Chapter 64: Encountering Ghosts on the Ghost Festival

We returned to the Studio of Abundant Ease. Over the next three months, my daily routine consisted of helping people interpret hexagrams and analyzing their birth horoscopes. After discussing it with An Mingshan, we sold off the shop's unused items and some ineffective magical artifacts, passing them off as better merchandise, and invested some extra capital to stock up on antiques and funeral supplies. We decided to pivot our business model; fortune-telling became merely a side hustle, and we shifted our focus to trading antiques and funeral goods. Thus, I remained idle, cooped up in the shop until July, growing thoroughly stir-crazy. Because there had been no assignments, I had also slackened my training.

July fifteenth.

Early in the morning, I was woken up by An Mingshan. Today was the Ghost Festival, one of the three major ghost festivals of the year. My business was exceptionally booming, and both An Mingshan and I were swamped, unable to keep up with the demand. Just when I thought I would get through the day safely, I received a phone call. It was from Liu Shan, and he told me that something major had happened.

Over the phone, he said, "The incident happened at an intersection, a traffic accident. There are two people who appear to be sisters; one died on the spot, and the other is unconscious, currently undergoing emergency treatment. The hit-and-run driver fled, and a city-wide manhunt is underway."

I replied, "That's a matter for the police officers. Why are you sticking your nose into it?"

Liu Shan said, "I'm not just meddling; it's because their deaths are strange. I couldn't find the soul of either of them at the scene."

Sensing this might be interesting, I said, "Send me the photos of the scene, and I'll be right there." With that, I hung up the phone.

However, the moment I hung up, I noticed something off about An Mingshan, though I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. As I was about to head out, she unexpectedly shoved me hard against the wall, and I finally realized what was wrong with her. She was a fraction of an inch taller than before! But that wasn't the key point; the key point was that she was taller because she was standing on her tiptoes. Remembering what Liu Shan had just said, I finally understood where the souls from the scene had gone. Coincidentally, Lü Donghua drove up to pick me up just then.

I shoved An Mingshan away, quickly drew my handgun, pointed it at her, and said coldly, "Get out of her body." Seeing that her heels were still raised, I roared, "Get out!" To my surprise, not only did she show no reaction, but she let out a eerie, cackling laugh at me! I ejected the magazine from the pistol, loaded a paper cartridge into it, and then cocked the gun.

An Mingshan—or rather, the ghost possessing An Mingshan—said, "You think you can hit me with a mere scrap of paper? Is that all the ability you've got?"

I said, "You are welcome to try." With that, I fired a shot at her.

At that moment, the ghost let out a miserable scream and was forced out of An Mingshan's body. An Mingshan collapsed to the floor right on cue. At the same time, Lü Donghua sauntered lazily into the shop. By this time, all the customers had fled, presumably scared away. Seeing this scene, even a fool could guess what he was imagining. Just then, An Mingshan slowly stood up from the floor and said, "What... what just happened to me?"

Just as I was about to speak, Lü Donghua interrupted, "You really know how to play rough."

I said, "No, listen to my explanation. Right, she's the one haunting us, ask her!" I pointed at the female ghost I had just struck. Pointing my gun at the spirit, I continued, "Who are you, and why did you possess her? Speak!"

The ghost whimpered, "Spare my life, Master! I'll talk. My name is Lu Yuyi, but as for the rest... I can't remember."

Lü Donghua helped An Mingshan over to the sofa and said, "Don't try that trick on me! Don't think I'll believe you just because you're talking to thin air!"

At this point, An Mingshan asked in a low voice, "Who is she?"

I replied, "She draws a complete blank on everything. We only know her name is Lu Yuyi."

Lü Donghua said, "Among the victims of the car crash, the older sister is named Lu Qianqian, and the younger sister is Lu Yuyi."

I said, "Stop blaming me and go check her identity right now! Go to the hospital and check on them!"

Lü Donghua asked, "Then what about her..."

I said, "If she's reduced to this state by a paper bullet, a real bullet would leave her bedridden for good. Get up, let's go together! And you, Lu Yuyi... here, Dong, go grab that gourd from the shelf!"

Lü Donghua's efficiency was extremely high; in less than a minute, he brought it over. I opened the gourd's stopper and used a soul-summoning talisman to draw Lu Yuyi's spirit inside.

After that, our group got into the car and drove straight to the hospital.

Reader Interaction Corner.

Question: Mr. Author, what is your view on artificial intelligence?

Answer: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technical science that studies and develops theories, methods, technologies, and application systems used to simulate, extend, and expand human intelligence. It is a branch of computer science. It attempts to understand the essence of intelligence and produce a new intelligent machine capable of reacting in a way similar to human intelligence. Research in this field includes robotics, speech recognition, image recognition, natural language processing, and expert systems.

Artificial intelligence can provide people with convenience, speed, and comfort, while also reducing costs, simplifying life, and minimizing errors. For instance:

Facial recognition, used in payment systems or financial systems in daily life, can provide security guarantees; high-speed rail boarding, hotel and security systems, and smart door locks in daily life.

Map navigation. No matter where you are, map navigation can pinpoint your location down to the town level, accurately displaying your position. When driving in a city, the system's smart navigation analyzes road conditions, allowing you to smoothly avoid traffic jams and reach your destination.

Robots. Take the smart sweeping robots seen in daily life; they use built-in sensors to scan for garbage and then clean automatically, which is quite intelligent. There are also early education robots that can sing, dance, tell stories, recite Tang poetry, and help children learn knowledge.

Smart personal assistants. Every modern smartphone utilizes mobile assistants, such as Apple's Siri, Samsung's Bixby, Xiaomi's Xiao AI, and so on, all of which use speech recognition technology to execute given tasks.

Currently, these artificial intelligence technologies are trending toward mature development and are becoming increasingly user-friendly and personalized.

Question again: Will artificial intelligence eventually replace humans?

Answer: No, it will not completely replace humans. In the future, 47% of jobs will be replaced by robots.

While enjoying a comfortable life, the tornado of unemployment follows closely behind.

The gradual automation and high efficiency of artificial intelligence are replacing human jobs, leading tens of thousands of people to face unemployment. Much like when James Watt invented the steam engine in the 18th century, Britain's textile industry experienced tremendous growth. However, industrialized looms left a large number of manual textile workers unemployed, and riots once broke out in Britain where unemployed textile workers smashed machines.

Although artificial intelligence can make people's lives comfortable and convenient and improve work efficiency, it also leaves quite a few people out of work. Therefore, everything has its pros and cons. No matter how convenient artificial intelligence becomes, it ultimately brings inconvenience to some people.

Finally, as the saying goes, "Artificial intelligence may make you lose your job, but it will not replace humanity; humans remain the masters of this world!"