She Makes Me Believe in Science - Chapter 19

Song Qian sat in front of the office desk, nervously fidgeting with her fingers. She kept her head down, not daring to look up at the legendary group leader.

“Song Qian?”

Hearing the leader call her name, Song Qian answered quickly, “Ah, yes, that’s me!”

In the darkness, a pair of hands rested on her shoulders, making Song Qian shudder involuntarily.

“Afraid of the dark?”

“A… a little.”

The sound of light footsteps gradually receded, and with a click, the entire room flooded with light. Song Qian shielded her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.

“Hello, I am Ren Buqing, the leader of the Special Investigation Unit.”

Looking at the pale, thin hand extended toward her, Song Qian felt a strange sense of familiarity. It suddenly hit her that Ji Wuxin’s hands were just as pale.

“Hello.”

This hand was also exceptionally cold, lacking even a trace of warmth.

After a brief handshake, Song Qian sat back down obediently and finally got a clear look at the leader.

Ren Buqing had a neat, shoulder-length bob. Her complexion was as pale as snow, much like the skin on her hands, resembling a vampire from a movie who had spent a lifetime in darkness and never seen the sun. Song Qian thought she understood why the members of the Special Investigation Unit were afraid of their leader; Ren Buqing carried a natural air of intimidation. Even though Song Qian wasn’t a member of the unit, she felt the same uncontrollable dread she used to experience when facing her homeroom teacher in high school.

“Generally, we don’t allow civilians into the Special Investigation Unit’s headquarters. Miss Song Qian, your situation is unique, so I hope you can keep this location confidential,” Ren Buqing said, pulling a brand-new file folder from the desk and pushing it toward Song Qian.

“This is all the information we’ve been able to gather on Ji Wuxin so far. You may look it over.”

They’re investigating Ji Wuxin?

A vague sense of discomfort pressed against Song Qian’s chest. Her impression of this Special Investigation Unit dropped slightly.

She opened the folder only to find a single page of information: a headshot of Ji Wuxin’s pale ghost face, name: Ji Wuxin, gender: female, species: Jade Spirit… and that was it.

“?”

Song Qian tried her best to bite back the offensive remark, Is that all?

Ren Buqing glanced at her, seemingly aware that the data was a bit lackluster. She coughed twice to hide her embarrassment. “Spirits are a high-priority protected species for the Special Investigation Unit. We don’t interfere excessively in their lives, which is why we know so little about them.”

Making excuses for herself, I see, Song Qian thought.

Song Qian gave a small smile. “I see.”

“So, why exactly did you ask me here?”

It couldn’t be that they want me to fill in the blanks on Ji Wuxin’s file, could it?

“Jade Spirits are incredibly precious. Ji Wuxin has a volatile temper, so we don’t dare act rashly. As the person nourishing the Jade Spirit, you should have an easier time understanding her, so…”

“Wait, wait, wait. What did you just say?” Song Qian caught a crucial piece of information. “Nourishing the Jade Spirit? What does that mean?”

Ren Buqing looked at the dark circles under Song Qian’s eyes and hesitated. “Your current state… isn’t it caused by nourishing the Jade Spirit?”

Song Qian’s face went completely dark.

So the person who turned her into this haggard, hollow mess was Ji Wuxin after all!!!

“Can you tell me what exactly a Jade Spirit is? Is she a ghost?” If she’s a ghost, I’m buying garlic and black dog blood the moment I get home, Song Qian thought, gritting her teeth.

“Not at all.” Ren Buqing, showing rare patience, pulled a tattered book from the shelf behind her and placed it on the desk.

The cover featured an illustration of something resembling a cloud of mist, with the traditional character for “Spirit” written above it.

“Spirits. All things can give birth to a spirit. Simply put, a spirit is the consciousness of an object itself. The formation process is extremely difficult and demanding. It requires not only the right time and place, but in some special cases, it needs something with even more spiritual energy to nourish the physical form. Of course, sometimes that can be a person with a special constitution.” At this point, Ren Buqing glanced at Song Qian. The implication was unspoken: she was the Spirit Raiser nourishing Ji Wuxin’s original form.

“Spirits and ghosts are completely different. Spirits love light while ghosts love darkness. A spirit cannot be tainted by too much ghostly energy, but a ghost can feed on a spirit to strengthen its own soul. Spirits are born ignorant and naive; everything they know must be taught by the outside world. This is why our unit has worked so hard to protect them over the years.”

Song Qian simplified the explanation in her head: a spirit was like an idiot who would get eaten by ghosts without the unit’s protection.

But then what was the deal with Ji Wuxin? Who taught her to act like that?

“Now that you know what a spirit is, you can probably guess that Ji Wuxin is the spirit born from the jade you wear.” Ren Buqing tapped the blank file on the table. “The jade is your private property, and we won’t forcibly take it away. However, we need to compile data on Ji Wuxin. Every newly discovered spirit in each region must be reported to the state. Could you help us out?”

Song Qian understood now. So the Special Investigation Unit was a government agency.

“What do you need to know?”

Seeing an opening, Ren Buqing spoke quickly, “For example: her height, her measurements, her favorite color, her hobbies, whether she has a partner, how many people are in her family…”

Song Qian: “???”

Is this a census? Even a census isn’t this intrusive.

After listing the details of the “census,” Ren Buqing noticed Song Qian’s complicated expression and thoughtfully produced a statistical form. “If you can’t remember it all, you can just fill it out according to this.”

Song Qian took it and glanced over; it was a full page of content, covering every tiny detail imaginable.

“I can cooperate, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to fill this whole page.”

Ren Buqing’s expression relaxed slightly. She hadn’t expected this Spirit Raiser to be so cooperative. “No rush. I’ll have Lin Qing go over every once in a while to collect a copy to ensure the data is updated in real-time.”

“To thank you for your cooperation, the Special Investigation Unit would like to give you a grand gift.”

Lin Qing escorted her on the way back. This time, they didn’t trouble the man in black or the young girl; the unit had provided them with a car. Song Qian held a wooden box in her arms, the so-called “grand gift.”

“Your leader is actually quite easy to talk to.”

Lin Qing choked slightly. He thought to himself that as an honored guest, of course she’d find her easy to talk to; it was the poor low-level members like them who suffered.

Lin Qing dropped Song Qian off at her door and then turned to use his key on the apartment across the hall.

Song Qian watched him but said nothing. Based on these past few encounters, Lin Qing and Jiang Yi clearly had a very good relationship.

Once inside, Song Qian couldn’t wait to open the wooden box. A “grand gift” from the Special Investigation Unit, after all!

The outside of the box was carved with delicate, intricate patterns, and it felt heavy in her hands—clearly something of quality. If the packaging was this beautiful, the contents had to be great!

With that thought, Song Qian couldn’t stop herself from clicking open the latch and slowly lifting the lid…

It was empty?

Empty!!!?

Song Qian even wondered if there was a hidden compartment. She picked the box up and held it toward the light, checking it over and over. It really was empty!?

The “grand gift” was an empty box!?

Could it be that the box itself had some great purpose?

Song Qian pondered for a moment, then decisively knocked on the door across the hall. Lin Qing poked his head out. “What’s wrong?”

Song Qian shook the box in her hand. “It’s empty?”

Lin Qing didn’t seem to understand what she meant. He gave a confused “ah.” “It’s empty, so what?”

“Is this box very valuable?” When Ren Buqing said she was giving her a grand gift, she had put a lot of emphasis on the word “grand.”

Lin Qing pulled his head back inside and, a moment later, came out with two boxes identical to the one in Song Qian’s hand. “Do you want more? We have plenty of these. We usually use them to store talismans.”

Song Qian: “…”

“No thanks, I’m good.”

Returning to her apartment in a daze, Song Qian placed the box where her sunglasses usually sat.

“Where did you go?”

The sudden sound of a voice in the quiet room startled Song Qian once again. She looked up to see Ji Wuxin, who had been missing for days, sitting on the sofa watching her.

Recalling Ren Buqing’s words, that her current state was all thanks to Ji Wuxin—Song Qian felt a surge of fury. She marched over and pointed a finger at her own eyes.

“Look at this!”

Ji Wuxin blinked, then reached out to rub the dark circles under Song Qian’s eyes. Seeing that they didn’t come off, she gave a surprised “hmm.” “It’s not makeup?”

Song Qian’s chest heaved with anger, her mind going blank from the sheer frustration.

Ji Wuxin narrowed her eyes at Song Qian’s face. The more she looked, the more familiar it seemed. She felt like she had seen this somewhere before.

Suddenly, her eyes went wide. She yanked Song Qian over and pinned her to the sofa, her voice turning fierce. “Do you have another ghost!?”

She remembered now. Song Qian looked exactly like the men who came out of the Lady of Charms’ room!

She had only been away for a few days to recover from her injuries!! And Song Qian had already been sleeping in a room with another ghost!!!

Song Qian looked at her in disbelief. She’s turning this back on me??

Both the human and the spirit were fuming. Neither said a word, simply glaring at each other.

While they were at a stalemate, Ji Wuxin suddenly heard a crisp bell sound, followed by the Lady of Charms’ voice drifting in slowly: “Wuxin, come back for a moment.”

Ji Wuxin looked down at Song Qian, whose face was flushed with anger as she glared back, her lips a soft, vibrant red. Ji Wuxin leaned down and bit her lower lip, not letting go until she tasted the metallic tang of blood.

“You aren’t allowed to have other ghosts!”

Before Song Qian could bite back, Ji Wuxin, who had been pinning her down, vanished without a trace.

“I am so angry, I am so angry, I am so angry…” Song Qian clutched her chest, repeating the phrase.

After her venting, she immediately pulled out the statistical form and wrote heavily in the section for intelligence: “Her brain is broken!”

Ghost Realm — Yin Mountain

Ji Wuxin walked slowly along an endless black road. On either side were two perfectly straight rows of willow trees, and behind the willows were small mounds of earth, arranged in neat rows.

After Ji Wuxin passed, transparent heads popped out from the mounds one by one, their pitch-black eyes blinking as they watched her back.

Ji Wuxin had walked this road so many times she could find her way with her eyes closed.

At the end of the road was a large, ancient-looking house. Above the main gate hung a black plaque with no characters on it.

Ji Wuxin raised her hand and knocked on the door. “It’s me, Wuxin.”

At the sound of her voice, the gates slowly creaked open, and Ji Wuxin stepped inside.