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"Wow, does that mean I can get merit points?!"
Yao Yao's mind worked quickly. Remembering Xie Bi'an's promise, excitement glittered in her pretty eyes. One Ghost General was worth ten merit points!
"Mm, catching him indeed counts as your contribution." Xie Bi'an nodded, answering Yao Yao's question. Looking again at his apprehended former colleague, a smile touched his lips.
To have results so quickly… entrusting her with this request seemed like a wise choice indeed. Catching one provided a breakthrough; using the Underworld's methods, he believed they could soon uncover the reasons behind these Ghost Generals' defections.
It was like pulling out a radish and bringing the mud with it – with this first success, those other Ghost Generals and Fierce Ghosts hiding elsewhere would find it much harder to conceal themselves. Xie Bi'an had every reason to be pleased.
Clearly, he wasn't the only one overjoyed. Yao Yao excitedly rubbed her small hands together. She looked sternly at the young Ghost General and declared in a crisp voice, "Leniency for confession, severity for resistance! Hurry up and confess honestly, where are your accomplices!"
Having initially assumed Ghost Generals were cunning, capturing this one so easily sparked an idea in Yao Yao's mind. She wanted to catch all of them and exchange them for merit points. Thinking of the sweet, fragrant 'taste' of merit points, Yao Yao couldn't help but swallow, wishing Han Yu would confess immediately.
Seeing her like this, not only was the young Ghost General stunned, but Xie Bi'an burst out laughing until his stomach hurt. He said lightly, "You don't need to worry about that. I have ways to make him talk."
In Xie Bi'an's view, even the most stubborn mouth couldn't withstand a tour through the eighteen levels of hell. The young Ghost General evidently knew the horrors of the Underworld too, as his face turned ashen, looking as wretched as if his own mother had just died.
The two ghosts, one following the other, stepped through the Ghost Gate.
Yao Yao condensed her qi into sound to notify her Third Brother waiting outside. He wasn't far, and within moments, people arrived on the rooftop. The most eye-catching thing, undoubtedly, was the charred corpse on the ground.
"Is it dealt with?" Gu Jinnian glanced at the body briefly before turning his attention to surveying the surroundings. Flat, orderly! It didn't look like the scene of an intense battle at all. This seemed illogical; he had clearly heard the blinding lightning and loud noises from upstairs just moments ago. Even someone as sharp as him couldn't have guessed that the opponent had essentially folded instantly. Otherwise, with a Ghost General's power, flattening this entire area and causing widespread devastation would have been easy.
"Mm-hmm, dealt with!" Yao Yao chirped. "And Third Brother, you don't need to worry about those people in that online group anymore! Yao Yao has a way to identify them now!"
She flashed a sweet smile, revealing a lock of black hair pinched between her fingers. She had taken it from the Ghost General. The ordinary people bewitched by him were scattered throughout the city; finding them one by one would be incredibly difficult. Their only common link was the worship of that specific effigy – the medium through which the Ghost General controlled them.
The power within this lock of hair shared the same source as the power on the effigy. Using this, Yao Yao could create a resonance between the two, thereby confirming the identities of the believers. The preliminary search, however, would still fall to her Third Brother.
"You've really helped me out big time!" Gu Jinnian hadn't expected his little sister to make progress so quickly. He paused for a moment, then a smile spread across his face as realization dawned. He had been struggling with how to differentiate the believers; when they weren't acting erratically, they were almost indistinguishable from normal people. Now that his sister had a method, it solved a major problem and significantly reduced the difficulty of the case.
Time was pressing; there was still another potential sacrifice to prevent.
Yao Yao didn't dare delay. She took several yellow talismans from her small bag and quickly set up an array on the spot. She sealed the lock of the Ghost General's hair inside a Bagua mirror. With a casual gesture, she placed a spell upon it – whenever someone influenced by that Ghost General's power came near, the mirror would react.
Yao Yao handed it to Gu Jinnian, who then passed it to Chen Jun, instructing, "Take a team and conduct a search. Anyone the mirror reacts to, apprehend them immediately."
"Yes, Captain Gu! I'll go right away!" Chen Jun solemnly accepted the mirror. He didn't question its efficacy, instead unconditionally obeying his superior's orders. Right now, their priority was to race against time and round up as many of those people as possible before word got out. Neither Gu Jinnian nor Chen Jun doubted the Bagua mirror's accuracy; Yao Yao's demonstrated abilities moments ago spoke volumes.
After explaining the mirror's function, Yao Yao used a Shrinking Ground Talisman and directly teleported to the location of the next potential sacrificer. This time, there was no need to lure out the Ghost General. Her efficiency skyrocketed; she apprehended the person almost immediately upon arrival. It happened so fast that the individual was already in handcuffs before their brain could even process the situation.
With this flurry of activity, the immediate crisis was tentatively resolved.
It was getting late. Yao Yao wasn't particularly tired; having just broken through to the eighth rank tonight, she felt full of energy.
"If you don't sleep, you won't grow taller, you know!"
However, she couldn't withstand the combined threats of her Third and Seventh Brothers. Yao Yao had a slight fixation on her height; she absolutely did not want to stop growing. So, she obediently went back to sleep.
As it turned out, the wig Seventh Brother had gotten for her was of excellent quality; no one in the family suspected a thing. Yao Yao's anxious heart finally relaxed completely. She happily devoured the sumptuous breakfast prepared by the chef. Then, holding a large cup of fruit tea, she trotted off to find Seventh Brother. They hadn't done a live stream in ages. It was time for her to earn some merit points!
…
"Hello everyone~! Welcome to Yao Yao and Seventh Brother's live stream channel! Same routine today, we'll be drawing three fated individuals!"
In front of the camera, Yao Yao adjusted the small decorative hairband she wore. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she kept feeling like it might fall off, so she had specifically rummaged through her jewelry box to put it on this morning. Chen Hui had seen it and complimented her profusely, making Yao Yao feel secretly delighted and strengthening her resolve to wear it.
She was already very familiar with the live streaming process, her demeanor poised and natural, without a hint of shyness. Seeing her adorable, childlike smile, the netizens in the live chat immediately erupted with activity.
[Ahhhhhh, Master is finally live!]
[Without Master's streams, food hasn't even tasted good these past few days.]
[I wonder which unlucky eggs will be chosen this time? Let's wait and see!]
The stream had gone viral several times, and Gu Yu's company had taken notice of the results. To maintain order, the company had assigned an assistant to provide real-time moderation, guiding the chat and banning overly aggressive comments. The relatively harmonious comment section this time was partly thanks to the assistant's efforts.
Yao Yao was unaware of this. Seeing that the atmosphere was right, she signaled Seventh Brother to post the lottery link. Hundreds of thousands of netizens, while clamoring to see the "unlucky eggs," were actually participating more enthusiastically than anyone, practically jabbing their fingers into their phones.
After a few seconds for the system to process, the first lucky audience member was announced. The person chose a video call connection.
Yao Yao nodded. The connection request she sent was quickly accepted, and the screen split into two.
The netizens eagerly began sizing up the "fated person's" appearance, curious to see what kind of unlucky egg they were dealing with. However, as they looked up and got a clear view of the person's face, they suddenly froze.
Even the comment section fell silent for several seconds before an overwhelming flood of comments began scrolling rapidly.