All Hands on Deck

Lin Mo remained silent for a moment before looking at the trembling soul entity. His tone was flat, devoid of any fluctuation.

"Your grandson is dead."

Those words nailed into the old woman's soul entity like an ice pick, sending a piercing, bone-deep chill through the spirit.

Souls possess the ability to think, just not much.

Her soul was already holding on purely through obsession. Upon hearing the bad news, her newly solidified figure instantly began to flicker, dimming and brightening erratically. Wisps of black mist uncontrollably dissipated from her, and it looked as if she was about to completely collapse.

Lin Mo merely raised his hand and shot a stream of yin energy into her. The old woman's soul, which had been on the verge of dispersing, solidified once again.

"I only said he died. I didn't say his soul has scattered."

Lin Mo's voice carried no comfort, yet it acted like a shot of adrenaline.

"Don't you want to see him one last time, ask him yourself, and then pass on to the afterlife together?"

The struggling soul entity indeed calmed down.

Xie Yuling was a bit confused.

She steadied her mind and asked, "Since he has already... are we going to directly look for his soul?"

"Before finding the soul, we have to find the corpse first." Lin Mo glanced at her. "When a person dies, their soul leaves the body, but it doesn't dissipate immediately. By using the body to connect with the soul, we can find the scattered spirit. So, we still have time."

"Then how do we find it?"

"We'll just have to look for it seriously."

Talking in circles, huh.

As he spoke, Lin Mo flicked the yellow talisman pinched between his fingertips. The talisman paper seemed to come alive, sticking directly to the center of the old woman's forehead.

There were no flames and no sound. The old woman suddenly turned into an extremely thin wisp of green smoke, instantly sinking into the yellow talisman and disappearing.

In any case, there was nothing left for her to do here.

"Let's go. Work's done."

When Lin Mo and Xie Yuling went downstairs, they immediately saw the car parked by the intersection, as well as Jiang Yunlu and Chu Miaomiao standing beside it.

The summer breeze blew through the tips of their hair.

"Why are they here?" Xie Yuling followed behind Lin Mo, her brows unconsciously furrowing. She looked at Lin Mo, feeling that there was no need to drag the other two into this, considering it involved ghosts.

"To broaden the horizons for you three. It's not every day you encounter this kind of thing."

Put that way, it made some sense. She could understand that Lin Mo wanted to cultivate their experience.

Standing by the car, Jiang Yunlu glanced at Lin Mo, then at Xie Yuling, and asked in confusion, "We can't see those things. Is there any point in us tagging along?"

"Making you see isn't difficult."

Lin Mo pulled the car door open, gesturing for them to get in. "Besides, you won't need to lift a finger. It's purely to broaden your horizons. The main force taking action will be her."

He lightly tilted his chin toward Xie Yuling.

Xie Yuling froze on the spot. Her pale finger pointed at the tip of her own nose, her eyes wide open.

"Me?!"

"Yes, you." Lin Mo's reply was matter-of-fact.

"Wait a minute! Wait for me!"

A crisp, somewhat hurried, and childish voice rang out from not far away.

The three women looked up and saw Ning Qingcheng running over, her short little legs thumping against the ground. Her small face was flushed red from running, and behind her followed Zheng Yuan, who wore a helpless smile.

"Are you guys going out to play? How could you not bring Qingcheng?" Zheng Yuan spoke first, her tone full of doting affection.

Ning Qingcheng ran straight up to Lin Mo, puffed out her cheeks, and demanded angrily, "Yeah! You guys aren't taking me out to play!"

Lin Mo was amused by her appearance and shrugged. "Who said we aren't bringing you?"

He pinched Ning Qingcheng's puffed-up cheeks. "Weren't you in high spirits today, insisting on following Auntie Zheng to do good deeds, release animals, and pray for blessings? What, the fish are released, the tea is drunk, the dim sum is eaten, and now you say we aren't taking you out to play?"

Zheng Yuan was a Buddhist, and today she really had arranged to go with a group of friends to the river to release animals.

Naturally, it wasn't the kind of stuff you see online like rice, mineral water, and instant noodles.

It was normal grass carp, crucian carp, and the like.

After releasing the animals, the group of old sisters moved to a teahouse to drink tea, chat, and eat dim sum. The little girl Ning Qingcheng naturally accompanied them the whole time, having a blast.

Jiang Yunlu didn't know Ning Qingcheng's background and just treated her as an ordinary little girl. Hearing that she wanted to tag along, her brows furrowed subconsciously. She looked at Lin Mo with an inquiring gaze, not daring to agree on her own.

Bringing a child to this kind of thing—what was that about?

Before Lin Mo could speak, Xie Yuling had already bent down with a smile, grabbing Ning Qingcheng's small hand.

"Sure, let's go together! Perfect timing. Mom, we won't be coming back for dinner tonight; we'll eat out."

Zheng Yuan didn't object; she just smiled and nodded.

"Alright, you young people go out and have fun." Zheng Yuan smiled and nodded, then urged, "Take good care of Qingcheng."

Saying that, she stepped forward and slipped a few hundred bills into Xie Yuling's pocket.

"Keep some money in your pocket. Don't always let others treat you."

"I know, Mom."

With that, Zheng Yuan turned and went home, seemingly not worried at all about what these kids were going to do.

As soon as Zheng Yuan left, Jiang Yunlu finally couldn't hold back. She leaned close to Lin Mo and lowered her voice. "Are we really bringing Qingcheng? This..."

"Don't worry."

Lin Mo waved his hand, giving her a reassuring look. "That girl is my junior martial sister. However, she hasn't mastered her skills yet, just like you guys."

"Junior martial sister?!"

Jiang Yunlu's heart skipped a beat. Here it came again, that feeling of being kept in the dark.

However, strangely enough, that little bit of awkwardness in her heart didn't flare up much this time.

After all, this was the first time Lin Mo had actively invited her out of the blue, which was a shift in attitude in itself.

Ning Qingcheng, who had been told she hadn't mastered her skills, wasn't unhappy at all. Instead, her eyes lit up even more, and she excitedly tugged at the corner of Xie Yuling's clothes.

"Are we going to catch ghosts?! Awesome! I've grown this big and still haven't seen a real ghost!"

Chu Miaomiao remained quiet on the side. She didn't speak, but her gaze shifted back and forth between the boisterous Ning Qingcheng and the indifferent Lin Mo, a very faint trace of thought flashing in her eyes.

The group got into the car. Fortunately, they weren't driving a Bentley today, but a six-seater.

Uncle Zhao, who hadn't heard anything, looked at Lin Mo sitting in the passenger seat.

"Young Master Lin, where are we going?"

"To Licheng, to find something."

Licheng used to be a city, but it was later merged into Yangcheng and became a district. However, the name Licheng hadn't changed since the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Of course, the most important thing was that the lychees here were famous.

Hearing that they were going to Licheng, Uncle Zhao didn't ask why; he just quietly drove the car.

Lin Mo also searched the map to confirm the location he had seen using his foresight.

Meanwhile, Xie Yuling couldn't help but frown.

"Licheng is so far away. Why would he run to such a distant place?"

From the central area of Yangcheng, Licheng was located to the northeast, which was indeed considered far.

Lin Mo just shook his head. "It's nothing good, anyway."