The Victim
Everyone in the hospital room, except for He Zhouyan, looked surprised.
Lin Hude showed no awareness of his status as an elder. With a determined gaze, he repeated, “Although I’m getting on in years, I’m still highly efficient and have a solid foundation. I promise I won’t cause you any trouble.”
He even used honorifics, making it clear he wasn’t joking—he was completely serious.
Ever since Lin Yang met Lu Congxing, he felt like his entire worldview had been turned upside down. Just now, he was so shocked he nearly wondered if he’d been knocked unconscious by a voodoo doll and everything was just a dream. But when he remembered Lu Congxing’s freakishly maxed-out combat skills, everything suddenly made sense again.
Still, watching his master ask to become someone else’s disciple was hard to process. Lin Yang closed his eyes, trembling.
So it turns out that, from the beginning, his master wasn’t preparing to take on a student. All that eagerness—even rushing to take the list and show off—wasn’t about accepting a disciple, but about becoming one.
Lu Congxing blinked in confusion, then politely turned him down with a dazed look in his eyes.
Lin Hude grew anxious. At his age, he had gained a deep understanding of many things and didn’t consider it shameful to take someone younger as a master. Just as the ancients said: “Be eager to learn and never feel ashamed to ask questions!”
Seeing how firm Lu Congxing was, Lin Hude started to take a more roundabout approach. “If you think the formal apprenticeship ceremony is too troublesome or don’t want to establish an official master-disciple relationship, then at least let me follow you and learn from you. I’ve accumulated many valuable things over my life, and I can offer them all to honor you.”
It did come off a bit like an old man flaunting his age, but Lin Hude’s obsession with exorcist techniques far outweighed his pride. His sharp little eyes brimmed with a thirst for knowledge of the higher realms.
He Zhouyan snorted coldly for no apparent reason.
How ridiculous, this human dares try to bribe the cub?
The cub had him—his guardian demon. What good thing couldn’t he get?
Let alone this guy—everything the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs gave the cub would be enough to spark a frenzy among exorcists. Why would he need a human’s bribe?
Lu Congxing looked a little embarrassed. “I really don’t have anything to teach you.”
He wasn’t being modest—he meant it. His exorcism skills were fused with pure spiritual energy within him. No one had ever taught him how to deal with the harassment of female ghosts in the dead of night, or how to shake off a hanged ghost clinging to him on the way home from school. Everything he knew now was developed on his own—skills forged through hundreds of brushes with death, crafted into an exorcism method that suited him alone.
Seeing that Lu Congxing was somewhat softening, Lin Hude intensified his persuasion.
Lu Congxing thought for a moment and pulled a business card from the small bell he carried. “If you don’t mind, our agency is currently hiring.”
Due to Di Jiang taking on frequent acting gigs lately, no one had been promoting the agency for a while.
Even so, because the agency had a perfect satisfaction record, it still got quite a few small jobs online.
Lu Congxing explained seriously, “We have flexible hours—no need to clock in, but there are performance expectations. Salary is paid monthly, and bonuses depend on the type and quality of clients you bring in. More high-value clients, more bonus.”
Lin Hude immediately exclaimed, “I don’t need a salary! Just let me work!”
He’d made plenty of money exorcising ghosts in his life—he had no more desire for wealth.
Lu Congxing frowned, realizing this elder didn’t seem to understand labor laws very well.
He Zhouyan found it incredibly cute watching the cub seriously explain employment law to someone else. He almost wanted to scoop him up, nuzzle him, and give him a lick.
He couldn’t do the licking part just yet—but hugging was definitely still on the table.
Meanwhile, Lin Yang was horrified. He couldn’t believe Lu Congxing had just rejected his master—worse, that his master was now happily offering to work for free.
He looked at Lu Congxing’s slightly clueless expression and wanted to shake him hard and shout: Do you know who that is?! He’s an elder from one of the four great exorcist families!
With someone like Lin Hude backing the agency, it would blow up overnight. During his six-month closed-door retreat, people had gone bankrupt trying to beg him for help—and he refused them all. If he so much as posted about the agency, the door would be trampled within thirty minutes.
Lin Hude stared eagerly at Lu Congxing as he spoke, completely lacking the grand master demeanor he’d had back at the Lin family.
In the end, Lu Congxing pulled out a contract, and Lin Hude signed his name without even reading it.
But instead of asking for a salary, he requested a few of Lu Congxing’s personally drawn high-level talismans as compensation.
The atmosphere here was warm and harmonious—but meanwhile, the neglected voodoo doll felt utterly humiliated.
It wanted to leap out and kill someone, curse them all—but the truth was, it could only tremble in He Zhouyan’s grasp.
If the human skin mask on its face hadn’t been burned off, it probably would’ve rolled its eyes to the heavens by now.
Maybe the voodoo doll’s resentment was too strong, because Lu Congxing finally seemed to remember it and turned to look its way.
Lin Hude stroked his white beard and moved closer. “This thing’s incredibly sinister.”
He squinted, then gasped. “You—you’re holding it barehanded without any restraints?!”
He Zhouyan, as always, was indifferent toward anyone but the cub. “No need to make it complicated.”
He turned the voodoo doll face-up so the cub could inspect it more easily.
The voodoo doll in He Zhouyan’s hand had no signs of life—it looked just like an ordinary toy.
Lin Hude was once again left speechless.
He couldn’t help but marvel at the favoritism of the creator.
Most exorcists were aware of the existence of demons, and they’d always maintained a mutual non-interference with them. Though Lin Hude hadn’t recognized that Lu Congxing was a demon, he’d immediately seen that He Zhouyan was definitely not human. There was an aura surrounding him—immense and invisible to the naked eye.
Wen Yi choked up slightly. “What should we do with this doll?”
Lin Hude stroked his beard. “It should be dealt with through a ritual, then sealed using sacred fire and eagle’s blood. Evil thing of this level can’t be destroyed carelessly—if you’re not careful, they could backlash. Sealing is the only safe option.”
Wen Yi asked sincerely, “Once it’s sealed, can it still escape?”
Lin Hude shook his head. “Thousands of evil things have been sealed, and very few ever break free. Over time, the seal weakens them until, after a few hundred years, they turn into ordinary items and return to nature. But sealing this doll will require a lot of preparation—it’s not something we can handle quickly.”
Lu Congxing blinked. “No need for all that. Just leave it in the agency.”
He had a fondness for collecting such things. At the agency, there was a glass display case made of high-grade demon bone, gifted by the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.
The materials came from ancient great demons—like Xuanwu’s shell and phoenix tail feathers.
No evil things placed inside could ever escape.
Lin Hude fell silent for a moment, starting to feel a little concerned about his future work environment. Still, he enthusiastically volunteered to personally escort the voodoo doll back to the agency—saying it would be a good chance to familiarize himself with the place.
Lin Yang, meanwhile, felt deeply bitter inside.
Why does it suddenly feel like I’m the extra one here…?
The young nurse who came to change the dressing was startled by the utterly defeated expression on Lin Yang’s face. She tactfully suggested that having so many people around wasn’t ideal for the patient’s recovery.
Only then did Lin Hude remember to comfort his unlucky disciple. Stroking his beard, he told him, “If you survive a great disaster, blessings will surely follow.”
. . . . .
Lin Hude was a master in his own right, so Lu Congxing felt completely at ease handing over the voodoo doll to him.
He didn’t plan to use the doll to track down the culprit—doing so might even backfire and strengthen the evil thing.
Although it wasn’t yet clear who had placed the doll, Lu Congxing was sure it wasn’t someone well-versed in this field. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left such a malevolent item lying around so carelessly. The fact that the voodoo doll switched targets—from Wen Yi to Lin Yang—when it sensed danger meant it hadn’t taken its original command to heart. This was already a serious warning sign of turning on its master.
They took a cab back to the hotel, as Chen He—currently the top suspect—was also staying there.
They got stuck in traffic, and even playing match-3 games couldn’t distract Lu Congxing, who anxiously stared out the window.
He ZHouyan, who was driving, glanced at him and suddenly made a call.
The move startled Lu Congxing. For a moment, he thought the guardian demon had finally remembered his role as an overbearing president and was calling someone to clear a path for them.
Luckily, all he did was summon a driver. Before Lu Congxing could even sigh in relief, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.
A fresh cedar scent wafted toward him as He Zhouyan reached out and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Don’t be afraid.”
In a dizzying spin, Lu Congxing opened his eyes to find he was no longer sitting on leather, but on something much softer and finer.
He was sitting on a massive, fluffy creature—and they were flying!!!
Stunned speechless, Lu Congxing clung tightly to Bai Ze’s fur to keep from falling.
The now fully-transformed Bai Ze reassured him, “Don’t worry, they can’t see us.”
With a light tap of his hooves, Bai Ze landed on a cloud, thoughtfully using spiritual energy to shield the cub from wind and rain. A few graceful leaps later, they arrived at their destination.
Way better than any four-wheeled vehicle.
Taking someone to the skies without a word—now that’s dominance.
Lu Congxing’s expression was a complicated mix.
Has the president archetype evolved this far already?
This airborne trip was just a small interlude. Using an illusion, they appeared outside the hotel as if nothing had happened—no one questioned their sudden arrival.
Unfortunately, the moment they reached the hotel, they noticed the top floor had been sealed off.
That floor was occupied by several actors from the film crew. Lu Congxing’s first thought was that the voodoo doll incident had been exposed.
Maybe because they were both too good-looking to pass as curious onlookers, one of the guards mistook them for celebrities and rushed over. “There’s been an incident upstairs, so no one’s allowed through. Did you leave something in your room?”
Lu Congxing didn’t rush to explain and instead tried to gather intel.
He could tell these were not ordinary officers. In the eyes of those in the know, they were part of a specialized unit—the Supernatural Response Team.
They handled cases involving malevolent ghosts, sometimes collaborating with the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. They weren’t exorcists, but a government-backed organization that typically cleaned up after major incidents and prevented panic from spreading.
The situation must have escalated quickly, as manpower was clearly lacking. Soon, another person rushed down from the top floor, a trainee badge hanging from his neck, shouting, “Xiao Wu, get in there, the squad captain wants you!”
He was stunned when he saw their faces. “It’s you guys?!”
Lu Congxing was just as surprised. He hadn’t expected to run into Zhai Huokang again so soon after leaving the illusionary realm.
Back then, Lu Congxing had been impressed with Zhai Huokang’s bravery and smarts—crossing three layers of illusionary realm in one go—so he recommended him to the Supernatural Response Team, thinking the guy might be a good fit.
He hadn’t expected him to start so soon, already beginning his internship.
In the real world, Zhai Huokang looked much more refined than he had during his desperate days in the illusionary realm. He sincerely thanked Lu Congxing for the referral.
After experiencing the brutality of the illusionary realm, Zhai Huokang had gained something beyond what ordinary people possessed—making him well-suited for this kind of behind-the-scenes work.
After a brief explanation—it was his first day on the job—he quickly shared the information Lu Congxing wanted.
Zhai Huokang had complete trust in them and held nothing back. “The victim called the police themselves. When the officers arrived, their nose and mouth had been bitten off, and their eyes gouged out. They’re still in the hospital. Once the case was determined to be non-human, it got passed to our team.”
“Who’s the victim?”
“I think their name was… Chen He.”