“She slowly turned into a different person. Every day, she would mutter endlessly in your ear, unable to remember what happened yesterday, repeating the same sentence over and over in a jumbled way. Later, she couldn’t take care of herself when it came to using the bathroom. Every time she wet her pants, she would just look at people and giggle foolishly. When she ate, rice would fall all over the floor and her clothes. Even just sitting there, she would drool. She couldn’t even tell the time. No matter what you were busy with, she would always stumble after you, mumbling things that no one else could understand, day after day, day after day!”

“Every day I looked at her, and I would think, this is what I traded the rest of my life for.”

Quinn Barnes’s lips twitched neurotically as she spoke, revealing a cold and abrupt smile. Charles Gray felt as if his heart had been struck hard.

“The grandmother I wanted will never come back. What I paid such a heavy price for was only someone who looked exactly like her…” Quinn Barnes’s face twisted fiercely, and then she spat out a harsh word, “Monster.”

Quinn Barnes raised her bloodshot eyes and stared straight at Charles Gray’s face: “I hate her. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, every day I see her, I have the urge to kill her on the spot. With this urge, I have to ask her in a voice that sounds patient and gentle whether she wants to eat something, whether she needs to use the bathroom, whether she’s tired, whether she’s cold, and then watch her grin foolishly at me.”

Charles Gray’s hand, resting on his knee, trembled slightly.

“Reincarnation Sundial lied to me, you know? There’s no such thing in this world as resurrection. That person isn’t my grandmother. She used to be so afraid I’d suffer even a little. When I was little and there were no fans in the village, she would stay up all night fanning me. How could she become a monster? How could she become a monster that only hurts me!” Quinn Barnes let out a short, sharp laugh. “You don’t understand anything, so don’t judge me! When she was alive, she clung to me endlessly. Even after death, she still clings to me! I…”

“She won’t cling to you anymore.” Charles Gray suddenly interrupted her. He didn’t even realize he could speak in such a stern tone. “She’s gone. At that time, Starved Wraith was going to eat you, and you were possessed by some ghostly thing. To protect you, she was killed by Starved Wraith. We all saw it. She died again, but only you didn’t know.”

Quinn Barnes was stunned.

Charles Gray lowered his head, feeling unbearably sad, so sad he was about to cry, but he didn’t know for whom. In the end, he said softly, “Even if you saw it, you’d still think she wanted to hurt you, wouldn’t you? Actually… she didn’t.”

“She didn’t cling to you, didn’t blame you, and never wanted to hurt you.”

Quinn Barnes was dumbfounded.

People change easily, yet we always say it’s others who change.

“I basically understand now. Deliberate murder isn’t our jurisdiction.” Logan Sullivan said, standing up and patting Charles Gray on the shoulder. “Let’s go. No need to send her back. Keep her here for the night. Tomorrow, have Holly Harlow contact the colleagues in charge of criminal cases in this city. Whoever needs to take her, let them take her. Whoever needs to investigate, let them investigate. I’ll call Professor Sherman tomorrow morning to let him know… Hmm, anything else, sir?”

Soulwarden walked around the small table and stood in front of Quinn Barnes.

His presence made Quinn Barnes instinctively shrink back.

“Don’t be afraid, I don’t deal with the affairs of the living,” Soulwarden said. “But since this concerns a Relic, I must ask—where exactly is the Reincarnation Sundial you mentioned from your hometown?”

“It’s… at my home.” Quinn Barnes said in a low voice. “My parents rented a small apartment for us. They don’t usually come.”

Soulwarden: “The address?”

“Unit 3, Room 207, No. 101 Nancheng Avenue.”

“Thank you.” Soulwarden nodded politely, seeming to look at Quinn Barnes, then paused and said, not too lightly or heavily, “When we meet again in the underworld, let justice be your companion.”

Charles Gray followed Logan Sullivan out in a daze, escorting Soulwarden to the door. He still seemed unsettled and glanced back at Quinn Barnes, who sat blankly in the interrogation room.

Soulwarden left quickly, needing to retrieve the Reincarnation Sundial before dawn.

After he left, the white frost on the window melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the temperature seemed to rise sharply. The air conditioner switched back to cooling mode, but Charles Gray still felt chills running down his back.

He trailed after Logan Sullivan like a shadow, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Logan Sullivan picked up his car keys and briefcase, glanced at him, and said, “Work’s over. Aren’t you leaving?”

Charles Gray looked down at his toes. “Director Sullivan, if a soul has been struck by Starved Wraith, can it still… can it still reincarnate?”

Logan Sullivan raised his eyebrows. “Probably not.”

Charles Gray: “Then… that old lady, is she really gone?”

Logan Sullivan pretended to think for a moment, then suddenly smiled, took a small bottle out of his pocket, and beckoned to Charles Gray as if calling a dog. “Almost forgot this. Kid, come here.”

Charles Gray walked over, puzzled.

“Take it. Soulwarden just gave it to me. That lord occasionally shows some mercy and lets things slide.” Logan Sullivan stuffed the small bottle into his hand, then walked over to the office cat’s bed, pinched Darrin Grant’s nose with annoyance, listened to the sleeping Darrin Grant snore, watched it paw a few times, and then let it go with a grin. “Whoever comes in early tomorrow, remember to ask the cafeteria to make some fried fish snacks for breakfast.”

Charles Gray stared blankly at the tiny glass bottle, which wasn’t even as long as his palm. First he was confused, then his eyes widened.

He saw the missing old lady inside the transparent bottle!

She had shrunk to the size of a fingernail, sitting there peacefully, giving him a gentle smile.

Then, the wrinkles on her face quickly disappeared, her hair grew thicker and turned black from tip to root, her mouth filled with pearly teeth, her body straightened and became slender, returning to her beautiful, mature appearance in her thirties, then to her youthful look in her twenties, then gradually became thinner and shorter, back to her teenage years, her childhood… finally, she curled up into a tiny baby.

The baby slowly closed its eyes, and its small body faded away inside the bottle.

Charles Gray exclaimed in shock, “She… she’s gone!”

“That’s the Passing Urn. She’s entered the cycle of reincarnation again.” Julian West, who had somehow appeared behind him, said, “From life to death, and from death to life, from youth to old age, and from old age back to youth, over and over, endlessly.”

After speaking, Julian West lowered his eyes, softly recited a Buddhist prayer, and said to Charles Gray, “Work’s over. Hurry up and go. Work starts at nine tomorrow. Breakfast is available in the cafeteria from eight. If you want to eat, come early. Don’t be late.”

Charles Gray seemed to have let go of a great burden. He carefully put the bottle in his bag and left, satisfied.

Only then did Julian West turn to Logan Sullivan and say, “I didn’t see Soulwarden give you anything. Quinn Barnes used Nethercreature without permission, so she deserved this calamity. The old lady willingly took her place and died a worthy death. It’s all karma. There’s no reason to let her off.”

Logan Sullivan snorted, “You’re so smart, so sharp-eyed, aren’t you?”

Julian West: “I just heard you’re very dissatisfied with this intern and are trying every way to get rid of this well-connected kid. Why are you comforting him so subtly?”

Logan Sullivan lit a cigarette and waved impatiently. “I do what I want. Now get lost.”

Julian West shook his head and sighed, looking like he was about to comment on his boss, but Logan Sullivan shot him a glare, and Julian West wisely changed his mind, grabbed his water cup from his desk, and ran off.

Logan Sullivan locked the office door, intending to go home and sleep, but suddenly remembered the hurriedly departing Soulwarden. For some reason, he felt a bit curious about the legendary “Sacred Nether Relic.” Entertaining the shameless idea of skipping work the next day, he drove to the address Quinn Barnes had given.

When Logan Sullivan arrived, he found the entire apartment building shrouded in a pitch-black aura of blood. He was startled, not knowing what had caused such a commotion. He quickly parked his car by the roadside, grabbed his gun, and ran upstairs.

Above the roof of the apartment, a huge black hole floated, like a monster with its mouth wide open. The elevator was already out of service. Logan Sullivan ran all the way to the rooftop, only to find it covered in bones.

Logan Sullivan examined the bones carefully, not knowing what kind of monsters had died there. Some had three heads, some had bellies at both front and back, some had a human head on top and a skeleton below… Without exception, all had been beheaded with a single stroke. Moonlight spilled onto the ground, as if a layer of fresh blood had been poured over it. Not far away, Soulwarden stood holding the Soulcleaver in one hand, the blade resting on the neck of a… a “person.”