It was red anti-fraud and anti-superstition slogans. It was signs like "Civilized Family" and "Folk Culture Tourism Demonstration Site". It was Tan Xiao who was still brushing his teeth?!

Chen Yinghe: "???"

Ah Jin said, "This is the master... no wait, the shaman." He then said to Tan Xiao, "Spirit Master, I brought Student Chen over."

Just what was going on? Chen Yinghe was pulled into the courtyard in a daze by Ah Jin, "You... I... didn't you say that was just a show!"

"I also said I can't take private jobs - have to go through official channels." Tan Xiao said helplessly through the toothpaste foam. "Please understand, I can't openly talk about exorcisms at school. The teachers would scold me."

Chen Yinghe: "..."

What, you're still afraid of teachers... oh right, you're a student too.

"Let me finish brushing my teeth and I'll explain in detail." Tan Xiao ran back to continue brushing.

Just as Chen Yinghe felt her mind couldn't process all this, her phone rang. It was Yu Zhenzhen calling. She had seen Chen Yinghe's records. "Yinghe, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

As if finding an outlet for all her pent-up emotions, Chen Yinghe said, "I... I'm fine, but did you know your classmate Tan Xiao is a shaman?!"

Ah Jin raised a finger, quietly saying, "Hey, classmate, it's better not to casually mention this. Our Bureau 404 has regulations about this." The Bureau 404 had specific rules regarding ordinary citizens, including a degree of confidentiality.

Chen Yinghe panicked a little. Oh, can't say it, but she had already blurted it out.

On the other end of the phone, Yu Zhenzhen laughed, "Yinghe, are you still half-asleep? Wasn't it me who told you Tan Xiao is a shaman? That's right, he is, his family has been shamans for generations."

Chen Yinghe: "..."

Okay, even if you asked her to explain now, she wouldn't be able to clarify this nested relationship!

When Tan Xiao finished washing up and came out refreshed, he said, "Let's go upstairs to talk. My mom is still sleeping."

Hearing this, Chen Yinghe reverently glanced at Tan Chunying's room. What kind of boss was she then?

Entering Tan Xiao's study, Chen Yinghe discovered there was another handsome guy sitting there, diligently doing practice problems so early in the morning. She pointed at him in confusion. Who was this? Didn't look much like Tan Xiao.

"That's my classmate, doing morning self-study." Tan Xiao didn't explain why his classmate was doing morning self-study at his house so early. He sat down to chat. "We sent someone to check out the studio and found nothing unusual. But something similar to that night still happened to you, right?"

Chen Yinghe had no idea how he knew, but nodded vigorously, "Yes! Have I been latched onto by something?"

Tan Xiao took notes and said, "Most likely, but no worries, we'll take care of it for you over the weekend. Rest at my place for a bit and let your parents know. How about we find a place and get started at 8pm tonight?"

Chen Yinghe was also a bit confused about the timing: "I can understand doing it at night when the yin energy is stronger, but why at 8 o'clock?" It's not particularly late, isn't it usually done in the early hours of the morning?

"No, I still have a lot of test papers to finish." Tan Xiao said, somewhat depressed.

Chen Yinghe: "...Okay, okay, okay."

Chen Yinghe called home, saying she was going out to paint, and then spent almost the whole day in Tan Xiao's study reading. She actually had many questions, but Tan Xiao's serious studying look made her not dare to disturb him. She just couldn't help but think to herself, you're still the physics class representative?

While she read, Tan Xiao and that handsome classmate Kong Xuan also did homework together. Only the masked man in the suit took out a laptop and worked with a serious expression, very much like a workplace elite.

When getting water to drink, Chen Yinghe passed behind the man in the suit and found that his screen was all green. Her first reaction was, stocks?

Taking a closer look, wow, he was browsing Jinjiang.

Chen Yinghe was also introduced to Tan Chunying as a classmate who came to write homework together. She and Kong Xuan ate a meal at Tan Xiao's house, but during the meal, that man in the suit didn't eat or take off his mask, making people even more curious.

After eating her fill, Chen Yinghe walked around the house rubbing her bloated belly to aid digestion. She saw there was still a wall calendar, nowadays don't people generally use the phone's perpetual calendar?

She also saw a certain date circled in red. She wanted to ask the meaning, but Tan Xiao had gone to tidy things up.

Only Kong Xuan was left in the room. He glanced at the wall calendar, which Tan Chunying had drawn on. Because Tan Xiao's family all celebrated lunar birthdays, every time Tan Chunying bought a new calendar, she would draw the dates first, as her memory wasn't particularly good.

After Kong Xuan moved in, although the dates were easy to remember, Tan Xiao still symbolically circled the first day of the lunar new year.

Kong Xuan couldn't help but flip through the calendar, turning to the first day of the lunar new year, and revealed: "This is the one he circled, my birthday."

Chen Yinghe choked for a moment, well, a couple showing off, huh, who asked you?

Chen Yinghe said dryly: "Oh, so that circle just now was his birthday?"

Kong Xuan fell into contemplation: "Yeah, his birthday is coming up..."

Chen Yinghe was so afraid he would continue showing off.

"Let's go!" Fortunately, Tan Xiao called out from outside, summoning the two out.

Watching Tan Xiao close the courtyard gate, Chen Yinghe asked puzzledly: "I have a question, why can't we just do it at your house?" They still had to go out and find another venue, Tan Xiao's house was obviously very big.

The reason they didn't go to her house was because her parents were home tonight, and the two of them didn't believe in this kind of thing at all, afraid that it would take a lot of persuasion.

"My mom is at home too, she's doing a big clean-up tonight." Seeing her confused expression, Tan Xiao added a brief explanation, "My mom doesn't know I can catch ghosts."

"...OK!" Chen Yinghe felt she would use up a lifetime's worth of speechlessness here. What saddened her the most was that she couldn't even tell Yu Zhenhen, she really hoped that one day Yu Zhenhen could discover it herself.

They walked directly to Chen Yinghe's art studio. Chen Yinghe said that this was their art teacher's own house, and the second floor hadn't been rented out yet. She had the key because she had helped clean it before, and it was quite suitable for doing things.

When they arrived downstairs, they even ran into a classmate. Seeing her bring three handsome guys, "What family photoshoot are you doing, finding three models at once?" The envious gaze circled a few times, "Must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"Very expensive!!"

......

When they turned on the lights on the second floor, there were several rooms connected together. It used to be used as an office, and now it was empty, with only some office tables and chairs.

"Then let's begin, I will exorcise the filth for you." Tan Xiao planned to call out the dirty things attached to Chen Yinghe for a chat. First, he pasted a few borrowed land talismans on the doors and windows here, to prevent the noise from scaring the classmates in the art studio upstairs.

Then Tan Xiao took out all the props from his bag, lit incense candles to burn yellow paper, and drew circles with the paper ashes. His movements were smooth and flowing, making Chen Yinghe want to draw a sketch. But she had to hold back, and according to Tan Xiao's instructions, stand in the due east of the circle.

The paper ash circle was only half drawn, and the guest had not yet been invited, when the main door made a sound.

That sound, it really seemed like someone was pushing the door, but because it was locked, it didn't open at once.

Tan Xiao's movements paused for a moment, and he slowly said, "Is someone outside?"

Chen Yinghe was more familiar with this place, and she was certain that this was not the sound of opening the door from the outside. With trembling lips, she said, "It should be said, who is inside." This was clearly the sound that would be made by opening the door from the inside.

Tan Xiao quickly turned around and looked at the area of the door. It was clearly lurking right beside them?

What was "it" going to do now, go out?

"Click."

The door latch was fiddled with, but it couldn't be opened, the other party seemed a bit clumsy.

Then an office chair moved, sliding in the empty room. Because it had been placed for too long, the sound made people's teeth ache a little.

Halfway through the sliding of the office chair, it suddenly accelerated and crashed towards the door with a bang!

Chen Yinghe's heart also jumped wildly with that sound.

"Step back, don't move." Tan Xiao's voice reassured Chen Yinghe. He made a hand seal and questioned, "The incense smoke startles the gods and ghosts, the nameless under the altar shall not be taken. The Peacock God personally arrives here, all things in the human world report your name!"

The incense candle burned more and more fiercely, and the smoke, with a flick of Kong Xuan's finger, wrapped around that invisible thing at the door in two long loops, causing it to gradually take shape. First a human face, with a black and white headscarf on the head, but what was connected below the neck was actually the body of a lion.

"?" Even Tan Xiao was stunned for a moment. What was this, a lion-bodied human-faced beast, a Sphinx?

Tan Xiao said strangely, "This is a foreign case too?" Then he didn't know the specific handling procedures, should he call someone over?

Hearing this, the lion-bodied human-faced beast licked its paw and said in a thin voice, "I'm raelly a ghost, how um I foreign? I'm domestically produced."

It took Tan Xiao a few seconds to react that it seemed to be speaking in a dialect, just like seeing a human licking its paws, it made him a bit uncomfortable. "Uh, what's going on?"

He looked at Kong Xuan in puzzlement, and Kong Xuan also had a look of disgust, but still assessed, "It's not alive."

No living qi indicated that this was not a real living monster, but its origin was also unclear.

Others didn't understand, but Chen Yinghe suddenly had a buzzing in her head. She took out her own tarot cards from her bag.

The top card was indeed the "Chariot" that she had drawn today. Because it was a Chinese version beginner's deck, not only did it have the Chinese name on it, but also a few intermediate keyword interpretations.

More importantly, the card originally should have depicted a warrior riding a chariot pulled by two sphinxes, one white and one black. However, the white sphinx symbolizing "compassion" had disappeared from the card, leaving it empty.

The warrior wearing a battle helmet seemed to wink his left eye under Chen Yinghe's dazed gaze.

"Eh?" Tan Xiao said in surprise, "A spirit, a paper person from the card?"

Great, you're in my book now!

Unlike Tan Xiao who was still in the mood for a surprise, Chen Yinghe felt like she was holding a burning coal and immediately threw the card away. Although she prayed every day for the paper people to come to life, she meant her husbands and wives, not her cards.

After throwing the card, she hid behind Ah Jin. She knew Tan Xiao was a master, but she couldn't help but use this person who looked like an adult as a shield on first instinct. Besides, Tan Xiao looked ready to fight, so she couldn't obstruct him.

Ah Jin had never enjoyed this kind of priority while on field missions. Between Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan, Chen Yinghe actually chose him. Ah Jin was pleasantly surprised and said, "Thank you, thank you."

You won't regret choosing me.

He took off the mask that Chen Yinghe had always been very curious about. Shockingly, there was no mouth under the mask, only a data interface. Data streams spewed out from it, directly transforming into a blue shield in front of them.

Chen Yinghe let out a cry of despair, her worldview that had been constantly shattered today made her just want to faint: "What the hell is this--"

Ah Jin was puzzled. She screamed so miserably, could it be that he looked even more terrifying than the human-headed lion?