WBICDPH Chapter 24 Part 2

“This flag was expensive, too! If we can’t find the source of the ghostly energy, it’s definitely the location’s problem. There’s no way my artifact is faulty!”

“If you don’t believe it, why don’t you go take a walk outside and try again?”

“Fine, I’ll try.”

Lin Jin tucked the flag at his waist and pulled an oil-paper umbrella from his storage pouch.

The snow in Zhongyun City hadn’t stopped at all, and it was falling even harder at night. Lin Jin and Han Ao had been sheltering under the eaves in the back alley to avoid the snow. Now that he was heading out, Lin Jin opened the umbrella and retied his cloak, wrapping the white fabric tightly around himself to make sure not a single draft could get in.

After that, Lin Jin handed the little puppy in his arms to Han Ao.

“Take good care of my pup. Don’t let him catch a chill.”

“Why are you so delicate, both you and the dog?” Han Ao complained.

But despite his grumbling, he still took the fluffy ball and held it securely in his arms.

Then he lifted his gaze to Lin Jin’s back.

Lin Jin was wearing a robe the color of green mountains, but his cloak was long enough to completely conceal him from head to toe, not a hint of green visible. He held an oil-paper umbrella, and from Han Ao’s angle, half his face was hidden by the umbrella’s edge. Only the tip of his nose, his lips, and his pale, slender chin could be seen.

Han Ao had always known Lin Jin was good-looking. He was fair-skinned with excellent bone structure. His features weren’t as rugged as most men’s, yet neither were they softly feminine. Instead, he had a perfectly balanced, almost ethereal quality.

And although he was tall, his frame was slight, his figure lean. Wrapped in a loose cloak like this, with an umbrella in hand, his silhouette alone made him look rather like an exceptionally tall young woman.

Realizing this, Han Ao felt an ominous twinge in his heart. He had the vague sense that he had just caught onto something important, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong.

He watched as Lin Jin walked briskly to the mouth of the alley. Then, as if suddenly startled, Lin Jin paused. Before testing the soul-tracing banner, he inexplicably lifted his hand beyond the umbrella and caught a falling snowflake.

Lin Jin wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but after taking those few steps, he felt as though the wind around him had grown stronger. Strangely, the snowflakes drifting through the air didn’t seem affected at all. If anything, they slowed down in an eerie way.

So he reached out into the raging wind and caught a snowflake. Before he could determine the cause of the strange phenomenon around him, he suddenly felt the soul-tracing banner at his waist begin to shake violently.

Startled, Lin Jin immediately pulled it out. The small black flag was thrashing wildly in his hand. Under circumstances like these—

“Whoosh—!”

Another fierce gust of wind struck. The force was so strong it shredded the oil-paper umbrella in Lin Jin’s hand into pieces, and he himself was nearly swept away by the unnatural gale.

Wind and snow spiraled into a vortex before his eyes, and Lin Jin could barely keep them open.

The umbrella was torn from his grasp and flung into the air before crashing heavily to the ground. As the ghostly energy grew ever denser, the soul-tracing banner could no longer withstand it and snapped cleanly in two.

Lin Jin’s long hair and the hem of his robes whipped violently together, and the frigid air seemed ready to pierce straight through his flesh and nail itself into his bones.

Yet at that very moment, the world around him suddenly fell silent.

He opened his eyes slightly and saw that the snowstorm vortex still existed. But vaguely, amid the chaotic snowflakes, he seemed to see someone reaching out a hand toward him.

That arm was clearly the phantom limb of a young woman. The fabric and pattern of her sleeve were exquisitely made, though now it was covered in grime and torn through in many places.

The exposed forearm and wrist were slender. Though her skin tone clearly did not belong to the living, she did not appear fierce or malicious like the ghosts Lin Jin knew. On the contrary, there was an unexpected hint of gentleness in her movements.

Lin Jin knew very well that the being before him was no living person, yet for reasons he couldn’t explain, in that instant he felt as though bewitched. He reached out his hand toward her.

The moment he did, the woman abruptly grasped his wrist. With a slight pull, Lin Jin, along with the drifting snowflakes, was swept straight into the howling storm.

“Wait! Lin-lin! Wait for me! If you’re gone, how am I supposed to live, Lin-lin?!”

On the other side, Han Ao saw the sudden change and immediately took off running, clutching the puppy in his arms.

But in his eyes, there was no snowstorm vortex at the alley’s mouth, no tattered female arm reaching out. Everything looked completely normal, even the way the snowflakes fell was no different from before.

All he saw was Lin Jin suddenly, as if possessed, throwing away the oil-paper umbrella and the soul-tracing banner, then reaching out toward the snow-covered ground. It was as though someone had yanked him hard. He lunged forward and simply fell into space.

Seeing Lin Jin’s figure about to disappear, Han Ao knew he wouldn’t catch up in time. In that critical moment, he hurled the puppy in his hands forward.

“Brother Dog! Your dad’s in danger! I can’t catch up—go! Pikachu Ball!!”

“?”

Xiao Lanqi had been resting with his eyes closed when he was suddenly thrown like a sandbag. Even he was momentarily stunned.

But very quickly, he spotted Lin Jin, trapped under the influence of ghostly energy.

Xiao Lanqi rolled his eyes.

Idiot. Always causing trouble. Even a low-level ghost can snatch you away. What good are you, really?

Though he complained inwardly, Xiao Lanqi still adjusted his body midair. Before Lin Jin could fully fall into the ghost realm, he clamped his teeth down on half a corner of Lin Jin’s robe.