After thrashing the male ghost for a while, Lu Zihao began to feel bored.
The problem was that the ghost did nothing but run and wail.
It didn't put up even the slightest resistance, not even a small, symbolic punch to its own chest.
This total lack of spirit made Zihao lose his enthusiasm for the punishment.
Still, he felt he had taught it enough of a lesson for scaring Su Qiao.
With two final parting thwacks of his bat, Zihao dragged the ghost downstairs to find Shen Xiao.
"Boss! I brought this ghost for you!"
"Hey, wait for me!" Su Qiao shouted, trailing closely behind.
With wide strides, Lu Zihao reached the living room and tossed the ghost onto the floor. "Boss, look! This is the thing causing all the trouble in this house!"
Shen Xiao rose to inspect the catch.
He could have intervened earlier, but he had intentionally delayed, thinking that if the ghost escaped, the mission would end too soon.
However, the opponent's strength was surprisingly concerning, it had been caught this quickly.
Approaching the male ghost, Shen Xiao caught a whiff of a pungent, foul stench coming from its face.
He winced and instinctively kept his distance to avoid the aroma.
His Divine Sense revealed that this ghost was incredibly weak, no, it wasn't entirely human, as it lacked the physical characteristics of a living person.
Extremely weak.
No wonder Lu Zihao could beat it into this state.
"Release him! Face me instead!"
At that moment, the figure of a ghost woman in a red dress appeared at the doorway, gliding toward them with feet that didn't touch the ground.
"I let you live earlier, and you dare to come back?" Lu Zihao raised his hand and swung his bat again.
Whoosh!
The bat whistled right through the ghost woman's body.
Zihao was certain his aim was true, but the bat acted as if it were passing through mere smoke.
Disbelieving, he slowed his speed and reduced his power, trying to strike again, only to find the bat once more passing through her effortlessly.
Since weapons were useless, he switched to his fists, but those too missed their mark.
He could only watch helplessly as the ghost woman passed right through him and reappeared behind his back.
This sudden inability to touch the ghost left Zihao momentarily dazed.
'Is this the real ghost? The final boss?'
Meanwhile, Lu Qingyue manifested water bullets and fired them at the woman.
The projectiles tore through her form and left holes in the floor behind her, but they caused no actual damage to the ghost.
"You dare destroy my home!"
The ghost woman suddenly flew into a rage, ignoring Lu Zihao and gliding rapidly toward Lu Qingyue.
She threw back her veil, revealing a horrific face with a wide, gaping maw.
"Don't be afraid, hide behind me!"
Shen Xiao pulled Lu Qingyue behind his back and fired a fireball.
It passed right through her.
A lightning ball did the same, no matter how powerful the attacks were, nothing seemed to actually connect.
The ghost woman managed to close in, circling Lu Qingyue while chanting in a hoarse voice about a little sister carrying a doll.
Two more of Shen Xiao's attacks missed their mark.
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
He manifested a Fire Barrier, wrapping the ghost woman inside it.
The attack wasn't meant to burn her, yet the figure of the ghost woman slowly faded and eventually vanished.
Only after she was gone did Lu Zihao dare to approach.
"Alright, she's definitely dead this time. That woman really couldn't sit still," Lu Zihao said, shaking his head.
Shen Xiao fell into thought.
He knew the strength of his own barrier, even a mosquito could pass through it unharmed.
However, the primary function of that barrier was to sever the flow of spiritual energy for concealment purposes.
That function had instantly isolated the ghost woman from the outside world.
There was only one possibility, this ghost woman was a construct created by someone, or something, with supernatural abilities and was being controlled from elsewhere.
She vanished because her supply of spiritual energy was cut off.
'Was it the cat, Lao Jiang?'
Su Qiao hurriedly said, "The ghost is gone, so can we leave now? Let's take this male ghost back to report! Ah! Look, the woman is still alive!"
Before Su Qiao could finish her sentence, the ghost woman emerged halfway from the floor, grabbed the male ghost, and dragged him down into the solid ground.
Lu Zihao lunged forward, slamming his bat against the floor, but the strike simply passed through both ghosts.
"Mortals! Leave now, or I will ensure you die a miserable death today, especially for daring to damage my home!"
"Chirp chirp chirp..."
As the ghost woman left, she didn't forget to hurl one last threat at Lu Qingyue.
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Lu Zihao tapped the floor, it was solid, meaning the ghost had truly phased through it.
"What do we do, Boss?"
"Chase them. I already know where they're hiding," Shen Xiao answered coldly.
Shen Xiao had originally intended to leave the cat alone for another day, but the creature had the audacity to sneak right under his nose.
It kept trying to terrify the Empress, Lu Qingyue.
If he let it escape now, what would happen to his reputation?
Wouldn't it leave Lu Qingyue with the impression that he was incompetent?
That was absolutely unacceptable!
So what if it could phase through walls?
Shen Xiao had a Hint Card.
He activated it, and a blinking dot appeared at a specific spot right beneath his feet.
Daring to scare the Empress?
Look how terrified Qingyue is! Just from hiding in my arms out of fear, she gave me 200 lottery tickets!
This will not be tolerated!
Tonight, I am dragging that cat out!
Based on the blinking marker, Shen Xiao had locked onto the target.
The location was underground.
Shen Xiao remembered this was the exact spot where he had found a secret door on the first day.
"Search around here. This house must have a hidden door and a basement. Lu Zihao, you two search the living room. I'll check the bedroom."
Shen Xiao headed to the bedroom first. Without waiting, he immediately hoisted the bed and inspected the floor.
After Lu Zihao entered, Shen Xiao pried up the floorboards.
There, a staircase leading to a basement was revealed.
He tossed two fireballs down to light the way.
It was about six meters deep, not too far down.
"Lu Zihao, you two stay up here and keep watch. I'm going down to check it out."