With the sensation of impact coming from his hand, William Carter knew this thing was working—it could actually strike non-human entities, so it clearly wasn’t some cheap knockoff. He became even more convinced in his heart that this bamboo scroll was truly a genuine inheritance from Guiguzi. Still, he didn’t relax his grip at all. He unleashed a seamless set of street-fighting thug moves, swift and fierce, cursing as he went: “Looking like that and you still come out to scare people! You even want to strangle me! What, are you some kind of elemental type or something! So what if my physical attacks don’t work on you, you think I’m scared?”

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded in the room: one man, wielding a bamboo object, was beating a ghost so badly it was scrambling all over the floor for its teeth. Just as William Carter was getting into it, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of something he really didn’t want to see—an old man’s upper body “phased” through the door, and then dozens of “villagers” came in through the walls and windows, all closing in on him. Unconsciously, William Carter found himself backed into a corner, holding up the “Demon Subduing Scroll” in a defensive stance, like a man surrounded by wolves, brandishing a torch in vain resistance. Yet those ghosts seemed extremely wary of the bamboo scroll—none dared approach, they just stood there silently, letting William Carter truly experience what it meant to be “intensely watched.”

“Hey, kid, you seem to still be alive. Have you run into anything weird?” A lazy voice suddenly appeared in William Carter’s mind.

“Where… where are you? What’s going on? Help me, quick!” William Carter practically shouted in reply, frantically searching for the source of the voice. He knew it was yesterday’s “Mr. Cat”—that voice was unforgettable, conjuring up the image of a bleary, disheveled face. If there was anyone he could count on in a situation like this, it was only this so-called “paranormal detective.”

“Oh, me? I’m at the office. This trick is called ‘transmitting sound over a thousand miles’—I can make my voice appear directly in your mind. Pretty impressive, right? Hehehe…”

“Impressive my ass! I’m about to die here! Did you know this would happen yesterday? You didn’t warn me, just told me to come at four in the afternoon? Who are you trying to fool?”

“Hey, kid, I may be young, but I’m still a few years older than you. You’re a bit early to be calling me ‘old man.’ Now listen up, I’m only going to say this once.” At this point, Mr. Cat paused, and William Carter could even hear him take a drag from a cigarette. Things were already dire for him, but Mr. Cat was still as calm as ever. Though he wanted to explode, since his life was on the line, he forced himself to hold back his anger.

That drag seemed to last a century. Then Mr. Cat continued, “A little after 3 a.m. today, I sensed a powerful spiritual artifact awakening in your area. When such an artifact appears, it sends out a strange ripple—the stronger its spirit, the more obvious and far-reaching the effect. But there aren’t many people with spiritual awareness left in this city, so I figured I’d better come check it out myself.”

“I saw you digging in the dirt and figured you were the one chosen by the artifact. But you seem like an ordinary person, so there’s no way you could handle the ghostly pursuit that would happen twelve hours later. That’s why I decided to help you out and left you my business card. If you found my office, you’d be safe. Too bad you didn’t seem to appreciate it…”

“Bullshit! Your crappy business card didn’t even have an address—how was I supposed to find you? Find you my ass!”

“Heh, I see. Now, go to the window and throw that bamboo scroll out as hard as you can.”

“What? Are you trying to get me killed? Don’t worry, I’ll be dead soon enough even if I hold onto it. If I become a ghost, I won’t let you off!”

“Usually, when a treasure like this appears, it shakes heaven and earth and makes ghosts and gods weep. So those ghosts just don’t want anyone to get their hands on it. If you throw it away, they’ll have no reason to harm you.”

“Fine, I’ll trust you one more time!” William Carter, pressed against the wall, swung the bamboo scroll and made his way to the window a few meters away. As soon as he opened the window, a hand reached in and yanked him out of the room.

“Damn! Weren’t you supposed to be at your damn office?”

Ignoring William Carter’s complaints, Mr. Cat flicked away his cigarette butt and said unhurriedly, “Transmitting sound over a thousand miles? You’ve watched too much ‘Seven Heroes and Five Gallants,’ haven’t you?”

The two of them didn’t stop running until they reached the roadside. Mr. Cat jumped into a battered old Honda, and as soon as William Carter got into the passenger seat—before he could even close the door—Mr. Cat floored the gas and sped off.

The temporary safety made William Carter collapse all at once. He lay back in the seat, gasping for breath. “So which part of what you said was actually true?”

“Other than the bits where I was messing with you, pretty much all of it. When four o’clock came and you still hadn’t shown up, I got worried and came to check. Also, when I told you to throw the thing away, I just wanted to lure you over—don’t actually throw it away. Oh, do you still have my business card?”

“That crappy card? No address, no phone number—what’s the point… huh? How can this be?” William Carter was shocked to find that the address had actually appeared on the card. He was sure it had been blank when he picked it up.