A motorcycle sped down a highway in Dajing City.
Gao Ming was in a foul mood. The malevolent ghosts that had escaped during the Dajing City out-of-control incident had more or less been dealt with, and he had finally managed to scrape together a few days off. In the end, his vacation had only reached its third day when he was called back to work.
If Wang Xiaoming hadn’t personally given the order, he probably wouldn’t even have bothered answering the operator’s call.
The motorcycle roared all the way, passing through several heavily guarded checkpoints before finally stopping in front of the main entrance of Headquarters’ enormous building.
After getting off the bike, Gao Ming casually took off the sunglasses on his face and looked toward Headquarters. Beneath the black lenses were two empty eye sockets. There was nothing inside them, only pitch darkness, like two bottomless pits.
He clearly had no eyeballs, yet Gao Ming could see everything around him as clearly as a normal person. However, the world reflected within his eye sockets was completely different from what ordinary people saw.
There was no color. Everything was pitch black, but within that black field of vision, all things still had outlines and shapes.
The only difference was that only supernatural powers would appear in different colors within his eye sockets.
At this moment, Headquarters in his vision was an even expanse of black. There was no supernatural presence here. Gao Ming walked toward one of the buildings; this was the department Shen Liang was in charge of.
Qin Meirou, as his operator, worked in this building. Carrying a bag of local specialties in his hand, Gao Ming brought some gifts for Qin Meirou and her colleagues every time he came back from leave. Everyone here was very familiar with him.
The woman at the front desk spotted him from afar. “Gao Ming, where did you go this time? Why do you look so gloomy?”
“Don’t even mention it. Got called back to work overtime again. Sigh, what can we do? We’re just beasts of burden. Do we dare disobey the boss?”
Gao Ming replied irritably, then casually handed over a small gift box.
“Where’s Qin Meirou? Why don’t I see her?”
The young woman enthusiastically pressed the elevator button for him. “Thirteenth floor. A new operator arrived, and she’s busy as anything.”
“Thanks.”
Gao Ming turned and walked into the elevator.
The moment the doors closed, Gao Ming paused slightly.
“Why is there a stink?”
A faint trace of rot lingered inside the elevator, like the elevator in a hospital morgue, carrying the cold, deathly aura that seeped into metal walls after transporting corpses year-round.
However, Gao Ming didn’t think too much of it. This was Headquarters. After the Starving Ghost incident, with the current level of security, it was impossible for another event involving an invasion by a malevolent ghost to occur.
He walked to an office with the nameplate “Qin Meirou” hanging outside. The door was half-open, and he could still hear Qin Meirou explaining something to a woman inside.
Qin Meirou’s voice was soft enough to sink into one’s bones, and it was not something she put on deliberately.
“For example, sometimes when you encounter a person in charge dealing with certain private matters, you still can’t let your guard down, because many persons in charge might reveal their true feelings after that kind of exercise is over.”
A slightly confused unfamiliar female voice sounded. “What kind of exercise?”
“That kind. You know.”
Gao Ming did not listen any further and pushed the door open, walking straight into the room.
Hearing the sound, Qin Meirou turned around. When she saw it was Gao Ming, a smile immediately blossomed across her face. She twisted her waist as she came to meet him, deliberately brushing back her hair. “Oh my, look who’s here. What gift did you bring me this time?”
“Why aren’t you saying anything, Gao Ming?”
Normally, Gao Ming would banter with her and crack a few dirty jokes, but today he was unusually silent.
Qin Meirou looked at Gao Ming. On that pale face with no eyeballs, an expression of horror had actually appeared.
At this moment, Gao Ming felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. A chill shot from his spine straight to the crown of his head, and a thin layer of cold sweat unconsciously broke out across his back.
In his pitch-black vision, Qin Meirou was still a familiar outline formed from black lines. The entire office was the same, a deathly still ink-black. But the only thing different was...
That unfamiliar woman with long hair.
Pale. An extremely dazzling, utterly abnormal pallor.
That was not the outline a living person should have at all. In Gao Ming’s eyes, the woman’s figure was exceptionally stiff, like a corpse that had died long ago and been forcibly propped up there, lifeless and horrifying beyond measure.
Headquarters had been infiltrated by a ghost! The thought exploded in his mind.
“Get out!”
Before Qin Meirou could react, Gao Ming grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her out of the office.
Just as he was about to charge at the long-haired woman opposite him, a calm voice interrupted him.
“Gao Ming, when did you get back?”
“Professor Wang?!”
Gao Ming abruptly turned his head. In that instant, countless thoughts surfaced in his mind, but the only choice he had now was to protect Wang Xiaoming.
“Stop, Gao Ming.”
A wisp of dark green ghost fire flickered, and Li Jun walked out from behind Wang Xiaoming.
Gao Ming was startled. At the same time, he actually saw the supernatural colors of A-Hong, Liu San, and the others on Li Jun’s body.
But at this moment, his thoughts were in chaos, and he had no idea what was going on.
There was a ghost in Headquarters, but Wang Xiaoming seemed to know about it. Not only had he not chosen to imprison that ghost, he even seemed to be observing Gao Ming’s reaction.
Wang Xiaoming stepped forward, lightly patted Gao Ming’s tense shoulder, and gave him a meaningful look, signaling for him not to panic.
“Gao Ming, let me introduce you.” Wang Xiaoming’s voice was calm, as if he really were making an ordinary introduction.
“This is Tong Qian. She was previously the person in charge of ZS City. Due to certain special reasons, the malevolent ghost was separated from her body. She has now officially become an operator at Headquarters. From now on, you’ll all be colleagues.”
A ghost wielder becoming an ordinary person?! Gao Ming’s heart shook once more. This was something absolutely impossible, but the person speaking was Wang Xiaoming. He never joked, much less spoke nonsense in a situation like this.
Gao Ming felt as if his understanding of the world had suffered an unprecedented shock. Everything today carried a strange sense of abnormality. His brain could almost no longer process it.
As he spoke, Wang Xiaoming walked toward Tong Qian with complete naturalness, showing not the slightest hint of fear. Gao Ming’s empty eye sockets widened. That was a ghost. He nearly couldn’t hold himself back from acting.
But when he turned to glance at Li Jun, Wang Xiaoming’s personal bodyguard, he realized that with a captain here, it was not his place to make a move.
Wang Xiaoming stood beside Tong Qian, his tone ordinary.
“This is Gao Ming, one of the persons in charge of Dajing City. You need to familiarize yourself with these colleagues as quickly as possible. Only then can you bring out your value to the greatest extent.”
“I understand.” Tong Qian nodded to Wang Xiaoming.
She walked toward Gao Ming, but that single movement frightened Gao Ming into retreating several steps.
In Gao Ming’s vision, a corpse as pale as death was moving toward him with stiff steps. Judging from its movements, it even seemed to be learning how to walk, not yet smooth, yet gradually becoming steady.
Gao Ming looked at Wang Xiaoming, then at Li Jun. Neither of them showed any reaction at all. At that moment, Gao Ming even suspected that Wang Xiaoming and Li Jun might already have been attacked by the ghost.
Tong Qian extended her hand and smiled at Gao Ming. “Hello. I look forward to working with you.”
But in Gao Ming’s vision, it was an entirely different scene. The corners of Tong Qian’s mouth had split all the way to her ears, forcibly pulling into a horrifying arc and revealing two rows of savage, pointed teeth as she stared at him with a ghastly smile.