Duan Kefan was drenched in sweat, his mind racing to come up with an explanation, when Shi Pengpeng raised her hand first.
“Officer, I want to report him for abusing his authority!”
“No, I…” Duan Kefan hurriedly tried to stop her, but Officer Li cut him off with a wave of his hand.
“Don’t interrupt.”
After Shi Pengpeng finished speaking, Officer Li’s face turned dark.
“Duan Kefan, is this how you usually use your identity as a ghost official?”
As the saying goes, money can make the devil turn the millstone.
It’s common for these ghost officials to take advantage of their duties to collect offerings from the deceased, as long as it’s not excessive, the higher-ups usually turn a blind eye.
But using the Fire Order to harass residences and intimidate the living is a serious violation.
The punishment ranges from being stripped of official duties to detention, imprisonment, or even being sent into exile for hard labor.
Duan Kefan felt as if his corpse was turning cold and quickly pleaded for mercy.
“Officer Li, this is really a misunderstanding. I’ve just been idle lately, so I came out to have some fun and joke around with everyone.”
He desperately made eye contact, mouthing silently, “Don’t report me. When we get back, I’ll burn mountains of gold and silver, luxury cars, and mansions for you…”
“Ah, so this is how Old Zhang has been covering for you, huh?” Officer Li’s face darkened even more, and he kicked Duan Kefan in anger.
“I’m not Old Zhang. Don’t think you can corrupt me.”
Not to mention, the underworld is currently cracking down on such behavior, and this is happening right in front of Shi Pengpeng.
This woman is now famous in both the mortal and spiritual realms, having even shattered a divine status.
Which ghost official would dare to engage in underhanded dealings in her presence?
Moreover, Old Zhang has already been arrested.
Given the current level of scrutiny, it’s only a matter of time before Duan Kefan is exposed.
Having been a ghost official for many years, Officer Li understood the nuances of human relationships.
At this point, it was better to do Shi Pengpeng a favor.
Seeing this, Duan Kefan knew his fate was sealed, and further resistance would be futile.
Helpless, he resigned himself to his fate.
“I’ll talk, I’ll tell everything…”
Just as he was about to confess, Officer Li glanced at the two living people present.
“Wait.”
This matter involved underworld secrets and couldn’t be overheard by ordinary people.
With a wave of the Fire Order, he immobilized Ju Ziyi’s soul.
He then pointed the order at Yan Jing, but before he could act, Shi Pengpeng stopped him.
“He can listen.”
“Oh?” Officer Li looked at Shi Pengpeng, then at Yan Jing.
“And he is…?”
Yan Jing immediately stepped forward, standing close to Shi Pengpeng, exuding the demeanor of a main character.
“Hmm.”
“That’s right,” Shi Pengpeng nodded.
“He’s my disciple.”
Yan Jing: “…”
“Ah, I see,” Officer Li said, understanding.
“Then there’s no problem.”
Duan Kefan finally confessed the whole story, looking utterly wronged.
“Officer Li, you can’t blame this entirely on me. It’s that Fang Zhenghao who’s being unethical. He promised me a ‘benefit fee’ if I helped lower the price of this house, but as soon as the property was transferred, he turned his back on me! I was just so angry…”
It turned out that after the accident involving the construction workers, the first owner had lowered the price a bit, hoping to sell it off quickly.
As a result, he caught the attention of Fang Zhenghao, a professional real estate speculator.
Fang knew that the houses in this community had a good reputation and would not lack buyers.
He was determined to acquire the property but wanted to make a profit from the price difference, so the current price wasn’t cheap enough for him.
Over the years, Fang had been flipping haunted houses and foreclosed properties, developing a reliance on this path.
He thought to himself that if the house could be made to appear haunted, turning it into a genuine “haunted house,” the price would surely plummet.
However, the first owner and the insurance company had already resolved the issue with the construction workers, leaving the house clean and free of any problems.
Many interested buyers had already started viewing the property.
Fang, bold and unscrupulous in his pursuit of profit, somehow learned a method to summon a ghost and actually succeeded in summoning one-Duan Kefan.
Interestingly, it was Old Zhang who had taught Duan Kefan this trick.
It turned out that Old Zhang and a group of other ghostly envoys had often taken on side jobs in secret, including tasks for the living.
There was an exchange rate difference between the currency of the living and the dead, and the living were usually quite generous when burning paper money for them.
A single job could sustain them comfortably for a long time.
Originally, Duan Kefan hadn’t been involved in this, but since the beginning of the year, the workload in Xiluo had increased significantly.
Old Zhang and the other ghostly envoys were overwhelmed, so they brought Duan Kefan into the fold.
Duan Kefan was a “living ghost envoy,” and the paper money offerings weren’t of much use to him.
At first, he was reluctant to participate.
However, Old Zhang had always taken good care of him and, using his status as a ghost envoy, had even helped Duan Kefan out in the living world.
Out of respect for Old Zhang, Duan Kefan agreed to help with some minor tasks.
Gradually, though, Duan Kefan began to see the benefits.
With their status as ghostly envoys, they didn’t need to put in much effort— sometimes just showing up was enough—and the rewards were substantial.
In the living world, Duan Kefan was just an ordinary office worker with limited income.
Last year, he had a second child, and the financial pressure to upgrade to a larger house was mounting.
Seeing his ghostly colleagues earning large sums so effortlessly, it was impossible not to feel envious.
Being quick-witted, Duan Kefan thought that since they were also taking jobs from the living, why limit themselves to rewards from the dead?
It wouldn’t hurt to ask for some money from the living as well.
However, this was easier said than done.
As a living ghost envoy, he was bound by strict identity confidentiality rules and could never reveal his true nature in the living world.
Thus, the question of how to receive payment became a problem.
Unexpectedly, Old Zhang sensed his thoughts and, perhaps considering him one of their own, pointed him to a solution.
It turned out there were intermediaries in the living world who could launder money for them.
With this, Duan Kefan took on his first side job-Fang Zhenghao had summoned him to cause disturbances in the house, creating the illusion of a haunting to force the previous owner to lower the price.
At the time, Duan Kefan and Fang Zhenghao agreed that, upon success, Fang would pay Duan Kefan 20% of the reduced price as his fee.
Fang readily agreed, and Duan Kefan didn’t disappoint.
Through his efforts, he scared off all the other potential buyers.
In the end, the first owner had no choice but to lower the price repeatedly, eventually selling the house to Fang Zhenghao for nearly ten million below the market price.
According to their agreement, Fang was supposed to pay Duan Kefan 20% of the ten million, which amounted to two million.
Duan Kefan was feeling quite pleased with himself, waiting for Fang Zhenghao to transfer the money into the designated account.
However, after waiting and waiting, once the property was finally transferred, Fang Zhenghao ended up burning millions of hell banknotes for him.
Duan Kefan was so furious he almost had a stroke.
He went to confront Fang Zhenghao, but Fang turned the tables, claiming that since the deal was made with a ghost, it was only natural to use hell banknotes.
He even shamelessly boasted about burning extra millions for him.
Duan Kefan had taken on this risky job, only to be swindled himself.
He couldn’t let it go.
While he couldn’t expose his identity as a living agent of the underworld, dealing with Fang Zhenghao was still a piece of cake.
So, Duan Kefan decided to show Fang Zhenghao the true meaning of a “haunted house.”
He secretly installed a hidden camera at the elevator entrance of the property.
Every time someone came to view the house, he would kill a chicken, extract its blood, leave his body, and rush over from miles away to create terrifying scenes.
The blood-soaked message, “Return my hard-earned money,” was a direct warning to Fang Zhenghao.
At first, Fang Zhenghao didn’t take it too seriously.
He wasn’t new to dealing with haunted properties.
Since he dared to swindle a ghost, he naturally had ways to handle these supernatural disturbances.
Fang Zhenghao had a clever plan: hire a few masters to exorcise the ghost.
At most, it would cost him a hundred thousand, saving him two million.
It seemed like a win-win.
But this time, he miscalculated completely.
The masters came and went repeatedly, but none could deal with this vengeful spirit.
The masters were baffled.
The ghost wasn’t as ferocious as the rumors suggested, and there were no traces of a vengeful spirit in the house.
Yet, no matter what they did, the ghost just wouldn’t leave.
Little did they know, it wasn’t a ghost at all, but a living person—a person with connections and status in the underworld.
Finally, Fang Zhenghao admitted defeat and tried to negotiate with Duan Kefan.
But Duan Kefan was already holding a grudge.
At this point, offering two million wasn’t going to cut it.
Duan demanded Fang Zhenghao compensate him for the price difference of the house, which amounted to ten million.
Moreover, Fang Zhenghao couldn’t delay this time.
The money had to be transferred to the designated account first.
Naturally, Fang Zhenghao refused.
Not only did he not have ten million in cash, but the property’s value had plummeted due to Duan’s antics, even affecting the prices of other units in the building.
Thus, the negotiations reached a stalemate.
Fang Zhenghao didn’t dare return to the property, and with his cash flow on the verge of collapse, he had no choice but to keep lowering the price, growing increasingly desperate.
Seeing this, Duan Kefan had a new idea.
Since Fang Zhenghao couldn’t come up with the money, why not drive the price down further?
Then, he could step in, leverage some funds, and buy the property himself.
His family could then live in a multi-million-dollar mansion with ease.
How perfect would that be?
His plan was almost successful, but at the last moment, Shi Pengpeng, the unexpected disruptor, appeared.
Duan Kefan grew more aggrieved as he spoke, pleading pitifully, “Officer Li, I really only did this once. What do you think the higher-ups will do with me?”
Shi Pengpeng couldn’t help but roll his eyes, exasperated.
“You’ve got an entire industry chain going on, and you call this ‘just once’?”
Duan Kefan’s lips trembled and she said:
“Those were all Old Zhang’s jobs before…”
“How dare you argue back!” Officer Li angrily slapped the arrest warrant, and the icy, soul-binding chains tightly bound Duan Kefan.
It was already a grave taboo for a ghost official to take bribes from the living, and now he had been caught red-handed by the most renowned righteous mage of the time.
There was no way to cover it up, and leniency was out of the question.
Duan Kefan’s job as a ghost official was undoubtedly over.
As for whether there would be additional punishments, that would depend on how much more information could be extracted from him and Old Zhang’s group of ghost officials during the investigation.
Officer Li bound Duan Kefan to prevent him from saying anything further that would disgrace the underworld, then awkwardly apologized to Shi Pengpeng:
“Miss Shi, this is a failure on our part in overseeing the underworld. We’re truly sorry. Rest assured, we will give you a proper explanation.”
Shi Pengpeng also understood that the matter was complicated and couldn’t be resolved quickly.
As a living-world mage, even with her reputation, she had no jurisdiction over underworld affairs.
So, she graciously gave Officer Li some face and didn’t press further.
However, the living-world organization colluding with Old Zhang and his group had to be investigated.
Unfortunately, Duan Kefan didn’t know much about it either he only had the account details of a money-laundering organization.
After some thought, Shi Pengpeng asked, “How did Fang Zhenghao contact you?”
According to Duan Kefan, Fang Zhenghao was just a bold real estate speculator, not someone from the mystical arts community.
So, where did he learn the method of summoning ghosts?
Duan Kefan scratched his head and said, “He said he bought an online course on Cat’s Paw.”
Shi Pengpeng slowly glanced at Yan Jing.
“Brother, your company…”
Yan Jing closed his eyes, his tone icy.
“Winter is coming. I’ll announce the bankruptcy of Cat’s Paw.”