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After setting fire to the villa, Jiang Lu couldn't help but yawn.
Although there were some moments worth reminiscing, the night was not exactly wonderful.
Since arriving in this world, he hadn't experienced the thrilling, exhilarating battles he used to.
He wasn't a person from this world, but he wasn't a traveler through it either.
He had been exiled here.
Once the Lord of the Underworld, he had been betrayed by a trusted aide, usurped, and sentenced to a cruel execution that dismembered him. Due to his formidable strength, even being torn to pieces could not kill him completely, leading to his exile and rebirth in this world.
The good news was that, before his reincarnation, Jiang Lu had tricked the heavens with a secret technique, managing to retain some control over a part of his body, which reincarnated with him.
The bad news was that at the time, he didn't carefully check which part he had grabbed, and upon birth, he directly fainted the midwife in shock and was subsequently abandoned by his biological parents at an orphanage as an omen of ill fortune.
The good news was that this part of his body retained his memories.
The bad news was that only a part of them were preserved.
The good news was that it was the most crucial part, including his identity as the Lord of the Underworld, the meticulous plan for revenge he crafted after being betrayed, as well as the Netherworld Ghost Creature Compendium.
The bad news was that, besides the memories, he had nothing left. Aside from the Evil God Foundation he brought from the Netherworld, which made him extraordinary, he was no different from an ordinary person.
In short, the plan was meticulous, but he had stumbled at the first step: "Slyly developing back to his peak."
Even though he had regained his memories at the age of three and was convinced he could return to his peak someday—and perhaps even surpass his past self, making the future look promising—
Almost twenty years had passed, and he was still a future warrior.
The only difference from twenty years ago was that he had gone from being an orphan in the orphanage to a caretaker there.
Luckily, this world had ghosts, which always gave Jiang Lu some hope.
But now, with strength not much different from an ordinary person, even the weakest ghost could easily harm him.
Of course, female ghosts were a different story.
Unfortunately, after several attempts, these female ghosts not only failed to bring about the transformation he hoped for or any career help, but they couldn't even satisfy his emotional needs.
With such disappointments growing, Jiang Lu gradually became numb.
Now, he was almost close to giving up altogether. Hunts like the one tonight were nothing but a way to relieve stress.
Stretching lazily, Jiang Lu decided to head back to the orphanage.
The children should be waking up by now, and soon it would be time for their breakfast. As the caretaker, he had to be there.
Jiang Lu muttered to himself, "That chubby kid was cursing me behind my back yesterday. I must hurry back to spit in his breakfast."
As he was contemplating, his cell phone suddenly rang.
The caller was the orphanage director, who always treated all the kids in the orphanage as his own children, including Jiang Lu, who had evolved from an orphan to a caretaker, yet he still called him "Dad" without any sense of hierarchy.
Jiang Lu owed many clues about ghost activities to the director's blessings.
Because the director was part of the Exorcists, and his study always housed various files about ghosts. By sneaking a peek, Jiang Lu knew where the new ghosts had emerged.
Then he would travel to the scene to secretly observe. If it was a male ghost, he would leave things be; if it was a female ghost, he would strike hard!
As for why Jiang Lu didn't try to become an Exorcist himself, it was naturally because he was so ordinary that he didn't stand a chance of being selected by any organization that could train Exorcists.
And for this reason, he despised all Exorcists other than the director.
The reason was simple: despite understanding ghosts better than a farmer knows rice, he had no opportunity to demonstrate his skills.
On the contrary, those who were hardly useful had the luxury of hefty salaries and even powers beyond ordinary humans.
It was utterly unfair!
Answering the call, Jiang Lu feigned a just-awoken voice, "Hello? Dad, why are you calling so early? I was dreaming about playing cards with Jesus and the Buddha, and I was just about to win the spring round."
But the voice on the other end of the phone was unusually serious, "Where are you now?"
"I'm at..." Jiang Lu looked around, "Ah, did you go into my room and notice I'm not there? Actually, I'm not just waking up. I'm taking a shit in the toilet."
"There's nobody in the toilet either, where exactly are you?"
Jiang Lu raised an eyebrow. Ho, he's searched quite thoroughly, hasn't he? That only left one trick to use!
Feigning a weak signal.
"Hello? What did you say? There's no signal in the toilet, I can't hear you."
The voice on the other end of the phone became visibly more anxious and, regardless of whether Jiang Lu could hear or not, shouted hysterically, "You little rascal, did you sneak a look at my emails again? I warn you, if you snuck out again for some adventure, no matter where you are, come back immediately. That place is the Spirit Realm, not your usual stray ghosts—it's the Spirit Realm!!"
"It's... it's what?"
Jiang Lu looked puzzled. He seemed to have heard the director speaking very seriously about something important, but the voice from the phone became intermittent in the latter half, and he couldn't hear clearly.
Putting the phone away, the signal indicator had changed to the words "No Service."
Jiang Lu scratched his face, "Really no signal? Speak of the devil, huh?"
On the other end of the line, the director, with his temples graying, looked grave as he punched the armrest of the couch with his fist.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! He couldn't possibly have gone there, could he?"
He had received a notification email the night before about ghosts in a villa in the northern suburbs of the city, killing several inexperienced Exorcists. Usually, he wouldn't have taken it seriously—after all, Exorcists getting killed was nothing new, especially new recruits who might easily be killed by stray ghosts because of carelessness.
It was only when he discovered this morning that Jiang Lu was missing from his room again that he sensed something was off.
A translucent panel suddenly appeared in front of the director.
The Spirit Realm information on it was updated—
[The Spirit Realm "Family Portrait" is about to descend]
[Difficulty: A]
[Recommended Level Range: 1~30]
[Location: North suburbs of Mount Chi City]
[Remarks: None]
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Seeing this, the Director's expression had already nearly twisted, "A level... A level!! How could it be A level, one in which even an experienced Exorcist like me might die?!"
Grinding his teeth, the Director immediately set off, planning to hurry to the northern suburbs.
"Now, all I can hope for is that you'll hang in there until I arrive, you little rascal!"
...
Meanwhile, Jiang Lu was standing there in a daze.
In the time it took to answer a phone call, the villa that had been ablaze was now inexplicably restored to its original state.
Not only was it restored, but compared to its previously dilapidated condition, it now even looked as though it had just been completed, completely brand new.
While Jiang Lu was feeling utterly astonished, the villa's front door opened on its own without any wind, creaking as it was pushed open.
In the villa's ground floor hall lay three bodies covered with white cloths.
One of the bodies was of normal size, while the other two were very small, seemingly an adult and two children.
All three bodies shared one common feature: the area around their heads was soaked in a deep red color.
A somewhat familiar-looking woman was leaning against the stair railing, her eyes hollow and spiritless, sitting on the ground expressionlessly.
Jiang Lu's expression subtly changed.
He quietly approached the woman, affectionately saying, "Madam, we meet again."
The woman remained indifferent.
"Don't you recognize me?" Jiang Lu tentatively asked.
The woman still showed no response.
Jiang Lu thought for a moment, stood up, and dragged the bodies over one by one.
He lifted the white cloth covering the largest body, revealing a male corpse inside.
Most horrifying was that he had no face!
His facial skin looked as though it had been gouged out, leaving a pitted surface, with the bone structure of his eye sockets and mouth completely exposed to the air.
Jiang Lu remained unfazed and pointed at him, asking the woman, "Do you recognize him? He's your husband."
The woman's pupils contracted.
Jiang Lu seemed not to notice this detail and continued with the same actions.
"Then do you recognize him? He's your son."
The woman's expression gradually twisted into a grimace.
"And do you recognize her? She's your daughter."
"Aaaaah!!"
The woman suddenly let out a piercing scream, as if she had just snapped back to reality, crying out fearfully and incoherently, "It wasn't me... I didn't do it!"
Jiang Lu quickly embraced her, gently soothing, "It's okay, it's all over. As long as I'm here, I won't let you remember these painful memories."
The woman's emotions gradually calmed down.
Yet she remained inarticulate, murmuring as if talking in her sleep, "It wasn't me..."
"Alright, alright, it wasn't you."
Jiang Lu continued to placate her in a soft and gentle voice while attempting to help her up.
The woman staggered several times but was ultimately unable to stand.
Jiang Lu grew a bit impatient.
He simply passed one hand under the woman's armpit to support her back, and with his other hand, he supported her legs, lifting her up in a princess carry.
Then, following the path he remembered, he climbed up the stairs step by step, returning to where the dream had begun.
Half an hour after dropping the woman on the bed,
Jiang Lu found that the bathroom, which had previously looked almost like ruins, was now clean and tidy. The sweat from earlier made him feel sticky, and he felt unbearably itchy all over.
Without much thought, he walked right in, planning to take a bath.
The moment the hot water started, Jiang Lu felt utterly exhilarated and couldn't help but hum a tune.
"Using your bathroom~ Soaking in your tub~"
"The wife in your bed said you died just fine~"
Soon, the bathroom door was pushed open, and Jiang Lu, wrapped in the hot steam, came out.
Just as he came out, he saw that the woman, who just moments ago looked as if she had suffered from the aftermath of war, was now sitting at the vanity table, combing her hair.
Jiang Lu revealed a trace of a smile, carefully approaching her and gently resting his hand on her shoulder.
"Still alive, huh? That's quite something!"
The woman mechanically turned her head, but on her face, there was only hair!
In front of him... didn't appear to be the same woman from before.
"Giggle giggle giggle..."
A sinister laugh came from within the hair, seemingly mocking Jiang Lu mercilessly.
Yet Jiang Lu's smile grew even wider.
"Knew you were here! But why are you wearing the lady's clothes, using someone's things, huh?"
The sinister laughter abruptly stopped.
"You're quite brazen!"
A cry of terror came from the hair.
Without further ado, Jiang Lu picked up the hair-covered female ghost...