"Ah, so early?" Ma Luosha's languid, mature voice.
"Lord Ma, good morning. It's best to host guests early, isn't it? I'm on Si Ma Road in the Peace District. Do you know the address?" I asked humbly.
"I'm not too familiar with addresses in the mortal realm, but it's fine. I can pinpoint your location. Just keep your 'Soul Seizing Token' active."
So that's what this thing was called, the 'Soul Seizing Token.' Did I have to show it to ghosts every time I caught one? Like how mortal constables would shout at criminals, 'Police! Don't run! Run again and I'll shoot!' even if they didn't show their badges immediately.
After Ma Luosha spoke, I heard a whooshing sound, like opening a car window on a highway. Perhaps she was rushing over. It was a bit jarring, so I held the token further away, lit a cigarette, and waited with a mix of trepidation and excitement.
Before I could finish my third puff, a gust of eerie wind swept in from the roadside to my left. It buffeted the low bushes nearby as if they were facing a typhoon, nearly flattening them, while the taller trees remained still. The 'wind' reached me and abruptly stopped, but I saw nothing.
Where was she? Or rather, where was the ghost? No, where was Ma Luosha?
Just as I was about to activate my Qi sensing technique, a voice from behind me said, "Hello."
I jumped, startled, and sprang up from the bench, executing a 'Turning Back Moon Gaze.' I saw a young lady dressed in modern clothes, leaning over the back of the bench. Her hair was loose. She wore a short, thin down jacket (fitting, as it had gotten colder today, with an actual temperature of around 4-5 degrees Celsius), tight corduroy pants, and a pair of large, long leather boots that looked like horses' hooves. Not really fitting her identity, but this kind of boot, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, had been quite popular lately. They were pure black, with no laces or embellishments, except for a ring of green stripes around the sole. I couldn't tell what brand they were.
"...Lord Ma?" I tentatively asked. I couldn't tell at all that she was a Netherworld official. She looked exactly like a human and even wore rimless glasses. Based on her demeanor and attire, she looked more like a female PhD student, though not from a top-tier school, of course. After all, with her good looks, in the common view, a woman's education and looks were inversely proportional.
"Oh, there are so many people around, don't call me 'Lord.' Be casual. My alias in the mortal realm is Ma Jiaojiao. Hello, Wu Chengfeng." Ma Luosha reached out her hand across the bench.
I shook her hand. Damn, her hand was colder than the air. The feedback felt exactly like a fresh fish just taken out of a refrigerator!
"Hello, Ma Jiaojiao." I feigned calmness, and as our eyes met, I subtly shifted my gaze, using the light from the breakfast shop to activate my Qi sensing technique.
As expected, she wasn't human, nor a demon, but a ghost of Qi.
And not just any Qi, but Purple Qi. If we were to categorize strength levels in the human and demon realms, her Purple Qi was mid-tier, very strong. Shen Xingyue had mentioned that there were only about ten mid-tier Purple Qi experts in the Yanxia Kingdom that she knew of. She was a favored subordinate of Shakespeare, with excellent information-gathering abilities, so there probably weren't more than ten reclusive experts she didn't know about.
This meant that if Commander Ma were placed in Yanxia Kingdom, she would be among the top twenty absolute masters!
Could it be that Xie Bi'an wanted Commander Ma to help me resolve the crisis in Mohe?
It shouldn't be that straightforward, right?
If he needed help from the Netherworld Prefecture, wouldn't Xie Bi'an's personal intervention be more effective? Commander Ma was from the "West Factory," while Xie Bi'an was from the East Factory. I was a direct subordinate of Xie Bi'an, not Ma Jiaojiao.
Unable to figure it out, I decided to eat first.
Despite the initial shock, Ma Luosha's approachable demeanor didn't cause any further ripples in my heart. I invited her into the breakfast shop and specifically observed that she had a shadow and breathed, and her footsteps made sound. Without the confirmation from my Qi sensing technique, she appeared to be completely human.
When we reached the private room, Bingbing initially thought I had run into a friend. After I introduced her as "Ma Jiaojiao," Bingbing leaned over and whispered to me, "Where is that Netherworld official?"
Bingbing's voice was as small as a mosquito's, but Ma Luosha still heard it. "I'm right here, Chief Zheng."
"Oh my god!" Zheng Bingbing yelped and turned to run, only to bump headfirst into the wall of the private room!