Chapter 1 A Museum Without Locks

The museum door wasn't locked.

Looking closer, much of the green paint on the windows was peeling. The New Year paper-cuts were slightly faded, the red tinged with paleness. Fang Hongbo, a man past fifty, glanced at Wei Yuan behind him and reached out to push the door.

With a creak.

The slightly rusty security door opened inward.

It was already spring, and quite warm outside, but inside it was still a bit gloomy and cold. Wooden shelves were filled with folk artifacts, things rarely seen in modern society. The building wasn't small, divided into an outer folk museum and an inner living space.

The living area, a one-bedroom apartment with a bathroom, was obviously where the original owner lived.

Wei Yuan even saw an opened bottle of cola on the table.

He circled inside and out, his right hand constantly gripping the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag). If anything felt off, he'd leave immediately. But it seemed he was overthinking it, or perhaps the red embroidered shoes had made him jumpy. The Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) remained listless, like a lump of iron.

Well, it wasn't like he could encounter ghosts everywhere he went, right? He wasn't Conan.

Fang Hongbo looked at Wei Yuan, who had walked through the house, wiped his sweat, and said,

"How is it? If you think the pay isn't good enough, we can talk about it."

"You don't have to do anything, just keep the museum open. I'll pay the utilities, and I'll transfer eight hundred for groceries each month. It's hard to find an easier job than this in Quan City."

Wei Yuan ran his fingers over the纹路 (wenlu, patterns) on the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag), the waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) was cold and silent. He nodded.

"Then let's sign the contract."

…………………

The contract requirements were very lax.

Almost excessively so.

Fang Hongbo said in the end that if he didn't want to do it anymore, just tell him; the museum should probably close anyway.

Then he drove away without looking back.

Wei Yuan watched him leave, sensing something was off from Fang Hongbo's reaction. But the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) would react even to the red embroidered shoes passing by, and now that he was standing here, it was as quiet as ever, so there were clearly no vengeful ghosts here.

Maybe Fang Hongbo was just sensitive, and getting old, he was overthinking things.

Speaking of which, folk museums and paper figurines did have a somewhat eerie vibe.

Wei Yuan busied himself for a while, bringing over his bedding and other things. He threw the opened but undrunk bottle of cola into the trash and opened a new one. Having a job made him feel much more at ease.

………………

Several ghosts, invisible to the naked eye, huddled together, staring at the uninvited guest, their faces full of malice.

"I didn't expect someone to come on the second day, and someone with so much yang energy."

"Isn't that because of your big mouth? Were you a crow in your past life?"

"How is this my fault?!"

"If it's not your fault, whose is it?"

"He came here himself, go blame him!"

"You..."

"Stop arguing!"

The water ghost, his head throbbing, separated the two squabbling ghosts, looked at Wei Yuan drinking cola, his eyes unfriendly, and said, "Let's scare this living person away first. His yang energy is too strong. We're not comfortable living here."

"Okay, so what do we do?"

"We can barely manifest when the yin energy is strong at night. Let's scare him first, make him afraid, so that we can scare him out of here tonight."

"Okay, let's do it!"

"Let's go together!"

Wei Yuan was resting with his eyes closed. With his mortal eyes, he couldn't see ghosts in broad daylight, nor could he hear their whispers. Then he heard a creaking sound and opened his eyes to see the open security door swaying, slowly closing.

The sound was eerie and unsettling.

The house was quite dark, so the lights were on even during the day.

The fluorescent light began to flicker.

On and off.

Drip, drip—

The sound of water came from the bathroom.

Splat...

The sound of slippers stepping in water.

Wei Yuan had already sensed something was wrong, his eyes half-closed, his right hand gripping the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) tightly. But the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) remained unresponsive, ignoring these strange phenomena. Comparing this situation with the red embroidered shoes, Wei Yuan vaguely grasped a key point.

The red embroidered shoes were a murderous ghost, which would cause the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) to react.

There were ghosts here, but they didn't trigger a reaction from the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag), which was used to capture ghosts.

So the ghosts here were basically harmless?

Even so, Wei Yuan decided to leave first.

He hadn't expected that bringing the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) on a whim would lead him to actually encounter ghosts here.

The ghosts cheered when they saw Wei Yuan's actions. The water ghost beamed, reached out his hands to grab Wei Yuan's shoulders, and approached his neck, intending to blow on him and scare this yang-filled fellow. While reaching out, he winked at the other ghosts.

"Watch me..."

His blackened fingernails touched Wei Yuan's shoulder.

It felt like grabbing a red-hot branding iron.

The water ghost shuddered, his hands turning red. Wei Yuan felt the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) in his hand tremble slightly, emitting a burning sensation. A low tiger's roar sounded, lazy, as if it couldn't muster much energy.

Wei Yuan vaguely sensed something behind him.

Instinctively, he turned around, gripping the bronze waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) and swinging it like a brick.

The water ghost was busy blowing on his hands.

Seeing Wei Yuan's movements, he didn't even try to dodge.

Ghosts were remnants of spiritual energy, untouchable to the physical body.

Not to mention a lump of iron, even knives, swords, and bullets would pass right through their bodies.

He just bared his teeth and said to the other ghosts,

"No, this one is tough, his yang energy is too..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

A bronze waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag), like a brick, landed squarely on his forehead.

Clang!!!

………………

What does it feel like to smash a ghost?

If Wei Yuan had to describe it, it was a bit like hitting a large ball of cotton candy with a wooden stick.

Or like squeezing a screaming chicken.

The feeling was okay.

Quite comfortable and stress-relieving.

If he could open such an activity in the modern city, it should be quite profitable.

After smashing the ghost, the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) vibrated slightly. Wei Yuan felt something, found a piece of white paper, and pressed the side with the character "Wei" on it. Lishu characters appeared on the paper, but they were completely different from the ones used against the red embroidered shoes.

"Wandering spirit, never consumed blood, without resentment, never killed, harmless."

"No need to eliminate."

……………………

A moment later, Wei Yuan pulled over a chair and sat against the wall.

His left hand rested on the table, his right hand in his pocket, holding the still-warm Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag).

A row of ghosts huddled in the corner, heads in their hands.

Holding the warm waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag), he could barely see the outlines of the ghosts, but they became blurry as soon as they moved.

There were five in total, three ghosts, and two paper figurine陰物 (yin wu, yin object, usually associated with the underworld).

Because he could only barely see the outlines of the three ghosts and couldn't hear them speak, Wei Yuan tapped each of them on the head with the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) and then pressed the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) on a piece of white paper. The words that appeared were completely different from those for the red embroidered shoes, all of them were ordinary wandering spirits without resentment.

Wei Yuan also made some more guesses about the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag). It seemed that the waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) only reacted strongly to resentful ghosts and had no interest in harmless wandering spirits.

Unable to hear them speak, Wei Yuan, although a bit curious about these harmless ghosts, still used the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) to threaten and lure them into another room, locking the door to express his attitude.

These ghosts, seeing someone who could beat ghosts for the first time, probably thought of ghost-exorcising Taoists and were terribly frightened,不敢 (bugan, dared not) coming out.

Wei Yuan examined the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) in his hand.

The waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) had reacted twice, once when the red embroidered shoes, suspected to be a fierce ghost, passed by outside, and once when that unlucky ghost touched him. It was like a standard 'input-output' model, responding to certain information from the outside world.

Being a ghost triggered a response.

He wondered if he could trigger a response.

It had absorbed his blood.

Wei Yuan developed a great interest in this previously unseen world, holding the waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) in his right hand. He thought for a moment, generally speaking, input and output should be related. So, imitating the tone of the words on the white paper, he said, "Sili Xiaowei (司隶校尉, a Han dynasty official title) subordinate, unable to directly see陰物 (yin wu, yin object, usually associated with the underworld) ghosts, what method is there?"

The Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) didn't react at all.

That shouldn't be.

Wei Yuan thought for a moment, recalling the words on the white paper from the first day, as if he had figured something out. He straightened his face and said solemnly,

"Now there are 怪力乱神 (guai li luan shen, supernatural forces and deities), violating my Shenzhou (神州, another name for China), I wish to capture and eliminate them."

"But alas, I have mortal eyes and cannot see ghosts, what method is there?"

This time, the Crouching Tiger waist牌 (waist牌, a traditional Chinese waist tag) trembled slightly and lit up.

Wei Yuan's heart beat a little faster, feeling that he had truly stepped into a new world.

It really worked…