Volume 2, Chapter 35 – Ghost Shadow

Beneath that commission, Bai Xiang tapped “Interview,” settled the remote processing fee, flagged down a taxi, and reported “Jinshui Construction” as the destination.

The sound of a door shutting came from behind her. Without looking back, Bai Xiang already knew Yu He was shamelessly tagging along.

With the driver there, the two of them didn’t chat. Only when they got out by the company building did Yu He sidle up, eager to walk her through joining “their group.”

To join, Yu He dictated a string of code. She typed it in, searched out the group, tapped apply, and got approved instantly.

Bai Xiang opened the member list and scanned it. There weren’t even ten people.

The names were all bizarre: 【Break-the-Heavens One Sword】, 【Five Hundred Condensing-the-Aspects】, plus 【Fairy Please Step on My Head】 and 【Heaven Round, Earth Square, Let the Big Head Rule, Not the Little One】.

In the list she spotted a 【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】. She was ninety percent sure that was Tao Shuohua.

So out of these handles, which one was Yu He?

“I’m this one—Break-the-Heavens One Sword.” Yu He introduced himself proudly, gesturing for her to notice the little hat icon by his ID.

“The red hat means veteran member with invite privileges. You got in this fast thanks to me.”

【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】 (Group Owner): Yo, you pulled little Xiang’er in this fast? @Everyone Come on, get out here and welcome the newbie! Don’t play dead!

A string of messages popped up immediately.

【Five Hundred Condensing-the-Aspects】 (Admin): Welcome, newcomer.

【Soft Whisper】: Welcome.

【Fairy Please Step on My Head】: Is this the Shenming Fairy? Fairy, I have a shameless request here, I beg Fairy to please agree!

System notice: 【Fairy Please Step on My Head】 has been muted for ten minutes by 【Five Hundred Condensing-the-Aspects】.

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【Soft Whisper】: So embarrassing.

【Soft Whisper】: Don’t tell people you know me from now on.

【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】 (Group Owner): You youngsters… you always find new ways to make my eyes hurt.

【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】 (Group Owner): @Five Hundred Condensing-the-Aspects Cao Chuan, change your name back later, it looks weird.

【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】 (Group Owner): @Heaven Round, Earth Square, Let the Big Head Rule, Not the Little One You too! Move it!

System notice: 【Fairy Please Step on My Head】 has been unmuted by 【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】.

【Fairy Please Step on My Head】: Auntie Tao, I worship you!

System notice: 【Fairy Please Step on My Head】 has been muted for one day by 【Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom】.

【Soft Whisper】: I’m dead.

【Break-the-Heavens One Sword】: I’m dead.

Hm?

Seeing Yu He also chiming in, Bai Xiang turned to look at the little old man and found him staring down at his screen, grinning like an idiot, his whole face wrinkled up.

The allure of flooding the group chat… but Great Yu was still mainly a feudal society, wasn’t it?

Frowning at the screen, Bai Xiang felt a moment of mental whiplash.

The internet could actually flip their way of talking this fast. Comparing the two sides left her with a sense of dislocation, like reality itself was some kind of dream.

She still caught the main point, though: they all seemed to know who this “newbie” really was under the handle.

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“This is our State Chancery’s internal group,” Yu He murmured to her. “If you’re not at Condensing the Aspect, you can’t get in.”

Got it. “So they all know who I am.”

“You qualify to join just on cultivation alone,” Yu He nodded. “And your conduct and stance—we investigated you thoroughly before making this call.”

“Right.” He reached over and tapped vaguely at her screen. “Here… tap this and you can change your name. Think of it as the alias you use when you walk the jianghu.”

“Like these group nicknames?”

“No… You can change the group name whenever. But once you set your alias, it’s fixed. You’ll be taking internal commissions under that name. Think it through.”

Bai Xiang glanced at it. Her comm unit’s current ID was just a string of numbers: “10544.”

After a brief hesitation, she typed in “Bai Zhixing” and hit confirm. Her ID became 【Bai Zhixing】 (10544).

Yu He had watched her entire operation. His gaze turned a bit odd.

“Bai Zhixing” looked strange at first glance, but he could tell it was carefully chosen—a courtesy name she’d given herself.

One crucial part of the Yu Rites was that, when a man came of age, he could take a courtesy name.

Those courtesy names usually followed four methods: same-meaning, opposite-meaning, associative, and generational-sequence.

Same-meaning meant the courtesy name and given name had similar meanings.

Opposite-meaning meant they contrasted, inside and out complementing each other.

Associative meant the name and courtesy name could be completely different but naturally linked.

For example, Yu He’s courtesy name was “Boat-Drawer.” River + boat-drawer—easy association.

Generational-sequence was the dumbest. You just lined them up with “Uncle So-and-so,” “Elder-Brother So-and-so,” and so on.

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But this one of Bai Xiang’s—

“Zhixing” sounded exactly like “executing.”

“Executing” versus “thinking.”

A textbook opposite-meaning name.

Under the Yu Rites, women weren’t allowed to take courtesy names. On the surface, what Bai Xiang had done was very traditional, but if you thought about it too hard, it was a bit…

Why am I overthinking this?

Yu He smacked his own forehead.

It wasn’t like it was official—no one was writing it into the government registers. It was just an online handle. Did he really need to go that far with it?

Bai Xiang, having set her alias, didn’t say anything in the group. She tucked the comm unit into the fold of her belt, gripped her longsword, and headed into Jinshui Construction’s building.

Yu He hurried after her.

This guy really had no shame… The security guard at the door eyed his shabby clothes with clear disgust, but Yu He’s expression stayed calm as he strolled along behind Bai Xiang, like he was the real hidden master.

Thanks to Bai Xiang’s image, the two of them didn’t get stopped once. They signed in at the front desk, took the elevator straight up to the third floor, and under guidance stepped into a narrow office.

“Welcome…!”

The man behind the desk was on the phone and writing a letter at the same time. He looked very busy, but when he saw them come in, he still shot to his feet to greet them. “Sorry… one minute!”

He was tall, well over one-ninety, wearing a Western-style shirt and jacket. His tie had been tugged loose, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone.

Bai Xiang saw the nameplate on his desk: 【Production Safety Department Manager】: Zheng Kang.

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Manager Zheng clearly had a good sense of time. He’d said one minute and he meant it, hanging up almost to the second.

“I’ve read your… Ms. Bai’s résumé,” he said, lifting his brows at Bai Xiang. “Before we proceed, I want to ask, Ms. Bai—do you know what ‘inauspicious, details in person’ stands for?”

Bai Xiang nodded. “I do.”

“Ms. Bai might not meet the age requirements, but I have no doubts about your ability.”

Zheng Kang knew who she was too. He sighed. “In that case, let me tell you the specifics.”

“We’ve had several sites all hit by demon turmoil at the same time.”

As Zheng Kang laid things out, Bai Xiang and Yu He finally learned what trouble Jinshui Construction was facing.

“At first, a lot of workers said they could see human figures when they worked at night.”

“What kind of figures? They called them ‘the extra shadow.’ Like, say, two people go into a stretch of darkness together. When they come out, there’s a third.”

“At that stage, it was still very docile. As long as you left the site honestly, it would stay in place, seeing everyone off…”

“But the workers were still frightened, so we had no choice but to cancel all night shifts and only push the work in daylight.”

“However, that didn’t last. After behaving for a while, that thing came back.”

“It doesn’t appear where the sun is strong. But anywhere pitch-black, where the lights don’t reach, those corners—even during the day, it still comes out to scare people!”

“We really had no choice.” Zheng Kang scrubbed a hand over his face. “We brought people in… and nothing worked.”

“In fact, last time that so-called expert was even killed by it.”