Could Little Doubi's ability be to steal a target's faculties? Last time it had been his aunt's sense of smell and taste, and this time his uncle's ability to speak? Zhang Yuanqing, feigning a cough, felt a surge of pleasant surprise. If it could steal an ordinary person's abilities, could it also steal those of a Spirit Realm walker?
If that were the case, this little spirit servant was exceedingly valuable.
By this point, his uncle had finally come back to his senses. Recalling his behavior just now, the nightlife lord's face flushed crimson, caught between bewilderment and mortification.
*Haha, Uncle, so you can actually feel embarrassed after all!* Zhang Yuanqing gloated internally, noting that the infant spirit perched on his uncle's neck looked utterly drained and drowsy.
"Th-this... I was just messing with you all! I just suddenly remembered what Yuanzi looked like as a baby and couldn't resist copying him."
True to his decades of experience as a seasoned rascal, his uncle possessed skin as thick as a fortress wall, instantly shifting the blame onto his nephew.
Zhang Yuanqing was caught completely off guard.
"A grown man your age—aren't you ashamed of yourself?!" his grandmother scolded in exasperation.
"Mom, I'm still a child," his uncle beamed shamelessly. "I'll always be your baby boy."
"Get lost, get lost, get lost!" His grandmother waved him off in pure disgust.
Once dinner was over, his uncle's family headed back to their apartment across the hall. Zhang Yuanqing washed up in the bathroom early, reminded his aunt not to disturb him tonight, and retreated into his bedroom.
He had to wake up early tomorrow to meet Li Dongze at the station and report the infant spirit, so an early night was in order.
Before that, however, he needed to try subduing the little fellow.
Zhang Yuanqing sat cross-legged on the bed. Little Doubi curled up asleep in his lap, clutching one of his thumbs and sucking on it. Threads of Lunar force flowed steadily like silk into the infant spirit's body, nourishing it.
According to the forum post, once a spirit servant was successfully refined, one only needed to keep feeding it Lunar force to sustain its existence indefinitely.
Zhang Yuanqing had essentially picked up a ready-made treasure for free.
*This little guy doesn't seem too bright right now. I wonder if its intelligence will improve later...*
Settling his thoughts, Zhang Yuanqing mobilized his Lunar force. A dense, viscous black light welled up from the depths of his eyes, gradually overtaking his irises and whites until his eye sockets were entirely black.
*Whoosh.*
Zhang Yuanqing exhaled a puff of pale black mist, enveloping the infant spirit, and then drew in a breath, swallowing it into his belly.
Instantly, Zhang Yuanqing sensed an additional consciousness inside him—faint and dormant.
Following the method from the post, he channeled his Lunar force to wash over this consciousness again and again, imprinting it with his own mark so that it would accept his power and become his spirit servant.
The process lasted a dozen seconds. Suddenly, his mental power sank into a dark, boundless void.
It felt warm and comfortable, like sleeping in a mother's embrace.
His mental power had settled into the infant spirit's "body," briefly merging with it.
*The post was telling the truth. A master can harness a spirit servant's consciousness and abilities, briefly commandeering its 'body.'*
Once Zhang Yuanqing grew accustomed to this "body," a brand-new talent surfaced naturally in his mind.
It felt innate.
This talent was called "Exchange"—trading something of one's own for something of the target's.
For example, swapping its own sense of taste for the other party's, or swapping its own speech for the other party's, lasting for three seconds.
That was why his aunt had lost her sense of taste, and why his uncle had started babbling like an infant.
However, this exchange did not strictly require equal value; it could also use some of its own useless traits to trade for another's precious abilities. It was just that the infant spirit was too young and had limited intelligence, making it incapable of such fine control. It could only perform equal exchanges and activated the skill at random.
The activation condition was physical contact.
If Zhang Yuanqing took the reins himself, he could execute micro-plays that traded junk for god-tier abilities.
Additionally, the exchanges the infant spirit could currently perform were limited to physical faculties; it could not exchange active skills—at least not at this stage.
Finally, as its master, Zhang Yuanqing could also transfer negative statuses such as damage or crowd control to the spirit servant, having it share the burden.
*I finally understand why the Night Wanderer is one of the peak professions. It truly is absurdly strong,* Zhang Yuanqing marveled inwardly.
He returned his consciousness to his own body.
"Yi, yi..."
The infant spirit scrambled over on its short little legs, nuzzling its sparsely haired head against Zhang Yuanqing's hand, wanting to suck on his thumb again.
*As if this thing were edible.*
"No, this is where you feed." Zhang Yuanqing pointed at his chest.
The infant spirit tilted its head, staring blankly at him for a moment before seemingly catching his meaning, obediently crawling toward his chest.
"Piss off."
Zhang Yuanqing swallowed it back into his stomach, drawing it into his body.
The following morning, Zhang Yuanqing got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Just as he picked up his toothbrush, he paused, thought for a moment, and exhaled a breath of Yin qi. The infant spirit's tiny form materialized on the sink counter.
Nourished by the Lunar force, it looked quite lively, its dark, beady eyes gazing innocently up at Zhang Yuanqing.
"Let me teach you some basic life skills. This is a toothbrush. Your master is about to brush his teeth. Come on, repeat after me: toothbrush, brush teeth, brush teeth with a toothbrush..."
Since the little thing was not a mindless spirit body, it would eventually grow up. During that growth, he, as its master, needed to instill proper values in it.
It had to become an upstanding ghost—law-abiding, staying far away from gambling and drugs.
The infant spirit tilted its head, staring at him in utter bewilderment.
"Toothbrush, brush teeth, brush teeth with a toothbrush. Come on, say it with me..."
"???"
Zhang Yuanqing persevered for a moment before suddenly deflating, giving up on his teaching aspirations for now. He could no longer tell which of them was the bigger fool—himself or Little Doubi.
After finishing his morning routine, his phone rang. It was Li Dongze.
"Hello, Decurion?"
"Yuanshi, come over this morning. There's something we need your cooperation on."
"What is it?"
"A Night Wanderer from the Taiyi Sect wants to ask you a few things. We'll discuss the details when you arrive."
*Why would a Night Wanderer from the Taiyi Sect want to see me? Did they take notice of a peerless genius like me and want to recruit me? If that were the case, they should be approaching me in private.*
"Understood, Decurion." Zhang Yuanqing hung up.
He had to go to the station to report the infant spirit incident anyway.
After breakfast, he slung his backpack over his shoulders to pretend he was heading to school. Once out of the residential complex, he hailed a cab straight to the Public Security Bureau and walked into the two-story glass building.
Reaching the entrance of Li Dongze's office, he heard hearty laughter coming from inside.
"Oh, good heavens, that's the funniest joke I've ever heard!"
"Let me tell you another amusing one. You know Captain Zhao? Right, the guy who's always walking into the women's restroom. Back when he first became a Night Wanderer, he devoured seven female spirit bodies in one go. Ever since, he picked up the habit of squatting to pee, and he couldn't break it for years!"
"Hahaha, good heavens! Now that's the funniest joke I've ever heard—the previous one doesn't count!"
"It's nothing special. I know plenty of secrets about Night Wanderers. I'll tell you more later, but you have to promise not to spread them around. After all, neither of us are gossipers, right?"
*Knock, knock!*
Zhang Yuanqing rapped on the glass door.
The laughter inside ceased immediately, replaced by Li Dongze's steady voice: "Come in."
Zhang Yuanqing pushed the door open. On the reception sofa, Li Dongze was sharing a drink with a man dressed in a black suit and a black dress shirt.
This all-black-clad man possessed fairly handsome features, with somewhat pale skin and a slender build, carrying a faint, subtle aura of nobility.
"Our outstanding newcomer has arrived," Li Dongze said with a smile, gesturing toward the corner. "There's Cola in the fridge. Help yourself."
Once Zhang Yuanqing twisted open the bottle cap and took a swig, Li Dongze made the introduction:
"This is Yuan Ting, captain of the Taiyi Sect stationed in Kangyang District, a Level 3 Night Wanderer, and the elite of elites among our official organizations."
As a member of a top-tier combat profession, a Level 3 Night Wanderer was at the very pinnacle of the Transcendent stage.
"A fine-looking young man indeed! Elder Sun is truly out of his mind~"
Yuan Ting sighed in admiration and shook Zhang Yuanqing's hand.
Zhang Yuanqing, however, put on an eager, warm smile.
"The moment I saw Captain Yuan, I felt like I was looking at family—a bizarre sense of kinship. Could this be the mutual belonging shared between Night Wanderers?"
With an outsider present, Zhang Yuanqing temporarily kept quiet about the infant spirit.
Yuan Ting blinked. "There shouldn't be any such sense of belonging between Night Wanderers."
Zhang Yuanqing wore a look of sudden realization. "So it's Captain Yuan who gives off such a warm impression. It must be your personal charisma!"
Hearing this, Yuan Ting could not hold back a beaming grin. *This kid really knows how to talk!*
Then he remembered that this boy was Li Dongze's subordinate, and a pang of regret struck him once more. "Elder Sun is truly out of his mind~"
Seeing the two of them exchanging fond pleasantries, Li Dongze coughed lightly and adopted a serious tone.
"Captain Yuan is here on official business today."
He turned to Yuan Ting. "Shall we do it in my office, or head to the conference room across the hall?"
"Let's go to the conference room," Yuan Ting said.
With that, he picked up his briefcase from the glass coffee table, nodded at Zhang Yuanqing, and smiled faintly.
"A word in private, if you will."
*He wants to talk to me alone? Judging by the Decurion's attitude, it doesn't seem like a poaching attempt. What could this be about?*
"Sure!" Zhang Yuanqing didn't refuse, adding, "I'd like to use the restroom first."
Yuan Ting nodded and took the lead out of the office.
Zhang Yuanqing turned toward the work area. Glancing around, he deliberately bypassed Wang Tai, who was buried in writing some academic paper, and walked over to Guan Ya's desk, speaking in a teasing tone:
"I didn't get my honey trap, but I got a Taiyi Sect Night Wanderer instead."
Cradling her mug, Guan Ya smiled sweetly. "Then that proves it's not a honey trap. Well, Scorpio has good fortune today, but take extra care when speaking to colleagues and superiors, or things might flip completely."
She wore a white shirt and a short skirt, her slightly wavy long hair freshly styled, elegant and fashionable. Her oval face was radiant and alluring with light makeup, complemented by the exotic charm of her mixed heritage.
Zhang Yuanqing quipped, "Like if you tried to flirt with me and I turned you down with righteous indignation, causing the ship of our friendship to capsize on the spot?"
"No, you wouldn't turn me down, because you're a Scorpio," Guan Ya said in all seriousness.
*That's enough out of you! Keep slandering Scorpios and I'll beat you with a stick!*
Still, he had received the hint he wanted. Turning on his heel, he strode over to the conference room door and tapped lightly against the glass.
"Come in!" Yuan Ting called out from inside.
Chapter 36