Ha, Karma! – Chapter 12

“I’m not only scheming, but also ruthless and cruel.”

Glaring characters were carved into the wall, like daggers stabbing straight into one’s heart, sending chills down the spine.

In the shadows, Bu Yu maintained a serious expression, ready to act at any moment.

Chu Zhaoqiu had sent her to secretly track Chen Hong.

The investigation of Chen Hong was assigned to other Chu family disciples.

Chu Zhaoqiu had specifically instructed her not to act rashly and risk being detected by Chen Hong.

“I’ve always been uneasy about this person. Follow him and see if he’s truly suspicious.

“Proceed with caution, don’t let him discover you, and don’t intervene unless absolutely necessary.”

That’s what Chu Zhaoqiu had told her.

Bu Yu contemplated the Young Family Head’s words thoughtfully.

The water ghost haunting Lin Yun should have appeared nearby.

The writing on the wall confirmed that the “he” Lin Yun had seen earlier referred to Chen Hong.

This was a major discovery.

However, the connection between Chen Hong and this water ghost remained unclear.

Considering this, Bu Yu decided to wait and observe further.

Unless Chen Hong’s life was in danger, she would not intervene.

Her eyes remained fixed on Chen Hong’s direction, not missing a single movement.

Soon, she saw him move.

Chen Hong suddenly walked toward the wall covered in red characters.

He raised his hand, gently pressing it against the wall surface, then rubbed it as if wiping away dust.

Bu Yu’s brows furrowed slightly.

…What was he doing?

“Someone’s been spamming graffiti [亂打gg | luàn dǎ gg | internet slang for random messaging/vandalism] here again…”

Chen Hong’s voice suddenly came through, carrying a hint of resignation and complaint.

Where his hand had moved away, a row of red phone numbers was faintly visible underneath.

Bu Yu: “?”

Chen Hong withdrew his hand and continued walking forward.

His expression remained composed and unperturbed, as if he hadn’t noticed the warning characters that nearly covered the entire wall.

Bu Yu furrowed her brows.

Could he truly not see them?

Before she could ponder further, the water ghost made another move.

With each step Chen Hong took, new characters appeared on the white walls beside him, reading “Stay away from her”.

The characters densely covered every wall he passed, aggressive and imposing.

Like a stubborn protest, the writing surrounded him completely, demanding his attention.

Yet Chen Hong maintained his calm demeanor, as if truly blind to it all.

Eventually, the characters grew fainter, as if the phantom ink had run dry, leaving no further manifestations.

Only the ethereal sound of flowing water persisted in the air.

Chen Hong walked into the residential complex completely unscathed.

Bu Yu suddenly felt that this water ghost might not be harmful.

Uncertain but bound by her surveillance duty, she couldn’t leave to investigate further.

She messaged Chu Zhaoqiu about the situation, then continued her patient observation from the shadows.

This was an older residential complex.

She saw lights turn on in one of the units.

The tightly closed window opened, and Chen Hong appeared.

He stood at the window for a while, doing nothing, as if simply wanting to enjoy the night breeze.

After a moment, Bu Yu saw him draw the curtains.

Chen Hong turned around, his gaze falling on the doorway.

A girl stood there.

She was slender, with skin so pale it seemed cold, water continuously dripping from her body. The droplets transformed into ethereal black mist upon touching the ground, leaving faint dark fog.

She looked at him, confused and annoyed, asking: “Why are you pretending not to see my writing?”

Chen Hong’s lips curved slightly as he unhurriedly took out a string of Buddhist beads from his pocket and slipped them onto his wrist.

He gently pushed up his glasses, calculation gleaming in his eyes.

“If someone’s following me, wouldn’t I give myself away if I didn’t pretend not to see?”

The water ghost paused in shock.

She never imagined he had planned even this step in advance.

Speechless, she struggled to find words to describe the person before her.

After a long moment, she could only spit out angrily: “You really are a bad person, a scheming villain!”

How could she have ever trusted this man!

“Yes, I am scheming.”

Chen Hong didn’t deny it.

He walked straight into the room, pulled out a weathered necklace from the bedside cabinet, then returned to the living room cabinet, taking down a locked metal box from the top shelf.

He opened the box and took out several talismans.

The talismans were written with cinnabar, the writing long dried, as if prepared well in advance.

“I’m not only scheming, but also ruthless and cruel.”

The water ghost’s expression changed instantly. Unable to approach due to his Buddhist beads, she could only stand there staring in shock: “Y-you, what are you going to do?!”

Chen Hong smiled indifferently: “Naturally, I’m going to seal you away, trapping you in this necklace forever, unable to go anywhere.”

The female ghost froze momentarily, then realized with disbelief: “You planned to do this to me all along?”

Chen Hong looked up, his eyes frighteningly cold behind his glasses.

“You broke our agreement first. This is what you deserve.”

With that, he swiftly pressed the sealing talisman onto the necklace.

The ghost rushed toward the window, but as soon as she touched the curtain, she was violently pulled back into the necklace, without even time to wail.

Chen Hong quickly wrapped the necklace with talismans, using three layers, then softly chanted an incantation. The talismans fused with the necklace, impossible to remove.

And the female ghost could no longer escape.

Chen Hong held the sealed necklace in his palm, a mocking smile flashing across his lips.

“This proves how stupid you are, both foolish and dim-witted. No wonder you’re still so weak after being a ghost for so long.”

He was actually a cultivator himself.

An unskilled cultivator with shallow magical abilities.

In a real fight against capable cultivators, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

However, he possessed hereditary protective Buddhist beads, preventing ordinary spirits from approaching or harming him.

He had his wits about him – while he couldn’t handle other cultivators, dealing with simple-minded ghost spirits was well within his capabilities.

He had never intended to keep her from the beginning, let alone honor their agreement.

Now this little ghost had brazenly broken their agreement, doing unexpected things that threatened his plans, and other cultivators had become involved.

That woman…

Chen Hong thought of Chu Zhaoqiu, narrowing his eyes.

That woman was clearly not ordinary, so he couldn’t let this ghost wander freely, lest she be caught and expose his affairs.

He glanced down at the necklace in his hand, coldly tossing it into the metal box and locking it.

There might actually be someone watching him outside now, so he couldn’t move carelessly.

Once they lowered their guard, he would throw this troublesome item into the sea, ensuring she could never return.

He returned the metal box to the top shelf, irritably closing the cabinet door before heading to shower.

How annoying.

If breaking the necklace wouldn’t set the female ghost free, he would have violently destroyed this nuisance already!

The whole day had been nothing but troubles!

He closed the bathroom door in frustration.

Outside the complex, Bu Yu was reporting the situation to the newly arrived Chu Zhaoqiu.

“He couldn’t see it?”

Chu Zhaoqiu repeated hesitantly.

She looked up toward Chen Hong’s residence.

The window remained open, even the curtains drawn back, as if declaring the owner’s innocence.

After a moment of silence, Chu Zhaoqiu spoke: “Could he be pretending not to see?”

“Pretending?”

“Yes.”

Bu Yu didn’t quite understand.

“Young Miss, why do you think he’s suspicious? Didn’t he act normally at the Lin residence today?”

“Normal, yet not normal,” Chu Zhaoqiu said, “Unconscious speech reveals one’s awareness.”

She looked at Bu Yu, her eyes steady: “Chen Hong knows about the existence of demon hunters.”

Earlier that night, Chen Hong had asked if she really caught ghosts.

She had counter-asked if he was in the same profession, without mentioning any other terms.

Chen Hong immediately denied it, claiming he was just an ordinary person, not a cultivator or demon hunter.

Chu Zhaoqiu finished speaking and turned to look at Chen Hong’s residence.

“He knows ordinary people can’t become cultivators or demon hunters, yet ordinary people wouldn’t even know these terms.”

His instinctive denial revealed his familiarity with the profession.

Combined with the water ghost’s writing, he might indeed have some connection to the water ghost.

“You should go rest,” Chu Zhaoqiu said, “I’ll stay here and look for traces of the water ghost.

“Tomorrow we’ll find a way to visit his home, we might discover something.”

Bu Yu shook her head: “I can’t leave you here alone. I’ll stay with you – if anything happens, it’s better to have two people watching each other’s backs.”

Seeing her insistence, Chu Zhaoqiu said nothing more.

The two quietly waited for Chen Hong’s next move.

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00:37

Bu Yu glanced at the time, quietly reminding Chu Zhaoqiu: “He hasn’t come out for so long, could he be sleeping?”

“…”

Chu Zhaoqiu checked the time, her brows furrowing.

From then until now, Chen Hong hadn’t shown any movement – was he truly innocent, or just patient?

Suddenly, a silver thread entered their field of vision.

It was thin and small, floating like a feather in the sky, easy to miss if not paying attention.

The next moment, the silver thread flew unerringly into Chen Hong’s home.

This was something very familiar to demon hunters.

Bu Yu was startled, pointing at the silver thread: “That’s—”

“A tracking spell.”

Chu Zhaoqiu finished her sentence.

The two exchanged looks.

Could someone else be tracking Chen Hong?

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The tracking silver thread passed through the window, floating into Chen Hong’s living room.

Its purpose was clear, heading straight for the only cabinet in the living room—the top shelf.

Reaching the top shelf, it gently passed through the locked metal box, settling on the tightly wrapped necklace before vanishing without a trace.

Its mission was complete.

The streetlight outside cast some light into the living room, enough to illuminate the path and reveal the uninvited guest – a woman.

Her feet didn’t touch the ground as she floated gracefully in mid-air, her features carrying a distant expression.

As her form shifted slightly, light traced over her eye corners, gently caressing the beauty mark beneath her eye.

Fu Lianxue moved her slender fingers, and the cabinet door silently opened on its own.

The metal box’s lock followed suit, unlocking itself.

Her elegant fingers reached into the box, ignoring the faintly glowing warning talismans, and calmly retrieved the sealed necklace.

Fu Lianxue held the necklace, shaking her head.

It was all Chu Zhaoqiu’s fault that she, a mighty demon and glamorous celebrity, had to sneak into someone’s home like a thief at night.

However… with this little water ghost sealed so thoroughly, wouldn’t it count as a good deed if she released her, saving her from dire straits?

She looked at the tightly sealed necklace, smiling craftily.

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