Chapter 136: Obsession
Saying that, Xia Wan raised her right hand, brought two slender fingers together, and gently touched Dong Xiaobao’s forehead.
Half of a pure white floral pattern immediately appeared on the baby’s skin.
Right after, she spun around on her heels. Xia Ye’s face turned to look at Lin Huai. Raising her left hand, she pressed two fingers against Lin Huai’s brow, tracing the other half of a pitch-black floral crest.
The instant the two marks settled, they resonated and merged. Twin phantom petals bloomed across the spiritual link, intertwining into a single black-and-white twin lotus.
Twin flowers, bound for all eternity.
As the mark took hold, Lin Huai felt a strange wave of cool and warm energy meet at the center of her brow before melting harmlessly into her skin.
Yet she could distinctly feel the imprint’s presence. Through that subtle, unbreakable link, she sensed Dong Xiaobao’s boundless affection pouring across the bond.
She could even hear Dong Xiaobao’s voice chanting in her mind over and over again: Sister! Sister, Sister, Sister, Sister… I love Sister the most!
…It was a little noisy, but otherwise wonderful.
Catching Lin Huai’s mental flicker of fond exasperation, Dong Xiaobao instantly pouted in her thoughts: Sister thinks I’m too loud! Humph! I’m not saying another word!
Lin Huai let the sulking baby be for the moment. Touching her smooth, unmarked forehead, she looked back at Xia Wan. “What kind of charm is this…?”
“It is the Twin Soul Pact,” Xia Wan answered softly, a faint shimmer lingering on her fingertips. “It is not a master-servant contract, but an equal alliance between sworn sisters. It takes our rebirth as the spiritual anchor to bless both you and Dong Xiaobao.”
Behind her, Xia Ye let out an irritated hum, though she offered no objection, quietly accepting her sister’s words.
“When twin flowers bloom, twin souls stand guard,” Xia Wan continued. “From this day on, you and Dong Xiaobao will share a united heart and linked life force. The pact allows physical harm to be transferred. Whenever either of you suffers a lethal blow that threatens your soul or physical body, the seal will activate.”
“The uninjured partner can choose to absorb part of the damage and instantly pull the wounded one across space to their side. However, the resonance carries strict range and cooldown limits, so use it with care.”
Lin Huai gave a solemn nod. “Thank you for this blessing. I will look after Dong Xiaobao with my life.”
Dong Xiaobao, however, was having none of it. She kept shouting defiantly inside Lin Huai’s head: Sister, I’m not weak at all! I want to protect you! I won’t let anyone hurt you!
After adding Xia Wan to her cross-district networking group, Lin Huai bade farewell and stepped out of the hospital. She had lingered down in the vaults for hours, and twilight was already settling over the highway.
The abandoned hospital slowly dissolved into gray mist behind her. Looking up at the blood-jade coffin anchored to the roof of her hearse, Lin Huai let out a quiet sigh.
Two bodies were resting inside. In her past life, unclaimed corpses retrieved from the Morgue were simply taken to an ordinary cemetery for a quick burial.
This time, however, the newly upgraded coffin possessed the ability to read spiritual imprints. Lin Huai wanted to uncover their dying wishes to see if she could lay them to rest with proper honors.
Engaging autonomous driving, she phased into the coffin’s dimensional chamber alongside Dong Xiaobao.
The little ghost wrinkled her nose at the heavy scent of old death, floating as far away from the caskets as the sixty-cubic-meter space allowed.
Lin Huai crouched down beside the two bodies. Taking out a pair of blank memory crystal orbs, she infused them with spiritual energy and let them hover over the corpses’ foreheads.
“Memory extraction,” she whispered.
Thin ribbons of crimson light flowed from the blood-jade walls, sinking softly into the deceased. A moment later, two plumes of pale white vapor rose from their brows, captured cleanly by the floating orbs.
Absorbing the impressions, the crystals began to glow with a soft, pearly white radiance.
Lin Huai reached out, resting the police officer’s orb in the center of her palm. The moment her fingers brushed the glass, a vivid memory unfolded before her eyes.
A young officer was standing tall on his very first day on the force. Set upon a memorial table before him were the framed portraits of his father, mother, and older brother.
A whole family of officers—generations of duty and sacrifice.
The young man stood ramrod straight, his eyes bloodshot as he snapped a crisp salute to the three portraits. His voice was cracked with tears, yet steady as iron: “Dad… Mom… Big Brother… I will bring them to justice. I swear it.”
A bitter, self-deprecating smile touched the corner of his lips as he lowered his hand. “And if… if the undercover operation fails… we will all be reunited in the Martyrs’ Cemetery.”
Without looking back, he shed his crisp uniform, slipped into worn civilian clothes, picked up his forged identity papers, and stepped out the door into the dark abyss.
The vision snapped shut.
The coffin extracted only the strongest, most unyielding obsessions held at the moment of death.
For this fallen officer, his final wish was simple: to be buried alongside his heroic family in the Martyrs’ Cemetery.
Lin Huai felt a quiet ache in her chest. “Rest easy. I will fulfill your wish.”
Traveling to a burial ground was simple for someone with an undertaker’s permit. Since she had already claimed her own reserved plot, she needed only to speak the destination aloud.
Sure enough, the stone gateway of the Cemetery materialized along the highway ahead.
This time, Lin Huai did not pull over. She steered the hearse straight through the archway, trailing the blood-jade coffin behind her. Rather than taking the winding back mountain path behind the Crematorium as she had before, she passed directly through the front gates.
Several black crows perched atop the stone carvings took flight, cawing softly as they circled the hearse.
Beyond the threshold, the road split into a three-way intersection marked by a weather-worn stone stele.
The left path was labeled [Royal Mausoleum], while the center road pointed toward [Anshou Cemetery]—the common burial grounds meant for ordinary folk.
The path branching to the far right read [Martyrs’ Cemetery].
Sitting behind the wheel, Lin Huai tapped the console. “Turn right. Head into the Martyrs’ Cemetery.”
“Route recalculated,” the Yellow Springs Road Guide responded.
Unlike the eerie, desolate silence of the standard graveyard, this road carried a solemn, majestic dignity from the very first step.
The entrance to the Martyrs’ Cemetery was marked by towering bronze gates, intricately embossed with ancient pine trees, enduring cypresses, and drifting auspicious clouds.
