"Oh my god, it's already noon in Tiandu and you're still not taking a break."

"How's Old Xi doing?" Lord Zhu asked, showing concern.

"Old Xi's life soul's back in his body, he's fine now. Just needs some time to recover, he'll be alright."

Wen Yan looked at the video call. The old man on the screen looked a bit fierce, but was still trying hard to look kind and friendly. Faintly, there were screams and wails in the background.

Lord Zhu looked up for a second, and all those screams and wails immediately vanished.

Lord Zhu smiled and nodded repeatedly.

"As long as he's okay, that's what matters. I had someone send you some stuff, keep an eye out for it."

"Will do. I heard your birthday's coming up, but I never got the exact date. I wanted to come give you my well wishes, but I don't even know when or where. I'm getting ready to work another case, see if I can wrangle an opportunity to head into the Scorching Sun Department's warehouse to pick out a proper gift for you."

Hearing this, Lord Zhu's smile deepened, creasing his face even more, and he shook his head with a laugh.

"It's not necessary, really. Just a ghost's birthday, nothing big. So many years have passed, can't celebrate it every year."

Not like I'm alive, every year gets rarer—as the years pass, each one is more precious.

No need, no need, let the folks under me have their fun.

With my status, can't be too high-profile, it's just not appropriate."

"If you won't tell me, then I'll just go ask myself."

"Next month, plenty of time."

Lord Zhu just loved keeping up appearances, and Wen Yan let him have it.

Even on the phone now, Wen Yan never brought up what happened before, making Lord Zhu feel even more obligated to get things settled. Otherwise, he'd have trouble forgiving himself.

"Today, calling just to talk business."

"The folks on the list, all living people. Not easy for me to interfere on this end."

"What I've heard goes somewhat like this."

"These past years, transportation's gotten better and better, more people dying far from home, with regrets unfulfilled."

"Some folks, after they die, turn into nether souls."

"But there's not enough bodies to go around."

"Some people, with a few nether souls, start getting bad ideas."

"These sons of bitches, not only after the dead, they're out to make money off the living too."

"That shopkeeper's blinded by greed, seeing easy money within reach—if he can't get it, he feels miserable."

"A couple drinks down the hatch, suddenly they grow a pair."

"Where they used to check the bodies and paperwork, now they don't even bother."

"This time, even bolder—living people with nether soul out-of-body, they dare just snatch and sell them. He's even willing to buy."

"Plenty of those bodies from before—we still don't know where they came from, exactly."

"These assholes really don't play by the rules, and the living are even worse."

"Gotta send them off to enjoy the Royal Guard's Edict Prison."

At this, Lord Zhu paused, dropped his fierce look, and switched to a topic Wen Yan was definitely more interested in—the Nether Soul Realm.

"As for the ones who brought Old Xi over this time, they borrowed the Nether Soul Realm, and inside it, they managed to knock open the gate to the Rakshasa Ghost Market."

"I went to see that Nether Soul Realm; looks like it just formed naturally, no idea how these bastards found it."

"Inside, it's a wasteland—not a single weed, and no big packs of nether souls around, either."

"My guess is, it's only been discovered recently. Before they could do much, got found out."

"Since it involves the living, it's not convenient for me to investigate further."

"The people under me, none of them are good at questioning the living."

"So it's up to you now. I've sent you the details."

"Alright, thank you Lord Zhu. Next month, I'll come freeload in Guanzhong County, don't you dare complain then."

"Ha! Come, come, by all means—food, fun, all on me. Let me know before you come, I'll send someone to pick you up."

Hung up the phone, Wen Yan looked over the list, shaking his head over and over.

The people on this list—nearly all living.

The few ghosts among them were all Scorching Sun Department operatives, and Lord Zhu left them alone.

Looking at the testimonies Lord Zhu sent over later, in neatly written little brush calligraphy, just made Wen Yan feel good.

Reading through it, he finally understood—this was already an industry chain.

Though it may have been an industry chain before, at least back then it was still in the gray area, a sort of compromise the Scorching Sun Department made as spiritual qi resurgence sped up and reality dictated adaptation—it wasn't officially legal.

But now, it's straight-up black market. Not enough bodies? What to do?"

Find a way to make them, of course. Black market bodies—every aspect is worse than the legit ones, might only last a day or two."

But a day or two might still be enough time for plenty of ghosts in need to get their business done."

As long as they can handle their business, the ghosts don't care if the body's good for one day or seven."

Wen Yan imported the string of names from the picture into the Scorching Sun Department's phone. After narrowing down the search range, a pile of data showed up fast."

Ruled out all the obvious same-names, narrowed by activity area, and soon—just matching by age and name—each was linked right up to the real person."

Looking at all this data, Wen Yan more or less figured out why these people kept getting away with it."

They all lived at the border between Nanwu County and Luoyue County, household registrations in Luoyue, but always active in Nanwu."

Couple years back, during the poverty alleviation drive, the villages there were still poor, with lots of people on the poverty register."

But with multiple pushes, new channels opened, and the village roads were fixed up—they developed fruit orchards there, and just as the fruit ripened in time for the north's heating season, the shipments started hitting the market, selling straight through till the New Year."

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