### Chapter 247: Old Yang: Sister Bai, Give My Little Brother a Favor
Bai Yu had a strange intuition, one that she didn’t quite understand herself. It was just that a flash of inspiration had struck her, and the thought wouldn’t leave her mind.
But it didn’t really matter whether it was a rescue mission or not. After all, if the mission failed, there wouldn’t be any punishment. The price would fall entirely on the one being redeemed. Just like last time, in Pinghai City, when they tried to redeem a spirit; if the mission failed, the worst that could happen was the d*ath of the Thousand Eyes Godmother.
However, the d*ath of the Thousand Eyes Godmother had nothing to do with her, Bai Yu. Even if the spirit sought revenge, it wouldn’t land on her doorstep.
The benefits were the same; the rewards for a completed task didn’t just appear out of thin air—they were earned based on the mission.
This time, the Twin Souls were extracted from two evil gods, similar to how last time’s evil spirit bl**d was obtained from the target. It was just a matter of sourcing materials on-site.
“Let’s head out,” Bai Yu said, shrugging it off.
Zhao Mingyue retraced her steps and exited the house. Standing in the yard with her chin resting on one hand, she fell into thought.
Based on the clues available, she couldn’t analyze a coherent explanation.
The house was eerily strange, yet there wasn’t any immediate danger present. If it had been any other mission location, she and Lu Liangting would have been ambushed by lurking ghosts by now.
This place felt controlled; even the ghosts in the Ghost Gate were unusually obedient.
One thing was certain: the Store Manager had definitely been taken away by whoever was orchestrating this. His current status was unknown.
Before Bai Yu could speak up, Zhao Mingyue glanced back at the living room door, then at the neatly arranged items in the yard, and suddenly exclaimed, “Lu Liangting, weren’t you going to help your shadow with their ghost marriage? Let’s go! If we delay any longer, the Master will be waiting impatiently.”
“We’re just ignoring the Store Manager?” Lu Liangting asked, brow furrowing.
“What can we do about it, right?” Zhao Mingyue shrugged and patted Lu Liangting on the shoulder. “I’m pretty sure the Store Manager is still alive. They wouldn’t k*ll him.”
“Let’s talk while we walk.”
They locked the pried-open door behind them and got back into Lu Liangting’s car.
Starting the engine, they drove toward the neighboring town where Old Yang’s house was located. The Master Lu Liangting had made an appointment with was also in that town. It was said that this Master had quite a reputation—he’d been helping others with supernatural events and fortune-telling for decades and had also been involved in ghost marriages for quite some time.
His reputation was stellar; there were accounts of families who, after holding a ghost marriage for their deceased son, received dreams from him the very next day, saying he was satisfied with his ghost bride and telling his parents not to worry.
As Zhao Mingyue pondered ghost marriages, Lu Liangting became restless.
“Mingyue, when you said the Store Manager is okay, what did you mean?” he asked, knowing full well it wasn’t typical to be so nonchalant.
“I mean literally that. I can’t say it with absolute certainty, but I’d say I’m about eighty percent sure.” Zhao Mingyue considered her words, then continued, “Look, nobody kidnaps someone for no reason. If there were some sort of enmity, they would’ve sought revenge on the spot. Why go through all the trouble of a kidnapping?”
“Why would they just target the Store Manager, then?”
“The Store Manager’s identity isn’t the point. I suspect they’re after him because of his other identity—the Gatekeeper.”
“The Gatekeeper’s job is to guard the Ghost Gate, and coincidentally, he has an out-of-control Ghost Gate in his house.”
“The four coffins inside that house, I think, are there to suppress the Ghost Gate.”
“But due to some issues, some of that suppression has failed, so the one who set this all up is trying to find another way to control the Ghost Gate. Since this is the Store Manager’s territory, they came to kidnap him.”
“In the surveillance, the Store Manager’s first reaction upon seeing that old man was shock. At that point, the old man hadn’t revealed any aura; otherwise, the footage would’ve been unusable.”
“In that situation, the Store Manager shouldn’t have reacted that way—the only reasonable explanation is that he had prior knowledge of the old man’s existence and had interacted with him.”
“Could it be interpreted that this person had approached the Store Manager to discuss a collaboration, but the Store Manager refused? After some time, realizing the Ghost Gate was at risk of becoming uncontrollable, he figured if he couldn’t get on the Store Manager’s good side, he would resort to kidnapping him.”
“In the living room, the red thread used to bind the candles and corpses seems to match the chalk line the Store Manager uses.”
“If this person needs something from the Store Manager, he won’t harm him in the short term—unless, of course, he plans to use the Store Manager for some sacrificial purpose. If that’s the case, then we have a problem. Thus, I would say there’s an eighty percent chance the Store Manager is alive.”
As she concluded her analysis, Lu Liangting nodded vigorously, “That’s a solid analysis! Makes total sense! With that in mind, I feel a little more at ease. The Store Manager is a good guy. I heard he has a daughter who needs care; what would happen if he died?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard about that too.”
Li Tianan has a daughter who’s in a vegetative state—he said that himself. A large part of his motivation for doing this work revolves around her.
In ordinary households, having a vegetative person might be sobering, but there’s a chance of recovery with proper care. But considering the situation with Li Tianan’s daughter, it raises even darker implications.
You know, losing your soul can also create vegetative states.
On the road, Zhao Mingyue stopped discussing Li Tianan.
“Lu Liangting, what exactly is this ghost marriage process? Is it something like a blind date where the male ghost and female ghost are brought to the same location to chat and see if they hit it off?”
“If that’s the case, isn’t it dangerous? What if one of them is an Evil Ghost?”
“How are these ghosts gathered? Is it random, or based on their birth details? They wouldn’t be using the ashes of the deceased, would they?”
“Does your shadow even want to go that route?”
“If it’s a blind date, there must be some conditions, right? Like cars, houses, and savings.”
“Nope, these criteria don’t seem to work for ghosts.”
“So what do ghosts care about? Money? Or looks?”
“Does your shadow have a crush on any ghost lady?”
You could tell Zhao Mingyue was genuinely curious about ghost marriage. Even Lu Liangting, who was driving, felt overwhelmed. He seriously had no idea.
“Let’s ask the Master when we get there. I haven’t looked into this yet. The Master just told me to bring Old Yang along, and I guess they’ll also need birth details.”
“Ohhhh, I see. I remember your shadow also wears red, right? So if it’s a red wedding, the other party should also be in red, huh?”
“Well, Old Yang doesn’t have any specific requirements; he just wants a female ghost. Umm… he does have a few minor requests regarding abilities, but they aren’t his main concern.”
“Well, his standards are quite low.”
Lu Liangting’s smile suddenly stiffened. “Low standards? Old Yang has listed multiple scenarios for how the other party might have died. He even categorized them into first, second, and third… He’s practically making an entire table and rating the female ghosts!”
The neighboring town wasn’t far, and before long they arrived. The Master Lu Liangting spoke of lived in a three-story building tucked away at the edge of the street.
Even early in the morning, there were already quite a few people waiting outside, looking like they were all from the same family.
Lu Liangting parked the car, glancing at the clock. They had a few minutes until the agreed time, which seemed odd given the urgency of the situation.
“What’s going on?” Zhao Mingyue craned her neck to look into the yard.
“I’ll go check.”
Lu Liangting stepped into the yard, clasping his hands together with polite bows to greet the others and inquiring about the situation. Just as he suspected, someone had come under an evil influence and had to jump the queue.
The affected person was a girl from a nearby village, just eight or nine years old. Last night, while playing with her friends, she hadn’t returned home. By dinner time, her family hadn’t seen her, so they searched the village until late into the night when they finally found her.
The little girl was in an abandoned cemetery, possessed, frantically digging at graves. They found her halfway through excavating a coffin.
If it hadn’t been for the number of people they had with them, they might not have been able to overpower her.
The spirit was demanding they take revenge on someone—if they didn’t k*ll that person, the spirit threatened to k*ll the little girl.
No amount of pleading from the family worked; even burning paper offerings didn’t appease the spirit, which instead compelled the girl to self-harm by banging her head against a gravestone.
Upon gathering information, they learned this ghost had been one of their village’s own—a gambler who had lost all the family money and even threatened to sell their only cow. When his father refused, he drank pesticide and died.
The person this ghost wanted revenge on was no one but his own father.
“I’ll handle this,” a voice called out from outside the yard. Zhao Mingyue turned to see a man in a suit. He wasn’t exactly handsome, but he had a certain charm, especially with his slicked-back hair.
Wearing an expensive black suit with a watch that looked quite pricey and shiny shoes, he was also a bit on the shorter side and somewhat pale—almost sickly, distinguishing him from normal folks.
If Zhao Mingyue wasn’t mistaken, the black color of his suit was dried bl**d.
This ghost had completely soaked his outfit in bl**d, emitting a faint dark red hue, and released a black aura of resentment that normal people couldn’t see.
Seeing this red figure appear in broad daylight left Zhao Mingyue momentarily stunned, but she quickly regained her composure.
“Are you… that person?”
“Yep, I’m Yang Tianji. I’m that idiot’s good buddy over there; he usually calls me Old Yang.”
“You’re the one who asked me to call you that,” Lu Liangting retorted.
“Of course! If I told you to shout ‘Bro Yang,’ would you do it?” Old Yang sashayed into the yard, tousling his bright hair as he walked, exuding an air of confidence.
“I’ll take care of that little ghost inside.”
Old Yang gave Zhao Mingyue a thumbs up and added, “Oh, and don’t let the little girl near Sister Bai. This is a minor situation; I can handle it myself.”
He was worried that if Bai Yu’s aura came out, she would scare off all his potential bridal candidates.
“Wait, Sister Bai?” Zhao Mingyue blinked in confusion.
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