Chen Yinghe was so disappointed, this was not the result she wanted.

She felt that maybe she was taking it too seriously, while Tan Xiao's spell might have just been a fluke. He was probably afraid that his exorcism wouldn't work, so he didn't dare to take full responsibility for the matter.

After all, he was just a high school student like herself.

Chen Yinghe gave a bitter smile, "Sigh, I'm leaving."

Seeing her stuff the talisman he gave into her pocket, Tan Xiao didn't say anything.

When evening self-study started, Tan Xiao was working on problems when his phone vibrated. Taking a glance, it was a message from an employee at the Bureau 404.

【@Nanchu-Tan Xiao Mr. Tan, regarding the case you reported, the grid staff has investigated and found no significant abnormalities. The art studio was temporarily closed in the evening so residents could not be visited. Just want to confirm, is the location possibly incorrect?】

Tan Xiao replied: 【The address was directly stated by the client, it should not be wrong.】 Thinking of Chen Yinghe's expression, could it really just be some snake or insect causing trouble? But it didn't seem like it. 【I'll go take a look tonight.】

The art studio was just a slight detour on his way home, it would only take about ten more minutes to get back.

"Great God, accompany me to check out a place." After evening self-study, Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan took a different route.

Arriving near the art studio, it was indeed as Lin Yang said - there was a bank on the first floor of the mall, and there were few people around at this hour.

"Let's go straight up?" Tan Xiao walked towards the art studio. The building was a bit old but only a few stories tall so there was no elevator. Because it was temporarily closed at night, the lights were off. As soon as he went up the stairs, Tan Xiao discovered the motion-sensing lights were broken.

Guess he'd have to use his phone.

Before Tan Xiao could take out his phone, the surroundings were already brightly illuminated.

Tan Xiao slowly turned his head. Sure enough, it was Kong Xuan who had activated one of his five-colored divine lights. He wanted to say something but held back, finally just saying: "Wow, so bright."

As Kong Xuan went up the stairs, he smugly said: "Of course, this is an innate magic treasure that moves according to my will."

In other words, as soon as Kong Xuan wanted light, there would immediately be light.

Impressive, impressive.

Tan Xiao found the third floor, this entire level belonged to Chen Yinghe's art studio which had been open for many years. The exterior walls were overgrown with ivy. Tan Xiao looked at the rooms one by one and noticed that all the doors had fresh mugwort and calamus hung on them.

It was an old custom to hang mugwort to ward off evil spirits after the Dragon Boat Festival not long ago. Calamus, shaped like a sword and also called "reed sword", was said to be able to slay evil as well. In the past, both mugwort and calamus needed to be hung, but in recent years, fewer people hung calamus, mugwort was still more common.

Perhaps the art studio folks felt mugwort alone wasn't enough, so they also got some calamus.

Tan Xiao had Kong Xuan shine light inside, "Second room, it should be this one right?"

Seeing a painting hung on the wall, Kong Xuan asserted: "That's Chen Yinghe's self-portrait, it should be where she stays."

Tan Xiao: "Oh oh!"

After responding, Tan Xiao felt something was off. Thinking back, the class monitor had called him out during the day but not Kong Xuan, so how did Kong Xuan know both Chen Yinghe's name and appearance? He had only said to accompany him here to take a look.

Relying on his good hearing to eavesdrop huh...

Kong Xuan also realized he let it slip, but he didn't feel guilty at all. His eavesdropping today was a special situation!

He had been studying in the human world for a year after all, how could he not know? Those students always loved to call people out to confess!

Luckily Chen Yinghe had just encountered a ghost.

Tan Xiao also glanced at the painting on the wall. Chen Yinghe's self-portrait was hung up as an excellent portrait assignment from last time, but looking at it, Tan Xiao was unable to match it to her real person. He only swept a glance before going to examine each corner, carefully sensing.

In the darkness of the art studio, only portrait paintings and plaster figures could be seen, as if human shadows were flickering. No joke, it was indeed a bit scary.

But sometimes you can't just go by the atmosphere. Just like the mall across the street - although it was built on an execution ground and felt gloomy with few visitors, it was really just poorly managed...

"Seems like there's nothing amiss?" Tan Xiao made an "hmm" sound, "Great God, what do you think? Any rats, snakes or the like?"

"There are some four-legged snakes." Kong Xuan swept a glance.

Four-legged snakes referred to geckos. This building was quite old and ivy was planted, so having geckos was perfectly normal. If there were rats, Tan Xiao would have casually gotten rid of them, but geckos were beneficial insects.

After confirming the geckos had not turned into spirits, Kong Xuan urged: "Let's go, let's go back."

"Mm..." However, Tan Xiao was more mindful. After all, based on the updated situation this afternoon, it wasn't just Chen Yinghe who felt something was off. "I'll ask the class monitor again tomorrow."

......

Chen Yinghe went to the art studio, but because it had been left in a mess during the day, it could only be closed for one night. She just took her own bag back.

Returning home, her parents were both out. Chen Yinghe set up an easel to practice on her own. But she hadn't slept well last night to begin with, and had been worrying about the art studio all day. As she painted, Chen Yinghe's head started nodding off drowsily.

"Clatter." A sound instantly woke Chen Yinghe.

Looking closely, the paint had been knocked over.

Chen Yinghe's heart ached, "Ahh if I knew I wouldn't have painted at home!!"

More than the difficulty of cleaning up, her paints! Chen Yinghe wailed as she tidied up. Because it was too miserable, she had no time to think much and just assumed she had accidentally bumped into it while dozing off. After cleaning up, she had no mood or conditions to practice anymore and decided to just sleep.

Chen Yinghe practically fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. But who knows how long this sweet slumber lasted before another clamor arose in the house. She groggily opened her eyes and clearly saw with her own eyes a paintbrush falling from the table to the ground without any wind blowing.

"Thud."

The instant the paintbrush hit the ground, Chen Yinghe also sprang up from the bed. Why was this happening, did it follow her back from the art studio?!

At this moment, she didn't care if it worked or not. Grabbing her bag, she fished out the talisman Tan Xiao gave her, "I'm telling you, I have a talisman I got from the temple! If you come again, I won't go easy either! This old lady will fight you to the end!"

No joke, this talisman with "Peacock Arrives Here" written on it was indeed effective. That brazen commotion immediately stopped.

...Seems she'd have to tell Tan Xiao later that he really did have some skills.

Chen Yinghe weakly leaned back and went to grab her phone, rummaging in her bag. She accidentally rubbed open the velvet pouch holding her tarot cards. Suddenly having an especially strong feeling, she couldn't help but immediately draw a card from inside.

Looking down at the card.

The Chariot.

Chen Yinghe felt her heart turn cold. It was the same card that Yu Zhenzhen had also drawn for her before. She tightly clutched the talisman, and with trembling hands called Yu Zhenzhen, but her phone was turned off at this hour.

She grabbed her bag and rushed out the door, only feeling relieved when she reached the 24-hour fast food restaurant. She decided to just spend the night here.

......

Compared to Yu Zhenzhen, Tan Xiao knew earlier that something must have happened to Chen Yinghe, since she had used the talisman and chanted Kong Xuan's name.

But Tan Xiao had no way to contact Chen Yinghe and couldn't find Yu Zhenzhen either.

This thing had very likely latched onto Chen Yinghe. Luckily she had the talisman on her.

Not being able to contact her wasn't a big problem. Tan Xiao directly sent a message to the Bureau 404. They had access to a lot of information and could definitely locate Chen Yinghe.

Naturally, the Bureau 404 had someone on duty, and tonight it was Ah Jin. He had passed his internship period, and his head had grown out, but not fully, so he always wore a mask.

Ah Jin locked onto Chen Yinghe's location and found that she was in the fast food restaurant. Checking the surveillance, the girl was sound asleep sprawled on a chair.

"Spirit Master, looks like there's no issue. Let's let her rest well tonight. You should sleep first too. I'll keep an eye on the surveillance. Tomorrow, I'll talk to her a bit and then bring her to see you, how about that?" Ah Jin said with practiced ease.

"Okay, good night." Tan Xiao yawned. It was indeed late. If it wasn't Teacher Liu Qingquan, better not pull an all-nighter on a case. Sleep first then talk.

The next day, as soon as Chen Yinghe woke up, she saw a man in a suit and mask sitting in the chair beside her, holding a number for an order, smiling at her, "You're up? Want to eat something?"

Chen Yinghe quickly sat up, not looking too friendly. Was this pervert harassing a student?

But his next words made her stay, "I know you encountered something dirty again last night."

Chen Yinghe immediately sat back down, "Master, please tell me more."

"Haha, I'm not a master. The one I'm taking you to see is the real master." Ah Jin laughed. "To prevent you from worrying that I'm part of some kidnapping ring, here's my ID. Also please go to the Nanchu City government website and find the link at the bottom to enter our office website. You can look up my ID number there."

By the time he said the second sentence, Chen Yinghe already believed him. But only after he explained the verification process did she feel a bit of lingering fear. It was a good thing this wasn't a bad person.

"A master wants to see me?" Chen Yinghe thought, just what on earth did I bump into?

"Yep, let's eat a bit then go." Just then the server brought their food.

After eating, Ah Jin led Chen Yinghe out. He always maintained some distance, making Chen Yinghe glance at him a few more times. Seeing that he was still wearing the mask, was he sick and afraid of infecting others?

The place they were going to probably wasn't far. The man in the suit and mask led her on foot to an old street.

Seeing the man in the mask and suit remain silent, Chen Yinghe was both curious and afraid to ask.

In her mind, she had already constructed a complete worldview: I may have been entangled by something powerful, so the master who controls the dark side of this city... no wait, seems he's an official. Then, the director of the office in charge of principles and discipline in this city has decided to save me. From now on, my fate will head down a different path...

As an artist, the scenes in her mind were even presented in comic form, with quite awesome storyboarding.

Just as she was imagining this, she had already been brought to a self-built courtyard. The antique wooden door completely fit with the art style Chen Yinghe had just envisioned.

The man in the suit knocked on the door. The wooden door opened, revealing the entire world behind it. Chen Yinghe excitedly looked over. It was...

Huh?