"Yes," I said. That was Mohe.
Xie Bi'an's paper-thin body suddenly puffed up a little, returning to its normal petite loli form. She was still about one meter fifty tall and weighed sixty-odd pounds, but even so, she managed to possess a curvaceous figure. I didn't know if this was her natural physique or some kind of illusion.
She pulled out a palm-sized black token from her robe and held it up to me. It was a piece of wood, as if charred.
There were strange patterns around the edges and what looked like seal script characters in the center, which I couldn't understand. I could only make out nine characters: six above and three below.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Commander of the Yin Chaser Mansion, Xie Bi'an."
"Uh... Commander. So, Lord Xie's coffin is that big!" I flattered, though I actually had no idea what rank a "Commander" held.
"This is mine." Xie Bi'an showed it to me before putting it back. I thought she was going to give it to me, and I was disappointed. A token from the underworld would probably be worth more than the Cloud Hairpin.
However, after putting her own token away, Xie Bi'an pulled out two more, identical in size to the first. These, however, had no writing on them.
Xie Bi'an lowered her head and, using the fingernail of her right little finger, she moved her hand like a soaring dragon and a dancing phoenix across the tokens, quickly inscribing them. Then, she inscribed the other one. She handed both tokens to me.
I still didn't recognize the characters on them.
"What are these?" I asked.
Xie Bi'an pointed to one of the tokens. "Yin Chaser Mansion, Ensign, Wu Chengfeng."
So this one was for me!
"And this one?" I asked again.
"Yin Chaser Mansion, Captain, Zheng Bingbing."
What the hell? This actually shocked me!
Bingbing was also... chosen by her?
"What do you mean by giving me this, Lord Xie?" I asked. She wouldn't just give me gifts for no reason, right?
"You can use them for now and try to utilize the souls to help you resolve this crisis. If you feel this job suits you, then come find me," Xie Bi'an said. Then her body turned into a paper sheet again and she floated away into the distance.
"...How do I find you!" I shouted.
"Look at the back of the token."
I looked down and flipped over the back of the token. It was a picture, not text, resembling a palace. However, its style was peculiar. It wasn't like traditional Chinese palace architecture, nor was it like Western styles. It had an almost alien-technology aesthetic. In the center of the "palace" was a button. I tried pressing it. The button turned from black to red, and a deep male voice prompted: "Sir, whom do you wish to reach?"
"Uh... Xie Bi'an?" I tentatively asked.
"You're amazing, daring to address Commander Xie by name... Beep beep beep." The sound of a busy line.
Could this be the switchboard operator, big brother?
A moment later, Xie Bi'an's voice came through: "Yes, use it like that, but don't bother me unnecessarily. Beep beep beep."
Amazing! I didn't expect the underworld to have a telephone system!
Purely out of curiosity, I pressed the button again.
"Sir, whom do you wish to reach?" This time it was a female voice. It seemed there was more than one operator, and it was random.
"Zheng Bingbing," I said.
"Certainly, please wait. Beep beep beep."
After the busy tone, the other token in my hand, the one for Zheng Bingbing, also turned red!
I tentatively said "Hello," and a second later, a "Hello" came from my own token!
How magical!
On a whim, I thought for a moment and pressed the red button again.
"Sir, whom do you wish to reach?" Another operator this time.
"I want to find... Ox-Head?"
"Hmm? Who is Ox-Head?" the operator asked.
"You know, Ox-Head from Ox-Head and Horse-Face!" I said. Since this was a system of the Yin Chaser Mansion, shouldn't these two yin chasers be available?
"...You were the one who just addressed Commander Xie by name, weren't you?"
"...Yes," I said. It seemed these underworld operators were all working together.
"We advise you not to provoke Lord A Bang. If you wish to report to an official from the Western Bureau, you can contact Ma Luosha, Commander Ma."
"Who is Ma Luosha?" I asked. And Western Bureau? So, was Xie Bi'an's department the Eastern Bureau?
Since Xie Bi'an was a Commander, and this Ma something was also a Commander, they should be officials of the same rank in different departments.
"He is the Horse-Face you mentioned from Ox-Head and Horse-Face," the operator explained.