Chapter 290 - 289: Like Looking at a Country Bumpkin

Chapter 290: Chapter 289: Like Looking at a Country Bumpkin

"Are you ready?" Miao Yan asked, his gaze grave.

Song Cheng’an’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He glanced at the person opposite him, who made no effort to hide their look of smug anticipation.

He was starting to regret this, but the mood had been set. Now, he had no choice but to watch.

Song Cheng’an took a deep breath, his lips tightening into a firm line as he nodded.

The next second, Miao Yan walked up to him and raised a hand toward his eyes.

Song Cheng’an flinched back instinctively, asking warily, "What are you trying to do?"

Miao Yan froze, completely exasperated. "How are you supposed to see ghosts if I don’t open your Yin Yang Eye?"

Song Cheng’an glanced at the curtains. ’Don’t you just have to close the curtains to see them?’

Miao Yan was even more exasperated. "Sunlight is harmful to ghost souls. This is a new one, so it needs to be nurtured. It’s best to keep it out of the light."

Song Cheng’an fell silent for two seconds, but he couldn’t stop himself from glancing across the table again.

Gu Qingyin wore a look of utter disbelief, staring at him as if he were some country bumpkin.

Song Cheng’an found her stare irritating. He looked away and nodded again.

Miao Yan opened his Yin Yang Eye, then, without another word, released Song Chengyun’s ghost soul.

Song Chengyun was still wearing the clothes he’d died in: a wrinkled suit. His face was deathly pale, and his dark, hollow eyes stared blankly forward, but a closer look revealed they had no focus.

Most importantly, his feet were hovering a few inches off the ground...

Song Cheng’an stared blankly for two seconds before gasping sharply, nearly fainting on the spot. When he came to, his heart was still pounding wildly in his chest, a frantic THUMP-THUMP-THUMP in his ears.

’That’s Song Chengyun? How can that be Song Chengyun?!’

Song Cheng’an instinctively glanced at the projector, wondering if this was some kind of advanced projection technology. But the projector in the conference room was off; it wasn’t even plugged in.

"Don’t doubt it. That’s your younger brother," Miao Yan said. "New ghosts are all like this at first. Unless they harbor immense resentment, they won’t regain full consciousness until the seventh day after their death."

Song Cheng’an’s two assistants exchanged an uneasy glance. Since they hadn’t had their Yin Yang Eye opened, they naturally couldn’t see Song Chengyun’s ghost soul. But seeing the look on their Mr. Song’s face... ’Could he have really seen something?’

The two of them subtly drew in a breath. ’Are ghosts actually real?’

Miao Yan only let him have a brief look before recalling the ghost. It still needed to be nurtured, and it wasn’t good to have it out for too long.

Song Cheng’an didn’t try to stop him. As the curtains were drawn open and sunlight poured in, he snapped back to reality, feeling as though he had just woken from a short, absurd dream.

It felt so surreal.

Song Cheng’an took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. After a long moment, he said, "It probably wasn’t targeting our family. Things like this don’t exist in Country H."

Gu Qingyin chuckled softly. "Just because you don’t know about it doesn’t mean no one else does. Look at you—you’ve spent over thirty years living in blissful ignorance, and today you’ve suddenly stumbled upon the truth. How can you be so sure others haven’t had the same opportunity?"

Song Cheng’an fell silent. True, he couldn’t be sure.

He reached a hand back, and an assistant, with practiced perception, placed a file in it. He passed the file to Gu Qingyin. "This is a list of the conglomerates that have been long-standing rivals of the Song Family. It’s not a long list—only three of them."

Gu Qingyin didn’t even glance at it, pushing it directly to Miao Yan.

’This wasn’t her case, after all. Helping out occasionally was one thing, but she had no intention of getting deeply involved.’

’It wasn’t every day she got to be the client, after all.’

Miao Yan scanned the documents quickly. In just a moment, he looked up and asked, "Han Yunxi... he studied abroad in Huaxia? And his major was traditional Huaxia culture?"

Song Cheng’an’s eyelid twitched. "Is there a problem?"

"I don’t know if you’re aware of this," Miao Yan said, looking up at him with a neutral expression. "A lot of Huaxia’s folk culture is tinged with supernatural elements. If he actually paid attention in his classes, there’s no way he’d be completely ignorant of the hidden world. Whether he believes in it is another question, but he would definitely know it exists."

Song Cheng’an followed his line of reasoning. ’If Han Yunxi knew about it and was interested enough to investigate, given his financial resources, discovering the existence of the hidden world would be incredibly easy.’

"I’ll have it investigated," Song Cheng’an said. "What about the other two? No issues there?"

Miao Yan shook his head. "I can’t tell anything from these files. I’ll also start investigating the location of Zhao Xiaowei’s disappearance as soon as I can and see if it turns up any other clues."

Song Cheng’an rose to his feet, gave them a nod of acknowledgment, and left. He had an appointment at the funeral home; the cremation was today.

Once the outsiders had left, Miao Yan’s formal demeanor relaxed. He turned to his idol with a smile. "Master Gu, can you perform a trace? Can we find out where she was before she was summoned back here?"

Gu Qingyin sighed internally. ’So I have to work after all.’ Before she could even respond, Huo Yunjing, who was beside her, spoke up. "I’ll do it."

Gu Qingyin instantly relaxed, leaning back into her chair.

Miao Yan looked slightly disappointed, but he put on a respectful smile and said, "Thank you for your trouble, sir."

’Nothing else mattered; Huo Yunjing’s power as a veteran Ghost King alone commanded that level of respect.’

The curtains were drawn once more, and Zhao Xiaowei’s ghost soul was released.

Huo Yunjing used ghost energy to construct an Array. With Zhao Xiaowei’s ghost soul at its center, he began to trace its origin.

Within the confines of the Array, time and space began to rewind, displaying a chaotic flurry of images that flashed by in quick succession before finally settling on a scene in an overgrown forest.

"What forest is this?" Liu Ergou was completely baffled. "There are no landmarks at all. There are countless forests all over the country; how are we supposed to figure out where this is?"

"No," Gu Qingyin said, staring at the image in thought. "Different trees are planted in different regions. This particular type is more commonly found in the south."

Liu Ergou shook his head again. "That’s still too large an area."

Gu Qingyin took out her phone, snapped a picture of the scene, and sent it to Miao Yan. "If you want to find a location from a picture, you need to call in the professionals."

It took Miao Yan a moment to understand. He asked doubtfully, "Will that really work?"

Gu Qingyin put her phone away and started pulling Huo Yunjing toward the door. "You have to have faith in the power of technology."

Miao Yan felt something was off, but ’whatever my idol says must be right. I’ll just do as she says!’

With all that had happened, the grand opening ceremony was naturally postponed. The VIPs who had received invitations but had not yet arrived all received calls of apology from the Huo Family. Generous gifts were sent out as compensation, and Xue Ning personally contacted those with special status.

Gu Qingyin suddenly found herself with free time, so she pulled Huo Yunjing along to explore.

The resort was massive. Next to it was a hunting ground, set up for wealthy guests to experience the thrill of the hunt.

Of course, the animals on the grounds were all raised on-site—rabbits, goats, and the like. The most ferocious creature they had was the wild boar.

Gu Qingyin, intrigued, pulled Huo Yunjing inside to have some fun. Both of them were highly skilled martial artists and proficient with many traditional weapons, but guns were a bit more foreign to them.

It wasn’t that they had no experience with firearms, just that they didn’t feel as natural in their hands as a blade or bow.

Before the hunt, a dedicated instructor provided training on how to use the hunting rifles. After completing the training, you changed into hunting attire, put on your gear, and entered the grounds, accompanied by a professional guide.

The resort only hired outstanding military veterans, so safety was absolutely guaranteed.

Gu Qingyin had only wanted to try it on a whim. She never expected that going in would lead to such a pleasant surprise.