The system says there are no ghosts.

Chapter 2 The Psychic Eye

Chen Yi did not move.

He stood there, staring at the writhing gray mist on the wall, his mind blank.

There were indeed people in the mist. Blurry, semi-transparent figures, some crouching in corners, some leaning against stone walls, and some simply floating in mid-air. They didn't speak, they just looked at him with an expression he couldn't understand.

Chen Yi took a deep breath and then exhaled.

The air is cold.

The rotten, sweet smell was still there, even stronger than before.

He tried blinking. The fog was still there.

It's not a hallucination.

He looked away from the wall and down at his left arm. The spirit terminal was still flashing wildly, the text on the screen a jumbled mess. He reached out and pressed the reset button on the terminal.

Useless.

The screen flickered a few times, then went completely black.

"Duoji chip is restarting... Please wait."

A line of small text appeared on the black screen and then disappeared.

Chen put his hand down and looked up at the mist.

People were moving in the mist. Some were drifting slowly, some were squatting motionless, and some were whispering to each other. They seemed to be discussing something, but Chen couldn't hear anything.

It's very quiet here.

It was unusually quiet.

He tried to take a step forward.

Something moved in the mist. A blurry young man emerged from the shadows and stopped about three meters away. Gray mist swirled around the man's edges, and his features were vaguely visible: a handsome face and a stubborn gaze.

Chen Yi made eye contact with the man for a second.

The man suddenly spoke.

"Can you see me?"

His voice trembled slightly, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

Chen Yi didn't answer. He looked at the man and waited.

The person floated forward a little more, and the expression on their face changed from confusion to shock, and then from shock to some kind of uncontrollable excitement.

"You can see me!"

His voice rose, trembling slightly, "You can see me! You really can see me!"

Chen Yi frowned.

"Um."

He didn't know why he responded. This person... no, this thing, was completely unfamiliar to him. He had no reason to respond. But his body acted before his mind.

The man paused for a second, then laughed.

It was a strange laugh, tinged with a hint of madness and a touch of relief. His eyes shone with an eerie light, as if he had suddenly seen a lamp in the darkness.

"It's been three years."

He said his voice suddenly lowered.

"It's been three years, and finally someone can see me."

Chen looked at him but didn't say anything.

The man took a deep breath, though he didn't need to breathe. Then he began to speak, quickly, as if he had been holding it in for a long time and had finally found an outlet.

"My name is Ah Qi, and I've been here for three years. You probably don't know this place; this is the abandoned spirit vein B-274, and no one has come here for a long time. I've been here all this time, and no one can see me, no one can hear me. I've been drifting here for three years, three years! I don't even know how I've survived..."

As he spoke, his voice began to tremble.

"Do you know that feeling? It's like you're there, and everyone walks right through you, nobody knows you exist, and you can scream your lungs out but nobody pays attention. At first, I thought I was dead, but then I realized something was wrong. If you're dead, you should be reincarnated, so why am I still here? Why am I still conscious? I don't understand, but I just can't leave. I can't leave this wretched place..."

Chen Yi listened for a while before interrupting him.

"Who are you?"

Ah Qi stopped talking abruptly and stared blankly at him.

"What are you doing here?"

Ah Qi opened his mouth, but couldn't react for a moment. The question was too broad; he didn't know where to begin. In the end, he chose the simplest answer.

"My name is A-Qi."

He said, "I'm a rogue cultivator from Graybone City in the Cold Abyss Domain. I... I'm going to die here."

Chen looked at him but didn't say anything.

Ah Qi's expression was somewhat complicated, as if he was recalling something from a long time ago.

"Three years ago, I was executed by the system," he said. "The crime was possessing traditional martial arts techniques."

Chen Yi frowned slightly.

"Traditional exercises?"

Ah Qi nodded, his expression somewhat somber.

"Yes, traditional techniques. The system said that kind of data was abnormal and not allowed to exist. But it was passed down to me by my master, and I can't hand it over. The system told me to hand it over, but I didn't, and then it was deleted."

As he spoke, his voice lowered.

"I died with great resentment. Not that I was unwilling to die, but I was unwilling that my master's things were gone just like that."

Chen looked at him and suddenly spoke.

"Where is your master?"

Ah Qi paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"I don't know. He had already been executed when I was arrested."

He finished speaking and remained silent for a while.

Chen Yi didn't say anything. He was processing the information he had just heard.

System execution. Possession of traditional martial arts techniques. Abnormal data.

He had heard these terms before, but never paid them any attention. He was just a data cleaner, his daily job being to clean up abnormal data. As for what constituted abnormal data or why it was classified as abnormal, he had never thought about it.

Now he knows.

The abnormal data includes living people.

Just as he was thinking this, a notification popped up in front of him.

He had never seen this prompt box before. The interface was very simple, much cleaner than a standard system interface. It only had one line of text:

"Unknown protocol detected. Report?"

"Yes" or "No" are the two options.

Chen Yi stared at the prompt box for two seconds.

What should we report? Should we report that he can see the spirits of the dead? If we report it, I don't even want to think about the consequences.

He remembered what Ah Qi had said earlier.

Executed by the system. Possessing traditional martial arts techniques.

He didn't want to be executed.

He moved his finger to "No" and pressed it.

"The reporting has been cancelled."

The message box disappeared.

Ah Qi was still looking at him, her eyes filled with a strange expression.

"What were you looking at just now?"

Chen Yi did not answer.

He turned to look at the gray mist around him and found it was still there. It writhed everywhere—on the walls, in the cracks of the stones, on the floor. The people in the mist were also looking at him, their gazes carrying something he couldn't quite describe.

It's like they're waiting.

Ah Qi floated to his side and followed his gaze to the mist.

"What are those?" Chen asked.

Ah Qi remained silent for a while.

"Just like me," he said. "We're all people who died here."

Chen Yi turned to look at him.

Ah Qi's face was expressionless, and his tone was calm, as if he were stating an insignificant fact.

"The Dao Fruit of those executed by the system will be reclaimed after death, but sometimes there is not enough time, and some... residue will be left behind."

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the mist.

"These remnants gather in places with high spiritual energy concentration, absorbing the remaining spiritual energy to maintain their existence. This abandoned spiritual vein used to have abundant spiritual energy, and although it is now depleted, it is still stronger than outside. So they are all here."

Chen Yi looked in the direction he pointed. There were many blurry figures in the fog, some so faint they were almost invisible, while others were still relatively clear.

"It's been three years, and not many have made it this far," Ah Qi said. "Most of them have given up."

Chen Yi withdrew his gaze and looked at A Qi.

"And you?"

Ah Qi paused for a moment, then laughed.

"I'm considered lucky," he said. "The remnant soul of the Gray Mist, at the Qi Refining stage, should last for about seven or eight years."

As he spoke, he floated up to Chen Yi, getting excessively close.

"But meeting you was my luck."

Chen Yi took a small step back.

Ah Qi's eyes were frighteningly bright as she stared at him.

Do you know what you are?

Chen Yi did not answer.

Ah Qi took a deep breath, even though he didn't need to breathe.

"A psychic," he said. "You are a psychic."

Chen Yi had never heard of this word before.

"What is a psychic?"

Ah Qi was silent for a while, as if he was organizing his thoughts.

"They are a very ancient existence," he said. "They existed before the system appeared. They can see the dead, communicate with them, and even absorb their power. A thousand years ago, the psychic race was an important force in the cultivation world."

He paused.

"But then the system appeared. The system disliked psychics because they could see things it didn't want others to see. So the entire psychic race was wiped out by the system, completely wiped out, not a single one was left."

He looked at Chen Yi with a complicated expression.

"At least that's what the official statement is."

Chen Yi remained silent for a few seconds.

"So how did I get here?"

Ah Qi shook his head.

"I don't know. It might have been an accident. Systems aren't perfect; there will always be loopholes."

As he spoke, he suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"But there's one thing you need to remember."

Chen looked at him.

"You absolutely must not let the system know about this ability of yours."

He spoke very seriously, his expression almost solemn.

"The system says there are no ghosts. But you see, things the system says don't exist are often true."

Chen Yi and he made eye contact for a second.

Why?

"Because those who know the truth don't live long."

When Ah Qi said this, his tone was very calm, as if he were stating an insignificant fact.

"Systems don't like being seen through. Once it knows you've seen something you shouldn't, you become anomalous data. There's only one fate for anomalous data."

He didn't say what the outcome would be, but Chen Yi had already guessed.

Clear.

He recalled the scrolling data on the holographic screen in the mission lobby and suddenly felt a sense of irony.

The cleaner's job was to clean up abnormal data. But he never imagined that one day he himself would become abnormal data.

Just then, the ground beneath my feet suddenly shook.

The vibration was very slight, but Chen Yi felt it.

He looked up and saw that the gray mist had stopped moving. As if sensing something, they all turned towards him.

Then, the spiritual terminal beeped.

"Warning: Residual spiritual energy fluctuations detected. Danger level: D. Cleanup crew, please evacuate immediately."

Ah Qi's expression changed.

"Those things..." he lowered his voice, "have been alerted."

Chen Yi followed his gaze. The blurry figures in the mist were slowly gathering and drifting towards him. They weren't moving fast, but there were many of them.

"Walk."

Ah Qi's voice suddenly became urgent.

"Let's leave now. Those things are no pushovers; they've been starving for a long time, and they'll pounce on any living person they see."

Chen Yi didn't move.

"Can I beat them?"

Ah Qi glanced at him, her expression somewhat strange.

"You're not even at the Qi Refining stage yet, what do you think?"

Chen Yi thought for a moment, then turned and walked towards the exit.

"Come with me."

Ah Qi was stunned for a moment.

"What?"

"Didn't you say you couldn't leave this place?" Chen said without turning his head. "Then come with me."

Ah Qi was stunned for several seconds before floating after him.

"Wait, are you serious?"

Chen Yi ignored him and quickened his pace.

Behind him, the gray mist continued to writhe slowly, remaining still and not following. But their gazes remained fixed on him, as if waiting for something.

Ah Qi floated beside him, her face bearing an indescribable expression.

"You're the first one."

He said his voice sounded a little muffled.

"The first one?"

"The first person to say they would take me away."

Chen Yi didn't say anything and continued walking forward.

The passage was long and winding, getting brighter as he walked further out. He could feel the gazes still on him, but he didn't turn around.

After walking for about five minutes, he saw the stone gate at the entrance.

The sunlight outside the stone gate was dazzling.

He went outside and took a deep breath of fresh air.

It's much warmer than inside the spiritual veins.

Behind him, Ah Qi also floated out. He stood in the sunlight, his figure appearing somewhat transparent, like a wisp of mist that might dissipate at any moment.

"It's been three years."

He muttered to himself, looking at the sky above him, his expression somewhat dazed.

"It's been three years, and this is the first time I've stood outside."

Chen glanced at him but didn't say anything.

The spiritual terminal was still black, and he didn't know when it would restart. He looked around and realized that he was still some distance from the Spirit Bridge Station.

It will take about two hours to walk back from here.

He started walking out, with Ah Qi following behind.

After walking for a while, Ah Qi suddenly spoke.

"What's your name?"

Chen didn't turn his head back.

"Chen Yi".

"Chen Yi." Ah Qi read it aloud, nodded, and said, "Okay, I've got it."

Chen Yi ignored him and continued walking forward.