The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 43 On-the-job Training (2)

"That one~" Qian Xiaoyi explained, "I thought you knew it. Isn't that the little ghost I kidnapped before? Because the seven days were up, it went back home to find its owner."

Inuyama Heita asked with some concern: "Will there be any problem? Why don't you put it in the utility room like the other little ghosts?"

Qian Xiaoyi shook his head. "Look at your memory. I've told you before that if Kumantongs are used in the right way, they are also beneficial to people and harmless. I put them in the utility room because the resentment in them is too strong, so they can't be released for the time being. But if the resentment is eliminated, it will be more efficient to have people take them back to support them. And this little girl Suzuki doesn't have any evil thoughts, and the little ghost in her body is newly formed, so there's not much resentment. Anyway, the connection has been established, so this is better for them."

"So that's why you gave Suzuki-san that jade plaque. Is that the new home of the little devil..." Inuyama Heita asked, "By the way, I remember that jade jewelry is very precious in your place, right? And that jade is also very well carved, so it should be very expensive, right?"

Qian Xiaoyi waved his hand: "The jade is real, but it is a specialty of Yiwu, machine-carved. Apart from establishing a connection with that little ghost, it is not worth much. If you want one, I have a bunch of similar ordinary jade plaques here, do you want one?"

He opened the drawer, revealing a drawer full of exquisite jade tablets.

"Uh... forget it." Inuyama Heita refused. The jade articles in Japan are basically related to religious sacrifices. He is not an Onmyoji, so he doesn't need magatama. Inuyama Heita looked at the utility room and said, "Doesn't that mean that the little ghosts in there will have to be sent back later?"

"It would be best if we can take it back. If not, we will have to suffer the consequences and offer sacrifices to it every day." Qian Xiaoyi suddenly laughed and said, "But if it is in Japan, according to legend, if we take good care of it, we might be able to raise a Zashiki-warashi~"

"Huh? Really?" Inuyama Heita asked in shock. Zashiki-warashi is a kind of ghost in traditional Japanese stories, but it does not harm people. On the contrary, it can bring good luck to the family.

Qian Xiaoyi said, "It's just a guess. Anyway, the results of raising a little ghost are similar. Usually, couples who want to have children ask them to take one home. How about you take one home? Considering our relationship, it's free."

"No, no." Inuyama Heita shook his head quickly. He had seen how ferocious those little ghosts were and had long been left with a psychological trauma. Putting such a thing at home as a worshipper and being able to see it himself, wouldn't it be disgusting?

"What a pity~" Qian Xiaoyi persuaded, "Most people don't have the opportunity to buy authentic goods... Don't you really want to put one at home?"

Inuyama Heita's mouth twitched, and he immediately changed the subject: "By the way, Brother O, I have a question I've always wanted to ask, why doesn't your method work on Suzuki? Everyone else saw it, why doesn't it work for her alone?"

"Interesting question." Qian Xiaoyi sat back in the boss chair behind his desk, crossed his legs, and said mysteriously, "Since we are talking about this topic, let's start our employee induction training."

Inuyama Heita was stunned and said: "On-the-job training?!"

"Of course there is on-the-job training. After all, our line of work is still somewhat dangerous. If you don't want to get into an accident, you still have to learn more about this aspect." Qian Xiaoyi asked faintly, "Well, first let me ask you a question - do you think ghosts are real things?"

"This..." Inuyama Heita said uncertainly: "That should be it? After all, I can see it, and sometimes I can touch it..." "Wrong~" Qian Xiaoyi gave a direct conclusion: "Objectively speaking, ghosts do not exist."

"Eh?! They don't exist! How can they not exist?" Inuyama Heita was very surprised. He stammered, "But we can all see them. I have actually seen them these days..."

"However..." Qian Xiaoyi said, "That's just your subjective opinion. It's different from what I said."

"Objectively it doesn't exist, but subjectively it exists..." Inuyama Heita couldn't figure it out: "What does this mean?"

Qian Xiaoyi slowly turned his chair and explained, "To put it simply, apart from human observation, no matter what kind of detection equipment is used, such as radiation detectors, electromagnetic wave detectors, etc., as long as it is not a direct observation type of machine, there is absolutely no evidence of its existence. In other words, objectively speaking, there is actually nothing there, but if a psychic like you goes to see it, you can see it, such as the fat guy outside."

Inuyama Heita glanced out the window of the office and realized that he was talking about the otaku ghost Ken behind the telephone pole. He usually pretended not to see this guy to avoid getting into any trouble.

"Do ghosts really exist?" asked Inuyama Heita.

"It exists in our subjective opinion." Qian Xiaoyi continued, "but it does not exist objectively."

"'We' subjectively..." Inuyama Heita grasped the key point and was not confused by this sentence: "That is, apart from us, for some people, ghosts do not exist subjectively? In other words, for them, ghosts are completely non-existent. This is true subjectively and objectively. Since they do not exist, we cannot see them."

"I understand perfectly!" Qian Xiaoyi snapped his fingers and continued, "To explain it more clearly, ghosts are peculiar products that exist based on human cognition. Without humans, there would be no ghosts. We have an old saying, 'If you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't exist.' Miss Suzuki is a staunch materialist. She won't easily believe in things that there is no direct evidence, so those things don't exist for her. This is one of the reasons why I agreed to let her come to my place to work part-time. Otherwise, I won't recruit ordinary people to get involved in our work."

"After all, there are so many ghosts in the utility room..." Inuyama Heita said awkwardly, and then he suddenly thought: "Then she is very powerful? Ghosts can't do anything to her!"

At this time, Inuyama Heita was very envious of Suzuki. He had suffered a lot because of this talent. Now he knew that there were such people. He could only regret that he read too many comics when he was a child and did not read some materialistic books.

"It's not that she will never see these things." Qian Xiaoyi said, "To use the current popular words, it's just that her SAN value is relatively high. If she is thrown into a completely dark room for a few days, because humans have been afraid of darkness since ancient times, her mental defenses will slowly collapse and eventually she will have hallucinations. At this time, it will be much easier to make her see ghosts."

Inuyama Heita trembled: "Please don't say such horrible words." Just walking alone at night would be panic-stricken, and throwing him into a dark room for a few days? Too cruel.

Qian Xiaoyi rolled his eyes. "What's so scary about this? On the contrary, some people claim to be staunch materialists and believe in science, but when there's a slight disturbance, they think more than normal people and are more likely to see ghosts. In short, just treat her as the opposite type of yin-yang eyes. Normal people are in the middle. The more suspicious they are, the more susceptible they are to mental suggestion. The more steadfast and rational they are, the less likely they are to see these things. This is the first lesson of the on-the-job training - the existence of ghosts. Next, let's talk about the second lesson - the types of ghosts."

(End of this chapter)