The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

Li Zheng didn't dare to breathe loudly on the other end of the phone, and Yun Mingyue also slowed her breathing.

After a long while, Xiao Jin finally spoke, her voice clear yet tinged with seriousness: "If it were just an ordinary ghost, how could it not be driven away even after several rituals?"

"Either the 'masters' Uncle Orange encountered were all frauds, or the things your son is following are too dangerous."

"Xiao Jin can't tell just by listening to you. You need to see him for yourself to know what happened."

Li Zheng grasped at the last straw, repeatedly saying, "Okay, okay! Miss Xiao Jin, I'm in Beijing, I'll come pick you up right away!"

Yun Mingyue hesitated for a moment, then said, "No need, just send me the address, and I'll take Xiao Jin there."

She paused, then added, "You'll get tired from all this running around. You should stay here and take care of your son first."

Li Zheng expressed his gratitude profusely over the phone, and then gave the name and room number of a five-star hotel.

After noting it down, Yun Mingyue hung up the phone and turned to look at Xiao Jin: "Are we going now? Have you eaten enough? Would you like to have a couple more bowls of soup before we go?"

Upon hearing the word "soup," Xiao Jin seemed to have a switch flipped. She slid off the chair in a flash, her short legs moving incredibly fast as she ran upstairs, shouting, "Xiao Jin, pack your things! We're leaving right away! I don't need the soup, I'm already full!"

Yun Mingyue watched her fleeing figure, feeling both annoyed and amused.

She was worried about Xiao Jin going to meet someone she wasn't very familiar with alone, so she drove her there herself.

Li Zheng was already waiting at the hotel entrance.

He changed into a decent-looking outfit today, but his face was sallow, he hadn't shaved, and he looked like he had been drained of all his moisture.

Upon seeing Xiao Jin, his eyes reddened, and he bent his knees as if to kneel down. Xiao Jin jumped back in fright, waving her hands frantically.

"Don't kneel! Don't kneel! Xiao Jin can't accept this! Uncle Orange, get up!"

Yun Mingyue also helped him up.

The three entered the elevator and arrived at the door. Li Zheng swiped his card to open the door. It was dark inside, with only a sliver of light leaking in through the curtains.

The air conditioning in the room was set very low, and there was a faint smell in the air, similar to a mixture of incense ash and sweat.

Li Zheng's son, Li Feiyue, sat motionless on the edge of the bed, facing the window and with his back to the door, like a wax figure that had been placed in the wrong place.

Li Zheng walked over and called him softly, "Feiyue, Feiyue, Miss Xiaojin has come to see you."

The person on the bed didn't react at all, not even blinking.

Li Zheng raised his voice and called out twice more before the man slowly turned his head, revealing half of his pale face.

His gaze was unfocused, sweeping over the three people as if he hadn't seen anyone at all.

Xiao Jin stepped forward and stood cautiously in front of him.

Li Feiyue remained unresponsive, his breathing was very light, and his chest barely rose and fell.

Xiao Jin didn't touch him, but slowly circled halfway around him, then looked closely at his face, and finally reached out and gently fanned his face as if to ward off something.

Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then suddenly opened her eyes, her little face becoming very serious.

"It's not a ghost," she said.

Li Zheng and Yun Mingyue both looked at her at the same time.

Xiao Jin took another half step forward, stared into Li Feiyue's eyes, and said, "He has absorbed the evil spirits."

"Calamity?" Li Zheng looked bewildered.

Xiao Jin nodded: "Master told me that when a person dies, if they die with their eyes open, their last breath will be stuck in their mouth. That breath is both poisonous and resentful, and it will stay in the dead person's chest, which is also called 'evil'."

"Some people who die a violent death will have their breath escape from their mouths and disperse nearby. Ordinary people can't smell it or see it, but if someone happens to be passing by at that time, the breath will seep into them on its own."

She pointed at Li Feiyue, "He inhaled that thing. Besides the evil energy, he must have seen something else and was terrified."

"So he has two problems: first, evil spirits entered his body, and second, his soul was frightened and scattered."

Yun Mingyue's face turned pale: "Then what should we do?"

Xiao Jin said, "We need to expel the evil spirits from his body first, and then call his soul back."

"If you only call back the soul without dispersing the evil spirit, it will get stuck in the body, and the soul won't be able to enter even if it returns. If you only dispel the evil spirit without calling back the soul, the person won't wake up. So you have to do both, and quickly."

She turned to look at Li Zheng, "Uncle Orange, when he inhaled the evil energy, did he happen to see something scary?"

Li Zheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "I...I don't know."

His wife has been sick these past few days, and he's been preoccupied with her, neglecting his son.

By the time he realized something was wrong with his son, his son had already turned into this state.

After he finished speaking, his voice lowered again, and he added, "I heard from my son's friends that they went to see the meteor shower together that day, but they didn't go into the mountains; they stayed on the rooftop of the first floor."

Xiao Jin frowned in distress. "It seems only my brother knows what happened."

"Then, how do we get this air out?" Li Zheng asked anxiously.

Xiao Jin counted on her fingers and said, "I need you to prepare a few things for me: a bowl of raw glutinous rice, a handful of dried mugwort, a piece of red cloth, and a small oil lamp that can be lit. I need to cleanse him of evil spirits and call back his soul."

Without saying a word, Li Zheng went out to prepare things.

He ran so fast that he forgot to take his coat.

Yun Mingyue helped dim the lights in the room, leaving only a small night light in the entryway as Xiao Jin requested.

Half an hour later, Li Zheng returned, panting, carrying a bag containing everything Xiao Jin had asked for.

Xiao Jin poured raw glutinous rice into a bowl and spread it evenly on the bedside table; she then asked Yun Mingyue to knead dried mugwort into several small bundles and wrap them around the foot of the bed; she folded the red cloth into a triangle and placed it on Li Feiyue's forehead, covering his cold skin.

Finally, Xiao Jin lit the small oil lamp herself. The flame was weak, but it stood steadily.

She closed her eyes and began chanting a spell, her voice extremely soft, as if it came from a very distant place.

As she chanted the incantation, her small hand hovered above Li Feiyue's chest and slowly drew circles, from his left shoulder to his right shoulder, then to his lower abdomen, and finally back to his brow.

Her palms seemed to be drawn by some invisible force, and Li Feiyue's body trembled slightly every time they passed through a spot.

Suddenly, a very faint whimper escaped his throat, as if it had been squeezed out of his chest.

Xiao Jin suddenly opened her eyes, gently patted his chest with her small hand, and a very faint dark green breath emerged from his mouth and nose, dissipating into the pile of mugwort.

The flame of the oil lamp flickered violently for a moment, then settled down again.

Xiao Jin removed the red cloth from Li Feiyue's forehead, then wrapped it around his head three times, and called in a very soft voice, "Brother Li Feiyue, come back quickly."

Li Feiyue's body went limp and he fell backward.

Li Zheng was about to rush over when Xiao Jin raised her hand and grabbed him.

A few seconds later, Li Feiyue's fingers twitched, and his eyes reopened a crack.

This time, his eyes were focused, though still a little dazed, but he could already see people.

He looked at Li Zheng by the bedside, his lips moved several times before he finally called out hoarsely, "...Dad."

Li Zheng's tears fell down his cheeks instantly.

He stepped forward, but didn't dare to use too much force, only holding his son's hand tightly: "It's okay, it's okay, Dad's here."

Li Feiyue's voice was still hoarse, and he didn't have much strength, but he seemed anxious to say something. His eyes widened and his breathing became rapid: "Dad... there are zombies."

He spoke softly and urgently, as if afraid that if he delayed even a second longer, he would be plunged back into that darkness: "There are zombies in that building."

Xiao Jin immediately asked, "Which building? Didn't we go up the mountain?"

Li Feiyue shook his head and said haltingly, "It wasn't a mountain. We...didn't go into the mountains. We went to an abandoned building in the western suburbs. It used to be a hospital or a school, but it's been sealed off."

"We climbed up, hoping to watch the meteor shower from the rooftop." He swallowed hard, as if desperately trying to recall. "Then the takeout arrived, and I went down to get it. The lights in the hallway suddenly went out, and I heard a sound behind me, like someone breathing, or like someone jumping."

"I turned around and saw a pair of eyes glowing green in the darkness, leaping towards me. I was terrified and ran as fast as I could upstairs. As I ran, I tripped over something and fell to the ground."

"I looked up and saw a person lying there, covered in dirt, with their eyes open. I quickly ran to the roof to call them, but when we came down, there was nothing left on the ground."

He paused, looking at Xiao Jin with lingering fear in his eyes: "They all say I'm hallucinating, but I really saw it."

"I really saw it."

His voice trembled with tears as he spoke.