The Bureau's underground archives were older than the city itself.
Feng Yichen led Jiang Yue through corridors carved from ancient stone, past doors sealed with symbols that glowed faintly in the darkness. The air grew colder with each step down.
"How deep does this place go?" she asked.
"Deep enough." He stopped before a massive iron door covered in chains. "This is the Forbidden Archives. Records of supernatural events dating back two thousand years."
He pressed his palm against the door. The chains rattled, then fell away.
Inside was a circular room lined with shelves. Scrolls, books, stone tablets—knowledge from every era of human history, all focused on one subject: the things that lurk beyond the veil.
An elderly woman sat at a desk in the center. She looked up as they entered, her eyes milky white with blindness.
"Feng Yichen. You've brought the returner."
"Elder Bai, we need your help." Feng Yichen bowed respectfully. "Something ancient is waking. She saw its heralds tonight."
Elder Bai turned her blind gaze toward Jiang Yue.
"Come closer, child."
Jiang Yue approached. The old woman reached out and touched her face with cold, papery fingers.
"Yes... I can feel it on you. The stain of death. The mark of the Boundary." Elder Bai's voice dropped to a whisper. "And something else. Something hungry that has caught your scent."
"What is it? What's waking up?"
Elder Bai withdrew her hand and wheeled her chair toward one of the shelves. Despite her blindness, she found exactly what she was looking for—an ancient scroll sealed with black wax.
"One thousand years ago, this city was built on a burial ground. Not for humans. For something else." She broke the seal. "The Devourer of the Threshold."
---
The scroll contained images that made Jiang Yue's stomach turn.
A massive entity, shapeless and wrong, consuming everything in its path. Villages swallowed whole. Mountains of corpses. Rivers of blood.
"The Devourer feeds on death energy," Elder Bai explained. "Every soul that passes to the other side—it takes a piece. For centuries, it gorged itself on the natural deaths of millions. But eventually, it grew too large, too hungry. The Boundary couldn't contain it."
"What happened?"
"A group of cultivators sacrificed themselves to seal it beneath the earth. They bound it with their own souls, creating a prison that would last as long as their spirits endured." Elder Bai's blind eyes seemed to look right through her. "But seals weaken. Spirits fade. And certain activities can accelerate the process."
Feng Yichen stepped forward. "What kind of activities?"
"Unnatural deaths. Souls ripped from their bodies before their time. Each violent death sends ripples through the Boundary—ripples that feed the Devourer, that chip away at its chains."
Jiang Yue's blood ran cold.
Three kills in one week. Three guilty souls dragged screaming to the Boundary. Three sets of ripples feeding an ancient monster.
"The kills I've made—"
"Are waking it faster, yes." Elder Bai nodded grimly. "The Boundary Keeper demands souls. The Devourer feeds on the energy of their passage. You're caught between two hungry entities, child. One will kill you if you don't feed it. The other will consume the world if you do."
The weight of it pressed down on Jiang Yue's shoulders.
No matter what she did, something terrible would happen.
"There has to be a way," she said. "A way to pay my debt without waking this thing."
Elder Bai was silent for a long moment.
"There might be." She pulled out another scroll. "The seal is weakening, but it hasn't broken yet. If the Devourer could be reinforced—bound again with fresh power—the danger could be contained."
"How?"
"The original seal required twelve cultivators of extraordinary power. We don't have that anymore. But there's another way." Elder Bai traced symbols on the scroll. "The Devourer feeds on violent deaths. But it's repelled by willing sacrifices. Souls given freely carry a different energy—one that strengthens barriers rather than weakening them."
"So I need to find people willing to die?"
"Not quite." Elder Bai shook her head. "The sacrifice doesn't have to be death. It can be suffering. Pain willingly endured for the sake of others. If someone bears agony with full knowledge and acceptance, it creates the same energy."
Feng Yichen frowned. "That's incredibly vague."
"Ancient prophecies usually are." Elder Bai rolled up the scrolls. "What I can tell you is this: stop killing, and the Boundary Keeper takes innocent lives. Keep killing, and the Devourer wakes sooner. Your only chance is to find another way to pay your debt—or to strengthen the seal before it's too late."
Jiang Yue's mind raced.
Another way. There had to be another way.
"How much time do I have?"
"Weeks. Perhaps days. The Devourer stirs more each night." Elder Bai wheeled back to her desk. "Find a solution quickly, returner. Or everything you're fighting for will be swallowed by something far worse than the monsters you hunt."
---
They left the archives in silence.
Jiang Yue's thoughts churned as they walked through the Bureau's corridors. Every option seemed impossible. Every path led to destruction.
"There's something I didn't mention earlier," Feng Yichen said finally.
She looked at him.
"The Bureau has been researching alternative methods for dealing with the Boundary Keeper. Experimental approaches that don't require killing."
Hope flickered in her chest. "Why didn't you say something before?"
"Because they're dangerous. Untested." He stopped walking and faced her. "The Boundary Keeper accepts guilty souls as payment. But souls aren't just life force—they're also accumulated sin. Karma. The reason guilty souls satisfy the debt is because they carry heavy karma."
"So?"
"So theoretically, you could pay with karma directly. No killing required." He paused. "There's a ritual that can extract karma from living people—strip away their sins like peeling skin from bone. The karma goes to the Boundary, and the person survives."
Jiang Yue stared at him. "That sounds perfect. Why is it dangerous?"
"Because extracting karma is agonizing. The target has to experience every bit of pain they've caused others—all at once. Most people's minds shatter. They survive physically but become empty shells." Feng Yichen's voice hardened. "And it only works on the truly guilty. If you use it on someone innocent, it kills them instantly and adds their soul to your debt."
A ritual that forced the guilty to experience their victims' suffering.
Poetic justice.
"Lin Haoran," Jiang Yue said slowly. "His karma must be enormous. All those women he killed, all the pain he caused..."
"If the extraction works, his karma alone could pay a significant portion of your debt. Maybe thirty or forty souls worth." Feng Yichen nodded. "But the ritual requires preparation. Specific conditions. And the target has to be restrained—they'll fight like hell once it starts."
"How long to prepare?"
"A week. Maybe less if we rush."
Jiang Yue's eyes glinted with cold determination.
"Then we rush."
---
Sunday morning.
Jiang Yue woke to seventeen missed calls from Xu Meilin.
She checked her messages:
*"Yue Yue where are you?!"*
*"I went to your dorm and you weren't there!"*
*"It's 2 AM and you're still not back??"*
*"Are you with Lin Haoran? Why won't you answer??"*
*"CALL ME BACK"*
Jiang Yue sighed.
She'd spent the entire night at the Bureau, studying the karma extraction ritual. She hadn't thought to check her phone.
And now Xu Meilin was suspicious.
That could be a problem.
She called back.
Xu Meilin answered on the first ring. "Finally! Where were you all night?"
"I stayed at a friend's place." Jiang Yue kept her voice casual. "We were studying for exams and lost track of time."
"What friend? You don't have any friends besides me."
The possessiveness in her voice was unmistakable.
In her previous life, Jiang Yue had found it endearing—proof of how much Xu Meilin cared. Now she recognized it for what it was: control. Isolation. The first step in making sure the victim has no one to turn to.
"A classmate. You don't know her." Jiang Yue injected warmth into her voice. "Don't worry, Meilin. I'm fine."
"You've been acting strange lately. Ever since that night at the welcome party." Xu Meilin's tone shifted. "Is something going on that you're not telling me?"
*Yes. I know you helped murder a woman and are planning to help murder me.*
"I've just been busy with school and... Lin Haoran." Jiang Yue forced a giggle. "You were right about him. I really like him."
"Really?" Xu Meilin's voice brightened. "Tell me everything! How was dinner with his father?"
Jiang Yue gave her a carefully edited version of the evening. She made herself sound nervous, smitten, exactly like the naive girl she used to be.
Xu Meilin ate it up.
"I'm so happy for you!" The false cheer was nauseating. "We should celebrate. Lunch today?"
"I can't. I have a study group."
"Tomorrow then. I insist."
Jiang Yue gritted her teeth. "Fine. Tomorrow."
She hung up and stared at her phone.
Xu Meilin was getting suspicious. She'd been watching Jiang Yue's movements, tracking her absences, noting inconsistencies.
That meant Lin Haoran was getting suspicious too.
She needed to accelerate the plan.
---
That afternoon, Jiang Yue went to the storage unit.
Zhao Lianhua's evidence was exactly where she'd left it. Documents, photos, recordings—everything needed to expose Lin Haoran's crimes.
But now she had a better use for them.
She photographed key documents and uploaded them to a secure cloud account. Then she contacted a journalist she remembered from her previous life—a woman named Chen Wei who specialized in exposing corporate corruption.
*"I have information about Lin Haoran and his family. Crimes that would destroy them. Are you interested?"*
The response came within minutes: *"Very interested. What kind of crimes?"*
*"Embezzlement. Fraud. And possibly murder. I'll send proof. But you can't publish until I say so."*
*"How do I know this is real?"*
Jiang Yue sent a single photo—Lin Haoran meeting with known criminals, discussing illegal fund transfers.
Thirty seconds of silence. Then: *"When can we meet?"*
The trap was being set.
Even if the karma extraction failed, Lin Haoran would still burn.
---
Monday arrived.
Lunch with Xu Meilin.
They met at a quiet café near campus—somewhere public but not crowded. Xu Meilin was already there when Jiang Yue arrived, sipping tea and scrolling through her phone.
"Yue Yue!" She stood and hugged her. "You look tired. Are you sleeping enough?"
"Just stressed about exams." Jiang Yue sat down. "And Lin Haoran keeps texting me. I don't know what to say to him."
"What do you mean? Just be yourself!"
*Being myself would involve a knife.*
"I guess I'm scared," Jiang Yue admitted, letting vulnerability creep into her voice. "His family is so wealthy, so powerful. What if I'm not good enough?"
Xu Meilin's expression softened—or rather, she made it look soft.
"Don't be silly. You're the heir to a pharmaceutical empire. You're more than good enough." She patted Jiang Yue's hand. "Just let Lin Haoran guide you. He knows how to handle his family."
*Yes. He knows how to handle women like me. Right into graves.*
"You're right." Jiang Yue smiled gratefully. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Meilin."
"That's what best friends are for."
They ordered food. Made small talk. Laughed at campus gossip.
To anyone watching, they looked like devoted friends.
But Jiang Yue noticed how Xu Meilin's eyes kept darting to her phone. How she asked subtle questions about her schedule. How she steered conversations toward Lin Haoran.
She was gathering information.
Probably reporting back to him right now.
Jiang Yue didn't mind.
Let them watch. Let them think they had the upper hand.
The trap was almost ready.
---
That night, Feng Yichen called.
"We've finished preparing the ritual space. But there's a complication."
"What kind of complication?"
"The Devourer is waking faster than Elder Bai predicted. We detected a major disturbance this morning—a crack in the seal. Small, but growing." His voice was tense. "We have three days. Maybe four. After that, containment becomes impossible."
Jiang Yue's grip tightened on the phone.
Three days.
"Can we do the extraction tomorrow?"
"Not safely. The ritual requires a new moon for maximum effectiveness. That's in two days."
"Then we wait two days."
"And if the seal breaks before then?"
Jiang Yue stared out her window at the city lights.
Thousands of people living their lives, completely unaware of the monster stirring beneath their feet.
"It won't," she said with more confidence than she felt. "We'll make sure it doesn't."
"How?"
Good question.
She thought about Elder Bai's words. Willing sacrifice. Pain endured for the sake of others.
"The seal is weakened because of my kills. Death energy flowing to the wrong place." Jiang Yue's mind worked rapidly. "But willing sacrifice strengthens it. Pain accepted freely."
"Yes...?"
"What if I balance the scales? What if I take the pain of those I've killed—experience what they experienced—and offer it willingly?"
Silence on the other end.
"That's not how it works," Feng Yichen said slowly. "You can't just decide to feel their deaths."
"But the ghosts can show me." Jiang Yue's voice hardened. "I've seen it happen. When spirits share memories, the living experience them fully. Every sensation. Every emotion."
"You're talking about psychic trauma. Deliberately exposing yourself to the death experiences of multiple people." Feng Yichen's voice rose. "That could destroy your mind!"
"Or it could buy us time."
"Jiang Yue—"
"Two days. We need two days." She cut him off. "If letting dead people show me their suffering can stabilize that seal, then that's what I'll do."
"And if it kills you?"
She smiled grimly into the phone.
"Then I'll have paid my debt the old-fashioned way."
---
The cemetery was quiet at midnight.
Jiang Yue stood among the graves, her breath misting in the cold air. Feng Yichen waited at the entrance, ready to intervene if things went wrong.
"I know you're here," she called to the darkness. "The spirits of this place. The dead who watch. I need your help."
Slowly, they emerged.
Dozens of ghosts rising from the earth. The same ones who had warned her before—wild, hungry, twisted by centuries of neglect.
But they didn't attack.
They watched.
**"You offer yourself,"** one of them rasped. **"Why?"**
"To strengthen the seal. To keep the Devourer contained." Jiang Yue spread her arms. "Show me your deaths. Let me feel what you felt. I accept it willingly."
The ghosts looked at each other.
Then the first one stepped forward.
Its cold hands touched her temples.
And Jiang Yue screamed.
END OF CHAPTER 6
Next Chapter Preview:
Jiang Yue experiences the deaths of a hundred spirits in one night, nearly losing herself in the process. But her sacrifice works—the seal stabilizes. Now she has two days to prepare the karma extraction ritual for Lin Haoran. Meanwhile, Xu Meilin makes her move, convinced that Jiang Yue is hiding something. The final game is about to begin.