She’s a Passerby, But Can See the Protagonist’s Halo

Ding Ling led the white-clothed female ghost, her movements natural and effortless. Combined with the faintly eerie aura she exuded, onlookers simply assumed she was with the ghost.

Since she had already called for backup earlier, it didn't take long for Ding Ling, with the help of the Special Case Team, to successfully take the ghost away.

Indeed, because the team members who appeared at the comic convention were dressed in unique costumes, their departure didn't raise suspicions but instead garnered admiration from the crowd.

One person wore a Taoist robe, holding yellow talismans that were stuck to the ghost's body. Another carried a long silver chain, with the words "Wuchang" printed on their white robe.

"LOL, the ghost got caught by Wuchang! Bro, you need a hood for that look. The soul-hooking chain is cool, but your outfit is too plain. Where are the tall hats of the Black and White Wuchang?"

"Why doesn't the Taoist priest have a peachwood sword? Carrying a sword would really complete the vibe!"

"What kind of major crime did this ghost commit to escape from the underworld? The setup seems pretty epic, with both a Taoist priest and a ghost official coming to catch her. Why didn’t they act it out on the spot?"

Some onlookers even offered suggestions for their costumes.

Ding Ling and the two Special Case Team members took the ghost into a modified van. The one dressed as "Wuchang" was Wu Ya, the living ghost official, while the other was Chang Qing, the current disciple of a certain single-lineage mystical school.

Ding Ling thought to herself that it was lucky Yan and Zhu Jue had left quickly. The two groups had just missed each other. Otherwise, while Wu Ya might not have known them, Chang Qing’s sect might have recognized Yan and Zhu Jue, potentially exposing their identities.

Inside the van, Chang Qing used a soul-stabilizing talisman to secure the original soul of the girl's body, preventing the ghost from taking over.

Ding Ling then yanked the possessing ghost out of the girl's body.

She frowned as she looked at the ghost she had just pulled out. It appeared to be a young girl, not yet an adult, possibly still in middle or high school.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch—" The ghost was making faces at Ding Ling.

"I was about to come out on my own, but you had to yank me out. That hurt!"

"Was it really necessary just because I made you chase me for a bit?"

The little ghost bared her teeth and argued vehemently. Ding Ling, not one to argue with children, confirmed from her words that the ghost had indeed been toying with her during the chase. Ding Ling felt a mix of exasperation and amusement.

What a mischievous kid!

Was she this troublesome when she was first unearthed?

It wasn’t just "a bit" of chasing—they had run through most of the convention center. If Ding Ling had been a regular human, her legs would have been exhausted by now!

Meanwhile, Chang Qing was examining the girl who had been possessed by the little ghost and nodded at Ding Ling and Wu Ya.

"She’s fine. Although the yin energy seems strong, the ghost didn’t fully take over her body. It’s more like her body has adapted to the ghost’s presence due to prolonged exposure."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the little ghost.

Though restrained in her seat, the little ghost sat with her arms akimbo, swaying back and forth.

"Of course, I would never hurt Little Mei. We’ve known each other for a long time," she said proudly.

"You’re friends?" Ding Ling asked.

"Of course! Little Mei was my best friend when I was alive," the little ghost scoffed.

"Then why did you possess your best friend’s body? Didn’t you know it would harm her?" Ding Ling pressed.

The little ghost straightened up, trying to sound confident but with a hint of guilt. "We talked about it. Little Mei agreed. It was just for one day. I’ve always wanted to go to a comic convention, but I died before I could. Little Mei brought me here."

Her words left Ding Ling, Wu Ya, and Chang Qing stunned.

Ding Ling sighed inwardly. "So, how long have you been with Little Mei?"

The little ghost tilted her head in thought. "How long? I’ve been with her since I died."

She counted on her translucent fingers. "It’s been about three months."

She rambled on, "Little Mei said people would think she was weird if she talked to herself, so we tried to figure out how to talk in her head like in those system novels. After a lot of trial and error, we succeeded. I could enter her body, and we could talk together."

"But I knew it wasn’t good for her, so I didn’t possess her often," the little ghost admitted, lowering her head guiltily.

She nervously picked at her fingers. "Um, I stayed in her body a bit longer this time. Before, I only possessed her temporarily to hide from people. Is Little Mei’s condition serious?"

Wu Ya spoke up, "You’ve been with Little Mei for three months, day and night. That’s enough time to cause slow but lasting harm to a normal person."

The little ghost looked devastated. "Is Little Mei going to die? I’m already dead—she can’t die too!"

"Fortunately, Little Mei is young and has strong vitality. It’s not too severe, but she’ll need to spend a lot of time outdoors, exercise, and get plenty of sunlight to replenish her yang energy and recover slowly," Wu Ya explained.

"So, why have you been with Little Mei for the past three months?" Ding Ling asked.

According to the laws of the world, the living belong to the yang realm, while the dead belong to the yin realm. After death, souls are supposed to be taken to the underworld by ghost officials, either to the jurisdiction of the City God or the Ten Kings of Hell.

A child like this little ghost should have been taken away by ghost officials after death. If she died before adulthood, it might have been a trial for a celestial child, but the little ghost didn’t seem to fit that description.

The little ghost scratched her head. "I don’t know. When I became a ghost, I was still in the hospital. Later, I tried to go home but couldn’t get in. I had nowhere to go, so I went to school. The sun was too bright, so I hid under a tree, and Little Mei came to find me."

"There was nowhere else to go, and there weren’t any ghost officials like in cartoons. Little Mei let me stay in her room," the little ghost explained honestly.

During the ride from the convention center to the Special Case Team’s headquarters, Ding Ling and the others had gathered most of the information about the little ghost. After obtaining her and Little Mei’s real identities, they quickly began investigating.

When Little Mei woke up, without a chance to coordinate their stories, both she and the little ghost confessed everything to the police.

The little ghost possessing her friend was named He Jiajia. She had been living with her parents, who worked in Bin City, and was in her second year of middle school. She had died from an allergic reaction to spoiled shrimp that her parents hadn’t taken seriously, leading to delayed medical intervention.

This trip to the comic convention was Little Mei’s way of fulfilling He Jiajia’s dream.

He Jiajia had always wanted to see a comic convention and try cosplay, but her parents had forbidden it, saying it wasn’t something good kids did.

After becoming a ghost, He Jiajia finally got to roam the convention freely, with Little Mei’s consent to possess her body.

At the Special Case Team’s headquarters, Wu Ya went to investigate He Jiajia’s parents, while Chang Qing and a female doctor conducted a thorough physical examination of Little Mei.

Ding Ling, meanwhile, spoke privately with He Jiajia.

"During the convention, why did you stop running and turn back after leading me on such a chase?"

He Jiajia thought for a moment. "Because I heard it was almost closing time. Little Mei and I agreed to end the possession before the event ended. I didn’t want to delay her from going home."

Ding Ling: ?

She hadn’t expected that answer.

Wait, was she overthinking it?

No, that couldn’t be!

So, when Yan had said that earlier, did she know about He Jiajia and Little Mei’s agreement about "closing time"?

That’s why she had said it so casually, and the little ghost had stopped immediately!

"Where did you and Little Mei make that agreement?" Ding Ling continued.

The little ghost found the question odd. "We discussed it near the stage area. There was a changing room there, and we agreed to leave before everyone else did. We even changed clothes there."

Ding Ling: !

The performance area—wasn’t that where Yan and Zhu Jue had been sitting in the corner?

That's why Yan said, "The convention is almost over."

In reality, the previous sentence was meant for the little ghost girl, reminding her that it was time!

So, Yan had already noticed the little ghost girl's presence by then, but it seemed she had assessed that the girl wasn't much of a threat and let her be, remaining calm and composed.

Then, just before leaving, Yan stopped the little ghost girl in her tracks, using a single sentence to remind her that it was time to go!

"The convention is almost over. Are you coming with us?" This sentence carried a hidden meaning.

If He Jiajia could take the hint from the word "over," she would leave on her own. But if she wasn't ready to "call it a day," Yan might have to step in and make sure the little ghost girl followed them.

Yes, that must have been the case!

However, the little ghost girl in front of them was still a newbie in the ghost world, and He Jiajia had no idea about Yan and Zhu Jue's special identities.

Thinking back to the last time when the red-dressed vengeful ghost disappeared, and how Yan had dealt with it, Ding Ling looked at He Jiajia with pity.

Let's hope this child never finds out what she almost went through.

Yan handed her over to Ding Ling, showing mercy.

But even if He Jiajia had fallen into Yan's hands, Ding Ling believed that Yan would have handled it properly, unlike some extreme practitioners of the mystical arts who would resort to life-or-death measures.

While Ding Ling was still dealing with the case of He Jiajia possessing Little Mei and appearing at the convention, the others from the boys' and girls' dorms had already boarded the subway back to school.

At four o'clock, the subway was already getting crowded. Chu Bingbing's suitcase, filled with freebies, was placed in front of her, and she held onto the handle with both hands while Gu Jiasui helped her carry a small bag.

Despite all the stuff, she didn't attract much attention. Instead, it was Yi Zhi beside her who stood out, holding a wooden box containing the chrysanthemums she had just bought, which looked a bit wilted.

"Yi Zhi, you bought... chrysanthemums?" Ye Ping'an asked with a strange expression.

He thought to himself that this "big sister" had quite unique tastes, similar to Xiao Qingnang. She came to a convention but ended up visiting the flower market next door and bought chrysanthemums to take back.

It wasn't that chrysanthemums were bad, but they had become more associated with funerals and mourning in recent times.

Usually, when people keep plants in their dorms, they go for something simple, easy to care for, and hard to kill, like cacti or succulents, right?

"They're chrysanthemums," Yi Zhi replied, glancing down at the flowers in the box.

"They didn't look great, so they were the leftovers that the shopkeeper was about to throw away. I felt bad for them, so I decided to take them back and try to grow them," Yi Zhi explained.

For her, no plant would die.

She had seen so many vibrant and non-threatening flowers at the market and hadn't planned to buy anything, but when she saw these chrysanthemums, she felt a pang of sympathy.

Yi Zhi thought that since there was enough space in her dorm's balcony, she might as well take them back as decoration.

It was autumn, and the Double Ninth Festival was approaching, a traditional time for appreciating chrysanthemums.

"Oh, that's nice," Ye Ping'an said.

Chu Shen didn't join the group and went straight home, while Chu Bingbing decided not to return to Lakeside Heights.

"Chu Shen really made a name for himself today," Yi Zhi remarked.

She hadn't expected that during the short time they were away, Chu Shen would get picked to go on stage and cook fried rice. His luck was truly something else.

The girls sat in a row, while the boys stood nearby, holding onto the subway handles.

Xiao Qingnang frowned slightly. "He should have gone back to school today."

After hearing the others mention it, the old-fashioned Xiao Qingnang slowly went online to search and found that people had already located Chu Shen's family restaurant.

And they hadn't even been there yet!

Given ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‍how quickly something could go viral online these days, especially when it was trending, Chu Shen better not get cornered by fans.

"Chu Shen said he had something to do at home," Zhu Jue said.

Yan tilted her head, thinking that if Chu Shen was trying to lay low, he should have stayed on campus for the next two weeks.

But he still went home. Could it be a requirement from his "Chef God System"?

Listening to the conversation among his roommates, Yuan Ye didn't dare to speak up. He had also been involved in some incidents, but apart from Yan and Zhu Jue, the others didn't seem to know. They didn't ask him what he had been up to all day, which made Yuan Ye breathe a sigh of relief.

Chu Bingbing, in her ostrich-like manner, was looking at her phone. She noticed that under the automatic comments left after her donations on the Little Green Site, many threads had already been built.

Some authors came to express their gratitude, others came to gawk at the "rich lady," and some even recommended books. Under the works where creators had updated extra chapters to show their thanks, there were countless comments like "Thank you, rich mommy," "Thanks to the rich sister for feeding us so much," and "Thank you, rich lady, for bringing this abandoned story back to life. May you grow even wealthier!"

This felt different from the "retweet and win" events she had done on Weibo.

It was hard to describe, but seeing these excited and genuinely thankful comments was heartwarming.

Not that the retweets for giveaways weren't sincere, but they were clearly motivated by the prizes.

Unlike on Weibo, where retweets often came with snarky comments or even private messages cursing her out, which Chu Bingbing found amusing.

Her Little Green Site app now showed 99+ notifications. As she scrolled through them, the flood of gratitude and well-wishes made her feel that her money had been well spent, giving her a rich emotional return.

While walking around the convention, she hadn't felt tired, but after getting off the subway, the group suddenly found themselves struggling.

"When is Ding Ling coming back? Otherwise, we should just order takeout for dinner," Chu Bingbing said with a pained expression.

Originally, Yan and the others had planned to eat out for dinner, but Ding Ling had to deal with an unexpected situation, and not all the girls had returned to the dorm. They decided to wait until later to go out.

"I'll ask," Yan said, sending a message to Ding Ling.

[Yan]: Are you done there? When will you be back? If it's late, we'll just order takeout in the dorm.

[Ding Ling]: On my way. Do you want me to bring anything back?

Seeing Ding Ling's reply, Yan raised an eyebrow. That was fast. She and Zhu Jue had walked out, waited for everyone to regroup, and taken the subway. Now they were already on campus, and it was only 5:30 PM. They had only been apart for an hour and a half. It seemed this ghost was just a small fry.

Since Zhu Jue was going to walk Yan back to the dorm, the boys decided to tag along, saying they wanted to check out the south campus. Chu Bingbing's suitcase and the bag of books were passed around among them.

If there were willing helpers, why not make use of them?

"By the way, I have a package to pick up. Let's grab it before heading back," Yan said, looking at the package notification on her phone.

"It's from Ka Ka. The photos were developed so quickly? I wonder what she sent," Yan said, surprised.

It had only been a week since they parted ways with Ka Ka, the "Traveling Little Person" aura-bearer they met during their journey, but it felt like much longer.

Yan had seen the notification about the package being collected but hadn't paid much attention, as she often ordered small things online and would just glance at the alerts.

But today, Ka Ka had sent her a message, reminding her to check the package and specifically telling her not to pick it up alone—it might be heavy, so she should bring Zhu Jue along.

Yan and Zhu Jue went to the campus delivery point to pick up the package. It was indeed a large box, so they borrowed a box cutter to open it on the spot. Inside were local snacks: beef jerky, beef cubes, and various flavored cheese blocks...

These snacks looked like they were from a Mongolian region. Had Ka Ka gone to the grasslands again?

Yan went to the supermarket to buy two large bags to divide the snacks, then she and Zhu Jue carried them back.

"Ka Ka sent way too much. Just for the two of us, she sent this much. I hope she didn't mix up the quantities with what she sent to the team," Yan said, a bit worried.

Before Yan could message the team leaders, Mr. Li and Mr. Qin, to ask, she received a photo from the logistics team.

The photo showed a small conference table covered with the same local snacks Yan had received, but in even larger quantities.

"Ka Ka is too generous. How much did she spend on all this food?"

“Beef jerky isn’t cheap, but we all tried it, and it’s definitely the real deal. There are also snacks like beef tendons and more.”

The logistics lady’s tone was full of excitement.

Yan and Zhu Jue looked at the photos. “Confirmed, Ka Ka didn’t send the wrong package.”

Yan sent a message thanking Ka Ka, and immediately, Ka Ka replied with a link to her homepage on a video-sharing platform.

【Ka Ka】: “I just finished editing the videos from my recent trip. I’ve uploaded the first one. Let me know what you think when you have time.”

So fast! Ka Ka’s efficiency was unmatched. She was probably out on the grasslands now, yet she’d already managed to edit and upload the video. Could her 【Travel Companion】 be helping her?

Yan carried a bag full of assorted local specialties back to the dorm. She tossed the snacks onto the shared table and opened her laptop to search for Ka Ka’s personal account.

【Travel Ka Ka】—Personal Homepage.

Ka Ka’s profile picture was the adorable little character that Yan had once seen hovering above her head.

By now, Ka Ka had already uploaded her first video, documenting her trip to Longjiang Forest Farm.

Yan clicked on the video. The opening sequence featured the cute little character version of Ka Ka, carrying a backpack.

The tiny Ka Ka, with a huge hiking bag, first took a train, then a bus, followed by a car, and finally a tractor, eventually arriving at her destination marked by a flag.

The sequence showed the changing modes of transportation, along with detailed scenery and passersby. Each time the mode of transport changed, a “Coins ±” indicator appeared, and when she encountered people, a “Favorability ±” indicator popped up, just like in a game!

Yan’s eyes sparkled as she watched. Ka Ka had really pulled it off—she truly was an animator!

The opening sequence wasn’t long, and soon the main content began. Ka Ka didn’t show her face, but in the top left corner of the screen, a box appeared: 【Travel Mission: Blind Box Trip】. In the bottom left corner, there were indicators for the player’s satiety, stamina, and money.

In the bottom right corner, there was also a mini-map. The entire video was shot in first-person perspective, making it feel exactly like a first-person travel game!

As the video progressed, Yan noticed that Ka Ka had labeled the professions of people like “ticket sellers” and “drivers” above their heads. Though they weren’t named, it gave off strong NPC vibes.

The faces of the many passersby in the video were slightly blurred or pixelated, but those who interacted with Ka Ka displayed a 【Favorability】 indicator. After deeper interactions, names like 【Auntie Li】 would even appear.

When Ka Ka ate or drank, a message would pop up in the middle of the screen: 【Satiety +xxx, Your stomach feels much fuller.】

When Ka Ka announced she was going to sleep, the video would instantly jump to the next morning, accompanied by the message: 【Stamina +80, A good night’s sleep has fully restored your energy.】

The video Ka Ka uploaded was over forty minutes long. On the surface, it seemed like a mundane travelogue—riding vehicles, asking for directions, eating, and sleeping—but the unique touches made it incredibly engaging.

Watching Ka Ka eat made Yan feel hungry too. She reached into the bag, opened some dried beef jerky and cheese slices, and placed them on the table.

As she did, she noticed there were instant photos mixed in with the snacks.

One of the photos showed Ka Ka riding a horse.

On the back of the photo, Ka Ka had handwritten a note:

“Dear friends, it’s been a week since we last met, and I’ve now arrived at the grasslands. The wind blows low over the grass, revealing herds of cattle and sheep. The sky is vast, and the stars fill the night.”

“The scenery is breathtaking. I hope you can see it too.”

“Sincerely, Travel Ka Ka.”

Yan couldn’t help but smile, her eyes curving into crescents.

Looking at the instant photo of Ka Ka and the local specialties, it felt like receiving a care package from a real-life travel companion.

Now, she had truly gotten her hands on a real “Travel Companion”!