"What are you panicking about..." I steadied Zheng Bingbing. This was ridiculous; her once straight little nose was now completely flattened from the impact!
I quickly massaged her nose, pinching and shaping it back to its original form. Fortunately, she hadn't had plastic surgery, or that bump might have dislodged the silicone.
Zheng Bingbing sat down nervously. I sat beside her. The sofa was a bit narrow, and our legs were touching. I could clearly feel her leg trembling, like a phone vibrating in a pocket.
"I'm so sorry, Commander Ma..." Though her body was trembling, Zheng Bingbing's emotions seemed relatively stable. She bowed slightly, apologizing to Ma Luosha.
Ma Luosha waved her hand. "It's fine. Anyone alive is like this the first time they see me. Did you order food? I came here starving!"
"The... buffet. We need to go get it," Zheng Bingbing replied.
"Then let's go, together," I said. Honestly, I wasn't that scared of her.
"Alright. Besides work, I don't visit the mortal realm often. I've never eaten at a restaurant like this before. Let's experience it," Ma Jiaojiao said generously, following the two of us outside.
It was still early, so there weren't many customers in the breakfast shop, but there were plenty of staff. The steaming hot delicacies were already laid out. I was worried Ma Jiaojiao wouldn't know what to do, so I followed behind her, introducing her to human food. She seemed to love meat. She took a portion of steamed pork ribs, a portion of preserved vegetable pork, and a portion of drool-inducing chicken. She also took four steamed buns filled with beef and radish.
The staff members watched with amazement, concerned she wouldn't be able to finish it all.
I casually took a bowl of congee, a portion of steamed vegetables, two eggs, and a cup of coffee. Healthy eating.
Bingbing had driven all night and was likely very hungry, but seeing Ma Jiaojiao, she lost her appetite and only took a vegetarian salad.
Back in the private room, Ma Jiaojiao, as if she had visited Japan, clasped her hands together in a bow and said, "I'm starting to eat!"
She was clearly a ghost, but I could only describe her eating as wolfing it down. Not only could she eat, but she ate incredibly fast. It felt like she barely chewed. However, judging by her expression, she was truly enjoying the food. Unlike some of my demonic acquaintances, who merely tasted their food at the table, pretending to enjoy it, some demons would even chew a few bites and then discreetly spit the food out.
In a flash, Ma Jiaojiao finished eating.
"You can get more if you're still hungry," I said.
Ma Jiaojiao patted her belly. "No, thank you. I'm stuffed. Thank you for your generous hospitality, Wu Xiaoqi. Are you two done?"
I hadn't eaten much, but seeing Ma Jiaojiao sitting upright, as if about to discuss important matters, I quickly pulled Zheng Bingbing to put down our chopsticks. We said we were finished and were ready to listen to the spirit supervisor's speech.
"It's like this," Ma Jiaojiao licked her lips. "In the suburbs of Shengjing, there's a place called Heishan Baozi."
"Heishan Baozi?" I frowned.
"What, you've heard of it?" Ma Jiaojiao asked.
"I passed by there a few days ago," I replied truthfully. "Near Taoxian Airport. There were quite a few lonely ghosts."
Ma Jiaojiao chuckled. "They aren't just lonely ghosts. They are the wronged spirits of those massacred by bandits a hundred years ago."
I nodded. "I heard about it from a local taxi driver. They were massacred for helping Old Marshal Zhang. Their village was wiped out by the Marshal's opponents."
"You know quite a bit," Ma Jiaojiao took a sip of my coffee, then frowned and spat it back out. She probably didn't like the taste of coffee.
"Originally, wronged spirits should have been taken in by our Western Depot. Coincidentally, during that period, the underworld was undergoing a change of leadership. The new spirit supervisor's team implemented drastic reforms, altering the functions of our Yin Messenger Bureau. The Western Depot was no longer responsible for housing wronged human spirits; that responsibility was transferred to the Eastern Depot. At that time, the head of the Eastern Depot, under the pretext of 'new brooms don't sweep old accounts,' refused to house the wronged spirits from that period. This resulted in many wronged spirits from that time being left to wander the mortal realm."
"It wasn't until years later, when the Yin Messenger Bureau re-organized its functions, that this responsibility was returned to our Western Depot. That's when we remembered that group of people. But as you probably know, during that time, Yanxia was in a state of war. Warlords and bandits were rampant. There were an unusually large number of wronged spirits like those in Heishan Baozi who were massacred."
"Our Western Depot is short-staffed and usually busy with our regular duties. We can only prioritize current tasks. Therefore, the Heishan Baozi issue, a historical backlog, was repeatedly postponed and pushed back. Recently, these troublesome people, alas, have been repeatedly petitioning the underworld. Only then did I manage to free up some time to personally come to the Northeast region to collect them. Unfortunately, new duties have arisen in the underworld, and I must return to handle them. Therefore, the task of collecting these twelve hundred wronged spirits is entrusted to the two of you!"
I listened, utterly bewildered.
I had never heard of what Ma Jiaojiao was talking about.
But these procedures and routines... they felt so familiar.