Chapter Ninety-Six: The Midnight Phantom

My master held his phone, and I heard a voice on the other end say, "Hello, Senior, I have news."

My master sat down on a nearby chair and said, "Tell me quickly."

There was an affirmative sound from the phone, followed by the clicking of a keyboard. The voice continued, "I checked all the recent entry and exit records for the Ghost Sect. Strangely, they haven't made any moves lately, haven't caused any trouble, and certainly haven't been to Beijing. Senior, you seem so anxious—has something happened?"

My master fell silent for a moment before replying, "I am currently in Beijing. I found ghost powder at the scene, and a friend of mine has gone missing without a trace. Are you sure your intelligence is correct?"

"Yes, I am certain. The Ghost Sect has been very quiet recently; they haven't taken any action."

My master put down the phone and frowned. He remained silent for a long time while the person on the other end waited. After thinking for a while, my master walked back and said into the phone, "Alright then, thank you for your trouble."

The person on the other line said it was nothing. My master gave a final grunt and hung up. He sat back down on the stool, tapping his fingers on the desk, lost in deep thought. I didn't speak either, keeping my head lowered. A while later, my master suddenly stood up and said, "Let's go. Let's take a look at the surveillance footage first."

I nodded and followed him out. We walked and stopped until we finally found the security room. My master made a call to someone, and to my surprise, we were granted access to the security room with ease. My master took charge, sitting down before the monitor and pulling up the footage from the sixteenth floor. I saw the camera flicker, and then the figures of Cao Wen and myself appeared. We checked room by room. After the fourteenth room, I suddenly noticed a ghostly shadow flash by the door. Then, I saw myself rushing to the fifteenth room, continuing until after the twentieth room, where I saw a flash of golden light—the effect of the ghost-repelling talisman I had used. Immediately after, I was seen rushing back to the fourteenth room.

Seeing this, my master frowned and rewound the footage to the moment just before Cao Wen went missing. This time, I saw it clearly: after I left, a ghostly shadow stood in front of the door of the fourteenth room. I call it a ghostly shadow because it was hovering. A moment later, the screen showed me rushing back, leading up to my fight with the fierce ghost and my master’s arrival.

My master paused the footage and leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

"This matter is not simple."

After a long silence, my master finally spoke. I stood behind him and asked, "Master, have you noticed something?"

My master nodded, sat up straight, and rewound the footage again, pointing to the shadow at the door. "That thing is neither a fierce ghost nor a member of the Ghost Sect."

I was even more confused. "Then what is it? The ghost aura on that floor was indeed very thick."

My master shook his head and said he didn't know, then fell silent again. After a long while, he stood up and asked, "Didn't you say you injured one of them earlier?"

I was stunned for a second, then nodded. "In room 1620, I did use a ghost-repelling talisman to wound one, but I’m not sure if it has any connection to this shadow."

I gestured to the paused screen. My master nodded, patted my shoulder, and said, "Let's head back for now."

I could only agree and follow him out. On the way, I couldn't help but ask, "Master, do you have a solution?"

My master shook his head. "If I had some object belonging to Cao Wen—even a scrap of his clothing—it might be possible to see what exactly happened to him at that time. It's a pity."

I understood what he meant by "a pity," and with a sigh, we returned to our room.

Back in the room, my master didn't sleep but went back to the sixteenth floor alone. I waited in the room, feeling exhausted from the day's events, and fell asleep before he returned.

In the middle of the night, I don't know what time it was, but I suddenly felt a breath of air against my ear. I thought it was a hallucination and ignored it, but a moment later, I felt my blanket being slowly pulled down. I am a light sleeper and woke up instantly, but I didn't make a sound. Pretending to still be asleep, I opened my eyes just a crack to peek. Against the moonlight, I saw a figure whose face I couldn't clearly make out standing by my bed. My arms had already warned me. After the figure pulled my blanket to the floor, it slowly approached me. I kept my eyes slightly closed, pretending to snore, but I could clearly see the figure's movements.

The next second, the figure struck, a ghostly claw plunging toward me. I dodged to the side and sprang up. My black and white fish spirits flew out; the white fish trapped the figure. The shadow panicked and scurried in all directions, but it couldn't escape the white fish's binding. The black fish opened its maw and lunged to swallow it, but before it could reach, I raised my hand, and the black fish stopped. It looked at me with a human-like expression, and I nodded. Only then did the black fish fly back.

I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the ghostly shadow held by the white fish, and asked, "Who are you, and why do you want to harm me?"

The shadow looked anxious in the white glow. I flicked my finger; the white glow vanished, and the black and white fish hovered around him to prevent escape. Looking at the two spirits, the shadow finally spoke: "I... I didn't mean to harm you."

"Didn't mean to?" I repeated. The shadow nodded nervously. Sensing something else in his words, I quickly asked, "Then why did you come?"

The shadow glanced at the fish spirits and said in a panic, "I... I was ordered to. If I didn't do it, I... I would be destroyed by him."

"Ordered? By whom? Speak!"

Startled by my shout, the shadow cried out, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you! It was a faceless person. He told me to come. Please let me go, I won't dare do it again!"

I was stunned. "A faceless person?"

The shadow nodded. I fell silent for a while before saying, "Answer whatever I ask, or I will destroy you right now. Do you understand?"

After I finished, the black fish hissed, scaring the shadow again. He knelt on the floor and said, "Ask away, I guarantee I will tell you everything I know."

I nodded and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"More than ten days," the shadow said, trembling.

I asked again, "Are all the disturbances in the hotel at night caused by you? Or are there accomplices?"

The shadow froze, looking at the floor. After thinking for a while, he said, "Just me, just me. And I was ordered by them, too."

When he finished, I pointed at him and said, "You're lying!"

"Ah, I'm not lying, Master! I really am not!"

I sneered. "Then why did you have to think so long? If you've been here for over ten days and it's just you, why would you need to think? Or are you just playing with me?"

I stood up abruptly, and the black and white fish moved closer to him. The shadow waved his hands in a panic. "No, no, Master, I'm not lying to you! It's not just me; there are other fierce ghosts here too. We were all captured by them and told to create disturbances in this hotel—the bigger, the better. Otherwise, they would destroy us. Master, I'm really not lying!"

I looked at him, sat back on the bed, and asked, "Who are they?"

"They? Oh, they are..."

Before he could finish, I interrupted him, manifesting the *Tianyin* Spear and pressing the tip against his forehead. Impatiently, I said, "Tell me now!"

Terrified, the shadow trembled all over and spoke quickly: "It's that group of faceless people. I was living peacefully in the underworld, but that day, I was suddenly knocked unconscious by a puff of black powder. When I woke up, I was in the mortal realm, and they threatened us to cause trouble in this hotel. If we didn't obey, they would destroy us. Master, you know us small ghosts—how could we dare not listen? I really didn't mean to cause trouble in the mortal realm. Please spare me, Master!"