“The boss just went out.” Michael Bolton looked at him in surprise and asked, “Why are you looking for the boss?”

Emily Thompson wasn’t here, so James Thompson waved his hand and said, “Never mind, looking for Old Carter is just the same.”

Old Carter didn’t just handle household registration at the county office; all the case files reported by the people of Yangqiu County also passed through his hands. James Thompson wanted to find some simple, safe, and not too difficult tasks from them, to look for opportunities to collect the seven emotions.

As he turned to leave, he suddenly seemed to remember something. Looking at Michael Bolton, who was idly fiddling with dice, he said, “How about I play a couple of rounds with you?”

“You?” Michael Bolton was stunned for a moment and asked in surprise, “Didn’t you never play before?”

James Thompson said, “I just suddenly felt like playing today…”

“Sure!” Michael Bolton was overjoyed and asked, “What do you want to play?”

James Thompson said, “Let’s just play high or low.”

Before long, laughter from Michael Bolton could be heard frequently from the duty room.

“Haha, one-two-three, low, I win!”

“Five-five-six, high, I win again!”

“Six-six-six, haha, you owe me two coins!”

……

In just a short while, James Thompson had lost more than a dozen coins. The constables in the office usually only gambled small amounts, one coin at a time, so no one could lose much. Everyone else just played for fun occasionally, but only Michael Bolton was tireless in his enthusiasm.

Having won some money, Michael Bolton was in high spirits, grinning from ear to ear. James Thompson handed him another copper coin and asked, “Still want to play?”

“No, no more…” Michael Bolton put away the dice, leaned back in his chair, and said weakly, “What’s going on? I get dizzy after playing with you for too long, and my legs feel a bit weak. Next time, let’s play next time…”

James Thompson nodded and said, “It’s a deal, we’ll continue tomorrow. I’ll go find Old Carter first…”

A moment later, in another duty room, Old Carter looked up at James Thompson in surprise and said, “The sun must really be rising in the west today. James Thompson, you’re actually volunteering for work?”

James Thompson replied bluntly, “Cut the nonsense, hurry up and see if there’s anything.”

Among the constables and officers at the county office, Old Carter was the one who hung out with James Thompson and the others the most. To avoid arousing his suspicion, James Thompson also spoke to him in a very casual tone.

Old Carter didn’t notice anything unusual. While flipping through the files on the desk, he said, “Hold on, let me check…”

After a few pages, he pulled out a sheet of paper and said, “Here’s one. Something strange happened in Zhangjia Village. Several villagers’ sheep were bitten to death by something, and not a drop of blood was left. The county office hasn’t sent anyone to investigate yet. Do you want to go?”

James Thompson said without hesitation, “Next one…”

Livestock drained of all their blood—this was clearly the work of some demon or ghost. James Thompson knew his own limits well and wasn’t about to risk his life for a bit of joy.

Old Carter kept searching. After a moment, he pulled out another sheet and said, “Here’s another. Several fishermen near Bishui Bay reported to the county office that there’s a water ghost causing trouble in the bay. Want to check it out…”

“Next one!”

“Master Zhang’s father was just buried seven days ago, and the grave’s already been dug up. The corpse is missing too. Want to help look for it…”

……

“Stop, stop…” James Thompson gestured to Old Carter and asked, “Can’t you give me a case that doesn’t involve demons, ghosts, or corpses? Don’t you have any normal cases here?”

“These are already pretty normal.” Old Carter spread his hands and said, “The neighboring Zhou County is having a zombie outbreak. The whole village turned into corpses. The prefect is gathering cultivators from nearby counties to suppress it. Want to go?”

James Thompson waved his hands repeatedly, “No, no, I’ll pass…”

As it turned out, in this mysterious world, if you didn’t have some real skills, you couldn’t even be a decent constable. James Thompson wanted to do good deeds and help the people, but unfortunately, his abilities just didn’t measure up…

Since there was no job at the office he could handle, James Thompson had no choice but to start by escorting lost old ladies home, accumulating joy bit by bit, slowly condensing his soul.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t run into a lost old lady every day. James Thompson wandered outside until nightfall and didn’t meet a single one.

Not to mention people—he didn’t even run into a single ghost.

In the darkness, James Thompson walked alone down the street. Just as he was about to reach his doorstep, he suddenly felt a chill all over his body.

James Thompson froze for a moment. It was summer, and the night breeze should have been warm and gentle, but that gust of wind just now chilled him to the bone, making his hair stand on end.

All of a sudden, James Thompson felt a sense of danger and whipped his head around to look behind him.

The street was empty—there was nothing there.

James Thompson used the guiding technique, quickly channeling the trace of magic power Emily Thompson had left in his body to his eyes.

A pale face suddenly appeared right in front of him!

It was a face completely devoid of color, extremely close to James Thompson—almost touching his own. A pair of white eyeballs stared straight at him…

Chapter 012: The Monk

“Holy crap!”

Suddenly startled like this, James Thompson felt a chill run through his whole body, his heart even skipped a beat. Instinctively, he quickly stepped back, putting distance between himself and that ghostly face.