He picked up a chair that had previously been knocked over, and Ryan Clark sat down on it casually, silently pondering what questions to ask next and how to handle things in the end.

At this moment, Ryan Clark's keen senses noticed that by the door leading from the backyard corridor, there were two little heads peeking in, secretly looking inside. When they saw Ryan Clark glance over, they immediately shrank back. After a while, perhaps seeing that Ryan Clark had no reaction, they poked their heads out again. Only then did Ryan Clark see clearly: they were two adorably chubby children, about three or four years old, a boy and a girl. Their faces were just a bit pale. Ryan Clark understood that they were probably ghosts as well, but seeing that the two children had no ill intent, he smiled at them kindly.

The two children were startled by this smile and shrank back again. After a moment, the boy, holding the girl's hand, quietly floated in, stopping in front of Ryan Clark.

"Hello, Daoist uncle, my name is Samuel Morgan, I am four years old by nominal age. Um, I don't know why, but every year my mother says I am four," the boy said, looking at Ryan Clark. "My name is Lily Morgan, I'm the younger sister, but I'm also four," the girl interjected, her round eyes wide open.

Ryan Clark thought, although I was uncle-aged in my previous life, I'm not even twenty now. He said kindly, "Samuel, Lily, is there something you need?"

Lily answered first, "We're so hungry, Daoist uncle." As she spoke, she looked at the unconscious people with a gaze like she was looking at food, then turned a pitiful look toward Ryan Clark.

Ryan Clark didn't sense any smell of blood from the two children, so it seemed they didn't feed on blood, probably just absorbed a bit of yang energy. However, he didn't reply to them, because at that moment, the female ghost floated in, carrying a tea tray.

"Samuel, Lily, how can you disturb our guest? Come here quickly." The female ghost placed the tea tray on another chair that had fallen beside Ryan Clark, then picked up a cup of tea for Ryan Clark—though "picked up" wasn't quite accurate, as her hand didn't actually touch the cup. The two children pouted and ran behind their mother.

Although the female ghost seemed harmless, Ryan Clark didn't let his guard down. He activated a talisman for telekinesis from his sleeve to lift the teacup. Because he maintained a clear and focused mind, he wasn't affected by low-level illusions and could see that the teacup was woven from lotus leaves, the tea tray was a large lotus leaf, and the cup contained what looked like dew, just a thin layer. Still, Ryan Clark dared not drink it.

Seeing this, the Morgan female ghost lowered her head slightly and said, "Please don't blame me, Daoist. Ever since I became like this, I haven't been able to pick up anything. I can only use a spell I've comprehended to lift things, but my cultivation is insufficient, so I can only manage these light objects. I have truly neglected my guest." Her tone was full of shame.

Ryan Clark set down the teacup in turn and changed the subject: "I wonder what Samuel and Lily want to eat?"

The Morgan female ghost hesitated, but only spoke after the two children tugged at her clothes from behind: "Daoist, please have mercy. My two children are truly starving, but they won't harm anyone's life. They only need to absorb a little yang energy, which does no harm to the body—at most, it just leaves one feeling a bit weak for a few days."

Ryan Clark thought for a moment, then, without turning his head, pointed to the two killers with swords and knives behind him: "These two were both ruthless murderers in their day. If you absorb some yang energy from them, it can be considered a good deed. You go as well."

Upon hearing this, Morgan was overjoyed. She took the two children, bowed deeply, and then floated toward the two killers.

Chapter 11: Unwillingness

Morgan and the two little children stopped a step away from the two killers, perhaps because the strong life force of such people could harm ghosts like them. The three ghosts stood still, and after a moment, Ryan Clark could sense a faint stream of energy drifting from the two killers toward them, and their soul forms became a bit clearer to Ryan Clark's senses.

Ryan Clark appeared unconcerned, but in fact, he was closely observing the actions of Morgan and her two children as they absorbed yang energy, hoping to judge from the details whether they truly did not harm human life. Although this could be inferred from rumors and Morgan's own account, Ryan Clark was not a child—he had always been independent and skeptical, so he intended to observe for himself before combining his observations with the rumors and her account. This was not like his previous life, where blind trust usually resulted in little more than losing some money, and only in extreme cases was life at risk. In this world, dealing with ghosts and monsters, blind trust was often tantamount to gambling with one's life.

After just a few breaths, Morgan and the two children stopped and floated back, looking very satisfied. Combining this with the lack of malice or bloodthirst from them, as well as the rumors and their own account, Ryan Clark could be fairly certain that they truly only absorbed a small amount of yang energy and posed no harm to humans.

Morgan signaled to the two children, then bowed deeply to Ryan Clark, and the two children clumsily imitated their mother and bowed as well.

Seeing Samuel use a woman's bow to salute him, Ryan Clark couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He said to Morgan, "Alright, those two have atoned for their past crimes. Now, can you tell me why you linger here and cannot move on?"