I don’t need five million yuan, but I genuinely need to learn everything I can. Since I’m helping you resolve your problem, could you reveal a little knowledge in return? Any metaphysical information, methods, techniques, or precautions related to dealing with ghosts will do. It doesn’t matter if it crosses into another discipline. Anything you’re permitted to tell other people—even information you’ve merely heard secondhand—I want to know all of it.”

“Sure, sure. That’s no problem. Consider it compensation for nearly causing a corpse reanimation. I should provide everything I can.” Liu Yang Yang did not resist at all the way Daoist Priest Xu did. “How about this? We can discuss it over WeChat, and I’ll recommend several books. I’m afraid I speak without thinking, so writing things out will be more reliable.”

By the end, his eyes were filled with admiration. “A boss really is a boss. No wonder you’re already more powerful than me despite being so young, Brother Qin. When I was seventeen or eighteen, I learned a few trivial skills and immediately wanted to roam the world and earn a fortune. I refused to read and was probably the person who hated studying most in the entire world… Looking back, why was I so anxious to make money? People like us who deal with gods and ghosts can have our bones erased from existence if we make one mistake. Most of us earn the money but don’t live long enough to spend it.”

“In that case, I’ll trouble you to teach me as much as possible, Mr. Liu.” Qin Shu did not comment on Liu Yang Yang’s life choices. He merely smiled, his manner quite serious. “The more I learn now, the fewer mistakes I’ll make in the future, and the safer our future cooperation will be.”

“You’re absolutely right, Brother Qin. Leave it to me!”

After receiving an affirmative answer, Qin Shu’s mood improved considerably. He curiously touched the corpse’s preservative dressing and asked Liu Yang Yang several more questions before finally stopping.

Once they reconfirmed the upcoming schedule, the meal concluded successfully. Qin Shu went to settle the bill with the owner, while Liu Yang Yang brought his stabilized “client” out of the tearoom.

There was no need for lanterns or bronze bells, nor for a staff or bamboo pole. With nothing more than a soft whistle, the well-dressed corpse stood up by itself. It slowly followed Liu Yang Yang, its joints flexible and natural, matching his every step.

Were it not for the corpse’s distinctly unnatural lip color and the oddly shaped cinnabar talismans attached to his face, no one would have realized that this “client” was a genuine dead body.

Qin Shu watched Liu Yang Yang’s technique without blinking. When Liu Yang Yang waved, the corpse imitated him, turning around and waving goodbye to Qin Shu as well. Qin Shu could not help marveling repeatedly.

There were still countless things in the world he did not understand. After personally traveling to Yuncheng, he would surely witness even more unbelievable phenomena. Learning truly had no end.

The owner settling Qin Shu’s bill had also watched with great interest and could not resist laughing softly. His voice was distinctive, sounding neither male nor female, neither sharp nor rough. It was refined and gentle, like fine jade.

“How interesting.”

“…Boss Lin, are you also knowledgeable about these things?” Qin Shu looked toward him and asked directly, no longer bothering to conceal anything.

The teahouse owner appeared to be in his early thirties, with clean-cut, refined features. The name registered upon his business license was Lin Shi Yu.

He usually enjoyed wearing long Zhongshan jackets, all of them high-quality bespoke pieces in varying shades of green. As someone who had followed a vegetarian diet for many years, Boss Lin maintained his figure exceptionally well. When dressed in a Zhongshan jacket, he possessed a distinctive elegance.

Qin Shu had originally regarded him merely as an eccentric teahouse owner. Only today did he truly realize that Lin Shi Yu seemed to be one of “their kind” as well.

“I’m ashamed to say I’m only an amateur enthusiast. I enjoy gossiping and asking about metaphysical matters in my spare time, but I could never compare with any of you. Speaking of which, I should thank both students for your contributions to Jiangcheng’s peace. Please continue visiting Qingfeng Teahouse in the future.”

Lin Shi Yu waved a hand and continued with a gentle smile. “I’ll waive the tea-service fee. Should Student Qin need to entertain an honored guest in the future, notify me in advance. I have some aged tea from the 1970s in storage—a rare treasure that money cannot purchase. When the time comes, I’ll provide three infusions free of charge.”

“Thank you, Boss Lin.” Qin Shu smiled and did not reject Lin Shi Yu’s deliberate gesture of goodwill.

Naturally, he suspected Boss Lin had not told the entire truth. At the very least, he could not be merely an “amateur enthusiast.” But everyone possessed their own secrets. Qin Shu had no need to investigate each one.

Right now, he wanted only to investigate Pei Zhao’s secret.

Lunch break had only just ended. Students were gradually leaving their dormitories and walking toward the classroom building with sleepy eyes.

The advanced class’s classroom was likewise empty.

Except for the two of them.

Qin Shu placed an arm over Pei Zhao’s shoulder, crowding him into the seat in the final row. Leaning closer, he tilted his head and studied him seriously. “Zhaozhao, let me ask you something.”

“Mm?”

“Have you always been able to see ghosts? For example, the eyeball in my pocket, the hanged ghost outside the classroom before, and that elementary school boy who occasionally comes into the classroom…”

Pei Zhao blinked. His beautiful, translucent golden eyes were bathed in the afternoon sunlight, filling them with a soft, warm hue. His eye color truly was unusual and did not resemble that of anyone native to Jiangcheng. Qin Shu had never considered that before… He had merely thought they were beautiful.

“Mm. I was born able to see ghosts.” Pei Zhao calmly met his gaze and directly acknowledged that faint, almost intangible peculiarity.

“Why did you never tell me?” Qin Shu was briefly startled by his frankness, then asked quietly, “Zhaozhao, aren’t you afraid?”

“I’m accustomed to them. It’s enough to pretend they don’t exist.”

“Then do you have some method of protecting yourself? If you’ve always been able to see ghosts… I assume you have a way to defend yourself, right? You shouldn’t encounter danger easily.”

“Mm.” Pei Zhao’s response was brief but remained honest. He seemed to have no intention of hiding anything.

Qin Shu discreetly released a breath of relief—but only half of one.

He still had many questions. For example: “Zhaozhao, Boss Lin at the teahouse said just now that he was grateful to both of us for contributing to Jiangcheng’s peace. He wasn’t only thanking me. He was thanking you too…”

“Qin Shu, stop asking.”

Pei Zhao softly interrupted him before he could finish.

Neither of them spoke again. They abruptly fell into silence—a silence long enough to feel unbearable between the two of them.

Students from other classes hurried through the corridor. Fragmented conversations and continuous footsteps grew increasingly conspicuous, stirring an indescribable agitation inside Qin Shu.

Qin Shu abruptly seized Pei Zhao’s wrist and pulled him closer. Their faces were directly opposite each other, their breaths tangling in the slightly cool air, the tips of their noses nearly colliding.

He was rarely this impatient, especially with Pei Zhao. But today, Qin Shu needed more information to fill the uneasy emptiness within his heart.

“Zhaozhao, can I trust you?” Qin Shu stared fixedly at him, a trace of grievance entering his slightly hoarse voice. After thinking over countless questions, this was ultimately the only one he asked.

Pei Zhao froze. The coldness normally present in his gaze quietly softened. Tentatively, he raised a hand, his icy fingertips gently brushing the heated corner of Qin Shu’s eye in an awkward attempt at comfort.

“I have never lied to you, Qin Shu. Not even once.”

Previous

Main

Next