The system says there are no ghosts.

Chapter 13 Old Smoke's Deal

After Lao Yan came last night, Chen Yi barely slept a wink.

His mind was filled with thoughts of the independent cultivators' stronghold. The tips in the cultivation notes, the afterimage of the underground chamber, and the words, "I beg you, pass it on."

As soon as it was light, he went to the abandoned maintenance area.

According to the schedule Old Yan gave him last night, the surveillance in Zone B-2 was weakest between 6 and 7 a.m. He needed to take advantage of this gap to try out the loop adjustment methods mentioned in his cultivation notes.

After practicing for two hours, the circulation of gray spiritual energy did become smoother. But it was still far from being "effortless".

When I returned to the mission lobby, Old Smoke was leaning against the wall smoking.

"Have you practiced?" Old Yan asked.

"Hmm. The notes about loop smoothness make sense."

Old Yan nodded and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Come with me."

The two walked through the corridor and arrived at the corner they had seen yesterday. Old Yan leaned against the wall, looking at Chen Yi.

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"This afternoon, someone from the Qingming Sect came over," Old Yan said. "It was a female disciple named Su Wan. She's in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and her father was the previous sect leader of the Qingming Sect."

Chen Yi's eyes narrowed slightly.

Su Wan.

He remembered the name.

"What is she doing here?"

"It's a routine inspection, ostensibly to check the compliance of the spiritual energy data in the cleanup center," Old Smoke said. "But her perception is far stronger than that of a regular inspector. If she were to scan carefully..."

He didn't finish speaking, but the meaning was already quite clear.

Chen nodded.

Old Yan looked at him, a hint of something indescribable in his eyes.

"Those things you saw in the abandoned maintenance area..." he suddenly said, "Can you sense them?"

Chen Yi remained silent for a while.

"You mean those remaining traces of spiritual energy?"

"Yes," Old Yan said, "Those things that ordinary people can't sense."

Chen Yi thought about it.

"Yes," he said, "but I'm not sure what."

Old Yan nodded.

"I have a suggestion," he said.

"What suggestion?"

"I'll teach you a more systematic way to utilize your downtime," Old Yan said. "In exchange, you keep an eye out for some things for me."

Chen looked at him.

"What should we pay attention to?"

Old Yan remained silent for a while.

"Thirty years ago," he finally spoke, "my wife ascended to heaven."

Chen Yi remained silent.

"The system said she had achieved perfect merit, went to Heaven, and obtained eternal happiness," Old Yan said in a low voice, "but I know it's false."

Why?

"Because she's never even written me a letter," Old Yan said. "Never."

He turned his head and looked at Chen Yi.

"Those who ascended to heaven all said they went to the Heavenly Court and gained eternal happiness. But not a single letter was brought back. Not a single word was sent back."

Chen Yi remained silent for a few seconds.

"Do you think she's still somewhere?"

"I don't know," Old Yan said, "but I always feel something's not right. Before she ascended to heaven, we agreed that she would send me a message once she arrived in the heavenly court."

"and then?"

"And then there was no more news." Old Yan smiled bitterly. "Thirty years."

Chen looked at him.

"You want me to..."

"I'm not asking you to find her for me," Old Smoke interrupted him. "I'm just asking you to keep an eye out. If you sense any strange fluctuations or unusual traces of spiritual energy anywhere... let me know."

He paused.

"It may not necessarily have anything to do with her. But I want to know."

Chen Yi remained silent for a while.

"Why are you looking for me?"

"Because you're different from them," Old Yan said. "You can sense things that others can't. You can see what ordinary people can't see. You can feel what ordinary people can't feel."

He looked at Chen Yi.

"I can't explain what it is. But I know you have it."

Chen Yi remained silent.

Old Yan put the cigarette pack into his pocket and turned to leave.

"You don't need to agree now," he said. "Think it over and tell me. But if you're willing to help, I'll owe you a favor."

"Wait a minute," Chen Yi called out to him.

Old Yan stopped in his tracks.

"I'm willing," Chen Yi said, "but I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"What you teach me has to be real," Chen Yi said. "Don't try to fool me with fakes."

Old Yan looked at him.

Then he laughed.

The smile was faint, tinged with bitterness, but also with a hint of approval.

"You're quite cautious, aren't you?" he said.

He took a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Chen Yi.

"This is the pattern of the gaps I've discovered," he said. "It may not be entirely accurate, but it's much more detailed than what I told you yesterday."

Chen Yi took the note, unfolded it, and glanced at it.

The note had some complicated diagrams and strange symbols drawn on it.

"What is this?"

"The patterns in the system monitoring," Lao Yan said, "are different in terms of monitoring intensity and scanning intervals in each area. It took me twenty years to figure these things out."

Chen Yi's eyes lit up.

Twenty years.

I've been studying these things for twenty years.

"Where do you live now?" Old Yan asked.

"Cleaning Area 07, Cleaners' Dormitory"

"How far is it from the abandoned maintenance area?"

"It takes about fifteen minutes to walk."

"That's enough," Old Yan said. "When you have time, go practice in the maintenance area. The surveillance there is weak, which is suitable for someone like you... with special circumstances."

He paused.

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"The inspector this afternoon..." Old Yan said, "Her name is Su Wan. She is in the late stage of Foundation Establishment and is a core disciple of the Qingming Sect. Her father was the previous sect leader of the Qingming Sect."

Chen Yi's eyes narrowed slightly.

Su Wan.

He remembered the name.

"She's amazing," Old Smoke said. "Her perception is far superior to that of an average inspector. If she were to scan carefully..."

He didn't finish speaking, but the meaning was already quite clear.

Chen nodded.

"I will be careful."

Old Yan glanced at him, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

At 3 p.m., the inspector arrived.

Chen Yi was sitting in a corner of the mission hall, looking at the mission list on the holographic projection. A Qi was hiding in the shadows next to him, his figure extremely low.

Just then, a commotion arose at the entrance of the hall.

Chen Yi raised his head.

He saw it.

A young woman dressed in a blue Taoist robe walked in.

The woman looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a cool and aloof face and indifferent eyes. She walked with a steady gait, each step landing precisely on the same spot, as if it were some kind of precise calculation.

Chen couldn't discern her level of cultivation. But he felt pressure.

An invisible pressure emanated from the woman.

"That's Su Wan." Ah Qi's voice came from beside me, extremely low, "Late stage of Foundation Establishment. A genius of the Qingming Sect."

Chen Yi remained silent.

His gaze fell on the woman, and he suddenly sensed something.

The woman's aura was clean and pure. But beneath that clean aura, Chen Yi sensed something else.

Very faint. So faint as to be almost imperceptible.

That is……

Chen Yi frowned.

He sensed a faint fluctuation within Su Wan's body. It wasn't a fluctuation of spiritual energy; it was something else—something deeper, something more hidden.

It was as if something was sealed inside her.

"What's wrong with you?" Ah Qi's voice came.

"It's nothing," Chen Yi said. "I just feel like there's something strange about her."

"strangeness?"

"I feel like there's something inside her."

Ah Qi remained silent for a while.

"You can tell?"

"I'm not sure," Chen Yi said. "Maybe I'm just imagining things."

Just then, Su Wan suddenly turned her head.

Her gaze swept across the hall and finally landed on Chen Yi.

In that instant, Chen Yi sensed something.

A feeling of being watched. It was as if a pair of eyes were watching him, piercing through the shadows where he hid, and seeing through the suppressed fluctuations of his spiritual energy.

But it only lasted for a moment.

Su Wan looked away and continued walking forward.

Chen Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," Ah Qi said. "She seemed to sense you."

"I just glanced at it," Chen Yi said. "I probably didn't find anything."

"But she looked at you for several seconds."

Chen Yi did not answer.

He watched Su Wan's figure disappear at the end of the corridor, his mind filled with the feeling he had just experienced.

What's inside her?

Chen Yi didn't know what it was. But he thought he would find out sooner or later.