Forbidden to Capture Rare Cute Ghosts - Chapter 2

Dawn was breaking.

No sooner had Nan Deng finished speaking than the little girl suddenly reached forward to tightly grab his wrist.

She too was covered in burn marks. Her clothes tattered, and on her arm was an oddly shaped mark.

Unsure of her intentions, Nan Deng felt uneasy and flustered. The little girl was surprisingly strong; he couldn’t shake her off.

The little girl gave him a smile, her teeth a dark blue-black. The mark on her arm faintly glowed.

In the next instant, Nan Deng’s vision spun, and he and the little girl vanished on the spot.

Night had completely ended, and daylight broke through the clouds.

The weak energy they had detected earlier was now elusive and untraceable.

The team leader still held a compass in his hand, its needle slightly trembling.

Lian Yi looked away and said, “No need to follow me.”

He left alone, his figure disappearing beyond the playground.

The team leader returned to his team and helped treat his teammate’s injuries.

“We’ll hold off on the mission tonight. Rest and tend to your wounds,” the team leader said, “I’ll report the situation to the Inner Court and ask them to send more reinforcements.”

With the regional Earth Spirit dead, the resentful ghost that had taken over was stronger than they had anticipated.

One of their own weakly asked, “Isn’t…the head chief here with us?”

Ignoring the question, the team leader said, “Let’s go.”

………….

Elsewhere deep underground, Nan Deng leaned against a stone wall and carefully surveyed his surroundings.

Just moments ago, he and the little girl were about to be discovered, but then they inexplicably arrived here.

In the rather wide-open space before him, there were at least a dozen ghosts.

Each ghost had a different form, huddled together in a dense crowd, mumbling incomprehensible phrases from time to time, looking particularly creepy under the dim light.

This situation made Nan Deng feel like he was back in the tower.

He slowly crouched down, asking softly, “Where is this?”

It looked like a place where ghosts resided, but many ghosts didn’t like being with their own kind. Nan Deng had only encountered two or three other ghosts in all his time spent in the playground.

“What’s with your reaction?” The little girl stood by his side. Her voice was childlike, yet her tone was quite adult. “I saved you.”

She stared at Nan Deng, seeming a bit confused and puzzled.

Nan Deng didn’t look like a ghost.

He appeared to be young, his face fair and clean without a trace of death.

Ghosts didn’t possess aesthetic taste, but if one were to use a human perspective, he was quite handsome.

This type of ghost was rare. The little girl touched her burned cheek thoughtfully, her dark eyes revealing a hint of excitement. “You’re new here, escaped from the tower, right?”

She pressed on, “I heard a ghost king also escaped. Have you seen it?”

Nan Deng just stared with a lost expression.

Seeing his reaction, the girl’s enthusiasm dwindled, “Okay…I guess I was mistaken.”

Back then, all the ghosts at the playground were captured, leaving only her and Nan Deng. It now seemed that Nan Deng wasn’t good at hiding but was just too weak, so weak he barely registered any presence.

Nan Deng was at a loss, but he indeed owed his salvation to the little girl.

He hugged his knees, “Thank you.”

The girl looked at Nan Deng with a strange expression, noticing something moving in his arms.

Nan Deng was wearing a large jacket, the collar, and sleeves heavily worn, and there was a pocket at the lower hem.

The pocket bulged, and something moved inside it, revealing a pair of white ears, followed by a pair of eyes.

The girl asked, tilting her head, “What is that?”

A rabbit head toy without a body? It was white and about the size of an adult’s palm.

As she was speaking, the rabbit’s head’s eyes turned towards the sound.

…Was it alive?

Nan Deng was very nervous and hugged the rabbit’s head closer, “Its name is Xiao Tu…my pet.”

A pet? The little girl almost laughed out loud.

She had never seen a ghost with a pet before.

The girl reached out to touch the rabbit head’s fluffy ears.

Nan Deng moved to avoid her and protect the rabbit’s head in his arms, unaware that the creature’s eyes had subtly turned red.

Before the girl’s hand could touch the rabbit’s ears, the underground space suddenly rumbled.

Her expression changed, and she pulled her hand back.

“Boom…”

Nan Deng also turned his head to see what was happening. Panicked, the ghosts around him scattered as a specter wrapped in heavy fog appeared, floating in mid-air.

His face was obscured by the fog, and his features were indistinguishable. In a low voice, he said, “Hand it over.”

With his raised hands, several streaks of light flashed throughout the confined space.

The little girl glowed as well, originating from the mark on her arm.

Her body floated upward, as if being lifted by some unseen force, and a pained expression appeared on her face.

The other ghosts were similarly affected, their moans and cries of pain filling the chamber.

Nan Deng couldn’t help but feel terrified, watching the girl suspended in mid-air.

The fog-shrouded specter raised his hand again, and all the ghosts, including the girl, involuntarily opened their mouths, exhaling black smoke that converged at the center.

Afterward, the girl collapsed to the ground with a “thud,” much weaker than before.

The specter absorbed all the smoke and seemed satisfied, “Good children.”

He was surrounded by swirling fog which suddenly shot out countless black paper fragments, striking the ghosts in the chamber.

The girl hadn’t even stood up when a paper fragment attached itself to her arm, immediately burrowing into the skin and leaving a familiar black mark.

The original mark on her arm had vanished.

One paper fragment also flew towards Nan Deng, but the rabbit head’s quick reaction saved him, jumping up and swallowing the fragment.

Nan Deng quickly checked, and sure enough, the rabbit head had an identical mark on its left ear.

He touched the rabbit’s head’s ears and said worriedly, “What is this?”

After releasing the paper fragments, the fog-shrouded specter disappeared without a trace. A few ghosts in the underground chamber began to pass through the stone walls and leave one by one.

Nan Deng couldn’t help but feel that the black paper fragments looked a lot like the talismans a celestial master might use, but their appearance was different.

The little girl sat on the ground, grinning at him, “I don’t know, but you’d better watch out for your pet.”

After becoming a ghost, many perceptions and thought processes changed. The girl spoke a lot, and Nan Deng finally managed to understand her with difficulty.

The black paper fragments served as a tool to transport the ghosts to the underground chamber and would also steal the “food” that the ghosts had consumed.

Ghosts’ food typically consisted of the living souls and vital energies of people. Once they’ve eaten their fill and digested the food, they could grow stronger.

The fog-shrouded specter used the paper fragments to make the other ghosts his servants.

“If you come back next time with an empty stomach,” the girl chuckled ominously, “he’ll be angry, and he’ll eat those who don’t listen.”

The paper fragments would become active after a certain interval, but she couldn’t recall if it was a matter of days.

Ghosts consuming their own kind could only satisfy their hunger, and the taste was terrible.

This was the first time Nan Deng had heard about ghosts eating other ghosts, and he was visibly scared. Clutching the rabbit’s head, he remained silent.

The girl had brought him here using the paper fragments’ power.

“I need to hunt for prey,” the girl said, passing through the stone wall. Her parting words were, “Move quickly, Xiao Gui.”

Before long, only a few ghosts remained in the underground chamber.

Nan Deng stroked the rabbit head’s ears, and whispered, “Are you hungry?”

The rabbit head couldn’t speak. It had a wilted expression, not because of the paper fragments, but because it hadn’t been fed for two days during their time in the amusement park, and it was starving.

However, it was daytime, so they had to wait for nighttime.

Fortunately, the chamber was safe after the fog-shrouded specter had left. Nan Deng curled up in a corner and fell asleep, waking up just as night fell.

The mark on the rabbit head’s ear remained, showing no other abnormalities.

Nan Deng put it back in his pocket, and inside the chamber, he searched for a way out.

The chamber was part of an abandoned underground structure, connected to a tunnel leading to a nearby plaza.

As Nan Deng pushed open the manhole cover above his head, there was no one around.

He quickly emerged, hiding in the darkest area beyond the moonlight’s reach and walking along the side of the street.

In recent times, numerous ghosts have been wreaking havoc. Many residents had packed their bags and left, while those who remained were too terrified to venture out at night, leaving the streets eerily deserted.

Nan Deng followed the brightest light, walking a short distance before faintly hearing human voices.

He halted his steps, hesitant.

As a ghost, he should be out there “feasting on humans,” and since the rabbit head’s tag was marked, he needed to feed it well.

But he had never “eaten” a human before. He lacked experience.

When he was in the tower, however, he would occasionally hear other ghosts relaying their glorious exploits. He had a vague idea of what to do.

With resolved determination, Nan Deng continued forward.

He approached the human voices, a detached house up ahead was brightly lit.

Yet, as Nan Deng turned a corner, he abruptly noticed a group of five or six people down below, dressed in the uniforms of celestial masters.

They gathered together, etching white marks on the ground. Nan Deng quickly hid as he prepared to silently escape.

The celestial masters were unfamiliar faces, not the ones he had encountered the previous night. They all sported badges, with the golden threaded patterns on their collars seeming even more intricate and conspicuous.

One person was holding a compass, exclaiming, “The needle is moving!”

However, the needle was only jiggling lightly and didn’t point in any particular direction, indicating no specter was approaching.

His companion glanced over after hearing him and said, “It should be time soon. The person inside is nearing the end of his lifespan, and part of his spirit will detach.”

Their group was well organized with a clear division of roles. There was also an apprentice by their side, diligently taking notes.

The situation everywhere was dire, the celestial masters were running short of hands for the missions, and the lower-ranked ones had to quickly accumulate experience.

After preparing everything, they all began a patient wait.

“The state of affairs has been deteriorating in recent years,” the leading celestial master muttered as though talking to himself, “The Mountain Gods and the primordial Chaos Gods have vanished completely, even the underworld has declined to the point of needing assistance…”

His slightly elder companion by his side chided, “Enough, concentrate.”

At the same time, the compass’s needle started rotating rapidly, pointing straight inside the house.

Faint sounds of abnormality emanated from within. The celestial masters showed excellent teamwork, pouring their spiritual arts into the ground’s array simultaneously.

“Om——”

A low hum vibrated through the air. Everything around seemed to blur and grow distant. At their vision’s end, a large door materialized.

The gate had an ancient appearance, reminiscent of a relic from a thousand years ago. Its redwood body had already weathered, the tiles above teetering precariously. The signboard was embossed with two characters.

“The Underworld.”

The moonlight and the wind vanished mysteriously as a feeling of emptiness and transcendence crept up the spine.

For the first time, the apprentice in the crowd experienced directly the presence of the underworld, causing him to break a sweat and involuntarily feel dread.

“Squeak——”

The gate creaked open slowly. A third-level resentful spirit had just disengaged from its corporeal form and was desperately resisting the pull of the underworld, attempting to flee.

However, a trapping array had been set up in the surrounding area, preventing the resentful spirit from escaping. In its desperate cries, it was sucked into the gate.

“Boom!”

It was unclear if it was an illusion, but the apprentice felt as though he could hear a swallowing sound.

Fortunately, the mission was successful. Had this resentful spirit—born at the third level—escaped, the underworld would not have been able to capture it, resulting in dire consequences.

The underworld disappeared after consuming the spirit, and the surroundings returned to normal.

The apprentice sighed in relief, smoothing out the notebook in his hand that had been crinkled from the tension.

By now, Nan Deng had already slipped away.

It was only when he arrived in the residential area that he realized that the normal inhabitants had locked themselves in their houses. Talismans were pasted on the houses and celestial masters could be seen patrolling everywhere.

Nan Deng carefully avoided them. After much difficulty in finding a slightly safer place, he discovered that it was already occupied by other ghosts who fiercely drove him away.

With no choice, Nan Deng had to seek elsewhere. Along the way, he plucked some berries from shrubs to feed the rabbit’s head.

He could touch these plants, and the rabbit head wasn’t picky about its diet; it ate anything.

After about two hours of wandering, Nan Deng noticed the atmosphere becoming significantly quieter.

There were no patrolling celestial masters, and no more squabble over territory among the ghosts. The single-story buildings lining the road were pitch dark except for one that still had a light burning.

Nan Deng approached cautiously as the rabbit’s head hopped out from his pocket, jumping onto his head, and looked around vigilantly.

He reached the house with the light without encountering any obstruction.

Where there was light, there were people living.

Nan Deng circled the house to make sure it was safe.

Even after finding a suitable target, he was not able to enter. There were talismans stuck to the door that looked new.

There was a window on one side which wasn’t secured tightly. Nan Deng tried to pull it open, but the talisman inflicted pain upon touch.

The rabbit head, another spiritual being, couldn’t get in either.

Having failed the attempt, Nan Deng sat down to rest under a tree.

He picked a leaf from the tree and fed the rabbit head, expressing his worry, “We might not make it tonight… Don’t be scared, next time I’ll go to the underground with you.”

It was uncertain if the rabbit head understood or not, but it crunched down the leaf in a few bites.

The night was quiet. Nan Deng leaned against the tree trunk, running his fingertips through the rabbit head’s fur.

Suddenly, the rabbit’s head’s ears pricked up as it turned to look at a dark corner.

A kitten emerged slowly from the darkness, sniffing the air in the direction of Nan Deng.

Many animals were indeed sensitive and could sense the presence of spirits.

The little black cat trotted over, circling the tree trunk, before settling, tentatively, at Nan Deng’s feet.

Nan Deng had never encountered this creature before and reached out a curious hand.

Surprisingly, the little black cat seemed to sense his presence. Its nose sniffed his transparent fingers before sprawling down, revealing a soft belly to Nan Deng.

Seeing the small body of the black cat and its flexible movements, Nan Deng’s eyes lit up.

He couldn’t force his way into the house, but the little black cat was a living creature, the talisman couldn’t affect them.

If he possessed the little black cat, he could squeeze in through the window. He could even bring the rabbit head along.

Nan Deng’s translucent fingertips passed through the black cat’s body as he asked, “Can you do me a favor?”

The little black cat looked up at him, flicked its tail, and made no move to leave.

Nan Deng closed his eyes to attempt possession. By the time he opened his eyes, he had already entered the little black cat.

The little black cat didn’t reject him—a pleasant surprise. Nan Deng tested the new “limbs” and had a peculiar feeling as though he had truly transformed into a cat.

The rabbit’s head was now magnified in his eyes. He reached out a paw to touch it, experiencing an intriguing sensation.

Not long after, a small black cat deftly jumped onto the window sill, squeezing in through the gap.

The house wasn’t small by any means, with the living room and interior bedroom lit up brightly while the rest of the house remained dim and seemingly vacant.

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom swung open, and a figure appeared.

A soft click echoed in the house as Lian Yi turned on the corridor light outside the bedroom, casting his gaze toward the source of this abnormal event.

A small black cat appeared before him, radiating a faint eerie aura all over its body.

Its eyes were vacant, and a semi-transparent rabbit head was held in its mouth.

“Plop,” the rabbit’s head fell to the floor, producing a barely audible sound that an ordinary person wouldn’t have captured.

Nan Deng, within the body of the black cat, felt his heart rate accelerate. It was possibly due to his own anxiety.

He tried to recall his actions from just before entering the room: awkwardly stumbling before the human, showing his belly, and shaking his tail.

This man’s attire was different from that of a celestial master—it was safe.

Once he lifted him up, he could “bite” him.

Translator Footnotes:

南燈 (Nan Deng): Our main character in the story, his name directly translates to “Southern Lamp.”

邊遊樂場 (bian youlechang): Translates to “playground.” In Chinese culture, larger parks often serve as recreational and social gathering places.

內庭 (nei ting): The “Inner Court” refers to a group or organization responsible for governing certain areas or aspects in the Celestial Masters’ world.

塔中 (ta zhong): This phrase literally translates to “in the tower.” The context suggests this to be a place where ghosts or resentful spirits are held or dealt with.

鬼 (gui): Directly translated to “ghost.” However, in the context of the story, these ‘ghosts’ are more related to the spirits or souls of the deceased.

鬼王 (guiwang): Translated to “Ghost King,” it refers to a relatively more potent or influential ghost.

小兔 (Xiao Tu): “Xiao” means ‘little’ or ‘young,’ and “Tu” means ‘rabbit.’ The character is using this as a name for his pet, which is a rabbit head toy.

霧鬼 (wu gui): Translates to “fog-shrouded specter.” This is a type of ghost with the ability to manipulate or be associated with fog.

印記 (yin ji): In this context, “mark” refers to a unique symbolic or magical marking applied to the skin, sometimes used for controlling or binding a person or spirit.

小鬼 (Xiao Gui): “Xiao” means ‘little’ or ‘young,’ and “Gui” means ‘ghost.’ The girl affectionately addresses Nan Deng as “Xiao Gui” or “Little Ghost.”

天師制服 (tianshi zhifu): Refers to the uniform traditionally associated with celestial masters or Daoist priests.

靈術 (ling shu): Literally translates to “spiritual arts”, referring to the supernatural abilities or practices performed by celestial masters.

山神與混沌神 (shanshen yu hundunshen): “Mountain gods and primordial Chaos gods.” In Chinese mythology, these entities represent powerful spiritual forces that govern natural and cosmic forces.

地府 (difu): Literally translates to “underworld.” In Chinese mythology and popular religion, the “Underworld” is the realm of the dead or “hell,” ruled over by the Yama, the King of Hell.

三級怨魂 (sānjí yuànhún): Literally translates to “third-level resentful spirit”. According to Chinese beliefs, spirits can hold varying levels of resentment and power, which determines their manifestations in the spectral world.

符咒 (fúzhòu): They are paper talismans, often used by celestial masters for various purposes, including protection, dispelling evil spirits, among others.

地洞 (dì dòng): It translates to ‘underground’. In Chinese culture and mythology, the underworld is often represented as subterranean.