Volume One, Chapter Five: The Old Man Inside the Necklace

She fell into deep contemplation as she looked at her remaining balance.

Shui Ying, sitting beside her, was busy scrolling through videos. As soon as she finished one, she noticed her desk-mate’s foul expression.

She gasped in alarm, "Chu Guang, what's wrong? Did you come in second on today’s pop quiz? Or are you feeling unwell again?"

"No, I’m just thinking about how I could possibly be this broke." Chu Guang’s balance was neither high nor low—just barely enough to scrape by.

Tutoring classes were a luxury. How could someone as destitute as her afford them?

After pondering for a long time, she touched her necklace. With no other choice, she decided to follow the book's advice and "leech off the ancestors."

*Ahem, ahem...*

When Shui Ying heard she was leaving, she dropped her phone in fright. "Chu Guang, there have been quite a few murders in Qing City lately. Please, don't go out late at night just to scrape together money."

"Murders?"

Chu Guang recalled the people from the Administrative Bureau she had seen at the hospital. Even the tall, imposing man hadn't been able to prevent the victim's death. With her own scrawny arms and legs, she figured she’d have a hard time, too.

But the thought of the fifty thousand yuan left her feeling helpless. She didn't want to be disqualified before the exam even began simply because she lacked basic survival skills.

Chu Guang first went to the cafeteria to buy snacks, fruits, and a serving of fish-flavored shredded pork with rice, stuffing them all into her canvas bag. Remembering Shui Ying’s words, she headed to a specific place.

The Recycling Shop.

The moment she stepped inside, the book popped up.

[Name: Chu Guang]
[Physical Condition: Damaging...]
[Identity: Unauthorized]
[Heavenly Eye: 2%]
[Energy Storage: 0% (Critical)]
[Nether Items Owned: 0]
[Leeching off the ancestors must be done early; the old folks won't die early, so hurry up and leech! You're about to kick the bucket.]

She looked at the number of Nether Items listed. She carefully scanned her surroundings. This was a place that specialized in recycling Nether Items.

Chu Guang had survived for the past decade or so by reselling Nether Items, so she naturally knew the owner. The owner was a chubby man known in the underworld as "Old Fatty."

"Give me a few Nether notes, the kind with strong energy."

Old Fatty handed her ten. "Twenty thousand."

Chu Guang nearly vomited blood. Old Fatty took the money with a cheerful grin. "Look at you, planning to go out and fish for money again?"

"No choice, I'm broke lately."

Chu Guang paid the money with a wince, bypassed the old district, and arrived before a wall.

Before she had even entered the old district, she heard movement behind her. She looked back to see several youths dressed in "Shamate" style. She quickened her pace and ducked into an alley.

The moment she sped up, the group took notice. Someone cursed, "Damn it, that broad noticed us. Hurry, chase her!"

Chu Guang picked up her pace, turning sharply into an alleyway. Seeing her run into that dead end, the thugs looked delighted. "Brother Wang, she’s finished. I remember that corner is a dead end; she can’t escape."

"Is that so? Heh heh."

The group of men arrived at the corner, pants hitched up, expecting to see a trembling girl. But to their surprise, there was nothing there—only a bare, empty wall!

From time to time, a chilling breeze wafted from an unknown source, giving them goosebumps.

"What’s going on? Where is she?"

*Swish, swish~*

A few soft sounds came from above. The men looked up, and to their shock, several paper bills drifted down out of thin air. They landed right on their faces, and their expressions shifted drastically.

"Nether notes... money for the dead..."

The man pulled the note off his face, and a cold, eerie voice whispered in his ear, "Were you looking for me just now?"

The voice was hair-raising. They looked up and were terrified to see Chu Guang, who they thought had disappeared, standing right in front of them, perched on top of the wall and looking down.

Several Nether notes drifted in the air. She lowered her head, locking eyes with them.

"Playing ghost, are you?" The leader hesitated for a moment before spitting out a vicious curse.

But just as he prepared to lunge at her, he found he couldn't move. It felt as if a thousand-pound weight was pressing down on him, leaving his entire body limp.

In that moment, it felt as though a ghost was draining their life force. With the ground covered in Nether notes, the air hazy, and the girl framed in black and white, she tilted her head and curled her lips into a strange smile. "Playing ghost? No, I *am* a ghost, you know."

Cold sweat poured down the group as they shrieked, "Ghost! Aaaah..."

Several more Nether notes drifted down, gently sticking to their bodies. The thugs collapsed as if crushed by a truck, falling into a dead faint.

Seeing them unconscious, Chu Guang jumped down from the wall. "Wasted a few Nether notes. What a nuisance."

She stepped over the thugs and walked toward the wall. Passing through it, the wall that had seemed solid just a moment ago gave way to a different world.

"Cackle, cackle... Little ghost, have you returned to the Underworld?"

As soon as she stepped into the Underworld, the necklace lit up, and the voice inside continued. Chu Guang looked at the black-and-white world before her. "That’s right, I’m back."

The streets were filled with drifting Nether notes, and the air was thick with the scent of burning incense. The Underworld.

Coming here, Chu Guang’s restless heart settled; there was a sense of peace, like returning home. If she calculated carefully, she had been running here constantly ever since she discovered the place.

"Chu Guang, you’re back?"

"That’s right, Auntie Wang. Exercising again?"

"Yes, indeed."

Chu Guang greeted them with practiced familiarity. As she walked, she arrived in front of a coffin shop. Sure enough, she saw "him" in front of the shop. "Old man."

He appeared to be a human, but half of his body was translucent. Seeing Chu Guang, his entire form flickered back into a human state.

"Cackle, cackle... Little ghost, you finally returned. I thought you’d been eaten by a ghost out there." This voice clearly matched the one coming from the necklace.

The owner of the Underworld coffin shop was the first ghost Chu Guang had met when her necklace brought her here. From him, she had learned how to be a "ghost."

She rolled her eyes. "Old ghost, don’t you know that only the powerful ghosts stay outside?"

"Right, and they go outside to find their own deaths." The owner yawned lazily. "I’m relieved to see you’re not dead. Tell me, are you short on money again?"

Chu Guang nodded without hesitation. "Exactly. Hurry up with the money; I’m so broke I’m rattling."

The owner glanced at her canvas bag. "Items from the world of the living?"

"That’s right. I’m in a rush, old man, hurry up and give me the money."

Between today’s classes and the recent instability, she didn’t intend to stay here long. Once the heat died down, she’d come back.

Chu Guang naturally pulled up a small stool and sat down. The owner looked at the drinks and food on the table. "So much? This is a bit tricky; I’m low on River of Oblivion water."

There were three bottles of drinks, two sodas, a bowl of rice, a bowl of wontons, and a bowl of ramen on the table. It was a lot.

The owner yawned, "Still, its value can't compare to the food you brought. In the world of the dead, things from the living are precious."

Chu Guang stared at him. "I don’t accept credit. I’m dirt poor—if you don’t pay up, I’ll be eating scraps."

The owner scoffed in disdain. "Poor? You, who dug out all my salary, have the nerve to say that?"

Chu Guang said nothing, but quickly perked up, looking righteous. "I only come here once in a long while. Working part-time outside is exhausting."

The owner let out a cold, skeptical scoff.

In the Underworld, the denomination of paper money is determined by the intensity of energy fluctuations. The stronger the fluctuation, the higher the value. Nether notes were the standard currency. The dead would use the money they earned each month to buy items like River of Oblivion water and Equinox Flowers, which were rich in energy, to sustain their souls.

He rummaged through his private stash for a long time before throwing a flower at her. "Here, take it and get lost. Every time you show up, it’s just to scam me out of money."

Chu Guang successfully traded for the items: a brilliantly, eerily blooming Equinox Flower and ten yellow Nether notes shaped like copper coins.

Unlike the ones she bought at the recycling shop—which were currency similar to skill scrolls—these had an ancient, authentic feel.

Having acquired the goods, Chu Guang left the coffin shop.

Just as she was preparing to step out through the light portal, several silhouettes were cast through the thin wall.

Near the pile of thugs she had knocked out earlier, a few more figures had appeared. Chu Guang thought people from the Special Administrative Bureau had discovered them and paused.

But it had only been five minutes. If that were the case, she would have to stay in the Underworld for a while longer to make sure it was safe before leaving.

Spend the night in the Underworld?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Chu Guang dismissed it. Forget it. Even if she had a decent relationship with the spirits, she was, after all, a living human. She couldn’t stay in the Underworld for long.

Before she could think too much, she looked through the light and saw the men standing there pull out knives—bone-cleaving knives.

It was then that Chu Guang noticed the twisted, excited smiles on their faces.

"The thought of peeling the skin off a superpowered human makes me tremble with joy. Seeing their painful expressions and hearing their horrific screams... it gives me goosebumps of excitement."

The man used the bone-cleaving knife to trace lines on the skin of the unconscious victim.

Chu Guang pulled out a Nether note, ready to throw it. But before she could, a sharp ringing sound pierced her brain, and a black line appeared out of thin air.

[Name: Chu Guang]
[Physical Condition: Damaging...]
[Identity: Unauthorized]
[Heavenly Eye: 2% (In use)]
[Energy Storage: 0% (Critical)]
[Nether Items Owned: 1 (Equinox Flower)]
[Leeching success. Current physique is trash-tier; do not use the Heavenly Eye, do not court death by challenging your limits.]

"The Heavenly Eye can see black lines because it’s currently in use? What kind of strange skill is this?"

No sooner had she spoken than the book displayed another line of text.

[Black Line: A line possessed by those burdened with malice. It entangles countless karmic threads; the possessor is bloodthirsty, murderous, and deeply sinful.]

Seeing this, Chu Guang thought of the murders Shui Ying had mentioned. It was no coincidence; the people in front of her were the culprits.

She didn't know if she was unlucky or lucky. Unlucky to have stumbled upon this, but lucky that she had Nether notes, which were just the thing to deal with him.

She hesitated. The group opposite her was tall and vicious; if she went out, there was no guarantee of a good outcome.

But she couldn't just let it go. She was the one who had knocked those thugs unconscious. If something happened to them, she wouldn't be able to sleep or eat in peace.

Chu Guang pondered for a moment, pulled out one of the yellow copper-coin Nether notes the owner had given her, and shook her necklace. A ghostly wind whipped up, carrying the note away.

Aside from opening the gate to the Underworld, the necklace had a very special function: it could send a designated item in a specific direction. Essentially, it controlled the wind. Every time Chu Guang wanted to scare someone, she used the necklace to create a terrifying atmosphere before appearing.

Just as the tall, vicious man was about to plunge his bone-cleaving knife into the unconscious man’s flesh, a yellow Nether note slapped onto his face with a *snap*.

He pulled it off, his tone full of rage. "Who did that?"

He turned around, but there was only a bare wall.

Before he could recover, a cry of alarm came from the side. "Boss, your bone-cleaving knife... it doesn't seem to be glowing anymore."

The vicious man turned his gaze and saw the knife dimming.

"This bone-cleaving knife is stained with so much evil energy that most superpowered humans fear it. It only gets stronger after tasting blood, so why did it suddenly dim?"

Someone voiced their fear. "Boss, your knife is malfunctioning. Can you still kill that superpowered human?"

"Damn it." The vicious man cursed. He looked at the man on the ground and said with reluctance, "Let's go."

Before he could leave, another Nether note flew over, covering his bone-cleaving knife perfectly.

The knife let out a cracking sound, and a cold, bomb-like energy spread through the air, pressing the entire group to the ground until they vomited blood.

The scene fell into a dead silence.

Chu Guang took this opportunity to hurry out. Once she left, she keenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

Chu Guang started running. She knew some people were incredibly fast, capable of covering hundreds of meters in a blink, so she had to leave the scene immediately.

When Zhou Wei arrived, he saw the group of unconscious thugs and a few remaining Nether notes drifting in the air.

Zhou Wei spotted the shattered bone-cleaving knife instantly. "Evidence matches. Take them back."

His eyes shifted to the Nether items nearby, and a look of displeasure crossed his face. "Nether items again. Such crooked, devious tricks."