CH 45

Ye Jia got up from the ground with a dark expression.

He looked around at his apartment that looked like a tornado had swept through. From the bedroom to the living room and even the kitchen, it was all a mess. Only the bathroom managed to escape the same fate.

Basically…..it probably wasn’t in a state where one could live in.

Ye Jia sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He stepped over the furniture fragments scattered across the floor, went to the hallway and reached out to open the door—–

A small figure fell in.

He had clearly been sitting against the door all this time and as soon as the support behind him was gone, he lost his balance and fell back.

The boy laid on the ground, blinking his scarlet eyes. He looked up at the young man’s surprised face above him and said in a small voice, “……Good morning.”

Ye Jia: “…….”

His head was starting to hurt again.

He took a deep breath, “How long have you been here?”

Ji Xuan got up from the ground and shook his head. He appeared extraordinarily well-behaved and sensible, and even a little pitiful.

“Not too long.”

Ye Jia’s hand that was holding the door handle tightened.

Pretend. Just keep pretending.

He raised his eyes, his gaze falling onto the ground next to Ji Xuan.

On the ground were two boxes of biscuits, an apple, two bottles of milk and a large carton of juice all neatly arranged.

Ye Jia was stunned.

“…..Where did they come from?”

Ji Xuan followed Ye Jia’s line of sight, “Oh, these?”

He thought about it, “The neighbours gave it.”

When he was sitting there, someone had passed by and asked in distress why he was sitting out there all alone.

A thin boy sitting quietly with his back against the closed door, his eyes big and bright and his features small and delicate, he looked particularly sensible and well-behaved: “Mother kicked me out, so I came to stay with gege.”

—-In a sense, it wasn’t a lie.

“He won’t let you in?” The neighbour felt extremely distressed for him.

“It’s not like that.” The little boy sighed glumly and shook his head, “It’s my fault for doing the wrong thing. I’m waiting for my brother’s anger to pass.”

“Even so, he can’t leave a child outside alone! Especially with everything happening right now.” The neighbour was a little angry, “This adult is too irresponsible.”

The neighbour asked gently, “Would you like to come to my place and wait?”

The little boy smiled, “No I’m fine. Thank you.”

Seeing that he was determined to stay there, the neighbour could only give up and just forcibly stuff him a lot of snacks.

Every time someone passed by, a conversation like this would occur.

As a result, more and more snacks accumulated.

Ji Xuan commented: “Humans are so warm-hearted.”

Ye Jia: “………………………”

He seemed to have guessed what had happened.

Looks like he now had a high probability of dying a social death.

He gritted his teeth and forced out, “Have you become addicted to pretending to be a child?”

Ji Xuan stepped into the apartment.

Under the faint morning light as well as the dim corridor light, his small shadow instantly stretched out along the ground.

The tall man lowered his eyes, his cold and deep eyes half-concealed in the shadows and his dark scarlet eyes half-hidden under his long eyelashes. He stared at the young man before him intently, “Then…..Do you like me like this more?”

His voice was low and suppressed. There was faint hoarseness and amusement in his deep voice, “Gege?”

The distance between the two had instantly shortened. The adult man’s compelling aura spread out without reservation. Their noses were almost about to touch.

Ye Jia took in a deep breath and stepped back to increase the distance between the two.

His amber eyes gleamed a cold and hostile light in the dark.

Looking at the young man who was immediately scared into backing away, Ji Xuan sighed regretfully.

Despite clearly knowing that both his adult self and his child self were the same person and despite constantly saying that he wouldn’t become soft-hearted, he had always been unable to be harsh to children.

Gege has always been like this—–It’s really too cute.

—- In that case, don’t blame him for taking advantage of that.

Ye Jia spoke icily, “No matter what you look like, it has nothing to do with me.”

Ji Xuan smiled and nodded, “I understand.”

As if.

Ye Jia cautiously glanced at the man in front of him and then took another step back. After ensuring that he was a safe distance away from him, he slowly asked:

“What is the real reason for you cooperating with humans?”

Ji Xuan furrowed his brows feeling a little hurt.

“Gege, you actually don’t trust me? Everything I said in the Bureau was the truth.”

Ye Jia narrowed his eyes slightly. He carefully assessed him but didn’t speak.

But his body language answered Ji Xuan’s question —— Yes, he indeed did not trust him at all.

“Alright then.” Ji Xuan stored away his playful look and answered seriously, “I know I can’t make you trust me, but right now, our purposes are the same.”

He casually raised the corners of his lips and a cold look flashed across his face.

“After all, with her around, I as the King also don’t feel at ease.”

With an unshakable power looming over him, always instigating other S-Level fierce ghosts to challenge his authority, it would indeed leave him with some distaste after some time.

This reason seemed to have convinced Ye Jia.

After staring at Ji Xuan for a few more seconds, he finally backed down, “….Alright then.”

“But I need to see your sincerity.” Ye Jia continued, “About the bounty on my head on the hatred leaderboard…….”

Before he could finish his words, Ji Xuan immediately expressed, “I will immediately remove it.”

—-At least his goal for tonight had been achieved.

Ye Jia wanted to close the door.

But he noticed that at some unknown point in time, the other party had already stepped past the threshold and entered the hallway.

Ye Jia: “…….”

He had made a blunder.

Ji Xuan slowly took another step inside, “Then….Gege, shouldn’t you also show your sincerity?”

Ye Jia’s muscles immediately tightened.

His words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, “What do you want?”

Ji Xuan chuckled shortly, “Don’t be so nervous.”

A small scarlet crack appeared in the space next to him and a piece of paper lightly fell onto his palm.

Please read this from kk translates

He gave Ye Jia that piece of paper.

“I just want you to be my designated primary point of contact in the Bureau.”

Ye Jia glanced at its contents.

He had only briefly glanced over it last night and didn’t have the time to look through it properly —- This was indeed a direct order issued from the people at the top of the Bureau, it wasn’t forged.

“Your superior should be informing you of this today.” Ji Xuan looked down at Ye Jia and said in a low voice, “I just wanted to share this news with you in advance…..Gege.”

Ye Jia coldly gave him a look. He clearly wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Fine, what else?”

Ji Xuan silently sighed inside.

— Sure enough, this trick only worked when he pretended to be a child.

He said without a change to his expression, “From today, I should interact with you using my earlier child appearance.”

Ye Jia frowned, “Why?”

“Humans don’t recognise my current appearance, but it’s different for the ghosts and monsters.” Ji Xuan said lightly, “……You surely wouldn’t want to expose your identity, do you?”

He knew this very well. In some senses, Ye Jia was a very predictable person.

Although the current series of events had brought him back to the centre of the vortex, he still longs to return to a peaceful and stable life after everything is over. He didn’t want to be the saviour who is always under a lot of attention. On the contrary, he much preferred his identity as an ordinary logistics staff.

Therefore, even if he appeared in front of everyone as Ace and participated in this fight, he still wished to hide his identity as ‘Ye Jia’.

Ji Xuan liked this feeling very much.

In this world, only he alone occupied his gege’s two worlds.

Just the thought of this made him extremely satisfied.

—-That was why Ji Xuan was certain he wouldn’t reject his proposal.

He added more fire to the pit: “Moreover, starting from today, you are my only primary point of contact so I will no longer appear in front of your colleagues in the Bureau again and they would also not know of my existence.”

Sure enough, Ye Jia fell into deep thought.

After a long time, he nodded, “…..Alright.”

The smile on Ji Xuan’s lips deepened.

He stretched out his hand, “Happy cooperation.”

Ye Jia glanced at him coldly. He then reached out to shake the other’s hand and placed emphasis on the first four words, “For the time being, happy cooperation.”

Before he could pull his hand back, he felt the palm in his hand quickly turn smaller.

Ye Jia was taken aback. For a moment, he even forgot to let go of the hand.

The young boy in front of him stretched out his other hand, curved his eyes as he smiled and used both hands to gentle shake Ye Jia’s arm:

“……Long term wouldn’t be bad either.”

Ye Jia retracted his arm like he was scorched by fire. He tightly furrowed his brows.

His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but when he remembered what he had just agreed to earlier, he swallowed those words back down.

Ji Xuan seemed to have not noticed it.

He looked around the room that was in tatters and raised his eyebrows in surprise:

“What happened to your place?”

Ye Jia followed his line of sight.

He seemed to only now remember the state of his place and his expression instantly darkened. He grumbled, “…..It’s all because of your fish.”

Oh? It did such a good thing?

Ji Xuan’s eyes lit up.

He concealed his joy and revealed a look of guilt and regret, “Sorry, it’s my fault.”

Ye Jia frowned and looked at him vigilantly.

Ji Xuan continued, “I have a few properties under my name. You can take a look and see where you want to stay…..”

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Jia interrupted him without any hesitation:

“No, just compensation is enough.”

Ji Xuan followed the flow and nodded, “Of course, compensation is a must.”

He changed his words, “But, until your place is fixed, surely you will need to find a place to stay?”

Ye Jia: “…..I’ll stay at a hotel.”

“If you don’t want me to bother you, I won’t even cross the boundary by half a step.” Ji Xuan flashed a smile, “It won’t be any different from staying at a hotel.”

There is a very big difference.

Ye Jia didn’t want to be anymore involved with him. The more distance between them the better —– Staying at a place under Ji Xuan’s name would go against this intention of his.

He shook his head resolutely, “No thank you.”

Ji Xuan tried to tempt him, “You can keep an eye on me like this.”

Ye Jia let out a laugh but there was no such emotion in his eyes, “If in a place like this I still need to keep an eye on you, I don’t think there is a need for this cooperation to continue.”

Although it was a pity, Ji Xuan decided to back down.

He had already achieved his original goal tonight. If he continued to take things too far, the situation may turn for the worse instead.

“Alright then.” Ji Xuan turned to look at the apartment that looked like a tornado had swept through and said, “I will be responsible for finding someone to repair your place — After all, this is my fault. You shouldn’t have a problem with that, right?”

Ye Jia thought for a while and accepted reluctantly, “…..Okay.”

It could be regarded as both parties taking a step back and reaching a consensus.

He tossed over a key to Ji Xuan, “As soon as possible.”

The smile on Ji Xuan’s lips deepened, “Of course.”

.

Ye Jia packed up some of his personal belongings and moved to a hotel not far away.

Sure enough, the next day, an order was issued from the people above, assigning him to be in charge of a certain ‘high-level fierce ghost who is willing to cooperate’. This was a highly confidential matter. In other words, in the entire M City branch, only Wu Su and himself knew of the matter of a high-level fierce ghost cooperating with the Bureau and only Ye Jia had the authority to contact the other party.

In the box was another new phone.

Ye Jia took it out and fiddled with it.

Even if he didn’t know much about modern technology, he could tell that this phone was much more advanced and protected than the one Liu Zhaocheng gave him last time.

But Ye Jia still found it a little ridiculous —- Using a phone to contact a fierce ghost. This was something he would have never imagined ten years ago.

There was only one contact stored in the phone.

The other person’s profile photo was a chibi grim reaper holding a scythe, looking very cute.

Ye Jia narrowed his eyes. He felt that there was some meaning behind that photo.

While he was staring at that photo, the other party’s message appeared:

It was a bouncy, joyful emoticon.

Ye Jia: “…….”

His hands were itching to move.

After his fingers lingered over the block button for several seconds, he finally decided against it — For the sake of his job, forget it.

He turned off the phone display and tossed the phone aside.

On the other end.

Ji Xuan looked down at the bright phone screen in his hand, the upward arc on the corner of his lips unable to be suppressed.

Although there was no response from the other party, he was certain the other party had seen his message.

Ji Xuan glanced at the book he had previously regarded as rubbish.

One of the lines came into view —- “Get the other party’s contact information.”

Not only that, but he was also the only contact on the other party’s phone.

This satisfied his deeply suppressed desire to monopolise the other party.

Ji Xuan laughed out happily and put the phone away.

At the door, the shadow ghost who had snuck in was scared stiff. It panicked and quickly hurried back out.

Several other high-level fierce ghosts gathered around it and carefully asked with lowered voices, “How was it?”

The shadow ghost shook its head in daze, “…..Very bad.”

After King killed the opponent’s leader, the rest of the monsters had turned into dust and the fight was over.

But since then, King had become strange.

Please read this from kk translates

Not only did he withdraw the reward for Ace, but he had actually…..actually…..

A’Mi slowly spoke with a heavy expression:

“I…..I just saw King smiling while looking at his phone.”

The other fierce ghosts gasped in shock, “W-what?!”

“I suspect King may have been cursed……”

A’Mi felt a chill behind its back before it could finish its words.

It slowly turned to look back.

The door behind it was open. The blood gu fish had appeared behind them and was watching the group of fierce ghosts with its empty eye sockets.

In the distance, Ji Xuan who was sitting on the throne narrowed his scarlet eyes slightly and asked slowly:

“Very bored?”

All the fierce ghosts trembled: “……..King!”

Ji Xuan curled his lips, “Then I will find something for you to do.”

And so, after being forced to play with the blood gu fish for an hour, all the fierce ghosts wanted to cry without tears. This was especially so for A’Mi who was specially taken care of and was left tired and paralysed on the floor.

They were too naïve.

Sure enough, King was still that moody and terrifying Ghost King…..Being cursed or whatever was just nonsense!

.

After the first batch of recruitment brochures were issued out, the Bureau quickly acquired a lot of fresh blood. Although the follow up work left by the rampage of ghosts and monsters in M City still hadn’t been processed yet, the new recruits had helped immensely with reducing the pressure on the original staff.

Even compared to before that incident, their current workload was now much easier to manage.

The older employees at the Logistics Department basically had no new jobs to work on. While Ye Jia was now working on various jobs in the department dealing with training the new recruits, Zhao Dong remained in the Logistics Department to handle the remaining tasks and Cheng Cezhi was assigned to the Human Resources Department and was helping with interviewing the new recruits.

Although the outside world was still in chaos, Ye Jia’s life had been particularly fulfilling and peaceful over the past week. He went to work from the hotel every day and would sometimes take along new recruits to do some onsite work.

During this time, although Ye Jia had never replied to any of Ji Xuan’s messages, the other party still enjoyed harassing him online every day. Fortunately, this kind of harassment only stayed online. After all, the rampage last time had similarly affected Ji Xuan. After directly defying Mother’s order’s, it was estimated that he would be busy for a while.

This continued until M City issued out the second batch of recruitment brochures.

—The content was no different from last time, except for the very faint pattern printed on the back. If you didn’t look closely, you would easily miss it.

The rose branches intertwined into a strange but gorgeous pattern, and within it were three letters that formed the word ‘Ace’.

The day it was sent out, everything was calm and quiet. Nothing seemed to have changed.

But in a place that couldn’t be seen by others, dark tides began to surge, and uneasy whispers spread.

At the centre of that whirlpool was a small city —– M City.

When the dark night fell, the distant sky was enveloped by thick darkness, slowly swallowing up the stars and the moon.

Ye Jia who was on his way back from work suddenly stopped in place.

He raised his head and looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

At this moment, the phone in his pocket vibrated twice. Ye Jia took it out, only to see a message from Cheng Cezhi.

It was an address, nothing else.

Strange.

Ye Jia frowned.

He knew this place. It was near the wilderness and would be practically completely deserted at night as very few people would go there — Why did Cheng Cezhi send that address to him?

.

At an abandoned factory in M City.

Strong yin energy flowed through the dark night sky. Compared to other places, the temperature here was a lot lower. Faint ominous air exuded out from the empty and dark windows and doors, making people instinctively feel fear and panic.

The originally empty factory was at this moment filled with strands of thick, dark hair. It slowly rose and fell like ocean waves.

Cheng Cezhi struggled to get out of the thick, dark hair that reached up to his waist, but it was like he was stuck in a bog. No matter how he moved, that hair seemed like it was alive and would tightly entwine around his arms and legs, leaving him helpless and only able to wriggle about like a bug.

“Where is Ace?” A sharp and insidious voice travelled out from within the hair.

Cheng Cezhi was almost in tears, “I really don’t know this Ace of yourrrss!!!”

He had left a little late today so he took a short cut, but he had never expected that he would suddenly be kidnapped on his way back home.

This was a B-level fierce ghost. As a logistics staff, he had no ability to fight back.

As a result, not only was he trapped in this dark and gloomy place, but he was also constantly being asked about the whereabouts of this person he wasn’t familiar with….

Who wouldn’t find this situation ridiculous?!

“You lied!!!!” That voice suddenly roared. The anger in the voice was very obvious, “I saw it, his signature, it wasn’t a mistake….It was from your Bureau. You know where he is……”

“That’s okay. If you know him…..he will surely come….heeheeheehee……”

Outside the factory.

Four or five people all looked at each other.

Zhao Dong broke the silence, “You guys also received this address?”

Wu Su nodded. He turned on his phone screen and showed Zhao Dong. The address of this place was displayed on the screen.

He was now in charge of the Human Resources Department and Cheng Cezhi was his subordinate.

He said, “I contacted his family and they said that he hasn’t returned home yet.”

In fact, this was not the only reason why he was here. Wu Su was after all also working in the busiest Combat Division and he naturally wouldn’t go out of his way to come here just because he was suddenly sent an address from his subordinate.

But after sending out the second batch of recruitment brochures, the situation was different.

After all, those in the Human Resources Department would naturally become the first to be targeted.

As such, since it was sent out, Wu Su had begun to pay more attention to the movements of all his subordinates in this new department and had also assigned them with more equipment that they could use to protect themselves.

But clearly, something like this couldn’t be prevented.

“Don’t worry.” Wu Su tugged at his beard and spoke with some anxiousness, “I have already contacted the other members of the Combat Division. They should be here soon.”

Ye Jia stood in the dark and didn’t speak.

He raised his head, looked at the factory and sniffed the air —- This smell was something he was very familiar with.

Very coincidentally, this fierce ghost…..Was a boss he and Ji Xuan had met in an instance.

Although its level wasn’t high, it was a little difficult to deal with.

Ye Jia couldn’t be certain that the members of the Combat Division could handle it.

He hesitated over whether he should find an excuse to leave and then go and save the other person himself.

But at this moment, he was slightly startled.

The smell inside…..seem to have changed.

.

Ten minutes later, heavily armed members of the Combat Division arrived at the scene, but before they could start discussing their battle plan, they saw the gates to the factory slowly open from the inside.

Cheng Cezhi limped out with a smile on his face.

A young woman was supporting him.

Wu Su was taken aback, “You……..”

The young woman smiled at him, “The fierce ghost inside ran off. You can try and go after it but I don’t think you would be able to catch it.

Wu Su’s eyes widened, “You’re……..!!!”

The young woman nodded generously, “Hello, I’m Maid.”

Rank 15 on the leaderboard, Maid.

She frowned with some annoyance, turned to look at Cheng Cezhi who was standing beside her and complained, “I originally also wanted to tie him up, but that fierce ghost got to him first….”

Cheng Cezhi: “???”

Why?

Why???

As if seeing through his mental breakdown, the young woman chuckled, “Because you are the weakest in the entire department.”

Cheng Cezhi: “……..”

Okay, that’s enough. Anymore and he would be annoyed.

Zhao Dong who was waiting with the medical staff helped Cheng Cezhi away.

The young woman’s gaze fell onto Wu Su, “Since you have already recognised me, I won’t hide my purpose of coming here — Where is Ace?”

Wu Su was already prepared for this.

He took in a deep breath and slowly spoke up, “Why are you looking for him?”

The young woman revealed a shy expression. She poked at the ground with her toe and said:

“Confess.”

Ye Jia who stood in the distance: “…….”

—- Since Cheng Cezhi is safe, he i]wasn’t needed here anymore.

He turned around, ready to leave.

Suddenly, Ye Jia felt a familiar presence appear behind him.

An icy smell of blood emanated out through the ghost domain.

Ye Jia’s back stiffened.

The young boy’s soft and hoarse voice broke the silence. He asked calmly:

“Gege, who is she?”