The system says there are no ghosts.

Chapter 9 Old Smoke's Warning

After returning to the mission hall from the spirit field, Chen Yi found a corner to sit down.

The spiritual runes on the inside of his left arm remained quietly there. On the way back, he had already used his consciousness to suppress them several times to confirm that no energy was leaking out.

Ah Qi floated in the shadows beside him, remaining silent.

Everything in the lobby was as usual. Several cleaners were swiping their spiritual terminals, and no one noticed that he had just returned from outside. The faint fluctuation of spiritual energy had already been archived as environmental noise by the system and was no longer of any concern.

Just as Chen Yi was about to close his eyes and rest for a while, he caught a glimpse of movement at the entrance of the mission hall.

Several cleaners suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up at the door. One of them muttered something under his breath, his tone clearly tense.

Chen Yi followed their gaze.

A middle-aged man in a gray inspector's uniform walked in. He had an ordinary face, a well-maintained physique, and a faint smile on his lips. But the Heavenly Dao badge pinned to his chest was particularly conspicuous under the light.

White gloves, neat uniform, gentle smile.

Chen Yi's heart sank.

That was Qin Wujiu.

The inspector at the Lin Yuan City Cleanup Center is specifically responsible for monitoring data anomalies among the lower-level cleaners. His nickname is 'Smiling Tiger'.

Chen Yi slightly shifted his gaze.

Qin Wujiu walked into the hall at a leisurely pace. His gaze swept around the hall, as if casually checking something. But Chen Yi sensed that when that gaze landed on him, it seemed to pause for a moment.

It only lasted for a moment.

Then, Qin Wujiu looked away and continued walking forward.

"He seems..." Ah Qi's voice was a little tense, "He's looking at you."

"I know."

Chen Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

He couldn't quite describe the feeling. It wasn't the instinctive alertness of seeing a dangerous person; it was something else entirely. Deeper, colder. It was like being watched by something, and you didn't know when that thing would strike.

Qin Wujiu walked to the counter and said a few words to the staff member inside. The staff member nodded repeatedly, then turned and walked to the back of the hall.

Qin Wujiu turned around and started walking back.

His route will pass by the location where Chen Yi is.

Chen Yi didn't move. He told himself it was just a coincidence, that the person was just walking around normally and had no other intentions. But his fingers unconsciously clenched.

five meters.

Four meters.

three meters.

Qin Wujiu's gaze swept over again, this time lingering for a little longer.

What did he see?

Chen Yi's back began to break out in a cold sweat.

Just then, a voice came from the side.

"Chen Yi".

Chen Yi suddenly turned his head.

Old Yan stood beside him, an unlit cigarette between his fingers. His face was wrinkled, and surrounded by smoke, he looked no different than usual.

"Come with me," Old Yan said in a low voice, "I need to talk to you about something."

Without waiting for Chen Yi's reply, he turned and walked towards the corridor.

Chen Yi was stunned for a second.

Then he stood up.

"Inspector Qin." A voice came from behind. "Are you looking for that cleaner over there?"

"Oh?" Qin Wujiu's voice came, his tone gentle. "Which one?"

"It's that one, Chen Yi. I just looked at his data, and there are a few minor anomalies recently..."

"No rush," Qin Wujiu interrupted, "Take your time."

Chen Yi quickened his pace and walked towards the direction of Lao Yan.

"Chen Yi, right?" Qin Wujiu's voice came from behind, unhurried. "Let's talk next time we have the chance."

Chen Yi's back stiffened.

He didn't answer, but simply followed Old Yan's back as he walked deeper into the corridor.

The corridor was quiet.

This is the logistics corridor on the first floor of the cleaning center. The walls are painted gray, the floor is paved with worn stone slabs, and the overhead lamps emit a dim yellow light.

Old Yan walked ahead, his steps slow and drawn-out, smoke billowing from his mouth.

Chen Yi followed behind him without saying a word.

Ah Qi hid in the shadows beside him, equally silent.

The two walked for about a minute and then stopped at a corner.

Old Yan turned around, leaned against the wall, and looked at Chen Yi.

There's something strange about you.

He spoke. His voice was low, and it was impossible to discern any emotion in it.

Chen Yi's heart skipped a beat.

"What's that aura?"

"It's like..." Old Yan took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled, "...the aura of a dead soul."

Chen Yi remained silent.

His hands clenched unconsciously. The spiritual runes on the inside of his left arm remained there quietly, revealing no trace of their presence.

"What did you say?"

"You have the aura of a dead soul on you," Old Yan repeated, his tone flat. "It's faint, but I can smell it."

Chen Yi stared at him.

Old Yan's eyes didn't look like he was joking. He really knew something.

How did you know?

Old Yan did not answer.

He took a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"This is a method of suppression," Old Smoke said. "The fluctuations in your aura are too great. If you don't suppress it, it won't be long before the system detects it."

Chen Yi was stunned.

"you……"

"Don't ask me how I know," Old Yan interrupted him. "You just need to know that I won't report it."

"Why didn't you report it?" Chen asked. "You knew I carried the aura of a dead soul; you should have reported it. But you didn't."

Old Yan remained silent for a few seconds.

Smoke billowed from his mouth, looking somewhat eerie in the dim light.

"Because I've seen it."

Old Yan's voice suddenly became somewhat low.

"I've seen people like you," Old Yan said. "I've seen people who carry the aura of the dead."

Chen Yi remained silent.

"Thirty years ago," Old Yan continued, "I was young then, and I thought I could change something. I met some people, just like you. Later, they were all wiped out by the system."

His tone was very calm, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.

"Are you trying to remind me?" Chen asked.

"It's not a reminder," Old Smoke said, "it's a warning."

He stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can.

"Don't die too young."

After saying that, he turned and walked to the end of the corridor.

Chen Yi stood there, watching Lao Yan's figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

"Who is he?" Ah Qi's voice came from the shadows, tinged with confusion.

"I don't know," Chen Yi said, "but he's not an ordinary person."

He looked down at the note in his hand.

The note had a line of text written on it, the handwriting messy, as if it had been written hastily:

"Focus your mind on your dantian, and control the patterns with your spirit. Quiet your mind and breath, until your spirit disperses..."

Chen Yi frowned as he looked at the few dozen words.

Is this a method to suppress spirit patterns?

"This is..." Ah Qi floated over, glanced at the note, and said with a hint of surprise, "This is an ancient method."

"Ancient methods?"

"Could it be an ancient method for suppressing spiritual energy fluctuations?" Ah Qi said. "My master mentioned this method before, but it has been lost for a long time. I never expected him to know it."

Chen Yi raised his head.

What do you think?

"He's not simple." Ah Qi shook his head. "He knows the aura of the dead, he knows the ancient methods of suppression, and he even saw someone like you thirty years ago..."

He paused.

"We'll find out tonight when we go down to the basement," Chen Yi said. "Old Yan made the appointment; it's at 8 PM tonight in section B-3."

Ah Qi remained silent for a while.

"That Qin Wujiu..." Aqi's voice was a little tense, "It seems like he's investigating you."

Chen Yi remained silent.

The image of that gentle face and that chilling gaze flashed through his mind.

Old Yan. Qin Wujiu. And that line, "Let's talk next time we have the chance."

Two people, two threats, came crashing down on us at the same time.

When I returned to the mission lobby, it was almost noon.

Qin Wujiu was no longer in the hall. No one knew where he had gone.

The task list on the holographic projection had changed, but most of them were still low-level tasks with little reward. Chen Yi found a corner to sit down and began to study the secret techniques on the slip of paper.

He closed his eyes and tried the method written on the note.

Focus your attention on the dantian.

Control the runes with your spirit, and cover the runes with your consciousness.

Sink your breath down to your dantian.

Stop breathing and let the spiritual energy dissipate.

At first, I didn't feel anything.

But gradually, he sensed a change.

The power within the spiritual runes began to flow towards his dantian. It wasn't suppressed, but guided. Like a river changing course, the aura that was originally radiating outwards was directed towards his dantian, merging into his spiritual energy circulation.

The heat on the inside of my left arm began to subside.

Under his mental suppression, the spiritual rune became even quieter and ceased to emit any aura.

"It's done." Ah Qi's voice came from the shadows. "You actually succeeded on your first try."

Chen Yi opened his eyes.

He looked down at his left arm. In his psychic eyes, the spiritual rune had completely quieted down and no longer emitted any aura.

"This method works better than I thought," he said.

"Of course," Ah Qi said. "This is an ancient method, specifically used to suppress fluctuations in spiritual energy. Those that have been passed down are the essence of the art."

Chen nodded.

He carefully put the note away and leaned back in his chair.

He knew that what Old Yan said was true.

In this world, people like him don't live long.

But he didn't want to die.

At least not now.

The afternoon passed very slowly.

Chen Yi accepted a simple cleanup task and spent three hours in an abandoned spiritual field in the east of the city. The task wasn't difficult; it was simply to clear away some residual spiritual energy fluctuations.

He was very skilled at it.

But during breaks at work, he couldn't help but think about what happened tonight.

Basement level B-3. Old Smoke. And other things he didn't know.

In the evening, he returned to the cleaning center.

Old Smoke isn't in the mission lobby. Nobody knows where he went.

Chen Yi didn't go to him. He simply found a corner to sit down and waited for eight o'clock to arrive.

Ah Qi hid in the shadows beside him, without saying a word.

Time passed by, second by second.

Six o'clock. Seven o'clock. Seven-thirty.

At 7:45, the spiritual terminal suddenly vibrated.

A message popped up:

"[Cleanup Center Notice] Chen Yi, please go to the Supervisory Office at 9:00 AM tomorrow for routine questioning. Please bring your personal identification token and relevant work records. If you have any questions, please contact the Supervisory Office."

Chen Yi stared at the screen.

Routine inquiry.

He worked in this position for three years and was never called in for questioning.

"What's wrong?" Ah Qi's voice came from the side.

Chen Yi remained silent.

He put the terminal away and stood up.

Eight o'clock.

It's time to go.

On his way to the elevator, Qin Wujiu's face reappeared in his mind.

That gentle gaze, that phrase, "Let's talk next time we have a chance."

It was probably just a polite remark.

Chen Yi clenched the note in his pocket.

He had a very bad feeling.