The Unlucky Black Cat

chapter 18

The black cat's life was unusually mundane.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

A middle-aged man wearing a black shirt was frowning, looking at an instrument in his hand with a serious expression.

At that moment, the needle inside the instrument had swung all the way to the right, even exceeding the red zone marked as dangerous.

"Hisss."

Subconsciously, he took a drag from the cigarette that hadn't been extinguished yet, his scruffy lips pulling at it.

"Puff."

As a large cloud of smoke was slowly exhaled.

The middle-aged man stood still, stiffly removing the nearly burnt-out cigarette butt from his mouth and flicking off the ash with his fingertips, muttering to himself.

"It might have already coalesced into a malevolent spirit. This is beyond my capabilities now..."

While speaking, he pulled out his phone from his pocket.

It was eight in the morning, and he directly dialed a number.

"Beep, beep, beep."

After three rings.

The call was answered.

"Hello."

"Hello, it's me, Kashiwagi."

"Oh, Mr. Kashiwagi, please go ahead."

"I've confirmed the anomaly in Kawaguchi City."

"Is that so? What's the situation?"

"The information is accurate. The exact location is in the attached garden of Kantou District in Kawaguchi City, beneath a large tree that looks quite old."

"Is there more precise information?"

"The tree is quite noticeable; you should be able to see it at first glance. Additionally, this anomaly has exceeded the level of ordinary apparitions. It seems something is transforming into a malevolent spirit. I can't handle it, so send more people."

"Alright, I understand. Thank you, Mr. Kashiwagi."

"No problem, just make sure the payment is made."

"Rest assured, we will transfer the payment to your account within three working days."

"Alright, I have things to do, so I'll hang up now."

"Okay, looking forward to hearing from you again."

"Goodbye, it's better for me if you don't call me often."

"Beep." He silently pressed the end call button.

The man who called himself Kashiwagi stood with his hands in his pockets in front of the old tree swaying in the wind.

He seemed to be thinking about something.

After a moment, he turned and made another call.

"Hello, Qin, it's me. Can you check the death cases that occurred in Kantou District over the past few years? Yes, it's fine, it's just a personal matter. Send the files to my office. Alright, thank you. I'll treat you to dinner next time."

As the voice gradually faded away, the man had already left the neighborhood.

This city was becoming increasingly restless. As a spiritual detective, he felt a bit busier.

...

There are spirits in this world; most people just can't see them.

Or rather, every living being has a soul.

The heavier the longing of life, the heavier the soul becomes.

The heavier the soul, the more likely it is to cling to the mortal world. Thus, souls that refuse to leave after death are called white spirits.

White spirits are mostly unconscious; they only have memories of their past lives. Hence, they only wander around the places where these memories exist. Once the memories fade, they also disappear.

However, longings can be both good and bad. Evil longings never get satisfied, so they never dissipate.

Over time, they naturally transform into another form, a kind of gas that cannot be seen by the naked eye, which people call malevolent spirits.

Malevolent spirits cannot gain consciousness either, but they can interfere with the present world, bringing disasters to living beings. They use the evil thoughts of the living as a catalyst to erode their souls, allowing themselves to grow.

The larger the malevolent spirit, the more living beings it can affect, leading to more severe calamities afterward.

In the worst-case scenario, malevolent spirits would take on the appearance of their death and regain their past memories, then become vengeful spirits.

Vengeful spirits are conscious; each one can bring harm to an area.

In ancient times, when technology was not advanced, a single vengeful spirit could turn a city into a dead zone.

Only a small number of people born with natural talents and those who diligently studied this field had ways to deal with them.

Fortunately, with the rapid development of technology.

In recent years, even ordinary people, through professional training and with special tools, have slowly been able to handle some simple paranormal events.

To prevent the birth of vengeful spirits, human society has even established anonymous organizations that operate in the shadows, investigating various unsolved cases, aiming to nip dangers in the bud.

From years of experience, people have summarized a set of criteria for classifying the intensity of paranormal phenomena.

First is apparition, the stage where paranormal phenomena begin to appear, which is also a stage that ordinary people can handle.

At this stage, only the least harmful white spirits appear; some of them are too weak to affect living beings.Even Bai Ling, who harbored strong malevolent thoughts, could only slightly interfere with people's minds before completely turning into an evil spirit.

However, do not underestimate this seemingly insignificant ability. Under chaotic mental states, some people might follow their instincts and commit serious crimes.

Such as murder, r**e, and so on.

Therefore, even spiritual events at the apparition stage need to be handled with caution.

Otherwise, a small mistake can lead to irreversible consequences.

Next comes the evil spirit incidents that ordinary people cannot easily intervene in.

Once an entity becomes an evil spirit, its influence on living beings increases significantly.

The most direct manifestation is that it makes people unlucky, making them more prone to disasters.

Under continuous misfortune, people's mentality inevitably becomes more negative, weakening their psychological defenses.

Thus, evil spirits can easily erode people's souls, severely damaging their minds, turning hosts into mere shells of their former selves.

During this process, evil spirits use the spiritual bodies of living beings to strengthen themselves. The stronger the evil spirit, the wider its range of influence and the faster it devours souls.

An evil spirit grown to its peak can be considered a disaster for a region, potentially triggering various natural calamities.

Such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and so on.

Unless a top-notch spiritual cultivator intervenes, the problem cannot be solved.

Finally, there are the spiritual events involving vengeful spirits.

People generally refer to them as yin disasters.

Modern society rarely sees yin disasters; typically, it takes decades for a vengeful spirit to form. However, once formed, they are not easily eliminated.

Many vengeful spirits are indestructible because they have their own internal logic. Unless their rules are broken, they will not disappear.

Therefore, people can only seal them within certain objects and then keep them strictly guarded.

The tools used to seal vengeful spirits are called cursed objects.

Throughout history, thousands of such cursed objects exist, now scattered around the world and secretly contained.

There is no doubt that people must prevent vengeful spirits from escaping these cursed objects.

Otherwise, thousands of vengeful spirits would cause worldwide chaos.