Ling Yun was watching television at home when he received a call from Zhang Yunfeng. The local news was reporting on a major criminal case, and the voice of a bespectacled journalist carried a trace of tension as he announced:
"This morning, the fifth case of a missing young girl occurred in the Emperor's Garden residential complex. As of now, no clues have been found. All the missing individuals are teenage girls between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. The case has drawn the attention of the municipal government, which has ordered the Public Security Bureau and the Criminal Investigation Unit to form a special task force..."
"Did you see the news, Ling Yun?" Zhang Yunfeng's panicked voice came through the phone. He had always called Ling Yun 'Boss,' but Ling Yun disliked the overly deferential title and had insisted he drop it. Still, Zhang Yunfeng often reverted to the habit, much to Ling Yun's helpless frustration.
"I'm watching it now. Which news are you referring to? What happened?" Ling Yun asked absentmindedly.
It was summer break, and he had been diligently training his supernatural abilities at home. After more than a month of rigorous practice, his telekinetic power had improved significantly in both range and control. His strength had grown exponentially compared to when he first acquired the ability. To avoid attracting unwanted attention, he only trained in secret while his parents were at work. This was his greatest secret—one he would never reveal until he had absolute confidence in his security.
It was around eight in the evening. His parents had gone to visit relatives, leaving the house empty. As he watched TV, he casually controlled several metal spoons, making them dance erratically in midair. If one looked closely, they would notice the spoons forming two crooked Chinese characters: "Ling Yun."
"Boss! You don't know?" Zhang Yunfeng, too anxious to correct himself, blurted out, "Ling Ling lives in Emperor's Garden! The girl they reported missing today—that was her!"
"What?!" Ling Yun exclaimed, leaping from the sofa.
The sudden loss of focus caused the floating spoons to crash onto the wooden floor with a chaotic clatter. He immediately turned his attention back to the television, but the news about the missing girls had just ended, and the broadcast had moved on to another story.
"How could this happen? She was at home—how did she vanish?" Ling Yun composed himself and asked with concern.
Ever since he had awakened his psychic abilities, he had developed an inexplicable sensitivity to danger, a sort of instinct that allowed him to perceive the urgency of certain situations. When he focused, he could faintly grasp fragmented, disordered insights. However, he neither understood the nature of this ability nor knew how to control it.
The moment he heard about Li Lingling's disappearance, an overwhelming sense of unease surged through him. It was so intense that a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
After the incident where he had rescued Zhang Yunfeng and Li Lingling, the three of them had naturally formed a small group. Ling Yun was undoubtedly the leader. Zhang Yunfeng, having developed deep admiration and respect for him, was more than willing to play the role of a devoted follower. Meanwhile, Li Lingling's demeanor had changed drastically.
She, who had once been arrogant and willful, had grown quiet and considerate toward Ling Yun, harboring feelings that were difficult to articulate.
Ling Yun had initially intended to keep his distance from the two of them. However, his inherently passive nature and reluctance to reject others made it difficult for him to sever ties. Despite his attempts at distancing himself, Zhang Yunfeng and Li Lingling had only grown more devoted to him. In time, their sincerity moved him, and as the weeks passed, their bond deepened.
Ling Yun was not oblivious—he had long noticed Li Lingling's affections. But while the maiden's heart was set, the young lord's had drifted elsewhere. Unable to reciprocate, he pretended not to notice.
What surprised him even more was that Zhang Yunfeng, after the lesson he had learned from their previous ordeal, had let go of his feelings for Li Lingling. Instead, he had taken it upon himself to encourage a relationship between Ling Yun and her. This change in attitude had given Ling Yun a newfound respect for him—it was proof that people were far more complex than they seemed. He himself was merely fortunate to have awakened a supernatural gift; it did not make him superior.
Now that Li Lingling had suddenly gone missing, Ling Yun, as the leader of their trio, felt an instinctive urgency.
Hearing the concern in Ling Yun's voice, Zhang Yunfeng felt a flicker of relief amidst his panic. "I don't know the exact details. I called her this morning, but she didn't pick up. That struck me as odd, but I didn't think much of it—figured she was just out. But when I called her again in the evening, she still didn't answer. So I tried her home number. That's when her mother picked up, crying, and told me she had disappeared. Then I saw the news and immediately called you."
"Have you been to her house?" Ling Yun asked after a brief silence.
"No, but I doubt we'd be allowed in. The police have probably sealed off the area by now. We're just classmates, not family—there's no way they'd let us in." Zhang Yunfeng hesitated, sounding unsure.
"You have no idea how much this case has shaken the entire city. Everyone is talking about the string of missing girls. The girls in our class are terrified—they won't leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. Even those who do go out make sure they're accompanied by family. Three of the victims vanished while out alone," he added.
"But staying home doesn't guarantee safety, does it? Ling Ling disappeared from her own house," Ling Yun countered.
"Exactly! And the strangest part? Her parents were home the whole time, sitting in the living room. They had no idea anything had happened until this morning, when they went to wake her up for breakfast. That's when they discovered the window shattered and their daughter gone. That's when they called the police," Zhang Yunfeng explained in disbelief.
Ling Yun pondered for a moment before making up his mind. "Let's go to her house and take a look."
"Alright. I'll wait for you at the entrance of Emperor's Garden," Zhang Yunfeng responded before ending the call.
Ling Yun turned around and called his parents, telling them he was going to a classmate's house and might not return for the night. His parents didn't think much of it, simply reminding him not to stay out too late. After changing into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, he stepped out the door.
Though it was summer, the sky had already darkened by eight in the evening. The past few days had been clear, and the night was sprinkled with countless stars and a faint crescent moon. The streetlights on either side of the road cast dim, hazy beams, within which countless tiny, nameless insects fluttered and danced in the glow.
A growing unease gnawed at Ling Yun's heart—an instinctive reaction to the unknown. The stronger the feeling, the more ominous the unknown became.
As he stepped onto the street, a taxi, its headlights off, pulled up beside him before he even had the chance to wave. Ling Yun opened the door and got in. Before he could even settle into his seat, the driver started the engine and drove off without asking a single question, heading straight toward the outskirts of the city.
"Driver? Where are you taking me? I need to go to Emperor Garden," Ling Yun asked in surprise, turning to look at the man behind the wheel, who was almost entirely shrouded in darkness.
Not only was the interior of the car unlit, but the driver also wore a large baseball cap, its brim pulled low enough to obscure most of his face. An ordinary person would barely make out his silhouette, but Ling Yun's enhanced vision allowed him to see more clearly—and what he saw startled him even more. The driver was wearing sunglasses. At night.
Driving a taxi in the dead of night while wearing sunglasses? Had he lost his mind?
"You are going where you're meant to go," came a voice—cold, lifeless, and devoid of emotion. It sent a shiver down Ling Yun's spine.
Yet what truly unsettled him was that the driver's lips had not moved at all. He had spoken, but his mouth had remained firmly shut.
An ordinary person would likely have panicked, assuming they had boarded an unlicensed cab driven by a robber.
But Ling Yun forced himself to remain calm. He turned his head slightly, his eyes flashing with an imperceptible silver gleam.
"Stop the car!" he commanded sharply.
The driver remained unresponsive, instead pressing down on the accelerator. The taxi sped down the road like a mad beast, hurtling through the near-empty streets. It was fortunate that this area saw little traffic; otherwise, a collision would have been inevitable.
"I said, stop the car!" Ling Yun's voice was as cold as ice.
"If you have the ability, make me stop," came that same soulless voice.
Screeeeech—!
With a shriek of tires skidding against asphalt, the runaway taxi jerked to a violent halt, as though an invisible hand had seized it mid-flight. The car swerved chaotically for dozens of meters before finally lurching to a stop by the roadside.
Ling Yun slumped against the seat, his face ashen. Forcibly halting a vehicle traveling at eighty kilometers per hour with his telekinetic power had sent a searing pain through his mind, as though an iron hammer had slammed against his skull. His vision blurred, and agony clawed at his consciousness. Had it not been for the past month of relentless training, he might have blacked out on the spot.
The driver, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, was hurled forward by the impact. His face slammed against the windshield, which cracked into a spiderweb pattern at the point of impact but did not shatter. The same could not be said for the driver's disguise—his cap tumbled off, and his sunglasses splintered into several pieces, falling to the dashboard.
He slumped over the steering wheel, motionless.
Ling Yun's gaze darkened. The back of the driver's neck bore an unnatural purplish hue, marred with irregular blotches. Ling Yun recognized it instantly—livor mortis, the telltale sign of a corpse that had been dead for quite some time.
He made no move to touch the driver's body. Instead, after regaining some of his strength, he used his telekinetic ability to turn the driver's head.
The sight that met him confirmed his suspicions.
A grotesque, decayed face stared back at him—horribly contorted, its eye sockets hollow and vacant, its mouth a mangled mess of twisted flesh. There was no doubt about it.
The driver was already long dead.
The eerie, lifeless voice no longer spoke. When Ling Yun had unleashed his telekinetic force to halt the vehicle, his psychic field had swept through every corner of the taxi. Aside from himself, nothing remained alive within it.
Ling Yun sat in silence for a moment before finally pushing open the door and stepping out.
Had it been anyone else, their legs would have turned to jelly at the sheer horror of it all—a corpse that could drive a taxi, that could speak? If word of this got out, it would send shockwaves through the world.
But Ling Yun merely took a deep breath and accepted the truth.
If he himself could awaken an inexplicable supernatural power, then what else in this world could truly be deemed impossible? The only difference was that he had never encountered it before.
And deep in his gut, he sensed that the more he honed his psychic abilities, the more he would see a world utterly unlike the one perceived by ordinary people.
Moreover, during his brief exchange with that chilling voice, Ling Yun had felt a faint energy lingering upon the driver's corpse. Yet when he had activated his psychic field, that energy had vanished without a trace. With its hold severed, the corpse had collapsed into nothing more than a lifeless husk.
Back in the taxi, when he had turned his head, Ling Yun had already glimpsed what lay in the trunk.
The enhanced vision granted by his abilities had made it clear—there was another body inside.
A young girl.
A dead man, driving a taxi, carrying another corpse in the back, cruising the streets in search of passengers.
What would have happened if the passenger had been anyone other than Ling Yun?
A deep furrow formed between his brows. He had countless questions.
It was evident that someone—or something—had been controlling the body. But who? And for what purpose?
Now was not the time for answers.
He had to get to Emperor Garden.
Zhang Yunfeng was waiting.