I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 85

Chapter 85

The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Ghost Festival.

All department personnel had adjusted their schedulessleeping during the day and patrolling at night.

When Xie Qingling woke up, the sun had already dipped halfway behind the skyscrapers, its brilliance fading as dusk approached.

It was 5 PM, with one hour left until the evening patrol at 6 PM.

Xie Qingling got out of bed.

On her bedside table lay a willow leaf soaking in clear water. The water was dew collected during the Qingming and Dragon Boat festivals. After steeping the willow leaf, it could be used to wipe the eyes, granting the ability to distinguish between yin and yang and see spirits.

This method usually didn’t work for seeing spirits, but on the Ghost Festival, it did.

Xie Qingling picked up the willow leaf, wiped her eyelids with it, and then left Room 206.

In the kitchen, the logistics department had restocked their supplies, including semi-prepared self-heating meals. With some time to spare, Xie Qingling heated a meal and began eating.

Outside, on the open balcony beyond the floor-to-ceiling window, Ling Fang was setting up two basins. Squatting on the ground, he burned stacks of paper offerings in them.

Beside him stood a simple incense altar holding a bowl of white rice with burning incense sticks inserted, along with some meat Offerings, fruits, and pastries.

The intense heat from the basins warped and expanded the air, creating a faint updraft that swirled the charred paper ashes, keeping them spinning and dancing around the basins, reluctant to disperse.

Xie Qingling approached and asked, “Department Head, what are you doing?”

“Offering to wandering souls.”

As he spoke, Ling Fang added a set of paper-cut clothing to the basin. Flames quickly engulfed the garmentsthese were clothes burned for the spirits.

Xie Qingling helped him burn offerings in the other basin, feeding stacks of spirit money into the fire. The flames leaped up, nearly singeing her hair.

Some of the spirit money was burned loose, while other bundles were wrapped separately, each marked with a small horse drawing before being burned.

This was Xie Qingling’s first time seeing such things. Previously, while fleeing from the Red Wedding Dress, she had seen people burning spirit money at Changying Intersection but hadn’t observed it up close.

She asked Ling Fang, “Department Head, why are some bundled while others are loose?”

“The loose ones are for wandering souls with no one to care for them. The bundled ones are for those with names and identities. Our department has handled many unclaimed remains over the years. Every Ghost Festival, we burn offerings for them.” Ling Fang placed a wrapped bundle into the basin. Xie Qingling saw it inscribed with a specific name, date, and place of death, and on the back, another small horse drawing.

“What’s the horse for?”

“Horses can carry people and goods.”

Ah, a means of transportation.

Then, Ling Fang tossed a handful of soybeans into the fire.

“???” Xie Qingling didn’t understand this action and asked, “What are the beans for?”

“Soybeans can sprout into bean sprouts, which can be used as horse fodder.”

“…” Xie Qingling gave a thumbs-up. “Department Head, you’re very thorough.”

Ling Fang remained silent and continued burning the offerings.

No matter the time or place, he always had the same reaction to Xie Qingling’s flatterycompletely ignoring it.

Xie Qingling didn’t mind either, circling around and looking at everything.

She noticed on the incense table a string of grape-like, translucent red fruits, arranged on a golden plate. Under the warm sunlight, the fruits glowed with hints of orange, resembling beautiful gemstones, while the air was filled with a sweet, fruity fragrance.

Xie Qingling reached out to pick one, but before she could succeed, her hand was sharply slapped away.

Ling Fang glared at her. “These Five Flavors Fruits are offerings for the Yulanpen Festival. You can’t steal them.”

“…Oh, they’re offerings.”

Xie Qingling glanced at Ling Fang and muttered under her breath, “These deities eat better than humans…”

“Besides, if they’re meant for the gods, isn’t it a bit wasteful not to taste them first…”

Watching Xie Qingling’s hand sneak forward again, Ling Fang said with a headache, “There are more in the fridge, just delivered by the logistics department. Those aren’t offerings, you can eat them now.”

“The kitchen is so far.”

“You…” Ling Fang grew impatient, picked up the fruit plate, and shooed her away. “Go on, hurry up and eat. Once you’re full, go patrol. Don’t even think about the offerings.”

“Haha, just kidding! Of course I wouldn’t steal from the gods. Look how scared you are, haha.” Xie Qingling dodged his swat, jumped up, and ran toward the kitchen.

The daily routine of subordinates provoking their superiors was truly thrilling.

After all, Ling Fang had been wearing a troubled expression latelyit was time to lighten his mood.

Ling Fang: “…” It seemed it had been too long since he’d made her write a self-criticism. She was getting too bold.

He shook his head helplessly, half-amused and half-exasperated, sighed, put down the fruit plate, and continued burning paper offerings.

With Xie Qingling gone, Ling Fang’s ears were finally peaceful as he burned the paper.

About ten minutes later, Xie Qingling wandered out of the kitchen again, holding a small bunch of Five Flavors Fruits. Under Ling Fang’s wary gaze, she began her daily patrol.

On the day of the Yulanpen Festival, the Ghost Gate swung wide open. Besides wandering spirits, Ghost Messengers frequently appeared, and some deities roamed the mortal world during the festival. The Eleven Sides rarely caused trouble on such daysit was too easy to stumbleso Operations Department members didn’t need to pair up and operated alone.

As soon as Xie Qingling pushed open the ebony door of the office and stepped out, she was stunned by the world before her.

So many…

So many ghosts!

The office was protected by the Qilin, so it remained clean and ghost-free.

But outside, Xie Qingling felt as if she had stumbled into a world of spirits.

Here, ghosts filled the sky and covered the ground.

Some flew through the air, some walked on the earth, and others crawled chaotically.

The ghosts varied in form and appearance.

Most retained their living appearances, though some were missing arms or legs, and others had half their bodies gone.

Still others had particularly pale, bluish faces, looking utterly terrifying.

Just as Shen Huaizhou had said, these spirits were generally well-behaved. Those with homes returned to them, while those without drifted aimlessly like tourists, not rashly harming anyone.

Suddenly, a figure squatting on the office steps lifted its head, revealing a face bleeding from all seven orifices.

Startled by the sudden close encounter with a spirit, Xie Qingling instinctively tightened her grip on the Blood Oath. Before she could react, the seven-orifice-bleeding spirit shyly pulled out a flower as crimson as the blood on its face from behind its back, offering it to her with a flattering expression.

“Pretty lady, would you like a Higanbana from the River of Oblivion’s banks?””

“……?” Xie Qingling stared at it silently.

“You can’t find these in the human world! These flowers bloom without leaves and grow leaves without blossomsvery special!”

“What do you want?” Xie Qingling asked.

The spirit scratched its head sheepishly. “When the sun rises again, could you… not send me away? I want to work in your department. I’ve been waiting for yearsaren’t there any job openings yet? I’d even sweep floors!”

Finally understanding, Xie Qingling said, “No.”

“Come on, pretty lady! I really don’t want to go back. Just one day off per year is unbearable.” Seeing the flower didn’t work, the spirit pulled out a stack of spirit money and kept shoving it toward her chest. “How about money? Is this enough? I have more!”

Xie Qingling: “…”

So persistent.

No wonder Shen Huaizhou said these spirits would cause minor troubles during the Ghost Festival.

So this was the kind of trouble he meant.

Xie Qingling kicked it away. “Get lost! I don’t accept bribes, no backdoor deals, and I won’t take your money!”

Last year it offered River of Forgetfulness Waternobody wanted it. The year before, river stones from the River of Oblivionrejected. This year, the red spider lilystill refused.

These people had no appreciation, not even accepting local specialties.

The spirit grumbled angrily but, sensing the terrifying aura emanating from her blade that even spirits feared, could only run away while muttering “philistines” under its breath.

Patrolling the streets, Xie Qingling gained profound understanding of the phrase “specters running wild.”

Some spirits fought over scattered spirit money, some asked Xie Qingling for directions, while others sat roadside at accident sites, clutching their severed limbs and wailing.

And then there were those…

Crawling chaotically on the ground.

Xie Qingling saw a headless corpse scrambling across the pavement, its limbs scraping against the ground as it bumped into walls, people, and cars.

The head was completely gone, only a neck stump remaining attached to the shoulders. Occasionally it would pause as if thinking, then resume crawling.

Eventually, it encountered a round bollard on the pedestrian barrier. The headless corpse immediately ripped off the spherical top and installed it on its neck.

It walked a distance with the round ball on top, but bumped into a wall and soon fell to the ground. Realizing that wasn’t its head, it continued crawling.

Trulysearching for its head all over the ground.

Xie Qingling: “…”

Is this the world the Herdsman sees every day?

What kind of Goblins and Monsters are these?

A world without Ghouls is so normal, so warm, so lovely.

Dai Xingyu is truly pitiful. Facing such absurd scenes every day, yet he can still maintain a sunny and cheerful demeanorwhat resilient character.

【Headless and running, crawling close to the ground. The head cannot find the body, the body cannot find the head. The headless Ghoul roams the busy human world all day long, searching for its lost head. Kind passerby, if you have ever seen its head, could you tell it the direction?】

Xie Qingling didn’t have time to help it find its head now.

But leaving it like this wasn’t a solution either.

Xie Qingling bought a large bag of basketballs, led the headless Ghoul to the roadside, made it sit on a bench, then stuffed the big bag of basketballs into its arms, letting it pick through them one by one.

Although none of them were its head.

But the headless Ghoul, like a child receiving a beloved toy, began carefully selecting them, finally no longer crawling around aimlessly.

Xie Qingling let out a soft sigh of relief and was about to continue patrolling the next area when she suddenly heard a burst of loud, wailing cries.

“Wahhhhhhh…”

“I can’t find my way home.”

“Where is my home? Do you know? Do any of you know?”

“Who can take me home? Mom, Dad, come take me home!”

“Wahhhhhhh…”

Xie Qingling followed the sound and saw a little girl sitting by the roadside, with twin ponytails, about four or five years old, crying her heart out.

【When young children die, ignorant and unable to distinguish right from wrong, if their final wishes are not properly settled, they can easily turn into child Ghouls wandering the mortal world.】

Trouble had arrived.

Xie Qingling walked over helplessly and asked, “Where is your home? I’ll take you back.”

The little girl looked up at her.

Her face was completely devoid of color, like a white sheet of paper with features drawn on it. Her eyes held no light, pitch-black and empty.

“Really?” the little girl sobbed. “If you can take me home, I’ll give you the most valuable treasure in the whole world.”