The room was rather dim, so even during the day the lights were on.

The incandescent bulb began to flicker.

Bright, then dark.

Tick-tock, tick-tock—

The sound of water came from the bathroom.

Plop...

It was the sound of slippers stepping on water.

Evan Wade had already sensed something was wrong. He half-squinted his eyes, gripping the Wohu waist token tightly in his right hand, but the Wohu waist token showed no reaction at all, ignoring this strange phenomenon. Comparing the red embroidered shoes incident with the current situation in his mind, Evan Wade vaguely grasped a key point.

The red embroidered shoes were a murderous ghost, which would trigger a reaction from the Wohu waist token.

There was a ghost here, but it didn’t make the ghost-hunting Wohu waist token react.

So, the ghost here was basically harmless?

Even so, Evan Wade still decided to leave first.

He hadn’t expected that, on a whim, he’d brought the Wohu waist token—and there really was a ghost here.

A few ghosts saw Evan Wade's movements and cheered. The water ghost, looking smug, reached out both hands to grab Evan Wade's shoulders, leaned in close to his neck, planning to blow a breath to scare this guy full of yang energy. As it reached out, it winked at the other ghosts.

“Watch me...”

Its blackened fingernails touched Evan Wade's shoulder.

But it was like grabbing a red-hot branding iron.

The water ghost shuddered, its hands turning red. Evan Wade felt the Wohu waist token in his hand tremble, a burning sensation spreading, and a low tiger’s roar sounded—lazy, as if it couldn’t muster any energy.

Evan Wade vaguely sensed something behind him.

Instinctively, he turned, gripping the bronze waist token, and swung it like a brick.

The water ghost was just blowing on its hands.

Seeing Evan Wade's movement, it didn’t even try to dodge.

Ghosts were just lingering energy; the living couldn’t touch them.

Let alone an iron lump—even swords and bullets would just pass right through.

It only bared its teeth and said to the other ghosts nearby:

“No good, this one’s tough, this guy’s yang energy is just...”

The words weren’t finished.

A bronze waist token, like a brick, landed squarely on its forehead.

BANG!!!

...

What did it feel like to hit a ghost?

If Evan Wade had to describe it, it was a bit like hitting a big ball of cotton candy with a stick.

Or like squeezing a squeaky chicken toy.

The sensation was pretty good.

Quite satisfying, very stress-relieving.

If you started an event like this in a modern city, you could probably make a lot of money.

After smacking the ghost, the Wohu waist token buzzed softly. Sensing something, Evan Wade grabbed a sheet of white paper and pressed the side with the character “卫” onto it. Characters in clerical script appeared on the paper, but they were completely different from the ones that had appeared when dealing with the red embroidered shoes.

“Wandering soul, has never consumed blood, bears no resentment, has never killed, harmless.”

“No need to eliminate.”

...

A moment later, Evan Wade pulled over a chair and sat against the wall.

His left hand rested on the table, his right hand in his pocket, gripping the still-hot Wohu waist token.

In the corner ahead, a row of ghosts crouched, holding their heads.

With the heat from the waist token, he could just barely make out the outlines of a circle of ghosts, but if they moved, he couldn’t see them clearly.

There were five in total: three ghosts and two paper figurine yin creatures.

Because he could only barely see the outlines of the three ghosts and couldn’t hear them speak, Evan Wade tapped each of their heads with the Wohu waist token, then pressed the token onto white paper. The words that appeared were completely different from those for the red embroidered shoes—these were all ordinary wandering souls without resentment.

Evan Wade grew more curious about the Wohu waist token. It seemed the token only reacted strongly to vengeful, fierce ghosts, and had no interest in harmless wandering souls or wild ghosts.

Unable to hear them speak, Evan Wade, though a bit curious about these harmless ghosts, still used the Wohu waist token to threaten and herd them into another room, locked the door, and considered that an expression of his attitude.

It was the first time these ghosts had seen someone who could beat up ghosts. They probably thought of exorcist priests or the like, and were so frightened they didn’t dare come out.

Evan Wade examined the Wohu waist token in his hand.

The token had reacted twice: once when the suspected fierce ghost, the red embroidered shoes, passed by outside, and once when that unlucky ghost touched him. It seemed to follow a standard “input-output” model, responding to certain external information.

Ghosts could trigger its response.

He wondered if he could.

After all, it had absorbed his blood.

Evan Wade grew deeply interested in this unprecedented world. Right hand clutching the waist token, he thought for a moment. Generally, input and output should be connected, so he imitated the tone of the words on the white paper and said, “Subordinate of the Commandant of the Capital, unable to look directly at yin creatures and ghosts—what method is there?”

The Wohu waist token showed no reaction.

That shouldn’t be.

Evan Wade thought for a moment, recalled the words on the white paper from the first day, and, looking thoughtful, solemnly said:

“Now there are strange forces and evil spirits invading our land. I wish to hunt and eliminate them.”

“Yet as a mere mortal, I cannot see ghosts—what method is there?”

This time, the Wohu waist token trembled and glowed faintly.

Evan Wade's heartbeat quickened slightly. He felt as if he had truly stepped into a new world.

It really was possible...