"Thank you." Grace Lincoln really was a bit thirsty. After finishing the cup, she handed it back to Laura Grant. "What kind of water is this? It's pretty sweet."

"It's nothing. Laura Grant just put a few soul-devouring scarab eggs in it. The taste is nice, but when they hatch in your stomach, it will be very painful," Laura Grant said matter-of-factly.

Chapter 9: The Spirit Eye

The transparent glass cup fell to the floor, shattering into pieces that scattered like a blooming crystal flower. Unfortunately, no one had time to appreciate its beauty. Grace Lincoln clutched her throat in pain, but since she hadn't eaten breakfast, she couldn't throw up anything.

By the hospital bed, Laura Grant gave Grace Lincoln no chance to resist. She pushed her down onto the bed, then skillfully and quickly strapped her wrists and ankles with leather belts, just like restraining a patient in a psychiatric hospital.

"What are you doing? Why did you poison me?" Grace Lincoln struggled in panic.

"It's not poison, it's a parasite. The soul-devouring scarab isn't a deadly parasite; it's a body-modifying one. Once you ingest it, it will gather in one of your eyeballs, allowing you to see ghosts. If you want to become an investigator for the Underworld Bureau, but can't even see your own prey, you'll be a laughingstock." As Laura Grant spoke, she walked over to a tool cabinet, opened the door, and began selecting from a variety of creepy tools—steel saws, iron hammers, boning knives... far more complete than the torture tools of the Qing dynasty.

"Eye modification is something Laura Grant hasn't done in years. After all, those who can join the Underworld Bureau are never ordinary. Most people are born with the spirit eye, or acquire the same ability through other means during cultivation." Laura Grant picked up a gun-shaped tool that looked like a power drill and slowly walked back to the bed. "You have three minutes. If you say you want to quit now, Laura Grant can still give you the antidote."

The air in the room was so tense it was suffocating. The spasms from her stomach told Grace Lincoln that the little girl in front of her was not bluffing. A buzzing filled Grace Lincoln's ears, and only now did she understand how strong the heroes of the Anti-Japanese War must have been.

"I... I'll do it!" Grace Lincoln almost shouted.

"Alright, since you've decided..." Laura Grant sighed and climbed onto the bed, straddling Grace Lincoln's waist. She roughly pulled open Grace Lincoln's clothes, revealing her smooth body clad only in a pink bra.

"What are you doing?" Grace Lincoln wasn't worried about being assaulted, just a bit embarrassed.

"You have such nice skin, as smooth as if you'd rubbed maggot sauce on it. Laura Grant hates pretty girls, especially those around my brother." As she spoke, Laura Grant ignited the gun-shaped tool in her hand. The tip emitted a black flame only 5 millimeters in diameter—who knows how hot it was. "Now Laura Grant is awarding you the Underworld Bureau investigator's badge, but this badge can never be removed for life."

Laura Grant pressed down on Grace Lincoln's fair right breast and began to burn and carve into it.

"Mm!" Grace Lincoln gritted her teeth and endured it, cold sweat instantly covering her pale skin, her slender body trembling uncontrollably. In fact, the carving on her chest wasn't as painful as she'd imagined; instead, her right eye itched terribly.

From the corner of her eye, bright red tears of blood dripped down. Her originally brown iris slowly turned golden in the bloody tears. The intense pain over the next fifteen minutes nearly tore her nerves apart, and by the end, Grace Lincoln could no longer distinguish reality from illusion.

Laura Grant didn't want to admit it, but as an ordinary person, the girl beneath her was quite tenacious and stubborn—perhaps even annoyingly so.

In any case, Laura Grant burned a tattoo on her right breast resembling the Kun trigram from the Bagua. This badge was called the Life-Chasing Talisman, a type of curse skill in black witchcraft. Those branded with this tattoo would experience symptoms like insomnia, vivid dreams, and spleen deficiency, though medication could effectively alleviate them.

Of course, its main purpose wasn't to torment people, but to allow the user to track the exact location of the cursed person through special black witchcraft and confirm each other's identities.

This thing was branded directly onto the skin with a hellfire gun, burning into the flesh and soul. Even if the tattoo was cut out of the flesh, the effect of the Life-Chasing Talisman could not be erased, which greatly improved the Underworld Bureau's management efficiency.

Thirty minutes later, Laura Grant finally came out of the inner room, wiping her hands with a small handkerchief, looking just like a doctor who had just finished surgery.

"Laura Grant, is she dead?" Jason Grant asked gleefully, crunching the lollipop in his mouth.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that girl's tolerance is pretty good. She's taking a shower now and will be out soon. As for you, brother, have you forgotten something more important?" Laura Grant said, giving a look to the shop assistant in a Tang suit. The assistant immediately took out a black wooden box from behind the counter.

"Sword Coffin Ghost... Look at my memory, I almost forgot to bring this thing back for maintenance because of godmother's fuss." Jason Grant slapped his forehead.

"Brother, the Sword Coffin Ghost is getting more and more active, and it's drawing more spiritual power from you. Your constitution is different from ordinary investigators, and raising a ghost with your spirit is very risky. I suggest you stop using it in the future." Laura Grant took the polished wooden box, her little face full of worry as she handed the Sword Coffin Ghost to Jason Grant.