This idea is truly incriminating!

The power of exorcism is not the name of a special force, but rather a general term. No matter what martial art one practices, as long as one steps into the Realm of Unity, whether by fist, foot, blade, or sword, their attacks will inflict some harm upon ghosts. Ghosts will not be completely immune to such attacks.

The power of exorcism can be understood as a level of martial arts attainment, but its upper limit is exceedingly low. This is because a martial artist who has just entered the Realm of Unity and one who has dwelled there for years will inflict almost the same degree of harm upon ghosts. If the novice martial artist causes a single unit of harm to a ghost, then after ten more years of training, that number remains unchanged.

This is the very reason that ghost tamers came into being.

The power of evil spirits is simply too overwhelming for mortals to withstand. Only by relying on other evil spirits can humans contend with them at all.

On this point, the little ghost girl found herself bewildered.

“If the power of ghosts so utterly crushes the living, why is this world still dominated by the living?”

It was a profound question she had pondered years ago. Eventually, she gave up, growing more confused the more she thought about it.

Now, as the question surfaced again, she still could not fathom the answer. She was about to mutter “how strange” as she had done before, when her gaze happened to fall on Chen Sheng.

“Huh? Why do I feel like I’ve found the answer?”

She couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“Master, what are you mumbling about?” Chen Sheng, still indignant over the little ghost girl’s earlier “not that impressive” remark and annoyed at this wretched game’s endless tricks, suddenly caught her voice. He hadn’t quite heard what she said, so he asked.

“I was saying, ghost tamers aren’t all that impressive. Why did you ever want to become one?” The little ghost girl responded swiftly; she had been puzzling over this herself and now seized the opportunity to voice her thoughts.

“Misinformation, really…” Chen Sheng sighed helplessly, feeling he’d wasted his effort yet again. This Ling Tianquan instance—yet another thankless task!

This so-called healing game was truly nothing but a pitfall!

“Maybe I’m playing it wrong?”

“Or did that little girl deceive me?”

Chen Sheng fell into contemplation but soon realized he’d simply failed to ask the right questions. Last time, he’d only asked how to play the healing game, not how to clear an instance or where to find the rewards after completing a task.

Perhaps the rewards were there after all, only left for the player to discover?

Like, say, looting corpses…

With that thought, Chen Sheng quickly set down Ling Tianquan’s body and began searching it.

And indeed, he found something.

It was a golden card, somewhat resembling a bank card, though Chen Sheng wasn’t sure. He glanced at his “little partner,” assuming a native ghost would know what it was.

And she did. Seeing Chen Sheng look at her, she explained, “This is a special kind of money card. It isn’t bound to anyone, the sum inside is fixed, and you can’t deposit more. To obtain such a card, you must pay an amount equal to the sum it contains.”

“That’s a strange requirement. What’s the benefit?” Chen Sheng asked.

“You can withdraw the money without leaving any record. Also, when the cardholder goes to withdraw funds, the card will automatically block all surveillance devices.”

Chen Sheng understood at once.

No wonder such cards could be sold openly!

Anonymous, leaving no trace, and able to evade surveillance—this kind of card was not only a boon to those engaged in shady dealings but also a great convenience in many professions.

“The designers of this healing game… they’re practically criminal!”

Like little experts in crime!

Chen Sheng nearly smacked his own head in frustration.

For by looting Ling Tianquan’s corpse and finding the gold card, he’d proved his theory correct: the healing game did not hand out rewards directly—the player had to claim them on their own!

Which meant he must have missed countless rewards already!

“Ah, and she told me to go find that girl just now. That must have been the game reminding the player! I hadn’t received the quest rewards, so the game’s error correction system kicked in and made this NPC tool tell me?”

Chen Sheng glanced at the little ghost girl, a complicated mix of emotions churning within him.

He resolved to turn his frustration into motivation and kept searching the body.

He refused to believe that someone like Ling Tianquan, with his grand entrance and deeply intertwined history with his “former self,” would carry nothing but a single gold card.

Soon enough, Chen Sheng found a key.

At first glance, it seemed unremarkable and bore no special markings. However, with a figure like Ling Tianquan, how could he possibly carry a key for no reason?

The key was undoubtedly unique, with some hidden purpose.

But beyond that, Chen Sheng found nothing of value.

He was looking for something truly useful; trinkets like watches he ignored.

Rising to his feet, Chen Sheng was about to ask the little ghost girl if she could help him find the mysterious girl, when footsteps sounded in the distance.

Judging by the number of people, Chen Sheng realized that Yan Shidong and his group must have returned. He had seen them leave earlier, which was why he’d planned to sneak into the villa with the little ghost girl.

“So, there’s a time limit on instance exploration…”

With this realization, Chen Sheng said to the little ghost girl, “I’m leaving now. Can you get out?”

“I can leave anytime!” she replied, vanishing from sight.

Chen Sheng watched her disappear without the slightest change of expression. After all, for ghosts to turn invisible was the most basic of abilities. Nothing unusual about that in a game.

Then, Chen Sheng chose to exit the game.

He had “discovered” that, after his departure, the game would provide an appropriate “reason for leaving,” and the plot would continue to progress for the in-game characters.

He left decisively, but the little ghost girl, who hadn’t yet gone and was just turning invisible, was startled by Chen Sheng’s sudden disappearance.

“No way! He could do this in the world of the dead, and now he can do it here too?” The little ghost girl was left dumbfounded, as if she had just seen a ghost herself.

…

Chen Sheng recovered from that distorted sensation, stretched languidly as he took in the familiar room, and then yawned.

Perhaps he had played the game for too long this time; he felt utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep.