"A dead man's face!"

Long Xiwén shrieked, thoroughly startled to see a dead man's face in her blankets.

The blanket was abruptly whipped open by Su Xuan, and his Ruyi Stick smashed down at the same time.

BANG!

But the Ruyi Stick only struck the bedsheets.

A streak of black light slipped off the bed and slithered out through the crack under the door.

Su Xuan gave chase, but the corridor was completely empty.

"Likes to play hide-and-seek? How childish," Su Xuan muttered, scratching his head as he returned to the room. When he looked at Long Xiwén again, she was sitting listlessly on the bed, the hair at her temples soaked with sweat.

"Su Xuan, I finally understand why Director Zhong sent me to handle this..." Long Xiwén murmured.

"Why?" Su Xuan swung the Ruyi Stick in his hand. His reaction had been a hair too slow; otherwise, he definitely would have exterminated that ghost.

"She sent me here to build my courage," Long Xiwén said, glancing up at Su Xuan. "I'm... one of the most timid members of our team."

"I can tell," Su Xuan smiled. "Otherwise, you wouldn't just be running errands, like delivering my bounties and commendations."

"That's not true!" Long Xiwén glared at Su Xuan. "I'm just afraid of seeing blood, of seeing death... Tonight's mission feels like it was tailor-made for me, sigh!"

"Well, isn't that perfect?" Su Xuan said. "By tomorrow, you won't be scared of anything."

"Yeah, I won't be scared anymore!" Long Xiwén pressed a small, clenched fist to her chest.

This is way worse than just seeing death! A ghost is deliberately trying to scare me!

"Su Xuan," Long Xiwén then asked, "can you tell me what's going on with you? Why aren't you scared at all? Don't tell me you're just a part-time tycoon and ghost-busting is your real job?"

"I can't really explain it," Su Xuan said, a look of innocence on his face.

He thought delivering packages and driving for a ride-share app was interesting enough. Who knew life would take a turn like this?

"Hm?" Su Xuan suddenly blinked. He remembered something the system had told him when he first acquired it. As long as he kept completing system tasks, he would experience a fun and colorful life...

Could 'fun and colorful' possibly include *this*?

"This kind of life is too wild!" Su Xuan couldn't help but mutter to himself.

BOOM!

A clap of thunder suddenly echoed from outside the window, followed by a bright flash of lightning.

Su Xuan and Long Xiwén both instinctively looked toward the window, then at each other. In the fleeting light, they saw a round object swinging back and forth outside, just like the pendulum of a clock.

"Little Mosquito, time for a quiz," Su Xuan said cheerfully. "What do you think is hanging out there?"

"Hmm..." Now that Su Xuan had posed it as a question, Long Xiwén felt less afraid. After a moment's thought, she said, "It's probably a human head."

"And now, for the big reveal!" Su Xuan walked to the window and yanked open the curtains.

Long Xiwén then saw a truly chilling scene. A rope was dangling a dead man's head, which swung back and forth like a pendulum. As if it knew its game had been figured out, the head's expression twisted with resentment.

SWISH!

The rope shot upward, and the head vanished.

"Su Xuan, should we check the roof?" Long Xiwén asked.

"No need." Su Xuan waved a hand. "It's just playing with us now. It'll come find us again on its own. Your performance just now was excellent; I couldn't tell you were scared at all."

"Thank you, Su Xuan," Long Xiwén said softly, gazing at his handsome face.

How could she not see it? After finding out she was the most timid person on the team, Su Xuan was deliberately training her courage. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made up some quiz. Oh, and when she said she was *one of* the most timid, she was just trying to save face. In reality, she was the most cowardly person on the entire team.

"Su Xuan, I guessed right. Is there a prize?" Long Xiwén then asked with a smile.

"Sure is!" Su Xuan said with a mischievous grin. "When we catch that thing later, I'll let you be the one to finish it off."

"No way!" Long Xiwén pouted. "You can't make me do that, I..."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Before Long Xiwén could finish her sentence, someone was suddenly knocking on the door.

At the moment, there were only three people in the villa: the two of them and the security guard at the main gate. Auntie Li had already gone home. So who could be knocking at their door?

Su Xuan picked up his Ruyi Stick, tiptoed over to the side of the door, and gave Long Xiwén a meaningful glance.

Long Xiwén took a deep breath, gripped the doorknob, turned it gently, and then yanked the door open. She stared outside, and despite having prepared herself, she still gasped in shock.

She saw a rope—the very one that had just been dangling the severed head—standing upright outside the door as if it were a snake.

It was the rope knocking on the door! That was completely unexpected.

At the same time, Su Xuan swung down with the Ruyi Stick in his hand.

SWISH!

The rope seemed to fear Su Xuan's Ruyi Stick. It twisted sharply to the side and slithered away down the corridor, fleeing into the distance.

"You can't escape," Su Xuan said, his expression calm as he stepped out of the room. He flicked his wrist, sending out a flash of cold light.

A throwing knife cut through the air and struck the rope squarely. It writhed on the floor a couple of times before falling still.

Su Xuan walked over and picked up one end. It was just an ordinary rope. When Long Xiwén came closer, however, her sharp eyes caught a detail.

"There looks to be blood on this rope," Long Xiwén said, narrowing her eyes. "I wonder whose it is."

"You should keep it and have it tested back at the station. This place might have been the scene of a murder," Su Xuan said, handing the rope to her. He was certain the ghost here was an out-and-out malevolent spirit, and since it was malevolent, it had most likely died an unnatural death.

Long Xiwén took one end of the rope, brought it back into the room, and took out a plastic evidence bag from her purse to seal it inside.

At that moment, a new thought popped into her head. It was as if the ghost had delivered this rope right to their door. Could it be that a murder really did happen here, and the ghost was intentionally delivering evidence? But if it was delivering evidence, why did it run away just now? Did it have some other motive?

RUMBLE...

Outside, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, casting the entire villa in and out of shadow. The light flickered across the faces of Su Xuan and Long Xiwén, and the unknown secrets hidden within the villa seemed to be revealing the tip of the iceberg.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The clock in the living room suddenly began to toll. It rang exactly twelve times...

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