Underworld App (4): The first step in establishing diplomatic relations between humans and ghosts

They had been investigating all day but still couldn’t find any trace of how the beast had entered or escaped. Finally, someone remembered that the farmer had said the beast appeared every night. So the whole group decided not to leave; instead, they stayed until dark, hiding near the chicken coop, waiting for the beast to arrive.

They even spent money to buy a few chickens from the farmer to serve as potential sacrifices during the night capture. But the farmer kept shaking his head and refused to accept any payment, saying, “You’re already taking such a big risk to help me catch that creature. How could I possibly care about a few chickens? Just do what you need to—I believe in you.”

Then he even asked his wife and children to cook a meal for the officers, making some of the policemen feel a little embarrassed.

As night fell, the chickens in the coop had already gone to sleep. The farmer and his family temporarily moved to a nearby hotel, leaving only the officers guarding the area.

Time ticked by. By midnight, the officers—long used to working late—were full of energy, each holding riot shields and wearing riot helmets, equipped with batons, tasers, and live firearms, ready for action.

They were fully prepared for a battle with a jungle predator.

But what happened next took everyone completely by surprise.

One officer hiding in a corner of the coop and scanning the surroundings through binoculars couldn’t help but lower the binoculars and rub his eyes. Then he resumed looking through them, paused again, and lowered them once more.

“What’s wrong?”

Another officer asked curiously, “Are your eyes bothering you?”

“No,” the officer with the binoculars said in confusion. “Why does it feel so dark?”

Everyone around laughed. “What are you talking about? It’s late at night—of course it’s dark.”

“That’s not what I mean.” A dim light had been deliberately left on at the entrance of the chicken coop, meant to help the officers spot animal tracks without startling the beast. “But this is way too dark—like the light’s broken or something.”

He handed the binoculars to the teammate beside him. The teammate looked and exclaimed, “Huh, you’re right—it’s pitch black.”

The others, crouching in the smelly chicken coop, passed around the binoculars one by one and commented, “The light must’ve gone out.”

“Should someone go check?”

“No, it’s too dangerous. What if the thing suddenly shows up?” Just as they were regretting not bringing a thermal scope, someone suddenly whispered urgently, “Quiet!”

Instantly, the whole place fell silent.

A second later—rustle rustle—a sound like something brushing against surfaces echoed faintly.

Though the main door had been tightly shut, it suddenly creaked open on its own without any wind. The next moment, an even thicker darkness rushed into the coop. Everyone felt as if their vision dimmed all at once, even the moonlight outside the windows seemed to vanish.

An indescribable sense of dread gripped everyone’s heart. At the same time, the chickens in the coop went berserk, clucking wildly, wings flapping loudly. The once peaceful chicken coop erupted into a chaos that made everyone’s nerves fray.

The officers tensed up, their expressions a mix of confusion and alertness. They widened their eyes, trying to see through the inky blackness—but it was as if they were submerged in ink. They couldn’t see a thing.

Then, two eerie, bright red lights flashed through the air. Squelch! A sound like a blade piercing flesh was followed by a short but painful cry. Then came terrifying chewing and swallowing sounds—wet, frenzied, and fast.

The officers’ hearts tightened—they knew the beast had arrived. One of them quickly jumped up and turned on the coop’s main light. The others leapt over the fence, raising their shields, fully armed and on high alert, bracing for an attack—

And then they saw it.

A black, blurry, hideous humanoid creature floated slightly off the ground. It looked like something out of a nightmare. Its blood-red eyes glowed with a sinister glint, and its grotesque, razor-sharp teeth tore effortlessly into a mangled chicken corpse. Blood and flesh dripped down its chin, falling in front of its translucent, shadowy legs that seemed both there and not.

Everyone froze. The scene was so bizarre they could hardly process what they were seeing.

It took a loud roar from the burly officer with thick eyebrows to snap everyone out of their daze. One of them tried shouting a warning to the creature, ordering it to raise its hands and stay still—but the thing responded with a louder roar, a mix between a beast’s snarl and a ghost’s wail, powerful enough to shake a person’s heart.

The officers’ eyes widened in terror, their hands trembling slightly as they tried to stay calm.

They could be afraid—but they absolutely could not run!

As the creature dropped the half-eaten chicken and started approaching, the officers shouted warnings: “Stop! Stop!”

But the creature only moved faster, baring its fangs and sharp-clawed hands, clearly preparing to attack. One officer raised his firearm and pulled the trigger.

The bullet went straight through the creature’s body—as if it were air—and thud! hit an innocent rooster.

The rooster squawked in terror, flapped its wings twice, and collapsed to the ground.

But the officers had no time to care about the unlucky bird. Their guts twisted in fear as they witnessed this horrifying scene. Someone roared, “Fire! Open fire!!”

They scattered and began shooting. Gunfire filled the coop, loud enough to startle some distant residents, who thought someone was setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night. Annoyed, they muttered a few complaints and rolled over to go back to sleep.

The police could only watch in horror as each bullet passed uselessly through the monster. Unable to suppress their fear any longer, someone yelled, “Call for backup!!!”

The officer with thick eyebrows was the unluckiest of the bunch. The creature locked onto him, and he saw its massive hand—three to four times the size of a normal human’s—swinging down toward his head. In that instant, he suddenly remembered the bloody corpses he had seen in photos earlier that day, with wounds so deep they looked carved by blades, exposing the bone beneath.

Will he end up the same way?

Will he, just like those chickens, become nothing more than a shattered corpse with scattered entrails, his life ending in the very next moment?

All of this happened in a split second.

The officer barely had time to weakly raise his arms to shield his head and chest, trying to give himself even the slightest chance of survival.

Then, in the next moment—bang! A muffled thud rang out. The officer seemed to see a faint yellow light flash past the corner of his eye.

The expected pain didn’t come. By reflex, he rolled away, his body covered in mud and chicken droppings, and in just a few seconds he had scrambled five or six meters away from the monster, putting as much distance as he could between them in a single breath.

Still shaken, he got back on his feet, not knowing what had just happened.

But his colleagues had seen everything clearly from beginning to end. Their tense and worried expressions were still frozen on their faces, their voices full of disbelief: “What did you just do?!”

The officer with the thick eyebrows blinked. “Huh?”

“There was a sudden flash of light in front of you, and then that monster got blasted away!!” someone shouted.

The officer had no idea what they were talking about. He was just about to say he didn’t understand when a sharp, burning pain hit his chest. He instinctively reached into his pocket—and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper glowing faintly with a familiar yellow light.

The officer: ?!!

Someone shouted, “What is that?!”

The officer looked dazed, but his instincts told him this thing had just saved his life. He quickly said, “It’s a safety charm! One of those I bought from that Underworld app!!”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then their faces turned to a mix of frustration, disbelief, and confusion.

Someone asked, “Do you have more?!”

“Only one!” the officer snapped.

They didn’t have time to argue. The monster had already locked onto another officer, ready to kill again. Without thinking, the thick-browed officer wrapped the charm around a rock and threw it to the endangered teammate: “Catch!!”

The targeted officer, in a burst of desperate adrenaline, lunged forward and caught the charm. The monster grabbed his leg, sending a wave of searing pain through his body—but in the next second, a flash of burning light erupted from his hand. The monster let out a pained roar and released him.

“Run!!” the officer yelled. He could see the charm’s light quickly dimming—it clearly couldn’t withstand more than a few attacks. Realizing the danger, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins as he shouted: “Get out of here! Tell my mom to take care of herself!!”

“What kind of crap are you saying?!” the squad leader didn’t retreat. Instead, he charged forward, firing repeatedly while shouting at the monster: “Come kill me if you’ve got the guts!!”

Another officer even slit a chicken’s throat, trying to use fresh blood and flesh to lure the monster away and protect his teammate.

The officer with the thick eyebrows, thinking fast, pulled out his phone and opened the Underworld app’s marketplace, trying to buy more charms—then his finger froze.

Purchasing a charm and having it delivered would take several hours. It would be far too late!!

The sounds of his teammates shouting and fighting filled his ears. Panic gripped his chest—he feared that even a one-second delay might cost someone’s life. Taking a deep breath, he frantically opened the human world forum and typed a post with the title:

HELP!!!!

He didn’t know if he was just clutching at straws in desperation, or if it was pure instinct—but something told him this Underworld app really could save them. He quickly typed:

I’m at Mo Lao San’s chicken coop, XX Street, XX District, Nanyuan—we’ve encountered a monster!! The safety charm can block it! Please help us!!

There was no time to explain—he could only get the most important details out. Just as he hit send, a shout rang out nearby.

“Don’t come over here! All of you, leave—go!!”

The officer holding the charm stood firm, using himself as bait. His expression was filled with grief and determination. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, but he refused to move, drawing the monster’s attention.

But his teammates had no intention of abandoning him. They attacked the monster desperately, trying to pull its focus away. Tears streamed down the officer’s face as he stood there, furious and desperate to the point of madness.

The officer with the thick eyebrows gritted his teeth, turned off his phone, grabbed a riot shield, and charged forward.

He was going to use the shield to block one of the monster’s attacks—just long enough to drag his teammate to safety!

“No!!”

The rushed cry came too late. The monster slammed into the shield with force like a truck, cracking it with a horrifying crunch. The two officers were flung backward, flying at least seven or eight meters.

The officer groaned, tasting blood in his mouth. He forced himself to swallow it and shouted, “Run!!”

Seeing their teammate rescued, the rest of the team didn’t hesitate—they turned and ran. The monster roared and chased after them like a gust of wind. Within seconds, the two sides were fighting again right outside the coop.

“Damn it!” The captain, desperate to protect his team, threw himself in front of the officer about to be caught. But to his shock, the monster suddenly gave up on that officer—and with a massive hand, struck straight at the captain, clearly going in for the kill!

Just as he was about to be killed on the spot, the captain’s eyes widened with fury. He only had time to let out a curse before a crisp “ding-a-ling” suddenly echoed across the open ground.

Under the moonlight, a slender figure landed in front of everyone. A refined and elegant ancient robe swept the ground, and a cascade of long, ink-black hair swayed in the wind. His blood-red eyes, identical to the monster’s, sent a chill down everyone’s spine, instantly conjuring images of ghosts from folktales.

He glanced at them briefly, then quickly looked past them and locked his gaze onto the monster that was about to strike.

His wide sleeves fluttered despite the still air. A slender, pale hand swiftly lifted, and he struck the raging monster with one palm.

It was as if the monster had been hit by an invisible force—its chest exploded with several large holes, and it let out a bone-chilling scream so shrill it made everyone’s ears ring.

The next second, the man in robes flew forward and swung his arm again, landing another blow on the creature. Though it appeared light, the strike seemed to tear the beast’s very soul apart. A thick black mist burst out visibly, scattering and trying desperately to pull itself back together—barely retaining the shape of the original monster.

Then, with a backward grab, the monster—who shouldn’t have had a physical form—was caught in his palm. Despite its frantic resistance, the long, slender fingers forcibly stuffed it into a tiny bottle at his waist, not even the size of a palm, and sealed the lid.

The deafening roars stopped instantly. In the wide open space, only the soft, clear sound of the silver bell on the youth’s wrist could be heard.

The police officers, long stunned into silence, stood rooted in place, staring blankly at the tall, impossibly beautiful young man in front of them, thoughts spinning wildly, as if in a dream.

No one knew how he had appeared—or why.

Until the youth slightly parted his lips and said, “You knew to make a forum post for help. Smart.”

“Forum post?” The group of police officers, miraculously alive, looked at each other in confusion, wondering if it was some kind of occult term—like a soul-binding post or death-summoning post.

But the officer with the thick eyebrows—who had loudly claimed not to believe in posts or charms, and insisted on trusting science—was the first to betray his beliefs. He raised his hand high and said quickly, “Me, me, me! I made the post! I didn’t think anyone would actually come! And you came so fast!”

He had been acting out of sheer desperation. Seeing that there wasn’t time to buy another charm, he turned to the forum for help.

He hadn’t even known if the app’s creator would see the post—or if, even if they did, they could make it in time to save them.

And yet, the result had exceeded all expectations.

Not only had someone seen it, they had arrived in under a minute.

The officers’ hearts pounded violently. After a long while, they finally snapped out of the surreal, terrifying events. Swallowing hard, they slowly understood that their teammate had managed to post on the forum during the chaos—and, incredibly, it had worked. Relief washed over them.

Someone couldn’t help asking, “That thing just now—what was it? Why was it so vicious? It wasn’t human, was it?”

“And who are you? How did you suddenly appear here? You touched that thing—how? And your eyes… they looked just like that monster’s.”

Too many questions burned inside them. One officer after another asked aloud—it was starting to sound like an interrogation.

The captain noticed the situation and quickly stepped in. “Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re just overwhelmed. We’re really grateful—thank you, truly!”

The young man nodded. “I understand.”

His blood-red eyes looked at them. Their hearts tensed, but none of them showed fear or disgust. That put him in a very good mood.

He even smiled. And when he did, it was as if a thousand spring flowers bloomed all at once—dazzling and breathtaking. The officers, who were used to skepticism during investigations, instinctively relaxed and warmed up to him.

The captain said, “Thank you for coming. I wonder if you’d be willing to come with us to the station. Of course, not to interrogate you—we’d just be incredibly grateful if you could answer a few questions…”

About the monster, about the charm, about that strange app… they needed to understand.

Though the young man seemed calm and approachable, his earlier actions—and the quiet coldness he naturally radiated—meant none of them dared underestimate him. They could only muster their courage and try to communicate.

He nodded. “Of course. I have things I want to discuss with you as well.”

On the way, he “sat” in the police car and explained to the captain, who couldn’t wait to ask questions: “What you just encountered was a fierce ghost.”

“Fierce ghost?!” The captain’s voice rose several decibels, filled with disbelief. A moment later, realizing how inappropriate his reaction was, he quickly corrected himself: “I was just shocked.”

The young man didn’t mind and continued, “As it says in the pinned post, ordinary ghosts are weak and invisible to the naked eye. Only fierce ghosts—those who consume flesh or life force—can form a physical body and harm living beings.”

The captain’s expression grew solemn. “That thing definitely ate a lot of animals.” And it clearly attacked humans, too.

The young man said, “As mentioned in the post, ghosts persist because of unresolved obsessions. Most retain their habits from life and won’t randomly hurt people. But some grow completely disillusioned with this world and choose to take revenge… you can probably guess what happened next.”

The captain nodded heavily.

Then he looked at the young man with respect and asked, “May I ask… are you a Taoist exorcist or something? The techniques you used—were they for ghost-catching?”

The young man shook his head. “I’m not a Taoist. And I’m not human. I’m a ghost.”

The air inside the car instantly dropped several degrees. The officer driving trembled, goosebumps rising all over his body.

The captain’s body tensed instinctively, his face almost turning green.

But he quickly forced himself to push down the urge to recoil. Struggling to keep calm, he managed a smile and said, “But you said earlier—ordinary people can’t see normal ghosts. They can only see…”

“Fierce ghosts,” the young man confirmed calmly. “I am one.”

And not just any fierce ghost—he was the strongest ghost king, personally chosen by the world’s consciousness and entrusted to the child of the world.

The captain swallowed hard and gave a nervous laugh. “But you’re nothing like the fierce ghost from before. You look like a normal person—completely rational.”

The young man thought for a moment and said, “Don’t use me as a reference, or get complacent. I’m a special case. Most fierce ghosts do hurt people.”

The captain nodded slowly, a bit confused but increasingly respectful. Anyone who would warn humans about the dangers of their own kind, without defending themselves, deserved admiration.

The young man then shared many details they had been desperate to know—about the underworld, about ghosts.

The people in the car were left with their worldviews shattered and reassembled, their faces dazed the entire ride.

They brought him to the station late at night and called the Director.

The Director, woken up in the middle of the night, wasn’t angry—in fact, he looked a bit nervous. “What is it?”

Anything urgent enough to wake him like this had to be serious. He got out of bed quickly, dressing while his wife watched with concern.

The captain hesitated for a moment, then went straight to the point. “Sir, we encountered a fierce ghost during tonight’s operation.”

The Director’s hand paused mid-button. “…?”

Without stopping, the captain relayed everything that had happened in full detail. The Director listened seriously, then said in a low voice, “Understood. I’m coming now.”

His wife noticed his expression and asked worriedly, “What happened?”

The Director replied, “I can’t say for now.”

“Is it dangerous?”

He was silent for a moment, thinking.

A fierce ghost—of course it was dangerous.

His wife’s expression dimmed. She stood up and brought him his hat, handing it to him with gentle words: “Come back soon. The kids and I will be waiting for you.”

“Mm.” He hugged her briefly, then left with a resolute look.

Twenty minutes later, under the bright lights of the station, he met the young man—who didn’t look like any ghost from legend. In fact, he looked better than any TV star.

The youth had a calm expression. When he saw the Director, his brows relaxed and he greeted him with a peaceful air.

The Director quickly walked up with a big smile, greeting warmly, “Hello, hello! May I ask your name?”

Instinctively, he reached out to shake hands.

The young man glanced at the hand and smiled, shaking his head gently. “Just call me Si Qi.”