NTNW Chapter 4: Arresting the Evil Spirits┃Male Ghost on the Left, Female Ghost on the Right

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Yu Zhengdu was startled by the words of the two girls. Just then, the girl standing on the far left suddenly revealed a strange smile at him. Her eyeballs slowly rolled upward until only the whites remained, streaked with bulging blue veins. At the same time, bright red blood began trickling from the corners of her eyes.

White eyeballs, red tears, and a malicious smile—this scene was as eerie as it could get.

Yu Zhengdu: "..."

For the first time, Yu Zhengdu felt grateful for his ghostly company. After days of psychological training, he was able to remain completely composed in the face of such a sight. Calmly, he turned to the short-haired girl and said, "I can’t believe I didn’t scare you guys. I thought my acting was pretty convincing."

The short-haired girl pursed her lips and smiled. "It was convincing, but the trick is a bit outdated."

The female ghost, seeing that Yu Zhengdu was unfazed, was momentarily confused. She couldn’t figure out whether he could see her or not.

At that moment, the three of them were about to sit down at a table. To test him, the female ghost darted ahead and plopped herself onto the seat Yu Zhengdu was about to take, then smugly watched him, waiting to see how he would react.

Yu Zhengdu: "..."

Time to put his acting skills to the test.

Without a change in expression, he continued chatting with the two girls while calmly lowering himself—right onto the ghost’s lap.

The ghost’s smile gradually faded.

At the last moment, unable to accept being sat on by a living person, she sprang up just as Yu Zhengdu was about to press down.

Yu Zhengdu secretly let out a sigh of relief. Honestly, the thought of sitting on a ghost’s lap was quite stressful.

Having confirmed that Yu Zhengdu truly couldn’t see her, the female ghost lost interest in messing with him and drifted back to the short-haired girl’s side, clinging tightly to her.

As they ate, Yu Zhengdu and the two girls introduced themselves. The short-haired girl was named Li Tiantian, and her friend was Jiang Hong. Both of them worked at a gaming company in another building within the same tech park.

Li Tiantian smiled and said, "I always see you eating alone. Why don’t you have lunch with your coworkers?"

Yu Zhengdu vaguely replied, "My taste is different from theirs. We don’t like the same food."

Jiang Hong glanced at Yu Zhengdu’s tray and commented, "Your food looks pretty normal."

Yu Zhengdu: "Mm. It’s their food that isn’t normal."

The three of them chatted while eating. Upon learning that Yu Zhengdu had just started working there, Li Tiantian and Jiang Hong enthusiastically introduced him to the area, making the atmosphere quite pleasant.

The only odd thing was that Li Tiantian kept stretching and rubbing her shoulders. She complained, "I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling so tired lately. My shoulders are killing me, like something’s pressing down on them."

Jiang Hong said, "It’s probably an occupational hazard. Office jobs are the worst for shoulder and neck pain."

Li Tiantian grumbled, "But I’ve been sitting like this forever and never felt this exhausted before. And my neck’s been acting weird too—it gets cold for no reason."

Yu Zhengdu: "..."

He saw the female ghost draping her arm over Li Tiantian’s shoulders and blowing on her neck.

Jiang Hong said, “Why don’t you take a day off and see a doctor?”

Li Tiantian added, “I think Mercury is in retrograde. Lately, I’ve been feeling unwell, and my luck has been awful. A couple of days ago, I almost got hit by a car. Yesterday, even though it wasn’t raining, I somehow managed to step into a puddle. And at work, I made a few small mistakes and got scolded by my supervisor…”

She went on and on until she suddenly realized that Yu Zhengdu was still there. She quickly stopped, blushing a little. “Sorry, I talked too much.”

Yu Zhengdu smiled and said, “It’s okay. If you’re feeling unwell, going to the hospital might be a good idea.”

The meal was finished quickly. Before parting ways, Li Tiantian added Yu Zhengdu on WeChat and said, “We’re in the same business park. Let’s have a meal together sometime.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. “Sure.”

He calmly watched as Li Tiantian and Jiang Hong left, then turned around and walked toward his company as if nothing had happened. But as soon as he was sure the female ghost was out of sight, he finally let out a loud “Awooo—” and almost broke into a full sprint back.

“Everyone, I—I—I—I saw a ghost—” Yu Zhengdu shouted as he pushed open the office door.

His ghost colleagues all looked up at him. “……”

The atmosphere turned awkward for a moment.

Yu Zhengdu paused, his momentum fading. He then clarified weakly, “A ghost other than you guys. A really terrifying one…”

At that moment, a coworker poked his head out of the break room, holding a bowl. “How terrifying?”

Yu Zhengdu turned to answer, “She rolls her eyes super far back, and blood drips from them…”

He trailed off mid-sentence, his words dying in his throat. The coworker in front of him had hollow, empty eye sockets—his eyeballs were completely missing.

Yu Zhengdu: “...Where are your eyes?”

The coworker lifted the bowl toward him. Yu Zhengdu peered inside and saw two round eyeballs floating in clear water, their dark pupils staring straight at him.

The coworker explained, “Staring at a computer all day makes my eyes tired, so I took them out to soak in eye drops.”

Yu Zhengdu felt his soul had been thoroughly cleansed. Clutching his chest, he sincerely said, “Thank you for strengthening my mental resilience. That ghost doesn’t seem as scary anymore.”

Hearing the commotion, Shang Que emerged from his office and asked, “How did you encounter a ghost?”

Yu Zhengdu described the female ghost’s appearance and then asked in confusion, “Why could I suddenly see ghosts? I never had this ability before.”

Shang Que replied, “Oh, you signed the contract, so you’re now an employee of the underworld. This is one of our employee benefits.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” He shouldn’t have been tempted by that social security package!

Shang Que continued, “The ghost you saw is a ‘substitute ghost.’ She’s draining the girl you mentioned and preparing to possess her.”

Yu Zhengdu wasn’t familiar with ghost classifications, but he could tell this wasn’t a good thing. He immediately grew anxious. “What should we do? Is Li Tiantian in danger?”

Shang Que, unfazed as the boss of ghosts, said indifferently, “We’ll just capture her.”

Yu Zhengdu was startled. “Our company catches ghosts too?”

Shang Que smiled slightly. “Professionally.”

The next day, Yu Zhengdu found an excuse to deliver something to Li Tiantian and arranged to meet her and Jiang Hong in the cafeteria. He brought Shang Que along, ready to capture the ghost.

As expected, the female ghost was still clinging to Li Tiantian. Yu Zhengdu exchanged a knowing glance with Shang Que before introducing him to the girls nonchalantly. “This is my boss. He’s joining us for lunch today.”

Li Tiantian and Jiang Hong’s eyes lit up instantly. “Your boss is so handsome!”

Shang Que remained indifferent. “Thank you.”

After getting their food, Yu Zhengdu whispered to his boss, “That ghost doesn’t seem to recognize you as one of her own.”

Shang Que sneered. “With her level of skill, she won’t notice unless I want her to.”

Yu Zhengdu was impressed and gave him a thumbs-up. “Boss, you truly are the overlord of ghosts. Amazing.”

Shang Que: “...It’s ‘King of Ghosts.’”

Yu Zhengdu: “Same difference.”

Once they sat down, Li Tiantian shyly turned to Yu Zhengdu. “You said you had something to give me. What is it?”

Yu Zhengdu suddenly remembered his excuse and quickly pulled out a small box from his pocket, handing it over. “This.”

“You didn’t have to go out of your way.” Li Tiantian eagerly opened the box, but the moment she saw its contents, “……”

Yu Zhengdu explained, “You said Mercury was in retrograde, right? Our company specializes in health management, and this is a magnetic stone we developed. It helps with luck and promotes physical well-being.”

Li Tiantian: “……”

Jiang Hong: “……”

Inside the box was an utterly unremarkable smooth pebble—just a well-polished, clean one.

Li Tiantian’s smile stiffened. “Thanks.”

The female ghost apparently found Yu Zhengdu’s words laughable. She deliberately moved even closer to Li Tiantian and blew cold air on her face, a blatant act of provocation.

Li Tiantian instinctively touched her face, while Yu Zhengdu, under the table, jabbed Shang Que’s thigh. Shang Que turned to look at him, confused.

Yu Zhengdu gave him a bright smile while frantically signaling with his eyes: Hurry up and do something!

Shang Que hadn’t yet developed a tacit understanding of his signals, so he simply stared back blankly.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Left with no choice, he leaned in and whispered urgently, “Why aren’t you making a move? That ghost is way too cocky!”

Shang Que had been a ghost for a long time, but this was the first time someone had spoken so close to him. The warmth of a living person’s breath brushed past his ear—a sensation he had never experienced before.

Shang Que lightly patted Yu Zhengdu’s hand and said calmly, “Be patient.”

He said that and suddenly smiled in the direction of the female ghost.

The female ghost froze for a moment, unsure if he was really looking at her. Then, she saw him lift his chin slightly. Following his gaze, she spotted two ghosts wielding clubs pushing through the crowd, charging toward her with an aggressive demeanor. As they ran, they shouted at her:

“You there! That ghost! You are under arrest!”

The other one chimed in, “Face the wall, hands on your head, squat down! Male ghosts to the left, female ghosts to the right—”

The female ghost had been clinging to Li Tiantian, but upon hearing this, she screamed in terror, sprang up from where she was, and bolted frantically toward the cafeteria exit, shrieking as she ran, “I didn’t do anything wrong! I was just passing by—”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

His two ghost colleagues relentlessly chased after her, not forgetting to argue as they ran.

“Stay put! If you’re innocent, why are you running?”

“Come back with us for questioning! You won’t escape—”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

If he didn’t know these were ghosts, he would’ve thought he had walked into an anti-prostitution raid.

Shang Que finally smiled and explained to him, “Such trivial matters don’t require me to act personally.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded numbly, respectfully picking up a piece of braised pork from his plate and placing it into Shang Que’s tray. “Boss, you’ve worked hard. Eat more braised pork.”

Opposite them, Jiang Hong finally couldn’t hold back. She secretly pulled out her phone and sent a WeChat message to Li Tiantian:

Jiang Hong: I can’t take it anymore. This guy isn’t just a stingy rock-sender, he’s also a bootlicker.

Li Tiantian: Stop… I want to die…

Meanwhile, Shang Que lowered his head, staring at the braised pork in front of him, lost in thought.

Yu Zhengdu finally realized his mistake and hurriedly reached out to take the meat back, saying, “I almost forgot, you don’t eat this—”

Before he could finish, his chopsticks were stopped.

Shang Que said, “Then I’ll give it a try.”

___

Author’s Note:

This is not a fake update—just fixing a bug! As for why Zhengdu can see ghosts—it’s because he’s an employee of the underworld!

Yu Zhengdu: Please, I’m begging you, just dock my employee benefits instead!

Shang Que: Catching ghosts? We’re professionals!

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you🍁🍁🍁