She had already booked her ticket. It was still early.
After cursing the wanted criminal's little paper servant one more time and restoring some of her spiritual energy, Song Miaozhu figured it was about time to head out.
She had picked an early morning train.
Chen Yuanyuan had a mandatory skills class today, so Song Miaozhu didn't wake her. Chen Yuanyuan had a spare key, so Song Miaozhu left the key inside, locked the door, and left the neighborhood, hailing a taxi straight to the train station.
On the train, Song Miaozhu idly scrolled through her phone.
She had already gathered plenty of information on the fugitive, and it wasn't the right time to work on paper crafting. Having just replenished her spiritual energy before leaving, she wasn't even sleepy.
The train ride made her restless, so she passed the time by browsing her phone. The SEIU app was unusually quiet. The noise and chaos from the night before seemed to have vanished without a trace.
All the active accounts had gone gray.
The community board only had a few posts sharing cultivation experiences, most of them dull and unhelpful. She scrolled through a few, then closed the app and opened Weibo.
"Huh? Already caught?"
Her eyes widened.
Ever since she started using curses on wanted criminals, she had followed official police accounts across the country. The Public Security Bureau in Dongguang Province had posted an announcement the day before.
She recognized the photo instantly. It was the very first person she had cursed: an A-Class fugitive from Dongguang Province wanted for trafficking women and children.
Was it her curse that made him surrender?
She read through the announcement carefully.
Just as she suspected, this fugitive, who had evaded capture for so long, had suddenly surrendered to the police yesterday morning.
He had looked extremely haggard, like someone who had been through long-term psychological torment.
During interrogation, his mental state seemed odd too. Mid-sentence, he would often clutch his throat in pain. Yet when examined at the hospital, no issues were found. Each time this happened, he would quickly switch his story and confess the truth.
He didn't deny any of the charges, and even implicated a large group of accomplices. Thanks to the prompt action by Dongguang authorities, all involved were now in custody.
According to police analysis, it was likely that the fugitive had been under intense psychological pressure due to his crimes, leading to abnormal behavior. However, his condition didn't qualify as a mental illness.
Reading that last line, Song Miaozhu breathed a sigh of relief. Her curses only caused symptoms like insomnia, chest pain, horrible luck, and a sharp throat pain whenever they lied. That was it!
The pain and discomfort wouldn't physically harm them. It was torment, yes, but it wouldn't cause any direct, lasting damage!
If they were declared mentally unfit and received lighter sentences because of this, she'd be furious. Alarmed, Song Miaozhu quickly searched for updates on the other criminals on her curse list.
The results shocked her.
Some had turned themselves in. Others, unable to bear the pain in their throats, had blurted out the truth and been caught. A few had been unlucky enough to get hit by cars, knocked unconscious, and sent to hospitals where their identities were exposed…
Over half of them were already in police custody.
Including this morning's session, she had only cursed them three times!
Yet most had already been arrested.
More than half were already behind bars.
"So fragile against curses?" Song Miaozhu muttered in disbelief, then instructed the little paper servants from her ghost shop's storage to gather and destroy the cursed paper dolls for those already in custody.
Once someone was officially convicted, she couldn't curse them anymore. Her goal was to get them into prison, not into a psychiatric hospital.
That left only a few cursed dolls on hand.
With a sigh, she returned to scouring the internet for more info on wanted criminals.
At least it gave her something to do on the train.
Though she quickly gathered another batch, she wasn't optimistic.
Judging from past results, this batch probably wouldn't last more than a day or two either.
Even adding together every A-Class fugitive currently listed, she only had enough targets to keep cursing for about a week.
What would she do after that?
Cursing petty thieves felt excessive.
International criminals?
She wasn't sure if distance would affect her curse effectiveness.
Using a VPN, Song Miaozhu searched international crime databases and added a few more names to her list.
She ignored white-collar criminals and only focused on those involved in murder or human trafficking—serious threats to human life.
Once she worked through those, she'd have no choice but to wait for new A-Class wanted notices to drop online. The fact that criminals gave in so easily to her curses left her feeling strangely empty as she got off the train.
She dragged her suitcase straight to the dealership and paid full price for a brand-new Chixing G350 convertible sports car.
With her barely-passable driving skills, Song Miaozhu took her new car all the way back to her home in Little Bamboo Mountain, an ancient town nestled in the Far Mountain region.
Breathing in the crisp air laced with bamboo fragrance, she felt her body and spirit relax.
"Meow!"
As the garage door rolled up, Little Goldie—who had grown into a fat orange loaf of a cat—came trotting out with three little paper servants perched on his back. At the sight of the car, his fur bristled and his tail puffed up like a hedgehog.
Perched calmly on the courtyard wall, Little Coal lazily tapped at a roof tile with her tail. Only when a white blur leapt from the wall and landed squarely on the passenger seat did she let out a dignified meow, as if to say, "I'm here too, you know."
The car auto-parked into the garage, and Song Miaozhu scooped up the dazed Little Snowball from the passenger seat.
"Are you silly or what? Jumping from that height?"
"Meow~" The white cat flopped belly-up in her arms, completely relaxed. As Song Miaozhu stroked its fur, she noticed something odd.
Its face was filthy—just as black as Little Coal's now.
One pat, and her hand was covered in soot.
"…Didn't I demolish the old stove behind the house? Where did you even find this mess?"
"(O_o)"
The kitten didn't understand. It just kept acting cute.
With no other choice, Song Miaozhu carried the dirty furball inside.
The little paper servants, still riding the now-settled orange cat, circled her legs in welcome.
She couldn't help but laugh.
"You really found yourselves a good mount, huh? Looks like I don't need to make paper horses for you anymore."
The little paper servants shook their heads quickly, then pointed at the orange cat, then at the new car.
"You don't want the paper horse anymore, but now you want a cat car and a paper car?"
Reading their gestures, Song Miaozhu burst out laughing.
"You've got good taste, I'll give you that. A car is definitely better than a horse.
But horses have blueprints. Paper cars don't. You'll have to wait."
"What's that? You want to ride paper horses first, and upgrade to paper cars later?"
"You greedy little things. Who taught you that?"
"Don't look at me! I'm not taking the blame. It must be the spiritual energy these days—it's not like it used to be!"
…
Chatting idly with the little paper servants, Song Miaozhu made her way into the courtyard and flopped onto the lounge chair under the locust tree.
"Still… there's nothing like being home."