"Jiang Ge, did you hear something?" Shen Jie asked.
"Mm," Jiang Lin replied, "Open the door."
"Oh."
Shen Jie gripped the doorknob and turned it.
As the door opened, a deafening wave of music assaulted their ears.
What met their eyes was a full-blown rave.
Multitudes of colorful lights flashed, illuminating the chaotic crowd within.
There was no sign of a sound engineer or a bar, only a dance floor.
Everyone was letting loose, swaying to the rhythm.
The scene was vibrant, the atmosphere electric.
*Bang!*
Shen Jie closed the door, and silence instantly descended.
After a two-second pause, he pushed the door open again.
The interior was dim, with a few cabinets faintly visible.
They looked like ordinary wardrobes in a home.
He then stepped inside.
As he walked, he said,
"Jiang Ge, I think I just had a hallucination."
Jiang Lin remained unfazed. "Did you?"
Shen Jie: "Seriously, I just saw this place as a rave. How bizarre."
"It's true, after working for so long, one needs to relax and unwind."
"..."
Jiang Lin followed him into the room, glanced at him, and said nothing.
They reached the center of the room. Shen Jie looked at a wardrobe nearby and sighed,
"Speaking of which, it's been a while since I went clubbing. Jiang Ge, how about we..."
Before he could finish, a blinding light suddenly erupted before him.
He instinctively closed his eyes, and when he opened them again,
He saw flashing lights all around, heard loud, rhythmic music,
And a crowd of people letting loose and swaying wildly.
He himself stood in the center of it all.
Shen Jie instinctively glanced to his side; Jiang Ge was still there.
He looked behind him; the door had closed at some point.
"What's going on?"
"This haunted house has a disco? No, wait, these people..."
Shen Jie's mind struggled to process it.
Looking at everything before him, he felt disoriented.
Yes, it was like a dream.
"Jiang Ge, I'm going to open the door and check."
He said, preparing to head towards the main entrance.
However, as soon as he took a step,
The people dancing around him began to close in, pressing closer.
As if asking: Why aren't you dancing? Why aren't you dancing?
Eventually, several hands grabbed his arms, trying to pull him into the dance.
"Let go of me, let go!"
Shen Jie couldn't break free. "Jiang Ge, Jiang Ge!"
He shouted to Jiang Lin in the distance.
However, Jiang Ge not only didn't respond but also moved further away from him.
"Jiang Ge, where are you going?!"
Shen Jie yelled, his voice cutting through the deafening music.
Finally, Jiang Ge ahead stopped.
He slowly turned his head. Beneath his black hair was a face without features.
It 'looked' at him silently.
"Holy crap!"
Shen Jie yelped, instinctively looking around.
All the dancing people had no faces!
They were like puppets being manipulated to sway, only knowing how to move their limbs.
In an instant, Shen Jie was covered in goosebumps.
His scalp tingled.
His head buzzed, as if it were about to explode.
*Bang!*
A dull thud echoed.
Shen Jie's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
...
After entering the room, Jiang Lin surveyed his surroundings.
The visibility in the room was very low, but it was not a problem for him.
His vision remained as clear as ever, seeing further and more distinctly than ordinary people.
The sudden lights and disco that appeared in the room did not disrupt his sight at all.
"Jiang Ge! Jiang Ge!"
Shen Jie's shouts came from behind him.
Jiang Lin turned to look, seeing Shen Jie standing in place, vigorously waving his hands.
He seemed to be struggling against something.
Jiang Lin continued his steps, heading directly to a wardrobe.
He opened it, revealing a dark mass of a ghost within.
The ghost was startled, seemingly not expecting a human to find its true location directly.
But, what of it?
Its long hair flew, its mouth split open, tearing to its ears.
Just as it was about to lunge forward,
It saw the 'human' before it raise a hand, forming a fist.
Lightly, it landed on its head.
*Bang!*
One blow.
Despite the seemingly powerless fist,
It was enough to knock the wardrobe ghost down in a single strike.
The ghostly energy dissipated, and it collapsed at the bottom of the cabinet, turning into a dark puddle.
In an instant, the disco that filled the entire room vanished.
The surroundings returned to their dim state.
Wardrobe ghost: "???"
What just happened?
It couldn't dodge that seemingly light punch?
No, how could such a light punch take away most of its life?
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the wardrobe ghost finally realized the gravity of the situation.
Slumped at the bottom of the cabinet, it pleaded, "Big brother, big brother, show mercy!"
"I haven't harmed anyone, truly, look, there's no blood qi on me!"
Jiang Lin flexed his wrist, his peripheral vision catching Shen Jie, who was already lying on the ground behind him.
He seemed to have only fainted temporarily.
Jiang Lin shifted his gaze back and said calmly, "How long have you been in the human world?"
"How long..." the wardrobe ghost pondered,
"One, two, three... eleven, twelve, eighteen..."
After counting for a while, it cautiously looked at Jiang Lin, "I can't quite remember."
Jiang Lin: "Why hide in a haunted house?"
Wardrobe ghost: "...To scare people." It felt exhilarating.
Jiang Lin said unhurriedly, "Anything else?"
The wardrobe ghost stammered, "...Also, I've absorbed some human yang energy.
But I didn't absorb much, truly, just a little from each person."
This amusement park was quite popular, and a little from each was enough for it.
Speaking of which, it had contributed to the park's popularity.
Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow, "Has no one discovered anything strange?"
The wardrobe ghost mumbled, "The owner makes money, so they'll just bluff their way through as much as they can..."
No one died, so those humans wouldn't care that much.
In fact, this haunted house was a long-term meal ticket.
It could help conceal its presence, provide a steady stream of tourists for sustenance,
And allow it to scare people to its heart's content.
"I really just scared them, and only absorbed a little yang energy from each!"
The wardrobe ghost pleaded again:
"I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old son..."
"Big brother, spare my life, I absolutely won't speak carelessly."
"Even if someone finds out later, I will never reveal you..."
Before it could finish,
Jiang Lin interrupted, "Who do you think will find you?"
The wardrobe ghost was confused but replied obediently,
"Other Celestial Masters? Or... ghost envoys from the underworld?"
As soon as it finished speaking, Jiang Lin's figure began to blur.
A white robe and a tall Wuchang hat appeared.
Jiang Lin said word by word, "Then what do you think I am?"
His voice carried the authority and pressure unique to a ghost envoy.
"You, you..."
The wardrobe ghost stared at the scene before it in shock, as if it had witnessed something terrifying.
It stammered "you" for a long time without uttering a word.
This was truly...
Scaring people all the way to the gates of the underworld, and sending itself in! QAQ
As it was being bagged, the wardrobe ghost just wanted to cry.
In a daze, it seemed to recall its life before, robbing a place right at the police station.
When the rich woman called out, a torrent of people.
A group of police officers rushed out with batons and guns.
"Don't move!"
...
After dealing with the ghost in the cabinet,
Jiang Lin looked at the ghost-storage bag in his hand and fell silent for a moment.
Was he on vacation, or was he working overtime?
...