"First question: How do I preserve my bestie's body so it doesn't rot or stink?"
"Second question: How can I keep her with me constantly without anyone realizing she's a ghost?"
"Third question: That tracker you guys secretly planted on me – how often do I need to take it out to charge it?"
Yun Jianyue's barrage of questions hit the two men like a fusillade, leaving them momentarily stunned. That final query, especially, made Du Minghao wish he could spontaneously dig a tunnel into the ground with sheer embarrassment.
"Didn't you say your technique was stealthy? How'd she find it?!" Du Minghao hissed at Cai Zeyu through clenched teeth.
Cai Zeyu, despite countless successful covert operations, was bewildered by this first-time failure: "How should I know how she found it?!"
In the end, the two sheepishly retrieved the tracker. Planting it, technically, violated regulations. But frankly, they had little choice. The SRB was perpetually understaffed and swamped; assigning someone to constantly monitor Yun Jianyue and her ghostly companion just wasn't feasible.
Cai Zeyu then provided solutions for her first two questions. Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they could finally punch out, Yun Jianyue remembered something else.
"Oh yeah, what's happening to that scumbag?" Yun Jianyue asked.
"He's still in the hospital," Du Minghao replied. "Transferred to the relevant authorities already. Sentencing should come down quickly."
With the murder of his biological mother, the murder of Lu Xuesnow, insurance fraud, and other charges stacked against him, Wang Hui faced at minimum a life sentence, and very likely the death penalty.
Yun Jianyue nodded. She collected Lu Xuesnow and left.
Back home, Yun Jianyue custom-ordered a large freezer—capable of easily accommodating Lu Xuesnow's entire body. She also splurged on a top-quality Hotan jade pendant, spending a large chunk of her savings. The financial sting prompted her to curse at Lu Xuesnow for days. Finally, she procured some cinnabar red pigment and blank yellow talisman paper.
Before leaving the SRB, she had added Du Minghao's contact. Now, with everything assembled, she called him on video.
"Got it all. Is this how the talisman is drawn?" Yun Jianyue pointed the camera at the blank yellow paper and began tracing an image with her cinnabar brush.
On the screen, Du Minghao's eyes practically rolled into the back of his skull. "Didn't I tell you to contact me when the stuff arrived? So I could come draw it for you?!"
Yun Jianyue might be shrouded in mysteries, but she'd never studied formal Taoist arts! How could she possibly replicate a complex spirit-binding talisman just by looking at an image? This specific Binding Pact Talisman could only be successfully drawn by seasoned Taoist masters with deep expertise in talismanic arts. Furthermore, the process required ritualistic purification, incense burning, and reverence towards the ancestors!
Even Du Minghao, a rising star in talismanic practice among the younger generation, wouldn't dare guarantee he could draw the Binding Pact Talisman successfully on the first try. And here was Yun Jianyue, bits of leek still visible on her teeth from lunch—a complete novice, unschooled, brimming with worldly turbidity—trying to succeed where masters might hesitate? Du Minghao was already mentally preparing to mock her mercilessly when she inevitably failed. These were profound, delicate skills!
"Seemed doable after a glance. Worth a shot," Yun Jianyue replied, her hand steady as it had been when stitching Lu Xuesnow's head back on.
As she progressed with the intricate symbols, her movements slowed. A faint, strange sensation bloomed within her – a subtle flow of something, gathering at her fingertips, channeling through the brush, and imprinting onto the paper via the crimson cinnabar. The further she drew, the more the flowing energy seemed to coalesce… and deplete, as if the paper itself was voraciously drawing it from her core.
"Huuuuh—" Yun Jianyue finally exhaled a long, deep breath, setting the brush down. She lifted the completed talisman towards the camera. "Like this?"
"Of course it's not right! You think just copying the shape means anything?" Du Minghao scoffed without really looking; he was convinced she couldn't have succeeded. "Just wait 'til I'm off work, I'll come teach you—"
His sentence died abruptly as his eyes focused on the screen. His jaw slackened. "H-How did you…?! DON'T MOVE! LET ME SEE!"
Yun Jianyue froze, holding the talisman steady for his inspection.
Moments later, Du Minghao collapsed heavily back into his chair. He looked utterly deranged. "Impossible… How… She didn't purify herself, she hasn't touched the Primordial Breath… This can't…"
Du Minghao descended into frantic muttering, but Yun Jianyue understood: she had succeeded.
Following Du Minghao's subsequent instructions over the frantic video call (now punctuated with his increasingly shocked exclamations), Yun Jianyue successfully performed the Binding Pact ritual with Lu Xuesnow.
From that moment, Lu Xuesnow was bound to her—a fierce ghost formally taken under her guardianship. In essence, Yun Jianyue became her keeper… her master. The pact, however, held perilous risk: Should Lu Xuesnow lose control, and should Yun Jianyue fail to subdue her, Lu Xuesnow could devour her master.
With the pact established, Lu Xuesnow gained the ability to reside within the jade pendant. Worn by Yun Jianyue, it meant Lu Xuesnow could remain perpetually close, eliminating the danger of separation-induced madness.
Thanks to the SRB's intervention, Lu Xuesnow's body avoided mandatory cremation. Yun Jianyue carefully placed it in the large freezer, covering the surface with protective talismans to ward off decay and odor. If Lu Xueswood ever wished to inhabit her own body again… the option was chillingly preserved.
"Alright, all handled." Yun Jianyue dusted herself off and plopped onto the sofa, pulling up a travel app on her phone. "Just one last thing."
Lu Xuesnow, in her spectral form, phased through a chair to hover nearby. "What else do we need to do?"
"Tell your parents, dummy!" Yun Jianyue shot her an exasperated look. "That you're dead… and that you're a ghost now. You think dying absolves you of family responsibility?"
Lu Xuesnow fell silent for a moment. "They… probably don't even know I'm dead yet."
"They'll find out eventually. Look, from a certain point of view… you're not completely gone. For your parents, knowing you're still… something… in this world? It might be a terrible kind of comfort." Yun Jianyue swiftly selected and purchased tickets. "A silver lining in all this darkness."
Their destination: the bustling city where Lu Xuesnow's parents now lived.
Both girls hailed from the same small town, inseparable since first grade—elementary, middle, high school, even university. Their families were well-acquainted. Lu Xuesnow's parents had moved to the big city for work during her middle school years. Lu Xuesnow herself, ever the lovesick fool, had skipped visiting home that summer to chase Wang Hui.
Yun Jianyue, using an inheritance from her mother, had recently bought an apartment in the city. She had planned to return home soon anyway; resolving Lu Xuesnow's situation simply became the priority.
Lu Xueswood sighed, a sound like wind through ancient ruins. "The question is… will my parents accept a ghost as their daughter?"