“Without you, I’m nothing…”

Wu Wang approached a young man sobbing by the roadside, freshly dumped by his goddess in public. He offered a benevolent smile.

“Bro, don’t bow your head. The crown will fall, and the girls will laugh. You’re not as pathetic as you think. At least you’d make a fine huang men ji.”

The man looked up, confused.

“Huang… huang men ji?”

“Yeah,” Wu Wang said. “Yellow-bellied, moody, and a piece of junk.”

Hearing such heart-piercing words, the man wailed even louder, so overcome with “gratitude” that he actually clenched his fist and raised his hand for a high-five.

But Wu Wang had already gotten up and walked away.

Do a good deed and leave no name. After the deed is done, flick one’s sleeves and depart.

He ducked into a nearby alley, one without any surveillance cameras.

When he walked out again, his appearance and build were completely identical to the dejected young man’s.

【Fake Smile Mask】!

In his hand, he held a wallet, lifted from the young man who hadn’t pocketed it properly during the “consolation.” Inside were an ID card, a driver’s license, and other personal items.

From now on, I am… what’s-his-name again?

Wu Wang glanced down at the ID card.

Oh. I’m Zhang Wei.

“As payback for the comfort, let your bro borrow your identity for a couple of days,” Wu Wang said with a smile, walking away.

Ever since arriving in An City, the 【Xiaochuan Broken Sword】 in his hand had been guiding him in a single direction. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was pointing toward the real-world location of Yin Fate Village.

But along the way, Wu Wang noticed something unusual.

The level of alert in An City was far too high.

He ran into patrolling police officers every few minutes. Occasionally, he would also see people in red and black uniforms from some unknown department talking with them.

Wu Wang recognized them instantly.

Spirit Calamity Players!

They had to be members of the Abnormal Affairs Bureau. But they shouldn’t be appearing so openly unless a major operation was underway.

“Has the Yin Fate Village matter been exposed?”

Wu Wang grew vigilant.

Fortunately, he had taken precautions from the start, never once using his real face. He had even used a fake identity and appearance to buy his high-speed rail ticket, which was why he’d looked like a thin, bespectacled scholar on the train.

In fact, he had several other sets of fake identities as backups.

This was all thanks to a strange impulse from three years ago. After watching a gangster movie, Wu Wang had become morbidly curious if a gun could actually kill him.

So, he spent the better part of a month tracking down an underground boxing ring in Mingyang City. He got to know a few underworld figures, hoping to buy a handgun from them to test on himself.

Of course, he needed a good reason to get close to people like that.

His cover story was simple. He claimed he’d committed a crime and needed a fake identity to skip town. As a side job, he’d had a few extra IDs made.

He never expected they would actually come in handy.

“The road ahead has collapsed. Please take a detour.”

Wu Wang had used one of his fake identities to get to the bus station. Now, the bus he was on, headed for a county under An City’s jurisdiction, was stopped at a roadblock.

He took a closer look. Members of the Abnormal Affairs Bureau, clad in their red and black uniforms, were manning the checkpoint.

It seemed they were deliberately sealing off the road to the mountains where Yin Fate Village was located.

After the bus turned around and was out of sight of the checkpoint, Wu Wang made an excuse about needing to use the bathroom and had the driver let him off.

He snuck back along a mountain path toward the roadblock.

He arrived just in time to see a black sedan approaching from another road. Before the bureau members could flag it down, the driver stopped and rolled down the window.

An unshaven, scarred face appeared, a cigarette dangling from his lips. It was a familiar sight to Wu Wang.

“Baili Dao, Mingyang City branch,” the man said. “The Director and I are here to provide support regarding the Pig-headed Ghost of Yin Fate Village.”

With that, Mingyang City’s Director, who was sitting in the back, slowly lowered his window. He gave a slight nod to the two men outside.

The guards recognized the director and hurriedly waved the car through, even asking with concern if he needed to rest after his long journey.

After the car drove off, the two members began to chat.

The shorter guard asked curiously, “Is that the ‘Adjudicator,’ Director Xiezhi from Mingyang City? I thought they said last year he was getting transferred to the capital. Why is he still a branch director here?”

The man was famous in their circles. He was exceptionally skilled at dealing with Spirit Bodies, so he was like a fish in water during the Spirit Calamity Game’s supernatural Instances, which were almost all filled with ghosts.

Xiezhi came from a military background. As soon as he became a player, he was transferred from the army to the Abnormal Affairs Bureau. He shattered several Instance-clearing records at an incredible pace. In just one year, he was qualified for a promotion to Battalion Commander at the headquarters in the capital.

But just when everyone thought he was going to take on a new position there, a document came from above. It assigned him to the remote city of Mingyang, far from the capital.

The position of Mingyang City’s branch director, while seemingly higher than a Battalion Commander, was basically exile for a front-line talent like him.

And he’d been stuck in that position for two whole years.

Rumors of his transfer back to the capital occasionally surfaced, but nothing ever came of them. Many bureau members felt it was a pity. Those who had worked with him in the capital held him in extremely high regard, calling him a trustworthy teammate.

“Transferred back to the capital… The fact that he’s even a director at all is a testament to his own ability,” the taller, thinner guard said, seeming to know some inside information.

He lowered his voice.

“My buddy in the capital told me Xiezhi was sent down here because he offended a high-ranking official at headquarters.”

“Apparently, the official’s son committed some crime, and Xiezhi was told to turn a blind eye.”

“In the end, he took it literally. He arrested the guy with one eye closed, showed up in court to testify, and got the young master sentenced to two years.”

The shorter guard’s expression turned to one of astonishment. He hadn’t expected such a juicy secret.

So that’s why the great Director Xiezhi was demoted for so long?

“Hmph, and that’s not all,” the tall guard continued. “The other side has powerful connections. They got the young master out on bail in half a month. The story goes that if Xiezhi had just been willing to bow his head and admit fault, they would’ve buried the hatchet, and he’d have been transferred back to the capital immediately.”

“And then?” the short guard asked.

The tall one shook his head and shrugged helplessly.

“And then? Isn’t it obvious? He’s still Mingyang City’s director. For two years straight. He won’t bow his head, and he won’t admit he was wrong.”

The two sighed in unison.

“So upright and incorruptible…”

As they were chatting, the shorter guard’s expression turned awkward. He fumbled in his pocket for tissues.

“You keep watch,” he said to his partner with an embarrassed smile. “I’m gonna go relieve myself. Ate too much on the way here.”

“Go on, go on. It’s all woods around here,” the tall guard laughed. “Just be careful a snake doesn’t bite your ass.”

He watched his partner disappear into the trees.

The tall guard had no idea that moments after his partner entered the woods and squatted down, the man’s vision went black as he fainted.

Standing over him was a young man wearing a strange Mushroom Hat. His expression was grim.

“You were actually planning to take a shit on my head, weren’t you?”

It had to be said, the spot the guard chose was just too perfect. It practically forced Wu Wang to act. Otherwise, he really would have been caught in a shit storm.

He skillfully stripped off the man’s uniform as his own build and face began to change.

Now, I’m a member of the Abnormal Affairs Bureau!

The Pig-headed Ghost of Yin Fate Village… Isn’t that the Yin Fate Great God? Wu Wang’s mind raced. That thing escaped? Damn you, Black-hearted Penguin! Couldn’t you have made the seal a bit stronger?

The 【Xiaochuan Broken Sword】’s instructions were clear. The devoured Sword Spirit had to be a Spirit Body that had lost its ability to resist. It looked like he had a big problem.

Fortunately, someone else had just stepped up to solve it for him. He would wait for Baili Dao and the others to clash with the Yin Fate Great God first. That would let him observe how much power the creature had recovered since breaking free.

If it’s already as strong as it was in the Instance, calling down heavenly lightning at will, then I’ll just have to say my goodbyes. I’m just a passerby, after all.

But if its recovery is incomplete… if the two sides are evenly matched, or if the Yin Fate Great God is just a sliver stronger… well then, sumimasen.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!

Today, you will become my Sword Spirit! I’ll grab you in one fell swoop! And refine you in an instant!

Inside the black sedan, Baili Dao gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white.

“Boss,” he said, his voice laced with worry. “That Pig-headed Ghost calls itself the Yin Fate Great God. It seems to be a higher-level consciousness that has descended into a host, not just a simple Spirit Body.”

“Oh, got it.”

Xiezhi took a piece of chewing gum from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, completely unbothered.

His casual attitude only made Baili Dao more anxious.

“Can you beat it? It’s a god…”

Xiezhi cut him off.

“If the opponent were a god, it might be a bit tricky,” he said calmly. “But it can’t be a god. At most, it’s a special kind of Spirit Body.”

He chewed his gum thoughtfully for a moment before adding, “Don’t worry. We’ll win.”

There was something Baili Dao didn’t dare to say.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that his boss had just raised a massive, ominous flag.